17 β-estradiol (E2) is an important pollutant of the aquatic system. It is responsible for sexual disruptions in the majority of aquatic organisms. This study aimed to search for bacteria with high ...potential degradation of E2 as an important method for bioremediation.
Sewage water samples were collected and treated to isolate bacterial strains which were identified by conventional methods and 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequence analysis. The biodegradation of E2 by the isolated strains was evaluated under different environmental conditions.
Two bacterial strains were recovered from sewage water samples and identified as
and
, (named ASc2 and ASc5 respectively). Co-culture of the two strains showed biodegradation of approximately 93.6 % of E2 (50 mg. L
) within 48 hours. However, the biodegradation capacity of the same E2 concentration was 69.4% and 71.2% for ASc2 and ASc5 each alone, respectively. The optimum cultivation conditions for efficient E2 biodegradation by co-culture were 5% (v/v) inoculation volume with 50 mg. L
of E2 as the initial concentration at pH 7 and 30°C within 48 hours inoculation period.
This study detected new bacterial strains that are capable of rapid degradation of estrogen as an environmental pollutant.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Malachite green (MG) dye is a common environmental pollutant that threatens human health and the integrity of the Earth’s ecosystem. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential ...biodegradation of MG dye by actinomycetes species isolated from planted soil near an industrial water effluent in Cairo, Egypt. The Streptomyces isolate St 45 was selected according to its high efficiency for laccase production. It was identified as S. exfoliatus based on phenotype and 16S rRNA molecular analysis and was deposited in the NCBI GenBank with the gene accession number OL720220. Its growth kinetics were studied during an incubation time of 144 h, during which the growth rate was 0.4232 (µ/h), the duplication time (td) was 1.64 d, and multiplication rate (MR) was 0.61 h, with an MG decolorization value of 96% after 120 h of incubation at 25 °C. Eleven physical and nutritional factors (mannitol, frying oil waste, MgSO4, NH4NO3, NH4Cl, dye concentration, pH, agitation, temperature, inoculum size, and incubation time) were screened for significance in the biodegradation of MG by S. exfoliatus using PBD. Out of the eleven factors screened in PBD, five (dye concentration, frying oil waste, MgSO4, inoculum size, and pH) were shown to be significant in the decolorization process. Central composite design (CCD) was applied to optimize the biodegradation of MG. Maximum decolorization was attained using the following optimal conditions: food oil waste, 7.5 mL/L; MgSO4, 0.35 g/L; dye concentration, 0.04 g/L; pH, 4.0; and inoculum size, 12.5%. The products from the degradation of MG by S. exfoliatus were characterized using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results revealed the presence of several compounds, including leuco-malachite green, di(tert-butyl)(2-phenylethoxy) silane, 1,3-benzenedicarboxylic acid, bis(2-ethylhexyl) ester, 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid, bis(2-ethylhexyl) ester, 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid, di-n-octyl phthalate, and 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid, dioctyl ester. Moreover, the phytotoxicity, microbial toxicity, and cytotoxicity tests confirmed that the byproducts of MG degradation were not toxic to plants, microbes, or human cells. The results of this work implicate S. exfoliatus as a novel strain for MG biodegradation in different environments.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Stochastic nature of load demand has a great impact on the performance of electrical power system. As a result, planning of electrical power system considering load uncertainties became inevitable. ...This paper presents Monte Carlo simulation based different bio-inspired algorithms, grey wolf optimization (GWO), manta ray foraging optimization (MRFO), satin bower bird optimization (SBO) and whale optimization (WOA) to optimize locations of three DG units under load uncertainties considering 500 scenarios. Each scenario includes 50 iterations which means that for each run we have 25,000 iterations and 500 characteristics for different load value. Two objectives are achieved. Firstly, statistically finding the optimal probabilistic location of three DG units under load uncertainties in IEEE 33-bus and IEEE 69-bus radial distribution system based on Monte Carlo simulation integrated with different bio-inspired algorithms. Secondly, comparing between the performances of four different bio-inspired algorithms. Three objective functions are considered, minimizing active power loss, minimizing voltage deviation and maximizing voltage stability index. The active and reactive power demand are normally distributed using normal distribution function. The optimal probabilistic location is investigated considering two cases under load uncertainties, optimizing location of three DG units generally and optimizing location of one DG unit assuming two optimum locations for the other two units extracted from case I. The obtained results (after placing DG units) are compared to the base case (DG units are not connected) and compared to each other according to the optimization technique. The results show that, SBO algorithm superiors other algorithms almost in all cases. Comes next GWO which provide good results generally. However, the good performance obtained by MRFO, it consumes twice the time of other algorithms. WOA however fast convergence, it provides results worse than other algorithms. The system is applied to the well-known IEEE 33-bus and IEEE 69-bus radial distribution system.