Assessment of non-linearity in calorie–income relationship in Pakistan

This article considers the issue of assessing non-linearity in the relationship between calorie consumption and income using non-parametric and semi-parametric approaches. These methodologies are implemented on the cross-sectional household survey data conducted in Pakistan in 2010–2011. This framework takes account of the heterogeneity among families and potential non-linearity in the relationship. The findings show that the calorie–income elasticity is considerable and statistically significant across estimating methodologies. The results also demonstrate that the elasticity is larger for the substantially poorer households of the sample. By incorporating the explanatory variables in a manageable way in the parametric section of regression procedures, the semi-parametric analysis also reveals a slight increase in calorie response to increases in income at various income levels

The income-elasticity of calories, macro and micro nutrients: What is the literature telling us?

Food security and nutrition have become central to the policy agendas of governmental and non-governmental organizations due to their consequences on health and economic development. Changes in consumption patterns in response to price and income changes could impact on nutrient intake with related positive or negative consequences. This article aims to systematically review the elasticity of calories, macronutrients and micronutrients to income in developing and developed countries. We consider a large set of estimates on income elasticity for calories, protein, fat, zinc, iron and vitamin A. This is one of the few reviews that examines the estimates for income elasticity of calories, micronutrients, and micronutrients on a comparative basis. Moreover, we investigate the determinants of the heterogeneity in estimates by means of a rigorous and popular approach of meta-analysis. We found a substantial publication bias, and, in particular, we found that the quality of data is very important as it is able to influence estimates

Propofol Pretreatment Protects Hippocampal CA1 Neurons from Ischemia-reperfusion Injury in Rat

Background: The number of brain strokes induced by ischemia has increased significantly in recent years as a result of brain vascular disorders. Some of these patients will require brain vascular surgery. Brain ischemia, large-scale bleeding, and hypoxia are all severe risks that must be avoided when using an anesthetic medicine that has the best protective benefits for the patient's brain and vascular system during the surgical process. One of the most critical pathogenic events in ischemia-reperfusion is apoptosis, and the CA1 region of the hippocampus is one of the most vulnerable parts of the brain to ischemia. Propofol is a neuroprotective intravenous anesthetic for cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. Few studies have been conducted on the neuroprotective and neurobehavioral effects of propofol, and the underlying mechanism remains unclear. However, few studies have looked into the dose and injection timing of the drug to achieve neuroprotective effects. Aim: The purpose of this study was to see if propofol could protect male Wistar rat hippocampal CA1pyramidal cells from ischemia and brief overall reperfusion damage. Methods: The 18 male Wistar rats were placed into three groups: control, ischemia, and experimental. 1 hour before ischemia, 40 mg/kg propofol was given intraperitoneally. Ischemia was induced by blocking the common carotid arteries on both sides for 20 minutes. For histomorphologic alterations, the Hematoxylin-Eosin, Nissl, and TUNEL techniques were used. Results: The researchers discovered that 40mg/kg propofol has protective effects on hippocampus pyramidal neurons in ischemia/reperfusion-induced lab rats. Conclusion: Propofol can drastically reduce neuron death while also protecting them from ischemia damage

The income-elasticity of calories, macro and micro nutrients: What is the literature telling us?

Food security and nutrition have become central to the policy agendas of governmental and non-governmental organizations due to their consequences on health and economic development. Changes in consumption patterns in response to price and income changes could impact on nutrient intake with related positive or negative consequences. This article aims to systematically review the elasticity of calories, macronutrients and micronutrients to income in developing and developed countries. We consider a large set of estimates on income elasticity for calories, protein, fat, zinc, iron and vitamin A. This is one of the few reviews that examines the estimates for income elasticity of calories, micronutrients, and micronutrients on a comparative basis. Moreover, we investigate the determinants of the heterogeneity in estimates by means of a rigorous and popular approach of meta-analysis. We found a substantial publication bias, and, in particular, we found that the quality of data is very important as it is able to influence estimates

Ubiquinone [Q10] and Dentate Gyrus Ischaemia Reperfusion Injury in a Rat Model of Brain Ischaemia

Introduction: This research was conducted to evaluate the effect of ubiquinone following ischemia/reperfusion on dentate gyrus in Wistar rats. Materials and Methods: Twenty-four Rats were randomly assigned to four groups [n=6].  Common carotid arteries were bilaterally closed for 20 minutes in order to perform ischemic model. Four days later, all rats were slaughtered and hippocampal tissue was examined by Nissl staining method. Results: The data showed that ubiquinone had a neurotrophic effect on dentate gyrus cells of hippocampal region in ischemia/reperfusion model. Conclusion: Our findings adduce the argument that ubiquinone can be used to treat brain lesions following ischemia

In Vitro Culture of Mouse Preantral Follicle in Supplemented Medium with Bone Morphogenetic Protein 15 (BMP15)

Background: BMD-15 is a member of the superfamily of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), which has a determinant role in fertility. This protein is essential for the development of ovarian follicles and acts mainly by binding to its receptor on the surface of granulosa cells. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of BMP-15 on in vitro ovarian follicle growth and embryo development. Methods: In this study, preantral follicles were isolated mechanically from 12 days NMRI mouse ovaries, then the follicles were cultured in basic growth medium enriched by FBS, FSH, and ITS‏ and BMP-15-enriched for 12 days. During the culture, survival rate and follicular maturation, follicular diameter, level of estrogen, and progesterone secretion and embryo developmental rate were evaluated. Results: The results of this study showed that the percentage of antral follicles, maturation rate and hormone levels and the diameter of follicles was significantly higher in BMP-15 supplemented media in comparison to basic media. Embryo development was also higher at BMP-15 enriched group in comparison to the group of follicles, which were grown in the basic culture media. Conclusion: The present study demonstrates that supplemented media with BMP-15 to the ovarian preantral follicle culture enhances the in vitro growth of follicle embryo development

