Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell and vein conduit on sciatic nerve repair in rats

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare the vein conduit technique, with and without the addition of mesenchymal stem cells in gap-less nerve injury repair in rats. Materials and Methods: In this study, 36 Wistar rats were randomly allocated to three groups: In the first group, nerve repair was performed with simple neurorrhaphy (control group), in the second group, nerve repair was done with vein conduit over site (vein conduit group) and in the third group, bone marrow stem cells were instilled into the vein conduit (stem cell group) after nerve repair with vein conduit over site. Six weeks after the intervention, the sciatic function index, electrophysiological study and histological examination were performed. Results: All animals tolerated the surgical procedures and survived well. The sciatic function index and latency were significantly improved in the vein conduit (P = 0.04 and 0.03, respectively) and stem cell group (P = 0.02 and 0.03, respectively) compared with the control group. No significant difference was observed in sciatic function and latency between the vein conduit and stem-cell groups. Moreover, histological analysis showed no significant difference in regenerative density between these two groups. Conclusions: The results of this study showed that the meticulous microsurgical nerve repair, which was performed using the vein tubulization induced significantly better sciatic nerve regeneration. However, the addition of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell to vein conduit failed to promote any significant changes in regeneration outcome. Background: Peripheral nerve repair with sufficient functional recovery is an important issue in reconstructive surgery. Stem cells have attracted extensive research interest in recent years. Copyright © 2015, Trauma Monthly

Study of cosolvent-induced α-chymotrypsin fibrillogenesis: Does protein surface hydrophobicity trigger early stages of aggregation reaction?

The misfolding of specific proteins is often associated with their assembly into fibrillar aggregates, commonly termed amyloid fibrils. Despite the many efforts expended to characterize amyloid formation in vitro, there is no deep knowledge about the environment (in which aggregation occurs) as well as mechanism of this type of protein aggregation. Alpha-chymotrypsin was recently driven toward amyloid aggregation by the addition of intermediate concentrations of trifluoroethanol. In the present study, approaches such as turbidimetric, thermodynamic, intrinsic fluorescence and quenching studies as well as chemical modification have been successfully used to elucidate the underlying role of hydrophobic interactions (involved in early stages of amyloid formation) in α-chymotrypsin-based experimental system. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

Caspian Sea gammarus (Pontogammarus maeoticus) as a carotenoid source for muscle pigmentation of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

The red coloration of rainbow trout muscle is an important quality criterion. Duplicate groups of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss; initial weight of 200±10g) were fed diets either supplemented 0 (control), 0.5, 2, or 4%, of the Caspian Sea gammarus (Pontogammarus maeoticus) respectively as a prospective alternative carotenoid source. The feeding trial lasted for 39 days. No significant differences (p>0.05) in specific growth rate (SGR), or condition factor (CF) were found between treatments. Carotenoid concentrations were determined in the dorsal region and the Norwegian Quality Cut (NQC). The correlation between mean total carotenoid content of the Norwegian quality cut per treatment and dietary inclusion level of P. maeoticus was high (R2=0.99; p<0.01). Less correlation was found between total carotenoid content of the dorsal cut and inclusion level of P. maeoticus (R2=0.80; P=0.10). The total carotenoid concentrations were significantly higher (p<0.05) in male (4.26±0.39 mg/kg) than in female (3.38±0.23 mg/kg) rainbow trout. In conclusion, it was found that dietary supplementation of the Caspian Sea gammarus at levels of 2 and 4% effectively improved muscle pigmentation of rainbow trout

Strategic crossing of biomass and harvest index—source and sink—achieves genetic gains in wheat

To accelerate genetic gains in breeding, physiological trait (PT) characterization of candidate parents can help make more strategic crosses, increasing the probability of accumulating favorable alleles compared to crossing relatively uncharacterized lines. In this study, crosses were designed to complement “source” with “sink” traits, where at least one parent was selected for favorable expression of biomass and/or radiation use efficiency—source—and the other for sink-related traits like harvest-index, kernel weight and grains per spike. Female parents were selected from among genetic resources—including landraces and products of wide-crossing (i.e. synthetic wheat)—that had been evaluated in Mexico at high yield potential or under heat stress, while elite lines were used as males. Progeny of crosses were advanced to the F4 generation within Mexico, and F4-derived F5 and F6 generations were yield tested to populate four international nurseries, targeted to high yield environments (2nd and 3rd WYCYT) for yield potential, and heat stressed environments (2nd and 4th SATYN) for climate resilience, respectively. Each nursery was grown as multi-location yield trials. Genetic gains were achieved in both temperate and hot environments, with most new PT-derived lines expressing superior yield and biomass compared to local checks at almost all international sites. Furthermore, the tendency across all four nurseries indicated either the superiority of the best new PT lines compared with the CIMMYT elite checks, or the superiority of all new PT lines as a group compared with all checks, and in some cases, both. Results support—in a realistic breeding context—the hypothesis that yield and radiation use efficiency can be increased by improving source:sink balance, and validate the feasibility of incorporating exotic germplasm into mainstream breeding efforts to accelerate genetic gains for yield potential and climate resilience

Alpha-2-Macroglobulin Is Acutely Sensitive to Freezing and Lyophilization: Implications for Structural and Functional Studies.

Alpha-2-macroglobulin is an abundant secreted protein that is of particular interest because of its diverse ligand binding profile and multifunctional nature, which includes roles as a protease inhibitor and as a molecular chaperone. The activities of alpha-2-macroglobulin are typically dependent on whether its conformation is native or transformed (i.e. adopts a more compact conformation after interactions with proteases or small nucleophiles), and are also influenced by dissociation of the native alpha-2-macroglobulin tetramer into stable dimers. Alpha-2-macroglobulin is predominately present as the native tetramer in vivo; once purified from human blood plasma, however, alpha-2-macroglobulin can undergo a number of conformational changes during storage, including transformation, aggregation or dissociation. We demonstrate that, particularly in the presence of sodium chloride or amine containing compounds, freezing and/or lyophilization of alpha-2-macroglobulin induces conformational changes with functional consequences. These conformational changes in alpha-2-macroglobulin are not always detected by standard native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, but can be measured using bisANS fluorescence assays. Increased surface hydrophobicity of alpha-2-macroglobulin, as assessed by bisANS fluorescence measurements, is accompanied by (i) reduced trypsin binding activity, (ii) increased chaperone activity, and (iii) increased binding to the surfaces of SH-SY5Y neurons, in part, via lipoprotein receptors. We show that sucrose (but not glycine) effectively protects native alpha-2-macroglobulin from denaturation during freezing and/or lyophilization, thereby providing a reproducible method for the handling and long-term storage of this protein.Early Career Fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council GNT1012521(A.R.W.); Wellcome Trust Programme Grant (J.R.K., C.M.D.) 094425/Z/10/Z; Samsung GRO Grant (M.R.W.)This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from PLoS via http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.013003

Correlation between Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery and Hearing Threshold Changes

Abstract: Introduction: Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is a probable complication of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) Surgery, that may be due to embolism, perfusion failure and consumption of ototoxic drugs. Since the incidence of SNHL after CABG is different according to the various reports, the present study was designed to study hearing threshold change after CABG surgery. Method: In this cross-sectional study, 65 patients candidated for CABG surgery were selected by convenient sampling. One week before and two weeks after the surgery, all patients were examined by E.N.T specialist, and underwent PTA and impedance test. Other information including history of previous diseases were collected too. Distribution and central indices were used for description of results and Wilcoxon test was used for comparison of pre- and post- operative hearing threshold. Results: Comparison of Pre -and Post - operative audiometry results showed no significant change in hearing for all frequencies and in both ears. Hearing threshold difference in the right ear at 4000HZ and in the left ear at 2000HZ was meaningful (P=0.027, P=0.004 respectively). Although hearing threshold differences at all frequencies and in both ears were greater in men rather than women, the meaningful difference was only for the frequency of 1000HZ in the right ear (P=0.03) and 4000HZ in the left ear (P=0.034). Conclusion: Although, hearing loss can occur after nonotologic surgeries, the incidence is very low and this can be due to the improvement in surgical and anesthesia techniques. Meanwhile, hearing threshold change in some frequencies may be sex-dependent. Keywords: Sensorineural hearing loss, Coronary artery bypass grafting, Auditory threshold, Audiometr

The relationship between health literacy and general health status of patients with type II diabetes

Individuals with low health literacy are less aware of their own health status and receive fewer preventive services. Furthermore, fewer chronic diseases are controlled in these individuals. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between health literacy and general health status of patients with type II diabetes. In this descriptive-correlational study, 250 patients with type II diabetes in Ilam were selected using convenience sampling. Tools used in this study were the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA) and General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ28). Data analysis was conducted using the SPSS Software version 20, including t-test (for two groups of variables), ANOVA (for more than two groups of variables), and correlation analysis. The results showed that 80 (32), 102 (40.8), and 68 (27.2) patients with diabetes had inadequate, marginal, and adequate literacy, respectively. The findings also indicated that the means and standard deviations of patients' health literacy scores were 31.38 +/- 6.40 in terms of calculations, 34.93 +/- 7.45 in reading skill, and 6.30 +/- 11.61 in general. There was a statistically significant relationship between health literacy and general health status of patients (p < 0.001). Based on the results revealing average/marginal health literacy and general health in most patients in the study, officials must conduct more research to improve health literacy and general health of patients

A Bahá’í temple for Canada

Bibliography: p. 86-100Using the piece of land in Markham, Ontario, purchased by the Bahá’í community for the eventual actualization of the first Bahá’í Temple in Canada, the intent of this Master’s Degree Project is to propose a design for that purpose. In pursuit of this objective, research is done exploring the characteristics of a Bahá’í Temple, using both religious texts and a study of precedent, reviewing possibilities for experimentation. A brief overview of symbolism and sacred place is conducted, beginning with general terms, and then examining a few relevant Bahá’í examples, such as the number nine. Subsequently, a short study of Canadian culture and architecture is done, examining possibilities of expression, in addition to subsequent design influences. After a fairly thorough site analysis, a method of design development is devised, resulting in the final product: A Bahá’í Temple for Canada

A bahá'í temple for Canada

Bibliography: p. 86-10