Adenosine deaminase enzyme activity is increased and negatively correlates with catalase,superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase in patients with Behçet's disease: original contributions/clinical and laboratory investigations

AIM: Behçet''s disease (BD) is an inflammatory vasculitis with immunologic, endothelial and neutrophil alterations. Adenosine deaminase (AD) is a marker of T-cell activation and is related to the production of reactive oxygen species by neutrophils with the production of NO(*), O(2)(*-), H(2)O(2) and OH(*). We reported increased tumour necrosis factor-alpha, soluble interleukin-2 receptor, interleukin-6, interleukin-8 and NO(*) in active BD. As there is a relation between cytokines, T cells and oxidative stress in inflammatory diseases, this study further evaluated: (1) plasma AD activity and its correlation with acute phase reactants; (2) thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) as an indicator for lipid peroxidation; and (3) antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSHPx) and catalase in patients with BD. The effect of disease activity and correlations between the measured parameters were explored. METHODS: A total of 35 active (n=17) or inactive (n=18) patients with BD (16 men, 19 women) satisfying International Study Group criteria, and 20 age-matched and sex-matched controls (nine men, 11 women) were included in this cross-sectional case-control study. AD and TBARS were measured in plasma, catalase in red blood cells (RBC), and SOD and GSHPx in both plasma and RBC in both groups. Acute phase reactants (alpha(1)-antitrypsin, alpha(2)-macroglobulin, neutrophils, erythrocyte sedimentation rate) were used to classify patients as active or inactive. RESULTS: Plasma AD (mean+/-standard error of the mean, 36.1+/-0.7 U/l) and TBARS (4.2+/-0.1 nmol/ml) levels were significantly (for each, p<0.001) higher in BD than in controls (24.1+/-0.8 U/l and 1.6+/-0.1 nmol/ml, respectively). RBC catalase activity was significantly (p<0.001) lower in BD than in controls (120.9+/-3.8 versus 160.3+/-4.1 k/g haemoglobin). SOD and GSHPx activities were significantly lower in both plasma and erythrocytes of patients with BD than in controls (plasma SOD, 442.4+/-8.6 versus 636.4+/-9.2 U/ml, p<0.001; RBC SOD, 3719.2+/-66.0 versus 4849.7+/-49.0 U/g haemoglobin, p<0.001; plasma GSHPx, 73.1+/-1.5 versus 90.6+/-2.9 U/ml, p<0.001; RBC GSHPx, 600.7+/-8.0 versus 670.6+/-10.1 U/g haemoglobin, p<0.001). Active BD patients had significantly lower antioxidant enzymes (except RBC catalase) and higher AD and TBARS levels than inactive subjects (for each, p<0.01). When considering all BD patients, a significant positive correlation was present between AD and TBARS (p<0.001) whereas both AD and TBARS were negatively correlated with antioxidant enzymes (for each, p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: AD and lipid peroxidation are increased and associated with defective antioxidants in BD, suggesting interactions between activated T cells and neutrophil hyperfunction. Measures of pro-oxidative stress and antioxidative defence with AD activity as an indicator of T-cell activation can be considered as significant supportive diagnostic indicators, especially in active disease. In addition, strengthening the antioxidant defence may contribute to treatment modalities.     

Effects of dietary chromium chloride supplementation on performance,some serum parameters,and immune response in broilers

