Effects of Acute Administration of D,L-Homocysteine Thiolactone on the Antioxidative Status of Rat Intestine and Liver

Oxidative stress appears to play a role in the pathogenesis of several inflammatory gastrointestinal diseases. Increased homocysteine levels may play a role in the pathogenesis of Chrons disease and ulcerative colitis. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of homocysteine on the antioxidant status of rat intestine and liver. The levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), activity of catalase (CAT) and total antioxidant status (TAS) were investigated in the isolated gut and liver of young male rats in the control group (8 rats) and after 3-hour incubation in high doses of D, L-homocysteine thionolactone (Hcy) (10 mu mol/L) (8 rats). Samples of duodenum, ileum, colon and liver were homogenized in sodium phosphate buffer (1: 10). Homogenates were centrifuged at 10000 for 10 min at 4 degrees C and the supernatant was taken for biochemical assays. Our results showed that high D, L-homocysteine thionolactone concentration reduced enzymatic catalase activity in homogenates of the isolated segments of duodenum (27.04%) p LT 0.01; ileum (37.27%), colon (34.17%) and liver (67.46%) p LT 0.001. Exposition to high D, L-homocysteine thiolactone concentration significantly increased TBARS levels in the duodenum (106.05%), ileum (47.24%), colon (112.75%) and liver (32.07%) (p LT 0.01). Homocysteine also modified the total antioxidant status of homogenates from the duodenum, ileum, colon and liver, increasing by 20.68% (duodenum), 24.74% (ileum), 14.88% (colon) and 19.35% (liver) (p LT 0.001). Homocysteine induced a consistent oxidative stress in rats intestine and liver (reduced activity of catalase and increased level of TBARS), but the elevated activity of TAS in our experiments could be explained as an adaptive response to the generated free radicals which indicates the failure of the total antioxidant defense mechanism to protect the tissues from damage caused by homocysteine

Sentiment and Geopolitics in the formulation and realization of the Balfour Declaration

The 1917 Balfour Declaration remains perhaps one of the furthest reaching British policy statements. It laid foundation for the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine, and was ever since perceived by some as the source of the subsequent Arab-Jewish conflict in Palestine. The Declaration was also interpreted in certain circles as a desperate wartime measure of the British government which hoped to turn the tide of the costly war against Germany by making promises to supposedly influential worldwide Jewish community. However, the Balfour Declaration was more than that. It was a continuation of parallel British geostrategic and humanitarian sensibilities dating back to the Foreign Secretary Viscount Palmerston, and which influenced the attitudes and policies of later British leaders like the Foreign Secretary Arthur J. Balfour and the Prime Minister David Lloyd George. Much of the geopolitical drive behind the Declaration could be traced back to long established British interest in the security of the Suez Canal and communication with India. Humanitarianism, on the other hand, involved a genuine concern for the future of European Jewry, sometimes leavened by messianic Protestantism. Palmerston, Balfour and Lloyd George believed they could successfully merge humanitarian philo-semitism with pragmatic geopolitics securing a better future for an oppressed people and their own empire simultaneously

Capitalist varieties under one roof: coping with diversity in the European Union

History and International Studies 1900-presen

THE INFLUENCE OF VARIETY AND VINTAGE ON THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND SENSORY PROPERTIES OF RED WINES IN PODGORICA SUBREGION (MONTENEGRO)

This paper presents the results of investigation of the influence of variety and vintage on the chemical composition and sensory properties of Vranac, Kratosija and Cabernet Sauvignon wines in Podgorica subregion (Montenegro) in vintages 2012 and 2013. The varietal wines were produced from the grapes grown at four different localities, according to a uniform manner (traditional method) in the winery of the Biotechnical Faculty, located at the experimental farm in Podgorica, at the vineyard location of Ljeskopolje. The analysis of basic chemical parameters of wines and sensorial testing of wines were carried out. The research findings show that variety and vintage (climatic conditions) significantly affected the chemical composition of wine. The higher content of alcohol and extract was measured in 2012 vintage, while the total acid content in wine was higher in2013, as a result of frequent rainfall during the growing season, especially in August and September. The highest content of alcohol, extracts and total acids was found in Kratosija wine, then in Cabernet Sauvignon, while the lowest content was found in Vranac wine in both vintages. According to sensory properties and average testing score for the two years of research, all wines fall into the category of superior wines

Marginal Adaptation of Flowable vs Sonically Activated or Preheated Resin Composites in Cervical Lesions

PURPOSE To investigate marginal integrity of restorations applied with preheated and non-preheated composite, flowable composite, sonically activated composite, and a new thermo-viscous bulk-fill composite using near-infrared technology for preheating, in class V cavities of human molars. MATERIALS AND METHODS Standardized cavities were prepared on the buccal surfaces of 60 human mandibular molars and restored with one of the following resin composite materials after application of an etch-and-rinse adhesive (OptiBond FL, Kerr): non-preheated or preheated conventional composite (Filtek Supreme XTE, 3M Oral Care), preheated thermo-viscous composite (VisCalor bulk, Voco), soncially activated composite (SonicFill 3, Kerr), or flowable composite (Filtek Supreme XTE Flowable, 3M Oral Care) applied in bulk or as a lining material using the snow-plow technique. After light curing and polishing, the percentage of continuous margins (PCM) of the restorations in enamel and dentin was assessed using SEM both before and after thermomechanical loading (TML). TML was carried out with 3000 thermal cycles (5°C-50°C) and a simultaneous mechanical stress application with 1.2 million load-cycles (1.7 Hz, 49 N) in a computer-controlled masticator. Non-parametric statistical analysis was performed using Wilcoxon, Kruskal-Wallis, and Mann-Whitney U-tests (α = 0.05). RESULTS All groups revealed a significant decline in marginal integrity after TML in both enamel and dentin. Although the flowable group in enamel and the snow-plow group in dentin showed the highest PCM before TML, the differences between the groups were compensated after TML. CONCLUSION All of the tested composites and application methods showed similar marginal integrities after thermomechanical loading and can be recommended for clinical implementation

