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Abstract Background Obesity poses a significant global health challenge, necessitating effective prevention and treatment strategies. Exercise and diet are recognized as pivotal interventions in combating obesity. This study reviews the literature concerning the impact of exercise‐induced cytokines, dietary factors, and inflammation on adipose tissue metabolism, shedding light on potential pathways for therapeutic intervention. Methodology A comprehensive review of relevant literature was conducted to elucidate the role of exercise‐induced cytokines, including interleukin‐6 (IL‐6), interleukin‐15 (IL‐15), brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), irisin, myostatin, fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), follistatin (FST), and angiopoietin‐like 4 (ANGPTL4), in adipose tissue metabolism. Various databases were systematically searched using predefined search terms to identify relevant studies. Articles selected for inclusion underwent thorough analysis to extract pertinent data on the mechanisms underlying the influence of these cytokines on adipose tissue metabolism. Results and Discussion Exercise‐induced cytokines exert profound effects on adipose tissue metabolism, influencing energy expenditure (EE), thermogenesis, fat loss, and adipogenesis. For instance, IL‐6 activates AMP‐activated protein kinase (AMPK), promoting fatty acid oxidation and reducing lipogenesis. IL‐15 upregulates peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor delta (PPARδ), stimulating fatty acid catabolism and suppressing lipogenesis. BDNF enhances AMPK‐dependent fat oxidation, while irisin induces the browning of white adipose tissue (WAT), augmenting thermogenesis. Moreover, myostatin, FGF21, FST, and ANGPTL4 each play distinct roles in modulating adipose tissue metabolism, impacting factors such as fatty acid oxidation, adipogenesis, and lipid uptake. The elucidation of these pathways offers valuable insights into the complex interplay between exercise, cytokines, and adipose tissue metabolism, thereby informing the development of targeted obesity management strategies. Conclusion Understanding the mechanisms by which exercise‐induced cytokines regulate adipose tissue metabolism is critical for devising effective obesity prevention and treatment modalities. Harnessing the therapeutic potential of exercise‐induced cytokines, in conjunction with dietary interventions, holds promise for mitigating the global burden of obesity. Further research is warranted to delineate the precise mechanisms underlying the interactions between exercise, cytokines, and adipose tissue metabolism.

Abstract It is crucial to study how L2 learners use technology when examining the lifespan technology in L2 pedagogy. Therefore, we adopted Gartner’s hype cycles to investigate the lifespan of CALL from the perspectives of EFL learners. To this end, we utilized an explanatory narrative design and gathered and analysed the perspectives of 87 EFL learners regarding the CALL lifespan using autobiographical narratives and semi-structured interviews. The results of the deductive thematic analysis presented motivating and demotivating factors that were asserted to affect EFL learners’ uptake of CALL technologies. Moreover, the findings revealed that EFL learners had fallacies about CALL in the first stages of using technology for L2 learning and tended to reduce those fallacies later on. Therefore, it can be concluded that EFL learners start their use of CALL with some misconceptions stemming from the motivating factors of CALL, continue their use of CALL by facing some demotivating factors originating from fallacies about CALL that they have already committed, and finalise their use of CALL by exploring about CALL features that help them avoid their fallacies. The study has implications to shorten the time of reaching the awareness zone by the L2 learners.

Salt stress is one of the most serious factors that influence the plant growth and yield. The extensive use of chemical fertilizers caused an increase in land contamination and hence effects on human health. The use of biofertilizers can solve these problems. In the present work, different concentrations of Spirulina platensis liquid extracts (SLEs; 1%, 2%, and 4%) were used to enhance seeds germination, seedling growth, length of radical, number of leaves, and plant height of T. aestivum L. S. platensis liquid extract (SLE) 2% was chosen to test against salt stress with 10% and 25% seawater in T. aestivum L. watered. The growth parameters such as shoot, root, length, fresh, dry weight, leaf width, number, and area were used to estimate the effects of 2% SLE against salt stress caused by seawater. Also the carbohydrate, protein, phenol, and total antioxidant contents were measured in T. aestivum L. treated with 2% SLE in combination with seawater and watered with different concentrations with seawater alone. The results denote that the best concentration of SLEs was 2%, which promoted the germination growth of T. aestivum L. in comparison to control and other concentrations. SLE (2%) enhanced the carbohydrates, protein, total phenol contents, and antioxidant contents of T. aestivum L., treated with seawaters (SW10% and SW25%) and SLEs in comparison to T. aestivum L. SW 10% and 25% alone. S. platensis liquid extract (SLE) can be used as biofertilizer to enhance the growth and phytochemical contents of T. aestivum L. and to make tolerance of T. aestivum L. against salinity.

Introduction: Fibred-based optical spectroscopy is advantageous over imaging due to its sensitivity, practicality and precision, providing point of care diagnosis. The unique advantage is that the sampled volume is well defined by the source-detector geometry and that the functionality of multiple optical techniques can be incorporated into one probe so that more information is gained without extra bulkiness or cost, while also mitigating the limitations of each.Methods: This advantage is utilized here to address the limited accuracy in delineating brain tumors, in situ, by simultaneously characterizing tissue based on the spectral and lifetime properties of five endogenous fluorophores commonly present in brain tissue. A 5-meters multi fibre-optic probe custom-built for neurosurgery guidance with a sterilizable distal end is presented in this paper. It describes its technical features such as architecture, collection efficiency, sensitivity.Results and discussion: The developed probe have a temporal resolution of 34.6 ps and a temporal impulse response function of 29 ps. The spatial resolution was around 153 μm while the spectral resolution is 1 nm. All of these specifications are ensured under 1 second as acquisition time. The probe is validated using fluorescent dyes and tissue phantoms. Additionally, the fluorescence spectra from fresh and frozen animal tissue and from an epileptic patient are compared to that obtained from confocal fluorescence microscopy, while the lifetime values are compared to that reported in literature. Finally, the effect of pressure applied to the probe in contact with tissue is discussed.

Nowadays, the ability to diagnose brain tumors intraoperatively and delineate their margins, as accurately as possible, is of primordial importance during surgery. However, the exact tumor boundaries and targets are difficult to find due to the similar visual appearances especially at the margins, leading in many cases to poor surgical outcomes and a high risk of recurrences. To solve this dogma, our group tried to determine different tissue optical signatures such as optical parameters and endogenous fluorescence. For that, we conducted a comparative study to differentiate between healthy and tumorous tissues under one- and two-photon excitations on optical properties to explore several optical parameters. In addition, the study of endogenous fluorescence can successfully help with the discrimination between tissue types using one- and two-photon excitations. This works suggests that the multimodal analysis of optical signatures of tissues could be a reliable technique that can be used to differentiate between healthy and tumorous tissues. This can help in the future with the implementation of such techniques in vivo during surgery to help the surgeon with the decision that needs to be taken as for tissue resection.

