Protective effect of hydroethanolic extract of cress against hepatotoxicity due to acetaminophen in rats

Background and purpose: Acetaminophen is a routine analgesic and antipyretic agent that in overdose causes liver and kidney necrosis in both humans and animals. The cress (Lepidium sativum L.) contains flavonoid, alkaloid, and antioxidant components. In this study we investigated the hepatic protection of the hydroethanolic extract of cress against hepatotoxicity due to acetaminophen. Materials and methods: Forty-two rats were randomly divided into six groups. The first (control) and second (test without treatment) groups were administered the solvent of drug in the morning (08:00) and evening (16:00) on days 1 and 2 but, the third, fourth, and fifth groups received 200, 500, and 1000 mg/kg b.w of the extract of the cress, respectively. The sixth group (positive control) received 200 mg/kg b.w silymarin. Then all groups, except the control group, received 400 mg/kg acetaminophen per os on day 2 (10:00). After 24 hr, all blood samples were collected for determination of GOT (glutamicoxaloacetic transaminase), GPT (glutamic- pyruvic transaminase), ALP (alkaline phosphatase), malondialdehyde (MDA), and serum antioxidant capacity. Also, a piece of liver was used for determining catalase activity and histopathological studies. For statistical analysis of the data, group means were analyzed with one way ANOVA followed by Tukey's test for multiple comparisons. Results: Serum GOT, GPT, ALP, and MDA reduced significantly (P< 0.001) in the treated groups with the extract of cress compared to acetaminophen group without treatment. The reduction of GPT and ALP were dose dependent. The serum antioxidant capacity and liver catalase in treated groups with the extract of the cress and silymarin treated group elevated significantly (P< 0.001) compared to the acetaminophen group without treatment. The liver histopathology in rats treated with the extract of cress showed a remarkable reduction of lymphocyte infiltration compared with rats without treatment (group two). Conclusion: These results demonstrate that the extract of the cress have protection effect against hepatotoxicity due to acetaminophen

Planning road network in mountain forests using GIS and Analytic Hierarchical Process (AHP)

Forest road construction is the most costly operation in forestry. Road designing and construction in unsuitable areas may increase construction and maintenance costs and also cause many environmental impacts. Therefore, it is required to pay more attention to forest road design. In this research, we tried to introduce an appropriate method for locating forest roads using GIS and AHP simultaneously. The most important layers in locating forest road include slope, soils type, geology, hydrographic networks, aspects, trees volume m3 per hectare ,tree type and elevation maps which were determined and then by using expert thought and AHP method the study area was classified in five classes including very good, good, medium, bad and worse for forest road construction. Then two new variants were designed on the prepared AHP map: the first variant was designated using traditional method and Pegger extension was applied to design the second. Pegger Planning variant (PP_variant) had the highest efficiency in path from good and bad points of view based on AHP map. The results of this study illustrated that using AHP and GIS simultaneously can introduce an appropriate and suitable method in the forest road network planning

Investigation of two crop culture of western white shrimp

Two crop culture of western white shrimp with 2 treatments and 2 replicates in each treatments in earthen ponds with area 0.4 hectares at a density of 20 pl 18 in each square meter were done. For the culture of shrimp in the second stage, the post larvae cultured in nursery pond with area of 0.25 hectare, and density of 96 post larvae in each square meter, and then transfer to the rearing ponds. In each pond, 2 aerators with potency of 3 horsepower fixed. Every day horsepower clarified at 21p.m. to 23 p.m and out at 6 a.m to 7 a.m. The first stage of culture begun in 19 April with pl 18. The yield pick-up after 96 days. The stocking of pl in the nursery ponds was done in 25 July with pl16 and after 38 days hunted and transferred to second stage culture. The second culture was done in 1 September and pick-up after 65 days. For feeding of shrimps we used commercial food numbers 4001 until 4006. In the first mount the feeding of shrimps were done as blind feed and then with the shrimps biomass and with research of feeding trays. Water temperature, dissolved oxygen and pH daily in 2 times at the morning (6 a.m) and evening (at 15 p.m) and the salinity, transparency and water depth 1 time daily measured. In the first culture period (96 days), the mean weight, length, daily weight gain, FCR, survival percent shrimp production were 14.03 gr, 12.08 cm, 0.15 gr, 1.02 gr, 92 percent and 2132 kilograms and in the second culture period (65 days) 14.55 gr, 12.48 cm, 0.22 gr, 0.84, 73 percent and 2675 kilogarms measuered respectively. Totally, in the second period culture the initial weight of shrimps was higher than the first period culture 1.95 gr and 0.008 gr respectively, therefore growth indexes in the second period were better than the first culture period. Coefficient of determination of weight and lenth of shrimps with increase of cultue days, in the first and second culture periods, in the total cases the number were higher than 0.97. This shown that the role of increase of days on the increase of weight and lenth is higher than 97 percent. Also, determination of product moment, showed that there is very strong correlation between increase of days and increase of weight and lenth and between weight and lenth (0.97 to 0.99)

Photothermic therapy with cuttlefish ink-based nanoparticles in combination with anti-OX40 mAb achieve remission of triple-negative breast cancer

Immunostimulatory monoclonal antibodies (IS-mAb) have been proven to enhance the therapeutic effectiveness of various anticancer therapy. In the present investigation, we launched a separate combinational therapy for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) using cuttlefish ink-based nanoparticles (CINPs) for photothermal therapy (PTT) and anti-OX40 antibody. Our goal was to increase the therapeutic response to the disease. CINPs were characterized by their physicochemical properties, which revealed that they had a hydrodynamic diameter ranging from 128 to 148 nm, a negative surface charge, and a high photothermal conversion efficiency under both in vitro and in vivo settings. In TNBC model, we evaluated the therapeutic effectiveness of the following groups: CINP-PTT + anti-OX40 Ab (G1), CINPs-PTT (G2), CINPs + anti-OX40 Ab (G3), anti-OX40 (G4) or PBS (G5). In each case, we assessed the efficacy of these groups against one another. The intratumor administration of all of the substances and therapies was performed. CINP-PTT + anti-OX40 Ab and CINP + anti-OX40 Ab (particularly CINP-PTT + anti-OX40 Ab) induced significant tumor regression in treated (breast) and non-treated (flank) tumor, and completely inhibited lung metastasis, thereby inducing a higher survival rate in mice in comparison to CINP-PTT, anti-OX40 Ab, or PBS. This was the case because in CINPs-treated tumors, particularly those treated with CINPs-PTT, intratumoral injection of CINPs increased the frequency of OX40, CD8 double-positive T cells. CINPs improved the conversion of the macrophage phenotype from M2 to M1 in vitro, which is significant from an immunological point of view. In addition, anti-OX40 Ab combined with CINPs or, more specifically, CINPs-PPT produced a larger frequency of preexisting and newly formed tumor-specific CD8 T cells, as well as an enhanced frequency of CD8 T cells infiltrating non-treated tumors, in comparison to respective monotherapies. When the data were taken into consideration as a whole, it seemed that CINPs-based PTT may effectively enhance the antitumor response effectiveness of anti-OX40 Ab