Extreme ethanol ingestion is associated with developing gastric ulcers.
(yarrow) is one of the most commonly used herbs with numerous proven pharmacological actions. The goal of the hereby ...investigation is to explore the gastroprotective action of yarrow essential oil against ethanol-induced gastric ulcers and to reveal the unexplored mechanisms. Rats were distributed into five groups (
); the control group administered 10% Tween 20, orally, for two weeks; the ethanol group administered absolute ethanol (5 mL/kg) to prompt gastric ulcer on the last day of the experiment. Yarrow essential oil 100 or 200 mg/kg + ethanol groups pretreated with yarrow oil (100 or 200 mg/kg, respectively), orally, for two weeks prior to gastric ulcer induction by absolute ethanol. Lanso + ethanol group administered 20 mg/kg lansoprazole, orally, for two weeks prior to gastric ulcer induction by ethanol. Results of the current study showed that ethanol caused several macroscopic and microscopic alterations, amplified lipid peroxidation, pro-inflammatory cytokines, and apoptotic markers, as well as diminished PGE
, NO, and antioxidant enzyme activities. On the other hand, animals pretreated with yarrow essential oil exhibited fewer macroscopic and microscopic modifications, reduced ulcer surface, and increased Alcian blue binding capacity, pH, and pepsin activity. In addition, yarrow essential oil groups exhibited reduced pro-inflammatory cytokines, apoptotic markers, and MDA, restored the PGE
and NO levels, and recovered the antioxidant enzyme activities. Ethanol escalated Nrf2 and HO-1 expressions, whereas pretreatment of yarrow essential oil caused further intensification in Nrf2 and HO-1. To conclude, the current study suggested yarrow essential oil as a gastroprotective agent against ethanol-induced gastric lesions. This gastroprotective effect could be related to the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-apoptotic actions of the essential oil through the instigation of the Nrf2/HO-1 pathway.
IntroductionThe Institute of Forensic Psychiatry is an institution which, with the orders of the courts, evaluates the mental state of persons who have committed criminal offenses of all kinds.From ...2019, with the entry into force of the new penal code in Kosovo, even domestic violence is a criminale offense punishable by law up to three years in prison.ObjectivesWith the beginning of the pandemic and the measures that have been put into place by the government, which also meant the complete closure of many institutions and businesses with the aim of preventing the spread of the disease, restrictions on movement, and the presentation of many other problems such as the economy, the purchasing power, the loss of jobs that led to an increase in requests made by the courts to the Forensic Psychiatric Institute for the evaluation of the mental state of many perpetrators of domestic violence.MethodsData were collected retrospectively from March 2019 to March 2020 in the time before the pandemic. March 2020 to March 2021 during the Lock Down, and March 2021 to March 2022, the time after the pandemic when we did not have these measures. These data have been provided by the archive of the Forensic Psychiatric Institute by collecting all the cases - the orders of the courts where the persons have been accused of the crime of domestic violence under Article 248 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kosovo.ResultsDuring the Lock Down, there was an increase in cases of domestic violence. The number of requests from the Courts in the Forensic Psychiatric Institute increased from 494 before the pandemic to 648 orders during the pandemic and a slight decrease to 562 orders after the pandemic. The criminal offense with which they were accused most often was domestic violence from 119-23.68% of cases before the pandemic, in 202-3.17% of cases during the lockdown and a slight decrease after the pandemic in 156-27.75% of cases.An increase in domestic violence caused by the female gender was also observed from 19 cases - 16.23% of all cases referred before the pandemic 61 cases - 30.19% of cases during the pandemic and a slight decrease in the time after repentance in 29 cases - 19.86%.ConclusionsDuring the pandemic, domestic violence experienced a significant increase that was a consequence of the government’s lock down measures to prevent the spread of the disease.The number of cases of reoccurrence of violence in the family also increased among people who have had problems with mental health before.There has also been a significant increase in domestic violence caused by the female gender, which was unexpected for our culture.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared
Acetaminophen (APAP) is the most extensively used and safest analgesic and antipyretic drug worldwide; however, its toxicity is associated with life-threatening acute liver failure. Cardamom (CARD), ...a sweet, aromatic, commonly used spice, has several pharmacological actions. In the current study, we tried to explore the chemical composition and the hepato-protective effect of ethanolic aqueous extract of CARD to mitigate APAP-induced hepatic toxicity and elucidate its underlying mechanism of action. Material and methods: Aqueous CARD extract was subjected to LC-TOF-MS analysis to separate and elucidate some of its components. In vivo animal experiments involved five groups of animals. In the normal and cardamom groups, mice were administered either saline or CARD (200 mg/kg), respectively, orally daily for 16 days. In the APAP group, the animals were administered saline orally daily for 15 days, and on the 16th day, animals were administered APAP (300 mg/kg) IP for the induction of acute hepatic failure. In the CARD 200 + APAP group, mice were administered CARD (200 mg/kg) for 15 days, followed by APAP on the 16th day. Results: The aqueous extract of CARD showed several compounds, belonging to polyphenol, flavonoids, cinnamic acid derivatives and essential oil components. In the in vivo investigations, APAP-induced impaired liver function, several histopathological alterations, oxidative stress and inflammatory and apoptotic status signified severe hepatic failure. Whereas, pretreatment with the CARD extract prior to APAP administration diminished serum levels of the hepatic function test and augmented Nrf2 nucleoprotein and HO-1 and NQO-1. CARD down-regulated MDA, inflammatory mediators (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α and NF-κB) and apoptotic markers (caspase 3 and 9 and Bax) and amplified the activities of SOD, catalase, GSH-Px and GSH-R in hepatic tissue samples. Conclusion: CARD extract mitigated the hepatic toxicity induced by APAP. The underlying mechanism of action of such hepato-protective action may be through upregulation of the Nrf2/HO-1/NQO-1 pathway with subsequent alleviation of the oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis induced by APAP. Many of the compounds identified in the CARD extract could be attributed to this pharmacological action of the extract.
