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Utilizing 3D-Printing Technological innovation inside Cross-Disciplinary Water Education and learning.
Quercetin increased Nrf2 mRNA expression and reduced histological abnormalities compared to the DOXO control group. PACAP 1-38 chemical structure In conclusion, quercetin protected against DOXO- induced cardiomyopathy, by increasing expression of NRF2, and thereby increasing antioxidant defense and restoring biochemical and histological abnormalities. © 2020 Published by Elsevier Ltd.Spermatogenesis is a complicated process in which sperm is susceptible to various chemotherapy drugs such as cyclophosphamide (CP). As olive leaf extract (OLE) and its active ingredient, oleuropein, have variousantioxidant, anti-apoptotic, and anti-inflammatory properties the aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of OLE and oleuropein on male reproductive function focusing antioxidative effects and histological modifications in the testes of CP-exposed mice. In order to do this, 80 NMRI male mice were divided into eight groups including control group, group received CP, group received OLE, group received oleuropein, group received OLE following CP exposure, group received oleuropein following CP exposure, group received OLE plus oleuropein and group received OLE plus oleuropein following CP exposure. In all groups CP (single dose of 100 mg/kg (, OLE (100 mg/kg for consequence 28 days) and oleuropein (100 mg/kg for consequence 28 days) were injected intraperitoneally. Moreover, testis histology, sperm parameters and serum levels of LH, FSH, MDA and antioxidant capacity were investigated. Results showed that CP caused oxidative state and abnormal changes in sperms and testes. Besides, treatments with oleuropein and OLE led to mitigate the harmful effects of CP on the male reproductive system. In conclusion, our findings showed that olive's compounds can diminish the hazardous effects of CP on spermatogenesis in mice. © 2020 The Authors.Post-baccalaureate pre-medicine programs (PBPMP) provide prerequisite coursework for non-life science majors who aspire to become physicians. Students entering these programs generally do not have previous college-level exposure to the natural sciences. This pilot study was conducted to determine characteristics of scientifically naive, career changer, pre-medical students that may be used by PBPMP admissions committees. Statistical analyses were performed between Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores and student gender, Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, undergraduate field of study, and undergraduate Grade Point Average (GPA). While relationships between certain subscores on the SAT and MCAT were found, data suggest that other non-quantitative metrics be considered as predictors of performance among PBPMP students. © 2020 The Author(s).Anthropogenic activity causes the introduction of zinc compounds into the biological cycle in mining and processing sites and its accumulation in organs and tissues, causing systemic toxicity. A cumulative effect of zinc is predominantly neurotoxic and it also affects the respiratory, cardiovascular and digestive systems. This study evaluates the effects of single-dose intragastric administration of 100 mg/kg zinc succinate on the structure and function of organs and tissues in male Wistar rats 1 month after treatment. The presented morphofunctional approach for the toxicity evaluation included the study of behavioral responses using the automated Laboras® complex, fluorescent spectral analysis of the NADH and FAD activity and histological evaluation of animal organs and tissues. The results of the behavioral activity assessment showed a significant decrease in animals' motor activity, whereas the fluorescence spectra analysis demonstrated a decrease in coenzyme NADH without the reduction of FAD levels. We detected toxic and dystrophic changes in the cerebral cortex, heart, lungs and liver tissues. Our original multiparametric approach enables a comprehensive assessment of the long-term toxic effects of the metal salts such as zinc succinate, especially in the cerebral cortex at the doses much lower than the acute LD50 reported for the common zinc salts. © 2020 The Author(s).Background Studies on the impact of the skin microbiota on human health have been gaining more attention. Bacteria are associated with various diseases, although certain strains of bacteria, which are known as probiotics, are considered beneficial. Mixtures of several bacteria (bacterial cocktail) isolated from targeted organs have shown promising modulatory activities for use in skin therapeutics. The objectives of this study were to determine and identify the microbial communities on the skin that can potentially be used as probiotics, as determined by bacterial isolation and cultivation, followed by next-generation sequencing (NGS). Results Samples were collected by swabbing on forehead and cheek skin. Genomic DNA from bacterial swab samples were directly extracted to be further processed into NGS. Cultivation of skin bacteria was carried out in subsequent medium. Thus, around twenty bacterial isolates with different characteristics were selected and identified by both culture-based method and 16sRNA sequeAuthors.Across the tropical developing countries, smallholder farmers are confronted with various climate related risks that hinge on agricultural activities. Climate change is predicted to impact smallholder farmers and their livelihood, especially within and beyond this century. Several studies have examined the impact of drought and rainfall on smallholder farmers as climate change impact assessment. However, there is limited information on impacts and coping strategies of poor farmers to heat exposure at household and farm level in tropical developing countries. As global temperature is predicted to increase with robust impacts on farmers in African region due to poverty and low adaptive capacity, this study evaluates how farmers in Bawku East of Northern Ghana experience