Neuroprotective effects of exercise with hydroalcoholic extraction of Eriobotrya japonica on MANF in the Brainstem of parkinson’s rats

زمینه و هدف: عصاره هیدروالکی گل گیاه ازگیل ژاپنی غنی از ترکیبات فنلی است. این مطالعه با هدف بررسی اثر محافظتی 12 هفته تمرین چرخ دوار همراه با عصاره گل گیاه ازگیل ژاپنی بر ضایعه القاء شده با تزریق درون بطنی 6- هیدروکسی دوپامین در سطح فاکتور نروتروفیکی مشتق آستروسیتی ساقه مغز (MANF) در موش های پارکینسونی انجام شد. روش بررسی: در این مطالعه تجربی 50 سر موش به گروه های پایه، کنترل پارکینسونی، تمرین سالم، تمرین- ارکینسون، عصاره- پارکینسون و تمرین– عصاره- پارکینسون تقسیم شدند. گروه های تمرینی 12 هفته روی چرخ دوار تمرین کردند. گروه های دریافت کننده عصاره نیز به مدت 12 هفته و هر هفته 3 بار عصاره را به میزان 200 میلی گرم به ازای هر کیلوگرم وزن بدن دریافت کردند. ایجاد مدل پارکینسونی با تزریق محلول 6- هیدروکسی دوپامین (6-OHDA) به صورت استریوتاکسی به داخل بطن راست مغز صورت گرفت. سطح MANF ساقه مغز با روش الیزا اندازه گیری گردید. یافته ها: ورزش اختیاری و مصرف عصاره هر کدام به تنهایی از کاهش سطح MANF در موش های مبتلا شده به پارکینسون جلوگیری کردند (001/0=P). سطح MANF در گروه تمرین سالم افزایش (001/0=P) و در گروه کنترل پارکینسونی کاهش داشت. اما ترکیب تمرین و مصرف عصاره نتوانست از کاهش سطح MANF پیشگیری کند (169/0=P). نتیجه گیری: عصاره گل گیاه ازگیل ژاپنی و تمرین می توانند باعث محافظت نرونی در برابر استرس ناشی از تزریق درون بطنی 6-OHDA شود و نقش حفاظتی در برابر بیماری پارکینسون دارد

Effect of exercise on Mesencephalic astrocyte derived neurotrophic factor levelsin the striatum of rats suffering from Parkinsons

Background and aims: The aim of this study, regarding the results of the previous researches and the effects of voluntary exercise on neurotrophic factors in treating PD, was to evaluate changes MANF level of rats` stratum exposed to neurotoxin injected by the stereotaxic surgery following the four weeks of treadmill running. Methods: Twenty four rats were divided into four groups: Sham, Parkinson control, Parkinson exercise, and healthy control. Exercise group exercised for 4 weeks, 5 days per week and 2 15-minute sessions having at least 1 h interval. The purpose of injecting 6-OHDA into the brain striatum was to create an experimental model of PD. Three weeks after the injection of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), Apo morphine rotational test was carried out in order to verify the rats with Parkinson latest. MANF levels in the striatum were measured by ELISA. Data was analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey post-hoc test. Results: The findings showed that there is a significant difference in the striatum MANF level of Parkinson control group (26.91±9 pg/mg) compared to the healthy control group (45.22±2 pg/mg) (P≤0.05). Furthermore, the striatum MANF level in Parkinson exercise group (29.35±2 pg/mg) had an increase in comparison with the Parkinson control group (26.91±9 pg/mg), but the difference was not significant (P=0.997). Conclusion: This research has shown that performing treadmill running program cannot increase the MANF level of striatum. Therefore, we cannot decisively consider a neural protective role for this training protocol and it necessitates further studies

Exciton swapping in a twisted graphene bilayer as a solid-state realization of a two-brane model

It is shown that exciton swapping between two graphene sheets may occur under specific conditions. A magnetically tunable optical filter is described to demonstrate this new effect. Mathematically, it is shown that two turbostratic graphene layers can be described as a "noncommutative" two-sheeted (2+1)-spacetime thanks to a formalism previously introduced for the study of braneworlds in high energy physics. The Hamiltonian of the model contains a coupling term connecting the two layers which is similar to the coupling existing between two braneworlds at a quantum level. In the present case, this term is related to a K-K' intervalley coupling. In addition, the experimental observation of this effect could be a way to assess the relevance of some theoretical concepts of the braneworld hypothesis.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, final version published in European Physical Journal

Organic manures enhance biomass and improve content, chemical compounds of essential oil and antioxidant capacity of medicinal plants: A review

