A review of medicinal herbs with antioxidant properties in the treatment of cerebral ischemia and reperfusion

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Stroke is the second most common cause of death and a major cause of disability in individuals aged over 65 years, worldwide. Considering the complex pathological process of ischemia, use of one single agent does not seem ideal for treatment. Therefore, studies in search of effective compounds and methods are under way. In recent years, increased attention has been paid to medicinal plants as potential sources for the treatment of ischemia and reperfusion. This study aimed to introduce the pathogenesis of cerebral ischemia and review the effects of medicinal plants and their mechanisms of action in cerebral ischemia. METHODS: In this study, articles indexed in scientific databases including ISI, SID, PubMed, PubMed Central, Scopus, and Web of Science were evaluated, using the following keywords in Farsi and English: "Ischemia and reperfusion", "medicinal herbs", and "antioxidant properties". FINDINGS: The review of conducted studies showed that medicinal plants and their compounds are capable of reducing infarct volume, cerebral edema, neuronal damages, sensory problems, and motor disorders through reducing oxidative and nitrative stress. Moreover, these plants are able to decrease the expression of inflammatory mediators, inhibit DNA fragmentation and oxidative DNA damage, reduce microglial and astrocyte activities, increase the expression of mitochondrial genes, inhibit apoptotic protein expression, reduce eicosanoids, and boost anti-apoptotic protein expression. CONCLUSION: Medicinal herbs and their compounds are able to diminish the damages caused by cerebral ischemia through several pathways; therefore, they can be used as new sources against cerebral ischemia

Effect of dietary virgin olive oil on infarct volume and brain ceramide, cerebroside and phosphatidylcholine levels in rat stroke model

زمینه و هدف: سکته مغزی سومین عامل مرگ و میر در کشورهای صنعتی بعد از بیماری های قلبی- عروقی و سرطان است. این مطالعه با هدف بررسی ارتباط بین اثر روغن زیتون بکر بر سطح لیپیدهای مغزی و کاهش حجم سکته مغزی در مدل سکته مغزی موش صحرایی انجام گرفت. روش بررسی: در این مطالعه تجربی از 5 گروه 12 تایی موش صحرایی نر استفاده شد. این گروه ها شامل کنترل، شم و سه گروه آزمایشی بودند که دوزهای 25/0، 5/0 و 75/0 میلی لیتر بر کیلوگرم وزن بدن روغن زیتون بکر را به صورت خوراکی از طریق گاواژ به مدت 30 روز دریافت نمودند. دو گروه کنترل و شم آب مقطر دریافت کردند. دو ساعت بعد از آخرین دوز گاواژ شده هر گروه 12 تایی به دو زیر گروه تقسیم شدند. زیر گروه (middle cerebral artery occlusion)MCAO، به منظور اندازه گیری حجم سکته مغزی و زیر گروه دیگر برای آنالیز لیپیدهای مغزی استفاده شد. داده ها با استفاده از آزمون های ANOVA و تست تعقیبی LSDو آزمون ضریب همبستگی پیرسون تجزیه و تحلیل شدند. یافته ها: پیش تیمار با روغن زیتون بکر خوراکی با دوز 5/0 و 75/0 میلی لیتر بر کیلوگرم در روز باعث افزایش سطح فسفاتیدیل کولین بافت مغز گردید (05/0

Legal positivism in the pre-constitutional era of late nineteenth-century Iran

The Iranian constitutional movement (1906–1911) occurred at a time when revolution was in the air in a number of peripheral nations. In that period of the early twentieth century, a series of uprisings occurred in the third world countries including the Indian nationalist movement of 1905– 1908 against the British, the Maji Maji uprising in Tanganyika in 1905–1907 against German rule, the Bambata (Zulu) Rebellion of 1906 in South Africa against the British, the Young Turks Revolution of 1908, the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and the Chinese Revolution of 1911–1912. While the essence of the Indian and African movements was anti-colonial, pro-democracy ideas were dominant in the latter three (Ottoman Empire, Mexico and China) alongside the Russian (1905), Iranian (1906) and the Portuguese (1910) movements/revolutions. A satirical Iranian journal (Journal of Despotism) at the time remarkably referred to these democratic movements around the world as “siblings”

