Structure, optical properties, TD-DFT simulations for nanosecond and continuous laser irradiation of vanadium antimony borate glass doped with nickel ferrite.

Borate antimony glass doped with vanadium oxide V2O5 encoded into a [BSV glass system] was prepared with the traditional melt quenching technique. The Nickel ferrite [NiFe2O4] was prepared using Flash auto-combustion and mixed at a fixed ratio of 0.05 gm into the glass matrix to form a BSV- composite glass system [BSV / NiFe2O4], which was also prepared using the traditional melt quenching technique. The X-Ray diffraction pattern was used to characterize the glass samples and indicated their amorphous structure, with different structure phases for different levels of V2O5 content. Ranging from 200 to 1100 nm, UV-Vis spectroscopy was used to study the optical properties of the samples. The glass was found to absorb electromagnetic waves with wavelengths lower than 500 nm, while the energy gap decreased from 2.46 eV for 0.1 mol% V2O5 to 2.39 eV for 0.5 wt% V2O5. The Urbach energy also had the same behavior, and decreasing from 0.226 to 0.217 eV. On the other hand, the refractive index increased when V2O5 was added. The thermal characteristics of a [BSV / NiFe2O4] system, such as, glass transition temperature [Formula: see text], onset temperature [Formula: see text], crystallization temperature [Formula: see text] and melting temperature [Formula: see text] were studied using a Differential Scanning Calorimeter. Using continuous and pulsed laser radiation, a [BSV-0.1 V2O5 / NiFe2O4] sample was exposed to laser irradiation to observe its effect on the optical features of the glass. Laser irradiation significantly changed the absorbance spectrum, while the energy gap decreased as time increased. The pulsed laser was found to have a more power-full and uniform effect compared to continuous laser. Time-dependent density function theory was used to optimize the geometrical structure of the glass and study the effect of the formation of 4- coordinate boron atoms on its properties.

Polymeric Solar Cell with 19.69% Efficiency Based on Poly(o-phenylene diamine)/TiO2 Composites.

Conducting poly orthophenylene diamine polymer (PoPDA) was synthesized via the oxidative polymerization route. A poly(o-phenylene diamine) (PoPDA)/titanium dioxide nanoparticle mono nanocomposite [PoPDA/TiO2]MNC was synthesized using the sol-gel method. The physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique was successfully used to deposit the mono nanocomposite thin film with good adhesion and film thickness ≅ 100 ± 3 nm. The structural and morphological properties of the [PoPDA/TiO2]MNC thin films were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The measured optical properties of the [PoPDA/TiO2]MNC thin films such as reflectance (R) in the UV-Vis-NIR spectrum, absorbance (Abs), and transmittance (T) were employed to probe the optical characteristics at room temperatures. As well as the calculations of TD-DFT (time-dependent density functional theory), optimization through the TD-DFTD/Mol3 and Cambridge Serial Total Energy Bundle (TD-DFT/CASTEP) was employed to study the geometrical characteristics. The dispersion of the refractive index was examined by the single oscillator Wemple-DiDomenico (WD) model. Moreover, the single oscillator energy (Eo), and the dispersion energy (Ed) were estimated. The obtained results show that thin films based on [PoPDA/TiO2]MNC can be utilized as a decent candidate material for solar cells and optoelectronic devices. The efficiency of the considered composites reached 19.69%.

Evaluating the efficacy of surgical excision and topical dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) in the treatment of equine cutaneous pythiosis.

BACKGROUND: Cutaneous pythiosis in horses is a chronic ulcerative granulomatous disease caused by the oomycete Pythium insidiosum. AIMS: The objective of the present study was to evaluate the response of cutaneous pythiosis in horses to surgical excision and topical dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO). METHODS: Thirty horses were presented clinically with pruritus, fistulae discharging serosanguineous fluid, and output kunkers in different body areas (limb, abdomen, neck, and face). The clinical diagnosis was confirmed by isolation of the causative agent and histopathology. All animals were treated by surgical excision alone, or surgical excision followed by topical DMSO. The healing process was monitored every week macroscopically to evaluate the response to treatment until complete recovery. RESULTS: The existence of Pythium insidiosum was confirmed in all cases. Histologically, affected horses were characterized by granulation tissue with abundant eosinophils. The size of wounds and the clinical features of pythiosis lesions decreased more after surgical debridement with DMSO application than surgical excision alone. The cutaneous pythiosis lesions were completely recovered at 35 ± 7 and 60 ± 5 days after the surgical excision with topical DMSO and surgical excision alone, respectively. CONCLUSION: The combination of surgical excision and topical DMSO is found an effective treatment for cutaneous pythiosis in horses.

