تحليل أدوات السياسات المرتبطة بعرض محصولي القمح والبرسيم في مصر

This study dealt with the analysis of the related policies affecting the supply response of wheat and Egyptian clover (berseem) acreage in Egypt. These policies were the price policy, the policy of raising the yield (productivity) of wheat, bread price subsidy at the retail stage, foreign trade policy of wheat. In addition, the study estimated some econometric relationships between the policy variables, which included domestic price and the world price of wheat, the variables affecting the wheat profitability and berseem profitability in Egypt. The study concluded from the analysis of relations between the variables of the policies targeted modifying the prevailing competitiveness between wheat and berseem on the agricultural area produced several important results: the depreciation of the value of the Egyptian pound against the American dollar makes the growth rate in domestic wheat price to match imported wheat price to the Egyptian market would be doubled 6 times, the growth rate of world wheat price, which places a huge burden on the state to procure foreign currency and inflate the size of the funding gap. These burdens are compounded by increased imports of wheat due to population growth. Such policy would increase the subsidy burden and then social costs as the world price in US dollars has grown by about 1% a year over the four decades ago, while the exchange rate of the dollar to Egyptian pound led to make the growth rate of domestic wheat in Egyptian pounds about 6% which, will enter Egypt to fall in a dilemma of risk of enlargement of the national debt payment. Thus, despite the positive impact of increased farm price, depending on a policy of raising the price to cover the increase in the costs of production due to increase in the free agricultural input prices, monopolistic practices and fraud, with fluctuations in productivity of wheat through time, would cause burdens of distortions in the economy over the long term that might be of unbearable consequences

HEPATOPROTECTIVE AND HEPATOTHERAPUTIC EFFECTS OF PROPOLIS AGAINST D-GALACTOSAMINE/LIPOPOLYSACCHARIDE-INDUCED LIVER DAMAGE IN RATS

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the potential hepatoprotective and hepatotherapeutic activities of propolis against D-galactosamine and lipopolysaccharide (D-GaIN/LPS)-induced hepatotoxicity in rats.Methods: Hepatotoxicity was induced in rats by intra peritoneal injection of GalN (300 mg/kg) and LPS (30 μg/kg). In the hepatoprotection experiment, propolis was administered orally for 10 days before induction of hepatoxicity. In another experiment (hepatotherapy), propolis was dosed immediately after GalN/LPS injection.Results: Injection of GalN/LPS to rats induced hepatic damage that was manifested by a significant increase in the activities of aminotransferases, alkaline phosphatase, lactate dehydrogenase and levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and total bilirubin in serum. Liver homogenate of intoxicated animals had the lower content of reduced glutathione with increased levels of the hepatic malondialdehyde and caspase-3 enzyme. Histological data presented marked damage in liver sections of intoxicated rats. Oral dosing of propolis before or once immediately after intoxication reversed these altered parameters near to normal values.Conclusion: Liver apoptotic events such as DNA fragmentation and increased caspase-3 activity observed during intoxication were prevented by pre and post- propolis treatment. These results suggest that propolis could afford significant protection and therapy in alleviation of hepatotoxicity.Â

أثر التغيرات الاقتصادية والسياسية المعاصرة على الأداء الاقتصادي لمحصول الأرز المصري

