PHYTOCHEMICAL AND NEUROPROTECTIVE INVESTIGATION ON FERULA HERMONIS

Ferula hermonis (F. hermonis, Fh) is one of the important medicinal-plants cultivated in Lebanon. The aim of this study is to phytochemically-investigate F. hermonis and its most active compound(s) and to explore their neuroprotective potentials utilizing an in vivo model of glycine receptor. HPLC-DAD investigation was done to identify F. hermonis phytochemical constituents. Combined chromatographic, bio-guided fractionation, and in vivo model of glycine receptor were utilized to identify its most active constituent(s). HPLC has shown that F. hermonis has shown 11 major peaks identified as: (1) Jaeskenin (2.47%), (2) Acetoxy-Ferutinin (3.71%), (3) Lapiferin (4.95%), (4) Siol anisate (6.16%), (5) Fertidin (7.38%), (6) Ferutinin (24.60%), (7) p-Coumariloxy jaekeanadiol (7.29%), (8) Akiferin (5.98%), (9) Ferulenol (23.7%), (10) Ferutidin (4.68%), and (11) Jaekeanadiol benzoate (6.03%). Ferutinin (Ft) was identified as the most active constituent in F. hermonis. The novelty in this work that F. hermonis has shown neuroprotective potentials utilizing an ICV, for the first time, in the in-vivo model of glycine receptor. Ft has shown more significant (p˂ 0.05) neuroprotective potentials than F. hermonis. It could be concluded that F. hermonis has significant neuroprotective potentials and that Ft might be responsible for this activity

EVALUATION OF PHENOLIC CONTENT, ANTIRADICAL AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITIES OF ORANGE AND CARROT POMACE EXTRACTS

Orange and carrot pomace are considered as food wastes, despite their high content in beneficial health compounds. The comparison of phenolic extracts from orange and carrot pomace, showed higher values for Orange pomace, with a polyphenols concentration (130 mg/L), flavonoids (8.67 mg/L) and tannins (2.5 mg/L). A higher antiradical activity was also noted for orange pomace. However, carrot pomace presented a higher anti-bacterial activity. The beneficial activities of these extracts were owed to their high content in phenolic acids. Our study exhibited that orange and carrot pomace might be utilized as natural preservatives for many industrial applications

Perpendicular Block Copolymer Microdomains in High Aspect Ratio Templates

Perpendicular orientation of lamellar microdomains in a high interaction parameter block copolymer was obtained within high aspect ratio gratings functionalized with a preferential sidewall brush. The experiments used polystyrene-block-polydimethylsiloxane (PS-b-PDMS) with molecular weight 43 kg/mol within trenches made using interference lithography. The perpendicular alignment was obtained for both thermal and solvent annealing, using three different solvent vapors, for a range of film thicknesses and trench widths. A platinum (Pt) layer at the base of the trenches avoided the formation of a wetting layer, giving perpendicular orientation at the substrate surface. The results are interpreted using self-consistent field theory simulation and a Ginzburg–Landau analytic model to map the energies of lamellae of different orientations as a function of the grating aspect ratio and the surface energies of the sidewalls and top and bottom surfaces. The model results agree with the experiment and provide a set of guidelines for obtaining perpendicular microdomains within topographic features

The Mendeleev-Meyer force project

Here we present the Mendeleev–Meyer Force Project which aims at tabulating all materials and substances in a fashion similar to the periodic table. The goal is to group and tabulate substances using nanoscale force footprints rather than atomic number or electronic configuration as in the periodic table. The process is divided into: (1) acquiring nanoscale force data from materials, (2) parameterizing the raw data into standardized input features to generate a library, (3) feeding the standardized library into an algorithm to generate, enhance or exploit a model to identify a material or property. We propose producing databases mimicking the Materials Genome Initiative, the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLARS) or the PRoteomics IDEntifications database (PRIDE) and making these searchable online via search engines mimicking Pubmed or the PRIDE web interface. A prototype exploiting deep learning algorithms, i.e. multilayer neural networks, is presented.Award-winningPostprint (author's final draft

Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography of Preclinical Chloroquine Maculopathy in Egyptian Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Purpose. To evaluate the role of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in early detection of Chloroquine maculopathy in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Methods. 40 left eyes of 40 female rheumatoid arthritis patients who received treatment chloroquine for more than one year were recruited in the study. All patients had no symptoms or signs of Chloroquine retinopathy. They were evaluated using SD-OCT, where the Central Foveal Thickness (CFT), parafoveal thickness and perifoveal thickness, average Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer (RNFL) thickness, and Ganglion Cell Complex (GCC) measurements were measured and compared to 40 left eyes of 40 normal females. Results. The mean CFT was found to be thinner in the Chloroquine group (238.15 µm ± 22.49) than the normal controls (248.2 µm ± 19.04), which was statistically significant (p value = 0.034). The mean parafoveal thickness was lesser in the Chloroquine group than the control group in all quadrants (p value 0.05) in all quadrants. No significant difference was detected between the two groups regarding RNFL, GCC, or IS/OS junction. Conclusions. Preclinical Chloroquine toxicity can lead to early thinning in the central fovea as well as the parafoveal regions that is detected by SD-OCT

