Comparison of total antioxidant capacity of saliva in women with gestational diabetes mellitus and non-diabetic pregnant women

Pregnancy is considered a stressful event, results in higher levels of oxidative stress and considerable changes in physiological and metabolic functions such as gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Due to the cumulative effect of antioxidants and considering the controversies in this area, this study was undertaken to investigate the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of saliva in pregnant women whit gestational diabetes in comparison to non-diabetic pregnant women. In this cross-sectional study (2015-16), a total of 31 women with a diagnosis of GDM and 59 non-diabetic pregnant women were included in the diabetic and control groups, respectively. Salivary samples were collected by spitting method. When all samples were collected, total antioxidant capacity (TAC) was measured with the use of a commercial kit following the manufacturer?s instructions. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney test using SPSS 18. Average TAC level in the saliva of women with gestational diabetes was 0.10 ± 0.14, with 0.04 ± 0.11 in non-diabetic pregnant women. Nonparametric Mann-Whitney test showed that this difference was statistically significant (P=0.024). Under the limitations of the present study it can be concluded that there is an increase in oxidative stresses during pregnancy, followed by an increase in the total levels of salivary antioxidants to counteract such stresses. Therefore, it is expected that determining the salivary antioxidant levels during pregnancy can be an alternative technique for the early diagnosis of diabetes

SPB1 and SPB1,2: Synthesis and Determination of the Microstructure and Physical Properties

New nano-structures of silica namely SPB particles (silica mesoporous particles, prepared by sol-gel method using triblock copolymers as template) were successfully synthesized, in water/n-octane (co-solvent) system and acidic media. Tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) as silica precursor, ethanol as co-surfactant and mixture of two copolymers of PPG-b-PEG-b-PPG and PEG-b-PPG-b-PEG (Pluronic) as template were used. The prepared new mesoporous silica particles were characterized using nitrogen adsorption-desorption (BET), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses. The obtained results indicated that the porosity of mesoporous materials and their surface properties could be improved by using a mixture of two copolymers as template. Also mixed triblock copolymers could adjust the pore size distribution of the mesoporous silica particles to a normal distribution. As confirmed by BET analysis, the mean pore diameters of SPB1 and SPB1,2 silica particles were found to be 5.48 nm and 3.21 nm respectively. The specific surface area and pore volume for SPB1,2 silica particles also increased with mixed block copolymers (SBET= 632.36 m2/g, VP= 0.342 cm3/g) compared to SPB1 particles (SBET = 577.27 m2/g, VP= 0.231 cm3/g). SEM results confirmed that the structures of these samples were spherical. Furthermore, the results also revealed that elimination of n-octane co-solvent from the reaction produced non-uniform large aggregates where the shape of particles changed from the spherical to non-spherical porous particles. These results showed that using a mixture of two triblock copolymers as template have outstanding effect on porosity, specific surface area, morphology, and microstructure of the new mesoporous silica particles

Using Cyclohexanol as a Co-Surfactant in the Synthesis of New Mesoporous Silica Particles

In the synthesis of mesoporous silica particles, the geometry, pore size, and specific surface area and pore volume of the particles can be greatly influenced by selected media and method, selection of co-solvent and co-surfactant. In this study, new SPB particles (silicone mesoporous particles, prepared by sol-gel method using block copolymers as template) were synthesized in a water/n-octane system from the mixture of two copolymers based on poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly (propylene oxide)-b-poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO-b-PPO-b-PEO) and poly(propylene oxide)-b-poly (ethylene oxide)-b-poly(propylene oxide) (PPO-b-PEO-b-PPO) triblock copolymers. Tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as precursor, cyclohexanol as co-surfactant, n-octane as co-solvent and citric acid catalyst were used. The specific surface area and pore volume, pore diameter, morphology, microstructure and porosity of the SPB particles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption-desorption (BET method) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The obtained results revealed that, using the mixture of two block copolymers in the synthesis of SPB1,2 particles, could produce mean pore diameters around 9 nm and control the pore size distribution of silica particles from non-normal to a normal distribution. Furthermore, the effect of chair conformation of cyclohexanol as a large co-surfactant on the mixed block copolymers due to increase in the uniformity and yield of the SPB1,2 mesoporous silica particles compared to the SPB1 particles, there is approximately a two fold increase in SPB1,2 particle yield. In this regard, the effect of cyclohexanol and the second block copolymer in making the new templates and micellization process were discussed