Primary graft dysfunction (PGD) is a major cause of early mortality after lung transplant. We aimed to define objective estimates of PGD risk based on readily available clinical variables, using a ...prospective study of 11 centers in the Lung Transplant Outcomes Group (LTOG). Derivation included 1255 subjects from 2002 to 2010; with separate validation in 382 subjects accrued from 2011 to 2012. We used logistic regression to identify predictors of grade 3 PGD at 48/72 h, and decision curve methods to assess impact on clinical decisions. 211/1255 subjects in the derivation and 56/382 subjects in the validation developed PGD. We developed three prediction models, where low‐risk recipients had a normal BMI (18.5–25 kg/m2), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease/cystic fibrosis, and absent or mild pulmonary hypertension (mPAP<40 mmHg). All others were considered higher‐risk. Low‐risk recipients had a predicted PGD risk of 4–7%, and high‐risk a predicted PGD risk of 15–18%. Adding a donor‐smoking lung to a higher‐risk recipient significantly increased PGD risk, although risk did not change in low‐risk recipients. Validation demonstrated that probability estimates were generally accurate and that models worked best at baseline PGD incidences between 5% and 25%. We conclude that valid estimates of PGD risk can be produced using readily available clinical variables.
Using three clinical prediction models based on recipient and donor factors for the development of primary graft dysfunction (PGD) after lung transplantation, the authors demonstrate that elevated mean pulmonary arterial pressures, a diagnosis other than cystic fibrosis or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and obesity define high‐risk recipients, and addition of a lung from a smoking donor significantly increases PGD risk in the high‐risk group.
The aim of this article is to consider a class of neutral Caputo fractional stochastic evolution equations with infinite delay (INFSEEs) driven by fractional Brownian motion (fBm) and Poisson jumps ...in Hilbert space. First, we establish the local and global existence and uniqueness theorems of mild solutions for the aforementioned neutral fractional stochastic system under local and global Carathéodory conditions by using the successive approximations, stochastic analysis, fractional calculus, and stopping time techniques. The obtained existence result in this article is new in the sense that it generalizes some of the existing results in the literature. Furthermore, we discuss the averaging principle for the proposed neutral fractional stochastic system in view of the convergence in mean square between the solution of the standard INFSEEs and that of the simplified equation. Finally, the obtained averaging theory is validated with an example.
Abstract
Mitonuclear discordance has been widely reported in animal species. In stingless bees, the occurrence of mitonuclear discordance is favoured by the adopted colony-founding strategy dependent ...colony foundation (DCF), with phylopatric females and dispersing males. To address the extent to which the DCF system is reflected in the population structure of Partamona helleri, a stingless bee found in Brazilian Atlantic Forest, we sampled for sequences of maternally heritable mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and biparentally inherited nuclear microsatellite markers in workers from 339 colonies, covering its entire distribution range. We found evidence of mitonuclear discordance in P. helleri, which is compatible with the DCF strategy. Genetic structuring of the mtDNA was associated with the occupation of an area by few female lineages, and genetic structuring of the nuclear DNA was associated with isolation by distance. Phylogeographical analysis showed that the origin of P. helleri seems to have been in the region of the state of Bahia 860 000 years ago and that the divergence between the lineages began 520 000 years ago. From this primary centre of dispersal, a main north-to-south migration route occurred, resulting in the occupation of areas in the southern portion of the Atlantic Forest, probably favoured by the dynamics of evergreen forest expansions during the Quaternary.
Schwarziana
bees are a ground-nesting stingless bee distributed in the Neotropical region.
