Molecular docking and molecular dynamics of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF-1alpha): towards potential inhibitors.

HIF-1α is a primary regulator in the adaptation of cancer cells to hypoxia. The aim was to find out new inhibitors of the HIF-1α. A molecular dynamic (MD) simulation performed on HIF-1α showed stable dynamic features.

Innovations in Biosensor Technologies for Healthcare Diagnostics and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring: Applications, Recent Progress, and Future Research Challenges.

This comprehensive review delves into the forefront of biosensor technologies and their critical roles in disease biomarker detection and therapeutic drug monitoring. It provides an in-depth analysis of various biosensor types and applications, including enzymatic sensors, immunosensors, and DNA sensors, elucidating their mechanisms and specific healthcare applications. The review highlights recent innovations such as integrating nanotechnology, developing wearable devices, and trends in miniaturisation, showcasing their transformative potential in healthcare.

Zinc oxide-Ulva lactuca nanocomposite is a robust dietary immunostimulant in the red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii).

Aquaculture industry suffers significant limitations such as low resistance to diseases and expensive feed. This study investigated the antibacterial and immunostimulatory activities of ZnO-Ulva lactuca nanocomposite (ZnO-Ul NC) in the Procambarus clarkii. Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) and ZnO-Ul NC were synthetized and characterized by electron microscopies as well as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.

Bioinformatics approach for prediction and analysis of the Non-Structural Protein 4B (NSP4B) of the Zika virus.

Background: The Nonstructural Protein (NSP) 4B of Zika virus of 251 amino acids from (ZIKV/Human/POLG_ZIKVF) with accession number (A0A024B7W1), Induces the production of Endoplasmic Reticulum ER-derived membrane vesicles, which are the sites of viral replication. To understand the physical basis of how proteins fold in nature and to solve the challenge of protein structure prediction, Ab-initio and comparative modeling are crucial tools.

Results: The systematic in silico technique, ThreaDom, had only predicted one domain (4 - 190) of NSP4B.

Trophic state and potential productivity assessment for Qaroun Lake using spatial techniques.

Qaroun Lake is one of the most important Egyptian lakes which, recently, have been exposed to severe degradation in water quality and fish productivity. In this manuscript, Carlson's trophic state index (CTSI) was used to evaluate the trophic state, while the trophometric index (TMI) was used to assess the potential productivity of Qaroun Lake. The present study is one of the initial attempts to investigate these indices in Qaroun Lake.

Comparing biological and physical cost functions in VMAT planning for pediatric nasopharyngeal cancer.

Background: Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) is an option for the delivery of Radiotherapy treatment technique for pediatric nasopharyngeal cancer, VMAT is the most common treatment technique for pediatric nasopharyngeal cancer. The use of a combination of both biological and physical parameters in VMAT planning optimization may produce better target coverage and sparing of critical organs. This work was to compare Biological Cost Functions (BCFs) and Physical Cost Functions (PCFs) in the VMAT of pediatric nasopharyngeal cancer patients.

Efficient pulmonary nodules classification using radiomics and different artificial intelligence strategies.

Objectives: This study aimed to explore and develop artificial intelligence approaches for efficient classification of pulmonary nodules based on CT scans.

Materials And Methods: A number of 1007 nodules were obtained from 551 patients of LIDC-IDRI dataset. All nodules were cropped into 64 × 64 PNG images , and preprocessing was carried out to clean the image from surrounding non-nodular structure.

Taxonomic and functional structure of macrobenthic invertebrate communities and their response to environmental variables along the subbranches of the Nile River (rayahs), Egypt.

Macrobenthic invertebrate communities serve as markers of anthropogenic stress in freshwater ecosystems. In this study, 17 sampling sites were selected from two Nile river subbranches (El-Rayah El-Behery and El-Rayah El-Nassery) and subjected to different anthropogenic influences to explore the ecological environment and characteristics of macrobenthos communities. Macrobenthos were studied using taxonomic diversity and biological trait analysis to investigate how human activity and variation in water quality affect their structure and function.

Variations induced by body weight and background lesion normalization in standardized uptake value estimated by F18-FDG PET/CT.

