Cress Seed (Lepidium sativum) Role in the healthy Processed Spread Cheese and Its Anti-Diabetic Activity

The present study dealt with utilization of cress seeds (Lepidium sativum) in the manufacture of processed spread cheese, instead of emulsifying salt. Cress seed have also health promoting properties especially lowering glucose ratios. Cress seeds powder were prepared and added with the ingredients during manufacture of processed spread cheese at levels of six ratios (0.05, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5 and 5.5%) compared with control (3% commercial emulsifying salt). The chemical, physical, microbiology and organoleptic properties of resultant samples were evaluated. Data revealed that processed spread cheese sample fortified with 3.5% cress seeds was the best either when fresh or during storage (8±2ºC for 3 months) and they had acceptable properties. Microstructure of processed cheese spread samples were also conducted. From nutritional view, processed cheese spread samples fortified with 3.5% cress seeds were used for feeding Adult male albino rats to study their effect on plasma glucose level. Obtained data indicated that the glucose level in plasma was significantly decreased (

Étude du rapport entre la géométrie des fils et la rugosité des tissus

La suavidad de los tejidos es difícilmente cuantificable puesto que está asociada a una serie de sensaciones subjetivas. Se ha intentado evaluar objetivamente mediante diversos métodos. Uno de los parámetros cuantificables más importantes, que diversos autores relacionan con el tacto de los tejidos es su aspereza o rugosidad superficial. En este trabajo se estudia la relación entre la rugosidad superficial de una serie de tejidos y la deformación filar de los hilados que los constituyen; la deformación filar depende de la geometría de los hilados y esta, a su vez está condicionada por diversas variables. En el trabajo se establecen las relaciones entre la deformación filar y la composición, título y torsión de los hilados de PES/CV, en un intento de poder establecer como influyen estas variables en la rugosidad de los tejidos.The smoothness of the fabrics is hardly quantifies since is associated to a series of subjective sensations. It has been tried to evaluate objectively by means of diverse methods. One of the more important measurable parameters that diverse authors relate to the smoothless of a fabric is its superficial roughness. The present work studies the relationship between the superficial roughness of a series of fabrics and the deformation of the yarns that constitute them. The yarn deformation depends on the geometry of the yarn and this is, as well, depending of diverse variables. In the work the relationships between the yarn deformation and the account and torsion of yarns of different PES/CV compositions are also studied in an attempt of how these variables influence the superficial roughness of the fabrics.La douceur des tissus est difficilement quantifiable car elle est associée à une série de sensations subjectives. Elle a fait l'objet d'une tentative d'évaluation objective à l'aide de plusieurs méthodes. L'un des paramètres quantifiables les plus importants, que divers auteurs associent au tact des tissus, est leur âpreté ou rugosité superficielle. Cette étude porte sur le rappot entre la rugosité superficielle d'un série de tissus et la déformation filaire des filés qui les constituent; la déformation filaie dépend de la géométrie des filés et celle-ci est, à son tour, conditionnée par plusieurs variables. Des rapports son établis entre la déformation filaire et la composition, le titre et la torsion des filés de PES/CV, pour tenter d'établir comment ces variables jouent sur la rugosité des tissus

Cathepsin b: a potential prognostic marker for inflammatory breast cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is the most aggressive form of breast cancer. In non-IBC, the cysteine protease cathepsin B (CTSB) is known to be involved in cancer progression and invasion; however, very little is known about its role in IBC.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study, we enrolled 23 IBC and 27 non-IBC patients. All patient tissues used for analysis were from untreated patients. Using immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting, we assessed the levels of expression of CTSB in IBC versus non-IBC patient tissues. Previously, we found that CTSB is localized to caveolar membrane microdomains in cancer cell lines including IBC, and therefore, we also examined the expression of caveolin-1 (cav-1), a structural protein of caveolae in IBC versus non-IBC tissues. In addition, we tested the correlation between the expression of CTSB and cav-1 and the number of positive metastatic lymph nodes in both patient groups.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our results revealed that CTSB and cav-1 were overexpressed in IBC as compared to non-IBC tissues. Moreover, there was a significant positive correlation between the expression of CTSB and the number of positive metastatic lymph nodes in IBC.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>CTSB may initiate proteolytic pathways crucial for IBC invasion. Thus, our data demonstrate that CTSB may be a potential prognostic marker for lymph node metastasis in IBC.</p

Isolation and Identification of Bacterial Species from the Human Gallbladders Bile of Sudanese Patients

