Neuroglial Mechanisms Involved In The Anti-Inflammatory Effect Of Acetate Supplementation

Acetate supplementation increases brain acetyl-CoA and attenuates lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced neuroinflammation in vivo. To explain the anti-inflammatory effect of acetate treatment, we proposed that acetate treatment disrupts inflammatory signaling in microglia and astrocytes, and induces histone hyperacetylation known to be correlated with anti-inflammatory properties. To test this hypothesis, we measured the effects that LPS and acetate treatment had on histone acetylation, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), and eicosanoid signaling. A single oral dose of acetate treatment (6 g/kg) in normal animals induced a time- and site-specific pattern of histone hyperacetylation, associated with reduction of histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity and expression. Long-term acetate treatment over 28 days induced the same site-specific pattern of histone hyperacetylation, and reversed LPS-induced histone H3 at lysine 9 (H3K9) hypoacetylation and interleukin (IL)-1β expression. In LPS-stimulated BV-2 microglia, acetate treatment reversed LPS-induced H3K9 hypoacetylation, IL-1β, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, cyclooxygenase (Cox)-1 and 2 protein levels, and NF-κB p65 protein level and phosphorylation at serine 468. Further, acetate treatment increased IL-4 and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 expression, and NF-κB p65 acetylation at lysine 310. Conversely, acetate treatment did not alter LPS-induced cytosolic (c) phospholipase A2 (PLA2), transiently reduced MAPK p38 and JNK phosphorylation, and increased MAPK ERK1/2 phosphorylation. In LPS-stimulated astrocyte, acetate treatment induced H3K9 hyperacetylation, reversed LPS-induced increases in IL-1β, TNF-α, NF-κB p65, and Cox-1 protein levels, MAPK p38 and cPLA2 phosphorylation and PGE2 release, and reversed LPS-induced decreases in TGF-β1 and IL-4. Moreover, acetate treatment reduced basal levels of IL-6, phosphorylated ERK1/2 and NF-κB p65 at serine 536, sPLA2 IIA and PLCβ1. Acetate treatment also increased acetylated H3K9 bound to the promoters of the genes of Cox-1, Cox-2, IL-1β and NF-κB p65, but not IL-4 in BV-2 microglia, which suggests that acetate treatment-induced H3K9 hyperacetylation can potentially be involved in the alteration of the expression of these genes. These data suggest that acetate treatment has net anti-inflammatory effects in vivo and in vitro both in LPS-stimulated microglia and astrocyte cultures through neuroglial cell type-distinct mechanisms

Art and Cultural Identity

This paper analyzes aspects of Egyptian history, including unique qualities that influenced the Egyptian culture and gave it its identity that has developed throughout the years until today. It will also discuss Egyptian visual arts and its critical role throughout history, including how arts have appeared and developed over Egypt’s lifetime and influenced the Egyptian citizen. Furthermore, this research sheds light on the effects of every political change that took place in Egypt, and how that could be a mirror of the Egyptian civilization, its development and its decline while considering the role of visual arts throughout and after the revolution of 2011. Analyzing Egyptian culture, education, technology, internet and multimedia after the revolution can be imperative to understand the cultural identity and the role of visual arts in Egypt. Thus the mutual relationship between arts and the Egyptian cultural identity will be questioned, along with the way that they impact each other, and finally, how both of them could play a key role in developing Egypt after the 25th of January, 2011 revolution

Evaluating Egypt\u27s renewable energy and energy subsidies policies.

