Phosphorylation and Promising In-Vitro Antimicrobial Activity of Some New Organosulfur Compounds

During the past few decades, interest has been rapidly growing in gaining insight into the properties and transformations of thiosemicarbazide and their derivatives due to their appreciable pharmacological activities. Dimethoxy acetophenone reacts with thiosemicarbazide to afford compound (1). The product allowed to react by fusion with diethylmalonate and ethylacetoacetate to give cyclic compounds (3), (4) and (7). Their products are reacted with triphenylphosphine oxide to produce phosphorylated compounds with four and six membered rings. Some of these products display interesting biological and antibacterial activities which lead to great interest for possible therapeutic uses. The structure of the products are confirmed by elemental analyses, IR, UV, 1H-NMR and MS specra.Â

Quorum sensing inhibitory activity of sub-inhibitory concentrations of β-lactams

Introduction: The virulence factors of Pseudomonas aeruginosa are under the control of quorum sensing (QS) signals. Hence, interference with QS prevents its pathogenesis.Objective: The aim of the present research is to assess the influence of some β-lactam antibiotics on cell communication and the release of different virulence factors.Methods: The minimal inhibitory concentrations of ceftazidime, cefepime and imipenem were evaluated by microbroth dilution method. The effect of sub-inhibitory concentration of the tested antibiotics on QS signals was investigated using reporter strain assay. In addition, different virulence factors (elastase, protease, pyocyanin and hemolysin) were estimated in the presence of their sub-inhibitory concentrations.Results: Low concentrations of ceftazidime, cefepime and imipenem caused significant elimination of the QS signals 3OHC12- HSL and C4-HSL up to 1/20 MIC. Furthermore, low concentrations of the tested antimicrobials suppressed virulence factors elastase and hemolysin. Moreover, 1/20 of their MICs reduced elastase, protease, pyocyanin and hemolysin.Conclusion: Utilization of β-lactam antibiotics at low concentrations could be an effective approach for prevention and treatment of P. aeruginosa infection.Keywords: Quorum sensing inhibition, β-lactams, Pseudomonas aeruginos

CYTOTOXIC AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES OF SECONDARY METABOLITES FROM PULICARIA UNDULATA

Objective: To evaluate the in vitro cytotoxicity, antioxidant activities and structure-activity relationship of secondary metabolites isolated from Pulicaria undulata.Methods: The methylene chloride-methanol (1:1) extract of the air-dried aerial parts of Pulicaria undulata was fractionated and separated to obtain the isolated compounds by different chromatographic techniques. Structures of the isolated compounds were determined on the basis of the extensive spectroscopic analysis, including 1D and 2D NMR and compared with the literature data. The crude extract and the isolated compounds were evaluated for in vitro antioxidant activity using the 2,2 diphenyl dipicryl hydrazine (DPPH) method and cytotoxic assay using human breast cancer (MCF-7) and hepatoma (Hep G2) cell line.Results: Nine secondary metabolites were isolated from Pulicaria undulata in this study. Of which two terpenoidal compounds; 8-epi-ivalbin and 11β, 13-dihydro-4H-xanthalongin 4-O-β-D-glucopyranoside firstly isolated from the genus pulicaria and three flavonoids; eupatolitin, 6-methoxykaempferol, and patulitrin firstly isolated from P. undulata. 6-methoxykaempferol (IC50 2.3 µg/ml) showed the most potent antioxidant activity. The highest cytotoxic effect against MCF-7 and Hep G2 cells was obtained with eupatolitin (IC50 27.6 and 23.5 µg/ml) respectively. The structure-activity relationship was also examined and the findings presented here showed that 3, 5, 7, 4' and 3, 5, 4', 5'-hydroxy flavonoids were potent antioxidant and has cytotoxic activity.Conclusion: Pulicaria undulata is a promising medicinal plant, and our study tends to support the therapeutic value of this plant as antioxidant drug and in the treatment of cancer

CXCR 3 expression on CD4+T cells and in renal tissue of pediatric systemic lupus erythematosus patients