Culture is an inseparable part of education in all respects. One of the fields in which culture plays an important role is second language acquisition. English language has become the language of science and technology and that of disseminating knowledge. Hence, English for Specific and General Purposes (ESP and EGP, respectively) is now a subfield in applied linguistics, helping English learners communicate their knowledge through English. The issue of communication leads the field to have a special connection with culture. That said, the purpose of the current study was to investigate the cultural content and cultural elements of the EGP and ESP textbooks used to teach ESP in economic and management, accounting, and psychology in Iranian universities. Using Cortazzi and Jin’s (1999) framework for cultural content, and Adaskou, Britten, and Fahsi’s (1990) framework for their cultural elements, the ESP and EGP textbooks were exqamined. The results indicated that there were statistically significant differences between the cultural content and elements included in the EGP and ESP textbooks; the EGP textbooks contain more cultural content and elements. Thus, it can be concluded that the ESP textbook designers need to pay more attention to the inclusion of cultural content and elements in the ESP textbooks if they want to improve the disciplinary abilities of the ESP students in communicating about the disciplinary notions of their majors.

Abstract Background In Ethiopia, the utilization coverage of adolescent-friendly health services (AFSRHs) ranged only from 9 to 55% and it was the lowest of all Sub-Saharan African countries in 2016. Little is known why adolescents were not accessing the existing services to the side of healthcare providers. Objective The aim of this study is to explore contextual perceived and actual barriers to accessing AFSRHs by adolescents in Southern Ethiopia. Methods Phenomenological study design supplemented with observation was used to explore perceived and actual barriers to accessing AFSRHs in 2020. Criterion sampling was used to select study participants. In-depth interviews with healthcare providers and non-specialist sexual and reproductive healthcare providers were conducted. Transcribed interviews and observations were imported to Open Code 4.02 for coding, categorizing, and creating themes. Finally, barriers to accessing existing services were explained using thematic analysis. Results The study explores contextual barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive health services in five emergent themes. According to providers’ points of view, the barriers include ranging from providers (e.g. poor providers’ competency), health facilities (e.g. supply constraints and unsupportive environment), adolescents (e.g. perceived lack of information and attitude towards SRHs), community (e.g. lack of parental and social support), and broader health system (e.g. poor implementation and multi-sectorial engagement). Conclusion As to providers, adolescents face multiple barriers to accessing youth friendly sexual and reproductive health services. Healthcare facilities and all levels of the healthcare system should implement varieties of approaches to increase access to the services for adolescents. Given the lack of progress in utilization of adolescents- youth friendly sexual and reproductive services, the existing strategy should be re-evaluated and new interventions at all levels of the healthcare system are needed. Moreover, implementation research is required at system level factors.

Abstract Meningioma is the most common primary intracranial extra-axial tumor. Total surgical removal is the standard therapeutic method to treat this type of brain tumors. However, the risk of recurrence depends on the tumor grade and the extent of the resection including the infiltrated dura mater and, if necessary, the infiltrated bone. Therefore, proper resection of all invasive tumor borders without touching eloquent areas is of primordial in order to decrease the risk of recurrence. Nowadays, none of the intraoperative used tools is able to provide a precise real-time histopathological information on the tumor surrounding areas to help the surgeon to achieve a gross total removal. To respond to this problem, our team is developing a multimodal two-photon fluorescence endomicroscope, compatible with the surgeon tool, to better delimitate tumor boundaries, relying on the endogenous fluorescence of brain tissues. In this context, we are building a tissue database in order to specify each brain tissue, whether healthy or tumoral, with its specific optical signature. In this study, we present a multimodal and multiscale optical measurements on non-tumoral control brain tissue obtained in epilepsy surgery patients and several meningioma grades. We investigated tissue auto-fluorescence to track the molecular changes associated with the tumor grade from deep ultra-violet (DUV) to near infrared (NIR) excitation. Micro-spectroscopy, fluorescence lifetime imaging, two-photon fluorescence imaging and Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) imaging were performed. Several optically derived parameters such as collagen crosslinks fluorescence in DUV, SHG emission in NIR and long lifetime intensity fraction of Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide and Flavins were correlated to discriminate cancerous tissue from control one. While collagen response managed to discriminate meningioma grades from control samples with a 100% sensitivity and 90% specificity through a 3D discriminative algorithm.

Nowadays, surgical removal remains the standard method to treat brain tumors. During surgery, the neurosurgeon may encounter difficulties to delimitate tumor boundaries and the infiltrating areas as they have a similar visual appearance to adjacent healthy zones. These infiltrating residuals increase the tumor recurrence risk, which decreases the patient’s post-operation survival time. To help neurosurgeons improve the surgical act by accurately delimitating healthy from cancerous areas, our team is developing an intraoperative multimodal imaging tool. It consists of a two-photon fluorescence fibered endomicroscope that is intended to provide a fast, real-time, and reliable diagnosis information. In parallel to the instrumental development, a large optical database is currently under construction in order to characterize healthy and tumor brain tissues with their specific optical signature using multimodal analysis of the endogenous fluorescence. Our previous works show that this multimodal analysis could provide a reliable discrimination response between different tissue types based on several optical indicators. Here, our goal is to show that the two-photon fibered endomicroscope is able to provide, based on the same approved indicators in the tissue database, the same reliable response that could be used intraoperatively. We compared the spectrally resolved and time-resolved fluorescence signal, generated by our two-photon bimodal endoscope from 46 fresh brain tissue samples, with a similar signal provided by a standard reference benchtop multiphoton microscope that has been validated for tissue diagnosis. The higher excitation efficiency and collection ability of an endogenous fluorescence signal were shown for the endoscope setup. Similar molecular ratios and fluorescence lifetime distributions were extracted from the two compared setups. Spectral discrimination ability of the bimodal endoscope was validated. As a preliminary step before tackling multimodality, the ability of the developed bimodal fibered endoscope to excite and to collect efficiently as well as to provide a fast exploitable high-quality signal that is reliable to discriminate different types of human brain tissues was validated.

This study explored the research methodology and research orientation of the papers published in seven world-leading applied linguistics journals from 1980 to 2019. To that end, a corpus including 3491 papers from seven applied linguistics journals was investigated. The papers were examined for their research methodology based on qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods methodologies and their research orientations based on ten research orientations that were the main focus of applied linguistics studies. The research orientations were obtained from the topics of special issues of the applied linguistics journals. The papers were extracted and analyzed for their research methodologies and orientations according to the three research methodology types and ten research orientations. The results of the study indicated that from 1980 to 2000, the dominant research methodology was quantitative one, while from 2001 to 2019, the qualitative research methodology had an increasing trend of being used by applied linguistics researchers. Moreover, the results of the current study showed that from 2010 to 2019, the applied linguistics researchers showed positive attentions to use mixed methods methodology in their research studies. Furthermore, the corpus analysis from 2000 to 2019 indicated that teaching, teachers, and assessment issues started to show an increasing trajectory of being addressed in the applied linguistics papers. Thus, this study's findings can help the researchers, especially the less experienced ones, refine their knowledge about what has already been done in the field to focus their research studies on the less-examined issues.

