Zinc in the prevention of Fe2initiated lipid and protein oxidation

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M. PAOLA ZAGO

2000-01-01

Full Text Available In the present study we characterized the capacity of zinc to protect lipids and proteins from Fe2+-initiated oxidative damage. The effects of zinc on lipid oxidation were investigated in liposomes composed of brain phosphatidylcholine (PC and phosphatidylserine (PS at a molar relationship of 60:40 (PC:PS, 60:40. Lipid oxidation was evaluated as the oxidation of cis-parinaric acid or as the formation of 2-thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS. Zinc protected liposomes from Fe2+ (2.5-50 muM-supported lipid oxidation. However, zinc (50 muM did not prevent the oxidative inactivation of glutamine synthelase and glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase when rat brain superntants were oxidized in the presence of 5 muM Fe2+ and 0.5 mM H2O2 .We also studied the interactions of zinc with epicatechin in the prevention of liid oxidation in liposomes. The simulaneous addition of 0.5 muM epicatechin (EC and 50 muM zinc or EC separately. Zinc (50 muM also protecte liposomes from the stimulatory effect of aluminum on Fe2+-initiated lipid oxidation. Zinc could play an important role as an antioxidant in biological systems, replacing iron and other metals with pro-oxidant activity from binding sites and interacting with other components of the oxidant defense system.

Guanosine prevents behavioral alterations in the forced swimming test and hippocampal oxidative damage induced by acute restraint stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Bettio, Luis E B; Freitas, Andiara E; Neis, Vivian B; Santos, Danúbia B; Ribeiro, Camille M; Rosa, Priscila B; Farina, Marcelo; Rodrigues, Ana Lúcia S

2014-12-01

Guanosine is a guanine-based purine that modulates glutamate uptake and exerts neurotrophic and neuroprotective effects. In a previous study, our group demonstrated that this endogenous nucleoside displays antidepressant-like properties in a predictive animal model. Based on the role of oxidative stress in modulating depressive disorders as well as on the association between the neuroprotective and antioxidant properties of guanosine, here we investigated if its antidepressant-like effect is accompanied by a modulation of hippocampal oxidant/antioxidant parameters. Adult Swiss mice were submitted to an acute restraint stress protocol, which is known to cause behavioral changes that are associated with neuronal oxidative damage. Animals submitted to ARS exhibited an increased immobility time in the forced swimming test (FST) and the administration of guanosine (5mg/kg, p.o.) or fluoxetine (10mg/kg, p.o., positive control) before the exposure to stressor prevented this alteration. Moreover, the significantly increased levels of hippocampal malondialdehyde (MDA; an indicator of lipid peroxidation), induced by ARS were not observed in stressed mice treated with guanosine. Although no changes were found in the hippocampal levels of reduced glutathione (GSH), the group submitted to ARS procedure presented enhanced glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione reductase (GR), superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities and reduced catalase (CAT) activity in the hippocampus. Guanosine was able to prevent the alterations in GPx, GR, CAT activities, and in SOD/CAT activity ratio, but potentiated the increase in SOD activity elicited by ARS. Altogether, the present findings indicate that the observed antidepressant-like effects of guanosine might be related, at least in part, to its capability of modulating antioxidant defenses and mitigating hippocampal oxidative damage induced by ARS. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Incidence of intraoperative hypothermia: adopting protocol for its prevention

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al-Qahtani, Ali S.; Messahel, Farouk M.

2003-01-01

To determine the incidence of hypothermia during surgical procedures when adequate methods of preserving normothermia are applied .For this was a study in which patients ASA I-IV presented for surgery at the Armed Forces Hospital, Wadi Al- Dawasir, kingdom of Saudi Arabia ,during the period from July 2000 to February 2003 in whom body core temprature was between 35-37C ,were included. Ambient temperature of the operating room was thermostatically adjusted to record 26C and 24C if patents were < 10 year-old or above .Depending on type of surgery ;the patients were provided with space blankents and were lying on warm mattresses. Fluid or blood warmers and forced-air surface were used when needed for this. = Aggressive measures must be adopted to preserve normothermia as prevention of intraoperative hypothermia improves patients outcome .All patients shoud have their body temprature monitored during surgery .However application of available methods of keeping normothermia reduces the the incidence of intraoperative hypothermia but does not abolish it completely . Hypothermia patients should be closely moniterd during gradual rewarming preferably in the intensive care setting. A protocol for prevention of intraoperative hypothermia must be adopted by all operating theatres. (author)

Oxidative stress in Alzheimer disease: a possibility for prevention.

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Bonda, David J; Wang, Xinglong; Perry, George; Nunomura, Akihiko; Tabaton, Massimo; Zhu, Xiongwei; Smith, Mark A

2010-01-01

Oxidative stress is at the forefront of Alzheimer disease (AD) research. While its implications in the characteristic neurodegeneration of AD are vast, the most important aspect is that it seems increasingly apparent that oxidative stress is in fact a primary progenitor of the disease, and not merely an epiphenomenon. Moreover, evidence indicates that a long "dormant period" of gradual oxidative damage accumulation precedes and actually leads to the seemingly sudden appearance of clinical and pathological AD symptoms, including amyloid-beta deposition, neurofibrillary tangle formation, metabolic dysfunction, and cognitive decline. These findings provide important insights into the development of potential treatment regimens and even allude to the possibility of a preventative cure. In this review, we elaborate on the dynamic role of oxidative stress in AD and present corresponding treatment strategies that are currently under investigation. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Stress Prevention@Work: a study protocol for the evaluation of a multifaceted integral stress prevention strategy to prevent employee stress in a healthcare organization: a cluster controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoek, Rianne J A; Havermans, Bo M; Houtman, Irene L D; Brouwers, Evelien P M; Heerkens, Yvonne F; Zijlstra-Vlasveld, Moniek C; Anema, Johannes R; van der Beek, Allard J; Boot, Cécile R L

2017-07-17

Adequate implementation of work-related stress management interventions can reduce or prevent work-related stress and sick leave in organizations. We developed a multifaceted integral stress-prevention strategy for organizations from several sectors that includes a digital platform and collaborative learning network. The digital platform contains a stepwise protocol to implement work-related stress-management interventions. It includes stress screeners, interventions and intervention providers to facilitate access to and the selection of matching work-related stress-management interventions. The collaborative learning network, including stakeholders from various organizations, plans meetings focussing on an exchange of experiences and good practices among organizations for the implementation of stress prevention measures. This paper describes the design of an integral stress-prevention strategy, Stress Prevention@Work, and the protocol for the evaluation of: 1) the effects of the strategy on perceived stress and work-related outcomes, and 2) the barriers and facilitators for implementation of the strategy. The effectiveness of Stress Prevention@Work will be evaluated in a cluster controlled trial, in a large healthcare organization in the Netherlands, at six and 12 months. An independent researcher will match teams on working conditions and size and allocate the teams to the intervention or control group. Teams in the intervention group will be offered Stress Prevention@Work. For each intervention team, one employee is responsible for applying the strategy within his/her team using the digital platform and visiting the collaborative learning network. Using a waiting list design, the control group will be given access to the strategy after 12 months. The primary outcome is the employees' perceived stress measured by the stress subscale of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21). Secondary outcome measures are job demands, job resources and the number

High-intensity interval training prevents oxidant-mediated diaphragm muscle weakness in hypertensive mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Bowen, T Scott; Eisenkolb, Sophia; Drobner, Juliane; Fischer, Tina; Werner, Sarah; Linke, Axel; Mangner, Norman; Schuler, Gerhard; Adams, Volker

2017-01-01

Hypertension is a key risk factor for heart failure, with the latter characterized by diaphragm muscle weakness that is mediated in part by increased oxidative stress. In the present study, we used a deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt mouse model to determine whether hypertension could independently induce diaphragm dysfunction and further investigated the effects of high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Sham-treated (n = 11), DOCA-salt-treated (n = 11), and DOCA-salt+HIIT-treated (n = 15) mice were studied over 4 wk. Diaphragm contractile function, protein expression, enzyme activity, and fiber cross-sectional area and type were subsequently determined. Elevated blood pressure confirmed hypertension in DOCA-salt mice independent of HIIT (P HIIT. Myosin heavy chain (MyHC) protein expression tended to decrease (∼30%; P = 0.06) in DOCA-salt vs. sham- and DOCA-salt+HIIT mice, whereas oxidative stress increased (P HIIT further prevented direct oxidant-mediated diaphragm contractile dysfunction (P hypertension induces diaphragm contractile dysfunction via an oxidant-mediated mechanism that is prevented by HIIT.-Bowen, T. S., Eisenkolb, S., Drobner, J., Fischer, T., Werner, S., Linke, A., Mangner, N., Schuler, G., Adams, V. High-intensity interval training prevents oxidant-mediated diaphragm muscle weakness in hypertensive mice. © FASEB.

School-based intervention to prevent overweight and disordered eating in secondary school Malaysian adolescents: a study protocol

OpenAIRE

Sharif Ishak, Sharifah Intan Zainun; Chin, Yit Siew; Mohd. Taib, Mohd. Nasir; Mohd. Shariff, Zalilah

2016-01-01

Abstract Background Obesity, eating disorders and unhealthy weight-loss practices have been associated with diminished growth in adolescents worldwide. Interventions that address relevant behavioural dimensions have been lacking in Malaysia. This paper describes the protocol of an integrated health education intervention namely ‘Eat Right, Be Positive About Your Body and Live Actively’ (EPaL), a primary prevention which aimed to promote healthy lifestyle in preventing overweight and disordere...

Cerium oxide nanoparticles, combining antioxidant and UV shielding properties, prevent UV-induced cell damage and mutagenesis

Science.gov (United States)

Caputo, Fanny; de Nicola, Milena; Sienkiewicz, Andrzej; Giovanetti, Anna; Bejarano, Ignacio; Licoccia, Silvia; Traversa, Enrico; Ghibelli, Lina

2015-09-01

Efficient inorganic UV shields, mostly based on refracting TiO2 particles, have dramatically changed the sun exposure habits. Unfortunately, health concerns have emerged from the pro-oxidant photocatalytic effect of UV-irradiated TiO2, which mediates toxic effects on cells. Therefore, improvements in cosmetic solar shield technology are a strong priority. CeO2 nanoparticles are not only UV refractors but also potent biological antioxidants due to the surface 3+/4+ valency switch, which confers anti-inflammatory, anti-ageing and therapeutic properties. Herein, UV irradiation protocols were set up, allowing selective study of the extra-shielding effects of CeO2vs. TiO2 nanoparticles on reporter cells. TiO2 irradiated with UV (especially UVA) exerted strong photocatalytic effects, superimposing their pro-oxidant, cell-damaging and mutagenic action when induced by UV, thereby worsening the UV toxicity. On the contrary, irradiated CeO2 nanoparticles, via their Ce3+/Ce4+ redox couple, exerted impressive protection on UV-treated cells, by buffering oxidation, preserving viability and proliferation, reducing DNA damage and accelerating repair; strikingly, they almost eliminated mutagenesis, thus acting as an important tool to prevent skin cancer. Interestingly, CeO2 nanoparticles also protect cells from the damage induced by irradiated TiO2, suggesting that these two particles may also complement their effects in solar lotions. CeO2 nanoparticles, which intrinsically couple UV shielding with biological and genetic protection, appear to be ideal candidates for next-generation sun shields.

'Be active, eat right', evaluation of an overweight prevention protocol among 5-year-old children: design of a cluster randomised controlled trial

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Veldhuis Lydian

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The prevalence of overweight and obesity in children has at least doubled in the past 25 years with a major impact on health. In 2005 a prevention protocol was developed applicable within Youth Health Care. This study aims to assess the effects of this protocol on prevalence of overweight and health behaviour among children. Methods and design A cluster randomised controlled trial is conducted among 5-year-old children included by 44 Youth Health Care teams randomised within 9 Municipal Health Services. The teams are randomly allocated to the intervention or control group. The teams measure the weight and height of all children. When a child in the intervention group is detected with overweight according to the international age and gender specific cut-off points of BMI, the prevention protocol is applied. According to this protocol parents of overweight children are invited for up to three counselling sessions during which they receive personal advice about a healthy lifestyle, and are motivated for and assisted in behavioural change. The primary outcome measures are Body Mass Index and waist circumference of the children. Parents will complete questionnaires to assess secondary outcome measures: levels of overweight inducing/reducing behaviours (i.e. being physically active, having breakfast, drinking sweet beverages and watching television/playing computer games, parenting styles, parenting practices, and attitudes of parents regarding these behaviours, health-related quality of life of the children, and possible negative side effects of the prevention protocol. Data will be collected at baseline (when the children are aged 5 years, and after 12 and 24 months of follow-up. Additionally, a process and a cost-effectiveness evaluation will be conducted. Discussion In this study called 'Be active, eat right' we evaluate an overweight prevention protocol for use in the setting of Youth Health Care. It is hypothesized that the

'Be active, eat right', evaluation of an overweight prevention protocol among 5-year-old children: design of a cluster randomised controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Veldhuis, Lydian; Struijk, Mirjam K; Kroeze, Willemieke; Oenema, Anke; Renders, Carry M; Bulk-Bunschoten, Anneke Mw; Hirasing, Remy A; Raat, Hein

2009-06-08

The prevalence of overweight and obesity in children has at least doubled in the past 25 years with a major impact on health. In 2005 a prevention protocol was developed applicable within Youth Health Care. This study aims to assess the effects of this protocol on prevalence of overweight and health behaviour among children. A cluster randomised controlled trial is conducted among 5-year-old children included by 44 Youth Health Care teams randomised within 9 Municipal Health Services. The teams are randomly allocated to the intervention or control group. The teams measure the weight and height of all children. When a child in the intervention group is detected with overweight according to the international age and gender specific cut-off points of BMI, the prevention protocol is applied. According to this protocol parents of overweight children are invited for up to three counselling sessions during which they receive personal advice about a healthy lifestyle, and are motivated for and assisted in behavioural change.The primary outcome measures are Body Mass Index and waist circumference of the children. Parents will complete questionnaires to assess secondary outcome measures: levels of overweight inducing/reducing behaviours (i.e. being physically active, having breakfast, drinking sweet beverages and watching television/playing computer games), parenting styles, parenting practices, and attitudes of parents regarding these behaviours, health-related quality of life of the children, and possible negative side effects of the prevention protocol. Data will be collected at baseline (when the children are aged 5 years), and after 12 and 24 months of follow-up. Additionally, a process and a cost-effectiveness evaluation will be conducted. In this study called 'Be active, eat right' we evaluate an overweight prevention protocol for use in the setting of Youth Health Care. It is hypothesized that the use of this protocol will result in a healthier lifestyle of the

Analysis of Pre-participation Screening Protocols for Football Players in Europe, USA, and Libya: Possible Implications for Preventing Sudden Cardiac Death

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Salaheddin Sharif

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Sudden cardiac death is the leading cause of death in sport participants and may result from undiagnosed cardiac diseases. It has been universally agreed upon that pre-participation screening can identify those athletes at risk of sudden cardiac death, and yet, there is no commonly accepted protocol to screen athletes. Although the European Society of Cardiology (ESC and the American Heart Association (AHA recommend the routine screening of athletes to prevent sudden death, there is significant disagreement regarding the guidelines of the protocols. The American Heart Association protocol includes a detailed medical history and a physical examination, whereas the European Society of Cardiology protocol includes 12-lead electrocardiography with a detailed medical history and a physical examination. The cost benefit of using electrocardiography is debatable, particularly if the screening is used to prevent sudden death associated with uncommon diseases. The Libyan Football Federation established a new seasonal pre-competition medical assessment protocol for Libyan football athletes during the 2013-2014 season, which includes a medical history, physical examination, 12 lead electrocardiography, echocardiography, and blood test. Regardless of cost and differences in protocol, there is a significant value in pre-participation screening for athletes in order to decrease the incidence of sudden cardiac death, and this report examines some of these different protocols as well as their potential for identifying athletes at risk for sudden cardiac death.

Preventing Bacterial Infections using Metal Oxides Nanocoatings on Bone Implant

Science.gov (United States)

Duceac, L. D.; Straticiuc, S.; Hanganu, E.; Stafie, L.; Calin, G.; Gavrilescu, S. L.

2017-06-01

Nowadays bone implant removal is caused by infection that occurs around it possibly acquired after surgery or during hospitalization. The purpose of this study was to reveal some metal oxides applied as coatings on bone implant thus limiting the usual antibiotics-resistant bacteria colonization. Therefore ZnO, TiO2 and CuO were synthesized and structurally and morphologically analized in order to use them as an alternative antimicrobial agents deposited on bone implant. XRD, SEM, and FTIR characterization techniques were used to identify structure and texture of these nanoscaled metal oxides. These metal oxides nanocoatings on implant surface play a big role in preventing bacterial infection and reducing surgical complications.

Stress Prevention@Work: a study protocol for the evaluation of a multifaceted integral stress prevention strategy to prevent employee stress in a healthcare organization: a cluster controlled trial

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rianne J. A. Hoek

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Adequate implementation of work-related stress management interventions can reduce or prevent work-related stress and sick leave in organizations. We developed a multifaceted integral stress-prevention strategy for organizations from several sectors that includes a digital platform and collaborative learning network. The digital platform contains a stepwise protocol to implement work-related stress-management interventions. It includes stress screeners, interventions and intervention providers to facilitate access to and the selection of matching work-related stress-management interventions. The collaborative learning network, including stakeholders from various organizations, plans meetings focussing on an exchange of experiences and good practices among organizations for the implementation of stress prevention measures. This paper describes the design of an integral stress-prevention strategy, Stress Prevention@Work, and the protocol for the evaluation of: 1 the effects of the strategy on perceived stress and work-related outcomes, and 2 the barriers and facilitators for implementation of the strategy. Methods The effectiveness of Stress Prevention@Work will be evaluated in a cluster controlled trial, in a large healthcare organization in the Netherlands, at six and 12 months. An independent researcher will match teams on working conditions and size and allocate the teams to the intervention or control group. Teams in the intervention group will be offered Stress Prevention@Work. For each intervention team, one employee is responsible for applying the strategy within his/her team using the digital platform and visiting the collaborative learning network. Using a waiting list design, the control group will be given access to the strategy after 12 months. The primary outcome is the employees’ perceived stress measured by the stress subscale of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21. Secondary outcome measures

Garlic extracts prevent oxidative stress, hypertrophy and apoptosis in cardiomyocytes: a role for nitric oxide and hydrogen sulfide

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Background In ancient times, plants were recognized for their medicinal properties. Later, the arrival of synthetic drugs pushed it to the backstage. However, from being merely used for food, plants are now been widely explored for their therapeutic value. The current study explores the potential of skin and flesh extracts from a hard-necked Rocambole variety of purple garlic in preventing cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and cell death. Methods Norepinephrine (NE) was used to induce hypertrophy in adult rat cardiomyocytes pretreated with garlic skin and flesh extracts. Cell death was measured as ratio of rod to round shaped cardiomyocytes. Fluorescent probes were used to measure apoptosis and oxidative stress in cardiomyocytes treated with and without extracts and NE. Pharmacological blockade of nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) were used to elucidate the mechanism of action of garlic extracts. Garlic extract samples were also tested for alliin and allicin concentrations. Results Exposure of cardiomyocytes to NE induced an increase in cell size and cell death; this increase was significantly prevented upon treatment with garlic skin and flesh extracts. Norepinephrine increased apoptosis and oxidative stress in cardiomyocytes which was prevented upon pretreatment with skin and flesh extracts; NO, and H2S blockers significantly inhibited this beneficial effect. Allicin and alliin concentration were significantly higher in garlic flesh extract when compared to the skin extract. Conclusion These results suggest that both skin and flesh garlic extracts are effective in preventing NE induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and cell death. Reduction in oxidative stress may also play an important role in the anti-hypertrophic and anti-apoptotic properties of garlic extracts. These beneficial effects may in part be mediated by NO and H2S. PMID:22931510

Effectiveness of muscle strengthening and description of protocols for preventing falls in the elderly: a systematic review

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Erika Y. Ishigaki

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Background: Falls are a geriatric syndrome that is considered a significant public health problem in terms of morbidity and mortality because they lead to a decline in functional capacity and an impaired quality of life in the elderly. Lower limb muscle strengthening seems to be an effective intervention for preventing falls; however, there is no consensus regarding the best method for increasing lower limb muscle strength. Objectives: To analyze the effectiveness of lower limb muscle strengthening and to investigate and describe the protocols used for preventing falls in elderly subjects. Method: We performed a systematic review of randomized and controlled clinical trials published between 2002 and 2012 in the databases PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, and PEDro that cited some type of lower limb muscle strengthening protocol and that evaluated the incidence of falls as the primary outcome exclusively in elderly subjects. Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria. Qualitative analysis was performed by independent reviewers applying the PEDro scale. Results: The data obtained from the selected studies showed lower fall rates in the intervention groups compared to controls. Six studies described the lower limb muscle strengthening protocol in detail. High methodological quality was found in 6 studies (PEDro score ≥7/10 points. Conclusions: The methodological quality of the studies in this area appears to leave little doubt regarding the effectiveness of lower limb strengthening exercises for preventing falls in elderly subjects, however the interventions in these studies were poorly reported.