This study aims to analyze the economics of the Egyptian rice enterprise performance in terms of the evolution of both the production and foreign trade, prices, costs and profitability together with throwing highlights on the environmental risks of burning rice straw and recycled alternatives as an approach to increase the value added of the main crop. The study relied on published and unpublished secondary data and review of literature. The study estimated the time trend models for the most important variables that determine the volume of rice production and estimated the annual rates of variation of these variables and indicators which, due to political and economic changes during the study period (1999 - 2015), were behind the fluctuations in production. The magnitude of such fluctuation was estimated as the instability factor. The main results showed continuous fluctuations in cultivated rice which resulted in instability during the study period (1999 - 2015), where the coefficient of instability within the concerned period was about 81% and 88% for rice acreage and yield per faddan. This was probably due to the intervention of the state in determining cultivated area of rice. These fluctuations demonstrated a lack of significant statistical time trend of rice area and its productivity, which in turn reflected on the volume of produce. The fluctuations in local rice production, acreage and insignificant yield growth associated with fluctuations in annual rice exports. Fluctuations in exports were increased because of the unstable changes in export policies aimed prevention of exports for availability and accessibility of rice in the domestic market to saturate the local demand. Such policies implied in several years to import a quite considered quantities of rice. The study, also, showed that the resultant of fluctuations in the acreage and changes in production development policies such as introducing the high yield new varieties and mechanical harvest using the combine caused apparent deficiency in production of rice straw. The study also showed that with the launch of market mechanisms, remove subsidies for agricultural production supplies, devaluation of the Egyptian pound against the dollar, the increase in the costs of producing one ton of rice was a result of the increase in prices of chemical fertilizers, human labor, agricultural mechanization systems and rent value per faddan. However, such increase in costs per ton associated with a relatively higher farm gate price per ton of rice leading to increase in the profit per ton. The average producer profit per ton as a percent of the farm gate price was estimated as 43%. The study indicated that recycling of the abundant rice straw and other byproducts into several specified alternatives would raise the value added of this crop and then raise the economic feasibility of resources devoted for rice enterprise, despite its relatively high requirements of the limited water resources available, compared to the competitive crop which is maize

دوال الاستهلاك والطلب الفعال الكمي والنوعي على الألبان ومنتجاتها في الحضر والريف المصري

The objectives of this study are to assess and analyze the qualitative demand for milk with income change, as an incentive for the Egyptian market capacity to achieve health, environmental and commercial qualities. As well as, the effective demand growth rate in urban and rural of Egypt, versus domestic production growth to estimate expected dairy market gap. Field sample survey data of the household budget in 2014 in Egypt, which is conducted by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics every three years, were used. The study estimated the quantity and monetary consumption functions of urban and rural regions using the form of the double algorithmic model to estimate the elasticity of demand for the milk quality with relative change in income, which showed that the qualitative dairy demand elasticity in the Egyptian market in urban market was positive amounted to about 0.15, i.e. 10% increase in per capita annual income will raise the demand for quality by 1.5%. which it was low it was higher than such elasticity in rural region that showed a negative value. The study attributed that to the high contribution of the dairy products consumption from rural household produced by the rural family of low direct production costs so as to avoid inflated market prices for those products. The other main reason was the per capita low income and poor distribution in the rural even much more than in urban, which is hampering spending on dairy products in order to get quality specifications. The availability of health, environmental and commercial specifications require additional marketing costs and thus necessarily raises the price of dairy products which doesn't agree with low standard of among the majority of the population, especially in the rural. The study recommends the need to consider providing incentives to producers and marketing firms who are committed to improving quality in form place and time, without significant price rise, with tighter controls on commodity specifications to prevent deception and perishable cheating and fraud, stimulate the vertical and horizontal integration between the stages of the market and also stimulate the marketing of large firms to achieve the economies of scale and consequently low cost products. The estimates of the effective demand growth rate for dairy products in urban and rural were much higher than the domestic production growth rate, showing expected expansion in the market gap in the future, especially with the expected high economic growth that expected to occur with improving in the performance of the Egyptian economy, which increases the financial burden on imports and causing higher prices for dairy products. The study recommends exploiting Egypt's comparative advantage in increasing production and raising the efficiency of marketing system to increase the supply of local production

الميزة النسبية لمصر في إنتاج اللحم واللبن مــن الجاموس

As Egypt faces limited agricultural resources, either land acreage or water sources for irrigation, it is necessary to focus on either cows or buffaloes to produce red meat and milk under the existing intensive agricultural system. This study conducted a comparative analysis of the technical and economic criteria to investigate the comparative advantage of Egypt in producing meat and / or milk from buffaloes in comparison with local cows and both cows and dairy buffalo in other countries. The comparison used milk equivalent of 4% fat to adjust the high fat percent in buffalo milk. The study used the published time series data the research studies based upon field sample surveys. The technical criteria included the percentage of milking animals, milk yield and milk composition, as well as the feed utilization efficiency. The economic criteria included the role of buffalo in generating labor employment, poverty alleviation and improving food security in rural areas, in addition to the costs of production per ton and per 100 grams of protein and the farm price ratio. All criteria have provided evidences that Egypt has comparative advantage in raising buffalo for milk production. The study recommended a development programs for buffalo production in Egypt. It is basically, depends upon vertical expansion rather than horizontal which is not feasible under limited water and agricultural land resources. Therefore the genetic improvement of Egyptian buffalo population, for milk production should be the main approach, using artificial insemination and supported by the reform of the milk marketing system and improving the Egyptian buffalo reproductive performances