A new strain of Acinetobacter baumannii and characterization of its ghost as a candidate vaccine.

BACKGROUND: Human infection by Acinetobacter baumannii has been increased due to its resistance against most of the antibiotics. Therefore, the present study aimed to design a candidate vaccine against A. baumannii infection. METHODS: The protein and DNA contents of A. baumannii Ali190 were extracted using different critical concentrations of hydrogen peroxide, sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate leading to the ghost of A. baumannii Ali190. Transmission and scanning electron microscope showed that it retained the 3D structure of its cell membrane. The ghost injected to rats via different routes of administrations including oral, subcutaneous, intramuscular, intraperitoneal, subcutaneous with adjuvant, and intramuscular with adjuvant. RESULTS: ß-Lactamase OXA-51 gene, is a predominant gene in all Acinetobacter strains, the gene was partially sequenced. The DNA sequence of OXA-51 gene showed 98% homology with A. baumannii isolate 6077/12 and also showed less homology percentage with other strains of Acinetobacter. A new strain of Acinetobacter has been deposited in Gene Bank under accession number MG062776. All routes of ghost administration showed full protection against live bacteria except oral administration showed 67% protection. On the other hand, all non-vaccinated rats did not survive after infection with live bacteria. SDS-gel electrophoresis of protein patterns of both A. baumannii and its ghost showed common protein bands with molecular weights 70, 60, and 23 kDa which were detected using western immunoblotting after raising the primary antibodies against A. baumannii ghost. The levels of INF-γ were significantly increased in all vaccinated groups, particularly in subcutaneous and subcutaneous with adjuvant compared to the control group. CONCLUSION: With the exception of oral administration, all vaccinated rats via different routes of ABG administration showed full protection (100%) against live A. baumannii. However, 100% mortality rate was observed in non-vaccinated rats. Therefore, ABG could be useful as a candidate vaccine against A. baumannii infection.

The accurate prediction of rare hemoglobin variants using a combination of high performance liquid chromatography, retention time and isoelectric focusing electrophoresis position.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the predictive accuracy of using a combination of the high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) retention time and the relative isoelectric focusing (IEF) position to diagnose rare hemoglobin variants. METHODS: A selected group of 40 patients with a rare beta-chain variant were assigned a presumed diagnosis following HPLC and IEF screening and then the variant identified in each case by DNA analysis. The study was conducted at the National Hemoglobinopathy Reference Laboratory, Oxford, United Kingdom, from August 2008 to October 2008. RESULTS: Thirteen out of 14 different variants were predicted accurately in 39 (97.5%) cases, compared to only one each for HPLC and IEF when used individually. A novel amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction test was developed for Hb J-Baltimore and used successfully, to provide a simple, rapid, and inexpensive diagnosis. CONCLUSION: The use of both HPLC retention time and isoelectric focusing position provides an accurate presumed diagnosis of a rare hemoglobin variant in the majority of cases. Amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction test can provide a simple, rapid and inexpensive molecular diagnostic method for rare beta-chain variants.

Relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and gastric atrophy and the stages of the oesophageal inflammation, metaplasia, adenocarcinoma sequence: results from the FINBAR case-control study.

OBJECTIVE: A number of studies have shown an inverse association between infection with Helicobacter pylori and oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC). The mechanism of the apparent protection against OAC by H pylori infection and, in particular, the role of gastric atrophy is disputed. The relationship between all stages of the oesophageal inflammation, metaplasia, adenocarcinoma sequence and H pylori infection and gastric atrophy was explored. METHODS: A case-control study involving 260 population controls, 227 OAC, 224 Barrett's oesophagus (BO) and 230 reflux oesophagitis (RO) patients recruited within Ireland was carried out. H pylori and CagA (cytotoxin-associated gene product A) infection was diagnosed serologically by western blot, and pepsinogen I and II levels were measured by enzyme immunoassay. Gastric atrophy was defined as a pepsinogen I/II ratio of <3. RESULTS: H pylori seropositivity was inversely associated with OAC, BO and RO; adjusted ORs (95% CIs), 0.49 (0.31 to 0.76), 0.35 (0.22 to 0.56) and 0.42 (0.27 to 0.65), respectively. Gastric atrophy was uncommon (5.3% of all subjects), but was inversely associated with non-junctional OAC, BO and RO; adjusted ORs (95% CIs), 0.34 (0.10 to 1.24), 0.23 (0.05 to 0.96) and 0.27 (0.08 to 0.88), respectively. Inverse associations between H pylori and the disease states remained in gastric atrophy-negative patients. CONCLUSION: H pylori infection and gastric atrophy are associated with a reduced risk of OAC, BO and RO. While use of the pepsinogen I/II ratio as a marker for gastric atrophy has limitations, these data suggest that although gastric atrophy is involved it may not fully explain the inverse associations observed with H pylori infection.

