Sex, Drugs, and Rock Hard Mattresses

Since the spike in numbers of women in prison in approximately the 1980s, female prisons have been portrayed through a plethora of media channels, like movies, television shows, books, etc. Netflix’s original drama series, “Orange Is the New Black,” (OITNB), for example, portrays life inside women’s prisons as romanticized and sensationalized, especially in regards to their access to quality healthcare. One popular story line of OITNB, features the character of Miss Rosa, who has cancer, being driven to the hospital multiple times a week for cancer treatment. In reality, many women in prison do not have the luxury of regular visits with medical professionals or access to treatment. Many diagnoses are made too late for successful treatment. The racial diversity seen on shows like OITNB is not at all reflective of the reality in the prison population. The majority of women in prison are not white like Piper, Alex, Red, and many of the other characters on OITNB. The large majority of women in prison are black and suffering from the lack of medical attention and gross indifference by prison healthcare systems. The institution of mass incarceration has become an additional system that promotes the indifference and oppression of women, specifically women of color, by neglecting their human right to basic healthcare in prison

Introducing Useful Medicinal Plants for Liver Diseases with the Use of Traditional and Classical Refrences

زمینه و هدف: کبد یکی از اعضای بسیار مهم و حیاتی در بدن است. در متون طب سنتی ایران، از آن به عنوان عضو رییسه ذکر شده است. بیماری‌هایی مانند، گرمی، سردی، خشکی و تری مزاج کبد، سده و انواع ورم‌های کبد و استسقاءها است در طب سنتی و بیماری‌هایی مانند، کبد چرب، زردی (یرقان)، هپاتیت در طب کلاسیک از این عضو حیاتی ایجاد می‌گردد. هدف از این مطالعه بررسی گیاهان دارویی سنتی است و قابل معرفی به طب کلاسیک است. مواد و روش‌ها: جهت انجام این مطالعه از منابع معروف و شاخص طب سنتی مانند کتاب‌های مخزن الادویه و تقویم الابدان و برای شناسایی اسامی علمی این گیاهان از منابع علمی معتبر استفاده شده است. یافته‌ها: فهرستی از گیاهان دارویی طب سنتی با نام علمی دقیق در این مقاله معرفی شدند. گونه‌های دارویی مشترک بین طب سنتی و کلاسیک مانند Chichorium Intybus (کاسنی)، جنس Aloe و انواع گونه‌های Hypericum معرفی شدند. نتیجه‌گیری: با مقایسه گیاهان دارویی در طب سنتی و کلاسیک، گیاهان دارویی مطمئن‌تری برای درمان بیماری‌های کبدی یافت می‌شوند، اما گیاهان دارویی دیگری نیز در منابع دارویی سنتی وجود داشته است که در درمان بیماری‌های کبدی مورد استفاده قرار می‌گرفته‌اند که امروزه از دایره مطالعات طب کلاسیک به دلیل ناشناخته‌بودن کنار گذاشته شده‌اند.Background and Aim: In traditional medicine, the liver is known as a member of the strategy in the body. Related diseases in this organ include heat, cold, dryness and hypertrophy of the liver, inflammation of the liver and swelling of the liver, but in classic medicine these include fatty liver, jaundice and hepatitis. Materials and Methods: Provide a list of traditional herbs that can be used in the treatment of hepatic diseases in classical medicine. In this regard, two traditional and new sources have been used, such as the books of Makhzan al-Adviyah and Taghvim al-Abadan and the scientific names of these plants have been identified from reliable sources. Also, the herbs of classical medicine were identified from authoritative articles. Findings: In this paper, 112 and 78 species of medicinal plants are introduced in the book of Makhzan al-Adviyah andTaghvim al-Abadan. By examining some herbs that are useful for classical liver disease, some species are important in this article. Compared to traditional and classical medicinal species, common species include Chichorium intybus, Aloe and Hypericum. Conclusion: Despite the enormous resources of traditional herbs that are useful for the liver, unfortunately, there are very few herbal remedies are known and used in the world that this paper has attempted to introduce into classical medicine.   Please cite this article as: Rabizadeh F. Introducing Useful Medicinal Plants for Liver Diseases with the Use of Traditional and Classical Refrences. Med Hist J 2019; 11(39): 45-62