The current farming systems strongly depend on chemical fertilizers (CF), which are widely applied to increase crop yield worldwide. However, although CF enhance crop yield in the short term, their excessive and long-term application can have adverse effects on environmental and human health. One of the most important goals of sustainable agriculture is substituting CF with organic manures. Organic manures can be used as a low-cost and safe alternative for CF. They contain essential nutrients for crop growth, improve soil conditions and nutrient availability, increase plant growth, and ultimately enhance yield. The application of organic manures to medicinal plants (MP) is more critical than to other plants, because organic manures not only enhance the growth and productivity of MP but also modify quality of their products. In this review, the effect of different types of organic manures on the biomass, content and chemical compositions of essential oil and antioxidant activity of various MP has been investigated. The included information was gathered from scientific databases such as Science Direct, Google Scholar, PubMed, and Scopus. Many of the collected studies showed that organic manures increase biomass and improve the quality of these plants. The findings of this review indicate that broiler litter (BL) and compost (C) are highly recommended as organic manures to promote biomass. Moreover, C, sheep manure, and vermicompost (VC) are suggested as the optimal organic manures for enhancing the essential oil content. Organic manures significantly changed the aroma profile of the essential oils and in many cases, they enhanced major chemical compositions. The usage of VC raised the content of the linalool of studied MP. Most of the organic manures, especially BL, VC, farmyard manure, and poultry manure increased the antioxidant activity of these plants. Hence, the utilization of organic manures can be recommended for productivity enhancement and quality improvement of MP

Clinical trial of the effects of coenzyme Q10 supplementation on glycemic control and markers of lipid profiles in diabetic hemodialysis patients

Abstract Purpose: The current study was conducted to determine the effects of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) supplementation on glycemic control and markers of lipid profiles risk in diabetic hemodialysis (HD) patients. Methods: This randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was performed among 60 diabetic HD patients. Subjects were randomly allocated into two groups to take either 120 mg/day of CoQ10 supplements or placebo (n= 30each group) for 12 weeks. Results: After 12 weeks of intervention, CoQ10 supplementation, compared with the placebo, resulted in a significant decrease in serum insulin concentrations (− 2.5 ± 4.0 vs.+ 2.8 ± 5.3 μIU/mL, P < 0.001), homeostasis model of assessment estimated insulin resistance (− 0.9 ± 2.1 vs. + 1.2 3.0, P = 0.002), and significant increase in the quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (+ 0.009 ± 0.01 vs. − 0.02 ± 0.05, P = 0.003). In addition, a trend toward a greater decrease in serum triglycerides (− 5 ± 53 vs. + 17 ± 44, P = 0.078) and VLDL-cholesterol levels (− 0.9 ± 10 vs. + 3 ± 9, P = 0.078) was observed in the CoQ10 group compared to the placebo group. We did not observe any significant effect of CoQ10 supplementation on fasting glucose, HbA1c and other lipid profiles compared with the placebo. Conclusions: Overall, our study supported that CoQ10 supplementation to diabetic HD patients for 12 weeks had beneficial effects on markers of insulin metabolism, but did not affect fasting glucose, HbA1c, and lipid profiles. Keywords: Coenzyme Q10 supplementation · Hemodialysis · Glycemic control · Lipid profile

High Performance Computing Applications in Remote Sensing Studies for Land Cover Dynamics

Global and regional land cover studies require the ability to apply complex models on selected subsets of large amounts of multi-sensor and multi-temporal data sets that have been derived from raw instrument measurements using widely accepted pre-processing algorithms. The computational and storage requirements of most such studies far exceed what is possible on a single workstation environment. We have been pursuing a new approach that couples scalable and open distributed heterogeneous hardware with the development of high performance software for processing, indexing, and organizing remotely sensed data. Hierarchical data management tools are used to ingest raw data, create metadata, and organize the archived data so as to automatically achieve computational load balancing among the available nodes and minimize I/O overheads. We illustrate our approach with four specific examples. The first is the development of the first fast operational scheme for the atmospheric correction of Landsat TM scenes, while the second example focuses on image segmentation using a novel hierarchical connected components algorithm. Retrieval of global BRDF (Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function) in the red and near infrared wavelengths using four years (1983 to 1986) of Pathfinder AVHRR Land (PAL) data set is the focus of our third example. The fourth example is the development of a hierarchical data organization scheme that allows on-demand processing and retrieval of regional and global AVHRR data sets. Our results show that substantial improvements in computational times can be achieved by using the high performance computing technology

Crop productivity and chemical compositions of black cumin essential oil in sole crop and intercropped with soybean under contrasting fertilization

