HE 18TH DYNASTY (CIRCA 1550-1295 of the New Kingdom (circa 1550-1070 BC) was one of the most powerful royal houses of ancient Egypt. The pharaoh Akhenaten, who ruled from circa 1351 to 1334 BC, is considered one of the most controversial of the Egyptian pharaohs, because his attempt to radically transform traditional religion affected all facets of society and caused great turmoil.Akhenaten's eventual successor, Tutankhamun, is probably the most famous of all pharaohs, although his tenure was brief. He died in the ninth year of his reign, circa 1324 BC, at age 19 years. Little was known of Tutankhamun and his ancestry prior to Howard Carter's discovery of his intact tomb (KV62) in For editorial comment see p 667.

Atherosclerosis is commonplace in mummified ancient Egyptians.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

In earlier work we have reported that garlic and cabbage extracts can protect laboratory animals from the toxic effects of different mycotoxins. Previous research demonstrated that fumonisin (FB) induced developmental effects in mice, rats and hamsters. The objectives of the present study were to utilize the pregnant rat as an in vivo model to compare the potential of garlic and cabbage seed extracts to prevent the developmental toxicity of FB and the effects of these extracts on sphingolipid metabolism in dam and foetus livers. Six treatment groups included a control group, a group fed on an FB-containing diet (150 mg kg(-1) feed) and groups treated orally with garlic or cabbage extracts (5 mg kg(-1) body wt.) with or without FB during gestation days 6-15. Evaluations of toxicity were performed on day 20. These include: maternal (mortality, body weight, feed intake and litter weight), developmental (embryonic resorption, foetal body weight, foetal soft-tissue anomalies and foetal skeletal examinations) and maternal and foetal sphingolipid metabolism. Fumonisin alone resulted in significant decreases in feed intake, body weight gain, litter weight, number of live foetuses and foetal body weight, whereas it increased significantly the number of resorbed foetuses and the number of skeletal malformations (30.4% for skull and 26.08% for sternebrae) and also increased the sphinganine/sphingosine (Sa/So) ratio in dam but not fetus livers. Garlic alone or plus FB was comparable to the control regarding all the tested parameters. On the other hand, cabbage seed extract alone or plus FB resulted in 10% maternal mortality and a decrease in maternal body weight and litter weight. It resulted in 4.65% skull malformations in foetuses but it was comparable to the control with regard to the other tested parameters. It could be concluded that both garlic and cabbage seed extracts have protective effects in pregnant rats. Moreover, garlic extract was found to have a greater protective effect than cabbage seed extract.

1-Carbethoxymethyluracils have been synthesized and derivatized to the corresponding hydrazides, which were reacted with monosaccharides to afford the corresponding sugar hydrazones. Acetylation of the latter with acetic anhydride in pyridine, afforded the per-O-acetyl derivatives, while heating in acetic anhydride gave the corresponding oxadiazolines. The prepared compounds were tested for antiviral activity against hepatitis B virus and showed moderate activities.

Coal is largely composed of organic matter, but it is the inorganic matter in coal minerals and trace elements that have been cited as possible causes of health, environmental and technological problems associated with the use of coal. Some trace elements in coal are naturally radioactive. These radioactive elements include uranium (U), thorium (Th) and their numerous decay products, including radium (Ra) and radon (Rn). Although these elements are less chemically toxic than other coal constituents, such as arsenic, selenium or mercury, questions have been raised concerning the possible risk from radiation. In order to accurately address these questions and to predict the mobility of radioactive elements during the coal fuel cycle, it is important to determine the specific activity, distribution and form of radioactive elements in coal. The assessment of the radiation exposure from coal burning is critically dependent on the specific activity of radioactive elements in coal and in the fly ash that remains after combustion. The El-Maghara coal mine is the only producing coal mine in Egypt. It is located in the middle of the Sinai desert about 250 km north-east of Cairo, where a coal-fired power plant is intended to be built. In this study, a pre-operational radiological baseline of the site and the occupational radiation exposures due to radon progeny in the mine were determined. The specific activities of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in soil and coal dust samples collected along the main gallery ranges were found to be 6-22.9, 9.6-47.3 and 77-489 Bq kg-1, respectively. Soil samples collected around the mine showed concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in the ranges 2.7-20.2, 3.2-12.6 and 14.6-201 Bq kg-1, respectively. All of the mean values of radon progeny were lower than the action levels for working places recommended in the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) 65.