Effect of Egg Yolk and Cooling on Storage of Ram Coated Spermatozoa

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of egg yolk and cooling on ram coated spermatozoa. Semen was collected from three ram by artificial vagina contacted with a tube containing Tris- fructose-egg yolk 15%. Samples were pooled, centrifuged by 700 g for 10 min and removed supernatant. Then, samples were diluted by Tris-glucose and centrifuged again to remove seminal plasma and egg yolk. Aliquots split into two fractions and each one was split into 5 parts and added egg yolk 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20%. The half of the treatments were gradually cold and other ones were encountered with cold shock then samples were incubated at 5C for 72 h. Progressive sperm motility, plasma membrane integrity, viability (by Hoechst 33258 fluorescent staining) and acrosome reaction (by PNA-Alexa flur-488) were investigated at 0, 24, 48 and 72 h. The results showed that there was no difference between 15% and 20% egg yolk in the progressive sperm motility but they were higher than 0% and 5% egg yolk. There was highest difference between 0% and 20 % egg yolk in the progressive sperm motility. There was no difference among the treatments containing egg yolk in plasma membrane integrity and acrosome reaction. In both cooling rate, there was no difference among the treatments containing egg yolk in the sperm viability. It was suggested that 20% egg yolk was superior to keep the function of ram coated spermatozoa for storage at 5C

Experiencing neonatal maternal separation increased pain sensitivity in adult male mice: Involvement of oxytocinergic system

Early-life stress adversely affects the development of the brain, and alters a variety of behaviors such as pain in later life. In present study, we investigated how early-life stress (maternal separation or MS) can affect the nociceptive response later in life. We particularly focused on the role of oxytocin (OT) in regulating nociception in previously exposed (MS during early postnatal development) mice that were subjected to acute stress (restraint stress or RS). Further, we evaluated whether such modulation of pain sensation in MS mice are regulated by shared mechanisms of the OTergic and opioidergic systems. To do this, we assessed the underlying systems mediating the nociceptive response by administrating different antagonists (for both opioid and OTergic systems) under the different experimental conditions (control vs MS, and control plus RS vs MS plus RS). Our results showed that MS increased pain sensitivity in both tail-flick and hot-plate tests while after administration of OT (1 μg/μl/mouse, i.c.v) pain threshold was increased. Atosiban, an OT antagonist (10 μg/μl/mouse, i.c.v) abolished the effects of OT. While acute RS increased the pain threshold in control (and not MS) mice, treating MS mice with OT normalized the pain response to RS. This latter effect was reversed by atosiban and/or naltrexone, an opioid antagonist (0.5 μg/μl/mouse, i.c.v) suggesting that OT enhances the effect of endogenous opioids. OTergic system is involved in mediating the nociception under acute stress in mice subjected to early-life stress and OTergic and opioidergic systems interact to modulate pain sensitivity in MS mice

Evaluation of the diabetes care cascade and compliance with WHO global coverage targets in Iran based on STEPS survey 2021

Abstract This study aimed to investigate the diabetes mellitus (DM) and prediabetes epidemiology, care cascade, and compliance with global coverage targets. We recruited the results of the nationally representative Iran STEPS Survey 2021. Diabetes and prediabetes were two main outcomes. Diabetes awareness, treatment coverage, and glycemic control were calculated for all population with diabetes to investigate the care cascade. Four global coverage targets for diabetes developed by the World Health Organization were adopted to assess the DM diagnosis and control status. Among 18,119 participants, the national prevalence of DM and prediabetes were 14.2% (95% confidence interval 13.4–14.9) and 24.8% (23.9–25.7), respectively. The prevalence of DM treatment coverage was 65.0% (62.4–67.7), while the prevalence of good (HbA1C < 7%) glycemic control was 28.0% (25.0–31.0) among all individuals with diabetes. DM diagnosis and statin use statics were close to global targets (73.3% vs 80%, and 50.1% vs 60%); however, good glycemic control and strict blood pressure control statistics, were much way behind the goals (36.7% vs 80%, and 28.5% vs 80%). A major proportion of the Iranian population are affected by DM and prediabetes, and glycemic control is poorly achieved, indicating a sub-optimal care for diabetes and comorbidities like hypertension