Mohamed Zaki

Noninvasive assessment of liver fibrosis using aspartate transaminase to platelet ratio index (APRI) in adult patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) (1). They performed their tests on adults with chronic hepatitis C (CHC), B (CHB), and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We definitely need to develop serological markers that have satisfactory sensitivity, specificity, and high predictive values, which can be used either instead of liver biopsy or to reduce the frequency of needed biopsies for monitoring the evolution of CHC and defining the right moment for commencing treatment. Despite the study results showing that APRI has an acceptable accuracy for the assessment of liver fibrosis in adults with CHC and NAFLD, this was not the case in CHB patients. We believe that the study results would have been more valid if the researchers have used a combination of non-invasive tests to assess liver fibrosis.

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This study deals with the ciliary ganglion of three species of birds belonging to three different orders and families. The fully formed embryos are collected from the fertilized eggs in lab. The heads were fixed, embedded in paraffin, then sectioned serially and stained. The ciliary ganglia were examined by the light microscope.

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Theileriaequi is a tick-borne hemoprotozoan parasite and one of the causative agents of equinepiroplasmosis. Blood is collected from a total of 100 horses. Three diagnostic methods: microscopicalexamination, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR), were comparedin detecting T. equi. The results showed that the prevalence rate of T. equi in examined horses was 18%, 30%and 26% by using microscopic examination, ELISA and PCR, respectively.Clinical, hematological andbiochemical studies were evaluated in examined horses. Significant decrease in hematological parameters wasobserved along with an increase in some biochemical parameters. The results of PCR assay showed itsimportance in the diagnosis of the carrier infected cases more than with the conventional techniques.The microscopic examination was used only in acute cases of the disease.

The effects of methanolic extracts of Juniperus phoenicea and Hyphaene thebaica on carbohydrate metabolism of male streptozotocin-treated diabetic rats were studied. Blood glucose, liver glycogen and the activities of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), hexokinase (HK) and pyruvate kinase (PK) as well as the contents of pyruvate and lactate were determined in brain, liver and kidney tissues of the experimental animals. The ingestion of both methanolic extracts significantly reduced the high level of blood glucose but elevated the liver glycogen content of the diabetic rats. PK activity reached the highest values in liver and kidneys but brain showed the minimal stimulation. HK activity had nearly the same trend as that of PK. In case of LDH, the activity was also stimulated in the examined organs of the treated animals. In addition, pyruvate contents were significantly decreased.