Murraya koenigii (L.) Sprengel seeds and pericarps in relation to their chemical profiles: new approach for multidrug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii ventilator-associated pneumonia

El-Shiekh Riham A.,Elshimy Rana,Mandour Asmaa A.,Kassem Hanaa A. H.,Khaleel Amal E.,Alseekh Saleh,Fernie Alisdair R.,Salem Mohamed A. 한국응용생명화학회 2024 Applied Biological Chemistry (Appl Biol Chem) Vol.67 No.-

Acinetobacter baumannii is without a doubt one of the most problematic bacteria causing hospital-acquired nosocomial infections in today’s healthcare system. To solve the high prevalence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) in A. baumannii, we investigated one of the medicinal plants traditionally used as antibacterial agent; namely Murraya koenigii (L.) Sprengel. The total methanolic extracts of seeds and pericarps were prepared and their anti-bacterial activity was assessed using the agar diffusion method and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was then calculated as compared to tigecycline. Then, an in-vivo murine model was established which confirmed the promising activity of M. koenigii seeds in demonstrating anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory actions. The histopathological study of lungs, scoring of pulmonary lesions, counting of bacterial loads after infection by multi-drug resistant A. baumannii all provided evidence to support these findings. LC–MS/MS profiling coupled to molecular networking and chemometrics detected the presence of carbazole alkaloids, and coumarins as dominate metabolites of the active seed extracts. Positively correlated metabolites to antibacterial potential were 6-(2ʹ,3ʹ-dihydroxy-3-methylbutyl)- 8-prenylumbelliferone, scopoline, and 5-methoxymurrayatin. An in-silico study was also performed on the crystal structure of MurF from A. baumannii (PDB ID: 4QF5), the studied structures of the mentioned extracts revealed good docking interaction at the active site suggestive of competition with the ATP ligand. These collective findings suggest that extracts of Murraya koenigii (L.) Sprengel seed is a novel prospective for the discovery of drug candidates against infections caused by MDR A. baumannii.

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.

Synthesis and characterization of CMC/MMT nanocomposite for Cu2+ sequestration in wastewater treatment

Hany Fathy Heiba,A. A. Taha,Alaa R. Mostafa,Laila A. Mohamed,Mamdouh A. Fahmy 한국화학공학회 2018 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.35 No.9

Organic–inorganic hybrid nanocomposites are promising materials for remediation of pollutants from wastewater, as they exhibit the unique characteristics of both inorganic and organic materials. In this study, carboxymethyl cellulose/montmorillonite Nanocomposite (CMC/MMT-NC) was prepared and applied for Cu2+ sequestration. CMC/MMT-NC was characterized by FTIR and SEM before and after the sequestration process, indicating fundamental changes in surface morphology after treatment experiments. The parameters affecting the process such as pH, contact time, CMC/MMT-NC mass, Cu2+ concentration and temperature were experimentally adjusted. Statistical regression variables (R2, RMSE, RSS, F-Value and P-Value) were calculated to predict the best-applied isotherm, kinetic and thermodynamic modeling. Freundlich isotherm model successfully described the equilibrium data, which implies a multilayer adsorption process. Kinetic results were well fitted to pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Intraparticle diffusion (IPD) model showed the control of the boundary layer moreover, IPD model cannot be accepted as the only rate-determining step. The apparent activation energy (Ea) was 35.65 kJ/mol, which revealed a physisorption process. The thermodynamic study in means of G0, H0, and S0 demonstrated the feasibility, spontaneity and exothermicity of Cu2+ sequestration. Application study confirmed the efficiency of CMC/MMT nanocomposite to remediate Cu2+ from synthetic and natural polluted seawater.

Bending analysis of nano-SiO2 reinforced concrete slabs resting on elastic foundation

Mohammed Chatbi,Baghdad Krour,Mohamed A. Benatta,Zouaoui R. Harrat,Sofiane Amziane,Mohamed Bachir Bouiadjra 국제구조공학회 2022 Structural Engineering and Mechanics, An Int'l Jou Vol.84 No.5

