The similarity of astrocytes number in dentate gyrus and CA3 subfield of rats hippocampus

The dentate gyrus is a part of hippocampal formation that it contains granule cells, which project to the pyramidal cells and interneurons of the CA3 subfield of the hippocampus. Astrocytes play a more active role in neuronal activity, including regulating ion flux currents, energy production, neurotransmitter release and synaptogenesis. Astrocytes are the only cells in the brain that contain the energy molecule glycogen. The close relationship between dentate gyrus and CA3 area can cause the similarity of the number of astrocytes in these areas. In this study 5 male albino wistar rats were used. Rats were housed in large plastic cage in animal house and were maintained under standard conditions, after histological processing, The 7 μm slides of the brains were stained with PTAH staining for showing the astrocytes. This staining is specialized for astrocytes. We showed that the number of astrocytes in different (ant., mid., post) parts of dentate gyrus and CA3 of hippocampus is the same. For example, the anterior parts of two area have the most number of astrocytes and the middle parts of two area have the least number of astrocytes. We concluded that dentate gyrus and CA3 area of hippocampus have the same group of astrocytes. © 2007 Asian Network For Scientific Information

The effect of spatial learning on the number of astrocytes in rat dentate gyrus

In this study, we evaluated the effect of spatial learning on the number of astrocytes in the rat dentate gyrus with Morris water maze. Fifteen male albino Wistar rats were divided into three groups as control, reference memory and working memory groups. Each group was consisted of 5 rats. After spatial learning, the brains were histologically examined; the slides were stained with phosphotungstic acid hematoxylin (PTAH) staining to show the astrocytes. We found significant difference in the number of astrocytes in dentate gyrus between control and reference memory groups, and between control and working memory groups as well. When compared two learning groups there was a significant difference in the number of astrocytes between them, being higher in the working memory group. We concluded that the number of astrocytes increased due to spatial learning and this increase can be affected to the period of learning. Our studies of spatial learning and effect of learning techniques (reference and working memory) showed that the technique that has longer period of learning has more effect on the number of astrocytes

The effect of spatial learning on the number of astrocytes in the CA3 subfield of the rat hippocampus

Introduction: Astrocytes play an important role in the hippocampus, probably in memory and learning. The aim of this study was to evaluate the number of astrocytes in the CA3 subfield of the rat hippocampus after spatial learning using the Morris water maze with reference and working memory methods. Methods: 45 male albino wistar rats were divided into three groups, with 15 rats in the control group and 15 rats in each of the other two groups. The two study groups of rats underwent spatial learning using the Morris water maze, with one group trained using the reference memory and the other, the working memory technique, respectively. After histological processing, the slides of the brains were stained with the phosphotanguestic acid haematoxylin staining method for detection of the astrocytes. Results: There was a significant difference in the number of astrocytes in the CA3 area between the control and reference memory groups. The difference between control and working memory groups was significant as well. Additionally, when comparing the two learning groups, we also found significant differences between them. Conclusion: The number of astrocytes increased due to spatial learning

The astrocytes number in different subfield of rat's hippocampus in reference memory learning method

In this study with usage of morris water maze and reference memory technique, we used 10 male albino wistar rats. Five rats in control group and 5 rats in Reference memory group. After histological preparation, the slides were stained widi PTAH staining for showing the Astrocytes. Present results showed significant difference in astrocytes number in CA1, CA2 and CA3 area of hippocampus between control and reference memory group. The number of astrocytes is increased in reference memory group. Then we divided the hippocampus to three parts: Anterior, middle and posterior and with compare of different area (CA1, CA2 and CA3) of hippocampus, we found that the increase of astrocytes number in posterior two-third of CA2 and CA3 is more man of it's number in the anterior one-third. © 2007 Asian Network for Scientific Information

Evaluating knowledge, attitude and practice of Health-Care Workers regarding patient education in Iran

The objective of the study was to evaluate the position of patient education measuring knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) among health care workers (HCWs). It is also aimed to emphasize the need for a real position for patient education. This survey was performed among a group of HCWs in Iran. The scores had an acceptable level. However, nurses, females and younger people received higher scores. The staff was already aware of patient education necessity and considered it as the duty of all medical team. Often HCWs cannot include patient education in their routine due to time shortage, lack of staff�s financial motivation, fatigue, and loads of work, etc. There is still need for a real training in the educational curriculum. Additionally, the various HCWs�related obstacles should be taken into account. © 2015 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

An ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants administered for the treatment of hypertension

Introduction: The incidence of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) is very high in human societies and their prevention and treatment are the most important priority in many countries. Hypertension makes an important contribution to the development of CVDs. Objectives: This study aimed to collect the ethno-medicinal knowledge of the traditional healers of Shiraz on medicinal plants used in the treatment of hypertension. Materials and Methods: Ethno-medicinal data were collected from September 2012 to July 2013 through direct interview. Twenty-five healers were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires and their traditional ethno-medicinal knowledge was recorded. Questionnaires were included apothecary personal information, plant local name, plant parts used, method of preparation, season of harvest and traditional use. Data collected from surveys and interviews were transferred to Microsoft Excel 2007 and analyzed. Results: Analysis of data showed that, 27 medicinal plants from 22 families are used for the treatment of hypertension. The families with most antihypertensive species were Apiaceae (8), Rosaceae (8) and Papaveraceae (8). The most frequently used plant parts were leaves (36) followed by fruits (30), aerial part (17) and branches (7). The most frequently used preparation method was decoction (95). Borago officinalis (51.85), Berberis vulgaris (51.58) had the highest frequency of mention. Conclusion: The ethno-medicinal survey of medicinal plants recommended by traditional healers for the treatment of hypertension provides new areas of research on the antihypertensive effect of medicinal plants. In the case of safety and effectiveness, they can be refined and processed to produce natural drugs

