The Role of Cadmium as a Causative Agent of Recurrent Abortion in Egyptian Women

Environmental pollution is one of the ever surging problems receiving careful attention in Egypt, as well as in the world. It has been evidenced that environmental pollutants play an important role in the manifestations of severe reproductive-associated disorders. Among them, an environmental pollutant, Cd, has contributed to several deleterious effects. Maternal exposure to Cd is associated with low birthweight and an increase in spontaneous abortion. Spontaneous abortion is highly frustrating for both patients and physicians. The data from the present study reveal that there was a significant increase in blood level of Cd in the aborter groups as compared to the control group of healthy women. Also there was a significant decrease in serum ferritin, which correlated positively with abortion. Also, plasma levels of malondialdehyde were significantly elevated in aborter groups. There was also a highly significant increase in plasma 8-hydroxyl-2-deoxyguanosine in the aborter groups as compared to the control group, accompanied by a significant decrease in plasma carnosine in aborter groups as compared with the control group. In the same manner there was a reduction in the progesterone hormone in aborter groups. Our results suggest that exposure to Cd is associated with an increased risk of recurrent spontaneous abortion in Egyptian women.     

Cut‐off values and significance of Oil Red O‐positive cells in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid

C. Basset‐Léobon, L. Lacoste‐Collin, J. Aziza, J.C. Bes, S. Jozan and M. Courtade‐Saïdi
Cut‐off values and significance of Oil Red O‐positive cells in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid Objective: To evaluate the percentage and predictive value of Oil Red O‐positive macrophages (ORO‐PM) to identify lipid‐laden macrophages in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALF) from patients with different pathologies. Methods: The percentage and absolute numbers of ORO‐PM were evaluated in 305 BALF. The patients were separated into ten groups: corticosteroid treatment (n = 18), amiodarone treatment (n = 8), interstitial fibrosis (n = 11), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)‐positive (n = 25), infectious pneumonia (n = 43), severe haematological disorder (n = 25), interstitial syndrome (n = 109), suspicion of cancer (n = 17), transplant recipients (n = 50) and controls (n = 43). The total and differential cell counts in BALF were recorded. The presence of specific pathogens was also noted. Parametric and non‐parametric tests were used to compare the values between groups. Receiver–operating characteristics (ROC) curves were established in order to determine a cut‐off value. Results: The percentages of ORO‐PM were (mean ± standard deviation) 21.67 ± 29.12 in the corticosteroid group, 10.00 ± 12.49 in the amiodarone group, 19.45 ± 20.72 in the interstitial fibrosis group, 47.80 ± 30.46 in the HIV group, 19.72 ± 26.26 in the infectious pneumonia group, 27.42 ± 30.04 in the severe haematological disorder group, 25.18 ± 30.63 in the interstitial syndrome group, 17.64 ± 27.76 in the suspicion of cancer group, 22.50 ± 27.27 in the transplanted recipients group and 2.63 ± 3.48 in the control group. Significantly higher values were found in all groups when compared with the control group (P < 0.001). Only the HIV group showed higher numbers of ORO‐PM when compared with the interstitial syndrome group (P < 0.01). According to ROC curves, > 6% ORO‐PM was suggested as the positive cut‐off value. Conclusion: Significantly increased numbers of ORO‐PM were associated with various lung pathologies. However, the higher numbers observed in HIV patients require further investigations.     

Inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3 enhances the differentiation and reduces the proliferation of adult human olfactory epithelium neural precursors

The olfactory epithelium (OE) contains neural precursor cells which can be easily harvested from a minimally invasive nasal biopsy, making them a valuable cell source to study human neural cell lineages in health and disease. Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) has been implicated in the etiology and treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders and also in the regulation of murine neural precursor cell fate in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we examined the impact of decreased GSK-3 activity on the fate of adult human OE neural precursors in vitro. GSK-3 inhibition was achieved using ATP-competitive (6-bromoindirubin-3′-oxime and CHIR99021) or substrate-competitive (TAT-eIF2B) inhibitors to eliminate potential confounding effects on cell fate due to off-target kinase inhibition. GSK-3 inhibitors decreased the number of neural precursor cells in OE cell cultures through a reduction in proliferation. Decreased proliferation was not associated with a reduction in cell survival but was accompanied by a reduction in nestin expression and a substantial increase in the expression of the neuronal differentiation markers MAP1B and neurofilament (NF-M) after 10 days in culture. Taken together, these results suggest that GSK-3 inhibition promotes the early stages of neuronal differentiation in cultures of adult human neural precursors and provide insights into the mechanisms by which alterations in GSK-3 signaling affect adult human neurogenesis, a cellular process strongly suspected to play a role in the etiology of neuropsychiatric disorders.     

Selenium Nanoparticles Induce the Chemo-Sensitivity of Fluorouracil Nanoparticles in Breast and Colon Cancer Cells

Drug resistance is a major challenge of breast and colon cancer therapies leading to treatment failure. The main objective of the current study is to investigate whether selenium nanoparticles (nano-Se) can induce the chemo-sensitivity of 5-fluorouracil (FU)-encapsulated poly (D, L-lactide-co-glycolide) nanoparticles (nano-FU) in breast and colon cancer cell lines. Nano-Se and nano-FU were synthesized and characterized, then applied individually or in combination upon MCF7, MDA-MB-231, HCT 116, and Caco-2 cancerous cell lines. Cytotoxicity, cellular glucose uptake, and apoptosis, as well as malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide (NO), and zinc (Zn) levels, were investigated upon the different treatments. We have resulted that nano-FU induced cell death in MCF7 and Caco-2 more effectively than MDA-MB-231 and HCT 116 cell lines. Moreover, nano-FU plus nano-Se potentiate MCF7 and Caco-2 chemo-sensitivity were higher than MDA-MB-231 and HCT 116 cancerous cell lines. It is relevant to note that Se and FU nano-formulations inhibited cancer cell bioenergetics via glucose uptake slight blockage. Furthermore, nano-FU increased the levels of NO and MDA in media over cancer cells, while their combinations with nano-Se rebalance the redox status with Zn increment. We noticed that MCF7 cell line is sensitive, while MDA-MB-231 cell line is resistant to Se and nano-Se. This novel approach could be of great potential to enhance the chemo-sensitivity in breast and colon cancer cells.