Anti-Inflammatory and Antioxidant Activities of Salvia fruticosa

Objectives. Salvia fruticosa Mill. (S. fruticosa) is widely used in folk medicine. Accordingly, the present study was designed to evaluate the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of S. fruticosa, and to determine the phenolic constituents of its extracts. Methods. The antioxidant activity was determined using 2,2-diphenylpicrylhydrazyl assay. Total phenolic contents were estimated using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent, and high-performance liquid chromatography was performed to identify phenolic constituents. To evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity, carrageenan-induced mouse paw edema was determined plethysmographically. Key Findings. Different plant extracts demonstrated strong radical scavenging activity, where the ethyl acetate extract had the highest value in the roots and the lowest in the aerial parts. This antioxidant activity was correlated to the total phenolic content of different extracts, where rutin and luteolin were the most abundant constituents. Interestingly, both the roots and aerial parts revealed a significant anti-inflammatory activity comparable to diclofenac. Conclusions. This study is the first to demonstrate pharmacologic evidence of the potential anti-inflammatory activity of S. fruticosa. This activity may partly be due to the radical scavenging effects of its polyphenolic contents. These findings warrant the popular use of the East Mediterranean sage and highlight the potential of its active constituents in the development of new anti-inflammatory drugs

Putting Plant Genetic Diversity and Variability at Work for Breeding: Hybrid Rice Suitability in West Africa

Rice is a staple food in West Africa, where its demand keeps increasing due to population growth. Hence, there is an urgent need to identify high yielding rice cultivars that fulfill this demand locally. Rice hybrids are already known to significantly increase productivity. This study evaluated the potential of Asian hybrids with good adaptability to irrigated and rainfed lowland rice areas in Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal. There were 169 hybrids from China included in trials at target sites during 2009 and 2010. The genotype × environment interaction was highly significant (p < 0.0001)for grain yield indicating that the hybrids’ and their respective cultivar checks’ performance differed across locations. Two hybrids had the highest grain yield during 2010 in Mali, while in Nigeria, four hybrids in 2009 and one hybrid in 2010 had higher grain yield and matured earlier than the best local cultivar. The milling recovery, grain shape and cooking features of most hybrids had the quality preferred by West African consumers. Most of the hybrids were, however, susceptible to African rice gall midge (AfRGM) and Rice Yellow Mottle Virus (RMYV) isolate Ng40. About 60% of these hybrids were resistant to blast. Hybrids need to incorporate host plant resistant for AfRGM and RYMV to be grown in West Africa

Effects of hospital facilities on patient outcomes after cancer surgery: an international, prospective, observational study

Background Early death after cancer surgery is higher in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared with in high-income countries, yet the impact of facility characteristics on early postoperative outcomes is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the association between hospital infrastructure, resource availability, and processes on early outcomes after cancer surgery worldwide.Methods A multimethods analysis was performed as part of the GlobalSurg 3 study-a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study of patients who had surgery for breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer. The primary outcomes were 30-day mortality and 30-day major complication rates. Potentially beneficial hospital facilities were identified by variable selection to select those associated with 30-day mortality. Adjusted outcomes were determined using generalised estimating equations to account for patient characteristics and country-income group, with population stratification by hospital.Findings Between April 1, 2018, and April 23, 2019, facility-level data were collected for 9685 patients across 238 hospitals in 66 countries (91 hospitals in 20 high-income countries; 57 hospitals in 19 upper-middle-income countries; and 90 hospitals in 27 low-income to lower-middle-income countries). The availability of five hospital facilities was inversely associated with mortality: ultrasound, CT scanner, critical care unit, opioid analgesia, and oncologist. After adjustment for case-mix and country income group, hospitals with three or fewer of these facilities (62 hospitals, 1294 patients) had higher mortality compared with those with four or five (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3.85 [95% CI 2.58-5.75]; p&lt;0.0001), with excess mortality predominantly explained by a limited capacity to rescue following the development of major complications (63.0% vs 82.7%; OR 0.35 [0.23-0.53]; p&lt;0.0001). Across LMICs, improvements in hospital facilities would prevent one to three deaths for every 100 patients undergoing surgery for cancer.Interpretation Hospitals with higher levels of infrastructure and resources have better outcomes after cancer surgery, independent of country income. Without urgent strengthening of hospital infrastructure and resources, the reductions in cancer-associated mortality associated with improved access will not be realised

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century