Yield, fruit quality and physiological responses of melon cv. Khatooni under deficit irrigation

To evaluate the effect of water deficit stress on growth, yield, fruit quality and physiological traits of melon cv. Khatooni, field experiments were conducted in split plot randomized complete block design with three replications. In 2014, irrigation treatments consisted of two deficit irrigation regimes, 33% and 66% of ETc (crop evapotranspiration), and 100% ETc as the control (DI33, DI66 and I100). In 2015, irrigation treatments applied were: 40, 70 and 100% ETc (DI40, DI70 and I100). The results showed that plant height and leaf area decreased from treatment I100 to DI40 and DI33. The highest average fruit weigh and yield were obtained from irrigation 100% ETc for both years. The water use efficiency (WUE) significantly increased in response to increase water deficit stress. Deficit irrigation treatments significantly decreased leaf relative water content, vitamin C and fruit firmness, whereas antioxidant enzymes activity, proline and total soluble solid contents increased. These results suggest that the crop is sensitive to water deficits, that moderate water stress (DI70 and DI66) reduced yield by about 28.5-38.2% and severe water stress (DI40 and DI33) had a much more marked effect, reducing yield by 48.1-61.4%

PI3K/Akt inhibition and down-regulation of BCRP re-sensitize MCF7 breast cancer cell line to mitoxantrone chemotherapy

Objective(s): Multidrug resistance (MDR) of cancer cells is a major obstacle to successful chemotherapy. Overexpression of breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) is one of the major causes of MDR. In addition, it has been shown that PI3K/Akt signaling pathway involves in drug resistance. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of novel approaches including siRNA directed against BCRP and targeted therapy against PI3K/Akt signaling pathway using LY294002 (LY) to re-sensitize breast cancer MCF7 cell line to mitoxantrone (MTX) chemotherapy. Materials and Methods: Anticancer effects of MTX, siRNA, and LY alone and in combination were evaluated in MCF7 cells using MTT cytotoxicity assay and flow cytometry analysis of cell cycle distribution and apoptosis induction. Results: MTT and apoptosis assays showed that both MTX and LY inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in MCF7 cells. Results indicated that inhibition of BCRP by siRNA or PI3K/Akt signaling pathway by LY significantly increased sensitivity of MCF7 cells to antiproliferation and apoptosis induction of MTX. Furthermore, MTX showed G2/M arrest, whereas LY induced G0/G1 arrest in cell cycle distribution of MCF7 cells. Combination of siRNA or LY with MTX chemotherapy significantly increased accumulation of MCF7 cells in the G2/M phase of cell cycle. Conclusion: Combination of MTX chemotherapy with BCRP siRNA and PI3K/Akt inhibition can overcome MDR in breast cancer cells. This study furthermore suggests that novel therapeutic approaches are needed to enhance anticancer effects of available drugs in breast cancer. © 2015, Iranian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Vitamin D supplementation and incident dementia: Effects of sex, APOE, and baseline cognitive status