Caries risk assessment tool and prevention protocol for public health nurses in mother and child health centers, Israel.

Science.gov (United States)

Natapov, Lena; Dekel-Markovich, Dan; Granit-Palmon, Hadas; Aflalo, Efrat; Zusman, Shlomo Paul

2018-01-01

Dental caries is the most prevalent chronic disease in children. Caries risk assessment tools enable the dentists, physicians, and nondental health care providers to assess the individual's risk. Intervention by nurses in primary care settings can contribute to the establishment of oral health habits and prevention of dental disease. In Israel, Mother and Child Health Centers provide free preventive services for pregnant women and children by public health nurses. A caries prevention program in health centers started in 2015. Nurses underwent special training regarding caries prevention. A customized Caries Risk Assessment tool and Prevention Protocol for nurses, based on the AAPD tool, was introduced. A two-step evaluation was conducted which included a questionnaire and in-depth phone interviews. Twenty-eight (out of 46) health centers returned a completed questionnaire. Most nurses believed that oral health preventive services should be incorporated into their daily work. In the in-depth phone interviews, nurses stated that the integration of the program into their busy daily schedule was realistic and appropriate. The lack of specific dental module for computer program was mentioned as an implementation difficulty. The wide use of our tool by nurses supports its simplicity and feasibility which enables quick calculation and informed decision making. The nurses readily embraced the tool and it became an integral part of their toolkit. We provide public health nurses with a caries risk assessment tool and prevention protocol thus integrating oral health into general health of infants and toddlers. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

'Be active, eat right', evaluation of an overweight prevention protocol among 5-year-old children: design of a cluster randomised controlled trial

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veldhuis, L.; Struijk, M.K.; Kroeze, W.; Oenema, A.; Renders, C.M.; Bunschoten, A.M.W.; Hira Sing, R.A.; Raat, H.

2009-01-01

Background. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in children has at least doubled in the past 25 years with a major impact on health. In 2005 a prevention protocol was developed applicable within Youth Health Care. This study aims to assess the effects of this protocol on prevalence of

'Be active, eat right', evaluation of an overweight prevention protocol among 5-year-old children : Design of a cluster randomised controlled trial

NARCIS (Netherlands)

L. Veldhuis (Lydian); M.K. Struijk (Mirjam); W. Kroeze (Willemieke); A. Oenema (Anke); C.M. Renders (Carry); A.M.W. Bulk-Bunschoten (Anneke); R.A. Hirasing (Remy); H. Raat (Hein)

2009-01-01

textabstractBACKGROUND: The prevalence of overweight and obesity in children has at least doubled in the past 25 years with a major impact on health. In 2005 a prevention protocol was developed applicable within Youth Health Care. This study aims to assess the effects of this protocol on prevalence

Cerium oxide nanoparticles, combining antioxidant and UV shielding properties, prevent UV-induced cell damage and mutagenesis

KAUST Repository

Caputo, Fanny

2015-08-20

Efficient inorganic UV shields, mostly based on refracting TiO2 particles, have dramatically changed the sun exposure habits. Unfortunately, health concerns have emerged from the pro-oxidant photocatalytic effect of UV-irradiated TiO2, which mediates toxic effects on cells. Therefore, improvements in cosmetic solar shield technology are a strong priority. CeO2 nanoparticles are not only UV refractors but also potent biological antioxidants due to the surface 3+/4+ valency switch, which confers anti-inflammatory, anti-ageing and therapeutic properties. Herein, UV irradiation protocols were set up, allowing selective study of the extra-shielding effects of CeO2vs. TiO2 nanoparticles on reporter cells. TiO2 irradiated with UV (especially UVA) exerted strong photocatalytic effects, superimposing their pro-oxidant, cell-damaging and mutagenic action when induced by UV, thereby worsening the UV toxicity. On the contrary, irradiated CeO2 nanoparticles, via their Ce3+/Ce4+ redox couple, exerted impressive protection on UV-treated cells, by buffering oxidation, preserving viability and proliferation, reducing DNA damage and accelerating repair; strikingly, they almost eliminated mutagenesis, thus acting as an important tool to prevent skin cancer. Interestingly, CeO2 nanoparticles also protect cells from the damage induced by irradiated TiO2, suggesting that these two particles may also complement their effects in solar lotions. CeO2 nanoparticles, which intrinsically couple UV shielding with biological and genetic protection, appear to be ideal candidates for next-generation sun shields. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2015.

The Achilles’ heel of prevention to mother-to-child transmission of HIV: Protocol implementation, uptake, and sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Rodriguez, Violeta J.; LaCabe, Richard P.; Privette, C. Kyle; Douglass, K. Marie; Peltzer, Karl; Matseke, Gladys; Mathebula, Audrey; Ramlagan, Shandir; Sifunda, Sibusiso; Prado, Guillermo “Willy”; Horigian, Viviana; Weiss, Stephen M.; Jones, Deborah L.

2017-01-01

Abstract The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS proposed to reduce the vertical transmission of HIV from ∼72,200 to ∼8300 newly infected children by 2015 in South Africa (SA). However, cultural, infrastructural, and socio-economic barriers hinder the implementation of the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) protocol, and research on potential solutions to address these barriers in rural areas is particularly limited. This study sought to identify challenges and solutions to the implementation, uptake, and sustainability of the PMTCT protocol in rural SA. Forty-eight qualitative interviews, 12 focus groups discussions (n = 75), and one two-day workshop (n = 32 participants) were conducted with district directors, clinic leaders, staff, and patients from 12 rural clinics. The delivery and uptake of the PMTCT protocol was evaluated using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR); 15 themes associated with challenges and solutions emerged. Intervention characteristics themes included PMTCT training and HIV serostatus disclosure. Outer-setting themes included facility space, health record management, and staff shortage; inner-setting themes included supply use and availability, staff–patient relationship, and transportation and scheduling. Themes related to characteristics of individuals included staff relationships, initial antenatal care visit, adherence, and culture and stigma. Implementation process themes included patient education, test results delivery, and male involvement. Significant gaps in care were identified in rural areas. Information obtained from participants using the CFIR framework provided valuable insights into solutions to barriers to PMTCT implementation. Continuously assessing and correcting PMTCT protocol implementation, uptake and sustainability appear merited to maximize HIV prevention. PMID:28922974

The Achilles' heel of prevention to mother-to-child transmission of HIV: Protocol implementation, uptake, and sustainability.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodriguez, Violeta J; LaCabe, Richard P; Privette, C Kyle; Douglass, K Marie; Peltzer, Karl; Matseke, Gladys; Mathebula, Audrey; Ramlagan, Shandir; Sifunda, Sibusiso; Prado, Guillermo Willy; Horigian, Viviana; Weiss, Stephen M; Jones, Deborah L

2017-12-01

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS proposed to reduce the vertical transmission of HIV from ∼72,200 to ∼8300 newly infected children by 2015 in South Africa (SA). However, cultural, infrastructural, and socio-economic barriers hinder the implementation of the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) protocol, and research on potential solutions to address these barriers in rural areas is particularly limited. This study sought to identify challenges and solutions to the implementation, uptake, and sustainability of the PMTCT protocol in rural SA. Forty-eight qualitative interviews, 12 focus groups discussions (n = 75), and one two-day workshop (n = 32 participants) were conducted with district directors, clinic leaders, staff, and patients from 12 rural clinics. The delivery and uptake of the PMTCT protocol was evaluated using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR); 15 themes associated with challenges and solutions emerged. Intervention characteristics themes included PMTCT training and HIV serostatus disclosure. Outer-setting themes included facility space, health record management, and staff shortage; inner-setting themes included supply use and availability, staff-patient relationship, and transportation and scheduling. Themes related to characteristics of individuals included staff relationships, initial antenatal care visit, adherence, and culture and stigma. Implementation process themes included patient education, test results delivery, and male involvement. Significant gaps in care were identified in rural areas. Information obtained from participants using the CFIR framework provided valuable insights into solutions to barriers to PMTCT implementation. Continuously assessing and correcting PMTCT protocol implementation, uptake and sustainability appear merited to maximize HIV prevention.

Background of the implementation of the Protocol the Convention against Torture: Monitoring places of detention and prevention of torture in Uruguay

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Álvaro Garcé García y Santos

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The ratification of the Optional Protocol of the Convention against Torture had for our country, the significance of an ethical and juridical commitment of giving priority to the prevention of abuses for all the people deprived from liberty who are in jails or in other places of detention, as a consequence of a judicial decision or by virtue of an administrative mandate. Among the obligations established by the said Protocol it is found the one of setting up a National Mechanism of Prevention, technically and economically independent, in charge of the systematic monitoring of the detention centers. The creation of the National Institution of Human Rights, together with the legal mandate the same bears to coordinate its duties with the pre-existing Parliamentary Commissioner, finally brings the certain possibility of fulfilling with the obligations arising from the Protocol. At the same time, the original national solution, unparalleled in the region, implies a series of juridical complexities approached in this work. The cooperation between the two State Institutions involved in the matter, so as to avoid a useless overlapping of duties, brings up a promising future in relation to the prevention of torture in Uruguay.

The Drosophila carbonyl reductase sniffer prevents oxidative stress-induced neurodegeneration.

Science.gov (United States)

Botella, Jose A; Ulschmid, Julia K; Gruenewald, Christoph; Moehle, Christoph; Kretzschmar, Doris; Becker, Katja; Schneuwly, Stephan

2004-05-04

A growing body of evidence suggests that oxidative stress is a common underlying mechanism in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's, Creutzfeld-Jakob and Parkinson's diseases. Despite the increasing number of reports finding a causal relation between oxidative stress and neurodegeneration, little is known about the genetic elements that confer protection against the deleterious effects of oxidation in neurons. We have isolated and characterized the Drosophila melanogaster gene sniffer, whose function is essential for preventing age-related neurodegeneration. In addition, we demonstrate that oxidative stress is a direct cause of neurodegeneration in the Drosophila central nervous system and that reduction of sniffer activity leads to neuronal cell death. The overexpression of the gene confers neuronal protection against oxygen-induced apoptosis, increases resistance of flies to experimental normobaric hyperoxia, and improves general locomotor fitness. Sniffer belongs to the family of short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase (SDR) enzymes and exhibits carbonyl reductase activity. This is the first in vivo evidence of the direct and important implication of this enzyme as a neuroprotective agent in the cellular defense mechanisms against oxidative stress.

Treadmill running prevents age-related memory deficit and alters neurotrophic factors and oxidative damage in the hippocampus of Wistar rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Vanzella, Cláudia; Neves, Juliana Dalibor; Vizuete, Adriana Fernanda; Aristimunha, Dirceu; Kolling, Janaína; Longoni, Aline; Gonçalves, Carlos Alberto Saraiva; Wyse, Angela T S; Netto, Carlos Alexandre

2017-09-15

Clinical and pre-clinical studies indicate that exercise is beneficial to many aspects of brain function especially during aging. The present study investigated the effects of a treadmill running protocol in young (3month-old) and aged (22month-old) male Wistar rats, on: I) cognitive function, as assessed by spatial reference memory in the Morris water maze; II) oxidative stress parameters and the expression of neurotrophic factors BDNF, NT-3, IGF-1 and VEGF in the hippocampus. Animals of both ages were assigned to sedentary (non-exercised) and exercised (20min of daily running sessions, 3 times per week for 4weeks) groups. Cognition was assessed by a reference memory task run in the Morris water maze; twenty four hours after last session of behavioral testing hippocampi were collected for biochemical analysis. Results demonstrate that the moderate treadmill running exercise: I) prevented age-related deficits in reference memory in the Morris water maze; II) prevented the age-related increase of reactive oxygen species levels and lipid peroxidation in the hippocampus; III) caused an increase of BDNF, NT-3 and IGF-1 expression in the hippocampus of aged rats. Taken together, results suggest that both exercise molecular effects, namely the reduction of oxidative stress and the increase of neurotrophic factors expression in the hippocampus, might be related to its positive effect on memory performance in aged rats. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Financial incentive policies at workplace cafeterias for preventing obesity--a systematic review and meta-analysis (Protocol).

Science.gov (United States)

Sawada, Kimi; Ota, Erika; Shahrook, Sadequa; Mori, Rintaro

2014-10-28

Various studies are currently investigating ways to prevent lifestyle-related diseases and obesity among workers through interventions using incentive strategies, including price discounts for low-fat snacks and sugar-free beverages at workplace cafeterias or vending machines, and the provision of a free salad bar in cafeterias. Rather than assessing individual or group interventions, we will focus on the effectiveness of nutrition education programs at the population level, which primarily incorporate financial incentive strategies to prevent obesity. This paper describes the protocol of a systematic review that will examine the effectiveness of financial incentive programs at company cafeterias in improving dietary habits, nutrient intake, and obesity prevention. We will conduct searches in the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, Embase, and PsycINFO. Interventions will be assessed using data from randomized control trials (RCTs) and cluster RCTs. However, if few such trials exist, we will include quasi-RCTs. We will exclude controlled before-and-after studies and crossover RCTs. We will assess food-based interventions that include financial incentive strategies (discount strategies or social marketing) for workplace cafeterias, vending machines, and kiosks. Two authors will independently review studies for inclusion and will resolve differences by discussion and, if required, through consultation with a third author. We will assess the risk of bias of included studies according to the Cochrane Collaboration's "risk of bias" tool. The purpose of this paper is to outline the study protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis that will investigate the effectiveness of population-level, incentive-focused interventions at the workplace cafeteria that aim to promote and prevent obesity. This review will give an important overview of the available evidence about the effectiveness of incentive-based environmental interventions to

Prevention by lactic acid bacteria of the oxidation of human LDL.

Science.gov (United States)

Terahara, M; Kurama, S; Takemoto, N

2001-08-01

Ether extracts of lactic acid bacteria were analyzed for prevention of the oxidation of erythrocyte membrane and human low-density lipoprotein in vivo. Streptococcus thermophilus 1131 and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus 2038, yogurt starters, were chosen as test-strains, and ether extracts of these cultures were used as samples. Both strain 1131 and strain 2038 produced radical scavengers and inhibited oxidation of erythrocyte membranes and low-density lipoproteins. The antioxidative activity of strain 2038 was higher than that of strain 1131.

Behavioral counseling to prevent childhood obesity – study protocol of a pragmatic trial in maternity and child health care

OpenAIRE

Mustila, Taina; Keskinen, Päivi; Luoto, Riitta

2012-01-01

Abstract Background Prevention is considered effective in combating the obesity epidemic. Prenatal environment may increase offspring's risk for obesity. A child starts to adopt food preferences and other behavioral habits affecting weight gain during preschool years. We report the study protocol of a pragmatic lifestyle intervention aiming at primary prevention of childhood obesity. Methods/Design A non-randomized controlled pragmatic trial in maternity and child health care clinics. The con...

Coenzyme Q10 plus Multivitamin Treatment Prevents Cisplatin Ototoxicity in Rats.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Astolfi

Full Text Available Cisplatin (Cpt is known to induce a high level of oxidative stress, resulting in an increase of reactive oxygen species damaging the inner ear and causing hearing loss at high frequencies. Studies on animal models show that antioxidants may lower Cpt-induced ototoxicity. The aim of this study is to evaluate the ototoxic effects of two different protocols of Cpt administration in a Sprague-Dawley rat model, and to test in the same model the synergic protective effects of a solution of coenzyme Q10 terclatrate and Acuval 400®, a multivitamin supplement containing antioxidant agents and minerals (Acu-Qter. The Cpt was administered intraperitoneally in a single dose (14 mg/kg or in three daily doses (4.6 mg/kg/day to rats orally treated or untreated with Acu-Qter for 5 days. The auditory function was assessed by measuring auditory brainstem responses from 2 to 32 kHz at day 0 and 5 days after treatment. Similar hearing threshold and body weight alterations were observed in both Cpt administration protocols, but mortality reduced to zero when Cpt was administered in three daily doses. The Acu-Qter treatment was able to prevent and completely neutralize ototoxicity in rats treated with three daily Cpt doses, supporting the synergic protective effects of coenzyme Q terclatrate and Acuval 400® against Cpt-induced oxidative stress. The administration protocol involving three Cpt doses is more similar to common human chemotherapy protocols, therefore it appears more useful for long-term preclinical studies on ototoxicity prevention.

Haptoglobin is required to prevent oxidative stress and muscle atrophy.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Enrico Bertaggia

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress (OS plays a major role on tissue function. Several catabolic or stress conditions exacerbate OS, inducing organ deterioration. Haptoglobin (Hp is a circulating acute phase protein, produced by liver and adipose tissue, and has an important anti-oxidant function. Hp is induced in pro-oxidative conditions such as systemic inflammation or obesity. The role of systemic factors that modulate oxidative stress inside muscle cells is still poorly investigated. RESULTS: We used Hp knockout mice (Hp-/- to determine the role of this protein and therefore, of systemic OS in maintenance of muscle mass and function. Absence of Hp caused muscle atrophy and weakness due to activation of an atrophy program. When animals were stressed by acute exercise or by high fat diet (HFD, OS, muscle atrophy and force drop were exacerbated in Hp-/-. Depending from the stress condition, autophagy-lysosome and ubiquitin-proteasome systems were differently induced. CONCLUSIONS: Hp is required to prevent OS and the activation of pathways leading to muscle atrophy and weakness in normal condition and upon metabolic challenges.

Use of a combined oxygen/nitrous oxide/morphine chlorydrate protocol for analgesia in burned children requiring painful local care.

Science.gov (United States)

Ozil, Camille; Vialle, Raphaël; Thevenin-Lemoine, Camille; Conti, Elvira; Annequin, Daniel

2010-03-01

We present the results of the use of a protocol of inhalational oxygen/nitrous oxide mixtures associated with oral opioids on a prospective cohort of 33 children undergoing local care for acute but limited burned skin lesions. All the children were orally administered 0.4 mg/kg morphine chlorydrate, and nitrous oxide was administered as an equimolar mixture (50% N2O, 50% O2) via a face mask during the procedure. Pain and comfort of the patient were evaluated by the use of a validated behavioural score. After the end of the procedure, child and parent satisfactions were noted. Mean age was 3 years 6 months (10 months-11 years). A successful detersion procedure was performed in all the cases. Behavioural score was 6 in 15 cases out of 33, comprising between 7 and 9 in 15 patients and 10 in three patients. Subjective satisfaction of pain management was noted in 16 out of 20 patients after the procedure. Subjective satisfaction of the parents was noted in all the cases. Our study demonstrates that the use of a simple protocol of inhalational oxygen/nitrous oxide mixtures associated with oral opioids could be safe and effective. This association was well tolerated without any adverse effect.

A cluster randomised controlled trial of advice, exercise or multifactorial assessment to prevent falls and fractures in community-dwelling older adults: protocol for the prevention of falls injury trial (PreFIT).

Science.gov (United States)

Bruce, Julie; Lall, Ranjit; Withers, Emma J; Finnegan, Susanne; Underwood, Martin; Hulme, Claire; Sheridan, Ray; Skelton, Dawn A; Martin, Finbarr; Lamb, Sarah E

2016-01-18

Falls are the leading cause of accident-related mortality in older adults. Injurious falls are associated with functional decline, disability, healthcare utilisation and significant National Health Service (NHS)-related costs. The evidence base for multifactorial or exercise interventions reducing fractures in the general population is weak. This protocol describes a large-scale UK trial investigating the clinical and cost-effectiveness of alternative falls prevention interventions targeted at community dwelling older adults. A three-arm, pragmatic, cluster randomised controlled trial, conducted within primary care in England, UK. Sixty-three general practices will be randomised to deliver one of three falls prevention interventions: (1) advice only; (2) advice with exercise; or (3) advice with multifactorial falls prevention (MFFP). We aim to recruit over 9000 community-dwelling adults aged 70 and above. Practices randomised to deliver advice will mail out advice booklets. Practices randomised to deliver 'active' interventions, either exercise or MFFP, send all trial participants the advice booklet and a screening survey to identify participants with a history of falling or balance problems. Onward referral to 'active' intervention will be based on falls risk determined from balance screen. The primary outcome is peripheral fracture; secondary outcomes include number with at least one fracture, falls, mortality, quality of life and health service resource use at 18 months, captured using self-report and routine healthcare activity data. The study protocol has approval from the National Research Ethics Service (REC reference 10/H0401/36; Protocol V.3.1, 21/May/2013). User groups and patient representatives were consulted to inform trial design. Results will be reported at conferences and in peer-reviewed publications. A patient-friendly summary of trial findings will be published on the prevention of falls injury trial (PreFIT) website. This protocol adheres to the

Minimal intervention dentistry: part 3. Paediatric dental care--prevention and management protocols using caries risk assessment for infants and young children.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramos-Gomez, F J; Crystal, Y O; Domejean, S; Featherstone, J D B

2012-11-01

Recent increases in caries prevalence in young children throughout the world highlight the need for a simple but effective infant oral care programme. This programme needs to include a medical disease prevention management model with an early establishment of a dental home and a treatment approach based on individual patient risk. This article presents an updated approach with practical forms and tools based on the principles of caries management by risk assessment, CAMBRA. This method will aid the general practitioner to develop and maintain a comprehensive protocol adequate for infant and young children oral care visits. Perinatal oral health is vitally important in preventing early childhood caries (ECC) in young children. Providing dental treatment to expectant mothers and their young children in a 'dual parallel track' is an effective innovative strategy and an efficient practice builder. It promotes prevention rather than intervention, and this may be the best way to achieve long-lasting oral health for young patients. General dental practice can adopt easy protocols that will promote early preventive visits and anticipatory guidance/counselling rather than waiting for the need for restorative treatment.

