Minocycline and Ifenprodil Prevent Development of Painful Diabetic Neuropathy in Streptozotocin-induced Diabetic Rat Model

mellitus which hugely affect life routines and quality. We aimed to investigate the effects of minocycline and ifenprodil on nociceptive behavior response, oxidant-antioxidant status and pro-inflammatory markers level in the PDN rat’s spinal cord. Forty-eight male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into six groups (n=8): non-diabetic control, diabetic PDN control, diabetic PDN rats received minocycline (80μg/day or 160μg/day) and diabetic PDN rats received ifenprodil (0.5μg/day or 1.0μg/day). Diabetes was induced by single injection of streptozotocin at 60mg/kg. The rats were allowed for two weeks period to develop into PDN condition. The intrathecal treatments were given for seven days period. The rat’s hind paw was then injected with 5% formalin to induce chronic inflammatory pain and sacrificed three days post-formalin injection. Spinal cord tissue was removed and homogenized (10% homogenate). ELISA for oxidant-antioxidant markers (MDA, catalase and SOD) and pro-inflammatory markers (TNF-α and IL-1β) were carried out. The results showed that untreated PDN rats exhibited increased nociceptive behavior responses indicating hyperalgesia apart from increased MDA activity, reduced catalase with insignificant change in SOD enzymes activities, increased TNF-α and insignificant change in IL-1β level. Minocycline and ifenprodil suppressed MDA activity and improved catalase and SOD activities. Minocycline attenuated both pro-inflammatory cytokines whilst ifenprodilreduced TNF-α level but increased IL-1β level. In conclusion, minocycline and ifenprodil showed potent anti-nociceptive, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects but possibly via different pathway and mechanism

A General SU(2) Formulation for Quantum Searching with Certainty

A general quantum search algorithm with arbitrary unitary transformations and an arbitrary initial state is considered in this work. To serach a marked state with certainty, we have derived, using an SU(2) representation: (1) the matching condition relating the phase rotations in the algorithm, (2) a concise formula for evaluating the required number of iterations for the search, and (3) the final state after the search, with a phase angle in its amplitude of unity modulus. Moreover, the optimal choices and modifications of the phase angles in the Grover kernel is also studied.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure

Enzymatic hydrolysis of palm olein with mycelium-bound lipase of Aspergillus flavus link

Hydrolysis of palm olein was studied using mycelium-bound lipase of Aspergillus flavus Link. The fatty acid composition, triacylglycerol profile and melting properties of the palm olein before and after 72 h hydrolysis were compared. A slight decrease of palmitic acid and increase in oleic acid and linolenic acid concentrations in palm olein was noted. The relative concentration of triunsaturated triacylglycerol, low melting glycerides, such as trioleoyl glycerol, oleoyl-dilinoleoyl glycerol and dioleoyl-linoleoyl glycerol of modified palm olein was increased while the relative concentration of high melting glycerides e.g. dipalmitoyl-oleoyl glycerol and palmitoyl-oleoyl-steroyl glycerol was decreased except for tripalmitoyl glycerol. The melting range of modified palm olein tends to be broad, that is it starts melting (X1) at -28°C and totally melted (X2) at 45°C

Study of TMDs nanosheets based saturable absorber used for Q-switching and mode lock laser system

Pulse width of pulsed laser determinates their applications. For the long pulse laser with µs or ns pulse width, it can be used for telecommunication, remote sensing and medical surgery. For the ultrashort pulse laser with ps or fs pulse width, it can be used for eye-surgery, precise micro- or even nano-machining on transparent material and novel 3D hologram formation. The saturable absorber (SA) is the crucial optical component that switch the laser operation from CW mode to pulse mode passively. Therefore it attract s great research interests from the laser photonic community. &more..

Physicochemical properties and bioactive compounds of selected seed oils.

