Female rat hippocampal cell density after conditioned place preference

The hippocampus is important for learning tasks, such as conditioned place preference (CPP), which is widely used as a model for studying the reinforcing effects of drugs with dependence liability. Long-term opiate use may produce maladaptive plasticity in the brain structures involved in learning and memory, such as the hippocampus. We investigated the phenomenon of conditioning with morphine on the cell density of female rat hippocampus. Forty-eight female Wistar rats weighing on average 200-250 g were used. Rats were distributed into eight groups. Experimental groups received morphine daily (three days) at different doses (2.5, 5, 7.5 mg/kg) and the control-saline group received normal saline (1 ml/kg), and then the CPP test was performed. Three sham groups received only different doses (2.5, 5, 7.5 mg/kg) of morphine without CPP test. Forty-eight hours after behavioural testing animals were decapitated under chloroform anaesthesia and their brains were fixed, and after tissue processing, slices were stained with cresyl violet for neurons and phosphotungstic acid haematoxylin for astrocytes. The maximum response was obtained with 5 mg/kg of morphine. The density of neurons in CA1 and CA3 areas of hippocampus after injection of morphine and CPP was decreased. The number of astrocytes in different areas of hippocampus was increased after injection of morphine and CPP. It seems that the effective dose was 5 mg/kg, as it led to the CPP. We concluded that both injection of morphine and CPP can decrease the density of neurons and also increase the number of astrocytes in the rat hippocampus

Relation between parvovirus B19 infection and fetal mortality and spontaneous abortion

Background: Infection with parvovirus B19 may cause fetal losses including spontaneous abortion, intrauterine fetal death and non-immune hydrops fetalis. The aim of this study is to determine the frequency of parvovirus B19 in formalin fixed placental tissues in lost fetuses using real-time PCR method. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 100 formalin fixed placental tissues with unknown cause of fetal death were determined using real-time PCR method after DNA extraction. Results: Six out of 100 cases (6) were positive for parvovirus B19 using real-time PCR. Gestational age of all positive cases was less than 20 weeks with a mean of 12.3 weeks. Three cases have a history of abortion and all of positive cases were collected in spring. Mean age of positive cases were 28 years. Conclusion: Parvovirus B19 during pregnancy can infect red precursor cells and induces apoptosis or lyses these cells that resulting in anemia and congestive heart failure leading to fetal death. Management of parvovirus B19 infection in pregnant women is important because immediate diagnosis and transfusion in hydropsic fetuses can decrease the risk of fetal death

Conjugation of quantum dots on carbon nanotubes for medical diagnosis and treatment

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and early detection provides the best possible prognosis for cancer patients. Nanotechnology is the branch of engineering that deals with the manipulation of individual atoms and molecules. This area of science has the potential to help identify cancerous cells and to destroy them by various methods such as drug delivery or thermal treatment of cancer. Carbon nanotubes (CNT) and quantum dots (QDs) are the two nanoparticles, which have received considerable interest in view of their application for diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Fluorescent nanoparticles known as QDs are gaining momentum as imaging molecules with life science and clinical applications. Clinically they can be used for localization of cancer cells due to their nano size and ability to penetrate individual cancer cells and high-resolution imaging derived from their narrow emission bands compared with organic dyes. CNTs are of interest to the medical community due to their unique properties such as the ability to deliver drugs to a site of action or convert optical energy into thermal energy. By attaching antibodies that bind specifically to tumor cells, CNTs can navigate to malignant tumors. Once at the tumor site, the CNTs enter into the cancer cells by penetration or endocytosis, allowing drug release, and resulting in specific cancer cell death. Alternatively, CNTs can be exposed to near-infrared light in order to thermally destroy the cancer cells. The amphiphilic nature of CNTs allows them to penetrate the cell membrane and their large surface area (in the order of 2600 m2/g) allows drugs to be loaded into the tube and released once inside the cancer cell. Many research laboratories, including our own, are investigating the conjugation of QDs to CNTs to allow localization of the cancer cells in the patient, by imaging with QDs, and subsequent cell killing, via drug release or thermal treatment. This is an area of huge interest and future research and therapy will focus on the multimodality of nanoparticles. In this review, we seek to explore the biomedical applications of QDs conjugated to CNTs, with a particular emphasis on their use as therapeutic platforms in oncology

Geometric morphometric analysis of the molars in three species of the genus Mus (Mus) (Rodentia, Muridae) based on the outline method

