Objective:To prepare various crude extracts using different polarities of solvent and to quantitatively evaluate their total phenol,flavonoids contents and phytochemical screening of Thymus vulgaris ...collected from Al Jabal Al Akhdar,Nizwa.Sultanate of Oman.Methods:The leave sample was extracted with methanol and evaporated.Then it was defatted with water and extracted with different polarities organic solvents with increasing polarities.The prepare hexane,chloroform,ethyl acetate,hutanol and methanol crude extracts were used for their evaluation of total phenol,flavonoids contents and phytochemical screening study.The established conventional metliods were used for quantitative determination of total phenol,flavonoids contents and phytochemical screening.Results:Phytochemical screening for various crude extracts were tested and shown positive result for flavonoids,saponins and steroids compounds.The result for total phenol content was the highest in hutanol and the lowest in methanol crude extract whereas the total flavonoids contents was the highest in methanol and the lowest hexane crude extract.Conclusions:The crude extracts from locally grown Thymus vulgaris showed high concentration of flavonoids and it could be used as antibiotics for different curable and uncurable diseases.
The aim of this study was to prepare, characterize, and determine the in vitro anticancer effects of platinum-doped magnesia (Pt/MgO) nanoparticles. The chemical compositions, functional groups, and ...size of nanoparticles were determined using X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Pt/MgO nanoparticles were cuboid and in the nanosize range of 30–50 nm. The cytotoxicity of Pt/MgO nanoparticles was determined via the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)−2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay on the human lung and colonic cancer cells (A549 and HT29 respectively) and normal human lung and colonic fibroblasts cells (MRC-5 and CCD-18Co repectively). The Pt/MgO nanoparticles were relatively innocuous to normal cells. Pt/MgO nanoparticles downregulated Bcl-2 and upregulated Bax and p53 tumor suppressor proteins in the cancer cells. Pt/MgO nanoparticles also induced production of reactive oxygen species, decreased cellular glutathione level, and increased lipid peroxidation. Thus, the anticancer effects of Pt/MgO nanoparticles were attributed to the induction of oxidative stress and apoptosis. The study showed the potential of Pt/MgO nanoparticles as an anti-cancer compound.
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•Pt/MgO nanoparticles at 12.5 µg/mL selectively killed lung and colon cancer cells while leaving normal cells unaffected.•Pt/MgO nanoparticles induces oxidative stress-mediated apoptosis.•The apoptotic effects of Pt/MgO nanoparticles on cancer cells were via both the intrinsic and the extrinsic pathways.
Summary
Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is a highly infectious disease of cattle caused by a virus of the Capripoxvirus genus in the family Poxviridae. The disease is a major concern for the dairy industry ...in Saudi Arabia. In this study, an outbreak of LSD in cattle herds was detected in Saudi Arabia in 2016. LSD outbreak was investigated in five regions of Saudi Arabia: Al‐Hassa, Al‐Sharqia, Al‐Qassim, Riyadh and Al‐Taif during the period from April to July 2016. Tissues from skin nodules were collected to characterize the virus by a real‐time polymerase chain reaction (rt‐PCR). During this period, 64,109 cattle were examined and morbidity, mortality and case fatality rates were 6%, 0.99% and 16.6%, respectively. The analysis showed 3,852 infected cases and 641 deaths. highest number of infected animals was reported in Al‐Hassa (2,825), followed by Al‐Qassim (547), Riyadh (471), Al‐Sharqia (6) and Al‐Taif (3). The highest morbidity rates were observed in Al‐Qassim (6.8%), Al‐Hassa (6.2%), Riyadh (5.5%) and Al‐Taif (0.96%), while the lowest morbidity rates were recorded in Al‐Sharqia (0.27%). The highest mortality rates were also observed in Al‐Qassim (2.3%), followed by Al‐Hassa (0.97%), Riyadh (0.19%) and lowest in Al‐Sharqia and Taif (0%). LSD virus was detected in all samples (n = 191) by real‐time PCR analysis. The disease has been observed in the cattle regardless of previous vaccination using the locally Romanian‐pox vaccine; therefore, vaccination programme and vaccine efficacy should be assessed under field conditions.
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) leads to healthcare-associated transmission to patients and healthcare workers with potentially fatal outcomes.
We aimed to describe the ...clinical course and functional outcomes of critically ill healthcare workers (HCWs) with MERS.
Data on HCWs was extracted from a multi-center retrospective cohort study on 330 critically ill patients with MERS admitted between (9/2012-9/2015). Baseline demographics, interventions and outcomes were recorded and compared between survivors and non-survivors. Survivors were approached with questionnaires to elucidate their functional outcomes using Karnofsky Performance Status Scale.
Thirty-Two HCWs met the inclusion criteria. Comorbidities were recorded in 34% (11/32) HCW. Death resulted in 8/32 (25%) HCWs including all 5 HCWs with chronic renal impairment at baseline. Non-surviving HCW had lower PaO2/FiO2 ratios 63.5 (57, 116.2) vs 148 (84, 194.3), p = 0.043, and received more ECMO therapy compared to survivors, 9/32 (28%) vs 4/24 (16.7%) respectively (p = 0.02).Thirteen of the surviving (13/24) HCWs responded to the questionnaire. Two HCWs confirmed functional limitations. Median number of days from hospital discharge until the questionnaires were filled was 580 (95% CI 568, 723.5) days.
