Ashraf Abu-Seida

Background: Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease that affect all aspects of the patients’ life causing multiple progressive symptoms; most common fatigue which leads to dependency of patients on their family for carrying out their daily routine activities. Aim: The present study aims at evaluating the effect of an educational program on fatigue level among multiple sclerosis patients. Design: A quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest was used. Setting: the study was conducted in multiple sclerosis outpatient clinic in El-Kasr El-Eini University Hospital. Sample: A convenient sample of (250) multiple sclerosis patients. Tools: Two tools were used: first tool was Structured MS patient dietary knowledge questionnaire, second tool was The Arabic Version of Modified Fatigue Impact Scale. Results: Showed a highly statistical negative correlation between dietary knowledge and cognitive, psychosocial fatigue among MS patients in pre, post and 3 months after implementation of the program. Conclusions: The results of this study indicated that MS patients' dietary knowledge improved after application of the educational program as well as there was a decline in MS patients' fatigue level with statically significance differences between pre, post and 3 months after application of the program. Recommendation: Dissemination of dietary knowledge program among other multiple sclerosis patients. Keywords: Multiple sclerosis patients, dietary knowledge, fatigue

This study was aimed to evaluate the toxicological and biological effects of three nanoparticles (silver, hydrophilic and hydrophobic silica) at four concentrations (100, 200, 400 and 800 ppm) against 1st instar larvae of Sesamia cretica Lederer, 1857 and its effects on some maize characters. Each concentration and control was repeated 4 times (10 larvae/replicate). Larvae were fed on treated stem maize and mortality rate was recorded. After treatment with LC50 values, the survival larvae were collected and the larval duration, pupal duration, pupal weight, pupation percentage and adult longevity were recorded. Seedling maize plants were sprayed with three concentrations (50, 100 and 200 ppm) at 4 categories (every 1, 3, 7 and 14 days) to detect the effect of nanoparticles on leaf area, extended height and leaf chlorophyll content. Results showed that hydrophilic silica nanoparticle was the most effective, followed by silver nanoparticle then hydrophobic silica nanoparticle with LC50 121.19, 405.71 and 416.82 ppm, respectively. All nanoparticles led to increase in larval durations, reduction of egg number per female and decrease of eggs hatchability rate. All nanoparticles caused positive effect on leaf area, extended height and chlorophyll content. These nanoparticles may be recommended to control S. cretica with positive effects on plant characters.

Fibrosis is a common outcome of nearly all chronic diseases of liver that results in changes of its functions which requires medical attention. The current research aims to investigate the potential anti-fibrotic efficacy of Carvacrol against thioacetamide (TAA)-induced liver fibrosis in male rats using Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) as a reference anti-fibrotic product. Carvacrol (25 and 50 mg/kg) markedly declined TAA-increased serum liver enzymes; alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) as well as total bilirubin (TB) and direct bilirubin (DB) levels as well as increased levels of total protein (TP) and albumin. Carvacrol significantly reduced glutathione depletion (GSH), Nitric oxide (NO X) and malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation in liver tissue. Additionally, its anti-oxidant effect brightened up via affecting markers of stress found in the cell as nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf-2) where it still had high content and decreased Thioredoxin (Trx) level. The anti-inflammatory effect of Carvacrol was confirmed by decreasing nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB), interleukin-1beta (IL-1b) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) contents. Carvacrol showed anti-fibrotic effect clarified by turning down fibrosis-related markers; TGF-b1, matrix metalloproteinase-3 and 9 (MMP-3 and 9) and Autotaxin (ATX) contents. Furthermore, it decreased alpha smooth muscle actin (a-SMA) and caspase-3 immune-expression. The overall outcome of aforementioned markers results showed that Carvacrol suppresses the progression of liver fibrosis via its anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic effect and its ability in lowering Thioredoxin and Autotaxin; hence it can be categorized as a hepatoprotective natural substance.

