Pathological and molecular study of kidneys in apparently healthy cattle and sheep with special reference to Leptospira species in central and northern Jordan

Background and Aim: Renal patVhological conditions can cause significant economic losses for livestock owners. This study investigated and described the gross pathology and histopathology of lesions found in the kidneys of sheep and cattle, with particular attention to the presence of Leptospira spp. Materials and Methods: Three hundred and sixty kidneys from apparently healthy sheep and cattle (208 and 152, respectively) were collected from slaughterhouses in Jordan for gross and histopathological examinations, multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis, and gene sequencing of Leptospira spp. Results: Histopathological analysis of the samples revealed the following conditions: interstitial nephritis (4.44%), glomerulonephritis (4.16%), acute tubular necrosis (17.22%), and renal congestion (4.72%). In addition, in 26.9% of the samples, hyaline material was observed in the interstitium of the cortex and medulla. The PCR results revealed that 83 (23.1%) of the 360 samples were positive for Leptospira spp. 16S rRNA, 42/152 (28%) of cattle, and 41/208 (20%) of sheep. Four samples (two sheep and two cattle) were sequenced and deposited in GenBank with accession numbers from OL701310 to OL701313. Basic Local Alignment Search Tool search and nucleotide similarities between OL701311 and OL701313 resulted in the highest similarities with different Leptospira borgpetersenii strains, whereas OL701310 showed the highest nucleotide similarity (99.2%) with the Leptospira interrogans strain. Similarly, phylogenetic analysis revealed that OL701311 to OL701313 clustered together with different serovars of L. borgpetersenii, whereas OL701310 clustered with the L. interrogans clade. Conclusion: This is the first study to reveal a close association between pathogenic Leptospira spp. and kidney disorders in Jordanian cattle and sheep. These findings may help expand the current understanding of the causes and mechanisms of renal disease in cattle and sheep and contribute to developing more effective prevention and treatment programs

Efficient removal of phenol compounds from water environment using Ziziphus leaves adsorbent

© 2020 Elsevier B.V. Industrial processes generate toxic organic molecules that pollute environment water. Phenol and its derivative are classified among the major pollutant compounds found in water. They are naturally found in some industrial wastewater effluents. The removal of phenol compounds is therefore essential because they are responsible for severe organ damage if they exist above certain limits. In this study, ground Ziziphus leaves were utilized as adsorbents for phenolic compounds from synthetic wastewater samples. Several experiments were performed to study the effect of several conditions on the capacity of the Ziziphus leaves adsorbent, namely: the initial phenol concentration, the adsorbent concentration, temperature, pH value, and the presence of foreign salts (NaCl and KCl). The experimental results indicated that the adsorption process reached equilibrium in about 4 h. A drop in the amount of phenol removal, especially at higher initial concentration, was noticed upon increasing the temperature from 25 to 45 °C. This reflects the exothermic nature of the adsorption process. This was also confirmed by the calculated negative enthalpy of adsorption (−64.8 kJ/mol). A pH of 6 was found to be the optimum value at which the highest phenol removal occurred with around 15 mg/g at 25 °C for an initial concentration of 200 ppm. The presence of foreign salts has negatively affected the phenol adsorption process. The fitting of the experimental data, using different adsorption isotherms, indicated that the Harkins-Jura isotherm model was the best fit, evident by the high square of the correlation coefficient (R2) values greater than 0.96. The kinetic study revealed that the adsorption was represented by a pseudo-second-order reaction. The results of this study offer a basis to use Ziziphus leaves as promising adsorbents for efficient phenol removal from wastewater

Pharmacokinetics and Bioequivalence of Two Empagliflozin, with Evaluation in Healthy Jordanian Subjects under Fasting and Fed Conditions

