Characterization and Cytotoxicity Analysis of a Ciprofloxacin Loaded Chitosan/Bioglass Scaffold on Cultured Human Periodontal Ligament Stem Cells: a Preliminary Report.

Aim: The aim of this study was to analyze the cytotoxicity of ciprofloxacin (CIP) loaded on chitosan bioactive glass scaffold on human periodontal ligament stem cells (PLSCs) in vitro.

Materials And Methods: PLSCs obtained from human third molars, cultures treated with medium containing 15 x 15 mm chitosan/bioactive glass scaffolds without/with different concentration 0, 5, 10, and 20 % of CIP. A total of 15 x 10^3 cells were plated in 6 well plates.

Bacterial meningitis surveillance in the Eastern Mediterranean region, 2005-2010: successes and challenges of a regional network.

Objective: To describe epidemiology of bacterial meningitis in the World Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean Region countries and assist in introduction of new bacterial vaccines.

Study Design: A laboratory-based sentinel surveillance was established in 2004, and up to 10 countries joined the network until 2010. Personnel at participating hospitals and national public health laboratories received training in surveillance and laboratory methods and used standard clinical and laboratory-confirmed case definitions.

End-stage renal disease among living-kidney donors: single-center experience.

Objectives: Renal transplant from living donors is widely accepted as a highly effective treatment for end-stage renal disease. Donors undergo a major operation with considerable perioperative risks of morbidity and mortality. Living with a single kidney also confers long-term risks.

Does posttransplant anemia at 6 months affect long-term outcome of live-donor kidney transplantation? A single-center experience.

Background/aims: Posttransplantation anemia (PTA) frequently occurs. We aimed to assess the prevalence of anemia at 6 months of transplantation in patients under different protocols of immunosuppression, and to determine the impact of anemia on long-term patient and graft survival.

Methods: We included 832 renal transplant recipients who were categorized at 6 months according to hemoglobin (Hb) level into two groups: the first group, with Hb >13 g/dl in males and >12 g/dl in females (group I, 385 cases); and the second group, with Hb <13 g/dl in males and <12 g/dl in females (group II, 447 cases).

Postkidney transplant malignancy in Egypt has a unique pattern: a three-decade experience.

The pattern of posttransplant malignancy varies among transplant units. We report on our single-center experience. Between 1976 and 2007, 1866 kidney transplantations were carried out (1390 males and 476 females, mean age 29.

Nomogram that predicts graft survival probability following living-donor kidney transplant.

Objectives: The goal of this project was to develop a nomogram that predicts the probability of graft survival at 5 years.

Materials And Methods: From our dataset, 1,581 patients were used to construct a nomogram (modeling group), the remaining 319 patients (testing group) were used for its validation. Initially, the modeling group variables were correlated with graft survival by univariate analysis.

An investigation to assess the potential of CD25highCD4+ T cells to regulate responses to donor alloantigens in clinically stable renal transplant recipients.

Regulatory T cells are enriched within CD25(high)CD4(+) leukocytes, however their role in renal transplant recipients with stable function vs. recipients with biopsy-proven chronic allograft dysfunction remains unclear. We therefore studied the number, phenotype, and function of CD25(high)CD4(+) cells in the peripheral blood of 30 renal transplant recipients of living-related grafts, comprising 15 rejection-free recipients with stable graft function (Group A) and 15 with biopsy-proven chronic graft dysfunction (Group B).

Comparison of sirolimus with low-dose tacrolimus versus sirolimus-based calcineurin inhibitor-free regimen in live donor renal transplantation.

Unlabelled: Between May 2001 and January 2003, 132 live donor renal allotransplant recipients were included in a prospective, randomized controlled trial where they were divided into two groups. All patients received steroids and basiliximab induction therapy. For maintenance immunosuppression, tacrolimus and sirolimus were used in group A.