Prevention of methylprednisolone acetate-induced osteoporosis with calcium administration in rat model

Glucocorticoid steroids are widely used as anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive medications and are well known to induce osteoporosis. In Present study 24 rats were randomly divided into four groups (n=6): Group A (control), Group B (sham)that was treated only by normal saline for 1 month.Group C that was treated by methylprednisolone acetate alone (0.2 mg/kg) for 1 month. Group D that was treated by methylprednisolone acetate (0.2 mg/kg) and oral calcium supplementation (15 mg/kg) for 1 month. Changes in concentration of bone metabolic markers such as osteocalcine, acid phosphatase and calcium were evaluated before and after treatment. Bone mineral density (BMD) of lumbar vertebrae was also measured by dual energy X ray absorptiometry (DEXA). The results showed that concentration mean of serum acid phosphatase was increased significantly (P � 0.05) in C and D groups in compared to A and B groups. The concentration mean of serum osteocalcine in group C was decreased significantly (P � 0.05) in comparison to A and B groups but increased significantly in the group D in comparison to group C. The concentration mean of serum calcium was decreased significantly (P � 0.05) in C and D groups in compared to A and B groups. The bone mineral density (g/cm2) was decreased significantly (P � 0.05) in group C in compared to A and B groups. This increased significantly in group D in compared to group C. These results are compatible with the view that low doses of methylprednisolone acetate decreases bone formation and increase bone resorption in the lumbar vertebrae of rats. Calcium administration decreased effects of methylprednisolone. © 2009 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Effects of different doses of hyaloronan on human sperm motility, vitality and morphology

Important aspect of sperm function such as motility and capacitation appear to be mediated at least partially though hyaloronic acid (HA). Present study investigated effects of different doses of HA on sperm motility and vitality in human. Sperm was obtained from 20 male from IVF clinic in Imam Khomeini Hospital. Sperm motility and vitality in human semen was analyzed according to WHO criteria before and 4 hours after treatment with different doses of HA (0.750, 1000 and 1250 μg/ml). The results showed that in 1000 μg/ml the percent of stage 3 and 4 increased compare to control group. Percent of stage 1 and 2 decreased in group with 1000 μg/ml HA, there was an increase in the percentage of stage 3 and 4 and decrease in percentage of stage 1 and 2 compare to control. In the group treated with 1250 μg/ml stage 1 and 2 increased while stage 3 and 4 decreased. Vitality in all groups decreased except of the group treated with 1000 μg/ml HA. The group with 1250 μg/ml showed significantly decrease in vitality compare to fresh group (P < 0.05). The present study showed that the effects of HA on sperm motility and vitality is dose dependant and 1000 μg/ml HA had the effective role on sperm parameters. © 2009 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Governing equations for 1D opto-mechanical vibrations of elastic cubical micro-resonators

© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group In this paper by employing the Lagrangian method, the effect of the radiation pressure on the coupling between the optical and mechanical modes in an elastic cavity is surveyed. The radiation pressure couldn’t be considered as an external force because the electromagnetic waves are non-separable part of the elastic media. Due to the deformation of elastic media, the electromagnetic waves is modified as a result of the element velocity. To consider the electromagnetic evolution, it is preferred to employ the Lagrangian method instead of the second Newton’s law. Here, using an elastic frame, governing equations on opto-mechanical oscillations in an elastic media are derived. In a specific case, by comparing the results to the other methods, it shown that this method is more accurate because the exchange of electromagnetic waves by regarding the movement of the elastic media due to deform is considered

Comparing performance of amoxicillin and intramuscular benzathine penicillin in relieving manifestations of Streptococcal pharyngitis in children

Objective: To compare clinical and bacteriologic responses to intramuscular benzathine penicillin G (BPG) and single dose of amoxicillin in Group A streptococcal (GAS) pharyngitis.Design: This study included 571 children from 6 to 15 years old age, with pharyngitis, who were admitted to 45 elementary and guidance schools from 7 regions of Education Organization in North-East of Iran, Mashhad. They were screened for enrollment and if he/she presented pharyngitis with clinical criteria of sore throat, erythema, exudate and tender or enlarged anterior cervical lymph nodes. Exclusion criteria included reports of antibiotic use, negative throat culture for GAS and history of allergy to the drugs. Clinical and bacteriologic responses to BPG and once daily orallyamoxicillin were considered and compared.Results: In the amoxicillin group, treatment failure was more than the penicillin group (18.9% vs. 6.4%, respectively) but the difference was not statistically significant (p &lt; 0.05). Both drugs were significantly effective in reducing pharyngitis manifestations but penicillin was significantly more effective in reducing exudate than amoxicillin.Conclusion: Our study was in line with studies comparing the two drugs. The results show that once-daily therapy with amoxicillin is as effective as intramuscular benzathine penicillin G for the treatment of GAS pharyngitis, but penicillin was significantly more effective in reducing exudate and concurrent signs vs. amoxicillin.Keywords: Streptococcal Pharyngitis, Erythema, Lymph nodes, Amoxicillin, Penicilli