Schwarziana quadripunctata
was the first described and the most studied species of this genus. Now, there ...are four valid species of
Schwarziana
bees, but it has been suggested that the diversity of this taxon may be higher, due to undescribed cryptic species. In this study, we investigated the populational diversity of
S. quadripunctata
using workers collected at 11 localities in Brazil (from the Northeast to South region). We also included one population of
S. mourei
(collected in São Paulo state, 2 nests). We analysed the bees using geometric morphometrics and molecular analyses amplifying mtDNA cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and 16S to access the diversity among the populations. From the results of geometric morphometrics, the Mahalanobis distances between
S. mourei
and
S. quadripunctata
are greater than those distances among
S. quadripunctata
populations. A similar scenario can also be observed looking to the phylogenetic tree generated by the molecular markers. Morphometry and molecular markers data showed significant association with geographic distance, indicating the existence of intrapopulation variation in
S. quadripunctata
. Our hypothesis was supported, that the populations of
S. quadripunctata
showed differences in haplotypic diversity. Overall, these analyses revealed a moderate level of intraspecific variation among
S. quadripunctata
populations and discriminated well the species
S. quadripunctata
from
S. mourei.
To assess changes in the reporting of funding and conflicts of interest (COI) in biomedical research between preprint server publications and their corresponding versions in peer-reviewed journals.
...We selected preprint servers publishing exclusively biomedical research. From these, we screened articles by order of publication date and identified 200 preprints first published in 2020 with subsequent versions in peer-reviewed journals. We judged eligibility and extracted data about authorship, funding, and COI in duplicate and independently. We performed descriptive statistics.
A quarter of the studies added at least one author to the peer-reviewed version. Most studies reported funding in both versions (87%), and a quarter of these added at least one funder to the peer-reviewed version. Eighteen studies (9%) reported funding only in the peer-reviewed version. A majority of studies reported COI in both versions (69%) and 5% of these had authors reporting more COI in the peer-reviewed version. A minority of studies (23%) reported COI only in the peer-reviewed version. None of the studies justified any changes in authorship, funding, or COI.
Reporting of funding and COI improved in peer-reviewed versions. However, substantive percentages of studies added authors, funders, and COI disclosures in their peer-reviewed versions.
To assess the policies of biomedical preprint servers on the reporting of funding, conflict of interest (COI), author contributions, and research integrity.
We generated a list of potentially ...eligible preprint servers then judged their eligibility in duplicate and independently. Between July and September 2021, we extracted information from the websites of these servers in duplicate and independently and through a simulated submission.
We included 37 preprint servers. A variable percentage of these servers had policies for reporting of funding (43%), disclosure of COI (78%), specification of authors’ contributions (54%), and research integrity (76%). While 97% of the COI policies required authors to disclose their own interests, only 7% addressed interests related to family members. About a third of authors’ contribution policies (30%) did not specify the types of contributions to report. While a majority of research integrity polices described screening checks for plagiarism (71%), a minority described screening checks for fabrication (39%), falsification (36%), and image manipulation (32%).
Less than half of biomedical preprint servers have policies on reporting on funding. Policies related to COI disclosure, reporting of author contributions, and research integrity lack important details.
•In this nationally representative study, caregivers of older adults who reported vision impairment spent 36% more hours providing care and reported that 61% more of their valued activities were ...affected per month.•They also had 46% greater odds of experiencing substantial emotional difficulty, per month, than caregivers of adults without vision impairment.•No differences between caregivers of older adults with and without vision impairment were noted in terms of experiencing substantial physical or financial difficulty.•Caring for older adults with vision impairment requires greater time commitments and has a greater impact on participation in valued activities and emotional well-being than does caring for adults without vision impairment.
The purpose of this study was to examine caregiving relationships for older adults with vision impairment (VI).
Cross-sectional study with a nationally representative sample.
Setting: the National Health and Aging Trends Study linked to the National Study of Caregiving, Year 2011. Study population: 1,776 family or unpaid caregivers to community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries age ≥65 years old. Outcome measurement: in the preceding month, 1) the number of hours of care provided; 2) the valued activities affected by caregiving; and 3) the odds of experiencing substantial emotional, financial, and physical difficulty related to providing care. Exposure: VI was defined as a report of blindness or difficulty with distance or near vision.
Among 1,776 caregivers, 428 caregivers spent an average ± standard error (SE) of 111 ± 9.1 hours per month assisting older adults with VI, whereas 1,348 spent an average of 72 ± 3.3 hours assisting older adults without VI. In fully adjusted negative binomial regression analyses, caregivers of older adults with VI spent 36% more hours (incident rate ratio IRR: 1.36; 95% confidence interval CI: 1.15-1.60) providing care and reported having 61% more valued activities affected (IRR: 1.61; 95% CI: 1.23-2.10) than caregivers of older adults without VI. In fully adjusted logistic regression analyses, caregivers of older adults with VI had greater odds of emotional (odds ratio OR: 1.46; 95% CI: 1.04-2.03) but not financial (OR: 1.33; 95% CI: 0.87-2.03) or physical (OR: 1.13; 95% CI: 0.74-1.74) difficulty related to providing care than caregivers of older adults without VI.
These results suggest that caring for older adults with VI places different demands on time and emotional wellbeing than caring for older adults without VI, but no differences in financial or physical difficulties.
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