Antioxidant Strategies to Improve Female Reproduction

Animals are only productive once their reproductive cycle is continuously flown. There are several causes of stresses which interrupt animal physiology and make animal less productive. All factors involved in stress could eventually generate reactive oxygen species (ROS). Limited production of these reactive species performs several functions to maintain redox homeostasis. When these reactive oxidative metabolites are overwhelmed, it may generate oxidative stress. Disruption in oxidant/antioxidant mechanism leads to cause oxidative stress. Naturally, the body system is equipped with an antioxidant defense system. Once this system is broken-down due to the overproduction of ROS, it may have a detrimental effect on lipids, proteins, DNA, and carbohydrates and eventually influence animal fertility and productivity. Antioxidants available in nature are of two types: natural and synthetic. These compounds endowed several properties in the mitigation of various animal stresses, starting from physiology to molecular level. This chapter elucidates oxidative stress, natural and synthetic antioxidants, and particular focus are emphasized that how antioxidant supplementation can help to improve animal fertility and productivity. Moreover, the mechanism by which antioxidants produce fruitful effects will also be highlighted

A Study on Effect of Operating Conditions on Gerotor Pump Performance

One of the important accessories of the lubrication system of an aero-engine is the oil pump which consists of multiple pumps with tandem gerotor elements housed in a single casing. This paper presents the volumetric efficiency variation of a single-stage gerotor pump specially designed for aero-engine by conducting experiments at on and off-design conditions and comparing it with the CFD analysis. A Gerotor pump having fixed geometrical parameters designed based on a  athematical 1D model using MatLab and AMESim is manufactured and tested. Performance evaluation of these pumps for pressure and temperature has been discussed in this paper. Commercial CFD code ANSYS-Fluent with a standard k- ε turbulence model has been used for performance evaluation of gerotor pump. Flow characteristics studies on the prototype pump indicate that simulation results closely matched the experimental data. The study concludes that the simulation method adopted is appropriate for predicting the performance of the gerotor pump and the contribution of outlet pressure to the pump volumetric efficiency is significant

¿Afecta la estimulación del macho cabrío el rendimiento reproductivo de las cabras sincronizadas con esponjas de acetato de medroxiprogesterona (MAP)?

This investigation was executed to determine effect of buck exposure on estrus response, onset of standing estrus, ovulation rate, conception rate and pregnancy rate in goats synchronized with medroxyprogesterone acetate (MAP) sponges. Sponges were placed inside the vagina for fifteen days in buck exposed and isolated groups. Post sponge withdrawal, estrus activities were continuously observed. The interval between sponge withdrawal and the onset of standing estrus were 32.3±10 h (18-51 h) and 45.2±10.9 h (27-51h) in buck isolated and exposed group respectively (p<0.05). Ovulation and conception rates were confirmed by serum progesterone level using radioimmunoassay. Ovulation rates were 100% in both groups and conception rates were 93% and 100% in buck exposed and in isolated group respectively (p>0.05). Pregnancies were confirmed by ultrasound on day 35 post mating which were 93%, was and 69% in buck exposed and isolated group respectively (p>0.05). Based upon the evidence, it was inference that post sponge removal sudden buck exposure cause markedly earlier estrus onset while the continuous buck exposure was unable to show significantly impact on conception and pregnancy rates compare to isolated group.Esta investigación se llevó a cabo para determinar el efecto de la exposición al macho cabrío sobre la respuesta al estro, el inicio del estro permanente, la tasa de ovulación, la tasa de concepción y la tasa de preñez en cabras sincronizadas con esponjas de acetato de medroxiprogesterona (MAP). Se colocaron esponjas dentro de la vagina durante quince días en grupos aislados y expuestos a machos. Después de retirar la esponja, se observaron continuamente las actividades estrales. El intervalo entre la retirada de la esponja y el inicio del estro permanente fue de 32.3±10 h (18-51 h) y 45.2±10.9 h (27-51 h) en el grupo de machos aislados y expuestos respectivamente (p<0.05). Las tasas de ovulación y concepción se confirmaron mediante el nivel de progesterona sérica mediante radioinmunoensayo. Las tasas de ovulación fueron del 100% en ambos grupos y las tasas de concepción fueron del 93% y del 100% en los machos expuestos y en el grupo aislado, respectivamente (p>0.05). Los embarazos fueron confirmados por ultrasonido en el día 35 después del apareamiento, que fueron 93%, fue y 69% en el grupo expuesto y aislado de machos, respectivamente (p>0.05). Sobre la base de la evidencia, se infirió que la exposición repentina al macho después de la extracción de la esponja provocó un inicio del estro notablemente más temprano, mientras que la exposición continua al macho no pudo mostrar un impacto significativo en las tasas de concepción y preñez en comparación con el grupo aislado

