Bioremoval of chromium from wastewater of tannery factory in Iraq

Bioremoval of chromium from wastewater of tannery factory in Iraq was studied. The bacteria Proteus vulgaris 7E showed an enhanced capability in biosorping chromium when its concentration increased in the solution, reaching a maximum of 476,7 mg/ ml out of 492 mg/ ml under optimum conditions at pH 6 and 50°C at one hour contact time and biomass of 1 mg/ml. The present results showed that dead cells of P. vulgaris 7E biosorbed 87.41 mg/ml of chromium in comparison with91.18 mg/ml of chromium biosorbed by living cells, this indicates the insignificant effect of physiological state of cells. It was found that the above biosorption is physico-chemical process depends upon electrostatic attraction forces. The results has illustrated that the most efficient eluting solution was 0.1M HCL which recovered 85% of biosorbed chromium. P. vulgaris 7E was able to remove completely all chromium from the waste water taken from tannery factory

Evaluation of the Community Cataract Surgical Services of a University Teaching Hospital Using Cataract Surgical Coverage in Nigeria

Background: Cataract is the leading cause of blindness in the world. An efficient and effective cataract surgical service is necessary to reduce the backlog of cataract blindness in the community. This study aims to determine the cataract surgical coverage among individuals aged 50 years and above residing in Esie and Arandun communities. This will serve as a measure of the impact of the cataract intervention programme provided by the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria.Methods: The study was a population-based, cross sectional survey conducted from November to December, 2013. Cataract surgical services are provided by the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria, at Esie and Arandun communities as out-reach centres. Seven hundred and fifty-five individuals aged 50 years and above residing in these communities had basic ocular examination done.Result: Out of the 765 subjects registered, 755(98.7%) were examined. Out of these, 38.4% were males and 61.6% were females. The prevalence of bilateral cataract blindness was 1.6%. The Cataract Surgical Coverage (eyes) at visual acuity < 3/60 for males and females were 52.3% and 51.2% respectively (X2=19.30, p=0.001), while the Cataract Surgical Coverage (person) at visual acuity less < 3/60 for males and females were 80.6% and 68.4% respectively (X2=2.10, p=0.147).Conclusion: The Cataract Surgical Coverage was high with a correspondingly low prevalence of cataract blindness in these communities. The availability of cataract surgical services via out-reach programmes bridges the gap between eye care-givers and the community.Keywords: Cataract Surgical Coverage, Cataract Surgical Services, Community, Evaluatio

Nano-Size Layered Manganese-Calcium Oxide as an Efficient and Biomimetic Catalyst for Water Oxidation Under Acidic Conditions: Comparable To Platinum

Inspired by Nature's catalyst, a nano-size layered manganese-calcium oxide showed a low overvoltage for water oxidation in acidic solutions, which is comparable to platinum.Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences and the National Elite FoundationUS Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Chemical, Geochemical and Biological Sciences DE-FG02-86ER13622, DE-FG0209ER16119Russian Foundation for Basic Research 11-04-01389a, 12-0492101a, 13-04-92711aMolecular and Cell Biology Programs of the Russian Academy of SciencesCenter for Electrochemistr

Performance of Five Species of Phytoseiid Mites (Acari: Phytoseiidae) on Bactrocera zonata Eggs (Diptera: Tephritidae) as a Factitious Food

Development, survival and reproduction of the generalist predatory mites, Amblyseius largoensis (Muma), Neoseiulus barkeri (Hughes), Typhlodromips swirskii (Athias-Henriot), Proprioseiopsis kadii (El-Halawany and Abdel-Samad) and Cydnosus negevi (Swirski and Amitai) were assessed when fed on eggs of Bactrocera zonata (Saunders) (Diptera: Tephritidae) as a factitious food. For N. barkeri and P. kadii, the development was faster, while the reproduction was higher in N. barkeri and A. largoensis than for P. kadii. Survival of immatures of T. swirskii and C. negevi was low on eggs of B. zonata and all failed to develop beyond the protonymphal stage. A total of 35.4, 31.2 and 19.6 eggs per female, respectively, were obtained when N. barkeri, A. largoensis and P. kadii were fed B. zonata eggs. A diet of the peach fruit fly eggs provided the longest female longevity and highest mean total fecundity, which resulted in the highest net reproductive rate (Ro=34.61 and 32.78) and doubling time (DT=1.53 and 1.60) for N. barkeri and A. largoensis, respectively

