Breast cancer is a dangerous type of cancer in women. Quercetin (QRT), a naturally occurring flavonoid, has wide biological effects including antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, antiallergic, and antiviral activities. The anticancer activity is considered the most valuable effect of QRT against several types of cancer, including prostate, liver, lung, colon, and breast cancer. Scorpion venom peptides (SV) has been found to induce apoptosis and aggravate cancer cells, making it a promising anticancer agent. QRT, SV, and Phospholipon 90H (PL) were incorporated in a nano-based delivery platform to assess QRT's cellular uptake and antiproliferative efficacy against a lung cancer cell line derived from human breast cancer cells MCF-7. Several nanovesicles were prepared and optimized, using four-factor Box-Behnken, in an experimental design. The optimized phytosomes showed vesicle size and zeta potential values of 116.9 nm and 31.5 mV, respectively. The IC50 values revealed that MCF-7 cells were significantly more sensitive to the optimized QRT formula than the plain formula and raw QRT. Cell cycle analysis revealed that optimized QRT formula treatment resulted in significant cell cycle arrest at the S phase. The results also indicated that treatment with QRT formula significantly increased caspase-9, Bax, Bcl-2, and p53 mRNA expression, compared with the plain formula and QRT. In terms of the inflammatory markers, the QRT formula significantly reduced the activity of TNF-α and NF-κB, in comparison with the plain formula and QRT only. Overall, the findings from the study proved that a QRT formulation could be a promising therapeutic approach for the treatment of breast cancer.

The scope of this study was twofold: to define the most suitable Egypt's biodiesel source, and to assess the impact of this biodiesel source with the addition of carbon nano additives on diesel engine performance and emissions. Environmental Key Performance Indicators were used as metrics to identify the appropriate biodiesel source with respect to several criteria including environmental, economic, ecological, and demographic situation. The most suitable Egypt's biodiesel source was identified from different sources including algae, Jatropha, coffee waste, rice straw, sugarcane, and switchgrass. Then, the production process of biodiesel from this renewable source by transesterification was carried out using chemical catalyst or biocatalyst. Following this, this source's impact with carbon nano additives on the performance and emissions of a 0.825-L single-cylinder diesel engine was further examined at engine loads varying between 0 and 4 kW and 1500 rpm constant engine speed. The carbon nano additives were added at a different mass fractions of 25, 50 and 100 ppm to Jatropha biodiesel and diesel blend (20 % jatropha biodiesel+ 80 % diesel) by volume. The results showed Jatropha as the most efficient biodiesel source among all the tested fuels to be produced in Egypt. Furthermore, the experimental engine test results revealed that Jatropha biodiesel without and with carbon nano additives consistently has a higher brake thermal efficiency and lower brake specific fuel consumption in comparison to that of diesel fuel. Likewise, Jatropha biodiesel without and with carbon nano additives enhanced the engine performance and consequently reduced the exhaust emissions including CO, CO2, HC, NOx, and smoke in comparison to that of diesel fuel. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd

BACKGROUND: The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-related Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) continues to exist in the Middle East sporadically. Thorough investigations of the evolution of human coronaviruses (HCoVs) are urgently required. In the current study, we studied amplified fragments of ORF1a/b, Spike (S) gene, ORF3/4a, and ORF4b of four human MERS-CoV strains for tracking the evolution of MERS-CoV over time.

METHODS: RNA isolated from nasopharyngeal aspirate, sputum, and tracheal swabs/aspirates from hospitalized patients with suspected MERS-CoV infection were analyzed for amplification of nine variable genomic fragments. Sequence comparisons were done using different bioinformatics tools available.

RESULTS: Several mutations were identified in ORF1a/b, ORF3/4a and ORF4b, with the highest mutation rates in the S gene. Five codons; 4 in ORF1a and 1 in the S gene, were found to be under selective pressure. Characteristic amino acid changes, potentially hosted and year specific were defined across the S protein and in the receptor-binding domain Phylogenetic analysis using S gene sequence revealed clustering of MERS-CoV strains into three main clades, A, B and C with subdivision of with clade B into B1 to B4.

CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, MERS-CoV appears to continuously evolve. It is recommended that the molecular and pathobiological characteristics of future MERS-CoV strains should be analyzed on regular basis to prevent potential future outbreaks at early phases.

PURPOSE: Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in critically ill patients, and has been associated with more prolonged length of hospital stay and poor prognosis. Patients undergoing open-heart surgery are at higher risk due to the associated life-threatening postoperative complications. This study investigated the effect of alfacalcidol treatment on the length of hospital stay in patients undergoing valve-replacement surgery.

METHODS: This single-center, randomized, open-label, controlled trial was conducted at El-Demerdash Cardiac Academy Hospital (Cairo, Egypt), from April 2017 to January 2018. This study included adult patients undergoing valve-replacement surgery who were randomized to the intervention group (n = 47; alfacalcidol 2 μg/d started 48 h before surgery and continued throughout the hospital stay) or to the control group (n = 42). The primary end points were lengths of stay (LOS) in the intensive care unit (ICU) and in the hospital. Secondary end points were the prevalence of postoperative hospital-acquired infections, cardiac complications, and in-hospital mortality.

FINDINGS: A total of 86 patients were included in the final analysis, with 51 (59.3%) being vitamin D deficient on hospital admission. Treatment with alfacalcidol was associated with a statistically significant decrease in ICU LOS (hazard ratio = 1.61; 95% CI, 1.77-2.81; P = 0.041) and hospital LOS (hazard ratio = 1.63; 95% CI, 1.04-2.55; P = 0.034). Treated patients had a significantly lower postoperative infection rate than did the control group (35.5% vs 56.1%; P = 0.017). The median epinephrine dose was lower in the intervention group compared to that in the control group (5.9 vs 8.2 mg; P = 0.019). The rate of in-hospital mortality was not significantly different between the 2 groups.

IMPLICATIONS: Early treatment with 2 μg of alfacalcidol in patients undergoing valve-replacement surgery is promising and well tolerated. This effect may be attributed to its immunomodulatory and cardioprotective mechanisms. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04085770.

BACKGROUND: Minimally invasive endoscopic hematoma evacuation is a promising treatment option for intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). However, the technique still needs improvement.

METHODS: We report our early clinical experience of using this technique to evacuate supratentorial spontaneous intracerebral hematomas and evaluate its short-term outcomes.

RESULTS: The study included 15 patients, basal ganglia hematoma was the most common location 62.5%, mean preoperative hematoma volume was 61.07 cc, mean ICH score was 3, and mean rate of hematoma evacuation was 89.27%. Factors that could be related to mortality were Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) on admission ( = 0.001), ICH score ( = 0.004); postoperative GCS ( < 0.001), postoperative hematoma volume ( = 0.006); intraventricular extension ( = 0.001), and rate of evacuation ( = 0.001).

CONCLUSION: Endoscopic technique is a safe surgical option for evacuation of spontaneous supratentorial ICH. This minimally invasive technique could be helpful to provide better short-term outcomes for selected patients. However, in our experience, this minimally invasive technique did not change the outcome for cases presented with poor GCS on admission 4/15. Our results warrant a future prospective, randomized, controlled efficacy trial.