ABSTRACT
Background: Cancer testis antigens (CTA) are normally expressed in immune privileged tissues such as the testis. They are considered tumor-associated antigens because they are specifically expressed in different cancers. Their distinct nature rendered them appealing targets for cancer diagnosis, prognosis. and immunotherapy. We aimed to identify the association of two CTA genes with colon cancer (CC) in a cohort of Egyptian patients. Methods: We measured the relative gene expression levels of two CTAs: SPAG9 and FBXO39 in colonic tumor tissue and adjacent normal-appearing mucosa in 50 newly diagnosed colon cancer patients by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Gene expression was also studied in relation to demographic and pathological criteria. Results: SPAG9 and FBXO39 were overexpressed in 22% and 40% of cases, respectively. Overexpression of both genes was evident in 14% of cases. We report the significant expression of FBXO39 (P < 0.01) in tumor tissue compared to normal tissue. SPAG9 was significantly increased in large sized tumors compared to smaller sized tumors. Otherwise, there was no significant association between gene expression and the evaluated clinicopathological features (P > 0.05). Conclusions: SPAG9 and FBXO39 are possible CC diagnostic biomarkers. Further studies are warranted to validate our findings.
ABSTRACT
Aims@#This study was aimed to screen and isolate soil and endophytic fungi with the ability to biosynthesize stable silver nanoparticles (SNPs) with antimicrobial and antiproliferative activities.@*Methodology and results@#A total of 60 fungal isolates isolated from soil and plant samples were screened for their ability to biosynthesize SNPs. Among which, 21 isolates have supported the biosynthesis of SNPs. Furthermore, the endophytic isolate PRR2.1 synthesized highly thermostable SNPs with long shelf life. The PRR2.1 isolate was identified as Albifimbria verrucaria by morphological and molecular means. The synthesis of SNPs was initially monitored by UV-Vis spectroscopy. Further characterization by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and dynamic light scattering revealed well-dispersed spherical crystalline in nature SNPs with a mean size of 14 nm and zeta potential of –24.47 mV. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showed the presence of biomolecules adsorbed on the surface of biosynthesized SNPs responsible for their synthesis and stability. The mycosynthesized SNPs exhibited stronger antifungal activity against pathogenic strains of Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, A. fumigatus and Candida albicans with respect to its antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus and Klebsiella pneumoniae compared to standard antifungal itraconazole and antibiotic cefadroxil with mostly consistent minimum inhibitory concentration of 5.31 μg/mL. The biosynthesized SNPs demonstrated dose-dependent in vitro antiproliferative activity against cancerous HeLa cell line with IC50 value of 2.52 μg/mL and less cytotoxic activity against WI-38 (normal human lung fibroblasts) cell line with CC50 value of 10.2 μg/mL.@*Conclusion, significance and impact of study@#These results show the potential of endophytic fungi biosynthesized SNPs as possible biofriendly, safe and efficient antimicrobial agents with promising antiproliferative activity and low cytotoxicity, which can be furtherly implemented in various biomedical and biotechnological applications.
Subject(s)
Silver , Nanoparticles , Soil Microbiology , Endophytes , Anti-Infective AgentsABSTRACT
Aims@#Chromium salt possesses unique characteristics that render it useful in numerous applications in several industrial processes, especially tanning of animal hides which act as a major source of hexavalent chromium toxicity in environment. This study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of loofah immobilized Cladosporium cladosporioides CEL14 in remediate tannery wastewater which contains hexavalent chromium. @*Methodology and results@#A total of 18 fungal species were isolated from three different sites of tannery wastewater in Egypt, of which C. cladosporioides CEL14 was the most capable species of chromate remediation with 81% after 7 days of incubation as free cells. The experiments were conducted in minimum salt medium supplemented with 200 ppm chromate in the form of potassium dichromate. Different process parameters studies demonstrated that chromate was completely removed at 30 °C, pH 6, 0.1% malt extract and 0.2% glucose after 7 days of incubation with 20% inoculum size. After that, C. cladosporioides was immobilized on a natural support material (loofah). The removal ability of chromate was enhanced through permanent viable immobilization on loofah pieces, which showing complete removal of chromate within 3 days. The toxicity assessment of treated tannery effluents revealed that 74% of Brassica napus seeds were germinated upon exposure to the treated effluent.@*Conclusion, significance and impact of study@#This study revealed that C. cladosporioides CEL14 isolate has high potential as bioremediating agent against toxic hexavalent chromium. The removal ability of toxic chromate was enhanced through permanent viable immobilization on loofah pieces. This technology is simple, cost effective, efficient and environmentally friendly. The loofah immobilized with C. cladosporioides CEL14 has potential to be applied in wastewater treatment of small-scale tanneries after onsite trials.