USING POLYMERIC HYDROGEN GETTERS TO PREVENT COMBUSTIBLE ATMOSPHERES DURING INTERIM SAFE STORAGE OF PLUTONIUM OXIDE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Woodsmall, T

2007-01-01

Nuclear Materials Management (NMM) of WSRC has recently installed the capability to perform both non-destructive and destructive examination of 3013 containers of Pu oxide in accordance with DOE-STD-3013. The containers will be opened and the oxide will be sampled for analysis. The remaining bulk oxide must then be safely stored in a non-3013-compliant configuration. Available processing equipment and controls cannot prevent the oxide from adsorbing moisture during this process. Subsequent radiolysis of moisture during storage may generate combustible quantities of gases while waiting final processing, and satisfying DOE Interim Safe Storage Criteria (ISSC) would require that storage containers be vented at impractical frequencies. With support from an independent National Laboratory, WSRC/NMM has demonstrated that a commercial hydrogen getter material will effectively prevent the accumulation of combustible gas concentrations. A project overview, including storage requirements and strategies, as well as getter technology, current test results, and anticipated future developments will be addressed

Gallic acid prevents nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug-induced gastropathy in rat by blocking oxidative stress and apoptosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Pal, Chinmay; Bindu, Samik; Dey, Sumanta; Alam, Athar; Goyal, Manish; Iqbal, Mohd Shameel; Maity, Pallab; Adhikari, Susanta S; Bandyopadhyay, Uday

2010-07-15

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)-induced oxidative stress plays a critical role in gastric mucosal cell apoptosis and gastropathy. NSAIDs induce the generation of hydroxyl radical ((*)OH) through the release of free iron, which plays an important role in developing gastropathy. Thus, molecules having both iron-chelating and antiapoptotic properties will be beneficial in preventing NSAID-induced gastropathy. Gallic acid (GA), a polyphenolic natural product, has the capacity to chelate free iron. Here, we report that GA significantly prevents, as well as heals, NSAID-induced gastropathy. In vivo, GA blocks NSAID-mediated mitochondrial oxidative stress by preventing mitochondrial protein carbonyl formation, lipid peroxidation, and thiol depletion. In vitro, GA scavenges free radicals and blocks (*)OH-mediated oxidative damage. GA also attenuates gastric mucosal cell apoptosis in vivo as well as in vitro in cultured gastric mucosal cells as evident from the TUNEL assay. GA prevents NSAID-induced activation of caspase-9, a marker for the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis, and restores NSAID-mediated collapse of the mitochondrial transmembrane potential and dehydrogenase activity. Thus, the inhibition of mitochondrial oxidative stress by GA is associated with the inhibition of NSAID-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and activation of apoptosis in gastric mucosal cells, which are responsible for gastric injury or gastropathy. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Bee products prevent agrichemical-induced oxidative damage in fish.

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Daiane Ferreira

Full Text Available In southern South America and other parts of the world, aquaculture is an activity that complements agriculture. Small amounts of agrichemicals can reach aquaculture ponds, which results in numerous problems caused by oxidative stress in non-target organisms. Substances that can prevent or reverse agrichemical-induced oxidative damage may be used to combat these effects. This study includes four experiments. In each experiment, 96 mixed-sex, 6-month-old Rhamdia quelen (118±15 g were distributed into eight experimental groups: a control group that was not exposed to contaminated water, three groups that were exposed to various concentrations of bee products, three groups that were exposed to various concentrations of bee products plus tebuconazole (TEB; Folicur 200 CE™ and a group that was exposed to 0.88 mg L(-1 of TEB alone (corresponding to 16.6% of the 96-h LC50. We show that waterborne bee products, including royal jelly (RJ, honey (H, bee pollen (BP and propolis (P, reversed the oxidative damage caused by exposure to TEB. These effects were likely caused by the high polyphenol contents of these bee-derived compounds. The most likely mechanism of action for the protective effects of bee products against tissue oxidation and the resultant damage is that the enzymatic activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD, catalase (CAT and glutathione-S-transferase (GST are increased.

Bee products prevent agrichemical-induced oxidative damage in fish.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferreira, Daiane; Rocha, Helio Carlos; Kreutz, Luiz Carlos; Loro, Vania Lucia; Marqueze, Alessandra; Koakoski, Gessi; da Rosa, João Gabriel Santos; Gusso, Darlan; Oliveira, Thiago Acosta; de Abreu, Murilo Sander; Barcellos, Leonardo José Gil

2013-01-01

In southern South America and other parts of the world, aquaculture is an activity that complements agriculture. Small amounts of agrichemicals can reach aquaculture ponds, which results in numerous problems caused by oxidative stress in non-target organisms. Substances that can prevent or reverse agrichemical-induced oxidative damage may be used to combat these effects. This study includes four experiments. In each experiment, 96 mixed-sex, 6-month-old Rhamdia quelen (118±15 g) were distributed into eight experimental groups: a control group that was not exposed to contaminated water, three groups that were exposed to various concentrations of bee products, three groups that were exposed to various concentrations of bee products plus tebuconazole (TEB; Folicur 200 CE™) and a group that was exposed to 0.88 mg L(-1) of TEB alone (corresponding to 16.6% of the 96-h LC50). We show that waterborne bee products, including royal jelly (RJ), honey (H), bee pollen (BP) and propolis (P), reversed the oxidative damage caused by exposure to TEB. These effects were likely caused by the high polyphenol contents of these bee-derived compounds. The most likely mechanism of action for the protective effects of bee products against tissue oxidation and the resultant damage is that the enzymatic activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) are increased.

Xanthine Oxidase Inhibitor, Allopurinol, Prevented Oxidative Stress, Fibrosis, and Myocardial Damage in Isoproterenol Induced Aged Rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Sagor, Md Abu Taher; Tabassum, Nabila; Potol, Md Abdullah; Alam, Md Ashraful

2015-01-01

We evaluated the preventive effect of allopurinol on isoproterenol (ISO) induced myocardial infarction in aged rats. Twelve- to fourteen-month-old male Long Evans rats were divided into three groups: control, ISO, and ISO + allopurinol. At the end of the study, all rats were sacrificed for blood and organ sample collection to evaluate biochemical parameters and oxidative stress markers analyses. Histopathological examinations were also conducted to assess inflammatory cell infiltration and fibrosis in heart and kidneys. Our investigation revealed that the levels of oxidative stress markers were significantly increased while the level of cellular antioxidants, catalase activity, and glutathione concentration in ISO induced rats decreased. Treatment with allopurinol to ISO induced rats prevented the elevated activities of AST, ALT, and ALP enzymes, and the levels of lipid peroxidation products and increased reduced glutathione concentration. ISO induced rats also showed massive inflammatory cells infiltration and fibrosis in heart and kidneys. Furthermore, allopurinol treatment prevented the inflammatory cells infiltration and fibrosis in ISO induced rats. In conclusion, the results of our study suggest that allopurinol treatment is capable of protecting heart of ISO induced myocardial infarction in rats probably by preventing oxidative stress, inflammation, and fibrosis.

Study protocol of a cluster randomized controlled trial evaluating the efficacy of a comprehensive pressure ulcer prevention programme for private for-profit nursing homes.

Science.gov (United States)

Kwong, Enid Wai-yung; Lee, Paul Hong; Yeung, Kwan-mo

2016-01-18

Because the demand for government-subsidized nursing homes in Hong Kong outstrips the supply, the number of for-profit private nursing homes has been increasing rapidly. However, the standard of care in such homes is always criticized. Pressure ulcers are a major long-term care issue that is closely associated with the quality of care delivered in nursing home settings. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a pressure ulcer prevention programme for residents in private for-profit nursing homes. This is a two-arm cluster randomized controlled trial with an estimated sample size of 1088 residents and 74 care staff from eight for-profit private nursing homes. Eligible nursing homes will be those classified as category A2 homes in the Enhanced Bought Place Scheme (EBPS), having a capacity of around 130-150 beds, and no structured PU prevention protocol and/or programmes in place. Care staff will be health workers, personal care workers, and nurses who are front-line staff providing direct care to residents. Eight nursing homes will be randomly assigned to either an experimental or control group. The experimental group will be provided with an intensive training programme and will be involved in the implementation of a 16-week pressure ulcer prevention protocol, while the control group will deliver the usual pressure ulcer prevention care. The study outcomes are the pressure ulcer prevention knowledge and skills of the care staff and the prevalence and incidence of pressure ulcers. Data on the knowledge and skills of care staff, and prevalence of pressure ulcer will be collected at the base line, and then at the 8(th) week and at completion of the implementation of the protocol. The assessment of the incidence of pressures will start from before the commencement of the intensive training course to the end of the implementation of the protocol. In view of the negative impact of pressure ulcers, it is important to have an effective and evidence

Project of law authorizing the adhesion to the protocol of 1997 modifying the international convention of 1973 for the prevention of the pollution by ships, such as modified by the related protocol of 1978; Projet de loi autorisant l'adhesion au protocole de 1997 modifiant la convention internationale de 1973 pour la prevention de la pollution par les navires, telle que modifiee par le protocole de 1978 y relatif

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2004-04-01

The first international agreement of May 12, 1954, for the protection of the marine and coastal environments against pollution was replaced on November 2, 1973 by a more detailed convention for the prevention of the pollution by ships. The 25 rules defined in the appendix 1 of this last document were modified and completed by the protocol of February 17, 1978. To make this system even more constraining for the atmospheric pollution, a diplomatic conference took place in September 1997 at the head office of the international maritime organization in London (UK). This conference has adopted a protocol which introduced a new appendix no. 6 in the text of the 1973 convention for the abatement of the emissions of sulfur compounds and other polluting combustion products in case of oil-tank burning. This document is a project of law authorizing the adhesion of France to the protocol of 1997. It summarizes the main content of the articles of this protocol, and in particular the rules introduced in the new appendix. The full text of the protocol and of its appendixes are also attached. (J.S.)

Radiation oxidative stress in cancer induction and prevention

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meher, Prabodha Kumar; Mishra, Kaushala Prasad

2017-01-01

Exposure of cells to ionizing radiation causes generation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) which are implicated in the mechanism of carcinogenesis. Molecular steps involved in the transformation of normal cells to cancer cells have been enigmatic but generally believed to arise from aberration in cellular redox homeostasis. In normal cell function, a delicate balance is maintained between ROS generated in the metabolic process and level of endogenous antioxidant defense. ROS are known to regulate various cellular functions, such as cell division, signal transduction, and apoptosis. Cells experience oxidative stress when excess production of ROS occurs inside a cell upon exposure to external stress or agents. This redox imbalance affects the cellular functions due to DNA strand breaks, chromosomal aberrations, gene mutations, alteration in signal transduction, and inhibition of apoptosis leading to induction of cancer and other diseases. Radiation-induced ROS are involved in initiation and promotion of carcinogenesis. Therefore, detoxification of ROS by exogenous antioxidants including dietary polyphenols offers an important strategy for cancer prevention. Recent research results have shown that resistance of cancer stem cells to therapies is linked to low level of ROS. Interestingly, in vitro and in vivo experiments have reported that radiotherapy- and chemotherapy-induced ROS in cytosol sensitize the tumor cells to death, resulting in tumor growth retardation. This review is an attempt to delineate mechanisms of ROS in carcinogenesis and prevention by dietary compounds. Natural polyphenols and dietary antioxidants hold potential to prevent cancer. Interventions in ROS-mediated signal alteration, apoptosis activation, and modulation of epigenetic processes may offer effective cancer prevention strategy. (author)

Facile and sustainable synthesis of shaped iron oxide nanoparticles: effect of iron precursor salts on the shapes of iron oxides.

Science.gov (United States)

Sayed, Farheen N; Polshettiwar, Vivek

2015-05-05

A facile and sustainable protocol for synthesis of six different shaped iron oxides is developed. Notably, all the six shapes of iron oxides can be synthesised using exactly same synthetic protocol, by simply changing the precursor iron salts. Several of the synthesised shapes are not reported before. This novel protocol is relatively easy to implement and could contribute to overcome the challenge of obtaining various shaped iron oxides in economical and sustainable manner.

Effect of Fatigue Protocols on Lower Limb Neuromuscular Function and Implications for Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Prevention Training: A Systematic Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Barber-Westin, Sue D; Noyes, Frank R

2017-12-01

Approximately two-thirds of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears are sustained during noncontact situations when an athlete is cutting, pivoting, decelerating, or landing from a jump. Some investigators have postulated that fatigue may result in deleterious alterations in lower limb biomechanics during these activities that could increase the risk of noncontact ACL injuries. However, prior studies have noted a wide variation in fatigue protocols, athletic tasks studied, and effects of fatigue on lower limb kinetics and kinematics. First, to determine if fatigue uniformly alters lower limb biomechanics during athletic tasks that are associated with noncontact ACL injuries. Second, to determine if changes should be made in ACL injury prevention training programs to alter the deleterious effects of fatigue on lower limb kinetics and kinematics. Systematic review; Level of evidence, 4. A systematic review of the literature using MEDLINE was performed. Key terms were fatigue, neuromuscular, exercise, hop test, and single-legged function tests. Inclusion criteria were original research studies involving healthy participants, use of a fatigue protocol, study of at least 1 lower limb task that involved landing from a hop or jump or cutting, and analysis of at least 1 biomechanical variable. Thirty-seven studies involving 806 athletes (485 female, 321 male; mean age, 22.7 years) met the inclusion criteria. General fatigue protocols were used in 20 investigations, peripheral protocols were used in 17 studies, and 21 different athletic tasks were studied (13 single-legged, 8 double-legged). There was no consistency among investigations regarding the effects of fatigue on hip, knee, or ankle joint angles and moments or surface electromyography muscle activation patterns. The fatigue protocols typically did not produce statistically significant changes in ground-reaction forces. Published fatigue protocols did not uniformly produce alterations in lower limb neuromuscular

Novel oxindole derivatives prevent oxidative stress-induced cell death in mouse hippocampal HT22 cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Hirata, Yoko; Yamada, Chika; Ito, Yuki; Yamamoto, Shotaro; Nagase, Haruna; Oh-Hashi, Kentaro; Kiuchi, Kazutoshi; Suzuki, Hiromi; Sawada, Makoto; Furuta, Kyoji

2018-03-15

The current medical and surgical therapies for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease offer symptomatic relief but do not provide a cure. Thus, small synthetic compounds that protect neuronal cells from degeneration are critically needed to prevent and treat these. Oxidative stress has been implicated in various pathophysiological conditions, including neurodegenerative diseases. In a search for neuroprotective agents against oxidative stress using the murine hippocampal HT22 cell line, we found a novel oxindole compound, GIF-0726-r, which prevented oxidative stress-induced cell death, including glutamate-induced oxytosis and erastin-induced ferroptosis. This compound also exerted a protective effect on tunicamycin-induced ER stress to a lesser extent but had no effect on campthothecin-, etoposide- or staurosporine-induced apoptosis. In addition, GIF-0726-r was also found to be effective after the occurrence of oxidative stress. GIF-0726-r was capable of inhibiting reactive oxygen species accumulation and Ca 2+ influx, a presumed executor in cell death, and was capable of activating the antioxidant response element, which is a cis-acting regulatory element in promoter regions of several genes encoding phase II detoxification enzymes and antioxidant proteins. These results suggest that GIF-0726-r is a low-molecular-weight compound that prevents neuronal cell death through attenuation of oxidative stress. Among the more than 200 derivatives of the GIF-0726-r synthesized, we identified the 11 most potent activators of the antioxidant response element and characterized their neuroprotective activity in HT22 cells. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Prevents the Development of Preeclampsia Through Suppression of Oxidative Stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Yaling; Xu, Jianjuan; Zhou, Qin; Wang, Rong; Liu, Nin; Wu, Yanqun; Yuan, Hua; Che, Haisha

2016-01-01

Preeclampsia (PE) and its complications have become the leading cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality in the world. And the development of PE is still barely predictable and thus challenging to prevent and manage clinically. Oxidative stress contributes to the development of the disease. Our previous study demonstrated that exogenous Alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) played a cytoprotective role in vascular endothelial cell by suppressing oxidative stress. In this study, we aim to investigate whether AAT contributes to the development of PE, and to identify the mechanism behind these effects. We found that AAT levels were significantly decreased in placenta tissues from women with PE compared that of healthy women. Notably, we demonstrate that AAT injection is able to relieve the high blood pressure and reduce urine protein levels in a dose-dependent manner in PE mice. In addition, our results showed that AAT injection exhibited an anti-oxidative stress role by significantly reducing PE mediated-upregulation of ROS, MMP9 and MDA, and increasing the levels of SOD, eNOS, and GPx with increased dosage of AAT. Furthermore, we found that AAT injection inactivated PE mediated activation of PAK/STAT1/p38 signaling. These findings were confirmed in human samples. In conclusion, our study suggests that exogenous AAT injection increases the antioxidants and suppresses oxidative stress, and subsequent prevention of PE development through inactivation of STAT1/p38 signaling. Thus, AAT would become a potential strategy for PE therapy.

Alpha-1 antitrypsin prevents the development of preeclampsia through suppression of oxidative stress

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yaling eFeng

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Preeclampsia (PE and its complications have become the leading cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality in the world. And the development of PE is still barely predictable and thus challenging to prevent and manage clinically. Oxidative stress contributes to the development of the disease. Our previous study demonstrated that exogenous Alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT played a cytoprotective role in vascular endothelial cell by suppressing oxidative stress. In this study, we aim to investigate whether AAT contributes to the development of PE, and to identify the mechanism behind these effects. We found that AAT levels were significantly decreased in placenta tissues from women with PE compared that of healthy women. Notably, we demonstrate that AAT injection is able to relieve the high blood pressure and reduce urine protein levels in a dose-dependent manner in PE mice. In addition, our results showed that AAT injection exhibited an anti-oxidative stress role by significantly reducing PE mediated-upregulation of ROS, MMP9 and MDA, and increasing the levels of SOD, eNOS and GPx with increased dosage of AAT. Furthermore, we found that AAT injection inactivated PE mediated activation of PAK/STAT1/p38 signaling. These findings were confirmed in human samples. In conclusion, our study suggests that exogenous AAT injection increases the antioxidants and suppresses oxidative stress, and subsequent prevention of PE development through inactivation of STAT1/p38 signaling. Thus, AAT would become a potential strategy for PE therapy.

Compliance with the national palestinian infection prevention and control protocol at governmental paediatric hospitals in gaza governorates.

Science.gov (United States)

Eljedi, Ashraf; Dalo, Shareef

2014-08-01

Nosocomial infections are a significant burden for both patients and the healthcare system. For this reason, infection prevention and control (IPC) practices are extremely important. The Palestinian Ministry of Health adopted the national IPC Protocol in 2004. This study aimed to assess the compliance of healthcare providers (HCPs) with the Protocol in three governmental paediatric hospitals in Gaza governorates. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from February to November 2010. Data were collected from a sample of doctors, nurses and physiotherapists (N = 334) using a self-administered questionnaire and observation checklists to record HCP practices and assess the hospital environment. The response rate was 92%. The most important reasons for non-compliance with the IPC Protocol were the absence of an education programme (61.5%), lack of knowledge (52.4%) and the scarcity of required supplies (46.9%). Only 2.3% of respondents had a copy of the IPC Protocol, while 65.8% did not know of its existence. Only 16.9% had participated in training sessions regarding general IPC practices. The observation checklist regarding HCP practices revealed low levels of compliance in hand washing (45.9%), wearing gloves (40.7%) and using antiseptics/disinfectants (49.16%). The health facilities checklist indicated that there was a lack of certain essential equipment and materials, such as covered waste containers and heavy-duty gloves. Due to the lack of HPC knowledge, the authors recommend that the IPC Protocol be made available in all hospitals. In addition, a qualified team should implement intensive IPC education and training programmes and facilities should provide the required equipment and materials.

