Comparison of cytokine gene expression in bovine tissues with acute or chronic inflammation

Cytokines are small molecular weight glycoproteins secreted by a variety of cells. These proteins have diverse activities and serve as signal mediators in immune reactions. Among the stimulators of cytokine induction, bacteria and their products are well-known. However, the regulatory mechanisms of cytokine expression associated with bacterial diseases are complicated and not completely elucidated;In the first study, mammary parenchymal tissues taken from Holstein cows at 6, 12, and 24 hours post-challenge with Escherichia coli were used as an acute bacterial infection model. In the study, we determined that IL-1alpha and TNF-alpha were the predominant cytokines expressed in mammary parenchymal tissues during the early phase of E. coli-induced mastitis. In contrast to these cytokines, expression of mRNA for IL-1beta, IL-6, and IFN-gamma in E. coli-infected mammary gland were low at the time points examined. The second study was designed to investigate the effects of CD18, an adhesion molecule, on cytokine gene expression in bovine pulmonary tissues after respiratory infection with Pasteurella haemolytica. This study suggested that CD18 may contribute to mRNA expression of IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha in the lung of P. haemolytica -infected cattle at 4 hours post-challenge. Based on histological evidence, this observation correlated with the infiltration of neutrophils into the lung tissue. For the third study, ileal tissues from cattle chronically infected with Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis were examined for the chronic expression of cytokine-specific mRNA. Ileal tissues collected from cattle with paratuberculosis expressed significantly (P \u3c 0.05) more IL-1alpha, IL-1beta, IL-6 and IFN-gamma mRNA than paratuberculosis negative cattle. The expression level of TNF-alpha, however, was not different between M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis -infected and non-infected animals. Histologically, the ileal tissues from paratuberculosis positive cows harbored 3 times more macrophages than control cattle;In combination, these studies suggest that the patterns of cytokine expression and the predominant subset of leukocytes in cattle may vary depending on a variety of factors that include pathogens, tissues and time after infection. We believe that developing an understanding of the role of cytokines in disease can be a step towards controlling infectious disease

Shock wave therapy for spastic plantar flexor muscles in hemiplegic cerebral palsy children

Background: The spastic motor type is the most common form of cerebral palsy (CP). Spastic equines foot is the most frequent deformity in ambulated children with CP. Shock wave therapy on spastic muscles of the upper limb in stroke patients provided a significant reduction in muscle tone.Aim: The present study aimed to investigate the efficiency of shock wave therapy on spastic planter flexor muscles and its relation to the gait in spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy children.Methods: Thirty spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy children from both sexes participated in this study. They were divided randomly into two groups of equal number: Group I (control) included 15 children (6 boys and 9 girls), with mean 5.83 ±0.34 years, received the therapeutic exercises program only. Group II (study) included 15 children (6 boys and 9 girls), with mean age 5.75 ± 0.51 years, received the same therapeutic exercises program which was given to the control group, in addition to shock wave therapy for 1 week (3 session/week).Results: Comparing the pre and post treatment mean values of the Hoffman reflex/Motor response (H/M) ratio and gait variables, revealed statistically significant differences in these variables in the study group.Conclusion: The shock wave therapy is effective in the treatment of hypertonic muscles which help those children to become more independent and participate in everyday activities.KEYWORDS: Shock wave therapy; Spasticity; Cerebral palsy; Gait; H/M rati

Therapeutic approaches to genetic disorders

Although prevention is the ideal goal for genetic disorders, various types oftherapeutic management are available. Such management approaches depend on the nature of the defect, how well it is understood at the genetic and biochemical levels and the practical feasibility of correction. In some conditions certain management is now tailored to the specific genotype. The patient being treated may be the fetus, the infant, the child or the adult. Treatment methods used in genetic disorders may involve surgical, cognitive/behavioral, pharmacologic, dietary, envairomental avoidance, transfusion, plasma exchange, enzyme, behavioral, cell, or gene therapy. Some have been developed on the basis of knowledge of the defect in the gene and its product, whereas others are empirical or aimed at controlling or mediating signs and symptoms without care.Keywords: Stem cell therapy, gene therapy, fetal therapy, PKU embryopathy, chaperons