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of increasing dietary levels of inorganic chromium (CrCl₃·6H₂O) on the performance, blood chemistry, and immune response of broilers. Eighty newly hatched Ross PM3 broiler chicks were evenly distributed to five groups of 16 chicks each. Two groups (control and only sheep red blood cell inoculated) were fed the basal diet containing 2.2 and 4.5 mg Cr/kg and the remaining groups were fed 20, 40, or 80 mg/kg Cr-supplemented diets for 44 d. Chicks in all groups, except in the control, at 3 and 5 wk of age, were injected intraperitonally with sheep red blood cell for determining the primary and secondary antibody responses, respectively. When the chicks were 4 wk of age, a delayed-type hypersensitivity test was performed. White blood cells were differentiated. Blood samples were collected for the determination of serum proteins, glucose, cholesterol, cortisol, minerals, and alkaline phosphatase activity and for antibody response. Chromium had no effect on weight gain, but 20 mg/kg supplemental Cr resulted in 18.57% reduction in feed consumption and improved feed efficiency by 16.77%. Chromium did not affect serum cholesterol and P levels but reduced serum glucose and increased serum protein, Cr, Ca, and Mg levels, and ALP activity. A slight reduction was observed with Cr supplementation in cortisol levels. Slight but not significant increases were observed with Cr in serum Zn and Cu. Chromium increased the ratio of bursa of Fabricius and liver to body weight. Heterophil and monocyte counts and heterophil/lymphocyte ratio were reduced and lymphocyte counts, total antibody, IgG, and IgM titers were increased by supplemental Cr. All levels of Cr increased the cell-mediated response to phytohemagglutinin. No alterations in tissues were observed by histopathological examinations.     

A Case of Rhinoorbital Mucormycosis in a Leukemic Patient with a Literature Review from Turkey

Mucormycosis (Zygomycosis) is a rare, invasive, opportunistic fungal infection of the paranasal sinuses, caused by a fungus of the order Mucorales. We report a case of rhinoorbital mucormycosis caused by Rhizopus oryzae in an acute lymphoblastic leukemia patient and review the 79 Mucormycosis cases reported in the last decade from Turkey. In our case, the diagnosis was made with endoscopic appearance, computerized tomography of the paranasal sinuses, and culture of the surgical materials. Following aggressive surgical debridement and parenteral amphotericin B therapy, the patient recovered completely. In Turkish literature, rhinocerebral manifestations were the most common form of the mucormycosis (64 cases), followed by pulmonary form (6 cases). The most common risk factor was hematologic malignancies (32 cases) and diabetes mellitus (32 cases), similar to those reported from the rest of the world. The etiologic agents responsible for the review cases were Rhizopus sp., Mucor spp., Rhizomucor spp., Rhizopus oryzae, Mucor circinelloides, and Lichtheimia corymbifera. Although various treatment modalities were used, amphotericin B was the mainstay of therapy. Mortality rate was found to be 49.4% in review cases. It seems that strong clinical suspicion and early diagnosis, along with aggressive antifungal therapy and endoscopic sinus surgery, have great importance for better prognosis in mucormycosis.     

Protective Effects of Valproic Acid,a Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor,against Hyperoxic Lung Injury in a Neonatal Rat Model

ObjectiveHistone acetylation and deacetylation may play a role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory lung diseases. We evaluated the preventive effect of valproic acid (VPA), a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, on neonatal hyperoxic lung injury.MethodsForty newborn rat pups were randomized in normoxia, normoxia+VPA, hyperoxia and hyperoxia+VPA groups. Pups in the normoxia and normoxia+VPA groups were kept in room air and received daily saline and VPA (30 mg/kg) injections, respectively, while those in hyperoxia and hyperoxia+VPA groups were exposed to 95% O₂ and received daily saline and VPA (30 mg/kg) injections for 10 days, respectively. Growth, histopathological, biochemical and molecular biological indicators of lung injury, apoptosis, inflammation, fibrosis and histone acetylation were evaluated.ResultsVPA treatment during hyperoxia significantly improved weight gain, histopathologic grade, radial alveolar count and lamellar body membrane protein expression, while it decreased number of TUNEL(+) cells and active Caspase-3 expression. Expressions of TGFβ3 and phospho-SMAD2 proteins and levels of tissue proinflammatory cytokines as well as lipid peroxidation biomarkers were reduced, while anti-oxidative enzyme activities were enhanced by VPA treatment. VPA administration also reduced HDAC activity while increasing acetylated H3 and H4 protein expressions.ConclusionsThe present study shows for the first time that VPA treatment ameliorates lung damage in a neonatal rat model of hyperoxic lung injury. The preventive effect of VPA involves HDAC inhibition.     

