The clinical characteristics of Kleine-Levin syndrome according to ethnicity and geographic location.

Purpose: Kleine-Levin syndrome (KLS) is a rare, relapsing-remitting, debilitating sleep disorder. Examining KLS characteristics in different ethnic populations may help elucidate the genetic basis of the disorder. No studies have examined KLS in Arabs.

The Hazard Content of Cadmium, Lead, and Other Trace Elements in Some Medicinal Herbs and Their Water Infusions.

54 samples belonging to 23 herbal species (15 individuals and 8 mixtures) were analyzed for their contents of heavy metals in the raw materials and in their water infusions. Trace and toxic elements in these samples were determined by using inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) following acid digestion. The order of decreasing mean metal concentrations in raw materials (mg/kg) was found to be as follows: Fe (440) > Mn (162) > Zn (45.

TiO-PANI/Cork composite: A new floating photocatalyst for the treatment of organic pollutants under sunlight irradiation.

A novel photocatalyst based on TiO-PANI composite supported on small pieces of cork has been reported. It was prepared by simple impregnation method of the polyaniline (PANI)-modified TiO on cork. The TiO-PANI/Cork catalyst shows the unique feature of floating on the water surface.

Role of zinc oxide nanoparticles in alleviating hepatic fibrosis and nephrotoxicity induced by thioacetamide in rats.

The present research studied the influence of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs; 5, 7.5, and 10 mg/kg, i.p.

The "Known Unknowns" of Kleine-Levin Syndrome: A Review and Future Prospects.

Kleine-Levin syndrome (KLS) is a rare, homogeneous, debilitating sleep disorder characterized by episodic hypersomnia, cognitive impairment, and behavioral changes. The etiology, pathophysiology, and optimal management of KLS remain uncertain. We identify the 5 key areas requiring urgent attention: KLS immunopathogenesis studies, next-generation genetics, multimodal functional imaging, biomarker discovery, and clinical drug trials.

Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor Producing Insulin and Vasopressin.

The objective of the study is to report a rare case of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (pNET) producing insulin and vasopressin. We describe the clinical presentation and management of a metastatic pNET with refractory hypoglycemia and progressive severe hyponatremia. A 52-year-old patient had abdominal pain leading to the diagnosis of a tumor that was initially presumed to be splenic in origin.

Copper doping enhanced the oxidative stress-mediated cytotoxicity of TiO nanoparticles in A549 cells.

Physicochemical properties of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO NPs) can be tuned by doping with metals or nonmetals. Copper (Cu) doping improved the photocatalytic behavior of TiO NPs that can be applied in various fields such as environmental remediation and nanomedicine. However, interaction of Cu-doped TiO NPs with human cells is scarce.

Treatment of fly ash from power plants using thermal plasma.

Fly ash from power plants is very toxic because it contains heavy metals. In this study fly ash was treated with a thermal plasma. Before their treatment, the fly ash was analyzed by many technics such as X-ray fluorescence, CHN elemental analysis, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy.

Possible involvement of the lipoxygenase and leukotriene signaling pathways in cisplatin-mediated renal toxicity.

Purpose: The present study examined the possible involvement of the lipoxygenase (LOX) pathway in cisplatin (CPT)-induced nephrotoxicity.

Methods: Wistar albino rats were challenged with CPT IP injection (7.5 mg/kg) and were sacrificed after one week.

Automatic recognition of severity level for diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy using deep visual features.

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is leading cause of blindness among diabetic patients. Recognition of severity level is required by ophthalmologists to early detect and diagnose the DR. However, it is a challenging task for both medical experts and computer-aided diagnosis systems due to requiring extensive domain expert knowledge.

Prevalence and distribution of soil-transmitted helminth infections in India.

Background: Understanding the prevalence of soil-transmitted helminth infections is necessary to plan control strategies and focus on highly endemic regions for preventive chemotherapy and improved sanitation facilities. India is known to be endemic for soil-transmitted helminth infections.

Methods: To understand the prevalence, spatial distribution and identify high-risk zones, a systematic search of published literature was carried out based on PRISMA guidelines from the year 2000 to 2015.

Antifungal activity of wide band gap Thioglycolic acid capped ZnS:Mn semiconductor nanoparticles against some pathogenic fungi.

The manganese doped zinc sulfide nanoparticles were synthesized by simple aqueous chemical reaction of manganese chloride, zinc acetate and thioacitamide in aqueous solution. Thioglycolic acid is used as capping agent for controlling the nanoparticle size. The main advantage of the ZnS:Mn nanoparticles of diameter ~2.

Anti-osteoporotic effects of an antidepressant tianeptine on ovariectomized rats.

In the current investigation, the potential alleviating effects of tianeptine against bone loss induced in ovariectomized (OVX) rats was determined. Two weeks following a bilateral ovariectomy operation, tianeptine treatment (12.5 and 25mg/kg/twice/d) was initiated and continued for twenty-eight consecutive days.

