Worse cholecystectomy outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic: were staff shortages or a change in patient case-mix the culprit?

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted the field of surgery, mostly through infectious risks, staff shortages, reduced hospital capacities, and changed patient pathways. Prompted by an increase in wound complications, we performed an in-depth analysis of an example surgical procedure.

Methods: A consecutive cohort of 195 patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy was studied retrospectively.

Mitigation of water stress in broccoli by soil application of humic acid.

The main challenge to plant productivity is water scarcity, which is predicted to get worse with climate change, particularly in arid and semi-arid areas. Humic acid could improve plant tolerance to mitigate drought damage, which is an effective strategy to improve crop production and agriculture sustainability under limited water conditions in these regions, but its effective application rates should also be established. Thus, two field experiments were carried out at the Qaha Vegetable Research Farm in Qalubia Governorate, Egypt, during the two seasons of 2020-21 and 2021-22 on clay soil.

Investigation of the effect of mutual vaccination with pest des petits ruminants and polyvalent foot and mouth disease vaccines on the immune response of sheep.

Background: Pest des petits ruminants (PPRs) and foot and mouth disease (FMD) are two viral infectious diseases affecting sheep dramatically causing great economic losses. Therefore, attention should be directed toward their control, especially through the application of well-designed vaccination schedules with specific potent vaccines.

Aim: Determination of the possibility of sheep vaccination with PPR and FMD vaccines in a mutual schedule.

Sorting lung tumor volumes from 4D-MRI data using an automatic tumor-based signal reduces stitching artifacts.

Purpose: To investigate whether a novel signal derived from tumor motion allows more precise sorting of 4D-magnetic resonance (4D-MR) image data than do signals based on normal anatomy, reducing levels of stitching artifacts within sorted lung tumor volumes.

Methods: (4D-MRI) scans were collected for 10 lung cancer patients using a 2D T2-weighted single-shot turbo spin echo sequence, obtaining 25 repeat frames per image slice. For each slice, a tumor-motion signal was generated using the first principal component of movement in the tumor neighborhood (TumorPC1).

Morphological, Biochemical, and Molecular Diversity Assessment of Egyptian Bottle Gourd Cultivars.

The genetic variability and relationships between ten bottle gourd cultivars were evaluated based on morphological, biochemical, and molecular parameters. The results displayed high variability among selected cultivars in terms of photosynthetic pigments, total free amino acids, total phenol content, isozymes pattern, and protein electrophoresis. Furthermore, differences in molecular markers were revealed by the SCoT technique.

Effect of water stress and foliar application of chitosan and glycine betaine on lettuce.

The present study investigated the effect of foliar application of chitosan at 150 ppm and glycine betaine at 700 ppm on lettuce plants cv. Balady grown under well-watered and water deficit conditions in terms of growth, yield, quality, and water usage efficiency. The study was conducted in Qalubia Governorate, Egypt, during the two seasons of 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 on clay soil.

Effect of citric acid on phytoextraction potential of Cucurbita pepo, Lagenaria siceraria, and Raphanus sativus plants exposed to multi-metal stress.

Phytoextraction is a novel technique that involves using plants to remove heavy metals from contaminated soils. An outdoor pot experiment was designed to evaluate the phytoextraction potential of three plant species Cucurbita pepo, Lagenaria siceraria, and Raphanus sativus in soil contaminated with multiple metals (Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) under the application of citric acid. The results showed that Raphanus sativus, out of all the studied plants, had the highest root and shoot dry weight and the capacity to accumulate all heavy metals at higher concentrations except for Cu.

Effects of biochar, zeolite and mycorrhiza inoculation on soil properties, heavy metal availability and cowpea growth in a multi-contaminated soil.

Heavy metal pollution of agricultural soil has become a major serious concern. The development of suitable control and remediation strategies for heavy metal contaminated soil has become critical. The outdoor pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of biochar, zeolite, and mycorrhiza on the bioavailability reduction of heavy metals and its subsequent effects on soil properties and bioaccumulation in plants as well as the growth of cowpea grown in highly polluted soil.

Cardamom oil ameliorates behavioral and neuropathological disorders in a rat model of depression induced by reserpine.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Depression is a public health problem. Despite the availability of treatment options, its prevalence is increasing. A high rate of treatment failure is often reported, along with considerable side effects associated with synthetic antidepressants.