Astaxanthin from Haematococcus pluvialis Prevents Oxidative Stress on Human Endothelial Cells without Toxicity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Philippe Régnier

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Astaxanthin, a powerful antioxidant, is a good candidate for the prevention of intracellular oxidative stress. The aim of the study was to compare the antioxidant activity of astaxanthin present in two natural extracts from Haematococcus pluvialis, a microalgae strain, with that of synthetic astaxanthin. Natural extracts were obtained either by solvent or supercritical extraction methods. UV, HPLC-DAD and (HPLC-(atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI+/ion trap-MS characterizations of both natural extracts showed similar compositions of carotenoids, but different percentages in free astaxanthin and its ester derivatives. The Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC assay showed that natural extracts containing esters displayed stronger antioxidant activities than free astaxanthin. Their antioxidant capacities to inhibit intracellular oxidative stress were then evaluated on HUVEC cells. The intracellular antioxidant activity in natural extracts was approximately 90-times higher than synthetic astaxanthin (5 µM. No modification, neither in the morphology nor in the viability, of vascular human cells was observed by in vitro biocompatibility study up to 10 µM astaxanthin concentrations. Therefore, these results revealed the therapeutic potential of the natural extracts in vascular human cell protection against oxidative stress without toxicity, which could be exploited in prevention and/or treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

Policies and protocols for preventing transmission of HIV infection in oral health care in South Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Ogunbodede, E O; Rudolph, M J

2002-12-01

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection constitutes an unparalleled public health challenge. The unique nature of most oral health procedures, instrumentation and patient-care settings requires specific strategies and protocols aimed at preventing the transmission of HIV/AIDS between oral health care providers and patients, as well as between patients themselves. The present study investigated the level of information and training about protocols and policies for preventing the transmission of HIV/AIDS in oral health care settings in South Africa. The data collection techniques utilised available information, in-depth interviews and an open-ended questionnaire. The respondents were 20 purposively selected key informants who were senior officers for HIV/AIDS programmes and/or oral health organisations. Sixteen (80%) of the respondents reported that there were no existing oral health policies on HIV/AIDS in their health care institutions or organisations. None of the interviewees knew of any specific protocols on HIV/AIDS in the oral health care setting that emanated from South Africa. In addition, none of the dental professional associations had established an infection control committee or a support system for members who might become infected with HIV and develop AIDS. Territorial boundaries existed between sectors within the medical disciplines, as well as between the medical and oral health disciplines. Numerous general impediments were identified, such as prejudice, denial and fear, inadequate training and/or information about the infection, lack of representation and resources for policy planning, a lack of interest from the business sector, and approaching HIV/AIDS in the workplace as a 'one-time issue' Other obstacles identified included unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, disempowerment of women and inadequate communication of policies to service providers. Additional issues raised included the migrant labour systeM, complexities of language and culture

Nitric oxide donors prevent while the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor L-NAME increases arachidonic acid plus CYP2E1-dependent toxicity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Defeng; Cederbaum, Arthur

2006-01-01

Polyunsaturated fatty acids such as arachidonic acid (AA) play an important role in alcohol-induced liver injury. AA promotes toxicity in rat hepatocytes with high levels of cytochrome P4502E1 and in HepG2 E47 cells which express CYP2E1. Nitric oxide (NO) participates in the regulation of various cell activities as well as in cytotoxic events. NO may act as a protectant against cytotoxic stress or may enhance cytotoxicity when produced at elevated concentrations. The goal of the current study was to evaluate the effect of endogenously or exogenously produced NO on AA toxicity in liver cells with high expression of CYP2E1 and assess possible mechanisms for its actions. Pyrazole-induced rat hepatocytes or HepG2 cells expressing CYP2E1 were treated with AA in the presence or absence of an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase L-N G -Nitroarginine Methylester (L-NAME) or the NO donors S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP), and (Z)-1-[-(2-aminoethyl)-N-(2-aminoethyl)]diazen-1-ium-1,2-diolate (DETA-NONO). AA decreased cell viability from 100% to 48 ± 6% after treatment for 48 h. In the presence of L-NAME, viability was further lowered to 23 ± 5%, while, SNAP or DETA-NONO increased viability to 66 ± 8 or 71 ± 6%. The L-NAME potentiated toxicity was primarily necrotic in nature. L-NAME did not affect CYP2E1 activity or CYP2E1 content. SNAP significantly lowered CYP2E1 activity but not protein. AA treatment increased lipid peroxidation and lowered GSH levels. L-NAME potentiated while SNAP prevented these changes. Thus, L-NAME increased, while NO donors decreased AA-induced oxidative stress. Antioxidants prevented the L-NAME potentiation of AA toxicity. Damage to mitochondria by AA was shown by a decline in the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). L-NAME potentiated this decline in MMP in association with its increase in AA-induced oxidative stress and toxicity. NO donors decreased this decline in MMP in association with their decrease in AA-induced oxidative stress and

Radiolytic oxidation of UO{sub 2} pellets doped with alpha-emitters ({sup 238/239}Pu)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Muzeau, B. [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Rhone Valley Research Center DTCD/SECM/LMPA, BP 17 171, 30207 Bagnols-sur-Ceze Cedex (France); Jegou, C. [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Rhone Valley Research Center DTCD/SECM/LMPA, BP 17 171, 30207 Bagnols-sur-Ceze Cedex (France)], E-mail: christophe.jegou@cea.fr; Delaunay, F. [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Valduc Research Center, 21120 Is-sur-Tille (France); Broudic, V. [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Rhone Valley Research Center DTCD/SECM/LMPA, BP 17 171, 30207 Bagnols-sur-Ceze Cedex (France); Brevet, A. [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Valduc Research Center, 21120 Is-sur-Tille (France); Catalette, H. [Electricite de France, Les Renardieres Research Center, Route de Sens Ecuelles, 77250 Moret-sur-Loing (France); Simoni, E. [Institut de Physique Nucleaire, Bat. 100, 91406 Orsay Cedex (France); Corbel, C. [Laboratoire des Solides Irradies, UMR 7642-CNRS-CEA-Ecole Polytechnique, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex (France)

2009-01-07

To assess the impact of alpha radiolysis of water on the oxidative dissolution of UO{sub 2} under anoxic conditions, two series of plutonium-doped samples (specific alpha activity 385 and 18 MBqg{sub UO{sub 2}}{sup -1}) were fabricated, characterized and leached in water of varying complexity (pure water, carbonated water, dissolved hydrogen). Given the very high reactivity of these samples in the presence of air and in order to minimize any prior surface oxidation, a strict experimental protocol was developed based on high-temperature annealing in Ar + 4% H{sub 2} with preleaching cycles. Failure to follow this protocol prevents absolute quantification of oxidation of the UO{sub 2} surface by water radiolysis in solutions. Preoxidation of the pellet surface can lead to uranium release in solution that is dependent on the alpha particle flux, revealing initial oxidation by radiolysis in air including potential traces of water. This makes difficult the accurate quantification of the radiolytic oxidation in water solutions. Controlling the initial surface condition of the samples finally allowed us to demonstrate that radiolytic oxidation in water-saturated media is governed by several threshold effects for which the main parameters are the sample alpha activity and the hydrogen concentration.

Quercetin prevents chronic unpredictable stress induced behavioral dysfunction in mice by alleviating hippocampal oxidative and inflammatory stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Mehta, Vineet; Parashar, Arun; Udayabanu, Malairaman

2017-03-15

It is now evident that chronic stress is associated with anxiety, depression and cognitive dysfunction and very few studies have focused on identifying possible methods to prevent these stress-induced disorders. Previously, we identified abundance of quercetin in Urtica dioica extract, which efficiently attenuated stress related complications. Therefore, current study was designed to investigate the effect of quercetin on chronic unpredicted stress (CUS) induced behavioral dysfunction, oxidative stress and neuroinflammation in the mouse hippocampus. Animals were subjected to unpredicted stress for 21days, during which 30mg/kg quercetin was orally administered to them. Effect of CUS and quercetin treatment on animal behavior was assessed between day 22-26. Afterward, the hippocampus was processed to evaluate neuronal damage, oxidative and inflammatory stress. Results revealed that stressed animals were highly anxious (Elevated Plus Maze and Open Field), showed depressive-like behavior (sucrose preference task), performed poorly in short-term and long-term associative memory task (passive avoidance step-through task) and displayed reduced locomotion (open field). Quercetin alleviated behavioral dysfunction in chronically stressed animals. Compared to CUS, quercetin treatment significantly reduced anxiety, attenuated depression, improved cognitive dysfunction and normalized locomotor activity. Further, CUS elevated the levels of oxidative stress markers (TBARS, nitric oxide), lowered antioxidants (total thiol, catalase), enhanced expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β and COX-2) in the hippocampus and damaged hippocampal neurons. Quercetin treatment significantly lowered oxidative and inflammatory stress and prevented neural damage. In conclusion, quercetin can efficiently prevent stress induced neurological complications by rescuing brain from oxidative and inflammatory stress. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Exploring facilitating factors and barriers to the nationwide dissemination of a Dutch school-based obesity prevention program "DOiT": a study protocol

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Nassau, F.; Singh, A.S.; van Mechelen, W.; Paulussen, T.G.; Brug, J.; Chinapaw, M.J.

2013-01-01

Background: The evidence-based Dutch Obesity Intervention in Teenagers (DOiT) program is a school-based obesity prevention program for 12 to 14-year olds attending the first two years of prevocational education. This paper describes the study protocol applied to evaluate (a) the nationwide

Chronic mitochondrial uncoupling treatment prevents acute cold-induced oxidative stress in birds.

Science.gov (United States)

Stier, Antoine; Massemin, Sylvie; Criscuolo, François

2014-12-01

Endotherms have evolved two major types of thermogenesis that allow them to actively produce heat in response to cold exposure, either through muscular activity (i.e. shivering thermogenesis) or through futile electro-chemical cycles (i.e. non-shivering thermogenesis). Amongst the latter, mitochondrial uncoupling is of key importance because it is suggested to drive heat production at a low cost in terms of oxidative stress. While this has been experimentally shown in mammals, the oxidative stress consequences of cold exposure and mitochondrial uncoupling are clearly less understood in the other class of endotherms, the birds. We compared metabolic and oxidative stress responses of zebra finches chronically treated with or without a chemical mitochondrial uncoupler (2,4-dinitrophenol: DNP), undergoing an acute (24 h) and a chronic (4 weeks) cold exposure (12 °C). We predicted that control birds should present at least a transient elevation of oxidative stress levels in response to cold exposure. This oxidative stress cost should be more pronounced in control birds than in DNP-treated birds, due to their lower basal uncoupling state. Despite similar increase in metabolism, control birds presented elevated levels of DNA oxidative damage in response to acute (but not chronic) cold exposure, while DNP-treated birds did not. Plasma antioxidant capacity decreased overall in response to chronic cold exposure. These results show that acute cold exposure increases oxidative stress in birds. However, uncoupling mitochondrial functioning appears as a putative compensatory mechanism preventing cold-induced oxidative stress. This result confirms previous observations in mice and underlines non-shivering thermogenesis as a putative key mechanism for endotherms in mounting a response to cold at a low oxidative cost.

Nonblocking and orphan free message logging protocols

Science.gov (United States)

Alvisi, Lorenzo; Hoppe, Bruce; Marzullo, Keith

1992-12-01

Currently existing message logging protocols demonstrate a classic pessimistic vs. optimistic tradeoff. We show that the optimistic-pessimistic tradeoff is not inherent to the problem of message logging. We construct a message-logging protocol that has the positive features of both optimistic and pessimistic protocol: our protocol prevents orphans and allows simple failure recovery; however, it requires no blocking in failure-free runs. Furthermore, this protocol does not introduce any additional message overhead as compared to one implemented for a system in which messages may be lost but processes do not crash.

Swimming training prevents coronary endothelial dysfunction in ovariectomized spontaneously hypertensive rats

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E.R.G. Claudio

Full Text Available Estrogen deficiency and hypertension are considered major risk factors for the development of coronary heart disease. On the other hand, exercise training is considered an effective form to prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases. However, the effects of swimming training (SW on coronary vascular reactivity in female ovariectomized hypertensive rats are not known. We aimed to evaluate the effects of SW on endothelium-dependent coronary vasodilation in ovariectomized hypertensive rats. Three-month old spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR, n=50 were divided into four groups: sham (SH, sham plus swimming training (SSW, ovariectomized (OVX, and ovariectomized plus swimming training (OSW. The SW protocol (5 times/week, 60 min/day was conducted for 8 weeks. The vasodilatory response was measured in isolated hearts in the absence and presence of a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor (L-NAME, 100 µM. Cardiac oxidative stress was evaluated in situ by dihydroethidium fluorescence, while the expression of antioxidant enzymes (SOD-2 and catalase and their activities were assessed by western blotting and spectrophotometry, respectively. Vasodilation in SHR was significantly reduced by OVX, even in the presence of L-NAME, in conjunction with an increased oxidative stress. These effects were prevented by SW, and were associated with a decrease in oxidative stress. Superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD-2 and catalase expression increased only in the OSW group. However, no significant difference was found in the activity of these enzymes. In conclusion, SW prevented the endothelial dysfunction in the coronary bed of ovariectomized SHR associated with an increase in the expression of antioxidant enzymes, and therefore may prevent coronary heart disease in hypertensive postmenopausal women.

[Multicenter survey on ventilator-associated pneumonia prevention in intensive care].

Science.gov (United States)

Fischer, M-O; Garreau, N; Jarno, P; Villers, D; Dufour Trivini, M; Gérard, J-L; Fellahi, J-L; Hanouz, J-L; Parienti, J-J

2013-12-01

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is the most common hospital-acquired infection in intensive care unit (ICU). The aim of the study was to evaluate the follow-up of the guidelines for VAP prevention. Retrospective, observational and multicenter study. During one year, all patients with mechanical ventilation over 48 hours were included in the CCLIN-Ouest Network. The demographic characteristics of the patients, the use of specific protocol for VAP prevention and the density of incidence of VAP were recorded. The use of a protocol for preventing VAP (absence, incomplete, complete and care bundle (i.e. complete prevention of VAP with weaning mechanical protocol and sedation protocol)) was collected. 26 ICU with 5742 patients were included. Ten ICU (38%; 2595 patients) had no protocol for VAP prevention, eight ICU (31%; 1821 patients) had an incomplete protocol, five ICU (19%; 561 patients) had a complete protocol and three ICU (12%; 765 patients) had a care bundle. The density of incidence of VAP was 14.8‰ (Interquartile range [IQR]: 10.2-0.1) for no protocol group, 15.6‰ [IQR: 12.6-6.2] for incomplete protocol group, 11.0‰ [IQR: 9.1-14.0] for complete protocol group and 12.9‰ [5-7,7-9,9-12] for care bundle group (P=0.742). The compliance to prevention of VAP was poor. Proposals for improving practice are discussed. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier SAS.

Normal human serum (HS) prevents oxidant-induced lysis of cultured endothelial cells (ECs)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Callahan, K.S.; Harlan, J.M.

1986-01-01

Most studies demonstrating oxidant lysis of cultured ECs are performed in serum-free media or media containing low concentrations of bovine serum. The authors found that HS protects human and bovine ECs from lysis caused by reagent H 2 O 2 or glucose/glucose oxidase (GO)-generated H 2 O 2 . EC injury was assessed by 51 Cr release, cell detachment, or trypan blue dye exclusion. Protective HS activity was dose-dependent with concentrations greater than or equal to 25% preventing lethal injury. Cytotoxicity at 24 hrs, induced by 20 mU/ml GO, was 90.1 +/- 5.2% without HS vs 1.7 +/- 4.6% with 25% HS present (20 exp). Similar protection was observed with heparinized plasma. Of note, comparable concentrations of bovine serum were devoid of protective activity. Addition of fatty acid-free albumin to the media was also without protective effect. Preliminary characterization showed HS activity was stable to 60 0 C for 30 min, non-dialyzable at 25,000 MW cutoff, and retained in delipidated serum. The HS protection was not merely due to scavenging of exogenous H 2 O 2 as A23187-induced EC lysis was also prevented by HS. Protective activity was not reproduced by purified cerruloplasmin or transferrin. In conclusion, unidentified factor(s) present in HS protect cultured ECs from oxidant-induced lysis. Since endothelium is normally exposed to 100% plasma, the authors suggest that in vitro studies of oxidant-mediated injury be performed in the presence of HS. Factor(s) in HS may play an important role in modulating oxidant-induced vascular injury in vivo

Prevention of dopaminergic neurotoxicity by targeting nitric oxide and peroxynitrite: implications for the prevention of methamphetamine-induced neurotoxic damage.

Science.gov (United States)

Imam, S Z; Islam, F; Itzhak, Y; Slikker, W; Ali, S F

2000-09-01

Methamphetamine (METH) is a neurotoxic psychostimulant that produces catecholaminergic brain damage by producing oxidative stress and free radical generation. The role of oxygen and nitrogen radicals is well documented as a cause of METH-induced neurotoxic damage. In this study, we have obtained evidence that METH-induced neurotoxicity is the resultant of interaction between oxygen and nitrogen radicals, and it is mediated by the production of peroxynitrite. We have also assessed the effects of inhibitors of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) as well as scavenger of nitric oxide and a peroxynitrite decomposition catalyst. Significant protective effects were observed with the inhibitor of nNOS, 7-nitroindazole (7-NI), as well as by the selective peroxynitrite scavenger or decomposition catalyst, 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(2,4,6-trimethyl-3,5-sulfonatophenyl)porphyrinato iron III (FeTPPS). However, the use of a nitric oxide scavenger, 2-phenyl-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide (c-PTIO), did not provide any significant protection against METH-induced hyperthermia or peroxynitrite generation and the resulting dopaminergic neurotoxicity. In particular, treatment with FeTPPS completely prevented METH-induced hyperthermia, peroxynitrite production, and METH-induced dopaminergic depletion. Together, these data demonstrate that METH-induced dopaminergic neurotoxicity is mediated by the generation of peroxynitrite, which can be selectively protected by nNOS inhibitors or peroxynitrite scavenger or decomposition catalysts.

Physical exercise is effective in preventing cigarette smoke-induced pulmonary oxidative response in mice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nesi RT

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Renata Tiscoski Nesi,1 Priscila Soares de Souza,1 Giulia Pedroso dos Santos,1 Anand Thirupathi,1 Bruno T Menegali,1 Paulo Cesar Lock Silveira,1 Luciano Acordi da Silva,1 Samuel Santos Valença,2 Ricardo Aurino Pinho11Laboratory of Exercise Biochemistry and Physiology, Graduate Program in Health Sciences, Health Sciences Unit, Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense, Criciúma, SC, Brazil; 2Biomedical Science Institute, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilAbstract: Reactive oxygen species (ROS are important in the pathogenesis of pulmonary injury induced by cigarette smoke (CS exposure, and physical exercise (Ex is useful in combating impaired oxidative process. We verified the preventive effects of Ex on lung oxidative markers induced by smoking. In this study, 36 mice (C57BL-6, 30–35 g were split into four groups: control, CS, Ex, and CS plus Ex. Ex groups were given prior physical training in water (2×30 min/d, 5 days/wk, 8 weeks. After training, the CS groups were subjected to passive exposure to four cigarettes, 3 × per day, for 60 consecutive days. After 24 hours from the last exposure, CS animals were sacrificed, and lung samples were collected for further analysis. Left lung sample was prepared for histological analysis, and right lung was used for biochemical analysis (superoxide, hydroxyproline, lipid peroxidation [thiobarbituric acid reactive species], protein carbonylation [carbonyl groups formation], superoxide dismutase [SOD], catalase [CAT], and glutathione peroxidase [GPx] activities. Group comparisons were evaluated by analysis of variance (ANOVA. Results were expressed as mean ± standard deviation, with P<0.05 considered significantly different. Preventive Ex impeded histological changes and increased the enzymatic defense system (SOD and GPx by reducing oxidative damage in lipids and proteins. This preventive effect of prior physical Ex alleviates damage caused by CS exposure.Keywords: exercise

Mobile Health Technology Interventions for Suicide Prevention: Protocol for a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Melia, Ruth; Francis, Kady; Duggan, Jim; Bogue, John; O'Sullivan, Mary; Chambers, Derek; Young, Karen

2018-01-26

Previous research has reported that two of the major barriers to help-seeking for individuals at risk of suicide are stigma and geographical isolation. Mobile technology offers a potential means of delivering evidence-based interventions with greater specificity to the individual, and at the time that it is needed. Despite documented motivation by at-risk individuals to use mobile technology to track mental health and to support psychological interventions, there is a shortfall of outcomes data on the efficacy of mobile health (mHealth) technology on suicide-specific outcomes. The objective of this study is to develop a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis that aims to evaluate the effectiveness of mobile technology-based interventions for suicide prevention. The search includes the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL: The Cochrane Library), MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, CRESP and relevant sources of gray literature. Studies that have evaluated psychological or nonpsychological interventions delivered via mobile computing and communication technology, and have suicidality as an outcome measure will be included. Two authors will independently extract data and assess the study suitability in accordance with the Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias Tool. Studies will be included if they measure at least one suicide outcome variable (ie, suicidal ideation, suicidal intent, nonsuicidal self-injurious behavior, suicidal behavior). Secondary outcomes will be measures of symptoms of depression. Where studies are sufficiently homogenous and reported outcomes are amenable for pooled synthesis, meta-analysis will be performed. A narrative synthesis will be conducted if the data is unsuitable for a meta-analysis. The review is in progress, with findings expected by summer 2018. To date, evaluations of mobile technology-based interventions in suicide prevention have focused on evaluating content as opposed to efficacy. Indeed, previous research has

An iPTH based protocol for the prevention and treatment of symptomatic hypocalcemia after thyroidectomy

Science.gov (United States)

Carter, Yvette; Chen, Herbert; Sippel, Rebecca S.

