Background: Cardiac surgeries induce many inflammatory responses with remarkable clinical implications. Tryptophan (Trp) is a precursor for serotonin, melatonin and kynurenine (Kyn). Plasma kynurenic acid (Kyna) and Kyn concentrations are thought to be related to the severity of inflammation. Plasma Trp/Kyn ratio is used to measure inflammatory cytokine activity.Methods: We performed the current longitudinal study in a tertiary care center and included 62 patients divided into two groups; group A (on-pump CABG patients) and group B (off-pump CABG patients). Plasma Trp and Kyn were measured using the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) technique. Serum interlukin-6 (IL-6) and white blood cells (WBCs) were measured using ELISA and routine blood count, respectively.Results: The present study revealed that the intraoperative levels of plasma Kyn, IL-6 and WBCs were significantly increased while the plasma Trp/Kyn ratio was significantly decreased in both the groups; however, the changes were more significant in the on-pump CABG group. Moreover, the levels in both the groups returned to preoperative levels 72 h postoperative. Our study has shown that WBCs is positively correlated with IL-6, but has negative correlation with Trp/Kyn ratio.Conclusions: Kyn and Trp/Kyn ratio might be utilized as markers of the severity of inflammation in major surgery. In addition, off-pump CABG might be more preferable than on-pump CABG regarding stress and release of inflammatory markers.

Background: A cyclic relationship exists, between; arginine, citrulline, and ornithine. Arginase is a specific enzyme that plays a role in this relationship. These basic amino acids have a role in the induction of nitric oxide (NO) and as anti-inflammatory and antioxidant. This study aimed to elucidate the role of surgical injuries and anesthesia on plasma levels of the above-mentioned amino acids and NO and to determine whether the changes in these levels can be correlated to the duration of surgery and anesthesia exposure.
Materials and Methods: The study included: group A (41 patients) who underwent coronary bypasses and group B (17 patients) who underwent lung cancer surgery. An amino acid analyzer was used for the detection of amino acids, while NO was estimated by a Spectrophotometric method.
Results: The study revealed a significant decrease in the intra-operative levels of arginine, citrulline, ornithine, and NO compared to their pre-operative levels in both groups.
Conclusion: Depletion of these basic amino acids is possibly multifunctional and can be associated with an increase in arginase, surgical trauma, anesthesia, and stress.

ABSTRACT. Trichinellosis  is  a  serious  worldwide  parasitic  zoonosis. The  available  therapy  for  the  treatment  of
Trichinella spiralisis not satisfactory. Therefore, the recovery of effective treatment is required. This work aimed at
evaluating of the in vitro effect of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on muscle larvae of Trichinella. The present study
investigated the larvicidal properties of chemical and myrrh AgNPs on muscle larvae (ML) of T. spiralis. The used
AgNPs were chemically prepared using NaBH4
as reducing agentand biosynthesized using methanolic myrrh extract.
Characterization  of  synthesized  AgNPs  was  monitored  via UV-vis  spectrophotometry,  Fourier  transform  infrared
spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies. The ML incubated with AgNPs at concentrations
ranged from 1 μg/ml to 20 μg/ml. Chemical and biosynthesized AgNPs revealed marked larvicidal effect against ML of
Trichinella. Additionally, this in vitro study showed degenerative changes affecting the cuticle of AgNPs treated ML.
The  effectiveness  of AgNPs  on  the  infectivity  of TrichinellaML  was  also  assessed.  The  results  showed  complete
inhibition of the infectivity of ML exposed to sublethal doses of chemical and myrrh prepared AgNPs when used to
infect animal models. This is the first report where myrrh synthesized AgNPs have been tested for their anthelminthic
activity against Trichinellain an in vitromodel.
Keywords: Trichinella spiralis, muscular larvae, silver nanoparticles, infectivity, viability