Effect of Carthamus tinctorius L Extract on Diethylnitrosamine-Induced Liver Cirrhosis in Rats

Purpose: To explore the effects of Carthamus tinctorius L. extract (CTLE) on diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced liver cirrhosis in rats.Methods: CTLE was obtained by extracting the dried Carthamus tinctorius L. in water. Liver cirrhosis was induced by injecting the rats with DEN once a week for 8 weeks. Following this treatment, clinical biochemical assessments, as well as oxidative stress test and histopathological examination were performed.Results: Compared with the control group, plasma concentrations of alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) both decreased significantly (p < 0.01) after 8 weeks. The degree of liver fibrosis, cirrhosis and necrosis decreased in CTLE-treated rats. CTLE significantly inhibited malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutases (SOD) in DEN-induced rat liver (p < 0.01) compared with control group.Conclusion: CTLE has significant inhibitory effect on diethylnitrosamine-induced liver cirrhosis in rats, which can be developed for future clinical applications.Keywords: Carthamus tinctorius L., Liver Cirrhosis, Anti-Oxidant, Apoptosis, Diethylnitrosamin

1º Congresso Internacional de Geologia de Timor-Leste. Livro de resumos

Livro de resumos e textos de conferencias convidas do 1CoGeoTiL: 1º Congresso Internacional de Geologia de Timor-Leste

Ozone production in four major cities of China: sensitivity to ozone precursors and heterogeneous processes

Abstract. Despite a large volume of research over a number of years, our understandings of the key precursors that control tropospheric ozone production and the impacts of heterogeneous processes remain incomplete. In this study, we analyze measurements of ozone and its precursors made at rural/suburban sites downwind of four large Chinese cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Lanzhou. At each site the same measurement techniques were utilized and a photochemical box model based on the Master Chemical Mechanism (v3.2) was applied, to minimize uncertainties in comparison of the results due to differences in methodology. All four cities suffered from severe ozone pollution. At the rural site of Beijing, export of the well-processed urban plumes contributed to the extremely high ozone levels (up to an hourly value of 286 ppbv), while the pollution observed at the suburban sites of Shanghai, Guangzhou and Lanzhou was characterized by intense in-situ ozone production. The major anthropogenic hydrocarbons were alkenes and aromatics in Beijing and Shanghai, aromatics in Guangzhou, and alkenes in Lanzhou. The ozone production was found to be in a VOCs-limited regime in both Shanghai and Guangzhou, and a mixed regime in Lanzhou. In Shanghai, the ozone formation was most sensitive to aromatics and alkenes, while in Guangzhou aromatics were the predominant ozone precursors. In Lanzhou, either controlling NOx or reducing emissions of olefins from the petrochemical industry would mitigate the local ozone production. The potential impacts of several heterogeneous processes on the ozone formation were assessed. The hydrolysis of dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5), uptake of the hydroperoxyl radical (HO2) on particles, and surface reactions of NO2 forming nitrous acid (HONO) present considerable sources of uncertainty in the current studies of ozone chemistry. Further efforts are urgently required to better understand these processes and refine atmospheric models

Cuidar da pessoa em situação crítica da urgência aos cuidados diferenciados : Prevenção da úlcera por pressão

O presente relatório insere-se no 1.º Curso de Mestrado em Enfermagem Médico- Cirúrgica da Escola Superior de Enfermagem de São José de Cluny e pretende demonstrar o desenvolvimento de competências especializadas no cuidar da pessoa em situação crítica. Relata o desenvolvimento das competências comuns e específicas do enfermeiro especialista em Enfermagem Médico-Cirúrgica através de uma reflexão crítica das atividades desenvolvidas nos estágios I – Urgência, II – Cuidados Intensivos, III – Opção, que decorreram no Serviço de Urgência e no Serviço de Medicina Intensiva do Hospital Dr. Nélio Mendonça, e na Unidade de Cuidado Intensivos Polivalente da Urgência do Centro Hospitalar de São João, respetivamente. Suportado numa metodologia descritiva, apresenta o espírito crítico-reflexivo que impulsiona um percurso de aprendizagem especializada focado na prevenção das úlceras por pressão na pessoa em situação crítica. O relatório mostra o desenvolvimento de competências científicas, técnicas, éticodeontológicas e humanas diferenciadas em contextos formativos de referência. Enfatiza a importância da intervenção do enfermeiro especialista em Enfermagem Médico-Cirúrgica na prevenção das úlceras por pressão, foco relevante na prevenção de complicações em clientes com instabilidade hemodinâmica e/ou falência multiorgânica. Como resultado e sob um olhar especializado apresenta um plano de cuidados de enfermagem dirigido ao risco de úlceras por pressão na pessoa em situação crítica.This report is part of the 1st Masters Course in Medical-Surgical Nursing at the Escola Superior de Enfermagem de São José de Cluny and aims to demonstrate the development of specialized skills in caring for the person in critical situation. It reports on the development of the common and specific competences of the specialist nurse in Medical-Surgical Nursing through a critical reflection of the activities developed in the internships I - Urgency, II - Intensive Care, III - Option, which took place in the Emergency Department and in the Intensive Care Unit of Hospital Dr. Nélio Mendonça, and in the Multipurpose Intensive Care Emergency Unit of Centro Hospitalar de São João, respectively. Supported in a descriptive methodology, it presents the critical-reflexive spirit that propels a specialized learning course focused on the prevention of pressure ulcers in the patient in critical condition. The report shows the development of differentiated scientific, technical, ethicaldeontological and human competences in formative reference contexts. Emphasizes the importance of the intervention of the specialist nurse in Medical- Surgical Nursing in the prevention of pressure ulcers, a relevant focus in the prevention of complications in patients with hemodynamic instability and / or multiorgan failure. As a result, and under a specialized view, it presents a nursing care plan directed at the risk of pressure ulcers in the critically ill patient

