Protective Role of α-Pinene in Cuprizone-Induced Multiple Sclerosis in Mice

Introduction: It is clamied that α-pinene has properties against Multiple Sclerosis (MS) which is known as demyelination of the neurons. Given that, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of α-pinene on Cuprizone-induced (CPZ) MS. Materials and Methods: A total of forty C57BL/6 mice were allocated to 4 groups. Mice in group 1 (control) were treated with a normal diet. In group 2, CPZ-induced demyelination was done by chew palate containing .2% (w/w) CPZ for 5 weeks. In group 3, a normal diet was provided and mice were injected with -pinene (1 mg/kg; i.p.) 3 times a week for 5 weeks. In group 4, mice were fed with the CPZ containing diet and injected with -pinene (1 mg/kg; i.p.) three times a week for 5 weeks. At the end of the study, reflexive motor behavior and depressive- like behavior tests were performed. Additionally, serum anti-oxidant activity was determined. Results: Results show that the CPZ had an adverse effect on reflexive motor behavior tests (P<.05) and co-administration of the CPZ+-pinene diminished the adverse effect of the CPZ on the reflexive motor behavior tests (P<.05). Moreover, CPZ significantly amplified immobility time (P<.05) and co-administration of the CPZ+-pinene reduced the adverse effect of the CPZ on depressive-like behavior tests (P<.05). CPZ significantly increased malondialdehyde (MDA) and decreased glutathione peroxidase (GPx), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and total antioxidant status (TAS) and also these effects were reversed by α-pinene (P<.05). The data indicate that co-administration of the CPZ+-pinene significantly improved the adverse effect of the CPZ on serum antioxidants (P<.05)

Achieving Superelasticity in Additively Manufactured NiTi in Compression Without Post-Process Heat Treatment

Shape memory alloys (SMAs), such as Nitinol (i.e., NiTi), are of great importance in biomedical and engineering applications due to their unique superelasticity and shape memory properties. In recent years, additive manufacturing (AM) processes have been used to produce complex NiTi components, which provide the ability to tailor microstructure and thus the critical properties of the alloys, such as the superelastic behavior and transformation temperatures (TTs), by selection of processing parameters. In biomedical applications, superelasticity in implants play a critical role since it gives the implants bone-like behavior. In this study, a methodology of improving superelasticity in Ni-rich NiTi components without the need for any kind of post-process heat treatments will be revealed. It will be shown that superelasticity with 5.62% strain recovery and 98% recovery ratio can be observed in Ni-rich NiTi after the sample is processed with 250 W laser power, 1250 mm/s scanning speed, and 80 µm hatch spacing without, any post-process heat treatments. This superelasticity in as-fabricated Ni-rich SLM NiTi was not previously possible in the absence of post-process heat treatments. The findings of this study promise the fast, reliable and inexpensive fabrication of complex shaped superelastic NiTi components for many envisioned applications such as patient-specific biomedical implants

Exogenous Polyamines Improve Mycorrhizal Development And Growth And Flowering Of Freesia hybrida

An experiment was conducted in order to investigate the effects of exogenous polyamines (PAs) on the development of mycorrhizae in roots, nutrient uptake and vegetative and reproductive growth of Freesia hybrida ‘Golden Wave’. Corms of freesia were inoculated with Rhizophagus intraradices at sowing time and treated once a week by one of three PAs, putrescine (Put), spermidine or spermine, in concentrations of 0.05 and 0.1 mM each as foliar application or soil drench. Application of PAs, especially as soil drench, increased mycorrhizal colonization as well as the growth and development of inoculated plants. Among the three PAs, Put in 0.1 mM concentration was the most effective in increasing colonization, enhancing floral stem length and diameter, floral spike length, floret number on main and lateral spikes and increasing corm and cormlet weight, corm diameter and cormlet number. Sole application of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi had no significant effect on the flowering time but soil drench with 0.1 mM Put accelerated flowering by about 17 days. Application of PAs elevated leaves N, P, K, Mg, Fe and Zn and corms’ P, K, Ca, Fe and Zn concentration of inoculated plants. Our results suggest that soil drench application of PAs, especially Put, positively influenced mycorrhizal inoculation and nutrient uptake, which leads to improving growth, flower and corm production and quality of mycorrhizal plants of freesia