Background: Pediatric systemic lupus erythematosus (pSLE) accounts for about 20% of all cases of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), with nephritis occurring in approximately 50% of the patients. Objective: to evaluate the expression of CXCR3 in the kidneys and on CD4+ T cells in pSLE. Methods: This study was conducted on 45 patients with pSLE following up at the Allergy and Immunology Clinic, Children’s Hospital, Ain Shams University and 45 age and sex matched healthy children as a control group. Medical history, clinical examination and routine laboratory investigations for assessment of disease activity were done for all patients, the frequency of CXCR3, CD4+ T cells was determined in all patients and controls. Twenty-five Paraffin blocks of patients with lupus nephritis (LN) (available at the time of the study) underwent immunohistochemistry staining for the frequencies of Chemokine C receptor (CXCR3). Results: The absolute level and percentage of serum CD4+CXCR3+ were significantly lower among our patients as compared to healthy controls. A significant direct correlation was found between serum CD4+CXCR3+ and both the lymphocytic count and quantitative Systemic Lupus erythematosus disease activity index (SLEDAI), as well as a significant inverse correlation between it and 24 hours urinary proteins. Variable degrees of CXCR3expression seemed to have no impact on laboratory tests, British Isles Lupus Assessment Group (BILAG) score and cumulative doses of Immunosuppressives. Conclusion: Serum CD4+CXCR3+ and not renal CXCR3 may be a potential marker of LN activity

Quorum sensing inhibitory activity of sub-inhibitory concentrations of \u3b2-lactams

Introduction: The virulence factors of Pseudomonas aeruginosa are under the control of quorum sensing (QS) signals. Hence, interference with QS prevents its pathogenesis. Objective: The aim of the present research is to assess the influence of some \u3b2-lactam antibiotics on cell communication and the release of different virulence factors. Methods: The minimal inhibitory concentrations of ceftazidime, cefepime and imipenem were evaluated by microbroth dilution method. The effect of sub-inhibitory concentration of the tested antibiotics on QS signals was investigated using reporter strain assay. In addition, different virulence factors (elastase, protease, pyocyanin and hemolysin) were estimated in the presence of their sub-inhibitory concentrations. Results: Low concentrations of ceftazidime, cefepime and imipenem caused significant elimination of the QS signals 3OHC12-HSL and C4-HSL up to 1/20 MIC. Furthermore, low concentrations of the tested antimicrobials suppressed virulence factors elastase and hemolysin. Moreover, 1/20 of their MICs reduced elastase, protease, pyocyanin and hemolysin. Conclusion: Utilization of \u3b2-lactam antibiotics at low concentrations could be an effective approach for prevention and treatment of P. aeruginosa infection

Empowering deaf and hard hearing females toward premarital counseling and genetic screening: An educational intervention based on empowerment model

