ACUTE TOXICITY OF DIFFERENT SIZES OF SILVER NANOPARTICLES INTRAPERITONALLY INJECTED IN BALB/C MICE USING TWO TOXICOLOGICAL METHODS

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the acute toxicity of intraperitoneally administrated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with different particle sizes in BALB/c mice.Methods: Citrate-capped AgNPs were prepared by citrate reduction method and isolated into small particles (average size 20 nm) and large particles (average size 50 nm). The median lethal dose (LD50) of 20 nm and 50 nm AgNPs was estimated using two toxicological methods, classical Dixon's up-and-down method and AOT425statPgm method for up-and-down procedure.Results: The LD50 was evaluated at the dosage level of 169 and 213.8 mg/kg, respectively for 20 nm AgNPs and at the dosage level of 354 and 391.5 mg/kg, respectively for 50 nm AgNPs. The results showed that LD50 obtained by the AOT425statPgm method was in accord with that of the Dixon's method and no significant differences between them (P = 0.06). The size 20 nm AgNPs were more toxic than the size 50 nm AgNPs. The behavioural responses and deviations were dose dependent, increasing by increasing the dose. The anatomical examinations showed that AgNPs were mainly accumulated in liver and spleen of dosed mice.Conclusion: The results suggested that the AOT425statPgm method was an efficient tool and a good alternative method for use in future acute toxicity studies.Â

Central Venous Oxygen Saturation as a Predictor of the Outcome of Weaning From Mechanical Ventilation

Weaning from mechanical ventilation represents a corner stone of management of critically ill patients. Successful weaning represents a great achievement in patient's critical course in the ICU. This makes the process of weaning one of the most difficult steps in ICU care, for those reason, such a study was done to create a new thinking about the predictors that facilitate patient weaning from mechanical ventilator. The aim of this study is to evaluate the central venous saturation as a predictor of the outcome of weaning from mechanical ventilation. Cohort, unicentric, clinical study research design was utilized in the current study. Sample consists of one hundred and twenty patients over a one year period, all patients passed the first SBT (spontaneous breathing trial) and weaned successfully from mechanical ventilation were extubated after undergoing a two-step weaning protocol (measurements of predictors followed by a T-tube trial). Extubation failure was defined as the need of re-intubation within 48 hrs. The weaning protocol evaluated hemodynamic, ventilation parameters, arterial and venous gases during mechanical ventilation (Immediately before T-tube trial), and at the 30th min of spontaneous breathing trial. Findings of this study show that re-intubation rate was 30%. Analysis by logistic regression revealed that central venous saturation was the only variable able to discriminate outcome of extubation. Reduction of central venous saturation by >5% was an independent predictor of re-intubation, with odds ratio of 52.6 (95% confidence interval =16.34–169.42), a sensitivity of 87%, and a specificity of 90%. Reduction of central venous saturation during spontaneous breathing trial was associated with extubation failure and could reflect the increase of respiratory muscles oxygen consumption. Results of the present study indicated that central venous saturation was an early and independent predictor of extubation failure and may be a valuable accurate parameter to be included in weaning protocols. Keywords: Central Venous Saturation - Mechanical Ventilation - Extubation

Correlation of Vapor-Liquid Equilibrium for non ideal systems using infinite pressure mixing rules

Isothermal vapor-liquid equilibrium data of five groups, which are polar-polar at low and high pressure, polar-non polar at low and high pressure, and non polar-non polar at high pressure were investigated. Each group of these contains four binary mixtures with 334 overall data points. By using PRSV-EOS with WS and HVOS mixing rules at infinite pressure where   G obtained by adopting UNIQUAC and Wilson models. These mixing rules have many advantages and can handle all the systems with good accuracy. Noting that WS mixin  rules have one adjustable parameter and HVOS mixing rules without adjustable parameter. Many efforts to modify the results were made. The best modification which gives the more accurate results for all groups is the introduction of a new constant value „C‟ which is specified for each system in HVOS mixing rules with quadratic mixing rules with one adjustable parameter hij

Stability Indicating Spectrophotometric Methods Determination of Nicardipine in the Presence of its Alkaline Induced Degradation Products