Approximately 10% of critically ill patients with MERS were HCWs. Hospital mortality rate was substantial (25%). Patients with chronic renal impairment represented a particularly high-risk group that should receive extra caution during suspected or confirmed MERS cases clinical care assignment and during outbreaks. Long-term repercussions of critical illness due to MERS on HCWs in particular, and patients in general, remain unknown and should be investigated in larger studies.
The appraisal of foliar treatment of iron (Fe) and salicylic acid (SA) on plant under artificial magnetism is very crucial in understanding its impact on growth and development of plants. The present ...study was designed to document the potential role of Fe and SA on pea (Pisum sativum L.) Matore variety exposed to different magnetism treatments (geomagnetism and artificial magnetism). Thus a pot experiment was conducted using Completely Randomized Design under factorial with three replicates. Various artificial magnetic treatment were applied in pots prior to sowing. Further, 15 days germinated pea seedlings were foliarly supplemented with 250 ppm Fe and 250μM SA, moreover after 20 days of foliar fertilization plants were harvested to analyze and record various morpho-physiological attributes. Data elucidate significant variations in pea plants among different treatments. Artificial magnetism treatments in combination with foliar application of Fe and SA significantly improved various growth attributes (root and shoot length, fresh and dry weights of root and shoot, leaf area), photosynthetic pigments (Chl a, b and carotenoids) and the contents of soluble sugars. However, oxidative stress (H2O2 and MDA) enhanced under different magnetism treatment but foliar application of Fe and SA hampered the production of reactive oxygen species thereby limiting the concentration of H2O2 and MDA in plant tissues. Furthermore the accumulation of nutrients (iron, potassium and nitrate) profoundly increased under artificial magnetism treatment specifically under Fe and SA foliar treatment excluding nitrate where Fe foliar treatment tend to limit nitrate in plant. Consequently, the present research interestingly highlights progressive role of Fe and SA foliar treatment on pea plants under artificial magnetism. Thus, foliar supplementation may be suggested for better growth and development of plants combined with magnetic treatments.
To describe patient characteristics, clinical manifestations, disease course including viral replication patterns, and outcomes of critically ill patients with severe acute respiratory infection from ...the Middle East respiratory syndrome and to compare these features with patients with severe acute respiratory infection due to other etiologies.
Retrospective cohort study.
Patients admitted to ICUs in 14 Saudi Arabian hospitals.
Critically ill patients with laboratory-confirmed Middle East respiratory syndrome severe acute respiratory infection (n = 330) admitted between September 2012 and October 2015 were compared to consecutive critically ill patients with community-acquired severe acute respiratory infection of non-Middle East respiratory syndrome etiology (non-Middle East respiratory syndrome severe acute respiratory infection) (n = 222).
None.
Although Middle East respiratory syndrome severe acute respiratory infection patients were younger than those with non-Middle East respiratory syndrome severe acute respiratory infection (median quartile 1, quartile 3 58 yr 44, 69 vs 70 52, 78; p < 0.001), clinical presentations and comorbidities overlapped substantially. Patients with Middle East respiratory syndrome severe acute respiratory infection had more severe hypoxemic respiratory failure (PaO2/FIO2: 106 66, 160 vs 176 104, 252; p < 0.001) and more frequent nonrespiratory organ failure (nonrespiratory Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score: 6 4, 9 vs 5 3, 7; p = 0.002), thus required more frequently invasive mechanical ventilation (85.2% vs 73.0%; p < 0.001), oxygen rescue therapies (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation 5.8% vs 0.9%; p = 0.003), vasopressor support (79.4% vs 55.0%; p < 0.001), and renal replacement therapy (48.8% vs 22.1%; p < 0.001). After adjustment for potential confounding factors, Middle East respiratory syndrome was independently associated with death compared to non-Middle East respiratory syndrome severe acute respiratory infection (adjusted odds ratio, 5.87; 95% CI, 4.02-8.56; p < 0.001).
Substantial overlap exists in the clinical presentation and comorbidities among patients with Middle East respiratory syndrome severe acute respiratory infection from other etiologies; therefore, a high index of suspicion combined with diagnostic testing is essential component of severe acute respiratory infection investigation for at-risk patients. The lack of distinguishing clinical features, the need to rely on real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction from respiratory samples, variability in viral shedding duration, lack of effective therapy, and high mortality represent substantial clinical challenges and help guide ongoing clinical research efforts.
