EFFECT OF STRESS ON HISTOPATHOLOGY OF MALE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM IN RATS

Background: Although relatively little is known about factors affecting fertility. Latest literature suggests that environmental and lifestyle factors play an important role. Recently, oxidative stress has become the focus of interest as potential cause of male infertility. Oxidative stress may play a role in a number of conditions known to be detrimental to male fertility Method: Adult male albino rats weighing 200 - 220 g and aged 12-15 weeks male rats were selected for the study. The rats were randomly analyzed into 3 groups Group 1: Control rat, Group 2: Swimming stress without treatment, Group 3: Treated with vitamin C 30mg/kg/day doses. All rats were subjected to swimming stress daily between 9.00 AM to 10.00 AM until 50 days. Drugs were administered orally for 50 days half an hour before subjecting to stress. At end of the study the reproductive organs testes, seminal vesicles, Vas deferens and prostate were dissected and the samples were used for the histo-pathological evaluation. Result: In stress group section of testis shows seminiferous tubules showed focial poor spermatogenesis with reduction in number of sperm containing seminiferous tubules and absence of spermatozoa was clearly recognized in some seminiferous tubules. Treatment with antioxidant showed recovery but still some of the seminiferous tubules showed decreased spermatozoa. Stress changes in seminal vesicle: the hyperplasia of epithelial lining, histological features of mucosa severely affected and reduced number of gland. Stress induced changes in vas deferens: produced desquamated ling epithelium with atrophic changes and mild exploited epithelium, degenerated basement membrane of vas deferens. Stress induced changes in prostate: Prostatic acini with many papillary folds, desquamated epithelial cells, epithelial proliferation was seen. Conclusion: Oxidative stress produced deleterious effects on male reproductive system and supplementation of antioxidants such as vitamin C have been shown to be protecting effect against the histological changes produced by the oxidative stress on male reproductive system in rats.KEYWORDS:  Stress; Male reproductive organs; Histopathology; Rat

EFFECT OF STRESS ON HISTOPATHOLOGY OF MALE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM IN RATS

Background: Although relatively little is known about factors affecting fertility. Latest literature suggests that environmental and lifestyle factors play an important role. Recently, oxidative stress has become the focus of interest as potential cause of male infertility. Oxidative stress may play a role in a number of conditions known to be detrimental to male fertility Method: Adult male albino rats weighing 200 - 220 g and aged 12-15 weeks male rats were selected for the study. The rats were randomly analyzed into 3 groups Group 1: Control rat, Group 2: Swimming stress without treatment, Group 3: Treated with vitamin C 30mg/kg/day doses. All rats were subjected to swimming stress daily between 9.00 AM to 10.00 AM until 50 days. Drugs were administered orally for 50 days half an hour before subjecting to stress. At end of the study the reproductive organs testes, seminal vesicles, Vas deferens and prostate were dissected and the samples were used for the histo-pathological evaluation. Result: In stress group section of testis shows seminiferous tubules showed focial poor spermatogenesis with reduction in number of sperm containing seminiferous tubules and absence of spermatozoa was clearly recognized in some seminiferous tubules. Treatment with antioxidant showed recovery but still some of the seminiferous tubules showed decreased spermatozoa. Stress changes in seminal vesicle: the hyperplasia of epithelial lining, histological features of mucosa severely affected and reduced number of gland. Stress induced changes in vas deferens: produced desquamated ling epithelium with atrophic changes and mild exploited epithelium, degenerated basement membrane of vas deferens. Stress induced changes in prostate: Prostatic acini with many papillary folds, desquamated epithelial cells, epithelial proliferation was seen. Conclusion: Oxidative stress produced deleterious effects on male reproductive system and supplementation of antioxidants such as vitamin C have been shown to be protecting effect against the histological changes produced by the oxidative stress on male reproductive system in rats.KEYWORDS:  Stress; Male reproductive organs; Histopathology; Rat

Prediction Possibility in the Fractal Overlap Model of Earthquakes

The two-fractal overlap model of earthquake shows that the contact area distribution of two fractal surfaces follows power law decay in many cases and this agrees with the Guttenberg-Richter power law. Here, we attempt to predict the large events (earthquakes) in this model through the overlap time-series analysis. Taking only the Cantor sets, the overlap sizes (contact areas) are noted when one Cantor set moves over the other with uniform velocity. This gives a time series containing different overlap sizes. Our numerical study here shows that the cumulative overlap size grows almost linearly with time and when the overlapsizes are added up to a pre-assigned large event (earthquake) and then reset to `zero' level, the corresponding cumulative overlap sizes grows upto some discrete (quantised) levels. This observation should help to predict the possibility of `large events' in this (overlap) time series.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures. To be published as proc. NATO conf. CMDS-10, Soresh, Israel, July 2003. Eds. D. J. Bergman & E. Inan, KLUWER PUB

