Effect of modified constrained induced movement therapy on improving arm function in children with obstetric brachial plexus injury

AbstractMany children who sustain birth injuries to the brachial plexus suffer significant functional limitations due to various sequelae affecting the shoulder and elbow or forearm. The aim of this study was to test the feasibility of a treatment program based on the elements of the modified constraint induced movement therapy (MCIMT) to encourage use of the affected arm of a child with obstetric brachial plexus injury (OBPI). Thirty children with OBPI from both sexes ranging in age from three to five years were assigned into two groups of equal number. The control group (group A) who received the exercise program which focused on improving the arm function as well as shoulder abduction and external rotation and the study group (group B) received MCIMT in addition to the same exercise program given to the control group. The arm function was evaluated by the Mallet score system, while active abduction and external rotation range of motion were measured by a standard universal goniometer. The results revealed no significant difference when comparing the pretreatment mean values of the two groups (study and control), while a significant improvement was observed in measuring variables of the two groups when comparing their pre and post treatment mean values. A significant difference was also observed when comparing the post treatment results of the two groups in favor of the study group (group B). The modified constraint movement therapy is an effective method on improving the arm function in children with OBPI

Effect of Protocol of Care on Clinical Outcomes of Patients with Chest Tube Post Cardiothoracic Surgery

Cardiothoracic surgery is a surgical specialty, which deals with the diagnosis and management of surgical conditions of the heart, lungs and esophagus (1) .Chest tube (CT) is an invasive procedure which inserted post cardiothoracic surgery to facilitate lung expansion and allowing  the drainage of fluids from the chest cavity. Aim: this study aimed to evaluate the effect of protocol of care on clinical outcomes of patients with chest tube post cardiothoracic surgery. Materials and method a quasi-experimental research design was conducted at Cardiothoracic Surgery Department at Tanta University hospital. A purposive sample of 80 adult patients with chest tube based on statistical power analysis were selected and divided into two equal group 40 patients in each group as follows: Group 1: (Study group): consist of 40 adult patients were received protocol of care implemented by the researcher. Group 2: (Control group): consists of 40 adult patients who were received routine nursing care by hospital nursing staff. Three Tools were used to collect the data .Tool (I) Biosocio-demographic characteristics. Tool (II) Chest tube assessment, Tool (III) Pain assessment. Results:- The mean duration of ICU stay in control group (6.77) was higher than in the study group (4.97) days, more than half (52.6%)of the patients in the control group at the 7th day of the study had elevated body temperature comparing to none  in the study group, nearly two third (62.5%) of patients has  a positive culture swab in the control group at the  7th day of the study group ,compared to about  third(35%) of patients in the study group. More than half of patients (52.5%) in the control group had a severe pain during removal of chest tube compared to small percentage (5.0%) in the study group. Conclusions and recommendations:-Protocol of nursing care which was composed of deep breathing and coughing   exercises, sterile technique during chest tube dressing, and cold application, are recommended for all cardiothoracic surgical patients with chest tube. Keywords: Protocol of Care, Clinical Outcomes, Cardiothorathic Surger

Protective Effect of DPPD on Mercury Chloride-Induced Hepatorenal Toxicity in Rats

Mercury is a global environmental pollutant, accumulating mainly in the kidney and liver inducing hepatorenal toxicity, oxidative stress, and tissue damage. Oxidative stress is caused by an imbalance between free radicals’ production and cellular antioxidant defense systems. In the present study, we investigated the effect of N N′-diphenyl-1, 4-phenylenediamine (DPPD) antioxidant activity against mercury chloride- (HgCl2-) induced renal and hepatic toxicity. Thirty adult female Sprague Dawley rats were divided into three equal groups: the first group was injected with saline only and served as a control, the second group was injected with HgCl2, and the third group received DPPD + HgCl2 rats injected with HgCl2 without treatment showing a significant increase in alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), urea, creatinine, and uric acids compared to control. Moreover, the second group showed a significant reduction in the activity of the antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH)) in addition to a marked increase in the malondialdehyde (MDA) content, histopathological alterations, collagen deposition, CD8%, CD4%, and TGF-β% in kidney and liver tissues compared with the control group. Treatment with DPPD showed significant recovery (p≤0.001) in all previous parameters and histopathological examination. In conclusion, we suggested that DPPD may have a promising antioxidant capacity, gives it the applicability to be used as a prophylactic agent against mercury-induced hepatorenal cytotoxicity in the future

Assessment of aquifer vulnerability for pollution for middle delta in Egypt using Geographic Information System and DRASTIC technique