We present optical, UV, and X-ray monitoring of the short orbital period black hole X-ray binary candidate Swift J1753.5-0127, focusing on the final stages of its 12 yr long outburst that started in ...2005. From 2016 September onward, the source started to fade, and within 3 months, the optical flux almost reached the quiescent level. Soon after that, using a new proposed rebrightening classification method, we recorded a mini-outburst and a reflare in the optical light curves, peaking in 2017 February (V ∼ 17.0) and May (V ∼ 17.9), respectively. Remarkably, the mini-outburst has a peak flux consistent with the extrapolation of the slow decay before the fading phase preceding it. The following reflare was fainter and shorter. We found from optical colors that the temperature of the outer disk was ∼11,000 K when the source started to fade rapidly. According to the disk instability model, this is close to the critical temperature when a cooling wave is expected to form in the disk, shutting down the outburst. The optical color could be a useful tool to predict decay rates in some X-ray transients. We notice that all X-ray binaries that show mini-outbursts following a main outburst are short orbital period systems (<7 hr). In analogy with another class of short-period binaries showing similar mini-outbursts, the cataclysmic variables of the RZ LMi type, we suggest that mini-outbursts could occur if there is a hot inner disk at the end of the outburst decay.
Summary
The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to study the utility of the commonly used bone turnover markers in evaluating disease activity in patients with Paget’s disease of bone ...before and after treatment with bisphosphonates. We found good correlation between the bone turnover marker concentrations and disease activity assessed by bone scintigraphy.
Introduction
Paget’s disease of bone is a common skeletal disorder of the elderly. Bone turnover marker concentrations are used for diagnosis and follow-up. We aimed to compare the available bone turnover markers and determine their utility in assessing disease activity when compared to quantitative bone scintigraphy.
Methods
We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis searching MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Scopus. We evaluated total alkaline phosphatase (total ALP), bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (bone ALP), procollagen type 1 amino-terminal propeptide (P1NP), serum, and urine C-terminal telopeptide (uCTx and sCTx, respectively), and urine N-terminal telopeptide (uNTx). The main outcome of interest was the correlation of disease activity with concentrations of bone turnover markers in Paget’s disease patients before and after treatment with bisphosphonates. Correlation coefficients were pooled across studies using the random effects model.
Results
We included 17 observational studies and one trial reporting on 953 patients. Prior to treatment, all studied bone turnover markers had moderate to strong correlation with scintigraphic indices (correlation coefficients ranging from 0.58 to 0.80) with no statistically significant difference between the bone turnover markers overall (
p
= 0.08). P1NP, uNTx, and bone ALP tend to have higher correlation with scintigraphy. After starting treatment with bisphosphonate, there was moderate to strong correlation with disease activity with all markers except bone ALP (correlation coefficients ranging from 0.43 to 0.70).
Conclusion
The findings of this meta-analysis suggest the Paget’s disease activity is best monitored by following P1NP levels. However, total ALP, bone ALP, and uNTx are good alternatives as markers of disease activity in untreated patients. Total ALP and uNTx can be useful in following patients with Paget’s disease after treatment if P1NP is not available. Clinicians, however, should take availability, cost, and the presence of liver disease into consideration when deciding which bone turnover marker is most appropriate when evaluating patients with Paget’s disease.
Penetration enhancement of metformin hydrochloride via its molecular dispersion in sorbitan monostearate microparticles is reported. This represents basic philosophy to maximize its entrapment for ...maximum penetration effect. Drug dispersion in sorbitan monostearate with different theoretical drug contents (TDC) were prepared. Products showed excellent micromeritics and actual drug content (ADC) increased by increasing TDC. The partition coefficient of the drug products showed huge improvement. This indicates the drug entrapped in the polar part of sorbitan monostearate as a special image which effects on the drug release. The drug permeation profiles from the different products are overlapped with nearly equal permeation parameters. The permeation results suggested the main driving force for improving the drug paracellular pathway is its dispersion in sorbitan monostearate and is independent of ADC. Pharmacodynamic of the products showed a significant improvement than the drug alone at p ˂ 0.05. ANOVA test indicated the insignificant pharmacodynamic difference between the low, middle, and high ADC of the products. An excellent correlation founded between the drug permeation and pharmacodynamic precents. Drug permeation driving force via the paracellular pathway is its entrapment in sorbitan monostearate and independent on ADC. The technique is simple and the products had excellent micromeritics.
The horse herd optimization algorithm (HOA), one of the more contemporary metaheuristic algorithms, has demonstrated superior performance in a number of challenging optimization tasks. In the present ...work, the descriptor selection issue is resolved by classifying different essential oil retention indices using the binary form, BHOA. Based on internal and external prediction criteria, Z-shape transfer functions (ZTF) were tested to verify their efficiency in improving BHOA performance in QSPR modelling for predicting retention indices of essential oils. The evaluation criteria involved the mean-squared error of the training and testing datasets (MSE), and leave-one-out internal and external validation (Q
2
). The degree of convergence of the proposed Z-shaped transfer functions was compared. In addition, K-fold cross validation with k = 5 was applied. The results show that ZTF, especially ZTF1, greatly improves the performance of the original BHOA. Comparatively speaking, ZTF, especially ZTF1, exhibits the fastest convergence behaviour of the binary algorithms. It chooses the fewest descriptors and requires the fewest iterations to achieve excellent prediction performance.
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