Effect of Different Industrial Wastes on Soil Quality at Different Locations of Egypt

To declare the effect of pollution by industrial emissions on the agricultural land in some industrial areas of Egypt, soil and wastewater samples were collected from five locations surroundings to industrial factories. Samples of each site were taken to the windward at 0, 500, 1000, 1500 and 2000 meter away from the boundary of each factory. The obtained results of chemical analysis can be summarized as follows: 1. The quality of water samples collected from all sites are within the permissible limits for irrigation except this from El-Nasr company of chemical and fertilizers at Talkha which had excessive loaded with organic contaminants. 2. The concentrations of some heavy metals (Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu and Pb) in the tested soil samples decreased significantly with increasing the distance away from the source of pollution. Also, dominance of such heavy metals in each site followed the decreasing order: Fe > Mn > Zn > Cu > Pb. These values were much higher than that obtained in the virgin soils (non-polluted soils). 3. The values of soil respiration (microbile activity in the soil samples) significantly increased as the distance from the source of pollution increase at all locations under investigation. An opposite trend was marked between available heavy metals content and microbile activity (r = -0.94)

Next Generation Sequencing to Determine the Cystic Fibrosis Mutation Spectrum in Palestinian Population

An extensive molecular analysis of the CF transmembrane regulator (CFTR) gene was performed to establish the CFTR mutation spectrum and frequencies in the Palestinian population, which can be considered as an understudied population. We used a targeted Next Generation Sequencing approach to sequence the entire coding region and the adjacent sequences of the CFTR gene combined with MLPA analysis of 60 unrelated CF patients. Eighteen different CF-causing mutations, including one previously undescribed mutation p.(Gly1265Arg), were identified. The overall detection rate is up to 67%, and when we consider only CF patients with sweat chloride concentrations >70 mEq/L, we even have a pickup rate of 92%. Whereas p.(Phe508del) is the most frequent allele (35% of the positive cases), 3 other mutations c.2988+1Kbdel8.6Kb, c.1393-1G>A, and p.(Gly85Glu) showed frequencies higher than 5% and a total of 9 mutations account for 84% of the mutations. This limited spectrum of CF mutations is in agreement with the homozygous ethnic origin of the Palestinian population. The relative large portion of patients without a mutation is most likely due to clinical misdiagnosis. Our results will be important in the development of an adequate molecular diagnostic test for CF in Palestine