Diverse Glycosides from Gardenia latifolia with Antiviral Activity and Chemosystematic Significance

Several influenza pandemics have impacted our life, each with variable prevalence and severity. In a search for natural antivirals, further phytochemical investigation of Gardenia latifolia Aiton, Rubiaceae, was conducted. As a result, five structurally diverse glycosides were isolated, offering valuable chemotaxonomic data. Using the crystal violet technique, three isolates, canthoside C, (6R,7S,8S)-7α-[(β-d-glucopyranosyl) oxy] lyoniresinol, and ecdysanrosin A, were evaluated for their anti-influenza A (H1N1) activities. Based on previously reported anti-inflammatory activity of the guaiane class, we investigated the inhibitory effect of (1R,7R,8S,10R)-7,8,11-trihydroxy-guai-4-ene-3-one 8-O-β-d-glucopyranoside, a rare guaiane sesquiterpene glucoside, on inducible nitric oxide (NO) production by Griess assay. Regarding antiviral assay, canthoside C was the most active. It considerably inhibited H1N1 infectivity at an IC50 value of 10.93 µg/ml, showing a selectivity index (SI) of 12.88, compared with acyclovir as a standard. Besides, ecdysanrosin A displayed a moderate selective antiviral activity with an IC50 value of 28.03 µg/ml. Considering their low cytotoxicity on the host cells, canthoside C and ecdysanrosin A have additional merit as potential antiviral agents. Despite the claimed anti-inflammatory activity of guaianes, (1R,7R,8S,10R)-7,8,11-trihydroxy-guai-4-ene-3-one 8-O-β-d-glucopyranoside showed a limited anti-inflammatory activity. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Predictors of contractile recovery after successful primary percutaneous coronary intervention

Background: Accurate diagnosis, characterization, and quantification of myocardial infarction (MI) are essential to assess the impact of therapy and to aid in predicting prognosis of patients with ischaemic heart disease.Objective: This study aimed to define different parameters regarding prediction of myocardial functional recovery following successful reperfusion of acute ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).Patients and methods: This prospective study was carried out in Zagazig University and National Heart Institute (NHI) of Egypt during the period from June 2020 to June 2021. The study included 48 patients admitted with first acute STEMI. All patients were subjected to demographic data taking, electrocardiography and echocardiography examination (two examinations were done, the first was immediately after reperfusion and the second was 3 months from primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).Results: There was no statistically significant difference between demographic data and risk factors except smoking habit. Regarding laboratory findings there were significant lower troponin value, peak CKMB value compared to patients had remolding (p=0.0001, p=0.027 respectively). Regarding ECG parameters, there was no statistical significant difference between the study groups regarding sum ST elevation and MI territory (p value > 0.05), but there was highly statistically significant difference between the study groups regarding 90 min ST resolution among contractile recovery (group I) p=0.0001.Conclusions: In this study patients affected by AMI with ST segment elevation and treated by primary PCI showed contractile recovery in 60.4% of the patients, while the remodeling of the LV has been observed in 39.6%

A hidden cause of infertility in hypothyroid patients

Methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene mutations could be the cause of infertility in hypothyroid patients. Hence, it is worthy to screen for MTHFR gene mutations in infertile hypothyroid females and their partners if infertility persists after optimizing thyroid function

A prospective, randomized therapeutic trial for schistosomal specific nephropathy

A prospective, randomized therapeutic trial for schistosomal specific nephropathy. In this work 26 patients with schistosomal specific nephropathy were randomly distributed among three groups. Group I cases were given anti-schistosomal drugs (oxamniquine and praziquantel), group II cases were given anti-schistosomal drugs plus prednisolone, and group III cases were given anti-schistosomal drugs plus cyclosporine. The schistosomal specificity of kidney lesions was assessed by detecting the schistosomal specific antigens (CAA and CCA) and antibodies deposited in the renal glomeruli of these patients. Patients who had another etiologic cause which may explain their kidney disease were not admitted to this study. After initiation of the treatment, patients were followed up every other week in the outpatient clinic for 12 months. Follow-up showed complete remission of proteinuria in two cases in group II (duration of remission was 4 and 8 months) and in one case in group III (duration of remission was 6 months) but in none in group I. Partial remission was observed in one case in group I, in three cases in group II and in one case in group HI. During the observation period, improvement in kidney function was observed in two cases in group II but deterioration in kidney function was observed in one case in group I and in one other case in group III. We conclude that in patients with schistosomal nephropathy, none of the tried therapeutic regimens produce regression of the disease if given to patients with established disease

Jamming Impact on the Performance of MIMO Space Time Block Coding Systems over Multi-path Fading Channel

The combined effect of broad/partial band jamming on the analysis performance of multi-input/multi-output (MIMO) space time block coding (STBC) systems over Rayleigh fading channel is often neglected in the literature. To this end, this paper investigates the impact of different kinds of jamming on the performance of MIMO STBC systems. Closed form expressions for the bit error probability (BEP) of the performance of binary phase shift keying (BPSK) STBC communication system over Rayleigh fading channel under the impact of both partial band and broad-band jamming for different number of transmitting and receiving antennas are presented. Computer simulations are provided to validate the theoretical developments. It has been found that the performance of such systems is severely deteriorated in the presence of strong jamming power (with a signal to jamming power ratio less than − 10dB) and the worst scenario occurs in the presence of broad-band jamming

