This study is aimed at assessing the antihyperglycemic, antihyperlipidemic, and antioxidant effects of Citrus reticulata (C. reticulata) fruit peel hydroethanolic extract and two flavonoids, hesperidin and quercetin, in nicotinamide (NA)/streptozotocin- (STZ-) induced type 2 diabetic rats. In addition, GC-MS and HPLC-MS analyses of the extract were performed and the results indicated the presence of multiple flavonoids including hesperidin, quercetin, naringin, and polymethoxylated flavones (nobiletin and tangeretin). To achieve the aim of the study, diabetic rats with NA/STZ-induced T2DM were orally treated with C. reticulata fruit peel hydroethanolic extract, hesperidin, and quercetin at a dose of 100 mg/kg b.w./day for four weeks. The treatments with C. reticulata fruit peel extract, hesperidin, and quercetin significantly ameliorated the impaired oral glucose tolerance; the elevated serum fructosamine level; the diminished serum insulin and C-peptide levels; the altered HOMA-IR, HOMA-IS, and HOMA-β cell function; the decreased liver glycogen content; the increased liver glucose-6-phosphatase and glycogen phosphorylase activities; the deleteriously affected serum lipid profile; the elevated serum AST and ALT activities; and the raised serum creatinine and urea levels in the diabetic rats. The treatments also produced remarkable improvement in the antioxidant defense system manifested by a decrease in the elevated liver lipid peroxidation and an increase in the lowered glutathione content and GPx, GST, and SOD activities. Furthermore, the three treatments enhanced the mRNA expression of GLUT-4 and the insulin receptor β-subunit, but only quercetin produced a significant increase in the expression of adiponectin in adipose tissue of diabetic rats. In conclusion, C. reticulata fruit peel hydroethanolic extract, hesperidin, and quercetin have potent antidiabetic effects which may be mediated through their insulinotropic effects and insulin-sensitizing actions. In addition, the alleviation of the antioxidant defense system by the extract, hesperidin, and naringin may have an important action to enhance the antidiabetic actions and to improve liver and kidney functions in NA/STZ-induced diabetic rats.

Combining ability and genetic parameters analysis for agronomic, yield and its component characters were carried out in rice through line x tester analysis of 20 hybrid rice combinations developed by crossing four Photo-Thermosensitive Genic Male Sterility (PTGMS) lines (females) with five male lines / varieties along with parents and check. The 20 hybrids with nine parents were grown in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The experiments were conducted at RRTC in 2010 and 2011growing seasons. Data analysis of variance for combining ability revealed a significant differences among PTGMS lines for plant height, panicle length, panicle weight and filled grains panicle-1 , indicating the importance of additive genetic variance in the inheritance of these characters. The mean squares due to female PTGMS lines were found non-significant for days to heading, tillers plant-1 , spikelet fertility%, 100-grain weight and grain yield characters, indicating the prevalence of non-additive genetic variance and suggesting the importance of heterosis breeding for improvement of rice. An overall appraised of GCA effects revealed that among females; PTGMS-80 and PTGMS-51 had a good general combiners for most characters. Among PTGMS and the tester lines, PTGMS-80 and the tester line JRL-252 had favorable genes for grain yield and the most of desirable characters under study. The hybrid combinations PTGMS-80 x JRL-252 followed by PTGMS-51 x Giza 177 were the best specific hybrid combinations which have significant values for grain yield with desirable characters.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder that threatens human health. Medicinal plants have been a source of wide varieties of pharmacologically active constituents and used extensively as crude extracts or as pure compounds for treating various disease conditions. Thus, the aim of this study is to assess the anti-hyperglycemic and anti-hyperlipidemic effects and the modes of action of the aqueous extracts of the fruits and seeds of Balanites aegyptiaca (B. aegyptiaca) in nicotinamide (NA)/streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis indicated that 3,4,6-tri-O-methyl-d-glucose and 9,12-octadecadienoic acid (Z,Z)- were the major components of the B. aegyptiaca fruit and seed extracts, respectively. A single intraperitoneal injection of STZ (60 mg/kg body weight (b.w.)) 15 min after intraperitoneal NA injection (60 mg/kg b.w.) was administered to induce type 2 DM. After induction was established, the diabetic rats were treated with the B. aegyptiaca fruit and seed aqueous extracts (200 mg/kg b.w./day) via oral gavage for 4 weeks. As a result of the treatments with the B. aegyptiaca fruit and seed extracts, the treated diabetic-treated rats exhibited a significant improvement in the deleterious effects on oral glucose tolerance; serum insulin, and C-peptide levels; liver glycogen content; liver glucose-6-phosphatase and glycogen phosphorylase activities; serum lipid profile; serum free fatty acid level; liver lipid peroxidation; glutathione content and anti-oxidant enzyme (glutathione peroxidase, glutathione-S-transferase, and superoxide dismutase) activities; and the mRNA expression of the adipose tissue expression of the insulin receptor β-subunit. Moreover, the treatment with fruit and seed extracts also produced a remarkable improvement of the pancreatic islet architecture and integrity and increased the islet size and islet cell number. In conclusion, the B. aegyptiaca fruit and seed aqueous extracts exhibit potential anti-hyperglycemic and anti-hyperlipidemic effects, which may be mediated by increasing the serum insulin levels, decreasing insulin resistance, and enhancing the anti-oxidant defense system in diabetic rats.

The local entomopathogenic bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) was isolated and characterized from 16 soil samples collected from different governorates in Egypt. Among 56 bacterial colonies obtained, only 16 colonies were characterized by traits of Bacillus. All the 16 isolates were toxic to the neonates of the cotton leaf worm, Spodoptera littoralis (Boisd.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Damietta and El-Sharkyia bacterial isolates showed appreciable mortality rates (100 and 96.6%), respectively, which were higher than that caused by the standard isolates of Bt entomocidus (that produce Cry1 C toxin) for which they were selected for further characterization. Scanning electron microscope of Damietta bacterial isolate showed the presence of a bipyramidal crystal protein; consistent with the presence of Cry1 toxin class, however, El-Sharkyia bacterial isolate produced spherical-shaped crystals consistent of Cry2 toxin class. Electrophoretic patterns of different isolates and standards revealed different molecular weight bands, ranged from 195 to 8KDa. Damietta and El-Sharkyia bacterial isolates produced major protein bands with molecular weights of 130 KDa, which was also present in Bt entomocidus. Both isolates also shared protein bands with Bt entomocidus with molecular weights of 80, 70, 65, 51, and 22 KDa. The 16S rRNA sequences of both isolates were submitted to the NCBI Gene Bank database, with accession numbers of LC070660 for Damietta isolate and LC070661 for El-Sharkiya isolate. The existence of different Cry genes in the 2 isolates was studied by PCR, using general primers of 5 Cry genes. Cry1 gene was detected in both isolates; however, Cry 2 gene was detected only in Damietta isolate.

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