Aim: This work aims to study the impact of different SUV variants in terms of mean and maximum measures as well as various normalization methods with respect to body weight, body mass index, body surface area, and lean body mass in patients with lymphoma.

Methods: Sixty-nine patients (34 male-35 female) were retrospectively selected. All patients had undergone F18-FDG PET/CT using the standard imaging protocol.

Environmental risk assessment associated with acidic volcanics in Egypt.

The present work aims to study gamma rays emitted by radionuclides such as U, Th and K from acidic Monqul volcanics. The studied volcanics are represented by a thick stratified lava flows interbanded with their pyroclastics. They are composed of thick lava flows of andesite and, to a lesser extent of basalt, and acidic volcanics including rhyolite and dacite.

Excess Lifetime Cancer Risk Associated with Granite Bearing Radioactive Minerals and Valuable Metals, Monqul Area, North Eastern Desert, Egypt.

The present work is concerned with assessing the cancer risk contributed by the studied granite types including valuable metals, such as Cu, Au, and Ba mineralization, as well as radioactive-bearing mineralization, such as monazite and zircon, in south Monqul at Wadi Makhrag El Ebel, north Eastern Desert, Egypt. The mineralization analyses illustrated that copper mineralization containing chrysocolla and tenorite minerals were restricted to the alteration zone, especially (argillic, phyllic, and propylitic) in monzogranite. However, barite veinlets had an ENE-WSW trend, while gold mineralization was confined to quartz veins having NE-SW trends.

Differential effects of cancer modifying agents during radiation therapy on Ehrlich solid tumor-bearing mice: A comparative investigation of metformin and ascorbic acid.

Background: This work was carried out to compare the modifying roles of ascorbic and metformin during Ehrlich (ESC) tumor-bearing mice irradiation.

Methods: Fifty Swiss albino male mice were segmented into seven groups, including one control group and six Ehrlich induced tumors treated with ascorbic, ascorbic plus radiation, metformin, metformin plus radiation, and radiation only. Many tests, including behavioral, biochemical, immunohistochemistry, gene expression, DNA fragmentation, oxidative stress markers, and EPR, were performed to interrogate the modifying effects on tumor and liver tissues.

Evaluation of Conformity and Homogeneity Indices Consistency Throughout the Course of Head and Neck Cancer Treatment With and Without Using Adaptive Volumetric Modulated Arc Radiation Therapy.

Purpose: Conformity indices (CI) and homogeneity indices (HI) are important tools for evaluating treatment plan quality. In this study, we evaluate the consistency of these indices with respect to anatomic changes undergone by patients.

Methods And Materials: Fifty-five patients with advanced head and neck cancer were treated with simultaneous integrated boost volumetric modulated arc therapy.

Assessment of Radiation Exposure Dose for Nuclear Medicine Workers from F-FDG, Tc MDP, and Tc.

Background: Nuclear medicine or diagnostic radiology personnel are always exposed to low-level radiation from radionuclides used in medical diagnostics, which lead to potential biological hazards or effects.

Objective: External exposure for workers in two nuclear medicine centers was measured by recruiting 120 patients.

Methods: Three nuclear medicine examinations were performed using F18-FDG PET/CT,Tc- MDP bones scan, and Tc thyroid scan by a digital radiation dosimeter.

Radiation and chemotherapy variable response induced by tumor cell hypoxia: impact of radiation dose, anticancer drug, and type of cancer.

Hypoxia is a condition in which proliferating tumor cells are deprived of oxygen due to limited blood supply from abnormal tumor microvasculature. This study aimed to investigate the molecular changes that occur in tumor cell hypoxia with special emphasis placed on the efficacy of chemotherapeutic and radiation-related effects. Four commercially available chemotherapeutic agents: cisplatin, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and 5-fluorouracil, were tested for their cytotoxic activity on the cancer cell lines PC3 (prostate), HepG2 (liver), and MCF-7 (breast).

Erector Spinae Block with Opioid Free Anesthesia in Cirrhotic Patients Undergoing Hepatic Resection: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Hepatic resection is a major abdominal surgery with challenging pain management. We aimed to investigate the effect of erector spinae plane block (ESPB) with opioid free anesthesia (OFA) in cirrhotic patients scheduled for liver resection on perioperative pain management in terms of hemodynamic stability. Secondarily, we assessed time to first request for analgesia and perioperative fentanyl consumption, nausea and vomiting within 24 hours after surgery.

