Teratogenic effects of gabapentin on the skeletal system of Balb/C mice fetuses

Objectives: To evaluate the effects of gabapentin )GBP( administration on mice fetuses. Methods: This study was carried out in Birjand University of Medical Sciences during 2008. Thirty Balb/c pregnant mice were divided randomly into 3 groups: 2 experimental groups that received 25 mg/kg )I( and 50 mg/kg )II( of GBP intraperitoneally for the first 15 days of pregnancy, and a control group that received normal saline. External observations of day 18 fetuses and skeleton double staining were performed. Results: Both experimental groups showed similar disorders that can be categorized as the following: 1( decrease of fetal body weight and increase of fetal resorption, 2( macroscopic malformations, and 3( skeletal malformations. Fetal body weights were significantly lower, and fetus resorptions were significantly higher in both treated groups compared to the control group. Macroscopic malformations included exencephaly, limbs defects, brachygnathia, vertebral column deformity, and fetuses with severe retarded growth. Skeletal malformations included delayed ossification, scoliosis, calvaria deformity, and mandibular hypoplasia. Conclusion: This study revealed that GBP can induce previously unreported severe malformations if it is used continuously during the implantation, neurulation, and organogenesis stages of pregnancy. Therefore, it is suggested that great caution should be exercised in using GBP during the early stages of pregnancy until further studies are performed to better understand these effects

Comparison of growth, morphometric and meristic parameters of hybrids produced by crossing between Beluga (Huso huso) and Persian sturgeon (Acipenser persicus)

Reciprocal crosses betvveen Beluga and Persian Sturgeon in four treatments and three replications were conducted and reproduction metrics including number of eggs per gram, percentage of fertilization, and survival rate were assessed. Also, we measured 32 morphomeiric and meristic attributes of brood stocks, hybrids and controls. To compare the growth rate of hybrids and controls, fingerlings were grown for 18 months in 2000 liter fiberglass tanks and fed by pellets. During rearing period, 17 samples were taken in 15-30 days interval and total weight and length of the specimens were measured. Average weight and length, standard deviation, analysis of variance, Duncan test and Heterosis were calculated. We found a significant difference (130.001) between controls and treatments in terms of fertilization rate (in stage 4 and 35), number and mortality rate of larvae during active feeding and final stages. Hybrid and control fingerlings showed different growth performances. After an 18 months rearing period, the highest growth was found in Beluga (975±10 grams), with hybrid of female of Beluga and male Persian sturgeon coming next (840±143 grams), hybrid of male Beluga with female Persian sturgeon being the third (681.152$1 grams). The slowest growth rate was seen in control Persian sturgeon with an average growth of 535.15±131 grams. Daily growth rate of hybrids produced from crossing of female Beluga with male Persian sturgeon was higher than control Beluga during second and third rearing period each taking six months. We observed significant differences (p<0.05) in 31 morphometric and meristic parameters from a total of 32 attributes. The percentage of heterosis was variable, being -73.76 in early growth period and 0.79 at the final rearing stage with an average heterosis of -32.69. The hybrid produced from female Beluga and male Persian Sturgeon showed a very good o growth performance. However, with the inadequacy of female Beluga in the Caspian Sea and the priority of restocking Beluga, it is suggested that the hybrid production be conducted using male • Beluga and female Persian Sturgeon

Global, regional, and national incidence of six major immune-mediated inflammatory diseases: findings from the global burden of disease study 2019

Background The causes for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) are diverse and the incidence trends of IMIDs from specific causes are rarely studied. The study aims to investigate the pattern and trend of IMIDs from 1990 to 2019. Methods We collected detailed information on six major causes of IMIDs, including asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and atopic dermatitis, between 1990 and 2019, derived from the Global Burden of Disease study in 2019. The average annual percent change (AAPC) in number of incidents and age standardized incidence rate (ASR) on IMIDs, by sex, age, region, and causes, were calculated to quantify the temporal trends. Findings In 2019, rheumatoid arthritis, atopic dermatitis, asthma, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease accounted 1.59%, 36.17%, 54.71%, 0.09%, 6.84%, 0.60% of overall new IMIDs cases, respectively. The ASR of IMIDs showed substantial regional and global variation with the highest in High SDI region, High-income North America, and United States of America. Throughout human lifespan, the age distribution of incident cases from six IMIDs was quite different. Globally, incident cases of IMIDs increased with an AAPC of 0.68 and the ASR decreased with an AAPC of −0.34 from 1990 to 2019. The incident cases increased across six IMIDs, the ASR of rheumatoid arthritis increased (0.21, 95% CI 0.18, 0.25), while the ASR of asthma (AAPC = −0.41), inflammatory bowel disease (AAPC = −0.72), multiple sclerosis (AAPC = −0.26), psoriasis (AAPC = −0.77), and atopic dermatitis (AAPC = −0.15) decreased. The ASR of overall and six individual IMID increased with SDI at regional and global level. Countries with higher ASR in 1990 experienced a more rapid decrease in ASR. Interpretation The incidence patterns of IMIDs varied considerably across the world. Innovative prevention and integrative management strategy are urgently needed to mitigate the increasing ASR of rheumatoid arthritis and upsurging new cases of other five IMIDs, respectively. Funding The Global Burden of Disease Study is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The project funded by Scientific Research Fund of Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences & Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital (2022QN38)