Comparative serological diagnosis of toxoplasmosis in horses using locally isolated Toxoplasma gondii.

A total of 420 serum samples collected from horses of different ages, sexes and breeds, located at some horse farms in Egypt, were used for serological studies. A crude antigen of the locally isolated Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites from horse tissues (LA) was used for the detection of T. gondii antibodies in horses. It showed good diagnostic efficiency (38.1%) by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). To increase this efficiency, an affinity purification process was performed. Two fractions were obtained from LA by CNBr-Sepharose 4B affinity column chromatography named; unbound (LAunb) and bound (LAb). LAb showed the highest diagnostic potency (51.7%), while LAunb showed the lowest value (31.7%) using ELISA. The electrophoretic profile of LA (12 bands), LAb (6 bands) and LAunb (6 bands) showed molecular weights ranged from 25.1 to 184.3kDa. The immunoreactive bands of each of the three antigens were identified with infected horse sera by immunoblot assay. Four immunogenic bands of 155.8, 115.1, 83.2 and 66.2kDa were identified in LAb and probably were responsible for the highest diagnostic potency. Examination of horse sera by Indirect Fluorescence Antibody Test (IFAT) at a dilution of 1: 64 and Modified Agglutination Test (MAT) at a dilution of 1: 25 revealed that 170 (40.5%) and 202 (48.1%) had antibodies against T. gondii, respectively. The current research introduces crude and purified fractions (bound and unbound) obtained from the locally isolated tachyzoites (equine origin), which are utilized globally for the first time in detection of T. gondii antibodies in horses. Furthermore, this study recommended utilization of the bound fraction in diagnosis of toxoplasmosis using indirect ELISA which proved better diagnostic potency compared with IFAT and MAT.

Isolation of Toxoplasma gondii from horse meat in Egypt.

Portions of heart, liver, skeletal and diaphragmatic muscles obtained from 150 slaughtered horses at Giza-Zoo abattoir were used for bioassays in mice and cats. T. gondii tachyzoites were isolated successfully from the peritoneal exudates of the inoculated mice 6-8 days post inoculation with pooled horse tissues. Whereas, T. gondii tissue cysts containing bradyzoites were detected in the impression smears of mice brain on the 45th days or more post infection. The oocysts were detected in feces of cats 3-6 days post feeding on horse tissues containing tissue cysts. The oocysts became sporulated within 3-5 days in 2.5% Potassium dichromate. A total of 79 out of 150 horse meat samples were found to be infected with an incidence rate of 52.6 %. This is the first trial for isolation of T. gondii infective stages from horses in Egypt. Moreover, this study pointed out to the high infection rate of T. gondii in horse meat which may be considered as an important source of infection to wild zoo-animals in Egypt and humans in some countries if consumed raw or insufficiently cooked.

Factor Xa (FXa) inhibitor from the nymphs of the camel tick Hyalomma dromedarii.

An inhibitor of factor Xa (FXa) was isolated from the nymphs of the camel tick Hyalomma dromedarii by a combination of chromatography on DEAE-cellulose and Sephacryl S-300 columns. The isolated nymphal FXa inhibitor turned out to be a homogenous preparation of a single polypeptide chain (15 kDa) as judged by both the native and denatured SDS-PAGE. Its pI value ranged from 7.7 to 7.9. The inhibitor is a potent anticoagulant since it prolonged both the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and the prothrombin time (PT) of the camel plasma in a concentration-dependent manner. Its activity was threefold lower toward thrombin than FXa, but it did not inhibit any of the proteases; trypsin, alpha-chymotrypsin, papain, pepsin and subtilisin. The inhibitor binds at two sites on FXa uncompetitively with an inhibition constant (K(i)) value of 134 nM.

Immunodiagnosis of bovine fasciolosis using Fasciola hepatica excretory-secretory antigens ELISA.

