Urinary Stoma Care Guidelines: The Effect on Patients' Self-efficacy and Incidence of Peristomal Complications After Permanent Urostomy

Background: Adaptation to the urinary stoma is difficult and need a collaboration of multi-disciplinary team including nurse ,urological physician and surgeon who may be in a powerful position to positively help such  patients to enhance thier self-efficacy, adapt to life with a stoma care and minimizing the associated complications.  Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of urinary stoma care guidelines on patients' self-efficacy and peristomal complications after permanent urostomy. Design: A quasi experimental design. Setting: The study was conducted at urosurgery department and outpatient  urosurgery clinics  at Ain shames universty hospitals,Cairo, Egypt.. Sample: A purposive sample included 50 adult patients after permanent urostomy  and was divided randomly into 25 patients in the study group and 25 patients in the control group. Tools of data collection :I-Patient's structured interview questionnaire, II-Patient's  stoma care practice observational checklist, III- Pittman Ostomy Complications Severity Index (OCSI), IV-Ostomy complications risk factors assessment tool, V- Stoma Care Self-Efficacy Scale. Results: Regarding self-efficacy, 68.0% of the study group and 72.0% of the control group weren't confident pre- guidelines implementation. While, 3 months follow-up, 60.0% of the study group were fairly confident in contrast to 60.0% of the control group weren't confident with statistically significant difference. Concerning peristomal complications, leakage, peristomal dermatitis, stomal pain and stomal bleeding were the most common with statistically significant difference between the two groups 3 months follow up.Conclusions: Urinary stoma care guidelines affected positively on enhancing patients' self-efficacy and minimizing peristomal complications. Recommendations: furthur researches should be done to assess the risk factors for ostomy patient as predictors for peristomal complications occurance after urostomy and    subsequently an early management and preventable measures can be utilized as well as the role of wound ostomy nurse (WON) should be identified and activated in egypt through the Egyption Nursing Syndicate  as they play avital role in caring for ostomy patients. Keywords: Peristomal complications, permanent urostomy, Self-efficacy, urinary stoma care guideline

Magnetic localization and control of helical robots for clearing superficial blood clots

This work presents an approach for the localization and control of helical robots during removal of superficial blood clots inside in vitro and ex vivo models. The position of the helical robot is estimated using an array of Hall-effect sensors and precalculated magnetic field map of two synchronized rotating dipole fields. The estimated position is used to implement closed-loop motion control of the helical robot using the rotating dipole fields. We validate the localization accuracy by visual feedback and feature tracking inside the in vitro model. The experimental results show that the magnetic localization of a helical robot with diameter of 1 mm can achieve a mean absolute position error of 2.35 ± 0.4 mm (n = 20). The simultaneous localization and motion control of the helical robot enables propulsion toward a blood clot and clearing at an average removal rate of 0.67 ± 0.47 mm3/min. This method is used to localize the helical robot inside a rabbit aorta (ex vivo model), and the localization accuracy is validated using ultrasound feedback with a mean absolute position error of 2.6 mm

A New Flavonoid C-Glycoside from Celtis australis L. and Celtis occidentalis L. Leaves and Potential Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Activities

A major development over the past two decades has been the realization that free radical induced lipid peroxidation and DNA damage are associated with major health problems, e.g. cancer and ageing. Plant-derived antioxidants are increasingly found beneficial in protecting against these diseases. Celtis australis L. and Celtis occidentalis L. are two plants that have a variety of uses in folk medicine but have not been evaluated before for their antioxidant and cytotoxic properties. Therefore, the extracts of both plants’ leaves were investigated for these activities, as well as isolation of the bioactive compounds responsible for the activities. Molecular structures of the compounds were elucidated by UV, HRESIMS, 1D (1H and 13C) and 2D (1H-13C HSQC and 1H-13C HMBC) NMR analyses. The ethanolic and aqueous extracts, n-butanol fractions and the isolated major compound were tested for their antioxidant activity using DPPH radical scavenging assay, xanthine oxidase-induced generation of superoxide radical and lipid peroxidation assay by thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) method using rat tissue homogenates. Cytotoxic activities were studied using standard MTT assay. A novel flavonoid C-triglycoside, 4‴-α-rhamnopyranosyl-2″-O-β-d-galactopyranosylvitexin, was isolated from both plants’ leaves, together with seven known flavonoids. The n-butanol fractions and the major compound 2″-O-β-galactopyranosylvitexin showed significant antioxidant activities, more pronounced than the tested standards BHT and dl-α-tocopherol in most tests. All extracts showed variable cytotoxic activities. This study provides strong evidence for the antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of the extracts of Celtis australis L. and Celtis occidentalis L. leaves, which were attributed to the polar n-butanol fractions and the major isolated flavonoid 2″-galactosylvitexin

