Effects of the Hydro-Alcoholic Extract of Nigella Sativa on Scopolamine-Induced Spatial Memory Impairment in Rats and Its Possible Mechanism

Objective: To evaluate the effect of Nigella sativa (NS) extract on memory performance and its possible mechanisms in scopolamine (Sco)-induced spatial memory impairment model using Morris water maze test. Methods: Thirty-two male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups. The control group received saline instead of both NS extract and Sco. The Sco group was treated by saline for two weeks, and was injected by Sco (2 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) 30 min before each trail in Morris water maze test. Sco+NS 200 and Sco+NS 400 groups were daily treated by 200 or 400 mg/kg of NS (intraperitoneally) for two weeks, respectively, and were finally injected by Sco 30 min before Morris water maze test. The brains of animals were removed to determine the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity and oxidative stress criteria in cortical tissues. Results: Time latency and path length in the Sco group were significantly higher than in the control group (P<0.01), while the Sco+NS 400 group showed a significantly shorter traveled path length and time latency compared with the Sco group (P<0.01). AChE activity in the cortical tissues of the Sco group was significantly higher than the control group (P<0.01), while AChE activity in the Sco+NS 200 and Sco+NS 400 groups was lower than the Sco group (P<0.01). Following Sco administration, malondialdehyde (MDA) concentrations were increased (P<0.01) in comparison with the control group, while cortical total thiol content decreased (P<0.01). Pretreatment with extracts caused a significant elevation in cortical total thiol content (P<0.01) and reduction in cortical MDA concentration (P<0.01) compared with the Sco group. Conclusions: Hydro-alcoholic extract of NS prevents Sco-induced spatial memory deficits and decreases the AChE activity as well as oxidative stress of brain tissues in rats. Our results support the traditional belief about the beneficial effects of NS in nervous system. Moreover, further investigations are needed for better understanding of this protective effect.     

Improvement of refractory migraine headache by Propofol: Case series

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Several studies have been conducted on the managing of migraine headache and developing effective medications for decreasing the migraine-associated pain. Case Presentation: Intravenous propofol was prescribed (10 mg every 5 minutes) for 8 patients with intractable migraine headache visiting the Emergency Department. The average pain score, experienced by patients, was recorded using the Visual Analogue Scale, at the beginning of the treatment procedure and following the injection for 30 min (5-min intervals). The reported pain scores by patients decreased significantly (P=0.01) from 8.87+/-0.83 (CI: 8.17, 9.57) to 1.12+/-0.83 (CI: 0.43, 1.82), before and 30 min following the injection DISCUSSION: It seems that in treatment of intractable migraine headache, GABAergic receptors, compared to the normal condition, are in lower activity status. CONCLUSION: Because of high tendency of propofol to GABAergic receptors, it probably changes this physiologic condition by activating the receptors, which results in a significant pain reduction.     

Long-term Results of Balloon Pulmonary Valvuloplasty in Children with Congenital Pulmonary Valve Stenosis

Objective

Immediate, short and midterm outcome of balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty are well known, but there is limited information on long term results. We report long term results of 2–13. 5 years follow up of balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty in children.

Methods

From June 1998 to January 2012 sixty consecutive patients (33 females, 27 males) with moderate to severe valvar pulmonary stenosis (right ventricular to pulmonary artery pressure gradient greater than 50 mmHg) were considered for balloon valvuloplasty. The gradient was measured pre and immediately post–valvuloplasty at catheterization, and then by echocardiography at follow up. Follow up studies were performed 2–13.5 years (mean±SD; 7.1±2.5 years, median: 5.5 years) after procedure, by Doppler echocardiography in all patients and catheterization and angiography in two patients.

Findings

Balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty BPV was successful in 53 of 60 (88.3%) patients whereas surgical valvotomy was necessary in 6 to 60 (10%). There was one immediate death due to perforation of the right ventricular outflow tract. Pulmonary valve systolic pressure gradient decreased from 83.3±32.1 to 19.3±14.2 mmHg immediately after BPV and to 12.3±6.6 mmHg at late follow up (P<0.001). Pulmonary insufficiency was noted in 20 (38%) patient at short–term, but it was demonstrated in 17 (32%) at late follow up. A second valvuloplasty was performed in two (3.8%) patients presenting with re-stenosis.