The nucleation, growth kinetics and mechanism of sulfate scale minerals in the presence and absence of additives as inhibitors

In this research, I focused on elucidating the crystallisation kinetics and formation mechanism of calcium sulfate phases, specifically gypsum, in the presence and absence of additives as inhibitors. In many industries such as oil production and water desalination, calcium sulfate formation is a problem that causes pipeline and membrane clogging and reduces system efficiency. Thus, different types of additives are added to these systems as inhibitors to tackle the scaling problem. However, their efficiency or effectiveness in terms of calcium sulfate inhibition has not been fully tested and the processes are not well-understood at the mechanistic level. In this thesis, therefore, I investigated the effects of various carboxylic acids, alkali / alkaline earth metal cations, polycarboxylic acids and phosphonates as gypsum inhibitors to fill this knowledge gap. My results revealed that all additives delayed the crystallisation of gypsum to various degrees and by various pathways. I monitored the change in the time needed for turbidity in a reacting solution to start (induction time) and develop (crystallisation kinetics). I analysed the changes in both solution chemistry and solid characteristics, including surface properties, morphologies as well as composition, to derive a mechanistic understanding of how these additives affect gypsum formation. The results illustrated that among the tested carboxylic acids (tartaric, maleic and citric), citric acid performed far better than tartaric and maleic (at equivalent concentrations) and using citric acid dramatically increased the induction time (~ 4 fold, to ~ 25 minutes). Among the tested alkali / alkaline earth metal cations (Li+, K+, Na+ and Mg2+), Mg2+ decreased the nucleation and growth kinetics ~ 5 to ~ 10 fold more than Li+, Na+ and K+ even at low concentrations. Mg2+, Li+ and K+ only adsorbed to the gypsum crystals surfaces, while ~ 25% of associated Na+ became incorporated into the synthesised crystals and Li+ and Mg2+ also acted as shape and size modifiers. When I tested the effects of biodegradable polycarboxylic additives (polyaspartic acid; PASP and polyepoxysuccinic acid; PESA) and compared their efficiency with a traditionally used non-biodegradable (polyacrylic acid; PAA) antiscalant, I showed that PASP and PESA had a profound effect on gypsum crystallisation, with PASP having the highest inhibition efficiency. The PAA conformation and molecular weight both played important roles in affecting the crystallisation kinetics because of changes in surface adsorption mechanisms. Finally, I tested some industrial phosphonate inhibitors and demonstrated that they are indeed strong gypsum inhibitors, but I also showed for the first time that an increase in the number of functional groups affected the efficiency of the additive. Among the tested phosphonates with five phosphonate functional groups, the one with longer molecular chains was the better inhibitor. It is unclear how these additives interacted with the growing gypsum crystals (surface adsorption and / or structural incorporation), but I clearly showed that they affected gypsum growth kinetics and morphologies

A cytoplasmic peptide of the neurotrophin receptor p75NTR: induction of apoptosis and NMR determined helical conformation

AbstractThe neurotrophin receptor (NTR) and tumor necrosis factor receptor family of receptors regulate apoptotic cell death during development and in adult tissues [Beutler and van Huffel, Science 264 (1994) 667–668]. We have examined a fragment of p75NTR from the carboxyl terminus of the receptor and a variant form of this peptide via NMR techniques and in vitro assays for apoptotic activity. The wild type peptide induces apoptosis and adopts a helical conformation oriented parallel to the surface of lipid micelles, whereas the variant form adopts a non-helical conformation in the presence of lipid and shows no activity. These experiments suggest a link between structure and function of the two peptides

The comparison of the apoptosis effects of titanium dioxide nanoparticles into MDA-MB-231 cell line in microgravity and gravity conditions

