Publications by authors named "Rakha M"

Egyptian clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.), also known as berseem clover, is an important forage crop to semi-arid conditions that was domesticated in ancient Egypt in 5,5000 BCE and introduced and well adapted to numerous countries including India, Pakistan, Turkey, and Mediterranean region. Despite its agricultural importance, genomic research on Egyptian clover has been limited to developing efficient modern breeding programs.

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Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is one of the most common pulmonary diseases. The concomitant association of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and COPD is known as the Overlap Syndrome (OS). This study aimed to identify markers for predicting OS, among routine laboratory tests, including differential blood counts.

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Lung infiltrates are frequently observed in patients with COVID-19 infection and require specialized management. Identifying reliable laboratory parameters to reduce the need for chest CT scans in non-desaturation patients is of great interest. This study aimed to investigate the potential of C-reactive protein (CRP) as an indicator to identify the presence of lung infiltrates in early COVID-19 infection.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study examines the early prediction of invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) needs in COVID-19 patients by analyzing blood markers taken within the first two days of hospital admission.
  • Conducted on 200 patients, results showed that higher levels of D-dimer and certain inflammatory markers were linked to a greater likelihood of requiring IMV, with D-dimer being a particularly strong predictor.
  • Additionally, patients requiring IMV had significantly higher mortality rates and worse overall blood counts compared to those who did not need ventilation support.
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Fusarium wilt is a serious disease of cucurbit crops including cultivated Luffa species () causing considerable amount of reduction in yield and quality. Luffa is starting to be used as rootstocks for major commercial cucurbit crops, but little is known of its resistance against soilborne diseases. Here, 63 Luffa accessions from the World Vegetable Center genebank were evaluated for resistance to an aggressive isolate of f.

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Late blight disease, caused by (Mont.) de Bary, is one of the most challenging diseases threatening tomato production and other Solanaceae crops. Resistance to late blight is found in certain wild species, but the mechanism behind the resistance is not fully understood.

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Objective: Postmenopausal women are significantly predisposed to a multitude of disorders. Laser biostimulation (LB) and a healthy diet have been linked to multiple health benefits. This study aimed to investigate the effect of a combined LB and balanced low-calorie diet (LCD) vs.

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Article Synopsis
  • Cucumber production faces challenges from biotic (diseases) and abiotic (environmental stresses) factors, especially in arid and semi-arid regions.
  • A study evaluated the effectiveness of five cucurbit rootstocks in grafted cucumber plants under fusarium wilt infection and heat stress in two locations (Kafr El-Sheikh and Sidi Salem) during 2021.
  • The VSS-61 F rootstock showed the best resistance to wilt and improved overall plant health, leading to higher cucumber yields, indicating the potential benefits of grafting for crop resilience.
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Muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) is an economically important fruit crop in Taiwan. In March 2020, the symptoms of fruit rot were observed in approximately 10% of mature muskmelon fruits in a field located in Wuri (24.

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Objective: Ultrasonography (US) is the most accurate and cost-effective imaging method in diagnosis of thyroid nodules. A practical thyroid imaging reporting and data system (TIRADS) for thyroid nodules has been proposed to classify nodules of the thyroid gland to solve the problem of nodule selection for fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). Real-time elastography and strain ratio (SR) is a method used to assess the stiffness and predict the malignancy of thyroid nodules.

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With a lot of uncertainty, unclear, and frequently changing management protocols, COVID-19 has significantly impacted the orthopaedic surgical practice during this pandemic crisis. Surgeons around the world needed closed introspection, contemplation, and prospective consensual recommendations for safe surgical practice and prevention of viral contamination. One hundred orthopaedic surgeons from 50 countries were sent a Google online form with a questionnaire explicating protocols for admission, surgeries, discharge, follow-up, relevant information affecting their surgical practices, difficulties faced, and many more important issues that happened during and after the lockdown.

