Eyad Mallah

Plasma concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D among Jordanians: Effect of biological and habitual factors on vitamin D status

BackgroundVitamin D is cutaneously synthesized following sun exposure (vitamin D3) as well as it is derived from dietary intake (vitamin D3 and D2). Vitamin D2 and D3 are metabolized in the liver to 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D). This metabolite is considered the functional indicator of vitamin D stores in humans. Since Jordan latitude is 31°N, cutaneous synthesis of vitamin D3 should be sufficient all year round. However, many indications reveal that it is not the case. Thus, this study was conducted to determine the 25(OH)D status among Jordanians.MethodsThree hundred healthy volunteers were enrolled in a cross sectional study; 201 females and 99 males. 25(OH)D and calcium concentrations were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay and spectroscopy techniques, respectively. All participants filled a study questionnaire that covered age, sex, height, weight, diet, and dress style for females. Females were divided according to their dress style: Western style, Hijab (all body parts are covered except the face and hands), and Niqab (all body parts are covered including face and hands).ResultsThe average plasma 25(OH)D levels in males and females were 44.5 ± 10.0 nmol/l and 31.1 ± 12.0 nmol/l, respectively. However, when female 25(OH)D levels were categorized according to dress styles, the averages became 40.3, 31.3 and 28.5 nmol/l for the Western style, Hijab and Niqab groups, respectively. These 25(OH)D levels were significantly less than those of males (p < 0.05, 0.001, 0.001, respectively). In addition, the plasma 25(OH)D levels of the Western style group was significantly higher than those of Hijab and Niqab groups (p < 0.001). Furthermore, dairy consumption in males was a positive significant factor in vitamin D status. Even though calcium concentrations were within the reference range, the Hijab and Niqab-dressed females have significantly less plasma calcium levels than males (p < 0.01).ConclusionsVery low plasma 25(OH)D levels in females wearing Hijab or Niqab are highly attributed to low sunlight or UVB exposure. In addition, most of males (76%) and Western style dressed females (90%) have 25(OH)D concentrations below the international recommended values (50 nmol/l), suggesting that although sun exposure should be enough, other factors do play a role in these low concentrations. These findings emphasize the importance of vitamin D supplementation especially among conservatively dressed females, and determining if single nucleotide polymorphisms of the genes involved in vitamin D metabolism do exist among Jordanians.

Pioglitazone Hcl Levels and Its Pharmacokinetic Application in Presence of Sucralose in Animals Serum by HPLC Method

Purpose: to develop a simple, valid and rapid chromatographic method for quantifying pioglitazone HCl in rats serum in order to study the pharmacokinetic parameters of pioglitazone HCl in rats serum fed with sucralose simultaneously for examination of interaction possibility between pioglitazone HCl and sucralose in rats. Methods: In our developed method of analysis, mobile phase was consisted of [51.50%] acetonitrile and [48.50%] 0.025 mM ammonium acetate with pH of 8, column of separation was C8 at temperature of 40°C using injection volume of 90 μl, mobile phase flow rate was 1 ml/min and samples run time was 10 min, the signals were monitored and analyzed at λ=269 nm and sildenafil citrate was used as internal standard. Pioglitazone was given to rats orally of [10mg/kg] dose while sucralose was given with [11 mg/kg/day] dose. Results: A successful HPLC method was validated and developed to quantify pioglitazone HCl in rats serum, overall intra-day precision and accuracy were reasonable with CV % values range [0.16-3.54] and accuracy % range [ 98.4-107.9], while inter-day precision and accuracy showed accepted precision with CV% range [ 0.15- 4.13] and accuracy % range [99.35-103.99]. The coefficient of correlation was 0.9991 with reasonable sensitivity and selectivity. Combination effect of pioglitazone with sucralose on pioglitazone serum profile was demonstrated as strong statistical effect according to Cohen’s d and significant P values too. Conclusion: A successful HPLC method was validated and developed to quantify pioglitazone HCl in rats serum, combination effect of pioglitazone with sucralose over all time intervals of pioglitazone serum profile was demonstrated as strong statistical effect.

Anti-inflammatory aminoacetylenic isoindoline-1,3-dione derivatives modulate cytokines production from different spleen cell populations.