EFFECT OF TERMINALIA CHEBULA (HARAD) FRUIT EXTRACT ON CARDIOTOXICITY IN STREPTOZOTOCIN INDUCED DIABETIC RATS

Objective: The aim of the study was to explore the protective activity of Terminalia chebula fruit extract on cardiotoxicity in streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic rats.Methods: The animals were divided into eight groups of five each and were fed with high fat diet (HFD) except sham control, diabetic control and isoproterenol control. Diabetes was induced by administering single intraperitoneal (i. p.) injection of STZ (0.05 g/kg) in all groups except sham and isoproterenol control and was confirmed by testing blood glucose level after 48 h. Rats were pretreated with ethanolic extract of Terminalia chebula (0.25& 0.5 g/kg/d; per oral (p. o.)), pioglitazone (0.01 g/kg/d), carvedilol (0.002 g/kg/d) and normal saline throughout the study period (14 days). Cardiotoxicity was induced by the administrating two subcutaneous (s. c) injection of isoproterenol (ISO) (0.085 g/kg) at an interval of 24 h. Troponin was checked to confirm cardiotoxicity. The evaluation parameters include initial and final blood glucose level, change in body weight, food efficiency ratio (FER), heart weight-body weight ratio, biochemical estimations and histopathological studies.Results: Pretreatment with Terminalia chebula produced significant (p<0.01) decrease in blood glucose level and heart weight-body weight ratio. It significantly decrease the elevated activity of the cardiac marker enzymes, alanine transaminase (ALT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatinine kinase (CK-MB) (p<0.01), similar to the standard drug carvedilol in isoproterenol injected rats. Pretreatment with Terminalia chebula showed absence of troponin and lesser degree of necrosis, edema, and myofibrillar degeneration.Conclusion: Terminalia chebula has significant cardioprotective action against cardiotoxicity in STZ induced diabetic rats, which is comparable with standard drugs i.e., pioglitazone and carvedilol.Â

A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY ON LITERATURE EVIDENCE, CLINICAL STUDIES AND PRACTICES OF HERBAL DRUGS FOR DIABETIC NEUROPATHY AND CARDIOMYOPATHY

  Diabetes mellitus is a worldwide epidemic disease that eventually advances to a chronic stage and affects different vital organs by intensifying the underlying pathological factors, and through the remodeling of the tissues by the generation of reactive oxygen species leading to the development of respective organ failure. Two such complications are painful neuropathy and cardiomyopathy; both of which are common and progressive complications of diabetes. The symptoms of peripheral neuropathy include tingling, burning, lancinating pain, hyperesthesia, and allodynia. The course of the disease progression may vary from intermittent, mild symptoms to severe chronic, and daily pain; which culminates into poor quality of life. Another complication of diabetes mellitus, diabetic cardiomyopathy, is defined as a ventricular dysfunction disorder that occurs in diabetic patients. The development of the disease is characterized by a hidden subclinical period, during which cellular, structural changes and abnormalities lead to diastolic dysfunction, followed by systolic dysfunction, and terminating into heart failure. Left ventricular hypertrophy, metabolic abnormalities, extracellular matrix changes, small vessel disease, cardiac autonomic neuropathy, insulin resistance, oxidative stress, and apoptosis are the most important pathological advancements that lead to diabetic cardiomyopathy. Various pharmaceutical agents from different pharmacological categories have been proposed for the symptomatic treatment of painful diabetic neuropathy; however, it is a herculean task to select a drug due to the wide range of choices and lack of consistent guidelines for treatment. Similarly, treatment of cardiomyopathy is based on the general therapeutic rules of management of heart failure and no specifications have yet been addressed for this condition. Therefore, more studies are required to improve our knowledge of these complex syndromes. From this perspective, this review is designed to delineate a general overview of neuropathy and cardiomyopathy, referring to the conventional therapies in use and possible unconventional, natural, herbal, and safe treatments for both the above-mentioned complications of diabetes

Self-supervised motion descriptor for cardiac phase detection in 4D CMR based on discrete vector field estimations

Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) sequences visualise the cardiac function voxel-wise over time. Simultaneously, deep learning-based deformable image registration is able to estimate discrete vector fields which warp one time step of a CMR sequence to the following in a self-supervised manner. However, despite the rich source of information included in these 3D+t vector fields, a standardised interpretation is challenging and the clinical applications remain limited so far. In this work, we show how to efficiently use a deformable vector field to describe the underlying dynamic process of a cardiac cycle in form of a derived 1D motion descriptor. Additionally, based on the expected cardiovascular physiological properties of a contracting or relaxing ventricle, we define a set of rules that enables the identification of five cardiovascular phases including the end-systole (ES) and end-diastole (ED) without the usage of labels. We evaluate the plausibility of the motion descriptor on two challenging multi-disease, -center, -scanner short-axis CMR datasets. First, by reporting quantitative measures such as the periodic frame difference for the extracted phases. Second, by comparing qualitatively the general pattern when we temporally resample and align the motion descriptors of all instances across both datasets. The average periodic frame difference for the ED, ES key phases of our approach is $0.80\pm{0.85}$, $0.69\pm{0.79}$ which is slightly better than the inter-observer variability ($1.07\pm{0.86}$, $0.91\pm{1.6}$) and the supervised baseline method ($1.18\pm{1.91}$, $1.21\pm{1.78}$). Code and labels will be made available on our GitHub repository. https://github.com/Cardio-AI/cmr-phase-detectionComment: accepted for the STACOM2022 workshop @ MICCAI202

Visualization of coronary arteries in paediatric patients using whole-heart coronary magnetic resonance angiography: comparison of image-navigation and the standard approach for respiratory motion compensation

Aims: To investigate the use of respiratory motion compensation using image-based navigation (iNAV) with constant respiratory efficiency using single end-expiratory thresholding (CRUISE) for coronary magnetic resonance angiography (CMRA), and compare it to the conventional diaphragmatic navigator (dNAV) in paediatric patients with congenital or suspected heart disease. Methods: iNAV allowed direct tracking of the respiratory heart motion and was generated using balanced steady state free precession startup echoes. Respiratory gating was achieved using CRUISE with a fixed 50% efficiency. Whole-heart CMRA was acquired with 1.3mm isotropic resolution. For comparison, CMRA with identical imaging parameters were acquired using dNAV. Scan time, visualization of coronary artery origins and mid-course, imaging quality and sharpness was compared between the two sequences. Results: Forty patients (13 females; median weight: 44 kg; median age: 12.6, range: 3 months–17 years) were enrolled. 25 scans were performed in awake patients. A contrast agent was used in 22 patients. The scan time was significantly reduced using iNAV for awake patients (iNAV 7:48 ± 1:26 vs dNAV 9:48 ± 3:11, P = 0.01) but not for patients under general anaesthesia (iNAV = 6:55 ± 1:50 versus dNAV = 6:32 ± 2:16; P = 0.32). In 98% of the cases, iNAV image quality had an equal or higher score than dNAV. The visual score analysis showed a clear difference, favouring iNAV (P = 0.002). The right coronary artery and the left anterior descending vessel sharpness was significantly improved (iNAV: 56.8% ± 10.1% vs dNAV: 53.7% ± 9.9%, P < 0.002 and iNAV: 55.8% ± 8.6% vs dNAV: 53% ± 9.2%, P = 0.001, respectively). Conclusion: iNAV allows for a higher success-rate and clearer depiction of the mid-course of coronary arteries in paediatric patients. Its acquisition time is shorter in awake patients and image quality score is equal or superior to the conventional method in most cases.Medical Engineering at King’s College London WT 088641/Z/09/ZBHF Centre of Excellence RE/08/0