Induciranje pluripotentnih matičnih stanica upotrebom mRNA: učinak valproične kiseline, 5-azacitidina i askorbinske kiseline

In the bourgeoning fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) technology with gene therapy are promising candidates for alternative stem cell source and cell transplantation. In this study, small molecules as anti-oxidant; ascorbic acid (ASA), histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi); Valproic acid (VPA), and DNA methyltransferase inhibitors (DNMTi); 5-Azacytidine (5-AzaC) were examined during the generation of murine iPSCs using mRNA of Yamanaka factors from mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs). These modulators were selected based on their well-known effect on the epigenetic status and chromatin modification during early reprogramming. iPSC generation was performed by using synthesized mRNAs of Yamanaka factors Oct4, Sox2, c-Myc, and Klf4 (OSCK) as a standard reprogramming strategy. Both morphological changes and the expression level of the pluripotency markers were examined. 5-AzaC with 1 μM concentration has a slightly toxic effect on the cells, affecting its proliferation and growing efficiency. In contrast, the use of VPA or ASA led to a two-fold increase in the number of iPSC colonies. The iPSCs cultured with the addition of VPA or ASA showed a high expression of the tested pluripotency markers, with a significant increase, more than that of the cells cultured with the addition of 5-AzaC. These findings shed light on the role of ASA, VPA, and 5-AzaC during murine iPSCs generation using a mRNA reprogramming strategy.Ubrzani razvoj u područjima tkivnog inženjerstva i regenerativne medicine, potaknuo je tehnologiju pluripotentnih matičnih stanica (iPSCs) koja zajedno s genskom terapijom predstavlja obečavajući izvor matičnih odnosno transplantacijskih stanica. U ovom su radu, za vrijeme stvaranja mišjih iPSC-a upotrebom mRNA Yamanaka faktora od mišjih embrionalnih fibroblasta (MEF), istraženi učinci različitih modulatora: malih molekula kao antioksidansa, askorbinske kiseline (ASA), inhibitora histonske deacetilaze (HDACi), valproične kiseline (VPA), inhibitora DNA metiltransferaze (DNMTi) i 5-azacitidina (5-AzaC). Ovi su modulatori odabrani zbog njihova dobro poznatog učinka na epigenetski status i modifikaciju kromatina za vrijeme ranog reprogramiranja. Stvaranje iPSC-a postignuto je upotrebom sintetiziranih mRNA Yamanaka faktora Oct4, Sox2, c-Myc i Klf4 (OSCK). Istražene su i morfološke promjene i razina ekspresije markera pluripotencije. 5-AzaC s koncentracijom od 1 μM imao je mali toksičan učinak na stanice, utječući na proliferaciju i njihov rast. Nasuprot tome, upotreba VPA-a ili ASA-e dovela je do dvostrukog povećanja broja iPSC kolonija. iPSC kultura s dodatkom VPA-a ili ASA-e pokazala je visoku ekspresiju testiranih markera pluripotencije, sa znakovitim višom razinom u odnosu na stanice kojima je dodan 5-AzaC. Ovi rezultati rasvjetljuju ulogu ASA-e, VPA-a i 5-AzaC-a za vrijeme stvaranja mišjih iPSC-a primjenom strategije reprogramiranja mRNA

Amenability of heap leaching technology on uranium extraction from Gattar and El Missikat area, Eastern Desert, Egypt: A kinetic approach

Studies of uranium heap leaching from different uranium mineralization situated in Eastern Desert of Egypt was investigated via batch experiments, followed by its optimum condition applicationon column percolationtests.The optimum process operating parameters were implemented on large column scale in order to make more condition control and evaluate the time and reagents needed in the large scale. The results show thatleaching efficiency of GIIattained about 78.3% with 34kg/ton acid consumption in a 44 days period, while leaching efficiency of El-Missikat attained about 86.6% with 28kg/ton acid consumption in a 40 days period.Kinetics reaction models of column tests have been investigated to optimize the column leaching behavior. Based on the leaching results of two mineralized samples, the rate of the uranium metal dissolution is controlled by the chemical reaction and the diffusion reaction but diffusion reaction control was more predominate than a chemical reaction control

PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS, ASSESSMENT OF ANTIPROLIFERATIVE AND FREE RADICAL SCAVENGING ACTIVITY OF MORUS ALBA AND MORUS RUBRA FRUITS

Objective: Mulberry is a nontoxic commonly eaten plant, belongs to the Morus and used in folk medicine in the remedy of dysentery, antiphlogistic, diuretic, expectorant, and antidiabetic. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the antiproliferative and radical scavenging activity of the total alcoholic and successive fractions thereof of Morus alba and Morus rubra fruits. In addition, the chemical composition of the bioactive fractions of each species was investigated.Methods: The antiproliferative potential of 8 extracts on 4 human cancer cell lines, hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2), Caucasian breast adenocarcinoma (MCF7), prostate (PC3), and colon carcinoma (HCT116) in addition to one normal cell line namely human normal immortalized skin fibroblast cells (BJ1) were carried out. Cell viability was determined using MTT assay. The potency was compared with the reference drug doxorubicin. These extracts were also assayed for 1,1-diphenyl-2-hydrazyl free radical scavenging activities. After saponification of the n-hexane fraction, unsaponifiable matter and fatty acid methyl esters were analyzed by gas liquid chromatography (GLC). The chemical composition of the bioactive fractions was investigated using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis.Results: All the extracts showed significant free radical scavenging activity dose-dependently. The n-hexane and dichloromethane (DCM) fractions of M. rubra exhibited potent cytotoxic activity on almost cancer cell lines. In the same pattern, ethyl acetate (EtOAc) of M. rubra has moderate cytotoxic activity against all cell lines except HepG2. DCM fraction of M. alba possessed both radical scavenging and high potential antiproliferated activities against HCT116 and MCF7 with inhibitory concentration of 43.9 and 32.3 μg/ml, respectively, while it showed no cytotoxic effect on BJ1. GLC analysis showed the major hydrocarbons in M. alba and M. rubra were heptacosane and docosane, respectively. Sterols were similar in both species but with different ratios and cholesterol was the major one. Palmitic and margaric were the major saturated fatty acid while arachidonic was the major unsaturated fatty acid in both species. GC/MS analysis showed the main compound in DCM fraction of each Morus species was palmitic acid. Furthermore, 1,11-bis-(methoxycarbonyl-ethenyl)-10,2-dihydroxy-cycloeicosane and linolelaidic acid, methyl ester were the main compounds in the EtOAc fraction of each Morus species. Whereas, the main compounds in alcoholic extract of M. alba and M. rubra were methyl-14-methyl-pentadecanoate and 1,2-O-isopropylyidene-4-nonene-1,2,3-triol, respectively.Conclusions: The results observed remarkable biological activity of the successive fractions of M. rubra more than those of M. alba and confirmed its importance as a natural bioactive source. Morus species are good candidates to be promising as possible sources for future antitumor and antioxidants in food and pharmaceutical formulations. The strong activity partly explains the potential effects of Morus species for the treatment of cancer and degenerative diseases caused by free radicals

Myxome Du Maxillaire A Propos D\'un Cas

Les myxomes des maxillaires sont des tumeurs bénignes rares dont la pathogénie reste encore controversée. Leur indolence et la pauvreté des manifestations qui les accompagnent rendent leur diagnostic souvent tardif et leur prise en charge difficile. Nous présentons un cas de myxome du maxillaire chez un nourrisson âgé de 12 mois suivi d\'une revue de la littérature permettant de synthétiser les données cliniques ainsi que la stratégie thérapeutique à adopter.Maxillary myxoma are rare benign tumours whose pathogenesis remains extremely discussed. The poor clinical picture and the absence of pain makes the diagnosis difficult. We report a pediatric case of maxillary myxoma of a 12- monthold infant and review the clinical features, radiographic evaluation and the appropriate treatment Keywords:Myxoma - maxillary - benign tumor. Journal Tunisien d\'ORL et de chirurgie cervico-faciale Vol. 18 2007: pp. 43-4