Background: Pelvic bone marrow (PBM) preservation is one of the factors that should be taken into consideration while choosing a technique for radiotherapy of pelvic malignancies. Aim: To dosimetrically compare between volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) in PBM preservation in radical treatment of high-risk prostate cancer. Methods: In 26 patients with high-risk prostatic carcinoma, dual arc VMAT and 7 fields IMRT plans were generated. In every patient, two targets were defined, clinical target volume (CTV) including the prostate and seminal vesicles (CTV-PSV) and CTV including pelvic lymph nodes (CTV-LN). The organs at risk delineated were the rectum, urinary bladder, small intestine, bulb of the penis, femoral heads bilaterally and PBM. The dose prescribed to the CTV-PSV was 76 Gy in 38 fractions given over 7.5 weeks and the dose to CTV-LN was 54 Gy in 38 fractions given over 7.5 weeks. Planning target volume (PTV) was created from the CTV with a margin of 5 mm in all direction. For assessment of PBM dose, V10, V20, V30, V40, V50 and mean dose were calculated. The dose volume histogram of PTV and PBM for both techniques was compared. Results: The mean dose of PTV 54 Gy was achieved in both techniques adequately with better sparing of organs at risk with the VAMT technique. The mean dose for PBM in the VMAT technique was significantly less than that in the IMRT (21.7 Gy vs. 25.8 Gy, respectively; p < 0.001). The significant differences in PBM doses were in the range of 20 Gy to 40 Gy. Conclusion: In radical treatment of prostate cancer, VMAT technique can offer comparable conformality to IMRT with better PBM preservation. Awareness of PBM delineation and reduction of its doses using VMAT can help to decrease the hematological toxicity.

The present work is conducted in the industrial district south of greater Cairo (ElTabbin area). Some heavy metals like Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr, Ba, Cd, Mo were determined in polluted soils during May, 2018. At the study area, results displayed that average heavy metals concentrations differ considerably. They are decreased from Mn to Cd (Mn > Ba > Zn > Cr > Ni > Co > Pb > Cu > Mo > Cd). The average ranges as follows: Mn (255.8–31448.2 ppm); Ba (145.2–17545.6 ppm); Zn (53.3–1589.9 ppm); Cr (26.7–311.3 ppm); Ni (29.7–114.1 ppm); Co (13.2–39.8 ppm); Pb (5.7–77.4 ppm); Cu (7.6–35.2 ppm); Mo (0.1–15.9 ppm) and Cd (0–1.5 ppm), respectively. ElTabbin area has heavy manufacturing activity at Egypt. ElTabbin area was chosen as a model for that contamination.Electrical characteristics of some specimens from El- Tebbin area, Egypt, were taken and measured electrically at frequency range (10−3 to 100 kHz). Major and heavy elements were measured at specimens. Specimens were classified to three categories according to electrical properties. The changes were the consequence of change in minor and major mineral composition in the specimens. Electrical properties were able to recognize different specimens according to different levels of contaminants in the specimens. Texture, tortuosity and minor elements of heavy elements are the controlling factors that control electrical properties at specimens. High values concentration of Mn, Ni, and Zn heavy elements increases conductivity while the high concentration of Pb and Cu heavy elements decreases the conductivity. The mixing up of these different minor and major minerals and elements at specimen may lead to the change of conductivity values. The main controlling factors of the major elements are the Fe2O3 and SiO2, while the main controlling factors of the minor elements are the Mn and Pb. Our main objective is to study mixing up of the different minor and major minerals and elements on electrical properties of rocks.

The tremendous demand for low-cost, low-consumption and high-capacity optical transmitters in data centers challenges the current InP-photonics platform. The use of silicon (Si) photonics platform to fabricate photonic integrated circuits (PICs) is a promising approach for low-cost large-scale fabrication considering the CMOS-technology maturity and scalability. However, Si itself cannot provide an efficient emitting light source due to its indirect bandgap. Therefore, the integration of III-V semiconductors on Si wafers allows us to benefit from the III-V emitting properties combined with benefits offered by the Si photonics platform. Direct epitaxy of InP-based materials on 300 mm Si wafers is the most promising approach to reduce the costs. However, the differences between InP and Si in terms of lattice mismatch, thermal coefficients and polarity inducing defects are challenging issues to overcome. III-V/Si hetero-integration platform by wafer-bonding is the most mature integration scheme. However, no additional epitaxial regrowth steps are implemented after the bonding step. Considering the much larger epitaxial toolkit available in the conventional monolithic InP platform, where several epitaxial steps are often implemented, this represents a significant limitation. In this paper, we review an advanced integration scheme of AlGaInAs-based laser sources on Si wafers by bonding a thin InP seed on which further regrowth steps are implemented. A 3 µm-thick AlGaInAs-based MutiQuantum Wells (MQW) laser structure was grown onto on InP-SiO2/Si (InPoSi) wafer and compared to the same structure grown on InP wafer as a reference. The 400 ppm thermal strain on the structure grown on InPoSi, induced by the difference of coefficient of thermal expansion between InP and Si, was assessed at growth temperature. We also showed that this structure demonstrates laser performance similar to the ones obtained for the same structure grown on InP. Therefore, no material degradation was observed in spite of the thermal strain. Then, we developed the Selective Area Growth (SAG) technique to grow multi-wavelength laser sources from a single growth step on InPoSi. A 155 nm-wide spectral range from 1515 nm to 1670 nm was achieved. Furthermore, an AlGaInAs MQW-based laser source was successfully grown on InP-SOI wafers and efficiently coupled to Si-photonic DBR cavities. Altogether, the regrowth on InP-SOI wafers holds great promises to combine the best from the III-V monolithic platform combined with the possibilities offered by the Si photonics circuitry via efficient light-coupling.

Teacher identity has been considered among the most influential key factors in the realm of teacher education. Studies on teacher identity help teacher educators to find new and conducive approaches to develop teacher identity in different contexts. This study is a theoretical review aiming to accentuate the recent underlying concepts of teacher identity, language teacher identity, and language teacher cultural identity. To those ends, we scrutinize the related issues such as the different perspectives about identity; key concepts in teacher identity including teacher professional identity, teacher motivation and identity, teacher emotion and identity, and narratives and teacher identity along with non-native English language teacher identify construction and reflexivity and language teacher identity. Moreover, a review of the related theories about cultural identity has been done and presented to address the most referred theories of cultural identity. Finally, some concluding remarks about the theoretical underpinnings of language teacher cultural identity have been discussed.

