Beni-Suef University Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences最新文献

Background

This research aims to determine the probable protective effect of nano-curcumin (N-CUR) on caffeine (1,3,7-trimethylxanthine)-induced neurotoxicity in cerebral rats.

Methods

Twenty-four male Wistar rats were divided into three groups: control, caffeine (150 mg kg⁻¹), and caffeine (150 mg kg⁻¹) treated with N-CUR (300 mg kg⁻¹). All treatments were administrated by gavage every day for a month.

Results

Administration of caffeine significantly elevated the levels of serum interleukins 6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and cyclooxygenase2 (COX-2). Also, there was a significant increase in levels of cerebral malondialdehyde (MDA), significantly diminished glutathione (GSH), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. Caffeine administration significantly downregulated the gene expression of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and upregulated the expression of nuclear factor kappa-light-chain enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB). Administration of N-CUR caused a significant amelioration in TNF-α and IL-6 levels and a significant rise in SOD activity, while it caused a significant downregulation in NF-κB mRNA expression. Additionally, N-CUR has exerted insignificant amelioration of COX-2 and MDA contents and Nrf2 mRNA expression compared to the caffeine-treated group.

Conclusion

N-CUR may have a mild to moderate ameliorative effect on caffeine-induced apoptosis, oxidative stress, and inflammatory response in the cerebrum.

Background

The variational method, a quantum mechanical approach, estimates effective charge distributions and ground-state energy by minimizing the Hamiltonian's expectation value using trial wave functions with adjustable parameters. This method provides valuable insights into system behavior and is widely used in theoretical chemistry and physics. This paper aims to investigate ground-state energies and isoelectronic sequences using the variational method, introducing a novel approach for analyzing multi-electron systems. This technique allows for determining effective charge values and ground-state energies for 2–5 electrons sequence up to Z ≤ 20. Hydrogenic wave functions are used as a trial wave function to calculate effective charge in 1 s, 2 s, and 2p states. Two varying parameters were used to calculate an approximate wave function for the system. These values are then used in non-relativistic Hamiltonian with electron–electron interaction terms to calculate the ground-state energy of an atom.

Result

The results align with the reported experimental values, showing a marginal 1% error.

Conclusion

A Python algorithm is established based on the variational principle. It was found that, based on a few selected parameters in scripting the program, a very promising result was obtained. Furthermore, adding more variational parameters can minimize the difference between experimental and theoretical values, and this technique can be extended to elements with higher atomic numbers.

Background

Aim is to analyze alterations in third and fourth corneal higher-order aberrations using a ray tracing aberrometer (iTrace) induced by SMILE (small incision lenticule extraction) refractive surgery on Algerian patients; and also to investigate how corneal aberrations vary with spherical equivalent (SE), corneal central thickness (CCT), and age. Design Prospective, non-randomized case series that were carried out at the Chiali Smile Center, Algiers, Algeria.

Participants

A total of 219 eyes from 110 myopic patients, with and without astigmatism, successfully concluded the ultimate follow-up. Participants exhibited an average age of 32.48 years, with preoperative mean corneal high-order aberrations (CHOA) measuring 0.005 ± 0.036 μm.

Methods

A tracking trend analysis of high-order aberrations (HOAs) was conducted on the three groups of patients, assessing total corneal high-order aberrations after SMILE over periods of two, six, and twelve months.

Results

A substantial increase in total corneal high-order aberrations following SMILE, with a P value < 0.05. Conversely, there was a noteworthy and significant decrease in vertical trefoil for all groups (P value = 0.000). Interestingly, the corneal higher-order aberrations were more pronounced after two months compared to the six and twelve-month intervals. Spherical aberration demonstrated a significant increase with the extent of preoperative myopia and preoperative spherical equivalent both before and after SMILE surgery (P < 0.05), particularly in cases of high myopia. Moreover, there were significant reductions in preoperative and postoperative vertical coma (P = 0.047, P = 0.004, respectively) corresponding to the degree of preoperative myopia, with a more substantial decrease in vertical coma observed in cases of low myopia.

Conclusion

In the post-SMILE period, a notable increase in vertical coma and spherical aberrations was observed, accompanied by a significant decrease in vertical trefoil across all eyes. These aberration changes were identified to be closely associated with the spherical equivalent.

