Vol. 26 Issue 3
Said M. Shawar, Musa T. Al-Aqtum and Sameer A. Al-Kayed
The difficulty to treat cancer without side effects by surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy
and immunotherapy, has led investigators to look for phytotherapy as a new strategy in cancer medicine. The immune system plays an important role in anti-tumor defenses, thus, we evaluated the proliferation potential of aqueous extracts from five medicinal plants on peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) from 118 properly consented volunteers. We examined the aqueous extract of Thyme, Sage, Clove, Calament and Black Seed in vitro on PBLs from 100 cancer patients seeking treatment at Al-Basheer Hospital in Amman and 18 apparently healthy volunteers. PBLs were isolated from blood samples collected in heparin tubes. Then, Ficoll-Hypaque density gradient centrifugation was employed to enrich for lymphocytes. Cells were collected in RPMI containing 10% human serum at 106/mL before culturing them at an appropriate density. Three concentrations of the aqueous extract from each plant were assayed in duplicates on cultured PBLs for 72 hours. Cell proliferation was quantified using 3-(4, 5-Dimethylthiazol-2yJ)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) standard method. Phytohemagglutinin (PHA) was used as a positive proliferation control, and sterile RPMI medium was used as a negative control. Among the five different aqueous extracts used in this study, only sage aqueous extract demonstrated promising results. Sage extract was effective in proliferating PBLs of all normal controls and cancer patients tested. Proliferation of the majority of PBLs from cancer patients was highly effective. However, some samples showed a weaker index of proliferation. PBLs proliferation exhibited a dose-dependent effect. The effectiveness among cancer patients was age, sex, cancer-type, and cancer-stage independent. Our data suggest that the aqueous extract of sage contains a polyclonal mitogen(s) that enhances the immune system in a non-specific fashion.
Mohammed Hasan Ibraheem
This work comprises a parasitological and a histopathological examination of the Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus niloticus, naturally infected with Lamproglena monodi (Crustacea: Lernaeidae). Fish specimens were collected weekly from El-Minia Nile basin, Egypt (between April 2006 to March 2008). From a total of 420 fish examined, 96 (22.86%) were found infected. Attachment of L monodi was mainly enhanced by the armed maxillae that were seen deeply introduced into the underlying tissues reaching the axial cartilage of the gill filament. The maxillipeds were not involved in the attachment to the gill epithelium. Histological changes were restricted only to the free ends of gill filaments, where copepods were found attached; the central and basal parts appeared normal and their gill lamellae remained intact. Deep and shallow lesions associated sometimes with compressed or exfoliated hyperplastic epithelium were encountered in front of the cephalothorax and around oral apparatus of the parasite. In slight and moderate infections gill lamellae showed partial fusion. In many cases of heavy infection, the attacked area of gill filaments was eroded through. The cephalothorax was sometimes found in a deep cavity of the proliferated epithelium that was infiltrated by granular cells and lymphocytes
Adnan Ali Enshassi, Rafiq Mohamed Choudhry and Said Mohamed El-Ghandour
The construction industry is one of the main Palestinian industries as it is considered an
essential requirement and a major foundation for economic activities. A key factor to a successful construction project is to complete the project without the existence of claims. The objective of this paper is to identify and rank causes of claims in the construction industry from the perspective of local clients. Quantitative method was used in this research. The questionnaire was sent to 120 clients in the Gaza Strip and 101 valid responses were received and analyzed. The results found the main causes of claims are: borders closures, awarding bid to the lower bidder, road blockage, difficulties to pass between cities and governorate, residents' interference during project implementation, and unexpected increase in material prices. Border closures found to be a political problem which is not easy to resolve. The findings indicate that owners may not award the contract to the lowest bidder. During project preparation and design, owners need to coordinate with the local residents of the area to inform them about the benefits of projects. The findings reveal that owners may assist contractors in removing obstacles of the project sites to avoid delays. Finally, these findings will be useful for international engineering and construction companies seeking a share in the Palestine market.
Abdulaziz Sultan Al-Ruwais and Abobakr Sultan Ahmed
A new and simple method to calculate the time variation of the elevation angle for LEO satellites is presented in this article. The method is useful to predict the link availability of LEO satellites due to propagation impairments. The method has been applied as a realistic study of LEO satellite flying over different regions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). It is found that the percentage of time during which this satellite is visible (P%) over KSA decreases with the increase of the elevation angle (0). The variation of P% with could be modelled either by an exponential function, or simply by a decreasing power's law relation
Mohamed Meddi and Amel Talia
Western Algeria has been experiencing drought since the middle of 1970's. which is characterized by severity and a remarkable persistent of rainfall deficit. The effects of this drought are also felt in the extreme east. The aim of this study is to identify the variations of climate in order to predict and analyze their impact on water resources in future work. The selected study area includes 15 basins of the North of Algeria Rainfall data from 86 precipitation stations with low percentages of missing data were used in this study. All of these stations' data have been utilized at least over the period 1930-1999/2000, on which the study focused. To explore rainfall variability, long series of rainfall on annual, seasonal, and monthly scales were subjected to statistical tests for detecting breaks in those series. Statiscal methods used are U Buishand, the non-parametric test of Pettitt, the procedure of Bayesian Lee and Heghinian and the procedure of segmentation of Pierre Hubert The univariate analysis showed a change in the rainfall pattern in the western region since 1975. However, in east of Algeria, no break was detected by the application of these methods.
Fares D. Alsewailem
This paper presents data on plastic waste management and treatment at the residential compound of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) in Riyadh. Twenty waste containers with a capacity of 240 Liters were distributed at some strategic locations at residential compound such as the central market, mosques, and boys and girls schools to collect the plastic waste. The residents were also given a choice to have their plastic wastes ready in front of their houses to be collected on Sunday and Thursday every week. After collecting all plastic wastes, which lasted from 9 to 12 months, materials were subjected to sorting based on type. This was followed by a step of size reduction by means of crushing in order to easily measure the amounts of materials collected and sorted. The results of this study indicated that most of the plastic wastes found at KACST's residential compound were of type two (High Density Polyethylene, HDPE) at 61% weight, while type one (Polyethylene terephthalate, PET) came in second place at 34% weight. Type six (Polystyrene, PS) was found at smaller quantities, due to its rare use as a household item. The total amount of plastic wastes collected, which was at 287 kg, formed only 0.24% of the expected plastic wastes in KACST's residential compound according to the governmental statistics, and 1.15% of the expected rate for plastic food packaging waste in the compound based on the analysis of the current study. The explanation given for not matching the above expected rates for plastic waste production in the residential compound was attributed to the fact that 60% of the residents did not participate in the process of sorting and collection of waste reclamation.
Basel Ibrahim
This research studies the possibility of recovering nickel from spent catalyst in the form
of an oxide. Several acids were used and found that nitric acid is more efficient with lower cost
than others. The digestion process of the spent catalyst was studied using different concentrations
of nitric acid, the effect of temperature, stirring time, and catalyst to acid ratio. Nickel was
precipitated by adjusting the acidity at pH > 8.0 using 1.0 mol of sodium carbonate solution. This
process gave highest recovery.