Screening and assessing of pesticide residues and their health risks in vegetable field soils from the Eastern Nile Delta, Egypt.

The harmful effects of pesticide misuse on human health and the environment have become evident; so, this study aimed to monitor pesticide residues in soils of vegetable fields collected from the Eastern Nile Delta region, Egypt and to assess the potential health risks associated with them. Pesticide residues were determined using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Obtained results revealed that 100% of collected samples were contaminated with pesticides; residues of 33 compounds were detected in analyzed samples belonging to different chemical groups.

Sensitivity and specificity of microRNA-204, CA125, and CA19.9 as biomarkers for diagnosis of ovarian cancer.

Background: Ovarian cancer is usually detected at later stages and no effective screening approach, has been identified. Therefore, sensitive and specific biomarkers for detecting ovarian cancer are urgently needed.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of six biomarkers for the early clinical diagnosis of ovarian cancer.

Pollution and health risk assessment of trace metal in vegetable field soils in the Eastern Nile Delta, Egypt.

The accumulation of trace metals in vegetable field soils is of increasing worry because of the potential health hazards and their detrimental effects on soil ecosystems. To investigate the state of trace metal pollution in vegetable field soils, 60 surface soil samples were collected from vegetable fields across the Eastern Nile Delta region, Egypt. The results concluded that the concentrations of Cu, Mn, and Ni were lesser than their corresponding background values, while the concentrations of Cd, Co, Pb, and Zn were exceeding their background values.

Active aspiration versus simple compression to remove residual gas from the abdominal cavity after laparoscopic cholecystectomy: a randomized clinical trial.

Purpose: After laparoscopic surgical procedures, residual gas in the abdominal cavity can cause post-operative pain, which is commonly located in the shoulder region. Previous studies suggested that post-laparoscopy pain can be prevented by active suctioning of intraabdominal gas at the end of surgery.

Methods: This randomized controlled trial (registered at DRKS 00,023,286) compared active suctioning versus manual compression in their ability to reduce pain after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Antidepressant-like effects of aqueous extracts of miswak (Salvadora persica) and date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) on depression-like behaviors using CUMS model in male rats.

This study aimed to evaluate the antidepressant-like effects of aqueous extracts of miswak (Salvadora persica) and date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) and their combination on depression-like behaviors using a chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) rat model of depression and to investigate the underlying possible mechanisms. Results showed that CUMS induced depression-like behaviors and anxiety in male rats, as determined by behavioral tests (FST, EPM, and OFT). CUMS significantly increased the levels of plasma malondialdehyde (MDA), cortisol, and pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α and IL-6), in addition to enhancing acetylcholinesterase (ACHE) activity while plasma total antioxidant capacity and serotonin level were reduced.

A Definitive Prognostication System for Patients With Thoracic Malignancies Diagnosed With Coronavirus Disease 2019: An Update From the TERAVOLT Registry.

Introduction: Patients with thoracic malignancies are at increased risk for mortality from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and a large number of intertwined prognostic variables have been identified so far.

Methods: Capitalizing data from the Thoracic Cancers International COVID-19 Collaboration (TERAVOLT) registry, a global study created with the aim of describing the impact of COVID-19 in patients with thoracic malignancies, we used a clustering approach, a fast-backward step-down selection procedure, and a tree-based model to screen and optimize a broad panel of demographics and clinical COVID-19 and cancer characteristics.

Results: As of April 15, 2021, a total of 1491 consecutive eligible patients from 18 countries were included in the analysis.

Effect of vas ligation on testicular sperm extraction results in nonobstructive azoospermic rats: Shaeer's lock-in technique.

This study evaluates the efficacy of vas ligation in enhancing sperm retrieval in nonobstructive azoospermia cases, by accumulating intratesticular spermatozoa. Fifty-six mature male rats with equally sized testes were included in this study. Forty-six were in the study group, and 10 were in the control group.

Green micellar solvent-free HPLC and spectrofluorimetric determination of favipiravir as one of COVID-19 antiviral regimens.

Quality control (QC) of pharmaceutical products requires fast, sensitive as well as economic methodologies in order to provide high through output at low cost which are the main aspects considered by such economic facilities. Meanwhile, the ecological impacts must be considered by researchers to minimize the hazardous effects of research laboratories. Favipiravir (FAV) is an antiviral agent recently approved for treatment of COVID-19 infections during 2020 pandemic crisis, so the size of its production by international pharmaceutical corporations evolved dramatically within the past few months.