Congestion Control for 6LoWPAN Networks: A Game Theoretic Framework

The Internet of Things (IoT) has been considered as an emerging research area where the 6LoWPAN (IPv6 over Low-Power Wireless Personal Area Network) protocol stack is considered as one of the most important protocol suite for the IoT. Recently, the Internet Engineering Task Force has developed a set of IPv6 based protocols to alleviate the challenges of connecting resource limited sensor nodes to the Internet. In 6LoWPAN networks, heavy network traffic causes congestion which significantly degrades network performance and effects the quality of service (QoS) aspects e.g. throughput, end-to-end delay and energy consumption. In this paper, we formulate the congestion problem as a non-cooperative game framework where the nodes (players) behave uncooperatively and demand high data rate in a selfish way. Then, the existence and uniqueness of Nash equilibrium is proved and the optimal game solution is computed by using Lagrange multipliers and KKT conditions. Based on this framework, we propose a novel and simple congestion control mechanism called game theory based congestion control framework (GTCCF) specially tailored for IEEE 802.15.4, 6LoWPAN networks. GTCCF is aware of node priorities and application priorities to support the IoT application requirements. The proposed framework has been tested and evaluated through two different scenarios by using Contiki OS and compared with comparative algorithms. Simulation results show that GTCCF improves performance in the presence of congestion by an overall average of 30.45%, 39.77%, 26.37%, 91.37% and 13.42% in terms of throughput, end-to-end delay, energy consumption, number of lost packets and weighted fairness index respectively as compared to DCCC6 algorithm

Quality of life among people with epilepsy in Saudi Arabia, and their beliefs about the causes and treatment of epilepsy

Aims: The current survey investigated the religious and cultural beliefs about the causes and treatment of epilepsy for people with epilepsy (PWEs) in Saudi Arabia, and also various aspects of their quality of life (QoL). Participants: A total of 360 participants – 110 people with epilepsy (PWEs), 114 people with multiple sclerosis (PWMSs) and 136 healthy controls (HCs) – were recruited from the Prince Sultan Military Medical City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Methods: The study proceeded with: (1) a focus group for instrument development; (2) a pilot study for validation and assessment of logistic and statistical aspects; and (3) the main survey. Where necessary instruments were translated into Arabic and validated. The following instruments were used: demographic and clinical questionnaire, religious and cultural beliefs checklist, QOLIE-31, the Arabic version of the RAND SF-36, the Stigma of Epilepsy Scale (three-item scale), the Stigma Scale of epilepsy, NDDI-E, GAD 7, NHS3, LAEP, and AEDs cognitive side effects questionnaire. Results: Most PWEs in Saudi Arabia in our sample believed in multifactorial causes of epilepsy and multiple treatment methods. Overall the QoL among our PWEs was relatively high. The side effects of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), and seizure type, depression, anxiety and feeling of stigma were all negative predictors for the QoL, which was significantly worse than the QoL of the PWMSs for various aspects. The scores for the HCs were significantly better than for both the PWEs and the PWMSs. Depression and anxiety scores for PWEs were significantly worse than for the HCs but not than the PWMSs. Conclusion: In Saudi Arabia, there are religious and cultural beliefs about the cause and treatment of epilepsy that parallel medical beliefs. Overall the QoL in PWEs was relatively high, although worse than in PWMSs or HCs, and was negatively influenced by AED side effects, seizure type, depression, anxiety and feelings of stigma. Having religious beliefs, practising religious rituals and having family support were found to be of great importance and need to be fully appreciated in the medical management of this condition

Serotonin: Is it a marker for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhotic patients?

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third most frequent cause of cancer mortality among men worldwide. Serotonin is a biogenic amine, ligand of a family of 5-HT receptors that reflect the diversity of serotonergic actions. Majority of serotonin in body (90%) is synthesized by enterochromaffin cells of the gastrointestinal tract and is exported to various sites. Serotonin regulates blood flow and vascular tone at portal and sinusoidal levels, serotonin acts as a mitogen for hepatocytes and promotes liver regeneration. 5HT emerges as a mediator of different pathological conditions (double edged sword). It contributes to liver fibrosis, mediates oxidative stress in nonalcoholic steatotic hepatitis and aggravates viral hepatitis, these conditions are involved in tumourigenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Impaired metabolic function in liver cirrhosis and slow uptake and storage of serotonin by the platelets is a sequelae of kinetic change of serotonin transport mechanisms or abnormal serotonin release from dense granules of activated platelets is a condition defined as ‘‘platelet exhaustion’’, contributes to elevated plasma serotonin which may facilitate tumour growth of primary liver hepatocellular carcinoma.Aim of this work: To determine whether serotonin is a marker for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhotic patients.Methods: Patients were classified into two groups; 45 patients with cirrhosis only and 30 patients with cirrhosis and HCC. Ten healthy subjects were taken as controls. Patients underwent; full history taking, clinical examination, and abdominal ultrasonography. Laboratory methods include SGOT, SGPT, GGT, bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, total proteins, albumin, CBC, prothrombin, INR, APRI score, Child-pugh score, MELD score, AFP and serum serotonin.Results: Plasma serotonin was significantly higher in the patients group with cirrhosis with a median level of 119.4 ng/ml than in the control group which showed a median value of 51.5 ng/ml p< 0.001. A significance  difference was also seen between cirrhosis and the HCC group with a median value of 478.35 ng/ml than the control group and a cirrhosis group with p< 0.001was found.Conclusion: Plasma serotonin level was significantly higher in patients with cirrhosis and HCC than in those with cirrhosis only and it was involved in the tumourigenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma.Keywords: Serotonin; AFP; HC