Two hundreds blood samples and the corresponding faecal and/or bile (114 Egyptian buffaloes, 68 native breed cattle and 18 imported cattle) were examined for Fasciola infection. ELISA revealed that 8 (7.00%) buffaloes, 52 (76.50%) native breed cattle and 15 (83.33%) imported cattle were positive. Parasitologically, the results revealed that 38 (33.33%) buffaloes and 18 (26.50%) native breed cattle were positive, while all imported cattle were free from Fasciola. So, ELISA technique using F. hepatica excretory-secretory (E/S) antigens is of diagnostic value for cattle fasciolosis rather than for buffaloes.

Isolation and properties of two forms of thrombin inhibitor from the nymphs of the camel tick Hyalomma dromedarii (Acari: Ixodidae).

Two forms of the nymphal thrombin inhibitors (NTI) 3.2 kDa and 14.9 kDa were purified by chromatography on CM-cellulose. Sephacryl S-300 and Sephadex G-50 columns and designated NTI- 1 and NTI-2 respectively. The NTI-2 turned out to be homogenous monomeric protein in both native-PAGE and denatured SDS-PAGE with M(r) value of 14.9 kDa approximately and its pI value ranged from 7.2 to 7.5. The NTI-1 and NTI-2 displayed anticoagulant activity since they prolonged both the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and the prothrombin time (PT) of the camel plasma in a concentration-dependent manner. The potency of NTI-I toward thrombin was 5-fold higher than that toward FXa, while NTI-2 was 3-fold active toward FXa than thrombin. However, both of them did not inhibit any of the other examined proteases. The types of inhibition of thrombin by NTI-1 and NTI-2 were non-competitive and competitive with inhibition constants (Ki) values of 11.7 microM and 211 nM respectively. One binding site was deduced on thrombin for each inhibitor.

Purification and characterization of purine nucleoside phosphorylase from developing embryos of Hyalomma dromedarii.

Purine nucleoside phosphorylase from Hyalomma dromedarii, the camel tick, was purified to apparent homogeneity. A molecular weight of 56,000 - 58,000 was estimated for both the native and denatured enzyme, suggesting that the enzyme is monomeric. Unlike purine nucleoside phosphorylase preparations from other tissues, the H. dromedarii enzyme was unstable in the presence of beta-mercaptoethanol. The enzyme had a sharp pH optimum at pH 6.5. It catalyzed the phosphorolysis and arsenolysis of ribo- and deoxyribo-nucleosides of hypoxanthine and guanine, but not of adenine or pyrimidine nucleosides. The Km values of the enzyme at the optimal pH for inosine, deoxyinosine, guanosine, and deoxyguanosine were 0.31, 0.67, 0.55, and 0.33 mM, respectively. Inactivation and kinetic studies suggested that histidine and cysteine residues were essential for activity. The pKa values determined for catalytic ionizable groups were 6-7 and 8-9. The enzyme was completely inactivated by thiol reagents and reactivated by excess beta-mercaptoethanol. The enzyme was also susceptible to pH-dependent photooxidation in the presence of methylene blue, implicating histidine. Initial velocity studies showed an intersecting pattern of double-reciprocal plots of the data, consistent with a sequential mechanism.

Electroencephalography and computerized transaxial tomography in epilepsy diagnosis.

Over a 6-month period 89 patients with epileptic seizures were systematically examined by EEGs and CT. Forty-two percent of all cases showed pathological findings in CT compared to 89% with abnormal EEGs. CT is very useful in identifying organic lesions in the epileptic patient. CT identified 11 cases of supratentorial tumour which were correctly localized by EEG. In patients with seizures after trauma or encephalitis the EEG abnormalities were more than could be detected by CT. The EEG and CT findings in cerebrovascular disorders, alcoholism and other diseases are discussed. A remarkable result is the relatively high percentage of hydrocephalus (23%) in the group of cryptogenic epilepsy. Positive EEG findings as to epilepsy could be seen in 62% of the cases.

Combined activation of the EEG with brietal and pentetrazol.

A group of 101 activations with Brietal and Pentetrazol are reported. Although Brietal proved to be of value in the investigation of all forms of epilepsy, with 55% positive results, there remained groups of patients in whom there was still a call for greater diagnostic precision. Pentetrazol was tried in 21 of these patients with 66% positive activation. It was found that the two agents together were successful in 72% of the patients. Both also add valuable negative evidence in suspected functional fits.