Mutant p53 as an Antigen in Cancer Immunotherapy

The p53 tumor suppressor plays a pivotal role in cancer and infectious disease. Many oncology treatments are now calling on immunotherapy approaches, and scores of studies have investigated the role of p53 antibodies in cancer diagnosis and therapy. This review summarizes the current knowledge from the preliminary evidence that suggests a potential role of p53 as an antigen in the adaptive immune response and as a key monitor of the innate immune system, thereby speculating on the idea that mutant p53 antigens serve as a druggable targets in immunotherapy. Except in a few cases, the vast majority of published work on p53 antibodies in cancer patients use wild-type p53 as the antigen to detect these antibodies and it is unclear whether they can recognize p53 mutants carried by cancer patients at all. We envision that an antibody targeting a specific mutant p53 will be effective therapeutically against a cancer carrying the exact same mutant p53. To corroborate such a possibility, a recent study showed that a T cell receptor-like (TCLR) antibody, initially made for a wild-type antigen, was capable of discriminating between mutant p53 and wild-type p53, specifically killing more cancer cells expressing mutant p53 than wild-type p53 in vitro and inhibiting the tumour growth of mice injected with mutant p53 cancer cells than mice with wild-type p53 cancer cells. Thus, novel antibodies targeting mutant p53, but not the wild-type isoform, should be pursued in preclinical and clinical studies.</p

A modified sensitive carbon paste electrode for 5-fluorouracil based using a composite of praseodymium erbium tungstate

This paper describes the modification of a modified carbon paste electrode (CPE) using nanoparticles of praseodymium erbium tungstate (Pr:Er). The modified electrode was used for the sensitive voltammetric detection of an anticancer drug (5-fluorouracil (5-FU)) using. The modified-CPE was evaluated using cyclic voltammetry (CV), square wave voltammetry (SWV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and the resulting data showed the irreversible 5-fluorouracil oxidation peak around 1.0 V vs. Ag/AgCl. Some key parameters such as pH, the amount of the modifier, potential amplitude, step potential and frequency were studied and optimized. The square wave voltammetry (SWV) analytical calibration curve was linear in the range of 0.01�50 μM, with a detection limit of 0.98 nM analyses. The electron transfer coefficient (α) was also determined to be 0.76. The analyte concentration was also determined in pharmaceutical formulations and recovery percentages were found to be in the range of 96�102. The sensor had good reproducibility and repeatability with acceptable RSD values of 3.6, and 1.02 and a rather long-term stability of around one month. The as-synthesized nanoparticles were also characterized using FESEM, TEM, FTIR and XRD techniques. © 2020 Elsevier B.V

Manufacturer Signal-to-Cutoff Threshold Underestimates Cumulative Incidence of SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Evidence from the Los Angeles Firefighters Study

While SARS-CoV-2 serologic testing is used to measure cumulative incidence of COVID-19, appropriate signal-to-cut off (S/Co) thresholds remain unclear. We demonstrate S/Co thresholds based on known negative samples significantly increases seropositivity and more accurately estimates cumulative incidence of disease compared to manufacturer-based thresholds

Prediction of IRI in short and long terms for flexible pavements: ANN and GMDH methods

Prediction of pavement condition is one of the most important issues in pavement management systems. In this paper, capabilities of artificial neural networks (ANNs) and group method of data handling (GMDH) methods in predicting flexible pavement conditions were analysed in three levels: in 1 year, in 2 years (short term) and in the pavement life cycle (long term). For this purpose, three effective groups on pavement condition including traffic conditions, environmental changes and pavement structures were studied and nine effective variables were selected as input variables. International roughness index (IRI) was also used as the indicator of pavement performance. Various ANN structures and GMDH models in partial description configurations of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th polynomials were formed and examined. Results indicate that while ANN models predict future condition of pavement with high accuracy in the short and long terms, GMDH models do not have accepted accuracy

Distributed multi-agent Load Frequency Control for a Large-scale Power System Optimized by Grey Wolf Optimizer

This paper aims to design an optimal distributed multi-agent controller for load frequency control and optimal power flow purposes. The controller parameters are optimized using Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO) algorithm. The designed optimal distributed controller is employed for load frequency control in the IEEE 30-bus test system with six generators. The controller of each generator is considered as one agent. The controllers of agents are implemented in a distributed manner that is control rule of each agent depends on the agents’ own state and the states of their neighbors. Three other types of controllers including centralized controller, decentralized controller, and optimal centralized controller are considered for comparison. The performances of decentralized and distributed controllers are compared with two centralized controllers. In the optimal centralized controller and optimal distributed controller, the objective function is considered to achieve the objective of load frequency control as well as minimize power generation. Simulation results using MATLAB/SIMULINK show that although there is no global information of system in the optimal distributed controller, it has suitably reduced the frequency deviation. Meanwhile the power is optimally generated in the three scenarios of load increasing, load reduction and generator outage