Effects of social isolation on mRNA expression for corticotrophin-releasing hormone receptors in prairie voles

Previous studies have demonstrated that various type of stressors modulate messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) for type 1 corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) receptor (CRH-R1 mRNA) and type 2 CRH receptor (CRH-R2 mRNA). The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of social isolation stress of varying durations on the CRH, CRH-R1 and CRH-R2 mRNAs expression in the hypothalamus, hippocampus and pituitary of socially monogamous female and male prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster). Isolation for 1h (single isolation) or 1h of isolation every day for 4 weeks (repeated isolation) was followed by a significant increase in plasma corticosterone levels. Single or repeated isolation increased hypothalamic CRH mRNA expression, but no changes in CRH-R1 mRNA in the hypothalamus were observed. Continuous isolation for 4 weeks (chronic isolation) showed no effect on hypothalamic CRH or CRH-R1 mRNAs in female or male animals. However, hypothalamic CRH-R2 mRNA was significantly reduced in voles exposed to chronic isolation. Single or repeated isolation, but not chronic isolation, significantly increased CRH-R1 mRNA and decreased CRH-R2 mRNA in the pituitary. Despite elevated CRH mRNA expression, CRH-R1 and CRH-R2 mRNAs were not modulated in the hippocampus following single or repeated isolation. Although, chronic isolation did not affect hippocampal CRH or CRH-R1 mRNAs, it did increase CRH-R2 mRNA expression in females and males. The results of the present study in prairie voles suggest that social isolation has receptor subtype and species-specific consequences for the modulation of gene expression for CRH and its receptors in brain and pituitary. Previous studies have revealed a female-biased increase in oxytocin in response to chronic isolation; however, we did not find a sex difference in CRH or its receptors following single, repeated or chronic social isolation, suggesting that sexually dimorphic processes beyond the CRH system, possibly involving vasopressin, might explain this difference.     

Effect of dietary vitamin E on plasma oxidative stress in broiler chicks infected with Eimeria tenella

The aim of the present experiment was to study the alterations in plasma oxidative stress parameters in broiler chicks fed with graded dietary vitamin E whilst infected with Eimeria tenella. Ninety six new-born chicks were assigned into three treatment groups by adding 0, 316 or 562?ppm of vitamin E premix to their regular diet. On day?21, half of the experimental birds were inoculated with 4?×?10⁴ sporulated oocysts of E. tenella per bird; whereas the remaining chicks served as non-infected controls. Blood samples were taken and assayed for total antioxidant activity (TAA), lipid peroxidation level and vitamin E content. Oocyst shedding was also examined in all treatments. Results showed that TAA and vitamin E levels in plasma were not affected by dietary treatment (p?>?0.05). The lowest level of plasma lipid peroxidation (p?<?0.001) was noticed in the chicks treated with 562?ppm of dietary vitamin E, but the difference between the chicks fed a regular diet or 316?ppm dietary vitamin E was not significant (p?>?0.05). The oocyst shedding was the lowest in the chicks treated with 316?ppm dietary vitamin E (p?<?0.001), but there was no significant difference between the other two dietary treatments (p?>?0.05). In conclusion, the addition of vitamin E at a rate of 316?ppm to broiler basal diet can improve cellular defence system against E. tenella infection without any effect on the plasma antioxidant status, but at higher values it may have an adverse effect.     

Efficacy of artichoke leaf extract in non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease: A pilot double‐blind randomized controlled trial

Non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common cause of chronic liver disease worldwide and is potentially treatable, though there are few therapeutic agents available. Artichoke leaf extract (ALE) has shown potential as a hepatoprotective agent. This study sought to determine if ALE had therapeutic utility in patients with established NAFLD. In this randomized double‐blind placebo‐controlled parallel‐group trial, 100 subjects with ultrasound‐diagnosed NAFLD were randomized to either ALE 600 mg daily or placebo for a 2‐month period. NAFLD response was assessed by liver ultrasound and serological markers including the aspartate aminotransferase (AST)/alanine aminotransferase (ALT) ratio and AST to platelet ratio index (APRI) score. Ninety patients completed the study (49 ALE and 41 placebo) with no side effects reported. ALE treatment compared with placebo: Doppler sonography showed increased hepatic vein flow (p < .001), reduced portal vein diameter (p < .001) and liver size (p < .001), reduction in serum ALT (p < .001) and AST (p < .001) levels, improvement in AST/ALT ratio and APRI scores (p < .01), and reduction in total bilirubin. ALE supplementation reduced total cholesterol, low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, non‐high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglyceride concentrations (p = .01). This study has shown beneficial effects of ALE supplementation on both ultrasound liver parameters and liver serum parameters (ALT, AST, APRI ratio, and total bilirubin) in patients with NAFLD.     

