Molecular genetic diversity of some rabbit breeds based on mitochondrial 16S rRNA sequences

[EN] The present study was performed to assess the genetic variations among six rabbit breeds in Egypt based on mitochondrial 16S rRNA sequences. The length of partial mitochondrial 16S rRNA in the six rabbit breeds ranged from 546 bp to 558 bp. The sequenced regions were submitted to GenBank/NCBI under accession numbers (MW052052 - MW052057). The average content of A+T was 57% in all breeds. Among breeds, the percentages of genetic distance values were ranged from 0.000 to 0.004. The highest P-distance (0.004) was found between the New Zealand White breed and all other breeds. The results support the suitability of mitochondrial 16S rRNA for genetic diversity analysis of rabbit breeds and the applicability for future research on genetic relationships and the phylogeny of rabbit breeds.Allam, M.; Mahrous, NS. (2021). Molecular genetic diversity of some rabbit breeds based on mitochondrial 16S rRNA sequences. World Rabbit Science. 29(3):193-201. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/173609OJS19320129

Protective Effect of Parsley Juice ( Petroselinum crispum

Parsley was used as a probe of the current experiment to prevent the behavioral, morphological and biochemical changes in the newborn brain following the administration of cadmium (Cd) to the pregnant mice. The nonanesthetized pregnant mice were given daily parsley juice (Petroselinum crispum) at doses of 20 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg. Pregnant mothers were given Cd at a dose of 30 mg/kg divided into 3 equal times. The newborns have been divided into 6 groups: Group A, mothers did not take treatment; Groups B and C, mothers were treated with low and high dose of parsley, respectively; Group D, mothers were treated only with Cd (perinatal intoxication); Groups E and F, mothers were treated with Cd doses and protected by low and high doses of parsley, respectively. Light microscopy showed that Cd-induced neuronal degeneration by chromatolysis and pyknosis in the brain regions. The low dose of parsley 10 g/kg/day exhibited significant effects in neutralizing and reducing the deleterious changes due to Cd exposure during pregnancy on the behavioral activities, neurotransmitters, oxidative stress, and brain neurons morphology of the mice newborns

Vessel segmentation for automatic registration of untracked laparoscopic ultrasound to CT of the liver

PURPOSE: Registration of Laparoscopic Ultrasound (LUS) to a pre-operative scan such as Computed Tomography (CT) using blood vessel information has been proposed as a method to enable image-guidance for laparoscopic liver resection. Currently, there are solutions for this problem that can potentially enable clinical translation by bypassing the need for a manual initialisation and tracking information. However, no reliable framework for the segmentation of vessels in 2D untracked LUS images has been presented. METHODS: We propose the use of 2D UNet for the segmentation of liver vessels in 2D LUS images. We integrate these results in a previously developed registration method, and show the feasibility of a fully automatic initialisation to the LUS to CT registration problem without a tracking device. RESULTS: We validate our segmentation using LUS data from 6 patients. We test multiple models by placing patient datasets into different combinations of training, testing and hold-out, and obtain mean Dice scores ranging from 0.543 to 0.706. Using these segmentations, we obtain registration accuracies between 6.3 and 16.6 mm in 50% of cases. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate the first instance of deep learning (DL) for the segmentation of liver vessels in LUS. Our results show the feasibility of UNet in detecting multiple vessel instances in 2D LUS images, and potentially automating a LUS to CT registration pipeline

