Some aspects of the antibacterial mode of action of 4,7-phenanthroline-5,6-quinone (Phanquone)

The aim of this project is to study the mechanism(s) by which Phanquone causes damage and consequently death to the bacterial cell. The investigation (and elucidation) of its mode of action may help in the evaluation of this antimicrobial agent, thus broadening or restricting its practical applications

Hirshfeld surface analysis and quantum chemical study of molecular structure of phosphate

ABSTRACT. In this present study, Density fuctional theoretical computations are performed at (B3LYP, PBEPBE), HF and MP2 level with 3-21G basis sets to derive optimized geometry and bonding features. The calculated geometrical parameters have been compared with experimental data. The intermolecular O–H…O and N–H…O hydrogen bonds are involved in crystal structure stabilization. An intramolecular O–H…N hydrogen bond is observed between the phosphate OH group and the N atom. Further, the molecular Hirshfeld surface analysis was carried out to reveal the nature of intermolecular contacts and the fingerprint plot provides the information about the percentage contribution and reveals that the O…H (44.1%) interactions have the major contribution to form the crystal. The Mulliken population analysis and the HOMO-LUMO energy gaps show that the molecule has a good stability and from the calculation, we conclude that the molecule is really hard materials.                     KEY WORDS: Energy gaps, Hydrogen bonds, Hirshfeld surface, Mulliken population, Phosphate   Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2021, 35(3), 625-638. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v35i3.1

La grossesse chez les hémodialysées chroniques

La survenue d'une grossesse en hémodialyse chronique (HDC) est rare, mais depuis la description du premier cas par Confortini en 1971, plusieursobservations ont été rapportées. L'hémodialyse a considérablement  amélioré la fertilité de ces patientes. Nous rapportons l'expérience de  douze grossesses survenues entre 1999 et 2014, chez douze patientes d'âge médian 34 ans (22-44), en hémodialyse (HD) depuis 40 mois  (3-72), l'âge gestationnel moyen de diagnostic est de 16 semaines  d'aménorrhée, la grossesse était compliquée dans 50% des cas par un hydramnios. Le terme moyen est de 35 semaine d'aménorrhée (SA) et l'accouchement a été réalisé dans 90% des grossesses par voie basse. Le poids moyen des nouveau-nés est de 1800g. De telles grossesses sont à haut risque du fait de la fréquence des complications. Elles devraient être contrôlées par les équipes multidisciplinaires, et la consultation prénatal ne devrait pas être négligée. L'objectif de ce travail est de rapporter notre expérience concernant la survenue d'une grossesse chez les patientes dialysées et de la confronter aux données de la littérature

Photodegradation using TiO2-activated borosilicate tubes

This study examines the photocatalytic activity of titanium dioxide (TiO2) semiconductor supported on borosilicate tubes (cut-off 290 nm) towards removal of a mix of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) from water. For this purpose, two widely used analgesic and anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), ibuprofen (IBU) and mefenamic acid, along with MCPA sodium monohydrate, which is a common herbicide frequently used in the agricultural activities, were selected as a case study. Borosilicate tubes were coated with titanium oxide through two different approaches: sol-gel dip-coating and a hybrid nanoparticle dip-coating and plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) process. The photochemical reactor that hosts the titania-coated tubes was designed to permit continuous throughput of liquid feed stream. The photodegradation experiments were performed in laboratory conditions under artificial irradiation simulating solar light. The efficiency of direct photolysis and heterogeneous photocatalysis (TiO2) was investigated, and the performance of each coating method was evaluated. Kinetic studies for each experiment were accomplished, the overall results showed poor efficiency and insufficient removal for NSAIDs through direct photolysis, whereas applying heterogeneous photacatalysis with TiO2 coated on borosilicate tubes was found to accelerate their degradation rate with complete decomposition. Concomitantly, kinetic experimental results showed a critical difference of performance for the two coating methods used; in particular, the degradation rates of pollutants by the solgel- coated tubes were much faster than the degradation by the nanoparticle/PECVD-coated tubes. Using TiO2 supported on borosilicate tubes appears to be a promising alternative to conventional TiO2 suspension and avoid post-separation stages. The results achieved in this study can be used to optimise large-scale applications, and expanding the study to cover a wide range of pollutants will lead to achieve more representative results.We are grateful to Eng. Stefano Costacurta from Symera Srl, Italy, and Eng. Alessandro Patelli from the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padova, Italy, for the great efforts that had exerted in the manufacturing and for the characterisation of the TiO2- activated borosilicate tubes used in this research work. This work was supported by the European Commission in the framework of the Project BDiffusion of nanotechnology based devices for water treatment and recycling- NANOWAT^ (ENPI CBC MED I.B/2.1/049, Grant No. 7/1997)