AbstractBackground: The diagnosis of preeclampsia (PE) is based on the measurement of maternal blood pressure and proteinuria; however, these parameters are not used in the prediction of adverse fetal outcomes that may occur due to fetal stress. The plasma concentrations of total cell-free DNA (cf-DNA), cell-free fetal DNA (cff-DNA) and soluble endoglin (sEng) are higher in women with established PE than in normotensive controls, and the increase is particularly marked in those with severe PE. We aimed to evaluate the levels of cf-DNA, cff-DNA and sEng in pregnant Egyptian women with PE in order to assess the severity of the disease and to detect their potential utility in the future prediction of time of delivery and adverse fetal outcome.
Subjects and methods: The study included 107 pregnant females with established PE during their third trimester (51 with mild PE and 56 with severe PE), together with 93 normotensive pregnant women. Absolute quantitation of the hemoglobin subunit beta (HBB) and testis-specific protein, Y-linked 1 (TSPY1) genes for the measurement of cf-DNA and cff-DNA in maternal blood, respectively, was carried out using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) together with the measurement of serum sEng using ELISA.
Results: An almost twofold increase in cf-DNA and cff-DNA was detected in the severe PE group over the mild group, and both were significantly different from the control group. Significantly higher levels of cf-DNA, cff-DNA and sEng, with variable magnitudes, were detected in the preterm labor and unfavorable fetal outcome groups compared with the term and favorable outcome groups, respectively. The three markers were almost equivalent with regard to the area under the curve for predicting adverse fetal outcome in the severe PE group. The same was also true for cf-DNA and cff-DNA within the mild PE group.
Conclusions: Incorporation of cf-DNA, cff-DNA and sEng into the prenatal care service should be considered as a serious addition for the screening and detection of adverse pregnancy outcomes in view of their significant elevations in cases of preeclamptic women whose babies ultimately suffered a poor outcome.

BACKGROUND: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 presents an urgent threat to global health. As the epidemic grows, prognosis prediction is essential for monitoring risky patient. It is thus important to consider gastrointestinal manifestations and the duration of symptoms as predictors of prognosis. Our aim was to determine the correlation of gastrointestinal symptoms and laboratory markers with disease outcomes and whether symptom duration varies substantially between patients. We also undertook this study to determine the optimal time to predict COVID-19 outcome. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 190 patients with polymerase chain reaction-confirmed COVID-19 were followed up until recovery. We proposed a correlation between gastrointestinal symptoms and disease severity (based on clinical data, and diagnostic investigations) to estimate the duration of symptoms as a predictor of COVID-19 prognosis. RESULTS: The prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms was 49.5%, consisting mainly of diarrhea in 27.9% of patients. In addition, a longer disease duration and higher temperature were observed in patients with diarrhea. Symptom duration was variable, with a median of 12 days and a range of 1-55 days. Statistical analysis indicated that patients with a duration of symptoms ≥12 day had more severe symptoms and a worse prognosis. Patients who complained of diarrhea had 2.7 times the odds of a longer duration of symptoms, and those with a history of chronic lung disease have 7.2 times the odds of a longer duration of symptoms. CONCLUSION: GIT manifestations (mainly diarrhea) and the duration of symptoms of COVID-19 provide prognostic evidence of COVID-19 outcomes, irrespective of earlier categorization by the World Health Organization. Thus, patients with mild symptoms who present with diarrhea and a duration of symptoms longer than 12 days are expected to have a worse prognosis.

A few studies have demonstrated a degradation in the performance of the steel-fibers in bridging cracks over the lifetime of steel-fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) structures but only considered for constant amplitude cyclic loading. However, SFRC structures in practice are subjected to variable amplitude loading, thus their crack-bridging would be influenced by the preceding loading history. This concern has so far remained unexplored. This study presents experimental and analytical flexural cyclic responses of SFRC structural beams under constant and variable amplitudes. The crack-bridging stresses are evaluated using a proposed inverse method based on sectional analysis calculations. Besides, the maximum rebar strain level is correlated with the crack-bridging degradation law, aiming at reflecting the beam’s macroscopic response. The results show that crack-bridging stress increases if the fatigue load level increases, indicating that new fibers play a role in bridging cracks along the crack length. Further, decreasing the fatigue load level leads to an instant decrease in crack-bridging, which is followed by a stabilization as the pullout stress applied to the bridging fibers is reduced. Finally, a diagram of crack-bridging degradation and evolution is proposed regarding the maximum rebar strain, which is supposed to be a valuable tool in the SFRC structural design.