2013-01-01

Background Symptomatic hypocalcemia after thyroidectomy is a barrier to same day surgery, and the cause of ER visits. A standard protocol of calcium and vitamin D supplementation, dependent on intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) levels, can address this issue. How effective is it? When does it fail? Methods We performed a retrospective review of the prospective Thyroid Database from January 2006 to December 2010. 620 patients underwent completion (CT) or total thyroidectomy (TT), and followed our post-operative protocol of calcium carbonate administration for iPTH levels ≥10pg/ml and calcium carbonate and 0.25μg calcitriol BID for iPTH hypocalcemia. The symptomatic (SX) and asymptomatic (ASX) groups were similar with regard to gender, cancer diagnosis, and pre-operative calcium and iPTH. The symptomatic group was significantly younger (39.6 ± 2.8 vs. 49 ± 0.6 years, p=0.01), with lower post-operative iPTH levels. 33% (n=8) of SX patients had an iPTH ≤5 pg/ml vs. only 6% (n=37) of ASX patients. While the majority of patients with a PTH hypocalcemia after thyroidectomy. An iPTH ≤ 5pg/ml may warrant higher initial doses of calcitriol in order to prevent symptoms. PMID:24144426

Inhaled Nitric Oxide for the Prevention of Impaired Arterial Oxygenation during Myocardial Revascularization with Extracorporeal Circulation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. A. Kozlov

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: to study the efficacy of inhaled nitric oxide used intraoperatively to prevent lung oxygenating dysfunction in patients with coronary heart disease after myocardial revascularization under extracorporeal circulation (EC. Subjects and methods. Thirty-two patients aged 55.0±2.0 years were examined. The inclusion criteria were the standard course of surgical intervention (the absence of hemorrhage, acute cardiovascular insufficiency, perioperative myocardial infarction, etc., a pulmonary artery wedge pressure of less than 15 – mm Hg throughout the study, and the baseline arterial partial oxygen tension/inspired mixture oxygen fraction (PaO2/FiO2 ratio of at least 350 mm Hg. There was a control group (n=21; Group 1 that used no special measures to prevent and/or to correct lung oxygenating dysfunction and Group 2 (n=11 that received inhaled nitric oxide. Ihe administration of inhaled nitric oxide at a concentration of 10 ppm was initiated after water anesthesia, stopped during EC, and resumed in the postperfusion period. Results. At the end, PaO2/FiO2 and intrapulmonary shunt fraction did not differ between the groups (p>0.05. Before EC, the patients receiving inhaled nitric oxide had a lower intrapulmonary blood shunting (8.9±0.7 and 11.7±1.0%; p<0.05. There were no intergroup differences in the values of PaO2/FiO2 at this stage. In the earliest postperfusion period, PaO2/FiO2 was higher in Group 2 than that in Group 1. At the end of operations, Groups 1 and 2 had a PaO2/FiO2 of 336.0±16.8 and 409.0±24.3 mm Hg, respectively (p<0.05 and an intrapulmonary shunt fraction of 14.5±1.0 and 10.4±1.0% (p<0.05. At the end of surgery, the rate of a reduction in PaO2/FiO2 to the level below 350 mm Hg was 52.4±11.1% in Group 1 and 18.2±11.6% in Group 2 (p<0.05. Six hours after surgery, PaO2/FiO2 values less than 300 mm Hg were diagnosed in 61.9±10.5% of Group 1 patients and in 27.3±13.4% of Group 2 ones (p<0.05. Conclusion. The

Clinical Trials Management | Division of Cancer Prevention

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Information for researchers about developing, reporting, and managing NCI-funded cancer prevention clinical trials. Protocol Information Office The central clearinghouse for clinical trials management within the Division of Cancer Prevention.Read more about the Protocol Information Office. | Information for researchers about developing, reporting, and managing NCI-funded

SIRT3 mediates decrease of oxidative damage and prevention of ageing in porcine fetal fibroblasts.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Xiaoxian; Wang, Liangliang; Zhao, Binggong; Chen, Yangyang; Li, Jiaqi

2017-05-15

Sirtuin 3 (SIRT3) is a mitochondria-specific protein required for the deacetylation of metabolic enzymes and the action of oxidative phosphorylation by acting as a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD + )-dependent deacetylase. SIRT3 increases oxidative stress resistance and prevents mitochondrial decay associated with ageing in response to caloric restriction. However, the effects of SIRT3 on oxidative damage and ageing are not well understood. We investigated the physiological functions of porcine SIRT3 on the damage and ageing in porcine fetal fibroblasts (PFFs). Overexpression and knockdown of SIRT3 were confirmed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blot analysis, respectively. All cells were treated with three different stress reagents 12-o-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA), methanesulfonic acid methylester (MMS), and tert-butylhydroperoxide (t-BHP), respectively, and then examined by flow cytometry following JC-1 (5, 5', 6, 6'-tetrachloro-1, 1', 3, 3'-tetraethylbenzimidazol-carbocyanine iodide) staining. SIRT3 overexpression enhanced the ability of superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) to reduce cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), which further decreased the damage to the membranes and the organelles of the cells, especially to mitochondria. It inhibited the initial decrease of mitochondrial membrane potential, and prevented the decrease of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production and activity of Nampt. In contrast, SIRT3 knockdown reduced the ability of SOD2 to increase cellular ROS which was directly correlated with stress-induced oxidative damage and ageing in PFFs. Our findings identify one function of SIRT3 in PFFs was to dampen cytotoxicity, and, therefore, to decrease oxidative damage and attenuate ageing possibly by enhancing the activity of SOD2. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

WHY DO YOU NEED TO USE A CARIES RISK ASSESSMENT PROTOCOL TO PROVIDE AN EFFECTIVE CARIES PREVENTIVE REGIME?

Science.gov (United States)

Afuakwah, Charles; Welbury, Richard

2015-11-01

Clinical guidelines recommend an individual is given a caries risk status based on analysis of defined clinical and social criteria before implementing a tailored preventive plan. Improve documentation of caries risk assessment (CRA) in a general dental practice setting, using a systems-based approach to quality improvement methods. Investigate the impact of quality improvement efforts on subsequent design and delivery of preventive care. Identify barriers to delivery of CRA and provision of preventive care. Data for patients aged 0-16 years was collected over two cycles using standard audit methodology. The first cycle was a retrospective analysis (n = 400) using random sampling. The second cycle a prospective analysis (n = 513) using consecutive sampling over a 15-week period. Five staff meetings with feedback occurred between cycles. In cycle one, no specific CRA system was identified. CRA status was not stated widely, risk factors were not analysed and there was variation with respect to the prescription and delivery of preventive strategies. These discrepancies were demonstrable for all four participating dentists and at all ages. In cycle two, 100% recorded CRA. All risk factors were analysed and individual caries risk was correctly annotated. There was 100% compliance with the protocol for preventive plans. The use of CRA improved documentation of caries risk status. This has improved subsequent prescription of age specific evidence-based preventive care appropriate to the risk status of that individual. Barriers were identified to the delivery of CRA and the provision of comprehensive preventive care by the dentists and other healthcare professionals.

The FLASSH study: protocol for a randomised controlled trial evaluating falls prevention after stroke and two sub-studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mackintosh Shylie F

2009-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Falls are common in stroke survivors returning home after rehabilitation, however there is currently a lack of evidence about preventing falls in this population. This paper describes the study protocol for the FLASSH (FaLls prevention After Stroke Survivors return Home project. Methods and design This randomised controlled trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a multi-factorial falls prevention program for stroke survivors who are at high risk of falling when they return home after rehabilitation. Intervention will consist of a home exercise program as well as individualised falls prevention and injury minimisation strategies based on identified risk factors for falls. Additionally, two sub-studies will be implemented in order to explore other key areas related to falls in this population. The first of these is a longitudinal study evaluating the relationship between fear of falling, falls and function over twelve months, and the second evaluates residual impairment in gait stability and obstacle crossing twelve months after discharge from rehabilitation. Discussion The results of the FLASSH project will inform falls prevention practice for stroke survivors. If the falls prevention program is shown to be effective, low cost strategies to prevent falls can be implemented for those at risk around the time of discharge from rehabilitation, thus improving safety and quality of life for stroke survivors. The two sub-studies will contribute to the overall understanding and management of falls risk in stroke survivors. Trial registration This trial is registered with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN012607000398404.

Marine Pollution Prevention Act

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Marine Pollution Prevention Act of 2008 implements the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, including related Protocols (MARPOL)...

Vaccines for preventing hepatitis B in healthcare workers (an updated protocol)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Borch, Anders; Kolster, Chastine; Gluud, Christian

2017-01-01

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows: To assess the beneficial and harmful effects of hepatitis B vaccines in healthcare workers.......This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows: To assess the beneficial and harmful effects of hepatitis B vaccines in healthcare workers....

International protocol on volatile organic compounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gauthier, J.-P.

1992-01-01

In August 1991, negotiations between Canada, the USA, and 33 European countries led to an international protocol on reducing the emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC), which are responsible for serious ozone pollution problems. This was the third transborder pollution agreement developed under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Certain aspects of negotiations related to an earlier protocol developed for SO 2 and nitrogen oxide emissions had reappeared during the VOC negotiations, and these aspects are discussed. The VOC protocol proposes three approaches to satisfy basic obligations: reducing VOC emissions of a country by 30%, reducing VOC emissions by 30% in certain regions, and ensuring a freeze in VOC emissions in a country starting on a specified date. The protocol also introduces a new concept, that of zones of tropospheric ozone management. In Canada, plans for management of nitrogen oxides and VOC have been adapted to the ozone problem, and the management plan has been developed by a consultation process involving all sectors of society including industry, environmental groups, and governments. In Canada, it will be sufficient to reduce total VOC emissions by 16% during a first phase and to increase these reductions slightly in the second phase. Special ozone management zones in the Quebec City/Windsor corridor and the Fraser River valley have been established

Ir catalysts: Preventing CH3COOH formation in ethanol oxidation

Science.gov (United States)

Miao, Bei; Wu, Zhipeng; Xu, Han; Zhang, Minhua; Chen, Yifei; Wang, Lichang

2017-11-01

Current catalysts used for ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) cannot effectively prevent CH3COOH formation, and thus become a major hindrance for direct ethanol fuel cell applications. We report an Ir catalyst that shows great promise for a complete EOR based on density functional theory calculations using PBE functional. The reaction barrier on Ir(1 0 0) was found to be 2.10 eV for CH3COOH formation, which is much higher than currently used Pd and Pt, and 0.57 eV for Csbnd C bond cleavage in CHCO species, which are comparable to Pd and Pt. The result suggests future directions for studying optimal complete EOR catalysts.

A web-based computer-tailored smoking prevention programme for primary school children: intervention design and study protocol

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Background Although the number of smokers has declined in the last decade, smoking is still a major health problem among youngsters and adolescents. For this reason, there is a need for effective smoking prevention programmes targeting primary school children. A web-based computer-tailored feedback programme may be an effective intervention to stimulate youngsters not to start smoking, and increase their knowledge about the adverse effects of smoking and their attitudes and self-efficacy regarding non-smoking. Methods & design This paper describes the development and evaluation protocol of a web-based out-of-school smoking prevention programme for primary school children (age 10-13 years) entitled ‘Fun without Smokes’. It is a transformation of a postal mailed intervention to a web-based intervention. Besides this transformation the effects of prompts will be examined. This web-based intervention will be evaluated in a 2-year cluster randomised controlled trial (c-RCT) with three study arms. An intervention and intervention + prompt condition will be evaluated for effects on smoking behaviour, compared with a no information control condition. Information about pupils’ smoking status and other factors related to smoking will be obtained using a web-based questionnaire. After completing the questionnaire pupils in both intervention conditions will receive three computer-tailored feedback letters in their personal e-mail box. Attitudes, social influences and self-efficacy expectations will be the content of these personalised feedback letters. Pupils in the intervention + prompt condition will - in addition to the personalised feedback letters - receive e-mail and SMS messages prompting them to revisit the ‘Fun without Smokes’ website. The main outcome measures will be ever smoking and the utilisation of the ‘Fun without Smokes’ website. Measurements will be carried out at baseline, 12 months and 24 months of follow-up. Discussion The present study

A web-based computer-tailored smoking prevention programme for primary school children: intervention design and study protocol

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cremers Henricus-Paul

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Although the number of smokers has declined in the last decade, smoking is still a major health problem among youngsters and adolescents. For this reason, there is a need for effective smoking prevention programmes targeting primary school children. A web-based computer-tailored feedback programme may be an effective intervention to stimulate youngsters not to start smoking, and increase their knowledge about the adverse effects of smoking and their attitudes and self-efficacy regarding non-smoking. Methods & design This paper describes the development and evaluation protocol of a web-based out-of-school smoking prevention programme for primary school children (age 10-13 years entitled ‘Fun without Smokes’. It is a transformation of a postal mailed intervention to a web-based intervention. Besides this transformation the effects of prompts will be examined. This web-based intervention will be evaluated in a 2-year cluster randomised controlled trial (c-RCT with three study arms. An intervention and intervention + prompt condition will be evaluated for effects on smoking behaviour, compared with a no information control condition. Information about pupils’ smoking status and other factors related to smoking will be obtained using a web-based questionnaire. After completing the questionnaire pupils in both intervention conditions will receive three computer-tailored feedback letters in their personal e-mail box. Attitudes, social influences and self-efficacy expectations will be the content of these personalised feedback letters. Pupils in the intervention + prompt condition will - in addition to the personalised feedback letters - receive e-mail and SMS messages prompting them to revisit the ‘Fun without Smokes’ website. The main outcome measures will be ever smoking and the utilisation of the ‘Fun without Smokes’ website. Measurements will be carried out at baseline, 12 months and 24 months of follow

Aerobic Training Prevents Heatstrokes in Calsequestrin-1 Knockout Mice by Reducing Oxidative Stress

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Flávia Alessandra Guarnier

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Calsequestrin-1 knockout (CASQ1-null mice suffer lethal episodes when exposed to strenuous exercise and environmental heat, crises known as exertional/environmental heatstroke (EHS. We previously demonstrated that administration of exogenous antioxidants (N-acetylcysteine and trolox reduces CASQ1-null mortality during exposure to heat. As aerobic training is known to boost endogenous antioxidant protection, we subjected CASQ1-null mice to treadmill running for 2 months at 60% of their maximal speed for 1 h, 5 times/week. When exposed to heat stress protocol (41°C/1 h, the mortality rate of CASQ1-null mice was significantly reduced compared to untrained animals (86% versus 16%. Protection from heatstrokes was accompanied by a reduced increase in core temperature during the stress protocol and by an increased threshold of response to caffeine of isolated extensor digitorum longus muscles during in vitro contracture test. At cellular and molecular levels, aerobic training (i improved mitochondrial function while reducing their damage and (ii lowered calpain activity and lipid peroxidation in membranes isolated from sarcoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria. Based on this evidence, we hypothesize that the protective effect of aerobic training is essentially mediated by a reduction in oxidative stress during exposure of CASQ1-null mice to adverse environmental conditions.

Formative research to develop theory-based messages for a Western Australian child drowning prevention television campaign: study protocol.

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Denehy, Mel; Crawford, Gemma; Leavy, Justine; Nimmo, Lauren; Jancey, Jonine

2016-05-20

Worldwide, children under the age of 5 years are at particular risk of drowning. Responding to this need requires the development of evidence-informed drowning prevention strategies. Historically, drowning prevention strategies have included denying access, learning survival skills and providing supervision, as well as education and information which includes the use of mass media. Interventions underpinned by behavioural theory and formative evaluation tend to be more effective, yet few practical examples exist in the drowning and/or injury prevention literature. The Health Belief Model and Social Cognitive Theory will be used to explore participants' perspectives regarding proposed mass media messaging. This paper describes a qualitative protocol to undertake formative research to develop theory-based messages for a child drowning prevention campaign. The primary data source will be focus group interviews with parents and caregivers of children under 5 years of age in metropolitan and regional Western Australia. Qualitative content analysis will be used to analyse the data. This study will contribute to the drowning prevention literature to inform the development of future child drowning prevention mass media campaigns. Findings from the study will be disseminated to practitioners, policymakers and researchers via international conferences, peer and non-peer-reviewed journals and evidence summaries. The study was submitted and approved by the Curtin University Human Research Ethics Committee. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Omega-3 fatty acid oxidation products prevent vascular endothelial cell activation by coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Majkova, Zuzana; Layne, Joseph; Sunkara, Manjula; Morris, Andrew J.; Toborek, Michal; Hennig, Bernhard

2011-01-01

Coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) may facilitate development of atherosclerosis by stimulating pro-inflammatory pathways in the vascular endothelium. Nutrition, including fish oil-derived long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, such as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6ω-3), can reduce inflammation and thus the risk of atherosclerosis. We tested the hypothesis that cyclopentenone metabolites produced by oxidation of DHA can protect against PCB-induced endothelial cell dysfunction. Oxidized DHA (oxDHA) was prepared by incubation of the fatty acid with the free radical generator 2,2-azo-bis(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH). Cellular pretreatment with oxDHA prevented production of superoxide induced by PCB77, and subsequent activation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB). A 4 /J 4 -neuroprostanes (NPs) were identified and quantitated using HPLC ESI tandem mass spectrometry. Levels of these NPs were markedly increased after DHA oxidation with AAPH. The protective actions of oxDHA were reversed by treatment with sodium borohydride (NaBH 4 ), which concurrently abrogated A 4 /J 4 -NP formation. Up-regulation of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) by PCB77 was markedly reduced by oxDHA, but not by un-oxidized DHA. These protective effects were proportional to the abundance of A 4 /J 4 NPs in the oxidized DHA sample. Treatment of cells with oxidized eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5ω-3) also reduced MCP-1 expression, but less than oxDHA. Treatment with DHA-derived cyclopentenones also increased DNA binding of NF-E2-related factor-2 (Nrf2) and downstream expression of NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase (NQO1), similarly to the Nrf-2 activator sulforaphane. Furthermore, sulforaphane prevented PCB77-induced MCP-1 expression, suggesting that activation of Nrf-2 mediates the observed protection against PCB77 toxicity. Our data implicate A 4 /J 4 -NPs as mediators of omega-3 fatty acid-mediated protection against the endothelial toxicity of coplanar PCBs.

Alcohol handrubbing and chlorhexidine handwashing protocols for routine hospital practice: A randomized clinical trial of protocol efficacy and time effectiveness

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chow, Angela; Arah, Onyebuchi A.; Chan, Siew-Pang; Poh, Bee-Fong; Krishnan, Prabha; Ng, Woei-Kian; Choudhury, Saugata; Chan, Joey; Ang, Brenda

2012-01-01

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend the use of alcohol handrubs to prevent health care-associated infections. However, the efficacy and time effectiveness of different alcohol handrubbing protocols have yet to be

Implementation of a protocol for the prevention and management of extravasation injuries in the neonatal intensive care patient.

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Warren, Diane

2011-06-01

This project sought to determine nurses' understanding and management of infants with intravenous (IV) therapy. There were three specific aims: • To improve identification and management of extravasation injuries in neonates • To ensure management of extravasation injuries in neonates is classified according to IV extravasation staging guidelines • To develop a protocol that outlined actions required to manage extravasation injuries. This project utilised a pre- and post-implementation audit strategy using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Getting Research into Practice (GRIP) program. This method has been used to improve clinical practice by utilising an audit, feedback and re-audit sequence. The project was implemented in four stages over a 7-month period from 21 October 2009 to 30 May 2010. Initially, there was poor compliance with all four criteria, ranging from zero to 63%. The GRIP phase of the project identified five barriers which were addressed throughout this project. These related to education of staff and the development of a protocol for the prevention and management of extravasation injuries in the neonatal population. Following implementation of best practice, the second audit showed a marked improvement in all four criteria, ranging from 70 to 100% compliance. Overall, this project has led to improvements in clinical practice in line with current evidence. This has resulted in enhanced awareness of the risks associated with IV therapy and of measures to prevent an injury occurring within this clinical setting. © 2011 The Author. International Journal of Evidence-Based Healthcare © 2011 The Joanna Briggs Institute.