Hearing loss affects many people worldwide, and it hinders speech, language, and social development. Consanguineous marriageis the most prevalent social custom that leads to an increased prevalence of congenital anomalies. Premarital Counseling andGenetic Screening (PMSGC) educational program is urgently needed to empower deaf and hard hearing girls. This study aimed toinvestigate the effect of educational intervention based on the empowerment model on deaf and hard hearing females' self-efficacy,knowledge, and attitude toward PMSGC. A Quasi-experimental research design was conducted on 64 deaf and hard hearing femalestudents. The data collection instrument comprised four parts: basic data and personal/family history, PMSGC quiz, Likert attitudescale, and general self-efficacy scale. Data were collected from September to December 2020. The empowerment educational intervention was conducted in four sequential phases; needs assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation. The intervention addressed the students' knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy. The results showed that 76.6% of the study participants had consanguineous marriage between their parents, 64.1% had a history of hereditary deafness in first-degree relatives. There were statistically significant differences between the total knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy before and after intervention (p<0.001). In detail, 76.6% of the participants had good knowledge after the intervention compared to only 12.5% before it. Besides, 81.3% of the study participants had a positive attitude toward PMSGC before the intervention compared to 95.3% after it. Selfefficacy was low (25.0%) or moderate (75%) before the intervention compared to moderate (45.3%) or high (42.2%) after the intervention. Educational intervention based on the empowerment model significantly increased the deaf and hard hearing population's self-efficacy,  knowledge, and attitude toward PMSGC. The use of the empowerment model in health education should be encouraged and taught to the medical and paramedical students. Keywords: Attitude, knowledge, self-efficacy, empowerment model, deaf and hard hearing females, premarital counseling, genetic screening   La perte auditive affecte de nombreuses personnes dans le monde et entrave la parole, le langage et le développement social. Lemariage consanguin est la coutume sociale la plus répandue qui conduit à une prévalence accrue d'anomalies congénitales. Unprogramme éducatif de conseil et de dépistage génétique prénuptial (PMSGC) est nécessaire de toute urgence pour autonomiserles filles sourdes et malentendantes. Cette étude visait à étudier l'effet d'une intervention éducative basée sur le modèle d'autonomisation sur l'auto-efficacité, les connaissances et l'attitude des femmes sourdes et malentendantes à l'égard de PMSGC.Un plan de recherche quasi expérimental a été mené sur 64 étudiantes sourdes et malentendantes. L'instrument de collecte dedonnées comprenait quatre parties: les données de base et les antécédents personnels / familiaux, le questionnaire PMSGC, l'échelled'attitude de Likert et l'échelle d'auto-efficacité générale. Les données ont été collectées de septembre à décembre 2020. L'intervention éducative d'autonomisation s'est déroulée en quatre phases séquentielles; évaluation des besoins, planification, miseen œuvre et évaluation. L'intervention a porté sur les connaissances, les attitudes et l'auto-efficacité des élèves. Les résultats ontmontré que 76,6% des participants à l'étude avaient un mariage consanguin entre leurs parents, 64,1% avaient des antécédents desurdité héréditaire chez des parents au premier degré. Il y avait des différences statistiquement significatives entre les connaissances totales, l'attitude et l'auto-efficacité avant et après l'intervention (p <0,001). Dans le détail, 76,6% des participants avaient de bonnesconnaissances après l'intervention contre seulement 12,5% avant celle-ci. En outre, 81,3% des participants à l'étude avaient uneattitude positive envers PMSGC avant l'intervention, contre 95,3% après. L'auto-efficacité était faible (25,0%) ou modérée (75%)avant l'intervention par rapport à modérée (45,3%) ou élevée (42,2%) après l'intervention. L'intervention éducative basée sur lemodèle d'autonomisation a considérablement augmenté l'auto-efficacité, les connaissances et l'attitude de la population sourde etmalentendante à l'égard de l'EMSP. L'utilisation du modèle d'autonomisation dans l'éducation sanitaire devrait être encouragée etenseignée aux étudiants en médecine et paramédical. Mots-clés: Attitude, connaissances, auto-efficacité, modèle d'autonomisation, femmes sourdes et malentendantes, counseling prénuptial, dépistage génétiqu

Optimization, Purification and Physicochemical Characterization of Curdlan Produced by Paenibacillus sp. Strain NBR-10

In recent years, significant progress has been done to discover a novel microbial exopolysaccharides that possess novel and highly functional properties. During our screening program for curdlan producing bacteria, 35 bacterial strains were isolated from 15 sandy soils collected from Rafha governorate, Northern Border region, Saudi Arabia. Among them isolate, NBR-10 was selected for its promising ability for curdlan production. The selected isolate was identified based on methods or results mentioned in this paper as Paenibacillus sp. For enhancing the curdlan yield produced by Paenibacillus sp. NBR-10, different culture conditions and medium compositions were optimized. It was found that, the maximum yield was obtained at 35 °C, initial pH 7 after 48 h of incubation. Also different carbon and nitrogen sources were used to improve the curdlan yield, it was indicated that sucrose and yeast extract were the best carbon and nitrogen sources respectively. Generally, optimization of the different parameters was approximately duplicated the curdlan yield from 2.34 g/l to 4.82 g/l. The precipitated curdlan dissolved in 2M NaOH exhibited high affinity to gel formation. Analysis of FT-IR, 1 H NMR and 13 C NMR spectra proved that the produced polymer by Paenibacillus sp. NBR-10 has β β β β β-(1-3)-D-glucan (curdlan) structure

Membrane endothelial protein C receptor expression in renal tissue of pediatric lupus nephritis patients