Nanotechnology has become one of the interesting technique used in material science and engineering. However, it is low used in civil engineering structures. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the static behavior of concrete plates reinforced with silica-nanoparticles. Due to agglomeration effect of silica-nanoparticles in concrete, Voigt’s model is used for obtaining the equivalent nano-composite properties. Furthermore, the plate is simulated mathematically with higher order shear deformation theory. For a large use of this study, the concrete plate is assumed resting on a Pasternak elastic foundation, including a shear layer, and Winkler spring interconnected with a Kerr foundation. Using the principle of virtual work, the equilibrium equations are derived and by the mean of Hamilton’s principle the energy equations are obtained. Finally, based on Navier’s technique, closed-form solutions of simply supported plates have been obtained. Numerical results are presented considering the effect of different parameters such as volume percent of SiO2 nanoparticles, mechanical loads, geometrical parameters, soil medium, on the static behavior of the plate. The most findings of this work indicate that the use of an optimum amount of SiO2 nanoparticles on concretes increases better mechanical behavior. In addition, the elastic foundation has a significant impact on the bending of concrete slabs.

RNA Colony Blot Hybridization Method for Enumeration of Culturable Vibrio cholerae and Vibrio mimicus Bacteria

Grim, Christopher J.,Zo, Young-Gun,Hasan, Nur A.,Ali, Afsar,Chowdhury, Wasimul B.,Islam, Atiqul,Rashid, Mohammed H.,Alam, Munirul,Morris Jr., J. Glenn,Huq, Anwar,Colwell, Rita R. American Society for Microbiology 2009 Applied and environmental microbiology Vol.75 No.17

<B>ABSTRACT</B><P>A species-specific RNA colony blot hybridization protocol was developed for enumeration of culturable <I>Vibrio cholerae</I> and <I>Vibrio mimicus</I> bacteria in environmental water samples. Bacterial colonies on selective or nonselective plates were lysed by sodium dodecyl sulfate, and the lysates were immobilized on nylon membranes. A fluorescently labeled oligonucleotide probe targeting a phylogenetic signature sequence of 16S rRNA of <I>V. cholerae</I> and <I>V. mimicus</I> was hybridized to rRNA molecules immobilized on the nylon colony lift blots. The protocol produced strong positive signals for all colonies of the 15 diverse <I>V. cholerae</I>-<I>V. mimicus</I> strains tested, indicating 100% sensitivity of the probe for the targeted species. For visible colonies of 10 nontarget species, the specificity of the probe was calculated to be 90% because of a weak positive signal produced by <I>Grimontia</I> (<I>Vibrio</I>) <I>hollisae</I>, a marine bacterium. When both the sensitivity and specificity of the assay were evaluated using lake water samples amended with a bioluminescent <I>V. cholerae</I> strain, no false-negative or false-positive results were found, indicating 100% sensitivity and specificity for culturable bacterial populations in freshwater samples when <I>G. hollisae</I> was not present. When the protocol was applied to laboratory microcosms containing <I>V. cholerae</I> attached to live copepods, copepods were found to carry approximately 10,000 to 50,000 CFU of <I>V. cholerae</I> per copepod. The protocol was also used to analyze pond water samples collected in an area of cholera endemicity in Bangladesh over a 9-month period. Water samples collected from six ponds demonstrated a peak in abundance of total culturable <I>V. cholerae</I> bacteria 1 to 2 months prior to observed increases in pathogenic <I>V. cholerae</I> and in clinical cases recorded by the area health clinic. The method provides a highly specific and sensitive tool for monitoring the dynamics of <I>V. cholerae</I> in the environment. The RNA blot hybridization protocol can also be applied to detection of other gram-negative bacteria for taxon-specific enumeration.</P>

Effect of Using Organic Acids to Substitute Antibiotic Growth Promoters on Performance and Intestinal Microflora of Broilers

Hassan, H.M.A.,Mohamed, M.A.,Youssef, Amani W.,Hassan, Eman R. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2010 Animal Bioscience Vol.23 No.10

A grower broiler experiment (from 14 to 35 days of age) was conducted to study the effect of using two commercial mixtures of organic acids (Galliacid$^{(R)}$ and Biacid$^{(R)}$) to substitute antibiotic growth promoter (Eneramycin$^{(R)}$) on performance, carcass characteristics and intestinal microflora. 400 (Ross 308) broiler chicks were used. A basal corn-soybean meal diet were formulated and served as a control treatment. The control diet was supplemented with either 0.06% Galliacid, 0.1% Biacid or 0.02% Eneramycin. Birds fed the Galliacid-supplemented diet had 16% (p<0.001) more gain than the control, while those fed the Biacid- or Enramycinsupplemented diets recorded 3 and 5.5% more gain, respectively. Organic acids mixtures and Enramycin supplementation significantly (p<0.001) improved feed conversion ratio. These results indicated that birds fed either organic acid mixtures or Enramycinsupplemented diets utilized feed more efficiently than those fed the control diet. Galliacid significantly (p<0.01) increased dressing percentage and bursa weight (% body weight). No significant differences were detected on liver, spleen and thymus (% body weight) among treatments. Galliacid or Biacid significantly (p<0.001) decreased intestinal Escherichia coli and Salmonella compared to the control and Enramycin-supplemented diets. Dietary Enramycin significantly (p<0.001) decreased Escherichia coli, but had no effect on Salmonella counts. In conclusion, organic acid mixtures are more efficient than antibiotic growth promoter (Enramycin) in improving broiler performance and decreasing intestinal Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp., and could be successfully used to substitute antibiotic growth promoters in broiler diets. However, not all of the organic acid mixtures gave the same effect either on performance or intestinal bacterial counts.

Electrospun nickel doped titanium dioxide nanofibers as an effective photocatalyst for the hydrolytic dehydrogenation of ammonia borane

Nirmala, R.,Kim, Hak Yong,Yi, Chuan,Barakat, Nasser A.M.,Navamathavan, R.,El-Newehy, Mohamed Elsevier 2012 International journal of hydrogen energy Vol.37 No.13

<P><B>Abstract</B></P><P>In this study, Ni-doped titanium dioxide (TiO<SUB>2</SUB>) electrospun nanofibers are introduced as novel material for dehydrogenation of ammonia borane (AB) complex. Hydrolysis experiments with introduced catalytic nanofibers are prevailed to rapidly release hydrogen from AB complex. Typically, Ni nanoparticles (NPs) behave as a catalyst, meanwhile the incorporation of nickel NPs lead to decrease in the electrons/holes recombination rate in TiO<SUB>2</SUB> which resulted in the increase of active ions in the solution to a rapid evolution of hydrogen gas at room temperature. The utilized physiochemical analyses indicate that the introduced Ni-doped TiO<SUB>2</SUB> nanofibers have a smooth surface and uniform diameters along their lengths. Under sunlight irradiation, the hydrogen production rate in case of utilizing Ni-doped TiO<SUB>2</SUB> nanofibers is rapidly increased compared to the pristine TiO<SUB>2</SUB> nanofibers, the maximum hydrogen equivalent in case of the doped nanofibers is 2.6 while the pristine one is 1.4. Both formulations exhibit almost equal low activity in daylight as the observed hydrogen equivalent is 0.4. Overall, this study proposes cheap, stable and effective material for AB dehydrogenation at room temperature.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P><P>► Novel Ni–TiO<SUB>2</SUB> photocatalyst is introduced for ammonia borane (AB) hydrolysis. ► A simple method to synthesis Ni-doped TiO<SUB>2</SUB> nanofibers for hydrogen production. ► High amount of hydrogen was produced by catalyst assisted hydrolysis. ► This is a cheap, stable and effective material for AB dehydrogenation. ► The introduced photocatalyst reveal good performance even at low content.</P>

New cost effective design of PCR heating cycler system using Peltier plate without the conventional heating block

Gamal A. Nasser,Ahmed L. Abdel-Mawgood,A. A. Abouelsoud,Hisham Mohamed,Shinjiro Umezu,Ahmed M. R. Fath El-Bab 대한기계학회 2021 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.35 No.7

Temperature control is a critical factor in PCR for efficient DNA amplification. The main aim is to achieve tight control and high rate of heating and cooling for a portable, cost-effective PCR device. This speed depends on reduction of the thermal mass of the PCR heating part. The common methods used to decrease the device's thermal mass or heating/ cooling time are to improve desirable device structural design and to choose a better heating and cooling mechanism with robust controller. Increasing the thermal mass provides a good temperature distribution on the heater surface, but it delays the heat transfer. Therefore, removing thermal mass makes the controller struggle to provide a high temperature uniformity distribution on Peltier surface. In this paper, we provide a cost-effective PCR heating/cooling system using Peltier element. This system is controlled using adaptive FLC with bang-bang as a hybrid controller to provide good accuracy with maximum available temperature changing rate. The results show that in cooling, the adaptive FLC with bang-bang controller is faster by 20 % than the normal PD-like FLC, however in heating it is faster by 5 to 10 %. The adaptive FLC provided steady state error 3 % and 1.5 % less than the normal FLC at denaturation and annealing steps, respectively. Temperature distribution is tested using thermal camera. The device is validated by performing conventional PCR. The amplification product was analyzed by electrophoresis on a 1.5 % agarose gel then stained with ethidium bromide and the products show successfully amplified.

Nanoparticles of ZnO/Berberine complex contract COVID-19 and respiratory co-bacterial infection in addition to elimination of hydroxychloroquine toxicity

Ghareeb Doaa A.,Saleh Samar R.,Seadawy Mohamed G.,Nofal Mohammed S.,Abdulmalek Shaymaa A.,Hassan Salma. F.,Khedr Shaimaa M.,AbdElwahab Miral G.,Sobhy Ahmed A.,Abdel-Hamid Ali saber Ali,Yassin Abdelrah 한국약제학회 2021 Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation Vol.51 No.6

Purpose A novel coronavirus (COVID-19) that has not been previously identified in humans and has no specific treatment has recently spread. Treatment trials using antiviral and immune-modulating drugs such as hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) were used to control this viral outbreak however several side effects have emerged. Berberine (BER) is an alkaloid that has been reported to reveal some pharmacological properties including antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. Additionally, Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) possess potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Therefore, this study was undertaken to estimate the efficiency of both BER and synthetic ZnO/BER complex as an anti-COVID-19 therapy. Methods First, the ZnO/BER complex was prepared by the facile mixing method. Then in vitro studies on the two compounds were conducted including VeroE6 toxicity, anti-COVID-19 activity, determination of inhibitory activity towards papain-like proteinase (PL pro) and spike protein- and receptor- binding domain (RBD) as well as assessment of drug toxicity on RBCs. Results The results showed that ZnO/BER complex acts as an anti-COVID-19 by inhibiting spike protein binding with angiotensin-converting enzyme II (ACE II), PL pro activity, spike protein and E protein levels, and expression of both E-gene and RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) at a concentration lower than that of BER or ZnO-NPs alone. Furthermore, ZnO/BER complex had antioxidant and antimicrobial properties where it prevents the auto oxidation of 2,2-Diphenyl- 1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and the culture of lower respiratory system bacteria that affected Covid 19 patients. The ZnO/BER complex prevented as well the HCQ cytotoxic effect on both RBC and WBC (in vitro) and hepatotoxicity, nephrotoxicity and anemia that occurred after HCQ long administration in vivo. Conclusion The ZnO/BER complex can be accounted as promising anti-COVID 19 candidate because it inhibited the virus entry, replication, and assembly. Furthermore, it could be used to treat a second bacterial infection that took place in hospitalized COVID 19 patients. Moreover, ZnO/BER complex was found to eliminate the toxicity of long-term administration of HCQ in vivo.

Design of A new Algorithm by Using Standard Deviation Techniques in Multi Edge Computing with IoT Application

HASNAIN A. ALMASHHADANI,XIAOHENG DENG,OSAMAH R. AL-HWAIDI,SARMAD T. ABDUL-SAMAD,MOHAMMED M. IBRAHM,SUHAIB N. ABDUL LATIF 한국인터넷정보학회 2023 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Syst Vol.17 No.4

The Internet of Things (IoT) requires a new processing model that will allow scalability in cloud computing while reducing time delay caused by data transmission within a network. Such a model can be achieved by using resources that are closer to the user, i.e., by relying on edge computing (EC). The amount of IoT data also grows with an increase in the number of IoT devices. However, building such a flexible model within a heterogeneous environment is difficult in terms of resources. Moreover, the increasing demand for IoT services necessitates shortening time delay and response time by achieving effective load balancing. IoT devices are expected to generate huge amounts of data within a short amount of time. They will be dynamically deployed, and IoT services will be provided to EC devices or cloud servers to minimize resource costs while meeting the latency and quality of service (QoS) constraints of IoT applications when IoT devices are at the endpoint. EC is an emerging solution to the data processing problem in IoT. In this study, we improve the load balancing process and distribute resources fairly to tasks, which, in turn, will improve QoS in cloud and reduce processing time, and consequently, response time.