Supporting Information is available online at: https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dad2.12404#support-information-section .Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Introduction: Despite the association of vitamin D deficiency with incident dementia, the role of supplementation is unclear. We prospectively explored associations between vitamin D supplementation and incident dementia in 12,388 dementia-free persons from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center. Methods: Baseline exposure to vitamin D was considered D+; no exposure prior to dementia onset was considered D−. Kaplan–Meier curves compared dementia-free survival between groups. Cox models assessed dementia incidence rates across groups, adjusted for age, sex, education, race, cognitive diagnosis, depression, and apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4. Sensitivity analyses examined incidence rates for each vitamin D formulation. Potential interactions between exposure and model covariates were explored. Results: Across all formulations, vitamin D exposure was associated with significantly longer dementia-free survival and lower dementia incidence rate than no exposure (hazard ratio = 0.60, 95% confidence interval: 0.55–0.65). The effect of vitamin D on incidence rate differed significantly across the strata of sex, cognitive status, and APOE ε4 status. Discussion: Vitamin D may be a potential agent for dementia prevention. Highlights: * In a prospective cohort study, we assessed effects of Vitamin D on dementia incidence in 12,388 participants from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center dataset. * Vitamin D exposure was associated with 40% lower dementia incidence versus no exposure. * Vitamin D effects were significantly greater in females versus males and in normal cognition versus mild cognitive impairment. * Vitamin D effects were significantly greater in apolipoprotein E ε4 non-carriers versus carriers. * Vitamin D has potential for dementia prevention, especially in the high-risk strata.The NACC database is funded by NIA/NIH grant U24-AG072122. NACC data are contributed by the NIA-funded ADRCs: P30-AG019610 (PI Eric Reiman, MD), P30-AG013846 (PI Neil Kowall, MD), P50-AG008702 (PI Scott Small, MD), P50-AG025688 (PI Allan Levey, MD, PhD), P50-AG047266 (PI Todd Golde, MD, PhD), P30-AG010133 (PI Andrew Saykin, PsyD), P50-AG005146 (PI Marilyn Albert, PhD), P50-AG005134 (PI Bradley Hyman, MD, PhD), P50-AG016574 (PI Ronald Petersen, MD, PhD), P50-AG005138 (PI Mary Sano, PhD), P30-AG008051 (PI Thomas Wisniewski, MD), P30-AG013854 (PI Robert Vassar, PhD), P30-AG008017 (PI Jeffrey Kaye, MD), P30AG010161 (PI David Bennett, MD), P50 AG047-366 (PI Victor Henderson, MD, MS), P30-AG010129 (PI Charles DeCarli, MD), P50-AG016573 (PI Frank LaFerla, PhD), P50-AG005131 (PI James Brewer, MD, PhD), P50-AG023501 (PI Bruce Miller, MD), P30-AG035982 (PI Russell Swerdlow, MD), P30-AG028383 (PI Linda Van Eldik, PhD), P30-AG053760 (PI Henry Paulson, MD, PhD), P30-AG010124 (PI John Trojanowski, MD, PhD), P50-AG005133 (PI Oscar Lopez, MD), P50-AG005142 (PI Helena Chui, MD), P30-AG012300 (PI Roger Rosenberg, MD), P30-AG049638 (PI Suzanne Craft, PhD), P50-AG005136 (PI Thomas Grabowski, MD), P50-AG033514 (PI Sanjay Asthana, MD, FRCP), P50-AG005681 (PI John Morris, MD), P50-AG047270 (PI Stephen Strittmatter, MD, PhD). Zahinoor Ismail is by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (BCA2633). Maryam Ghahremani is supported by the Mathison Centre Postdoctoral Fellowship in Mental Health at the University of Calgary, Canada. This study was supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research Exeter Biomedical Research Centre

The Effect of 6 Weeks of High Intensity Interval Training with Fenugreek Supplementation on Lipid Profile and Body Composition Indices in Overweight and Obese Women

Background & aim: Obesity as a global challenge is caused by positive energy balance. Increasing the intensity of physical activity is related to reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases, and probably for this reason, it leads to the improvement of blood lipoproteins. Also, in recent years, special attention has been paid to the role of various plants in reducing blood fats and thus reducing obesity-related diseases. Therefore, the aim of the present study was the effect of 6 weeks of intense interval training with fenugreek supplement on lipid profile and body composition indices of overweight and obese women. Methods: The present semi-experimental study was conducted in Birjand, Iran, in 2019. Forty-eight obese and overweight women with an average age of 29.79±7.8 years and a body mass index of 29.29±2.6 kg/m2 were purposefully selected and randomly divided into 4 groups of 12 including; The groups of exercise + placebo, exercise + supplement, supplement and placebo were placed. The exercise groups performed three sessions of intense interval training protocol (shuttle run) at maximum speed during 6 weeks and every week. Blood sampling was done 48 hours before and 48 hours after the training period and taking supplements. The collected data were analyzed using Shapiro-Wilk, covariance and post-hoc Scheffé statistical tests. Results: Research findings indicated a significant decrease in TG, in the groups of exercise (p=0.001), supplement (p=0.003) and exercise + supplement (p=0.0001), significant decrease TC in exercise groups (p=0.001), supplement (p=0.001), exercise + supplement (p=0.0001), significant reduction of LDL in exercise groups (p=0.001) p), supplement (p=0.002) and exercise + supplement (p=0.0001), significant weight loss in the groups of exercise (p=0.0001), supplement (p=0.007) and exercise + supplement (p=0.0001), fat percentage in exercise groups (p=0.0001), supplement (p=0.0001) and exercise + supplement (p=0.0001) and BMI in the group exercise (p=0.001), supplement (p=0.001) and exercise + supplement (p=0.0001) and no significant change in HDL (p=0.18) and WHR (0.78) were observed. Conclusion: According to the results of the present study, it appeared that HIIT exercise along with the consumption of fenugreek supplement could be effective in preventing the occurrence of some diseases related to obesity