Monte carlo within simulated annealing for integral constrained optimizations

For years, Value-at-Risk and Expected Shortfall have been well established measures of market risk and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision recommends their use when controlling risk. But their computations might be intractable if we do not rely on simplifying assumptions, in particular on distributions of returns. One of the difficulties is linked to the need for Integral Constrained Optimizations. In this article, two new stochastic optimization-based Simulated Annealing algorithms are proposed for addressing problems associated with the use of statistical methods that rely on extremizing a non-necessarily differentiable criterion function, therefore facing the problem of the computation of a non-analytically reducible integral constraint. We first provide an illustrative example when maximizing an integral constrained likelihood for the stress-strength reliability that confirms the effectiveness of the algorithms. Our results indicate no clear difference in convergence, but we favor the use of the problem approximation strategy styled algorithm as it is less expensive in terms of computing time. Second, we run a classical financial problem such as portfolio optimization, showing the potential of our proposed methods in financial applications

Sanitation and hygiene status of butcheries in Kampala district, Uganda

There is a growing trend in the consumption of animal products such as meat in the developing world especially due to a growing population, urbanization and rising incomes. This poses a risk of food borne illnesses from meat consumption due to poor sanitation and hygiene. The purpose of this study was to assess the sanitation and hygiene status of butcheries in Kampala district, Uganda. The study was cross-sectional in design and involved quantitative data collection methods. The study units were butcheries from which one respondent was randomly selected to answer the questionnaire. An observational checklist was used to assess the status of sanitation and hygiene of the butcheries. Data were entered and analysed in Epi Info 3.5.1 statistical software. A total of 73 butcheries were visited, 51 (69.9%) of which were permanent structures, 7 (9.6%) semi-permanent and 15 (20.5%) temporary. Observations revealed that 24 (32.9%) butcheries had cracked walls and 66 (90.4%) had damaged floors. The main water source used by the butcheries was tap 67 (91.8%) with the rest collecting water from nearby protected springs. Hand washing facilities were present in 56 (76.7%) of the butcheries of which only 5 (6.8%) had soap for hand washing. Only 19 (26.0%) of the butcheries had receptacles for waste storage. Cleaning practices varied among butchers with 55 (75.3%) cleaning their butcheries daily. Most of the equipment (pangas and knives) found in the butcheries 66 (90.4%) were clean. Regarding personal hygiene, 57 (78.1%) of the respondents wore clean clothes, 65 (89.0%) had short finger nails and only 23 (31.5%) had personal protective wear. From the study, it was observed that the sanitation and hygiene status of butcheries in Kampala district was poor. There is, thus, need for the local authority to put in place stringent measures to ensure proper hygiene and sanitation which will reduce on the risks of meat contamination.Key words: butcheries, hygiene, knowledge, sanitation, Ugand

Evaluation of EGM2008 by means of GPS Levelling Uganda

The global gravity model EGM2008 is evaluated in various regions of Uganda to assess if it is good enough for geodetic applications. The evaluation method involves comparison of geoid heights computed from the model with those computed at irregularly distributed GPS Levelling stations. For testing the model, a total of seven levelled benchmarks available in Uganda which belong to the New Khartoum datum were used. The spatial positions of these benchmarks were determined at mm accuracy, with respect to ITRF2008. The agreement between the EGM2008 geoid and the geoid undulation derived from GPS Levelling over the seven irregularly distributed benchmark points has a standard deviation of 0.255m, with a mean of -0.859m. The datum offset may be due the choice of Wo (potential of the geoid) and Uo (potential on the surface of the ellipsoid); using GRS80 for the gravitational reference system and WGS84 for the geometrical reference system; some possibly different tidal conventions; but, by using the same method of analysis for Ethiopia and Uganda, these absolute offset effects are eliminated when comparing the two so that the computed difference [0.118m] in datum offset for the two states does tell us something about the differences in levelling datums. The standard deviation of 0.255m suggests that sparser, irregularly-distributed and inhomogenous gravity data for Uganda was used in the development of EGM2008 not ruling out errors in levelling since there is barely any documentation pertaining the accuracy of results obtained regarding the levelling network in Uganda

Lymphotoxin is an autocrine growth factor for Epstein-Barr virus-infected B cell lines.

Because human lymphotoxin (LT) was originally isolated from a lymphoblastoid cell line, we investigated the role of this molecule in three newly established Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-infected human B cell lines. These lines were derived from acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Z-6), myelodysplastic syndrome (Z-43), and acute myelogenous leukemia (Z-55) patients who had a prior EBV infection. Each lymphoblastoid cell line had a karyotype that was different from that of the original parent leukemic cells, and all expressed B cell, but not T cell or myeloid surface markers. In all three lines, rearranged immunoglobulin heavy chain joining region (JH) bands were found, and the presence of EBV DNA was confirmed by Southern blotting. Z-6, Z-43, and Z-55 cell lines constitutively produced 192, 48, and 78 U/ml LT, respectively, as assessed by a cytotoxicity assay and antibody neutralization. Levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) were undetectable. Scatchard analysis revealed that all the cell lines expressed high-affinity TNF/LT receptors with receptor densities of 4197, 1258, and 1209 sites/cell on Z-6, Z-43, and Z-55, respectively. Furthermore, labeled TNF binding could be reversed by both unlabeled TNF, as well as by LT. Studies with p60 and p80 receptor-specific antibodies revealed that the three lines expressed primarily the p80 form of the TNF receptor. When studied in a clonogenic assay, exogenous LT stimulated proliferation of all three cell lines in a dose-dependent fashion at concentrations ranging from 25 to 500 U/ml. Similar results were obtained with [3H]TdR incorporation. Monoclonal anti-LT neutralizing antibodies at concentrations of 25-500 U/ml inhibited cellular multiplication in a dose-dependent manner. It is interesting that in spite of a common receptor, TNF (1,000 U/ml) had no direct effect on Z-55 cell growth, whereas it partially reversed the stimulatory effect of exogenous LT. In addition, TNF inhibited Z-6 and Z-43 cell proliferation, and its suppressive effect was reversed by exogenous LT. Both p80 and p60 forms of soluble TNF receptors suppressed the lymphoblastoid cell line proliferation and their inhibitory effect was partially reversed by LT. Our data suggest that (a) LT is an autocrine growth factor for EBV-transformed lymphoblastoid B cell lines; and (b) anti-LT antibodies, soluble TNF/LT receptors, and TNF itself can suppress the growth of lymphoblastoid cells, probably by modulating or competing with LT.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS

Assessment of water quality in Ahor Lake - Ghana

In the bid to boost the tourism industry, West Akyem Municipal Assembly identified Lake Ahor, a manmade lake as a potential tourism site in the municipality. However, the quality of the water is not known hence the assessment of the physical, chemical and bacteriological characteristics of the lake. A total of twelve samples of water from the lake were collected in June 2011 and were subjected to physical, chemical and bacteriological analysis. The measured water quality parameters included pH, colour, turbidity, alkalinity, TDS, total iron, nitrate, nitrite, trace elements like phosphates, zinc, copper, silicon, feacal coliform and Escherichia coli counts. The results showed that the averages for parameters like pH, colour, turbidity, alkalinity, TDS, total iron and nitrate were 6.6, 48.3 TCU, 4.8 NTU, 44.2, 1221.3 and 0.2 mg/l respectively. The tests for total coliform, faecal coliform, E. coli and total heterotrophic bacteria levels showed >8 CFU/100 ml for total coliform, between 1.00 and 8.00CFU/100ml for faecal coliform, 0.00 and 9.00 CFU/100 ml for E. coli and 42.00 and 155.0 CFU/100 ml for total heterotrophic bacteria. The water from the lake met the WHO guidelines in all parameters except the colour of the water which was light brownish which reduced the clarity at the deep areas of the lake. It is recommended that the appropriate authorities must demarcate safe swimming areas in the lake to prevent injury or drowning of those who will patronize the facility.Keywords: Recreation, water quality, bacteriological quality, lake

Patterns in high-frequency FX data: Discovery of 12 empirical scaling laws

We have discovered 12 independent new empirical scaling laws in foreign exchange data-series that hold for close to three orders of magnitude and across 13 currency exchange rates. Our statistical analysis crucially depends on an event-based approach that measures the relationship between different types of events. The scaling laws give an accurate estimation of the length of the price-curve coastline, which turns out to be surprisingly long. The new laws substantially extend the catalogue of stylised facts and sharply constrain the space of possible theoretical explanations of the market mechanisms.Comment: 26 pages, 3 figures, 23 tables,2nd version (text made more concise and readable, algorithm pseudocode, results unchanged), 5-year datasets (USD-JPY, EUR-USD) provided at http://www.olsen.ch/more/datasets

Metabolic flexibility as a major predictor of spatial distribution in microbial communities

A better understand the ecology of microbes and their role in the global ecosystem could be achieved if traditional ecological theories can be applied to microbes. In ecology organisms are defined as specialists or generalists according to the breadth of their niche. Spatial distribution is often used as a proxy measure of niche breadth; generalists have broad niches and a wide spatial distribution and specialists a narrow niche and spatial distribution. Previous studies suggest that microbial distribution patterns are contrary to this idea; a microbial generalist genus (Desulfobulbus) has a limited spatial distribution while a specialist genus (Methanosaeta) has a cosmopolitan distribution. Therefore, we hypothesise that this counter-intuitive distribution within generalist and specialist microbial genera is a common microbial characteristic. Using molecular fingerprinting the distribution of four microbial genera, two generalists, Desulfobulbus and the methanogenic archaea Methanosarcina, and two specialists, Methanosaeta and the sulfate-reducing bacteria Desulfobacter were analysed in sediment samples from along a UK estuary. Detected genotypes of both generalist genera showed a distinct spatial distribution, significantly correlated with geographic distance between sites. Genotypes of both specialist genera showed no significant differential spatial distribution. These data support the hypothesis that the spatial distribution of specialist and generalist microbes does not match that seen with specialist and generalist large organisms. It may be that generalist microbes, while having a wider potential niche, are constrained, possibly by intrageneric competition, to exploit only a small part of that potential niche while specialists, with far fewer constraints to their niche, are more capable of filling their potential niche more effectively, perhaps by avoiding intrageneric competition. We suggest that these counter-intuitive distribution patterns may be a common feature of microbes in general and represent a distinct microbial principle in ecology, which is a real challenge if we are to develop a truly inclusive ecology