Levan is an industrially important, functional biopolymer with considerable applications in the food and pharmaceutical fields owing to its safety and biocompatibility. Here, levan-type exopolysaccharide produced by Pantoea agglomerans ZMR7 was purified by cold ethanol precipitation and characterized using TLC, FTIR, 1H, and 13C NMR spectroscopy. The maximum production of levan (28.4 g/l) was achieved when sucrose and ammonium chloride were used as carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively, at 35°C and an initial pH of 8.0. Some biomedical applications of levan like antitumor, antiparasitic, and antioxidant activities were investigated in vitro. The results revealed the ability of levan at different concentrations to decrease the viability of rhabdomyosarcoma and breast cancer cells compared with untreated cancer cells. Levan appeared also to have high antiparasitic activity against the promastigote of Leishmania tropica. Furthermore, levan had strong DPPH radical scavenging (antioxidant) activity. These findings suggest that levan produced by P. agglomerans ZMR7 can serve as a natural biopolymer candidate for the pharmaceutical and medical fields.

Levan is an industrially important, functional biopolymer with considerable applications in the food and pharmaceutical fields owing to its safety and biocompatibility. Here, levan-type exopolysaccharide produced by Pantoea agglomerans ZMR7 was purified by cold ethanol precipitation and characterized using TLC, FTIR, 1H, and 13C NMR spectroscopy. The maximum production of levan (28.4 g/l) was achieved when sucrose and ammonium chloride were used as carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively, at 35°C and an initial pH of 8.0. Some biomedical applications of levan like antitumor, antiparasitic, and antioxidant activities were investigated in vitro. The results revealed the ability of levan at different concentrations to decrease the viability of rhabdomyosarcoma and breast cancer cells compared with untreated cancer cells. Levan appeared also to have high antiparasitic activity against the promastigote of Leishmania tropica. Furthermore, levan had strong DPPH radical scavenging (antioxidant) activity. These findings suggest that levan produced by P. agglomerans ZMR7 can serve as a natural biopolymer candidate for the pharmaceutical and medical fields.

Background:Hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) is an increasingly recognized form of diffuse parenchymal lung disease. Krebs von den Lungen-6 (KL-6) is now classified as a human MUC1 mucin protein, and regenerating type II pneumocytes are the primary cellular source of KL-6/MUC1 in the affected lungs of patients with ILD. Serum KL-6/MUC1 levels have been demonstrated to be useful for evaluating various ILD.
Objective:
To determine the role of circulating KL-6 in evaluating the disease activity and management of HP.
Methods:
An observational cross-sectional study was conducted on 51 patients with HP. Serum KL-6 levels were measured. Patients were further assessed by chest high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT), pulmonary function tests, six-minute walk test, echocardiography, bronchioalveolar lavage, and/or transbronchial biopsy. Patients were divided into the fibrotic and non-fibrotic groups according to the HRCT findings.
Results:
The median serum KL-6 levels were significantly higher in HP patients as compared to the control group. The median serum KL-6 levels were found to be higher in the non -fibrotic HP group (1900 IU/mL) as compared to the fibrotic group (1200 IU/mL). There was a significant inverse correlation between serum KL-6 serum level and the dose of steroids as well as duration of steroid therapy.
Conclusion:
The presence of higher KL-6 levels in the non-fibrotic HP group implies its enhanced production by regenerating pneumocytes in response to alveolar injury. The significant association between serum KL-6 levels and the dose and the duration of steroid therapy emphasized the important role of steroids in stabilization of the disease.

