“It is my life”: A Psychoanalytical and an Existentialist Study of People of Suicidal Tendencies in Modern and Contemporary American Suicide Drama

This study presents a psychoanalytical and an existentialist investigation into people of suicidal tendencies in modern and contemporary American drama in the elated hope to probe deeper into the minds of such characters and reveal the causes behind developing such suicidal ideation, attempted suicides and completed suicides. Before committing or attempting to commit suicide characters of suicidal tendencies must have experienced many ordeals in their lives that have made them want to commit suicide. They feel or must have felt overloaded by the miserable conditions they find themselves entrapped in. Their suicidality is the culmination of long years of pent up frustration, hopelessness, powerlessness and helpless endurance. For them resorting to suicide seems inescapable to relieve them of the pain of daily living.Keywords: Suicide; Suicidality; Causes; Psychoanalysis; Tendencies; American; Dram

Predictors of the Late Renal Outcome after Posterior Urethral Valves Ablation in a Developing Country: Long Term Study

Introduction: Posterior urethral valves are the commonest form of obstructive uropathy in pediatrics and a common cause of chronic kidney disease (CKD) during childhood with estimated renal failure rate of 25-40%. This study aims at evaluating long term changes in kidney and bladder functions of children with posterior urethral valves after ablation, and at assessing predictors of late renal outcome, considering challenges in Egypt as a developing country.   Materials and Methods: A retrospective study of 30 surgically managed  PUVs patients who attended at Alexandria University Children’s Hospital for follow up. Patients underwent surgery between 2005 and 2016. Mean postoperative follow up period was 6.7±3.8 years (range 3.1 to 14.6 years). Data collected included age at presentation, clinical presentation, serum creatinine (initial, nadir, and last follow up), eGFR at last follow up, renal ultrasound (initial, and last follow up), voiding cystourethrogram (initial, and last follow up), and urodynamic studies at last follow up.   Results: Thirty patients underwent PUVs ablation at a median age of 9 months. Ten (33.3%) patients were diagnosed antenatally. At the last follow up visit, 14 (46.7%) patients had moderate-severe CKD. Twenty-five (83.3%) patients had abnormalities in their urodynamic studies. Univariate analysis showed the need for re-ablation, use of anti-cholinergics, high initial serum creatinine, high nadir creatinine, presence of VUR, history of febrile UTIs and presence of proteinuria were significantly associated with low eGFR. Multivariate analysis showed that high nadir creatinine and presence of VUR were independent factors associated with lower e-GFR at last follow-up. Antenatal diagnosis was significantly associated with better e-GFR. Conculsion: Nadir creatinine and vesicoureteral reflux have high prognostic value for late renal functions, and antenatal diagnosis is associated with better renal functions in patients with posterior urethral valves. Increasing family awareness, antenatal care facilities,and referal to tertiary care centers are priorities for promoting the antenatal diagnosis and management in developing countries.Facilities and training for prenatal intervention should be encouraged

SIMULTANEOUS EXTRACTION AND RAPID HPLC BASED QUANTIFICATION OF CROCIN AND SAFRANAL IN SAFFRON (CROCUS SATIVUS L.)

Objective: Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is one of the most valuable crops with high medicinal values used in many diseases. The aim of the study was to establish the reliability and rapid HPLC method for analysis of crocin and safranal concentration present in stigmata of saffron in the market as well as field grown samples.Methods: Field grown and market stigmata of saffron were used for extraction of crocin and safranal. The linear dynamic ranges were established after validating the robustness of critical method parameters. The Agilent1260-Infinity Quaternary LC system was used for the preparation of calibration standards and quantification of crocin and safranal in C. sativus stigmata.Results: A good linearity was achieved in the range of 10-30 µg for each compound with the determination coefficient (R2). The calibration curves revealed linear regression (r. 0.997) for this rapid HPLC method and limit of quantifications (LOQs) were achieved in the range of 3.4 µg/ml for crocin and 10.2 µg/ml for safranal. The limit of detection (LODs) for all standards was ≤4.2 µg/ml. The range of crocin content (10.43-16.32 mg/g) and safranal (5.19-5.21 mg/g) was estimated in saffron samples.Conclusion: This method may serve the purpose of accurate quantification of crocin and safranal present in the stigmata of the plant in a quick time period.Keywords: Saffron, Crocin, Safranal, Extraction, Quantification, HPL

Diagnostic importance of platelet parameters in patients with acute coronary syndrome admitted to a tertiary care hospital in southwest region, Saudi Arabia