     

Biosurfactant production by free and alginate entrapped cells of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pseudomonas fluorescens</Emphasis>

Production of biosurfactant by free and alginate-entrapped cells of Pseudomonas fluorescens Migula 1895-DSMZ was investigated using olive oil as the sole carbon and energy source. Biosurfactant synthesis was followed by measuring surface tension and emulsifying index E24 over 5 days at ambient temperature and at neutral pH. Diffusional limitations in alginate beads affected the kinetics of biosurfactant production when compared to that obtained with free cells culture. Nevertheless, the emulsion stability was improved and fewer by-products interfered with the biosurfactant activity. A decrease in pH down to 5 in the case of immobilized cells was observed during the first 3 days, after which it returned to its initial value. The minimum values of surface tension were 30 and 35 dynes cm⁻¹ achieved after 40 and 72 h with free and immobilized cells, respectively, while the corresponding maximum E24 values were 67 and 62%, respectively. After separation by acetone precipitation, the biosurfactant showed a rhamnolipid-type in nature, and had a good foaming and emulsifying activities. The critical micellar concentration was found to be 290 mg l⁻¹. The biosurfactant also showed good stability during exposure to high temperatures (up to 120 °C for 15 min), to high salinity (10% NaCl) and to a wide range of pH (4–9).     

Effects of the inclusion of black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens) meal on growth performance and blood plasma constituents in broiler chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) production

The aim of this study was to identify the effect of inclusion of defatted black soldier fly larvae (Def-BSFL) meal as a protein source on the performance and blood plasma constituents of broiler chickens. A total of 360-day-old chicks were assigned into four dietary groups, which included four different levels of Def-BSFL meal namely control (0% BSFL), T1(4% BSFL), T2 (8% BSFL) and T3 (12% BSFL) for six weeks experimental feeding period. At the end of the experiment, the blood samples of three birds from each treatment were collected to measure plasma constituents. Birds fed control and T1 diets demonstrated higher feed intake during the finisher stage compared with T2 and T3 diets. The heaviest weight for the 6-week feeding trial was recorded at T1 (1043.8 ± 65.9 g). Birds fed T1 (1.1 ± 0.0) and T3 (0.9 ± 0.1) diets displayed lower feed conversion ratio during the finisher stage than those fed control (1.7 ± 0.1) and T2 (1.8 ± 0.3) diets. Birds fed the control diet demonstrated the highest red blood cell with mean and standard deviation of 7.5 ± 0.34, whereas those fed the T2 diet showed the highest haemoglobin levels with mean and standard deviation of 15.8 ± 0.24. Birds fed T1, T2, and T3 diets exhibited a higher number (P < 0.05) of monocytes than those fed a control diet. There were no differences in white blood cell count across all the groups. In addition, birds fed the T2 diet showed higher (P < 0.05) blood urea nitrogen followed by the T3, control, and T1 diets. As a conclusion, the 4% Def-BSFL in the broiler chicken diet could be used to replace fish meal (FM) and soybean meal (SBM) without compromising bird performance and blood traits.     

Parathyroid hormone in urinary stone patients

To evaluate the role of parathyroids in calculus disease, the parathyroid hormone levels were determined in 22 control subjects and 42 stone (14 with bladder stone and 28 with kidney stone) patients. Serum calcium, inorganic phosphate, alkaline phosphatase and parathyroid hormone and urinary excretion of calcium and inorganic phosphate were determined. It was found that normocalcemic and normocalciuric stone patients had slightly higher levelsss of parathyroid hormone (irrespective of the site of the stone) and the difference was not statistically significant as compared with control subjects although some of the patients with calculus disease were hyperparathyroid. Serum alkaline phosphatase was increased while there was an increase in urinary calcium excretion in kidney stone patients and oxalate in all patients as compared with control subjects. The increase in inorganic phosphate was, however, not different from the control subjects. The subclinical hyperparathyroidism and stone formation in these patients are not correlated.     

Friction in metal-on-metal total disc arthroplasty: effect of ball radius

Total disc arthroplasty (TDA) can be used to replace a degenerated intervertebral disc in the spine. There are different designs of prosthetic discs, but one of the most common is a ball-and-socket combination. Contact between the bearing surfaces can result in high frictional torque, which can then result in wear and implant loosening. This study was designed to determine the effects of ball radius on friction. Generic models of metal-on-metal TDA were manufactured with ball radii of 10, 12, 14 and 16 mm, with a radial clearance of 0.015 mm. A simulator was used to test each sample in flexion-extension, lateral bending and axial rotation at frequencies of 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.25, 1.5, 1.75 and 2 Hz under loads of 50, 600, 1200 and 2000 N, in new born calf serum. Frictional torque was measured and Stribeck curves were plotted to illustrate the lubrication regime in each case. It was observed that implants with a smaller ball radius showed lower friction and showed boundary and mixed lubrication regimes, whereas implants with larger ball radius showed boundary lubrication only. This study suggests designing metal-on-metal TDAs with ball radius of 10 or 12 mm, in order to reduce wear and implant loosening.