Protective effect of Coriandrum sativum extract against inflammation and apoptosis in liver ischaemia/reperfusion injury

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of Coriandrum sativum extract on liver ischaemia reperfusion injury at light microscopic and biochemical levels. Materials and methods: Sham, ischaemia/reperfusion injury (IRI), IRI + Coriandrum sativum extract and only Coriandrum sativum extract groups were formed. Sixty minutes of ischaemia and 60 minutes of reperfusion were performed. In the treatment group, 300 mg/kg/day Coriandrum sativum was given by gavage. Hepatic tissues were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde. Serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) enzymes were measured. Nuclear factor-kappa beta (NF-κB), tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and caspase-3 immunohistochemistry staining was performed. Microscopic scoring was performed in terms of sinusoidal congestion, vacuolisation, and necrosis. Results: Sinusoidal enlargement and diffuse congestion, Kupffer cell increase, neutrophil increase in necrotic areas, vacuolisation in hepatocytes, and bile duct proliferation in the portal triad were observed in ischaemia/reperfusion hepatic tissue. Very rare, necrotic areas were observed in the Coriandrum sativum treatment group, while congestion and vacuolisation and bile duct proliferation were decreased compared to the ischaemic group. The AST and ALT levels were increased in the IRI and IRI + Coriandrum sativum groups. When compared to the IRI group, the AST and ALT levels of the Coriandrum sativum were considerably decreased. The IRI and IRI + Coriandrum sativum groups had statistically significant differences in ALP compared to that of the Coriandrum sativum and Sham groups. There was no significant difference between the ALP levels of the IRI and IRI + Coriandrum sativum groups TNF-α, NF-κB and caspase-3 immune positive stained hepatocytes were numerous and widely observed in the injury group. There were positive TNF-α immunohistochemical staining Kupffer cells in the IRI group. In the group treated with Coriandrum sativum, Kupffer cells were not stained, while TNF-α, NF κB and caspase-3 expressing hepatocytes were found to be decreased compared to the IRI group. When the expression values of the TNF-α, NF-κB and caspase-3 groups were evaluated statistically, it was seen that there was a significant decrease in the group treated with Coriandrum sativum. Conclusions: It was found that Coriandrum sativum extract decreased proinflammatory cytokine TNF-α and apoptotic cell death and liver enzymes in liver ischaemia/reperfusion injury

Plot by plot: plotting urbanism as an ordinary process of urbanization

With this paper, we analyse an ordinary urban process, which has received little attention so far and propose a new concept to take account of it: plotting urbanism. It is usually subsumed under terms like “urban informality” or “incremental urbanism” and not studied as a distinct process. In comparing Lagos, Istanbul and Shenzhen we captured four defining features of plotting urbanism: first, it unfolds in a piecemeal fashion with limited comprehensive planning. Second, it emerges from conflicts between multiple overlapping modes of territorial regulation, land tenure and property rights, which result in specific territorial compromises. Third, plotting is based on commodification of housing and land, which might accentuate socio-economic differentiations between property-owners, who often live in the same area, and their tenants. The term “plotting” highlights the key role of the plot in the process. It also alludes to strategic acts of collaboration for individual and collaborative benefit

Family first: Evidence of consistency and variation in the value of family versus personal happiness across 49 different cultures

People care about their own well-being, but also about the well-being of their families. It is currently however unknown how much people tend to value their own and their family’s well-being. A recent study documented that people value family happiness over personal happiness across four cultures. In this study, we sought to replicate this finding across a larger sample size (N = 12,819) and a greater number of countries (N = 49), We found that the strength of the idealization of family over personal happiness preference was small (average Cohen’s ds = .20 with country levels varying from -.02 to almost .48), but ubiquitous, i.e., direction presented in 98% of the studied countries, 73-75% with statistical significance and .40 and .30). Importantly, we did not find strong support for traditional theories in cross-cultural psychology that associate collectivism with greater prioritization of the family versus the individual; country level individualism-collectivism was not associated with variation in the idealization of family versus individual happiness. Our findings indicate that no matter how much various populists abuse the argument of “protecting family life” to disrupt emancipation, family happiness seems to be a pan-culturally phenomenon. Family well-being is a key ingredient of social fabric across the world, and should be acknowledged by psychology and well-being researchers, and by progressive movements too

Societal emotional environments and cross-cultural differences in life satisfaction: A forty-nine country study.