Egypt is one of the countries suffering from water poverty, so researches must be increased about groundwater as a clean source of water. Aquifer vulnerability has assessed using the DRASTIC method, based on a Geographic Information System (GIS) to evaluate the relative importance of the model parameters for aquifer vulnerability in middle Delta Gharbiya Governorate (Egypt). An additional objective is to demonstrate the combined use of the DRASTIC with GIS system as an effective method for groundwater pollution vulnerability. The DRASTIC model uses seven hydrological factors (Depth to water, net Recharge, Aquifer media, Soil media, Topography, Impact of the vadose zone, and hydraulic Conductivity) to characterize the hydrogeological setting and evaluate aquifer vulnerability. A DRASTIC vulnerability map, verified by nitrate in groundwater data, shows that the defined areas are compatible with land-use data. It is concluded that these values were reclassified into four classes, low (132–146) 24% , medium (146–159) 30% , high (159–172) 35% , and very high 11%”, of the study area, respectively

Antioxidative Capacity of Liver- and Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Conditioned Media and Their Applicability in Treatment of Type 2 Diabetic Rats

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is mainly characterized by insulin resistance and impaired insulin secretion, which cannot be reversed with existing therapeutic strategies. Using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), cell-based therapy has been demonstrated in displaying therapeutic effects in T2DM for their self-renewable, differentiation potential, and immunosuppressive properties and higher levels of angiogenic factors. Stem cell therapies are complicated and have a serious adverse effect including tumor formation and immunogenicity, while using mesenchymal stem cell-conditioned media (MSC-CM) significantly reduces stem cell risk, maintaining efficacy and showing significantly higher levels of growth factors, cytokines, and angiogenic factors that stimulate angiogenesis and promote fracture healing in diabetes. In the present study, we investigated the therapeutic potential of the liver and adipose MSC-CM in diabetic endothelial dysfunction compared with standard insulin therapy. Fifty adult male Sprague Dawley rats were divided equally into 5 groups as follows: control, diabetic, diabetic+insulin, diabetic+liver MSC-CM, and diabetic+adipose MSC-CM; all treatments continued for 4 weeks. Finally, we observed that liver MSC-CM therapy had the most apparent improvement in levels of blood glucose; HbA1c; AGEs; lipid panel (cholesterol, TG, LDL, HDL, and total lipids); renal function (urea, uric acid, creatinine, and total protein); liver function (AST, ALT, ALP, bilirubin, and albumin); CPK; C-peptide; HO-1; inflammatory markers including IL-6, TNF-α, and CRP; growth factors (liver and serum IGF-1); amylase; histopathological changes; pancreatic cell oxidative stress; and antioxidant markers (MDA, GSH, ROS, CAT, SOD, HO-1, and XO) toward the normal levels compared with insulin and adipose MSCs-CM. Moreover, both the liver and adipose MSC-CM relieved the hyperglycemic status by improving pancreatic islet β cell regeneration, promoting the conversion of alpha cells to beta cells, reducing insulin resistance, and protecting pancreatic tissues against oxidative stress-induced injury as well as possessing the ability to modulate immunity and angiogenesis. These results indicated that MSC-CM infusion has therapeutic effects in T2DM rats and may be a promising novel therapeutic target

New Benzoxazole Derivatives as Antiprotozoal Agents: In Silico Studies, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation

Background. Benzoxazole derivatives have different biological activities. In pursuit of designing novel chemical entities with antiprotozoal and antimicrobial activities, benzoxazolyl aniline was utilized as a privileged scaffold of a series of (3-benzoxazole-2-yl) phenylamine derivatives, 3-benzoxazoloyl acetamide, and butyramide derivatives. Methods. These novel analogs were synthesized in straightforward simple chemistry without any quantitative chromatographic separations in reasonable yields. The biological evaluation of all target compounds as potential antimalarial, antileishmanial, antitrypanosomal, and antimicrobial agents was performed by various well-established cell-based methods. Results. Compounds 6d and 5a showed promising biological screening data. The amidation of 3-benzoxazolyl aniline 1 with the chloroacetyl functional group resulted in a good antimalarial activity and showed moderate inhibitory activities against leishmanial and trypanosomal spp. Moreover, chloroacetyl functionalization of benzoxazolyl aniline serves as a good early goal for constructing and synthesizing new antimicrobial and antiprotozoal agents. The molecular docking study rationalizes the relative inhibitory activity of compound 5a as an antimalarial agent with the deregulation of PfPNP activity which has emerged as a major mechanism of these targets