Mothers After Gestational Diabetes in Australia Diabetes Prevention Program (MAGDA-DPP) post-natal intervention: an update to the study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

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Shih, Sophy T F; Davis-Lameloise, Nathalie; Janus, Edward D; Wildey, Carol; Versace, Vincent L; Hagger, Virginia; Asproloupos, Dino; O'Reilly, Sharleen L; Phillips, Paddy A; Ackland, Michael; Skinner, Timothy; Oats, Jeremy; Carter, Rob; Best, James D; Dunbar, James A

2014-06-30

The Mothers After Gestational Diabetes in Australia Diabetes Prevention Program (MAGDA-DPP) is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) that aims to assess the effectiveness of a structured diabetes prevention intervention for women who had gestational diabetes. The original protocol was published in Trials (http://www.trialsjournal.com/content/14/1/339). This update reports on an additional exclusion criterion and change in first eligibility screening to provide greater clarity. The new exclusion criterion "surgical or medical intervention to treat obesity" has been added to the original protocol. The risks of developing diabetes will be affected by any medical or surgical intervention as its impact on obesity will alter the outcomes being assessed by MAGDA-DPP. The screening procedures have also been updated to reflect the current recruitment operation. The first eligibility screening is now taking place either during or after pregnancy, depending on recruitment strategy. Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ANZCTRN 12610000338066.

Honey bee (Apis mellifera) drones survive oxidative stress due to increased tolerance instead of avoidance or repair of oxidative damage.

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Li-Byarlay, Hongmei; Huang, Ming Hua; Simone-Finstrom, Michael; Strand, Micheline K; Tarpy, David R; Rueppell, Olav

2016-10-01

Oxidative stress can lead to premature aging symptoms and cause acute mortality at higher doses in a range of organisms. Oxidative stress resistance and longevity are mechanistically and phenotypically linked; considerable variation in oxidative stress resistance exists among and within species and typically covaries with life expectancy. However, it is unclear whether stress-resistant, long-lived individuals avoid, repair, or tolerate molecular damage to survive longer than others. The honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) is an emerging model system that is well-suited to address this question. Furthermore, this species is the most economically important pollinator, whose health may be compromised by pesticide exposure, including oxidative stressors. Here, we develop a protocol for inducing oxidative stress in honey bee males (drones) via Paraquat injection. After injection, individuals from different colony sources were kept in common social conditions to monitor their survival compared to saline-injected controls. Oxidative stress was measured in susceptible and resistant individuals. Paraquat drastically reduced survival but individuals varied in their resistance to treatment within and among colony sources. Longer-lived individuals exhibited higher levels of lipid peroxidation than individuals dying early. In contrast, the level of protein carbonylation was not significantly different between the two groups. This first study of oxidative stress in male honey bees suggests that survival of an acute oxidative stressor is due to tolerance, not prevention or repair, of oxidative damage to lipids. It also demonstrates colony differences in oxidative stress resistance that might be useful for breeding stress-resistant honey bees. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Aerobic oxidation of aldehydes under ambient conditions using supported gold nanoparticle catalysts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Marsden, Charlotte Clare; Taarning, Esben; Hansen, David

2008-01-01

A new, green protocol for producing simple esters by selectively oxidizing an aldehyde dissolved in a primary alcohol has been established, utilising air as the oxidant and supported gold nanoparticles as catalyst. The oxidative esterifications proceed with excellent selectivities at ambient cond...... conditions; the reactions can be performed in an open flask and at room temperature. Benzaldehyde is even oxidised at a reasonable rate below -70 degrees C. Acrolein is oxidised to methyl acrylate in high yield using the same protocol.......A new, green protocol for producing simple esters by selectively oxidizing an aldehyde dissolved in a primary alcohol has been established, utilising air as the oxidant and supported gold nanoparticles as catalyst. The oxidative esterifications proceed with excellent selectivities at ambient...

Alternative waste residue materials for passive in situ prevention of sulfide-mine tailings oxidation: a field evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Nason, Peter; Johnson, Raymond H; Neuschütz, Clara; Alakangas, Lena; Öhlander, Björn

2014-02-28

Novel solutions for sulfide-mine tailings remediation were evaluated in field-scale experiments on a former tailings repository in northern Sweden. Uncovered sulfide-tailings were compared to sewage-sludge biosolid amended tailings over 2 years. An application of a 0.2m single-layer sewage-sludge amendment was unsuccessful at preventing oxygen ingress to underlying tailings. It merely slowed the sulfide-oxidation rate by 20%. In addition, sludge-derived metals (Cu, Ni, Fe, and Zn) migrated and precipitated at the tailings-to-sludge interface. By using an additional 0.6m thick fly-ash sealing layer underlying the sewage sludge layer, a solution to mitigate oxygen transport to the underlying tailings and minimize sulfide-oxidation was found. The fly-ash acted as a hardened physical barrier that prevented oxygen diffusion and provided a trap for sludge-borne metals. Nevertheless, the biosolid application hampered the application, despite the advances in the effectiveness of the fly-ash layer, as sludge-borne nitrate leached through the cover system into the underlying tailings, oxidizing pyrite. This created a 0.3m deep oxidized zone in 6-years. This study highlights that using sewage sludge in unconventional cover systems is not always a practical solution for the remediation of sulfide-bearing mine tailings to mitigate against sulfide weathering and acid rock drainage formation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Oxidation effect on templating of metal oxide nanoparticles within block copolymers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akcora, Pinar; Briber, Robert M.; Kofinas, Peter

2009-01-01

Amphiphilic norbornene-b-(norbornene dicarboxylic acid) diblock copolymers with different block ratios were prepared as templates for the incorporation of iron ions using an ion exchange protocol. The disordered arrangement of iron oxide particles within these copolymers was attributed to the oxidation of the iron ions and the strong interactions between iron oxide nanoparticles, particularly at high iron ion concentrations, which was found to affect the self-assembly of the block copolymer morphologies.

Prevention of lipid oxidation in omega-3 enriched oofds by antioxidants and the use of delivery systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jacobsen, Charlotte

Due to the health beneficial effects of marine omega-3 fatty acids there is an increasing interest in developing functional foods containing these healthy fatty acids. However, such foods are very susceptible to lipid oxidation, which will give rise to undesirable off-flavours and unhealthy...... oxidation products. Efficients strategies to prevent lipid oxidation are therefore required. Such strategies include addition of antioxidants or the use of omega-3 delivery emulsions. However, antioxidant efficacy in complex omega-3 enriched foods are influenced by many factors including the lipophilicity...... of the antioxidants. Selection of the optimal antioxidant system is therefore a major challenge. Likewise, a range of factors can influence the ability of omega-3 delivery systems to protect the omega-3 fatty acids against oxidation after addition to food systems. These challenges will be discussed...

Caffeine prevents d-galactose-induced cognitive deficits, oxidative stress, neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in the adult rat brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Ullah, Faheem; Ali, Tahir; Ullah, Najeeb; Kim, Myeong Ok

2015-11-01

d-galactose has been considered a senescent model for age-related neurodegenerative disease. It induces oxidative stress which triggers memory impairment, neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. Caffeine act as anti-oxidant and has been used in various model of neurodegenerative disease. Nevertheless, the effect of caffeine against d-galactose aging murine model of age-related neurodegenerative disease elucidated. Here, we investigated the neuroprotective effect of caffeine against d-galactose. We observed that chronic treatment of caffeine (3 mg/kg/day intraperitoneally (i.p) for 60 days) improved memory impairment and synaptic markers (Synaptophysin and PSD95) in the d-galactose treated rats. Chronic caffeine treatment reduced the oxidative stress via the reduction of 8-oxoguanine through immunofluorescence in the d-galactose-treated rats. Consequently caffeine treatment suppressed stress kinases p-JNK. Additionally, caffeine treatment significantly reduced the d-galactose-induced neuroinflammation through alleviation of COX-2, NOS-2, TNFα and IL-1β. Furthermore we also analyzed that caffeine reduced cytochrome C, Bax/Bcl2 ratio, caspase-9, caspase-3 and PARP-1 level. Moreover by evaluating the immunohistochemical results of Nissl and Fluro-Jade B staining showed that caffeine prevented the neurodegeneration in the d-galactose-treated rats. Our results showed that caffeine prevents the d-galactose-induced oxidative stress and consequently alleviated neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration; and synaptic dysfunction and memory impairment. Therefore, we could suggest that caffeine might be a dietary anti-oxidant agent and a good candidate for the age-related neurodegenerative disorders. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Security of the arbitrated quantum signature protocols revisited

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kejia, Zhang; Dan, Li; Qi, Su

2014-01-01

Recently, much attention has been paid to the study of arbitrated quantum signature (AQS). Among these studies, the cryptanalysis of some AQS protocols and a series of improved ideas have been proposed. Compared with the previous analysis, we present a security criterion, which can judge whether an AQS protocol is able to prevent the receiver (i.e. one participant in the signature protocol) from forging a legal signature. According to our results, it can be seen that most AQS protocols which are based on the Zeng and Keitel (ZK) model are susceptible to a forgery attack. Furthermore, we present an improved idea of the ZK protocol. Finally, some supplement discussions and several interesting topics are provided. (paper)

Effectiveness of the universal prevention program 'Healthy School and Drugs': Study protocol of a randomized clustered trial

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Malmberg Monique

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Substance use is highly prevalent among Dutch adolescents. The Healthy School and Drugs program is a nationally implemented school-based prevention program aimed at reducing early and excessive substance use among adolescents. Although the program's effectiveness was tested in a quasi-experimental design before, many program changes were made afterwards. The present study, therefore, aims to test the effects of this widely used, renewed universal prevention program. Methods/Design A randomized clustered trial will be conducted among 3,784 adolescents of 23 secondary schools in The Netherlands. The trial has three conditions; two intervention conditions (i.e., e-learning and integral and a control condition. The e-learning condition consists of three digital learning modules (i.e., about alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana that are sequentially offered over the course of three school years (i.e., grade 1, grade 2, and grade 3. The integral condition consists of parental participation in a parental meeting on substance use, regulation of substance use, and monitoring and counseling of students' substance use at school, over and above the three digital modules. The control condition is characterized as business as usual. Participating schools were randomly assigned to either an intervention or control condition. Participants filled out a digital questionnaire at baseline and will fill out the same questionnaire three more times at follow-up measurements (8, 20, and 32 months after baseline. Outcome variables included in the questionnaire are the percentage of binge drinking (more than five drinks per occasion, the average weekly number of drinks, and the percentage of adolescents who ever drunk a glass of alcohol and the percentage of adolescents who ever smoked a cigarette or a joint respectively for tobacco and marijuana. Discussion This study protocol describes the design of a randomized clustered trial that evaluates the

Telomerase Repeated Amplification Protocol (TRAP).

Science.gov (United States)

Mender, Ilgen; Shay, Jerry W

2015-11-20

Telomeres are found at the end of eukaryotic linear chromosomes, and proteins that bind to telomeres protect DNA from being recognized as double-strand breaks thus preventing end-to-end fusions (Griffith et al. , 1999). However, due to the end replication problem and other factors such as oxidative damage, the limited life span of cultured cells (Hayflick limit) results in progressive shortening of these protective structures (Hayflick and Moorhead, 1961; Olovnikov, 1973). The ribonucleoprotein enzyme complex telomerase-consisting of a protein catalytic component hTERT and a functional RNA component hTR or hTERC - counteracts telomere shortening by adding telomeric repeats to the end of chromosomes in ~90% of primary human tumors and in some transiently proliferating stem-like cells (Shay and Wright, 1996; Shay and Wright, 2001). This results in continuous proliferation of cells which is a hallmark of cancer. Therefore, telomere biology has a central role in aging, cancer progression/metastasis as well as targeted cancer therapies. There are commonly used methods in telomere biology such as Telomere Restriction Fragment (TRF) (Mender and Shay, 2015b), Telomere Repeat Amplification Protocol (TRAP) and Telomere dysfunction Induced Foci (TIF) analysis (Mender and Shay, 2015a). In this detailed protocol we describe Telomere Repeat Amplification Protocol (TRAP). The TRAP assay is a popular method to determine telomerase activity in mammalian cells and tissue samples (Kim et al. , 1994). The TRAP assay includes three steps: extension, amplification, and detection of telomerase products. In the extension step, telomeric repeats are added to the telomerase substrate (which is actually a non telomeric oligonucleotide, TS) by telomerase. In the amplification step, the extension products are amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using specific primers (TS upstream primer and ACX downstream primer) and in the detection step, the presence or absence of telomerase is

FODA: a novel efficient multiple access protocol for highly dynamic self-organizing networks

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Hantao; Liu, Kai; Zhang, Jun

2005-11-01

Based on the concept of contention reservation for polling transmission and collision prevention strategy for collision resolution, a fair on-demand access (FODA) protocol for supporting node mobility and multihop architecture in highly dynamic self-organizing networks is proposed. In the protocol, a distributed clustering network architecture formed by self-organizing algorithm and a main idea of reserving channel resources to get polling service are adopted, so that the hidden terminal (HT) and exposed terminal (ET) problems existed in traffic transmission due to multihop architecture and wireless transmission can be eliminated completely. In addition, an improved collision prevention scheme based on binary countdown algorithm (BCA), called fair collision prevention (FCP) algorithm, is proposed to greatly eliminate unfair phenomena existed in contention access of newly active ordinary nodes and completely resolve access collisions. Finally, the performance comparison of the FODA protocol with carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) and polling protocols by OPNET simulation are presented. Simulation results show that the FODA protocol can overcome the disadvantages of CSMA/CA and polling protocols, and achieve higher throughput, lower average message delay and less average message dropping rate.

Rosemary as natural antioxidant to prevent oxidation in chicken burgers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daiane PEREIRA

Full Text Available Abstract Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis is known for their sensory characteristics and antioxidant properties, mainly due to the presence of several phenolic compounds. The aim of this work, was determine the antioxidant activity and apply the Rosemary lyophilized extract (RLE in chicken burger, for assess their ability to reduce the lipid oxidation. Total antioxidant capacity and phenolic compounds profile were analyzed by colorimetric tests and liquid chromatography analysis, respectively. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances assay was used to evaluate the ability of the RLE to prevent lipid peroxidation in chicken burger stored at 4 °C. Three treatments of chicken burgers were prepared (T1 – control, without addition of synthetic antioxidant BHT: butylated hydroxytoluene or RLE, T2 – with addition of BHT, and T3 – experimental, containing RLE. The high contents of total phenolic compounds (40.91 mg GAE g-1: Gallic Acid Equivalent and total flavonoids (24.26 mg QE g-1: Quercetin Equivalents were found in RLE. Rutin was the major phenolic compound identified in the RLE. The RLE showed strong antioxidant capacity and inhibited 48.29% of lipid oxidation (21 days of storage in comparison to the control (T1, with low production of malonaldehyde, which has potential to be used in chicken burgers.

A Lightweight Buyer-Seller Watermarking Protocol

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yongdong Wu

2008-01-01

Full Text Available The buyer-seller watermarking protocol enables a seller to successfully identify a traitor from a pirated copy, while preventing the seller from framing an innocent buyer. Based on finite field theory and the homomorphic property of public key cryptosystems such as RSA, several buyer-seller watermarking protocols (N. Memon and P. W. Wong (2001 and C.-L. Lei et al. (2004 have been proposed previously. However, those protocols require not only large computational power but also substantial network bandwidth. In this paper, we introduce a new buyer-seller protocol that overcomes those weaknesses by managing the watermarks. Compared with the earlier protocols, ours is n times faster in terms of computation, where n is the number of watermark elements, while incurring only O(1/lN times communication overhead given the finite field parameter lN. In addition, the quality of the watermarked image generated with our method is better, using the same watermark strength.

Curcumin prevents the oxidation and lipid modification of LDL and its inhibition of prostacyclin generation by endothelial cells in culture.

Science.gov (United States)

Mahfouz, Mohamedain M; Zhou, Sherry Q; Kummerow, Fred A

2009-11-01

Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) was isolated from human plasma and oxidized by 5microM copper sulfate for 4h at 37 degrees C in the absence and presence of 1, 3, 5, 10, or 20microM of curcumin. LDL oxidized in the absence of curcumin (oxLDL) showed an increased levels of conjugated dienes, lipid peroxides (TBARS) and lysolecithin (lysoPC) and a significant loss of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). LDL oxidized with 5microM copper sulfate in the presence of curcumin caused a significant decrease of conjugated diene, lipid peroxides, lysoPC and significant increase of PUFA compared to oxLDL. These changes were dose dependent and reached a maximum at 5microM curcumin. Incubation of human endothelial cells (EC) with 200microg protein/ml of oxLDL caused a significant decrease of prostacyclin (PGI(2)) generation. LDL oxidized in presence of 5microM curcumin did not show any inhibition of PGI(2) generation compared to the control cells. These results indicate that curcumin is an effective chain-breaking antioxidant which prevents oxidation and lipid modification of LDL. The inhibition of oxLDL on PGI(2) is considered a contributing factor in the pathogenesis of thrombosis and atherosclerosis. Curcumin supplementation could be an effective strategy in preventing LDL oxidation and its impact on atherosclerosis and lesion formation.

PREVENTION OF POLYURETHANE OXIDATIVE DEGRADATION WITH PHENOLIC-ANTIOXIDANTS COVALENTLY ATTACHED TO THE HARD SEGMENTS: STRUCTURE FUNCTION RELATIONSHIPS

Science.gov (United States)

Stachelek, Stanley J; Alferiev, Ivan; Ueda, Masako; Eckels, Edward C.; Gleason, Kevin T.; Levy, Robert J

2010-01-01

Oxidative degradation of the polyurethane elastomeric (PU) components greatly reduces the efficacy of PU containing cardiovascular devices. Covalently appending the phenol-based antioxidant, 4-substituted 2,6-di-tert-butylphenol (DBP), to PU hard segments effectively reduced oxidative degradation of the PU in vivo and in vitro in prior studies by our group. In these experiments we analyze the contribution of the tethering molecule to the antioxidant capabilities of the DBP modified PU. Bromoalkylation chemistry was used to link DBP to the hard segment of the polyether polyurethane, Tecothane, via our original linker (PU-DBP), or variants containing side chains with 1 (PU-C-DBP) or 3 (PU-3C-DBP) carbons. Two additional DBP variants were fabricated in which the DBP group was appended to the alkyl chain via an oxygen atom (PU-O-DBP) or an amide linkage in the middle of the tether (PU-NHCO-DBP). All DBP variant films and unmodified control films were subject to oxidative degradation via 15 day immersion in a solution of 20% H2O2 + 0.1 M CoCl2. At the end of the oxidation protocol films were analyzed for the presence of oxidation related endpoints via scanning electron microscopy, contact angle measurements and Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). All DBP containing variants resisted oxidation damage significantly better than the unmodified control PU. SEM analysis of oxidized PU-C-DBP and PU-O-DBP showed evidence of surface cracking consistent with oxidative degradation of the PU surfaces. Similarly there was a trend in increased ether cross-linking, a marker for oxidative degradation, in PU-C-DBP and PU-NHCO-DBP films. Consistent with these FTIR results, both PU-C-DBP and PU-NHCO-DBP had significant reductions in measured surface hydrophobicity as a result of oxidation. These data show for the first time that the choice of linker molecule significantly affects the efficiency of the linked phenolic antioxidant. PMID:20306526

Selol, an organic selenium donor, prevents lipopolysaccharide-induced oxidative stress and inflammatory reaction in the rat brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Dominiak, Agnieszka; Wilkaniec, Anna; Jęśko, Henryk; Czapski, Grzegorz A; Lenkiewicz, Anna M; Kurek, Eliza; Wroczyński, Piotr; Adamczyk, Agata

2017-09-01

Neuroinflammation and oxidative stress are key intertwined pathological factors in many neurological, particularly neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disorders as well as autism. The present study was conducted to evaluate the protective effects of Selol, an organic selenium donor, against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-mediated inflammation in rat brain. The results demonstrated that the peripheral administration of LPS in a dose of 100 μg/kg b.w. evoked typical pathological reaction known as systemic inflammatory response. Moreover, we observed elevated blood levels of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), a marker of oxidative stress, as well as increased concentration of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in LPS-treated animals. Selol significantly prevented these LPS-evoked changes. Subsequently, Selol protected against LPS-induced up-regulation of proinflammatory cytokines (Tnfa, Ifng, Il6) in rat brain cortex. The molecular mechanisms through which Selol prevented the neuroinflammation were associated with the inhibition of oxidized glutathione (GSSG) accumulation and with an increase of glutathione-associated enzymes: glutathione peroxidase (Se-GPx), glutathione reductase (GR) as well as thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) activity and expression. Finally, we observed that Selol administration effectively protected against LPS-induced changes in the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (Bdnf). In conclusion, our studies indicated that Selol effectively protects against LPS-induced neuroinflammation by inhibiting pro-inflammatory cytokine release, by boosting antioxidant systems, and by augmenting BDNF level. Therefore, Selol could be a multi-potent and effective drug useful in the treatment and prevention of brain disorders associated with neuroinflammation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sildenafil Prevents Apoptosis of Human First-Trimester Trophoblast Cells Exposed to Oxidative Stress

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Bolnick, Jay M.; Kilburn, Brian A.; Bolnick, Alan D.; Diamond, Michael P.; Singh, Manvinder; Hertz, Michael; Dai, Jing

2015-01-01

Human first-trimester trophoblast cells proliferate at low O2, but survival is compromised by oxidative stress, leading to uteroplacental insufficiency. The vasoactive drug, sildenafil citrate (Viagra, Sigma, St Louis, Missouri), has proven useful in reducing adverse pregnancy outcomes. An important biological function of this pharmaceutical is its action as an inhibitor of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) phosphodiesterase type 5 activity, which suggests that it could have beneficial effects on trophoblast survival. To investigate whether sildenafil can prevent trophoblast cell death, human first-trimester villous explants and the HTR-8/SVneo cytotrophoblast cell line were exposed to hypoxia and reoxygenation (H/R) to generate oxidative stress, which induces apoptosis. Apoptosis was optimally inhibited during H/R by 350 ng/mL sildenafil. Sildenafil-mediated survival was reversed by l-NG-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester hydrochloride or cGMP antagonist, indicating a dependence on both nitric oxide (NO) and cGMP. Indeed, either a cGMP agonist or an NO generator was cytoprotective independent of sildenafil. These findings suggest a novel intervention route for patients with recurrent pregnancy loss or obstetrical placental disorders. PMID:25431453

Sevoflurane posttreatment prevents oxidative and inflammatory injury in ventilator-induced lung injury.

