Maternal serum levels of pregnancy—associated murine-l (PAMP—l) during pregnancy in the rabbit

An ELISA was developed to measure for the first time serum levels of Pregnancy—Associated Murine Protein- 1 (PAMP—l) throughout pregnancy in the rabbit. In rodents serum levels of PAMP-l are regulated by growth hormone Unlike the pregnancy-assoeiated rise in serum levels in pregnant mice and rats, PAMP-l did not increase significantly during pregnancy in the rabbit

Comparison of stress induced in rats by four different anaesthetic regimens as recorded by urinary concentrations of corticosterone and testosterone

Glucocorticoid levels in body fluids are frequently used as indicators of stress. Corticosterone is the major glucocortieosteroid secreted in laboratory rodents. Urinary concentrations of eorticosterone were measured as indicators of stress induced in rats by four different anaesthetic regimens. Testostemne levels were also measured, as a potential stress parameter.Three of the four anaesthetic regimens used resulted in increased urine levels of eorticosterone. Elevated levels of testosterone were only observed in one of the treatments.In conclusion, eorticosterone may be a useful indicator of stress associated with anaesthetic regimens in rats. However testosterone does not seem to be as sensitive a parameter as eorticosterone but it may prove to be a useful supplement

Association of serum antioxidants and risk of coronary heart disease in South Indian population

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Higher prevalence of coronary heart disease (CHD) has been reported in south Indian population, which cannot be accounted for by the traditional risk factors like hyperlipidemia. Identification of new risk factors may help in treatment and prevention of CHD in this part of the world. In an attempt to investigate the causes of increased incidence of CHD in this part of the world, we intended to look for oxidative stress in our patients as a possible risk factor. As an initial step in this perspective, a case- control study was conducted to find out the serum antioxidant levels and their association with CHD in south Indian population. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A tertiary care hospital; Case - control study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred thirty nine angiographically proven CHD patients (aged 29-75 years) were studied against 59 population based healthy controls (aged 29-72 years) free of CHD. Fasting serum cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, erythrocyte and plasma glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase were estimated on automated clinical chemistry analyzer. LDL cholesterol and VLDL cholesterol were calculated. Vitamins A and E were estimated using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Unpaired t test was used to compare means. Binary logistic regression was done to find out the association between dependent and independent variables. RESULTS: Significantly higher levels of Total Cholesterol/HDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio and lower HDL cholesterol levels were observed in patients when compared to controls. No significant difference of plasma and erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase activity was observed between patients and controls. Significantly lower levels of vitamin E in patients than in controls was observed (P<0.001). Serum vitamin E was inversely associated with coronary heart disease even after controlling for age and other coronary risk factors (Odds ratio 0.898, 95% CI 0.826-0.976 P=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The results of present study suggest that deficiency of vitamin E may be an independent risk factor of CHD. This study brings out the need for long- term monitoring of vitamin E supplementation as a preventive measure for CHD in the population studied

Characterization of salivary protein during ovulatory phase of menstrual cycle through MALDI-TOF/MS

Context: Predicting ovulation is the basis on which the fertile period is determined. Nowadays there are many methods available to detect the ovulatory period. Unfortunately, these methods are not always effective for accurate detection of ovulation. Hence, an attempt was made to detect ovulation through single dimension sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis of protein with the help of saliva ferning. Aims: The aim of this study was to determine the association of protein level with endogenous reproductive hormone level across the menstrual cycle. Settings and Design: Salivary protein and its confirmation were evaluated during menstrual cycle followed by SDS-PAGE and Mass spectrometry. Statistical Method Used: The protein content present in saliva throughout menstrual cycle is trail by SPSS statistical software version. Materials and Methods: Salivary proteins were investigated serially during pre-ovulatory, ovulatory and post-ovulatory periods of normal menstrual cycle in eighteen healthy volunteers. The samples were collected in three consecutive menstrual cycles. Salivary protein was estimated and analyzed by single dimension SDS-PAGE. Results: The results revealed significant variations in protein concentrations during the menstrual cycle. Protein levels were maximum during ovulation and minimum during postovulatory phase. Further, single dimension SDS-PAGE analysis showed seven different fractions of proteins is from 14-90 kilo Dalton (kDa) in the three phases of the menstrual cycle. Conclusions: Among the proteins, 48 kDa protein was more predominantly exhibited during ovulatory phase than pre and post-ovulatory phase. The present study indicates that the protein level and the specific protein band (48 kDa) through MALDI-TOF MS analysis might serve as an indicator for ovulation

