Nephroprotective Effect of Garlic Chives (Allium Tuberosum) on Bun and Creatinine Levels of Wistar Rats Induced by Doxorubicin

Cancer is the most leading disease that cause of death. Doxorubicin chemotherapy is often used in cancer treatment, because of its effectiveness. Although doxorubicin has a positive effect for killing cancer cell, doxorubicin has many side effects, one of which doxorubicin can cause kidney damage through the process of interstitial fibrosis. Utilization garlic chives extract as co chemotherapy to reduce renal damage induced by doxorubicin is a prospective opportunities. This study aimed to analyze the effect of garlic chives extract as a nephroprotective on levels of BUN and creatinine of wistar rats induced by doxorubicin. The research method was quasi experimental design with post test only randomized controlled group. The results showed that extracts of garlic chives can reduce levels of BUN and creatinine (p <0.05) in the group that only induced by doxorubicin. In conclusion, extract of garlic chives has nephroprotecive effects on wistar rats which were induced by doxorubicin

Studies on Pathogenicity Effect of Aeromonas hydrophila Infection in Juvenile Red Hybrid Tilapia Oreochromis sp.

This study was conducted to evaluate the ability of motile Aeromonas species (MAS) to induce clinical symptoms and some pathological changes in juvenile red hybrid tilapia. A standard dose of infection was selected based on predetermined LD50. Infected fish were observed for any clinical sign and symptom for 96 hours. Samples of liver, spleen and kidney were collected for histopatological changes due to Aeromonas hydrophila infection. Clinical signs of fish included abnormal swimming behaviour and loss of balance. Most of infected fish suffered from haemorrhagic eyes and lesions on the body surface. Some of the them also developed bilateral exophthalmia. Histopathological changes were observed in kidney, liver and spleen. The infected liver showed severe congestion of hepatic veins and vacuoles formation while anterior kidney manifested degeneration of excretory tubules and glomeruli followed by severe haemorrhages and hyaline droplets degeneration. Spleen on the other hand showed tissues degeneration and vacuoles formation. All targated tissues also showed deposition of haemosiderin pigments followed by proliferation of melanomacrphage centres. Development of such symptoms was associated with the infection with Aeromonas hydrophila. The current study has shown that MAS could serve as the primary cause of severe infection not only in red hybrid tilapia but may also infected other freshwater fish species.The results of histological analysis of various tissues indicates a direct correlation between disease infection and histopathological disorders observed in the tissues

International Consensus Statement on Allergy and Rhinology: Allergic Rhinitis

Background: Critical examination of the quality and validity of available allergic rhinitis (AR) literature is necessary to improve understanding and to appropriately translate this knowledge to clinical care of the AR patient. To evaluate the existing AR literature, international multidisciplinary experts with an interest in AR have produced the International Consensus statement on Allergy and Rhinology: Allergic Rhinitis (ICAR:AR). Methods: Using previously described methodology, specific topics were developed relating to AR. Each topic was assigned a literature review, evidence-based review (EBR), or evidence-based review with recommendations (EBRR) format as dictated by available evidence and purpose within the ICAR:AR document. Following iterative reviews of each topic, the ICAR:AR document was synthesized and reviewed by all authors for consensus. Results: The ICAR:AR document addresses over 100 individual topics related to AR, including diagnosis, pathophysiology, epidemiology, disease burden, risk factors for the development of AR, allergy testing modalities, treatment, and other conditions/comorbidities associated with AR. Conclusion: This critical review of the AR literature has identified several strengths; providers can be confident that treatment decisions are supported by rigorous studies. However, there are also substantial gaps in the AR literature. These knowledge gaps should be viewed as opportunities for improvement, as often the things that we teach and the medicine that we practice are not based on the best quality evidence. This document aims to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the AR literature to identify areas for future AR research and improved understanding

Non-communicable diseases among Orang Asli of Kampung Ulu Tual

Introduction: Non communicable disease is increasing in trend and becoming one of significant major global problem that involves all strata of population including the aborigines. In fact, the prevalence might be higher in this population due to lack of access for regular screening and different sociodemographic background including tendency to migrate in different areas. Methodology: This study aims to identify the prevalence of non-communicable diseases among adult population of Orang Asli in the remote area of Pahang. A cross sectional study was conducted on 20th April 2019 during community service in Kampung Ulu Tual, whereby communicable diseases had been screened. SPSS version 23 is used for statistical analysis. Associations between variables were measured. Results: Prevalence of overweight/obesity is 36.6%, hypertension is 3.3% and abnormal blood sugar is 53.3%. There is no statistical significant association between prevalence of the non-communicable diseases across age and gender. Discussion: The prevalence of overweight/obesity among Orang Asli in this region is almost similar in our national prevalence with more than half of them are prone to develop diabetes. This study proved a linear relationship between overweight/obesity, abdominal obesity and diabetes. Conclusion: These results highlight the need for urgent interventions to reduce and prevent risk factors of non-communicable diseases even in rural area of Pahan

Mapping genetic determinants of host susceptibility to Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung infection in mice.

Background: P. aeruginosa is one of the top three causes of opportunistic human bacterial infections. The remarkable variability in the clinical outcomes of this infection is thought to be associated with genetic predisposition. However, the genes underlying host susceptibility to P. aeruginosa infection are still largely unknown. Results: As a step towards mapping these genes, we applied a genome wide linkage analysis approach to a mouse model. A large F2 intercross population, obtained by mating P. aeruginosa-resistant C3H/HeOuJ, and susceptible A/J mice, was used for quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping. The F2 progenies were challenged with a P. aeruginosa clinical strain and monitored for the survival time up to 7 days post-infection, as a disease phenotype associated trait. Selected phenotypic extremes of the F2 distribution were genotyped with high-density single nucleotide polymorphic (SNP) markers, and subsequently QTL analysis was performed. A significant locus was mapped on chromosome 6 and was named P. aeruginosa infection resistance locus 1 (Pairl1). The most promising candidate genes, including Dok1, Tacr1, Cd207, Clec4f, Gp9, Gata2, Foxp1, are related to pathogen sensing, neutrophils and macrophages recruitment and inflammatory processes. Conclusions: We propose a set of genes involved in the pathogenesis of P. aeruginosa infection that may be explored to complement human studie

Dilemmas of Development and The Reconstruction of Fashion

Sustainable development by its nature appears elusive. It seems the more we try to capture and pin it down the more it moves away from us leading us into murkier waters and all manner of contradictions. No more is this felt than in the fashion industry where we are presented with a number of oppositions. The fashion cycle renders styles obsolete before they have worn out generating waste and over-consumptive practices. But it can also bring into the fore practices that have resonance to sustainable development in terms of their location, orientation and consideration for the environment. As studies emerge considering the detrimental environmental impacts of the manufacture and consumption of new clothes, second-hand clothes have become a focus for research endeavours considering how they can be reincorporated into the fashion system and have resonance to an ever ‘fashion’ hungry consumer. This chapter discusses methods for the processing of second-hand clothes into fashionable items and, by drawing on the wealth of ‘waste’ materials through reselling, restyling and remanufacturing, argues that ways of re-appropriating them into a more environmentally focused fashion industry is possible and necessary. It sets out as it hypothesis that the global fashion system has value in its transformative powers but that damaging and exploitative forces are still preventing it from being a force for good. This is due to the nature of the items being produced, the way they are manufactured and how they are ultimately consumed and disposed of

Mechanisms controlling anaemia in Trypanosoma congolense infected mice.

Trypanosoma congolense are extracellular protozoan parasites of the blood stream of artiodactyls and are one of the main constraints on cattle production in Africa. In cattle, anaemia is the key feature of disease and persists after parasitaemia has declined to low or undetectable levels, but treatment to clear the parasites usually resolves the anaemia. The progress of anaemia after Trypanosoma congolense infection was followed in three mouse strains. Anaemia developed rapidly in all three strains until the peak of the first wave of parasitaemia. This was followed by a second phase, characterized by slower progress to severe anaemia in C57BL/6, by slow recovery in surviving A/J and a rapid recovery in BALB/c. There was no association between parasitaemia and severity of anaemia. Furthermore, functional T lymphocytes are not required for the induction of anaemia, since suppression of T cell activity with Cyclosporin A had neither an effect on the course of infection nor on anaemia. Expression of genes involved in erythropoiesis and iron metabolism was followed in spleen, liver and kidney tissues in the three strains of mice using microarrays. There was no evidence for a response to erythropoietin, consistent with anaemia of chronic disease, which is erythropoietin insensitive. However, the expression of transcription factors and genes involved in erythropoiesis and haemolysis did correlate with the expression of the inflammatory cytokines Il6 and Ifng. The innate immune response appears to be the major contributor to the inflammation associated with anaemia since suppression of T cells with CsA had no observable effect. Several transcription factors regulating haematopoiesis, Tal1, Gata1, Zfpm1 and Klf1 were expressed at consistently lower levels in C57BL/6 mice suggesting that these mice have a lower haematopoietic capacity and therefore less ability to recover from haemolysis induced anaemia after infection

