Antimicrobial activities and chemical properties of Tamarindus indica L . leaves extract

Tamarinds indica L. of the family Fabaceae is known to be used in folk medicine. Among efforts to verify this scientifically, the antimicrobial activities of the leaves extract were investigated against Gram negative and positive bacteria. The results were supported by SM images. The phytochemical constituents of the dried powdered leaves were extracted using aqueous and organic solvents. The antimicrobial activity of this extract was evaluated by using inhibition zone diameter, of both Gram negative and positive bacteria and fungi using agar well diffusion method. The most pronouns effect was shown by the ethanol extract. Studies on the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the extracts on the tested organisms showed that the lowest MIC and MBC were demonstrated against Klebsiella pneumoniae and Micrococcus luteus, but the highest MIC and MBC was exhibited against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of four major compounds, identified as flavanoidal glycosides. Using the total ion chromatography (TIC) two major compounds were identified as Orientin and Vitexin. The present study suggested that T. indica could have wide spectrum antimicrobial activity, therefore a new classes of antibiotics could be useful for infectious disease chemotherapy and control

Early left ventricular dyssynchrony in acute ST elevation myocardial infarction: A gated single photon emission computed tomography study

Introduction: The resulting left ventricular (LV) dysfunction in acute STEMI is definitely secondary to loss of myocardial muscle mass (Krumholz et al., 2009; Guerchicoff et al., 2014) but may have an additional component of LV dyssynchrony. Aim: Detection of LV dyssynchrony in acute STEMI patients and its relation to LV dysfunction in these patients. Patients and methods: 60 patients presenting with acute STEMI were injected with 25 mCi of Tc99m SestaMIBI prior to primary PCI. Acquisition was deferred after the procedure within 6 h of injection. Images were analyzed using QGS Cedars Sinai software to measure the histogram bandwidth, standard deviation and entropy using GSPECT phase analysis. The results were compared to 60 patients with negative perfusion scans upon maximal exercise imaged using the same protocol during rest. Results: Our study included a total number of 60 acute STEMI patients, 54 males, mean age 54.8 ± 10.38 years, Compared to 60 controls mean age 50.7 + 20.3 years. Risk factors for CAD were smoking in 41 patients, hypertension in 17, dyslipidemia in 7, diabetes in 15, and positive family history of CAD in 21. 30 patients had acute anterior STEMI and 30 had inferior. LVEDV and LVESV were larger compared to controls; 133.0 ± 88.7 vs. 62.0 ± 19.2 ml and 89.7 ± 82.1 vs. 19.9 ± 12.3 ml respectively, p < 0.001, and lower LVEF 39.0 ± 16.8 vs. 71.1 ± 10.4%, p < 0.001. Histogram bandwidth (BW), standard deviation (SD) and entropy (E) values were significantly higher in patients when compared to controls; 76.2 ± 54.7 vs. 17.8 ± 5.3, 20.7 ± 15.2 vs. 4.1 ± 2.0 and 51.1 ± 18.6 vs. 21.8 ± 7.1 degrees respectively, p < 0.001. BW, SD and E significantly negatively correlated with LVEF in acute STEMI cases; r = −.733, p < 0.001, r = −.75, p < 0.001, and r = −.858, p < 0.001 respectively. Conclusion: LV dyssynchrony may be acquired acutely very early in STEMI and may have a negative impact on LV ejection fraction

A Smart Testing Model Based on Mining Semantic Relations

Engaging personalization in the education process is considered one of the success factors for raising the educational process quality by altering the educational institutions&#x2019; vision for gaining more flexibility while attaining the institution&#x2019;s objectives. It is a fact that the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the main reasons that forwarded attention to online learning as an obligatory path rather than being optional until the arisen situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. This situation has altered the educational institutions&#x2019; perspective permanently. This research proposes an intelligent model which considers the personalized student characteristics in exploring the student learning styles variation, then considering this variation in building the student exam. Following this model ensures the compatibility of the conducted exam with the student&#x2019;s capabilities as well as the course Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) coverage. The balance in building the exam with covering the course objectives as well as the appropriateness with the student&#x2019;s personalized characteristics is the main objective of this research. The proposed model has been applied and proved its applicability in enhancing the students&#x2019; exam results to 92.36&#x0025; and raising the exam quality level

The Efficacy of Muscle Energy and Mulligan Mobilization Techniques for the Upper Extremities and Posture after Breast Cancer Surgery with Axillary Dissection: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Breast cancer surgeries affect the upper extremities and posture. This study aimed to examine the efficacy of muscle energy and Mulligan mobilization techniques on the upper extremities and posture after breast cancer surgery with axillary dissection. Methods: A total of 90 female participants who had undergone breast cancer surgery with axillary dissection were recruited and randomly assigned to three groups. Group A received a combination of the Mulligan and muscle energy techniques, while Groups B and C received either the Mulligan or muscle energy techniques for six weeks, respectively. The study measured the shoulders’ range of motion, posture, and upper-extremity disabilities. Outcome measurements were taken at three different time points: baseline, post-intervention, and at eight-week follow-up. Results: All the interventions significantly improved the study outcomes. The combination of the Mulligan and muscle energy techniques was significantly better than a single intervention. Mulligan mobilization was superior to the muscle energy techniques in terms of improving the shoulders’ range of motion and disability. The interventions showed a significant effect pre-post-treatment and pre-follow-up but not post-follow-up. Conclusions: The Mulligan mobilization and muscle energy techniques have been found beneficial in improving the postural changes and shoulder outcomes after breast cancer surgery with axillary dissection. The superior effectiveness of the combined interventions points out the importance of integrating multiple therapeutic approaches for optimal outcomes. Regular examination and long-term follow-up assessment are important for studying the effect of rehabilitation interventions in people after the late stages of breast surgery