Ubiquinone Ameliorates Hippocampus Injury Induced by Cerebral Ischemia/Reperfusion

Background: Apoplexy is known as a critical issue all over the world and certain parts of the brain are more sensitive to Ischemia/cerebral reperfusion such as the hippocampus. Coenzyme Q10 is a powerful anti-oxidant, which helps in cells membrane durability. Aim: This study attempts to find the effect of coenzyme Q10 on the change of hippocampal area texture after cerebral reperfusion/Ischemia.                                                                                                                                Methods: Twenty-four male Wistar rats were organized into 4 groups of six including control, Ischemia, vehicle and experimental groups, with 100 mg /Kg of coenzyme Q10. Coenzyme Q10 was given to the rats 5 days before and 3 days after Ischemia/reperfusion induction. Ischemia was done for 20 minutes by reciprocal blocking of carotid arteries. The rat’s brains were removed and stained by applying the chrysalis fast violet method. The number of viable cells of the hippocampal regions of all 4 groups was counted by Imaging-Pro-Plus software. Statistical analysis of the data was then accomplished by one-way ANOVA and Tukey's test. Results: Findings revealed that the number of viable cells in CA2 and CA3 area reduced following ischemia induction. Whereas, there was no notable change between the control and experimental groups in terms of cells numbers. Besides, there was no remarkable change between the control, experimental and ischemia groups in terms of the number of cells within CA4 area. Conclusion: The results support the use of coenzyme Q10 as a neurotrophic substance and as an adjunctive therapy in patients at risk for ischemic stroke

Effects of FK506 on Hippocampal CA1 Cells Following Transient Global Ischemia/Reperfusion in Wistar Rat

Transient global cerebral ischemia causes loss of pyramidal cells in CA1 region of hippocampus. In this study, we investigated the neurotrophic effect of the immunosuppressant agent FK506 in rat after global cerebral ischemia. Both common carotid arteries were occluded for 20 minutes followed by reperfusion. In experimental group 1, FK506 (6 mg/kg) was given as a single dose exactly at the time of reperfusion. In the second group, FK506 was administered at the beginning of reperfusion, followed by its administration intraperitoneally (IP) 6, 24, 48, and 72 hours after reperfusion. FK506 failed to show neurotrophic effects on CA1 region when applied as a single dose of 6 mg/kg. The cell number and size of the CA1 pyramidal cells were increased, also the number of cell death decreased in this region when FK506 was administrated 48 h after reperfusion. This work supports the possible use of FK506 in treatment of ischemic brain damage

The effect of MDMA and pentoxifylline drug on bad/bcl-xl gene dosage expression changes on rat liver

        MDMA generally known as ecstasy, have deleterious effects on the serotonergic neurotransmitter system. Recent findings suggest that the liver and brain are major target organs of MDMA-related toxicities. Although most research is being dynamically performed on brain, however, the molecular mechanisms by which MDMA elicits adverse effects in both organs are poorly undrestood.The present study was performed to obtain evidence for molecular mechanism of apoptosis involved in MDMA-induced hepatotoxicity in rat liver after MDMAadministration. Moreover, the antagonistic effect of pentoxifylline was assessed on hepatotoxicity after MDMA administration. In this experimental study, sample size and power in each group were calculated as 10 rats with 95% confidence level and 5% confidence interval. In the study, four experimental groups were selected including Control Normal, MDMA, MDMA+PTX and PTX+MDMA. MDMA was dissolved in PBS and intraperitoneally injected three doses of 7.5mg/kg with two hours gap between doses. Pentoxyfilline also was injected as 100mg/kg, simultaneously with third dose of MDMA. After treatment, total RNA was isolated from liver tissue (5mg). Absorbance at 260nm, 280nm and 230nm were measured and immediately reverse transcription was performed. Included target genes were BAD and BCL-XL as pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic gene, respectively. After set up and validation, Real-Time PCR were performed and obtaining data were statistically analyzed to determine significantly differences between groups. Using Real-Time quantitative PCR results, BCL-XL gene expression ratio significantly increased in MDMA+PTX group. Moreover, BAD gene expression ratio increased and up-regulated in PTX+MDMA group (P-value <0.001).Our study focused on molecular mechanism of MDMA in programmed cell death using gene expression quantification of a pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptoic gene in MDMA-induced hepatotoxocity. The results shown MDMA prompted apoptosis in liver and pentoxifylline protects hepatotoxicity after and befor taking MDMA.

The Impact of the Food Price Crises on the demand for nutrients in Pakistan

The global economic crisis in 2007-08 resulted in a tremendous food price increase that is likely to have adversely affected food security and nutritional status in many developing countries. Understanding how nutritional intakes may have changed as a result of the food price crisis is important, especially for Pakistan, the country under scrutiny which, despite of being a large producer of staple food, suffers severe problems of undernourishment. We use two survey rounds, 2005-06 and 2010-11, to investigate how calorie and macro nutrient intakes have evolved. The analysis was carried out with the use of a time varying model is enriched by an in-depth investigation for different quantiles. The results show that food security deteriorated because of the food price crisis. In the light of this outcome, policy implications will be discusse