Assessment of the quality of water from some public coolers in Alexandria, Egypt

Drinking water from bottle-less coolers may pose some public health risks to consumers due to either chemical or microbiological contamination. This study was carried out aiming at assessing the quality of water dispensed from some public coolers in order to determine its compliance with the drinking water standards [Egyptian, EPA] and with the WHO guidelines. Twenty water coders were selected randomly from different districts. Water samples were collected thrice from these coolers and once from the mains supplying the coolers. Results of analysis of these samples revealed that 85% of water coolers were containing <0.5 mg/i free residual chlorine, S5% were containing lead higher than 0.01mg/I, and 55% were containing magnesium hardness higher than 150 mg/i. As for the biological contamination, 15% of the coolers were contaminated with Cryptosporidium parvum, 15% were containing total coliform group of bacteria, 5% gave positive thermotolerent coliform test and 5% gave positive Streptococcus fecalis test. The study concluded that such contamination might be from failureto thoroughly clean the coolers on a regular basis. Consequently, the study recommends proper installation of the cooler, a maintenance agreement with the coolerb supplier, testing cooler water a regular intervals by the Ministry Health represefltatives and-if possible-replacing these types of coolers with those with a water purification system

Using of telomerase enzyme in urine as a non invasive marker for cancer bladder detection

Urinary bladder cancer is one of the major health problem all over the world. Cystoscopy remains the gold standard for identifying bladder cancer but it is invasive and expensive, therefore, a simple, non invasive test for detecting bladder cancer would be helpful. Several biomarkers for bladder cancer have been used, but no single marker has been accurate and conclusive. The current study aimed to measure telomerase enzyme in urine as a useful non invasive marker for detection of bladder cancer. Forty eight patients [39 males and 9 females] were included, They are complaining of urinary symptoms and undergo cystoscopy with biopsy of bladder lesions and histopathological examination. They were divided into groups: Group I: 16 patients [11 males and 5 females] have benign urologic conditions. Group II: 32 patients [28 males and 4 females] have proven bladder cancer patients underwent transurethral resection of bladder tumor or cystoscopy with biopsy of bladder lesions. Also, 15 apparently healthy volunteers with matched age and sex with patients were served as a control group. All subjects were submitted to laboratory estimation of the following in urine: urinary creatinine, urine cytology, telomerase enzyme in urine by telomerase PCR and complete urine examination. The results of this study revealed that a highly significant increase in the frequency of cytolological positive cases for tumor cells in malignant group than each of benign group and healthy subjects, while no' significant difference was detected between benign group and healthy subjects. The frequency of telomerase in urine was significantly higher in malignant group than each of benign group and healthy subjects, while no significant difference was detected between benign group and healthy subjects. The telomerase activity has sensitivity of 90.6% for diagnosis of cancer bladder with 93.7% for specificity and PPV was 96.6%, NPV was 83.3% and diagnostic accuracy of 91.6%. While, urine cytology gives a sensitivity of 68.8%, specificity of 87.5%, PPV of 91.6%, NPV 58.3% and diagnostic accuracy of 75%. When combined tests were used the sensitivity raised to 96,8%, and specificity reached to 100%, PPV was 96.6%, NPV was 94.1% and diagnostic accuracy increased to 97.9%. the urinary assay of telomerase could be used as non invasive test to identify the bladder cancer patients and distinguish them from normal subjects and patients with benign tumor of urinary bladder. The low cost of this test may help to be implicated as non invasive screening of bladder cancer

Prediction of viraemia in Anti - HCV positive haemodialysed patients

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of hepatitis C virus [HCV] to establish a new reference alanine aminotransferase [ALT] value for hemodialyzed [HD] patients and to determine its role in predicting viremia in anti-HCV-positive HD patients. Four subject groups were studied: Group I, hepatitis-free healthy controls with normal kidney function [no = 100]; group II, hepatitis-free HD patients [no = 37]; group III, non-viremic anti-HCV positive HD patients [no = 33] and group IV, viremic anti-HCV positive HD patients [no = 85]. In addition, five viremic anti-HCV-negative HD patients were included. ALT used for calculation was the mean of the four times measured during the study for each patient. Anti-HCV antibodies were assayed by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA] [fourth generation] and PCR screening for HCV was performed twice during the year of the study. The results of the study showed that the mean ALT value of group II was significantly lower than in group I. No significant difference was found between groups II and III and the mean ALT value in group IV was highly significant than groups II and III. The upper limit for ALT in hepatitis-free HD patients was determined at 43 U/L. The sensitivity of the mean ALT value in the diagnosis of HCV viremia was 47%, the specificity was 97% and the positive predictive value was 97.6%

Estimation of IL - 6 levels in Chronic Renal failure patients and renal transplant recipients

The aim of the present study was to determine the influence of uremia, hemodialysis and kidney transplantation on the levels of IL-6 in plasma and to investigate its role in acute allograft rejection. The study comprised 160 individuals who were classified into four groups: The healthy controls [no = 22], chronic renal insufficiency [CRI] patients on conservative treatment [no = 46], the hemodialyzed patients [no = 46] and the transplant recipients [no = 46]. The transplant group was further subdivided into three subgroups: The stable graft [no = 28], the rejection [no = 15] and the primary non- functioning graft [no = 3] subgroups. IL-6 was determined by solid phase sandwich ELISA technique using biosource international human IL-6 kit. It was concluded that plasma IL-6 levels were highly elevated in CRI and hemodialyzed patients. After transplantation, its level was within the normal range for stable graft subgroup, but it raised during pre-rejection and reached its peak during rejection and started to decline slowly after anti-rejection therapy. So, the serial monitoring of IL-6 after transplantation was recommended for the prediction of acute rejection and a further investigation on a larger scale is necessary to clarify this point

Adjuvant chemotherapy in surgicallyresect able locally advanced colorectal carcinoma: fluoro-uracilbiomodulationby folinicacid versus interferon

Surgical curative resection of locally advanced colorectal cancer [stage B2 and C] is unfortunately followed by high risk of recurrent malignancies. Ultimate control requires effective adjuvant therapy. The aim of this study was to evaluate efficiency of two regimens of modulation of adjuvant 5 fluorouracil [5 FU] by folinic acid versus interferon after surgical resection of locally advanced colorectal carcinoma. 105 patients with histologically proven colorectal carcinoma [stage B2 and C only] were included in this study. Patients were subjected to surgical treatment with operative resection followed by randomization into 3 groups, each of 35 patients. Group A received 5 FU alone, group B received in addition calcium leucovarin [L V], while group C received interferon in addition to 5 FU. Patients were followed up for a median of three years. All groups were comparable as regard age, sex, histological type, stage and clinical presentation. Three years overall and disease- free survival were relatively higher in patients of group B and C, that received 5 FU modulators. Also recurrence rate was less in group B and C than in group A, but not reaching a significant level. The clinical stage of the disease was the most important prognostic factor followed by the histopathological differentiation of the tumour. Most of patients tolerated chemotherapy with transient mild to moderate degree toxicities. Hematological and gastro intestinal toxicities were comparable in the 3 groups in group C there was mild toxicities related to interferon