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Abstract Background Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic relapsing inflammatory disorder of unknown etiology and unpredictable course. The aim of the work was to assess the levels of adropin, fibroblast growth factor-1 (FGF-1), and Toll-like receptor-1 (TLR1) biomarkers in IBD patients compared to controls and evaluate the gene expression of TNF-α as a marker of disease severity. Methods Adropin, fasting serum FGF-1 levels, TLR1, and TNF-α were measured in 60 IBD patients. They were also compared with 58 healthy controls matching age and gender. Moreover, the blood cells cDNA copy number of TNF-α were determined as a marker of severity. Results Adropin and TLR1 levels were significantly lower in patients than controls. FGF-1 was reduced but not statistically significant. The expression of TNF-α gene in the IBD patients was significantly increased (42%) in comparison with control samples (P

In this paper, a class of the two-dimensional (2D) mathematical models of the time fractional telegraph equation with spatial variable coefficients is considered. These models include the 2D time fractional telegraph equation (2D-TFTE), the 2D time fractional diffusion wave equation with damping (2D-TFDWED) and the 2D time fractional wave equation (2D-TFWE). The fractional derivatives are described in the Caputo sense. A novel spectral technique is used to solve the aforementioned models. The technique is based on the operational matrices of the shifted Gegenbauer polynomials in conjunction with the spectral tau method. The product of operational matrices of the space vectors is constructed in a simple way to remove the obstacle that facing the use of the tau method in solving the variable coefficients fractional/integer order PDEs. Miscellaneous numerical experiments are offered to verify the accuracy and rapid rate of convergence of the presented numerical technique.

Sea Level Rise (SLR) is a vital outcome of the environmental global warming phenomenon. This paper aims to investigate the basic properties of tides in Alexandria, Egypt and to analyze Sea Level Rise (SLR) in Egypt over a long period in order to examine the differences in Egypt's vertical geodetic datum. The annual relative SLR at Alexandria between 1906 and 2020 was found to be 2.6 mm/year. Moreover, the relative SLR has been 3.1 mm/y for the last two decades, 2001-2020. It could be considered the most appropriate value to be taken into consideration in the Egypt's coastal management activities. Carrying out additional investigations is suggested to investigate the major variations of MSL in Egypt at other TG sites over both the Mediterranean and Red seas. Based on an available data and accomplished results, it is recommended to regard the Egypt's MSL datum as a semi-kinematic rather than a fixed one.

Background Bronchial asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the respiratory system. Trace elements play roles in inflammation and may affect bronchial asthma. Aim This study aimed to determine the concentrations of copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), and magnesium (Mg) in the sera of patients and to evaluate their value in asthma severity and control. Participants and methods This study was carried out on 71 asthmatic adult patients and 20 healthy control participants. Patients were diagnosed with bronchial asthma based on clinical history and the presence of reversible airway obstruction in spirometry. Levels of serum trace elements (Cu, Zn, Fe, and Mg) were determined in all participants. Results The serum levels of Zn and Mg were lower in patients with asthma in comparison with the controls, while the serum levels of Fe and Cu were higher in patients with asthma in comparison with the healthy controls. The P value was significant for Zn (P

Abstract Background Malaria, malnutrition and anaemia are major public health problems in Yemen, with Hodeidah being the most malaria-afflicted governorate. To address the lack of relevant studies, this study was conducted to determine the prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum and its relation to nutritional status and haematological indices among schoolchildren in Bajil district of Hodeidah governorate, west of Yemen. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 400 schoolchildren selected randomly from four schools in Bajil district. Data about demographic characteristics, risk factors and anthropometric measurements of age, height and weight were collected. Duplicate thick and thin blood films were prepared, stained with Giemsa and examined microscopically for malaria parasites. The density of P. falciparum asexual stages was estimated on thick films. EDTA-blood samples were examined for the haematological indices of haemoglobin (Hb) and blood cell counts. Results Plasmodium falciparum was prevalent among 8.0% (32/400) of schoolchildren with a mean parasite density of 244.3 ± 299.3/µL of blood and most infections showing low-level parasitaemia, whereas Plasmodium vivax was detected in one child (0.25%). Residing near water collections was a significant independent predictor of falciparum malaria [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.6, 95.0% CI 1.20–5.72; p = 0.016] in schoolchildren. Mild anaemia was prevalent among more than half of P. falciparum-infected schoolchildren and significantly associated with falciparum malaria (AOR = 5.8, 95.0% CI 2.39–14.17; p