Rectal Carcinoma Metastasis to the Thyroid Gland - the Role of Radiotherapy: A Case Report

Introduction: To date,  a very rare occurrence of thyroid metastases from rectal cancer is described  in the literature. Although there are no treatment standards for this condition, surgery still has a major role in the treatment of these patients. However, radiotherapy has a controversial role and its significance is rather palliative.Case Presentation: We presented a male patient with metastatic rectal carcinoma to the thyroid gland who has been treated with surgery and palliative radiotherapy in our institution.Conclusion: Although thyroid metastases from rectal cancer are rare, we recommend to think on their potential occurrence what could enable early diagnosis and more successful treatment

Marian Cult-sites along the Venetian sea-routes to Holy Land in the Late Middle Ages

The present paper discusses materials collected and analysed in the frame of a research project coordinated by Michele Bacci at Fribourg University and supported by the Swiss National Found. It focuses on the spread of Marian cultic phenomena along the maritime routes between Venice and the Holy Land, which corresponded to the major commercial itineraries among territories mainly belonging to the Venetian Stato da Mar. Relying on evidence provided by 14th to mid-16th century pilgrims’ travelogues, this study lays emphasis on the dissemination of new holy sites and cultic attractions which took place in this intermediary space between Venice and Palestine, namely on the coasts of Istria, Dalmatia, Albania, Corfu, the Morea, Candia, Rhodes and Cyprus, during the Late Middle Ages. In this respect, a number of holy objects found in such sites were regarded as especially attractive on account of their more or less direct association with the Gospel narratives. A key-role was played, in this context, by Marian mementoes, and more specifically by the images attributed to Saint Luke and perceived as authentic portraits of the Mother of God. An almost uninterrupted sequence of the Evangelist’s autograph icons dotted the navigation routes. The famous Nicopea icon in San Marco was the first of such objects encountered by pilgrims during their trip, but more were to be found in many different places, including the Franciscan church in Korčula, the Dubrovnik Cathedral, a small chapel at Kassiopi, St. Dominic in Modone, the convents of St. Francis and St. Saviour in Candia, the shrine of Monte Filerimo in Rhodes, the orthodox cathedral in Nicosia and finally the monastery of Saint Sabas in Alexandria. All those shrines participated in shaping a holy topography of the eastern coasts connected to the maritime pilgrimage phenomena in which outstanding is the particular Marian devotion. Such places gave shape to a topographic network which was perceived by pilgrims as an anticipation of the religious experience they expected to have in the Holy Land

Heart Rate Extraction from Abdominal Audio Signals

Abdominal sounds (ABS) have been traditionally used for assessing gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. However, the assessment requires a trained medical professional to perform multiple abdominal auscultation sessions, which is resource-intense and may fail to provide an accurate picture of patients' continuous GI wellbeing. This has generated a technological interest in developing wearables for continuous capture of ABS, which enables a fuller picture of patient's GI status to be obtained at reduced cost. This paper seeks to evaluate the feasibility of extracting heart rate (HR) from such ABS monitoring devices. The collection of HR directly from these devices would enable gathering vital signs alongside GI data without the need for additional wearable devices, providing further cost benefits and improving general usability. We utilised a dataset containing 104 hours of ABS audio, collected from the abdomen using an e-stethoscope, and electrocardiogram as ground truth. Our evaluation shows for the first time that we can successfully extract HR from audio collected from a wearable on the abdomen. As heart sounds collected from the abdomen suffer from significant noise from GI and respiratory tracts, we leverage wavelet denoising for improved heart beat detection. The mean absolute error of the algorithm for average HR is 3.4 BPM with mean directional error of -1.2 BPM over the whole dataset. A comparison to photoplethysmography-based wearable HR sensors shows that our approach exhibits comparable accuracy to consumer wrist-worn wearables for average and instantaneous heart rate.Comment: ICASSP 202

How epidemic psychology works on Twitter: evolution of responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S.

Disruptions resulting from an epidemic might often appear to amount to chaos but, in reality, can be understood in a systematic way through the lens of "epidemic psychology". According to Philip Strong, the founder of the sociological study of epidemic infectious diseases, not only is an epidemic biological; there is also the potential for three psycho-social epidemics: of fear, moralization, and action. This work empirically tests Strong's model at scale by studying the use of language of 122M tweets related to the COVID-19 pandemic posted in the U.S. during the whole year of 2020. On Twitter, we identified three distinct phases. Each of them is characterized by different regimes of the three psycho-social epidemics. In the refusal phase, users refused to accept reality despite the increasing number of deaths in other countries. In the anger phase (started after the announcement of the first death in the country), users' fear translated into anger about the looming feeling that things were about to change. Finally, in the acceptance phase, which began after the authorities imposed physical-distancing measures, users settled into a "new normal" for their daily activities. Overall, refusal of accepting reality gradually died off as the year went on, while acceptance increasingly took hold. During 2020, as cases surged in waves, so did anger, re-emerging cyclically at each wave. Our real-time operationalization of Strong's model is designed in a way that makes it possible to embed epidemic psychology into real-time models (e.g., epidemiological and mobility models).Comment: Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. 24 pages, 7 figures, 4 table