The ability of some woody trees to remove some of soil pollutants

A Pot experiments was carried out in National Research Centre Cairo Egypt during two successive seasons  2015 /2016 to investigate the effect of  pollutants soil by ( Zn,Cd and Pb ) on Harpullia pendula, Sterculia acerifolia and Ficus racemosa growth. Cadmium as cadmium carbonate was added at the rate of 0.089/Kg soil+Liad as liad carbonate was added to the rate of 0.08 Kg soil+Zn as Zink citrate was added at the rate of 1-2 g/Kg soil, all this were added and thoroughly mixed with before cultivation. Results showed that, Pb+Cd+Zn applied in combination have been proved effective in increasing plant height, number of leaves, root length, as well as stem diameter and fresh weight and dry weight of leaves and roots of Sterculia acerifolia tree compared with untreated tree. On the contrary, root length, stem diameter and dry weight not affected and approximately equal to the untreated plants in both  of Harpullia  and Ficus plant. The highest values concentration of ( Zn+Cd+Pb ) was found in roots of all trees. While the previous heavy metals recorded lowest concentration in leaves of the three mentioned plants compared to control. All  Harpullia pendula, Sterculia acerifolia and Ficus racemosa trees showed higher tolerance to heavy metals Zn, Cd and Pb especially  Ficus racemosa  tree accumulated the higher Cd in roots.Key words: heavy metals, ornamental plants, soil pollutan

In vitro Photobiological Studies on Two Woody Tree species

The enforcement work was accomplishments in vitro (Tissue culture and Germplasm Conservation Research Lab.) to study the effect of different laser rays in inducing growth behavior and leaf anatomical structure on Balanites aegyptiaca and  Contoneoster horizontalis,.      Exposing Planlets of Balanites plants developing in vitro to various types of lasers (helium-neon laser, cadmium neon laser and Argon neon laser) at 20 minutes exposure time each separately. The results showed increase in vegetative growth performance, photosynthetic pigments and anatomical characteristics. Exposure time 20 min. He-Ne were more effective it increased of root length, root number, chlorophyll b, carotenoids, the thickness of both lamina and midvine, the number of xylem rows and number of vessels and dimensions bundle.While,20 min. exposure time Cd-Ne recorded highest values in shoot length, leaves number, chlorophyll a  and leaf anatomical structure as compared to untreated plants .        Exposing Planlets of Cotoneoster horizontalis plant in vitro to helium-neon laser, at 0, 2.5, 6.5 and 11.5 mints exposure time. The results showed increase in vegetative growth, photosynthetic pigments and anatomical characteristics. Treated plantlets with 2.5 min. exposure time He-Ne recorded highest increasing in shoot length, chlorophyll a, b, the thickness of lamina and midvine, the number of xylem rows, number of vessels and palisade thickness. 11.5 min. exposure time recorded increasing in leaves number, root length, root number, dimensions bundle and spongy thickness as compared to plantlets control plants.Key words: in vitro, laser rays, woody trees, leaf anatomy, photobiolog

Impact of Culture Media Composition, Nutrients Stress and Gamma Radiation on Biomass and Lipid of the Green Microalga, Dictyochloropsis splendida as a Potential Feedstock for Biodiesel Production