Egypt and the Middle East region as a whole have the lowest domestic prices worldwide for primary energy and electricity which has resulted in an economic disincentive for investments in renewable energy leading to an underestimation of the true potential of renewable energy due to the absence of commercial incentives for investors. In order to unleash the renewable energy potential in Egypt, it is crucial to reconsider the domestic pricing framework, energy subsidies and restructuring the energy market where the economic advantages of renewable energy become clear. In 2008, the New and Renewable Authority (NREA) announced its goal of reaching a 20 % share of renewable energy in Egypt’s overall energy mix for electricity generation, an estimated 7200 MW. Today, almost a decade after setting this ambitious goal, the installed capacity of renewable energy in Egypt has reached a mere 550 MW. This research evaluates the development of Egypt’s renewable energy sector and its regulatory policies and draws lessons from the examples of other countries and the policies they adopted to foster the developed of the renewable energy sector. The transition to a wide adoption of renewable energy in Egypt would be slow, if left entirely to market forces due to the considerably high cost of electricity generated from renewable energy sources especially when compared to conventional generation which is heavily subsided by the government. The Egyptian government has a key role to play in order to accelerate the process by implementing the required policies to encourage renewable energy deployment on both the supply-side and demand-side. As Egypt starts to liberalize its energy market by removing energy subsidies to ease the pressure on the national budget, the research reviews Egypt’s energy subsidy systems and highlights the failures and successes of countries which have undergone a similar transition and concludes with recommendations for Egypt’s energy reality. The Egyptian government has taken the first steps in the right direction by gradually removing the energy subsidies and launching the Feed-in Tariff scheme thus allowing the private sector to develop renewable energy projects. It is recommended for Egypt to adopt a pricing scheme based on the actual incurred cost as it will eliminate inefficiencies and support the transition to renewable energy. In addition, the adoption of cash transfers instead of subsidies will result in a decrease in the over subsidies bill while increasing the efficient targeting of the poor

STABILITY INDICATING CHROMATOGRAPHIC METHODS FOR THE DETERMINATION OF PHARMACEUTICAL DOSAGE FORMS CONTAINING CALCIUM DOBESILATE IN THE PRESENCE OF ITS INTERFERING SUBSTANCES

Objective: Two simple, accurate and precise chromatographic methods were developed for the determination of calcium dobesilate in the presence of its interfering substances as its degradation product and/or impurity hydroquinone in pharmaceutical dosage forms with lidocaine hydrochloride alone or in combination with dexamethasone acetate. Methods: The first method is HPTLC-spectrodensitometric one using benzene: methanol: ethyl acetate: ammonia: sodium lauryl sulphate (7: 2.1: 2.5: 0.1: 0.05 v/v/v/v/w) as a developing system and scanned at 220 nm. Second one is an HPLC method where the mixture was separated on an ODS-3 C18 column with flow rate 1 ml/min and the mobile phase was phosphate buffer: acetonitrile (35:65 v/v) (adjusted to pH 3.4 with o- phosphoric acid), scanned at 220 nm. Results: The robustness of the method was determined to assess the effect of small but deliberate variation of the chromatographic conditions on the determination of cited drugs in a presence of interfering substances. Robustness was determined by changing the mobile phase flow rate to 0.5, 1,and 1.5 mLmin−1, pH to 3.5, 4, and 5, and the concentration of acetonitrile in the mobile phase to 60% and 80%. The proposed methods were checked using laboratory-prepared mixtures and were successfully applied for the analysis of pharmaceutical formulations containing the cited drugs and were validated via ICH guidelines. Conclusion: The proposed methods could be used for the routine analysis of the cited drugs in their pharmaceutical formulation in quality control laboratories

Effectiveness of daily fluid balance charting versus body weight measurement as a guide for fluid administration therapy after cardiac surgery

Background: Several studies have established a link between fluid overload and an increased risk of death. After cardiac surgery, patients' fluid status should be assessed at close intervals. A daily fluid balance (FB) has several limitations. This study aims to determine the agreement and correlation between fluid status changes calculated by the daily fluid balance through the conventional charting approach and body weight (BW) change using beds equipped with weighing scales. Methods: This is a prospective observational study that included 50 patients who underwent cardiac surgeries. It evaluates the precision and usefulness of determining body fluid status and requirements using daily fluid balance and body weight measurements. Results: The mean age of the study group was 52.9 ±10.44 years. The mean weight, height, and BMI were 87.1 ± 16.68 Kg, 170.4 ± 4.59 cm, and 30.12 ± 6.21 kg/m2. The mean duration of mechanical ventilation was 9.5 ±3.73 h. Mean ICU and hospitalization times were 2.4 ± 0.67 and 6.3 ± 1.36 days, respectively. The mean cumulative fluid balance was 0.52 ± 3.21 L, and the overall change in body weight (discharge weight − admission weight) was 0.55 ± 2.89 kg. There was a highly significant positive correlation between overall bodyweight and cumulative fluid balance (r- coefficeient= 0.947, p-value <0.001). Conclusion: Bodyweight measured by weight-enabled beds could seem sufficiently robust or accurate to replace daily FB in ICU post open heart. Such measurement might be used to monitor overall changes in BW in patients with a prolonged ICU stay

