Histomorphometric evaluation of tibial subchondral bone after moderate running in male and female Wistar rats

Background: Exercise has been shown to be beneficial to the skeleton, in both humans and animals. This study was done to test the sex-related difference in the risk of osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee joint and also on the subchondral bone after moderate running exercise. Materials and methods: Forty male and female Wistar rats were randomly assigned to four equal groups (2 male and 2 female groups) in the same condition. Ten animals of each sex were selected as control groups, while running exercises were performed in remaining 20 male and female rats, using a motor treadmill to motivate rats to run daily distances of 1 km at 5 days/week within 6 weeks. On day 43, all animals were sacrificed and the knee articular cartilage and also histomorphometric parameters of subchondral bone and mid shaft of tibia were evaluated. Results: Results showed mild OA in both male and female runner groups. Results in male runner rats were significantly lesser than that in female runners. On the other hand, the difference in female runner group showed significant changes in comparison with other groups in histomorphometric parameters in tibia. Conclusions: Obtained results showed that the development of knee OA and subchondral bone changes may be related to the sex differences. Although there was no synovitis in male runners, female runner group showed mild hyperaemia dropsy with a moderate synovitis in this region

Solution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy on a nanostructured diamond chip

Sensors using nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond are a promising tool for small-volume nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, but the limited sensitivity remains a challenge. Here we show nearly two orders of magnitude improvement in concentration sensitivity over previous nitrogen-vacancy and picoliter NMR studies. We demonstrate NMR spectroscopy of picoliter-volume solutions using a nanostructured diamond chip with dense, high-aspect-ratio nanogratings, enhancing the surface area by 15 times. The nanograting sidewalls are doped with nitrogen-vacancies located a few nanometers from the diamond surface to detect the NMR spectrum of roughly 1 pl of fluid lying within adjacent nanograting grooves. We perform 1H and 19F nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy at room temperature in magnetic fields below 50 mT. Using a solution of CsF in glycerol, we determine that 4 ± 2 × 1012 19F spins in a 1 pl volume can be detected with a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 in 1 s of integration

Effect of Preceding Crop Type and Different Amounts of Nitrogen Fertilizer on the Yield and Quality of Rapeseed Oil

Rapeseed needs a sufficient amount of nitrogen for optimal seed yield, but the efficiency of this plant in using nitrogenous (N) fertilizers is low, which causes an increase in N consumption in the cultivation of this plant. The need to maintain a high grain yield necessitates the use of a suitable timely program and manage the consumption of N fertilizers. Thus, a field experiment was conducted at the Research Station of Agriculture and Natural Resources of Khuzestan University during 2020-2021 growing season to evaluate the effect of preceding crop and N fertilizer on grain yield of rapeseed. The experiment was carried out as split plots based on a RCBD with three replications. Preceding crops (clover-barley mixture, rapeseed, corn, fallow, mung bean, rice and wheat) were allocated to the main plots and N levels (0.0, 100, 160 and 220 kg ha-1 N from the source of urea fertilizer) were assigned to the sub plots. Results indicated that the grain yield of rapeseed depends mostly on grain number, but the grain yield components (including pods number per plant, grain number per plant, grain number per pods) were mainly affected by the main effect of preceding crop and nitrogen. With the application of 100, 160 and 220 kg ha-1 N the number of grains per pod increased by 34%, 39% and 33%, respectively. The number of grains per plant was also increased by the application of nitrogen fertilizer, where all three levels of nitrogen fertilizer resulted in more than 200% increases in this grain yield attribute. The highest grain yield of rapeseed (3877 kg ha-1) was observed when mung bean was used as preceding crop and 220 kg ha-1 N fertilizer was applied, though it was not significantly different from the treatments of mung bean preceding crop and application of 160 kg ha-1 nitrogen fertilizer (with the production of 3105 kg ha-1 grain) and fallow preceding and 160 kg ha-1 N fertilizer. The lowest grain yield of rapeseed was obtained when corn and rapeseed were used as preceding crops and no N fertilizer was applied, as these preceding crops resulted in only 488 and 497 kg ha-1 grain of rapeseed, respectively. Rapeseed had the highest oil yield (1645 kg ha-1) with mung bean being the preceding crop and 220 kg ha-1 N application. It seems that for achieving the highest oil yield of rapeseed, mung bean preceding crop and 220 kg ha-1 N can be focused on for the next researches

Pre-concentration and determination of amitriptyline residues in waste water by ionic liquid based immersed droplet microextraction and HPLC

