Multiple Sclerosis (MS), is a common autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system. Currently, there is no cure for MS, and most treatments involve the use of immunosuppressive drugs that can have adverse effects or increased toxicity. Cannabis, commonly known as marijuana, is a product of the Cannabis sativa, and for several centuries has been used as an alternative medicine in many cultures. Cannabis sativa produces over 421 chemical compounds, including about 80 terpenophenols named phytocannabinoids, and include both psychotropic THC and non-psychoactive CBD. In the currently study, we show that a combination therapy using THC and CBD results in amelioration of EAE, an animal model of MS, by reducing hind limb paralysis, decreasing immune cellular infiltration into the brain, and mitigating the presence of inflammatory biomarkers, including gram negative bacteria-associated lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Interestingly, the gut microbiome plays an important role in immune function and studies have shown that it is altered significantly in MS patients. Inasmuch, we performed 16S rRNA sequencing on experimental groups to investigate the gut microbiome composition after using a combination of THC and CBD compared to disease controls. Interestingly, we found that EAE mice showed increase in the mucin degrading bacterial species, Akkermansia municiphila, which was significantly reduced in disease mice treated with THC+CBD. Collectively, our data suggests that THC+CBD can ameliorate EAE by preventing accumulation of mucin-degrading bacteria that would lead to increased gut microbial dysbiosis.
Due to its safety, low cost, real-time nature, and widespread availability, ultrasound has been employed as a diagnostic technique for numerous intraocular disorders. Unfortunately, speckle artifact that depends on the tissue is seen in ultrasound imaging. In this study, we present a technique for lowering speckle noise and enhancing ultrasound images to enhance human diagnostic performance. This technique combines the undecimated wavelet transform (UDWT) with a wavelet coefficient mapping function, which was utilized to improve the contrast of the denoised images acquired from the first component after the noise was removed using the UDWT. This technique can be used to enhance the visual quality of medical photographs as well as to enha
... Show MorePartial shading is one of the problems that affects the power production and the efficiency of photovoltaic module. A series of experimental work have been done of partial shading of monocrystalline PV module; 50W, Isc: 3.1A, Voc: 22V with 36 cells in series is achieved. Non-linear power output responses of the module are observed by applying various cases of partial shading (vertical and horizontal shading of solar cells in the module). Shading a single cell (corner cell) has the greatest impact on output energy. Horizontal shading or vertical shading reduced the power from 41W to 18W at constant solar radiation 1000W/m2 and steady state condition. Vertical blocking a column
... Show MoreThis paper is interested in comparing the performance of the traditional methods to estimate parameter of exponential distribution (Maximum Likelihood Estimator, Uniformly Minimum Variance Unbiased Estimator) and the Bayes Estimator in the case of data to meet the requirement of exponential distribution and in the case away from the distribution due to the presence of outliers (contaminated values). Through the employment of simulation (Monte Carlo method) and the adoption of the mean square error (MSE) as criterion of statistical comparison between the performance of the three estimators for different sample sizes ranged between small, medium and large (n=5,10,25,50,100) and different cases (wit
... Show MoreExperiments were conducted to study the behavior of the solid particles (proppant) inside the hydraulic fracture during the formation stimulation, and study the effect of the proppant concentration on the hydraulic fracturing process, which lead to bridge and screen-out conditions inside the fractures across the fracture width that restricts fracturing fluid to flow into the hydraulic fracture. The research also studies the effect of the ratio between the fracture size and the average particles diameter “proppant", on fracture bridging. In this study two ratios were considered β= 2 and 3 ,where β=Dt / Dp where: Dt= hydraulic fracture size (width) and Dp=Average particles diameter.
This work pr
... Show MoreOne hundred and fifteen isolates of Staphylococcus aureus were isolated from human infected wound and burn. The resistance of this organism for eight commonly used antibiotics was determined by disc diffusion methods. The minimum inhibitory concentration MIC was determined for each drug by tube dilution method. Results showed significant variations in the MIC values. It was found that two isolates had high resistance for the eight antibiotics used. Effect of ascorbic acid on bacterial growth was studied singly and in combination with antibiotics. Reductions in MIC value were reported for different antibiotics when tested by growth curve method too.
In this paper, isobutane (R-600a) is used as a suitable substitute for (R-134a) when changing the length of capillary tube. And the experimental data on capillary tube are obtained under different conditions such as (subcooling and ambient temperatures) on domestic refrigerator (9ft3 size), this data shows that (R-600a) a suitable substitute for (R134a) .The test presented a model for a steady state, two-phase flow in capillary tube for vapour compression system .The numerical model depends on conservation equations (mass, energy and momentum) as wall as the equation of state for refrigerant. The solution methodology was implemented by using finite difference techniques. The system results indicate that it is possible to change the refri
... Show MoreCombination of natural poly-phenolic compounds with chemotherapeutic agents is recently being a novel strategy in cancer therapy researches owing to their potential antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that modulate several intracellular signaling pathways.
Resveratrol and Baicalein are well known poly-phenolic compounds that belong to stilbene and flavone subclasses, respectively.
This study aims to investigate the possible enhancement effect of resveratrol and Baicalein when combined with doxorubicin using a different combination ratio and applied on two cancer cell lines: HCT116 (colorectal cancer cells) and HepG2 (hepatocellular cancer cells). It also investigates the possibility of such natural compounds to p
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