The Effect of Squid Extract (Loligo SP) on TNF-α and TGF-β1 Serum Levels During Wound Healing in Streptozotocin-induced Diabetic Rats

Background: Diabetes Mellitus is a chronic disease characterised by elevated levels of blood glucose known as hyperglycaemia. Diabetes is due to impaired insulin action in the metabolism of glucose and can result in impaired wound healing. Excessive production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, an increased number of macrophages and neutrophils, and decreased levels of transforming growth factor - beta 1 (TGF-β1) serum can be characteristic of impaired wound healing. This study aims to determine the effects of squid extract on certain wound parameters such as levels of tumour necrosis factor - alpha (TNF-α), and TGF-β1 serum and the number of macrophages and neutrophils. Methods: This was a post-test only, randomized controlled group study that was conducted on male Wistar rats. Experimental animals were divided into 6 groups; (1) normal wound with standard diet, (2) diabetic wound with standard diet, (3) diabetic wound with chitosan supplement, (4) diabetic wound given squid extract orally once a day, (5) diabetic wound given squid extract orally twice a day, and (6) diabetic wound given squid extract orally once every two days. Levels of TNF-α and TGF-β1 serum were observed using Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay. Haematocylin and eosin staining was used to observed macrophage and neutrophil counts. All data was analysed statistically by one-way analysis of variance. Results: TNF-α serum levels showed a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in subjects that received squid extract orally once every two days. The mean levels of TGF-β1 showed no significant differences. The mean number of macrophage cells showed a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in all treatment groups. The mean number of neutrophil cells also showed significant decrease (p < 0.05) in all treatment groups. Conclusions: Squid extract is effective in lowering the TNF-α serum levels and the number of macrophages and neutrophils cells in Wistar rats. However, there were insignificant findings on increasing levels of TGF-β1 serum. This data suggests that squid extract is most effective during the inflammatory phase of wound healing which takes places about 2-4 days after wound creation

Resolution-of-identity accelerated relativistic two- and four-component electron dynamics approach to chiroptical spectroscopies

We present an implementation and application of electron dynamics based on real-time time-dependent density functional theory (RT-TDDFT) and relativistic 2-component X2C and 4-component Dirac–Coulomb (4c) Hamiltonians to the calculation of electron circular dichroism and optical rotatory dispersion spectra. In addition, the resolution-of-identity approximation for the Coulomb term (RI-J) is introduced into RT-TDDFT and formulated entirely in terms of complex quaternion algebra. The proposed methodology was assessed on the dimethylchalcogenirane series, C4H8X (X = O, S, Se, Te, Po, Lv), and the spectra obtained by non-relativistic and relativistic methods start to disagree for Se and Te, while dramatic differences are observed for Po and Lv. The X2C approach, even in its simplest one-particle form, reproduces the reference 4c results surprisingly well across the entire series while offering an 8-fold speed-up of the simulations. An overall acceleration of RT-TDDFT by means of X2C and RI-J increases with system size and approaches a factor of almost 25 when compared to the full 4c treatment, without compromising the accuracy of the final spectra. These results suggest that one-particle X2C electron dynamics with RI-J acceleration is an attractive method for the calculation of chiroptical spectra in the valence region

Detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa pus wound isolate using a polymerase chain reaction targeting 16S rRNA and gyrB genes: A case from Indonesia

Infectious wounds on the skin surface are easily colonized by bacteria from pyogenic group that manifest as inflammation, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa. P. aeruginosa is a Gram-negative bacterium and an opportunistic pathogen known for causing invasive state in critically ill and immunocompromised patients. The aim of this study was to detect the 16S rRNA and gyrB genes in P. aeruginosa using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. The sample in this study was pus isolate from a 5-year-old boy with leg wounds. The bacteria were isolated on brain heart infusion broth (BHIB) media and identified with molecular identification. Sequencing and BLAST analysis were carried out to determine the similarity of gene identity by comparing sample sequence with other isolate sequences on the Gene Bank. The results of molecular identification showed amplification DNA band of around 934 base pairs (bp) for 16S rRNA and 225 bp for gyrB gene. The BLAST program demonstrated that the sample had 99.89% similarity with P. aeruginosa strain XC4 (accession code ON795960.1) for the 16S rRNA gene. Meanwhile, the gyrB gene exhibited 99.10% similarity with the P. aeruginosa strain PSA-1.2 (accession code KP172300.1)