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Summary
Imported dengue cases are thought to be important source for transmission of autochthonous dengue in Europe. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of dengue in Europe, its severity, and ...factors associated with it. Out of 5287 reports resulting from the search of nine electronic search engines, we included 174 reports. Meta‐analysis was performed by pooling the event rate and 95% confidence interval (CI). Subgroup meta‐analyses were performed to test the effect of the covariates. Among 20 284 reported cases, 130 autochthonous dengue cases were reported in eight countries with the highest number of cases reported in Israel (n = 41). The highest number of imported dengue cases was in Germany (n = 6638) then France (n = 6610). Most cases were imported from Southeast Asia (n = 2533) especially Thailand. Dengue infection cases increased with time, with 4157 cases reported in 2010. Second dengue infection and dengue serotype 2 were positively associated with dengue severity. The proportion of autochthonous dengue infection increased with time to reach 14.8% (95% CI, 7.6‐26.9) in 2015. The pooled proportion of severe dengue was 6.18% (95% CI, 2.7‐13.3). The United Kingdom and France had the highest rate of severe dengue (25%; 95% CI, 6.3‐62.3, and 21.4%; 95% CI, 24.5‐18.7, respectively). This change may be due to the surveillance efforts instead of true biological phenomenon; thus, the lack of surveillance is an obvious limitation. In conclusion, imported and autochthonous dengue has been increasing in Europe. Severe dengue began to increase recently in Europe. European health authorities should pay more attention for the diagnosis and control of dengue infection among returning travelers, especially the travelers with fever of unknown origin.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Drought stress is one of the major threats to food security in the climate change scenario. Reducing the deleterious impacts of drought stress on the productivity of cereal crops is crucial. Hence, ...limited information has been available about the effect of the combined use of plant growth regulators and mineral fertilisers on promoting drought tolerance in maize seedlings. In this study, a pot experiment was carried out to evaluate the potential of sole or combined application of silicon (Si) and putrescine (Put) to mitigate the detrimental effects of drought on maize. The experimental treatments were, i.e. control (CK), water spray, 4.0 mmol Si, 0.5 mmol Put, and 4.0 mmol Si + 0.5 mmol Put on maize crop grown at two different water-holding capacity levels (80% well-water condition and 40% drought stress). The experiment was arranged in a complete randomised design with factorial arrangements having three replications. Exposure of maize plants to drought stress at the reproductive phase (VT-tasseling) reduced the photosynthetic pigments, including chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and chlorophyll a + b, relative water contents, leaf area, yield and yield attributes. However, foliar application of Si and Put individually and Si + Put dramatically reduced these negative effects by improving photosynthetic pigments, relative water contents, and activities of enzymatic antioxidant defence. Drought stress-induced lipid peroxidation in the form of more production of malondialdehyde content, hydrogen peroxide and electrolyte leakage significantly declined due to the combined application of Si and Put compared to the respective control. Drought stress boosted the activities of key enzymatic antioxidants (catalase, superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and ascorbate peroxidase) irrespective of the treatment application. Moreover, it was noted that the accumulation of osmolytes (proline and soluble protein) contents was increased by the combined application of Si and Put. Under drought stress conditions, combined foliar application of Si and Put considerably improved 22.70% cob length, 12.77% number of grains per cob, and 18.30% 100-grain weight, which ultimately enhanced maize's 10.29% grain yield. From the current study's findings, it was concluded that a combined foliar spray of silicon and putrescine at the reproductive phase is an effective strategy to enhance the maize yield in drought-prone areas.
