Role of phytoestrogenic oils in alleviating osteoporosis associated with ovariectomy in rats

The objective of this study was to elucidate the effect of soybean oil (SbO) and sesame oil (SO) supplemented diets on bone biomarkers changes in OVX (ovariectomized) rats. The current data exhibited significant decrease in BMD (bone mineral density), accompanied with marked depletion in the level of Ca, P and Mg in both serum and bone of OVX rats. Also, serum estrogen, total protein, HDL-C (high density lipoprotein cholesterol), bone NO levels were decreased in OVX rats. However, a significant increase in the level of serum TL (total lipids), TC (total cholesterol), TG (triglycerides), LDL-C (low density lipoprotein cholesterol), VLDL-C (very low density lipoprotein cholesterol), urine minerals (Ca, P, Mg), as well as serum, bone and urine ALP (alkaline phosphatase) and ACP (acid phosphatase) activity were recorded in OVX rats. Further changes were also detected by the increased level of urine hydroxyproline, serum parathyroid hormone and osteocalcin, as well as urea and creatinine level in both serum and urine. On the other hand, when OVX rats were fed on SbO (soy bean oil) (15 % w/w) or SO (sesame oil) (10 % w/w) supplemented diets, the data recorded a significant improvement in all the above mentioned parameters. So, it can be concluded that consumption of SbO or SO supplemented diets might be considered as a functional food for retarding risks of osteoporosis associated with estrogen deficiency in OVX states.     

Assessment of the potential iridology for diagnosing kidney disease using wavelet analysis and neural networks

Alternative or complementary medicine emphasizes therapies that are claimed to improve quality of life, prevent disease, and address conditions that conventional medicine has limited success in curing. There are many techniques which are prevalent in many countries and these can cause harm if not scientifically evaluated. The objective of this paper is to validate the use of iridology to diagnose kidney abnormalities. Two subject groups were evaluated: one was 168 subjects free from kidney disease and the other was 172 subjects with chronic renal failure. The procedure to acquire, process and classify the iris images was designed in such a way that avoids any dependency on the iridologists by using wavelet analysis and Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System. The results show a correct classification for both subjects with kidney problems and normal subjects of 82% and 93%, respectively. The proposed technique conducted on a systemic disease with ocular manifestations showed encouraging results. However, it is necessary to perform extensive studies with diseases that do not have ocular manifestations according to conventional medicine in order to validate iridology as a valid scientific technique.     

Detection of two CSN1S1 variants in Egyptian buffalo

The present study investigates CSN1S1 casein gene polymorphism in Egyptian buffalo. CSN1S1 was analyzed in 17 unrelated Egyptian lactating buffalo. The amplified segment includes the last 43 amino acids of Exon 17 and part of Intron 17. In the present study we report for the first time the presence of 2 variants 178^Ser (TCA) and 178^Leu (TTA) in Egyptian buffalo CSN1S1 gene. The genotypic frequencies in the investigated Egyptian buffalo sample were 0.47, 0.058 and 0.47 for homozygous 178^Ser, for homozygous 178^Leu and heterozygous 178^Leu/Ser, respectively. The 178^Ser and 178^Leu variant frequencies are 0.64 and 0.36, respectively which indicates the superiority of variant 178^Ser in Egyptian buffalo. The allelic frequency in Egyptian buffalo is not much different from the corresponding allelic frequency in Italian buffalo (0.69 and 0.31 for 178^Ser and 178^Leu, respectively) as reported by Chianese et al. [3]. This is not surprising since they both belong to Mediterranean type.     

Multi Texture Analysis of Colorectal Cancer Continuum Using Multispectral Imagery

Purpose

This paper proposes to characterize the continuum of colorectal cancer (CRC) using multiple texture features extracted from multispectral optical microscopy images. Three types of pathological tissues (PT) are considered: benign hyperplasia, intraepithelial neoplasia and carcinoma.