A task scheduling algorithm for arbitrarily-connected processors with awareness of link contention

In this paper, we present a new task scheduling algorithm, called Contention-Aware Scheduling (CAS) algorithm, with the objective of delivering good quality of schedules in low running-time by considering contention on links of arbitrarily-connected, heterogeneous processors. The CAS algorithm schedules tasks on processors and messages on links by considering the earliest finish time attribute with the virtual cut-through (VCT) or the store-and-forward (SAF) switching. There are three types of CAS algorithm presented in this paper, which differ in ordering the messages from immediate predecessor tasks. As part of the experimental study, the performance of the CAS algorithm is compared with two well-known APN (arbitrary processor network) scheduling algorithms. Experiments on the results of the synthetic benchmarks and the task graphs of the well-known problems clearly show that our CAS algorithm outperforms the related work with respect to performance (given in normalized schedule length) and cost (given in running time) to generate output schedules. Ali Fuat Alkaya received the B.Sc. degree in mathematics from Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey in 1998, and the M.Sc. degree in computer engineering from Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey in 2002. He is currently a Ph.D. student in engineering management department at the same university. His research interests include task scheduling and analysis of algorithms. Haluk Rahmi Topcuoglu received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in computer engineering from Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey, in 1991 and 1993, respectively. He received the Ph.D. degree in computer science from Syracuse University in 1999. He has been on the faculty at Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey since Fall 1999, where he is currently an Associate Professor in computer engineering department. His main research interests are task scheduling and mapping in parallel and distributed systems; parallel processing; evolutionary algorithms and their applicability for stationary and dynamic environments. He is a member of the ACM, the IEEE, and the IEEE Computer Society. e-mail: haluk@eng.marmara.edu.tr e-mail: falkaya@eng.marmara.edu.tr     

Boric acid complexes with organic biomolecules: Mono-chelate complexes with salicylic and glucuronic acids

Two mono-chelate borate complexes, lithium mono-salicylatoborate and sodium mono-glucuronatoborate, are reported for the first time. The complexes were isolated from aqueous solutions and characterized by FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared) and ¹³C MAS (Magic Angle Spinning) NMR techniques. Thermal stabilities of the complexes were examined by recording their TGA (Thermogravimetric Analysis) curves. Lithium mono-salicylatoborate, Li[B(Sal)(OH)₂], was isolated in crystal form and presented as a novel hybrid metal-organic framework possessing zeolitic structure. X-ray analysis revealed an original crystal structure constructed with solvate-free lithium ions adopting two different types of coordination polyhedra, corner-sharing LiO₄ (tetrahedral) and LiO₅ (distorted square pyramidal), in the same framework.     

Within-session modulation of timed anticipatory responding: When to start responding

The peak procedure is widely used in the study of interval timing with animals. Multiple timing measures can be derived from peak responding. These measures are typically presented as averages across many trials based on the implicit assumption that peak responding is stable throughout the session. We tested this assumption by examining whether peak responding changed over the course of the session in 45 mice that were trained on a fixed-interval 30-s schedule. All common measures of peak responding, except stop times, changed over the course of the session: start times increased, response rates and spreads decreased, and, although less reliably, peak times also shifted rightward. These results are congruent with a motivational interpretation, whereby increased satiety leads to the observed behavioral signature of within-session modulation of timed anticipatory responding.     

The use of immobilized Saccharomyces cerevisiae on radiation crosslinked acrylamide–maleic acid hydrogel carriers for production of ethyl alcohol

Radiation crosslinked acrylamide/maleic acid (AAm/MA) copolymers were prepared by γ-irradiation. They were used in experiments on swelling, diffusion, and immobilization of yeast cells (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) for the production of ethyl alcohol. AAm/MA hydrogels containing different amount of MA, irradiated at different doses, were used for swelling and diffusion studies. The parameters of swelling, diffusional exponents, network constants, diffusion coefficients and percent porosity of the hydrogel/penetrant systems were calculated and evaluated. Yeast cells were immobilized on to the hydrogels by adsorption during multiplication, and ethyl alcohol production by the hydrogels was investigated. Swelling of AAm/MA increased with increase in MA content. Ethyl alcohol production also increased with increasing MA in the hydrogels but decreased with an increase of irradiation dose.