Comparing Acute and Chronic Effects of 1-(3-Chlorophenyl) Piperazine and Mianserin Injection on Yawning and Penile Erection in Rats

Aims: Yawning is a phylogenetic and contagious behavior that occurs with the stretching or penile erection in mammals, birds, and reptiles under different conditions. This study aimed at determining the acute and chronic effects of the injection of 1-(3-chlorophenyl) Piperazine and Mianserin on yawning and penile erection of adult male rats. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 30 male Wistar rats (250-300g) were randomly divided to 3 groups (n=10), including the control group that received saline subcutaneous injection, the group that received 0.5mg/kg 1-(3-chlorophenyl) Piperazine subcutaneous injection, and the group that received 0.2mg/kg Mianserin subcutaneous injection. After the subcutaneous injections in acute phase (day1) and chronic phase (day14), the number of yawning and penile erection was observed for 60 minutes and it was recorded. The data were analyzed by SPSS 13 software using one-way analysis of variance, Tukey post-hoc, and paired t-test. Findings: Compared with the control group, Mianserin group showed a significant increase in the number of yawning (p<0.01) and penile erection (p<0.05) in the acute phase. Compared with the acute phase, the chronic group of Mianserin showed a significant decrease in the number of yawning (p<0.01) and penile erection (p<0.05). Compared with the acute group, 1-(3-Chlorophenyl) Piperazine showed a significant increase in the number of yawning (p<0.05) only in the chronic phase. Conclusion: The acute injection of Mianserin increases the number of yawning and penile erection of adult male rats and its chronic injection decreases them. 1-(3-Chlorophenyl) Piperazine increases the number of yawning only in the chronic phase

"You have to get wet to learn how to swim" applied to bridging the gap between research into personnel scheduling and its implementation in practice

Personnel scheduling problems have attracted research interests for several decades. They have been considerably changed over time, accommodating a variety of constraints related to legal and organisation requirements, part-time staff, flexible hours of staff, staff preferences, etc. This led to a myriad of approaches developed for solving personnel scheduling problems including optimisation, meta-heuristics, artificial intelligence, decision-support, and also hybrids of these approaches. However, this still does not imply that this research has a large impact on practice and that state-of-the art models and algorithms are widely in use in organisations. One can find a reasonably large number of software packages that aim to assist in personnel scheduling. A classification of this software based on its purpose will be proposed, accompanied with a discussion about the level of support that this software offers to schedulers. A general conclusion is that the available software, with some exceptions, does not benefit from the wealth of developed models and methods. The remaining of the paper will provide insights into some characteristics of real-world scheduling problems that, in the author’s opinion, have not been given a due attention in the personnel scheduling research community yet and which could contribute to the enhancement of the implementation of research results in practice. Concluding remarks are that in order to bridge the gap that still exists between research into personnel scheduling and practice, we need to engage more with schedulers in practice and also with software developers; one may say we need to get wet if we want to learn how to swim

Metabolic and evolutionary insights into the closely-related species Streptomyces coelicolor and Streptomyces lividans deduced from high-resolution comparative genomic hybridization

Whilst being closely related to the model actinomycete Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2), S. lividans 66 differs from it in several significant and phenotypically observable ways, including antibiotic production. Previous comparative gene hybridization studies investigating such differences have used low-density (one probe per gene) PCR-based spotted arrays. Here we use new experimentally optimised 104,000 × 60-mer probe arrays to characterize in detail the genomic differences between wild-type S. lividans 66, a derivative industrial strain, TK24, and S. coelicolor M145

Genome-wide inference of regulatory networks in Streptomyces coelicolor

Background: The onset of antibiotics production in Streptomyces species is co-ordinated with differentiation events. An understanding of the genetic circuits that regulate these coupled biological phenomena is essential to discover and engineer the pharmacologically important natural products made by these species. The availability of genomic tools and access to a large warehouse of transcriptome data for the model organism, Streptomyces coelicolor, provides incentive to decipher the intricacies of the regulatory cascades and develop biologically meaningful hypotheses. Results: In this study, more than 500 samples of genome-wide temporal transcriptome data, comprising wild-type and more than 25 regulatory gene mutants of Streptomyces coelicolor probed across multiple stress and medium conditions, were investigated. Information based on transcript and functional similarity was used to update a previously-predicted whole-genome operon map and further applied to predict transcriptional networks constituting modules enriched in diverse functions such as secondary metabolism, and sigma factor. The predicted network displays a scale-free architecture with a small-world property observed in many biological networks. The networks were further investigated to identify functionally-relevant modules that exhibit functional coherence and a consensus motif in the promoter elements indicative of DNA-binding elements. Conclusions: Despite the enormous experimental as well as computational challenges, a systems approach for integrating diverse genome-scale datasets to elucidate complex regulatory networks is beginning to emerge. We present an integrated analysis of transcriptome data and genomic features to refine a whole-genome operon map and to construct regulatory networks at the cistron level in Streptomyces coelicolor. The functionally-relevant modules identified in this study pose as potential targets for further studies and verification.

