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This study aimed to determine the earliest markers of diabetic nephropathy (DN) onset with discriminative potentials from controlled diabetes (CD).Sixty male Wistar rats were allocated into three groups (20/group), the two diabetic groups CD and DN received 45 and 65 mg/kg STZ in 0.1 mole/L citrate buffer, respectively, while the control group received only the vehicle. Serum/urinary levels of glomerular, tubular, oxidative and proinflammatory markers were weekly monitored.Each diabetic group showed a different pattern of inflammatory, oxidative and signs of nephropathy along the study period, but none had a discriminative power until the fourth week. At this time point, levels of urinary transferrin, serum/urinary IL-6 and TNF-α as well as urinary IL-18 were significantly higher in DN group compared to CD (Urinary transferrin and the inflammatory endpoints proposed in this study might represent promising biomarkers for the early DN onset.

This study aimed to assess the effect of solvent polarity on anti-inflammatory potency and the underlying mechanisms of two purslane seed extracts. Methanol and dichloromethane extracts were prepared using Soxhlet extraction and chromatographically analyzed. Antioxidant activities were assessed by different assays, while the anti-inflammatory potentials were assessed in RAW 264.7 macrophage cells. Methanol extraction yielded 15.5% water-soluble extract while dichloromethane produced 3.74% fixed oil. Nineteen phenolic compounds were chromatographically identified in methanol extract compared with 16 in the fixed oil including omega fatty acids and phytosterols. Methanol extract showed significantly higher capacity in radical scavenging assays (p .001), but the fixed oil showed higher total antioxidant capacity (p .001). Both extracts demonstrated anti-inflammatory potentials with different mechanisms, where the phenol-rich methanol extract significantly reduced TNF-α (p = .0371) and IL-1β (p = .0029) production through an antioxidant-mediated pathway, while the fixed oil inhibited COX1, COX2, and PGE2 gene expression through the upregulation of IL-10. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Both purslane extracts presented herein demonstrated remarkable antioxidant/ anti-inflammatory potentials that could be safely utilized as natural antioxidants and inflammation remedies or as functional food products, particularly that they showed no cytotoxic effects.

Owing to its remarkable mechanical properties that surpass the plant-based cellulose, bacterial cellulose production has been targeted for commercialization during the last few years. However, the large-scale production of cellulose is generally limited by the slow growth of producing strains and low productivity which ultimately makes the commercial production of cellulose using the conventional strains non cost-effective. In this study, we developed a novel plasmid-based expression system for the biosynthesis of cellulose in E. coli DH5α and assessed the cellulose productivity relative to the typically used E. coli BL21 (DE) expression strain.No production was detected in BL21 (DE3) cultures upon expression induction; however, cellulose was detected in E. coli DH5α as early as 1 h post-induction. The total yield in induced DH5α cultures was estimated as 200 ± 5.42 mg/L (dry weight) after 18 h induction, which surpassed the yield reported in previous studies and even the wild-type Gluconacetobacter xylinum BRC5 under the same conditions. As confirmed with electron microscope micrograph, E. coli DH5α produced dense cellulose fibers with ~ 10 μm diameter and 1000-3000 μm length, which were remarkably larger and more crystalline than that typically produced by G. hansenii.This is the first report on the successful cellulose production in E. coli DH5α which is typically used for plasmid multiplication rather than protein expression, without the need to co-express cmcax and ccpAx regulator genes present in the wild-type genome upstream the bcs-operon, and reportedly essential for the biosynthesis.

This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of baseline macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1β/IL12p40 ratio for antiviral treatment outcome in HCV genotype 4 patients. METHODS: Sera of 450 treatment-naïve chronic HCV patients and 50 healthy individuals were collected. Liver transaminases, total bilirubin and albumin were biochemically tested, viral RNA was quantified, and circulating MIP-1β and IL-12p40 were estimated using human anti-MIP-1β and IL-12p40 antibodies in Sandwich ELISA. RESULTS : No difference was observed in the baseline chemokines levels between responders and relapsers, but the later had a significantly higher MIP-1β/IL-12p40 ratio (P< 0.0001). Multivariate regression analysis of baseline characteristics showed that gender, age, viral load, albumin level and chemokine ratios can significantly predict treatment outcome (P= 0.0114, 0.0095, 0.042, 0.0004 and < 0.0001; respectively). Accordingly, a predictive threshold of baseline chemokine ratio was calculated and it showed an AUC of 0.6917 (P= 0.0108; 95% CI: 0.5566 to 0.8268). The calculated threshold for predicting virologic response was 8.245, with positive and negative predictive values of 92.98% and 100%; respectively. The chemokine ratios had significant correlations with liver transaminases in treated groups whether pre or post-treatment. CONCLUSION: Baseline MIP-1β/IL-12p40 ratio represents a non-invasive prognostic biomarker that would provide shorter treatment duration and minimizes the emergence of drug-resistant variants in HCV genotype 4-patients.