An innovative configuration for new marine current turbine

Researchers have shown growing interest in the development of traditional Savonius turbine due to their numerous benefits such as structural simplicity, self-start ability, relatively low operating speed, bi-directional rotational ability and lower environmental impact. However, Savonius turbines exhibits lower efficiency as compared to other similar marine current turbines. This paper proposes a novel design concept for the Savonius turbine. In addition, this work investigates flow and pressure distribution around the buckets of novel rotor with a two-dimensional unsteady numerical model. The proposed marine current turbine with novel design is named as Reza Turbine. Numerical model employed the Dynamic Mesh Method (DMM) for modelling mesh movement around the blades of rotor for different position with respect to computational domain. Developed numerical model solves the unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations by using SIMPLE algorithm. In addition, we conducted an experiment in a low speed wind tunnel to obtain important performance parameters namely torque, power and performance for the proposed turbine. A set of flow speed were used as inlet boundary condition for both numerical and experimental model. A comparison between numerical and experimental results shows that the SST k-� turbulence model gives satisfactory results for the developed novel turbine. The developed ReT is showed 52 improvement in efficiency as compared conventional Savonious turbine. Since the peak of power coefficient obtained was 0.321 for ReT, while 0.21 was reported for conventional Savonius turbine. © 2017 Elsevier Lt

Protective Effect of Vitamin E on Sperm Parameters, Chromatin Quality, and DNA Fragmentation in Mice Treated with Different Doses of Ethanol: an Experimental Study

Background: Excessive consumption of alcohol induces an increase in oxidative stress production and can lead to detrimental effects on the male reproductive system. Objective: To evaluate the possible protective effects of coadministration of vitamin (vit) E on the detrimental changes in the sperm quality of mice administered ethanol. Materials and Methods: Fifty-four BALB/c mice were categorized into nine groups (n = 6/each). The control group received a basal diet while the eight experimental groups received ethanol 10%; ethanol 20%; vit. E 100 mg; vit. E 200 mg; ethanol 10% + vit. E 100 mg; ethanol 10% + vit. E 200 mg; ethanol 20% + vit. E 100 mg; ethanol 20% + vit. E 200 mg. After 35 days, the sperm parameters and sperm chromatin were assessed. Results: The results demonstrated a significant reduction in the motility rate, normal morphology rate, viability rate, increase in abnormal DNA structure and packaging (TB staining), and DNA damage (TUNEL) in ethanol consumer groups. In addition, the findings showed a significant increase in the aforementioned parameters in ethanoland vit. E-consumer groups compared to the ethanol-only consumer groups. The ethanol group received 20% of the most damage among the groups. The group receiving vit. E 100 mg and those receiving ethanol 10% + vit. E 200 mg gained the highest benefit among the groups. Conclusion: Sperm forward progressive motility, normal morphology rate, and viability decreased in the ethanol groups. Also, the rates of spermatozoa with abnormal DNA structure and DNA fragmentation increased in the ethanol groups. Our findings revealed that the coadministration of vit. E and ethanol can protect destructive changes in DNA structure and damage. Key words: Ethanol, Sperm parameters, Vitamin E

An innovative configuration for new marine current turbine

Researchers have shown growing interest in the development of traditional Savonius turbine due to their numerous benefits such as structural simplicity, self-start ability, relatively low operating speed, bi-directional rotational ability and lower environmental impact. However, Savonius turbines exhibits lower efficiency as compared to other similar marine current turbines. This paper proposes a novel design concept for the Savonius turbine. In addition, this work investigates flow and pressure distribution around the buckets of novel rotor with a two-dimensional unsteady numerical model. The proposed marine current turbine with novel design is named as Reza Turbine. Numerical model employed the Dynamic Mesh Method (DMM) for modelling mesh movement around the blades of rotor for different position with respect to computational domain. Developed numerical model solves the unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations by using SIMPLE algorithm. In addition, we conducted an experiment in a low speed wind tunnel to obtain important performance parameters namely torque, power and performance for the proposed turbine. A set of flow speed were used as inlet boundary condition for both numerical and experimental model. A comparison between numerical and experimental results shows that the SST k-ω turbulence model gives satisfactory results for the developed novel turbine. The developed ReT is showed 52% improvement in efficiency as compared conventional Savonious turbine. Since the peak of power coefficient obtained was 0.321 for ReT, while 0.21 was reported for conventional Savonius turbine