This paper describes a new approach for the determination of amitriptyline in wastewater by ionic liquid based immersed droplet microextraction (IL-IDME) prior to high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection. 1-Hexyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([C6MIM][PF6]) was used as an ionic liquid. Various factors that affect extraction, such as volume of ionic liquid, stirring rate, extraction time, pH of the aqueous solution and salting effect, were optimized. The optimal conditions were as follows: microextraction time, 10 min; stirring rate, 720 rpm; pH, 11; ionic drop volume, 100 μL; and no sodium chloride addition. In quantitative experiments the method showed linearity in a range from 0.01 to 10 μg/mL, a limit of detection of 0.004 μg/mL and an excellent pre-concentration factor (PF) of 1100. Finally, the method was successfully applied to the determination of amitriptyline in the hospital wastewater samples. Keywords: Antidepressant, Ionic liquid based immersed droplet microextraction (IL-IDME), High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC

Solution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy on a nanostructured diamond chip

Sensors using nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond are a promising tool for small-volume nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, but the limited sensitivity remains a challenge. Here we show nearly two orders of magnitude improvement in concentration sensitivity over previous nitrogen-vacancy and picoliter NMR studies. We demonstrate NMR spectroscopy of picoliter-volume solutions using a nanostructured diamond chip with dense, high-aspect-ratio nanogratings, enhancing the surface area by 15 times. The nanograting sidewalls are doped with nitrogen-vacancies located a few nanometers from the diamond surface to detect the NMR spectrum of roughly 1 pl of fluid lying within adjacent nanograting grooves. We perform 1H and 19F nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy at room temperature in magnetic fields below 50 mT. Using a solution of CsF in glycerol, we determine that 4 ± 2 × 1012 19F spins in a 1 pl volume can be detected with a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 in 1 s of integration

Unexpected PD‐L1 immune evasion mechanism in TNBC, ovarian, and other solid tumors by DR5 agonist antibodies

Abstract Lack of effective immune infiltration represents a significant barrier to immunotherapy in solid tumors. Thus, solid tumor‐enriched death receptor‐5 (DR5) activating antibodies, which generates tumor debulking by extrinsic apoptotic cytotoxicity, remains a crucial alternate therapeutic strategy. Over past few decades, many DR5 antibodies moved to clinical trials after successfully controlling tumors in immunodeficient tumor xenografts. However, DR5 antibodies failed to significantly improve survival in phase‐II trials, leading in efforts to generate second generation of DR5 agonists to supersize apoptotic cytotoxicity in tumors. Here we have discovered that clinical DR5 antibodies activate an unexpected immunosuppressive PD‐L1 stabilization pathway, which potentially had contributed to their limited success in clinics. The DR5 agonist stimulated caspase‐8 signaling not only activates ROCK1 but also undermines proteasome function, both of which contributes to increased PD‐L1 stability on tumor cell surface. Targeting DR5‐ROCK1‐PD‐L1 axis markedly increases immune effector T‐cell function, promotes tumor regression, and improves overall survival in animal models. These insights have identified a potential clinically viable combinatorial strategy to revive solid cancer immunotherapy using death receptor agonism

Unexpected PD-L1 immune evasion mechanism in TNBC, ovarian, and other solid tumors by DR5 agonist antibodies.

Lack of effective immune infiltration represents a significant barrier to immunotherapy in solid tumors. Thus, solid tumor-enriched death receptor-5 (DR5) activating antibodies, which generates tumor debulking by extrinsic apoptotic cytotoxicity, remains a crucial alternate therapeutic strategy. Over past few decades, many DR5 antibodies moved to clinical trials after successfully controlling tumors in immunodeficient tumor xenografts. However, DR5 antibodies failed to significantly improve survival in phase-II trials, leading in efforts to generate second generation of DR5 agonists to supersize apoptotic cytotoxicity in tumors. Here we have discovered that clinical DR5 antibodies activate an unexpected immunosuppressive PD-L1 stabilization pathway, which potentially had contributed to their limited success in clinics. The DR5 agonist stimulated caspase-8 signaling not only activates ROCK1 but also undermines proteasome function, both of which contributes to increased PD-L1 stability on tumor cell surface. Targeting DR5-ROCK1-PD-L1 axis markedly increases immune effector T-cell function, promotes tumor regression, and improves overall survival in animal models. These insights have identified a potential clinically viable combinatorial strategy to revive solid cancer immunotherapy using death receptor agonism

Diagnostic approach to the patients with suspected primary immunodeficiency

Background and Objective: Primary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDs) are a group of more than 350 disorders affecting distinct components of the innate and adaptive immune systems. In this review, the classic and advanced stepwise approach towards the diagnosis of PIDs are simplified and explained in detail. Results: Susceptibility to recurrent infections is the main hallmark of almost all PIDs. However, non-infectious complications attributable to immune dysregulation presenting with lymphoproliferative and/or autoimmune disorders are not uncommon. Moreover, PIDs could be associated with misleading presentations including allergic manifestations, enteropathies, and malignancies. Conclusion: Timely diagnosis is the most essential element in improving outcome and reducing the morbidity and mortality in PIDs. This wouldn�t be possible unless the physicians keep the diagnosis of PID in mind and be sufficiently aware of the approach to these patients. © 2020 Bentham Science Publishers