Palmar hyperhidrosis is characterized by excessive sweating beyond the physiological needs of the patient's body and the most frequent form is primary or essential. Different treatments protocols have been proposed to control or decrease sweating.This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of oral oxybutynin versus topical aluminum chloride hexahydrate (ACH) in treating primary palmar hyperhidrosis. Also, to assess quality of life (QOL) as a measure of improvement of hyperhidrosis state.Patients were randomized using the block randomization with sealed envelope method into two treatment groups; oral oxybutynin group and topical ACH group. Hyperhidrosis Disease Severity Scale (HDSS) was used as a primary outcome measure to assess the efficacy of the drug in both groups. Clinical grading and the QOL were used as secondary outcome measures. The safety was evaluated by recording side effects in the follow-up visits.HDSS, clinical grading and QOL score showed a statistically significant improvement in the oral oxybutynin groups. One week after stoppage of treatment, the symptoms recurred again in both groups with return of HDSS and QOL scores to pretreatment levels. The most common side effects were dry mouth (65.8%) and itching (65.0%) for oral oxybutynin group and topical ACH group; respectively.Treatment of primary palmar hyperhidrosis with oxybutynin is a good initial alternative for treatment given that it gives better results and much more improvement in QOL when compared to topical ACH. QOL questionnaire and clinical grading should also be considered as useful tools in the assessment of response to treatment.

Introduction — Egypt has the highest prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection which is reported to be associated with autoimmune manifestations. Aim — There is a need for markers that enable differentiation between viral and non-infected-autoimmune patients. Material and Methods — Levels of the B-cell activation factor (BAFF), IL6, IL10 and TNF-α were quantified by ELISA in sera from HCV-infected-autoimmune patients (HCV-AI), HCV-infected patients with no autoimmune diseases (HCV-NAI), non-infected autoimmune patients (NIAI) and healthy control humans (C). Results — HCV-infected patients were 12.96, 8.33, 69.44 and 36.11% positive for the auto-antibodies ANA, AMA, ASMA and AGPCA respectively. The BAFF level was significantly (P

The present work aimed at 1) characterization of the E1 and E2 proteins (HCV-E) from an Egyptian hepatitis C virus genotype 4a (HCV-4a) isolate at the molecular and immunological level, 2) in silico identification of the B- and T-cell epitopes responsible for the immunogenicity of HCV-E, and 3) evaluation of the diagnostic potential of both the recombinant HCV-E and antibodies raised using mammalian expression constructs encoding the protein. The region encoding the E1 and E2 proteins was amplified by RT-PCR from RNA isolated from blood of a human infected with HCV-4 and cloned into the pSC-TA plasmid, and the sequence was verified and used to construct a neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree. The translated nucleotide sequence was used to predict the HCV-E secondary structure using the PREDICT-PROTEIN server and PSI-PRED. A 3D model of HCV-E was generated using the online tool 3Dpro. B- and T-cell epitopes were predicted using the online tools BCPred and Epijen v1.0, respectively. The HCV-E-encoding sequence was later subcloned into the mammalian expression plasmid pQE, and the constructs that were generated were used to immunize mice in the absence and presence of adjuvants of plant origin. The maximum sequence identity obtained by nucleotide and protein BLAST analysis with previously published HCV-E sequences was 85 and 77 %, respectively. The B-cell epitope CFTPSPVVV at position 203 and the T-cell epitope ALSTGLIHL at position 380 were found to be highly conserved among all HCV genotypes. Both ELISA and Western blotting experiments on crude and purified recombinant HCV envelope proteins using mouse antisera raised using the HCV-E mammalian expression construct confirmed the specific antigenicity of the expressed protein. The antibodies raised in mice using the HCV-E-encoding construct could efficiently capture circulating antigens in patients’ sera with good sensitivity that correlated with liver enzyme levels (r = 0.4052, P

Aims Surgical treatment of obstructed defecation (OD) carries frequent recurrences. The aim of the study was to evaluate the role dynamic magnetic resonance imaging defecography, and to elucidate the underlying anatomic and pathophysiologic background of pelvic floor disorders in these patients in order to minimize failures. Patients and methods Forty consecutive constipated patients with OD symptoms (31 females) with mean age 48.15±14.29 years. They underwent perineal examination, proctoscopy, anorectal manometry and Dynamic MRI defecography. The different pelvic floor morphology was recorded. The type and outcome of treatment whether conservative or surgical were also recorded. Results The dynamic MRI of the pelvic floor showed 23 patients with descending perineum, 32 rectoceles (28 females), 12 cystoceles (10 females), 6 enteroceles (4 females), 18 intussusceptions (14 females), and 7 dyskinetic puborectalis muscle (3 females). The diagnosis of combined pelvic floor disorders with dynamic MRI defecography was consistent with clinical results in 70% and there were additional diagnostic parameters in 30% of patients. Dynamic MRI findings changed treatment decision in 8 patients 20% with surgical treatment performed in 25 patients (8 stappled trans-anal rectal resection, 11 trans-anal Delorme's, 6 trans-abdominal combined repair), and conservative treatment in 15 patients. Conclusions Dynamic magnetic resonance imaging represents a convenient diagnostic procedure in females and to a lesser extent in males, especially in terms of dynamic imaging of pelvic floor organs during defecation. In addition to the clinical assessment, dynamic magnetic resonance imaging had clinical impact in OD and interdisciplinary treatment.