Objective: Derivative, ratio spectra derivative and ratio difference spectrophotometric methods were developed and validated for simultaneous determination of Nicardipine (NIC) in the presence of its alkaline induced degradation products. Methods: In these methods the overlapped spectra of NIC and its alkaline induced degradation products were well resolved by measuring the amplitudes of first derivative (D1) spectra and the second derivative (D2) at 382.3 and 239 nm, respectively. NIC was determined by ratio spectra derivative by measuring the amplitude at 244 nm. The ratio difference spectrophotometric method was developed in which the difference between amplitudes at 237.5 nm and 260 nm of the ratio spectra were recorded. The linearity range for the applied methods was 2-18 μg/ml.Results: All the developed methods were validated according to ICH Guidelines, NIC was determined with acceptable accuracy and precision.Conclusion: These methods were suitable as stability indicating methods for the determination of NIC in the presence of its alkaline induced degradation products either in bulk powder or in a pharmaceutical formulation. Statistical analysis of the results with those obtained by applying a reported method has been carried out revealing high accuracy and good precision.Keywords: Nicardipine, Spectrophotometry, Pharmaceutical preparations, Stability indicating, derivative, ratio derivative and ratio differenc

Mesenchymal and stemness transdifferentiation via in-vitro infection of T24 cell line with Klebsiella pneumoniae

أثبتت الدراسات الحديثة أن وجود البكتيريا داخل أنسجة الورم له أثرعلى بيئة الورم وبالتالي يؤثرفى سلوك السرطان وتطوره واستجابة الخلايا  للعلاج. فى هذا البحث تم دراسة التحول التمايزى لخلايا سرطان المثانة الظاهرية الى خلايا ميزنكيمية و خلايا جذعية نتيجة لاحداث العدوى البكتيرية. وذلك من خلال إحداث عدوى لسلالة خلايا سرطان المثانة البولية (T24) ببكتيريا الكلبسيلا الرئوية لمدة يومين وأربعة أيام. تم قياس التعبير الجينى باستخدام جهاز البلمرة المتسلسل.وأظهرت النتائج زيادة في صفات الخلايا الميزنكيمية ؛ فزاد التعبير الجينى لجين الفيمنتين ، ونقص التعبيرالجينى للسيتوكيراتين، وعزز تحليل كيمياء الهيستولوجية المناعية هذه النتيجة. علاوة على ذلك، زاد التعبيرالجينى للجينات الدالة على الخلايا الجذعية. العدوى البكتيرية للخلايا السرطانية قد تسبب التمايز الخلوى، مما قد يؤدى الى تحسن قدرة الخلايا السرطانية على الانتشار والتجدد الذاتي. وبالتالي، قد تساهم البكتيريا في تطور سرطان المثانة وإنتشاره.Klebsiella pneumoniae has been found in the urinary tract of some bladder cancer patients. Bacterial presence within tumor tissue may affect the tumor-microenvironment and consequently influence cancer behavior, development, and treatment response. This study investigated mesenchymal and stemness transdifferentiation of bladder cancer cell line due to environmental stress of K. pneumoniae. Cultures of urothelial bladder cancer cell line (T24) were infected with K. pneumoniae with different multiplicity of infection (MOI) for two and four days. Transdifferentiation-associated features were morphologically assessed. Moreover, transdifferentiation markers were estimated using Q-PCR and immunohistochemistry. Q-PCR data showed an increase in mesenchymal transdifferentiation traits; vimentin expression was upregulated, and cytokeratin19 expression downregulated significantly (P<0.001) compared with controls, which were emphasized by immunohistochemistry results. Moreover, stemness transdifferentiation markers expression increased significantly (P<0.001). The heterogeneous tumor cell population may be altered by bacterial infection, which improves cancer cells' migration and self-renewal ability. Thus, bacteria may be engaged in cancer progression and metastases.

Degree of the Requirements for Improving Human Capital Management in Arab Universities as a Gateway to Achieving Sustainable Development

The paper identifies the degree of requirements for improving human capital management in Arab universities as a gateway to achieve sustainable development from the perspective of faculty members according to gender, faculty, supervising authority, academic rank, and number of years of experience. The descriptive approach is used to achieve the research objectives. The research sample consists of (526) faculty members randomly selected. The questionnaire is used as a research instrument. The results indicate that the research sample’s approval of the requirements for improving human capital management in Arab universities as a gateway to achieving sustainable development is high with a mean value of (3.99), where the career development domain is the highest with a mean value of (4.02) and a high degree, while rewards and incentives domain is the lowest with a mean value of (3.96) and a high degree. The findings also show statistically significant differences in the requirements for improving human capital management due to gender, supervisory authority, and academic rank in favor of the category of female, public university, associate professor, and professor, respectively. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate no statistically significant differences due to the variables of faculty and number of years of experience. Given the results, the research recommends developing a strategy and an advanced plan for the career and professional development of faculty members and attracting distinguished and talented scholars, academics, and researchers to achieve its vision as a distinguished, innovative, and internationally competitive organization

Proposed Mechanisms for Enhancing Social Capital Management in Arab Universities

The paper develops proposed mechanisms to enhance social capital management in Arab universities. The descriptive approach is used to achieve the research objectives. The research sample consists of 611 faculty members from Arab universities randomly selected to answer the questionnaire on the reality of social capital in Arab universities. The research instrument consists of two questionnaires consisting of 48 items to measure social capital management mechanisms in Arab universities. The findings indicate that the degree of reality of social capital in Arab universities is medium with a mean of (3.47). The results also show that their approval regarding the suggested proposals is high, with a mean score of (4.87). Given the previous findings, the research recommends that the university should establish stable partnership networks with national and international universities in common areas, strengthen horizontal organization to empower faculties and scientific departments, have a common vision to generate a collective agreement among all beneficiaries to develop university work, consolidating teamwork skills and values, and provide contacts who carry important information for the professional life of faculty members

Molecular diagnosis in recessive pediatric neurogenetic disease can help reduce disease recurrence in families.