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Julie Wagner

Full Text Available Mechanical ventilation is a life-saving clinical treatment but it can induce or aggravate lung injury. New therapeutic strategies, aimed at reducing the negative effects of mechanical ventilation such as excessive production of reactive oxygen species, release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and transmigration as well as activation of neutrophil cells, are needed to improve the clinical outcome of ventilated patients. Though the inhaled anesthetic sevoflurane is known to exert organ-protective effects, little is known about the potential of sevoflurane therapy in ventilator-induced lung injury. This study focused on the effects of delayed sevoflurane application in mechanically ventilated C57BL/6N mice. Lung function, lung injury, oxidative stress, and inflammatory parameters were analyzed and compared between non-ventilated and ventilated groups with or without sevoflurane anesthesia. Mechanical ventilation led to a substantial induction of lung injury, reactive oxygen species production, pro-inflammatory cytokine release, and neutrophil influx. In contrast, sevoflurane posttreatment time dependently reduced histological signs of lung injury. Most interestingly, increased production of reactive oxygen species was clearly inhibited in all sevoflurane posttreatment groups. Likewise, the release of the pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1β and MIP-1β and neutrophil transmigration were completely prevented by sevoflurane independent of the onset of sevoflurane administration. In conclusion, sevoflurane posttreatment time dependently limits lung injury, and oxidative and pro-inflammatory responses are clearly prevented by sevoflurane irrespective of the onset of posttreatment. These findings underline the therapeutic potential of sevoflurane treatment in ventilator-induced lung injury.

Melatonin Therapy Prevents Programmed Hypertension and Nitric Oxide Deficiency in Offspring Exposed to Maternal Caloric Restriction

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You-Lin Tain

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Nitric oxide (NO deficiency is involved in the development of hypertension, a condition that can originate early in life. We examined whether NO deficiency contributed to programmed hypertension in offspring from mothers with calorie-restricted diets and whether melatonin therapy prevented this process. We examined 3-month-old male rat offspring from four maternal groups: untreated controls, 50% calorie-restricted (CR rats, controls treated with melatonin (0.01% in drinking water, and CR rats treated with melatonin (CR + M. The effect of melatonin on nephrogenesis was analyzed using next-generation sequencing. The CR group developed hypertension associated with elevated plasma asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA, a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, decreased L-arginine, decreased L-arginine-to-ADMA ratio (AAR, and decreased renal NO production. Maternal melatonin treatment prevented these effects. Melatonin prevented CR-induced renin and prorenin receptor expression. Renal angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 protein levels in the M and CR + M groups were also significantly increased by melatonin therapy. Maternal melatonin therapy had long-term epigenetic effects on global gene expression in the kidneys of offspring. Conclusively, we attributed these protective effects of melatonin on CR-induced programmed hypertension to the reduction of plasma ADMA, restoration of plasma AAR, increase of renal NO level, alteration of renin-angiotensin system, and epigenetic changes in numerous genes.

Highly Conductive and Reliable Copper-Filled Isotropically Conductive Adhesives Using Organic Acids for Oxidation Prevention

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Chen, Wenjun; Deng, Dunying; Cheng, Yuanrong; Xiao, Fei

2015-07-01

The easy oxidation of copper is one critical obstacle to high-performance copper-filled isotropically conductive adhesives (ICAs). In this paper, a facile method to prepare highly reliable, highly conductive, and low-cost ICAs is reported. The copper fillers were treated by organic acids for oxidation prevention. Compared with ICA filled with untreated copper flakes, the ICA filled with copper flakes treated by different organic acids exhibited much lower bulk resistivity. The lowest bulk resistivity achieved was 4.5 × 10-5 Ω cm, which is comparable to that of commercially available Ag-filled ICA. After 500 h of 85°C/85% relative humidity (RH) aging, the treated ICAs showed quite stable bulk resistivity and relatively stable contact resistance. Through analyzing the results of x-ray diffraction, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis, we found that, with the assistance of organic acids, the treated copper flakes exhibited resistance to oxidation, thus guaranteeing good performance.

The CAP study, evaluation of integrated universal and selective prevention strategies for youth alcohol misuse: study protocol of a cluster randomized controlled trial

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Newton Nicola C

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Alcohol misuse amongst young people is a serious concern. The need for effective prevention is clear, yet there appear to be few evidenced-based programs that prevent alcohol misuse and none that target both high and low-risk youth. The CAP study addresses this gap by evaluating the efficacy of an integrated approach to alcohol misuse prevention, which combines the effective universal internet-based Climate Schools program with the effective selective personality-targeted Preventure program. This article describes the development and protocol of the CAP study which aims to prevent alcohol misuse and related harms in Australian adolescents. Methods/Design A cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT is being conducted with Year 8 students aged 13 to 14-years-old from 27 secondary schools in New South Wales and Victoria, Australia. Blocked randomisation was used to assign schools to one of four groups; Climate Schools only, Preventure only, CAP (Climate Schools and Preventure, or Control (alcohol, drug and health education as usual. The primary outcomes of the trial will be the uptake and harmful use of alcohol and alcohol related harms. Secondary outcomes will include alcohol and cannabis related knowledge, cannabis related harms, intentions to use, and mental health symptomatology. All participants will complete assessments on five occasions; baseline; immediately post intervention, and at 12, 24 and 36 months post baseline. Discussion This study protocol presents the design and current implementation of a cluster RCT to evaluate the efficacy of the CAP study; an integrated universal and selective approach to prevent alcohol use and related harms among adolescents. Compared to students who receive the stand-alone universal Climate Schools program or alcohol and drug education as usual (Controls, we expect the students who receive the CAP intervention to have significantly less uptake of alcohol use, a reduction in average

Occurrence and prevention of enhanced oxide deposition in boiler flow control orifices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Woolsey, I.S.; Thomas, D.M.; Garbett, K.; Bignold, G.J.

1989-10-01

Once-through boilers, such as those of the AGRs, incorporate flow control orifices at the boiler inlet to ensure a satisfactory flow distribution and stability in the parallel flow paths of the boiler. Deposition of corrosion products in the flow control orifice leads to changes in the orifice pressure loss characteristics, which could lead to problems of flow maldistribution within the boiler, and any adverse consequences resulting from this, such as tube overheating. To date, AGR boiler inlet orifices have not suffered significant fouling due to corrosion products in the boiler feedwater. However, oxide deposition in orifices has been observed in other plants, and in experimental loops operating under conditions very similar to those at inlet to AGR boilers. The lack of deposition in AGR flow control orifices is therefore somewhat surprising. This Report describes studies carried out to examine the factors controlling oxide deposition in flow control orifices, the intention of the work being to explain why deposition has not occurred in AGR boilers to date, and to provide means of preventing deposition in the future should this prove necessary. (author)

Stevia Prevents Acute and Chronic Liver Injury Induced by Carbon Tetrachloride by Blocking Oxidative Stress through Nrf2 Upregulation

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Ramos-Tovar, Erika; Hernández-Aquino, Erika; Casas-Grajales, Sael; Buendia-Montaño, Laura D.; Tsutsumi, Víctor

2018-01-01

The effect of stevia on liver cirrhosis has not been previously investigated. In the present study, the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of stevia leaves were studied in male Wistar rats with carbon tetrachloride- (CCl4-) induced acute and chronic liver damage. Acute and chronic liver damage induced oxidative stress, necrosis, and cholestasis, which were significantly ameliorated by stevia. Chronic CCl4 treatment resulted in liver cirrhosis, as evidenced by nodules of hepatocytes surrounded by thick bands of collagen and distortion of the hepatic architecture, and stevia significantly prevented these alterations. Subsequently, the underlying mechanism of action of the plant was analyzed. Our study for the first time shows that stevia upregulated Nrf2, thereby counteracting oxidative stress, and prevented necrosis and cholestasis through modulation of the main proinflammatory cytokines via NF-κB inhibition. These multitarget mechanisms led to the prevention of experimental cirrhosis. Given the reasonable safety profile of stevia, our results indicated that it may be useful for the clinical treatment of acute and chronic liver diseases. PMID:29849889

Using the intervention mapping protocol to develop a maintenance programme for the SLIMMER diabetes prevention intervention.

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Elsman, Ellen B M; Leerlooijer, Joanne N; Ter Beek, Josien; Duijzer, Geerke; Jansen, Sophia C; Hiddink, Gerrit J; Feskens, Edith J M; Haveman-Nies, Annemien

2014-10-27

Although lifestyle interventions have shown to be effective in reducing the risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus, maintenance of achieved results is difficult, as participants often experience relapse after the intervention has ended. This paper describes the systematic development of a maintenance programme for the extensive SLIMMER intervention, an existing diabetes prevention intervention for high-risk individuals, implemented in a real-life setting in the Netherlands. The maintenance programme was developed using the Intervention Mapping protocol. Programme development was informed by a literature study supplemented by various focus group discussions and feedback from implementers of the extensive SLIMMER intervention. The maintenance programme was designed to sustain a healthy diet and physical activity pattern by targeting knowledge, attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control of the SLIMMER participants. Practical applications were clustered into nine programme components, including sports clinics at local sports clubs, a concluding meeting with the physiotherapist and dietician, and a return session with the physiotherapist, dietician and physical activity group. Manuals were developed for the implementers and included a detailed time table and step-by-step instructions on how to implement the maintenance programme. The Intervention Mapping protocol provided a useful framework to systematically plan a maintenance programme for the extensive SLIMMER intervention. The study showed that planning a maintenance programme can build on existing implementation structures of the extensive programme. Future research is needed to determine to what extent the maintenance programme contributes to sustained effects in participants of lifestyle interventions.

Preventing falls in older multifocal glasses wearers by providing single-lens distance glasses: the protocol for the VISIBLE randomised controlled trial

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Lee Bonsan B

2009-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Recent research has shown that wearing multifocal glasses increases the risk of trips and falls in older people. The aim of this study is to determine whether the provision of single-lens distance glasses to older multifocal glasses wearers, with recommendations for wearing them for walking and outdoor activities, can prevent falls. We will also measure the effect of the intervention on health status, lifestyle activities and fear of falling, as well as the extent of adherence to the program. Methods/Design Approximately 580 older people who are regular wearers of multifocal glasses people will be recruited. Participants will be randomly allocated to either an intervention group (provision of single lens glasses, with counselling and advice about appropriate use or a control group (usual care. The primary outcome measure will be falls (measured with 13 monthly calendars. Secondary measures will be quality of life, falls efficacy, physical activity levels and adverse events. Discussions The study will determine the impact of providing single-lens glasses, with advice about appropriate use, on preventing falls in older regular wearers of multifocal glasses. This pragmatic intervention, if found to be effective, will guide practitioners with regard to recommending appropriate glasses for minimising the risk of falls in older people. Trial Registration The protocol for this study was registered with the Clinical Trials.gov Protocol Registration System on June 7th 2006 (#350855.

Intervention development for the indicated prevention of depression in later life: The “DIL” protocol in Goa, India

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Amit Dias, MD

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Because depression is a major source of the global burden of illness-related disability, developing effective strategies for reducing its incidence is an important public health priority, especially in low-income countries, where resources for treating depression are scarce. We describe in this report an intervention development project, funded by the US National Institute of Mental Health, to address “indicated” prevention of depression in older adults attending rural and urban primary care clinics in Goa, India. Specifically, participants in the “DIL” (“Depression in Later Life” trial were older adults living with mild, subsyndromal symptoms of depression and anxiety and thus at substantial risk for transitioning to fully syndromal major depression and anxiety disorders. Building upon the MANAS treatment trial (“Promoting Mental Health” led by Patel et al. in the same locale, we present here lessons learned in the development and implementation of a protocol utilizing lay health counsellors (LHCs who deliver a multi-component depression prevention intervention organized conceptually around Problem Solving Therapy for Primary Care (PST, with additional components addressing brief behavioural treatment of sleep disturbances such as insomnia, meeting basic social casework needs, and education in self-management of prevalent comorbid chronic diseases, such as diabetes mellitus. To our knowledge, DIL is the first randomized clinical trial addressing the prevention of depressive disorders ever conducted in a low- or middle-income country.

Technologies, Methodologies and Challenges in Network Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems

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Nicoleta STANCIU

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an overview of the technologies and the methodologies used in Network Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (NIDPS. Intrusion Detection and Prevention System (IDPS technologies are differentiated by types of events that IDPSs can recognize, by types of devices that IDPSs monitor and by activity. NIDPSs monitor and analyze the streams of network packets in order to detect security incidents. The main methodology used by NIDPSs is protocol analysis. Protocol analysis requires good knowledge of the theory of the main protocols, their definition, how each protocol works.

Depression and anxiety, an Indicated Prevention (DIP protocol in homes for the elderly: feasibility and (cost effectiveness of a stepped care programme

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Beekman Aartjan TF

2007-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Depressive and anxiety disorders are a very common, serious and underdetected problem in homes for the elderly. Elderly persons in residential homes are at high risk for developing major depressive and anxiety disorders, and, therefore, deserve attention with regard to prevention. Methods/Design This protocol describes a randomised trial on the feasibility and (cost effectiveness of a stepped-care programme for prevention of depressive and anxiety disorders in homes for the elderly. The main outcome measure is the incidence of depressive and anxiety disorder in one year with a two years follow up. Secondary outcomes are symptoms of depression and anxiety, quality of life, direct health care costs and satisfaction with treatment. Discussion The number of studies examining the effects of preventive interventions on the incidence of mental disorders in the elderly population is very small. However, indicated prevention by means of a stepped-care programme seems to be an important option for decreasing the burden of illness for residents and their caregivers. This study contributes to the body of knowledge in this field. Positive effects may contribute to further use and development of tailored, (cost- effective and easy to use interventions in a preventive stepped-care programme. Trial Registration The Dutch Cochrane Centre, ISRCTN27540731

Tailoring International Pressure Ulcer Prevention Guidelines for Nigeria: A Knowledge Translation Study Protocol.

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Ilesanmi, Rose Ekama; Gillespie, Brigid M; Adejumo, Prisca Olabisi; Chaboyer, Wendy

2015-07-28

The 2014 International Pressure Ulcer Prevention (PUP) Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) provides the most current evidence based strategies to prevent Pressure Ulcer (PU). The evidence upon which these guidelines have been developed has predominantly been generated from research conducted in developed countries. Some of these guidelines may not be feasible in developing countries due to structural and resource issues; therefore there is a need to adapt these guidelines to the context thus making it culturally acceptable. To present a protocol detailing the tailoring of international PUPCPG into a care bundle for the Nigerian context. Guided by the Knowledge to Action (KTA) framework, a two phased study will be undertaken. In Phase 1, the Delphi technique with stakeholder leaders will be used to review the current PUPCPG, identifying core strategies that are feasible to be adopted in Nigeria. These core strategies will become components of a PUP care bundle. In Phase 2, key stakeholder interviews will be used to identify the barriers, facilitators and potential implementation strategies to promote uptake of the PUP care bundle. A PUP care bundle, with three to eight components is expected to be developed from Phase 1. Implementation strategies to promote adoption of the PUP care bundle into clinical practice in selected Nigerian hospitals, is expected to result from Phase 2. Engagement of key stakeholders and consumers in the project should promote successful implementation and translate into better patient care. Using KTA, a knowledge translation framework, to guide the implementation of PUPCPG will enhance the likelihood of successful adoption in clinical practice. In implementing a PUP care bundle, developing countries face a number of challenges such as the feasibility of its components and the required resources.

Tailoring International Pressure Ulcer Prevention Guidelines for Nigeria: A Knowledge Translation Study Protocol

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Rose Ekama Ilesanmi

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Background: The 2014 International Pressure Ulcer Prevention (PUP Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG provides the most current evidence based strategies to prevent Pressure Ulcer (PU. The evidence upon which these guidelines have been developed has predominantly been generated from research conducted in developed countries. Some of these guidelines may not be feasible in developing countries due to structural and resource issues; therefore there is a need to adapt these guidelines to the context thus making it culturally acceptable. Aim: To present a protocol detailing the tailoring of international PUPCPG into a care bundle for the Nigerian context. Methods: Guided by the Knowledge to Action (KTA framework, a two phased study will be undertaken. In Phase 1, the Delphi technique with stakeholder leaders will be used to review the current PUPCPG, identifying core strategies that are feasible to be adopted in Nigeria. These core strategies will become components of a PUP care bundle. In Phase 2, key stakeholder interviews will be used to identify the barriers, facilitators and potential implementation strategies to promote uptake of the PUP care bundle. Results: A PUP care bundle, with three to eight components is expected to be developed from Phase 1. Implementation strategies to promote adoption of the PUP care bundle into clinical practice in selected Nigerian hospitals, is expected to result from Phase 2. Engagement of key stakeholders and consumers in the project should promote successful implementation and translate into better patient care. Conclusion: Using KTA, a knowledge translation framework, to guide the implementation of PUPCPG will enhance the likelihood of successful adoption in clinical practice. In implementing a PUP care bundle, developing countries face a number of challenges such as the feasibility of its components and the required resources.

The Effect of Nitric Oxide Synthetase Inhibitor (L-NAME on Prevention of Morphine Dependence in Rats

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A. Rafati

2004-10-01

Full Text Available Prevention of dependency to morphine or delaying to it and decreasing of tendency to morphine craving and also decreasing in morphine induced hyperalgesia(tolerance were the aims of this study. Nitric oxide is one of the neurotransmitters, which involves in the Dopamine reuptake in striatum. Dopamine is one of the most important neurotransmitters in reward system in central nervous system and it has a critical role in morphine addiction and dependency, tendency and tolerance to it, so in this study we survied the role of L- NAME as a nitric oxide synthetase (NOS inhibitor on the prevention of morphine addiction in rats. In this study we evaluated behavioral changes such as morphine craving by self - administration as a criterion for tendency, dependency by observation of withdrawal syndrom signs (e.g Jumping, wet dog shaking and also responses to nociceptive condenced bim of light by using tail flick analgesia metric device in sham (consuming tap water, control (consuming increasing doses of morphine sulfate solution from 0.1mg/ml up to 0.4mg/ml and test (treated with 45 mg/kg of L- NAME 30 minutes before consuming of morphine sulfate solution per day groups. The results showed that pretreatment with L- NAME in test group lead to a significant decline in tendency to morphine craving, withdrawal signs and also a significant reversal of morphine induced hyperalgesia. We concluded that L- NAME is a potent agent in the prevention of morphine addiction.

Calcium dobesilate prevents the oxidative stress and inflammation induced by diabetes in the retina of db/db mice.

