Embryoid induction and plantlet regeneration from leaf segments of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.)

     Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) is an economically important crop in Sudan for domestic consumption and export. It is the first and essential source for production of high purity sugar. Tissue culture techniques can be used for in vitro conservation of sugarcane (Taylor and Dukic, 1993) and mass propagation of elite cultivars of crop species. Moreover, it was used for production of pathogen-free planting material from infected mother plants. Variability induced in vitro can furnish a base for improvement of vegetatively propagated crops including sugarcane. Different tissue culture techniques were applied successfully to sugarcane propagation and plant regeneration through organogenesis of shoot meristem (Nadar and Heinz, 1977; Ho and Vasil, 1983a), cell suspension cultures (Ho and Vasil, 1983b, Aftab et al., 1996) and protoplast cultures ( Liu, 1994). Cell suspen - Sion cultures were also used for cytological, pathological (Peros and Lombard, 1992), biochemical and physiological investigations of sugarcane (Heinz et al., 1977).      This study was initiated, during 1998-2000, to investigate the effect of 2,4-D on induction of embryogenic callus from leaf explants of sugarcane and regeneration of somatic embryos on different concen-trations of Murashige and Skoog (1962) medium (MS)

Rare Presentation of Wilson Disease in an 11-year-old Sudanese Girl

Background: Wilson disease is an inherited disorder in which excessive amount of copper accumulates in various tissues of the body. Clinical features related to copper deposition in the liver may appear in the first and second decades followed by neurologic and psychiatric thereafter; however, many patients have a combination of these symptoms. Case: We report a case of 11 year-old girl, admitted to Wad Medani Pediatric Teaching Hospital with generalized body swellings for four days. Initial investigations showed proteinuria and hypoalbuminemia, thought to be due to nephrotic syndrome. Days later, patient developed jaundice and neuropsychiatric manifestations. A slit lamb examination confirmed the presence of Kayser–Fleischer ring (KF ring) and she scored high in the scoring system for the diagnosis of Wilson disease. Dpenicillamine treatment therapy was started and unfortunately the patient’s clinical condition deteriorated gradually, and eventually went into deep coma and died. Wilson disease mainly affects the liver, but the initial presentation was completely compatible with nephrotic syndrome. Conclusion: Diagnosis of Wilson disease should be suspected in a child presenting with generalized body swellings even in the absence of clinical evidence of hepatic and/or neuropsychiatric involvements

A multi-band MIMO antenna system with coupled-fed modified rectangular patch elements for 5G systems

A four-port multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna system constructed of four compact dual-band (38/60 GHz) microstrip patch antennas is proposed for 5G mobile applications. Each individual element is optimized to achieve the desired performance of the overall MIMO system. Numerical and experimental investigations are achieved to assess the performance of both the single-element antenna and the four-port MIMO antenna system. It is shown that the simulation results agree with the experimental measurements, and both show good performance of the proposed MIMO antenna system. The bandwidths achieved around 38 GHz and 60 GHz are about 2 GHz and 3.2 GHz, respectively. The performance of the MIMO antenna system including the return loss at each antenna port and the coupling coefficients between the different ports are investigated. The radiation patterns produced when each port is excited alone are shown to be suitable for spatial diversity scheme. They have a high radiation efficiency exhibited by a balloon-like shaped radiation pattern for both the upper and lower frequency bands. It is shown that the envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) and the diversity gain (DG) are suitable for performance for the targeted 5G bands.</p

Effect of Different Plant Growth Regulators on Callus Induction from Seeds of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

The present study was undertaken to develop a reproducible protocol for efficient in vitro callus initiation of chick pea (Cicer arietinum L.). The main objectives of this present study were to develop the optimal concentrations and combination of auxin and cytokinin for optimized callus induction from seeds as explants. Callus induction was initiated from seeds on MS media supplement, which varied according to the plant growth regulators treatment. Among the growth regulator combinations the highest rate of callus induction (85%) was observed in MS medium containing 2 mg L -1 of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid (2,4-D), 2 mg L -1 Benzylaminopurine (BAP) showed higher percentage ( 63% ) of callus formation than 1- Naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), which produced 49% of callus. There were significant differences in percentage of calli fresh/dry weights (g/jar) on the different initiation ( seven) medium used were the MS+2,4-D, MS+2,4-D +NAA+ BAP and MS+ BAP had the highest fresh/dry weights (g/jar) in both induction medium

Can postoperative mean transprosthetic pressure gradient predict survival after aortic valve replacement?

BACKGROUND: In this study, we sought to determine the effect of the mean transprosthetic pressure gradient (TPG), measured at 6 weeks after aortic valve replacement (AVR) or AVR with coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) on late all-cause mortality. METHODS: Between January 1998 and March 2012, 2,276 patients (mean age 68 ± 11 years) underwent TPG analysis at 6 weeks after AVR (n = 1,318) or AVR with CABG (n = 958) at a single institution. Mean TPG was 11.6 ± 7.8 mmHg and median TPG 11 mmHg. Based on the TPG, the patients were split into three groups: patients with a low TPG (<10 mmHg), patients with a medium TPG (10–19 mmHg) and patients with a high TPG (≥20 mmHg). Cox proportional-hazard regression analysis was used to determine univariate predictors and multivariate independent predictors of late mortality. RESULTS: Overall survival for the entire group at 1, 3, 5, and 10 years was 97, 93, 87 and 67 %, respectively. There was no significant difference in long-term survival between patients with a low, medium or high TPG (p = 0.258). Independent predictors of late mortality included age, diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, renal dysfunction, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a history of a cerebrovascular accident and cardiopulmonary bypass time. Prosthesis–patient mismatch (PPM), severe PPM and TPG measured at 6 weeks postoperatively were not significantly associated with late mortality. CONCLUSIONS: TPG measured at 6 weeks after AVR or AVR with CABG is not an independent predictor of all-cause late mortality and there is no significant difference in long-term survival between patients with a low, medium or high TPG

Effect of Quercetin on Diabetic Rat

Background: Quercetin (QR) is one of the major constituents of the methanolic extract of the leaves of Psidium guajava (Guava leaves). Objectives: The work’s aim is to understand the Quercetin’s mechanism in improving insulin resistance, use the homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) to determine the influence of quercetin on glycemic control, Look at how quercetin affects diabetes-related lipid metabolism and lipid profile measures. Analyze the impact of QR on oxidative stress in diabetic rats and contrast its antidiabetic effects whether administered as a nutrient or supplement. Materials and methods: Sixty adult male Wister rats that were matched in age and had starting body weights between 150 and 200 g were used in this study. One normoglycemic control group and 3 diabetic control groups (15 rats per group) were used. The diabetic control rats received the vehicle orally as saline daily, the normoglycemic control group received quercetin orally in a dose of 50 mg/kg per day, and the diabetic rats received quercetin orally in a dose of 100 mg/kg per day. Results: After six weeks of therapy, the rats with diabetes receiving isolated quercetin at doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg had reduced blood glucose levels, and their triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein, and total cholesterol profiles all significantly improved. Also, there was significant decrease homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance, serum transaminases, hepatic malondialdehyde, and HMG CoA expression in liver and a substantial rise in levels of insulin, hepatic GSH, and insulin receptor substrate (IRS2) expression & Phosphoinositide 3-kinases in liver as compared to those of control group, but non- significance changes in high-density lipoprotein, AKT expression in liver were observed. Conclusions: Quercetin could be considered as a potential hypoglycmeic medication with possible mechanisms controlling the hyperglycemic state and cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL levels

Electrospun highly corrosion-resistant polystyrene–nickel oxide superhydrophobic nanocomposite coating

A key challenge in producing superhydrophobic coatings (SHC) is to tailor the surface morphology on the micro-nanometer scale. In this work, a feasible and straightforward route was employed to manufacture polystyrene/nickel oxide (PSN) nanocomposite superhydrophobic coatings on aluminum alloys to mitigate their corrosion in a saline environment. Different techniques were employed to explore the influence of the addition of NiO nanoparticles to the as-prepared coatings. PSN-2 composite with ~ 4.3 wt% of NiO exhibited the highest water contact angle (WCA) of 155° ± 2 and contact angle hysteresis (CAH) of 5°. Graphic abstract: EIS Nyquist plots of 3 g of electrospun polystyrene coatings (a) without and with (b) 0.1, (c) 0.15, and (d) 0.2 g of NiO. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

EPIDEMIOLOGY OF MALARIA IN THE STATE OF QATAR, 2008-2015

Background and Objectives Imported malaria poses a serious public health problem in Qatar because its population is “naïve” to such infection; where local transmission might lead to serious life-threatening infection and might even trigger epidemics. Methods This study is a retrospective review of the imported malaria cases in Qatar reported by the malaria surveillance program at the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), during the period between January 2008 and December 2015. All cases were imported and underwent parasitological confirmation through microscopy. Results A total of 4092 malaria cases were reported during 2008-2015 in Qatar. The demographic features of the imported cases show that the majority of cases were males (93%), non-Qatari(99.6%), and aged 15 to 44 years(82.1%). Moreover, P. vivax was found to be the main etiologic agent accounting for more than three-quarters (78.7%) of the imported cases. In addition, almost a third (33.1%) of the cases were reported during the months of July, August, and September. Conclusions Imported malaria in Qatar has witnessed an increase during the past 7 years, despite a long period of constant reduction; where the people most affected were adult male migrants from endemic countries. Many challenges need to be overcome to prevent the reintroduction of malaria into the country