We recently designed a series of N-[4-(t-amino-yl)-but-2-yn-1-yl] isoindoline-1,3-diones as anti-inflammatory compounds, called ZM compounds. These ZM compounds were categorized according to the nature of the cyclic amino groups into ZM2, ZM3, ZM4, and ZM5 and were shown to reduce carrageenan-induced inflammation, inhibit cyclooxygenase (1 and 2) and have less adverse effects than the common non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. In the present study, we are examining the potential effects of ZM compounds in modulating cytokines production in vivo and in vitro from stimulated spleen cells, CD4+ CD25+ve T regulatory cells and CD4+CD25-ve T helper cells. Six hours following oral administration of 20mg/kg of ZM4 and ZM5 compounds reversed LPS-induced TGF-β suppression whereas ZM2, ZM3, ZM4, and ZM5 reversed LPS-induced TNF-α and IL-12 increase in mice spleen. In addition, increasing concentrations of ZM2, ZM4 and ZM5 increased significantly TGF-β1 production, whereas ZM3, ZM4 and ZM5 suppressed only TNF-α production in LPS and LPS+PMA stimulated spleen cells. Furthermore, only ZM5, enhanced significantly TGF-β1 production from LPS and LPS+PMA stimulated CD4+CD25+ve cells (p<0.001), whereas none of the ZM compounds modulated TNF-α from CD4+CD25-ve T helper cells. These results indicate that ZM5 (N-{4-(2-Azepan-1-yl)-but-2-yn-1-yl}isoindoline-1,3-dione) enhances TGF-β production from CD4+CD25+ve cells independent of protein kinase C activation and suggest that all ZM compounds suppress TNF-α from monocytes/macrophage cells. In conclusion, these ZM compounds have potential to be used use as anti-inflammatory agents and further studies to show the possibility of utilizing these basic aminoacetylenic isoindolines in autoimmune mediated inflammatory diseases are warranted.

Nucleophilic Aromatic Substitution with 2,3-Dihydro-1,3-diisopropyl- 4,5-dimethylimidazol-2-ylidene

2,3-Dihydro-1,3-diisopropyl-4,5-dimethylimidazol-2-ylidene (1) reacts with an excess of hexafluorobenzene in the presence of boron trifluoride diethyletherate to give 1,3-diisopropyl-4,5- dimethyl-2-(perfluorophenyl)imidazolium tetrafluoroborate (2). Solutions of 2 exhibit an equilibrium consisting also of hexafluorobenzene and 2,2ʹ-(perfluoro-1,4-phenylene)bis(1,3-diisopropyl- 4,5-dimethylimidazolium)bis(tetrafluoroborate) (3) which is obtained from 1 and hexafluorobenzene in the ratio 2 : 1 on a preparative scale. Similar to 2, 2-(4-cyano-2,3,5,6-tetrafluorophenyl)-1,3- diisopropyl-4,5-dimethylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (4), 2-(2,4-dicyano-2,5,6-trifluorophenyl)- 1,3-diisopropyl-4,5-dimethylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (5), and 2-(4,6-difluoro-1,3,5-triazin-2- yl)-1,3-diisopropyl-4,5-dimethylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (6) are obtained from 1 and perfluorobenzonitrile, 1,3-dicyano-2,4,5,6-tetrafluorobenzene, and 2,4,6-trifluoro-1,3,5-triazin, respectively. The FAB mass spectra of compounds 2 - 6 and the results of the crystal structure analyses of compounds 2 - 4 are discussed. Graphical Abstract Nucleophilic Aromatic Substitution with 2,3-Dihydro-1,3-diisopropyl- 4,5-dimethylimidazol-2-ylidene

Nationality, Gender, Age, and Body Mass Index Influences on Vitamin D Concentration among Elderly Patients and Young Iraqi and Jordanian in Jordan

