Screening for PPD using HPLC- dad in fatal cases with hair dye in upper Egypt

Para-phenylenediamine [PPD] is used alone or in combination with Henna as hair dye or skin decoration. The present study was conducted on 84 fatal cases[27 males and 57 females] who used hair dye using biological samples [urine and blood] referred to Assiut Forensic Chemistry Laboratory of Medico-legal Department, Assiut, from January 2007 to December 2012 to confirm PPD intoxication and to understand the magnitude and pattern of accidental suicidal and homicidal poisoning by PPD among males and females in Upper Egypt. During this period, the cases were reported. The suicidal homicidal and accidental cases were 77[91.7%], 6[7.1%] and I [1.2%], respectively. The suicidal poisoning of females was higher 55 cases [71.4%] than of males 22 [28.6%]. Most of the PPD deaths were between the third and fourth decades of life. PPD was detected by High Performance Liquid Chromatography - Photo Diode Array detector Agilent technologies 1200 Series [USA] [HPLC-DAD] in blood and urine samples. The present study concluded an the advice of "public education and strict control over the sale and distribution of PPD should be done to reduce poisoning by this agent

Effects of some antidiabetic medicinal plants on pancreas and liver of diabetic albino rats

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease which affects large number of population all over the world. More than 400 traditional medicinal plants have been recorded for helping in controlling such disease. This study investigated effects of some plants used in Saudi Arabia and some other Arab countries as antidiabetic agents. One hundred fifty adult male Albino rats were divided into six experimental groups each consist of twenty five rats. The first group was considered as a control group. The rest of groups were affected by induction of experimental diabetes by subcutaneous injection of Alloxan. The second group consisted of diabetic rats without any treatment. The third group was treated by the aqueous extract of mixture contains Foenugreek, Nigella and Termis seeds. The fourth group was treated with the aqueous extract of Nigella sativa seeds, while the fifth group was treated with the aqueous extract of Foenugreek seeds. The sixth one was treated with the aqueous extract of Termis seeds with the administered dose of the plant extracts [100 mg/kg body weight].After four weeks of treatment, different biochemical parameters were performed including estimation of blood sugar level and serum insulin level. Pancreatic and liver samples were obtained and processed for microscopic and quantitative evaluation after staining the prepared sections with both heamatoxylin and eosin as well as a special stain for demonstration of the different pancreatic cells in the Islet of Langerhans. The usage of the mixture or each plant alone corrected the glucose level and insulin level. Microscopically there was definite decrease in the number and diameter of beta pancreatic cells in the diabetic group, while the other pancreatic cells were not affected [alpha and delta cells]. The use of medicinal plants in the different groups of this study greatly improved such cellular changes and the level of blood sugar level was corrected. The present results showed that the activity of the mixture was the best when compared with Nigella, Foenugreek and Termis seeds. The water extract of the mixture is the most powerful in amelioration hyperglycemia and most of all damage effects of Alloxan on the liver and texture, hematological parameters, and lipid profile. So it is advised to use the plant mixture as an antidiabetic agent rather than the use of each plant separately. Repeating such study with the use of variable doses may be helpful in better evaluation for the required doses

Chemical constituents of gladiolus segetum Ker-Gawl

From the chloroform soluble fraction of the methanolic extract of the corms of Gladiolus segetum Ker-Gawl [Iridaceae], nine compounds were isolated and identified as follows: the lignans [+]-demethoxypinoresinol [1], [+]-pinoresinol [2] and [+]-pinoresinol monomethylether [3]; the neolignan [-]-dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol [4] and the anthraquinones deoxy-erythrolaccin [5], physcion [6] and laccaic acid D methylester [7] together with 6'-O-palmitoyl-3-O-beta -sitosterol glucoside [8] and beta -sitosterol-3-O-glucoside [9]. The structures of the isolated compounds were determined by physical and spectroscopic methods including NMR and MS spectral analysis. Compounds 1-4 and 6-9 are reported here for the first time from the genus Gladiolus while compound 5 was previously isolated from the same plant

Re-evaluation of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis status in North Sinai Governorate, Egypt

There are at least few endemic zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis [ZCL] in Sinai and Suez Canal governorates. A survey for new cases of human ZCL among outpatients with skin complaints revealed that 16 out of 100 examined were parasitologically positive for ZCL. But, no ZCL infection was found among 50 normal individuals. The typing of three human isolates proved to be Leishmania major Zymodeme London 70. Trapping and examination of the rodent reservoirs and sand-fly vector[s] were carried out