Relationship between dietary virgin olive oil on brain cholesterol, cholesteryl ester and triglyceride levels and blood brain barrier (BBB) permeability in a rat stroke model

Introduction: Recent studies suggest that dietary virgin olive oil (VOO) reduces hypoxia-re oxygenation injury in rat brain. We have attempted to determine the effect of dietary virgin olive oil on brain lipidomics and its relationship with brain edema in a rat stroke model. Methods: Five groups, each consisting of 6 male Wistar rats, were studied. The first and second groups (control and sham) received distilled water, while three treatment groups received oral VOO for 30 days (0.25, 0.5 and 0.75 ml/kg/day, respectively). Two hours after the last dose, each main group was subdivided into middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO)-operated and intact subgroups for assessment of neuropathology (blood brain barrier permeability) and brain lipid analysis. Results: VOO increased the brain cholesteryl ester and cholesterol levels in doses of 0.5 and 0.75 ml/kg/day. VOO in all three doses increased the brain triglyceride levels (p<0.05). Oral administration of VOO reduces infarct volume, brain edema, blood brain barrier permeability, after transient MCAO in rats. Conclusion: Although further studies are needed to clarify the mechanisms of ischemic tolerance, VOO is partly associated with increased levels of brain cholesteryl ester, cholesterol and triglyceride in rats

Clash of Rationalities: Revisiting the trade and environment debate in light of WTO disputes over green industrial policy

Climate Change has found its way into the World Trade Organization through the backdoor of the profitable and contentious trade in solar and wind energy technologies. In addition to the Ontario FIT dispute critically examined in this article, there are at least five other active disputes in Geneva over aspects of trade in wind and solar technologies, with more on the horizon. Solar panels constitute a significant part of China’s total export sales in the EU and for more than two years its trade has overheated EU-China relations. The anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations that resulted have now culminated in a tentative settlement to bring Chinese solar panel prices to a “sustainable” level. Winds have been blowing more strongly on the other side of the Atlantic, though in a similar direction, where the US imposed record high rates of anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Chinese (and Vietnamese) wind towers, as well as silicon solar panels. The political economy unfolding in both cases has been quite similar: on one side - claiming unfair trade allegedly committed by the Chinese exporters - are the import-competing manufacturers of Renewable Energy (`RE’) technology, and on the other side, the rest of the RE industry, particularly generators in whose interest it is to have access to the best and cheapest equipment, regardless of origin

Technical Information Management in Khuzestan Water and Power Authority

This study attempted to investigate the process and barriers of flow of technical information in KWPA[1]. A survey method was used to collect the data. Interviews with some key persons were also conducted. The target population included both experts and technical managers, and the information output of technical departments. Descriptive statistics and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient were applied to analyze the data. Results showed that overall production and use of technical information are relatively satisfactory, and the respondents generally used the technical. Lack of a holistic view of information management and systematic access to information were major drawbacks. The authors suggest applying a holistic view for information management to systematize the production and use of information and reduce the costs

An Item Analysis of Written Multiple-Choice Questions: Kashan University of Medical Sciences

Background: Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) are one of the most common types of exams used in evaluation of students in any educational setting. The question items making up these exams need to be examined if they are to meaningfully contribute to the student scores. Such characteristics are amenable to examination by item analysis. Objectives: The purpose of this research was to examine the quality of MCQs used in Nursing and Midwifery Faculty and to compare the results with the other faculties in Kashan University of Medical Science in the academic year 2008-2009. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 101 multiple-choice exams were randomly chosen for the study, and 37 exams were selected from the faculty of nursing and midwifery. The difficulty, discrimination indices and Cronbach’s Alpha were calculated for every exam and then mean values for each index were calculated by LERTAL 5.0 software purchased from Assessment Systems Corporation of the United States. Results: A total of 7062 MCQs in the university and 1793 items in the faculty of nursing and midwifery presented to the students by different instructors were analyzed. The average of difficulty index of the faculty of nursing was 0.5. The discrimination index was 0.36, and the average of Alpha-Cronbach was 0.82 in the faculty of nursing. All the values were significantly better in the faculty of nursing and midwifery compared to the rest of the university. Conclusions: The difficulty index, the discrimination index and the Alpha-Cronbach values in the faculty of nursing were within the acceptable range recommended by experts in the field of educational measurement. However, some of the tests had values less than the recommended