Cancer is still one of the deadly diseases worldwide and the need for naturally-derived effectors is a pursued aim in health research. With the outstanding ability to bypass the host’s various defense mechanisms, tick saliva constitutes an interesting rich source for the discovery of therapeutically-valuable molecules. Therefore, the present work aimed to evaluate the anti-tumor potential of Hyalomma dromedarii salivary glands extract (SGE). Three cell lines were used in this study, namely HCT116 (colorectal cancer), A549 (lung cancer) and HFB4 (normal skin) cells. MTT assay and light microscopy revealed significant dose-dependent inhibition of proliferation with obvious morphological changes in tested cell lines. Colon cells exhibited more sensitivity than lung ones, therefore they were selected for further investigations. Although cytotoxic effects were observed in treated-HFB4 cells, its IC50 value was much higher than that of HCT116 cells. Flow cytometry analysis of treated HCT116 cells showed accumulation of cellular DNA at the G2/M phase and induction of apoptosis. In addition, RT-qPCR indicated down-regulation in the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2), transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) genes. These results demonstrated that H. dromedarii SGE has anti-proliferative, apoptotic and anti-angiogenic potential. Also, they open perspectives for characterization of effective molecules that could be used in developing treatments for colorectal cancer. Further investigations are required to identify the mechanisms, molecules and signaling pathways involved in the inhibitory effect of the SGE.

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) have a vital role as pollinators of various crops in the global food supply. Honeybee colonies in Egypt have recently experienced an unexplained rise in annual loss due to a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). In the current study, honey bees were collected from 14 sites from eight governorates in Egypt. The genetic diversity among the collected honey bee populations was investigated using the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI). The amplified COI regions were sequenced, analyzed and aligned with other GenBank entries. The nucleotide variability of the CO1 gene was estimated. Multiple viral, varroa mites as well as Nosema ceranae infections were tested in honey bee populations using conventional and RT-qPCR. Based on sequence analysis of the COI, six clearly separated mitotypes were characterized for the first time in these sites in Egypt. Sequence analyses showed that most mitotypes belonged to the A lineage and are very close to the Egyptian native bees, A. m. lamarckii found in the gene databank (NCBI) with 98% similarity. Low genetic diversity between the collected samples was observed. Our results elucidated the detection of Nosema cerana; deformed wing virus (DWV), kakugo virus (KV), black queen/cell virus (BQCV), Israel acute paralysis virus (IAPV), varroa destructor virus-1 (VDV-1) and VDV-1/DWV virus in all regions under investigation in addition to varroa mites. These findings highlighted the importance to maintain proper quarantine measures as well as identify the spectrum of exogenous infectious agents in healthy hives over time which would help in developing more effective control and treatment programs against honey bee viruses and pathogens to facilitate efficient breeding programs and establish a more booming beekeeping industry.

The driving patterns in developing countries, especially in metropolitan cities, are significantly different from those in developed countries or less-populated cities. However, most of the vehicles driven in these cities are tested using driving cycles that do not match those special driving characteristics, typically resulting in an underestimation or overestimation of the emission rates. In this study, a first driving cycle of passenger cars with gasoline engines is proposed for Greater Cairo, Egypt, based on a very large and diverse dataset of high-resolution onboard measurements, recorded using 87 cars driven in 10 distinctive areas in Greater Cairo. Two global driving cycles have been developed based on the commonly used K-means and the newly suggested K-medoids clustering techniques. The developed cycle based on the K-medoids algorithm, which was found more representative of the collected data, is a time series of speed, ~1500 s, covering a distance of ~5.4 km, with an average speed of 12.480 km/h, where 16.3% of the total duration spent in the idling mode. The superiority of the developed cycle over two commonly used cycles, namely the American transient FTP-75 cycle and the European modal ECE cycle, in terms of estimated fuel consumption and emission rates, is reported.

