Reevaluation of the normative minerals of Sonora Pass rock standards - University of Nevada reports 7 and 12

Chemical analyses and normative minerals of Nevada mountain pass rock

Cytotoxic Effect of Turkish Propolis on Liver, Colon, Breast, Cervix and Prostate Cancer Cell Lines

Purpose: To investigate the total polyphenolic and flavonoid contents, antioxidant power and cytotoxic activity of ethanol extracts of Turkish propolis (EEP).Methods: The total polyphenolic and flavonoid contents of EEP were determined by spectrometric methods. Antioxidant power and cytotoxic activity of EEP were evaluated using ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and MTT assays, respectively.Results: The total polyphenolic and flavonoid contents, and FRAP value of EEP were 124.6 ± 1.5 mg gallic acid/g sample dry weight , 42.0 ± 0.8 mg quercetin/g sample dry weight and 311.0 ± 2.5 mg trolox/g sample dry weight, respectively. EEP exhibited powerful cytotoxic effects against the five human cancer cell lines. The highest cytotoxic activity of Turkish EEP was demonstrated on PC-3 cell line (IC50 = 20.7±3.4 μg/mL).Conclusion: The results demonstrate that EEP is a good source of antioxidant and a natural antitumor agent capable  of reducing cancer cell proliferation.Keywords: Propolis, Polyphenols, Cytotoxic effect, Cancer cell lines, Antioxidant activity Tropical Journal of  Pharmaceutical Research is indexed by Science Citation Index (SciSearch)

Cylindrically Symmetric Inhomogeneous Universes with a Cloud of Strings

Cylindrically symmetric inhomogeneous string cosmological models are investigated in presence of string fluid as a source of matter. To get the three types of exact solutions of Einstein's field equations we assume $A = f(x)k(t)$, $B = g(x)\ell(t)$ and $C = h(x)\ell(t)$. Some physical and geometric aspects of the models are discussed.Comment: 9 page

A New Class of Inhomogeneous String Cosmological Models in General Relativity

A new class of solutions of Einstein field equations has been investigated for inhomogeneous cylindrically symmetric space-time with string source. To get the deterministic solution, it has been assumed that the expansion ($\theta$) in the model is proportional to the eigen value $\sigma^{1}_{1}$ of the shear tensor $\sigma^{i}_{j}$. Certain physical and geometric properties of the models are also discussed.Comment: 12 pages, no figure. Submitted to Astrophys. Space Sci. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:0705.090

Hunting for origins of migraine pain: Cluster analysis of spontaneous and capsaicin-induced firing in meningeal trigeminal nerve fibers

© 2015 Zakharov, Vitale, Kilinc, Koroleva, Fayuk, Shelukhina, Naumenko, Skorinkin, Khazipov and Giniatullin. Trigeminal nerves in meninges are implicated in generation of nociceptive firing underlying migraine pain. However, the neurochemical mechanisms of nociceptive firing in meningeal trigeminal nerves are little understood. In this study, using suction electrode recordings from peripheral branches of the trigeminal nerve in isolated rat meninges, we analyzed spontaneous and capsaicin-induced orthodromic spiking activity. In control, biphasic single spikes with variable amplitude and shapes were observed. Application of the transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) agonist capsaicin to meninges dramatically increased firing whereas the amplitudes and shapes of spikes remained essentially unchanged. This effect was antagonized by the specific TRPV1 antagonist capsazepine. Using the clustering approach, several groups of uniform spikes (clusters) were identified. The clustering approach combined with capsaicin application allowed us to detect and to distinguish “responder” (65%) from “non-responder” clusters (35%). Notably, responders fired spikes at frequencies exceeding 10 Hz, high enough to provide postsynaptic temporal summation of excitation at brainstem and spinal cord level. Almost all spikes were suppressed by tetrodotoxin (TTX) suggesting an involvement of the TTX-sensitive sodium channels in nociceptive signaling at the peripheral branches of trigeminal neurons. Our analysis also identified transient (desensitizing) and long-lasting (slowly desensitizing) responses to the continuous application of capsaicin. Thus, the persistent activation of nociceptors in capsaicin-sensitive nerve fibers shown here may be involved in trigeminal pain signaling and plasticity along with the release of migraine-related neuropeptides from TRPV1 positive neurons. Furthermore, cluster analysis could be widely used to characterize the temporal and neurochemical profiles of other pain transducers likely implicated in migraine

Serotonergic mechanisms of trigeminal meningeal nociception: Implications for migraine pain

Serotonergic mechanisms play a central role in migraine pathology. However, the region-specific effects of serotonin (5-HT) mediated via multiple types of receptors in the nociceptive system are poorly understood. Using extracellular and patch-clamp recordings, we studied the action of 5-HT on the excitability of peripheral and central terminals of trigeminal afferents. 5-HT evoked long-lasting TTX-sensitive firing in the peripheral terminals of meningeal afferents, the origin site of migraine pain. Cluster analysis revealed that in majority of nociceptive fibers 5-HT induced either transient or persistent spiking activity with prevailing delta and theta rhythms. The 5-HT3-receptor antagonist MDL-72222 or 5-HT1B/D-receptor antagonist GR127935 largely reduced, but their combination completely prevented the excitatory pro-nociceptive action of 5-HT. The 5-HT3 agonist mCPBG activated spikes in MDL-72222-dependent manner but the 5HT-1 receptor agonist sumatriptan did not affect the nociceptive firing. 5-HT also triggered peripheral CGRP release in meninges, which was blocked by MDL-72222.5-HT evoked fast membrane currents and Ca2+ transients in a fraction of trigeminal neurons. Immunohistochemistry showed expression of 5-HT3A receptors in fibers innervating meninges. Endogenous release of 5-HT from degranulated mast cells increased nociceptive firing. Low pH but not histamine strongly activated firing. 5-HT reduced monosynaptic inputs from trigeminal Aδ- and C-afferents to the upper cervical lamina I neurons and this effect was blocked by MDL-72222. Consistent with central inhibitory effect, 5-HT reduced CGRP release in the brainstem slices. In conclusion, 5-HT evokes powerful pro-nociceptive peripheral and anti-nociceptive central effects in trigeminal system transmitting migraine pain.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The study was supported by the Finnish Academy (grant 277442). AZ was supported by the subsidy allocated to Kazan Federal University for the state assignment in the sphere of scientific activities and the Government of the Russian Federation (grant No.11.G34.31.0075). The work of IS was supported by RFBR grant 14-04-00885. BVS was supported by the grant from the Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (PTDC/NEU-NMC/1259/2014) and from the programme NORTE 2020

Preliminary data on COVID-19 in patients with hemoglobinopathies : A multicentre ICET-A study

Objectives: This study aims to investigate, retrospectively, the epidemiological and clinical characteristics, laboratory results, radiologic findings, and outcomes of COVID-19 in patients with transfusion-dependent β thalassemia major (TM), β-thalassemia intermedia (TI) and sickle cell disease (SCD). Design: A total of 17 Centers, from 10 countries, following 9,499 patients with hemoglobinopathies, participated in the survey. Main outcome data: Clinical, laboratory, and radiologic findings and outcomes of patients with COVID-19 were collected from medical records and summarized. Results: A total of 13 patients, 7 with TM, 3 with TI, and 3 with SCD, with confirmed COVID-19, were identified in 6 Centers from different countries. The overall mean age of patients was 33.7±12.3 years (range:13-66); 9/13 (69.2%) patients were females. Six patients had pneumonia, and 4 needed oxygen therapy. Increased C-reactive protein (6/10), high serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH; 6/10), and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR; 6/10) were the most common laboratory findings. 6/10 patients had an exacerbation of anemia (2 with SCD). In the majority of patients, the course of COVID-19 was moderate (6/10) and severe in 3/10 patients. A 30-year-old female with TM, developed a critical SARS-CoV-2 infection, followed by death in an Intensive Care Unit. In one Center (Oman), the majority of suspected cases were observed in patients with SCD between the age of 21 and 40 years. A rapid clinical improvement of tachypnea/dyspnea and oxygen saturation was observed, after red blood cell exchange transfusion, in a young girl with SCD and worsening of anemia (Hb level from 9.2 g/dl to 6.1g/dl). Conclusions: The data presented in this survey permit an early assessment of the clinical characteristics of COVID 19 in different countries. 70% of symptomatic patients with COVID-19 required hospitalization. The presence of associated co-morbidities can aggravate the severity of COVID- 19, leading to a poorer prognosis irrespective of age

Neurons are MHC Class I-Dependent Targets for CD8 T Cells upon Neurotropic Viral Infection

Following infection of the central nervous system (CNS), the immune system is faced with the challenge of eliminating the pathogen without causing significant damage to neurons, which have limited capacities of renewal. In particular, it was thought that neurons were protected from direct attack by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) because they do not express major histocompatibility class I (MHC I) molecules, at least at steady state. To date, most of our current knowledge on the specifics of neuron-CTL interaction is based on studies artificially inducing MHC I expression on neurons, loading them with exogenous peptide and applying CTL clones or lines often differentiated in culture. Thus, much remains to be uncovered regarding the modalities of the interaction between infected neurons and antiviral CD8 T cells in the course of a natural disease. Here, we used the model of neuroinflammation caused by neurotropic Borna disease virus (BDV), in which virus-specific CTL have been demonstrated as the main immune effectors triggering disease. We tested the pathogenic properties of brain-isolated CD8 T cells against pure neuronal cultures infected with BDV. We observed that BDV infection of cortical neurons triggered a significant up regulation of MHC I molecules, rendering them susceptible to recognition by antiviral CTL, freshly isolated from the brains of acutely infected rats. Using real-time imaging, we analyzed the spatio-temporal relationships between neurons and CTL. Brain-isolated CTL exhibited a reduced mobility and established stable contacts with BDV-infected neurons, in an antigen- and MHC-dependent manner. This interaction induced rapid morphological changes of the neurons, without immediate killing or impairment of electrical activity. Early signs of neuronal apoptosis were detected only hours after this initial contact. Thus, our results show that infected neurons can be recognized efficiently by brain-isolated antiviral CD8 T cells and uncover the unusual modalities of CTL-induced neuronal damage