AbstractObjectiveIdentifying risk factors for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is important for both diagnostic and prognostic purposes. Abnormal platelet parameters, mainly platelet count (PC), mean platelet volume (MPV) and platelet distribution width (PDW) are thought to be among these risk factors. In this study, the associations between PC, MPV and PDW and ACS were investigated in patients admitted to the tertiary care hospital in the south west region of Saudi Arabia.Materials and methodsA retrospective cohort of 212 patients with the diagnosis of ACS admitted to Aseer Central Hospital during the period extending from February 1, 2008 to October 31, 2008 were included. The control group consisted of 49 matched subjects who were admitted for chest pain investigation and subsequently found to be non-cardiac chest pain after performing relevant investigations. Blood samples were taken at the time of admission for platelet parameters. Statistical analysis was made using SPSS software and P-values were considered significant if <0.05.ResultsA total of 212 patients with acute coronary syndrome (80 patients with MI and 132 patients with UA) and 49 matched controls were studied. The PC was not statistically different among the three groups (283.3±94.8×109L−1 for MI cases, 262±60.8×109L−1 for UA cases and 275.8±58.9×109L−1 for controls). The MPV was significantly larger in MI cases compared to controls (8.99±1.5fl vs. 8.38±0.51fl, respectively, P<0.009), similarly, the MPV was significantly larger in UA cases compared to controls (9.23±1.19fl vs. 8.38±0.51fl, respectively, P<0.001). The PDW was significantly higher in MI cases compared to controls (15.88±1.5fl vs. 11.96±1.8fl, respectively, P<0.001), similarly, the PDW as also significantly larger in UA cases compared to controls (18.1±18fl vs. 11.96±1.8fl, respectively, P<0.019).ConclusionPlatelet parameters mainly MPV and PDW are readily available and relatively simple and inexpensive laboratory tests which we detected to be significantly raised in patients who have suffered an acute coronary syndrome compared with controls

Effects of salicylic acid elicitor and potassium fertilizer as foliar spray on canola production in the reclaimed land in Ismailia governorate, Egypt

A field experiment was conducted at the farm of Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Ismailia Governorate, Egypt, during 2013/’14 and 2014/’15 seasons, to determine the effects of salicylic acid elicitor (SA) and potassium fertilizer (K) as foliar spray on canola production in the reclaimed land. Canola plants were sprayed with three rates of K and SA separately and together. The concentrations of SA with a surfactant triton 0.1% and concentrations of K sprayed after 30 days of sowing by one week interval for three times using hydraulic sprayer. Results indicated that K and SA provided good nutrition and resistance for pathogens, enhanced plant height (cm), number of branches/ plant, fruiting zone (cm), seed yield/ plant (g), seed yield/ fed and oil percentage of canola cultivar (Serw 4) in the reclaimed land. K and SA separately or in combination at the rate of (6.0 cm-1 + 300 mg-1 SA) provided the best nutrition for enhancing resistance of plants against biotic and a biotic factors, consequently, enhancing vegetative growth and yield production during seasons of study 2013/’14 and 2014/’15

Insulin Resistance in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C Infection

Abstract: Chronic HCV infection has emerged as a complex multifaceted disease with manifestations extending beyond the liver. Hepatic steatosis, insulin resistance (IR) and type II diabetes have been observed to occur more frequently in association with HCV infection than other chronic inflammatory liver disease. Insulin resistance is more often seen in hepatitis C than in other liver disease, including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Insulin resistance (IR) promotes liver fibrosis as hyperinsulinemia per se stimulates the proliferation of stellate cells enhancing the secretion of extracellular matrix. Moreover, hyperinsulinemia stimulate the expression of connective tissue growth factor. On the other hand, HCV is directly associated with IR in a dose-dependent manner as viral eradication after antiviral treatment may lead to an improvement of insulin resistance. The aim of this work is to study the relation between patients with CHC infection and insulin resistance. The study was conducted on 50 non diabetic patients with CHC and 10 age, sex, BMI matched group as a control. Complete history taking and clinical examination specially to examination of blood pressure, jaundice vascular spiders, liver flaps BMI, acanthosis nigricans, clinically detectable organomegaly or ascites, laboratory investigations including fasting serum glucose, fasting insulin, AST, AIT, Tbil and PT. Results showed that the means of fasting serum insulin, fasting serum glucose, serum AIT and AST were statistically higher in patients with HCV compared to the control. HOMA IR was found to be higher in patients with HCV than control with value of 4.9+1.6 and 0.99+0.28 respectively. HOMA is founded to be statistically related to BMI and serum. glucose and nearly significant to HCV (correlation coefficient 0.23 p-value 0.09). HCV was found to be significantly related to serum glucose, and HOMA. Linear regression analysis revealed that BMI and HCV infection were significant predictors for high HOMA level P 0.001, R seg : 0.617 which means that the regression model is significant and could explain 61.7% of change in HOMA level. In conclusion insulin resistance is common in patients with HCV. Recommendation monitoring and follow-up of serum glucose is important in euglycemic CHC patients. Study of vascular risk in CHC patients with metabolic IR is important and needed to be clarified