Simvastatin attenuates intestinal ischaemia/reperfusion-induced injury in rat

Ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is commonly seen in the field of intestine surgical interventions, shock, trauma, and many other clinical conditions. Simvastatin is known to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. This study investigated the effect of simvastatin administration in a warm intestinal I/R model on TNF-&#945;, antioxidant enzymes and intestinal tissue morphology. Thirty-six male wistar rats underwent laparotomy under general anaesthesia. Simvastatin was administered from four days before ischaemia induction. The rats were divided in to three groups (n = 12): the sham goup, the I/R group, and the I/R + simvastatin group. Intestinal ischaemia was induced by superior mesenteric artery ligation with microvascular clamps for 60 minutes, and after ischaemia, blood perfusion was released into the tissue and a reperfusion phase was started, which lasted for 3 hours. After 3 hours, the animals were sacrificed and serum and tissue obtained for biochemical and histological study. In the simvastatin treated group, intestinal tissue injury, TNF-&#945; level, and tissue malondealdehyde levels were significantly lower than in the I/R group (p < 0.05). Glutathion peroxidase and superoxide dismutase levels were significantly higher in the simvastatin treated group than in the I/R group (p < 0.05). Simvastatin pretreatment reduced intestinal I/R injury and was associated with down- -regulation of serum TNF-&#945; and tissue malondealdehyde level, and simvastatin administration maintained cellular antioxidant enzyme contents compared to the I/R group after 3 hours reperfusion time

Customized clinical practice guidelines for management of adult cataract in Iran

Purpose: To customize clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for cataract management in the Iranian population. Methods: First, four CPGs (American Academy of Ophthalmology 2006 and 2011, Royal College of Ophthalmologists 2010, and Canadian Ophthalmological Society 2008) were selected from a number of available CPGs in the literature for cataract management. All recommendations of these guidelines, together with their references, were studied. Each recommendation was summarized in 4 tables. The first table showed the recommendation itself in clinical question components format along with its level of evidence. The second table contained structured abstracts of supporting articles related to the clinical question with their levels of evidence. The third table included the customized recommendation of the internal group respecting its clinical advantage, cost, and complications. In the fourth table, the internal group their recommendations from 1 to 9 based on the customizing capability of the recommendation (applicability, acceptability, external validity). Finally, customized recommendations were sent one month prior to a consensus session to faculty members of all universities across the country asking for their comments on recommendations. Results: The agreed recommendations were accepted as conclusive while those with no agreement were discussed at the consensus session. Finally, all customized recommendations were codified as 80 recommendations along with their sources and levels of evidence for the Iranian population. Conclusion: Customization of CPGs for management of adult cataract for the Iranian population seems to be useful for standardization of referral, diagnosis and treatment of patients. © 2015 Journal of Ophthalmic and Vision Research | Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow

The effect of essential oil of Salvia mirzayanii on learning and memory in mice using the passive avoidance learning methods

Background: In traditional medicine, many herbal medicines like lamiaceae family are used as treatment for dementia. Lamiaceae family has many pharmacological effects including antioxidant, anti-cholinesterase, antimicrobial, anticancer, anti-inflammatory and enhancing cognition and memory. Salvia mirzayanii is one of the species of this family and has been used as an herbal medicine for many years. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of essential oil of S. mirzayanii on learning and memory in mice using the two passive avoidance methods. Materials and Methods: The aerial parts of the plant were dried in shade and essential oils were obtained using clevenger apparatus. The active components in the essential oils of the plant were also identified using the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). One-hundred and forty mice classified into different groups (n=10) were received certain doses of diazepam (0.5, 1 and 1.5 mg/kg) or the essential oil of S. mirzayanii (0.48, 0.96 and 1.92 mg/kg) by gavage tube. The step-down and step-through latencies were used to evaluate the learning and memory. Results: S. mirzayanii essential oil significantly increased the step-down and step-through latency times in both methods (

Trachyspermum ammi aromatic water: A traditional drink with considerable anti-Candida activity

Background and Purpose: Aromatic waters (AWs) are therapeutic distillates, which harbor both essential oil and water-soluble components of a plant. Due to the dispersion of the light amount of essence through the AWs, they have their specific pleasant smell, taste, and medicinal properties. In Iranian traditional medicine, Trachyspermum ammi AW is used to treat gastrointestinal disorders. The present study was conducted to determine the chemical composition of the essential oil extracted from T. ammi AW and its antifungal activities against Candida species. Materials and Methods: The composition of the essential oil extracted from T. ammi AW was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. In addition, the evaluation of the antifungal activity of AW against Candida species was performed using broth microdilution methods as recommended by the Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute. Moreover, the biofilm formation inhibition, antioxidant properties, and experimental activity of AW were determined in an animal model. Results: According to the results, thymol (78.08) was the major compound of EO, followed by carvacrol (8.20) and carvotanacetone (6.50). Furthermore, T. ammi AW exhibited antifungal activities against the examined fungi and inhibited the biofilm formation of C. albicans at a concentration of up to 0.25 V/V. Histopathological analyses revealed that Candida colonization declined in the mice following the administration of T. ammi AW in a therapeutic trial. Conclusion: It seems that the presence of phenolic monoterpenes in AW has resulted in antifungal effects. Pleasant odor and antioxidant properties are extra bonuses to the antimicrobial effects of this plant. Based on the findings, AW might have the potential to be used in the management of alimentary candidiasis or oral hygienic products. Copyright © 2020, Published by Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences on behalf of Iranian Society of Medical Mycology and Invasive Fungi Research Center

Waveform Selection for FMCW and PMCW 4D-Imaging Automotive Radar Sensors

peer reviewedThe emerging 4D-imaging automotive MIMO radar sensors necessitate the selection of appropriate transmit wave-forms, which should be separable on the receive side in addition to having low auto-correlation sidelobes. TDM, FDM, DDM, and inter-chirp CDM approaches have traditionally been proposed for FMCW radar sensors to ensure the orthogonality of the transmit signals. However, as the number of transmit antennas increases, each of the aforementioned approaches suffers from some drawbacks, which are described in this paper. PMCW radars, on the other hand, can be considered to be more costly to implement, have been proposed to provide better performance and allow for the use of waveform optimization techniques. In this context, we use a block gradient descent approach to design a waveform set for MIMO-PMCW that is optimized based on weighted integrated sidelobe level in this paper, and we show that the proposed waveform outperforms conventional MIMO-FMCW approaches by performing comparative simulations

Aspects of urinary tract infections and antimicrobial resistance in hospitalized urology patients in Asia: 10-Year results of the Global Prevalence Study of Infections in Urology (GPIU)

10.1016/j.jiac.2017.11.013Journal of Infection and Chemotherapy244278-283JICH