Materials and Methods

In the proposed approach, the region of interest containing PT is first extracted from multispectral images using active contour segmentation. This region is then encoded using texture features based on the Laplacian-of-Gaussian (LoG) filter, discrete wavelets (DW) and gray level co-occurrence matrices (GLCM). To assess the significance of textural differences between PT types, a statistical analysis based on the Kruskal-Wallis test is performed. The usefulness of texture features is then evaluated quantitatively in terms of their ability to predict PT types using various classifier models.

Results

Preliminary results show significant texture differences between PT types, for all texture features (p-value < 0.01). Individually, GLCM texture features outperform LoG and DW features in terms of PT type prediction. However, a higher performance can be achieved by combining all texture features, resulting in a mean classification accuracy of 98.92%, sensitivity of 98.12%, and specificity of 99.67%.

Conclusions

These results demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of combining multiple texture features for characterizing the continuum of CRC and discriminating between pathological tissues in multispectral images.     

Early onset of cabergoline therapy for prophylaxis from ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS): A potentially safer and more effective protocol

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is the most important angiogenic mediator in ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome OHSS. Studies proved that cabergoline administration blocks the increase in vascular permeability via dephosphorylation of VEGF receptors and hence can be used as prophylactic agent against OHSS. This study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of early administration of cabergoline in the prevention of OHSS in high risk cases prepared for ICSI. This case series study was conducted on 126 high risk patients prepared for ICSI using the fixed antagonist protocol. High risk patients were defined as having more than 20 follicles >12 mm in diameter, and/or E2 more than 3000 pg/ml when the size of the leading follicle is more than 15 mm. When the size of the leading follicle reached 15 mm, cabergoline was administered (0.5 mg/day) for 8 days. Patients were followed up clinically, ultrasonographically and hematologically. The final E2 was 6099.5 ± 2730 and the mean number of retrieved oocytes was 19.7 ± 7.8. The clinical pregnancy rate was 62/126 (49.2%). There were no significant changes (p > 0.05) comparing hematological parameters, renal function tests and liver function tests between the day of HCG and the day of blastocyst transfer. The incidence of severe OHSS in this group was 1/126 (0.9%), while moderate OHSS was 12 (9.5%) and there were no cases of critical OHSS. We concluded that early administration of cabergoline is a safe and potentially more effective approach for prophylaxis against OHSS in high risk cases.     

A meta-taxonomic investigation of the prokaryotic diversity of water bodies impacted by acid mine drainage from the São Domingos mine in southern Portugal

Extremophiles - The prokaryotic communities of water bodies contaminated by acid mine drainage from the São Domingos mining area in southern Portugal were analyzed using a meta-taxonomics...     

Potential therapeutic effects of induced pluripotent stem cells on induced salivary gland cancer in experimental rats

Salivary gland neoplasms exhibit complex histopathology in a variety of tumor types and treatment options depend largely on the stage of the cancer. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) have been investigated for treating induced salivary gland cancer and for restoring salivary gland function. We investigated iPS treatment for salivary gland cancer both in vitro and in vivo. For our study in vitro, we re-programmed human skin fibroblasts to form iPS cells using a plasmid containing Oct4, Sox2, L-MYC and LIN28. For our study in vivo, we used 30 white male albino rats divided into the following groups of 10: group 1 (control): rats were injected with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), group 2 induced squamous cell carcinoma (SCC): rat submandibular glands were injected with squamous carcinoma cells (SCC), group 3 (induced SCC/iPS): SCC treated rats treated with 5 × 106 iPS cells. Submandibular glands from rats of all groups were examined histologically and real time PCR was performed for amylase, and COX I and COX II gene expression. We confirmed that submandibular gland specimens included tumor tissue before starting treatment with iPS. iPS treated cases exhibited regeneration of salivary glands, although minor degenerative and vascularization changes remained. The acinar cells regained their proper organization, but continued to exhibit abnormal activity including hyperchromatism. iPS cells may be useful for treating salivary gland carcinomas.