High Plasma Sphingosine 1-phosphate Levels Predict Osteoporotic Fractures in Postmenopausal Women: The Center of Excellence for Osteoporosis Research Study

Mohammed-Salleh M. Ardawi,Abdulrahim A. Rouzi,Nawal S. Al-Senani,Mohammed H. Qari,Ayman Z. Elsamanoudy,Shaker A. Mousa 대한골대사학회 2018 대한골대사학회지 Vol.25 No.2

Background: Higher sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) plasma levels are associated with decreased bone mineral density (BMD), and increased risk of prevalent vertebral fracture. So, we hypothesized that postmenopausal women with increased baseline plasma S1P levels have a greater risk for future incident fracture (osteoporosis-related fractures [ORFs]). Methods: This study was conducted in a prospective longitudinal cohort of 707 women recruited in 2004 and followed up annually for a mean period of 5.2±1.3 years. They were postmenopausal (aged ≥50 years). The primary outcome measure was the time to the first confirmed ORF event using radiographs and/or a surgical report. Results: The plasma S1P levels (μmol/L) were significantly higher in the women with incident fracture (7.23±0.79) than in those without ORFs (5.02±0.51; P<0.001). High S1P levels were strongly associated with increased fracture risk. After adjustment for age and other confounders, the hazard ratio (HR) was 6.12 (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.92-7.66) for each 1-standard deviation increase in plasma S1P levels. The women in the highest quartile of S1P levels had a significant increase in fracture risk (HR, 9.89; 95% CI, 2.83-34.44). Results were similar when we compared plasma S1P levels at the 1-year visit. Conclusions: The associations between plasma S1P levels and fracture risk were independent of BMD and other confounders. These findings demonstrate that high plasma S1P level at baseline and at years 1 to 5 is a strong and independent risk factor for future [ORFs] among postmenopausal women and could be a useful biomarker for fracture risk assessment in this population.

Comparative study on photocatalytic performances of crystalline a- and b-Bi2O3 nanoparticles under visible light

Mohammed Jalalah,Adel A. Ismail,M. Faisal,Houcine Bouzid,Jea-Gun Park,S.A. Al-Sayari 한국공업화학회 2015 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.30 No.-

a- and b-Bi2O3 nanoparticles were synthesized in the presence of either urea or polyethylene glycol. TheXRD, TEM, and Raman analysis indicated that a-(monoclinic) Bi2O3 nanoparticles were obtained usingeither sol–gel or hydrothermal method in the presence of urea; however b-(tetragonal) phase of Bi2O3was formed using hydrothermal method in the presence of polyethylene glycol. The b-Bi2O3nanoparticles exhibited higher photocatalytic activity than a-Bi2O3. MB was completely photodegradedafter 6 h of visible light illumination using b-Bi2O3 photocatalyst whereas only 30% was photodegradedusing a-Bi2O3. The photodegradation rate of b-Bi2O3 was 5.7 times greater than that a-Bi2O3nanoparticles.

Soil arching analysis in embankments on soft clays reinforced by stone columns

Mohammed Y. Fattah,Bushra S. Zabar,Hanan A. Hassan 국제구조공학회 2015 Structural Engineering and Mechanics, An Int'l Jou Vol.56 No.4

The present work investigates the behavior of the embankment models resting on soft soil reinforced with ordinary and stone columns encased with geogrid. Model tests were performed with different spacing distances between stone columns and two lengths to diameter ratios (L/d) of the stone columns, in addition to different embankment heights. A total number of 42 model tests were carried out on a soil with undrianed shear strength ≈10 kPa. The models consist of stone columns embankment at s/d equal to 2.5, 3 and 4 with L/d ratio equal 5 and 8. Three embankment heights; 200 mm, 250 mm and 300 mm were tested for both tests of ordinary (OSC) and geogrid encased stone columns (ESC). Three earth pressure cells were used to measure directly the vertical effective stress on column at the top of the middle stone column under the center line of embankment and on the edge stone column for all models while the third cell was placed at the base of embankment between two columns to measure the vertical effective stress in soft soil directly. The performance of stone columns embankments relies upon the ability of the granular embankment material to arch over the „gaps‟ between the stone columns spacing. The results showed that the ratio of the embankment height to the clear spacing between columns (h/s-d) is a key parameter. It is found that (h/s-d)< 1.2 and 1.4 for OSC and ESC, respectively; (h is the embankment height, s is the spacing between columns and d is the diameter of stone columns), no effect of arching is pronounced, the settlement at the surface of the embankment is very large, and the stress acting on the subsoil is virtually unmodified from the nominal overburden stress. When (h/s-d)≥2.2 for OSC and ESC respectively, full arching will occur and minimum stress on subsoil between stone columns will act, so the range of critical embankment height will be 1.2 (h/s- d) to 2.2 (h/s-d) for both OSC and ESC models.

