Treatment of psoriasis by using Hijamah: A case report

Hijamah (a well-known Prophetic complimentary treatment) has been used for centuries to treat various human diseases. It is considered that this traditional treatment (also known as wet cupping) has the potential to treat many kinds of diseases. It is performed by creating a vacuum on the skin by using a cup to collect the stagnant blood in that particular area. The vacuum at the end is released by removing the cup. Superficial skin scarification is then made to draw the blood stagnation out of the body. This technique needs to be performed in aseptic conditions by a well trained Hijamah-physician. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had described Hijamah as the best treatment humans can have. This novel treatment methodology has been successfully used as cure for numerous diseases including skin diseases. In this case report, we discuss about the application of this method in the treatment of psoriasis (an autoimmune skin disease). Results illustrated that with Hijamah, disease can not only be controlled but can be brought to a nearly complete remission.     

The Amino Terminus of LeuT Changes Conformation in an Environment Sensitive Manner

Neurochemical Research - Neurotransmitter:sodium symporters are highly expressed in the human brain and catalyze the uptake of substrate through the plasma membrane by using the electrochemical...     

A Computer-Based Automated Algorithm for Assessing Acinar Cell Loss after Experimental Pancreatitis

The change in exocrine mass is an important parameter to follow in experimental models of pancreatic injury and regeneration. However, at present, the quantitative assessment of exocrine content by histology is tedious and operator-dependent, requiring manual assessment of acinar area on serial pancreatic sections. In this study, we utilized a novel computer-generated learning algorithm to construct an accurate and rapid method of quantifying acinar content. The algorithm works by learning differences in pixel characteristics from input examples provided by human experts. HE-stained pancreatic sections were obtained in mice recovering from a 2-day, hourly caerulein hyperstimulation model of experimental pancreatitis. For training data, a pathologist carefully outlined discrete regions of acinar and non-acinar tissue in 21 sections at various stages of pancreatic injury and recovery (termed the “ground truth”). After the expert defined the ground truth, the computer was able to develop a prediction rule that was then applied to a unique set of high-resolution images in order to validate the process. For baseline, non-injured pancreatic sections, the software demonstrated close agreement with the ground truth in identifying baseline acinar tissue area with only a difference of 1%±0.05% (p = 0.21). Within regions of injured tissue, the software reported a difference of 2.5%±0.04% in acinar area compared with the pathologist (p = 0.47). Surprisingly, on detailed morphological examination, the discrepancy was primarily because the software outlined acini and excluded inter-acinar and luminal white space with greater precision. The findings suggest that the software will be of great potential benefit to both clinicians and researchers in quantifying pancreatic acinar cell flux in the injured and recovering pancreas.     

Polypyrrole-based bilayer nitrate amperometric biosensor with an integrated permselective poly-ortho-phenylenediamine layer for exclusion of inorganic interferences

A bilayer amperometric nitrate biosensor with an integrated permselective layer has been developed for exclusion of inorganic anion and cation interferences. The inner PPy(polypyrrole)-NaR-NADH layer of the biosensor is formed by galvanostatic polymerization of pyrrole (Py) in presence of nitrate reductase (NaR) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), followed by formation of the outer permselective poly-ortho-phenylenediamine (P-o-PDA) layer by potentiodynamic polymerization of ortho-phenylenediamine (o-PDA). The exclusion efficiency (E(eff)) of the outer layer in rejecting inorganic cation and anion interferences is evaluated by a new proposed relationship. 73-87% and 47-84% of anion and cation interferences, respectively, were efficiently rejected with the permselective layer. Further improvement in the exclusion efficiency for cations was accomplished by combining the use of the outer layer with the addition of 1mM EDTA into the measurement solution. The addition of EDTA improved the E(eff) achieved for cation rejection by 10-40% to give net E(eff) of 89-94%. The inclusion of the outer layer also aided the retention of NaR and NADH in the inner PPy-NaR-NADH layer and, hence, enabled improved amperometric detection of nitrate, achieving a detection limit of 0.20 μM and a linear concentration range of 10-500 μM with a 3.4%rsd (n=10).     

High-fat diet intake ameliorates the expression of hedgehog signaling pathway in adult rat liver

Molecular Biology Reports - Disproportionate fatty diet intake provokes hepatic lipid accumulation that causes non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, triggering the embryonically conserved Hedgehog...