Association between estrogen receptor alpha and aryl hydrocarbon receptor gene polymorphisms in the prognosis of breast cancer in Egypt.

Breast cancer is the most malignant tumor among women in the world. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) might better predict breast cancer prognosis. PvuII (T/C substitution), XbaI (A/G substitution), and aryl hydrocarbon (AhR) (G/A substitution) were evaluated as possible genetic prognostic factors for breast cancer. The aim of the current study was to assess the relation between PvuII (rs2234693), XbaI (rs9340799), and aryl hydrocarbon receptor gene polymorphisms AhR (rs2066853) in breast cancer prognosis. This was a case-control study that included 120 breast cancer patients classified into two groups. The first group included 60 patients with good prognostic factors, and the second group included 60 patients with poor prognostic factors. Blood samples were taken from all study participants to perform the genotyping assay. We found that positive genotypes of PvuII, XbaI, and AhR polymorphisms were strongly associated with better prognostic factors for breast cancer patients, while negative genotypes of PvuII and XbaI were more and significantly prevalent in poor prognostic breast cancer patients. We conclude that PvuII T/C, XbaI G/A, and AhR G/A alleles may be prognostic for breast cancer progression.

Appraisal of surface-groundwater anthropogenic indicators and associated human health risk in El Sharqia Governorate, Egypt.

The aim of this study was to integrate hydrogeochemistry with a multivariate statistical approach to understand the various processes that control the evolution/contamination of water resources in El Sharqia Governorate, Egypt with a particular emphasis on direct/indirect risks to human health. To achieve this, a representative collection of 21 groundwater and 35 drainage samples was taken and examined for physical, chemical, and trace element measurements. Results indicated that in shallow groundwater and drainage water samples, the relative abundance of major cations is Na+ > Mg2+ > Ca2+ > K+, and for anions it is HCO3- > Cl- > SO42- (on a molar basis). Natural processes involving the dissolution/precipitation of some minerals and other processes including leaching of solid waste, overuse of agricultural fertilizers application, and high loads of discharged sewage water are responsible for the evolution of water resources in El Sharqia Governorate. Ammonia, nitrate, biological oxygen demand (BOD), phosphate, turbidity, iron, manganese, lead, and aluminum concentrations were found to be higher than the limits set by internatio2nal drinking water regulations. The health risk index (HRI) values for children were found to be higher than those for adults when the water resources are used for drinking purposes, which poses a risk to human health.

Demodex Mites in Relation to the Degree of Acne Vulgaris among Egyptian Patients.

<b>Background and Objective:</b> <i>Demodex</i> mites are considered to play a pathogenic role in facial dermatoses as <i>Acne vulgaris</i>. In this study the association between <i>Acne vulgaris</i> and <i>Demodex</i> spp. intensity, kind and activity were investigated. <b>Materials and Methods:</b> Two degrees of acne was included, mild acne (30 cases) and moderate to severe acne (30 cases), besides 30 healthy subjects as a control. Deep skin scraping followed by direct microscopic detection was applied to diagnose demodicosis. <b>Results:</b> All the detected mites in moderate to severe acne were <i>D. folliculorum</i> which was observed in a highly dynamic status with their entire life cycle stages with intensity >5 mites per cm^{<a href="2246157_ja">2</a>}. While very few inactive <i>D. brevis</i> mites were detected in the 2 subjects related to the control group<i>. </i>Despite that females comprised the majority of acne cases, males encompassed a statistically higher number than females among positive demodicosis cases. Itching and hair loss were the significant clinical signs within positive cases. Regarding risk factors, oily skins, repeated exposure to the sun, stressful lifestyle plus defective use of facial cleansers were found to be statistically significant. <b>Conclusion:</b> These results attained an association between moderate to severe acne and energetic <i>D. folliculorum</i> entire population. Thus, this study recommended lifestyle's modification for those cases suffering from <i>Acne vulgaris</i> with deep facial cleaning to avoid such infestation that worsens acne condition. Accordingly, once acne treatments are ineffective, consideration of <i>Demodex</i> mites with the needed acaricidal therapy is necessary.

Invasion biology meets parasitology: a case study of parasite spill-back with Egyptian Fasciola gigantica in the invasive snail Pseudosuccinea columella.

