Mohamed Zaki

The receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of RA through its ability to amplify inflammatory pathways. Aims of the work: (1) To evaluate the levels of soluble receptors of advanced glycated end products (sRAGE) as well as the gene variant among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). (2) To assess the association between the sRAGE level and the RAGE gene variants and to correlate the findings.

The ciliopathy Joubert syndrome is marked by cerebellar vermis hypoplasia, a phenotype for which the pathogenic mechanism is unclear. To investigate Joubert syndrome pathogenesis, we have examined mice with mutated Ahi1, the first identified Joubert syndrome-associated gene. These mice show cerebellar hypoplasia with a vermis-midline fusion defect early in development. This defect is concomitant with expansion of the roof plate and is also evident in a mouse mutant for another Joubert syndrome-associated gene, Cep290. Furthermore, fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of human subjects with Joubert syndrome reveals a similar midline cleft, suggesting parallel pathogenic mechanisms. Previous evidence has suggested a role for Jouberin (Jbn), the protein encoded by Ahi1, in canonical Wnt signaling. Consistent with this, we found decreased Wnt reporter activity at the site of hemisphere fusion in the developing cerebellum of Ahi1-mutant mice. This decrease was accompanied by reduced proliferation at the site of fusion. Finally, treatment with lithium, a Wnt pathway agonist, partially rescued this phenotype. Our findings implicate a defect in Wnt signaling in the cerebellar midline phenotype seen in Joubert syndrome that can be overcome with Wnt stimulation.

One of the most cost-effective approaches in precision farming is the managing of relatively contiguous homogeneous zones in the field. Soil samples were collected in a 3 ha field of the CRA-Cereal Research Centre’s experimental farm located in Foggia (southern Italy). Soil carbon mineralization indices and physical-chemical properties were interpolated by using the geostatistical techniques of kriging and co-kriging. The application of a clustering algorithm, based on a non-parametric density estimate, to the (co)kriged surface variables produced the subdivision of the field into four distinct classes. This information can be useful for the site-specific supply of nutrient inputs, in order to match crop requirements with intrinsic patterns of soil fertility.

Stem cells/progenitors play a crucial role in cell therapy approaches for vascular ischemic diseases by improvement of vascularization that can be achieved by promoting neovascularization. Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) has the ability to self-renew, circulate and differentiate into mature endothelial cells (ECs).
Human umbilical cord blood contains a large number of hematopoietic colony-forming cells with many of them expressing CD133 which represents a functional EPC population that plays a role in postnatal vasculogenesis. CD133 expression declines upon maturation to mature endothelial cells. So we tried here to investigate the endothelial differentiation ability of selected cord blood (CB) CD133 cells. Ten CB samples were subjected to mononuclear cell separation and CD133 isolation by a magnetic bead separation method. For induction of endothelial differentiation, isolated CD133 cells were subjected to liquid culture system using vascular endothelial growth factor. Evaluation of differentiation was done by flowcytometric analysis of CD133 and immunohistochemical detection of factor VIII related antigen. Absolute CD133 count was decreased after culture although it wasn’t significant, p=1.00. Detection of factor VIII related Ag expression was done proving in-vitro endothelial differentiation from CB cells.

Acridine and quinazoline derivatives represent important classes for the treatment of cancer. Many derivatives of them found to be tyrosine kinase inhibitors. In this work novel eight acridine-4-carboxamide and acridine-4- carboxylate derivatives were synthesized from quinazoline and acridine scaffolds. Six of the newly synthesized compounds were chosen by NCI for screening as anticancer. The activity of six compounds (8a-d, 9a and 9d) was tested using the national cancer institute NCI disease oriented antitumor screen protocol. Compound 8c was proved to be the most active member in this study. This acridine analog 8c could be considered as useful template for further development to obtain more potent antitumor agents. [Gehan H.Hegazy, Maha S. Almutairi, Ebtehal S. Al Abdullah. Design and Synthesis of Acridine-4-Carboxamide and Acridine-4- Carboxylate Derivatives as Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors.

A series of novel polyfunctionalized acyclic and heterocyclic dye precursors andtheir respective azo (hydrazone) counterpart dyes and dye precursors based on conjugateenaminones and/or enaminonitrile moieties were synthesized. The dyes and their precursorsare based on 2-cyano-N-(3-cyano-4,5,6,7-tetrahydrobenzo[b]thiophen-2-yl)-acetamide,2-ethoxycarbonyl-N-(3-cyano-4,5,6,7-tetrahydrobenzo[b]thiophen-2-yl)

Design and synthesis of some pyrazole derivatives 4-11 of expected anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities. In addition, docking of the tested compounds into cycloxygenase II using (MOE) was performed in order to rationalize the obtained biological results and their mechanism of action. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated by spectral and elemental analyses. All the new synthesized compounds were evaluated for their anti-inflammatory activity using the carrageenan-induced rat paw oedema method. Analgesic activity of the target compounds was measured using the p-benzoquinone writhing induced method and their ability to induce gastric toxicity was also evaluated. Results showed that the new synthesized compounds exhibited weak to good activities compared to ibuprofen and celecoxib as reference drugs. Some compounds, such 4a and 11b exhibited significant anti-inflammatory activity with gastric ulcerogenic potential less than that of ibuprofen. Analgesic activity' results showed that compounds possessing good anti-inflammatory activity showed also good analgesic. Substitution of pyrazole ring with at least one aryl moiety was found to be essential for anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities. Free NH (of pyrazole ring) and/or acidic group (COOH) will improve the anti-inflammatory activity.

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Perfect electromagnetic conductor (PEMC) is a novel concept in electromagnetic fields of interesting properties and many potential applications. This paper introduces a new technique to design an artificial surface that has equivalent PEMC properties. The proposed PEMC boundary is based on a periodic structure composed of two conducting patches on a grounded dielectric slab. One of them is embedded inside the substrate and the other lies on the surface of the substrate.

We theoretically study one dimensional binary SiO2/a-Si photonic crystals taking into consideration the dissipative nature of
amorphous Si. We suggest a method namely; “modified thickness” to control the band gaps central frequencies by
gradually changing the width of the alternating layers. We calculate the reflectance, transmittance and absorbance of light
based on the transfer matrix method. Calculations show that photonic band gaps can occur at the suggested central
frequency and its multiples. We discuss the limitations on the choice of the first central band gap frequency, thickness of
the a-Si layers and number of periods.

A series of 2,5,7-trisubstituted pyrimido[4,5-d]pyrimidine cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK2) inhibitors is designed and synthesized. 6-Amino-2-thiouracil is reacted with an aldehyde and thiourea to prepare the pyrimido[4,5-d]-pyrimidines. Alkylation and amination of the latter ones give different amino derivatives. These compounds show potent and selective CDK inhibitory activities and inhibit in vitro cellular proliferation in cultured human tumor cells.