Ashraf Abu-Seida

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the frequency, nature, and clinical significance of pharmacist interventions on over-the-counter (OTC) medicines with abuse potential across community pharmacies with and without virtual care. Methods: In this prospective observational study, a trained research team observed the dispensary teams of 12 community pharmacies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), 6 of which were operating virtual pharmacy care. A standardized data collection form was used to include information about dispensing of OTC medicines and pharmacist interventions on those with abuse/misuse potential. The clinical significance of the interventions was evaluated by a multidisciplinary committee. Results: The frequency of pharmacist interventions on OTC medicines with abuse potential across pharmacies with and without virtual services was 83.2% versus 91.0%, respectively, whereas the frequency of pharmacist interventions on OTC medicines with misuse potential across pharmacies with and without virtual services was 79.8% versus 41.2%, respectively. The proportions of clinically significant interventions across pharmacies with and without virtual services were 19.7% versus 10.5%, respectively. Cough medicines were dispensed significantly more across pharmacies with virtual care than across pharmacies without virtual care (25.6% vs. 9.7%, respectively; P = 0.04). Asking the patient to seek the advice of an addiction specialist (adjusted odds ratio = 4.11; P = 0.001) versus refusing to sell the drug was more likely to be associated with pharmacies with virtual services than with pharmacies operating traditional pharmacy services. Conclusion: Virtual pharmaceutical care is a potential approach to reduce the abuse/misuse of OTC medicines but needs some improvements regarding detection of these cases. The UAE is the first country in the region to implement and regulate virtual pharmacy practice. © 2021 American Pharmacists Association®

A field experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of different biochars on grain yield and phytoavailability and uptake of macro- and micro-nutrients by rice and wheat grown in a paddy soil in a rotation. Soil was treated with i) maize raw (un-washed) biochar (MRB), ii) maize water-washed biochar (MWB), iii) wheat raw biochar (WRB) or iv) wheat water-washed biochar (WWB) and untreated soil was used as control (CF). Inorganic fertilizers were applied to all soils while biochar treated soils received 20 ton ha−1 of designated biochar before rice cultivation in rice-wheat rotation. The WRB significantly (P < 0.05) increased rice grain yield and straw by up to 49%, compared to the CF. Biochar addition, particularly WRB, significantly increased the availability of N, P, K and their content in the grain (26–37%) and straw (22–37%) of rice and wheat. Also, the availability and grain content of Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu increased significantly after biochar addition, particularly after the WRB, due to WRB water dissolved C acting as a carrier for micronutrients in soil and plant. However, the water-washing process altered biochar properties, particularly the water extractable C, which decreased its efficiency. Both wheat- and maize-derived biochars, particularly the WRB, are recommended to improve nutrients availability and to improve grain yield in the rice-wheat rotation agro-ecosystem. These results shed light on the importance of crop straw transformation into an important source for soil C and nutrients necessary for sustainable management of wheat-rice agro-ecosystem. However, with the current and future alternative energy demands, the decision on using crop biomass for soil conservation or for bioenergy becomes a challenge reliant on regulatory and policy frameworks.

This work reports, for first time, on optically-driven white light emission from samarium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet ceramic, Sm-doped YAG. Nanocrystalline Sm-doped YAG sample has been prepared via co-precipitation method then transformed to bulk ceramic by sintering process using Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) technique. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) are used to characterize the crystal structure of the nanocrystals. The micro-grains of the obtained ceramic have been demonstrated by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Photoluminescence (PL) and cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopies have been performed on the ceramic sample. It is found that the PL spectral features are strongly dependent on the excitation wavelength. Remarkable PL spectral overlapping between bluish-green band and reddish-orange lines related to host defects/impurities and Sm ions, respectively, has been obtained. In addition, controlling the relative PL spectral contributions from the host-related emission and Sm ions has been achieved by changing the excitation wavelengths. This led to manipulate the emission color coordinates as investigated by chromaticity diagram. Moreover, under certain excitation wavelengths, an intense white emission is observed with a naked eye. The origin of the white emission has been discussed in light of specific PL spectral overlapping from the host and Sm ion contributions. This work emphasizes on the role played by the host defects/impurities in the optical properties of ceramic materials that can be exploited in several lighting applications.

