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The Industrial Revolution marked a significant shift in production and consumption, leading to environmental degradation due to industrial activities. In response, Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) has emerged as a critical approach to mitigate environmental impacts while maintaining efficiency. However, implementing GSCM faces numerous barriers, particularly in high-pollution industries like petrochemicals. This study aims to identify and rank the key barriers to GSCM adoption in Egypt's petrochemical industry using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Through a literature review, 16 barriers were consolidated into five categories: Economic, External Stakeholders, Information/Awareness, Design/Process, and Management/Behavior. A structured questionnaire was administered to 89 industry professionals, and AHP was applied to determine the relative importance of these barriers. The results revealed that \"lack of new technology, materials, and processes for GSC\" was the most critical barrier, followed by \"high investment and low return-on-investments\" and \"lack of management commitment.\" Economic barriers were deemed the most influential category, highlighting financial constraints as a major hurdle. External Stakeholders and Design/Process categories also ranked highly, while Information/Awareness barriers were considered less critical. Sensitivity analysis confirmed the robustness of these findings. The study underscores the need for financial incentives, technological advancements, and stronger regulatory frameworks to facilitate GSCM adoption. Practical implications include targeted policy interventions, green financing mechanisms, and organizational culture shifts to overcome these barriers. This research contributes to the limited literature on GSCM in Egypt's petrochemical sector and provides actionable insights for policymakers and industry leaders to promote sustainable supply chain practices. Future research could explore sector-specific solutions and longitudinal studies to track progress in GSCM implementation.

Inflammasome targeting and controlling dysbiosis are promising therapeutic approaches to control ulcerative colitis. This report is the first to investigate the mechanisms underlying the coloprotective effects of rosuvastatin and Lactobacillus and their combined therapy on dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed rats. Our results demonstrate the aggravation of intestinal inflammation as a consequence of an HFD following DSS administration. An association between dyslipidemia, LDL oxidation, CD36 expression, ROS generation, thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP) upregulation, and NLRP3 inflammasome activation was demonstrated by DSS exposure in HFD-fed rats. We demonstrated that rosuvastatin/Lactobacillus significantly suppressed the DSS/HFD-induced increase in colon weight/length ratio, DAI, MDI, and myeloperoxidase, as well as corrected dysbiosis and improved histological characteristics. Additionally, caspase-1 activity and IL-1β-driven pyroptotic activity was significantly reduced. Rosuvastatin/Lactobacillus showed prominent anti-inflammatory effects as revealed by the IL-10/IL-12 ratio and the levels of TNF-α and IL-6. These latter effects may be attributed to the inhibition of phosphorylation-induced activation of NF-κB and a concomitant reduction in the expression of NLRP3, pro-IL-1β, and pro-IL-18. Furthermore, rosuvastatin/Lactobacillus reduced Ox-LDL-induced TXNIP and attenuated the inflammatory response by inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome assembly. To conclude, rosuvastatin/Lactobacillus offers a safe and effective strategy for the management of ulcerative colitis.

Aims The enormous spread of the novel Corona virus disease (COVID‐19) represents a challenge to dermatological practice. Accumulating evidence has suggested a possible role of teledermatology in facing this challenge. In this article, we aimed to give a general overview of teledermatology in terms of models of practice, modes of delivery, advantages, limitations, ethical considerations and legislative challenges as well as discussing, using examples from literature, how dermatological practice can benefit from teledermatology during the time of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Discussion and conclusion Teledermatology could be an accessible, accurate and cost‐effective substitute for conventional face‐to‐face dermatological consultations during the COVID‐19 pandemic. However, teledermatology practice needs updated legislation and guidelines. More efforts should be done to encourage dermatologists, especially in underserved communities, to provide teledermatology services. Ethical issues and data security related to teledermatology have to be considered.

Basil ( Ocimum L.) is an important essential oil crop, medicinal plant, and culinary herb, belonging to the Lamiaceae family. It has extensive nutritional and therapeutic benefits, making it valuable in culinary and medicinal applications. Hence, in this study, we aimed to induce basil’s nutritive and biological value. To this end, this study evaluates the potential of the plant growth-promoting Pseudomonas JP0825, isolated from the Jazan region, KSA, as a biopriming agent to improve the growth, nutritional quality, and bioactive compound profile of sweet ( Ocimum basilicum L.) and American ( Ocimum americanum L.) basil. The molecular identification of Pseudomonas JP0825 confirmed its phylogenetic relationship with other beneficial Pseudomonas species. Our findings revealed significant increases in photosynthetic pigments, biomass, and proximate composition, particularly in sweet basil, following inoculation. Elevated levels of vitamins, amino acids, and organic and fatty acids were observed, alongside enhanced secondary metabolites like phenolics and flavonoids, correlated with enhanced antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. The antioxidant properties of treated basil improved significantly, as indicated by increased FRAP and ABTS activities. Furthermore, Pseudomonas JP0825 demonstrated an ability to boost the antimicrobial activity against various pathogenic bacteria and fungi, including Staphylococcus epidermidis , Enterococcus faecalis , Salmonella typhimurium , and Aspergillus flavus . These findings highlight the strain’s potential as a sustainable alternative to chemical inputs, offering improvements in crop quality and resilience, and contributing to global food security efforts.

