Octreotide: a new approach to the management of acute abdominal hypertension

Acutely increased intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) may lead to abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS), which ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury plays an important role. The main goal of the management of ACS is to lower the intra-abdominal pressure despite reperfusion injury. Octreotide (OCT), a synthetic somatostatin analogue, lowers the splanchnic perfusion. The aim of this study was to investigate whether OCT improves the reperfusion injury after decompression of acute abdominal hypertension.Under anesthesia, a catheter was inserted intraperitoneally and using an aneroid manometer connected to the catheter, IAP was kept at 20 mmHg (ischemia group; I) for 1h. In the I/R group, pressure applied for an hour was decompressed and 1h reperfusion period was allowed. In another group of I/R, OCT was administered (50 microg/kg i.p.) immediately before the decompression of IAP. The results demonstrate that kidney and lung tissues of malondialdehyde (MDA; an end product of lipid peroxidation) levels and myeloperoxidase (MPO; index of tissue neutrophil infiltration) activity were elevated, while glutathione (GSH; a key to antioxidant) levels were reduced in I/R group (P<0.001). Moreover, OCT treatment applied in the I/R group reduced the elevations in blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine levels. Our results implicate that IAP causes oxidative organ damage and OCT, by reducing splanchnic perfusion and controlling the reperfusion of abdominal organs, could improve the reperfusion-induced oxidative damage. Therefore, its therapeutic role as a "reperfusion injury-limiting" agent must be further elucidated in IAP-induced abdominal organ injury.     

Cycloartane-type glycosides from Astragalus amblolepis

Five cycloartane-type triterpene glycosides were isolated from the methanol extract of the roots of Astragalus amblolepis Fischer along with one known saponin, 3-O-β-D-xylopyranosyl-16-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-3β,6α,16β,24(S),25-pentahydroxy-cycloartane. Structures of the compounds were established as 3-O-β-D-xylopyranosyl-25-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-3β,6α,16β,24(S),25-pentahydroxy-cycloartane, 3-O-[β-D-glucuronopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-β-D-xylopyranosyl]-25-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-3β,6α,16β,24(S),25-pentahydroxy-cycloartane, 3-O-β-D-xylopyranosyl-24,25-di-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-3β,6α,16β,24(S),25-pentahydroxy-cycloartane, 6-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-16,24-di-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-3β,6α,16β,24(S),25-pentahydroxy-cycloartane, 6-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-16,25-di-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-3β,6α,16β,24(S),25-pentahydroxy-cycloartane by using 1D and 2D-NMR techniques and mass spectrometry. To the best of our knowledge, the glucuronic acid moiety in cycloartanes is reported for the first time.     

乙酰胆碱门控氯离子通道受体突变影响秀丽线虫运动学和运动状态转换

目的 乙酰胆碱作为一种高度保守的神经递质，在动物的运动行为调控中起着至关重要的作用。乙酰胆碱信号转导异常可导致多种运动功能障碍。然而，乙酰胆碱在运动行为中的抑制性调控机制尚未完全清楚。本文以秀丽隐杆线虫为研究对象，探究乙酰胆碱门控氯离子通道受体亚基（ACC-1、ACC-2、ACC-3、ACC-4）在运动行为中的调控作用。方法 通过将运动追踪、分子遗传学和光遗传学技术相结合，对乙酰胆碱门控氯离子通道受体亚基突变线虫的运动进行分析。结果 研究发现，这些亚基突变会影响线虫前进、后退和转向运动的运动学特征，并且前进过程中线虫身体弯曲幅度也发生了变化。在这些突变线虫的后退过程中光激活RIB中间神经元会导致后退运动延迟终止。结论 这些结果提示，乙酰胆碱门控氯离子通道亚基的调控作用对于维持和调节秀丽隐杆线虫运动状态是必需的。同时，这些亚基可能参与介导RIB中间神经元在秀丽隐杆线虫后退运动中的抑制性调控。本研究为理解乙酰胆碱门控抑制性受体在运动行为中的调控机制提供了新的思路。     

Comparative study on the gastroprotective potential of some antidepressants in indomethacin-induced ulcer in rats

Clinical studies have shown that anxiolytic and antidepressant drug therapy benefits patients with ulcers. Many antidepressant drugs have been shown experimentally to produce antiulcer activity in various ulcer models. This study investigated the antiulcer activities of tianeptine, trazodone, and venlafaxine on indomethacin-induced ulcers in rats; and evaluated tianeptine's effects on oxidant and antioxidant parameters in rat stomach tissue. The results show that trazodone and venlafaxine did not prevent indomethacin-induced ulcers. Tianeptine, however, decreased indomethacin-induced ulcers significantly at all doses used (6, 12, and 25 mg/kg). Famotidine, an H₂ receptor blocker, showed the highest antiulcer activity. Tianeptine significantly prevented the decrease in glutathione (GSH) content that occurred in the indomethacin-only group's damaged stomach tissues. All doses of tianeptine, but especially the 25 mg/kg dose, significantly decreased catalase (CAT) activity in stomach tissue, compared to the control. All doses of tianeptine eliminated the decrease in superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in the stomach tissue of rats given indomethacin. Although all doses of tianeptine significantly decreased the malondialdehyde (MDA) content, all doses of tianeptine, except 6 mg/kg, decreased myeloperoxidase (MPO) activities significantly compared to the control. Our results indicate that activating enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant mechanisms and inhibiting some toxic oxidant mechanisms play a role in tianeptine's antiulcer effect mechanism.     

Mining and utilization of mushroom ESTs for microsatellites

In the present study we report on the exploitation of expressed sequence tags (ESTs); (1) to investigate whether microsatellite densities are significantly differed among Pleurotus ostreatus, Lentinula edodes and Agaricus bisporus ESTs, (2) between development stages of mycelia and fruiting bodies and (3) to identify microsatellite primer pairs that could be used in mushroom genetic studies. Analyses of ESTs indicated that three mushroom species and tissues showed statistically significant microsatellite densities. A total of 23 EST-microsatellite primer pairs were developed and tested on two species of mushrooms. The use of these microsatellite primer pairs could be used in genetic studies of mushroom species.     

Strategies for improving a long-established terminal’s performance: a simulation study of a Turkish container terminal

Due to a long-lasting increase in global trade, only interrupted by the late-2000s economic crisis, container traffic has grown dramatically. As a result, new terminals have opened and existing terminals face much higher container handling than before. In order to meet these challenges, one of the biggest container terminals in Turkey has begun to reconsider its terminal operations and to achieve improvements of its overall logistics performance. Because the factors impacting the terminal’s performance are highly interrelated, a simulation model was developed to analyze the terminal operations, to identify potential bottleneck resources and to highlight directions for the future development of the configuration and the operational control system. For a long-established terminal like the one considered in this study the options for improving the overall performance are limited by the geographical dimensions and by the existing terminal equipment. By use of the simulation model the terminal operations are evaluated under different workload scenarios and alternative configurations are tested in order to support strategic decisions on the terminal’s development.