Rest-Frame Optical Spectra of Three Strongly Lensed Galaxies at z~2

We present Keck II NIRSPEC rest-frame optical spectra for three recently discovered lensed galaxies: the Cosmic Horseshoe (z = 2.38), the Clone (z = 2.00), and SDSS J090122.37+181432.3 (z = 2.26). The boost in signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) from gravitational lensing provides an unusually detailed view of the physical conditions in these objects. A full complement of high S/N rest-frame optical emission lines is measured, spanning from rest-frame 3600 to 6800AA, including robust detections of fainter lines such as H-gamma, [SII]6717,6732, and in one instance [NeII]3869. SDSS J090122.37+181432.3 shows evidence for AGN activity, and therefore we focus our analysis on star-forming regions in the Cosmic Horseshoe and the Clone. For these two objects, we estimate a wide range of physical properties, including star-formation rate (SFR), metallicity, dynamical mass, and dust extinction. In all respects, the lensed objects appear fairly typical of UV-selected star-forming galaxies at z~2. The Clone occupies a position on the emission-line diagnostic diagram of [OIII]/H-beta vs. [NII]/H-alpha that is offset from the locations of z~0 galaxies. Our new NIRSPEC measurements may provide quantitative insights into why high-redshift objects display such properties. From the [SII] line ratio, high electron densities (~1000 cm^(-3)) are inferred compared to local galaxies, and [OIII]/[OII] line ratios indicate higher ionization parameters compared to the local population. Building on previous similar results at z~2, these measurements provide further evidence (at high S/N) that star-forming regions are significantly different in high-redshift galaxies, compared to their local counterparts (abridged).Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Catalog of Isolated Galaxies Selected from the 2MASS Survey

We search for isolated galaxies based on the automatic identification of isolated sources from the Two Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) followed by a visual inspection of their surroundings. We use the modified Karachentseva criterion to compile a catalog of 3227 isolated galaxies (2MIG), which contains 6% of 2MASS Extended Sources Catalog (or 2MASX) sources brighter than Ks = 12 mag with angular diameters a_K > 30 arcsec. The catalog covers the entire sky and has an effective depth of z = 0.02. The 2493 very isolated objects of the catalog, which we include into the 2MVIG catalog, can be used as a reference sample to investigate the effects of the environment on the structure and evolution of galaxies located in regions with extremely low density of matter.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figure

Registration of Untracked 2D Laparoscopic Ultrasound Liver Images to CT Using Content-Based Retrieval and Kinematic Priors

Laparoscopic Ultrasound (LUS) can enhance the safety of laparoscopic liver resection by providing information on the location of major blood vessels and tumours. Since many tumours are not visible in ultrasound, registration to a pre-operative CT has been proposed as a guidance method. In addition to being multi-modal, this registration problem is greatly affected by the differences in field of view between CT and LUS, and thus requires an accurate initialisation. We propose a novel method of registering smaller field of view slices to a larger volume globally using a Content-based retrieval framework. This problem is under-constrained for a single slice registration, resulting in non-unique solutions. Therefore, we introduce kinematic priors in a Bayesian framework in order to jointly register groups of ultrasound images. Our method then produces an estimate of the most likely sequence of CT images to represent the ultrasound acquisition and does not require tracking information nor an accurate initialisation. We demonstrate the feasibility of this approach in multiple LUS acquisitions taken from three sets of clinical data

Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography of Preclinical Chloroquine Maculopathy in Egyptian Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Purpose. To evaluate the role of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in early detection of Chloroquine maculopathy in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Methods. 40 left eyes of 40 female rheumatoid arthritis patients who received treatment chloroquine for more than one year were recruited in the study. All patients had no symptoms or signs of Chloroquine retinopathy. They were evaluated using SD-OCT, where the Central Foveal Thickness (CFT), parafoveal thickness and perifoveal thickness, average Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer (RNFL) thickness, and Ganglion Cell Complex (GCC) measurements were measured and compared to 40 left eyes of 40 normal females. Results. The mean CFT was found to be thinner in the Chloroquine group (238.15 µm ± 22.49) than the normal controls (248.2 µm ± 19.04), which was statistically significant (p value = 0.034). The mean parafoveal thickness was lesser in the Chloroquine group than the control group in all quadrants (p value 0.05) in all quadrants. No significant difference was detected between the two groups regarding RNFL, GCC, or IS/OS junction. Conclusions. Preclinical Chloroquine toxicity can lead to early thinning in the central fovea as well as the parafoveal regions that is detected by SD-OCT