the impacts of heat stress and how they cope with it both at the household level and on the field of cultivation. Using household survey and focus group discussion, the authors elicited impacts and responses of heat exposure from 308 resident farmers in three selected farming communities in Bawku East to gauge their vulnerability to heat exposure. Even though farmers have various impacts and coping strategies to heat exposure, these are ineffective to prevent them from heat related morbidity and mortality at both household and farm level. The study recommends the need for government led intervention to assist farmers in their effort to cope with heat stress as global temperatures will exacerbate heat stress impacts on small holder farmers especially in African region. © 2020 The Authors.Tumor growth is not only dictated by events involving tumor cells, but also by the environment they reside in, the so-called tumor microenvironment (TME). In the TME, cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are often the predominant cell type. CAFs were long considered to be of limited importance in the TME, but are now recognized for their pivotal role in cancer progression. Recently, it has become evident that different subsets of CAFs exist, with certain CAF subtypes having protumorigenic properties, whereas others show more antitumorigenic characteristics. Currently, the intricate interaction between the different subsets of CAFs with tumor cells, but also with immune cells that reside in the TME, is still poorly understood. This crosstalk of CAFs with tumor and immune cells in the TME largely dictates how a tumor responds to therapy and whether the tumor will eventually be eliminated, stay dormant or will progress and metastasize. Radiotherapy (RT) is a widely used and mostly very effective local cancer treatment, but CAFs are remarkably RT resistant. Although radiation does cause persistent DNA damage, CAFs do not die upon clinically applied doses of RT, but rather become senescent. Through the secretion of cytokines and growth factors they have been implicated in the induction of tumor radioresistance and recruitment of specific immune cells to the TME, thereby affecting local immune responses. In this review we will discuss the versatile role of CAFs in the TME and their influence on RT response. © 2020 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology.Many cellulose degrading and modifying enzymes have distinct parts called carbohydrate binding modules (CBMs). The CBMs have been shown to increase the concentration of enzymes on the insoluble substrate and thereby enhance catalytic activity. It has been suggested that CBMs also have a role in disrupting or dispersing the insoluble cellulose substrate, but dispute remains and explicit evidence of such a mechanism is lacking. We produced the isolated CBMs from two major cellulases (Cel6A and Cel7A) from Trichoderma reesei as recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli. We then studied the viscoelastic properties of native unmodified cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) in combination with the highly purified CBMs to detect possible functional effects of the CBMs on the CNF. The two CBMs showed clearly different effects on the viscoelastic properties of CNF. The difference in effects is noteworthy, yet it was not possible to conclude for example disruptive effects. We discuss here the alternative explanations for viscoelastic effects on CNF caused by CBMs, including the effect of ionic cosolutes. © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.Liposomes are an important tool and have gained much attention for their promise as an effective means of delivering small therapeutic compounds to targeted sites. In an effort to establish an effective method to produce liposomes from the lipid, dipalmitoyl-phosphatidylcholine or DPPC, we have found important aspects that must be taken into consideration. Here, we used probe-tip sonication to prepare liposomes on a batch scale. During this process we uncovered interesting steps in their preparation that altered the thermodynamic properties and phase transitions of the resulting liposome mixtures. Using differential scanning calorimetry to assess this we found that increasing the sonication time had the most dramatic effect on our sample, producing almost an entirely separate phase transition relative to the main phase transition. This result is consistent with reports from the current literature. We also highlight a smaller transition, which we attribute to traces of unincorporated lipid that seems to gradually disappear as the total lipid concentration decreases. Overall, sonication is an effective means of producing liposomes, but we cannot assert this method is optimal in producing them with precise physical properties. Here we highlight the physical effects at play during this process. © 2020 The Authors.Background and Aims Tricuspid regurgitation (TR) is a frequent valvular heart disease with relevant adverse impact on patients' prognosis. Adequate TR imaging and evaluation is challenging. In this study, we aimed to compare different imaging modalities (echocardiography and multi-slice computed tomography) for the assessment of tricuspid valve (TV) function and geometry. Methods We retrospectively investigated patients that presented to University Hospital Bonn, Germany, between September 2018 and March 2019, who underwent comprehensive echocardiography and multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) to evaluate TR. MSCT was considered the reference approach for dimensional assessment of TV anatomy and echocardiography (transthoracic echocardiography + transesophageal echocardiography) for functional assessment of TV. We used Spearman's Rank order correlation, Bland-Altman analysis, and intra-class correlation to compare the different imaging modalities. Results Forty patients (Mean Age ± SD 77.5 ± 7.1 years; 35% female) with high grade TR (effective regurgitant orifice area, EROA 0.
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