Objective: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) can present limitations to exercise capacity and quality of life (QoL) because of various clinical conditions, such as pulmonary disease or heart disease. Tissue Doppler echocardiography (TDE) offers the promise of an objective measurement to quantify regional and global ventricular function through the assessment of myocardial velocity data. This study aimed to assess the intensity of left ventricular (LV) and right ventricular (RV) systolic and diastolic dysfunction in SLE patients by means of TDE and cardiopulmonary exercise (CPX) testing to determine their impact on QoL.Material and Methods: Overall, 56 SLE patients within two tertiary healthcare centers as well as 50 healthy controls were examined with TDE after the exclusion of cardiovascular risk factors. TDE was performed for maximal systolic (S), early diastolic (E`), and late diastolic (A`) velocities of the mitral and tricuspid annulus. Pulsed wave (PW) Doppler of mitral and tricuspid valve inflow was performed in addition to the estimation of the left ventricle ejection fraction and assessment of right ventricle systolic function by tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE). Disease activity was assessed by the Systemic Lupus Activity Measure (SLAM), and the damage index was assessed by the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC)/American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Damage Index (SDI). CPX tests according to the modified Bruce protocol were performed.Results: SLE patients in both subgroups had more or less similar laboratory data and statistically higher values of ESR, CRP, and anticardiolipin (aCL) antibodies compared to the control group. LV function showed statistically insignificant EF compared to the control group, being lower in the patient group. Tissue Doppler image revealed that E` and A` of the mitral annulus were lower in the patient group than in the control group. Concerning RV, TAPSE in the patient group was statistically lower than in the control group, and there was a statistical difference between SLE groups Ia and Ib; also, S wave was lower in group Ib than in group Ia. RV diastolic dysfunction in the form of lower E` and A` values was observed for the SLE group compared to the control group, especially in the medial annulus of the tricuspid valve. A higher A wave velocity with PWD of mitral and tricuspid inflows was observed in the patient group compared to the control group.Conclusion: SLE patients have an increased prevalence of subclinical systolic and diastolic LV and RV dysfunction. This result advocates for regular follow-up and early screening of SLE patients. Accordingly, treatment focused on improving diastolic heart function may have a role in enhancing QoL and improving the prognosis of SLE patients.

Bacillus thuringiensis delta-endotoxins are safe biological insecticidal proteins whose usefulness has long been recognized. The first commercialized Bt insecticidal formulations were composed of spore-crystal preparations derived from wild-type strains. These products generally have a limited insecticidal host range and several genetically modified strains have, therefore, been constructed in this study using conjugation procedure. However, addition of a new plasmids to Bt strains already harboring other genes often resulted in broader-spectrum. Bacillus thuringiensis serovar Kurstaki, Bacillus subtilis and four of their transconjugants were used in this study as a biocontral agents against lepidopterous cotton pest. Bacterial transconjugants were evaluated for their hybrid vigor in relation to the mid parents and better parent. This evaluation was related to survival and mortality percentages induced in Spodoptera littoralis larvae. Two groups of bioinsecticides; crystals, crystals + endospores were used to be evaluated in this study. The results appeared that bioinsecticides containing crystals + endospores was more effective than crystals for increasing mortality percentage and reducing survival percentage. This effective was including reduction in the mean number of Spodoptera littoralis larvae feeding on leaves sprayed with crystals + endospores. Increasing mortality percentage of crystals + endospores was due to higher toxicological effects than that of crystals. This recommended bioinsecticide biologists to use crystals + endospores in all bioinsecticides formulations. Higher positive efficiency was appeared at 168 h of treatments. Recombinant Bacillus thuringiensis was more effective as biocontrol agents against lepidopteran pests at the early instars, because susceptibility was decreased with larval development. This indicated that the first instars were more susceptible to Bt sprayed plants than the later instar stages. The combined effects of crystals + endospores produced higher mortality. This factor was important to be considered in designing resistance management strategies.

Two Bacillus strains belonging to two species; thuringiensis and subtilis were used in this study. These strains were genetically marking and to be used in conjugation process depending upon the opposite genetic markers to induce recombinants in both strains. This study aimed to evaluate two bioinsecticides induced from recombinants; crystals, crystals + endospores, which derived from two strains of Bacillus and four of their transconjugants resulted from conjugation between Bacillus thuringiensis and Bacillus subtilis, with respect to their toxicity against lepidopterous cotton pest. The results obtained in this study achieved that endospores were effective in reducing feed consumption at the late times of larval age, in contrast, crystals was more effective in reducing feed consumption at the early times of larval age. The results appeared that endospores play a major role in increasing insecticidal activity of bioinsecticides (crystals), this leading to use their in all bioinsecticides. Endospores were effective in reducing the average weight of surviving larvae more than crystals. This indicated that bioinsecticides containing endospores + crystals were more effective than that containing crystals alone. However, most bioinsecticides containing endospores were reduced the average weight of surviving larvae at 48, 72 and 96 hours from treatment. All bioinsecticides containing crystals + endospores were more effective in reducing survival percentage than that containing crystals alone. This achieved that bioinsecticides containing crystals + endospores were more toxic on S. littoralis larvae. The mean number of mortality larvae appeared in treatments with crystals + endospores was more than that caused by bioinsecticides containing crystals alone. In most treatments done in this study the insecticidal activity of crystals + endospores caused higher mortality larvae than that caused by bioinsecticides containing crystals alone.

Bacillus thuringiensis is the most widely applied biological insecticide and is used to manage insects that affect forestry and agriculture. This ubiquitous spore-forming bacterium kills insect larvae largely through the action of insecticidal crystal proteins and is commonly deployed as a direct bacterial spray. Moreover, this study aimed to measuring recombinant efficiency of recombinant bioinsecticides (Bacillus thuringiensis x Bacillus subtilis) against Spodoptera litoralis. For decades, the mechanism of insect killing has been assumed to be toxin-mediated lysis of the gut epithelial cells, which leads to starvation, or B. thuringiensis septicemia. In the present work, two strains of Bacillus strains belonging to two serotypes and four of their transconjugants were screened with respect to their insecticidal activity against lepidopterous cotton pest. Two strains of Bacillus were screened for their drug resistance to be used as a genetic markers to identify bacterial strains in the conjugation process. B. subtilis was found to be resistant to crystal violet and sensitive to hiconcil. Although, B. thuringiensis was found to be sensitive to crystal violet, except for it was resistant to hiconcil. Bacterial transconjugants isolated from conjugation between both strains were more resistant to both crystal violet and hiconcil. Two groups of crystals and spores have been isolated within Bacillus strains and their transconjugants. The results appeared a highly potent recombinant efficiency in reducing leaves consumption at 72h (crystals), 120h (crystals + endospores) and 144h (crystals + endospors). However, transcongugants B and c was more effective in reducing the rate of consumption at all different times of larval ages. The weight of surviving larvae feeding on leaves sprayed with recombinants of Cry, Cry + End. was markedly reduced especially at 48h of larval age. However, ransconjugants A, B and C appeared recombinant efficiency in reduced survival percentage of larvae at 96h, 120h, 144h and 168h in response to recombinants of both cry, cry + endospores. The same trend was also shown by transconjugant C at 48h and 72h in response to both recombinant bioinsecticides. The results indicated that recombinant endotoxin preparations containing crystals + endospores was more effective against Spodoptera litoralis than that containing crystals.