BackgroundThe causes for thousands of individually rare recessive diseases have been discovered since the adoption of next generation sequencing (NGS). Following the molecular diagnosis in older children in a family, parents could use this information to opt for fetal genotyping in subsequent pregnancies, which could inform decisions about elective termination of pregnancy. The use of NGS diagnostic sequencing in families has not been demonstrated to yield benefit in subsequent pregnancies to reduce recurrence. Here we evaluated whether genetic diagnosis in older children in families supports reduction in recurrence of recessive neurogenetic disease.MethodsRetrospective study involving families with a child with a recessive pediatric brain disease (rPBD) that underwent NGS-based molecular diagnosis. Prenatal molecular testing was offered to couples in which a molecular diagnosis was made, to help couples seeking to prevent recurrence. With this information, families made decisions about elective termination. Pregnancies that were carried to term were assessed for the health of child and mother, and compared with historic recurrence risk of recessive disease.ResultsBetween 2010 and 2016, 1172 families presented with a child a likely rPBD, 526 families received a molecular diagnosis, 91 families returned to the clinic with 101 subsequent pregnancies, and 84 opted for fetal genotyping. Sixty tested negative for recurrence for the biallelic mutation in the fetus, and all, except for one spontaneous abortion, carried to term, and were unaffected at follow-up. Of 24 that genotyped positive for the biallelic mutation, 16 were electively terminated, and 8 were carried to term and showed features of disease similar to that of the older affected sibling(s). Among the 101 pregnancies, disease recurrence in living offspring deviated from the expected 25% to the observed 12% ([95% CI 0·04 to 0·20], p = 0·011).ConclusionsMolecular diagnosis in an older child, coupled with prenatal fetal genotyping in subsequent pregnancies and genetic counselling, allows families to make informed decisions to reduce recessive neurogenetic disease recurrence

Upcycling Used Garments to Recreate Sustainable Fashion Designs Treated by Soil Release Finishing

Upcycled garments can have that independent appeal. No matter whom the designer is or what styling options designers choose, these upcycled fashion garments and accessories are by nature one-of-a kind. Finishing of textile fabric is carried out to increase attractiveness and/or serviceability of the fabric. Different finishing treatments are available to get various effects, which add value to the basic textile material, which can be better solutions for sustainable fashion. The sustainable fashion was achieved to a certain extent by using available materials to its ultimate USAge, using waste material, recycling of the products, planning second life for the fashion product, slowing down the fashion etc. The main idea to do so is to develop more sustainable and responsible designs. This paper is not just about recycled clothes but about fashion, recycling, upcycling, adding value and uniqueness by the resulting one-of-a-kind design available for women to purchase in any retail store. Create nine designs using waste garments treated by soil release finishing agent as a source of sustainable fashionable designs

Simvastatin Ameliorates Diabetic Cardiomyopathy by Attenuating Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in Rats

Simvastatin is a lipid-lowering agent used to treat hypercholesterolemia and to reduce the risk of heart disease. This study scrutinized the beneficial effects of simvastatin on experimental diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM), pointing to the role of hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress and inflammation. Diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin and both control and diabetic rats received simvastatin for 90 days. Diabetic rats showed significant cardiac hypertrophy, body weight loss, hyperglycemia, and hyperlipidemia. Serum creatine kinase MB (CK-MB) and troponin I showed a significant increase in diabetic rats. Simvastatin significantly improved body weight, attenuated hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia, and ameliorated CK-MB and troponin I. Simvastatin prevented histological alterations and deposition of collagen in the heart of diabetic animals. Lipid peroxidation and nitric oxide were increased in the heart of diabetic rats whereas antioxidant defenses were decreased. These alterations were significantly reversed by simvastatin. In addition, simvastatin decreased serum inflammatory mediators and expression of NF-κB in the diabetic heart. Cardiac caspase-3 was increased in the diabetic heart and decreased following treatment with simvastatin. In conclusion, our results suggest that simvastatin alleviates DCM by attenuating hyperglycemia /hyperlipidemia-induced oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis