The rubber tree is a plant native to Amazon/Brazil, which has as main commercial interest the extraction of latex for the production of natural rubber. Thus, a large amount of by-products from this extraction is discarded every year. One of them are the seeds that have an oil, which could be applied in different industrial sectors such as pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food. Some studies show the presence of fatty acids in the oil of rubber trees all around the world, extracted using conventional techniques with organic solvents. However, it is scarce the knowledge of the composition of the oil of the seeds from Brazil. Due to this, the objective of this work was the extraction of rubber tree seed oil using Soxhlet and supercritical carbon dioxide, through an experimental design, varying temperature (40 to 80 ºC) and pressure (20 to 50 MPa). The best extraction yield was at 50 MPa and 60 ºC, showing that pressure has a significant influence over the oil yield and solubility. The supercritical extraction showed a high selectivity for the squalene extraction. At higher pressures, the -linolenic acid is favored to be extracted, although it was not identified in the Soxhlet extraction.
The objective of the present study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of pumpkin oil and olive oil and their combination on Gentamicin sulphate “GS”-induced nephrotoxicity in adult male albino rats(Sprague –Dawley strain). 40 adult male albino rats were used in this study (8 rats/group).Group one “control” (C) was injected with sterile saline; group two (GS) was injected with GS at a dose (100mg/kg), intra-peritoneal (i.p.) for 7 consecutive days, group three (GP) was injected with GS and supplemented with “pumpkin oil” (288mg/ 1Kg b.wt/daily) ,group four (GO) was injected with GS and supplemented with “Olive oil” ( 1.5 ml/ 1Kg b.wt/daily) and group five (GPO) was injected with GS and supplemented with “pumpkin oil” plus “olive oil” the experiment last for one month. Serum urea, creatinine and uric acid levels, oxidative stress parameters, and histopathological examination were investigated. Results revealed (1) significant decrease in TAC and SOD and significant increase in MDA , ALP ,urea, creatinine ,uric acid, and histopathological alterations in kidney tissue (light microscopy) in group exposed to GS. (2) Significant improvement in the measured parameters of groups subjected to GS and supplemented with pumpkin oil and olive oil. Conclusively, it was obvious that the supplementation with pumpkin or/and olive oil to rat exposed to oxidative stress was associated with improved, anti-oxidative parameters, kidney function, and histology of renal tissue.
The present study conducted a retrospective review regarding the characteristics of cases of pulmonary embolism to investigate the risk factors that affect survival. A total of 176 patients, who were followed-up in our hospital with a diagnosis of pulmonary thromboembolism over a two-year period, were evaluated retrospectively. The relationship between survival and age, gender, D-dimer levels, pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP), partial oxygen pressure (PaO2) and predisposing factors (e.g. deep-vein thrombosis, type of operation, trauma, congenital disease) were investigated. A one-way variance analysis (ANOVA), a Pearson correlation test and a survival analysis were carried out. Of all patients with a pulmonary embolism, 110 (62%) were male and 66 (37%) were female. The mean age of the patient group was 48+18 years, mean plasma D-dimer levels were 3.41+2.90 µgr/l, mean PAP was 55.6 ±22.3 mmHg and mean PaO2 was measured as 58+9 mmHg. In terms of predisposing factors, 28.4% of the patients diagnosed with pulmonary embolism had DVT, 9.6% underwent a gynecological operation, 5.1% were treated as outpatients in the gynecology and orthopedics departments, 8.5% had a history of orthopedic surgery, 9.6% had a history of trauma, 15.3% had COPD, 3.4% had malignancy and 9.6% had a congenital disease, while no predisposing factor was identified in 10.2% of the patients. A negative relationship was identified between age and survival (p=0.01). The mean age of the patients who died after a pulmonary embolism was 63+14 years, compared to 47±18 years for the survivors. No significant relationship was identified between D-dimer levels and survival (p>0.05), and the pulmonary arterial pressure was also not significantly associated with survival in these cases (p>0.05). A negative relationship was found between PaO2 and survival (p= 0.002), with the mean PaO2 of the patients who died being 52.5 mmHg, compared to 69.4 mmHg for the survivors. None of the predisposing factors was significantly associated with survival (p>0.05). The rate of in-hospital mortality among patients followed during this period was 10.7%. The findings demonstrated that old age and low PaO2 were associated with decreased in-hospital survival in patients with a pulmonary embolism, while PAP, D-dimer levels and predisposing factors did not affect survival.
Khenifra is located in the middle of the Atlas in Morocco, and in which, water from the “Oum Er-Rbia” River (Oued Oum Er-Rbia (OER)), is mobilized for producing potable water for the city and the entire region. Since the commissioning of this plant, several problems were encountered at the Reverse Osmosis unit related to the fouling of the membrane, which triggers a stop of the production, and frequent chemical cleaning \"CIP\" applied. Several investigations are performed to solve the problem and to improve the production system. In order to determine the causes of the membrane dysfunction, and in addition to the physical investigations of the pre-treatment and treatment units carried out, an analysis of the fouling layer of the reverse osmosis membranes was carried out by various techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results show that the soiling layer consists mainly of mineral materials: Al2O3, Ba(SO4)2, Ca(SO4), and CaCO3. This paper describes the membrane autopsy results to explain the reduction of RO performance and the improvement of pretreatment applied to improve the Reverse Osmosis unit by reducing the fouling.