The purpose of the study is to search for simple, widely available markers that combine adiposity and lipoprotein status to improve coronary artery disease (CAD) risk discrimination. For this, we evaluated whether the body mass index to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (BMI/HDL-C) discriminates angiographically confirmed CAD better than BMI or HDL-C alone. In this multicenter observational study, we enrolled 834 adults undergoing coronary angiography at three tertiary centers. CAD was defined as ≥50% stenosis in ≥1 major coronary artery and its branches. BMI and fasting HDL-C were measured on admission; BMI/HDL-C was calculated. We assessed associations using Spearman correlation, logistic regression, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, and Area under the curve (AUC). Mean age was 58.5 ± 11.9 years; 53.7% were male; 440 had CAD. BMI/HDL-C correlated most strongly with CAD (rho = 0.68) versus HDL-C (rho = -0.65) and BMI (rho = 0.142). In logistic regression (after adjusting for Diabetes Mellitus, Hypertension, dyslipidemia, and smoking), a one-unit increase in the HDL-C was associated with a 26.2% reduction in the odds of CAD, while a 6.4% and 55.2% increase in the odds of CAD was noted with a one-unit increase in the BMI and BMI/HDL ratio, respectively. ROC analysis showed superior discrimination for BMI/HDL-C (AUC 0.892; 95% CI 0.870-0.913) compared with HDL-C (AUC 0.875; 95% CI 0.849-0.901) and BMI (AUC 0.582; 95% CI 0.543-0.621). An optimal BMI/HDL-C cutoff of 19.7 achieved 100% sensitivity and 83.5% specificity. AUC differences were statistically significant (p < 0.001). In conclusion, the BMI/HDL-C ratio demonstrated superior discriminatory ability for angiographically defined CAD compared to BMI or HDL-C alone, suggesting its potential as a simple and clinically useful marker, although further validation in prospective studies is warranted.

Lepidium sativum (garden cress) is a nutritionally valuable plant rich in proteins, dietary fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins, and essential phytochemicals, and has a history of use in traditional medicine. This study investigated the potential of a novel endophytic actinobacterium, Nocardia JTT02, isolated from Tribulus terrestris (Jazan region, KSA) to enhance the biofortification of three L. sativum cultivars (Haraz, Rajab, and Khider). Nocardia JTT02, a potent plant growth-promoting (PGP) endophyte, significantly improved the biomass and photosynthetic activity (including Rubisco) in all cultivars. This enhancement is attributed to JTT02's production of phytohormones like auxin and gibberellin. Moreover, the improved photosynthesis by JTT02 treatment resulted in elevated levels of primary metabolites, including organic acids, fatty acid and essential amino acids, which serve as precursors for glucosinolates and phenolics. Correspondingly, individuals glucosinoaltes (e.g., glucotropaeolin, benzaldehyde, benzyl cyanide, and benzyl thiocyanate) and total glucosinolate content were elevated. This also correlated with the bacteria's ability to produce amino acids, which are precursors for glucosinolate metabolism. Along with these increases, overall myrosinase activity and concentrations of glucosinolate hydrolysis products also significantly increased. Furthermore, the accumulation of antioxidant metabolites, including phenolic acids and flavonoids, was enhanced by JTT02, leading to increased antioxidant capacity as determined by FRAP, ABTS, and DPPH assays. The JTT02 boosted the accumulation of bioactive metabolites also increased antibacterial activity against various pathogen. These results suggest that Nocardia JTT02 is promising as a biofertilizer for improving the growth, nutritional value, and disease resistance of L. sativum .