Background: Epilepsy often requires long-term antiepileptic drug therapy. Antiepileptic drugs are potentially an effective treatment for patients with epilepsy. Poor adherence is, however, very common in patients experiencing side-effects due to AEDs. The aim of this study: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of AED monotherapy by VPA on alterations in serum calcium levels and statural growth and body mass index in pediatric patients newly diagnosed with epilepsy. Patients and methods: The present study included 25 children, newly diagnosed with epilepsy and maintained on VPA monotherapy for at least one year. The serum levels of patients taking VPA were routinely monitored. Another 25 children with a history of simple febrile convulsions were included as a control group. All patients and controls were selected from Al-Azhar University hospital (new Damietta) during the period from June 2011 to June 2012. The main screening assessments included seizure frequency, vital signs, physical and neurologic examinations, medical history, and standard clinical laboratory tests (e.g., CBC, BUN, SGPT, SGOT); all these parameters were estimated at the start of the study, at 6 and 12 months. Weight and height measurements were recorded at the start of the study and at 6 and 12 months of continuous treatment of valproic acid. In addition serum calcium and glucose levels were obtained at the same time. Results: There was no significant difference between study and control groups at basal time regarding height, weight or BMI. On the other hand, there was a significant increase of weight and BMI and a decrease of height centiles at 6 months and 1 year; and as regards serum glucose, there was no significant difference between study and control group at basal time, while there was a significant increase in the study group in the control group at 6 months and 1 year. On the other hand, there was no significant difference between cases and controls as regards serum calcium at any time. Conclusion: Childhood and adolescence are crucial periods in which to attain peak bone mass, and it is a crucial period for growth in general; and most patients with epilepsy are diagnosed and treated in this period, therefore, AEDs, and especially VPA, should be used with caution in pediatric patients with epilepsy.

The epitaxy of III-V semiconductors on silicon substrates remains challenging because of lattice parameter and material polarity differences. In this work, we report on the Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) and characterization of InAs/GaAs Quantum Dots (QDs) epitaxially grown on quasi-nominal 300 mm Ge/Si(001) and GaAs(001) substrates. QD properties were studied by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. A wafer level µPL mapping of the entire 300 mm Ge/Si substrate shows the homogeneity of the three-stacked InAs QDs emitting at 1.30 ± 0.04 µm at room temperature. The correlation between PL spectroscopy and numerical modeling revealed, in accordance with transmission electron microscopy images, that buried QDs had a truncated pyramidal shape with base sides and heights around 29 and 4 nm, respectively. InAs QDs on Ge/Si substrate had the same shape as QDs on GaAs substrates, with a slightly increased size and reduced luminescence intensity. Our results suggest that 1.3 μm emitting InAs QDs quantum dots can be successfully grown on CMOS compatible Ge/Si substrates.

We report the design and characterization of a two-photon fluorescence imaging miniature probe. This customized two-axis scanning probe is dedicated for intraoperative two-photon fluorescence imaging endomicroscopic use and is based on a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) mirror with a high reflectivity plate and two-level-ladder double S-shaped electrothermal bimorph actuators. The fully assembled probe has a total outer diameter of 4 mm including all elements. With a two-lens configuration and a small aperture MEMS mirror, this probe can generate a large optical scan angle of 24° with 4 V drive voltage and can achieve a 450 µm FOV with a 2-fps frame rate. A uniform Pixel Dwell Time and a stable scanning speed along a raster pattern were demonstrated while a 57-fs pulse duration of the excitation beam was measured at the exit of the probe head. This miniature imaging probe will be coupled to a two-photon fluorescence endomicroscope oriented towards clinical use.

The primary therapeutic approach for high-grade brain tumor is surgical resection. However, identifying tumor margins in vivo remains a major challenge. Biopsy analysis remains the standard diagnostic technique on tumor margins. This ex vivo analysis is time consuming and delays treatment. The aim of this study is tissue discrimination using label free autofluorescence and application in intraoperative optical probe for optical biopsy. Biopsy samples from 51 patients who underwent brain tumor surgery (21 metastasis tumors, 17 glioblastoma tumors, GBM, and 13 control samples) were included in this study. The samples underwent a multiscale and multi-contrast optical analysis. The excitation were performed with a deep-UV synchrotron beam, at 275 nm, and a near-infrared Ti:sapphire pulsed laser, from 690 to 1,040 nm. The detection modalities were fluorescence imaging, spectroscopy and fluorescence lifetime. Using deep-UV excitation, and combining three molecular ratios (tyrosin-tryptophan, tryptophan-collagen, tryptophan-NADH) resulted in discrimination with a sensitivity of 90% and a specificity of 73%. Using a two-photon excitation, and combining average lifetime, NADH-FAD ratio and Porphyrin-NADH ratio, resulted in discrimination with a sensitivity of 97% and a specificity of 100%. A multiscale algorithm resulted in an overlap of only 1.8% between control and tumor samples.

Agriculture sector needs to particular attention for the formulation of economic policy due to noteworthy facilities of the country in its sector, economic activity of many populations in it and important contribution of this sector in non-oil export. In the issues agricultural development, credit is one of the solutions to fix financial problems of farmers. In this study, the effect of agricultural bank payment facility is investigated on the value added agricultural sub- sectors of agronomy and horticulture, animal husbandry and fisheries. The Cobb - Douglas function as the best choice is estimated by using panel data model and fixed effect method over the period 1991-2009, that labor force, capital stock and payment facilities variables are entered as independent variables in model. The results show that payment facilities have an impact of positive completely significant on the value added agricultural sub sectors. Based on the results, payment facilities respectively have had an impact on sub-sectors of the fisheries, agronomy and horticulture and animal husbandry to the amount of % 0.12, %0.06 and % 0.005. According to the different influence of payment facilities on the sub-sectors growth, it suggests that will be reviewed in its percentage and how to payment.

Despite the great body of work examining the cultural content of the international and local ELT textbooks, the cultural content and elements of the ELT textbooks in the inner, outer, and expanding circle countries have seldom been reported. That said, the purpose of this study was twofold: first, it was aimed to investigate the cultural content of the ELT textbooks of the inner, outer, and expanding circle countries; and, second, to examine the cultural elements of these ELT textbooks. To that end, three ELT textbook series from inner, outer, and expanding circle countries were selected and analyzed. The results of this study showed that there were differences among the ELT textbooks of different concentric circles. While the ELT textbooks of the inner circle contained more L1 and L2 cultural content, the ELT textbooks of the expanding circle contained more L1 and international cultural content. Moreover, the ELT textbooks of the outer circle showed tendency to contain L1, L2, and international cultural content. With respect to the cultural elements, the inner and outer circle contained more L2 esthetic cultural elements, whereas the expanding circle ELT textbooks tended to represent their cultural elements through L1 esthetic and sociolinguistic cultural senses.