Genotype and allele frequencies of N-acetyltransferase 2 and glutathione S-transferase in the Iranian population

1. Xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes constitute an important line of defence against a variety of carcinogens. Many are polymorphic, constituting the basis for the wide interindividual variation in metabolic capacity and possibly a source of variation in the susceptibility to chemical-induced carcinogenesis. The aim of the present study was to determine the frequencies of important allelic variants in the N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) genes in the Iranian population and compare them with frequencies in other ethnic populations. 2. Genotyping was performed in a total of 229 unrelated healthy subjects (119 men, 110 women) for NAT2 and 170 unrelated healthy subjects (89 men, 81 women) for GST from the general Tehran population. A combination of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) was applied for typing of NAT2 polymorphisms. Detection of GSTM1 and GSTT1 null alleles was performed simultaneously using a multiplex PCR assay. 3. The frequencies of specific NAT2 alleles were 0.299, 0.314, 0.380, 0.007 and 0.000 for *4 (wild-type), *5 (C481T, M1), *6 (G590A, M2), *7 (G857A, M3) and *14 (G191A, M4), respectively. The most prevalent genotypes were NAT2 *5/*6 (29.70) and *4/*6 (21.40). The GSTM1- and GSTT1-null alleles were detected in 44.7 and 21.2 of subjects, respectively. 4. We found that Iranians resemble Indians with regard to allelic frequencies of the tested variants of NAT2. The predominance of slow (49.36) and intermediate (41.47) acetylation status compared with wild-type rapid acetylation status (9.17) in the study group suggests the significant prevalence of the slow acetylator (SA) phenotypes in the Iranian population. Our data confirmed that Iranians are similar to other Caucasian populations in the frequency of both GSTM1- and GSTT1-null alleles. © 2007 The Authors

Effects of training in the Morris water maze on the spatial learning acquisition and VAChT expression in male rats

"n  "n  Background and the purpose of the study: It has been well established that cholinergic pathway plays an important role in learning and memory processes. The present study was designed to evaluate the effects of Morris water maze (MWM) training on spatial memory acquisition and expression of the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT) in male rats. "n  Methods: In this study, training trials of all groups of animals were conducted in the MWM task. Rats received one training session consisting of four trials per day which continued for another four consecutive days. Controls received visible platform MWM training. The escape latency, the traveled distance and swimming speed for each rat were recorded and used to evaluate the performance of the animal during training period. For evaluation of expression of VAChT protein levels, brain tissues from animals in each experiment were obtained immediately after the last trial on the related experimental day and processed for immunohistochemistry staining and western blotting analysis. "n  Results: There was a significant difference between animals subjected to one day training and those receiving four days of training in escape latency and travel distance. There were an apparent increase in VAChT immunoreactivity in the medial septal area (MSA) and CA1 region of the hippocampus in one day and four day trained animals compared with controls (visible group). Quantitative immunostaining analysis by optical density measurements in the CA1 region and evaluation of immunopositive neurons in medial septal area of brain sections confirmed qualitative findings. Assessment of VAChT protein level expression in hippocampus by western blotting evaluation showed the same pattern of immunohistochemistry results. "n  Conclusion: Overall, results of this study reveal changes in cholinergic neuron activity in different stages of training in the MWM task. Data suggest that there is a significant level of cholinergic neuronal activity during early stages of the training especially in the hippocampus region that may contribute to the apparent increase in VAChT expression

Inter- and intra-rater reliability of brief BESTest in balance evaluation of patients with stroke: Brief report

Background: Impaired balance is one of the most common symptoms that occur after stroke. There are several tests for evaluating balance in neurological disorders. Briefbalance evaluation systems test (Brief-BESTest) is the short version of BESTest that assess the systems contributing to postural control. The purpose of this study was to investigate the inter- and intra-rater reliability of the Persian version of Brief-BESTest for balance evaluation in patients with stroke. Methods: Patients with stroke recruited from the Tehran University of Medical Sciences Physiotherapy Clinics in Tehran participated in this cross-sectional study. Patients were included in the study with first ever stroke, able to follow instructions, able to walk without aid, and willingness to participate in the study. The study was conducted from August to December 2016. Two physiotherapists independently scored the videotaped performance of patients on Persian Brief-BESTest in one session for inter-rater reliability. The first physiotherapist recorded the patients� performance on Persian Brief-BESTest after 1 week for intra-rater reliability. The physiotherapists were blinded to each other�s scores. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to assess the reliability. SPSS statistical software, version 18 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA) was used for all analyses. Results: Thirty patients with stroke (10 males, 20 females, mean age 57.3±13.5 years, duration 40.7±47.3 months) participated in this study. The ICC values for inter-rater reliability and intra-rater reliability of total scores were 0.98 (95 CI: (0.95-0.99)) and 0.99 (95 CI: (0.98-0.99)), respectively. The ICC values for inter- and intra-rater reliability of each item score were 0.72-1.0, and 0.87-1.0 respectively. Conclusion: The Persian version of Brief-BESTest has high inter- and intra-rater reliability for evaluation of balance in patients with stroke. Therefore, it is recommended for use by clinicians in the clinic and for research purposes in the clinical trials. © 2018, Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

U(1) Instantons on AdS_4 and the Uplift to Exact Supergravity Solutions

We consider self-duality equation of U(1) gauge fields on Euclidean AdS_4 space, and find a simple finite action solution. With a suitable ansatz, we are able to embed this solution into the 10d supergravity background of AdS_4\times CP^3. Further, we show that the solution can be uplifted to an exact solution in 11d supergravity background of AdS_4\times SE_7.Comment: 12 pages, a comment on boundary conditions and refs. adde