Potential role of interleukin 4 and 12 as adjuvants to tegumental antigen in a vaccination model for murine Schistosomiasis mansoni

Vaccine strategies represent an essential component for the future control of schistosomiasis. A variety of vaccines from different Schistosoma stages and different adjuvants have been identified to induce a level of host protective immune response as a trial to decrease morbidity. This work aimed to evaluate IL4 and IL12 as adjuvant for Schistosoma mansoni tegumental antigens [TA] vaccines prior to challenge of infection by S. mansoni. Sodium dodecyl sulfate [SDS] was selected for extraction of tegumental proteins. Ten groups of BALB/c mice [7 mice in each group] were classified into 4 control groups G1: non infected non vaccinated; G2: infected only; G3: given IL4 and G4: given IL12. The other 6 groups included G5: vaccinated by TA in a dose of 40 ug; G6: vaccinated by TA in a dose of 55 ug; G7: vaccinated by TA dose 40 ug and 100 ug of IL4; G8: vaccinated by TA dose 55 ug and 100 ug of IL4; G9: vaccinated by TA dose 40 ug and 100 ug of IL12 and G10: vaccinated by TA dose 55 ug and 100 ug of IL12. Booster doses were given for all groups after 2 and 4 weeks. Two weeks after the last booster dose mice in all tested groups were infected by S. mansoni cercariae [100 cercariae/mouse] via tail immersion technique. Seven weeks post infection [PI], mice were sacrificed and parasitological parameters [worm burdens, liver and stool egg counts] were studied to evaluate the impact of this vaccination model. Histopathological studies by Haematoxylin and Eosin [HE] and Feulgen stains were also performed. The use of IL12 as an adjuvant to TA revealed a significant reduction in worm burden, liver egg count and decreased ova count in stools as compared to their corresponding controls. In addition, histopathological examination of liver sections in the tested groups given IL12 showed decrease in the size and number of granuloma with decrease of liver cell apoptosis. On the other hand, both parasitological and histopathological results of the tested groups given to IL4 as an adjuvant to TA were contradictory. IL 12 potentiated the protective effect of S. mansoni tegumental antigen vaccine and posed as a useful adjuvant, while IL4 was less effective. TA is an efficient model for future studies in molecular identification of novel candidate tegumental proteins

Prevalence of echinococcosis in street dogs in tripole district, Libya

Cystic echinococcosis due to E. granulosus is a serious public health and livestock economy problem in Libya. Kato thick smear examination of 50 street dogs stools showed that they had Echinococcus granulosus [58%], Taenia spp. [14%], Diplydium caninum [16%], Toxocara canis [121%] and 20% were parasite-free. The stool examination using Kato thick smear was more sensitive and more specific that the indirect haemaggltination test. The results were discussed with general review of the disease in Libya

Correlation of ELISA copro-antigen and oocysts count to the severity of cryptosporidiosis parvum in children

A total of one thousand and fifty [1050] young children from Mansoura Pediatric Hospital, July 2005 to July 2006 were examined for cryptosporidiosis. Detailed history was taken from each participant, stool examination by direct smear, Formalin-ether sedimentation, Sheather's floatation, modified Ziehl-Nelseen [MZN] stain, Cryptospordium oocysts count, coproantigen detection by ELISA. Other infections were excluded. Out of 1050 children examined, cryptosporidial oocysts were detected in 90 cases by modified Zeihl Nelseen [MZN] stain, and coproantigen ELISA added another 10 cases. There was a significant difference between age group [1-2 years], rural locality, nutrition status, and diarrhea regarding Cryptosporidium infection. There was highly significant difference in malnourished children regarding Cryptosporidium oocysts and ELISA-OD. There is a significant positive correlation between oocysts count, ELISA-OD and malnutrition. Only diarrhea had a highly significant difference in relation to other symptoms in both mean oocysts count and ELISA-OD. There was highly significant positive correlation between symptoms, oocysts count and ELISA-OD

New trends in diagnosis and treatment of chronic intestinal strongyloidiasis stercoralis in Egyptian patients

Strongyloidiasis, caused by strongyloides stercoralis, is diagnosis considered as a challenge to clinician and laboratory technician. Because the autoinfective larvae are difficult to eradicate one regimen dose may be insufficient and retreatment of patients on two occasions, at 1 and 2 months after the initial treatment dose was recommended. This retreatment regimen has yet to be proven in clinical trials. This study was performed on 24 patients who completed the study and having Strongyloides larvae in their stool obtained from Mansoura University Hospitals. Each stool sample was examined by direct saline smear, the formalinether sedimentation technique and agar plate culture patients were treated Mirazid double course for a month to be followed up by stool examination by traditional method and plate culture for three consecutive months. In this study five cases out of 24 were asymptomatic [20.8%]. Symptoms include abdominal manifestations as and vomiting [16.7%], epigastric pain and nausea [12.5], generalized abdominal pain [12.5%], chronic diarrhea [16.7%], irregular bowel habit [8.3%], and urticaria with abdominal pain [4.2%], Agar plate culture gave 100% positivity, even in cases were negative by coprological either direct smear and/or sediment tation technique. All cases were cured by Mirazid given for one month except there resistant cases. Only one cases responded to repeated course of Mirazid, while the other two cases still had larvae in their stool by agar culure plate. On combined therapy of both Mirazid and Mebendazole, larvae could be eliminated from their stool as approved by agar plate culture.