Conclusion

The short, intermediate and long-term outcomes of pulmonary balloon valvuloplasty in children are excellent. Therefore it can be considered as the treatment of choice for children with pulmonary valve stenosis.     

Community‐based participatory research: an innovative approach for improving perioperative care of underserved children

Pediatric disparities disproportionately affect Latino youth undergoing surgery and their families. As such, there is a critical need for culturally relevant frameworks that can advance perioperative intervention approaches in this population and reduce these disparities. In the following article, we first describe the methodological process of community‐based participatory research (CBPR) and next report the results of the CBPR process that was conducted in this population. An interdisciplinary group of investigators, Latina mothers, and various other stakeholders met for a series of CBPR‐based structured meetings. Qualitative data collection and analyses of the CBPR process were guided by principles of grounded theory that employs inductive techniques and constant comparison analyses until reaching saturation of data. Barriers identified in the process can be grouped within the following domains: child‐related factors, family‐related factors, health care provider factors, and hospital system factors. Family system factors category (coded references = 136) had the highest number of coded references; this category was found to be best described by the value of familismo or familism, including a duty to help family members when in need. The health care provider category (coded references = 42) was ranked second by frequency. Within this category, two major themes surfaced: health care provider cultural competence and overestimating health literacy. All barriers identified will be next incorporated in an innovative behavioral intervention that is currently being developed. We conclude that the model of CBPR can be used within the context of perioperative care of children and their families.     

The effects of photobiomodulation and low-amplitude high-frequency vibration on bone healing process: a comparative study

This study aimed at investigating the effects of photobiomodulation (PBM) and low-amplitude high-frequency (LAHF) whole body mechanical vibration on bone fracture healing process when metallic plates are implanted in rats’ femurs. Forty male rats weighing between 250 and 350 g, 12 weeks old, were employed in this study. A transverse critical size defect (CSD) was made in their right femurs that were fixed by stainless steel plates. After the surgery, the rats were divided equally into four groups: low-level laser therapy group (GaAlAs laser, 830 nm, 40 mW, 4 J/cm², 0.35 cm beam diameter, LLLT), whole body vibration group (60 Hz, 0.1 mm amplitude, 1.5 g, WBV), a combination of laser and vibration group (LV), and the control group (C). Each group was divided into two subgroups based on sacrifice dates. The rats were sacrificed at intervals of 3 and 6 weeks after the surgery to extract their right femurs for radiography and biomechanical and histological analyses, and the results were analyzed using standard statistical methods. Radiographic analyses showed greater callus formation in the LLLT and WBV groups than in control group at both 3 (P?<?0.05 and P?<?0.001, respectively) and 6 weeks after surgery (P?<?0.05 and P?<?0.05, respectively). Histological evaluations showed a higher amount of new bone formation and better maturity in the LLLT and WBV groups than the control groups at 3 and 6 weeks after surgery. Biomechanical tests showed that the maximum force at fracture in the LLLT (P?<?0.05 in 3 weeks and P?<?0.05 in 6 weeks) and WBV (P?<?0.001 in 3 weeks and P?<?0.05 in 6 weeks) groups was greater than that in the control groups at both time intervals. But a combination of laser and vibration therapy, LV, did not show a positive interaction on bone fracture healing process. The biostimulation effects of PBM or LLLT and of low-amplitude high-frequency WBV both had a positive impact on bone healing process, for critical size defects in the presence of a stainless steel implant. But their combination, i.e., low-level laser therapy and low-amplitude high-frequency whole body vibration (LV), interestingly did not accelerate the fractured bone healing process.     

Effects of alcohol intoxication and gender on cerebral perfusion: an arterial spin labeling study

