Efficacy of Corn and Rice Seed-borne Mycoflora in Controlling Aflatoxigenic Aspergillus flavus

Food commodities such as cereals are subjected to spoilage and bio-deterioration during storage by mycotoxigenic fungi such as Aspergillus flavus. Efforts are done to biologically control toxigenic A. flavus and subsequently prevent or at least minimize its aflatoxin production ability, without the need of using synthetic fungicides. Antifungal activity of corn and rice seed-borne mycoflora was tested against aflatoxigenic A. flavus in vitro, using bioassays such as dual culture technique; ability to produce volatile and non-volatile metabolites; ability to inhibit germination and reduce germ tube length of A. flavus conidia; in vivo reduction of aflatoxins level in corn seeds co-inoculated with the pathogen and antagonists. Penicillum crustosum, Aspergillus giganteus, Fusarium verticillioides and Aspergillus fumigatus isolates showed promising antifungal activities and varying efficiencies of reducing aflatoxins level; however, only A. fumigatus isolate was non-aflatoxigenic. It could be concluded that A. fumigatus could be used effectively as a biopreservative to increase shelf life of cereals during storage, but after testing its tendency to produce other mycotoxins or causing human Aspergillosis

Stone clearance in lower pole nephrolithiasis after extra corporeal shock wave lithotripsy – the controversy continues

BACKGROUND: To determine factors influencing the clearance of fragments after extra-corporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) for lower pole calyceal (LPC) stones. METHODS: In the period between July 1998 and Oct 2001, 100 patients with isolated lower polar calyceal calculi ≤ 20 mm, in patients aged ≥ 14 years, were included in the study. Intravenous urograms (IVU) were reviewed to define the LPC anatomy (width of the infundibulum and pelvicalyceal angle). Study end points i.e. stone free status; number of shock waves used and number of sessions were correlated with variables like LPC anatomy, body mass index and stone size. RESULTS: At three months follow up the clearance for stone size ≤ 10 mm, 11–15 mm and 16–20 mm were 95, 96 and 90% respectively. Patients with acute LPC (<90°) and obtuse angle (>90°) had stone clearance of 94 and 100% respectively. For the infundibular width of < 4 mm, the stone clearance was 93% were as for > 4 mm, it was 100%. For body mass index (BMI) less than and > 30 kg/m(2), the stone clearance was 92 and 95% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: There is a trend towards more ESWL sessions and shock wave requirement in patients with acute pelvi-calyceal angle and narrow infundibulum but it is not statistically significant. Size (≤ 20 mm) and BMI has no relation with stone clearance. With modern lithotripter, stones up to 20 mm could primarily be treated by ESWL, irrespective of an un-favorable lower polar calyceal anatomy and body habitus

Sialyl Lewis X Expression and Lymphatic Microvessel Density in Primary Tumors of Node-negative Colorectal Cancer Patients Predict Disease Recurrence

Up to 30% of curatively resected colorectal cancer patients with tumor-negative lymph nodes, show disease recurrence. We assessed whether these high-risk patients can be identified by examining primary tumors for the following blood and lymphatic vasculature markers: A) sialyl Lewis X (sLeX), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-C and VEGF-D expression; B) blood and lymphatic microvessel density (BMVD/LMVD); and C) the presence of blood and lymphatic vessel invasion. Thirty-six cases (disease recurrence within 5 years) and 72 controls (no disease recurrence for at least 5 years) were selected in a case-control design. Tumor sections were stained by antibodies CSLEX1 (sLeX), anti-VEGF-C, anti-VEGF-D, anti-CD31 (BMVD) or D2–40 (LMVD) to determine the parameters as mentioned above. A multivariate analysis showed sLeX expression and high LMVD (odds ratio 5.1, 95% confidence interval 1.3–20.0 and odds ratio 3.1, 95% confidence interval 1.0–10.0, respectively) to be independent factors predicting disease recurrence. Expression of sLeX correlated with liver metastases (P = 0.015). A high LMVD was related to regional intra-abdominal or intrapelvic metastases in lymph nodes and distant metastases other than in the liver and lungs such as peritoneum, bones, brain and adrenal glands (P = 0.004). A high BMVD in the invasive front correlated with lung metastases (P = 0.018). We show that high-risk node-negative colorectal cancer patients can be identified by primary tumor assessment for sLeX expression and LMVD. Our results are consistent with the notion that both lymphatic and hematogenous metastasis play a role in colorectal cancer

Evaluation of the learning environment of urology residency training using the postgraduate hospital educational environment measure inventory

Saleh Binsaleh,1 Abdulrahman Babaeer,2 Abdullah Alkhayal,2 Khaled Madbouly3 1Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; 2Department of Urology, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; 3Department of Urology, Prince Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Objectives: The educational environment plays a crucial role in the learning process. We aimed to evaluate the educational-environment perceptions of Saudi urology residents using the postgraduate hospital educational environment measure (PHEEM) inventory, and to investigate associations of their perception with stages of residency program, regions of Saudi Arabia, and main sectors of the health care system. Methods: We used PHEEM to measure the educational environment of Saudi urology residents. Respondents&#39; perception was compared regarding different levels of residency training, regions of Saudi Arabia, and sectors of the health care system. Internal reliability of the inventory was assessed using Cronbach&#39;s alpha coefficient. Results: Out of 72 registered residents, 38 (53%) completed the questionnaire. The residents did not perceive their environment positively (77.7&plusmn;16.5). No significant differences in perception were found among residents of different program stages or Saudi regions. Residents from different health care sectors differed significantly regarding the total PHEEM score (P=0.024) and the teaching subscale (P=0.017). The inventory showed a high internal consistency with Cronbach&#39;s alpha of 0.892. Conclusion: Saudi urology residents perceived the educational environment as less than satisfactory. Perception of the educational environment did not change significantly among different stages of the program or different regions of Saudi Arabia. However, some sectors of the health care system are doing better than others.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Keywords: educational environment, PHEEM, residency program, resident

EXTRACORPOREAL SHOCK WAVE LITHOTRIPSY AS MONOTHERAPY FOR STONES IN SOLITARY KIDNEY

Objective To evaluate extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) as a monotherapy for urolithiasis in patients with solitary kidney and to determine the factors that may affect its results. Patients and Methods Using the Dornier MFL 5000 lithotriptor, 106 patients with solitary kidney (80 men and 26 women) were treated for stone disease. The mean age ( SD) was 44.5 11.1 years (ranging from 18 to 70 years). The causes of monorenia were nephrectomy, the presence of a contralateral non-functioning kidney or a congenital solitary kidney (56.6%, 39.6% and 3.8%, respectively). The mean stone length was 13 5 mm and the mean width was 10 3 mm. Pre-treatment stenting was done in 14 patients to relieve anuria before ESWL. The follow-up data were recorded at 3 months. The statistical analysis was performed using chi-square test to detect the different factors that may affect the stone-free rate. Results The overall stone-free rate was 84.9%. Sixteen patients (15.1%) were not cleared of stones, including 12 (11.3%) with insignificant gravel o