Intercropping systems and the application of organic manures play an important role in increasing of quantity and quality of plant products. In order to evaluate the quantity and quality of black cumin products under contrasting fertilization, a factorial experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications in 2016. Soybean and black cumin seeds were sown in five planting patterns (sole black cumin, sole soybean and three intercropping ratios of soybean: black cumin (1:2): one row of soybean plus two rows of black cumin, soybean: black cumin (1:1): one row of soybean plus one row of black cumin and soybean: black cumin (2:1): two rows of soybean plus one row of black cumin. All these cropping systems were received organic manure and chemical fertilizer. The results indicated that the highest seed yield (on an average by 86 g m−2) of black cumin was achieved in sole crop of black cumin treated with organic manure. The maximum seed yield of soybean (on an average by 247 g m−2) and land equivalent ratio (1.06) was obtained in two rows of soybean + one row of black cumin under the application of chemical fertilizer. The p-cymene (20.51–62.77%), carvacrol (2.40–25.99%), longifolene (1.11–24.69%) and spathulenol (0.9–14.45%) were major chemical compositions of black cumin. The highest content of p-cymene and carvacrol of black cumin essential oil were recorded in one row of soybean + two rows of black cumin with the application of chemical fertilizer and one row of soybean + one row of black cumin under chemical fertilizer, respectively. The highest longifolene and spathulenol content was observed in one row of soybean + two rows of black cumin treated with organic manure. These major chemical compositions are useful for industrial use (food and pharmaceutical). Therefore, according to different subjects of applying in industries it could be suggested especial treatment with favorite major compounds. © 2018 Elsevier B.V

Custom Integrated Circuits

Contains table of contents for Part III, table of contents for Section 1 and reports on eleven research projects.IBM CorporationMIT School of EngineeringNational Science Foundation Grant MIP 94-23221Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency/U.S. Army Intelligence Center Contract DABT63-94-C-0053Mitsubishi CorporationNational Science Foundation Young Investigator Award Fellowship MIP 92-58376Joint Industry Program on Offshore Structure AnalysisAnalog DevicesDefense Advanced Research Projects AgencyCadence Design SystemsMAFET ConsortiumConsortium for Superconducting ElectronicsNational Defense Science and Engineering Graduate FellowshipDigital Equipment CorporationMIT Lincoln LaboratorySemiconductor Research CorporationMultiuniversity Research IntiativeNational Science Foundatio

A revision of chestnut-leaved oak (Quercus castaneifolia C. A. Mey.; Fagaceae) in Hyrcanian Forests of Iran

Chestnut-leaved oak (Quercus castaneifolia C. A. Mey) is one of the most important native oaks of Iran distributed in the Hyrcanian Forests. The pure and mixed stands of it cover about 6.5% of these forests. The species represents morphological variations which have resulted in the description of several infraspecific taxa by different authors. Eight taxa were recognized as subspecies and varieties of Q. castaneifolia. In this survey, a set of quantitative and qualitative micro-morphological characteristics such as type of trichome, number and length of trichome rays, type of epicuticular waxes, type and shape of stomata, shape and sculptural features of pollen exine were studied using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. These characters were analyzed by the discriminant analysis method and combined with the macromorphological characters to designate the variation within the species and to evaluate the existing infraspecific taxa. Based on our results, the studied taxa are defined into four infraspecific taxa as follows: Q. castaneifolia subsp. castaneifolia var. castaneifolia, Q. castaneifolia subsp. castaneifolia var. minuta, Q. castaneifolia subsp. aitchisoniana, Q. castaneifolia subsp. undulate. The studied characteristics showed to be diagnostic for identification of the infraspecific taxa

Clinical trial of the effects of coenzyme q10 supplementation on biomarkers of inflammation and oxidative stress in diabetic hemodialysis patients

Background: The aim of the study was to determine the effects of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) supplementation on biomarkers of inflammation and oxidative stress among diabetic hemodialysis (HD) patients. Methods: Sixty diabetic HD patients participated in the randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. They were randomly assigned into two groups to intake either 60 mg CoQ10 supplements (n = 30) or placebo (n = 30) twice a day for 12 weeks. Results: After 12 weeks of intervention, CoQ10 supplementation significantly increased total antioxidant (TAC) (54.921 ± 26.437 vs. -126.781 ± 26.437, P < 0.001) and nitric oxide (NO) levels (4.121 ± 1.314 vs. -1.427 ± 1.314, P = 0.006) and decreased C-reactive protein (CRP) (-1.302 ± 0.583 vs. 0.345 ± 0.583, 0.042) levels compared with the placebo. We did not observe any significant effect of CoQ10 supplementation on malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH) levels compared with the placebo. Conclusions: Overall, our study showed that CoQ10 supplementation to diabetic HD patients for 12 weeks was associated with increased levels of TAC and NO levels and decreased level of high-sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP) levels, but did not have any beneficial effects on MDA and GSH. © 2019 International Journal of Preventive Medicine