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Introduction: Pre-eclampsia (P-EC) is a multisystem disorder of pregnancy, characterized by new-onset hypertension and proteinuria. Deregulation of the coagulation cascade and hypofibrinolysis appears to play a role in the development of P-EC. Methods: About 140 Egyptian pregnant women with a diagnosis of P-EC (patients' group) and 100 normotensive pregnant women not complicated by P-EC (a healthy control group) were collected. The genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms were genotyped using ARMS-PCR. The serum was used for biochemical parameters measurement. Results: There is a strong significant (P < 0.0001) difference between PAI-1 5G/4G polymorphism among the patients and the control groups in the codominant model, high significant (P = 0.004) in the dominant model, high significant (P = 0.009) in the recessive model. Additionally, superoxide dismutase activity and reduced glutathione levels were decreased in pre-eclamptic women when compared to normotensive ones. On the other hand, malondialdehyde and glutathione peroxidase levels were increased in the pre-eclamptic group when compared with normalized pregnant ones. Conclusion: Our results showed that the mutated PAI-15G/4G polymorphisms may be associated with the development of P-EC in Egyptian women.

Endometrial hyperplasia (EH) is found to be a common diagnosis in women presenting with abnormal uterine bleeding, in advanced stages leading to cancer. To test the association of endometrial hype...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a lethal disease, and in HCC advanced stages, there is limited therapeutic efficacy. HCC results in a complication of fibrosis or cirrhosis. In this study, the protective effect of curcumin and selenium versus hepatocellular carcinoma caused by CCl4 in experimental animals was investigated. In all, 70 mice were divided into seven groups to study the effect of curcumin and selenium on CCl4 -induced hepatocellular carcinoma. After treatment time, different animal groups were sacrificed, serum and liver samples were collected and processed for assay of biochemical and molecular parameters. Our results showed that CCl4 administration induced various alterations such as significant elevation in the serum levels of ALT, AST, and hepatic contents of malondialdehyde (MDA), and depletion in the levels of antioxidant parameters. CCl4 induced apoptosis in the hepatic cells indicated by an increased level of p53, CD4, CD8, Bax, and Annexin V/PI in addition to significant decrease in the level of Bcl-2. Administration of curcumin and selenium restored this abnormal variation in these biochemical parameters to normal values. Our study addressed that curcumin or selenium may be helpful in the protection against liver damage induced by CCl4 . The hepatoprotective impact of curcumin or selenium might be mediated primarily by its potent antioxidant activity. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) ranked third common cause of death, primary liver cancer. Exposure to CCl4 was found to induce significant hepatotoxicity, characterized by fibrosis, bile duct proliferation, cirrhosis, and reduced hepatic function The work was prepared to investigate the protecting capacity of curcumin, selenium alone, and in combination against HCC induced by CCl4 in the experimental animal model. This study proved the protective effect of curcumin and selenium, alone and in combination with each other, where curcumin showed multiple pharmacological activities, including anti-inflammation and antioxidant, and have an essential role in inhibiting the progression of HCC.

Background: Adiponectin gene polymorphisms have recently been reported to be associated with obesity. In Egypt, obesity has expanded especially with the changing nourishment propensities and the inexorably inactive ways of life, with almost 70 percent of the Egyptian populations being obese. Aim: To assess the relationship of the adiponectin gene (ADIPOQ) polymorphism in patients with Obesity in Egyptians. Subjects and methods: This study included 100 patients with obesity and 97 random controls. Results: Adiponectin rs1501299 polymorphism showed significant difference cases with different obesity grades where the T/T genotype was relatively higher in higher classes of obesity (Class II and III; (66.7% and 55.6% respectively, p = 000), which determines the susceptibility to obesity. Conclusion: Adiponectin rs1501299 polymorphism might be a candidate gene, which determines the susceptibility to obesity. Larger studies are necessary to confirm these findings in various populations.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a lethal disease, and in HCC advanced stages, there is limited therapeutic efficacy. HCC results in a complication of fibrosis or cirrhosis. In this study, the protective effect of curcumin and selenium versus hepatocellular carcinoma caused by CCl

In this study, a natural polymer, chitosan (CS) has been converted through modified procedures to produce a water-soluble nontoxic form that has been evaluated as a novel potential antitumor drug. CS was carboxymethylated and then further modified in mild aqueous medium via graft copolymerization using a new simple and reproducible method. The synthesized new derivative of carboxymethylated CS (DCMC) was fully characterized by numerous techniques including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), elemental analyzer (EA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), two-dimensional wide-angle X-ray scattering (2D-WAXS), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The anticancer activity of the DCMC was investigated using mice bearing Ehrlich ascites tumor cells (EAC) at different doses dissolved in isotonic saline. It has been found that treatment with DCMC significantly inhibited tumor growth in a dose-dependent manner. To better understand the molecular mechanism explaining the DCMC effect on cancer cells, we tested the response of EAC cells in vivo to DCMC using flow cytometry cell cycle analysis. The cell cycle analysis revealed a G₂/M phase accumulation as well as a significant increase in sub-G₁ phase cells after treatment with DCMC. This indicates an induction of apoptosis in EAC cells associated with a highly significant decrease in tumor volume. In general, our results indicated that the DCMC is a regulator of tumor cell growth and differentiation not only by causing G₂/M cell cycle arrest but also inducing their apoptotic death. Moreover, the estimated hematological profile such as hemoglobin, RBCs, as well as WBCs counts revealed normal levels in mice treated with DCMC, indicating the possibility of using the DCMC in cancer chemotherapy without causing anemia like other drugs. Biochemical assays also revealed that treatment with DCMC has led to an augmentation of the antioxidant defense system without affecting lipid peroxidation in EAC-bearing mice.

The changes in the s-carotene, lycopene and α-tocopherol content of tomato as a function of varieties and processing factors were investigated. The concentration of s-carotene, lycopene and α-tocopherol were ranged from 653.5 to 2032.1 µg/l00g, from 825.0 to 2290.5 µg/l00g and from 43.0 to 94.8 µg/l00g fresh weigh of ripe tomato fruits, respectively. The prepared tomato products; juice and paste contained higher amounts of lycopene (938.0- 4069.9 µg/l00g) and α-tocopherol (137.0- 396.0 µg/l00g) than tomato fruits for fresh consumption. Tomato juice and paste from the market contained amount of s-carotene more than that of the prepared juice and paste. Significant differences could be obtained between the examined varieties with regard to caroteniods and α-tocopherol concentration. s-carotene was the most susceptible compound toward thermal degradation.