Background: Gallbladder infections are one of the most important problems that affect Sudanese patients.Objectives: To isolate bacterial species from infected human gallbladder's bile in Sudanese patients admitted for cholecystectomy due to calcoulus or acalcoulus cholecystitis.Materials and Methods: A total of 100 bile specimens from 100 patients (88 females and 12 males), were examined in this study. Bile specimens were collected from three different operating theatres including IbnSena Hospital, Sudan Private Clinic and Omdurman Teaching Hospital.Results: Six bacterial species were recognized in bile specimens, four of them are gramnegative and two are gram- positive species. In the present study, bacteria were isolated from 40 specimens out of the 100 bile specimens cultured with an overall incidence of 40%. It was noted that all positive bacterial bile cultures correlated with the presence of gallstones except three Salmonellae which were isolated from bile of acalculus gallbladders. The most prevalent bacteria isolated were E.coli which was isolated from 24 specimens out of the 100 bile specimens. On the other hand, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas spp. were less frequently isolated from bile specimens showing frequencies of 4 (4%) for each.Conclusion: The finding of this study indicated that Escherichia coli were the most prevalent bacteria which isolated from human bile. As well as, the study revealed that certain bacterial species such as Salmonellae possess characters which allow them to cause cholecystitis without need to gallstones formation.Key words: Gallbladder Bile, Bacterial isolates, Bile specimens, Cholecystectomy; Bacterial cholecystitis, Acalculus gallbladders

Sinteza 1-acil-2-alkiltio-1,2,4-triazolobenzimidazola s antimikotskim, protuupalnim i analgetskim učinkom

Some new derivatives of 1,2,4-triazolo[2,3-a]benzimidazoles were synthesized through the reaction of 1,2-diaminobenzimidazole with carbon disulfide. The resulting 1,2,4-triazolo[2,3-a]benzimidazole-2-thione intermediate reacted with one equivalent of the appropriate respective alkyl halide to give the corresponding 2-alkylthio derivative 3a-g. The latters were acylated to afford the 1-acyl-2-alkylthio-1,2,4-triazolo[2,3-a]-benzimidazole derivatives 4-10 in good yields. Structures of the new compounds were verified on the basis of spectral and elemental methods of analyses. Fourteen of the prepared compounds were tested for their possible antifungal activities. Most of the tested compounds showed activity against Candida albicans and Fusarium oxysporum comparable to that of fluconazole as a reference drug. Compounds 8a, 9a, and 10d are the most active ones against most of the used fungi. Compounds 3e, 4d, 5d, 6d, 7d, 8c, 8d, 9d, and 10d were tested for their anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects; most of these compounds showed potent and significant results compared to indomethacin. Moreover, ulcerogenicity and the median lethal dose (LD50) of the most active compound 8d were determined in mice; LD50 was found to be 275 mg kg-1 (i.p.).Sintetizirani su novi derivati 1,2,4-triazolo[2,3-a]benzimidazola reakcijom 1,2-diaminobenzimidazola s ugljičnim disulfidom. Nastali 1,2,4-triazolo[2,3-a]benzimidazol-2-tioni reagiraju s jednim ekvivalentom odgovarajućeg alkil halida pri čemu nastaju 2-alkiltio derivati 3a-g. Acilacijom produkata 3 dobiveni su derivati 1-acil-2-alkiltio-1,2,4-triazolo[2,3-a]-benzimidazola 4-10 u dobrim iskorištenjima. Strukture novih spojeva potvrđene su spektroskopskim metodama i elementarnom analizom. Ispitivano je antimikotsko djelovanje 14 priređenih spojeva, uz flukonazol kao poredbenu tvar. Većina testiranih spojeva djeluje na Candida albicans i Fusarium oxysporum slično kao flukonazol. Najaktivniji su bili spojevi 8a, 9a i 10d. Produkti 3e, 4c, 5c, 6c, 7c, 8b, 8c, 9c i 10c ispitani su na protuupalno i analgetsko djelovanje, uz indometacin kao poredbenu tvar. Većina spojeva ima značajno djelovanje. Najaktivniji spoj testiran je na ulcerogenost. Srednja letalna doza (LD50) određena je na miševima i iznosi 275 mg kg-1 (i.p.)