Synthesis, Pharmacological Activity Evaluation and Molecular Modeling of New Polynuclear Heterocyclic Compounds Containing Benzimidazole Derivatives

Fatma A. Bassyouni,Tamer S. Saleh,Mahmoud M. ElHefnawi,Sherein I. Abd El-Moez,Waled M. El-Senousy,Mohamed E. Abdel-Rehim 대한약학회 2012 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.35 No.12

Novel heterocyclic compounds containing benzimidazole derivatives were synthesized from 2-(1Hbenzimidazol-2-yl) acetonitrile (1) and arylhydrazononitrile derivative 2 was obtained via coupling of 1 with 4-methyl phenyldiazonium salt, which was then reacted with hydroxylamine hydrochloride to give amidooxime derivative 3. This product was cyclized into the corresponding oxadiazole derivative 4 upon reflux in acetic anhydride. Compound 4 was refluxed in DMF in the presence of triethylamine to give the corresponding 5-(1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)-2-p-tolyl-2H-1,2,3-triazol-4-amine 6. Treatment of compound 6 with ethyl chloroformate afforded 2,6-dihydro-2-(4-methylphenyl)-1,2,3-triazolo[4'',5''-4',5']pyrimido[1,6-a]benzimidazole-5(4H)-one (8). 1,2-bis(2-cyanomethyl-1H-benzimidazol-1-yl)ethane-1,2-dione (10) was synthesized via the condensation reaction of 2-(1H-benzimidazol-2-yl) acetonitrile (1) and diethyloxalate. The reactivity of compound 10 towards some diamine reagents was studied. The in vitro antimicrobial activity of the synthesized compounds was investigated against several pathogenic bacterial strains such as Escherichia coli O157, Salmonella typhimurium, E. coli O119, S. paratyphi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes and Bacillus cereus. The results of MIC revealed that compounds 12a-c showed the most effective antimicrobial activity against tested strains. On the other hand, compounds 12a, b exhibited high activity against rotavirus Wa strain while compounds 12b, c exhibited high activity against adenovirus type 7. In silico target prediction, docking and validation of the compounds 12a-c were performed. The dialkylglycine decarboxylase bacterial enzyme was predicted as a potential bacterial target receptor using pharmacophorebased correspondence with previous leads; giving the highest normalized scores and a high correlation docking score with mean inhibition concentrations. A novel binding mechanism was predicted after docking using the MOE software and its validation.

Synthesis and Antibacterial Activity of Azo-Sulfa-Based Disperse Dyes and Their Application in Polyester Printing

Hayam A. Abd El Salam,Mohamed S. Abdel‑Aziz,Eslam Reda El‑Sawy,Elkhabiry Shaban 한국섬유공학회 2023 Fibers and polymers Vol.24 No.8

For conjugating sulfa drug moieties with Schiff’s bases scaffold in the same build through an azo linker to take advantage of the bioactive feature of both motifs, we designed and synthesized a series of bioactive disperse dyes. The target disperse dyes, methyl 2-(E-2-hydroxy-5-((E)-(4-sulfa-derivative) diazenyl)benzylidene) hydrazine-1-carbodithioates 4a–e have been synthesized via the acidic reaction of azo dyes 3a–e with methyl hydrazine carbodithioate. Structures of the synthesized dyes were clarified based on their spectral and elemental analyses. The effectiveness of the dyes was initially tested as an antibacterial toward Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538-P and Escherichia coli ATCC 25933. Dyes that were proven to be effective against bacteria have been used as disperse dyes to print polyester fabrics. The color properties of the dyes and their fastness properties counting washing, perspiration, light, rubbing, and sublimation fastness were also examined. The printed polyester fabrics were evaluated for their antibacterial activity via colony-forming unit (CFU) technique. Fabric samples treated with 4c, 4d, and 4b had promising anti-Gram-positive activities against S. aureus. Whereas 4c-, 4d-, and 4b-treated fabrics exhibited moderate anti-Gram-negative activities against the test bacterium E. coli.

Histopathological and genetic changes proved the anti‑cancer potential of free and nano‑capsulated sinapic acid

Doaa A. Badr,Mohamed E. Amer,Wagih M. Abd‑Elhay,Mohamed S. M. Nasr,Tamer M. M. Abuamara,Harbi Ali,Aly F. Mohamed,Maha A. Youssef,Nasser S. Awwad,Yi‑Hsu Ju,Ahmed E. Fazary 한국응용생명화학회 2019 Applied Biological Chemistry (Appl Biol Chem) Vol.62 No.5

Cancer is known to be a fierce disease that causes a large percentage of the deaths worldwide. The common cancer treatments; chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery are known for their severe side effects; therefore scientists are working on finding solutions to reduce these drawbacks. One of these treatment systems is the sustained released drugs formulations, these systems depend on the encapsulation of the chemotherapy within an emulsifying agent, in order to obtain a slow drug release of low doses over long time intervals. In this study, the anti-cancer effects of free and encapsulated sinapic acid was tested against lung (A549), and colon (CaCo2) cancer cell lines, along with normal fibroblast cells (HFB4) as a negative control. MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay was performed for IC50 evaluation, also cell cycle assay was performed to detect cell cycle arrest status and related anti-apoptotic and pro-apoptotic; Blc-2, BAX, and P53 gene profile fold changes post cellular treatment. Data recorded revealed that encapsulated SA showed a lower toxicity than the free form to both cell lines and also to the normal cells. The cell cycle analysis showed a cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase post cell treatment with the free and encapsulated sinapic acid accompanied with up regulation of Bax and P53 and a down regulation of Blc-2 genes in both cell lines. The data suggest a promising anti-cancer and anti-proliferative potential of free and encapsulated sinapic acid. Also they show that the anti-cancer effect of free and encapsulated sinapic acid is quite close.

Synergistic activity of Bacillus thuringiensis δ‐endotoxin and TMOF against Culex pipiens and Spodoptera littoralis larvae

Ahmed M.A. Mohammed,Mervat R. DIAB,Sayed M.S. KHALIL 한국곤충학회 2018 Entomological Research Vol.48 No.3

Trypsin Modulating Oostatic Factor (TMOF) is a decapeptide hormone that inhibits the biosynthesis of digestive enzymes in the mosquito midgut. The hormone inhibits food digestion and ultimately leads to starvation and death. It has been used as a biological insecticide to control mosquitoes. In an attempt to increase the insecticidal activity of TMOF, a combination of CryIC (δ‐endotoxin from Bacillus thuringiensis) and TMOF was determined. Eight recombinant proteins fused with GST (glutathione‐S‐transferase) were expressed in Escherichia coli cells. Their insecticidal activities were determined against Culex pipiens and Spodoptera littoralis larvae. Purified GST‐TMOF and its analogue GST‐YDPAS exhibited a moderate toxicity on C. pipiens larvae with LC50 of 145.9 and 339.9 μg/mL, respectively. Unexpectedly, no mortality was observed in first instar larvae of S. littoralis. Puirified GST‐TMOF and GST‐YDPAS together with Bt toxin showed a synergistic toxic effect on both Culex and Spodoptera larvae. In the presence of 100 μg/mL GST‐TMOF and GST‐YDPAS, the median lethal concentration of entomocidus on culex larvae decreased from 52.1 to 16.7 and 31.9 μg/mL, respectively. Likewise, GST‐TMOF and GST‐YDPAS incorporated with 0.07 μg/cm2 of enotmocidus showed insecticidal activity against S. littoralis with LC50 of 16.4 and 21.9 μg/cm2. The E. coli lysates containing GST‐CryIC and its 3′‐truncated version showed low toxicity against the lepidopteran insect (10.8 and 16.6 μg/cm2) compared to 0.15 μg/cm2 of the native crystalline form of CryIC. Similarly, the mosquitocidal activity of the recombinant Bt toxins was low.

Antimicrobial Efficacy of Allium cepa and Zingiber officinale Against the Milk-Borne Pathogen Listeria monocytogenes

Arasu Abirami,Prabha Nagaram,Devi Durga,Issac Praveen Kumar,Alarjani Khaloud Mohammed,Al Farraj Dunia A.,Aljeidi Reem A.,Tayyeb Jehad Zuhair,Guru Ajay,Arockiaraj Jesu,Mohan Magesh,Hussein Dina S. 한국미생물학회 2023 The journal of microbiology Vol.61 No.11

Listeria monocytogenes is an important food-borne pathogen that causes listeriosis and has a high case fatality rate despite its low incidence. Medicinal plants and their secondary metabolites have been identified as potential antibacterial substances, serving as replacements for synthetic chemical compounds. The present studies emphasize two significant medicinal plants, Allium cepa and Zingiber officinale, and their efficacy against L. monocytogenes. Firstly, a bacterial isolate was obtained from milk and identified through morphology and biochemical reactions. The species of the isolate were further confirmed through 16S rRNA analysis. Furthermore, polar solvents such as methanol and ethanol were used for the extraction of secondary metabolites from A. cepa and Z. officinale. Crude phytochemical components were identified using phytochemical tests, FTIR, and GC–MS. Moreover, the antibacterial activity of the crude extract and its various concentrations were tested against L. monocytogenes. Among all, A. cepa in methanolic extracts showed significant inhibitory activity. Since, the A. cepa for methanolic crude extract was used to perform autography to assess its bactericidal activity. Subsequently, molecular docking was performed to determine the specific compound inhibition. The docking results revealed that four compounds displayed strong binding affinity with the virulence factor Listeriolysin-O of L. monocytogenes. Based on the above results, it can be concluded that the medicinal plant A. cepa has potential antibacterial effects against L. monocytogenes, particularly targeting its virulence.

New ursane triterpenoids from Ficus pandurata and their binding affinity for human cannabinoid and opioid receptors

Amgad I. M. Khedr,Sabrin R. M. Ibrahim,Gamal A. Mohamed,Hany E. A. Ahmed,Amany S. Ahmad,Mahmoud A. Ramadan,Atef E. Abd El-Baky,Koji Yamada,Samir A. Ross 대한약학회 2016 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.39 No.7

Phytochemical investigation of Ficus pandurataHance (Moraceae) fruits has led to the isolation of two newtriterpenoids, ficupanduratin A [1b-hydroxy-3b-acetoxy-11a-methoxy-urs-12-ene] (11) and ficupanduratin B [21ahydroxy-3b-acetoxy-11a-methoxy-urs-12-ene] (17), alongwith 20 known compounds: a-amyrin acetate (1), a-amyrin(2), 3b-acetoxy-20-taraxasten-22-one (3), 3b-acetoxy-11amethoxy-olean-12-ene (4), 3b-acetoxy-11a-methoxy-12-ursene (5), 11-oxo-a-amyrin acetate (6), 11-oxo-b-amyrinacetate (7), palmitic acid (8), stigmast-4,22-diene-3,6-dione(9), stigmast-4-ene-3,6-dione (10), stigmasterol (12), b-sitosterol(13), stigmast-22-ene-3,6-dione (14), stigmastane-3,6-dione (15), 3b,21b-dihydroxy-11a-methoxy-olean-12-ene (16), 3b-hydroxy-11a-methoxyurs-12-ene (18), 6-hydroxystigmast-4,22-diene-3-one (19), 6-hydroxystigmast-4-ene-3-one (20), 11a,21a-dihydroxy-3b-acetoxy-urs-12-ene(21), and b-sitosterol-3-O-b-D-glucopyranoside (22). Compound21 is reported for the first time from a natural source. The structures of the 20 compounds were elucidated on thebasis of IR, 1D (1H and 13C), 2D (1H–1H COSY, HSQC,HMBC and NOESY) NMR and MS spectroscopic data, inaddition to comparison with literature data. The isolatedcompounds were evaluated for their anti-microbial, antimalarial,anti-leishmanial, and cytotoxic activities. In addition,their radioligand displacement affinity on opioid andcannabinoid receptors was assessed. Compounds 4, 11, and15 exhibited good affinity towards the CB2 receptor, withdisplacement values of 69.7, 62.5 and 86.5 %, respectively. Furthermore, the binding mode of the active compounds inthe active site of the CB2 cannabinoid receptors was investigatedthrough molecular modelling.

Flocculation and viscoelastic behavior of industrial papermaking suspensions

Mustafa S. Nasser,Mohammed J. Al-Marri,Abdelbaki Benamor,Sagheer A. Onaizi,Majeda Khraisheh,Mohammed A. Saad 한국화학공학회 2016 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.33 No.2

The effects of the surface charge type and density C496, C492 and A130LMW polyacrylamides (PAMs) on the rheological behavior of real industrial papermaking suspensions were quantitatively related to the degree of flocculation for the same industrial papermaking suspensions. The floc sizes were larger but less dense when anionic PAM was used, and this due to the repulsive forces between the anionic PAM and colloidal particles, leading to the development of open structure flocs of less density. On the other hand, rheological measurements showed that the papermaking suspension is thixotropic with a measurable yield stress. The results showed that the magnitude of the critical stress, τc, complex viscosity, η *, elastic modulus, G', and viscous modulus, G'', depend on the number of interactions between the PAM chains and particle surface and the strength of those interactions. Cationic PAM showed higher values of η *, G', G'' and τc compared to anionic PAM. This behavior is in good agreement with Bingham yield stress, τB, adsorption and effective floc density results. Similar to oscillatory measurements, creep measurements also showed that the deformation was much lower for the cationic PAM based suspensions than for the anionic PAM based suspensions. Furthermore, the results revealed that increasing the cationic PAM surface charge decreases the floc size but increases the adsorption rate, elasticity and effective floc density proposing differences in the floc structures, which are not revealed clearly in the Bingham yield stress measurements.