Incidence of dermatophytosis in Jordan with special reference to tinea capitis

Clinical data on 1068 cases of dermatophytosis as well as mycological data on 382 of these cases seen from March 1983 to September 1984 are reported. Tinea cruris was present in 34.1%, with Trichophyton rubrum and Epidermophyton floccosum isolated from 31% and 25% respectively. Tinea corporis was found in 17.9% of all patients of dermatophytosis with T. tonsurans responsible in 30.8%. Tinea pedis and Tinea unguium were present in 7.2% and 2% respectively, T. rubrum being the main causative agent; nail involvement was present in 27.3% of these cases. Tinea capitis was observed in 38.7% of 1068 dermatophytosis cases with T. violaceum and M. canis causing 48% and 32% of all T.C. cases respectively.The dermatophytic flora of the West Bank of Jordan apparently comprises about 14 dermatophytes, T. violaceum being the predominant agent of infection (in more than 34%). Other most common agents found in this survey were M. canis, T. rubrum, E. floccosum, T. schoenleini, T. tonsurans, and T. mentagrophytes.Formerly Assistant Professor at the Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Jordan, Amman     

Protective Effects of Selenium and Vitamin E Combination on Experimental Colitis in Blood Plasma and Colon of Rats

Ulcerative colitis increases oxidative damage accompanied by production of free oxygen radicals. Selenium (Se) and vitamin E are two natural antioxidants. The present study was undertaken to investigate the possible protective role of Se and vitamin E combination in experimental colitis induced by acetic acid (AA) in rats. This study was carried out on three groups, namely the first (control), the second (experimental colitis group, 2 ml 5% acetic acid), and the third groups (2 ml 5% acetic acid, vitamin E (100 mg/kg body weight (bw)) plus Se (0.2 mg/kg bw)). The activities of catalase (CAT), prolidase (PRS), myeloperoxidase (MPO), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total oxidant status (TOS), oxidative stress index (OSI), total thiol (T-SH) were determined in plasma and colon samples. Macroscopic and microscopic damages in colon were increased by AA treatment (p < 0.01 and p < 0.01, respectively), whereas they were decreased by selenium and vitamin E treatment (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively). The activities of CAT and PRS in the plasma and colon were significantly affected (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01) by treatment of AA, Se, and vitamin E. MPO activity in colon was increased (p < 0.01) by AA treatment and decreased (p < 0.05) by Se and vitamin E administration. The values of TOS and OSI in plasma were increased (p < 0.5) by AA. The TAC and T-SH in colon were decreased (p < 0.05) by AA and increased (p < 0.05) by Se and vitamin E. Based upon these results, Se and vitamin E may play an important role in preventive indication of the oxidative damage associated by acetic acid caused inflammation.     

A simple and inexpensive device for collecting urine samples from rats

Many studies require collection of metabolic wastes from laboratory animals, and oftentimes it is important that feces and urine be collected separately. The authors describe an easily assembled and inexpensive device that can be used to collect urine samples from rats without any invasive operations. The device affords reasonable separation of feces and urine.     

Molecular phylogeny of relict-endemic <Emphasis Type="Italic">Liquidambar orientalis</Emphasis> Mill based on sequence diversity of the chloroplast-encoded <Emphasis Type="Italic">mat</Emphasis>K gene

The genetic diversity and evolutionary divergence in Liquidambar species and Liquidambar orientalis varieties were compared with respect to the matK gene. A total of 66 genotypes from 18 different populations were sampled in southwestern Turkey. The matK region, which is about 1,512 bp in length, was sequenced and studied. L. orientalis, L. styraciflua, and L. formosana had similar magnitude of nucleotide diversity, while L. styraciflua and L. acalycina possessed higher evolutionary divergence. The highest evolutionary divergence was found between L. styraciflua and eastern Asian Liquidambar species (0.0102). However, the evolutionary divergence between L. orientalis and other species was of a similar magnitude. The maximum-parsimony phylogenetic tree showed that L. styraciflua and L. orientalis formed a closer clade while East Asian species were in a separate clade. This suggests that the North Atlantic Land Bridge through southern Greenland may have facilitated continuous distribution of Liquidambar species from southeastern Europe to eastern North America in early Tertiary period. The maximum-parsimony tree with only 18 Oriental sweetgum populations indicated that there were two main clusters: one with mainly L. orientalis var. integriloba and the other with var. orientalis and undetermined populations. High nucleotide diversity (0.0028) and divergence (0.00072) were found in L. orientalis var. integriloba populations and Muğla-1 geographical region. This region could be considered as the major refugium and genetic diversity center for the species. The low genetic diversity and divergence at intraspecies level suggest that L. orientalis populations in Turkey share an ancestral polymorphism from which two varieties may have evolved.     

