In fish, a complex set of mechanisms deal with environmental stresses including hypoxia. In order to probe the hypothesis that hypoxia-induced stress could be manifested in varieties of pathways, a model species, mirror carp (Cyprinus carpio), were chronically exposed to hypoxic condition (dissolved oxygen level: 1.80±0.6mg/l) for 21 days and subsequently allowed to recover under normoxic condition (dissolved oxygen level: 8.2±0.5mg/l) for 7 days. At the end of these exposure periods, an integrated approach was applied to evaluate several endpoints at different levels of biological organisation. These included determination of (i) oxidative damage to DNA in erythrocytes (using modified comet assay), (ii) lipid peroxidation in liver samples by measuring the malondialdehyde production using the 2-thiobarbituric acid [i.e. thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assay] and (iii) histopathological changes in gills. In addition, transcriptional expression of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 α (HIF-1α) and genes involved in the repair of oxidative damage to DNA (i.e. ogg1) and base excision repair (i.e. xrcc1) using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in liver samples were also determined. The results suggested significantly enhanced expression of these genes in response to hypoxia compared to concurrent normoxic controls. While the expression of HIF-1α reverted to control values within 7 days exposure to normoxic condition (P < 0.05), the transcriptional expression of the two genes involved in DNA repair process remained significantly high under the recovery period, which complemented the induction of oxidative damage to DNA. Hypoxic groups showed significantly increased values for TBARS level (~2-fold) and histopathological changes in gill tissues compared to both normoxic and recovery groups. Overall, oxidative damage to DNA determined by modified comet assay reflected the observed biological responses in other tissues of the fish. Along with other parameters, this integrated experimental design further strengthens the applications of the comet assay as an important technique to assess stress-induced DNA damage in ecotoxicological studies. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the UK Environmental Mutagen Society.
Alopecia areata is a common disorder, hypothesized to be autoimmune in etiology. Cortisone taken orally may stimulate new hair growth. Prednisone (orally administered steroid (has proved effective for patients with alopecia areata, but its potential side effects include weight gain, metabolic abnormalities, acne and menstrual problems.
This clinical study was designed to assess the clinical significance of the nutrient antioxidants (vitamin A, vitamin E and vitamin C) in reducing the dose of corticosteroids (prednisolone), and as a consequence, their side effects in patient with alopecia. The results of this study reveal the potential clinical significance of the therapy for two months with these antioxidants in reducing the dose
... Show MoreThis study is a numerical investigation of the performance of reinforced concrete (RC) columns after fire exposure. This study aims to investigate the effect of introducing lateral ties and using the RC jacket on improving post-fire behavior of these columns, the effect of the duration of the fire on ultimate load of columns. The analysis was performed through ABAQUS, a 3D – non-linear finite element program. 4 m tall lengthening square RC column with a cross- section of 0.4 m × 0.4 m was used as a test specimen. The RC column was reinforced by 4Ø28 mm longitudinal bars bonded by steel tie bars of Ø10 mm spaced at 400 mm. The firing temperature was increased to 60
Objective The aim of this study was to assess whether serum cytokine levels correlate with clinical periodontal parameters in health or disease.
Materials and Methods Male subjects (40–60 years) with CP (n = 30), CP + CHD (n = 30), and healthy controls (n = 20) had plaque index (PLI), gingival index (GI), bleeding on probing, probing pocket depth (PPD), and clinical attachment level (CAL) evaluated. Serum IL-1β and IL-6 levels were quantified using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Results PLI, GI, PPD, and CAL were significantly higher in patients with CP + CHD compared to those with CP. Serum levels of IL-1β and IL-6 were also si
Recovery of time-dependent thermal conductivity has been numerically investigated. The problem of identification in one-dimensional heat equation from Cauchy boundary data and mass/energy specification has been considered. The inverse problem recasted as a nonlinear optimization problem. The regularized least-squares functional is minimised through lsqnonlin routine from MATLAB to retrieve the unknown coefficient. We investigate the stability and accuracy for numerical solution for two examples with various noise level and regularization parameter.
Background: Environmental tobacco smoking is produced by active smokers burning the tip of a cigarette and breathed by nonsmokers and measured by cotinine level. It has the potential to raise the risk of periodontal disease. One of the most frequent chronic diseases in adults is periodontal disease. The lower maternal-fetal attachment has been found to predict smoking status in previous studies, but no research has examined whether maternal-fetal attachment predicts environmental tobacco smoking. This study assessed the effects of maternal environmental tobacco smoke exposure on periodontal health and mother-infant bonding concerning salivary cotinine levels. Materials and methods: This is a comparative cross-sectional study comparing en
... Show MoreCyber security is a term utilized for describing a collection of technologies, procedures, and practices that try protecting an online environment of a user or an organization. For medical images among most important and delicate data kinds in computer systems, the medical reasons require that all patient data, including images, be encrypted before being transferred over computer networks by healthcare companies. This paper presents a new direction of the encryption method research by encrypting the image based on the domain of the feature extracted to generate a key for the encryption process. The encryption process is started by applying edges detection. After dividing the bits of the edge image into (3×3) windows, the diffusions
... Show MoreObjective: to assess the awareness and knowledge of our medical students regarding dose levels of imaging procedures and radiation safety issues, and to conclude how the curriculum of clinical radiology in the college medical program impacts such knowledge.
Subjects and methods: this is a cross-sectional study conducted among 150 medical students in Alkindy College of Medicine between January 2021 to July 2021, regardless of their age or gender. The study included six grades according to the year 2020-2021. A questionnaire consisting of 12 multiple-choice questions was conducted via an online survey using Google Forms. The questions were divided into two parts
... Show MoreAbstract Exotoxin A is the most lethal virulence factor produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It inhibits elongation factor-2 by ADP-ribosylation of EF2. This causes stop of the elongation of polypeptides. In recent study, the effect of low concentration of exotoxin A on some important internal organs of mice was studied. Four groups white mice were injected intraperitonialy with pure exotoxin A in the following manner 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 ng\ animals. One mouse receives normal saline inrtaperitonialy as a control. After 72 hours the mice were killed and four organs were taken, liver, spleen, lung and heart from each killed mice. Histological sections were made from each organ and stained with hematoxylin and eosin stain then examined under mic
... Show MoreBackground: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is an important complication of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Oxidative stress plays a major role in the development of CVD. Saliva has a diagnostic properties aiding in the detection of systemic diseases. This study aimed to assess the association between salivary oxidative stress markers and the risk of vascular disease (VD) in T2DM patients. Materials and Methods: One hundred T2DM patients and fifty apparently healthy males were enrolled in this study. Saliva sample was collected for assessment of oxidative stress markers including: lipid peroxidation plasma thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), uric acid (UA) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) levels. Arterial stiffness index (ASI
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