Objective (s): Gravity could affect some system features and perform directly as an organizing field factor. Recent investigations have examined the titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) in biomedical applications, mostly in the cancer treatment field. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of simulated microgravity combined with TiO2 NPs in MDA-MB-231 cells proliferation for the first time. In other words, this study examined the utility of the microgravity environment in nano-therapy. Materials and Methods: The MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cell line and TiO2 NPs were purchased. The 2D clinostat was applied for the simulation of the microgravity. The morphological studies, MTT cytotoxicity assay, Acridine orange/Ethidium bromide double staining studies and flow cytometry analysis were utilized.Results: The MTT assay, the morphological studies, Acridine orange/Ethidium bromide double staining studies and flow cytometry analysis confirmed the apoptosis-inducing effect of microgravity in combination with TiO2 NPs. The IC50 of simulated microgravity in the presence of TiO2 NPs was determined to be 130 µM. Furthermore, MDA-MB-231 cells exposed to microgravity adopted a different phenotype. Conclusion: Based on our observation, although the relative mechanisms need to be explored further, microgravity can strictly affect the TiO2 NPs effects on MDA-MB-231 cells. The significance of this study lied in the fact that simulating microgravity can be a powerful physical cure for cancer therapy and open new horizons for the studies in the field of biology, biophysics, and medicine

IMPROVEMENT IN REDOX HOMEOSTASIS AFTER CYTOREDUCTIVE SURGERY IN COLORECTAL ADENOCARCINOMA

colorectal cancer (CRC) as one the most common cancer type is associated with oxidative stress. Surgery is the only curative modality for early-stage CRC. The aim of this study was to evaluate the oxidative damage biomarkers as well as enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidants in patients with CRC before and after tumor resection in healthy controls. 60 patients with stage I/II colorectaL adenocarcinoma and 43 healthy controls were recruited in this study. We measured plasma levels of oxidative damage biomarkers, including advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP), advanced glycation end products (AGEs), malondialdehyde (MDA), and oxized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) at baseline and after tumor removal. We also evaluated the plasma activuty of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) as enzymatic antioxidants and the ferric reducing antioxidants power (FRAP) assay for nonenzymatic antioxidant capacity. Patients with CRC had significantly higher AGE, AOPP, MDA, and ox-LDL and also FRAP levels and higher SOD and GPx and lower CAT activity levels compared to healthy controls (p<0,05). We did not observe any statistically significant correlation between redox biomarkers and the size and stage of tumor. AGEs (72,49 +/- 7.7 vs. 67.93 +/- 8.8, p< 0,001), AOPP (137.64 +/- 21.9 vs. 119.08 +/- 33.1 p<0,001), MDA (3.56 +/- 0.30 vs. 3.05 +/- 0.33 p< 0,001), and ox-LDL (19.78 +/- 0.97 vs. 16.94 +/- 1.02, p< 0,001) concentrations reduced significantly after tumor removal. The largest effect sizes were found in ox-LDL (d = - 2.853, 95% CI 2.50 - 3.19) and MDA (d = - 0.43 - 0.57). Serum FRAP lelvels (1097.5 +/-156.7 vs. 1239.3 +/- 290, p< 0,001) and CAT (2.34 +/- 0.34 vs. 2.63 +/- 0.38, p< 0,001), GPx (102.37 +/- 6.58 vs. 108.03 +/- 6.95, p< 0,001), and SOD (5.13 +/- 0.39 vs. 5.53 +/- 0,31 p< 0,001) activity levels increased significantly after surgery. The largest effect sizes among antioxidants were seen in SOD (d = 1.135, 95% CI 0.46 - 0.34) and GPx (d = 0.836, 95% CI 0.35 - 0.23>). This study indicated that patients with colorectal cancer high higher levels of oxidative stress and antioxidants activity compared to healthy controls. After surgical resection of tumor, we observed a substantial improvement in redox homeostasis