Induction of strong immune response against a multicomponent antigen of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in BALB/c mice using PLGA and DOTAP adjuvant

A promising strategy for preventing illness and death caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is vaccination. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the capacity of a multicomponent vaccine comprising HspX/EsxS‐fused protein, PLGA (poly (lactide‐co‐glycolide)) and DOTAP (1, 2‐dioleoyl‐3‐trimethylammonium propane) in eliciting immune responses against Mtb in BALB/c mice. A preparation of PLGA nanoparticles (NPs) containing fused protein and DOTAP adjuvant was made using double emulsion solvent evaporation (w/o/w) and lipid film hydration methods, respectively. After three subcutaneous immunization of BALB/c mice with various formulations, ELISA technique was used to measure interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ) and interleukin‐4 (IL‐4) cytokines levels in splenocytes as well as serum anti‐HspX/EsxS IgG1 and IgG2a titers. The results of the current study showed that PLGA/HspX/EsxS/DOTAP formulation was able to induce higher levels of FN‐γ, IgG1, and IgG2a responses compared with BCG as the positive control, HspX/EsxS, HspX/EsxS/DOTAP and PLGA/HspX/EsxS formulations. Our results suggest that PLGA NPs, as delivery system, and DOTAP, as adjuvant, have a good potential to enhance immune responses against HspX/EsxS antigen after subcutaneous immunization of BALB/c mice.     

Inhibitory effects of taraxasterol and aqueous extract of Taraxacum officinale on calcium oxalate crystallization: in vitro study

Objective: We investigated and compared the effects of taraxasterol, aqueous extract of T. officinale (AET) aerial part, and potassium citrate (PC) on calcium oxalate (CaOx) crystallization in vitro.

Materials and methods: CaOx crystallization was induced by adding sodium oxalate to synthetic urine. Taraxasterol (2.5, 5, 7.5 and 12.5?μg/mL), extract (1, 2, 4 and 8?mg/mL), and PC (100, 150, 200 and 350?mg/mL) were subjected to anti-crystallization activities. The absorbance and %inhibition of nucleation of CaOx crystals were evaluated by spectrophotometer at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60?min and the number and morphology of crystals were studied by light microscopy after 60?min.

Results: Presence of taraxasterol, extract and PC decreased absorbance in experimental samples compared to control, significantly. The nucleation of crystals is inhibited by taraxasterol, extract, and PC (26–64, 55–63 and 60–70%, respectively). The number of CaOx crystals were decreased in presence of taraxasterol (p?p?p?2O₄ monohydrate, while increased CaC₂O₄ dihydrate crystals, significantly. Also, the diameter of CaC₂O₄ dihydrate crystals was decreased in presence of taraxasterol, extract and PC, significantly.

Conclusions: This research indicated that taraxasterol and extract have anti-crystallization activities and effectiveness of the extract is more potent than taraxasterol. It could be because of another constituent in the extract with the synergistic effect.     

Multiscale analysis of neural spike trains

This paper studies the multiscale analysis of neural spike trains, through both graphical and Poisson process approaches. We introduce the interspike interval plot, which simultaneously visualizes characteristics of neural spiking activity at different time scales. Using an inhomogeneous Poisson process framework, we discuss multiscale estimates of the intensity functions of spike trains. We also introduce the windowing effect for two multiscale methods. Using quasi‐likelihood, we develop bootstrap confidence intervals for the multiscale intensity function. We provide a cross‐validation scheme, to choose the tuning parameters, and study its unbiasedness. Studying the relationship between the spike rate and the stimulus signal, we observe that adjusting for the first spike latency is important in cross‐validation. We show, through examples, that the correlation between spike trains and spike count variability can be multiscale phenomena. Furthermore, we address the modeling of the periodicity of the spike trains caused by a stimulus signal or by brain rhythms. Within the multiscale framework, we introduce intensity functions for spike trains with multiplicative and additive periodic components. Analyzing a dataset from the retinogeniculate synapse, we compare the fit of these models with the Bayesian adaptive regression splines method and discuss the limitations of the methodology. Computational efficiency, which is usually a challenge in the analysis of spike trains, is one of the highlights of these new models. In an example, we show that the reconstruction quality of a complex intensity function demonstrates the ability of the multiscale methodology to crack the neural code. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of garlic supplementation on complement activity in broiler chickens