Genomic characterization of SARS-CoV-2 in Egypt: insights into spike protein thermodynamic stability

The overall pattern of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic so far has been a series of waves; surges in new cases followed by declines. The appearance of novel mutations and variants underlie the rises in infections, making surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 mutations and prediction of variant evolution of utmost importance. In this study, we sequenced 320 SARS-CoV-2 viral genomes isolated from patients from the outpatient COVID-19 clinic in the Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357 (CCHE 57357) and the Egypt Center for Research and Regenerative Medicine (ECRRM). The samples were collected between March and December 2021, covering the third and fourth waves of the pandemic. The third wave was found to be dominated by Nextclade 20D in our samples, with a small number of alpha variants. The delta variant was found to dominate the fourth wave samples, with the appearance of omicron variants late in 2021. Phylogenetic analysis reveals that the omicron variants are closest genetically to early pandemic variants. Mutation analysis shows SNPs, stop codon mutation gain, and deletion/insertion mutations, with distinct patterns of mutations governed by Nextclade or WHO variant. Finally, we observed a large number of highly correlated mutations, and some negatively correlated mutations, and identified a general inclination toward mutations that lead to enhanced thermodynamic stability of the spike protein. Overall, this study contributes genetic and phylogenetic data, as well as provides insights into SARS-CoV-2 viral evolution that may eventually help in the prediction of evolving mutations for better vaccine development and drug targets

Platelet-Activating Factor Induces TLR4 Expression in Intestinal Epithelial Cells: Implication for the Pathogenesis of Necrotizing Enterocolitis

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in neonatal intensive care units, however its pathogenesis is not completely understood. We have previously shown that platelet activating factor (PAF), bacteria and TLR4 are all important factors in the development of NEC. Given that Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are expressed at low levels in enterocytes of the mature gastrointestinal tract, but were shown to be aberrantly over-expressed in enterocytes in experimental NEC, we examined the regulation of TLR4 expression and signaling by PAF in intestinal epithelial cells using human and mouse in vitro cell lines, and the ex vivo rat intestinal loop model. In intestinal epithelial cell (IEC) lines, PAF stimulation yielded upregulation of both TLR4 mRNA and protein expression and led to increased IL-8 secretion following stimulation with LPS (in an otherwise LPS minimally responsive cell line). PAF stimulation resulted in increased human TLR4 promoter activation in a dose dependent manner. Western blotting and immunohistochemical analysis showed PAF induced STAT3 phosphorylation and nuclear translocation in IEC, and PAF-induced TLR4 expression was inhibited by STAT3 and NFκB Inhibitors. Our findings provide evidence for a mechanism by which PAF augments inflammation in the intestinal epithelium through abnormal TLR4 upregulation, thereby contributing to the intestinal injury of NEC

Global economic burden of unmet surgical need for appendicitis

Background: There is a substantial gap in provision of adequate surgical care in many low-and middle-income countries. This study aimed to identify the economic burden of unmet surgical need for the common condition of appendicitis. Methods: Data on the incidence of appendicitis from 170 countries and two different approaches were used to estimate numbers of patients who do not receive surgery: as a fixed proportion of the total unmet surgical need per country (approach 1); and based on country income status (approach 2). Indirect costs with current levels of access and local quality, and those if quality were at the standards of high-income countries, were estimated. A human capital approach was applied, focusing on the economic burden resulting from premature death and absenteeism. Results: Excess mortality was 4185 per 100 000 cases of appendicitis using approach 1 and 3448 per 100 000 using approach 2. The economic burden of continuing current levels of access and local quality was US $92 492 million using approach 1 and$73 141 million using approach 2. The economic burden of not providing surgical care to the standards of high-income countries was $95 004 million using approach 1 and$75 666 million using approach 2. The largest share of these costs resulted from premature death (97.7 per cent) and lack of access (97.0 per cent) in contrast to lack of quality. Conclusion: For a comparatively non-complex emergency condition such as appendicitis, increasing access to care should be prioritized. Although improving quality of care should not be neglected, increasing provision of care at current standards could reduce societal costs substantially