It is an underestimated topic whether or not providing corrective feedback through portfolio-based writing instruction can be effective. Hence, the purpose of the current study was to investigate the effect of providing corrective feedback through portfolio-based writing instruction on the overall and componential writing performance of the Iranian intermediate EFL learners. To that end, 44 intermediate EFL learners participated in a writing program aiming to develop the writing skill of the L2 learners. The participants were divided into the experimental group (N = 20) in which they received the corrective feedback on their writing through the portfolio-based writing, and the control group (N = 24) who received the traditional paper-and-pen corrective feedback on their writing. A pre-test/post-test design was administrated to address the purpose of the study. The results indicated that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group both in overall and componential writing performance. Thus, it can be concluded that providing corrective feedback through portfolio-based writing can be constructive in developing intermediate EFL learners writing performance. This may be due to the features which portfolio-based writing brings to the L2 writing classroom including developing the motivation of the L2 learners to write, pushing them to be more autonomous in their learning, helping them to reflect upon their writing, and making the learners conscious about the process of writing. Thus, portfolio-based instruction can be thought of a collaborative way to provide corrective feedback on L2 learners writing performance. The study carries some implications for L2 writing teachers and learners.

This study is an attempt to explore the frequency of pragmatic content occurrence represented as three speech acts of requesting, refusing, and apologizing in global and local English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks. Three global elementary ELT textbooks, namely Interchange, Top Notch , and American English File along with the local elementary textbooks of Iran Language Institute (ILI) Series , were examined for their pragmatic content. To analyze the pragmatic content of these textbooks, the researchers used three different frameworks. The results indicated that while both global and local ELT textbooks shared a sufficient number of speech acts of request and refusal, they failed to pay enough attention to the speech act of apology regarding its frequency and the strategies through which it is performed. To sum, the findings of this study highlight the differences in the frequency of different speech acts and the strategies used to perform them in global and local elementary ELT textbooks, which bear some implications for ELT textbook developers and language instructors.

Late presentation to medical care of individuals infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is linked to poor outcomes and increased morbidity and mortality. Missed opportunities for a prompt diagnosis are frequently reported among late presenters. We aimed to estimate the proportion of late presenters and missed opportunities in diagnosis among newly diagnosed HIV-positive subjects presenting to a specialty clinic in Lebanon. This is a retrospective chart review of all newly diagnosed adult HIV-positive subjects presenting to clinic from 2012 to 2022. Demographic, laboratory, and clinical data were collected at initial HIV diagnosis or presentation to medical care. We defined late presentation as having a CD4 count < 350 or AIDS-defining event regardless of CD4 count. Advanced disease is defined as having a CD4 count below 200 cells/μL or the presence of an AIDS-defining illness, regardless of the CD4 count. A missed opportunity was defined as the presence of an indicator condition (IC) that suggests infection with HIV/AIDS during 3 years preceding the actual HIV diagnosis and not followed by a recommendation for HIV testing. The proportions for demographic, epidemiological, and clinical characteristics are calculated by excluding cases with missing information from the denominator. Our cohort included 150 subjects (92.7% males; 63.6% men who have sex with men (MSM); 33.3% heterosexuals; median age 30.5 years at diagnosis). 77 (51.3%) were late presenters and 53 (35.3% of all subjects, 68.8% of late presenters) had advanced HIV on presentation. Up to 76.5% of late presenters had a presentation with an HIV-related condition at a healthcare provider without getting HIV test within the previous 3 years. The most frequent ICs were weight loss, generalized lymphadenopathy, constitutional symptoms, and chronic idiopathic diarrhea. Overall mortality rate was 4% (6/150 individuals). All-cause mortality among those who presented with AIDS was 15.4% (6/39 subjects). In our setting, late presentations and missed opportunities for HIV diagnosis are common. In the Middle East, AIDS mortality remains high with a large gap in HIV testing. To effectively influence policies, comprehensive analyses should focus on estimating the preventable health and financial burdens of late HIV presentations. Another concern pertains to healthcare providers' attitudes and competencies., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Alzheimer's disease remains a global health challenge and an unmet need requiring innovative approaches to discover new drugs. The current study aimed to investigate the inhibitory activity of Albizia lucidior and Albizia procera leaves against acetylcholinesterase enzyme in vitro and explore their chemical compositions. Metabolic profiling of the bioactive plant, A. lucidior , via UHPLC/MS/MS-based Molecular Networking highlighted the richness of its ethanolic extract with budmunchiamine alkaloids, fourteen budmunchiamine alkaloids as well as four new putative ones were tentatively identified for the first time in A. lucidior . Pursuing these alkaloids in the fractions of A. lucidior extract via molecular networking revealed that alkaloids were mainly concentrated in the ethyl acetate fraction. In agreement, the alkaloid-rich fraction showed the most promising anticholinesterase activity (IC 50 5.26 µg/mL) versus the ethanolic extract and ethyl acetate fraction of A. lucidior (IC 50 24.89 and 6.90 µg/mL, respectively), compared to donepezil (IC 50 3.90 µg/mL). Furthermore, deep in silico studies of tentatively identified alkaloids of A. lucidior were performed. Notably, normethyl budmunchiamine K revealed superior stability and receptor binding affinity compared to the two used references: donepezil and the co-crystallized inhibitor (MF2 700). This was concluded based on molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations and molecular mechanics generalized born/solvent accessibility (MM-GBSA) calculations.

