The Effect of Immune Cell Activation on Glycogen Storage in the Context of a Nutrient Rich Microenvironment

Lymphocytes of the immune system become activated in order to fight pathogens. Activated lymphocytes absorb more glucose due to their high-energy demand. Glycogen is a branched polymer of glucose units that is formed in times of nutrient sufficiency and it is utilized in times of need. In the presence of high glucose, lymphocytes build up glycogen stores, but the fate of this content is not very well understood. The objective of this work is to demonstrate the presence of glycogen in activated human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and to investigate the impact of low nutrient levels on the glycogen content of these cells. This was achieved by isolation of PBMCs from human blood, followed by in-vitro activation of the cells by a general activator and a T cell-specific activator. Glycogen concentrations were measured through periodic acid Schiff’s staining (PAS) method and by using an enzymatic detection kit, in various time points. The role of glycogen in times of low nutrient availability was also examined. PBMC were found to contain glycogen by both methods. Upon stimulation of PBMCs with the general activator, there was an increase in glycogen formation in the activated lymphocytes as compared to the non-activated group using both techniques (p<0.05). The effect of T cell-specific activator was consistent with the effects of the general activator. This was confirmed through PAS staining and enzymatic detection kit techniques (p<0.05). Additionally, when the amount of nutrients was lowered, less glycogen was stored in PBMCs. This study demonstrated that activated PBMCs contain more glycogen stores as compared to non-activated cells. The excess glucose that is converted into glycogen may be used by the immune system when nutrients are low

Comparison of Propolis and Calcium Hydroxide in terms of Mineralization and Cytotoxicity Using Dental Pulp Stem Cells

Objectives: This study aimed to compare the in vitro cytotoxic activity of propolis, a bioactive material made by the honeybee, and calcium hydroxide (CH) and their effect on formation of mineralized nodules by human dental pulp stem cells (HDPSCs).Methods: In this in vitro study, HDPSCs were obtained from the Cellular and Molecular Oral Biology Laboratory of School of Dentistry, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. In order to evaluate the proliferative effect of propolis and CH, HDPSCs were incubated with different concentrations of propolis (0-32mg/mL) and CH (0-4.8 mg/mL). Twenty-four and 48 hours later, the methylthiazolyl diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was carried out to evaluate the proliferation potential and viability of HDPSCs treated with propolis and CH. The effect of propolis and CH on mineralization of HDPSCs was assessed by alizarin red staining.Results: The MTT assay revealed that propolis at its highest concentration caused the greatest proliferation after 24 and 48 hours. Alizarin test showed that the lowest concentrations of CH and propolis at 14 days induced the formation of calcium nodules but at 21 days, propolis was deposited on the cells and calcification was not well recognizable.Conclusion: Propolis led to higher cell vitality at all concentrations in comparison to CH. However, due to its deposition on the cells, its effects on mineralization at 48 hours could not be determined

Comparing the Effect of Teaching Breast Self-Examination by Peers and Health Care Personnel on Students Knowledge and Attitude

Introduction: Training breast self-examination by peers provides an appropriate situation in order to form proper health behaviors during the adolescence age. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of training breast self-examination by peers and health care personnel on students' knowledge and attitude. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 112 students from two schools of dentistry and management of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences were selected randomly and were allocated in two groups. They were taken a pre-test and two post-tests. Data gathering tool was an assessment test evaluating their knowledge about breast cancer and self-examination and their attitude toward breast self-examination. Four or five students from each class were selected and trained as peer instructors. Students of the first group were trained by peers and the students in the second group were instructed by health care personnel separately using booklet. At the end of educational sessions, the first post-test, and after 6 weeks, the second post-test were taken. Statistical analysis was performed using paired t-test and independent t-test, repeated measure ANOVA, and factor analysis test. Results: There was a significant difference between knowledge and attitude scores of the two groups immediately after education, so that, the mean score of knowledge in the group trained by peers was higher than the one educated by health care personnel. But, no significant difference was observed between the attitude scores of the two groups, 6 weeks after education. Comparing the knowledge and attitude scores, before, immediately after and 6 weeks after education showed a significant difference in each group. Conclusion: The efficacy of training breast self-examination by peers is higher than by health care personnel. It is recommended to employ this educational method more, especially in training self-examination

Expression of collagen type I and II, aggrecan and SOX9 genes in mesenchymal stem cells on different bioscaffolds

Background: Stem cells represent an ideal cell source for application in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine due to their ability to proliferate and differentiate to a wide variety of cell lineages. With recent development of medical sciences and tissue engineering, usage of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells, their culture and differentiation on suitable scaffolds are considered as a successful clinical and research strategy. One of the most crucial factors in a successful tissue engineering technique is to choose an appropriate scaffold which allow cell migration transferring of bioactive factors as well as providing optimal growth environment for stem cells. In this study, the ability of two scaffolds is investigated as a suitable environment for the proliferation and differentiation of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells. Methods: This is an in vitro study that was performed in Laboratory of Stem Cell in Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research, Qom province from April 2013 to February 2014. In this study, two scaffolds including fibrin glue and alginate were prepared as two separate groups and after isolating mesenchymal stem cells from adipose tissue and adequate proliferation, they were seeded into each scaffold in chondrogenic medium. After 14 days, the evaluation of viability and gene expression of collagen II and I, SOX9 and aggrecan were done by MTT (3-{4,5-dimethylthiazol-2yl}-2,5-diphenyl-2H tetrazolium bromide) assay and real-time PCR technique respectively. Also, cartilaginous tissue formation on scaffolds was evaluated by histological analysis. Results: According to the obtained results, the fibrin glue scaffold showed significant difference in terms of viability in comparison to alginate scaffold in chondrocyte differentiating medium (P< 0.05). Also the results of real-time PCR analysis showed that the fibrin glue scaffold express cartilage specific genes at a higher level than alginate scaffold. Conclusion: The use of natural fibrin glue scaffold can be considered as a suitable environment for proliferation and differentiation of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells in cartilage tissue engineering