The physicochemical properties and chemical composition of oil extracted from five varieties of plant seeds (bittermelon, Kalahari melon, kenaf, pumpkin and roselle seeds) were examined by established methods. The thermal properties of extracted oils by differential scanning calorimetry were also evaluated. Sensorial profiles of these seed oils were defined through the CieLab (L*, a*, b*) colour. Most of the quality indices and fatty acid compositions showed significant (P < 0.05) variations among the extracted oils. Physicochemical properties of the oils extracted were iodine value, 86.0–125.0 g I2/100 g oil; saponification value, 171.0–190.7 mg of KOH/g of oil; acid value, 1.1–12.9 mg of KOH/g of oil, free fatty acid, 0.6–6.5 g/100 g of oil, and peroxide value 1.5–6.5 meq of O2/kg of oil. Palmitic, oleic and linoleic acids were the major fatty acids in all of the extracted seed oils except for bittermelon, where eleostearic acid was the major fatty acid. Gallic, protocatechuic, p-hydroxybenzoic, vanillic, caffeic, syringic, pcoumaric and ferulic acids were identified in the extracted plant oils. Among these, vanillic acid was predominant in all extracted oils. The oils were rich in tocopherols with g-tocopherol as the major components in all oil samples. Among the phytosterols, sitosterol was the major phytosterol extracted from the five plant seed oils. The seeds of these plants contain a great number of valuable minor compounds, which have a potential high value as food and for production of non-food products

Composition and thermal analysis of lard stearin and lard olein

Lard being an edible fat could be used in different forms in food systems. In this study, composition and thermal analysis of lard stearin (LS) and lard olein (LO) were undertaken to determine some common parameters which would enable their detection in food. A sample of native lard was partitioned into LS and LO using acetone as solvent and the fractions were compared to the original sample with respect to basic physico-chemical parameters, fatty acid and triacylglycerol (TAG) composition, and thermal characteristics. Although LS and LO displayed wider variations in basic physico-chemical parameters, thermal properties and solidification behavior, they do possess some common characteristic features with regard to composition. In spite of the proportional differences in the major fatty acids, both LS and LO are found to possess extremely high amount of palmitic (C16:0) acid at the sn-2 positions of their TAG molecules. Similar to native lard, both LS and LO contained approximately equal proportions of TAG molecules namely, linoleoyl-palmitoyl-oleoyl glycerol (LPO) and dioleoyl-palmitoyl glycerol (OPO). Hence, the calculated LPO/OPO ratio for LS and LO are comparably similar to that of native lard

A General Phase Matching Condition for Quantum Searching Algorithm

A general consideration on the phase rotations in quantum searching algorithm is taken in this work. As four phase rotations on the initial state, the marked states, and the states orthogonal to them are taken account, we deduce a phase matching condition for a successful search. The optimal options for these phase are obtained consequently.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure

Response surface modeling of processing parameters for the preparation of phytosterol Nanodispersions using an emulsification-evaporation technique.

The purpose of this study was to optimize the production parameters for water-soluble phytosterol nanodispersions. Response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to model and optimize three of the processing parameters: mixing time (t) by conventional homogenizer (1–20 min), mixing speed (v) by conventional homogenizer (1,000–9,000 rpm) and homogenization pressure (P) by high-pressure homogenizer (0.1–80 MPa). All responses [i.e., mean particle size (PS), polydispersity index (PDI) and phytosterols concentration (Phyto, mg/l)] fitted well to a reduced quadratic model by multiple regressions after manual elimination. For PS, PDI and Phyto, the coefficients of determination (R 2) were 0.9902, 0.9065 and 0.8878, respectively. The optimized processing parameters were 15.25 min mixing time, 7,000 rpm mixing speed and homogenization pressure 42.4 MPa. In the produced nanodispersions, the corresponding responses for the optimized preparation conditions were a PS of 52 nm, PDI of 0.3390 and a Phyto of 336 mg/l

Optimization of supercritical fluid extraction of phytosterol from roselle seeds with a central composite design model.

Recovery of phytosterol from roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) seeds via supercritical carbon dioxide extraction modified with ethanol was investigated at pressures of 200–400 bar, temperatures from 40 to 80 ◦C and at supercritical fluid flow rates from 10 to 20 ml/min. It was found that an entrainer such as ethanol could enhance the solubility and extraction yield of roselle seed oil from the seed matrix, compared to values obtained using supercritical CO2. After a typical run (holding period of 30 min, continuous flow extraction of 3 h), the results indicate that the oil recovery was optimal with a recovery of 108.74% and a phytosterol composition of 7262.80mgkg−1 at relatively low temperature of 40 ◦C, a high pressure of 400 bar and at a high supercritical fluid flow rate of 20 ml/min in the presence of 2 ml/min EtOH as entrainer. The solubility of roselle seed oil increased with temperature at the operating pressures of 200, 300 and 400 bar. Supercritical fluid extraction involved a short extraction time and the minimal usage of small amounts of entrainer in the CO2