Toxicity Evaluation of 6-Mercaptopurine Using Accelerated Cytotoxicity Mechanism Screening (ACMS) techniques

6- Mercaptopurine (6-MP) is widely used in clinic as an immunosuppressive for treatment of acute lymphocytic leukemia, Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis with documented unpredictable hepatotoxicity. The potential molecular cytotoxic mechanisms of 6-MP against isolated rat hepatocytes were searched in this study using ―Accelerated Cytotoxicity Mechanism Screening (ACMS)‖ techniques. The concentration of 6-MP required to cause 50% cytotoxicity in 2 hour at 37∘C was detected to be 400 μM. A significant increase in 6-MP induced cytotoxicity and reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation, % mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), lysosomal damage were observed. The addition of chloroquine (lysosomotropic agent), L-carnitine (inhibitor of membrane permeability transition (MPT), Diphenyleneiodonium (DPI) as an inhibitor of production of superoxide, and H2O2 by mitochondria and Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as a radical scavenger decreased 6-MP-induced cytotoxicity, ROS formation, collapse of MMP, and lysosomal damage. Results from this study suggest that 6-MP -induced cytotoxicity in isolated rat hepatocytes due to ROS formation, mitochondrial and lysosomal damages that resulted in crosstalk toxicity between mitochondrial and lysosomal damage and finally cell death

Role of Oxygen Free Radicals in Cancer Development and Treatment

It is well known that species derived from oxygen are cytotoxic and are involved in the etiology of cancer. Several carcinogens during metabolism exert their effect by producing reactive oxygen species (ROS). One of the consequences of oxidative damage to cellular DNA is mutated. It plays a vital role in the process of carcinogenesis (especially in the initiation and progression). The alters, including rearrangement of DNA sequence, base modification, DNA miscoding lesions, gene amplification, and the activation of oncogenes, could be implicated in the initiation stage of several cancers. Mitochondrial changes in the cancer cells are well known and as a result are respiratory injured. Mitochondrial dysfunction could lead to a low coupling efficiency of the mitochondrial electron transport chain (mETC), raising electron leakage and increased ROS formation. It has been documented that by reducing and inactivation of antioxidant system, the oxidative stress (OS) in cancer cells is higher. Cancer cells exhibit a higher oxidative stress level compared to normal cells, rendering tumor cells more vulnerable to raise ROS levels. Therefore, increasing ROS levels through redox modulation can be a strategy to selectively kill cancer cells but not normal cells. A promising anti-cancer method named “oxidation therapy” has been developed by causing cytotoxic oxidative stress for cancer therapy. In this chapter, we described the role of ROS as a double-edged sword in cancer development and treatment

Comparison of Socioeconomic Status and Human Related Factors Among Adults Between Hotspot and Non-Hotspot Areas of Dengue in Kuching and Samarahan, Sarawak

Despite the ongoing efforts by the Ministry of Health in dengue control, it remains a public health issue in Kuching and Samarahan as the surge of the outbreak and increased number of hotspot areas. Human behaviour had contributed to the rising number of dengue cases. This study aims to compare socioeconomic status, risk perception, knowledge, attitude, and practice among the communities in dengue hotspot and non-hotspot areas. Methodology: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the hotspot and non-hotspot areas in Kuching and Samarahan. One-hundred-and-two respondents were randomly selected to answer the selfadministered questionnaire. Desired socioeconomic characteristics, risk perception, knowledge, attitude, and practices towards dengue prevention were compared using Chi-Square test, independent sample t-test, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) as appropriate. Finally, risk perception, knowledge, attitude, and practice were correlated using Pearson correlation. Results: People living in the hotspot area had lower household income and educations levels compared to people living in the non-hotspot area; still, they have a better attitude (p-value: <0.05). In this study, females showed better in prevention practice than males (p-value: <0.05) but no significant differences in risk perception, knowledge, and attitude. Concerning the level of education, this study findings show a better attitude among people with a higher education level than people with-lower education levels (p-value: <0.01). Also, people with higher risk perception tend to have better knowledge and attitude towards dengue (p-value: <0.01). Similarly, people with higher education will also show a better attitude (p-value: <0.01). However, there is no correlation between risk perception, knowledge, and attitude toward dengue preventive practices. Conclusion: Therefore, dengue prevention activities should focus on communities with lower household income and lower education levels. Strengthening intersectoral collaboration is suggested to increase the economic status and level of education of the communities

Pengolahan Minyak Jelantah Menjadi Biodiesel

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui karakteristik biodiesel yang dihasilkan dari minyak jelantah. Minyak jelantah dimurnikan melalui tiga tahap yaitu despicing, netralisasi dan bleaching. Selanjutya diolah menjadi biodiesel melalui dua proses yaitu proses esterifikasi menggunakan katalis asam dan proses transesterifikasi menggunakan katalis basa. Hasil uji karakteristik biodiesel menunjukan bahwa densitas biodiesel dari minyak pabrik telah memenuhi SNI 04-7182-2006. Tetapi biodiesel dari minyak kampung belum memenuhi SNI 04-7182-2006. Hasil uji viskositas menunjukan bahwa biodiesel dari minyak kampung dan minyak pabrik telah memenuhi SNI 04-7182-2006. Hasil uji bilangan asam menunjukan bahwa biodiesel dari minyak pabrik dan biodiesel dari minyak kampung belum memenuhi SNI 04-7182-2006. Hasil uji kadar air menunjukan bahwa biodiesel dari minyak pabrik dan biodiesel dari minyak kampung belum memenuhi SNI 04-7182-2006. Hasil uji GC menunjukan bahwa persen area metil ester (biodiesel) dari minyak pabrik sebesar 99,59 % dengan kadar asam 0,41 %. Dan persen area metil ester (biodiesel) dari minyak kampung sebesar 96,70 % dengan kadar asam 3,30 %

