The effect of lovastatin on cognition impairment induced by bilateral electrical lesion of nucleus basalis magnocellularis in the Alzheimerâs disease model in adult male rats

Background: Statins, inhibitors of 3-hydroxy-3-methyl glutaryl coenzyme A reductase, are widely used as medication to lower cholesterol levels in human patients. Much evidence indicates that statins can also exert neuroprotective actions. So, this study aimed at examining the effect of lovastatin on cognition deficit induced by bilateral electrical lesion of nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM) in the Alzheimer’s disease model in adult male rats. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 56 adult male wistar rats were divided into 8 groups (n=7): control (intact), NBM lesion group (which received electrically- induced lesion 0.5 mA in 3s), sham group (the electrode was impaled into the NBM with no lesion(, lovastatin groups (lesion+1, 5, 10, 20 mg/kg) and DMSO 5 group (NBM lesion +DMSO 5). Acquisition and retention testing was done by using an eight-radial arm maze in which the patterns of arm entries were recorded for calculating working memory errors, reference memory error and latency in each group. Results: The bilateral NBM lesion resulted in significant reduction of spatial memory in acquisition and retention tests in the form of increased working and reference memory errors compared to the control group (P<0.05). Post-lesion treatment with lovastatin improved the parameters of spatial memory errors in the acquisition and retention tasks compared to the lesion group. Conclusion: The electrical NBM lesion can reduce spatial memory function and the lovastatin therapy after brain injury improved cognitive disorders. It seems that lovastatin by reducing the activity of the acetylcholinesterase enzyme and increasing acetylcholine transferase enzyme activity can cause improvement in learning and memory capability

Cisgenesis and intragenesis as new strategies for crop improvement

Cisgenesis and intragenesis are emerging plant breeding technologies which offer great promise for future acceptance of genetically engineered crops. The techniques employ traditional genetic engineering methods but are confined to transferring of genes and genetic elements between sexually compatible species that can breed naturally. One of the main requirements is the absence of selectable marker genes (such as antibiotic resistance genes) in the genome. Hence the sensitive issues with regard to transfer of foreign genes and antibiotic resistance are overcome. It is a targeted technique involving specific locus; therefore, linkage drag that prolongs the time for crop improvement in traditional breeding does not occur. It has great potential for crop improvement using superior alleles that exist in the untapped germplasm or wild species. Cisgenic and intragenic plants may not face the same stringent regulatory assessment for field release as transgenic plants which is a clear added advantage that would save time. In this chapter, the concepts of cis/intragenesis and the prerequisites for the development of cis/intragenesis plants are elaborated. Strategies for marker gene removal after selection of transformants are discussed based on the few recent reports from various plant species

Predictive factors of early moderate/severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome in non-polycystic ovarian syndrome patients: a statistical model

Purpose: To evaluate demographic, medical history and clinical cycle characteristics of infertile non-polycystic ovary syndrome (NPCOS) women with the purpose of investigating their associations with the prevalence of moderate-to-severe OHSS. Methods: In this retrospective study, among 7073 in vitro fertilization and/or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) cycles, 86 cases of NPCO patients who developed moderate-to-severe OHSS while being treated with IVF/ICSI cycles were analyzed during the period of January 2008 to December 2010 at Royan Institute. To review the OHSS risk factors, 172 NPCOS patients without developing OHSS, treated at the same period of time, were selected randomly by computer as control group. We used multiple logistic regression in a backward manner to build a prediction model. Results: The regression analysis revealed that the variables, including age odds ratio (OR) 0.9, confidence interval (CI) 0.81�0.99, antral follicles count (OR 4.3, CI 2.7�6.9), infertility cause (tubal factor, OR 11.5, CI 1.1�51.3), hypothyroidism (OR 3.8, CI 1.5�9.4) and positive history of ovarian surgery (OR 0.2, CI 0.05�0.9) were the most important predictors of OHSS. The regression model had an area under curve of 0.94, presenting an allowable discriminative performance that was equal with two strong predictive variables, including the number of follicles and serum estradiol level on human chorionic gonadotropin day. Conclusion(s): The predictive regression model based on primary characteristics of NPCOS patients had equal specificity in comparison with two mentioned strong predictive variables. Therefore, it may be beneficial to apply this model before the beginning of ovarian stimulation protocol. © 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

An investigation of amount and factors affecting nurses’ job stress in some hospitals in Tehran

Introduction: Nurses as the main members of treatment-and-care team play an important role in improvement and promotion of health in society. Job stress is a recognized and integral part of modern nursing which has destructive effects on both nurses and patients. Materials and Methods: The present descriptive and analytical study aims to determine the level of nurses' job stress in Tehran in 2004. It also tries to identify factors affecting job stress from nurses' point of view. A total of 111 nurses working in two educational and non-educational hospitals in Tehran were studied. The sampling was simple, i.e. the subjects volunteered to participate in the study. A questionnaire with 2 sections was developed. In the first section we asked about personal and professional characteristics and the second section was designed to evaluate job stress in following 5 categories: management, economy and welfare, mentality and social affairs, occupational health and ergonomics. There was also an open-ended question asking about nurses' attitude toward job stress. The questionnaire items were to be answered on a scale ranging from 0 to 4. We used descriptive statistics and Chi square statistical test to analyze the collected data. Results: The results showed that 44.1% of samples had high levels of job stress while 54.1% suffered from medium and 1.8% from low levels of job stress. There was a significant relationship between hospital type and job stress; job stress in the educational hospital was higher compared to the noneducational hospital. There was also an inverse relationship between years of experience and job stress. Conclusion: Due to high percentage of the subjects with high to medium levels of job stress, employment of preventive and precautionary procedures regarding job stress is recommended

