Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factors among Employees and Their Families of a Saudi University: An Epidemiological Study

ObjectivesTo assess the prevalence of noncommunicable disease (NCD) risk factors among Saudi university employees and their families; to estimate the cardiovascular risk (CVR) amongst the study population in the following 10years.MethodsThe NCD risk factors prevalence was estimated using a cross-sectional approach for a sample of employees and their families aged ≥ 18 years old, in a Saudi university (Riyadh in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; KSA). WHO STEPwise standardized tools were used to estimate NCD risk factors and the Framingham Coronary Heart Risk Score calculator was used to calculate the CVR.ResultsFive thousand and two hundred subjects were invited, of whom 4,500 participated in the study, providing a response rate of 87%. The mean age of participants was 39.3±13.4 years. The majority of participants reported low fruit/vegetables consumption (88%), and physically inactive (77%). More than two thirds of the cohort was found to be either overweight or obese (72%), where 36% were obese, and 59% had abdominal obesity. Of the total cohort, 22–37% were found to suffer from dyslipidaemia, 22% either diabetes or hypertension, with rather low reported current tobacco use (12%). One quarter of participants was estimated to have >10% risk to develop cardiovascular disease within the following 10-years.ConclusionThe prevalence of NCD risk factors was found to be substantially high among the university employees and their families in this study.     

Synergistic Interactions of Eugenol-tosylate and Its Congeners with Fluconazole against Candida albicans

We previously reported the antifungal properties of a monoterpene phenol “Eugenol” against different Candida strains and have observed that the addition of methyl group to eugenol drastically increased its antimicrobial potency. Based on the results and the importance of medicinal synthetic chemistry, we synthesized eugenol-tosylate and its congeners (E1-E6) and tested their antifungal activity against different clinical fluconazole (FLC)- susceptible and FLC- resistant C. albicans isolates alone and in combination with FLC by determining fractional inhibitory concentration indices (FICIs) and isobolograms calculated from microdilution assays. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) results confirmed that all the tested C. albicans strains were variably susceptible to the semi-synthetic derivatives E1-E6, with MIC values ranging from 1–62 μg/ml. The test compounds in combination with FLC exhibited either synergy (36%), additive (41%) or indifferent (23%) interactions, however, no antagonistic interactions were observed. The MICs of FLC decreased 2–9 fold when used in combination with the test compounds. Like their precursor eugenol, all the derivatives showed significant impairment of ergosterol biosynthesis in all C. albicans strains coupled with down regulation of the important ergosterol biosynthesis pathway gene-ERG11. The results were further validated by docking studies, which revealed that the inhibitors snugly fitting the active site of the target enzyme, mimicking fluconazole, may well explain their excellent inhibitory activity. Our results suggest that these compounds have a great potential as antifungals, which can be used as chemosensitizing agents with the known antifungal drugs.     

An Efficient Algorithm for Some Highly Nonlinear Fractional PDEs in Mathematical Physics

In this paper, a fractional complex transform (FCT) is used to convert the given fractional partial differential equations (FPDEs) into corresponding partial differential equations (PDEs) and subsequently Reduced Differential Transform Method (RDTM) is applied on the transformed system of linear and nonlinear time-fractional PDEs. The results so obtained are re-stated by making use of inverse transformation which yields it in terms of original variables. It is observed that the proposed algorithm is highly efficient and appropriate for fractional PDEs and hence can be extended to other complex problems of diversified nonlinear nature.     

Detection and identification of phytoplasma associated with witches’ broom and little leaf disease in Arundo donax: first report from India

During the survey of two successive years 2012–2013, in nearby places of Gorakhpur districts, Uttar Pradesh, India, Arundo donax plants were found to be exhibiting witches’ broom, excessive branching accompanied with little leaf symptoms with considerable disease incidence. Nested PCR carried out with universal primers pair R16F2n/R16R2 employing the PCR (P1/P7) product as a template DNA (1:20) resulted in expected size positive amplification ~1.2 kb in all symptom-bearing plants suggested the association of phytoplasma with witches’ broom disease of Narkat plants. BLASTn analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence showed the highest (99%) sequence identity with Candidatus phytoplasma asteris (16SrI group). In phylogenetic analysis, the sequence data showed close relationships with the members of 16SrI phytoplasma and clustered within a single clade of 16SrI group and closed to B subgroup representatives. This is a first report of 16Sr I-B group phytoplasma associated with witches’ broom accompanied with little leaf disease of Narkat in India.     

NADPH-cytochrome-c-reductase: Changes in specific activity in gypsy moth larvae

NADPH-cytochrome-c-reductase from guts of gypsy moth, Porthetria dispar, oxidized NADPH at the following rates: 11·6, 41·9, and 57·6 nmol/30 min per 0·6 mg protein, in the third, fourth and fifth instar, respectively. The increase in specific activity may be due to a natural induction process controlled by materials in the food. This could also explain the observed decreases just prior to ecdysis at which time the larvae have ceased feeding.