User friendly system for the visually impaired in learning Al-Quran

This study presents a method to enable the visually impaired Muslim to learn and read the Al-Quran using Braille Display with software help. The system reads the database which contains all verses of Al-Quran and user will need to select the verse and ayah to read. Besides that, this system can be used in a class to teach visually impaired students to learn Al-Quran. Every word or character typed by the instructor in the main Braille Panel will be transmitted to the sub Braille Panel that is connected to the main Braille Panel. The selected verse of Al-Quran and ayah will also generate an index before being transmitted to the Braille Panel. The index will be transmitted to the Braille Display for people to touch and read the display. A user friendly Graphical User Interface (GUI) will be used to fulfill the ergonomics for the visually impaired user's physical capabilities. Several approaches are used to design and implement the interface for the visually impaired like speech or sound output and Braille display. The Braille codes can be displayed using the Braille panel. The design interface and structure of the system for the visually impaired users in learning Al-Quran is presented

Levels of certain tumor markers as differential factors between bilharzial and non-biharzial bladder cancer among Egyptian patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background/Objective</p> <p>Bladder cancer is the commonest type of malignant tumors as a result of schistosomaisis which is a major healthy problem in many subtropical developing countries. The aim of this study is to comparatively elucidate the underlying biochemical tumor markers in schistosomal bladder cancer versus non-schistosomal bladder cancer when compared to normal healthy ones.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This work was performed on tissue specimens from total 25 patients and serum samples from total 30 patients versus ten healthy individuals served as control. The investigated parameters in serum are: xanthine oxidase (XO), fructosamine, lactate dehydrogense (LDH), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total proteins, essential and non- essential amino acids profile, hydroxyproline, total immunoglobulin E (IgE) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-<it>α</it>). In addition, the current investigation also extended to study some markers in tumor bladder tissues including, pyruvate kinase enzyme (PK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Results showed that biharzial bladder cancer patients recored more significant elevation in serum XO, fructosamine, LDH, AST, ALT, hydroxyproline, IgE and TNF-<it>α </it>than in bladder cancer patients when compared to control ones. While, in tissues there were significant increase in PK, LDH, AST & ALT activities of schistosomal bladder cancer than in bladder cancer as compared to control healthy patients.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>It could be concluded that, bilharzial and non-bilharzial bladder cancer showed distinct biochemical profile of tumor development and progression which can be taken into consideration in diagnosis of bladder cancer.</p

Effect of applying static electric field on the physical parameters and dynamics of laser-induced plasma

AbstractIn order to improve the performance of the LIBS technique – in particular its sensitivity, reproducibility and limit of detection – we studied the effect of applying a static electric field with different polarities on the emission spectra obtained in a typical LIBS set-up. The physical parameters of the laser-induced plasma, namely the electron density Ne and the plasma temperature Te, were studied under such circumstances. In addition to the spectroscopic analysis of the plasma plume emission, the laser-induced shock waves were exploited to monitor the probable changes in the plasma plume dynamics due to the application of the electric field. The study showed a pronounced enhancement in the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio of different Al, neutral and ionic lines under forward biasing voltage (negative target and positive electrode). On the other hand, a clear deterioration of the emission line intensities was observed under conditions of reversed polarity. This negative effect may be attributed to the reduction in electron-ion recombinations due to the stretched plasma plume. The plasma temperature showed a constant value in the average with the increasing electric field in both directions. This effect may be due to the fact that the measured values of Te were averaged over the whole plasma emission volume. The electron density was observed to decrease slightly in the case of forward biasing while no significant effect was noticed in the case of reversed biasing. This slight decrease in Ne can be interpreted in view of the increase in the rate of electron–ion recombinations due to the presence of the electric field. No appreciable effects of the applied electric field on the plasma dynamics were noticed

Cancer in Children at El Obeid Hospital, Western Sudan.

Background: Cancers form one of the major causes of death in children. They differ markedly from adult cancers in their nature, distribution and prognosis. Objectives: To determine the pattern of childhood cancer at El Obeid Hospital, Western Sudan. Patients and Methods: The records of all patients admitted with cancer aged 15 years and below tothe wards of El Obeid Hospital, Western Sudan over two years were studied. The cancers were classified according to the organs affected and then ranked in their order of relative frequency. The mean age, age range, gender and the relative frequency rates were calculated. Results: There were 40 newly diagnosed childhood cancer patients during the study period. Males were 29 patients (72.5%). The age ranged three months to 14 years. Leukaemias were the most common malignancy in both sexes, followed by bone tumours and then nephroblastoma.Conclusions: Cancers in children were seen at Western Sudan, and cases admitted to hospital only reflect the tip of the iceberg as many cases were directly referred to Oncology Hospitals. Establishment of a local radiation and isotopes centre is needed in this part of the country to provide oncology services and to integrate preventive programs.Key words: Acute lymphocytic leukaemia, osteosarcoma, nephroblastoma, Western Sudan