Intestinal parasites in Dakahlia Governorate with different techniques in diagnosing protozoa

A total of 318 patients attending Mansoura University Hos-pitals' Clinics, were subjected to stool examination by direct wet smear, formol ether concentration, original formol-tween con-centration, modified formol-tween concentration, modified sheather's sugar floatation, potassium hydroxide concentration and Gomori's Tirchrome stain, and modified Kinyoun's acid-fast-sta-in and Ryan's Tirchrome blue stain for Microsporidia. The inte-stinal helminthes in a descending order of abundance were: S. mansoni [5.3%], Fasciola sp. [4.8%], H heterophyes [4.2%], Hymenolepis nana [3.9%], trichostrongylus sp. [2.6%], A. lum-bricoides [1.8%], strongyloides stercoralis [1.5%], H. diminuta [1.4%], Taenia saginata [1.1%], E. vermicularis [by smear; 1.1%], T. trichura [0.7%] and lastly A. duodenale [0.1%]. The inte-stinal protozoa in a descending order of abundance were Blasto-cystis hominis [22.4%], Giaradia lamblia [19.6], Entamoeba histolytical E. dispar [19%], Iodamoeba butschlii [16%], Crypto-sporidium parvum [14.3%], E. coli [9.7%], isospora hominis [7.7%], Endolimax nana [6.9%], E. hartmani [5.9%], Dien-tamoeba fragilis [5.1], chilomastix mesnili [5.1%], tricho monas hominis [4.2%], Cyclospora cayetanensis [4.2%], Mic-rosporidia spores [3.2%], Enteromonas hominis [1.9%] and Em-badomonas intestinalis [1.3%]. The results were discussed.

Surgical management of ejaculatory duct obstruction

Objective: The aim of this work is to evaluate the efficiency of transurethral resection [unroofing] of the obstructed ejaculatory ducts [TURED] as a treatment alternative for cases of obstructive ductal azoo-/ oligozoospermia

Patients and Methods: Thirty-two patients, aged 26 to 45 [mean age 34 years] with varying degrees of ejaculatory duct obstruction [EDO] were selected from a large pool of infertile patients with low semen volume presenting to the outpatient clinic of the Andrology Department of Kasr el Aini Hospital, Cairo, Egypt. The patients [24 with complete and 8 with partial EDO] were then transferred to the Urology Department of the same hospital for surgical treatment performed by one surgeon. The treated patients were sent back to the Andrology Department for follow-up lasting 6 to 30 months [mean 18 months]. Follow-up included history taking, physical examination and repeated semen analysis

Results: There was a statistically significant improvement in all "mean" semen parame-ters following TURED. Furthermore, 42% of the azoospermic [bilateral complete EDO] and 63% of the oligozoospermic patients [partial EDO] showed improvement in their semen parameters after TURED yielding an overall improvement rate of 47% among treated patients. Pregnancy was achieved in about 17% of the azoospermic and in 25% of the oligozoospermic patients. The overall pregnancy rate was 19%. Prolonged hematuria was the only complication, encountered in only 2 patients, and was managed conservatively

Conclusion: TURED is an effective line of treatment for cases of EDO. Used judiciously, this technique can yield satisfactory results with limited morbidity in this challenging patient population. The better response of partial EDO as compared to TURED warrants further studies involving a larger number of patients

number needed to treat and time to relinquish oxytocin. A randomized clinical trail

To evaluate the use of oral misoprostol for cervical ripening and labor induction in term pregnancy with intact and ruptured membranes, we selected two hundred primigravidae at term admitted to El Shatby maternity hospital fulfilling our selection criteria. All subjects were randomly assigned to receive either 100ug misoprostol orally that was repeated every 4 hours till adequate contraction pattern occured or to receive 2 mIU/minute of oxytocin that was increased at 30 minutes interval till adequate contraction pattern was achieved. The mean induction-delivery time was significantly shorter in the misoprostol group, [t=12.36, 4.69 and 6.067 for all women, women with intact membranes and women with premature rupture of membranes respectively]. The percentage of normal vaginal delivery was significantly higher in the misoprostol group, [X2 =10.6, 2.915 and 10.0 respectively]. The duration of the 3rd stage was significantly shorter for the misoprostol group, [t = 4.26, 2.019 and 0.928 respectively]. There was no significant difference between the two studied groups as regards abnormal fetal heart rate, the occurrence of hypertonus, the percentage of retained placenta and the occurrence of post-partum hemorrhage. Apgar score and neonatal admition to neonatal intensive care unit were not significantly different between the two studied groups. Oral misoprostol is superior over oxytocin in labor acceleration in both women with intact or rupture membranes