Suppression of inflammatory cascades via novel cinnamic acid nanoparticles in acute hepatitis rat model.

Hepatitis was characterized by extreme inflammation and hepatocellular damage. Therefore, the current study aimed to gain insights into the modulation role of Cinnamic acid nanoparticles (CANPs) against acute hepatitis induced by d-Galactosamine and gamma radiation exposure (D-Gal/radiation) in the rat model and to suggest the implied molecular mechanism of CANPs. Acute hepatitis seriousness and the serum enzyme activities of ALT, AST, and ALP have been diminished upon oral administration of CANPs.

Monolithic and core-shell particles stationary phase morphologies in protein analysis; peptide mapping of erythropoietin hormone and determination of carbetocin.

Chromatographic application of two recent HPLC stationary phases for protein analysis was demonstrated. These two stationary phases are namely monolithic rods and core-shell particles. Monolithic rods have higher permeability and larger porous structure allowing faster elution, while smaller core-shell particles have narrower particle size distribution and better packing allowing larger number of resolved peptides.

An audit of the management of elderly patients with glioblastoma in the UK: have recent trial results changed treatment?

We investigated uptake of short-course chemo-radiotherapy and compared outcomes with other treatment schedules in elderly patients with glioblastoma (GBM). Patients aged 65 or over with a diagnosis of GBM were identified from an 18-month period from three centers in the UK. The primary end point of this study was overall survival from the date of diagnosis.

Validation of γ-radiation and ultraviolet as a new inactivators for foot and mouth disease virus in comparison with the traditional methods.

Aim: The present work deals with different methods for foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV) inactivation for serotypes O/pan Asia, A/Iran05, and SAT-2/2012 by heat, gamma radiation, and ultraviolet (UV) in comparison with the traditional methods and their effects on the antigenicity of viruses for production of inactivated vaccines.

Materials And Methods: FMDV types O/pan Asia, A/Iran05, and SAT-2/2012 were propagated in baby hamster kidney 21 (BHK21) and titrated then divided into five parts; the first part inactivated with heat, the second part inactivated with gamma radiation, the third part inactivated with UV light, the fourth part inactivated with binary ethylamine, and the last part inactivated with combination of binary ethylamine and formaldehyde (BEI+FA). Evaluate the method of inactivation via inoculation in BHK21, inoculation in suckling baby mice and complement fixation test then formulate vaccine using different methods of inactivation then applying the quality control tests to evaluate each formulated vaccine.

Comparative study on the immunopotentiator effect of ISA 201, ISA 61, ISA 50, ISA 206 used in trivalent foot and mouth disease vaccine.

Aim: A comparison study was conducted to explore the best internationally available adjuvant that could be used in production of a highly potent foot and mouth disease (FMD) vaccine, that could stimulate a strong immune response and possibly give greater protection against FMD.

Materials And Methods: Four experimental batches of trivalent FMD vaccine were prepared with different available oil adjuvants which included Montanide ISA 201, 206, 61 and 50.

Results: The results indicated that vaccines emulsified using Montanide ISA 201 and Montanide ISA 206 adjuvants elicited a protective humoral immune response from the 2(nd) week postvaccination (WPV) as for ISA 201 with serum neutralization test (SNT) and enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA) antibody titers of 1.

Seed priming to alleviate salinity stress in germinating seeds.

Salinity is one of the major abiotic stresses that affect crop production in arid and semiarid areas. Seed germination and seedling growth are the stages most sensitive to salinity. Salt stress causes adverse physiological and biochemical changes in germinating seeds.

The validity of testicular aspirate cytology and DNA image-analysis of the aspirate in the assessment of infertile men.

Objective: To assess the possibility of using cytological examination and DNA image-analysis of testicular fine-needle aspirates instead of open surgical biopsy in the investigation of infertile men, as testicular biopsy has long been used for investigating infertility but the interpretation of histological slides is usually subjective.

Patients And Methods: Thirty-three men (aged 22-36 years) were evaluated for infertility and underwent both open biopsy and fine-needle aspiration of their testes. Subsequently, the needle aspirates were assessed histopathologically and cytologically, and by DNA image cytometry.