Formulation of muon range 0-100 TeV and transmission through lead

7-12Muons can penetrate long distances into matter and are less susceptible to radiate effects as compared to electrons. Over a broad energy range, the dominant energy loss is due to ionization mechanism. This makes the shielding of muons and the knowledge of their range considerably important at high-energy accelerators and in other high energy applications. In the present paper, the muon range R(E) from 0-1 GeV in lead is obtained by using muon range data which were generated by SRIM 2012.03 code. For muon energy versus traveled distance E(X), an analytical formula is extracted by a fitting procedure by the aid of Origin 8.0 and Find Graph softwares. For extracting the values of R(E) in the range 0-100TeV and E(X) for less than 100 TeV using the current method faced a limitation. This limitation is due to maximum SRIM energy input card which is 1GeV, so the SRIM range data are used for less than 1 GeV and the GROOM range data for above 1 GeV. In the present paper, the muon energy is calculated using this technique at energy less than 100 TeV for arbitrary traveled distance

Comparison of the symptoms and localisation of endometriosis involvement according to fertility status of endometriosis patients

This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the prevalence of endometriosis in women who were referred for Diagnostic Laparoscopy Unit due to infertility or pelvic pain between January 2012 and January 2013 and compare the symptoms and laparoscopic signs among the three groups according to the fertility status. Four hundred and thirteen women were evaluated; of these, 383 patients for infertility and 30 patients for pelvic pain and/or cyst. Endometriosis symptoms were compared between fertile and infertile women with primary and secondary infertility. There was no statistically significant difference in the overall prevalence of endometriosis between the three study groups (52.9, 45 and 40.7, respectively, in primary, secondary infertile and fertile women). The endometriosis stage was categorised as early- (I and II) or late- (III and IV) stages and the extent of endometriosis was divided into peritoneal, ovarian and ovarian coexisting with peritoneal. There is no relationship between the frequency of dysmenorrhoea or non-cyclic pelvic pain and the disease stage; although these pain symptoms are significantly more prevalent in cases with both ovarian and peritoneal endometriotic implants. Infertility was more prevalent among the patients with peritoneal endometriosis in comparison to the ones with ovarian endometriosis. Further studies with a larger sample size are required to confirm these findings.Impact statementWhat is already known on this subject? Few studies have been done in this area and only one study compared the localisation of endometriosis lesions between fertile and infertile endometriosis cases; however, more study is needed to confirm their results. What the results of this study add? A possible relationship between localisation of endometriosis involvement and infertility was found in the present study in agreement to result of a previous study performance in this area. Although the present study includes a greater number of cases than that of the previous reported study, further studies with a larger sample size are required for the confirmation or refusal of this finding. What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? The results of this study could have clinical application in the consultation and decision-making in infertile women with an endometriosis diagnosis. © 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Phenotypic and Genotypic Analysis of the Population of Phytophthora infestans in Bangladesh Between 2014 and 2019

In Bangladesh, the third largest producer of potatoes in Asia, late blight, caused by Phytophthora infestans, is the major constraint to production. Nevertheless, there is a lack of published information on the pathogen population. A collection of 69 isolates obtained from samples of infected potato foliage collected in 2018–2019 varied significantly in their aggressiveness to detached potato leaflets and tuber slices of cv. Diamant. On leaflets, most isolates were highly aggressive, colonizing more than half the surface in 7 days. On tuber slices, while some isolates were highly aggressive, those collected in 2019 were less so. There was a significant effect of the locations from which the isolates were obtained on aggressiveness to both leaflets and tuber slices, but aggressiveness to leaflets and to tuber slices was not significantly correlated. All isolates were A2 mating type and either intermediate (38%) or resistant (62%) in sensitivity to the fungicide metalaxyl. A subset of 24 isolates all had mitochondrial DNA haplotype Ia. Samples of P. infestans DNA (124) from infected potato foliage obtained from Bangladesh (2014–2019) were genotyped by 12-plex SSR. The vast majority (95%) were assigned to EU_13_A2, which was present in every year in which samples were collected. Numerous EU_13_A2 variants were identified, many specific to Bangladesh. Six samples (from 2017 to 2019) had genotypes distinct from EU_13_A2 and with no close match to known European lineages. It is concluded that the current P. infestans population of Bangladesh is dominated by the aggressive lineage EU_13_A2, also dominant in India and Pakistan. The implications of this for control of late blight are discussed