Recent studies reported the association of the Zika virus (ZIKV) with a stress response receptor on the host cell membrane that facilitates viral entry. This host receptor was the heat shock protein A5 (HSPA5), also termed glucose-regulating protein 78 (GRP78). In this study, structural bioinformatics and molecular dynamics simulations were utilized to suggest the binding site of ZIKV envelope protein during the interaction with cell-surface GRP78. The Pep42 cyclic peptide was used as a profiler, as it was reported earlier, to target GRP78 on the cancer cell membrane selectively. Sequence and structural alignments show that part of the ZIKV envelope protein (C308-C339 region), in addition to its cyclic nature, has somehow sequence and structural similarities to the cyclic Pep42. Three amino acids in the ZIKV envelope were identical to those in the Pep42 peptide. Cyclic peptides dynamics are studied, and its binding to GRP78 is predicted. Protein-protein docking is further performed to explore the binding characteristics of the ZIKV envelope to GRP78. Results revealed that the binding was favorable between ZIKV envelope protein and GRP78. The docking pose revealed the involvement of the substrate-binding domain ß of GRP78 and the domain III of the ZIKV envelope protein in viral recognition for the host-cell. © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Municipal sewage, septic tanks, fertilizers, animal feedlots and irrigation wastewater are the common sources of groundwater pollution in rural areas. Sedimentation pools of wastewater treatment plants are possibly suggested to be another source of pollution. Twowastewater treatment plants located at Qalyubia governorate named Qalyub (QWTP) and Shubra Al-khayma (SHWTP) were selected to carry out the present study; two samples from influent and effluent were collected seasonally from both plants. Furthermore, 6 groundwater samples were collected from nearby rural houses of both plants. The physicochemical and microbiological properties were evaluated for all samples. Moreover, Box-PCR for 12 strains isolated from wastewater and groundwater at Qalyub district was carried out. Water quality assessment studies proven that the effectiveness of the two wastewater treatment plants under investigation is questionable, especially QWTP. The percentages of removing of TSS, COD, BOD, ammonia and fecal coliform counts were 87, 74, 88, 66, 94 and 89%, respectively, for QWTP, and 85, 89, 93, 86, 94 and 83%, respectively, for SHWTP. The groundwater at Qalyub district was contaminated with Mn, Fe, ammonia, BOD, coliform bacteria, fecal streptococci, E. coli, Aerumonas hydrophilla and Pseudomonas aeruginosea, while the groundwater at Shubra Al-khayma district was contaminated with Mn, coliform bacteria, fecal streptococci and P. aeruginosea, Microbial and chemical evaluation of groundwater, as well as, Box-PCR results proven that, the contamination of the tested groundwater might be of other source than water treatment plants.

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This study aimed to compare the fungal rhizosphere communities of Rhazya stricta, Enneapogon desvauxii, Citrullus colocynthis, Senna italica, and Zygophyllum simplex, and the gut mycobiota of Poekilocerus bufonius (Orthoptera, Pyrgomorphidae, “Usherhopper”). A total of 164,485 fungal reads were observed from the five plant rhizospheres and Usherhopper gut. The highest reads were in S. italica rhizosphere (29,883 reads). Species richness in the P. bufonius gut was the highest among the six samples. Ascomycota was dominant in all samples, with the highest reads in E. desvauxii (26,734 reads) rhizosphere. Sordariomycetes and Dothideomycetes were the dominant classes detected with the highest abundance in C. colocynthis and E. desvauxii rhizospheres. Aspergillus and Ceratobasidium were the most abundant genera in the R. stricta rhizosphere, Fusarium and Penicillium in the E. desvauxii rhizosphere and P. bufonius gut, Ceratobasidium and Myrothecium in the C. colocynthis rhizosphere, Aspergillus and Fusarium in the S. italica rhizosphere, and Cochliobolus in the Z. simplex rhizosphere. Aspergillus terreus was the most abundant species in the R. stricta and S. italica rhizospheres, Fusarium sp. in E. desvauxii rhizosphere, Ceratobasidium sp. in C. colocynthis rhizosphere, Cochliobolus sp. in Z. simplex rhizosphere, and Penicillium sp. in P. bufonius gut. The phylogenetic results revealed the unclassified species were related closely to Ascomycota and the species in E. desvauxii, S. italica and Z. simplex rhizospheres were closely related, where the species in the P. bufonius gut, were closely related to the species in the R. stricta, and C. colocynthis rhizospheres.

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