molecular and microscopically studies of calicophoron microbothrium [paramphistomatidae]

Background: Paramphistomiasis is a parasitic disease of livestock animals and humans, which causes heavy economic black lashes especially in countries with advanced animal industry

Aim of Study: the current study aimed to add more information about Calicophoron microbothrium [C. microbothrium] and clarify its biological role and how its miracidia infecte the molluscan intermediate host. In addition, a brief description to Bullins truncates; the morphological, structural and chronological characteristics of the various intermolluscan stages of the parasite are studied in detail. Moreover, the present work showed the effective role of physical parameters [light, temperature, salinity and gas-phase [aerobic versus anaerobic]] on egg development and hatching and the biological activities of cercaria and metacercaria. Beside these routine techniques, PCR also was used as more advanced and accurate diagnostic technique based on the detection of nucleic acid. Where, 34 larvae and adult worms of Calicophoron microbothrium were isolated from naturally infected buffaloes. The results of the present study will facilitate the identification of this despise secular group of digeneans although its bad effect not only affect animal industry but also human health. Furthermore, the current research clears the weak points in its life cycle to aperient settling this parasite

In vitro Antimicrobial Activity of Five Egyptian Plant Species.

In this study, five Egyptian species were tested for their In vitro antimicrobial activities. The antimicrobial screening was carried out via disc diffusion method toward four strains of the clinical antibiotic resistant pathogens including Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger. Among the methanolic extracts screened, Azadirachta indica, Tectona grandis and Ficus sycomorus showed a broad antimicrobial spectrum against three strains with inhibition zones between 13-27 mm followed by Gmelina arborea and Ficus microcarpa with inhibition zones between 11-17 mm, all plants showed no activity against Aspergillus niger except Gmelina arborea with inhibition zones 12 mm. Penicillin G was used as positive control at concentration of 100 μg/disc with inhibition zones (Staphylococcus aureus 28mm, Escherichia coli 22mm, Candida albicans 25mm and Aspergillus niger 0mm). Owing to the high activity of the methanolic extracts, these extracts were defatted via petroleum ether then were fractionated via; chloroform, ethyl acetate and n-butanol. The n-butanol of Azadirachta indica was the most active against Candida albicans (25 mm), ethyl acetate of Ficus sycomorus against Staphylococcus aureus (18 mm), n-butanol of Gmelina arborea against Staphylococcus aureus (17 mm) and n-butanol of Ficus microcarpa against Staphylococcus aureus (15 mm). These results suggest that the tested plants may be effective potential sources of natural antimicrobials, and are potent inhibitors of antibiotic resistant pathogens.

Simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of the three structural isomers of cresol using multivariate regression methods

The simultaneous determination of the structural isomers of cresol was carried out using UV spectrophotometry by applying the principle component regression [PCR] and partial least squares [PLS] regression methods. Different concentration levels of cresol isomers were determined in their mixtures by construction of a partial factorial calibration design at four levels. Both multivariate calibration models were constructed using the correlation between the concentration and absorbance data matrices in the spectral region 283-305nm. The methods were validated by analyzing an independent validation set solutions of the same compounds. The methods were found to be accurate and precise as indicated by the mean% recovery [99.96-100.41%] and% relative standard deviation [0.15-0.72%], respectively. The methods were applied to the determination of cresol isomers in a topical veterinary preparation. The methods were proved to be applicable to the determination of the three cresol isomers without prior separation procedures, despite of the extensive spectral overlap of such compounds

Role of magnetic resonance venography in evaluation of cerebral veins and sinuses occlusion