Background

Vitiligo is classified as an acquired chronic depigmentation disorder that includes the destruction of epidermal melanocytes. It affects 0.5–1% of the population all over the world. Wnt signaling pathway is vital in melanocytes differentiation and development. WIF-1 is an antagonist of the Wnt signaling pathway; it hinders Wnt from binding its receptors. The present study aims to detect WIF-1 expression in vitiligo skin and if it relates to the disease's severity.

Results

This case–control study included 70 subjects: 35 vitiligo patients and 35 healthy controls. Skin WIF-1 expression was estimated using quantitative real-time PCR. Assessment of the vitiligo disease activity score and vitiligo area severity index score was determined. WIF-1 expression showed significant elevation in the skin of vitiligo patients compared to the healthy control group.

Conclusion

Overexpression of WIF-1 may participate in the pathogenesis of vitiligo; hence, it should be a future therapeutic target.

Background

The increasing trend of antibiotic resistance has posed challenges for scientists, especially in developing better drug formulations. The discovery of new antibiotics could take years. Therefore, the management of an ideal drug delivery system has become a primary focus nowadays.

Main body of abstract

Almost all skin diseases could be treated with the administration of topical drugs, especially infectious skin diseases. The increasing cases of antimicrobial resistance require innovative strategies and actions. In dermatokinetics, achieving optimal drug concentrations in the deepest layers of skin tissue is a significant challenge. Human skin has remarkably complex characteristics, presenting a major obstacle in efficiently maintaining drug efficacy. Nanocarriers are an important part of nanomedicine which provide excellent drug penetration through various drug delivery systems. Lipid-based nanovesicles, such as liposome, are the oldest and most potential nanovesicles for such a purpose. Several studies have shown the efficacy of liposome-contained antibiotics and offered the lowest microbial inhibition concentration (MIC). It is suggested that liposome also delivers greater drug accumulation compared to blank drugs.

Short conclusion

Liposome is a flexible lipid-based drug delivery that enhances drug permeation through skin tissue by mimicking the lipid bilayer system of the organ. It is non-toxic, less immunogenic, and easily degraded by enzyme. The incorporation of liposome into antibiotics may reduce the inefficient drug dosage since the encapsulation will protect the active compounds prior to being released from the vehicle. Thus, the lowest MIC and less clinical side effects will be obtained.

Graphical abstract

Background

High fat-fructose diet is a proinflammatory diet that increases risk of hepatocytes and myocytes steatosis and fibrosis. Finding anti-inflammatory strategies to fight these harmful effects is paid attention to nowadays. This study compared the effects of two widely anti-inflammatory interventions—metformin and intermittent fasting on myocytes and hepatocyte injury induced by proinflammatory diet and tracking possible underlying mechanisms. In this work, rats fed high fat-fructose diet were subdivided into untreated group, treated by metformin, and/or intermittent fasting.

Results

Metformin (300 mg/kg/day) and intermittent fasting (3 days/week) specially their combination for 4 weeks showed significant improvement in insulin resistance, lipid profile, antioxidants (p < 0.05), as well as enhanced hepatocytes and myocytes repair and reduced collagen deposition through upregulation of mitophagy-related genes: PINK1, PARKIN, LAMP2, and PPAR-α (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

Intermittent fasting has beneficial metabolic and molecular therapeutic effects against proinflammatory diet-induced injury. Their results are like those of metformin sparing its adverse effects. Their combination showed additional effects against diet-induced myocytes and hepatocyte injury by upregulation of mitophagy-related genes without the need of increasing the dose of metformin.

Graphic abstract

Background

Laser metal deposition (LMD) is a widely used additive manufacturing technique for producing complex high entropy alloys with special properties for several applications. The AlCoCrFeNiCu HEAs compositional design has six elements with a configurational entropy of 1.79 R and atomic concentrations between 5 and 35%, so the HEA system is thermodynamically favorable according to Boltzmann’s theory, attributed to the core effects. However, the high-entropy alloy has dominant Body-Centered Cubic structures which may be too brittle to be examined in tension experimentally. Preheating the substrate before and during layer deposition could be a potential solution that is currently under development since tensile loading necessitates an understanding of a material's behavior under tension through an analysis of its yield and ultimate tensile strength. A computer-aided design (CAD) solid model was used to generate the near-net dog-bone form of the alloy with moderately complicated geometrical characteristics using laser metal deposition (LMD) technology. This study investigates a straightforward and effective computational model for simulating material properties, using COMSOL Multiphysics 5.4 software for laser-deposited high entropy alloys that are excessively brittle to be tested in tension. The AlCoCrFeNiCu high-entropy alloy "dog bone" test sample was modeled using COMSOL Multiphysics for tensile loading. The first principal stresses and longitudinal strain under axial loading conditions were measured using a three-dimensional (3D) structural mechanics’ model.