Improving Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) Seed Yield through Selection under Infection of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. sesami

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.), the Queen of oilseeds, is infected with different pathogens, restricting its yield. Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. sesami is the most destructive disease of sesame worldwide, causing economic losses. This work aimed to develop new high-yielding strains, resistant and/or tolerant to Fusarium. Two cycles of pedigree selection were achieved under infection of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. sesami. Two populations in the F2 (600 plants each) were used. The selection criteria were five single traits and another three restricted by yield. The restricted selection was better in preserving variability than the single trait selection. The observed genetic gain in percentage from the mid-parent in the F4-generation was significant for the eight selection criteria. Single trait selection proved to be an effective method for improving the selection criterion, but it caused deleterious effects on the other correlated traits in most cases. The seed yield increased by 30.67% and 20.31% from the better parent in the first and second populations, respectively. The infection% was significantly reduced by 24.04% in the first, and 9.3% in the second, population. The selection index improved seed yield, and its attributes can be recommended

Optimization and characterization of antileukemic l-asparaginase produced by Fusarium solani endophyte

Abstract l-asparaginase is an antileukemic enzyme that hydrolyzes l-asparagine into l-aspartic acid and ammonia, causing cell starvation and apoptosis in susceptible leukemic cell populations. Currently, l-asparaginase obtained from bacterial sources is constrained by several issues, including lesser productivity, stability, selectivity, and higher toxicity. The goal of this study is to provide fungal l-asparaginase with in-vitro effectiveness towards different human carcinomas. l-asparaginase from endophytic Fusarium solani (Gene Bank accession number MW209717) isolated from the roots of the medicinal plant Hedera helix L. was characterized and optimized experimentally for maximum l-asparaginase production in addition to evaluating its subsequent cytotoxicity towards acute monocytic leukemia and human skin fibroblast cell lines. The enzyme production was maximized using potato dextrose media (15.44 IU/ml/hr) at the 5th and 6th days of fermentation with incubation temperature 30 °C, 3% asparagine, 150–180 rpm agitation rate and a 250 ml flask. Enzyme characterization studies revealed that the enzyme maintained its thermal stability with temperatures up to 60 °C. However, its optimal activity was achieved at 35 °C. On measuring the enzymatic activity at various temperatures and different pH, maximum enzyme activity was recorded at 40 °C and pH 8 using 0.1 M asparagine concentration. Results also revealed promising cytotoxic activity against acute monocytic leukemia with IC50 = 3.66 µg/ml and low cytotoxicity against tested normal human skin fibroblast cell line which suggested that it might have selective toxicity, and consequently it could be used as a less toxic alternative to the current formulations

Characterization of Helical Propulsion Inside in Vitro and Ex Vivo Models of a Rabbit Aorta

In this work, the propulsion of a helical robot is experimentally characterized inside whole blood (in vitro model) and against the flowing streams of phosphate buffered saline (PBS) inside rabbit aorta (ex vivo model). The helical robot is magnetically actuated inside these models under the influence of rotating magnetic fields. The frequency response of the helical robot is characterized. Averaged speed is measured at actuation frequency of 8 Hz as 11.3 ± 0.52 (n = 5) and 7.45 ± 1.2 mm/s (n = 3) inside rabbit aorta and whole blood, respectively. The Speed of the robot inside rabbit aorta is characterized against flowing streams of PBS at flow rate of 90 ml/hr