Sustainable Stabilization of Poorly Graded Desert Sand by Cement Kiln Dust and Salt Water for Using in Backfilling and Subbase Layers

Effective use of natural materials and industrial by products has a direct impact on economy, sustainable environment, and waste management. Poorly graded desert sand (SP) is widely observed in sand dunes and sand seas. Studies were performed to get beneficial use of cement kiln dust (CKD) in soil improvement. But there is a lack of information concerning using of CKD as an improving material for poorly graded sand with the aid of salt water. Salt water is widely available in Egypt from seas and some deep wells, using it will help in saving drink water which suffers from shortage in many countries. The aim of this research is to study the possibility of improving SP using CKD and salt water to be used in backfilling work and subbase layers of roads and pavements. Mixtures of poorly graded sand and various CKD ratios (10%, 20% and 30%) were classified and tested using grain size distribution, compaction, shear strength and California bearing tests. The results were compared with potable water. The results show that adding CKD improves the characteristic properties of SP even with salt water. The study enhances the using of 20% CKD with optimum water content of 9.12% of salt water to have noticeable improvement for SP and to be used efficiently in backfilling and subbase layers

4-Hydroxy-2-methyl-N-(2-thiazole)-2H-1,2-benzothiazine-3-carboxamide-1,1-dioxide (EX15) and its Cu(II) Complex as New Oxicam Selective Cyclooxygenase-2 Inhibitors

4-Hydroxy-2-methyl-N-(2-thiazole)-2H-1,2-benzothiazine-3-carboxamide-1,1-dioxide (EX15) as nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug (NSAIDs) of oxicam family has been synthesized bearing high se-lectivity for cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibition and high ability to chelate with Cu(II) ions. The EX15-Cu(II) complex, and [Cu(EX15)(OAc)(H2O)2], were synthesized and characterized by using elemental analysis, spectral (UV-Vis, IR), conductance, thermal and magnetic studies. Two equations were predicted using quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) and regression analysis for the COX-2 and COX-1 selectivity (microsomal assay) with a regression correlation (R) close to unity. Two techniques were used to investigate the validity of these equations; macrophage cell line (in vitro) selectivity and collagen-adjuvant arthritis model in rats (in vivo) which showed a significant antioxidant, analgesic and antirheumatic effect for 4-hydroxy-2-methyl-N-(2-thiazole)-2H-1,2-benzothiazine-3-carboxamide-1,1-dioxide and its Cu(II) complex, [Cu(EX15)(OAc)(H2O)2]. (doi: 10.5562/cca1802

Simultaneous determination of Simvastatin and Sitagliptin in tablets by new univariate spectrophotometric and multivariate factor based methods

Five simple, sensitive and precise spectrophotometric and chemometric methods were used for simultaneous determination of Simvastatin (SM) and Sitagliptin (SIT) in their pure powdered forms and in the tablets. The proposed methods are the extended ratio subtraction method (EXRSM), ratio difference method (RDSM), mean centering of ratio spectra method (MCR) and chemometric methods, namely principal component regression (PCR) and partial least squares (PLS). In EXRSM; SM was determined at 237.5 nm, while SIT was determined at 267 nm, in RDSM; the difference in amplitudes at 237.5 and 245.5 nm was used for SM and 263.5 and 248.0 nm for SIT, while in MCR; SM and SIT were determined at 239.0 and 273.0 nm, respectively. PCR and PLS are factor based multivariate methods which utilize the whole spectra of SM and SIT. The developed methods were successfully applied for the determination of the studied drugs in their bulk powder, laboratory prepared mixtures and in tablets. All validation parameters of the developed methods were determined. The obtained results were statistically compared with each other along with a reported method