Background: Children often suffer from congenital or acquired diseases. Ambulatory cases represent the vast majority of pediatric surgical cases. COVID-19 pandemic-associated regulatory precautions had made the process of seeking medical advice at a suitable appointment such a big problem. We utilized telemedicine (online encounter) to deliver the required healthcare service for sorting and guiding pediatric ambulatory surgical patients. In this article, we aimed to: (1) present our experience, (2) evaluate the effectiveness, and (3) document the results of this technology to solve the problem of difficult healthcare accessibility., Materials and Methods: In this study, we compared the utilization of telemedicine (virtual clinic via video consultation) prospectively in the current era of the COVID-19 pandemic in the period from June 2020 to July 2021 to the in-person clinic encounter at the outpatient department (OPD) retrospectively in the previous year (from June 2019 until the end of May 2020) for perioperative management of pediatric ambulatory surgical patients. The study was conducted at 3 tertiary care pediatric surgery centers. The information recorded for analysis included: demographic data, surgical condition distribution, time interval from the appointment request till the actual encounter with the surgeon, conversation duration, distance traveled, and ultimate fate of the consultations. For both groups, service was evaluated after the first follow-up visit by a patient survey questionnaire (Patient Experience Assessment form) including questions relevant to each encounter., Results: A total of 1124 pediatric patients with various ambulatory surgical conditions had been scheduled for virtual clinic video encounters. Of them, 1056 cases were evaluated by video consultation, supervised by their parents or caregivers, thus, achieving an attendance rate of 94%. Of the remaining cases, 2% (n = 23) were canceled and 4% (n = 45) did not attend the virtual clinic. Two-thirds of the cases live in rural /remote areas. Patients' overall satisfaction was 92%. This was in comparison to 872 pediatric ambulatory surgical patients scheduled for in-person clinic visits before the implementation of the virtual clinic. Of them, only 340 cases had attended the clinic, thus, achieving an attendance rate of 39%. Of the remaining cases, 450 cases (51.6%) were canceled and 82 cases (9.4%) did not attend the clinic (no show). About 48% of the cases live in rural areas. For this group, patients' overall satisfaction was 63%. The mean encounter duration was similar for both groups (∼ 5 min). Surgical condition distribution was also similar (p-value: 0.694). For new cases, the time interval from appointment request till the actual encounter was very short for the virtual clinic group (range: 6-15 days) as compared to the in-person clinic group (range: 30-180 days). Patients were followed up for a median period of 14 ± 3.25 months (range: 6-22 months) with no patient loss to follow-up., Conclusion: Telemedicine can effectively bridge the patient-physician communication gap caused by the regulatory precautions mandated by the current COVID-19 pandemic. It achieved an attendance rate of 94% and parents' / patients' overall satisfaction of 92%., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest All authors state that they have no conflicts of interest or competing interests., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The rapid spread of bacterial infection caused by Staphylococcus aureus has become a problem to public health despite the presence of past trials devoted to controlling the infection. Thus, the current study aimed to explore the chemical composition of the extract of endophytic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus , isolated from Albizia lucidior leaves, and investigate the antimicrobial activity of isolated metabolites and their probable mode of actions. The chemical investigation of the fungal extract via UPLC/MS/MS led to the identification of at least forty-two metabolites, as well as the isolation and complete characterization of eight reported metabolites. The antibacterial activities of isolated metabolites were assessed against S. aureus using agar disc diffusion and microplate dilution methods. Compounds ergosterol, helvolic acid and monomethyl sulochrin-4-sulphate showed minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 15.63, 1.95 and 3.90 µg/mL, respectively, compared to ciprofloxacin. We also report the inhibitory activity of the fungal extract on DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV, which led us to perform molecular docking using the three most active compounds isolated from the extract against both enzymes. These active compounds had the required structural features for S. aureus DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV inhibition, evidenced via molecular docking.

Purpose of the Review: To describe the intersectionality of healthcare and economy, and potential solutions to prevent the next peak of COVID-19 in Sudan., Recent Findings: Sudan has recently emerged from a 30-year dictatorship to face the COVID-19 pandemic in the midst of the worst economic crisis. Disease control measures that have been used in developed countries have been difficult to implement in Sudan due to economic, social, and structural challenges. There is a need for integration of data into the disease response plan and for community engagement to help with mitigation efforts. Youth-led community organizations were critical in the success of the Sudanese revolution. Their formal involvement in contact tracing and community awareness campaigns can be beneficial., Summary: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the surface many of the challenges facing the healthcare system in Sudan. Culturally tailored interventions are needed to prevent the next peak of COVID-19 in the country., Competing Interests: Conflict of InterestThe authors declare no competing interests., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021.)

Acute care NPs are in an ideal position to diagnose and manage non-ST-segment elevation (NSTE)-acute coronary syndrome (ACS) by implementing guideline-driven medical interventions. Utilizing mnemonics improves efficiency of clinicians in practice. This article introduces a mnemonic to assist NPs in their response to patients with NSTE-ACS.

Elderly people can be provided with safer and more independent living by the early detection of abnormalities in their performing actions and the frequent assessment of the quality of their motion. Low-cost depth sensing is one of the emerging technologies that can be used for unobtrusive and inexpensive motion abnormality detection and quality assessment. In this study, we develop and evaluate vision-based methods to detect and assess neuromusculoskeletal disorders manifested in common daily activities using three-dimensional skeletal data provided by the SDK of a depth camera (e.g., MS Kinect and Asus Xtion PRO). The proposed methods are based on extracting medically -justified features to compose a simple descriptor. Thereafter, a probabilistic normalcy model is trained on normal motion patterns. For abnormality detection, a test sequence is classified as either normal or abnormal based on its likelihood, which is calculated from the trained normalcy model. For motion quality assessment, a linear regression model is built using the proposed descriptor in order to quantitatively assess the motion quality. The proposed methods were evaluated on four common daily actions-sit to stand, stand to sit, flat walk, and gait on stairs-from two datasets, a publicly released dataset and our dataset that was collected in a clinic from 32 patients suffering from different neuromusculoskeletal disorders and 11 healthy individuals. Experimental results demonstrate promising results, which is a step toward having convenient in-home automatic health care services.

We propose an action-independent descriptor for detecting abnormality in motion, based on medically-inspired skeletal features. The descriptor is tested on four actions/motions captured using a single depth camera: sit-to-stand, stand-to-sit, flat-walk, and climbing-stairs. For each action, a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) trained on normal motions is built using the action-independent feature descriptor. Test sequences are evaluated based on their fitness to the normal motion models, with a threshold over the likelihood, to assess abnormality. Results show that the descriptor is able to detect abnormality with accuracy ranging from 0.97 to 1 for the various motions.

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major health problem worldwide. Defective dendritic cell (DC) activation of T cells may underlie poor T-cell responsiveness in HCV infection., Objective: To evaluate the DCs' functions in chronically infected HCV patients and its correlation with the response to therapy., Patients and Methods: This prospective study included 30 chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients and 30 healthy age-matched and sex-matched controls. The first group received combined pegylated interferon-α-2b (Peg-IFN-α2b)/ribavirin therapy for 48 weeks. A quantitative HCV-RNA PCR was performed for all patients before treatment and at 12, 24, 48, and 24 weeks after treatment. To clarify the functions of DCs, we induced maturation of peripheral DCs from blood samples of CHC patients and healthy controls using Resiquimod (R848). The functions of DCs were assessed by measurement of the levels of IFN-γ and interleukin-10 (IL-10)., Results: Sixteen (53.3%) of the patients were treatment responders and the other 14 (46.4%) were nonresponders. The current study showed a statistically significant difference between CHC patients and the control group in IFN-γ production, which was higher in the control group (1.53±0.38 IU/ml) than in the CHC patients (1.19±0.21 IU/ml); in contrast, IL-10 was higher in CHC (249.4±27.6 pg/ml) than the control group (217.0±29.9 pg/ml). However, there was no significant difference between treatment responders and nonresponders in both IFN-γ and IL-10 levels., Conclusion: HCV infection is associated with impaired production of IFN-γ, which may be an indication of a defect in DC function.