A longitudinal study of late-life psychosis and incident dementia and the potential effects of race and cognition

This is the author accepted manuscriptData Availability: Data are available from NACC upon submission of a data access request (https://naccdata.org/requesting-data/data-request-process).Code Availability: Custom R codes are available online (https://github.com/mghahrem/psychosis_and_incidentdementia).Background: Later-life psychotic symptoms are meaningful and are associated with adverse outcomes. Psychosis is an important domain in mild behavioral impairment (MBI), a syndrome that incorporates later-life emergent and persistent neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in dementia-free individuals into dementia prognostication. However, MBI-psychosis-associated risk and its interaction with race has not been well quantified. Here, we determined risk of incident dementia in dementia-free participants with MBI-psychosis, and effect modification by race as an important factor in assessing the risk of psychosis. Methods: Data for participants with normal cognition (NC) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) from the National Alzheimer Coordinating Centre (NACC) were utilized. Participants with neurodevelopmental, neurological and/or longstanding psychiatric disorders were excluded. MBI45 psychosis was defined by persistence of delusions and hallucinations across two consecutive visits. Kaplan-Meier curves of ten-year dementia-free survival were generated for MBI-psychosis versus no NPS prior to dementia diagnosis. Cox proportional hazard models were implemented to assess relative incidence rates, adjusted for cognitive status, age, sex, education, race, and APOE-ε4 status. Interaction terms were included for relevant demographic variables. Similar secondary analyses utilized MBI-no-psychosis as reference. Results: The sample consisted of 3,704 No-NPS (age=72.8±9.9; 62.7% female; 13.4% MCI), and 66 MBI-psychosis participants (age =75.2±9.8; 53% female; 72.7% MCI). For MBI-psychosis, in reference to No-NPS, the hazard ratio (HR) for incident dementia was 3.76 (CI:2.53-5.58, p<0.001), while for conventionally captured psychosis the HR was 1.92 (CI:1.58-2.33, p<0.001). Interaction analysis revealed that in NC, those with MBI-psychosis had a 9.96-fold greater incidence than those 3 with No-NPS (CI:3.65-27.22, p<0.001). In MCI, the MBI-psychosis-associated dementia incidence was 3.38-fold greater (CI:2.22-5.15, p<0.001). Furthermore, MBI-psychosis-associated dementia incidence in Black participants was 7.44-fold greater than No-NPS (CI:3.54-15.65, p<0.001), while in White participants it was 3.18-fold greater (CI:1.94-5.2, p<0.001). In a secondary analysis, compared to MBI-no-psychosis (n=2260), MBI-psychosis had a 2.47-fold greater incidence of dementia (CI:1.69-3.59, p<0.001). Conclusion: Although psychosis is an infrequently endorsed MBI domain, when present it is associated with substantial risk for dementia. HRs differed between cognitive strata and these differences were significantly greater when MBI-psychosis emerged in NC as opposed to MCI, emphasizing the importance of cognitive assessment at the time of symptom emergence. Additionally, the relationship between MBI-psychosis and incident dementia was stronger in Black participants than White participants. The emergence of persistent psychotic symptoms in older adults is clinically meaningful, and MBI-psychosis identifies a high-risk group for precision medicine approaches to dementia prevention.NIA/NIHCanadian Institutes of Health ResearchMathison Centre for Mental Health, Research & Education, University of Calgary, CanadaNational Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR

Effects of human placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells with NK4 gene expression on glioblastoma multiforme cell lines

Poor prognosis and low survival are commonly seen in patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Due to the specific nature of solid tumors such as GBM, delivery of therapeutic agents to the tumor sites is difficult. So, one of the major challenges in the treatment of these tumors is a selection of appropriate method for drug delivery. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have a unique characteristic in migration toward the tumor tissue. In this regard, the present study examined the antitumor effects of manipulating human placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells (PDMSCs) with NK4 expression (PDMSC-NK4) on GBM cells. After separation and characterization of PDMSCs, these cells were transduced with NK4 which was known as the antagonist of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF). The results indicated that engineered PDMSCs preferably migrate into GBM cells by transwell coculture system. In addition, the proliferation of the GBM cells significantly reduced after coculture with these cells. In fact, manipulated PDMSCs inhibited growth of tumor cells by induction of apoptosis. Our findings suggested that besides having antitumor effects, PDMSCs can also be applied as an ideal cellular vehicle to target the glioblastoma multiforme. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc