Basic Science Sector

Background: The antibacterial drugs were the first effective chemotherapeutic agents to be employed systematically for the prevention and cure of bacterial infection in humans. The considerable medical and their subsequent wide spread use were quickly reflected in the sharp decline in morbidity and mortality figures for the treatable infections diseases. Before penicillin became generally available, cefotaxime sodium was the mainstry of antibacterial chemotherapy.

The condensation reaction of 2-aminoprop-1-ene-1,1,3-tricarbonitrile ( 1 ) with 2-acetyl-furan ( 2 ) afforded 2-amino-4-(furan-2-yl)penta-1,3-diene-1,1,3-tricarbonitrile ( 3 ). The latter compound underwent a series of heterocyclization reactions to give quinoline, furan, pyrazole and thiophene derivatives. The antitumor evaluation of the newly synthe-sized products against three cancer cell lines, namely breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7), non-small cell lung cancer (NCI-H460) and CNS cancer (SF-268) were recorded. Three of the synthesized compounds, namely 4 , 5d and 12 showed high inhibitory effects.

Male-killing bacteria are thought to persist in host populations by vertical transmission and conferring direct and ? or indirect fitness benefits to their hosts. Here, we test the role of indirect fitness benefits accrued from resource reallocation in species that engage in sibling egg cannibalism. We found that a single-egg meal significantly increased larval survival in 12 ladybird species, but the value of an egg (to survival) differed substantially between species. Next, we tested the impact of three male-killing bacteria on larval survival in one ladybird species, Adalia bipunctata. Spiroplasma reduced larval survival, whereas Wolbachia and Rickettsia had no effect. However, Spiroplasma-infected larvae showed the greatest response to a single-egg meal.

Background and Objectives: Mobile phone radiation and health concerns have been raised, especially following the enormous increase in the use of wireless mobile telephony throughout the world. The present study aims to investigate the effect of one hour daily exposure to electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with frequency of 900 Mz (SAR 1.165 w/kg, power density 0.02 mW/cm2) on the levels of amino acid neurotransmitters in the midbrain, cerebellum and medulla of adult and young male albino rats.

Nigella sativa L. (black cumin), commonly known as black seed, is a member of the Ranunculaceae family. This seed is used as a natural remedy in many Middle Eastern and Far Eastern countries. Extracts prepared from N. sativa have, for centuries, been used for medical purposes. Thus far, the organic compounds in N. sativa, including alkaloids, steroids, carbohydrates, flavonoids, fatty acids, etc. have been fairly well characterized. Herein, we summarize some new extraction techniques, including microwave assisted extraction (MAE) and supercritical extraction techniques (SFE), in addition to the classical method of hydrodistillation (HD), which have been employed for isolation and various analytical techniques used for the identification of secondary metabolites in black seed. We believe that some compounds contained in N. sativa remain to be identified, and that high-throughput screening could help to identify new compounds. A study addressing environmentally-friendly techniques that have minimal or no environmental effects is currently underway in our laboratory.

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This study aimed to characterise Egyptian desert vine flora and compare it with that of deserts in other continents, such as Australia and North America. Specifically, 5 common climbing desert plants (Citrullus colocynthis, Cocculus pendulus, Cucumis prophetarum, Pergularia tomentosa, and Periploca angustifolia) were selected for this study. The floristic composition, vegetation heterogeneity, and chorological affinities of the associated species of the studied climbing plants were quantitatively analysed.

Cyrenaica is the largest phytogeographical region in Libya. The region holds Al-Jabal Al-Akhdar (the Green Mountain)landscape with the richest vegetation and highest species diversity in the country. Field study of the vegetation was carriedout in the different habitat types representing the mountainous landscape. Data were analyzed by Detrended Correspondence analysis (DCA) and Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) against the environmental variables. Vegetation and speciesrichness varied with altitude from the sea level, through mid elevation slope vegetation in wadis, to herbaceous and lowshrub-vegetation towards the mountain top. Vegetation is classified into three major groups: (1) coastal and low altitudevegetation dominated by shrubs and trees which constitute about 60% of the plant life forms; (2) mid altitude and wadivegetation with the highest species richness and dominated by shrubs and trees which constitute over 60% of the plant lifeforms; and (3) mountain top vegetation dominated by herbs and few low shrubs constituting up to 90% of the plant lifeforms. The altitude, aspect and soil parameters do not explain the majority of variance in the obtained data which reveal thatother diverse local conditions and habitat types seem to be the main determinant of vegetation variation in Al-Jabal Al-Akhdar landscape.

An electrochemical sensor was developed by using poly (3,4-ethylenedioxy thiophene) electrode in presence of different types of surfactants. Voltammetric behavior of isoniazid was studied at this electrode in the presence and absence of SDS and CTAB and interesting electrocatalytic effects were found. The presence of surfactant in the medium plays a key role in the electrostatic attraction and repulsion of isoniazid towards the polymeric surface in different pH values. The electrochemical behavior of isoniazid was investigated by cyclic voltammetry, linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The linear response obtained for isoniazid was in the range of 0.1 to 8 ?mol L-1 and 10 to 100 ?mol L-1 with correlation coefficients of 0.999 and 0.998 and detection limits 32 nmol L-1 and 45 nmol L-1, respectively. The utility of this modified electrode was demonstrated for the determination of INH in human urine.

Carboxymethyl chitosan, (CMC), and N-laurylcarboxymethyl chitosan (LCMC), have been prepared as water soluble derivatives of chitosan. These biodegradable chitosan derivatives were characterized and investigated for nuclear imaging and body distribution. They were labeled with 99mTc to use them as targeted delivery to some organs in vivo for nuclear imaging and to follow their biodistribution within the body. The factors controlling the labeling efficiency have been investigated.

Measuring the ventilation rates and then quantifying the gaseous emissions from naturally ventilated barns is a particularly difficult task and associated with large uncertainties; where no accurate, reliable, and online method is available for ventilation rate measurements. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop further the tracer gas technique (TG) for ventilation rate measurements through winter seasons. Fifteen field experiments were carried out to study the ventilation rates in a naturally ventilated dairy barn located in North Germany through three consecutive winter seasons.

The scattering of x-rays from biological samples has been shown to produce characteristic profiles which depend on their molecular structure. The highly ordered fat molecules in an adipose tissue result in a relatively sharp scattering peak at 1.1nm-1 with a scattering profile which is considerably different from the scattering profile of a water-rich tissue. The latter is characterized by a broad scattering peak at about 1.6nm-1. A biological sample consisting of a mixture of both adipose and a water-rich tissue is expected to show a scattering profile which is directly linked to the relative contribution of each component and would reflect the percentage by volume of each component in the mixture. In this work, x-ray scattering profiles of a number of dairy products and water are measured. The values of two selected x-ray scattering characterization parameters (I1/I2% and areas A1/A2% of the scattering peaks at 1.1 nm-1 and 1.6 nm-1 respectively) are plotted against the fat content of each of the measured dairy samples. Results show a strong linear dependence of each of the x-ray scattering parameters and the fat content of the investigated dairy products. These results suggest a possible use of such technique as a new, simple and straight forward method for the determination of fat content of dairy products that would join and support the currently available techniques.

Atomic structure data and effective collision strengths for 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 and 54 fine–structure levels contained in the configurations 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d9 4l (l = s, p, d, f) for the nickel-like La ion have been investigated. These data are used in the determination of the reduced population for the 55 fine structure levels over a wide range of electron densities (from 1020 to 1022) and at various electron plasma temperatures. The gain coefficients for those transitions with positive population inversion factor are determined and plotted against the electron density.

In the present study, structural properties of 2-[(1H-Benzimidazol-2-ylmethyl)-amino]-benzoic acid methyl ester have been studied extensively by spectral methods and X-ray crystallography. Quantum mechanical calculations of energies, geometries, vibrational wavenumbers, NMR and electronic transitions were carried out by DFT using B3LYP functional combined with 6-31G(d) basis set. Natural bond orbitals (NBO) analysis and frontier molecular orbitals were performed at the same level of theory. DFT calculations showed good agreement between the theoretical and experimental values of optimized and X-ray structure as well as between the vibrational and NMR spectroscopy. The title compound was screened for its antibacterial activity referring to Tetracycline as standard antibacterial agent.