Background and Aim Gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE) is observed in patients with liver cirrhosis and portal hypertension. The exact pathophysiologic mechanism that underlies this condition is unknown. In our study, we estimate the prevalence of GAVE in hepatitis C virus (HCV) cirrhosis and attempted to determine if any of the hepatocellular manifestations, liver functions, serum gastrin, abdominal ultrasound and endoscopic picture have a relation to, or could predict, the occurrence of GAVE in cirrhotic patients. Methods This study includes 500 HCV‐related liver cirrhosis patients. According to endoscopic assessment, we detected 30 patients with GAVE (Group 2). From the 470 patients without GAVE, we randomly selected 120 patients (Group 1), to avoid statistical bias, for comparison with Group 2. Comparison included clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, serum gastrin, ultrasound findings, and endoscopic findings (esophageal and/or gastric varices and gastropathy). Results The percentage of GAVE in HCV‐related liver cirrhosis is 0.06%. We can predict GAVE by platelets, palmer erythema, diabetes mellitus (DM), marked ascites > with area under the curve of 0.67, 75.5, 0.62, and 0.40%, and accuracy of 82.5, 72, 70.7, and 79.3%, respectively. There was no correlation found between occurrence of GAVE and endoscopic findings. Also, there was no correlation found between occurrence of GAVE and serum gastrin levels, which reflect another pathophysiology, and we found no statistically significant correlation with GAVE. Conclusions Palmer erythema, low platelets, DM, and ascites might help in the prediction of GAVE. GAVE is not linked to the presence, type or grade of varices, and gastropathy. The percentage of gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE) in hepatitis C virus‐related liver cirrhosis is 0.06%. Palmer erythema, low platelets, diabetes mellitus, and ascites might help in the prediction of GAVE. GAVE is not linked to the presence, type or grade of varices, and gastropathy.

Several coronavirus vaccine have been fast-tracked to halt the pandemic, the usage of immune adjuvants that can boost immunological memory has come up to the surface. This is particularly of importance in view of the rates of failure of seroconversion and re-infection after COVID-19 infection, which could make the vaccine role and response debatable. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) have an established immune-modulatory role, but their effects as adjuvants to vaccination have not been explored to date.

•Cerebral vasospasm contributes to morbidity in subarachnoid hemorrhage.•Identifying genomics predicting risk of vasospasm offers novel therapeutic avenues.•Hp-2 allele was found to be an independent predictor of cerebral vasospasm. This study aims to investigate the genetic predisposition of haptoglobin (Hp) genotype as a predictor for cerebral vasospasm (CV) after acute subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) in the Egyptian population. This permits CV risk factors stratification of patients with aSAH. Hence, it will guide the treatment plan and intensive monitoring for those patients. The study was carried out at El Matareya Teaching Hospital, Cairo, Egypt. We studied 50 patients with aSAH who were prospectively recruited and followed up by transcranial Doppler (TCD) examination for 14 days following aneurysmal rupture to early detect hemodynamic changes associated with CV and also the occurrence of delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) as a secondary outcome. In this study, we attempted to analyze Hp genotyping as a potential predictor of CV and DCI during the acute phase of aneurysmal SAH. As a part of result analyses, among studied patients, 34 patients (68 %) developed CV and 19 patients (38 %) developed DCI. Only history of hypertension [RR = 1.6 (OR = 4)], diabetes mellitus [RR = 1.5 (OR = 3.4)] and smoking [RR = 1.5 (OR = 3.6)] had a significant independent relationship (P < 0.05) with short term risk to develop CV following aSAH. While, Age, sex, hyperlipidemia, cardiovascular disease and peripheral vascular disease, intracranial aneurysm site and size did not achieve significant association for developing CV. Regarding the poor Fisher scale and poor Hunt and Hess score both showed significant association with CV (P < 0.05). Genotyping of Hp protein among our study cohort revealed that the relative distribution of the three haptoglobin genotypes (Hp1−1, HP2-I & HP2−2) among Egyptian patients of aSAH was 14 %, 40 % and 46 %, respectively; (gene proportion being 0.34 for Hp1 and 0.66 for Hp2). Furthermore; Hp 2 allele was associated with radiographic vasospasm detected by TCD among the studied patients (2−2 & 2−1 Vs 1−1: RR = 5.4, OR = 19.8, P < 0.001). In the regression model; Hp genotype expressing Hp-2 allele is predictive for higher risk of development of CV after aSAH. Moreover, searching for the relationship between CV & Hp genotype and the risk for development of DCI; both variables failed to achieve a significant relationship for DCI (P > 0.05). The Hp genotype may determine the susceptibility to cerebral vasospasm after acute aSAH. This has the potential for use in risk stratification by allowing for the identification of those patients requiring intensive monitoring due to their inherent genetic risk for developing CV allowing for the promising selective application of aggressive treatments to those patients.