The current study is a randomized, open-label, two-period, two-sequence, two-way crossover pharmacokinetic study in healthy Jordanian subjects to evaluate the pharmacokinetics and bioequivalence profile of two cases of empagliflozin 10 mg under fasting and fed conditions. The plasma concentrations of empagliflozin were determined using an HPLC-MS/MS method. Tolerability and safety were assessed throughout the study. This study included 26 subjects, 26 in both fasting and fed groups.The pharmacokinetic parameters, which included the area under the concentration–time curve from time zero to infinity (AUC0–inf) and the final quantifiable concentration (AUC0–last), maximum serum concentration (Cmax), and time to reach the maximum drug concentration (Tmax) were found to be within an equivalence margin of 80.00–125.00%. The pharmacokinetic profiles show that the empagliflozin test and parent reference cases were bioequivalent in healthy subjects. The two treatments’ safety evaluations were also comparable

On a generalization of the friendship theorem

The Friendship Theorem states that if any two people, of a group of at least three people, have exactly one friend in common, then there is always a person who is everybody's friend. In this paper, we generalize the Friendship Theorem to the case that in a group of at least three people, if every two friends have one or two common friends and every pair of strangers have exactly one friend then there exist one person who is friend to everybody in the group. In particular, we show that the graph corresponding to this problem is of type G = K₁∨(sK₂ + tK₃), where s and t are non-negative integers and Kₘ is the complete graph on m vertices

The Structure of Symmetrysets.

In this dissertation, we study the structure of certain systems, called symmetrysets, the simplest of which play a key role in the theory of classical Lie algebras. After developing the background and preliminary material, we show that irreducible bounded symmetrysets are either Bourbaki or nil symmetrysets. We then classify those Jacobi symmetrysets which are Lie rootsystems. Finally, we show that the coherent rank 1 symmetrysets are of four types: black, white, grey and red. This opens the way to studying rootsystems (variations of symmetrysets) by classifying those of rank 2, then introducing diagrams with nodes which are black, white, grey, red; and pairwise subdiagrams based on the rank 2 classification. When only black and white nodes occur, the theory reduces to the theory of Lie rootsystems of D. Winter. Although the complete rank 2 classification in the general case is expected to be extremely lengthy and involved, we include here the rank 2 case when both white and red nodes occur.Ph.D.MathematicsUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/159381/1/8314281.pd

Preparation and evaluation of biological activity of ZSM-5 nanoparticles loaded with gefitinib for the treatment of non-small cell lung carcinoma

Background: Gefitinib (GEF) is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has proven good efficacy against Non-small cell Lung Carcinoma (NSCLC). It has low solubility and dissolution rate and low oral bioavailability. This work aimed to improve efficacy by loading on ZSM-5 silica nanoparticles and testing the prepared delivery system on A-549 lung cancer cells. Methods: ZSM-5 was synthesized in the laboratory and different methods of loading GEF on the nanoparticles were used, then the system was characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier Transport Infra-Red (FTIR), and drug release and dissolution. Results and conclusion: GEF-loaded nanoparticles (NPs) showed prolonged release of GEF over 12 hours with an improved biological efficacy expressed by the decrease in IC50 compared to free GEF (P < 0.001) using 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Also, there was a significant decrease in migration and colony formation ability of the GEF-loaded NPs on A-549 lung cancer cells. In conclusion, loading GEF onto ZSM-5 NPs resulted in a lower IC50 and improved biological action toward A-549 cells

Preparation and evaluation of biological activity of ZSM-5 nanoparticles loaded with gefitinib for the treatment of non-small cell lung carcinoma

Background: Gefitinib (GEF) is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has proven good efficacy against Non-small cell Lung Carcinoma (NSCLC). It has low solubility and dissolution rate and low oral bioavailability. This work aimed to improve efficacy by loading on ZSM-5 silica nanoparticles and testing the prepared delivery system on A-549 lung cancer cells. Methods: ZSM-5 was synthesized in the laboratory and different methods of loading GEF on the nanoparticles were used, then the system was characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier Transport Infra-Red (FTIR), and drug release and dissolution. Results and conclusion: GEF-loaded nanoparticles (NPs) showed prolonged release of GEF over 12 hours with an improved biological efficacy expressed by the decrease in IC50 compared to free GEF (P < 0.001) using 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Also, there was a significant decrease in migration and colony formation ability of the GEF-loaded NPs on A-549 lung cancer cells. In conclusion, loading GEF onto ZSM-5 NPs resulted in a lower IC50 and improved biological action toward A-549 cells