Tetrazolo[1,5-a]quinoline derivatives bearing in the 4-position various thiazolidinone 3a-c, 5a-c and 7a-c, thiazinone 8a,b, thiazoline 9a-d and thiadiazoline 10a,b moieties have been synthesized and evaluated for anti-inflammatory activity and antimicrobial properties. The synthetic routes involved the reaction of tetrazolo[1,5-a]quinoline-4-carboxaldehyde 1 with amines and hydrazines to give the corresponding aniles 2a-c and hydrazones 4a-c respectively The latter compounds when treated with thioglycolic acid, furnished the corresponding thiazolidinone derivatives 3a-c and 5a-c. Moreover; thiosemicarbazone 6a-c derivatives were subsequently cyclized by various reagents giving rise the title compounds. Some of the products proved to possess potent anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties.

Purpose: To examine baseline measurements of accommodative lag, phoria, reading distance, amount of near work, and level of myopia as risk factors for progression of myopia and their interaction with treatment over 3 years, in children enrolled in the Correction of Myopia Evaluation Trial (COMET)., Methods: COMET enrolled 469 ethnically diverse children (ages, 6-11 years) with myopia between -1.25 and -4.50 D. They were randomly assigned to either progressive addition lenses (PALs) with a +2.00 addition (n = 235) or single vision lenses (SVLs; n = 234), the conventional spectacle treatment, and were observed for 3 years. The primary outcome measure was progression of myopia by autorefraction after cycloplegia with 2 drops of 1% tropicamide. Other measurements included accommodative response (by an open field of view autorefractor), phoria (by cover test), reading distance, and hours of near work. Independent and interaction analyses were based on the mean of the two eyes. Results were adjusted for important covariates with multiple linear regression., Results: Children with larger accommodative lags (>0.43 D for a 33 cm target) wearing SVLs had the most progression at 3 years. PALs were effective in slowing progression in these children, with statistically significant 3-year treatment effects (mean +/- SE) for those with larger lags in combination with near esophoria (PAL - SVL progression = -1.08 D - [-1.72 D] = 0.64 +/- 0.21 D), shorter reading distances (0.44 +/- 0.20 D), or lower baseline myopia (0.48 +/- 0.15 D). The 3-year treatment effect for larger lags in combination with more hours of near work was 0.42 +/- 0.26 D, which did not reach statistical significance. Statistically significant treatment effects were observed in these four groups at 1 year and became larger from 1 to 3 years., Conclusions: The results support the COMET rationale (i.e., a role for retinal defocus in myopia progression). In clinical practice in the United States children with large lags of accommodation and near esophoria often are prescribed PALs or bifocals to improve visual performance. Results of this study suggest that such children, if myopic, may have an additional benefit of slowed progression of myopia.

Two series of 4-aminopyrimido[4,5-b]quinoline derivatives substituted in the 2-position 6a-c and/or in 1-position 9a-e have been prepared by facile routes starting from 2-amino-3-cyanoquinoline 2,2-chloro-3-cyanoquinoline 4 and 2-arylamino-3-cyanoquinolines 8a-d. The reactions involved simple fusion with thiourea or urea and, in some cases, with guanidine. The prepared compounds were in vitro tested for antimicrobial activities against some selected Gram-positive, Gram-negative bacteria and fungi. The products containing the thio-function were the most active followed by those containing the imino-function while the carbonyl containing derivatives were without significant antimicrobial effect.

The synthesis and in vitro antimicrobial evaluation of several quinoline and pyrimidoquinoline derivatives are described. Treatment of 7-substituted quinolin-2(1H)-one-3-carboxylic acids 2a-c with phosphoryl chloride or thionyl chloride gave rise to the 7-substituted 2-chloroquinoline-3-carboxylic acids 3a-c and 7-substituted 2-chloro-3-chlorocarbonylquinolines 5a-c respectively. The 2-chloro function in compounds 3a-c was replaced by 2-aminothiazole or 2-aminopyridine to give 2-(thiazol-2-yl)aminoquinoline-3-carboxylic acids 4a-c or 2-(pyrid-2-yl)aminoquinoline-3-carboxylic acids 4d-f. Treatment of 5a-c with the same heterocyclic amines at room temperature furnished the corresponding 7-substituted 2-chloro-3-heteryl-aminocarbonylquinolines 6a-f. The tetracyclic 9-substituted thiazolo[3', 2':1, 2]-pyrimido[4, 5-b]quinolin-5-ones 7a-c and 10-substituted pyrido[1', 2':1, 2]-pyrimido[4, 5-b]quinolin-6-ones 7d-f were synthesized by heating 5a-c with the heterocyclic amines in toluene or by heating 6a-f under reflux in dimethylformamide. The products were evaluated in vitro for potential antimicrobial activity.

Background: Patients whose Hodgkin's disease is refractory to standard combination chemotherapy usually have a poor prognosis. These patients are generally considered for bone marrow transplantation if the disease is still sensitive to chemotherapy., Methods: Between May 1988 and January 1992, 19 patients with refractory or relapsed Hodgkin's disease were treated with a regimen of doxorubicin, bleomycin, dacarbazine, lomustine, and prednisone (ABDIC). The ABDIC regimen as modified for continuous infusion by Hagemeister consisted of doxorubicin 25 mg/m2 by continuous infusion daily for 2 days, dacarbazine 200 mg/m2 by continuous infusion daily for 5 days, bleomycin 5 U/m2 intravenously on days 1 and 5, CCNU 40 mg/m2 on day 1, and prednisone 40 mg/m2 daily on days 1-5. Treatment was repeated every 28 days., Results: At the time of treatment, mean age was 30.5 years (range 19-70), and time to ABDIC from initial diagnosis was 5.6 years (range 1-14). The mean number of prior chemotherapy regimens was 2.7 (range 1-5), and three of the patients had had autologous bone marrow transplantation before ABDIC: All patients had earlier received either mechlorethamine, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone or a regimen of doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine, and 16 had received both. The mean number of ABDIC cycles was 3.9 (range 2-12). Total response rate was 63%, with 10 patients having partial response and 2 having complete response of 12 and 27 months' duration. Seven patients subsequently underwent bone marrow transplantation; two of these are free of disease at 35 and 41 months. The treatment was well tolerated; major toxicities were nausea and bone marrow suppression., Conclusion: ABDIC is an active and well tolerated therapy in patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin's disease, including those previously treated with ABVD. More importantly, perhaps, ABDIC as cytoreductive therapy followed by bone marrow transplantation offers the possibility of long term disease free survival in this heavily pretreated patient population.

