Astrogliosis in different zones of the spinal cord gray matter after sciatic nerve axotomy in the newborn rat: A morphometric and immunohistochemical study

Astrocytic response following unilateral sciatic nerve axotomy was examined in the spinal gray matter of newborn rats. Using an antiserum to glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), immunoreactive astrocytes were studied in the ventral, dorsal and transitional region between the dorsal and ventral gray matters (TDVG) at intervals of one day, one week, two weeks and one month postaxotomy. The axotomized side showed an obvious increase in the number of immunoreactive astrocytes at one week, two weeks and one month after surgery. The numerical density per area of the glial cells (N(a)) was determined in all groups on both the intact and axotomized sides, and it increased in all groups at the axotomized sides. The percentage of glial cell increase (Pgi) was also determined. At the ventral horn Pgi increased at day one and continued to increase in all groups, while the increase in TDVG and the dorsal horn occurred at later time points. The total motoneuron count in the ventral horn at the axotomized and intact sides was done at all time points, and the percentage of motoneuron reduction (Pmr) was calculated, the highest Pmr being noticed at one month (41%). A nonlinear regression for Pmr and Pgi showed that the rate of Pgi was approximately double that of Pmr. The rate of glial cell increase at each time point (one day, one week, two weeks and one month groups) was calculated, and the highest rate of glial cell increase in the ventral horn occurred one week after axotomy, while the highest rate in the dorsal horn and TDVG occurred at the second week. The conclusion of the study is that there may be an initial post-axotomic proliferative phase of the glial cells, which was followed by a differentiation phase. Also a gradient of an increase in the rate glial cell proliferation was noticed from the ventral horn toward the dorsal horn, maybe due to stimulation by a paracrine factor

Designing an Automated Timetable for University Courses Using Genetic Algorithms

Designing timetables, for example course timetables in an institute, is one of the most complicated and time-consuming challenges for personnel. Automating it, not only can help the personnel to manage their work better, but also can be considered as a desired sample to assess the ways of planning and to tackle the constraint satisfaction in artificial intelligence. In this paper, genetic algorithms are primarily studied and then it is applied for optimization of an imaginary faculty course timetable. The new designed algorithm is based on keeping the better chromosomes of the population and employing genetic operators on the others in order to improve the overall quality of genes. Some other amendments are also carried out to develop a more capable genetic algorithm for TT applications, compared to the standard one. According to the tests, the new GA algorithm will be more successful in generating high fidelity TTs which do not break any hard constraint. The proposed ideas, in this approach are applicable in other similar situations

Relationship of fatty acids content of ldl particles with their electrical charges in patients with coronary artery disease

Background: Low density lipoprotein (LDL) particles have shown to be heterogeneous structures with distinctive electrical charges. Alteration in the fatty acids content of the LDL particles is known to affect their structural features, electrical charges, and ultimately physiologic properties and, in this way, may play a role in the pathology of coronary artery disease (CAD). On the basis of evidences, in the present study, the relationship of fatty acids content of LDL particles and their electrical charge was assessed in patients with CAD in comparison with control subjects. Methods: In the current case- control study, from subjects who referred to the Mostafa Khomeini Hospital in Ilam during a time period from December 2013 to October 2014, 40 CAD patients and 40 control subjects were selected based on the clinical and angiographic parameters. The fatty acids content and electrical charges of LDL particles were measured by using a gas chromatography system, equipped with a flame ionization detector GC-FID, Acme 6000 M (Young Lin Co., Korea) as well as a Zetasizer (Malvern Instruments Ltd., UK), respectively. Results: In the present study, CAD patients and control subjects were matched for age, sex, and body mass index (BMI). The electrical charge amounts of LDL particles in the patients group was significantly lower than those in the control subjects (P= 0.0001). There was an inverse correlation between the electrical charge amounts of the LDL particles and the saturated fatty acids as well as linoleic acid contents of them in CAD patients group. However, we found a direct correlation between the unsaturated fatty acids (monounsaturated fatty acids and some of the polyunsaturated ones) content of the LDL particles and their electrical charge amounts (P= 0.02). Conclusion: Results of the present study demonstrated that the increased saturated fatty acids as well as the linoleic acid contents of the LDL particles are associated with decreased electrical charge amounts of these particles and this situation may engage in pathogenesis of CAD. © 2015 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Plasma levels of CTRP-3, CTRP-9 and apelin in women with multiple sclerosis

Background: Recently, adipocytokines have been shown to play a pivotal role in autoimmune and inflammatory-related disease. The purpose of this study was to compare the levels of CTRP3, CTRP9, adiponectin and apelin- in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients with healthy subjects and their relationship with clinical parameters and the levels of pro-inflammatory mediators. Methods: Plasma levels of CTRP3, CTRP9, apelin, TNF-α, hs-CRP, and adiponectin were evaluated in 24 healthy women and 26 women with relapsing�remitting MS using immunoassay methods. Results: The plasma apelin level of the MS patients was significantly lower than that of healthy controls. The concentration of TNF-α and adiponectin were significantly higher in MS patients compared to the healthy controls. Plasma CTRP3, CTRP9 and hs-CRP levels were not significantly different between the two groups. There was no correlation between these adipokines and inflammatory mediators. A statistically significant negative correlation was observed between plasma concentrations of apelin with expanded disability status scale (EDSS) scores and number of relapse. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that adipokines, particularly apelin and adiponectin, may contribute to the pathogenesis of MS and can be considered as a biomarker or as a therapeutic target for the treatment of this disease. © 2019 Elsevier B.V