Recent studies have demonstrated the potential immuno-modulatory activity of herbal products in human and animals. The present study was performed to elucidate the impact of including fresh garlic powder (FGP) in the diet of broiler chicks on serum alternative pathway of complement activation (APCA) activity, as a functional part of humoral innate immunity. For this, two hundred new-born chicks were divided into three groups: A (50 chicks), B and C (75 each). The chicks in group A were fed control diet, whereas those in groups B and C received diets supplemented with 1% or 3% of FGP, respectively. On day 21, half of the chicks in groups B and C were separated into groups D and E, respectively, and fed control diet afterwards. Sera were collected on days 1, 14, 21, 32 and 42, and assayed for APCA activity. The results showed that APCA activity in groups A and B increased up to day 32 and then decreased (P < 0.05). On day 21, the highest and lowest APCA activities (P < 0.05) were noticed in groups B and C, respectively. On days 32 and 42, group C had the least APCA activity, but the differences among other groups were not significant (P > 0.05). Furthermore, the removal of FGP from the diet led to the improvement of APCA activity in treated groups. In conclusion, garlic supplementation, depending on the rate and period of time used in the diet, may enhance or depress humoral innate immunity in broiler chickens.     

DNA as an enzyme. The effect of imidazole derivatives as cofactors and metal ions as activators or inhibitors

OBJECTIVE: A highly sensitive spectrofluorometric method using dichlorofluorescin (LDCF) was employed to study the rate of electron transfer reaction in presence of DNA and some imidazole derivatives. RESULTS: In our experiments, DNA possessed a unique enzyme like catalytic function in oxidative conversion of nonfluorescent LDCF to fluorescent dichlorofluorescein (DCF). The rate enhancement was associated with the turn over constant: k(p) = 10 s(-1) for DNA and cinnamoyl imidazole as a cofactor. A biphasic saturation curve was observed when the reaction velocities were measured at fixed concentrations of DNA and variable amounts of carnosine. Each of the biphasic trends gave the Scatchard values of V(m1)/K(m1) = 3.1 x 10(-5) and V(m2)/K(m2) = 5.1 x 10(-6) with K(m1) = 2.7 x 10(-5) M and K(m2) = 4.2 x 10(-4) M for carnosine. Although Ni (II) and Pb (II) induced inhibition in the rate of electron transfer reaction in presence of DNA and cinnamoyl imidazole or carnosine, metal ions such as Mg (II), Cd (II), Zn (II) and Fe (II) caused activation of DNA. The rates of the reactions showed strong dependency on electronegativity and conductivity of metal ions, namely the increase in activity of DNA in presence of each metal ion correlated inversely with the electronegativities of the metal and was also related directly to the conductivities of individual metal. These effects were observed both in activation and also inhibition of DNA reaction. Imidazole compounds, e.g., Histidine, N-trans cinnamoyl imidazole and imidazole along with Cd (II) produced further rate enhancement. The increase was several times greater with N-trans cinnamoyl imidazole. CONCLUSIONS: This effect could provide additional evidence for the importance of an intermediary cofactor that could facilitate the transfer of the electron from the reaction site to the DNA conductive chord. This was most guaranteed by the conjugated system provided by a compound such as N-trans cinnamoyl imidazole.     

COVID-19 in rheumatoid arthritis cases: an Iranian referral center experience

Clinical Rheumatology - Coronavirus infections, known as COVID-19, can induce a fatal respiratory system infection and also affect other organs, such as the kidney and heart. The mortality rate has...     

Interplay between morphogen-directed positional information systems and physiological signaling

The development of an organism from an undifferentiated single cell into a spatially complex structure requires spatial patterning of cell fates across tissues. Positional information, proposed by Lewis Wolpert in 1969, has led to the characterization of many components involved in regulating morphogen signaling activity. However, how morphogen gradients are established, maintained, and interpreted by cells still is not fully understood. Quantitative and systems-based approaches are increasingly needed to define general biological design rules that govern positional information systems in developing organisms. This short review highlights a selective set of studies that have investigated the roles of physiological signaling in modulating and mediating morphogen-based pattern formation. Similarities between neural transmission and morphogen-based pattern formation mechanisms suggest underlying shared principles of active cell-based communication. Within larger tissues, neural networks provide directed information, via physiological signaling, that supplements positional information through diffusion. Further, mounting evidence demonstrates that physiological signaling plays a role in ensuring robustness of morphogen-based signaling. We conclude by highlighting several outstanding questions regarding the role of physiological signaling in morphogen-based pattern formation. Elucidating how physiological signaling impacts positional information is critical for understanding the close coupling of developmental and cellular processes in the context of development, disease, and regeneration.