Translation of mouse model to human gives insights into periodontitis etiology

To suggest candidate genes involved in periodontitis, we combined gene expression data of periodontal biopsies from Collaborative Cross (CC) mouse lines, with previous reported quantitative trait loci (QTL) in mouse and with human genome-wide association studies (GWAS) associated with periodontitis. Periodontal samples from two susceptible, two resistant and two lines that showed bone formation after periodontal infection were collected during infection and naïve status. Differential expressed genes (DEGs) were analyzed in a case-control and case-only design. After infection, eleven protein-coding genes were significantly stronger expressed in resistant CC lines compared to susceptible ones. Of these, the most upregulated genes were MMP20 (P = 0.001), RSPO4 (P = 0.032), CALB1 (P = 1.06×10-4), and AMTN (P = 0.05). In addition, human orthologous of candidate genes were tested for their association in a case-controls samples of aggressive (AgP) and chronic (CP) periodontitis (5,095 cases, 9,908 controls). In this analysis, variants at two loci, TTLL11/PTGS1 (rs9695213, P = 5.77×10-5) and RNASE2 (rs2771342, P = 2.84×10-5) suggested association with both AgP and CP. In the association analysis with AgP only, the most significant associations were located at the HLA loci HLA-DQH1 (rs9271850, P = 2.52×10-14) and HLA-DPA1 (rs17214512, P = 5.14×10-5). This study demonstrates the utility of the CC RIL populations as a suitable model to investigate the mechanism of periodontal disease

Robust filtering for a class of nonlinear stochastic systems with probability constraints

This paper is concerned with the probability-constrained filtering problem for a class of time-varying nonlinear stochastic systems with estimation error variance constraint. The stochastic nonlinearity considered is quite general that is capable of describing several well-studied stochastic nonlinear systems. The second-order statistics of the noise sequence are unknown but belong to certain known convex set. The purpose of this paper is to design a filter guaranteeing a minimized upper-bound on the estimation error variance. The existence condition for the desired filter is established, in terms of the feasibility of a set of difference Riccati-like equations, which can be solved forward in time. Then, under the probability constraints, a minimax estimation problem is proposed for determining the suboptimal filter structure that minimizes the worst-case performance on the estimation error variance with respect to the uncertain second-order statistics. Finally, a numerical example is presented to show the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed method

A novel switching delayed PSO algorithm for estimating unknown parameters of lateral flow immunoassay

In this paper, the parameter identification problem of the lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) devices is investigated via a new switching delayed particle swarm optimization (SDPSO) algorithm. By evaluating an evolutionary factor in each generation, the velocity of the particle can adaptively adjust the model according to a Markov chain in the proposed SDPSO method. During the iteration process, the SDPSO can adaptively select the inertia weight, acceleration coefficients, locally best particle pbest and globally best particle gbest in the swarm. It is worth highlighting that the pbest and the gbest can be randomly selected from the corresponding values in the previous iteration. That is, the delayed information of the pbest and the gbest can be exploited to update the particle’s velocity in current iteration according to the evolutionary states. The strategy can not only improve the global search but also enhance the possibility of eventually reaching the gbest. The superiority of the proposed SDPSO is evaluated on a series of unimodal and multimodal benchmark functions. Results demonstrate that the novel SDPSO algorithm outperforms some well-known PSO algorithms in aspects of global search and efficiency of convergence. Finally, the novel SDPSO is successfully exploited to estimate the unknown time-delay parameters of a class of nonlinear state-space LFIA model.This work was supported in part by the Royal Society of the U.K., the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany, the Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 61403319, the Fujian Natural Science Foundation under Grant 2015J05131, and the Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Eco-Industrial Green Technology