Background
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is classified as the sixth commonest cancer over the world and the fourth common in Egypt, representing the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality. ...Trans-arterial chemoembolization (TACE) is considered as one of the most effective treatment option for intermediate stage HCC. Lesions showing complete response (CR) after TACE can be classified according to their lipiodol retention pattern into complete (C-Lip, covering the entire tumor volume) or incomplete (I-Lip). The purpose of this study was to assess the prediction value of post-TACE lipiodol retention pattern on the local disease progression after complete response and thus to decide which patient should be carefully observed and considered to be incompletely treated.
Results
The study included 45 HCC lesions treated with TACE and showed complete response in the first follow-up CT performed 4–6 weeks after the procedure; 23 cases showed incomplete lipiodol retention pattern and 22 with complete lipiodol retention pattern which was carefully assessed on non-contrast CT images done 4 to 6 weeks after treatment. Follow-up CT was then performed every 3 months for at least 12 months or until local progression occurred. On the follow-up CT studies, 20 out of the 45 lesions showed persistent complete response (i.e., no local progression), while 25 of them showed local progression. Among the 25 cases with disease progression upon correlation with their lipiodol retention pattern, it was found that local progression occurred in 31.8% of tumors showed CR with complete lipiodol retention, as opposed to 78.2% of tumors showed CR with incomplete lipiodol retention with significant statistical difference and
p
value 0.010.
Conclusions
Lipiodol retention pattern of HCC after TACE can predict the potential tumor local outcome. Lesions with incomplete lipiodol retention are at a higher risk of local tumor progression and therefore should probably observed and can be retreated; on the other hand, tumors with complete lipiodol retention have a much lower risk of local disease tumor progression.
Background
Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is an electric-like recurrent pain of a sudden onset and is localized to the area supplied by the trigeminal nerve, and the patients are usually free in between ...the attacks. It’s one of the most common causes of facial pain and is commonly induced by mechanical irritation, and there’s strong evidence suggesting an insult at the trigeminal nerve root which is usually caused by a neurovascular compression. The aim of the study was to evaluate the role of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in the detection of microstructural changes of normal appearing trigeminal nerve in patients with trigeminal neuralgia and the correlation between DTI parameters and pain severity.
Results
Thirty one cases were included in the study (16 patients with TN and 15 healthy controls) underwent MRI with diffusion tensor imaging. The fractional anisotropy (FA) values of the trigeminal nerves were recorded and then comparison between the affected and unaffected sides in TN patients and healthy controls was done, also the degree of FA reduction was correlated with the pain severity in TN groups. The mean FA value of the affected trigeminal nerves was 0.43 ± 0.083, while that of the unaffected sides was 0.56 ± 0.058. The mean FA value of the trigeminal nerves in the healthy controls was 0.54 ± 0.057. A significant statistical differences was found between affected and unaffected sides (
P
< 0.00001) and between the affected sides and healthy controls (
P
< 0.0003), while no statistically significant difference was detected between the unaffected side and the healthy controls. A strong negative correlation was found between the pain score and the degree of FA reduction (
P
< 0.001).
Conclusions
Diffusion tensor imaging is a functional MRI technique which can detect the microstructural changes in the normal appearing trigeminal nerves in patients with trigeminal neuralgia with a strong negative correlation between the severity of pain and the degree of FA reduction of the affected trigeminal nerve.
