Improving environmental sustainability of agriculture in Egypt through a life-cycle perspective.

Soil plays an essential role as a habitat, source of nutrients and support for vegetation. Promoting food security and environmental sustainability of agricultural systems requires an integrated approach to soil fertility management. Agricultural activities should be developed with preventive approaches aimed at avoiding or reducing negative impacts on the soil physicochemical and biological properties and the depletion of soil nutrient reserves. In this regard, Egypt has developed the Sustainable Agricultural Development Strategy to encourage environmentally friendly practices among farmers, such as crop rotation and water management, in addition to extending agriculture to desert areas, favoring the socio-economic development of the region. In order to evaluate the outcomes of the plan beyond quantitative data of production, yield, consumption and emissions, the environmental profile of agriculture in Egypt has been assessed under a life-cycle perspective in order to identify the associated environmental burdens and ultimately contribute to improving the sustainability policies of agricultural activity within the framework of a crop rotation system. In particular, a two-year crop rotation (Egyptian clover-maize-wheat) was analyzed in two distinct agricultural areas in Egypt: New Lands in desert regions and Old Lands along the Nile River, traditionally recognized as fertile areas due to the river alluvium and water availability. The New Lands had the worst environmental profile for all impact categories, except for Soil organic carbon deficit and Global potential species loss. Irrigation and on-field emissions associated with mineral fertilization were identified as the most critical hotspots of Egyptian agriculture. In addition, land occupation and land transformation were reported as the main drivers of biodiversity loss and soil degradation, respectively. Beyond these results, further research on biodiversity and soil quality indicators is needed to more accurately assess the environmental damage caused by the conversion of deserts into agricultural areas, given the species richness these regions hold.

Penile girth augmentation by injectable fillers: a comprehensive review of imaging features and inflammatory complications.

Despite the extensive controversy and debate of penile girth augmentation, high demands for such procedures are increasing. Penile inflammation is not common sequel after penile filler augmentation, but when it occurs, it has serious complications that sometimes necessitate emergency surgical intervention. Imaging with a variety of modalities, including ultrasonography, magnetic resonance imaging, and ascending urethrogrphy plays a paramount role in the detection and assessment of these conditions. Inflammatory conditions after penile girth augmentation using injectable fillers are ranging from local granuloma to penile abscess formation or diffuse cellulitis that may extend to the scrotum, perineum or deep pelvic organs. Rapid diagnosis and evaluation of extensions are important to avoid associated morbidity and permanent deformity. Our purpose is to provide a practical review of relevant penile anatomy, imaging appearance and injection technique of different types of subcutaneous fillers used in penile girth augmentation, and inflammatory complications that may occur after these procedures. Brief descriptions of patient clinical information and imaging features of inflammatory complications will be included and correlated in actual cases.

Patterns of dystrophin gene deletion in Egyptian Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy patients.

Large variations in the proportion of intragenic deletion in the dystrophin gene have been observed in different populations. Although dystrophin gene deletion was extensively studied all over the world, only few studies were done on Egyptian population and there was no account on the dystrophin gene duplication. In this study, we present our results on the pattern of deletion of the dystrophin gene together with the usage of quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as a method for duplication analysis within the dystrophin gene in Egyptian patients. Forty one Duchene/Becker muscular dystrophy patients were included in this study. The diagnosis was based on detailed clinical assessment, serum creatine kinase (CK) level, neurophysiologic study and muscle biopsy for histopathological analysis. DNA was extracted from ten milliliter peripheral blood according to basic protocol, and multiplex polymerase chain reaction for dystrophin gene using both Chamberlin and Beggs sets of primers amplifying eighteen exons covering the two main dystrophin gene hot spots. In addition primers from Abbs set were used when it was necessary to check the exon borders. DNA from cases with no detectable deletion was analyzed for dystrophin gene duplication using quantitative PCR technique. We had a percentage of 61.1% deletion which is higher than data from previous Egyptian studies and most of the deletion was localized in the major hotspot region between exons 44 and 52 and we had 5% of the cases with duplication. Our results were compared with previous studies from Egypt and with studies from different populations especially with data recorded in the Middle East and North Africa.