Vitamin D is necessary for maintaining and regulating calcium levels; thus, insufficiency of vitamin D increases the risk of many chronic diseases. This study aimed to examine vitamin D levels among Jordanian and Iraqi volunteers and find the relation between vitamin D level and lipid profile patients. Vitamin D levels were evaluated using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. For young healthy group subjects, vitamin D levels were 20.60 ± 5.94 ng/mL for Jordanian and 27.59 ± 7.74 ng/mL for Iraqi. Vitamin D concentrations for young males and females were 25.82 ± 8.33 ng/mL and 21.95 ± 6.39 ng/mL, respectively. Females wearing hijab were 20.87 ± 6.45 ng/mL, while uncovered females were 23.55 ± 6.04 ng/mL. For >40 years Iraqi subjects, vitamin D level for healthy was 29.78 ± 9.49 ng/mL and 23.88 ± 7.93 ng/mL for hyperlipidemic subjects. Vitamin D levels for overweight and obese healthy groups were significantly higher (P < 0.050) than those for the hyperlipidemic patients groups. Vitamin D levels for males were significantly higher than females and were significantly higher for healthy than those hyperlipidemic Iraqi patients. These findings showed that vitamin D levels are affected by age, nationality, gender, and health statues and highlight the importance of vitamin D supplementation for groups with low levels particularly old, hijab wearing females, and hyperlipidemic groups.

Enhancing Doxorubicin-Induced MCA-Fibrosarcoma Cytotoxicity by an Eriobotrya japonica Hydrophilic Butanol-Treated Extract through Natural Killer Cells Activation

The combination of cytotoxic drugs with immunotherapy should be more effective than monotherapy alone since both therapeutic modalities may target different mechanisms. In addition, combination therapy may reduce adverse events associated with cytotoxic drugs. Eriobotrya japonica hydrophilic butanol-treated extract (EJWR) was found to modulate cytokines by enhancing IL-12, IFN-γ and TNF-α in vitro and in vivo and within tumor microenvironment. This was associated with enhancing survival time of mice bearing intra-peritoneal MCA fibrosarcoma (MCA FS). In the present work, we evaluated the combination of EJWR with doxorubicin (Dox) on MCA FS cytotoxicity using 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide reduction assay in the absence and presence of spleen cells or Natural Killer (NK) lymphocytes from tumor bearing mice. The results showed that Dox exhibited mild cytotoxicity to healthy spleen cells and EJWR reversed such cytotoxicity. In addition, increasing concentrations of Dox induced 40% (p<0.01) MCA FS cytotoxicity. This percent increased significantly to 60% at Dox 5 μM when co-cultured with NK cells from tumor bearing mice and increased further to 80% (p<0.01) when Dox was combined with EJWR. The latter increase in cytotoxicity was significantly (p<0.01) higher than each agent alone. This enhancement was associated with significant production of TNF-α and retaining IFN-γ levels from NK cells lysates. This concluded that the immunomodulator, EJWR, mediates NK activation and enhances Dox- induced MCA FS cytotoxicity.

Bis(methyl­sulfon­yl)methane

In the title compound, C3H8O4S2, the two central S—C(H2) bond lengths are almost identical [1.781 (2) and 1.789 (2) Å]. In the crystal, each molecule utilizes CH2 and CH3 bonds to form weak C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds to six other molecules, thus linking molecules into a three-dimensional network.

2-Bromo-1,3-diisopropyl-4,5-dimethyl-1H-imidazol-3-ium dicyanidoargentate

The title structure, (C11H20BrN2)[Ag(CN)2)], is built up from an approximately C 2v-symmetric imidazolium cation and a nearly linear dicyanidoargentate anion [N—Ag—N = 176.6 (9)° and Ag—C—N = 178.8 (9) and 177.2 (11)°]. These two constituents are linked by a remarkably short interaction between the Br atom of the imidazolium cation [C—Br = 1.85 (3) Å] and one N atom of the cyanidoargentate anion [Br⋯N = 2.96 (2) Å], which is much less than the sum of the van der Waals radii (3.40 Å). The crystal studied was twinned by merohedry.

Correction to: Solid-Phase Synthesis and Antibacterial Activity of an Artificial Cyclic Peptide Containing Two Disulfide Bridges

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a typo in the author name. The co-author name should be Khalil K.Y. Saleh instead it was published as Klalil K.Y. Saleh.

Ring opening of cyclobutane in 1,3-dimethyl-5-methylenebarbituric acid dimer by various nucleophiles

Abstract The reactivity of cyclobutane moiety in 1,3-dimethyl-5-methylenebarbituric acid dimer (5) towards different nucleophiles was investigated. New derivatives of 5-(substituted methyl)-1,3-dimethylbarbiturate 6–13 were prepared in good yields using various aliphatic amines, cyanide anion, and Ph3P, Ph3As, Ph3Sb. Chemical structures of synthesized products were characterized using NMR, MS, and elemental analysis. The reaction of thiophenoxide and thiocyanate nucleophiles with 5 did not give any new products.