يعتمد إنتاج الديزل الحيوي من الطحالب الدقيقة على إنتاج الكتلة الحيوية ومحتوى الدهون. يتم التحكم في زياده انتاج الكتلة الحيوية و تراكم الدهون بواسطة عدة عوامل.فى هذا العمل تم دراسة تأثيرات ثلاث اوساط غذائيه خاصة بزراعة الطحالب ( BG11, BBM, Urea media) وايضا بعض المغذيات)النيتروجين والفوسفورو المغنيسيوم والكربون) واشعة جاما على نمو وانتاج الدهون لطحالب Dictyochloropsis splendida. تم الحصول علي أعلي انتاج للكتله الحيويه والدهون لطحلب Dictyochloropsis splendida  عندما تم زراعة الطحلب على الوسط الغذائي BG11 . علاوة على ذلك كان اعلى انتاجية للكتله الحيويه عند 3000 مليجرام / لتر نيتروجين او 160 مليجرام / لتر فوسفور او 113 مليجرام/لتر مغنسيوم او 20 مليجرام/ لتر كربونات.  بينما عند غياب المغذيات فان تراكم الدهون زاد. من ناحية اخرى فان المحتوى الدهنى للطحلب وصل الى 18.26% عندما تعرضت خلايا الطحلب لجرعة 25 جراى من اشعة جاما. وكانت  الدهون المستخلصة من الطحلب تتكون من نسبة عالية من الاحماض الدهنية المشبعة (SFAs, 63.33% ) والاحماض الدهنية الغيرمشبعة (UFAs, 37.02%) وكانت السيادة لحمض البالمتيك (C16:0) ثم حمض اللينوليك (C18:2) فحمض بنتاديكانويك (C15:0) وحمض بالميتوليك (C16:1). و تمثل الاحماض الدهنية المستخلصه من طحلب Dictyochloropsis splendida بهذا التركيب مواد خام واعدة لانتاج الديزل الحيوي.Biodiesel production from microalgae depends on the biomass and lipid production. Both biomass and lipid accumulation is controlled by several factors. The effect of various culture media (BG11, BBM, and Urea), nutrients stress [nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), magnesium (Mg) and carbonate (CO3)] and gamma (γ) radiation on the growth and lipid accumulation of   Dictyochloropsis splendida were investigated. The highest biomass and lipid yield of D. splendida were achieved on BG11 medium. Cultivation of D. splendida in a medium containing 3000 mg L−1 N, or 160 mg L−1 P, or 113 mg L−1 Mg, or 20 mg L-1 CO3, led to enhanced growth rate. While under the low concentrations of nutrients caused a marked increase in the lipid content. Cultures exposure to 25 Gy of γ-rays, led to an increase in lipid content up to 18.26 ± 0.81 %. Lipid profile showed the maximum presence of saturated fatty acids (SFAs, 63.33%), and unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs, 37.02%). Fatty acids (FAs) recorded the predominance of C16:0, C18:2, C15:0 and C16:1, which strongly proved D. splendida is a promising feedstock for biodiesel production.        

Bioprocess development for anaerobic cultivation of probiotic bacteria bifidobacterium longum for high cell mass production

Bifidobacteria are used as probiotics mainly in the dairy industry as cell suspensions or as freeze-dried additives. Bifidobacterium longum (B. longum) are important in maintaining general health. The potential health benefits of B. longumto the human have led to their wide application in dairy products and food additives. Fastidious anaerobic growth of B. longum plus organic acids production as their byproductsgive some restriction in their growth as high cell mass become major concern. Therefore, the goal of this research is to select suitable medium as production media and optimization of the medium component for high cell mass production of B. longum by using one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT). Among nine growth media were evaluated to determine their suitability for high cell mass of B. longum, the best medium was yielded a cell mass of 4.5 g L-1 in shake study with the main components are glucose (20 g L-1), yeast extract (5 g L-1), meat extract (10 g L-1) and peptone (10 g L-1).Then, five different carbon sources which were glucose, lactose, sucrose, mannitol, and glycerol were screened in shake flasks and the best carbon source that contribute to the highest cell mass was glucose. Moreover, application of highly nutritious and costly nitrogen sources was incomplete application for industrial scale. Therefore, in this study peptone was found to be the best nitrogen source after screened with two others different nitrogen sources which were yeast extract and meat extract. Optimization by classical approaches achieving the maximum cell mass of 5.8 gL-1increased up to 28.88 % when compared with un-optimized media. Finally, batch cultivation was conducted in 16-L semi-scale bioreactor using the new formulated optimized medium under controlled and uncontrolled pH conditions at 37°C for 72 hours under anaerobic cultivation. It showed that under controlled pH, the maximal cell mass obtained in batch cultures was 13.8 gL-1 when compared with uncontrolled pH which only 6.8 gL-1with the percentage difference of 67.96 %. Thus the batch cultivation under controlled pH is the most suitable cultivation strategy for high cell mass production for industrialization of this bioprocess