Quantifying inter- and intra-fraction variations of breast cancer radiotherapy with skin dose measurements.

. The aim of the current study was to compare between the deep inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) technique and free-breathing (FB) method in the treatment delivery uncertainty of breast cancer radiotherapy using skin dose measurements..

The necessity of using deep inspiration breath-hold in the radiotherapy of left breast cancer patients who undergo the UK FAST trial.

Aim: The purpose of the current study was to compare between deep inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) and free-breathing (FB) method in the setup reproducibility and to perform a dosimetric comparison between both methods in left-sided breast cancer patients who undergo the UK FAST trial.

Materials And Methods: The online matching correction data were retrospectively collected for 50 patients treated with the FAST trial. They were equally divided into DIBH and FB groups to compare between both methods in the setup reproducibility and create the appropriate planning target volume (PTV) margin.

Image quality characteristics of myocardial perfusion SPECT imaging using state-of-the-art commercial software algorithms: evaluation of 10 reconstruction methods.

Myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) is widely used as standard of care in patients with coronary artery disease. The availability of hybrid SPECT/CT imaging system and associated advanced reconstruction algorithms serve to improve diagnostic accuracy and enhances image quality of MPI. The aim of this work was to evaluate the relative performance of iterative reconstruction algorithms correcting for different combinations of image degrading factors versus filtered back projection on the quality of myocardial perfusion SPECT imaging.

Correlation of texture feature analysis with bone marrow infiltration in initial staging of patients with lymphoma using F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography combined with computed tomography.

Purpose: To explore whether radiomic features of fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (F-FDG) positron emission tomo-graphy-computed tomography (PET/CT) has association with bone marrow infiltration (BMI) in comparison to other conventional PET metrics.

Material And Methods: Forty-four patients (with pathologically proven lymphoma disease) underwent staging F-FDG PET/CT scan. Primary tumour was semi-automatically or manually segmented with a threshold standardised uptake value (SUV) of 3.

Development of a new Python-based cardiac phantom for myocardial SPECT imaging.

Purpose: The aim of this work was to develop a digital dynamic cardiac phantom able to mimic gated myocardial perfusion single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) images.

Methods: A software code package was written to construct a cardiac digital phantom based on mathematical ellipsoidal model utilizing powerful numerical and mathematic libraries of python programing language. An ellipsoidal mathematical model was adopted to create the left ventricle geometrical volume including myocardial boundaries, left ventricular cavity, with incorporation of myocardial wall thickening and motion.

New synthetic chitosan hybrids bearing some heterocyclic moieties with potential activity as anticancer and apoptosis inducers.

Wastes of the freshwater crayfish Procambarus clarkii were used as precursor for the extraction of chitin, which was deacetylation with alkali giving chitosan. Chitosan was transformed into the nanoparticles using sodium tripolyphosphate. Chitosan Cs and its nanoparticles CNP were characterized through FTIR, H NMR and surface morphology.

OCCUPATIONAL RADIATION DOSE TO NUCLEAR MEDICINE STAFF DUE TO TC99M, F18-FDG PET AND THERAPEUTIC I-131 BASED EXAMINATIONS.

The aim was to track the exposure to radiation workers in six nuclear medicine examinations. A number of 180 patients were recruited and external exposure was measured. Patients had undergone cardiac stress and rest, bone scan, I-131 therapy, Gallium-67 and FDG PET/CT imaging.

Development of anatomically and lesion contrast-guided partial volume correction: new 3D formalisms and validation in phantom and clinical studies.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to correct for partial volume effect in positron emission imaging studies which is the most influential factors using three-dimensional (3D) representation of the recovery coefficients (RCs) to improve standardized uptake value (SUV) calculations.

Methods: Several phantom studies were conducted at significantly wide range of lesion contrast, range 2:1 up to 15:1. It was then classified into two groups: one for generating 3D function taking into consideration the sphere size as well lesion contrast whereas the other group was used for functions validation.