A Review of Computational Methods for Finding Non-Coding RNA Genes.

Finding non-coding RNA (ncRNA) genes has emerged over the past few years as a cutting-edge trend in bioinformatics. There are numerous computational intelligence (CI) challenges in the annotation and interpretation of ncRNAs because it requires a domain-related expert knowledge in CI techniques. Moreover, there are many classes predicted yet not experimentally verified by researchers.

Interaction of procarbazine with calf thymus DNA-a biophysical and molecular docking study.

Interaction of procarbazine (PCZ) with calf thymus DNA was studied using biophysical and molecular docking studies. Procarbazine was to interact with DNA with a binding constant of 6.52 × 10  M as calculated using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy.

Effect of rutin on diabetic-induced erectile dysfunction: Possible involvement of testicular biomarkers in male rats.

The present study aimed to investigate effects of rutin on diabetic-induced impairments of sexual behaviour, spermatogenesis and oxidative testicular damage. Diabetes was induced by a single injection of STZ (65 mg/kg) in male adult Wistar rats. Two weeks later, rutin (50 and 100 mg kg  day ) was treated to normal and diabetic rats for 5 weeks.

An assessment of the impact of herb-drug combinations used by cancer patients.

Background: Herb/Dietary Supplements (HDS) are the most popular Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) modality used by cancer patients and the only type which involves the ingestion of substances which may interfere with the efficacy and safety of conventional medicines. This study aimed to assess the level of use of HDS in cancer patients undergoing treatment in the UK, and their perceptions of their effects, using 127 case histories of patients who were taking HDS. Previous studies have evaluated the risks of interactions between HDS and conventional drugs on the basis on numbers of patient using HDSs, so our study aimed to further this exploration by examining the actual drug combinations taken by individual patients and their potential safety.

Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of N- Pyrazolyl Derivatives and Pyrazolopyrimidine Bearing a Biologically Active Sulfonamide Moiety as Potential Antimicrobial Agent.

A series of novel pyrazole-5-carboxylate containing N-triazole derivatives 3,4; different heterocyclic amines 7a-b and 10a-b; pyrazolo[4,3-d]pyrimidine containing sulfa drugs 14a,b; and oxypyrazolo[4,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives 17, 19, 21 has been synthesized. The structure of the newly synthesized compounds was elucidated on the basis of analytical and spectral analyses. All compounds have been screened for their in vitro antimicrobial activity against three gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria as well as three fungi.

A space-time spectral collocation algorithm for the variable order fractional wave equation.

The variable order wave equation plays a major role in acoustics, electromagnetics, and fluid dynamics. In this paper, we consider the space-time variable order fractional wave equation with variable coefficients. We propose an effective numerical method for solving the aforementioned problem in a bounded domain.

Volumetric image classification using homogeneous decomposition and dictionary learning: A study using retinal optical coherence tomography for detecting age-related macular degeneration.

Three-dimensional (3D) (volumetric) diagnostic imaging techniques are indispensable with respect to the diagnosis and management of many medical conditions. However there is a lack of automated diagnosis techniques to facilitate such 3D image analysis (although some support tools do exist). This paper proposes a novel framework for volumetric medical image classification founded on homogeneous decomposition and dictionary learning.

Impact of metabolic syndrome on lipid target achievements in the Arabian Gulf: findings from the CEPHEUS study.

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the impact of metabolic syndrome (MetS) on lipid target achievements in the Arabian Gulf.

Methods: The centralized pan-middle east survey on the undertreatment of hypercholesterolemia (CEPHEUS) included 4171 high and very high atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk patients from six Arabian Gulf countries. Analyses were performed using univariate statistics.

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanocargoes for combined cancer thermotherapy and MRI applications.

Nanoparticle-based cancer diagnosis-therapy integrative systems (cancer theranostics) represent an emerging approach in oncology. To address this issue in the present work iron oxide (γ-Fe2O3-maghemite) nanoparticles (IONPs) were encapsulated within the matrix of (bis(p-sulfonatophenyl)phenylphosphine)-methoxypolyethylene glycol-thiol (mPEG) polymer vesicles using a two-step process for active chemotherapeutic cargo loading in cancer theranostics. This formation method gives simple access to highly reactive surface groups present on IONPs together with good control over the vesicle size (50-100 nm).

Study on the radioactivity and soil-to-plant transfer factor of (226)Ra, (234)U and (238)U radionuclides in irrigated farms from the northwestern Saudi Arabia.

The present study addresses the soil-to-plant transfer factors (TFs) of (226)Ra, (234)U and (238)U for 13 types of vegetables and agricultural crops planted under semi-arid environment in the northwestern part of Saudi Arabia. Crop plants along with plant-growing soils were collected from selected farms, which are irrigated from the non-renewable Saq aquifer, and investigated for their radioactivity content by means of alpha spectrometry after applying a radiochemical separation procedure. Hence, TF data for plant roots, green parts (stem and leaves) and fruits were calculated and contrasted to those reported in the literature.