Background: Lupus nephritis (LN) is more common and more severe is pediatric systemic lupus erythematosus (pSLE). Endothelial protein C receptor (EPCR) is an inducer of anti-apoptotic pathways in endothelial cells. Recent studies have taken elevated anti-injury biomarkers as EPCR into consideration regarding their roles to antagonize LN.Objectives: to evaluate the membrane expression of endothelial protein C receptor (mEPCR) in the renal microvasculature in pediatric patients with LN.Methods: This study was conducted on 25 patients with pSLE following up at the Allergy and Immunology Clinic, Children’s Hospital, Ain Shams University. The 25 patients have LN proved by a previous renal biopsy. Medical history, clinical examination and routine laboratory investigations for assessment of disease activity were done for all patients. Paraffin blocks of patients’ renal biopsies were subjected to immunohistochemistry staining for the frequency of mEPCR.Results: mEPCR was mainly expressed in the endothelium of the peritubular capillaries. Our results showed that an equal number of patients had nil and mild marker expression (8 patients each, 32%) while 9 patients (36%) showed moderate/strong marker expression. We found that 9 out of 10 (90%) of patients with class II had nil/mild marker expression, 5 patients out of 9 (55.5%) with class III had mild/moderate marker expression, while 5 patients 0ut of 6 (83.3%) with class IV and V had moderate/strong marker expression. We only found a significant statistical difference between the different degrees of mEPCR expression regarding 24 hours urinary proteins. No statistical significance was found between the different degrees of mEPCR expression and different immuno-suppressive therapy dose/kg or renal outcome using the renal British Isles Lupus Assessment Group (BILAG) score; in spite that most of the patients who got improved had nil/mild marker expression.Conclusion: mEPCR -bearing a statistically significant difference in relation to different LN classes- showed more expression in the more aggressive classes; a finding which might suggest a contribution of the endothelium of the renal parenchyma to the pathophysiology of more progressive LN. Hence the tissue marker might emerge as a potential new therapeutic target in the search for more selective treatment for SLE.Keywords: p SLE, mEPCR, renal biopsy, immunohistochemistry, BILAG, lupus nephriti

GENETIC PARAMETERS FOR GROWTH PERFORMANCE TRAITS OF EGYPTIAN BARKI LAMBS USING RANDOM REGRESSION MODEL

Variance components and genetic parameters for growth traits were estimated for Barki lambs using the average information REMLF90 (AIREMLF90). A total of 3205 Barki lambs’ records over the period from 1984 to 2017 from experimental Borg Al-Arab station belonging to Animal Production Research Institute (APRI) were analyzed by fitting Random Regression Model (RRM) with Legendre polynomials (LPs) for body weight traits from birth up to 480 days. Gender, type of birth, year, season and age of dam were considered as fixed effects in addition to the fixed regression on Legendre polynomials, while random regression of additive genetic and permanent environmental effects were considered as random factors in the model. The results showed that all fixed factors and some interactions were significant for all studied traits (P<0.05). Quadratic equation was the best description for growth curve. Additive genetic and permanent environment variances ranged from 0.88 to 6.08 and from 0.88 to 15.33 for birth and thirteen months weights, respectively. Additive genetic and permanent environment covariances ranged from 0.05 to 16.06 and from 0.08 to 9.20 for birth with six months weights and for weaning with ten months weights, respectively. Direct and total heritabilities ranged from 0.05 to 0.41 and from 0.08 to 0.74 for four months and birth weights, respectively. Additive, genetic and phenotypic correlation coefficients were the lowest between birth weight with other studied traits and  the highest between ten months weight with other studied traits. Phenotypic variances were oscillated between 2.27 for birth weight to 22.56 for seven months weight, while, residual variances were oscillated between 0.06 for birth weight to 14.05 for four months weight. Therefore, ten months of age recommended to be the best criterion for selecting Egyptian Barki lambs for meat production

Concurrent Acquisition of a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism in Diverse Influenza H5N1 Clade 2.2 Sub-clades

Highly pathogenic Influenza A H5N1 was first identified in Guangdong Province in 1996, followed by human cases in Hong Kong in 1997 1,2. The number of confirmed human cases now exceeds 300 and the associated Case Fatality Rate exceeds 60% 3. The genetic diversity of the serotype continues to increase. Four distinct clades or sub-clades have been linked to human cases 4-7. The gradual genetic changes identified in the sub-clades have been attributed to copy errors by viral encoded polymerases that lack an editing function, thereby resulting in antigenic drift 8. We report here the concurrent acquisition of the same polymorphism by multiple, genetically distinct, clade 2.2 sub-clades in Egypt, Russia, Kuwait, and Ghana. These changes are not easily explained by the current theory of &#x201c;random mutation&#x201d; through copy error, and are more easily explained by recombination with a common source. The recombination role is further supported by the high fidelity replication in swine influenza 9 and aggregation of single nucleotide polymorphisms in H5N1 clade 2.2 hemagglutinin 10