Keratinophilic fungi on the hair of goats from the West Bank of Jordan

The mycoflora of the hair in 178 goats from the West Bank of Jordan was analysed and the frequency of occurrence and the relative importance value for the different keratinophilic fungi found were calculated. One hundred and seven species which belong to 38 genera were isolated. Thirty six of these species were either well recognised agents of mycoses (Trichophyton mentagrophytes, T. verrucosum, and M. nanum), or have been frequently isolated from human and animal lesions (Arthroderma spp., Acremonium kiliense, Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus flavus, Cladosporium carionii, and several other species). These potentially pathogenic fungal species comprised 66.9% of all keratinophilic fungi found on the hair of goats. The role of this animal as a reservoir for dermatophytes and other potentially pathogenic fungi is discussed.     

Integration of order picking and vehicle routing in a B2C e-commerce context

E-commerce sales are increasing every year and customers who buy goods on the Internet have high service level expectations. In order to meet these expectations, a company’s logistics operations need to be performed carefully. Optimizing only internal warehouse processes will often lead to suboptimal solutions. The interrelationship between the order picking process and the delivery process should not be ignored. Therefore, in this study, an order picking problem and a vehicle routing problem with time windows and release dates are solved simultaneously using a single optimization framework. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time that an order picking problem and a vehicle routing problem are integrated. A mixed integer linear programming formulation for this integrated order picking-vehicle routing problem (OP-VRP) is provided. The integrated OP-VRP is solved for small instances and the results are compared to these of an uncoordinated approach. Computational experiments show that integration can lead to cost savings of 14% on average. Furthermore, higher service levels can be offered by allowing customers to request their orders later and still get delivered within the same time windows.     

Keratinophilic fungi on the hair of cows,donkeys, rabbits,cats, and dogs from the West Bank of Jordan

The mycoflora of hair of 111 cows, donkeys, rabbits, cats, and dogs were analysed and the frequency of occurrence and the relative importance value of the different fungal species isolated were calculated. Total numbers of species 56, 45, 48, 23, and 11 were recovered from cows, donkeys, rabbits, cats, and dogs respectively. The majority of the keratinophilic fungi isolated were either well-known mycotic agents or have been recovered from various animal and human lesions. These comprised 87.8%, 66.7%, 61.4%, 59.3%, and 55.2% of the hair mycoflora in cats, dogs, rabbis, cows, and donkeys respectively. Seven species of dermatophytes were isolated: Trichophyton mentagrophytes, T. verrucosum, Microsporum gypseum, M. nanum, T. ajelloi, and M. canis. Cats harboured the largest number of dermatophytes (5 species), followed by cows (4 spp), rabbits (3 spp), and donkeys and dogs (1 sp). The role of these animals in the persistence and transmission of pathogenic fungi is discussed.     

Isolation of keratinophilic fungi from floor dust in Arab elementary and preparatory schools in the West Bank of Jordan

Floor dust collected from classrooms of thirty three elementary schools (16 for girls, and 17 for boys) (children aged 6–11), and twenty four preparatory schools (13 for girls, and 11 for boys) (children aged 12–14) was studied for the occurrence of keratinophilic fungi with respect to human presence and age of children. Tichophyton mentagrophytes was present in 15.4% of the preparatory schools for girls, in 12.5% of elementary schools for girls, and in 11.8% of elementary schools for boys. It was not found in preparatory schools for boys. Microsporum gypseum was found in preparatory schools for girls only (7.7%). Trichophyton terrestre was also only isolated from elementary schools for boys (5.9%). Chrysosporium species were present in 30.3% of all elementary schools (10 schools/33), and in 20.8% of all preparatory schools (5 schools/24). Geotrichum candidum was the most frequent and predominant keratinophilic species in all schools. Pathogenic and potentially pathogenic keratinophilic fungi comprised a large proportion of all fungal isolates recovered from all schools ; they comprised 87.2 %–89.5 % of all fungal isolates in the elementary schools, and 90.4%–93.5% of all fungal isolates in preparatory schools.