Budgeting Under-Specified Tasks for Weakly-Hard Real-Time Systems

In this paper, we present an extension of slack analysis for budgeting in the design of weakly-hard real-time systems. During design, it often happens that some parts of a task set are fully specified while other parameters, e.g. regarding recovery or monitoring tasks, will be available only much later. In such cases, slack analysis can help anticipate how these missing parameters can influence the behavior of the whole system so that a resource budget can be allocated to them. It is, however, sufficient in many application contexts to budget these tasks in order to preserve weakly-hard rather than hard guarantees. We thus present an extension of slack analysis for deriving task budgets for systems with hard and weakly-hard requirements. This work is motivated by and validated on a realistic case study inspired by industrial practice

TiO2 and Active Coated Glass Photodegradation of Ibuprofen

Commercial non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are considered as toxic to the environment since they induce side e ects when consumed by humans or aquatic life. Ibuprofen is a member of the NSAID family and is widely used as an anti-inflammatory and painkiller agent. Photolysis is a potentially important method of degradation for several emerging contaminants, and individual compounds can undergo photolysis to various degrees, depending on their chemical structure. The e ciency oftitanium dioxide (TiO2) and photocatalysis was investigated for the removal of ibuprofen from the aquatic environment, and the performance of these di erent processes was evaluated. In heterogeneous photocatalysis, two experiments were carried out using TiO2 as (i) dispersed powder, and (ii) TiO2 immobilized on the active surface of commercial coated glass. The kinetics of each photoreaction was determined, and the identification of the photoproducts was carried out by liquid chromatography coupled with Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (LC-FTICR MS). The overall results suggest that the TiO2 active thin layer immobilized on the glass substrate can avoid recovery problems related to the use of TiO2 powder in heterogeneous photocatalysis and may be a promising tool toward protecting the environment from emerging contaminants such as ibuprofen and its derivatives.Funding: This work was supported by the European Union in the framework of the Project “Di usion of nanotechnology-based devices for water treatment and recycling; NANOWAT” (ENPI CBC MED I-B/2.1/049, Grant No. 7/1997). Acknowledgments: Many thanks to Jawad H. Shoqueir, the head of Soil and hydrology Lab at Al-Quds University, for his support to partially cover the publication fee from his own budget. Results reported in this article were partially presented by Samer Khalaf at the Second International Conference on Recycle and Reuse, 4–6 June 2014, Istanbul, Turkey and published in the book of abstracts

Serum OX40 ligand: a potential marker of atopic dermatitis disease severity in children

Background: OX40 ligand (OX40L) and OX40 are members of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and TNF receptor (TNFR) super families respectively. Recent studies have indicated the critical involvement of OX40/OX40L interaction in the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis. To our knowledge, no data could be cited in literature concerning OX40L levels in serum or in other biological fluids of atopic dermatitis children. Objective: This study was done to explore the expression of OX40L in the serum of atopic dermatitis children with respect to disease activity and severity. Methods: This follow-up, case-control longitudinal study was conducted on 64 children as a stratified non-random sample; 34 with atopic dermatitis and 30 healthy children. Serum concentrations of OX40L were measured by sandwich enzyme immunoassay. The severity of atopic dermatitis was assessed according to the Leicester Sign Score (LSS), Simple Scoring System (SSS), Scoring Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) index, and Objective SCORAD. Results: Serum OX40L levels (pg/ml) in atopic dermatitis patients were significantly elevated as compared to controls (176.6 ± 45.9) whether during flare (1007 ± 241.5) or quiescence (699 ± 198.5). There were significant positive correlations between serum OX40L levels and each of the LSS, SSS and SCORAD indices of atopic dermatitis disease severity, while it was insignificant regarding the objective SCORAD. However, when atopic dermatitis children were classified according to the objective SCORAD index of severity into mild, moderate and severe, it was found that the mean serum level in the severe group was significantly higher than the corresponding values of the mild or the moderate group. OX40L levels did not correlate with serum total IgE or absolute eosinophils count. Serum total LDH levels correlated positively with each of the serum OX40L levels and the LSS and SCORAD indices of severity. Conclusions: Serum OX40L level is an objective reliable marker of atopic dermatitis severity in children. It may be useful for follow up and may help to improve research and management of this disease. Blockade of interactions between OX40 on Th2 cells and OX40L on activated dendritic cells using an OX40L-specific monoclonal antibody could represent a novel strategy for the treatment of atopic dermatitis.Keywords: Atopic dermatitis, LSS, OX40, OX40L, SCORAD, SSS, TNFEgypt J Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2009;7(1):15-2