Data regarding DNA content parameters in soft tissue sarcoma is limited. Development and optimization of tissue specific preparative techniques for DNA flow cytometry was undertaken prior to routine DNA content analysis of soft tissue neoplasms; 154 soft tissue tumors were studied. Dissociation dependent differences in cellular yields, viabilities, maintenance of DNA aneuploid populations, coefficients of variation, and DNA index supported the need for these developmental studies. Fifty-six of eighty-nine patients had DNA aneuploid soft tissue sarcomas. A relationship between DNA aneuploidy and grade was seen in this series with 38% with low grade, 59% with moderate grade, and 69% with high grade tumors demonstrating DNA aneuploid populations (P < 0.005). The mean S-phase fraction for DNA diploid and aneuploid sarcomas was 7.2% and 13.3%, respectively (P < 0.001). When classified by histologic grade of the primary tumor, a greater percentage of metastatic lesions were DNA aneuploid (4 of 7 grade 2 lesions, and 15 of 16 grade 3 lesions). Decreases in cellular yields and rate of DNA aneuploidy were observed in a subgroup of patients with localized high grade sarcoma treated preoperatively, as compared to patients treated with initial surgery. Prospective correlation of DNA content parameters to prognosis and response to cytotoxic therapy are now possible and are ongoing.

The phorbol esters induce differentiation of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells. Clinical use of this observation has been hampered by the fact that phorbol esters are also tumor promoters. In this study we demonstrate that another protein kinase C activator, without tumor promoting activity, has similar effects on CLL cells. Fresh leukemic cells from the peripheral blood of 13 patients with CLL were isolated and cultured in the absence (control) or presence of Bryostatin 1 or 12-0-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA). Aliquots of cells were then analyzed after 24, 72 and 120 hours for morphological changes, acid phosphatase (ACP) and the co-expression of two hairy cell-associated surface antigens, CD22 and CD11c, by flow cytometry. Bryostatin 1 induced changes in shape and morphology similar to TPA, with adherence and increase in cell size, abundant cytoplasm and irregular cytoplasmic membrane. Both agents induced a statistically significant increase in the expression of CD22 and CD11c compared with control (p < 0.0008). There was no significant difference between the two agents in the degree of expression of these two markers. Both agents also induced ACP that was tartrate resistant (TRAP). These changes indicate that Bryostatin is as effective as TPA in inducing further differentiation of CLL cells to a hairy cell stage.

The relation of prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) or ductal dysplasia and the development of invasive prostate cancer is not clear. PIN, especially high grade, is usually associated with coexisting invasive cancer. Although some investigators have identified micro foci of invasive cancer evolving from PIN, the two are usually anatomically separated. Because of these distinct anatomic patterns, many investigators have concluded that PIN represents a "field effect" or marker of potential cancer progression, and is not directly involved in or leads to the development of invasive prostate cancer. We measured the DNA content in 49 foci of invasive cancer and 87 foci of PIN identified in 34 radical prostatectomies containing both PIN and invasive cancer. In addition, we examined 13 prostatectomies and 5 TUR specimens containing only PIN. We found that the majority of low grade PIN had normal or diploid range DNA and that approximately half of the high grade PIN were abnormal or aneuploid. Prostates with coexisting diploid range PIN and invasive cancer had an approximately equal number of diploid range and aneuploid invasive cancers. Conversely, almost all of the aneuploid PIN (usually high grade) had coexisting aneuploid invasive cancers. This would support the hypothesis that events in the progression of prostate cancer may be operative in both the development of PIN and invasive cancer.

DNA content analysis of formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue permits determination of the influence of DNA content on the prognosis in cohorts of patients for whom the clinical outcome is known. Of key importance in such an analysis is the accuracy of DNA content determination. Variations in the quality of DNA histograms from FFPE tissues of different types prompted a comparative evaluation of the preparative methodology of FFPE soft tissue sarcomas for DNA flow cytometry. Following deparaffination and rehydration of fixed tissue, and prior to fluorochrome staining, tissue blocks of 15 DNA aneuploid soft tissue sarcomas were subjected to repeated experimental (time x concentration) enzyme exposures. The goal of these studies was to define the optimal tissue specific retrieval technique with the coefficient of variation, maintenance of DNA aneuploidy, and DNA index as endpoints. After optimizing the technique, the DNA content of 50 soft tissue neoplasms derived from FFPE specimens was compared to the corresponding fresh surgical tissue. The observed 14 percent error rate in the determination of DNA ploidy status suggest limited utility for FFPE tissue in prospective therapeutic trials of soft tissue sarcoma.

An Egyptian isolate of Streptomyces afghanensis was examined for the production of antiviral metabolites. Concentrated broth exudates of this microorganism were tested against tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), tomato mosaic virus (ToMV) and potato virus X (PVX) infecting Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. White Burley. Both concentrated metabolites and their acetone extract inhibited local lesion development of the tested viruses. In all cases, maximum antiviral effect was observed 2 hr after infection. The ultrafiltrate of broth culture reduced the number of local PVX lesions produced on the challenged half leaves in the case of later applications.

The efficiency of water purification in the French and the British systems of Ismailia city was evaluated concerning the contaminating microorganisms. Counting of microbial contaminants was based on the phenotypic characters of the colony type. Colony-types of eubacteria, eumycetes, Micromonospores and Streptomyces enumerated in the crude water and the different steps of purification. Total counts of microflora in both systems were higher than the counts in canal water. Meanwhile, microbial isolates were higher in the French system than that of the British one. The increased counts in tap water, compared with canal water, were recorded in winter for bacteria and in spring for fungi. These data showed variations in the microbial total counts according to: plant system, steps of purification, chlorination season and type of microbes.

The synthesis of a series of isonicotinoylamino acids (II-XI) and some of their corresponding methyl esters (XII-XVIII), hydrazides (XXI-XXVI), dipeptide methyl esters (XXVII-XLII), the di- and tri-glycine peptides (XIX-XX) is described. Sixteen of various isonicotinoylamino acid and dipeptide derivatives were found to possess specific antimicrobial activities towards different microorganisms.

The synthesis of a series of 1-acetylindoline-5-sulphonylamino acids and some of the corresponding methyl esters and hydrazides (II-XXIII) is described. Coupling of 1-acetylindoline-5-sulphonylamino acids with amino acid methyl ester hydrochlorides in THF-Et3N medium, using the dicyclohexylcarbodiimide method gave the desired 1-acetylindoline-5-sulphonyldipeptide methyl esters (XXIV-XXVIII). Most of the synthetic 1-acetylindoline-5-sulphonylamino acid and dipeptide derivatives (II-XXVII) were found to possess various antimicrobial activities against a number of microorganisms.