American University in Cairo

About: American University in Cairo is a education organization based out in Cairo, Egypt. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 2472 authors who have published 5339 publications receiving 73741 citations.

Core microbial functional activities in ocean environments revealed by global metagenomic profiling analyses.

Abstract: Metagenomics-based functional profiling analysis is an effective means of gaining deeper insight into the composition of marine microbial populations and developing a better understanding of the interplay between the functional genome content of microbial communities and abiotic factors. Here we present a comprehensive analysis of 24 datasets covering surface and depth-related environments at 11 sites around the world's oceans. The complete datasets comprises approximately 12 million sequences, totaling 5,358 Mb. Based on profiling patterns of Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs) of proteins, a core set of reference photic and aphotic depth-related COGs, and a collection of COGs that are associated with extreme oxygen limitation were defined. Their inferred functions were utilized as indicators to characterize the distribution of light- and oxygen-related biological activities in marine environments. The results reveal that, while light level in the water column is a major determinant of phenotypic adaptation in marine microorganisms, oxygen concentration in the aphotic zone has a significant impact only in extremely hypoxic waters. Phylogenetic profiling of the reference photic/aphotic gene sets revealed a greater variety of source organisms in the aphotic zone, although the majority of individual photic and aphotic depth-related COGs are assigned to the same taxa across the different sites. This increase in phylogenetic and functional diversity of the core aphotic related COGs most probably reflects selection for the utilization of a broad range of alternate energy sources in the absence of light.

The Importance of Bruno Latour for Philosophy

Abstract: This article explores the importance of French thinker, Bruno Latour, for academic philosophy and addresses the question of why, when he has an enthusiastic following in a range of disciplines including sociology, anthropology and the fine arts, he has been largely overlooked by academic philosophers.

Core-Shell Silver/Polymeric Nanoparticles-Based Combinatorial Therapy against Breast Cancer In-vitro.

Abstract: The current study aimed at preparing AgNPs and three different core-shell silver/polymeric NPs composed of Ag core and three different polymeric shells: polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyethylene glycol (PEG) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). Thereafter, the core/shell NPs were loaded with a chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin (DOX). Finally, the cytotoxic effects of the different core-shell Ag/polymeric NPs-based combinatorial therapeutics were tested in-vitro against breast cancer (MCF-7) and human fibroblast (1BR hTERT) cell lines. AgNPs, Ag/PVA and Ag/PVP NPs were more cytotoxic to MCF-7 cells than normal fibroblasts, as well as DOX-Ag, DOX-Ag/PVA, DOX-Ag/PEG and DOX-Ag/PVP nanocarriers (NCs). Notably, low dosage of core-shell DOX-loaded Ag/polymeric nanocarriers (NCs) exhibited a synergic anticancer activity, with DOX-Ag/PVP being the most cytotoxic. We believe that the prepared NPs-based combinatorial therapy showed a significant enhanced cytotoxic effect against breast cancer cells. Future studies on NPs-based combinatorial therapy may aid in formulating a novel and more effective cancer therapeutics.