A series of substituted pyridinylpyrazole (or isoxazole) derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their anti-inflammatory (AI) activity using formalin-induced paw edema bioassays. Their ...inhibitory activities of cyclooxygenase-1 and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-1 and COX-2) were also determined. The analgesic activity of the same compounds was evaluated using rat-tail withdrawal technique. Their antipyretic activity was also evaluated. The results revealed that compounds 4a,b, 6a, 8a, 14c and 15a exhibited significant AI and analgesic activities. Compounds 5a, 6a and 8a displayed good antipyretic activity. Compounds 14c and 15a showed good COX-2 inhibitory activity and weak inhibition of COX-1. Additionally, the most active compounds were shown to have a large safety margin (ALD50 >300-400 mg / Kg) and minimal ulcerogenic potentialities when administered orally at a dose of 300 mg/Kg. Docking studies for 14c and 15a with COX-2 showed good binding profile. Antimicrobial evaluation proved that most of the compounds exhibited distinctive activity against the gram negative bacteria, P. aeruginosa and E coli.
PurposeThe paper examines the relationship between board effectiveness and audit fees for state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Furthermore, given the unique nature of SOEs, the paper assesses ...country-level influences, such as economic freedom, political democracy and protection of minority shareholders, which can impact board effectiveness and audit fees.Design/methodology/approachA combination of two-stage and ordinary least squares regression is used to examine the board characteristics-audit fee relationship for SOEs in a multinational setting during the period from 2016 to 2018.FindingsThe results indicate that board characteristics that represent a high level of effectiveness are associated with higher audit fees in SOEs. Furthermore, the findings suggest SOE's operating in countries evidencing medium levels of democracy and economic freedom and medium to high levels of protection of minority shareholders may be motivated to reduce agency conflicts by promoting accountability and transparency, thereby demanding increasing levels of corporate governance, monitoring and audit quality, thereby increasing audit fees.Practical implicationsThe results provide further support for the OECD (2015) guidelines promoting the use of high-quality external audits in SOEs.Originality/valueAs a result of the scarceness of research in this area, the current study extends the literature by examining the role of corporate governance and audit fees in SOEs, while examining the influence of economic freedom, political democracy and protection of minority shareholders.
Identifying frailty in critically ill patients can help to guide management, including the selection of appropriate interventions and the development of care plans such as time-limited trials in ...patients with an unclear benefit from critical care. The FRAIL checklist assesses five domains of frailty: functional impairment, recurrent hospitalizations, advanced malignancy and chronic diseases, irreversible organ failure, and long hospital stay. The CFS but not the FRAIL checklist was independently associated with mortality in old ICU patients. ...we believe that in elderly ICU patients, CFS should be used to assess frailty because it also provides prognostic information.
Based on these considerations, Cheung et al. suggested 1) modifying FRAIL and automatically rating the "F" component as "positive" in patients with CFS > 4 in the data analysis which represents ...post-processing of the data obtained and 2) comparing the rates of TLTs in patients with CFS > 4 and FRAIL > 0. After adjusting for age, gender, SOFA score, and the decision to withdraw/withhold treatment, the modified-FRAIL > 0 was no longer associated with 90-day mortality (aHR 1.15 95% CI 0.80–1.62; p = 0.45), confirming previous data and in contrast to a robust multivariable association of CFS > 4 (aHR 1.80 95% CI 1.29–2.53; p = 0.001) with mortality. ...we recognise that the FRAIL checklist attempts to integrate pre-existing conditions and hospitalisations with functional impairment and believe that it is possible that such an approach could further improve frailty assessment.
Abstract Of the several species of Biomphalaria snails worldwide that serve as the intermediate host for Schistosoma mansoni , Biomphalaria alexandrina is a species that is indigenous to Egypt. ...Recently, there has been much debate concerning the presence of Biomphalaria glabrata and the hybrid of the species with Biomphalaria alexandrina . Due to this debate, the absence of a clear explanation for the presence of B. glabrata in Egyptian water channels and the probability that they may be reintroduced, we conducted this field study to identify Biomphalaria species present in Alexandria water channels. Laboratory-adapted susceptible snails to Schistosoma mansoni of the following species were used as a reference; Biomphalaria alexandrina, Biomphalaria glabrata and their hybrid. These snails were used to perpetuate the Schistosoma life cycle at the Theodor Bilharz Research Institute (TBRI), Cairo, Egypt. Morphological and molecular studies were conducted on these reference snails as well as on the first generation of Biomphalaria snails from two areas in the Alexandria governorate. The morphological study included both external shell morphology and internal anatomy of the renal ridge. The molecular study used a species-specific PCR technique. The results demonstrated that there was an absence of Biomphalaria glabrata and the hybrid from Alexandria water channels. Moreover, the susceptibility patterns of these reference snails were studied by measuring the different parasitological parameters. It was found that Biomphalaria glabrata and the hybrid were significantly more susceptible than Biomphalaria alexandrina to the Egyptian strain of Schistosoma mansoni . The results demonstrated that if Biomphalaria glabrata was reintroduced and adapted to the local environment in Egypt, it would have important epidemiologic impacts that would have a serious effect on the health of Egyptian people.
Much effort has been made to control schistosomiasis infection in Egypt. However, enduring effects from such strategies have not yet been achieved. In this study, we sought to determine the genetic ...variability related to the interaction between Biomphalaria alexandrina snails and Schistosoma mansoni. Using RAPD-PCR with eight (10 mers) random primers, we were able to determine the polymorphic markers that differed between snails susceptible and resistant to Schistosoma mansoni infection using five primers out of the eight. Our results suggest that the RAPD-PCR technique is an efficient means by which to compare genomes and to detect genetic variations between schistosomiasis intermediate hosts. The RAPD technique with the above-noted primers can identify genomic markers that are specifically related to the Biomphalaria alexandrina/Schistosoma mansoni relationship in the absence of specific nucleotide sequence information. This approach could be used in epidemiologic surveys to investigate genetic diversity among Biomphalaria alexandrina snails. The ability to determine resistant markers in Biomphalaria alexandrina snails could potentially lead to further studies that use refractory snails as agents to control the spread of schistosomiasis.
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