Myrosinase hydrolyzes glucosinolates giving various products depending on the physiological conditions. The hydrolysis products especially isothiocyanates have antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer activity, act as soil biofumigant, natural pesticides and food preservatives. Myrosinase is mainly found in cruciferous plants but few literatures reported its production by both fungi and bacteria. In this study, fifty eight fungal species were isolated from Eruca sativa and its soil (endophytic isolates from root and leaves, epiphytic isolates and rhizosphere soil isolates) and screened for myrosinase activity. About thirty six isolates (62.07% of the screened fungal isolates) were able to produce myrosinase. Isolates that exhibited myrosinase activity were 79.3% of the rhizosphere soil isolates (twenty one isolates), 63.64% of the epiphytic isolates (seven isolates), 50% of the root endophytic isolates (five isolates) and 37.5% of leaves endophytic isolates (three isolates) exhibited myrosinase activity. They belonged to the genera Aspergillus, Penicellium, Fusarium, Eumericella, Alternaria and Sclerotium. Eumericella violacea and Fusarium dimerium represented the highest percentage among myrosinase producers with 16.67%, followed with Aspergillus parasiticus, Aspergillus fumigates and Penicellium echinulatum with 8.33%. Quantitative screening indicated that Eumericella violacae (an isolate from the rhizosphere soil of E.sativa) produced the highest myrosinase activity with value15.23±0.62 U/ml.

Catalysis using supported gold nanoparticles has attracted significant research interest due to their unique properties and potential that is directly related to their particle size. An efficient one-pot, three-component procedure is developed for the preparation of pyrimido[4,5-b][1,6]naphthyridin-4(1H)-one derivatives (4a-h) by cyclocondensation of 6-amino-2-thioxo-2,3-dihydropyrimidin-4(1H)-one (1), aromatic aldehydes (2), and 1-benzylpiperidin-4-one (3) in the presence of zeolite-nano Au as a green catalyst in ethanol at 80 °C. The presented methodology has a number of advantages including a reusable catalyst, easy access, short reaction times, high yields, and an easy work-up. The nanogold catalyst is characterized by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The structures of the prepared compounds are established by elemental analyses and spectral data (infrared, mass spectrometry, 1 H, and 13 C NMR). While molecular docking studies show that products 4a and 4c have binding affinities with the active site of CDKs. A bio-evaluation assay revealed that some of the products exhibit strong to moderate effects against proliferation of Huh7 in an in vitro model of human liver cancer cells as confirmed by morphological alteration. Compounds 4c and 4a offer the lowest IC 50 values at 22.5 and 39 µM, respectively.

Vitrification is an economically effective method for embryo cryopreservation in human and livestock animals; however, it carries the risk of damage by the exposure to severe oxidative stress. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of leptin at different levels on the in vitro development of fresh and vitrified preimplantation embryos in a rabbit model. Normal embryos at morulae stage were randomly cultured for 2 h with 0, 10, 20 or 100 ng/mL of leptin, then were cultured for further 48 h as freshly or after vitrification. Thereafter, developed blastocysts form the best leptin level in fresh and vitrified embryos along with their controls were allocated to analyze the pro-oxidant (malondialdehyde, MDA; nitric oxide, NO), antioxidant (total antioxidant capacity, TAC; superoxide dismutase, SOD; glutathione peroxidase, GPx), apoptotic (Bcl-2 associated X protein, BAX; heat shock 60kD protein member 1, HSP60; tumor necrosis factor alpha, TNFα) and developmental (sex determining region Y box protein 2, SOX2; Nanog homeobox protein, NANOG; Octamer-binding protein 4, OCT4) biomarkers. Results indicate that expanding and hatching rates of embryos were significantly higher at 20 ng/mL leptin than the other levels, while vitrification had an independent suppression effect on the in vitro development rates. The MDA and NO were significantly higher, while TAC, SOD and GPx were significantly lower in the vitrified than fresh embryos. In contrast, leptin treatment significantly decreased the pro-oxidant biomarkers and increased the antioxidant biomarkers in both fresh and vitrified embryos. Vitrification significantly increased the antiapoptotic biomarkers, and decreased the developmental biomarkers in embryos. In contrast, leptin decreased the BAX and TNFα, increased the HSP60, and moreover, ameliorated the reduction of developmental biomarkers in the vitrified embryos. These results conclude that leptin could be used as antiapoptotic and antioxidant promotor to support the in vitro embryonic development, particularly under oxidative stress emerged from cryopreservation programs.