Comparing the effectiveness and durability of three ways of treatments in social anxiety disorder

Introduction: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as the chosen therapy of social anxiety disorder (SAD) although received increased support, it has some fluctuations. Therefore, the purpose of current study is to determine and compare the effectiveness and durability of three CBT patterns based on &quot;exposure to self&rdquo;, &ldquo;exposure to situation&quot; and &ldquo;exposure to self-situation&quot; on treatment of SAD.&nbsp; Method: In this quasi-experimental research, 24 subjects with SAD were selected based on Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) and Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders (SCID-IV). Eighteen subjects were randomly assigned to three experimental groups (each group consisted of 6 subjects) and six subjects were assigned to control group and four groups were demographically the same. Three experimental groups treated by one of the three CBT models and the control group waited. Subjects completed SPIN, LSAS-SR, BFNE, SIAS, SPS, and NSPS scales in addition to the scale of SPLN, before starting and after finishing in the period of a month and a half, four months and 1 year after ending of treatment/ waiting. Results: The comparison of four groups based on the difference mean of pre and post test showed that three CBT patterns have a meaningful difference with the control group but they have no meaningful difference with each other. Of course, the difference mean of the &quot;exposure to self&rdquo; group had a significant difference with control group in all dependent variables (the score of 6 scales of social anxiety), whereas, the difference mean of the &ldquo;exposure to self-situation&rdquo; and &ldquo;exposure to situation&rdquo; groups had a significant difference with control group in some of the six scales. The results show that all three aforementioned therapeutic models had effectiveness and durability but &ldquo;exposure to self&rdquo; group had superiorities over the other two groups. Discussion and Conclusion: The results show that all three CBT models are useful in Iranian clinical sample but, &ldquo;exposure to self&rdquo; group had superiorities than the two other groups in some evidences

Photocatalytic Degradation of Humic Acid Using Bentonite@Fe₃O₄@ZnO Magnetic Nanocomposite: An Investigation of the Characterization of the Photocatalyst, Degradation Pathway, and Modeling by Solver Plugin

Humic acid (HA), the most highly prevalent type of natural organic matter (NOM), plays an effective role in the generation of disinfectant byproducts such as trihalomethanes and haloacetic acid, which are well known to be definitive carcinogens. Therefore, the proactive elimination of HA from water and wastewater is a crucial means of preventing this pollutant from reacting with the chlorine incorporated during the disinfection process. This study investigated the UV light photocatalytic elimination of HA, employing a bentonite@Fe3O4@ZnO (BNTN@Fe3O4@ZnO) magnetic nanocomposite. The most significant variables pertinent to the photocatalytic degradation process examined in this work included the pH (3–11), nanocomposite dose (0.005–0.1 g/L), reaction time (5–180 min), and HA concentration (2–15 mg/L). The synthesized materials were characterized via field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and vibrating-sample magnetometer (VSM) techniques, all of which revealed outstanding catalytic properties for the BNTN@Fe3O4@ZnO. The conditions under which greater efficiency was achieved included a pH of 3, a nanocomposite dose of 0.01 g/L, and an HA concentration of 10 mg/L. Under these conditions, in just 90 min of photocatalytic reaction, an HA degradation efficiency of 100% was achieved. From the modeling study of the kinetic data, the Langmuir–Hinshelwood model showed good compliance (R2 = 0.97) with the empirical data and predicted values. Thus, it can be concluded that the BNTN@Fe3O4@ZnO catalyst acts very efficiently in the HA removal process under a variety of treatment conditions

A Multistep Workflow to Evaluate Newly Generated iPSCs and Their Ability to Generate Different Cell Types

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from human somatic cells have created new opportunities to generate disease-relevant cells. Thus, as the use of patient-derived stem cells has become more widespread, having a workflow to monitor each line is critical. This ensures iPSCs pass a suite of quality-control measures, promoting reproducibility across experiments and between labs. With this in mind, we established a multistep workflow to assess our newly generated iPSCs. Our workflow tests four benchmarks: cell growth, genomic stability, pluripotency, and the ability to form the three germline layers. We also outline a simple test for assessing cell growth and highlight the need to compare different growth media. Genomic integrity in the human iPSCs is analyzed by G-band karyotyping and a qPCR-based test for the detection of common karyotypic abnormalities. Finally, we confirm that the iPSC lines can differentiate into a given cell type, using a trilineage assay, and later confirm that each iPSC can be differentiated into one cell type of interest, with a focus on the generation of cortical neurons. Taken together, we present a multistep quality-control workflow to evaluate newly generated iPSCs and detail the findings on these lines as they are tested within the workflow