The liver fluke Fasciola gigantica is a trematode parasite of ruminants and humans that occurs naturally in Africa and Asia. Cases of human fascioliasis, attributable at least in part to F. gigantica, are significantly increasing in the last decades. The introduced snail species Galba truncatula was already identified to be an important intermediate host for this parasite and the efficient invader Pseudosuccinea columella is another suspect in this case. Therefore, we investigated snails collected in irrigation canals in Fayoum governorate in Egypt for prevalence of trematodes with focus on P. columella and its role for the transmission of F. gigantica. Species were identified morphologically and by partial sequencing of the cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene (COI). Among all 689 snails found at the 21 sampling sites, P. columella was the most abundant snail with 296 individuals (42.96%) and it was also the most dominant species at 10 sites. It was not found at 8 sites. Molecular detection by PCR and sequencing of the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region of the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) revealed infections with F. gigantica (3.38%), Echinostoma caproni (2.36%) and another echinostome (7.09%) that could not be identified further according to its sequence. No dependency of snail size and trematode infection was found. Both high abundance of P. columella in the Fayoum irrigation system and common infection with F. gigantica might be a case of parasite spill-back (increased prevalence in local final hosts due to highly susceptible introduced intermediate host species) from the introduced P. columella to the human population, explaining at least partly the observed increase of reported fascioliasis-cases in Egypt. Eichhornia crassipes, the invasive water hyacinth, which covers huge areas of the irrigation canals, offers safe refuges for the amphibious P. columella during molluscicide application. As a consequence, this snail dominates snail communities and efficiently transmits F. gigantica.

Echocardiographic evaluation of cardiac structure and function in obese Egyptian adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to detect structural and functional changes in the left and right ventricles in obese Egyptian adolescents. Methods and results Anthropometric and echocardiographic parameters, including tissue Doppler imaging, were obtained from 70 obese adolescents with average body mass index of 34 plus or minus 3.8 and compared with 50 age- and sex-matched controls, with a body mass index of 21.6 plus or minus 1.9. Cardiac dimensions, stroke volume, left ventricular and right ventricular systolic and diastolic functions were evaluated. The obese group had a higher end-diastolic septal and posterior wall thickness and left ventricular mass index than the non-obese group. Body mass index, mid-arm and hip circumference values showed significant correlations with these echocardiographic variables. Systolic and diastolic functions of the left ventricle were normal in both groups, although stroke volume was high in the obese group. The right ventricle tissue Doppler parameters were similar in both groups. However, the S wave of the septal/lateral tricuspid valve annulus was reduced in the obese group, but not to the level reflecting systolic dysfunction. This was inversely correlated with hip, waist, and mid-arm circumference. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that the mid-arm and hip circumference followed by the body mass index are significant predictors of these early cardiac abnormalities. CONCLUSION: Left ventricular hypertrophy is present in obese children, although both systolic and diastolic functions are normal. Tissue Doppler imaging revealed a minor, but still significant, reduction in the right ventricular systolic function. Mid-arm and hip circumference are predictors of left ventricular hypertrophy.

Plasma thrombin-activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor levels and Thr325Ile polymorphism as a risk marker of myocardial infarction in Egyptian patients.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to investigate whether thrombin activatable fibrinolytic inhibitor (TAFI) Thr325Ile polymorphism and TAFI antigen (Ag) levels could constitute a risk marker of myocardial infarction (MI) in Egyptian patients. STUDY POPULATION AND RESULTS: The study included forty-six patients with acute MI (mean age 55.7 +/- 8.1 years, 33 men, 13 women) compared with age and sex-matched healthy volunteers (n = 54) as a control group. Clinical examination, laboratory investigations, electrocardiography (ECG) and/or echocardiography were done. TAFI Thr325Ile (reference sequence: rs1926447) polymorphism was genotyped in both studied groups using TaqMan SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) genotyping assay. The genotypes of the high-risk allele [Thr/Ile (CT) and Ile/Ile (TT)] were significantly more frequent in patients compared with the control group (54.4% and 32.6% vs. 51.8% and 5.6%, respectively) and were also associated with an increased risk of MI [OR = 4.95, (95% CI: 1.80 - 13.63); P = 0.0001]. Ile325 allele carriers were more frequent in cases than in control subjects (60.0% vs. 31.5%) [OR = 3.26, (95% CI = 1.82 - 5.83), P = 0.001]. The Thr325Ile SNP significantly correlated with TAFI antigen levels with the C/C genotype corresponding with the highest and the T/T genotype with the lowest TAFI antigen levels (P < 0.001). No statistically significant relation was found between TAFI Thr325Ile polymorphism and either the type or the site of MI. CONCLUSIONS: TAFI Thr325Ile and its respective plasma protein level could have a contribution to MI risk in the Egyptian population.This could be helpful in refining a risk profile for coronary heart disease (CHD) patients.