Oxidative stress in haemodialysis: immediate changes caused by passage of blood through the dialyser

Oxygen free radicals have been implicated in the long-term complications of maintenance haemodialysis. Studies that have probed into the mechanisms of oxygen radical production have implicated the bio-incompatibility of dialysis membranes. Changes between the arterial (inlet) and venous (outlet) points of a dialyser may give a better picture of blood-membrane interaction. There are very few studies on changes across the dialyser. Hence. it was planned to study the immediate changes that occur due to passage of blood through the dialyser. Changes between the arterial and venous ends of the dialyser after 1 h of dialysis were studied in four combinations of dialysate and membrane. There was a significant decrease in plasma vitamin E concentrations in all the groups during first-use dialysis. This was not observed with re-use dialysis. A decrease in plasma lipid peroxides was also observed in all the groups with both first and re-use dialysis. There was no significant difference in the parameters studied among the four types of dialysis. A less severe, reactive oxygen radical generation was observed with re-use of membranes

Texture Development and Plastic Deformation in a Pilgered Zircaloy-4 Tube

The development of microstructure and crystallographic texture with effective strain at three through-thickness locations (near rolls, center, and near mandrel) in a partly pilgered Zircaloy-4 tube is described. Pilgering is found to eliminate through-thickness variation in grain size in the starting hot-extruded material and to generate location-dependent asymmetries in crystallographic texture. Deformation texture development during pilgering is modeled with polycrystal plasticity by idealizing the metal flow pattern as axisymmetric flow through a convergent channel. Good qualitative comparison of the predicted and experimental post-pilgering textures is obtained, provided location-dependent transverse shear component is superposed on the gross flow field, and localized deformation at grain boundaries is allowed. Frictional forces between tube and die are deduced from these observations. (C) The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society and ASM International 201

Deformation Twinning in Zirconium: Direct Experimental Observations and Polycrystal Plasticity Predictions

Deformation twinning was directly observed in three commercial zirconium alloy samples during split channel die plane-strain compression. One pair of samples had similar starting texture but different grain size distributions, while another pair had similar grain size distribution but different starting textures. Extension twinning was found to be more sensitive to the starting texture than to the grain size distribution. Also, regions of intense deformation near grain boundaries were observed. A hierarchical binary tree-based polycrystal plasticity model, implementing the Chin-Hosford-Mendorf twinning criterion, captured the experimentally observed twinning grains' lattice orientation distribution, and the twin volume fraction evolution, provided the critical resolved shear stress for extension twinning, was assumed much larger than any of the values reported in the literature, based on the viscoplastic self-consistent model. A comparison of the models suggests that obtained using the present model and the viscoplastic self-consistent models physically correspond to the critical stress required for twin nucleation, and twin growth, respectively. (C) The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society and ASM International 201

Temperature dependence of work hardening in sparsely twinning zirconium

Fully recrystallized commercial Zirconium plates were subjected to uniaxial tension. Tests were conducted at different temperatures (123 K - 623 K) and along two plate directions. Both directions were nominally unfavorable for deformation twinning. The effect of the working temperature on crystallographic texture and in-grain misorientation development was insignificant. However, systematic variation in work hardening and in the area fraction and morphology of deformation twins was observed with temperature. At all temperatures, twinning was associated with significant near boundary mesoscopic shear, suggesting a possible linkage with twin nucleation. A binary tree based model of the polycrystal, which explicitly accounts for grain boundary accommodation and implements the phenomenological extended Voce hardening law, was implemented. This model could capture the measured stress-strain response and twin volume fractions accurately. Interestingly, slip and twin system hardness evolution permitted multiplicative decomposition into temperature-dependent, and accumulated strain dependent parts. Furthermore, under conditions of relatively limited deformation twinning, the work hardening of the slip and twin systems followed two phenomenological laws proposed in the literature for non-twinning single-phase face centered cubic materials. (C) 2016 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved