Antihyperglycaemic activity of aqueous extract of Embelia ribes Burm in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

Forty days of orally feeding the aqueous E. ribes extract (100 and 200 mg/kg) to streptozotocin (40 mg/kg, iv, single dose) induced diabetic rats produced significant decrease in heart rate, systolic blood pressure, blood glucose, blood glycosylated hemoglobin, serum lactate dehydrogenase, creatine kinase and increase in blood glutathione levels as compared to pathogenic diabetic rats. Further, the extract significantly decreased the levels of pancreatic lipid peroxides and increased the levels of pancreatic superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione. The results suggest that aqueous E. ribes extract exhibits a significant blood glucose and blood pressure lowering potential. Further, it enhances endogenous antioxidant defense against free radicals produced under hyperglycaemic conditions, thereby, seemingly protects the pancreatic beta-cells against loss in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats.     

Kavosh: a new algorithm for finding network motifs

Background  

Complex networks are studied across many fields of science and are particularly important to understand biological processes. Motifs in networks are small connected sub-graphs that occur significantly in higher frequencies than in random networks. They have recently gathered much attention as a useful concept to uncover structural design principles of complex networks. Existing algorithms for finding network motifs are extremely costly in CPU time and memory consumption and have practically restrictions on the size of motifs.     

Global transcriptional response of pig brain and lung to natural infection by Pseudorabies virus

Background  

Pseudorabies virus (PRV) is an alphaherpesviruses whose native host is pig. PRV infection mainly causes signs of central nervous system disorder in young pigs, and respiratory system diseases in the adult.     

Effect of dietary sesame oil as antioxidant on brain hippocampus of rat in focal cerebral ischemia

Oxidative stress may be regarded as an imbalance between free radical production and opposing antioxidant defenses. Free radical oxidative stress is implicated in rat cerebral ischemia and naturaceutical antioxidants are dietary supplements that have been reported to have neuroprotective activity. Many studies have reported dietary sesame oil (SO) as an effective antioxidant. In the present study the neuroprotective effect of dietary SO was evaluated against middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO)-induced cerebral ischemia injury in rats. Rats were fed on diet (20% SO) for 15 days. The middle cerebral artery of adult male Wistar rat was occluded for 2 h and reperfused for 22 h. The antioxidant properties of brain were measured as levels of reduced glutathione (GSH), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), glutathione peroxide (GPx), glutathione reductase (GR), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS). A decrease in the activity of all the enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants was observed along with an increase in lipid peroxidation (LPO) in MCAO group. The neurobehavioral activity of rats was also observed by using videopath analyzer. Dietary SO improved the antioxidant status in MCAO+SO group when compared with MCAO group. The results of neurobehavioral activity also support our biochemical data. The results obtained suggest protective effect of SO against cerebral ischemia in rat brain through their antioxidant properties.     

Lethal and Sublethal Effects of Insecticides on the Biological Attributes of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Zygogramma bicolorata</Emphasis> Pallister (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae): a Biocontrol Agent of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Parthenium hysterophorus</Emphasis> L.

Acute toxicity and sublethal effects of six commonly used insecticides, i.e., malathion, carbaryl, imidacloprid, cypermethrin, dimethoate, and monocrotophos, were evaluated through biological and life table parameters of Zygogramma bicolorata Pallister in laboratory. Concentration of these insecticides was within the minimum ranges of recommended field rate. Among the insecticides tested for acute toxicity, monocrotophos and imidacloprid caused the highest mortality of third instars and prolonged the development time of treated larvae. Fecundity and egg viability were also reduced in monocrotophos-treated group. Sublethal toxicity (carryover effect) of insecticides was evaluated through life table analysis of F₁ progenies developed from surviving third instars treated for acute toxicity experiment. Survivorship was prolonged to 117 days in carbaryl treated group. Monocrotophos prolonged the overall immature development time compared to other insecticidal treatments and untreated control. Moreover, the lowest female survival, and the lowest value of life indices parameters, i.e., m _x , R ₀, r _m, and λ, was evident in monocrotophos-exposed groups compared to that in other tested insecticides. However, mean generation time (T _c) and doubling time (DT) were significantly prolonged in the insecticide-treated groups compared to those in the untreated group. A significantly greater number of females were produced in control groups than those in treated with malathion and sex ratio (proportion of male) was computed as 0.34 and 0.37, respectively. Based on the present study, it can be concluded that none of the tested insecticides can be classified as safe to Z. bicolorata. However, comparisons among the tested insecticides showed that malathion was less toxic compared to other insecticides tested.