A numerical treatment to a system of Caputo fractional order differential- algebraic equations (SFDAEs) is presented throughout this article. The suggested method based upon the shifted Chebyshev pesedu- spectral method (SCPSM). The shifted Chebyshev polynomials (SCPs) are handled to reduce the SFDAEs into the solution of linear/ nonlinear systems of algebraic equations. By using some tested applications, the effectiveness and the accuracy of the suggested approach are demonstrated graphically. Also numerical comparisons between the proposed technique with other numerical methods in the existing literature are held. The numerical results show that the proposed technique is computationally efficient, accurate and easy to implement.

In this article, we use the operation matrix (OM) of Riemann–Liouville fractional integral of the shifted Gegenbauer polynomials with the Lagrange multiplier method to provide efficient numerical solutions to the multi-dimensional fractional optimal control problems. The proposed technique transforms the under consideration problems into sets of nonlinear equations which are easy to solve. Numerical tests including numerical comparisons with some existing methods are introduced to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the suggested technique.

PKU patients react to therapy with a low phenylalanine diet, but adherence to this diet is troublesome, subsequently the expansion of alternative ways is demand. Phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) is one of this ways, which converts phenylalanine to harmless metabolites; trans-cinnamic acid and ammonia. In the current study, the extraction of PAL enzyme was used to investigate the efficiency for production of functional PKU egg white and mushroom flour with good quality by evaluation of colour characteristics, determination of phenylalanine concentrations and genetic materials expression of PKU related genes and DNA damage. Results indicated that the PAL enzyme treated of egg white and mushroom flour was stable colour and the calculated reduction per cent in phenylalanine concentration from female mice fed on untreated and PAL–treated samples was 22.77% in egg white and 31.37% in mushroom flour. Also, the results revealed that female mice fed on diet contained treated egg white exhibited low expression levels of PKU exons (3, 6, 7, 11, and 12) and low DNA damage which were similar to those in control mice.

The combination of adsorption and photodegradation processes is an effective technique for the removal of dye contaminants from water, which is motivating the development of novel adsorbent-photocatalyst materials for wastewater treatment. Herein, novel nanocomposite porous beads were developed using titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanotubes embedded in a sodium alginate (SA)/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) matrix using calcium chloride solution as a crosslinker. The prepared nanocomposite beads’ performance was examined as an adsorbent-photocatalyst for the breakdown of methylene blue in aqueous solutions. Several operation factors influencing the dye decomposition process, including photocatalyst dosage, illumination time, light intensity, and stability were investigated. The findings demonstrated that the removal activity of the beads changed with the TiO2 weight ratio in the composite. It was found that SA/PVP/TiO2-3 nanocomposite beads presented the greatest deterioration efficiency for methylene blue dye (98.9%). The cycling ability and reusability of the prepared SA/PVP/TiO2 nanocomposite beads recommend their use as efficient, eco-friendly materials for the treatment of wastewaters contaminated with cationic dyes.

Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) is an anionic surfactant that may easily find its way to seawater through domestic and industrial wastewater discharge. The current study was suggested to investigate its fate in relation to the ability of heterotrophic bacteria isolated from samples to degrade SLS surfactant. In addition, the different factors affecting the biodegradation process. Out of nine dominant marine bacteria, only three were able to degrade SLS successfully. They were characterized throughout morphological, biochemical and physiological features as; Enterobacter gergoviae, Enterobacter cloacae and Bacillus alvei. Our data confirmed that the biodegradability of consortium consisting of E. gergoviae, E. cloacae and B. alvei combination was more effective than that of the individuals. The increase in inoculum size, support the increase in the biodegradation. The 30ºC as an incubation temperature was the most effective temperature (98% biodegradation). The pH 9 was the optimum for the growth of consortium (E. gergoviae, E. cloacae and B. alvei) and consequently for biodegradation rate (96%). The pH level 7 was more or less near to optimum with biodegradation percentage (89.2%). Glucose as a carbon source and casein as a nitrogen source improved the biodegradation process to 91.9% and 90.3% respectively. The biodegradation percentages showed an inverse relationship between the increase in SLS mass and the extent of its degradation. Under these growth conditions a complete degradation of 1000 ppm SLS biomass was achieved with biodegradation percentage (45.5%). Such findings contribute to a better understanding the fate of the SLS in the aquatic environment.

Reaction of 1‐(4‐methylquinoline‐2‐yl)hydrazine with Alloxan yielded a new hydrazone ligand (AlloxHQ). Binary copper (II) AlloxHQ complexes have been successfully prepared utilizing different copper (II) salts (chloride, bromide, sulfate, and acetate). Moreover, ternary complexes have been prepared by using secondary ligands; 1,10‐phenanthroline and oxine. The structures of AlloxHQ and Cu (II)‐AlloxHQ complexes have been investigated with the aid of elemental analysis, nuclear magnetic resonance, infrared, electronic, mass, and electron spin resonance spectra, thermal analysis in addition to measurements of molar conductivity and magnetic susceptibility. Mono‐, bi‐, and tri‐nuclear complexes were obtained, reflecting that the coordinating manner of AlloxHQ is extremely influenced by both the nature of the counter anion and the pH of the medium. AlloxHQ acts as a tri‐, bi‐, or penta‐dentate ligand with different modes of bonding. AlloxHQ and its copper (II) complexes exhibited antitumor activity towards Ehrlich Ascites Carcinoma and coordination with copper improved the antitumor activity. The biological activity was confirmed by molecular docking study to investigate how the title compounds bind to the CDK‐5 inhibitor‐crystal structure of inhibitor EFP with CDK‐2 (PDB ID: 3IG7). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Trial design This is a randomized, controlled, superiority, double-blinded, parallel-group, two-arms trial with an allocation ratio of 1:1. This study aimed to assess whether the cavity design could affect the clinical performance of the CAD/CAM generated indirect resin composite restoration in endodontically treated teeth (ETT) evaluated using the Modified USPHS criteria after a two-year follow up. Methods A total of 30 participants who underwent endodontic treatment for MOD cavities in permanent molars were divided randomly into two parallel groups (n = 30 restorations) according to the performed cavity design to group 1 in which there was no cuspal reduction (inlay) and group 2 in which cuspal reduction was performed (overlay). All pulp chambers were filled with bulk fill flowable composite, and the cavities were prepared following the criteria of the cavities for indirect restorations and restored using nano-hybrid composite resin blocks (Brilliant, Coltene, Switzerland). The restorations were evaluated using the modified USPHS criteria at baseline, six months, one-year and two years follow-up visits. For qualitative data, frequencies (n) and percentages (%) were used to display the data, while mean and standard deviation (SD) were used for quantitative data. The normality of the data was evaluated using the Shapiro-Wilk and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests. For every test, P ≤ 0.05 was used as the significance threshold. Results Twenty-six individuals completed the follow-up period after receiving the assigned intervention.The inter-group comparison showed that, at the 6- months and 12- months observation points, the overlay design had significantly better marginal adaptation, less incidence of discoloration or tooth/restoration fracture, and similar marginal integrity and caries incidence to the inlay design. After 24- months, the overlay design still had better marginal adaptation, less incidence of discoloration or tooth/restoration fracture and less caries incidence in comparison to the inlay design, while there was no difference in the marginal integrity between either design. Conclusions and clinical relevance Cuspal reduction in endodontically treated teeth showed better clinical performance than the cusp preservation thus, the former is more reliable.