Background: The fat extracted from the nut of the African Shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa) is called Shea butter. It has multiple uses at the local level as it is used in cosmetic products and as a cocoa butter substitute in chocolate industries. It has a high nutritious value and is also a valuable product on the local, national, and international markets, making it the ideal candidate to research and invest in. Aim: This study is a comparative experimental study of the possible burn healing effects between imported South African raw Shea butter and samples in a Libyan market. Method: The control samples were brought from South Africa (Benin traditional markets). A total of 18 different samples were collected from different sale centers in Tripoli, including pharmacies, beauty shops, and spices shops, in addition to one sample brought from Poland. Animal experiment on burn healing effect was carried out on nine male Sprague Dawley (350–400 g) rats aged 6–8 weeks old. After shaving the animal’s dorsum hair, a metal cube was used to create a deep second degree burn wound, and the cube was heated to 100°C for 20 seconds. Medication with Shea butter (control, T1, and T2) was initiated daily for one for these groups by the application of a thin film of the Shea butter samples on the burned areas. On days 1, 3, and 7, the rats were anesthetised and a sample from the burned scar tissue and skin adjacent were evaluated using pathological parameters. Results: The histological study indicates that the use of Shea butter T1 as topical treatment induces an immune response, which enhances the form of the presence of a large number of inflammatory cells in the epidermis and dermis layers. The treatment of burned skin with T2 lasted for 72 hours and it showed slightly significant healing in the normal structure of proliferative granulation tissue with accumulation of fibroblasts and inflammatory cells surrounding the sebaceous glands and hair follicles. Small areas of the epidermis which formed few layers were observed and some hair roots were grown. This was well seen in cases of T1 and T2. Shea butter bought as raw might have a bad effect on burned skin. Conclusion: Shea butter bought as raw might have bad effect on burned skin. On the other hand, the sample from Poland had a therapeutic effect, which was because of the additives such as avocado oil, grape seed oil, and others. arabic 18 English 101
Sakina Salem Mohammed Saadawi, Soad Ali Abdulsalam Treesh, ٍSuhera Mehemed Abdulsalam Aburawi, , , (11-2020)

Preterm infants have a high risk of neonatal white matter injury (WMI). WMI leads to reduced myelination, inflammation, and clinical neurodevelopmental deficits for which there are no effective treatments. Ionotropic glutamate receptor (iGluR) induced excitotoxicity contributes to oligodendrocyte (OL) lineage cell loss and demyelination in brain models of neonatal and adult WMI. Here, we hypothesized that simulated ischemia (oxygen‑glucose deprivation) damages white matter via activation of iGluR signaling, and that iGluR inhibition shortly after WMI could mitigate OL loss, enhance myelination, and suppress inflammation in an ex vivo cerebellar slice model of developing WMI. Inhibition of iGluR signaling by a combined block of AMPA and NMDA receptors, shortly after simulated ischemia, restored myelination, reduced apoptotic OLs, and enhanced OL precursor cell proliferation and maturation as well as upregulated expression of transcription factors regulating OL development and remyelination. Our findings demonstrate that iGluR inhibition post‑injury alleviates OL lineage cell loss and inflammation and promotes myelination upon developing WMI. The findings may help to develop therapeutic interventions for the WMI treatment.
Mohamed A. Al-Griw, Michael G. Salter, Ian C. Wood(1-2021)

Alterations in genes encoding the xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes contribute to the variability in susceptibility to various cancers. In this study, we assessed the possible association between the CYP1A1 variants and lung cancer (LC) risk in a population of Libyan males. For this study, we selected 20 unrelated healthy controls and 32 patients with LC. DNA samples from the controls and patients were screened by DNA-PCR and direct DNA sequence analysis to search for genetic sequence variations in CYP1A1 gene (exon 7 and 3’ non-coding region). CYP1A1 mutations were identified in 11.5 % adult subjects and cases analyzed, and all were males. Overall, 11 CYP1A1 mutations were documented in this study implicating exon 7 and 3’ non-coding region. Nonsense, missense, and frame-shift mutations accounted for, respectively, 27.3 %, 63.6 % and 9.1 % of all CYP1A1 mutations. Three missense mutations namely CYP1A1*2B/m2 (rs1048943), CYP1A1*4/m4 (rs1799814), and CYP1A1*2A/m1 (rs4646903) have already been reported. The remaining mutations have not been described previously. We observed two apparently heterozygous carriers of mutation CYP1A1*2B/m2 (CYP1A1 4889A/G [642Ile/Val] genotype) in control group. We also observed two heterozygotic genotypes one containing mutation m4 (CYP1A1 4887C/A [461Thr/Asp]) and another containing mutation m1 (6235T/C) in cancer group. The mutations m2, m4, and m1 accounted for, respectively, 18.2 %, 9.1 % and 9.1 % of all CYP1A1 mutations. Comparing the clinical features showed that PLT and WBC counts were lower in CYP1A1 mutant than in CYP1A1 wild type, but they have not reached statistical significant (P > 0.05). The average age of CYP1A1 mutant was lower than in CYP1A1 wild type. Overall, these findings suggest that genetic alterations in the metabolic gene CYP1A1 are too rare to be of clinical relevance in this study, implying different pathways for the LC risk with respect to CYP1A1 polymorphisms as a risk factor for LC at least in this study.
Najah A. Fares, Othman A. El-Ansari, Mohamed A. Al-Griw(4-2017)