An increasing number of studies use functional MRI (fMRI) and blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal to investigate the neurofunctional basis of acute alcohol effects on the brain. However, the BOLD signal reflects neural activity only indirectly as it depends on regional hemodynamic changes and is therefore sensitive to vasoactive substances, such as alcohol. We used MRI-based pulsed arterial spin labeling (ASL) method to quantify effects of acute intoxication on resting cerebral perfusion. Gender effects have not been previously examined and yet they are of particular interest given the differences in hormonal dynamics, alcohol metabolism, and hemodynamic regulation. Nineteen young, healthy individuals (nine women) with no personal or familial alcohol- or drug-related problems served as their own controls by participating in both alcohol (0.6 g/kg ethanol for men, 0.55 g/kg for women) and placebo scanning sessions in a counterbalanced manner. Regionally specific effects of the moderate alcohol dose on gray matter perfusion were examined with voxel-wise and region-of-interest analyses suggesting an interaction between gender and alcohol beverage. Acute intoxication increased perfusion in bilateral frontal regions in men but not in women. Under placebo, stronger cortical perfusion was observed in women compared with men primarily in the left hemisphere in frontal, parietal, and temporal areas. These results emphasize gender differences and regional specificity of alcohol’s effects of cerebral perfusion possibly because of interactive influences on hormonal, metabolic, and hemodynamic autoregulatory systems. Alcohol-induced perfusion increase correlated positively with impulsivity/antisocial tendencies, consistent with dopaminergic mediation of reward, and its effects on cortical perfusion. Additional ASL studies are needed to investigate dose- and time-dependent effects of alcohol intoxication and gender on the hemodynamic factors that conjointly influence BOLD signal to disambiguate the vascular/metabolic mechanisms from the neurally based changes.     

Multislice fractional ventilation imaging in large animals with hyperpolarized gas MRI

The noninvasive assessment of regional lung ventilation is of critical importance in the quantification of the severity of disease and evaluation of response to therapy in many pulmonary diseases. This work presents, for the first time, the implementation of a hyperpolarized (HP) gas MRI technique to measure whole-lung regional fractional ventilation (r) in Yorkshire pigs (n = 5) through the use of a gas mixing and delivery device in the supine position. The proposed technique utilizes a series of back-to-back HP gas breaths with images acquired during short end-inspiratory breath-holds. In order to decouple the radiofrequency pulse decay effect from the ventilatory signal build-up in the airways, the regional distribution of the flip angle (α) was estimated in the imaged slices by acquiring a series of back-to-back images with no interscan time delay during a breath-hold at the tail end of the ventilation sequence. Analysis was performed to assess the sensitivity of the multislice ventilation model to noise, oxygen and the number of flip angle images. The optimal α value was determined on the basis of the minimization of the error in r estimation: α(opt) = 5-6o for the set of acquisition parameters in pigs. The mean r values for the group of pigs were 0.27 ± 0.09, 0.35 ± 0.06 and 0.40 ± 0.04 for the ventral, middle and dorsal slices, respectively (excluding conductive airways r 0.9). A positive gravitational (ventral-dorsal) ventilation gradient effect was present in all animals. The trachea and major conductive airways showed a uniform near-unity r value, with progressively smaller values corresponding to smaller diameter airways, and ultimately leading to lung parenchyma. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the measurement of the fractional ventilation in large species, and provide a platform to address the technical challenges associated with long breathing time scales through the optimization of acquisition parameters in species with a pulmonary physiology very similar to that of humans.     

Immunohistochemical detection of p53 and PCNA in ameloblastoma and adenomatoid odontogenic tumor

Although ameloblastoma and adenomatoid odontogenic tumor (AOT) belong to the same group according to the World Health Organization, they show different biologic behaviors. PCNA, an amplifier of cell proliferation, and p53, a tumor suppressor protein, are overexpressed in some odontogenic lesions. The purpose of this study was to immunohistochemically evaluate the expression of p53 and PCNA to clarify the possible role of these proteins in different behaviors of ameloblastoma and AOT. The immunohistochemical expression of PCNA and p53 was determined in 30 solid ameloblastomas and 12 AOTs. Statistical tests including one-way ANOVA, t-test, chi-square, Mann-Whitney U and Kendall were used to analyze the data. All tissue sections (except one specimen of plexiform ameloblastoma) exhibited immunoexpression for p53. PCNA was expressed in all specimens. There was no significant difference in PCNA expression between ameloblastomas and AOTs (P > 0.05). For p53, there was no statistical difference between subtypes of ameloblastomas (P > 0.05), whereas statistical differences were observed between ameloblastomas and AOTs (P < 0.001). There was no statistical difference in PCNA intensity of staining between ameloblastomas and AOTs (P > 0.05), whereas the p53 intensity in ameloblastomas was stronger than AOTs (P < 0.05). Positive correlation between PCNA and p53 was observed. We concluded that PCNA overexpression is not responsible for the difference in clinical behavior of these two lesions, whereas the expression of p53 in ameloblastoma may explain the more aggressive nature of this tumor compared with AOT.