Molecular studies on Pasteurella species isolated from ducks

Duck cholera is a fatal, contagious and septicemic disease of ducks caused by Pasteurella species. A total of 150 ducks were collected from ten farms in Kaliobia Governorate suspected to be suffering from Pasteurellosis that manifested by respiratory signs, sudden death, and nervous manifestation. Collected Samples from these ducks were liver, spleen, heart and lung which subjected for bacteriological examination. A total of 33 Pasteurella strains were isolated, 25 strain were Pasteurella multocida (recovered from liver samples) and 8 strain were Pasteurella pneumotropica (5 strains recovered from lung and 3 strain recovered from heart). Finding of antibiotic sensitivity test showed that Pastreulla isolates were sensitive to florofinicole (80%) and moderately sensitive to ciprofloxacine (60%), enrofloxacin (50%) and followed by tobramycin (40%). Amoxicillin, oxytetracycline and penicillin were less sensitive (30% each) while isolates showed absolute resistance to erythromycin (100%) followed by resistance to gentamycin (90%) and naldixic acid (80%) for both types of Pasteurella. PCR results showed that Cytotoxic protein (toxA) toxcin virulence gene was detected in 4 out of 10 studied strains and fimbrial protein (ptfA) virulence gene was detected in 4 out of 10 studied strains. Sequences of toxA and ptfA genes were submitted to Gen Bank and assigned accession numbers were MF167359 and MF382009, respectively

Assisted reproductive outcomes in women with different polycystic ovary syndrome phenotypes: The predictive value of anti-Müllerian hormone

This cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcomes in different polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) phenotypes (A, B, C and D) compared with a control group and the predictive values of serum anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) in PCOS phenotypes for main outcomes. This study evaluated 386 PCOS women and 350 patients with male factor infertility. Women with phenotypes A and C had significantly higher concentrations of AMH than those with phenotype B (P < 0.001). Clinical pregnancy rate (CPR) in the phenotype D group (53.3) was higher than other groups (32.5, 26.4 and 36.8, respectively, in phenotypes A, B and C), but not to a significant level. Multivariable regression analysis, after adjusting for women's age and body mass index, revealed that PCOS phenotypes A and B were associated with a decreased CPR compared with the control group (odds ratio OR: 0.46, confidence interval CI: 0.26-0.8, P = 0.007 and OR: 0.34, CI: 0.18-0.62, P = 0.001, respectively). It seems a combination of hyperandrogenism and chronic anovulation is associated with a negative impact on the CPR in these patients. These results demonstrated that AMH concentration is related to PCO morphology but not predictive for CPR and live birth rate. © 2016 Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF SPONGE CAKE AND BISCUIT PREPARED USING COMPOSITE FLOUR

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of partial substitution (10 and 15%) of wheat flour by sorghum or chickpea flour on quality parameters of sponge cake and biscuit. Chickpea flour contained the highest percentage of protein, lipids, ash and crude fiber. Water absorption was increased by replacement of wheat flour with sorghum or chickpea flour. From the obtained data, it could be seen that the deleterious effect of adding sorghum flour to wheat flour on the rheological properties was more pronounced than that happened when chickpea flour was added. Cake prepared with sorghum flour had less pronounced improvements in its chemical composition rather than those of chickpea. With regard to volume and specific volume, cake prepared with 10% chickpea flour with or without cake improver recorded the highest values. Cake prepared by chickpea flour had no any unfavorable sensory change especially for the cake produced by cake improver.  Crude protein, lipids, ash and crude fiber contents were increased progressively in all biscuit samples with increasing of either the sorghum or chickpea flour levels. Also, there were no significant differences (P>0.05) between the thickness and spread ratio of control biscuit compared to that of sorghum or chickpea- wheat composite flour.  It is worth mentioning that the substitution of wheat flour with chickpea flour gave biscuit more sensory acceptable

Anti-ulcer properties, cytokines, and apoptosis regulatory effects of Olea europaea leaves from Hail Province, Saudi Arabia

This study investigated the anti-ulcer properties of raw olive leaf powder (OLP) and its immunomodulatory potential through the cytokine network. The efficacy of OLP extract in treating stomach ulcers in rats in ethanol-induced models was examined using a single dosage (100, 200, 400 mg/kg) in groups 4, 5, and 6. The OLP demonstrated substantial anti-ulcer action even at 100 mg/kg. The activity was better at 400 mg/kg and almost equivalent to the conventional omeprazole treatment at 20 mg/kg in group 3. The cytokine network was studied in groups 1, 2, 3, and 6. The cytokine network was efficiently regulated by reducing the production of cytokines such as IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-α. The levels of caspase-3 and caspase-9 were also lowered in groups 3 and 4 considerably at p &lt; 0.05. It is interesting to note that the expression of IFN was greater in animals treated with OLP in group 4, as compared to animals treated with omeprazole in group 3, as well as animals from the disease control group 2, when analyzed at a significance level of p &lt; 0.05. The results revealed that OLP has intriguing potential for anti-ulcer action, and possesses immunomodulatory capabilities to control inflammatory cytokines and apoptotic markers

Factors associated with the health and nutritional status of children under 5 years of age in Afghanistan: family behaviour related to women and past experience of war-related hardships

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The present study was performed to assess, beyond socio-economic factors, independent associations between the health and nutritional status of children under 5 years old and (1) family behavioural factors related to women with regard to child care and (2) war-related experience by the household of hardships in Afghanistan.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The subjects were all children born during the previous 5 years from 1400 households in Kabul Province, Afghanistan and were selected by multistage sampling in March 2006. Height and weight measurements of the children and culturally sensitive interviews with their mothers were conducted by household visits. Child mortality, morbidity and nutritional status were evaluated. Four areas were assessed as variables for family behavioural factors related to women: education of mothers, child marriage of the mothers, maternal autonomy in obtaining healthcare for children and preference for a female physician. Hardships experienced by the family were examined by determining their satisfaction of basic material needs and by any experience of being forced to leave a preferred residence.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 2474 children from 1327 households completed the examinations and interviews; among them, 101 children were deceased by the time of the interview visits. Diarrhoea (32.5%) and acute respiratory infection (41.0%) were common child health problems and both emaciation (12.4%) and linear growth retardation (39.9%) were prevalent. Regardless of the influence of economic, demographic, family behavioural or hardships experience factors, a lack of maternal autonomy (79.1%) was associated with the occurrence of acute respiratory infection (odds-ratio = 1.72; 95% confidence interval = 1.23, 2.40), and linear growth retardation of children (odds-ratio = 1.38; 95% confidence interval = 1.01, 1.90); a lack of education of the mother (71.7%) and child marriage of the mothers (18.3%) were associated with diarrhoea (odds-ratio = 1.84; 95% confidence interval = 1.40, 2.41; odds-ratio = 1.46; 95% confidence interval = 1.08, 1.96, respectively); a shortage of basic material needs (59.1%) was associated with diarrhoea (odds-ratio = 1.35; 95% confidence interval = 1.08, 1.68); and migration inside the country (52.9%) was associated with underweight children (odds-ratio = 2.48; 95% confidence interval = 1.13, 5.44).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A lack of education of the mothers, child marriage, lack of maternal autonomy, shortage of basic material needs and internal displacement showed independent and significant negative associations with child health and nutritional variables in this country that has experienced a long period of conflict.</p

Discordant identification of pediatric severe sepsis by research and clinical definitions in the SPROUT international point prevalence study

Introduction: Consensus criteria for pediatric severe sepsis have standardized enrollment for research studies. However, the extent to which critically ill children identified by consensus criteria reflect physician diagnosis of severe sepsis, which underlies external validity for pediatric sepsis research, is not known. We sought to determine the agreement between physician diagnosis and consensus criteria to identify pediatric patients with severe sepsis across a network of international pediatric intensive care units (PICUs). Methods: We conducted a point prevalence study involving 128 PICUs in 26 countries across 6 continents. Over the course of 5 study days, 6925 PICU patients &lt;18 years of age were screened, and 706 with severe sepsis defined either by physician diagnosis or on the basis of 2005 International Pediatric Sepsis Consensus Conference consensus criteria were enrolled. The primary endpoint was agreement of pediatric severe sepsis between physician diagnosis and consensus criteria as measured using Cohen's ?. Secondary endpoints included characteristics and clinical outcomes for patients identified using physician diagnosis versus consensus criteria. Results: Of the 706 patients, 301 (42.6 %) met both definitions. The inter-rater agreement (? ± SE) between physician diagnosis and consensus criteria was 0.57 ± 0.02. Of the 438 patients with a physician's diagnosis of severe sepsis, only 69 % (301 of 438) would have been eligible to participate in a clinical trial of pediatric severe sepsis that enrolled patients based on consensus criteria. Patients with physician-diagnosed severe sepsis who did not meet consensus criteria were younger and had lower severity of illness and lower PICU mortality than those meeting consensus criteria or both definitions. After controlling for age, severity of illness, number of comorbid conditions, and treatment in developed versus resource-limited regions, patients identified with severe sepsis by physician diagnosis alone or by consensus criteria alone did not have PICU mortality significantly different from that of patients identified by both physician diagnosis and consensus criteria. Conclusions: Physician diagnosis of pediatric severe sepsis achieved only moderate agreement with consensus criteria, with physicians diagnosing severe sepsis more broadly. Consequently, the results of a research study based on consensus criteria may have limited generalizability to nearly one-third of PICU patients diagnosed with severe sepsis

Validation of a Novel Multivariate Method of Defining HIV-Associated Cognitive Impairment

Background. The optimum method of defining cognitive impairment in virally suppressed people living with HIV is unknown. We evaluated the relationships between cognitive impairment, including using a novel multivariate method (NMM), patientreported outcome measures (PROMs), and neuroimaging markers of brain structure across 3 cohorts.Methods. Differences in the prevalence of cognitive impairment, PROMs, and neuroimaging data from the COBRA, CHARTER, and POPPY cohorts (total n = 908) were determined between HIV-positive participants with and without cognitive impairment defined using the HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND), global deficit score (GDS), and NMM criteria.Results. The prevalence of cognitive impairment varied by up to 27% between methods used to define impairment (eg, 48% for HAND vs 21% for NMM in the CHARTER study). Associations between objective cognitive impairment and subjective cognitive complaints generally were weak. Physical and mental health summary scores (SF-36) were lowest for NMM-defined impairment (P&lt;.05). There were no differences in brain volumes or cortical thickness between participants with and without cognitive impairment defined using the HAND and GDS measures. In contrast, those identified with cognitive impairment by the NMM had reduced mean cortical thickness in both hemispheres (P&lt;.05), as well as smaller brain volumes (P&lt;.01). The associations with measures of white matter microstructure and brain-predicted age generally were weaker.Conclusion. Different methods of defining cognitive impairment identify different people with varying symptomatology and measures of brain injury. Overall, NMM-defined impairment was associated with most neuroimaging abnormalities and poorer selfreported health status. This may be due to the statistical advantage of using a multivariate approach

Level of agreement between frequently used cardiovascular risk calculators in people living with HIV

Objectives The aim of the study was to describe agreement between the QRISK2, Framingham and Data Collection on Adverse Events of Anti‐HIV Drugs (D:A:D) cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk calculators in a large UK study of people living with HIV (PLWH). Methods PLWH enrolled in the Pharmacokinetic and Clinical Observations in People over Fifty (POPPY) study without a prior CVD event were included in this study. QRISK2, Framingham CVD and the full and reduced D:A:D CVD scores were calculated; participants were stratified into ‘low’ ( 20%) categories for each. Agreement between scores was assessed using weighted kappas and Bland–Altman plots. Results The 730 included participants were predominantly male (636; 87.1%) and of white ethnicity (645; 88.5%), with a median age of 53 [interquartile range (IQR) 49–59] years. The median calculated 10‐year CVD risk was 11.9% (IQR 6.8–18.4%), 8.9% (IQR 4.6–15.0%), 8.5% (IQR 4.8–14.6%) and 6.9% (IQR 4.1–11.1%) when using the Framingham, QRISK2, and full and reduced D:A:D scores, respectively. Agreement between the different scores was generally moderate, with the highest level of agreement being between the Framingham and QRISK2 scores (weighted kappa = 0.65) but with most other kappa coefficients in the 0.50–0.60 range. Conclusions Estimates of predicted 10‐year CVD risk obtained with commonly used CVD risk prediction tools demonstrate, in general, only moderate agreement among PLWH in the UK. While further validation with clinical endpoints is required, our findings suggest that care should be taken when interpreting any score alone