Effects of Intracanal Curcumin and Aloe vera on pH Changes in Simulated Root Surface Resorption Defects: An In vitro Study

Introduction: Commonly used medicaments in the treatment of external inflammatory root resorption (EIRR) have shown adverse effects; resulting in an increasing tendency to employ natural and/or herbal medication. The present in vitro study aimed to evaluate the effects of curcumin and aloe vera, as two natural medicaments, on the changes of pH in external root surface defects; and compare their outcomes with the results obtained from the application of calcium hydroxide, as a conventional medicament used in endodontic treatments. Materials and Methods: In the current investigation, 92 permanent teeth, with a single root canal, were randomly divided into four groups. Similar cavities were created on the buccal surfaces of roots, 5 mm from their apices. The root canals in each of the study groups were filled with curcumin, aloe vera, calcium hydroxide or normal saline. The pH was measured after 20 min (i.e. the baseline), 1, 7, 14, 21, and 28 days using a digital pH meter. The data were analysed using repeated-measures ANOVA and the statistical significance was set at P<0.05. Results: At the baseline, day 1 and day 7, the mean pH of both curcumin and aloe vera groups was higher than the mean pH of calcium hydroxide and normal saline groups (P<0.05). On day 14, the mean pH of aloe vera group was higher than that of calcium hydroxide and normal saline groups (P<0.05). On days 21 and 28, the mean pH of aloe vera group was higher than the mean pH of all the other groups (P<0.05). All other intergroup differences were not statistically significant at each time point (P>0.05). Conclusion: The current in vitro study demonstrated that aloe vera was more alkaline than curcumin; nevertheless, both groups exhibited more alkalinity than calcium hydroxide

Digestive enzymes activity and growth indices of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fed diets supplemented with silymarin and Nickle Oxide nanoparticles

There is growing concern regarding nano-sized material discharge into water bodies and their subsequent toxicity to aquatic lives owing to increasingly rapid development and industrial applications of nanoparticles. This study evaluates the oral prescription of silymarin and Nickel Oxide nanoparticles in rainbow trout with an emphasis on growth indices and digestive enzymes activity. To that end, 1200 fish (3.83±0.01g) were randomly allotted into 8 distinct treatments including control group without any supplemental dietary Nickel Oxide nanopartcles or silymarin and the remaining seven experimental groups comprised of different combinations of Nickel Oxide nanoparticles (0, 100 and 500 mg /kg feed) and silymarin (0 and 1 g /kg feed) in the first and second month of the trial. All treatments were carried out in trplicate and the experiment lasted for 60 days. Results showed that the highest amylase activity was recorded in treatment 6 (16.56±1.00) (0 mg Nickel nanoparticle along with 1 g silymaryn - 500 mg Nickel nanoparticle and 1 g silymarin) which significantly differed from treatments 5 (0 mg Nickel Oxide nanoparticles and 1 mg silymarin-100 mg Nickel Oxide nanoparticles with 1 mg silymarin), 7 and 8 (fed diets containing 100 and 500 mg Nickel Oxide nanoparticles, respectively) (P≤0.05). The highest alkaline protease activity was observed in treatment 1 (0.54±0.05) (without any supplemental Nickel or silymarin), which was significantly different from those of treatments 7 and 8 (P≤0.05). The highest lipase activity was reported for treatment 4 (1.03±0.04) (500 mg Nickel nanoparticle with 1 g silymaryn- 0 mg nanoparticle and 1 g silymarin) which was significantly different from other treatments (P≤0.05). The results showed that simultaneous use of Nickel nanoparticle and silymarin in treatments 3, 4, 5 and 6 led to higher digestive enzymes activities in comparison to treatments 7 and 8. However, growth indices did not show any noticeable differences amongst studied treatments. It seems that in a long term exposure to Nickel Oxide nanoparticles and simoltanoues dietary silymarin inclusion, it would also be possible to observe differences in growth and nutritional indices, requiring further clarification

Studying the chronic effects of silver nanoparticles on survival, growth rate and reproductive traits of Urmia Lake Artemia (Artemia urmiana)

The application and environmental hazards of nanotechnology to aquatic species are increasingly growing. To address the issue, the present study was designed and carried out to elucidate the toxic effects of silver nanoparticles on growth, survival and reproductive traits of Artemia urmiana. The experiment consisted of five treatments, namely control group and those exposed to 0.001, 0.01, 0.1 and 1 mgl-1 silver nanoparticles, with four respective replicates. To do so, 500 newly hatched nauplii were counted and transferred to 1 liter containers exposing to various concentrations of the silver nanoparticles. Microalgae Dunaliella tertiolecta and zymogenic was used to feed Artemia. Growth and survival rates were recorded on days 8, 11, 17, 20 and 23. After sexual maturation, Artemia were transferred to a new environment free from nanoparticles and their reproductive traits were studied. Results showed that higher concentrations of silver nanoparticles led to lower survival rate and augmented growth rate of Artemia (p<0.05). Regarding reproductive traits, group exposed to 1mgl-1 silver nanoparticles showed the lowest total offspring, offspring per day, offspring per brood and life span (p<0.05). In conclusion, the discharge of silver nanoparticles even at lower concentrations would undesirably influence reproductive cycle of A. urmiana and result in lower survival and reproductive performance of the animal