The US stock market leads the Federal funds rate and Treasury bond yields

Using a recently introduced method to quantify the time varying lead-lag dependencies between pairs of economic time series (the thermal optimal path method), we test two fundamental tenets of the theory of fixed income: (i) the stock market variations and the yield changes should be anti-correlated; (ii) the change in central bank rates, as a proxy of the monetary policy of the central bank, should be a predictor of the future stock market direction. Using both monthly and weekly data, we found very similar lead-lag dependence between the S&P500 stock market index and the yields of bonds inside two groups: bond yields of short-term maturities (Federal funds rate (FFR), 3M, 6M, 1Y, 2Y, and 3Y) and bond yields of long-term maturities (5Y, 7Y, 10Y, and 20Y). In all cases, we observe the opposite of (i) and (ii). First, the stock market and yields move in the same direction. Second, the stock market leads the yields, including and especially the FFR. Moreover, we find that the short-term yields in the first group lead the long-term yields in the second group before the financial crisis that started mid-2007 and the inverse relationship holds afterwards. These results suggest that the Federal Reserve is increasingly mindful of the stock market behavior, seen at key to the recovery and health of the economy. Long-term investors seem also to have been more reactive and mindful of the signals provided by the financial stock markets than the Federal Reserve itself after the start of the financial crisis. The lead of the S&P500 stock market index over the bond yields of all maturities is confirmed by the traditional lagged cross-correlation analysis.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl

Flux pinning mechanisms in graphene-doped MGB2 superconductors

The effects of graphene doping on the superconducting properties of MgB2 were studied. We found that small addition of graphene significantly improves the superconducting properties of MgB2, with only a small reduction in Tc. Low resistivity, high critical fields and enhanced flux-flow activation energy were observed for the optimally doped bulk sample. The spatial fluctuation in the transition temperature (dTc pinning) is the flux pinning mechanism in graphene-doped MgB2. © 2011 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Levels and patterns of organochlorine pesticides in agricultural soils in an area of extensive historical cotton cultivation in Henan province, China

Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) have attracted widespread concern because of their environmental persistence and toxicity. The historical influence of different agricultural land use types on soil concentrations of OCP residues was investigated by collecting a total of 52 surface soil samples from long-term cotton fields and fields with other crops in Lvdian township, Henan province, eastern central China. The concentration, composition, and possible sources of 16 OCPs were determined and a health risk assessment of these soils was conducted. Hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), heptachlor, chlordane, and dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane plus its main metabolites (DDTs) were the most frequently detected OCPs with concentrations of 2.9-56.4 ng g(-1), 4.3-14.0 ng g(-1), 18.0-1254.4 ng g(-1), and below detection limit (BDL) -206.1 ng g(-1), respectively. Analysis of variance of p,p-DDE shows significant (P < 0.05) differences while other OCPs show no significant differences between historical cotton fields and fields containing other crops. Compositional analysis suggests that the HCH is derived mainly from the use of lindane and that there are recent inputs. Analysis of variance and compositional analysis indicate that the p,p-DDE in surface soil from long-term cotton fields is derived mainly from the aerobic biodegradation of historical residues. The sum of carcinogenic risk values of OCPs for soil samples were found to be 1.58 x 10(-6), posing a low cancer risk to the inhabitants of the region studied

Phylogeographic analysis and genetic structure of an endemic sino-japanese disjunctive genus Diabelia (caprifoliaceae)

The Sino-Japanese Floristic Region (SJFR) is a key area for plant phylogeographical research, due to its very high species diversity and disjunct distributions of a large number of species and genera. At present, the root cause and temporal origin of the discontinuous distribution of many plants in the Sino-Japanese flora are still unclear. Diabelia (Caprifoliaceae; Linnaeoideae) is a genus endemic to Asia, mostly in Japan, but two recent discoveries in China raised questions over the role of the East China Sea (ECS) in these species' disjunctions. Chloroplast DNA sequence data were generated from 402 population samples for two regions (rpl32-trnL, and trnH-psbA) and 11 nuclear microsatellite loci were screened for 549 individuals. Haplotype, population-level structure, combined analyses of ecological niche modeling, and reconstruction of ancestral state in phylogenies were also performed. During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) period after the Tertiary, Diabelia was potentially widely distributed in southeastern China, the continental shelf of the East China Sea and Japan (excluding Hokkaido). After LGM, all populations in China have disappeared except those in Zhejiang which may represent a Glacial refuge. Populations of Diabelia in Japan have not experienced significant bottleneck effects, and populations have maintained a relatively stable state. The observed discontinuous distribution of Diabelia species between China and Japan are interpreted as the result of relatively ancient divergence. The phylogenetic tree of chloroplast fragments shows the characteristics of multi-origin evolution (except for D. sanguinea). STRUCTURE analysis of nuclear Simple Sequence Repeat (nSSR) showed that the plants of the Diabelia were divided into five gene pools: D. serrata, D. spathulata, D. sanguinea, D. ionostachya (D. spathulata var. spathulata-Korea), and populations of D. ionostachya var. ionostachya in Yamagata prefecture, northern Japan. Molecular evidence provides new insights of Diabelia into biogeography, a potential glacial refuge, and population-level genetic structure within species. In the process of species differentiation, ECS acts as a corridor for two-way migration of animals and plants between China and Japan during glacial maxima, providing the possibility of secondary contact for discontinuously distributed species between China and Japan, or as a filter (creating isolation) during glacial minima. The influence of the ECS in speciation and biogeography of Diabelia in the Tertiary remains unresolved in this study. Understanding origins, evolutionary histories, and speciation will provide a framework for the conservation and cultivation of Diabelia