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Blood E2F3 mRNA is a sensitive diagnostic marker in lung cancer; moreover, it is a promising prognostic marker capable of efficiently discriminating early from late stages of the disease.

African consumers and citizens are growingly aware of the wide range of toxic poisoning scenarios from different products and hazards. Recurrent episodes on poisoning that have been reported in Africa include toxic hazards in consumers’ products ranging from food to herbal medicine, drugs, and cosmetics. Chemical poisoning remains an issue that is overlooked by public health stakeholders in Africa. Available information on toxicovigilance systems and practices in African countries is reviewed in terms of increasing development, organization and articulation levels. Less than nine out of 54 African countries have a legally recognized toxicovigilance system. Of these, the majority have created toxicovigilance systems recently, and are facing many challenges in developing them, at regional and country levels. Basic structures for a good toxicovigilance system include a phone line service (available 24/7), and hospital facilities. Pesticides emerge as the hazard recognized by all of the toxicovigilance systems, and may represent a prototypic toxicant towards a toxicovigilance system that is inclusive of a wider spectrum of toxicological hazards for the protection of community health. Toxicovigilance today is more reactive than preventive in Africa, but some milestones are present that constitute some promising seminal efforts.

Many cases of toxicity and mortality either due to accidental or deliberate ingestion of hair dyes were reported in Egypt, Sudan, Israel, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, India and Tunisia. In the field of forensic analytical toxicology, the identification and quantification of chemicals are essential in deaths related to intoxication. The aim of the present study is to conduct chemico-analytical characterization of para-phenylenediamine (PPD) based hair dye of (Black stone hair dye, SHD) currently used for dying hear in Egypt, to confirm the identification of its components, that may be potentially toxic on oral or dermal exposure, this study uses comparison between different analytical methods. The applied analytical methods were inductively coupled plasma/MS (ICP/MS), witch used to determine the metal components of the dye, high performance liquid chromatography/MS (HPLC/MS) and gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) were used for qualitative and quantitative analysis of PPD in the dye. A derivatization method was applied by transforming PPD (aromatic amines) into corresponding imine derivatives. This compound was prepared by condensation of 4-methylbenzeneamine with benzaldehyed to give N-benzylidene-4-methylbenzene-amine, which is a very stable internal standard. ICP/MS analysis revealed that most metal components of hair dye are Be, Na, Al, K, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, and Zr, where HPLC/MS analysis revealed that PPD is the main ingredient of SHD. Derivatization is necessary for accurate determination of PPD in hair dye by GC/MS method and this results could not be obtained by direct injection of dye (without derivatization).

This study investigates and quantifies the integrative effects of CO2 concentration (500, 1000 and 1500 µmol mol−1), illumination intensity (100, 200 and 300 μmol m−2 s−1) and air speed (0.25, 0.50 and 0.75 m s−1) on the growth, gas exchange and light use efficiency of lettuce plants (Lactuca sativa L.) grown under artificial lighting. The results show that lettuce growth and gas exchange are closely related to CO2 concentration and illumination intensity, while air speed enhances CO2 transport during photosynthesis. The most influential two-way interactions were observed between CO2 concentration and illumination intensity on the fresh and dry weights of lettuce shoots with effect sizes of 34% and 32%, respectively, and on the photosynthesis, transpiration and light use efficiency, with effect sizes of 52%, 47% and 41%, respectively. The most significant three-way interaction was observed for the photosynthetic rate, with an effect size of 51%. In general, the fresh and dry weights of lettuce plants increased by 36.2% and 20.1%, respectively, with an increase in CO2 concentration from 500 to 1500 µmol mol−1 and by 48.9% and 58.6%, respectively, with an increase in illumination intensity from 100 to 300 μmol m−2 s−1. The photosynthetic rate was found to be positively correlated with CO2 concentration, illumination intensity and air speed. The transpiration rate and stomatal conductance increased by 34.9% and 42.1%, respectively, when the illumination intensity increased from 100 to 300 μmol m−2 s−1. However, as CO2 concentration increased from 500 to 1500 μmol mol−1 and air speed increased from 0.25 to 0.75 m s−1, the transpiration rate decreased by 17.5% and 12.8%, respectively. With the quantified data obtained, we were able to adequately determine how CO2 concentration, illumination intensity and air speed interact with their combined effects on the growth of lettuce plants grown in indoor cultivation systems with artificial lighting.

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