Basic Science Sector

Despite the saltwater intrusion of the Gulf of Suez, a Quaternary alluvial aquifer constitutes the main source of freshwater in the coastal city of El-Tor, the administrative capital of South Sinai, Egypt.

A novel, simple approach to the synthesis of macrocyclic Schiff base ligand bearing pendent coordinating groups is described and its 1:1 inclusion complexes are prepared and characterized. The composition of the title material was determined by the chemical and spectroscopic methods and the surrounding of metal with the octahedral structure for the all complexes was suggested. The data reveal that the ligand acts as O2N4 hexadentate structure with each metal atom in an octahedral environment.

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The radionuclide content was estimated in the soil of three black sand habitats in theMediterranean coast of Egypt, namely, sand mounds and coastal sand planes and dunes. Inaddition, a total of 14 heavy minerals found in the soils were characterized. The soil to planttransfer of uranium and thorium was tested on three black sand species, namely, Cakile maritimaScop. Senecioglaucus L. and RumexPictusForssk. The transfer of thoriumand uranium radionuclides from the soil to plant is complex process that is subjected tomany variables; among which are the organic matter and clay content of the soil, the type ofradionuclides and plant species. The study revealed a strong negative relationship betweenuranium and thorium uptake by S. glaucus and R. pictus and the clay and organic mattercontent of soil. Concentration of thorium in the soil has a negative correlation with soil-toplanttransfer factor. The study results suggest the possibility of using black sand speciesfor phytoremediation of soils contaminated with radioactive elements. The potentiality of S.glaucus as phytoremediator of radionuclides polluted soils is greater than R. pictus whichin turn outweigh C. maritima.

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Cairo is one of the largest megacities in the World and the particle load of its atmosphere is known to be particularly important. In this work we aim at assessing the temporal variability of the aerosol's characteristics and the magnitude of its impacts on the transfer of solar radiation. For this we use the level 2 quality assured products obtained by inversion of the instantaneous AERONET sunphotometer measurements performed in Cairo during the Cairo Aerosol Characterization Experiment (CACHE), which lasted from the end of October 2004 to the end of March 2006. The analysis of the temporal variation of the aerosol's optical depth (AOD) and spectral dependence suggests that the aerosol is generally a mixture of at least 3 main components differing in composition and size. This is confirmed by the detailed analysis of the monthly-averaged size distributions and associated optical properties (single scattering albedo and asymmetry parameter). The components of the aerosol are found to be 1) a highly absorbing background aerosol produced by daily activities (traffic, industry), 2) an additional, ‘pollution’ component produced by the burning of agricultural wastes in the Nile delta, and 3) a coarse desert dust component. In July, an enhancement of the accumulation mode is observed due to the atmospheric stability favoring its building up and possibly to secondary aerosols being produced by active photochemistry. More generally, the time variability of the aerosol's characteristics is due to the combined effects of meteorological factors and seasonal production processes. Because of the large values of the AOD achieved during the desert dust and biomass burning.

Biodiesel has become more attractive recently because of its environmental benefits and the fact that it is made from renewable resources. The cost of biodiesel, however, is the main hurdle to commercialization of the product.The used cooking oil and algae are used as raw material, adaption of continuous transesterification process and recovery of high quality glycerol from biodiesel by-product (glycerol) are primary options to be considered to lower the cost of biodiesel.

The study was carried out to evaluate the effects of unpeeled lentil seeds, apple and parsley in semi-modified diets on lipid fractions of hyperlipidemic and hypercholesterolemic male albino rats. Blood lipid fractions of hyperlipidemic animals were improved by the antioxidant and protein lipotropic powers of diets used to protect animals from oxidation and precipitations on the walls of the blood vessel, thus alleviating atherosclerosis. The treatments with semi-modified diets improved the lipid fractions, such as total lipids, cholesterol and triglycerides, as well as HDLC, LDL-C and VLDL-C, but also alleviated the risk factor of the hyperlipidemic rats. Total protein and its fractions (albumin, and globulin), lipids` peroxidation and antioxidative enzymes` activity (SOD and CAT) were readjusted around the normal values in hyperlipidemic and hypercholesterolemic rats by the improvements of the present lipotropic factors and antioxidative agents in unpeeled lentil, apple and parsley by which hyperlipidemia and hypercholesterolemia were alleviated.

Callus and cell culture could not only be an alternate continue source of proteins, but could also be a useful and important model system to study their regulation and biosynthesis so, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of different combinations of 2,4 dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2, 4-D) with kinetin (kin) and Benzyl Adenine (BA) with ?-Naphthalene Acetic Acid (NAA) on: (1) the percentage of callus frequency and (2) protein profiles of Citrulluscolocynthis stems, leaves and roots derived callus cultures. The present results reported that the highest percentage of callus frequency (98.9%) was obtained from stem callus grown on MS media supplemented with (1.0 mg L-1) 2, 4-D + (1.0 mg L-1) kin. Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS) Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (PAGE) analysis of total soluble protein revealed expression of new protein band (65 kDa) only in stem derived callus cultured on MS media supplemented with (6.0 mg L-1) 2, 4-D + (2.0 mg L-1) kin. Leaf derived callus cultured on MS media supplemented with (2.0 mg L-1) 2, 4-D + (1.0 mg L-1) kin showed new protein bands with molecular weight 112 kDa. Moreover, the root derived callus revealed expression of new protein band (82 kDa) with MS media supplemented with(6.0 mg L-1) 2, 4-D + (2.0 mg L-1) kin. However, MS media supplemented with (0.01 mg L-1) BA + (1.0 mg L-1) NAA exhibit new protein band (72 kDa) in the root derived callus.

Plastic products have gained universal uses not only in food, clothing and shelter, but also in the transportation, construction, medical and leisure industries. There is a growing demand for biobased and biodegradable polymers as a solution to problems concerning the energy resources, the global environment and the solid waste management. Research on biobased and biodegradable plastics and polymers has been carried out worldwide with the aim of achieving a balance between human activities and the natural environments.

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Through the jugular foramen.The intracranial dorsal vagal ramus arises from the vagal root and enters its own ganglion. It anastomoses with the posterior lateral line nerve.The vagus nerve divides into three branchial trunks and a truncus visceralis.Each branchial vagal trunk has an epibranchial ganglion. Distal to the ganglion each trunk branches into rami pharyngeus, anterior and posterior pretrematic and a posttrematic. The first branchial vagal trunk anastomoses with the vagal sympathetic ganglion.The nervus vagus carries general somatic sensory fibres to the skin, general viscerosensory fibres to the pharyngeal epithelium, special viscerosensory fibres to the gill rackers and the taste buds and visceromotor fibres to the levators and the adductor arcuales branchiales and the obliquus ventrales muscles of the second, third and fourth holobranchs and transversus dorsalis and ventralis muscles.In addition it also carries vegetative fibres (parasympathetic) for the blood vessels and the muscles of the gill filaments.

Purpose: To investigate preoperative aqueous flare as a predictive factor for proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) redetachment in patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment.

The reaction of the new enaminone 2 with ?-ketohydrazonoyl chlorides 3 afforded 5-(pyrazol-4-yl)-carbonyl-2-benzoylimino-1,3,4-thiadiazoles 5. Treatment of 5a with hydrazine hydrate led to formation of pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyridazine derivatives 8. The reaction of enaminone 2 with 6-amino-2-thioxopyrimidin-4-one 9 in acetic acid under reflux produced 2-thioxopyridopyrimidinone derivative 10. The latter compound or its methylthio derivative 15 reacts with hydrazonoyl chlorides 3 to give pyridotriazolopyrimidine derivatives 14. The newly synthesized compounds 2, 5, 8 and 14 were tested for their anti-alzheimer activity, and the results which obtained revealed their potency as drugs for Alzheimer disease.

Cyanoacetylhydrazine reacted with thex-bromoacetophenones 2a,b to give hydrazide-hydrazone deriv-atives 3a,b . The latter products were cyclized to the 1,3,4-oxadiazine derivatives 4a,b . Bromination of the latter products gave the 6-bromo-6H -1,3,4-oxadiazine derivatives 5a,b which underwent a series of cross-coupling reactions. The antitumor evaluation of the newly synthesized products against the three cancer cells namely breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7), non-small cell lung cancer (NCI-H460) and CNS can-cer (SF-268) showed that some of them have high inhibitory effect towards three cell lines which is higher than the standard. Moreover, the anti-leishmanial activity of the newly synthesized product was tested onLeishmania donovani amastigotes showed that some compounds have high activity.

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The antioxidant activity of water extracts (cold and hot) of six caffeine products were carried out. The extracts were screened for total polyphenol contents and antioxidant activity using DPPH, ABTS methods and reducing power method at 50 and 100 ?g/ml after 15 and 30 min using BHA and Caffeine as standard compounds. The results indicated that, the hot water extracts for different caffeine products showed high antioxidant activity more than cold extracts and this activity was time and concentration dependent. In addition, the activity was higher against ABTS radical more than DPPH and reducing power methods. Also, there is positive correlation between the antioxidant and reducing compounds presented in water extracts of different caffeine products. The results of HPLC showed that fresh tea leaves are rich in flavanol monomers known as catechins. The most abundant catechin derivatives in green tea are EGC, EGCG and GC. On the other hand, EGCG and GC are major catechin derivative in different caffeine product except El-Fakher tea and Cacao. Generally, these beverages had high antioxidant capacities and total phenolic contents and could be important dietary sources of antioxidant phenolic for prevention of diseases caused by oxidative stress.

The objective of the present study was to investigate the antioxidant and immunostimulating activities of two yeast autolysates (baker's yeast and active dry yeast) using various methods. In this study, total glutathione content was determined in both yeast autolysates. Antioxidant activity of both yeast autolysates was evaluated by various assays, including total antioxidant capacity, reducing power, DPPH radical scavenging, nitric oxide scavenging, hydroxyl radical scavenging and metal ion chelating activities. The immunostimulating activity of both yeast autolysates was evaluated using rat splenocyte proliferation by the colorimetric MTT assay.