Morphometric and meristic variations in bream (Abramis brama orientalis, Berg, 1949) during larval development

This study was conducted to examine morphometric and meristic characteristics alongside pigmentation patterns of bream larvae, Abramis brama orientalis, in four stages of larval development. Morphological characters including total length (TL), standard length (SL), notochord length (NL), head length (HL), head depth (HD), eye diameter (ED) and mouth width (MW) were examined from hatching time through 30 days after hatching (DAH). The results showed morphometric variations in the different larval stages. Growth and development of fins occurred mainly at the Post Flexion stage with the completion of caudal fin at 9 mm TL and pelvic fin at 13.33 mm TL. At all larval stages, the highest concentration of pigments was seen on dorsal, ventral and somewhat on the lateral sides of body in descending order. The highest density of melanophores at larvae yolk sac stage was observed on the yolk sac and the back of head zone, while at preflexion and flexion stages melanophores were dominant on the back of head and on the skin folds which resulted from yolk absorption. At post flexion stage, high density of melanophores was found on the back of the head, bases of fins and caudal fin, while less concentrations of these cells were evident on the lateral sides of fish' body. In conclusion, a clear change in the growth and main morphological characters were observed in postflexion stage. This may be due to the main development of fins, which would suggest enhanced swimming capabilities and also prey capture efficiencies

Evaluation of anti-inflammatory and analgesic activity of the extract and fractions of Astragalus hamosus in animal models

The objective of this study was to evaluate the anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of the hydro-alcoholic extract of the pods of Astragalus hamosus (HAAH), a plant used in Iranian traditional medicine, and antinociceptive effects of different fractions in animal models. The anti-inflammatory effect was evaluated by the rat paw edema induced by formalin. Also the analgesic effect was examined by the acetic-acid-induced writhing response and hot plate test. The analgesic effects of chloroform, hexane, ethyl acetate and aqueous fractions were evaluated by the hot-plate method. The hydroalcoholic extract of Astragalus hamosus could reduce the edema in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.05). In the acute phase, the result of 1000 mg/Kg and in the chronic phase, the result of 100 and 300 mg/Kg of the extract were more significant and comparable with the effect of sodium salicylate. Also application of different doses of HAAH had significant anti-nociceptive effects on both animal models. The findings showed that HAAH at doses of 700 and 1000 mg/Kg produced analgesic effects comparable to sodium salicylate. The hexane and ethyl acetate (but not the other fractions) showed significant analgesic activity in hot plate test, when compared to morphine. The results of this study demonstrated the anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of HAAH extract and hexane and ethyl acetate fractions of the extract in animal models and justify traditional use of this plant in the treatment of pain and inflammatory conditions. More studies to clarify the active components are necessary. © 2015 by School of Pharmacy Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and Health Services

Toxic heavy metal concentration in soft tissues of gray mullet Liza aurata (Mugilidae: Perciformes) during the sexual maturity and sexual rest

This study was conducted to determine the concentration of five heavy metals, including lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic, and chromium in muscle, liver and gills of the gray mullet, Liza aurata in southern part of the Caspian Sea. The samples were collected during sexual maturity (in the fall) and sexual rest (in the spring). The mean concentration of lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic, and chromium in the muscle tissue were 1.40, 0.43, 0.16, 0.07 and 0.54 µg/g, respectively during sexual maturity and 1.90, 0.93, 0.24, 0.12 and 0.61 µg/g, respectively during sexual rest. Generally, the uptake of heavy metals during sexual rest was higher (Pb>Cd>Cr>Hg>As) than that (Pb>Cr>Cd>Hg>As) during sexual maturity. Pollutants are effective in the accumulation of heavy and toxic metals in L. aurata in the Caspian Sea during different seasons. The concentration pattern of the metals in the three tissues was as follows: liver>gill>muscle. The difference between the concentrations of the metals in studied tissues was significant. A highly significant correlation between the elements in tissues was observed in both sexual periods. The comparison of the data obtained for muscle tissue with the WHO and NHMRC guidelines showed that the concentrations of all the five heavy metals (Pb, Cr, Cd, Hg, As) were higher than the global standard levels for these metals

The effect of adding gentamicin to contrast media for prevention of cholangitis after biliary stenting for non-calculous biliary obstruction, a randomized controlled trial