DNA hypermethylation in sodium butyrate-treated WI-38 fibroblasts

Sodium butyrate is very often used to alter gene expression in cultured cells. In this study, we examined the effects of this compound on various cellular events in WI-38 human embryonic lung fibroblasts in culture. During a 16-20-h treatment at sodium butyrate concentrations of between 5 and 20 mM, no adverse effects on cell morphology were observed. However, cell division and DNA synthesis were reversibly inhibited, the latter by 85, 80, and 70% at sodium butyrate concentrations of 5, 10, and 20 mM, respectively. Although overall protein synthetic activity was not significantly affected, RNA synthesis decreased to 76% of the control values at a sodium butyrate concentration of 5 mM. Butyrate treatment also caused hypermethylation of DNA cytosines as determined by differential digestion by MspI/HpaII restriction endonucleases and by high performance liquid chromatography analysis of the DNA. The 5-methylcytosine content of the DNA in untreated WI-38 fibroblasts was 2.94 +/- 0.46% of total cytosine residues, while in cultures treated with 5, 10, and 20 mM sodium butyrate, these values were 5.76 +/- 0.28, 5.91 +/- 0.37, and 6.8 +/- 0.44%, respectively. An interesting feature is that this hypermethylation occurred in DNA which was synthesized in the presence of sodium butyrate (newly synthesized) as well as in DNA which had been synthesized before butyrate administration (pre-existing DNA). The hypermethylated state was conserved only in the former situation, since the methylcytosines were rapidly lost in the subsequent generation in the latter case. It would therefore appear that methylcytosines are maintained after cell replication only if they are generated on newly synthesized DNA

Optimization Based Hybrid Congestion Alleviation for 6LoWPAN Networks

The IPv6 over Low-Power Wireless Personal Area Network (6LoWPAN) protocol stack is a key part of the Internet of Things (IoT) where the 6LoWPAN motes will account for the majority of the IoT ‘things’. In 6LoWPAN networks, heavy network traffic causes congestion which significantly effects the network performance and the quality of service (QoS) metrics. Generally, two main strategies are used to control and alleviate congestion in 6LoWPAN networks: resource control and traffic control. All the existing work of congestion control in 6LoWPAN networks use one of these. In this paper, we propose a novel congestion control algorithm called optimization based hybrid congestion alleviation (OHCA) which combines both strategies into a hybrid solution. OHCA utilizes the positive aspects of each strategy and efficiently uses the network resources. The proposed algorithm uses a multi-attribute optimization methodology called grey relational analysis for resource control by combining three routing metrics (buffer occupancy, expected transmission count and queuing delay) and forwarding packets through non-congested parents. Also, OHCA uses optimization theory and Network Utility Maximization (NUM) framework to achieve traffic control when the non-congested parent is not available where the optimal nodes’ sending rate are computed by using Lagrange multipliers and KKT conditions. The proposed algorithm is aware of node priorities and application priorities to support the IoT application requirements where the applications’ sending rate allocation is modelled as a constrained optimization problem. OHCA has been tested and evaluated through simulation by using Contiki OS and compared with comparative algorithms. Simulation results show that OHCA improves performance in the presence of congestion by an overall average of 28.36%, 28.02%, 48.07%, 31.97% and 90.35% in terms of throughput, weighted fairness index, end-to-end delay, energy consumption and buffer dropped packets as compared to DCCC6 and QU-RPL