Impact of Denial-of-Service Attack on Directional Compact Geographic Forwarding Routing Protocol in Wireless Sensor Networks

يَعِدُ بروتوكول التوجيه، الموجه الجغرافي المضغوط (DCGF) بتوليد الحد الأدنى من النفقات العامة من خلال استخدام هوائي ذكي وتجميع واعٍ لجودة الخدمة (QoS). ومع ذلك، تم اختبار DCGF فقط في سيناريو خالٍ من الهجمات دون إشراك عناصر الأمان.  لذلك، تم إجراء استقصاء لفحص خوارزمية بروتوكول التوجيه فيما إذا كانت آمنة ضد الشبكات القائمة على الهجوم بوجود هجوم رفض الخدمة (DoS).  تم إجراء هذا التحليل على هجوم DoS باستخدام مهاجم واحد مثالي، A1، للتحقيق في تأثير هجوم DoS على DCGF في خط اتصال.  أظهرت الدراسة أن   DCGF لا يعمل بكفاءة من حيث نسبة تسليم الحزم واستهلاك الطاقة حتى على مهاجم واحد.Directional Compact Geographic Forwarding (DCGF) routing protocol promises a minimal overhead generation by utilizing a smart antenna and Quality of Service (QoS) aware aggregation. However, DCGF was tested only in the attack-free scenario without involving the security elements. Therefore, an investigation was conducted to examine the routing protocol algorithm whether it is secure against attack-based networks in the presence of Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack. This analysis on DoS attack was carried out using a single optimal attacker, A1, to investigate the impact of DoS attack on DCGF in a communication link. The study showed that DCGF does not perform efficiently in terms of packet delivery ratio and energy consumption even on a single attacker

Promising selective MAO-B inhibition by sesamin, a lignan from Zanthoxylum flavum stems

© 2020 The Author(s) Monoamine oxidase inhibition is an important therapeutic approach for various neurodegenerative disorders. Reversible MAO inhibitors selectively targeting only one isoform possess substantial merit in terms of safety, efficacy, and side effect profile. This study aimed to isolate the secondary metabolites of Zanthoxylum flavum stems and evaluate their recombinant human MAO inhibition, antimicrobial, and antiprotozoal activities. As a result, fourteen compounds were isolated and identified (nine of them were reported from Z. flavum for the first time). Compound 3 (sesamin) exhibited potent selective MAO-B inhibition (IC50 value of 1.45 ± 0.05 µM) which reported herein for the first time. Compound 2 showed selective MAO-A inhibition activity, compound 5 exhibited good trypanocidal activity, and compound 7 displayed moderate antibacterial activity. The promising MAO-B inhibitory activity of sesamin provoked us to further explore the kinetic properties, the binding mode, and the underlying mechanism of MAO-B inhibition by this lignan. This detailed investigation substantiated a reversible binding and mixed MAO-B catalytic function inhibition via sesamin (Ki: 0.473 ± 0.076 μM). Selectivity and reversibility of sesamin on MAO-B provide exciting prerequisites for further in vivo investigation to confirm its therapeutic potentiality

BACTEC MGIT 960 TM system for screening of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex among cattle

Bovine tuberculosis remains a disease of economic and public health importance in developing countries. The largest number of new cases of tuberculosis usually occurs in South-East Asia region and Africa. This study was aimed to evaluate the recent technique (BACTEC MGIT 960 TM system) for screening of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex among cattle in Egypt. From the 1180 cattle examined in three different Governorates (El-Sharkia, El-Gharbia and El-Monefeia) by single intradermal tuberculin test, 29 animals (2.46%) were positive reactors. The post mortem examination of the positive reactors showed that 22 animals (75.9%) had visible lesions [respiratory form (31.0%), digestive form (13.8%), mixed form (20.7%) and generalized form (10.3%)], while seven (24.1%) did not show visible lesions. The results of isolation and identification using conventional culture method (Lowenstein- Jensen medium) were 22 mycobacterial isolates (75.9%), 20 (68.97%) Mycobacterium bovis and 2 (6.9%) unidentified slow growth. The BACTEC MGIT 960 TM system was used for recovery of Mycobacteria and compared with conventional culture method (Lowenstein-Jensen medium). The recovery rate of BACTEC MGIT 960 TM system was 82.8%, while that of Lowenstein-Jensen medium was 75.9%. The mean time for detection of Mycobacteria was 17.8 ± 0.9 days and 46.5 ± 0.4 days for BACTEC MGIT 960 TM system and Lowenstein-Jensen medium, respectively while the contamination rate with BACTEC MGIT 960 TM system was 6.9% and 10.3% in Lowenstein-Jensen medium.Key words: Bovine tuberculosis, tuberculin test, Lowenstein-Jensen medium, BACTEC system