Erythropoietin hyporesponsiveness among egyptian hemodialysis patients

Almost all ESRD patients on HD receive iron and EPO to treat anemia, however some patients do not respond sufficiently to the therapy. Response to EPO influenced by various factors, such as malnutrition, vitamin deficiencies, chronic blood loss, secondary hyperparathyroidism, chronic inflammation and decrease hepcidin excretion. This study included 80 anemic patients who had been on regular HD for more than 3 months. Patients received adequate doses of ESA and iron for 3 months, after that they were classified into two groups ESA responders and ESA hyporesponders. Laboratory investigations were done to assess some of risk factors which may lead to ESA hyporesponsiveness as Iron profile, IL-6, CRP, anti-EPO antibody, hepcidin level and PTH. Sixty percent of the patients were EPO hypo-responsive, ferritin has higher level in hypo-responders. Hepcidin and IL-6 markedly elevated among ESRD patients also were markedly elevated among hypo-responders. Hepcidin did not show any correlations with IL-6 or CRP but has strong correlation with ferritin. Prevalence of anti-EPO antibody was 7.5 % of total population. Parathyroid hormone had no statistically significant association with HB or reticulocytes. Hepcidin was higher among EPO-hyporesponders and had strong correlation with ferritin, so we can consider hepcidin as an important biomarker for iron stores utilization in anemic patients and to predict patient response to EPO therapy. Hepcidin did not show any correlations with IL-6 or CRP, so inflammatory mediators did not influence its high level, but mostly due to its retention in ESRD patients. [Med-Science 2017; 6(2.000): 285-98

Production of a New Cyclic Depsipeptide by the Culture Broth of Staphylococcus sp. Isolated from Corallina officinalis L.

A new cyclic depsipeptide (1) has been isolated from culture broth of Staphylococcus sp. (No. P-100826-4-6) derived from Corallina officinalis L., together with the known compounds indol-3-carboxylic acid (2), 1,5-dideoxy-3-C-methyl arabinitol (3), thymine (4), uracil (5), cyclo (L-pro-L-omet) (6) and macrolactin B (7). The structure of (1) was established to be cyclo (2α, 3-diaminopropoinc acid-L-Asn-3-β-hydroxy-5-methyl-tetradecanoic acid-L-Leu1-L-Asp-L-Val-L-Leu2-L-Leu3) by extensive spectroscopic techniques including1 H NMR,13 C NMR,1 H-1 H COSY, HMBC, HSQC, NOESY, and HRFABMS. The antimicrobial activities of compounds 1?7 were evaluated. Compounds 1?5, and 7 showed moderate antimicrobial activity while compound 6 exhibited a potent antimicrobial and antifungal activities

Production of a New Cyclic Depsipeptide by the Culture Broth of Staphylococcus sp. Isolated from Corallina officinalis L.

A new cyclic depsipeptide (1) has been isolated from culture broth of Staphylococcus sp. (No. P-100826-4-6) derived from Corallina officinalis L., together with the known compounds indol-3-carboxylic acid (2), 1,5-dideoxy-3-C-methyl arabinitol (3), thymine (4), uracil (5), cyclo (L-pro-L-omet) (6) and macrolactin B (7). The structure of (1) was established to be cyclo (2α, 3-diaminopropoinc acid-L-Asn-3-β-hydroxy-5-methyl-tetradecanoic acid-L-Leu1-L-Asp-L-Val-L-Leu2-L-Leu3) by extensive spectroscopic techniques including1 H NMR,13 C NMR,1 H-1 H COSY, HMBC, HSQC, NOESY, and HRFABMS. The antimicrobial activities of compounds 1–7 were evaluated. Compounds 1–5, and 7 showed moderate antimicrobial activity while compound 6 exhibited a potent antimicrobial and antifungal activities

Detailed investigation of the mixing field and stability of natural gas and propane in highly turbulent planar flames

In most practical combustion devices, the actual combustion process occurs within different mixture inhomogeneity levels. Investigating the mixture fraction field upstream of the reaction zones of these flames is an essential step toward understanding their structure, stability, and emission formation. In this study, the mixture fraction fields were measured for turbulent non-reacting inhomogeneous mixtures immediately downstream from the slot burner exit, using Rayleigh scattering imaging. The slot burner had two concentric slots. The inner air slot can be recessed at distances upstream from the exit of the outer fuel slot, allowing various degrees of mixture inhomogeneity. Mixture fraction field statistics and the two-dimensional gradient were utilized to characterize the impact of the air-to-fuel velocity ratio, global equivalence ratio, fuel composition, Reynolds number, and the premixing length on the mixture mixing field, and thus flame stability. These impacts were evaluated by tracking the normalized mean mixture fraction and mixture fraction fluctuation transition across the regime diagram for partially premixed flames. The results showed that the air-to-fuel velocity ratio was the critical parameter affecting the mixture fraction field for the short premixing length. Stability results showed that the level of mixture inhomogeneity mainly influenced the flame stability. High flame stability is achieved if a large portion of the inhomogeneous mixture fraction is within the fuel flammability limits