Cerebral venous occlusion [CVO] means intraluminal obstruction by cerebral venous thrombosis [CVT] or external compression. The differential diagnosis is broad including stroke, brain capillary telangiectasia, contusion, hypertensive hemorrhage, metastases and venous vascular malformations. MRI in conjunction with MRV is considered the modality of choice in diagnosis of CVO. To assess the role of magnetic resonance venography in the evaluation of cerebral veins and sinuses occlusion. The study was conducted on 15 patients with cerebral venous occlusion and subjected to MRI and MRV. The study included 13 patients with cerebral venous occlusion due to thrombosis and two patients with occlusion by tumors [meningioma]. MRI in conjunction with MRV is considered an accurate, safe, non-invasive, nonionizing diagnostic modality in assessing CVO. It can assess parenchymal lesions and detect intraluminal small thrombi and its extension

Personal hygiene practices and safety measures among governmental hospitals' staff in Beni-Swief governorate

Personal hygiene is one of the most effective ways to protect ourselves and others from illness. Safety measures also include application of standard precautions, education and training for protection of health care workers. The aim of this study was to assess personal hygiene practices and safety measures of health care workers [HCWs] in all governmental, teaching, and non-teaching, Hospitals in Beni-Sweif Governorate. The study was conducted in Beni-Sweif University Hospital, Insurance I hospital, and Ministry of Health and Population Hospital in Beni Sweif Governorate using a descriptive design. It included all nurses [n=421], physicians [n=132], and housekeeping personnel [n=73]. Data collection tools were a structured interview questionnaire form and an observation checklist. The results revealed that, most nurses were females [91.0%], compared to 22.7% of the doctors. More than half of the doctors [53.0%] received the three full doses of HBV, compared 10 41.8% of the nurses [p-0.024]. Overall, 63.2% of the nurses had adequate practice in personal safety compared to 81.1% of the doctors [p<0.001]. The University Hospital nurses had the highest performance in personal safety [79.5%], while the Insurance Hospital had the lowest [42.5%], [p=0.001]. The workers had highest performance with gloving and personal hygiene, and lowest in personal protection measures. The study recommended implementation of a healthcare workers' vaccination program which must be mandatory with provision of all needed equipment and supplies for infection control. Continuing and in-service training programs are needed to improve skills of personal hygiene and safety measures especially for nurses. Workers need training in the use of personal protective equipment, which should be made available to them

Impact of educational and training program about chest physiotherapy for nurses working in emergency, intermediate and intensive care units at Assiut university children hospital

Chest physiotherapy plays an important role in management of several acute or chronic respiratory disorders of childhood [Ashwill and Droske, 2002]. So, the aim of this study is to design, implement and evaluate an educational and training program for nurses working in Emergency Unit, Intermediate and Intensive Care Units at Assiut University Children Hospital about chest physiotherapy. The methods of data collection were a structured interview questionnaire sheet and observational checklists. The present study revealed that total mean scores of nurses' knowledge and practice throughout intervention program phases were improved in the three studied units from a pre- program level of [3.18 +/- 3.74, 7.40 +/- 1.77, 7.44 +/- 2.28, respectively] for knowledge and [2.09 +/- 2.9, 2.33 +/- 3.48, and 2.72 +/- 2.11, respectively] for practice to an immediate post test of [19.18 +/- 3.66, 21.40 +/- 2.06, 20.39 +/- 2.72, respectively] for knowledge and [18.27 +/- 2.5, 21.13 +/- 1.99, 19.33 +/- 2.77, respectively] for practice. This improvement was statistically significant [P- value < 0.001]. However, the mean scores of total knowledge and practice have declined in the follow up phase [after 3 months], it is still statistically significant higher than the pre-program level. The study concluded that implementation of the program was associated with significant improvements of nurses' knowledge and practice. More experienced and aged nurses had better knowledge. The present study recommended that the developed program should be applied and repeated again every 2-3 months in the same study setting and organized according to the needs of nurses, with subsequent continuing evaluation to the progress and outcome of these programs. Pediatric nurses should update their knowledge and performances through continued nursing education and training and frequently attending seminars and conferences based on their needs assessment

Short term effect of cardiac resynchronization therapy on functional recovery of patients with congestive heart failure