Aim: Cholangitis is the most common infectious complication of ERCP. In vitro studies showed that addition of aminoglycosides to contrast medium was effective in reducing cholangitis but the results of clinical trials are conflicting. We studied the effect of adding gentamicin to contrast medium in reducing the rate of post-ERCP cholangitis in patients with non-calculous obstructive jaundice. Methods: All patients with non-calculous obstructive jaundice who underwent endoscopic biliary stenting at the Shariati Hospital, Tehran, between December 2009 and October 2010 were enrolled in the study. Gentamicin (10 mg) or distilled water was added to each 10 cc contrast medium during ERCP. Intravenous antibiotics were administered before and after the procedure in all patients. After ERCP and stent deployment, patients were followed for 72 h for symptoms and signs of cholangitis. Results: A total of 114 patients were eligible for the study. Of these, 57 patients were included in each group. Cholangiocarcinoma was the most prevalent diagnosis. The obstruction was relieved in all patients by stenting. Five patients in each group (8. 8 %) developed cholangitis. There was no significant difference in the incidence of cholangitis between the two groups (p = 1. 000). Conclusions: With adequate drainage of the obstructed biliary tract by proper stenting, adding gentamicin to contrast media had no significant effect on incidence of post-ERCP cholangitis. © 2012 Indian Society of Gastroenterology

Genetic variability and differentiation of common Kilka fish (Clupeonella cultriventris Nordmann, 1840) in the southern coasts of Caspian Sea

A total of 120 samples of adult common Kilka fish (Clupeonella cultriventris) were collected during spring and summer from the southern coasts of Caspian Sea (Bandar Anzali and Babolsar). Fifteen sets of microsatellite primers were developed from Clupeidae being tested on genomic DNA of common Kilka. Allele frequency, observed and expected heterozygosity, FST, RST, FIS index were determined. Five primer sets as polymorphic loci were used to analyze the genetic variation in adults of the common Kilka population. Results revealed that average alleles per locus was 13.1 (range 5 to 22 alleles per locus in regions, Ne=9.5). All sampled regions contained private alleles. Average observed and expected heterozygosity was 0.348 and 0.877, respectively. Deviations from Hardy Weinberg equilibrium were observed in most cases. FST, RST and gene flow estimates in AMOVA and the genetic distance between populations indicated that the genetic difference among the studied populations was pronounced. The data generated in this study provide primary information on the genetic variation and differentiation in populations of Caspian common Kilka

Endoscopic screening for precancerous lesions of the esophagus in a high risk area in northern Iran

Background: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a major health problem in many developing countries, including Iran. ESCC has a very poor prognosis, largely due to late diagnosis. As a first step in developing an early detection and treatment program, we conducted a population-based endoscopic screening for ESCC and its precursor lesion, esophageal squamous dysplasia (ESD), in asymptomatic adults from Golestan Province, northern Iran (a high-risk area for ESCC) to evaluate the feasibility of such a program and to document the prevalence and risk factor correlates of ESD. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among participants of the Golestan Cohort Study (GCS), a population-based cohort of 50,000 adults in eastern Golestan Province. Randomly selected GCS participants were invited by telephone. Those who accepted were referred to a central endoscopy clinic. Eligible subjects who consented were asked to complete a brief questionnaire. Detailed information about selected risk factors was obtained from the GCS main database. Endoscopic examination with was performed with Lugol's iodine staining; biopsies were taken from unstained lesions as well as the normally stained mucosa of the esophagus, and the biopsies were diagnosed by expert pathologists according to previously described criteria. Results: In total, 1906 GCS subjects were invited, of whom only 302 (15.8%) were successfully enrolled. Esophagitis (29.5%) and ESD (6.0%) were the most common pathological diagnoses. Turkmen ethnicity (adjusted OR = 8.61; 95%CI: 2.48-29.83), being older than the median age (OR = 7.7; 95% CI: 1.99-29.87), and using deep frying cooking methods (OR = 4.65; 95%CI: 1.19-18.22) were the strongest predictors for ESD. There were significant relationships between esophagitis and smoking (p-value<0.001), drinking hot tea (P value = 0.02) and lack of education (P value = 0.004). Conclusion: We observed a low rate of participation in endoscopic screening. The overall prevalence of ESD was 6.0%. Developing non-endoscopic primary screening methods and screening individuals with one or more risk factors may improve these rates