TiO2 and Active Coated Glass Photodegradation of Ibuprofen

Commercial non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are considered as toxic to the environment since they induce side effects when consumed by humans or aquatic life. Ibuprofen is a member of the NSAID family and is widely used as an anti-inflammatory and painkiller agent. Photolysis is a potentially important method of degradation for several emerging contaminants, and individual compounds can undergo photolysis to various degrees, depending on their chemical structure. The efficiency oftitanium dioxide (TiO2) and photocatalysis was investigated for the removal of ibuprofen from the aquatic environment, and the performance of these different processes was evaluated. In heterogeneous photocatalysis, two experiments were carried out using TiO2 as (i) dispersed powder, and (ii) TiO2 immobilized on the active surface of commercial coated glass. The kinetics of each photoreaction was determined, and the identification of the photoproducts was carried out by liquid chromatography coupled with Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (LC-FTICR MS). The overall results suggest that the TiO2 active thin layer immobilized on the glass substrate can avoid recovery problems related to the use of TiO2 powder in heterogeneous photocatalysis and may be a promising tool toward protecting the environment from emerging contaminants such as ibuprofen and its derivativ

Removal of Herbicides from Water Using Heterogeneous Photocatalysis Case Study: MCPA Sodium Monohydrate

In this study, the herbicide MCPA sodium salt monohydrate (sodium (4-chloro-2 methylphenoxy) acetate has been studied as are presentative compound used in the agricultural field. Accordingly, direct photolysis and photocatalytic experiments under artificial irradiation simulating solar light in laboratorial conditions were performed. Photocatalytic experiments were performed using TiO2 dispersed powder and as an immobilized thin layer on the surface of blue glasses. The obtained results of photolysis showed a poor efficacy toward degradation of MCPA sodium monohydrate, with half-life (t1/2) 6931.5 min. While, the addition of TiO2 dispersed powder to the photocatalytic process enhances the process dramatically with (t1/2) equal to 36.5 min; furthermore, complete mineralization had been reached after approximately 4 hours, whereas the addition of TiO2 through immobilized system led to enhance the degradation rate with 2236 min. as t1/2. In spite of this, using TiO2 supported on glass substrates with more improvements could be a promising alternative to conventional TiO2 suspension, and provides a clean treatment method

Sudden unexpected death related to enterovirus myocarditis: histopathology, immunohistochemistry and molecular pathology diagnosis at post-mortem

BACKGROUND: Viral myocarditis is a major cause of sudden unexpected death in children and young adults. Until recently, coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) has been the most commonly implicated virus in myocarditis. At present, no standard diagnosis is generally accepted due to the insensitivity of traditional diagnostic tests. This has prompted health professionals to seek new diagnostic approaches, which resulted in the emergence of new molecular pathological tests and a more detailed immunohistochemical and histopathological analysis. When supplemented with immunohistochemistry and molecular pathology, conventional histopathology may provide important clues regarding myocarditis underlying etiology. METHODS: This study is based on post-mortem samples from sudden unexpected death victims and controls who were investigated prospectively. Immunohistochemical investigations for the detection of the enteroviral capsid protein VP1 and the characterization and quantification of myocardial inflammatory reactions as well as molecular pathological methods for enteroviral genome detection were performed. RESULTS: Overall, 48 sudden unexpected death victims were enrolled. As for controls, 37 cases of unnatural traffic accident victims were studied. Enterovirus was detected in 6 sudden unexpected death cases (12.5 %). The control samples were completely enterovirus negative. Furthermore, the enteroviral capsid protein VP1 in the myocardium was detected in enterovirus-positive cases revealed by means of reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Unlike control samples, immunohistochemical investigations showed a significant presence of T and B lymphocytes in sudden unexpected death victims. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate clearly a higher prevalence of viral myocarditis in cases of sudden unexpected death compared to control subjects, suggesting that coxsackie B enterovirus may contribute to myocarditis pathogenesis significantly