We investigated the impact of six month cardiac resynchronization therapy [CRT] on echocardiographic and clinical variables in congestive heart failure patients [CHF]. Cardiac resynchronization reduces symptoms and improves left ventricular function in many patients with heart failure due to left ventricular systolic dysfunction and cardiac dyssynchronyl. We evaluated its short term effects on reverse remodeling of the left ventricle and on the patient symptoms. The evaluated group contains seven patients [1 woman and 6 men]. The average age was 62.43 +/- 21.9 years. All the patients had CHF with prolonged QRS. The etiology was ischemic in 5 and idiopathic in 2. All patients underwent physical examination and six minutes hall walk test. Echocardiography was done to evaluate basic cardiac function, left ventricular ejection fraction [LVEF, M-mode and Simpson], left ventricular end diastolic diameter [LVEDD], left ventricular end systolic diameter [LVESD], MR severity and dysynchrony by Doppler and tissue Doppler. Results were compared before implantation and six weeks and six month after CRT implantation. LVEDD and LVESD were reduced after six months, LVEDD was reduced from 75.9 +/- 7.4 to 71.0 +/- 4.1 mm +/- SD [p value 0.04] and LVESD was reduced from 62.4 +/- 8.5 to 59.3 +/- 7.0 Rvalue 0.15]. Ejection fraction was significantly increased after 6 weeks from 25 +/- 7.1% to 31 +/- 4.5%, Rvalue 0.03].The average grade of mitral regurgitation has increased from 1.67 +/- 0.82 at baseline to 1.75 +/- 0.88 at 6 month follow up, [p value 0.66] by semi-quantitative analysis. Although the study was performed on a small number of patients, yet we are convinced that Cardiac resynchronization therapy had favorable hemodynamic and clinical results in our heart failure patients

Circulating adrenomedullin [AM] in children with congenital cyanotic heart disease

This study included 16 children [11 males and 5 females] with congenital cyanotic heart disease without pulmonary hypertension [PH] or heart failure [HF] with age ranged from 2 to 7 years [group 1] and 16 children [9 males and 7 females] with atrioventricular re-entrant tachycardia [AVRT] with age ranged from 4 to 9 years as a non-cyanotic controls [group 2]. All children were subjected to clinical examination, complete blood count [CBC], serum creatinine, arterial oxygen saturation, X-ray chest, electrocardiogram [ECG], echocardiogram, cardiac catheterization and plasma levels of AM in samples of pulmonary artery blood [PAB], pulmonary venous blood [PVB] and femoral vein blood [FVB]. The results of this study revealed that the plasma levels of AM at the three sites of sampling were significantly higher in group 1 than that in group 2, and also showed that in group 1 there was a significantly higher plasma level of AM in PAB than its levels in PVB and FVB, but no significant difference between its level in FVB and that in PVB

Nosocomial infection control program in Al-Noor Specialist Hospital, Makkah Al Mukarama, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

This study included 60 nurses working in ICU in Al-Noor Specialized Hospital [KSA] to detect the impact of training program on their knowledge and performance towards nosocomial infection control techniques. In addition, sources and types of microorganisms causing infection were studied. A questionnaire and a checklist were used before and after the program. Moreover, a bacteriological examination of nasal and nail swabs from nurses as well as patients wounds was done before and after the program. Moreover, wet swabs were taken from instruments, antiseptic solutions, dressing cart and dressing gauze to detect its impact in wound infection. The results revealed a significant difference between pre and post test as regards nurse's knowledge and performance

Iridectomy for the treatment of acute iritis [preliminary report]

Four cases suffering from acute iritis, post influenzal were treated surgically by iridectomy. All cases were successful, with no recurrence ever since. This new line of treatment should be tried by every ophthalmic surgeon for its simplicity and marked valuable resufts of vision saving, probably through the break down of the axon reflex which is the main cause for recurrence, chronicity and complications