Herbs and spices are food crops susceptible to contamination by toxigenic fungi. Ozone, as a decontamination approach in the industry, has attractive benefits over traditional food preservation practices. A contribution to the studying of ozone as an antifungal and antmycotoxigenic agent in herbs and spices storage processes is achieved in this research. Nine powdered sun-dried herbs and spices were analyzed for their fungal contamination. The results indicate that licorice root and peppermint leaves were found to have the highest population of fungi while black cumin and fennel record the lowest population. The most dominant fungal genera are Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium, and Rhizopus. Ozone treatment was performed at a concentration of 3 ppm applied for exposure times of 0, 30, 90, 150, 210, and 280 minutes. After 280 minutes of exposure to ozone, the reduction of fungal count ranged from 96.39 to 98.26%. The maximum reduction in spore production was achieved in the case of A. humicola and Trichderma viride exposed for 210 minutes ozone gas. There was a remarkable reduction in the production of the total mycotoxin, reaching 24.15% in aflatoxins for the 150 minutes-treated inoculum in the case of A. flavus. The total volume of essential oil of chamomile and peppermint was reduced by 57.14 and 26.67%, respectively, when exposed to 3ppm.For 280 minutes
In conclusion, fumigation with ozone gas can be used as a suitable method for achieving sanitation and decreasing microbial load in herbs and spices. Still, it is crucial to provide precautions on ozone's effect on major active constituents before recommending this method for industrial application.

PURPOSE The eye and its adnexal structures can give rise to first or consecutive primary malignancies or to encounter metastasis. Our aim was to define the characteristics of the second primary neoplasms affecting the eye and its adnexa and find the risk modifying factors for them after malignancies elsewhere in the body. METHODS We have queried the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End-Results "SEER"-9 program of the National Cancer Institute for the malignancies of the eye and its adnexa that occurred between 1973 and 2015. The malignancies were ordered chronologically according to their incidence: first or second primary malignancies. The tumors were classified according to ICD-O-3 classification. Standardized incidence ratios (SIR) and survival probabilities were calculated for subgroups. RESULTS Among 3,578,950 cancer patients, 1203 experienced a second malignancies of the eye and its adnexa. The first malignancy was diagnosed between 50 and 69 years of age in 58.94% of them. The eyelid showed 280 events, while 50 in lacrimal gland, 181 in the orbit, 21 in the overlapping lesions, 15 in optic nerve, 148 in the conjunctiva, 9 in the cornea, 6 in the Retina, 379 in the choroid, and 93 in the ciliary body. The SIR of a second malignancy after a prior non-Hodgkin lymphoma was 2.42, and in case of previous skin carcinomas it was 3.02, melanoma of skin, and 2.13 and 1.58 in oral cavity/pharynx malignancies. The second ocular and adnexal neoplasms increased steadily over the 5-year periods on contrary to first primary neoplasms. The survival of patients affected with first ocular and adnexal neoplasms was significantly higher than those with second ocular and adnexal neoplasms. On the other side, second primary ocular and adnexal tumors showed a better survival than second primary malignancies elsewhere. CONCLUSIONS The epidemiological differences between first and second ocular and adnexal primaries suggest different underlying mechanisms. Careful ocular examination should be integrated in the long-term follow-up plan of cancer patients. Special attention should be given to patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and melanoma as first primary.

