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.
Coronavirus: (COVID-19) is a recently discovered viral disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus.
The majority of patients with corona-virus infections will have a mild-moderate respiratory disease that recovers without special care. Most often, the elderly, and others with chronic medical conditions such as asthma, coronary disease, respiratory illness, and malignancy are seriously ill.
COVID-19 is spread mostly by salivary droplets or nasal secretions when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
COVID-19 causes severe acute respiratory illness (SARS-COV-2). The first incidence was recorded in Wuhan, China, in 2019. Since then it spreads leading to a pandemic.
... Show MoreA huge potential from researchers was presented for enhancing the nonlinear optical response for materials that interacts by light. In this work, we study the nonlinear optical response for chemically prepared nano- fluid of silver nanoparticles in de-ionized water with TSC (Tri-sodium citrate) protecting agent. By the means of self-defocusing technique and under CW 473 nm blue laser, the reflected diffraction pattern were observed and recorded by CCD camera. The results demonstrate that, the Ag nano-fluid shows a good third order nonlinear response and the magnitude of the nonlinear refractive index was in the order of 10−7 cm2/W. We determine the maximum change of the nonlinear refractive index and the related phase shift for the mat
... Show MoreTitanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) samples were nitrided in low pressure (1.3, 3 mbar) dc-glow discharge plasmas of nitrogen. The treating time was 5, 10 and 15 hour and the temperatures range of the samples during the nitriding process was close to 800oC. The obtained microstructures of the nitride layers were studied by x-ray diffraction and optical microscopy. The ε –Ti2N, ζ-Ti3N3-x and η-Ti3N2-x.phases were formed and addition to the solid solution of nitrogen in titanium, α (Ti,N). Micro hardness measurements exhibit an increment for the Ti-alloy specimens which nitrided at 800oC for 10 and 15h.Corrosion measurements were obtained for the Ti-6Al-4V alloy in Ringer solution after plasma nitriding. The clear improving in the corrosion r
... Show MoreBis-anthraquinones with a unique molecular backbone, (+)-2,2’-epicytoskyrin A (epi) and (+)-1,1′-bislunatin (bis), was produced by endophytic fungi Diaporthe sp GNBP-10 associated with Gambir plant (Uncaria gambier). Epi and bis possess robust antimicrobial activity toward various pathogens. This study focus on knowing the optimum condition of epi and bis production from Diaporthe sp GNBP-10. A series of culture media with various nutrient compositions was investigated in epi and bis production. The content of epi and bis was determined by measuring the area under the curve from TLC-densitometric (scanner) experiment. The linear regression analysis was then applied to obtain the results. The optimi
... Show MoreIn the present work is the deposition of copper oxide using the pulsed laser deposition technique using Reactive Pulsed Laser as a Deposition technique (RPLD), 1.064μm, 7 nsec Q-switch Nd-YAG laser with 400 mJ/cm2 laser energy’s has been used to ablated high purity cupper target and deposited on the porous silicon substrates recorded and study the effect of rapid thermal annealing on the structural characteristics, morphological, electrical characteristics and properties of the solar cell. Results of AFM likelihood of improved absorption, thereby reducing the reflection compared with crystalline silicon surface. The results showed the characteristics of the solar cell and a clear improvement in the efficiency of the solar cell in the
... Show MoreFabrication of porous clay refractory insulating specimens from Iraqi kaolin with different percentage of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) waste crumbs additions were investigated. After mixing and forming by hand molding, the specimens was dried and fired at 1300 oC. The structural, physical, mechanical and thermal properties of the refractory insulating products were measured. Maximum addition of EPS (1.25 wt%) lead to reduce the linear shrinkage to less than 1.7% and increased apparent porosity up to 50 %. As well as, the density, Modulus of rupture and thermal conductivity were reduced to 1.39 g/cm3, 4.1 MPa and 0.21 W/m.K, respectively. The final outcome, addition of EPS showed good results in the formation of pores without distorting the
... Show MoreThe aim of this paper is to design suitable neural network (ANN) as an alternative accurate tool to evaluate concentration of Copper in contaminated soils. First, sixteen (4x4) soil samples were harvested from a phytoremediated contaminated site located in Baghdad city in Iraq. Second, a series of measurements were performed on the soil samples. Third, design an ANN and its performance was evaluated using a test data set and then applied to estimate the concentration of Copper. The performance of the ANN technique was compared with the traditional laboratory inspecting using the training and test data sets. The results of this study show that the ANN technique trained on experimental measurements can be successfully applied to the rapid est
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