The effect of descriptive evaluation of elementary school third grade subjects on academic achievement of students

The goal of this research was the effect of descriptive evaluation of elementary school third grade subjects on academic achievement of students and its comparison with traditional evaluation. The statistical population of the research included all female third grade students of elementary schools in ZarrinShahr in academic year of 2012-2013 who were a total number of 742 students as well as the elementary school third grade teachers who were a number of 34 teachers. Among them a number of 147 students and 28 teachers were selected via cluster sampling. Research methodology in this study was of survey-descriptive type. The research tools were checklists and a questionnaire of opinion toll, made by the researcher. To assess the validity of the tools used, the face validity and content validity were used and the validity of the questionnaire was estimated as a=0.93. Chi square test was used to analyze the research questions. The results of the research showed that using different methods of descriptive evaluation has been effective in improving the students’ performances in such subjects as the Holy Quran, social sciences, arts, science &amp; Persian, while it has not been effective in improving their performances in such subjects as heavenly gifts (the Holy Quran for elementary students) and mathematics. Finally, the results of opinion toll showed that the teachers found descriptive evaluation more suitable than traditional evaluation in evaluating all the third grade subjects of elementary school. Keywords: Evaluation, Descriptive evaluation, Traditional evaluation, Students’ performances

Anonymous roaming in universal mobile telecommunication system mobile networks

A secure roaming protocol for mobile networks is proposed. Roaming has been analysed in some schemes from the security point of view; however, there are vulnerabilities in most of them and so the claimed security level is not achieved. The scheme offered by Wan et al. recently is based on hierarchical identity-based encryption, in which the roaming user and the foreign network mutually authenticate each other without the help of the home network. Although the idea behind this proposal is interesting, it contradicts technical considerations such as routing and billing. The proposed protocol makes use of similar functions used in Wan et al.'s scheme but contributes a distinguished structure that overcomes the previous shortcomings and achieves a higher possible level of security in mobile roaming as well as enhancing the security of the key issuing procedure

Private Identification, Authentication and Key Agreement Protocol with Security Mode Setup

Identification, authentication and key agreement protocol of UMTS networks with security mode setup has some weaknesses in the case of mutual freshness of key agreement, DoS-attack resistance, and efficient bandwidth consumption. In this article we consider UMTS AKA and some other proposed schemes. Then we explain the known weaknesses of the previous frameworks suggested for the UMTS AKA protocol. After that we propose a new protocol called private identification, authentication, and key agreement protocol (PIAKAP), for UMTS mobile network. Our suggested protocol combines identification and AKA stages of UMTS AKA protocol while eliminates disadvantages of related works and brings some new features to improve the UMTS AKA mechanism. These features consist of reducing the interactive rounds of the UMTS AKA with security mode setup and user privacy establishment

Ischemic heart disease risk factors in lead exposed workers: research study

Background: Review of other epidemiological studies reveal inconsistent results of relationships between high blood lead level and risk of hypertension, hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia. In this study we wanted to find if there is a relationship between blood lead level and these ischemic heart disease risk factors. Methods. This cross-sectional study was conducted in a battery recycling plant, and 497 male workers with the mean age of 41.7 (±6.50) years were recruited from all over the plant (those from the products and maintenance sections were classed as "high lead exposed group" and those from amongst the office, laboratory, security services and food services sections as "low lead exposed group"). Personal information such as demographics and work history was obtained through a questionnaire. Mean (±Standard deviation) for quantitative variables, Frequency (Percent) for qualitative variables, and Odd's ratio (OR) with 95 confidence interval (95 CI) for estimating the effect of blood lead level on lipid profiletriglyceride (TG), cholesterol(CHOL), low density lipoprotein - Cholesterol(LDL-C),high density lipoprotein -Cholesterol(HDL-C), hypertension(HTN) and fasting blood sugar (FBS) level. Logistic regression modeling was used for multivariate analysis and adjusting the effect of different variables (age, body mass index(BMI), eating habits, cigarette smoking). Results: The mean Blood Lead Level (BLL) was >40 μg/dl in 281 (56.6%) subjects, �40 μg in 216 (43.4%) subjects and the mean BLL was 43.3 μg/dl (n = 497). The mean job experience involving lead exposure was 13 years. There was no significant correlation between BLL and FBS (p = 0.68), between BLL and TG (P = 0.32), between BLL and HDL-C (p = 0.49), between BLL and LDL-C (p = 0.17), between BLL and CHOL(p = 0.96), between BLL and systolic blood pressure (p = 0.12). The adjusted Odd's ratio for the effect of BLL >40.0 μg/dl on diastolic blood pressure was1.03 (95% CI: 1.01-1.05) with p = 0.05. Conclusion: This study showed an association of high BLL with diastolic blood pressure but not with TG, FBS, and HDL-C, LDL-C and CHOL. This result persisted even after adjustment was made for age, BMI and job experience, smoking and eating habits. Attention to health-protective policies, individual behavioral changes and regular periodic medical examination with focus on diastolic blood pressure in lead exposed workers is likely to decrease the public health burden of ischemic heart disease. © 2013 Ghiasvand et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd