Effects of administration of sertraline, clozapine, amitriptyline and imipramine on brain serotonin, liver enzymes and blood chemistry of rabbit

The chronic administration of sertraline, clozapine, amitriptyline and imipramine on brain serotonin, liver enzymes and blood chemistry of rabbits were investigated. Sixty rabbits were equally divided into 5groups and each group was intraperitoneally administered 2 ml of 0.5 mg of the respective drug/kg body weight/day) and saline as control for 28 days. After 28 days, the rabbits were sacrificed; blood taken, liver andbrain were excised. The concentration of total protein, serotonin, cholesterol and triglyceride in serum, liver and brain were determined. The activities of serum and liver alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartatetransaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase were also assayed. The serum serotonin and brain serotonin levels in rabbits administered the respective drugs were significantly (

Effect of age, impaction types and operative time on inflammatory tissue reactions following lower third molar surgery

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Postoperative mobidity following third molar surgery is affected by a number of factors. The study of these factors is essential for effective planning and limitation of morbidity. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of age, type of impaction and operative time on immediate postoperative tissue reactions following mandibular third molar surgery.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Consecutive patients with impacted mandibular third molar teeth were studied. All the third molars were classified according to Winter's classification. Surgical extraction was performed on all the patients by a single surgeon under local anaesthesia. The operation time was determined by the time lapse between incision and completion of suturing. Postoperative pain, swelling and trismus were evaluated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were 120 patients with an age range of 19-42 years. Patients in the age range of 35-42 years recorded a lower pain score (p = 0.5) on day 1. The mouth opening was much better in the lower age group on day 2 and 5 (p = 0.007 and p = 0.01 respectively). Pain, swelling and trismus increased with increasing operative time. Distoangular impaction was significantly associated with higher VAS score on day 1 and 2 (p = 0.01, 0.0, 04). Distoangular and horizontal impaction are associated with a higher degree of swelling and reduced mouth opening on postoperative review days. Vertical impaction was associated with the least degree of facial swelling and best mouth opening.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Increasing operating time and advancing age are associated with more postoperative morbidity, likewise distoangular and horizontal impaction types.</p

Assessment of Environmental Impact and the Nutritive Value of Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia Crassipes Mart. Solms-Laubach) in Ruminant Nutrition in Nigeria

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the environmental impact and nutritive value of water hyacinth (WH) in ruminant nutrition in Nigeria. In the first experiment, biomass yield, chemical composition, secondary metabolites and mineral content of WH harvested during the four sub seasons of the year were determined. The second experiment assessed the nutritive value of WH using in vitro gas production to predict the potential degradability (a+b), insoluble degradable fraction (b), rate of gas production (c), metabolizable energy (ME), short chain fatty acids (SCFA) and methane (CH4). Biomass yield (ton/ha/year) of WH was highest during the late dry (LD) season which was estimated at 33.24 ton DM/ha/yr at 7 &#8211; 8% DM content. Seasonal variations had no significant effect on the chemical composition; the CP was highest during the late dry season (10.42%). However DM was influenced (P&lt;0.05) by seasonal changes. WH contained tannins and steroids; saponin was declared negative due to the method used. Macro and micro mineral values are high, but not significant. ME, OMD and SCFA also were not influenced by season changes, although, highest ME, OMD and SCFA was obtained during the LD season (15.62 MJ/kg DM, 49.20% and 0.57mmol) respectively. Same trend was observed for gas production characteristics. However rate of substrate fermentation (c) differed (P&lt;0.05) significantly, ranging from 0.04 to 0.06 (in late rain to late dry) respectively. The result showed that WH is available all year round and could provide nutrients to be utilized as fodder for ruminant especially during the dry season

Non specific immune response in the African catfish, Heterobranchus longifilis fed diets fortified with ethanolic extracts of selected traditional medicinal plants and disease resistance against Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The efficacy of supplementing diets with ethanolic extracts from three medicinal plants (Arabic gum; Acacia arabica, Water lily; Nymphaea lotus, Iron weed; Vernonia ambigua) on the innate immune response and diseases resistance in Heterobranchus longifilis challenged with Pseudomonas aeruginosa were studied. H. longifilis juvenilles (20.4 ±3.8g) were fed diets containing 0% (control diet C), 1.5% extracts of; Acacia Arabica (diet 1), Nymphea lotus(diet2) and Vernonia ambigua (diet 3) 100g-1 of feed at 5% biomass daily and the innate immune response parameters were examined after the end of the experimental period (42days). The blood leukocyte phagocytic activity was enhanced in fishes fed diet 2 and diet 3 from the 14th day while those fed diet 1 showed no significant(P&gt;0.05) increase until the 28th day. Serum lysozyme activities were stimulated in fish fed diet 2 from the 14th day while significant increase were recorded from the 28th day in those fed diet 1 and diet 3. Significantly (P&lt;0.05) increased leukocytes respiratory burst activity were only observed from the 42nd day in all the experimental diets but there was no significant change (P&gt;0.05) in any of these parameters in the control group. A challenge test with virulent strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa following 42days of feeding showed 100% mortality in the bacterial infected H. longifilis in the control group by the 15th day, while mortalities recorded for the fishes fed the diet supplemented groups; diet 1, diet 2 and diet 3 were 52% (relative percent survival (RPS) 48%), 44% (RPS=56%) and 68% (RPS=32%) respectively at the end of the challenge experiment (24days). The cumulative mortality index for the control group was 130.8 which was equated to 1%, while the lowest mortality of 0.26% was obtained in the D3 diet fed group and were significantly different (P&lt;0.05) in all the treatment groups. These results suggests that the dietary inclusion of these plants extracts may elevate the innate immune response and enhanced disease resistance in H. longifilis.Keywords: Heterobranchus longifilis, innate immune response, plant extract, Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Intrinsic toughening and stable crack propagation in hexagonal boron nitride

If a bulk material can withstand a high load without any irreversible damage (such as plastic deformation), it is usually brittle and can fail catastrophically1,2. This trade-off between strength and fracture toughness also extends into two-dimensional materials space3–5. For example, graphene has ultrahigh intrinsic strength (about 130 gigapascals) and elastic modulus (approximately 1.0 terapascal) but is brittle, with low fracture toughness (about 4 megapascals per square-root metre)3,6. Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is a dielectric two-dimensional material7 with high strength (about 100 gigapascals) and elastic modulus (approximately 0.8 terapascals), which are similar to those of graphene8. Its fracture behaviour has long been assumed to be similarly brittle, subject to Griffith’s law9–14. Contrary to expectation, here we report high fracture toughness of single-crystal monolayer h-BN, with an effective energy release rate up to one order of magnitude higher than both its Griffith energy release rate and that reported for graphene. We observe stable crack propagation in monolayer h-BN, and obtain the corresponding crack resistance curve. Crack deflection and branching occur repeatedly owing to asymmetric edge elastic properties at the crack tip and edge swapping during crack propagation, which intrinsically toughens the material and enables stable crack propagation. Our in situ experimental observations, supported by theoretical analysis, suggest added practical benefits and potential new technological opportunities for monolayer h-BN, such as adding mechanical protection to two-dimensional devices.s J.L., Y.Y., H.G. and B.N. gratefully acknowledge financial support by the US Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under grant number DE-SC0018193. The simulations were performed on resources provided by the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment through grant MSS090046 and the Center for Computation and Visualization, Brown University