The Effect of Melatonin on Behavioral, Molecular, and Histopathological Changes in Cuprizone Model of Demyelination

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune, demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. The protective effects of melatonin (MLT) on various neurodegenerative diseases, including MS, have been suggested. In the present study, we examined the effect of MLT on demyelination, apoptosis, inflammation, and behavioral dysfunctions in the cuprizone toxic model of demyelination. C57BL/6J mice were fed a chaw containing 0.2 % cuprizone for 5 weeks and received two doses of MLT (50 and 100 mg/kg) intraperitoneally for the last 7 days of cuprizone diet. Administration of MLT improved motor behavior deficits induced by cuprizone diet. MLT dose-dependently decreased the mean number of apoptotic cells via decreasing caspase-3 and Bax as well as increasing Bcl-2 levels. In addition, MLT significantly enhanced nuclear factor-κB activation and decreased heme oxygenase-1 level. However, MLT had no effect on interleukin-6 and myelin protein production. Our data revealed that MLT improved neurological deficits and enhanced cell survival but was not able to initiate myelin production in the cuprizone model of demyelination. These findings may be important for the design of potential MLT therapy in demyelinating disorders, such as MS. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York

Molecular identification of Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale in turkeys in Isfahan province of Iran

Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale (ORT) is a gram negative, pleomorphic, rod shaped and non-motile bacterial pathogen mostly known to cause respiratory tract infections in turkeys. Ornithobacteriosis is an infectious disease of avian species that has been reported in almost all countries around the world. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of ORT in turkeys in Isfahan province of Iran. DNA was extracted from 375 collected tracheal swabs and lungs samples and amplified by ORT 16S rRNA gene specific primers using the PCR technique. ORT DNA was detected in 75 samples (19.93%) of broiler turkeys in Isfahan province of Iran. The results of this study demonstrated the widespread of ORT in broiler turkeys and confirmed that infection with ORT have a high prevalence in Iran.Key words: Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale (ORT), turkey, polymerase chain reaction, Iran

Effects of Joint Spacing on Static Bearing Capacity of Rock Foundations in the case of Punching Failure

In this paper, using distinct element method, static bearing capacity of rock foundations containing one, two or three joint sets is investigated in the case of punching failure. The effect of joint spacing is incorporated in the analyses using a dimensionless factor, named spacing ratio (SR). Different values for SR are selected and variation of bearing capacity versus SR is monitored. Then, the magnitude of SR in which the bearing capacity is not changed significantly, is determined. The findings show that for SR30, joint spacing does not affect bearing capacity, significantly. Hence, SR=30 can be used as a criterion for analysis of rock foundations either as an equivalent continuum or a discontinuous medium. Using this criterion, it will tend to greatly reduce the time required for bearing capacity analysis of rock foundations

Effect of shape and size of sampling window on the determination of average length, intensity and density of trace discontinuity

The fractures geometrical characteristics can be calculated by various sampling methods in 1 dimension (1D) & 2 dimensions (2D). The Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) simulation results show some of the equations are suitable for calculation of mean trace length and the difference between actual value and their values is less than 15%. Apparent density is dependent on scale, but the Mauldon's estimators are independent of scale despite the variation in fracture length. For all joint sets, the difference of apparent areal intensity by samplings windows and circular estimator is less than 5% proportionate to actual value. A reduction of Fisher constant doesn't have much effect on mean trace length of the fractures with length less than 1.5 m, but it results in a 21% difference for fractures with length longer than 1.5 m. Variation of this parameter affects the density, too and the difference can be 5% to 10% depending on fracture length. But, variation in Fisher constant doesn't have any effect on areal intensity for fractures with length less than 2 m

Whisper-to-speech conversion using restricted Boltzmann machine arrays

Whispers are a natural vocal communication mechanism, in which vocal cords do not vibrate normally. Lack of glottal-induced pitch leads to low energy, and an inherent noise-like spectral distribution reduces intelligibility. Much research has been devoted to processing of whispers, including conversion of whispers to speech. Unfortunately, among several approaches, the best reconstructed speech to date still contains obviously artificial muffles and suffers from an unnatural prosody. To address these issues, the novel use of multiple restricted Boltzmann machines (RBMs) is reported as a statistical conversion model between whisper and speech spectral envelopes. Moreover, the accuracy of estimated pitch is improved using machine learning techniques for pitch estimation within only voiced (V) regions. Both objective and subjective evaluations show that this new method improves the quality of whisper-reconstructed speech compared with the state-of-the-art approaches

Gastrointestinal microflora of captured stellate sturgeon (Acipenser stellatus, Pallas, 1771) from Southeast Caspian Sea, Iran

Acipenser stellatus is one of the most invaluable species of Sturgeon fishes in the world. The purpose of this study was to identify the resident microbial community from the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of Acipenser stellatus. One hundred and twenty three fungi were isolated from the GIT of 7 Acipenser stellatus samples including Aspergillus spp (45.5%), Trichoderma spp (8.9%) and Cladophialophora spp (8.1%). Among different Aspergillus isolates, A. niger was the predominant species. Although, fungi were predominantly isolated from stomach (36.6%), but with respect to frequency of fungal isolates there were no significant differences between stomach and other parts of GI. In general, the bacterial isolates recovered were mostly gram negative and related to Enterobacteriaceae family such as Aeromonas, Pseudomonas and Salmonella species. The most bacterial species were isolated from intestine and pre stomach region (88.2%). It is concluded that A. niger and Aeromonas species were predominant fugal and bacterial microbes isolated from understudy fish GIT, respectively

Quasiparticle spectra from a non-empirical optimally-tuned range-separated hybrid density functional

We present a method for obtaining outer valence quasiparticle excitation energies from a DFT-based calculation, with accuracy that is comparable to that of many-body perturbation theory within the GW approximation. The approach uses a range-separated hybrid density functional, with asymptotically exact and short-range fractional Fock exchange. The functional contains two parameters - the range separation and the short-range Fock fraction. Both are determined non-empirically, per system, based on satisfaction of exact physical constraints for the ionization potential and many-electron self-interaction, respectively. The accuracy of the method is demonstrated on four important benchmark organic molecules: perylene, pentacene, 3,4,9,10-perylene-tetracarboxylic-dianydride (PTCDA) and 1,4,5,8-naphthalene-tetracarboxylic dianhydride (NTCDA). We envision that for finite systems the approach could provide an inexpensive alternative to GW, opening the door to the study of presently out of reach large-scale systems