Dietary conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and lecithin affects levels of serum cholesterol, triglyceride, lipoprotein and hypoxic stress resistance in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Considering the role of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and soybean lecithin (SBL) in fat digestion, absorption and metabolism as well as stress resistance in aquatic organisms, the current study was a 74-day attempt to investigate the synergistic effects of these two compounds on stress resistance and blood lipoprotein levels of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) weighing 120±5 g. Nine isonitrogenous and isocaloric experimental diets containing 1, 2 and 3% CLA and 2, 3 and 4% soybean lecithin on the basis of the basal control diet (free from CLA and lecithin) were formulated. The fish were exposed to three ascending periods of hypoxic stress (7.5, 15 and 30 min) at the end of culture period. The dissolved oxygen was decreased to 1.96 ppm by injecting nitrogen gas. Significantly higher levels of cortisol and glucose were detected in fish fed on diets having higher levels of SBL (2%) and CLA (3%) at higher stress time improving the resistance to hypoxia stress (P≤0.05). Moreover, levels of triglyceride (TRG), cholesterol (COL), low density lipoprotein (LDL), very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL) also increased significantly compared to the control group (P≤0.05). This study reveals that using 2% SBL and 3% CLA in rainbow trout feed can promote resistance to hypoxic stress

Fluid-structure interaction of blood flow around a vein valve

Introduction: Venous valves are a type of one-way valves which conduct blood flow toward the heart and prevent its backflow. Any malfunction of these organs may cause serious problems in the circulatory system. Numerical simulation can give us detailed information and point to point data such as velocity, wall shear stress, and von Mises stress from veins with small diameters, as obtaining such data is almost impossible using current medical devices. Having detailed information about fluid flow and valves' function can help the treatment of the related diseases. Methods: In the present work, the blood flow through a venous valve considering the flexibility of the vein wall and valve leaflets is investigated numerically. The governing equations of fluid flow and solid domain are discretized and solved by the Galerkin finite element method. Results: The obtained results showed that the blood velocity increases from inlet to the leaflets and then decreases passing behind the valve. A pair of vortices and the trapped region was observed just behind the valves. These regions have low shear stresses and are capable of sediment formation. Conclusion: The von Mises stress which is a criterion for the breakdown of solid materials was obtained. It was also observed that a maximum value occurred at the bottom of the leaflets

Dibromido(2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline-&amp;#954;2N,N&amp;#8242;)(dimethyl sulfoxide-&amp;#954;O)cadmium

In the molecule of the title compound, [CdBr2(C14H12N2)(C2H6OS)], the CdII atom is five-coordinated in a distorted trigonal&amp;#8211;bipyramidal configuration by two N atoms from a 2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline ligand, one O atom from a dimethyl sulfoxide ligand and two Br atoms. In the crystal, &amp;#960;&amp;#8211;&amp;#960; contacts between the pyridine and benzene rings [centroid&amp;#8211;centroid distances = 3.710&amp;#8197;(5), 3.711&amp;#8197;(6) and 3.627&amp;#8197;(5)&amp;#8197;&amp;#197;] stabilize the structure

Probabilistic scenario analysis of integrated road-power infrastructures with hybrid fleets of EVs and ICVs

International audienc

Histopathological effects of aflatoxin B1 and zearalenone on liver tissue of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

The aim of this study was to evaluate the histological effects of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and zearalenone (ZEA) on the liver tissue of the rainbow trout. In this study, 540 rainbow trout 12.07±0.23 g (Mean±SD), as 9 experimental treatments with three replications were fed separately and simultaneously with diets containing different concentrations of AFB1 and ZEA over 60 days. In this regard, the concentrations of 50 and 100 ppb AFB1 and 300 and 600 ppb of ZEA were used. At the end of the experimental period, the liver tissue was sampled and pathological changes were qualitatively and semi-quantitatively examined. The toxin-induced histological damage included necrosis and deformation of hepatocytes. The severity of tissue lesions increased with increasing dietary levels of AFB1 and ZEA separately and simultaneously. The results showed that the severity of lesions was higher in fish receiving diets containing combinations of AFB1 and ZEA in comparison to other treatments

Electrostatic boosting of ionic dye pollutant removal from aquatic environment using a single electrode photoreactor

Abstract A green advanced oxidation (AO) strategy to destroy dye pollutants and remove them from aquatic environments is to utilize sunlight and employ thin-film semiconducting photo-reactors. In this light-driving AO method, besides the type of dye and semiconductor material, attention to the electrostatic interactions between dye and electrode is of great importance. In this paper, a couple of nanostructured, narrow-bandgap, semiconducting photoelectrodes, i.e., hematite (n-type) and pyrite (p-type) were fabricated electrochemically and employed for the elimination of two cationic (malachite green) and anionic (methyl orange) dyes inside a single-electrode photoreactor. It was shown that without applying a faradic potential bias and consuming electricity or changing the pH of medium, the decolorization ability of the fabricated photoelectrodes can be substantially boosted just by their connection to an electrostatic (non-faradic) bias source. Regardless of the type of photoelectrode, in the case of cationic dye, the application of a negative polarity and for the anionic dye, a positive polarity remarkably promoted the reactor activity. These observations were discussed in detail through electrostatic attractive/repulsive forces between ionic dyes and charged photoelectrodes, and finally a mechanistic perspective was put forward for the photo-electrostatic dye removal process