Stiffness Tuning of NiTi Implants through Aging

Abstract NiTi alloys are interesting materials for biomedical implants since they offer unique characteristics such as superelastic behavior, low stiffness (I.e., modulus of elasticity) close to that of the cortical bone, and shock absorption. Thermal treatments are the most common and practical ways to improve the superelasticity of these alloys. In addition to the superelastic behavior of the metallic implants, it is important for the implants to have a stiffness similar to that of cortical bone in order to reduce the risk of failure caused by stress shielding. The cortical bone has a stiffness ranging from 12 to 31 GPa for different patients (e.g., sex, age, mechanical behavior of bone) and various bone locations (e.g., jaw implant, hip implant), while the untreated Ni-rich NiTi has the stiffness equal to 41.37 GPa. One recently used technique to lower the stiffness of NiTi implant is to introduce porosity into the implant. The major problem associated with the imposed porosity is stress concentration on the pore walls and the subsequent implant failure. In this work, the purpose is to tune the stiffness via changing the post-heat treatment conditions, i.e., aging time and aging temperature. In this study, several bulk specimens of Ni-rich NiTi (SLM Ni50.8Ti49.2) were additively manufactured using selective laser melting (SLM) technique. The samples were solution annealed (950 ℃, 5.5 h) and subsequently water quenched to provide equilibrium state in the samples. Subsequently, different aging conditions (350 °C and 450 °C for 5 to 18 hours) were applied to the samples. Mechanical testing (compression) was conducted on the samples and the stiffness of each sample was defined to investigate the effect of aging on the stiffness. Our results indicate that the range of 29.9 to 43.7 GPa for stiffness can be achieved through the implant via different time period and temperatures for aging. The modulus of 43.7 GPa is attributed to 10 hours heat treatment under 450 °C and the modulus of 29.9 GPa is attributed to 18 hours heat treatment under 350 °C

A review on pollutants removal by Sono-photo -Fenton processes

Among advanced oxidation processes often used for treatment, Sono- Photo-Fenton processes (S-P-FP) receive a lot of attention due to high pollutant degradation efficiency. This review highlights the fundamentals and main applications of methods such as Fenton, photo-Fenton with emphasis on S-P-FP. The S-P-FP method is capable to dwindle the drawbacks of advanced oxidation based on the Fenton process through direct and synergistic effects of ultrasound and light (photo) which lead to the highest generation of reactive radicals such as various radicals such as •OH, •H and •OOH are produced besides the catalytic role of ferrous ions. In this review have been investigated effective parameters include pH, H2O2, pollutant and Fe2+/3+ concentration, catalyst dosage, light intensity, ultrasonic power and temperature on the S-P-FP. Also, the main factors influencing the US efficiency are sonication frequency, acoustic intensity, bulk temperature, and static pressure. This review also highlights energy consumption evaluation of S-P-FP versus other AOPs and results indicated the S-P-FP has less TCS due to energy savings because decreasing of energy consumption8

Computational modeling of process-structure-property-performance relationships in metal additive manufacturing: a review

10.1080/09506608.2020.1868889International Materials Reviews671Jan-4

Complications in patients with transfusion dependent thalassemia: A descriptive cross‐sectional study

Abstract Background and Aims One of the most common hemoglobinopathies globally related to blood transfusion and iron overload in the body is thalassemia syndrome. Increasing ferritin levels can cause severe damage to the patient's body organs. This study aims to evaluate the complications of iron overload on vital body organs in patients with transfusion‐dependent beta‐thalassemia. Methods This descriptive cross‐sectional study was performed in Iran University of Medical Sciences Hospitals on patients with a beta‐thalassemia major with frequent blood transfusions. To evaluate the effect of iron overload on vital body organs, hematologic and blood analysis, echocardiography with measurement of pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) and ejection fraction (EF) tests, bone densitometry, and audiometric tests were performed for all patients. Results Of the 1010 patients participating in this study, 497 (49%) were males, 513 were (51%) females aged 5–74 years, and the majority of participants (85%) were over 20 years old. This study demonstrated that increasing ferritin levels had no notable correlation with sex, cholesterol, low‐density lipoprotein, parathyroid hormone, T4, and aspartate aminotransferase. However, elevating ferritin levels had significant correlations with increasing triglyceride, phosphorus, thyroid stimulating hormone, alkaline phosphatase, alanine transaminase, and PAP levels, age, hearing disorders, splenectomy, osteoporosis, and decreasing high‐density lipoprotein, body mass index, calcium, and EF levels. Conclusion Improvement in beta‐thalassemia patients' survival and quality of life can be due to multidisciplinary care in a comprehensive unit through regular follow‐up and early complication detection

Laser and surface processes of NiTi shape memory elements for micro-actuation

In the current microtechnology for actuation field, shape memory alloys (SMA) are considered one of the best candidates for the production of mini/micro devices thanks to their high power-to-weight ratio as function of the actuator weight and hence for their capability of generating high mechanical performance in very limited spaces. In the microscale the most suitable conformation of a SMA actuator is given by a planar wavy formed arrangement, i.e., the snake-like shape, which allows high strokes, considerable forces, and devices with very low sizes. This uncommon and complex geometry becomes more difficult to be realized when the actuator dimensions are scaled down to micrometric values. In this work, micro-snake-like actuators are laser machined using a nanosecond pulsed fiber laser, starting from a 120-μm-thick NiTi sheet. Chemical and electrochemical surface polishes are also investigated for the removal of the thermal damages of the laser process. Calorimetric and thermo-mechanical tests are accomplished to assess the NiTi microdevice performance after each step of the working process. It is shown that laser machining has to be followed by some post-processes in order to obtain a micro-actuator with good thermo-mechanical properties