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

The role of liver in leptin metabolism in experimental nephrotic syndrome

Leptin is a hormone influencing food intake, energy expenditure and body weight. It is pro-duced by adipocytes, exerts its effects on brain, endocrine pancreas and other organs by acti-vating trans-membrane receptors and is cleared from plasma mainly by the kidneys. Several studies have suggested that leptin's effects on metabolism are mediated by the liver. Our aim was to evaluate the role of the liver in the metabolism of leptin by comparing the serum leptin level in the portal vein with that in inferior vena cava and to study the relationship between leptin and lipoprotein levels in healthy and nephrotic rats. Experimental nephrotic syndrome was conducted in rats by intraperitoneal injection of the supernatant from the kidney suspen-sion obtained by previous unilateral nephrectomy of the same rat and complete Freund's adju-vant. There was a highly significant rise in leptin and lipid profile levels in the nephrotic rats compared with the normal rats. A highly significant increase in leptin in the inferior vena cava was detected compared with the level in the portal veins of nephrotic rats, while insignificant difference was observed in normal rats. This work has stressed the role of liver in leptin and lipid metabolism in nephrotic rats

Production of erythromycin antibiotic by saccharoplyspora erythraea fermentation in shake flasks and bioreactor

Recently success of erythromycin in antibiotic market over the other antibiotics was due to that erythromycin has high quality and it is cheap in price. Erythromycin received much attention because of the increasing applications of its semi-synthetic modified derivatives to infection diseases, such as azithromycin, roxithromycin and clarithromycin. It is produced by the strain Saccharoplyspora erythraea (formerly known as Streptomyces erythraea). In this research, the aims were to optimize medium components for high erythromycin antibiotic production by the strain S. erythae via submerged fermentation using statistical technique known as response surface methodology. Glucose and yeast extract were found to have significant effect to erythromycin production using Placket-Burman experimental design for media screening. The Box-Benkhen experimental design was adopted for optimization studied. Finally, the optimal concentration of glucose, yeast extract, sodium nitrate, dipotasium hydrogen phosphate, sodium chloride and magnesium sulphate obtained using statistical media optimization is approximately 45;8; 4; 2.5;1.0; 0.5 (g L-1), respectively. Result showed that the maximal erythromycin concentration and CDW obtained in shake flasks of optimize medium were 412.5 mg L-1 and 4.9 g L-1, respectively. Production of erythromycin antibiotic reached 30.43% under the optimize medium. Furthermore, the batch culture using new medium formulation for erythromycin production was implemented using controlled and un-controlled pH conditions. Compared with the un-controlled pH bioreactor, the controlled bioreactor was increased erythromycin concentration by 12.9 % up to 567.5 mg L-1. This present work demonstrated that great potential production of erythromycin antibiotic at industrial scale

Perspective Chapter: The Toxic Silver (Hg)

In the late 1950s, residents of a Japanese fishing village known as “Minamata” began falling ill and dying at an alarming rate. The Japanese authorities stated that methyl-mercury-rich seafood and shellfish caused the sickness. Burning fossil fuels represent ≈52.7% of Hg emissions. The majorities of mercury’s compounds are volatile and thus travel hundreds of miles with wind before being deposited on the earth’s surface. High acidity and dissolved organic carbon increase Hg-mobility in soil to enter the food chain. Additionally, Hg is taken up by areal plant parts via gas exchange. Mercury has no identified role in plants while exhibiting high affinity to form complexes with soft ligands such as sulfur and this consequently inactivates amino acids and sulfur-containing antioxidants. Long-term human exposure to Hg leads to neurotoxicity in children and adults, immunological, cardiac, and motor reproductive and genetic disorders. Accordingly, remediating contaminated soils has become an obligation. Mercury, like other potentially toxic elements, is not biodegradable, and therefore, its remediation should encompass either removal of Hg from soils or even its immobilization. This chapter discusses Hg’s chemical behavior, sources, health dangers, and soil remediation methods to lower Hg levels