Background
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most frequent cancer on the world. Fat accumulation within hepatocytes is known as hepatic steatosis. In recent years, research has found that ...people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease have a higher chance of developing HCC. The LI-RADS
®
(Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System) was created to facilitate consistent reporting of imaging findings in patients at risk of HCC. The aim of this study was to see how hepatic fat fraction affects the LI-RADS major HCC features on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Results
All HCCs (92/92; 100%) showed arterial phase hyperenhancement (APHE); however, a significant association between hepatic steatosis and late APHE was found. Encapsulation was observed in 51 HCC (55.4%); in hepatic steatosis patients 17 HCC (37.8%) displayed enhancing capsule in delayed phase of the study, compared to 34 HCC (72.3%) in non-steatotic patients. The HCC size ranged from 11 to 200 mm (Mean 42.2 ± 51.8 mm) in the hepatic steatosis group; however, in patients with negative hepatic steatosis the size ranged from 13 to 205 (Mean 62.9 ± 54.5 mm).
Conclusions
Hepatic steatosis had a significant association with absent enhancing capsule, late arterial enhancement, as well as a lesion size less than 50 mm. “Fat sparing in solid mass” and "non-enhancing capsule" ancillary features had a significant association with hepatic steatosis, while “mild–moderate T2 hyperintensity” and “fat in mass, more than adjacent liver” ancillary features had a significant association with absent hepatic steatosis.
The impact of proline, methionine, and melatonin on cauliflower plants under drought stress is still unclear in the available publications. So, this research aims to study these biochemical ...compounds’ effects on cauliflower plants grown under well-irrigated and drought-stressed conditions. The obtained results showed that under drought-stressed conditions, foliar application of proline, methionine, and melatonin significantly (p ≤ 0.05) enhanced leaf area, leaf chlorophyll content, leaf relative water content (RWC), vitamin C, proline, total soluble sugar, reducing sugar, and non-reducing sugar compared to the untreated plants. These treatments also significantly increased curd height, curd diameter, curd freshness, and dry matter compared to untreated plants. Conversely, the phenolic-related enzymes including polyphenol oxidase (PPO), peroxidase (POD), and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) were significantly reduced compared to the untreated plants. A similar trend was observed in glucosinolates, abscisic acid (ABA), malondialdehyde (MDA), and total phenols. Eventually, it can be concluded that the foliar application of proline, methionine, and melatonin can be considered a proper strategy for enhancing the growth performance and productivity of cauliflower grown under drought-stressed conditions.
The metacherts of the Asima Window, in northeastern U.A.E. at the southeastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, are the dominant metamorphic sole lithologies of the Semail ophiolite that was obducted ...onto the Arabian continental margin at the end of the Cretaceous. There have been no previous geochemical studies of these metacherts. The Asima metachert samples of this study form four groups based on geochemistry, petrography and field association: (1) black hematitic, (2) green epidote-chlorite rich, (3) pink piedmontite-bearing and (4) grey micaceous metacherts. A continental margin setting for the parent cherts is indicated geochemically by Al
2
O
3
to Fe
2
O
3
and SiO
2
ratios, low ΣREE, low La, moderate positive Ce/Ce* and La
n
/Ce
n
~ 1. A significant terrigenous fraction was composed of illite, chlorite and Fe hydroxides. A hydrothermal component can be recognized in all of the metachert groups but is particularly evident in the black and green metacherts by low Al/(Al + Fe + Mn), high (Fe + Mn)/Ti, high Ba and Ba/Sr ratios, positive Eu/Eu* and left-leaning REE profiles. Most silica was biogenic. A hydrogenous component included REE’s, Cu, Ni, Zn, V, Ba and Co that were adsorbed onto clays, Fe hydroxide and Mn oxide particles. The Asima cherts were deposited in a marine basin adjacent to but separated from the continental margin by seamounts of the Al Hala Volcanics. These volcanics provided Fe,Mn-rich hydrothermal fluids that mixed with the oxygenated seawaters, leading to rapid hematite deposition (black metacherts) and slow Mn oxidation to form Mn oxide particles that accumulated in the pink metacherts. Grey metacherts were deposited farther from the vents. Green metacherts have similarities to the hydrothermal black metacherts.
Graphical abstract
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
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