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Bacterial wilt caused by is one of the most economically and destructive eggplant diseases in many tropical and subtropical areas of the world. The objectives of this study were to develop interspecific hybrids, as potential rootstocks, between the eggplant () bacterial wilt resistant line EG203 and four wild accessions ( UPV1, UPV2, UPV3, and UPV4), and to evaluate interspecific hybrids along with parents for resistance to bacterial wilt strains Pss97 and Pss2016. EG203 was crossed successfully with wild accessions UPV2 and UPV3 and produced viable seeds that germinated when wild accessions were used as a maternal parent in the crosses.

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This study provides insights in patterns of distribution of abiotic and biotic stress resilience across Vigna gene pools to enhance the use and conservation of these genetic resources for legume breeding. Vigna is a pantropical genus with more than 88 taxa including important crops such as V. radiata (mung bean) and V.

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Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) de Bary, a hemibiotrophic oomycete, has caused severe epidemics of late blight in tomato and potato crops around the world since the Irish Potato Famine in the 1840s. Breeding of late blight resistant cultivars is one of the most effective strategies to overcome this disruptive disease.

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Background/aims: Unplanned hospitalisation is a marker of poor prognosis and a major financial burden in patients with cirrhosis. Frailty-screening tools could determine the risk for unplanned hospital admissions and death. The study aims to evaluate the bedside frailty-screening tool (Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB)) in prediction of mortality in patients with liver cirrhosis.

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Tomato late blight caused by Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) de Bary, also known as the Irish famine pathogen, is one of the most destructive plant diseases. Wild relatives of tomato possess useful resistance genes against this disease, and could therefore be used in breeding to improve cultivated varieties.

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Eggplant is the fifth most economically important solanaceous crop after potato, tomato, pepper, and tobacco. Apart from the well-known brinjal eggplant ( L.), two other under-utilized eggplant species, the scarlet eggplant ( L.

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Labral tears are the most common pathology in patients undergoing hip arthroscopy and the most common cause of mechanical hip symptoms. Labral repair techniques have been described in the literature using suture anchors placed as close as possible to the acetabular rim without penetrating the articular surface. Optimal surgical technique for labral repair is very important, and an inappropriate entry point and guide angulation may lead to intra-articular penetration of the anchor, chondral damage, anchor loosening, or inadequate fixation.

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Background: The adequacy and timing of complementary feeding of the breastfed child are critical for optimal child growth and development.Considerable efforts have been made to improve complementary feeding in the first 2 years of life. One of them was the WHO complementary feeding counseling course (CFC).

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Background: Between 1999 and 2007, the Ministry of Health and Population in Egypt scaled up the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) strategy in 84% of public health facilities.

Objectives: This retrospective analysis, using routinely available data from vital registration, aimed to assess the impact of IMCI implementation between 2000 and 2006 on child mortality. It also presents a systematic and comprehensive approach to scaling-up IMCI interventions and information on quality of child health services, using programme data from supervision and surveys.

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We conducted a prospective cohort study to determine prevalence and incidence of West Nile virus (WNV) in Egypt. Cohorts were established in Upper (UE), Middle (ME), and Lower (LE) Egypt. Additionally, a cross-sectional serosurvey was performed in the North (NS) and South (SS) Sinai.

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Induction of hyperadrenergic activity was experimentally achieved in urethane-anesthetized rats using epinephrine (adrenaline). Acute administration of epinephrine (100 microg/kg) for 2 hours induced several cardiac disorders and vasomotor dysfunction. Pretreatment with natural wild honey (5 g/kg) for 1 hour prior to the injection with epinephrine (100 mug/kg) protected the anesthetized normal rats from the incidence of epinephrine-induced cardiac disorders and vasomotor dysfunction.

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Meningitis and/or encephalitis can pose a serious public health problem especially during outbreaks. A rapid and accurate diagnosis is important for effective earlier treatment. This study aimed to identify the possible microbial causes of meningitis and/or encephalitis cases.

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In 2004, a major outbreak of hepatitis A among tourists returning from Egypt involved 351 case-patients from 9 European countries who were infected with a single strain (genotype 1 b). The case-control study identified orange juice as the most likely infection vehicle. Vaccination against hepatitis A virus is strongly recommended before travel to disease-endemic areas.

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