Unintended pregnancy with different outcomes among women attending El-Shatby Maternity Hospital in Alexandria

Unintended pregnancies are those conceived without desire. They may be unwanted or mistimed, yet wanted. Unintended births are of major public health concern, they have serious health, social and economic consequences. - To estimate the prevalence rate of unintended pregnancy among pregnant women attending El- Shatby Maternity Hospital in Alexandria. - To reveal some characteristics of women with unintended pregnancy. - To examine the relation between pregnancy intendedness and risk of adverse pregnancy outcome. A descriptive cross-sectional epidemiological approach was adopted. The target population was all pregnant women attending El- Shatby Maternity University Hospital in Alexandria for either abortion or delivery. The field work was carried out between February 1998 to August 1998. An interview questionnaire was used for collection of data. The results revealed that the prevalence rate of unintended pregnancy among the studied women was 68.98% [42.13% was for mistimed and 26.87% was for unwanted pregnancies]. The percent of unintended pregnancy increased significantly with age from 55.26% among the youngest women [15- < 25 years] to reach 87.88% among those aged 40- 49 years. Moreover, it also increased with the number of family surviving children. No statistical significant differences were observed between women with either intended or unintended pregnancies as regard rural- urban residence, educational level and work status. Regarding the contraceptive use prior to the index pregnancy, all the users didn't intend to become pregnant. On the other hand, it was revealed that more than one third of non contraceptive users [34.31%] didn't intend to become pregnant. Women with unintended pregnancies were significantly less likely to seek antenatal care and to breast feed their babies. When the risk of abnormal pregnancy outcome was quantified, it was observed that unintended pregnancy was a risk for abortion either spontaneous or induced, where OR = 1.375 and 8.25 respectively. The prevalence rate of unintended pregnancy was 68.98%. Unintended pregnancy was associated with increasing both the age of mothers and the number of their live births. Unintendedness of pregnancy was associated with increased risk of abortion as an adverse pregnancy outcome

Size of circulating immune complexes in fascioliasis

For assessing the role of the size of circulating immune complexes [CIC] in human fascioliasis, Clq-binding and immunoglobulin-specific immune complexes were determined in 33 subjects [23 patients with fascioliasis and 10 healthy controls]. Beside the routine clinical and laboratory workup, Clq, IgA, IgG, and IgM containing CIC were determined by the use of radial immunodiffusion technique after precipitating the immune complexes with polyethylene glycol [Medic's assay]. Our results showed that all types of CIC were significantly elevated in human fascioliasis as compared to the control. Further analysis demonstrated the presence of a significant positive correlation between IgG-CIC and IgM-CIC [r = 0.680] with a relatively higher level of IgM-CIC. Comparison between asymptomatic and symptomatic cases revealed a higher concentration of IgM-CIC in symptomatic patients,yet, it was not significant. Moreover, a non significant rise of IgG-CIC and IgM-CIC were observed in patients with hepatomegaly and splenomegaly than those without. Besides, no significant correlation was obtained on comparing CIC with liver function tests, eosinophil count, and serological titer of fascioliasis. In conclusion, Clq and imnumoglobulin-specific immune complexes were higher in human fascioliasis than control. The highest concentration was noticed with IgG and IgM-CIC [relatively small- sized CIC] that might be related to disease activity, meanwhile,the lower concentration of Clq-CIC and IgA-CIC might be attributed to their bigger size with consequent more rapid clearance from circulation

Chlamydial infection and sperm antibodies

There is considerable controversy regarding the presence or absence of a relation between chlamydial infection and formation of the sperm antibodies. The aim of this work was to assess the possible correlations between chlamydial antibodies and sperm antibodies. 80 infertile couples who had sperm antibodies were the subjects of the present study. 20 fertile couples proven to be free from sperm antibodies served as control. Sperm antibody was tested by passive hemoagglutination and cytotoxicity assays. From 43 infertile wives with female isoimmunity to sperm 8 [18.6%] had chlamydial antibodies, of 37 wives without female isoimmunity, 7 wives [18.9%] had chlamydial antibodies, of 20 fertile wives free from sperm antibodies, 3 [15.0%] had chlamydial antibodies. From the 62 husbands with male autoimmunity to sperm, 12 [19.4%] had chlamydial antibodies and from 18 infertile husbands without male autoimmunity to sperm 4 husbands [22.2%] had chlamydial antibodies. Out of 20 fertile husbands without sperm antibodies, 3 [15%] had chlamydial antibodies. Chlamydial infection does not correlate with formation of sperm antibodies. Cytotoxic and passive hemagglutination sperm specific assays do not detect chlamydial antibodies

Prurigo nodularis ultrastructural study of the epidermal changes

Two female patients with prurigo nodularis [PN] and one healthy control were studied ultrastructurally to see the epidermal changes. These changes included marked thickening of hemidesmosome, desmosomes and tonofilaments. The cytoplasmic membranes of keratinocytes were degenerated and the intercellular spaces were widened. The enhanced basal cell metabolism induced by the neuropeptides was the possible explanation for these changes