Stereological examination of curcumin’s effects on hippocampal damage caused by the anti-epileptic drugs phenobarbital and valproic acid in the developing rat brain

The anti-epileptic drugs phenobarbital and valproic acid have an extremely strong negative effect on cognitive processes such as learning and memory in the developing brain. We examined whether or not curcumin has protective effects on neuronal injury caused by these drugs in the developing rat brain. Young male Wistar rats were studied in two groups, a 7 days old and a 14 days old group (35 rats in each). Both groups were then divided into 7 sub-groups as the control, curcumin, dimethylsulfoxide, phenobarbital, valproic acid, phenobarbital + curcumin, and valproic acid + curcumin groups (n = 5 in each group). At 24 h after the intraperitoneal injection of the compounds, the rats were sacrificed, and the hippocampal tissue was subjected to stereological analysis with the optical fractionation method. Total numbers of neurons in the hippocampus of the 7 days old and 14 days old rats were calculated. It was found that treatment with phenobarbital resulted in a loss of 43% of the neurons, and valproic acid induced a loss of 57% of the neurons in the 7 days old rats. Curcumin prevented this loss significantly with only 19% in the phenobarbital group and 41% in the valproic acid group. In the 14 days old rat groups, phenobarbital was found to reduce the number of neurons by 30%, and valproic acid reduced it by 38%. Curcumin treatment limited neuronal loss to 3% in the phenobarbital + curcumin group and 10% in the valproic acid + curcumin group. These data strongly indicate that curcumin is a protective agent and prevents hippocampal neuronal damage induced by phenobarbital and valproic acid treatment.     

Resilience to oxidative and nitrosative stress is mediated by the stressosome,RsbP and SigB in Bacillus subtilis

A bacterium's ability to thrive in the presence of multiple environmental stressors simultaneously determines its resilience. We showed that activation of the SigB‐controlled general stress response by mild environmental or energy stress provided significant cross‐protection to subsequent lethal oxidative, disulfide and nitrosative stress in Bacillus subtilis. SigB activation is mediated via the stressosome and RsbP, the main conduits of environmental and energy stress, respectively. Cells exposed to mild environmental stress while lacking the major stressosome components RsbT or RsbRA were highly sensitive to subsequent oxidative stress, whereas rsbRB, rsbRC, rsbRD, and ytvA null mutants showed a spectrum of sensitivity, confirming their redundant roles and suggesting they could modulate the signals generated by environmental or oxidative stress. By contrast, cells encountering stationary phase stress required RsbP but not RsbT to survive subsequent oxidative stress. Interestingly, optimum cross‐protection against nitrosative stress caused by sodium nitropruside required SigB but not the known regulators, RsbT and RsbP, suggesting an additional and as yet uncharacterized route of SigB activation independent of the known regulators. Together, these results provide mechanistic information on how B. subtilis promotes enhanced resistance against lethal oxidative stress during mild environmental and energy stress conditions.     

The midterm results of a cohort study of patellofemoral arthroplasty from a non-designer centre using an asymmetric trochlear prosthesis

PurposePatellofemoral arthroplasty (PFA) prosthesis with asymmetric trochlear component was introduced as an improvement from existing designs for surgical treatment of symptomatic isolated patellofemoral arthritis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate midterm results in patients who underwent PFA procedure using such prosthesis.MethodsOur study involved a continuous retrospective cohort of patients who underwent PFA using Journey PFA prosthesis with an asymmetric trochlear component, performed between June 2007 and July 2016 at a non-designer centre. The Patient Reported Outcome Measures and patient satisfaction questionnaires were collected for final evaluation.ResultsA total of 103 PFA performed on 79 patients were evaluated. Median age at the time of surgery was 58 years (range 42 to 78 years); the mean follow-up period was 6 years (range 2 to 11 years). Four knees were revised to Total Knee Arthroplasty for reasons not related to the implant. The cumulative survival estimated by the Kaplan–Meier method was 94.3% (95% confidence interval: 88.4%–100%). There were statistically significant improvements in functional outcome scores.ConclusionThis series of patients who underwent PFA with the asymmetric trochlear component has shown promising mid-term results with no implant-related complications.     

Evaluating Completeness of a Radiology Glossary Using Iterative Refinement

Journal of Digital Imaging - A lay-language glossary of radiology, built to help patients better understand the content of their radiology reports, has been analyzed for its coverage and...