Essential Primary Predication and Technical Common Predication Devoted to Subject and Proposition

Essential primary and technical common predications have two meanings equivocally: (1) as a qualification of the subject, (2) as a qualification of the proposition. The meaning which has been proposed by Mullā Ṣadrā is the second one and the first meaning, with this title, has gained its common use only after him. To avoid confusing them, one must use each of them in its proper place in every single proposition. The first meaning must be asserted immediately after the subject, since it concerns the concept-referent distinction in the subject. However, the second one must be asserted at the end of the proposition, since both subject and predicate are important in its realization. It shows either they are conceptually the same (conceptual unity) or subject is among the referents of the predicate (extension inclusion). To avoid the contradiction, these two meanings must be mentioned in one proposition simultaneously. For instance, it can be rightly said: “the particular with primary predication is universal with common predication” which means “the concept of the particular is among the referents of universal” or it can be rightly said: “the particular with primary predication is the particular with primary predication” which means “the concept of particular is the same as the particular conceptually”. By distinction between these two kinds of predication, Mullā Ṣadrā tries to solve some contradictory (paradoxical) instances and his commentators say explicitly that he has added a unity to the eight unities concerning the conditions of occurrence of a contradiction. However, the unity that can be added to the eight conditions is not only the second meaning of these predications, but both of them. Now, according to the two predications concerning the subject and also proposition (as a whole), as well as the quality of the propositions, i.e. affirmation and negation, we come across eight forms of propositions which two by two are contradictory

Effect of palmatine hydrochloride on testicular damage in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

Background: Diabetes mellitus mediated by oxidative stress, creates serious metabolic disorders in testis. Palmatine hydrochloride has various pharmacological effects, including anti-diabetic and antioxidant activities. Objective: This study has been conducted to evaluate the preventative effects of palmatine hydrochloride medicine on testicular damage in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Methods: Thirty two male Wistar rats were randomly selected and divided into four groups: control, non-diabetic treated with palmatine hydrochloride, diabetic and diabetic treated with palmatine hydrochloride. Diabetes was induced by streptozotocin (55 mg/kg, i.p.) in animals, and after one week, palmatine hydrochloride (10 mg/kg, s.c) was administered for six weeks in rats. Testicular damage was examined by using hematoxylin-eosin staining. Blood biochemical factors were measured. Findings: The results of this study indicate that diabetes reduced the spermatogonia and Sertoli cells, spermatogenesis, sperm count, and sperm function (P<0.001). These effects were improved in the specimens that have been treated with palmatine, the increase in the number and motility of sperm cells and spermatogonic cells, and an increase in the testosterone levels were also observed. In addition, the seminiferous tubule diameter was increased, and basement membrane thickness decreased (P<0.001). Conclusion: It seems that palmatine with the ability to reduce blood sugar, could improve diabetes induced-testicular damage. Keywords: Diabetes, Palmatine, Spermatogenesis, Sertoli cells, Testicular damag

Epidemiological Features of 263 Patients with Multiple Sclerosis Residing in ‎Babol, Iran

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, myelin-degenerative disorder, which causes irreversible pathological changes to the central nervous system. The number of patients diagnosed with this condition has increased during the past decade. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical and demographic findings of MS patients in Babol, Iran. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 263 patients diagnosed with MS in Babol, Iran, during a ten-year period. MS was confirmed in all the included patients based on a neurologist’s diagnosis and the McDonald’s criteria. Age, gender, place of residence, marital and employment status, age at disease onset, and magnetic resonance imaging findings were obtained using a checklist. FINDINGS: Out of 263 patients, 188 (71.5%) and 75 (28.5%) cases were female and male, respectively. The mean age of the patients was 34.28±9.47 years, and the female to male ratio was 5:2. It was found that 245 (93.2%) patients had relapsing-remitting MS. At the onset of the disease 161(61.2%) and 102(38.8%) of the patients were monosymptomatic and polysymptomatic, respectively. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of MS was relatively higher in in the female population and the ages of 30 years or less