Quantitative structure-activity relationship study on thiosemicarbazone derivatives as antitubercular agents using artificial neural network and multiple linear regression

Background and purpose: Nonlinear analysis methods for quantitative structure�activity relationship (QSAR) studies better describe molecular behaviors, than linear analysis. Artificial neural networks are mathematical models and algorithms which imitate the information process and learning of human brain. Some S-alkyl derivatives of thiosemicarbazone are shown to be beneficial in prevention and treatment of mycobacterial infections and this study seeks to find out the relationship between structural features and the anti-tuberculosis activity of these compounds. Materials and methods: Multiple linear regression and Bayesian regularized artificial neural network (BRANN) for 47 compounds of thiosemicarbazone derivatives were designed using QSAR approaches. Descriptors were selected from a pool of 343 descriptors by stepwise selection and backward elimination. A three layer Bayesian regularized back-propagation feed-forward network was designed, optimized, and evaluated using MATLAB version R2009a. Results: The best model with 6 descriptors was found using multiple linear regression analysis: Log MIC= 2.592 + (0.067 ± 0.018) PMIX � (0.066 ± 0.017) PMIZ � (1.706 ± 1.600) Qneg � (0.235 ± 0.039) RDF030p + (0.118 ± 0.026) RDF 140u � (0.064 ± 0.021) RDF060p. The best BRANN model was a three-layer network with three nodes in its hidden layer. Conclusion: The BRANN model has a better predictive power than linear models and may better predict the anti-tuberculosis activity of new compounds with similar backbone of thiosemicarbazone moiety. © 2020, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Experimental investigation of an innovative configuration for new marine current turbine

The numerous benefits of Savonius turbine including simplicity in structure, appropriateness of its self-start ability, operating in relatively low velocity, independency from flow direction and its low environmental burdening have caused the Savonious to gain momentum in recent Marine Current Turbine research. However, the turbine suffers from low efficiency as compared with other water turbines. This paper proposes a novel Savonius turbine configuration design for marine currents. The new model design was tested in the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in the low-speed wind tunnel at different speeds while measuring parameters such as pressure and performance. The experiment was conducted by measuring the pressure distribution on blade surfaces. Various angles of the new rotor were tested at different speeds in the low-speed wind tunnel. The comparison revealed substantial improvement in turbine efficiency for the new configuration in comparison with the conventional design. © 2018 Elsevier Lt

Experimental investigation of an innovative configuration for new marine current turbine

The numerous benefits of Savonius turbine including simplicity in structure, appropriateness of its self-start ability, operating in relatively low velocity, independency from flow direction and its low environmental burdening have caused the Savonious to gain momentum in recent Marine Current Turbine research. However, the turbine suffers from low efficiency as compared with other water turbines. This paper proposes a novel Savonius turbine configuration design for marine currents. The new model design was tested in the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in the low-speed wind tunnel at different speeds while measuring parameters such as pressure and performance. The experiment was conducted by measuring the pressure distribution on blade surfaces. Various angles of the new rotor were tested at different speeds in the low-speed wind tunnel. The comparison revealed substantial improvement in turbine efficiency for the new configuration in comparison with the conventional design. © 2018 Elsevier Lt

Oral immunization of trout fry with recombinant Lactococcus lactis NZ3900 expressing G gene of viral hemorrhagic septicaemia virus (VHSV)

This study has investigated the ability of Lactococcus lactic (NZ3900) carried G gene of viral haemorrhagic septicaemia virus (VHSV) under nisin-controlled gene expression (NICE) system in rainbow trout (O.Mykiss). Two groups of trout fry (7 ± 0.65 g) were immunized with 1 × 1010 cfu/g and 1 × 108 cfu/g recombinant L. lactis NZ3900, two groups of fish were fed 1 × 1010 cfu/g and 1 × 108 cfu/g L. lactis vector free, and one group was fed by the basal diet as a control. Oral immunization was done on days 1–7 and boosting was performed on days 15–21. The relative expression of IFN-1 and MX-1 genes significantly increased in head kidney of vaccinated fish depend on vaccine dosage compared to the control group. Fish in vaccinated group also showed elevated VHSV-specific antibody levels compared to the control groups. Relative percent survival (RPS), under virulent isolate VHSV challenge were estimated 62%, 78% for 108 cfu/g 1010 cfu/g feed vaccinated groups 21 days post-vaccination, while groups fed similar doses of L. lactis vector free illustrated 22% and 27% RPSs, respectively. The significant reduction of viral loads (transcript levels of N gene) were detected in the immunized groups. Increased weight gain and decreased feed consumption in vaccinated group attributed to the probiotic effect were also observed. In conclusion, our results demonstrate the ability of recombinant L. lactis as oral vaccine against VHS in rainbow trout, which can be considered as effective method against different fish pathogens