Background and study aimsThe diagnosis of schistosomiasis is based on serological determination of anti-schistosoma antibody and schistosoma antigen in serum and urine but the gold standard test is the microscopic detection of schistosoma eggs in urine and stool. However, there is an urgent demand to reach the elimination goal with higher sensitivity and specificity tools. This study aimed to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of anti-schistosoma antibody and schistosoma antigen in comparaison with rectal snip in the detection and prediction of eradication of schistosomiasis in previously and/or incidentaly diagnosed patients.
Patients and methods
Sixty patients were divided into 48 patients with ultrasound evidence of periportal fibrosis and non-calcified Schistosoma eggs detected microscopically in rectal snip biopsy and 12 control subjects with ultrasound evidence of periportal fibrosis only.
Results
Rectal snip was more sensitive than standard serological tests in the investigation for detection and eradication of schistosomiasis infection with 100% sensitivity when compared to the sensitivity of Schistosoma antigen (45.8%) and that of Schistosoma antibody (31.2%).
Conclusion
Patients presenting to tropical medicine clinics with periportal fibrosis and/or abdominal symptoms with history of close proximity to fresh water bodies should be assessed by serology for schistosomiasis infection especially in highly endemic area. Rectal snip sampling should be done for negative or relapsed cases to exclude infection and confirm schistosomiasis clearance.

The freshness and safety of table eggs are important features that affect consumers’ choices. A total of 210 fresh and stored table eggs were sampled from nine-layer hen flocks raised in 6 cage houses and 3-deep-litter houses. Egg measurements of external and internal quality were performed on 60 eggs, while the microbiological examination was performed on 150 eggs (every 3 eggs were examined as a composite). Additional samples from floor litter, cage swabs, feces, and ovaries were collected for bacteriological isolation. Molecular detection of genes encoding virulence factors in Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus isolates were performed by PCR. Results of egg quality measurements revealed significant reductions in specific gravity, albumin index, and Haugh unit of stored eggs when compared to fresh eggs (P < 0.05). Storing eggs either at > 25°C or within 20 -22°C led to the deterioration of egg quality parameters but didn’t affect microbial load when compared with fresh eggs (P > 0.05). Deep litter housing environment significantly raised the counts of aerobic bacteria (R2 = 0.70, P = 0.003), and Staphylococcus spp. (R2 = 0.91, P < 0.0001) on eggshells. Virulence genes stx1, eae, hlyA, and stx2 of E. coli were detected in feces, ovaries, and on eggshells of composites collected from cage houses. While Staphylococcus aureus MecA was detected on eggshells and internal content of egg composites collected from deep litter houses. Obtained results revealed the critical role of storage temperature on egg quality parameters, as well as, the great influence of the housing environment on the microbial profile of produced eggs. Regular monitoring and corrective control measures should be set to maintain egg quality and safety at acceptable levels.

Purpose As the popularity of Islamic banking and financial instruments continues to rise globally, a recurring empirical question is what specifically makes consumers choose Islamic banking. This paper aims to investigate the determinants of bank type selection, especially in culturally diverse settings where the Islamic banking sector is well-established. It further examines whether consumers’ gender/religion influences their choices. One intuitive prediction is that Muslim consumers opt for Islamic banking products as “ethical” because of conviction-related reasons. However, the reality is not necessarily straightforward. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses structural equation modeling to examine data collected from a survey questionnaire of 790 respondents in an emerging market setting. Further analysis is made based on gender and religion to remove related bias. Findings Results suggest that overall consumer awareness significantly affects the selection of Islamic banking products. The positive effect of awareness is more significant for Muslim consumers relative to non-Muslims. Interestingly, social stimuli and bank attributes have an insignificant effect on the banking choices of both Muslims and non-Muslims. Practical implications Results suggest that Islamic banks’ marketing managers should adopt differentiated strategies for men and women, focusing on the core benefits of the service or personal interactions with consumers, respectively, along with a focus on different aspects of personal service for each gender. Awareness should be enhanced by adopting informative and effective marketing strategies to attract and retain consumers in the competitive bank environment. Islamic banks (IB) should pay attention to the religious effect without considering it as the sole variable motivating potential customers. They should design segmented and customized marketing strategies based on gender-religion market segmentation to suit different groups’ needs. Originality/value The findings fill a gap in the literature and provide Islamic bankers with insights to help design and articulate their business strategies to appeal to consumers in a multicultural context. Examining an integral part of gender and religion mitigates biased estimates due to the omission of variables. The study contributes to the existing literature on customer preferences for IB with a relatively large, new data set.