Results

The results showed the ultimate tensile strength is 8.47 N/m², attributed to the high entropy effect and the dominant phase structure of the alloy.

Conclusion

Numerical models in this paper demonstrate the effect of stresses on the tensile behavior of the AlCoCrFeNiCu high-entropy alloy. The model optimizes the LMD process by analyzing residual stresses and predicting tensile strength, thus, providing insights that show the potential of high entropy alloys for structural integrity in aerospace applications.

Background

Metabolomics is the study of metabolites in cells, tissues, live organisms, and biological fluids to elucidate their composition and possible roles. Metabolomics and its biomarkers have emerged as a powerful tool for evaluating the efficacy of probiotics in various pathological conditions, including toxicological settings. This review explores the use of metabolomics-based markers to assess the safety and efficacy of probiotics in toxicological settings.

Result

This review aims to determine biomarkers for measuring the effectiveness of probiotic therapies in toxicological contexts based on exposure, effects, susceptibility, prognostic, and therapeutic biomarkers. In this study, 1979 articles were systematically searched in PubMed (PM), Scopus (Sc), Google Scholar (GS), and Web of Science (WOS) between the years 2013 and 2023 inclusive using keywords, inclusion, and exclusion criteria. The result showed that 1439 human samples were used from 2013 to 2023 publications with the UK having the highest number of publications, data, and sample types in 2023. Again, the result showed most of the publications are on susceptibility-based biomarkers.

Conclusion

Metabolomics-based biomarkers may provide insight into metabolism-related alterations related to probiotic therapies while clarifying their biological mechanisms, especially in toxicology enabling specific probiotic therapy.

Background

Methotrexate (MTX), a drug utilized in cancer and rheumatoid arthritis treatment, is associated with acute and chronic neurodegenerative alterations. Spirulina platensis (SP) has several important phytochemical substances that act as free radical scavengers or natural antioxidants. The current study investigated the possible effects of the blue-green alga Spirulina platensis on cerebellar damage in male rats exposed to methotrexate. Forty (40) adult male albino rats were randomly divided into 4 groups (n = 10) and treated for one week: GI, the control group; GII was orally given 1000 mg SP/kg/daily, GIII was given a single intraperitoneal injection of MTX 75 mg/kg at the first day, and continued under the normal condition without other treatment till the end of the experiment, and GIV received both SP and MTX together with the same previous doses and duration. Neurobehavioral, histopathological, histochemical, immunohistochemical, ultrastructural, molecular, and biochemical data were recorded.

Results

MTX caused severe cerebellar degeneration in 3 cortical layers, especially the Purkinje layer. The Purkinje layer displayed a disrupted monolayer arrangement with pyknotic nuclei, a significant decrease in cell number, and shrunken cells surrounded by empty spaces. The molecular and granular layers are degenerated with elevated immunoreactions and gene expression of the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule 1 (Iba-1), and neurofilament light chain antibody (NFL). Moreover, MTX significantly increased malondialdehyde (MDA) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) while decreasing the levels of reduced glutathione (GSH), serotonin, superoxide dismutase (SOD), acetylcholinesterase (ACHE), norepinephrine, and dopamine. These insults were noticeably mitigated by concomitant treatment with spirulina.

Conclusion

Spirulina improves neurological function by modulating the cerebellar damage elicited by MTX. This improvement may be attributed to the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of spirulina.

Background

Today, several bioinformatics tools are available for analyzing restriction fragment length data. RFLP-kenzy is a new bioinformatic tool for identifying restriction key enzyme that cut at least 1 sequence and a maximum of n-1 sequence.

Results

This bioinformatic tool helps researchers to select appropriate enzymes that yield different RFLP patterns, especially from overly identical sequences with single nucleotide mutation or other small variations. By using RFLP-kenzy, multiple DNA sequences could be analyzed simultaneously and the key enzymes list is provided. The present paper also demonstrates the ability of RFLP-kenzy to identify the key enzymes through the analysis of 16S rRNA sequences and the complete genome of various genera of microorganisms.

Conclusion

From the results, several key enzymes were provided indicating the importance of this new tool in the selection of appropriate restriction enzymes.