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Background: Macular amyloidosis (MA) could be of cosmetic concern with a significant psychological impact for patients, and its treatment is challenging. Aim of the work: To compare the efficacy and safety of combined fractional CO2 laser with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) 50% versus fractional CO2 laser alone in the treatment of macular amyloidosis. Patients and methods: Twenty patients with macular amyloidosis were treated with monthly session of fractional CO2 laser only in one side of the lesion (area A), and fractional laser followed by application of DMSO 50% solution in the other side of the lesion (area B). All patients were evaluated clinically, by dermoscope and histopathology before and 3 months after the end of 4 treatment sessions. Results: Both treatments showed significant decrease of pigmentation after treatment (p < 0.001). There was non-significant decrease in rippling on both sides (p = 0.06). The median itching score dropped significantly after treatment from 9 to 3.5 in area A (laser only) and to 2 in area B (laser and DMSO), with non-significant difference between both areas (P = 0.244). Dermoscopic features after treatment showed fading and decreasing in multiple features in both areas A and B, with non-significant difference between the 2 areas. Histopathologically, there was significant reduction in the amyloid deposition after treatment in both areas A and B without significant difference between both areas. Conclusion: both fractional CO2 laser combined with topical DMSO 50% and fractional CO2 laser alone are safe and effective treatment options for MA with significant clinical improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cervical cancer is the tenth most frequent cancer in Egyptian women. The Papanicolaou screening test is not suitable for rural area as most follow-up consultations never take place.

Background: Little is documented on the relation between vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) in primary epithelial ovarian carcinoma and their correlation with clinical parameters and relation to prognosis. Aim The aim of this study is to evaluate the expression of VEGF and COX-2 in primary epithelial ovarian carcinoma and to assess their expression with the clinicopathologic and prognostic parameters of the tumors. Materials and methods: The material of this study consisted of 50 cases of epithelial ovarian carcinomas. All specimens were received fixed in formalin and routinely processed. Hematoxylin and eosin-stained sections from all cases were re-evaluated and further stained immunohistochemically using antibodies of VEGF and COX-2. Results: Positive/high expression of both VEGF and COX-2 expression in epithelial ovarian carcinoma had an obvious association with tumor grade and stage. Conclusion: The positive direct relation of both VEGF and COX-2 with high grade and high stage of epithelial ovarian carcinomas may help to more accurately predict high-risk progression patients, and they have the potential to be of prognostic value in patient target therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Screening of 18 bacterial honey isolates revealed that all the isolates were levansucrase producers. The most potent isolate that achieved the highest activity (45.66 U/ml) was identified as Bacillus subtilis NRC based on morphological examination and 16S rRNA. The results recorded the necessity of starch (5 g/L), baker's yeast (12.5 g/L), and AlCl3 (5 mM) in improvement of the enzyme productivity. The Bacillus subtilis levansucrase was eluted as a single protein in one purification step. The enzyme molecular weight was (14 kDa). It showed its optimum activity at 45°C and could retain 60% of its activity after incubation at 50°C for 2 h. Its optimum activity was obtained at pH 8.2 and the enzyme showed great pH stability in both acidic and alkaline ranges. Unlike, most levansucrases all tested metals had an adverse effect in enzyme activity. The enzyme had antioxidant activities and were characterized as spherical micro‐ and nanoparticles by transmission electron microscopy. The effect of growth conditions and medium composition in levan structure and its fibrinolytic activity was evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective and background: Her-2/neu tyrosine kinase has been implicated in the development and progression of several human cancers and is target for therapeutic intervention. Smaller studies suggest that Her-2/neu may be involved in the tumerogenesis of endometrial adenocarcinoma. The aim of this study was to evaluate Her-2/neu expression in endometrial carcinoma (EC) and its correlation with clinicopathological features in order to define the potential prognostic value of Her-2/neu overexpression in EC. Patients and methods: Nineteen patients with stage I-IV EC were included in this study. Demographic, clinical and pathologic information was obtained and recorded. Her-2/neu expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) on paraffin embedded tissue sections with Her-2/neu antibody. Overexpression was defined as complete membrane staining in greater than 10% of cells. Results: The positive rate of Her-2/neu in EC was 42.1%. Her-2/neu was associated with surgical stage (p<0.01), lymph node involvement (p<0.05), lymph vascular space invasion (p <0.05) and depth of myometrial invasion (p <0.01) but not associated with histological grade or the age of the patients (p >0.05). Conclusion: Our study provides evidence of Her-2/neu overexpression in a considerable proportion of the patients with uterine adenocarcinoma, thus suggesting the opportunity for the possible use of anti-Her-2/neu therapy in this malignancy by selective inhibition of Her-2/neu. The use of Herceptin, a monoclonal antibody directed against Her-2/neu, for therapy of patients harboring Her-2/neu positive EC may be beneficial. Her-2/neu overexpression is related to most of the prognostic variables of EC and may be incorporated into the criteria for determination of tumor aggressiveness as a prognostic marker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Screening of 18 bacterial honey isolates revealed that all the isolates were levansucrase producers. The most potent isolate that achieved the highest activity (45.66 U/ml) was identified as Bacillus subtilis NRC based on morphological examination and 16S rRNA. The results recorded the necessity of starch (5 g/L), baker's yeast (12.5 g/L), and AlCl 3 (5 mM) in improvement of the enzyme productivity. The Bacillus subtilis levansucrase was eluted as a single protein in one purification step. The enzyme molecular weight was (14 kDa). It showed its optimum activity at 45°C and could retain 60% of its activity after incubation at 50°C for 2 h. Its optimum activity was obtained at pH 8.2 and the enzyme showed great pH stability in both acidic and alkaline ranges. Unlike, most levansucrases all tested metals had an adverse effect in enzyme activity. The enzyme had antioxidant activities and were characterized as spherical micro- and nanoparticles by transmission electron microscopy. The effect of growth conditions and medium composition in levan structure and its fibrinolytic activity was evaluated., (© 2019 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Soyasapogenol B (SB) is known to have many biological activities such as hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory, anti-mutagenic, antiviral and anticancer activities. Enzymatic conversion of soyasaponins to SB was carried out using saponin hydrolase (SH) extracted from Aspergillus flavus . The partially purified enzyme was immobilized on different carriers by physical adsorption, covalent binding or entrapment. Among the investigated carriers, Eupergit C and sugarcane bagasse (SCB) activated by DIC and NHS were the most suitable two carriers for immobilization (the immobilized forms recovered 46.5 and 37.1% of the loaded enzyme activity, respectively). Under optimized immobilization conditions, immobilized SH on Eupergit C and on activated SBC recovered 87.7 and 83.3% of its original activity, respectively. Compared to free SH, immobilized SH on Eupergit C and on activated SCB showed higher optimum pH, activation energy, half-lives and lower deactivation constant rate. Also, their SB productivities were improved by 2.3- and 2.2-folds compared to free SH (87.7 and 83.3 vs. 37.5%, respectively). Hence, being SCB more sustainable and an inexpensive material, it can be considered a good alternative to Eupergit C as a support for SH immobilization. SH immobilization on industrially applicable and inexpensive carrier is necessary to improve SB yield and reduce its production cost. The chemical structure of SCB and the resulting cellulose derivatives were studied by ATR-IR spectroscopy. The thermal analysis technique was used to study the chemical treatment of SCB and coupling with the enzyme. This technique confirmed the removal of lignin and hemicellulose by chemical treatment of SCB.