Subject(s)
Luffa , Cladosporium , Chromium , WastewaterABSTRACT
The Objective was to assess the dental caries experience and oral health related behaviour among Joint Special Operations personnel in Amman- Jordan. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted to collect sociodemographic data, oral hygiene habits, related behaviour and their past utilization of dental services among Joint Special Operations personnel in Amman- Jordan. A total of 349 subjects aged between 18- 50 years [mean=30.4] were examined in this study. All subjects who participated in this study were military men. The prevalence of dental caries was high [83.1%] while the DMFT ranged from 0 to 32 [mean 8.69; SD +/- 5.49]. 65.5% of the participants claimed that they brushed their teeth once a day and 60% twice daily. Only 22. 9% [n= 80] of the participants were regular attendees, 59.3% of the participants were smokers. 71.4% of participants had calculus at age of 35-39 years, while 52.3% calculus was seen in 25-29 years old. Bleeding on probing was observed in 21-24 years old [51.1%] as well as among 18-20 years old [44.2%]. However, there was statistically a significant difference between dental caries and periodontal indexes as 49% had dental caries and. score 2 periodontal indexes, while 25.4% were caries free and showed normal periodontal condition, however, participant who had score 3 periodontal index's 10.3% got caries. The present study found that military personnel had a relatively high rate of dental caries are oral hygiene and oral health was poor. Proper diagnosis and treatment should be done before deployment as well as through preventive care measures
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Health Behavior , Dental Caries , Military Hygiene , Military Personnel , Surveys and Questionnaires , Cross-Sectional Studies , Oral HygieneABSTRACT
The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of the medical status of the mother and the child during the period of first molar- incisor formation and development of hypomineralisation of these teeth. The mothers of all patients who attended the pediatric dentistry department of Prince Hashim bin Al Hussein Hospital from April 2008 to January 2009 and who were diagnosed to have molar- incisor hypomineralisation [MIH] were asked to fill a questionnaire about the medical status of themselves or that of their children postnatal. The sample consists of50 mothers and their 50 children, 32 females and 18 males between the ages of 7 and 13 years. The questionnaire composed of questions about prenatal, perinataly and postnatal illness. 18 [36%] of the mothers were suffering from medical problems prenatal and 6 [12%] had perinatal illness, 30 [60%] children have been subjected to disease postnatal, and 26 [52%] of the mothers and 20 [40%] of the children did not suffer from any medical problem. Several etiological factors can cause enamel defects and their occurrence may be related to prenatal or postnatal illnesses. It was found that there was a relationship between children with repeated illnesses in the first year of their life and prevalence of hypomineralisation defects on molars and incisors
ABSTRACT
Laboratory bioassays were carried out for evaluating the efficacy of certain plant materials including Nicotine, Thymol, Menthol, Caffeine and Camphor as molluscicides against the brown garden snail, Eobania vermiculata using the topical application method. The obtained results proved that Nicotine and Thymol were the most promising from the molluscicidal point of view with LD [50]204.02 and 551.20 micro g/snail for the two materials, respectively. The effects of sublethal doses [LD[25] and LD[50]] of the most potent materials, Thymol and Nicotine, on the oxygen consumption of E. vermiculata snails after 1, 7 and 15 days post treatment were evaluated. Results indicated that only snails treated with LD [50] Thymol showed significant decrease in their oxygen uptake; while all the other treatments stimulated significant increase in the oxygen consumption along the three periods of estimation. This stimulation was most pronounced with the low sublethal doses of the both examined botanical molluscicides. The succession of time post exposure did not enable the treated snails to eliminate the adverse effects of the applied materials. Depending on the results of the current investigation, we can conclude that the both examined botanical materials, Thymol and Nicotine, are effective in killing the agricultural pest E. vermiculata but further studies are needed to evaluate the efficacy of these materials as safe and economic molluscicides in the field