The relatively new technique of outline-based geometric morphometrics was applied in a study of the variation in the shape of the upper and lower molars among 122 mice, belonging to one species from Iran (Mus musculus) and two species from Europe (Mus macedonicus, Mus spicilegus). Differentiation of specimens based on molar shape was highly dependent on the details of the shape information. Among molars, the second upper and first lower molars are better at separating the species. This method provides a useful way to distinguish species based on the outline of their molars.Keywords: shape variation; upper and lower molars; mice; Iran; Europe

Anti-tumor Activity of N4 [(E)-1-(2-hydroxyphenyl) Methylidene], N4-[(E)-2-Phenylethylidene], N4 [(E,2E)-3-Phenyl-2-propenylidene], and N4 [(E)ethylidene] Isonicotinohydrazide on K562 and Jurkat Cell Lines

Using the water eliminated mechanism, reactions of 4-pyridinecarboxylic acid hydrazide and salicylaldehyde, benzaldehyde, cinnamaldehyde, and formaldehyde afforded the corresponding N4[(E)-1-(2-hydroxyphenyl) methylidene] (NHPM), N4-[(E)-2-phenylethylidene] (NPI), N4[(E,2E)-3-phenyl-2-propenylidene] (NPPI), and N4[(E) ethylidene] (NEI) isonicotinohydrazide, in high yields, after several minutes, as reported. These new compounds have shown antitumor activity against two kinds of cancer cells, which are K562 (human chronic myeloid leukemia) and Jurkat (human T lymphocyte carcinoma)

Superconducting, Insulating, and Anomalous Metallic Regimes in a Gated Two-Dimensional Semiconductor-Superconductor Array

The superconductor-insulator transition in two dimensions has been widely investigated as a paradigmatic quantum phase transition. The topic remains controversial, however, because many experiments exhibit a metallic regime with saturating low-temperature resistance, at odds with conventional theory. Here, we explore this transition in a novel, highly controllable system, a semiconductor heterostructure with epitaxial Al, patterned to form a regular array of superconducting islands connected by a gateable quantum well. Spanning nine orders of magnitude in resistance, the system exhibits regimes of superconducting, metallic, and insulating behavior, along with signatures of flux commensurability and vortex penetration. An in-plane magnetic field eliminates the metallic regime, restoring the direct superconductor-insulator transition, and improves scaling, while strongly altering the scaling exponent

Radiation-induced bystander effect in non-irradiated glioblastoma spheroid cells

Radiation-induced bystander effects (RIBEs) are detected in cells that are not irradiated but receive signals from treated cells. The present study explored these bystander effects in a U87MG multicellular tumour spheroid model. A medium transfer technique was employed to induce the bystander effect, and colony formation assay was used to evaluate the effect. Relative changes in expression of BAX, BCL2, JNK and ERK genes were analysed using RT-PCR to investigate the RIBE mechanism. A significant decrease in plating efficiency was observed for both bystander and irradiated cells. The survival fraction was calculated for bystander cells to be 69.48 and for irradiated cells to be 34.68. There was no change in pro-apoptotic BAX relative expression, but anti-apoptotic BCL2 showed downregulation in both irradiated and bystander cells. Pro-apoptotic JNK in bystander samples and ERK in irradiated samples were upregulated. The clonogenic survival data suggests that there was a classic RIBE in U87MG spheroids exposed to 4 Gy of X-rays, using a medium transfer technique. Changes in the expression of pro- and anti-apoptotic genes indicate involvement of both intrinsic apoptotic and MAPK pathways in inducing these effects. © 2015 The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Japan Radiation Research Society and Japanese Society for Radiation Oncology

Energy-scales convergence for optimal and robust quantum transport in photosynthetic complexes

Underlying physical principles for the high efficiency of excitation energy transfer in light-harvesting complexes are not fully understood. Notably, the degree of robustness of these systems for transporting energy is not known considering their realistic interactions with vibrational and radiative environments within the surrounding solvent and scaffold proteins. In this work, we employ an efficient technique to estimate energy transfer efficiency of such complex excitonic systems. We observe that the dynamics of the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) complex leads to optimal and robust energy transport due to a convergence of energy scales among all important internal and external parameters. In particular, we show that the FMO energy transfer efficiency is optimum and stable with respect to the relevant parameters of environmental interactions and Frenkel-exciton Hamiltonian including reorganization energy $\lambda$, bath frequency cutoff $\gamma$, temperature $T$, bath spatial correlations, initial excitations, dissipation rate, trapping rate, disorders, and dipole moments orientations. We identify the ratio of \lambda T/\gamma\*g as a single key parameter governing quantum transport efficiency, where g is the average excitonic energy gap.Comment: minor revisions, removing some figures, 19 pages, 19 figure