Medical Sector

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the effect of changing either the amount of mandibular protrusion or the vertical jaw separation on apnea/hypopnea index (AHI) and snoring index (SI) In patients suffering from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

Tamoxifen citrate (TC) is a selective estrogen receptor modifier (SERM) that is usually used in the treatment of breast cancer which is associated with high levels of cyclooxygenase enzyme. Some new non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are effective in preventing estrogen receptor-positive tumors, which currently can be prevented and treated with drugs such as tamoxifen citrate. In this work, a high performance liquid chromatographic method is described for the determination of the (TC) in the presence of some usually prescribed NSAIDs, namely, ibuprofen or paracetamol. The analysis is carried out on Zorbax ODS C18 column using mobile phase consisting of methanol: 1 % triethylamine (89: 11, by volumes) at pH = 4 (adjusted using o-phosphoric acid) and flow rate of 1 ml/min. The method has been validated according to USP guidelines and the system suitability parameters have been calculated. The method is successfully applied for the determination of the drugs in pure powdered forms, pharmaceutical dosage formulations and in spiked plasma samples.

{Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of chronic hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and different HCV genotypes show characteristic variations in their pathological properties. Insulin resistance (IR) occurs early in HCV infection and may synergize with viral hepatitis in HCC development. Egypt has the highest reported rates of HCV infection (predominantly genotype 4) in the world; this study investigated effects of HCV genotype-4 (HCV-4) on prevalence of insulin resistance in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) and HCC in Egyptian patients. Fifty CHC patients, 50 HCC patients and 20 normal subjects were studied. IR was estimated using HOMA-IR index and HCV-4 load determined using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Hepatitis B virus was excluded by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Standard laboratory and histopathological investigations were undertaken to characterize liver function and for grading and staging of CHC; HCC staging was undertaken using intraoperative samples. HCC patients showed higher IR frequency but without significant difference from CHC (52% vs 40%

Rising rates of invasive fungal infections may be linked to global climate change. A study was made of the trend of ophthalmic fungal corneal keratitis in the greater Cairo area of Egypt and its association with climate records during the same period. Data on diagnosed cases of fungal keratitis were collected from records of ophthalmic departments of Cairo University hospital and atmospheric temperature and humidity for the greater Cairo area were obtained from online records.

Aim: We evaluated the clinical significance of serum levels of antiangiogenic scavenger receptor CD36 in serum of patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc).

Objective: To report the clinicopathologic analysis of women who underwent radical cystectomy for bladder cancer in Egypt from 1997 to 2005.

Celecoxib suffers from low and variable bioavailability following oral administration of solutions or capsules. Recent

Objectives: Colorectal polyps are important causes of rectal bleeding but they have been infrequently reported in Egyptian children. The prevalence and characteristics of colorectal polyps in a consecutive cohort of Egyptian children with rectal bleeding are presented. Methods: A total of 174 children aged 2-12 years [mean (SD) 6.4 (3.7)] with fresh rectal bleeding were enrolled prospectively. Rectal examination, laboratory investigations and fibre-optic colonoscopy were performed in all patients. Results: The source of bleeding was diagnosed as colorectal polyps in 100 patients (57.4%) and was owing to other causes in 74. The interval between onset of symptoms and presentation ranged from 2 to 48 months [mean (SD) 18.3 (16)]. In patients with other causes, rectal bleeding was attributed to intestinal amoebiasis (42), diarrhoea/dysentery (18), severe constipation (2) and intestinal schistosomiasis (2). Polyps were solitary in 56 children (56%) and ranged from 2 to 5 in 34 (34%) and >5 in 10 (10%). Polyps were confined to the rectum in 68 children, were rectosigmoid in 20, in the descending colon in 8, and splenic flexure in 4. Polyps were juvenile in 84 children (84%), inflammatory in 10 (10%) and hyperplastic, schistosomal or adenomatous in 2 each (6%). Colonoscopic polypectomy was successful and arrested the bleeding in all cases. Conclusion: In Egyptian children, colorectal polyps are relatively common and an easily treatable cause of fresh rectal bleeding. They should be high on the list of differential diagnoses.

Objectives: To compare the adverse effects, cycle control, and metabolic effects of NuvaRing and a combined oral contraceptive (COC).

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.

Many methods of cleft palate repair have been described. Two effective methods are commonly used for repair of soft palate clefts: the Wardill-Kilner V-Y push back and the Furlow double opposing Z-plasty; each has advantages and disadvantages. The aim of this study was to compare between the V-Y push back technique and the Furlow Z-plasty technique regarding effectiveness in palatal reconstruction and improvement of velopharyngeal closure in cases of cleft soft palate

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Purpose/objective(s): IMRT allows dose escalation for large lung tumors, but respiratory motion may compromise delivery, A treatment plan that modulates fluency predominantly in the transversal direction and leaves the fluency identical in the direction of the breathing motion may reduce this problem.

Background: Proteins involved in mammalian mitochondrial translation, when compared to analogous bacterial proteins, frequently have additional sequence regions whose structural or functional roles are not always clear. For example, an additional short insert sequence in the bovine mitochondrial initiation factor 2 (IF2mt) seems sufficient to fulfill the added role of eubacterial initiation factor IF1. Prior to our recent cryo-EM study that showed IF2mt to structurally occupy both the IF1 and IF2 binding sites, the spatial separation of these sites, and the short length of the insert sequence, posed ambiguity in whether it could perform the role of IF1 through occupation of the IF1 binding site on the ribosome.

Background: The efficacy of cardiac iron chelation in transfusion-dependent patients has been demonstrated in one-year prospective trials. Since normalization of cardiac T2* takes several years, the efficacy and safety of deferasirox was assessed for two years in patients with ?-thalassemia major in the cardiac sub-study of the EPIC trial.

Steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS) is a frequent cause of end-stage renal failure. Identification of single-gene causes of SRNS has generated some insights into its pathogenesis;