Background: Tuberculosis is a chronic specific bacterial infection caused by bacteria of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It remains one of the deadliest diseases in the world. It is the second leading infectious cause of death after HIV infection. Adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity is increased in various conditions such as liver disease, tuberculosis, typhoid, infective mononucleosis and certain malignancies, especially those of haematopoietic origin.Objective: The aim of the work was to assess the diagnostic value of ADA in pulmonary tuberculosis by comparing levels in sputum and serum.Subjects and methods: The present study included 15 patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis, 15 patients with pneumonia and 15 patients diagnosed as lung cancer. All patients were subjected to: Full history taking, complete clinical examination, laboratory investigations, and plain X-ray chest. Measurement of sputum and serum level of ADA of all patients using specific immunoassay method.Results: There was a significant increase in sputum ADA in tuberculous group in relation to the other groups (mean sputum ADA was 159.76 ± 16.95, 84.34 ± 6.87 and 67.30 ± 7.47 U/L, respectively). The mean serum ADA was 31.99 ± 8.85, 24.15 ± 4.22and 14.84 ± 2.43 U/L in tuberculous group, pneumonia group and bronchogenic carcinoma group, respectively. There was a statistically significant increase in serum ADA in the tuberculous group in relation to the other groups (F 10.65, P 0.001 * ). There was a statistically significant positive correlation between sputum and serum ADA (r = 0.75, P = 0.0001).Conclusion: The results support the feasibility of using sputum ADA for diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis.

The present study aimed to predict the expected production of summer maize crop under suitable and unsuitable environmental factors. Also, to estimate the expected effect of the environmental factors on the production technique of summer maize crop that reflects the amount of loss in yield due to the unsuitable environmental factors. The study showed the environmental and agricultural requirements of the crop. Also, the study revealed the nature of variance in the Egyptian agricultural environment.The study showed that the total production of summer maize yield under the appropriate environmental factors ranges from 4272 to 4357 thousand Ardab (Ardab = 140 kg.) with an average of 4315 thousand and with a value of 5084 to 5184 million LE with an average of 5134 million LE under the unsuitable environmental factors, the total production of summer maize yield is expected to be 4153 to 4251 thousand with an average of 4202 thousand and with a value of 4943 to 5059 million LE with an average of 5001 million LE.Faddan productivity under suitable environmental variables is expected to be 24.57 to 25.05 ard with an average of 24.81 ard/fed under the unsuitable environmental factors, the productivity is expected to be 23.89 to 24.45 ard with average of 24.17 ard/fed.The study indicated that the maize crop has low sensitivity to the effect of agricultural and environmental variables in its production regions. This is reflected in the reduction of maize production due to unsuitable environmental variables where the loss amount of the production is 2.8% of the expected production.