Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a potent vasoconstrictor hormone that has been identified as an important factor
responsible for the development of cardiovascular dysfunctions. ET-1 exerts its vasoconstrictor activity
through two pharmacologically distinct receptors, ETA and ETB that are found in vascular smooth muscle
cells (VSMCs) and the vasodilator activity through an ETB receptor located on endothelial cells. This study
aimed to show the impact of 1µM L-arginine (LA), 100µM tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4), and their combined
effect on ET-1 activity in both lead-treated and lead-untreated rat aortic rings. This means, investigating how
endothelial dysfunction reverses the role of nitric oxide precursor and cofactor. In this study, Rat aortic rings
have been pre-incubated with BH4, LA and their combination. Subsequently, the aortic rings were preincubated with 200µM N-Nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) and 0.5µM BQ-123. Then, the vascular
response to cumulative doses of rat ET-1 was analyzed in each of the above-mentioned groups (LA, BH4, LA
& BH4, L-NAME, BQ-123), in the presence and absence of lead acetate 1µM Pb (C2H3O2)2. ET-1 efficacy and
potency were significantly decreased in the presence of LA, BH4, and LA and BH4 combination in the untreated
group, while it significantly increased in the presence of lead. In the second trial of experiments ET-1 efficacy
markedly decreased in BQ-123- incubated cells in both lead-treated and untreated aortic rings. In the presence
of lead, the efficacy of ET-1 was raised with the use of L-NAME. In conclusion, LA and BH4 can be considered
pharmacological agents to alter the potency of ET-1-induced vasoconstriction and concomitantly lower blood
pressure.
This paper studies the behavior of axially loaded RC columns which are confined with carbon fiber reinforced polymers’ sheet (CFRP) and steel jackets (SJ). The study is based on twelve axially loaded RC columns tested up to failure. It is divided into three schemes based on its strengthening type; each scheme has four columns. The main parameters in this study were the compressive strength of the concrete and steel reinforcement ratio. Furthermore, the results of the experimental test showed a substantial enhancement in the column's load-carrying capacity. When compared to the original columns, the CFRP sheet had a significant effect on improving the ductility of the column by increasing the axial deformation by about 59.2 to 95.7
... Show MoreIn this paper, a description of a design for new DES block cipher, namely DES64X and DES128X. The goals of this design, a part of its security level, are large implementation flexibility on various operating systems as well as high performances. The high level structure is based on the principle of DES and Feistel schema, and proposes the design of an efficient key-schedule algorithm which will output pseudorandomsequences of subkeys. The main goal is to reach the highest possible flexibility, in terms of round numbers, key size, and block size. A comparison of the proposed systems on 32-bit, 64-bit operating system, using 32-bit and 64-bit Java Virtual Machine (JVM), showed that the latter has much better performance than the former.
... Show MoreIn recent years, observed focus greatly on gold nanoparticles synthesis due to its unique properties and tremendous applicability. In most of these researches, the citrate reduction method has been adopted. The aim of this study was to prepare and optimize monodisperse ultrafine particles by addition of reducing agent to gold salt, as a result of seed mediated growth mechanism. In this research, gold nanoparticles suspension (G) was prepared by traditional standard Turkevich method and optimized by studying different variables such as reactants concentrations, preparation temperature and stirring rate on controlling size and uniformity of nanoparticles through preparing twenty formulas (G1-G20). Subsequently, the selected formula that pr
... Show MoreThe environmental impact was illustrated by rockslide and erosion on the Duhok Dam and its reservoir. The evaluation of the geotechnical characteristics of the Gercus Formation was conducted. The research plan was divided into three phases, field, laboratory, and office works. The fieldwork included studying all the geological phenomena of the region related to the environmental impact. The laboratory work focused on studying the geotechnical properties of the various rock samples taken from the Gercus Formation. Rocklab program was used to define the geotechnical properties of a rock mass. The results indicated the weak resistance of the Gercus Formation rocks to weathering and erosion processes, as well as their weak resistance to slid
... Show MoreSoil bacteria play an interesting role in the reduction of Ag+ ions and the formation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), which may be a good source for nanoparticles and play a major role in nanotechnology applications. The concept of this project was to study the effects of these environmentally produced nanoparticles on the growth of some pathogenic bacteria. The environmental bacteria were isolated from soil, purified on broth cultures, and centrifuged, while the supernatant was extracted to detect its ability to convert silver nitrate to nanoparticles. The AgNPs was detected by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), while Granularity Cumulating Distribution (GCD) was employed to estimate the AgNPs sizes. The results showed the
... Show MoreA series of nine new Schiff bases based on N-(4-acetophenyl)succinimide were synthesized via multistep synthesis. In the first step N-(4-acetophenyl)succinamic acid was prepared via reaction of succinic anhydride with 4-aminoacetophenone. The prepared amic acid was dehydrated in the second step producing N-(4-acetophenyl)succinimide. The prepared succinimide represents a modified methyl ketone bearing succinimde cycle and ready for introducing in condensation reaction thus in the third step the prepared imide was introduced in acid-catalyzed condensation reaction with a variety of primary aromatic amines affording the new target Schiff bases. The results of antibacterial screening of the newly synthesized Schiff bases indicated that they
... Show MoreThis study was designed to investigate the protective effects of red cabbage and garlic extracts on the oxidative stress induced through treatment with fumonisin B1 in male mice. The study was conducted on sixty male mice that were divided randomly into six groups. Group 1included control mice, mice in group 2 received a daily oral dose (200 µg/kg.b.w) of fumonisin B1 for one month to induced mycotoxicosis, mice in group 3 received 500 mg/kg.b.w red cabbage extract plus fumonisin B1, mice in group 4 received only red cabbage extract, mice in group 5 received 500 mg/kg.b.w garlic extract plus fumonisin B1, and group 6 received garlic extract alone. After finishing the experiments, samples of blood were used for biochemi
... Show MoreThe main purpose of this paper is to show that zero symmetric prime near-rings, satisfying certain identities on n-derivations, are commutative rings.
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are composed of a collection of rechargeable sensor nodes. Typically, sensor nodes collect and deliver the necessary data in response to a user’s specific request in many application areas such as health, military and domestic purposes. Applying routing protocols for sensor nodes can prolong the lifetime of the network. Power Efficient GAthering in Sensor Information System (PEGASIS) protocol is developed as a chain based protocol that uses a greedy algorithm in selecting one of the nodes as a head node to transmit the data to the base station. The proposed scheme Multi-cluster Power Efficient GAthering in Sensor Information System (MPEGASIS) is developed based on PEGASIS routing protocol in WSN. The aim
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