Organophosphorus insecticide and growth regulator namely Ethephon (2-chloroethylphosphonic acid) are widely used as a ripening process accelerator and a cultivation duration inhibitor. Pomegranate extract (PPE) has recently been taken into consideration due to its pharmacological effects especially those associated with renal diseases. Thus, this study aims to investigate the possible protective effect of PPE against ethephon-induced nephrotoxicity in rats. In this study four groups of adult male rats were divided into control group, PPE 400 mg/kg group, Ethephon 250 mg/kg group, and finally, PPE + Ethephon group (treated with the same dose of PPE group and Ethephon group). In the current study, kidney function parameters (KIM-1, creatinine, and urea) along with oxidative stress markers, heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and nuclear factor erythroid 2–related factor 2 (Nrf2), glutathione (GSH) and its correlated enzymes, nitric oxide (NO), superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA) and catalase (CAT) were estimated. Additionally, mediators of renal inflammation: interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) were measured. Apoptotic biomarkers (Bax, caspase 3, and Bcl2) in addition to renal histopathological data were also investigated. Results revealed that Ethephon elicited a significant increase in oxidation markers and reduced antioxidant levels, accompanied by oxidative renal tissue injury. Consequently, administration of Ethephon was reported to provoke secretion of the pro-inflammatory mediators. Moreover, histopathological results showed that deformities in the renal tissues were noticed which is attributed to Ethephon exposure. Interestingly, co-administration of PPE and Ethephon resulted in significantly ameliorated the biochemical and histopathological alterations produced by Ethephon. Current results propose the potential effect of PPE in the protection of renal tissue from Ethephon induced nephrotoxicity in rats.
The present work provides theoretical investigation of laser photoacoustic one dimensional imaging to detect a blood vessel or tumor embedded within normal tissue. The key task in photoacoustic imaging is to have acoustic signal that help to determine the size and location of the target object inside normal tissue. The analytical simulation used a spherical wave model representing target object (blood vessel or tumor) inside normal tissue. A computer program in MATLAB environment has been written to realize this simulation. This model generates time resolved acoustic wave signal that include both expansion and contraction parts of the wave. The photoacoustic signal from the target object is simulated for a range of laser pulse duration 1
... Show MoreMany of the elementary transformations of determinants which are used in their evaluation and in the solution of linear equations may by expressed in the notation of matrices. In this paper, some new interesting formulas of special matrices are introduced and proved that the determinants of these special matrices have the values zero. All formulation has been coded in MATLAB 7.
The field of identification of similarity was considered a subject of research strongly recommended in the areas of semantic web, artificial intelligence and linguistic literature. In this paper a new similarity measure is proposed based on the Wu and Palmer measure. This measure is applied on the domain of the pedagogical ontology. Results obtained showed that the new measure gives better relevance of the similarity values compared to the approach of Wu and Palmer and it appears that the proposed measure is advantageous because obtained results showed that it is faster and capable of obtaining results to concepts not located in the same path.
This is a survey study that presents recent researches concerning factional controllers. It presents several types of fractional order controllers, which are extensions to their integer order counterparts. The fractional order PID controller has a dominant importance, so thirty-one paper are presented for this controller. The remaining types of controllers are presented according to the number of papers that handle them; they are fractional order sliding mode controller (nine papers), fuzzy fractional order sliding mode controller (five papers), fractional order lag-lead compensator (three papers), fractional order state feedback controller (three papers), fractional order fuzzy logic controller (three papers). Finally,
... Show MoreSeventy five isolates of Saccharomyces cerevisiae were identified, they were isolated from different local sources which included decayed fruits and vegetables, vinegar, fermented pasta, baker yeast and an alcohol factory. Identification of isolates was carried out by cultural microscopical and biochemical tests. Ethanol sensitivity of the isolates showed that the minimal inhibitory concentration of the isolate (Sy18) was 16% and Lethal concentration was 17%. The isolate (Sy18) was most efficient as ethanol producer 9.36% (v/w). The ideal conditions to produce ethanol from Date syrup by yeast isolate, were evaluated, various temperatures, pH, Brix, incubation period and different levels of (NH4)2HP04. Maximum ethanol produced was 10
... Show MoreElectrocoagulation is an electrochemical process of treating polluted water where sacrificial anode corrodes to produce active coagulant (usually aluminum or iron cations) into solution. Accompanying electrolytic reactions evolve gas (usually as hydrogen bubbles). The present study investigates the removal of phenol from water by this method. A glass tank with 1 liter volume and two electrodes were used to perform the experiments. The electrode connected to a D.C. power supply. The effect of various factors on the removal of phenol (initial phenol concentration, electrode size, electrodes gab, current density, pH and treatment time) were studied. The results indicated that the removal efficiency decreased as initial phenol concentration
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