In this paper, we introduce the concept of ‘societal emotional environment’: the emotional climate of a society (operationalized as the degree to which positive and negative emotions are expressed in a society). Using data collected from 12,888 participants across 49 countries, we show how societal emotional environments vary across countries and cultural clusters, and we consider the potential importance of these differences for well-being. Multilevel analyses supported a ‘double-edged sword’ model of negative emotion expression, where expression of negative emotions predicted higher life satisfaction for the expresser but lower life satisfaction for society. In contrast, partial support was found for higher societal life satisfaction in positive societal emotional environments. Our study highlights the potential utility and importance of distinguishing between positive and negative emotion expression, and adopting both individual and societal perspectives in well-being research. Individual pathways to happiness may not necessarily promote the happiness of others

Introduction to a culturally sensitive measure of well-being: Combining life satisfaction and interdependent happiness across 49 different cultures

How can one conclude that well-being is higher in country A than country B, when wellbeing is being measured according to the way people in country A think about wellbeing? We address this issue by proposing a new culturally sensitive method to comparing societal levels of well-being. We support our reasoning with data on life satisfaction and interdependent happiness focusing on individual and family, collected mostly from students, across forty-nine countries. We demonstrate that the relative idealization of the two types of wellbeing varies across cultural contexts and are associated with culturally different models of selfhood. Furthermore, we show that rankings of societal well-being based on life satisfaction tend to underestimate the contribution from interdependent happiness. We introduce a new culturally sensitive method for calculating societal well-being, and examine its construct validity by testing for associations with the experience of emotions and with individualism-collectivism. This new culturally sensitive approach represents a slight, yet important improvement in measuring well-being

Personal life satisfaction as a measure of societal happiness is an individualistic presumption: Evidence from fifty countries

Numerous studies document that societal happiness is correlated with individualism, but the nature of this phenomenon remains understudied. In the current paper, we address this gap and test the reasoning that individualism correlates with societal happiness because the most common measure of societal happiness (i.e., country-level aggregates of personal life satisfaction) is individualism-themed. With the data collected from 13,009 participants across fifty countries, we compare associations of four types of happiness (out of which three are more collectivism-themed than personal life satisfaction) with two different measures of individualism. We replicated previous findings by demonstrating that societal happiness measured as country-level aggregate of personal life satisfaction is correlated with individualism. Importantly though, we also found that the country-level aggregates of the collectivism-themed measures of happiness do not tend to be significantly correlated with individualism. Implications for happiness studies and for policy makers are signaled

Early and mid-term outcomes after surgical repair of congenital supravalvular aortic stenosis with the Doty technique [Doğuştan supravalvüler aort stenozunun onarımınında Doty tekniğinin erken-orta dönem sonuçları]

PubMed ID: 30024395Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the Doty surgical approach in pediatric patients with congenital supravalvular aortic stenosis (SVAS) by examining early and mid-term outcomes. Methods: Surgical repair using the Doty technique was performed in a total of 10 pediatric patients with SVAS between January 2005 and July 2015 at this clinic. These patients were evaluated retrospectively. Demographic characteristics, echocardiographic findings, and clinical outcomes were analyzed. Results: The mean patient age was 4.8±3.9 years. Williams-Beuren syndrome was diagnosed in 4 of the patients. Early mortality was observed in 1 patient with diffuse SVAS. At the final follow-up (mean follow-up: 3.7±1.2 years; range: 6-61 months), echocardiograms revealed a mean pressure gradient of 14±4.2 mmHg. Two patients displayed minimal aortic insufficiency during the follow-up period. No reoperation or reintervention was required. Conclusion: The Doty technique is an anatomically and technically effective surgical approach to treating SVAS. © 2018 Turkish Society of Cardiology

Effect of soapwort extract on physical and sensory properties of sponge cakes and rheological properties of sponge cake batters

Soapwort extract yields relatively stable, soap-like foam in aqueous solution because of its saponin content. The objective of this study was to utilise the advantage of the high foam forming capacity of soapwort extract in the production of sponge cakes. Egg white proteins were partially replaced with soapwort extract in the sponge cake formulation. The effects of soapwort extract addition on the rheological and physical properties of cake batters and on the physical and sensory properties of sponge cakes were determined. Replacing egg white proteins with soapwort extract, up to 75% by weight, did not have any significant influence on the specific gravity of batters (p > 0.05). Addition of soapwort extract into the cake mixture did not influence the flow behaviour indices (n) of cake batters nor the consistency indices (K) of cake batters. In general, replacing egg white proteins with soapwort extracts (up to 75% by weight) did not alter physical properties of sponge cakes. Replacing egg white proteins with soapwort extract had no unfavourable influence on the sensory properties of sponge cakes. Indeed, sponge cakes formulated with soapwort extract (by replacing egg white proteins by 50% and 75% on weight basis) received significantly higher chewiness scores than did control cakes (p < 0.05). This study showed that egg white proteins could be partially replaced with soapwort extract in the formulation of sponge cakes. © 2006