Laparoscopy in management of appendicitis in high-, middle-, and low-income countries: a multicenter, prospective, cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Appendicitis is the most common abdominal surgical emergency worldwide. Differences between high- and low-income settings in the availability of laparoscopic appendectomy, alternative management choices, and outcomes are poorly described. The aim was to identify variation in surgical management and outcomes of appendicitis within low-, middle-, and high-Human Development Index (HDI) countries worldwide. METHODS: This is a multicenter, international prospective cohort study. Consecutive sampling of patients undergoing emergency appendectomy over 6 months was conducted. Follow-up lasted 30 days. RESULTS: 4546 patients from 52 countries underwent appendectomy (2499 high-, 1540 middle-, and 507 low-HDI groups). Surgical site infection (SSI) rates were higher in low-HDI (OR 2.57, 95% CI 1.33-4.99, p = 0.005) but not middle-HDI countries (OR 1.38, 95% CI 0.76-2.52, p = 0.291), compared with high-HDI countries after adjustment. A laparoscopic approach was common in high-HDI countries (1693/2499, 67.7%), but infrequent in low-HDI (41/507, 8.1%) and middle-HDI (132/1540, 8.6%) groups. After accounting for case-mix, laparoscopy was still associated with fewer overall complications (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.42-0.71, p < 0.001) and SSIs (OR 0.22, 95% CI 0.14-0.33, p < 0.001). In propensity-score matched groups within low-/middle-HDI countries, laparoscopy was still associated with fewer overall complications (OR 0.23 95% CI 0.11-0.44) and SSI (OR 0.21 95% CI 0.09-0.45). CONCLUSION: A laparoscopic approach is associated with better outcomes and availability appears to differ by country HDI. Despite the profound clinical, operational, and financial barriers to its widespread introduction, laparoscopy could significantly improve outcomes for patients in low-resource environments. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT02179112

Pooled analysis of WHO Surgical Safety Checklist use and mortality after emergency laparotomy

Background The World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist has fostered safe practice for 10 years, yet its place in emergency surgery has not been assessed on a global scale. The aim of this study was to evaluate reported checklist use in emergency settings and examine the relationship with perioperative mortality in patients who had emergency laparotomy. Methods In two multinational cohort studies, adults undergoing emergency laparotomy were compared with those having elective gastrointestinal surgery. Relationships between reported checklist use and mortality were determined using multivariable logistic regression and bootstrapped simulation. Results Of 12 296 patients included from 76 countries, 4843 underwent emergency laparotomy. After adjusting for patient and disease factors, checklist use before emergency laparotomy was more common in countries with a high Human Development Index (HDI) (2455 of 2741, 89.6 per cent) compared with that in countries with a middle (753 of 1242, 60.6 per cent; odds ratio (OR) 0.17, 95 per cent c.i. 0.14 to 0.21, P <0001) or low (363 of 860, 422 per cent; OR 008, 007 to 010, P <0.001) HDI. Checklist use was less common in elective surgery than for emergency laparotomy in high-HDI countries (risk difference -94 (95 per cent c.i. -11.9 to -6.9) per cent; P <0001), but the relationship was reversed in low-HDI countries (+121 (+7.0 to +173) per cent; P <0001). In multivariable models, checklist use was associated with a lower 30-day perioperative mortality (OR 0.60, 0.50 to 073; P <0.001). The greatest absolute benefit was seen for emergency surgery in low- and middle-HDI countries. Conclusion Checklist use in emergency laparotomy was associated with a significantly lower perioperative mortality rate. Checklist use in low-HDI countries was half that in high-HDI countries.Peer reviewe