Safety, effectiveness and economic evaluation of intra-operative radiation therapy: A systematic review

Background: Intra-operative radiation therapy (IORT) is the transfer of a single large radiation dose to the tumor bed during surgery with the final goal of improving regional tumor control. This study aimed to investigate the safety, effectiveness and economic evaluation of intra-operative radiation therapy. Methods: The scientific literature was searched in the main biomedical databases (Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, Cochrane Library and PubMed) up to March 2014. Two independent reviewers selected the papers based on pre-established inclusion criteria, with any disagreements being resolved by consensus. Data were then extracted and summarized in a structured form. Results from studies were analyzed and discussed within a descriptive synthesis. Results: Sixteen studies met the inclusion criteria. It seems that outcomes from using intraoperative radiation therapy can be considered in various kinds of cancers like breast, pancreatic and colorectal cancers. The application of this method may provide significant survival increase only for colorectal cancer, but this increase was not significant for other types of cancer. This technology had low complications; and it is relatively safe. Using intra-operative radiation therapy could potentially be accounted as a cost-effective strategy for controlling and managing breast cancer. Conclusion: According to the existing evidences, that are the highest medical evidences for using intra-operative radiation therapy, one can generally conclude that intra-operative radiation therapy is considered as a relatively safe and cost-effective method for managing early-stage breast cancer and it can significantly increase the survival of patients with colorectal cancer. Also, the results of this study have policy implications with respect to the reimbursement of this technology

Scalability and Total Recall with Fast CoveringLSH

Locality-sensitive hashing (LSH) has emerged as the dominant algorithmic technique for similarity search with strong performance guarantees in high-dimensional spaces. A drawback of traditional LSH schemes is that they may have \emph{false negatives}, i.e., the recall is less than 100\%. This limits the applicability of LSH in settings requiring precise performance guarantees. Building on the recent theoretical "CoveringLSH" construction that eliminates false negatives, we propose a fast and practical covering LSH scheme for Hamming space called \emph{Fast CoveringLSH (fcLSH)}. Inheriting the design benefits of CoveringLSH our method avoids false negatives and always reports all near neighbors. Compared to CoveringLSH we achieve an asymptotic improvement to the hash function computation time from $\mathcal{O}(dL)$ to $\mathcal{O}(d + L\log{L})$, where $d$ is the dimensionality of data and $L$ is the number of hash tables. Our experiments on synthetic and real-world data sets demonstrate that \emph{fcLSH} is comparable (and often superior) to traditional hashing-based approaches for search radius up to 20 in high-dimensional Hamming space.Comment: Short version appears in Proceedings of CIKM 201

The effect of saffron supplementation on blood glucose and lipid profile: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background: Despite several studies about the effects of saffron supplementation on serum concentrations of lipid and glucose profiles, no systematic study had summarized the findings. Therefore, we conduct current study to systematically summarize findings from studies about the effect of saffron supplementation on serum levels of glucose and lipid profiles and to do a meta-analysis, if possible. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted for clinical trials published in PubMed, SCOPUS, EMBASE, Cochrane's Library and ISI Web of Science from the beginning to 22 February 2019. All randomized clinical trials on the effect of saffron supplementation on serum concentrations of lipid and glucose profiles were included. Results: In overall, six studies were included in the current study. Pooled analysis of six studies for the effect of saffron on serum TG, TC and FBG concentrations and of five studies for LDL and HDL, showed a significant reduction in TG (WMD: -8.93 mg/dl; 95 CI: -16.49 to -1.37, P = 0.02) and TC levels (WMD: -5.72 mg/dl; 95 CI: -11.10 to -0.34, P = 0.03), a significant increase in HDL levels (WMD: 2.7 mg/dl; 95 CI: 0.22 to 5.18, P = 0.03), and no significant effect on LDL (WMD: -2.30 mg/dl; 95 CI: -11.73 to 7.13, P = 0.63) and FBG levels (WMD: -5.30 mg/dl; 95 CI: -14.20 to 3.60, P = 0.51). Conclusion: We found a significant reduction in serum concentrations of TC and TG and a significant increase in serum levels of HDL following supplementation with saffron. Saffron supplementation had no significant influence on serum FPG and LDL concentrations. © 2019 Elsevier Lt