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Bogdanov, Patricia; Solà-Adell, Cristina; Hernández, Cristina; García-Ramírez, Marta; Sampedro, Joel; Simó-Servat, Olga; Valeri, Marta; Pasquali, Christian; Simó, Rafael

2017-10-01

Calcium dobesilate (CaD) is beneficial in early stages of diabetic retinopathy (DR), but its mechanisms of action remains to be elucidated. The aim was to investigate the effect of CaD on proinflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress. db/db mice were randomly assigned to daily oral treatment with CaD (200mg/kg/day) or vehicle for 15days. Biomarkers of oxidative stress (dihydroethidium, malondialdehyde), NF-κB, and proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α, MCP-1) were examined in the retina by immunohistochemical analysis. Cultures of human retinal endothelial cells (HRECs) were used for complementary experiments. CaD significantly reduced the biomarkers of oxidative stress in the retina of db/db mice. In addition, CaD prevented the increase of NF-κB, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α and MCP-1 induced by diabetes. CaD inhibited the activation of NF-kβ induced by IL-1β by preventing IKKB-α phosphorylation in HRECs and reduced the upregulation of IL-6 and IL-18 induced by TNF-α in a dose-dependent manner. Our results suggest that antioxidant and antiinflammatory effects are crucial in accounting for the effectiveness of CaD for treating DR. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Performance analysis and implementation of proposed mechanism for detection and prevention of security attacks in routing protocols of vehicular ad-hoc network (VANET

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Parul Tyagi

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Next-generation communication networks have become widely popular as ad-hoc networks, broadly categorized as the mobile nodes based on mobile ad-hoc networks (MANET and the vehicular nodes based vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANET. VANET is aimed at maintaining safety to vehicle drivers by begin autonomous communication with the nearby vehicles. Each vehicle in the ad-hoc network performs as an intelligent mobile node characterized by high mobility and formation of dynamic networks. The ad-hoc networks are decentralized dynamic networks that need efficient and secure communication requirements due to the vehicles being persistently in motion. These networks are more susceptible to various attacks like Warm Hole attacks, denial of service attacks and Black Hole Attacks. The paper is a novel attempt to examine and investigate the security features of the routing protocols in VANET, applicability of AODV (Ad hoc On Demand protocol to detect and tackle a particular category of network attacks, known as the Black Hole Attacks. A new algorithm is proposed to enhance the security mechanism of AODV protocol and to introduce a mechanism to detect Black Hole Attacks and to prevent the network from such attacks in which source node stores all route replies in a look up table. This table stores the sequences of all route reply, arranged in ascending order using PUSH and POP operations. The priority is calculated based on sequence number and discard the RREP having presumably very high destination sequence number. The result show that proposed algorithm for detection and prevention of Black Hole Attack increases security in Intelligent Transportation System (ITS and reduces the effect of malicious node in the VANET. NCTUNs simulator is used in this research work.

Assistance protocol for venous ulcers patients: validation of contents

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Daniele Vieira Dantas

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Venous ulcers require complex treatment and are responsible for significant morbidity and mortality rates. This study aims at identifying aspects validated by the jury for the preparation of an assistance protocol for venous ulcer sufferers. It is a descriptive and quantitative research, with 39 professionals (30 nurses, 7 doctors and two physiotherapists, held at the Onofre Lopes University Hospital, between April and July/2010. Data collection began through a questionnaire checklist. Analysis was performed through Statistical Package for Social Science 15.0, assessing compliance with guidelines. Results were the compositional aspects of the protocol: assessment of patient and lesion history/documentation, wound care/perilesional skin, dressing suggestion, use of antibiotics and pain treatment, surgical treatment/medication, improving venous return and relapse prevention, patient referral, professional training and referral/counter-referral. It was concluded that to compose the protocol, aspects related to diagnosis, treatment and injury prevention must be considered.

Antioxidant supplements for preventing gastrointestinal cancers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjelakovic, G; Nikolova, D; Simonetti, R G

2004-01-01

Oxidative stress may cause gastrointestinal cancers. The evidence on whether antioxidant supplements are effective in preventing gastrointestinal cancers is contradictory.......Oxidative stress may cause gastrointestinal cancers. The evidence on whether antioxidant supplements are effective in preventing gastrointestinal cancers is contradictory....

A Fully Automated Diabetes Prevention Program, Alive-PD: Program Design and Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol.

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Block, Gladys; Azar, Kristen Mj; Block, Torin J; Romanelli, Robert J; Carpenter, Heather; Hopkins, Donald; Palaniappan, Latha; Block, Clifford H

2015-01-21

In the United States, 86 million adults have pre-diabetes. Evidence-based interventions that are both cost effective and widely scalable are needed to prevent diabetes. Our goal was to develop a fully automated diabetes prevention program and determine its effectiveness in a randomized controlled trial. Subjects with verified pre-diabetes were recruited to participate in a trial of the effectiveness of Alive-PD, a newly developed, 1-year, fully automated behavior change program delivered by email and Web. The program involves weekly tailored goal-setting, team-based and individual challenges, gamification, and other opportunities for interaction. An accompanying mobile phone app supports goal-setting and activity planning. For the trial, participants were randomized by computer algorithm to start the program immediately or after a 6-month delay. The primary outcome measures are change in HbA1c and fasting glucose from baseline to 6 months. The secondary outcome measures are change in HbA1c, glucose, lipids, body mass index (BMI), weight, waist circumference, and blood pressure at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. Randomization and delivery of the intervention are independent of clinic staff, who are blinded to treatment assignment. Outcomes will be evaluated for the intention-to-treat and per-protocol populations. A total of 340 subjects with pre-diabetes were randomized to the intervention (n=164) or delayed-entry control group (n=176). Baseline characteristics were as follows: mean age 55 (SD 8.9); mean BMI 31.1 (SD 4.3); male 68.5%; mean fasting glucose 109.9 (SD 8.4) mg/dL; and mean HbA1c 5.6 (SD 0.3)%. Data collection and analysis are in progress. We hypothesize that participants in the intervention group will achieve statistically significant reductions in fasting glucose and HbA1c as compared to the control group at 6 months post baseline. The randomized trial will provide rigorous evidence regarding the efficacy of this Web- and Internet-based program in reducing or

PAAPPAS community trial protocol: a randomized study of obesity prevention for adolescents combining school with household intervention

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Michele R. Sgambato

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The prevalence of childhood obesity is increasing at a high rate in Brazil, making prevention a health priority. Schools are the central focus of interventions aiming the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity, however, randomized trials and cohort studies have not yet provided clear evidence of strategies to reduce prevalence of obesity. The aim of this study is to present a protocol to evaluate the efficacy of combining school and household level interventions to reduce excessive weight gain among students. Methods The intervention target fifth and sixth graders from 18 public schools (9 interventions and 9 controls in the municipality of Duque de Caxias, metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A sample size of 2500 students will be evaluated at school for their weight status and those from the intervention group who are overweight or obese will be followed monthly at home by community health agents. Demographic, socioeconomic, anthropometric, eating behavior and food consumption data will be collected at school using a standardized questionnaire programmed in personal digital assistant. At school, all students from the intervention group will be encouraged to change eating habits and food consumption and to increase physical activity and reducing sedentary behavior. Discussion This study will provide evidence whether integration of school with primary health care can prevent excessive weight gain among adolescents. Positive results will inform a sustainable strategy to be disseminated in the health care system in Brazil. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02711488 . Date of registration: March 11, 2016.

The role of oxidative stress in EBV lytic reactivation, radioresistance and the potential preventive and therapeutic implications.

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Hu, Jianmin; Li, Hongde; Luo, Xiangjian; Li, Yueshuo; Bode, Ann; Cao, Ya

2017-11-01

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is an important cancer causing virus. Cancer associated with EBV account for approximately 1.5% of all cancers, and represent 1.8% of all cancer deaths worldwide. EBV reactivation plays an important role in the development of EBV-related diseases and is closely related with patients' survival and clinical stages of EBV-related cancers. The therapy regarding to EBV-related cancers is very urgent, especially in endemic areas. Generating oxidative stress is a critical mechanism by which host cells defend against infection by virus. In addition, ROS-mediated oxidative stress plays a significant but paradoxical role acting as a "double-edged sword" to regulate cellular response to radiation, which is the main therapy strategy for EBV-related cancers, especially nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Therefore, in this review we primarily discuss the possible interplay among the oxidative stress, EBV lytic reactivation and radioresistance. Understanding the role of oxidative stress in EBV lytic reactivation and radioresistance will assist in the development of effective strategies for prevention and treatment of EBV-related cancers. © 2017 UICC.

A randomized efficacy trial of a cognitive-behavioral group intervention to prevent Internet Use Disorder onset in adolescents: The PROTECT study protocol.

Science.gov (United States)

Lindenberg, Katajun; Halasy, Katharina; Schoenmaekers, Sophie

2017-06-01

The reduction of prevalence rates of Internet Use Disorder (IUD) and its effective treatment are at high priority in both public health and educational policies. School-based preventive interventions facilitate a low-threshold approach for individuals with IUD, who are typically characterized by high therapy avoidance. Moreover, indicated approaches which target adolescents at high-risk show larger effects than universal prevention programs. Simultaneously, they reduce unnecessary burden for the majority of high-school students that is not at-risk. The PROTECT group intervention for indicated prevention of IUD in school settings was developed based on these preventive strategies. Three-hundred and forty adolescents, aged 12-18 years, from 40 secondary schools in Germany, screened for high-risk of IUD onset, are randomly assigned to a) PROTECT preventive intervention group or b) assessment only control group. The tested intervention consists of a cognitive-behavioral 4-session brief-protocol. Follow-up assessments are at 1, 4 and 12 months after admission. Primary outcome is the 12-months incidence rate of IUD. Secondary outcomes are the reduction of IUD and comorbid symptoms as well as the promotion of problem solving, cognitive restructuring and emotion regulation skills. The indicated preventive intervention PROTECT follows the APA-guidelines for psychological prevention, i.e., it is theory- and evidence-based and addresses both risk-reduction and strength-promotion, it considers current research and epidemiology and ethical standards such as professional secrecy and is designed as a systemic intervention at the school-level. It is expected that the intervention decreases risk of IUD onset (incidence rate). ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02907658.

Glutamine prevents oxidative stress in a model of portal hypertension.

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Zabot, Gilmara Pandolfo; Carvalhal, Gustavo Franco; Marroni, Norma Possa; Licks, Francielli; Hartmann, Renata Minuzzo; da Silva, Vinícius Duval; Fillmann, Henrique Sarubbi

2017-07-07

To evaluate the protective effects of glutamine in a model of portal hypertension (PH) induced by partial portal vein ligation (PPVL). Male Wistar rats were housed in a controlled environment and were allowed access to food and water ad libitum . Twenty-four male Wistar rats were divided into four experimental groups: (1) control group (SO) - rats underwent exploratory laparotomy; (2) control + glutamine group (SO + G) - rats were subjected to laparotomy and were treated intraperitoneally with glutamine; (3) portal hypertension group (PPVL) - rats were subjected to PPVL; and (4) PPVL + glutamine group (PPVL + G) - rats were treated intraperitoneally with glutamine for seven days. Local injuries were determined by evaluating intestinal segments for oxidative stress using lipid peroxidation and the activities of glutathione peroxidase (GPx), endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) after PPVL. Lipid peroxidation of the membrane was increased in the animals subjected to PH ( P 0.05). The activity of the antioxidant enzyme GTx was decreased in the gut of animals subjected to PH compared with that in the control group of animals not subjected to PH ( P 0.05). At least 10 random, non-overlapping images of each histological slide with 200 × magnification (44 pixel = 1 μm) were captured. The sum means of all areas, of each group were calculated. The mean areas of eNOS staining for both of the control groups were similar. The PPVL group showed the largest area of staining for eNOS. The PPVL + G group had the second highest amount of staining, but the mean value was much lower than that of the PPVL group ( P < 0.01). For iNOS, the control (SO) and control + G (SO + G) groups showed similar areas of staining. The PPVL group contained the largest area of iNOS staining, followed by the PPVL + G group; however, this area was significantly smaller than that of the group that underwent PH without glutamine ( P < 0.01). Treatment with

Behavioral counseling to prevent childhood obesity – study protocol of a pragmatic trial in maternity and child health care

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Mustila Taina

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Prevention is considered effective in combating the obesity epidemic. Prenatal environment may increase offspring's risk for obesity. A child starts to adopt food preferences and other behavioral habits affecting weight gain during preschool years. We report the study protocol of a pragmatic lifestyle intervention aiming at primary prevention of childhood obesity. Methods/Design A non-randomized controlled pragmatic trial in maternity and child health care clinics. The control group was recruited among families who visited the same clinics one year earlier. Eligibility criteria was mother at risk for gestational diabetes: body mass index ≥ 25 kg/m2, macrosomic newborn in any previous pregnancy, immediate family history of diabetes and/or age ≥ 40 years. All maternity clinics in town involved in recruitment. The gestational intervention consisted of individual counseling on diet and physical activity by a public health nurse, and of two group counseling sessions. Intervention continues until offspring’s age of five years. An option to participate a group counseling at child’s age 1 to 2 years was offered. The intervention includes advice on healthy diet, physical activity, sedentary behavior and sleeping pattern. The main outcome measure is offspring BMI z-score and its changes by the age of six years. Discussion Early childhood is a critical time period for prevention of obesity. Pragmatic trials targeting this period are necessary in order to find effective obesity prevention programs feasible in normal health care practice. Trial registration Clinical Trials gov NCT00970710

Polyphenol-Rich Blackcurrant Juice Prevents Endothelial Dysfunction in the Mesenteric Artery of Cirrhotic Rats with Portal Hypertension: Role of Oxidative Stress and the Angiotensin System.

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Rashid, Sherzad; Idris-Khodja, Noureddine; Auger, Cyril; Kevers, Claire; Pincemail, Joël; Alhosin, Mahmoud; Boehm, Nelly; Oswald-Mammosser, Monique; Schini-Kerth, Valérie B

2018-04-01

Chronic liver diseases with portal hypertension are characterized by a progressive vasodilatation, endothelial dysfunction, and NADPH oxidase-derived vascular oxidative stress, which have been suggested to involve the angiotensin system. This study evaluated the possibility that oral intake of polyphenol-rich blackcurrant juice (PRBJ), a rich natural source of antioxidants, prevents endothelial dysfunction in a rat model of cirrhosis induced by chronic bile duct ligation (CBDL), and, if so, determined the underlying mechanism. Male Wistar rats received either control drinking water or water containing 60 mg/kg gallic acid equivalents of PRBJ for 3 weeks before undergoing surgery with CBDL or sham surgery. After 4 weeks, vascular reactivity was assessed in mesenteric artery rings using organ chambers. Both the acetylcholine-induced nitric oxide (NO)- and endothelium-dependent hyperpolarization (EDH)-mediated relaxations in mesenteric artery rings were significantly reduced in CBDL rats compared to sham rats. An increased level of oxidative stress and expression of NADPH oxidase subunits, COX-2, NOS, and of the vascular angiotensin system are observed in arterial sections in the CBDL group. Chronic intake of PRBJ prevented the CBDL-induced impaired EDH-mediated relaxation, oxidative stress, and expression of the different target proteins in the arterial wall. In addition, PRBJ prevented the CBDL-induced increase in the plasma level of proinflammatory cytokines (interleukin [IL]-1α, monocyte chemotactic protein 1, and tumor necrosis factor α) and the decrease of the anti-inflammatory cytokine, IL-4. Altogether, these observations indicate that regular ingestion of PRBJ prevents the CBDL-induced endothelial dysfunction in the mesenteric artery most likely by normalizing the level of vascular oxidative stress and the angiotensin system.

Effects of falls prevention interventions on falls outcomes for hospitalised adults: protocol for a systematic review with meta-analysis.

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Slade, Susan C; Carey, David L; Hill, Anne-Marie; Morris, Meg E

2017-11-12

Falls are a major global public health problem and leading cause of accidental or unintentional injury and hospitalisation. Falls in hospital are associated with longer length of stay, readmissions and poor outcomes. Falls prevention is informed by knowledge of reversible falls risk factors and accurate risk identification. The extent to which hospital falls are prevented by evidence-based practice, patient self-management initiatives, environmental modifications and optimisation of falls prevention systems awaits confirmation. Published reviews have mainly evaluated community settings and residential care facilities. A better understanding of hospital falls and the most effective strategies to prevent them is vital to keeping people safe. To evaluate the effectiveness of falls prevention interventions on reducing falls in hospitalised adults (acute and subacute wards, rehabilitation, mental health, operating theatre and emergency departments). We also summarise components of effective falls prevention interventions. This protocol has been registered. The systematic review will be informed by Cochrane guidelines and reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analysis statement. randomised controlled trials, quasi-randomised trials or controlled clinical trials that evaluate falls prevention interventions for use by hospitalised adults or employees. Electronic databases will be searched using key terms including falls, accidental falls, prevention, hospital, rehabilitation, emergency, mental health, acute and subacute. Pairs of independent reviewers will conduct all review steps. Included studies will be evaluated for risk of bias. Data for variables such as age, participant characteristics, settings and interventions will be extracted and analysed with descriptive statistics and meta-analysis where possible. The results will be presented textually, with flow charts, summary tables, statistical analysis (and meta

Preventing transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease: state of the art

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Fast LD

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Loren D Fast Division of Hematology/Oncology, Rhode Island Hospital and Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University, Providence, RI, USA Abstract: The transfer of pathogens and the induction of immune responses are deleterious consequences that can result from the transfusion of blood products. Transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease (TA-GVHD, the most severe immune consequence, occurs when recipient immune responses are incapable of effectively eliminating donor leukocytes, permitting unabated responses of the donor T lymphocytes. Currently, prevention of TA-GVHD is routinely accomplished by exposing blood products to γ-irradiation in order to prevent donor T cell proliferation. Alternative protocols are being developed to meet the challenges associated with the use of γ-irradiation. Use of pathogen reduction protocols, which interfere with nucleic acid replication by modifying nucleic acids, are increasing. Comparison of pathogen reduction protocols with γ-irradiation have found that both protocols are equally effective in preventing T lymphocyte proliferation and GVHD responses when testing in both in vitro and in vivo models. The potential use of pathogen reduction protocols to treat whole blood prior to separation into its components could provide a cost-effective method for preventing TA-GVHD in the future. Keywords: blood transfusion, GVHD, pathogen reduction, irradiation

Preventive Biomechanics: A Paradigm Shift With a Translational Approach to Injury Prevention.

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Hewett, Timothy E; Bates, Nathaniel A

2017-09-01

Preventive medicine techniques have alleviated billions of dollars' worth of the economic burden in the medical care system through the implementation of vaccinations and screenings before the onset of disease symptoms. Knowledge of biomechanical tendencies has progressed rapidly over the past 20 years such that clinicians can identify, in healthy athletes, the underlying mechanisms that lead to catastrophic injuries such as anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures. As such, preventive medicine concepts can be applied to noncontact musculoskeletal injuries to reduce the economic burden of sports medicine treatments and enhance the long-term health of athletes. To illustrate the practical medical benefits that could be gained from preventive biomechanics applied to the ACL as well as the need and feasibility for the broad implementation of these principles. Literature review. The recent literature pertinent to the screening and prevention of musculoskeletal injuries was reviewed and compiled into a clinical commentary on the current state and applicability of preventive biomechanics. Investigators have identified neuromuscular training protocols that screen for and correct the underlying biomechanical deficits that lead to ACL injuries. The literature shows that when athletes comply with these prescribed training protocols, the incidence of injuries is significantly reduced within that population. Such preventive biomechanics practices employ basic training methods that would be familiar to athletic coaches and have the potential to save billions of dollars in cost in sports medicine. The widespread implementation of preventive biomechanics concepts could profoundly affect the field of sports medicine with a minimum of initial investment.

Development and Pilot Implementation of a Search Protocol to Improve Patient Safety on a Psychiatric Inpatient Unit.

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Abela-Dimech, Frances; Johnston, Kim; Strudwick, Gillian

A mental health organization in Ontario, Canada, noted an increase in unsafe items entering locked inpatient units. The purpose of this project was to develop and implement a search protocol to improve patient, staff, and visitor safety by preventing unsafe items from entering a locked inpatient unit. Under the guidance of a clinical nurse specialist, an interprofessional team used the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis framework to identify what items were considered unsafe, how these unsafe items were entering the unit, and what strategies could be used to prevent these items from entering the unit. A standardized search protocol was identified as a strategy to prevent items from entering the unit. The standardized search protocol was developed and piloted on 1 unit. To support the search protocol, an interprofessional team created a poster using a mnemonic aid to educate patients, staff, and visitors about which items could not be brought onto the unit. Educational sessions on the search protocol were provided for staff. The difference between the number of incidents before and after the implementation of the search protocol was statistically significant. Safety on an inpatient unit was increased as incidents of unsafe items entering the unit decreased.

Evaluating Protocol Lifecycle Time Intervals in HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials

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Schouten, Jeffrey T.; Dixon, Dennis; Varghese, Suresh; Cope, Marie T.; Marci, Joe; Kagan, Jonathan M.

2014-01-01

Background Identifying efficacious interventions for the prevention and treatment of human diseases depends on the efficient development and implementation of controlled clinical trials. Essential to reducing the time and burden of completing the clinical trial lifecycle is determining which aspects take the longest, delay other stages, and may lead to better resource utilization without diminishing scientific quality, safety, or the protection of human subjects. Purpose In this study we modeled time-to-event data to explore relationships between clinical trial protocol development and implementation times, as well as identify potential correlates of prolonged development and implementation. Methods We obtained time interval and participant accrual data from 111 interventional clinical trials initiated between 2006 and 2011 by NIH’s HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials Networks. We determined the time (in days) required to complete defined phases of clinical trial protocol development and implementation. Kaplan-Meier estimates were used to assess the rates at which protocols reached specified terminal events, stratified by study purpose (therapeutic, prevention) and phase group (pilot/phase I, phase II, and phase III/ IV). We also examined several potential correlates to prolonged development and implementation intervals. Results Even though phase grouping did not determine development or implementation times of either therapeutic or prevention studies, overall we observed wide variation in protocol development times. Moreover, we detected a trend toward phase III/IV therapeutic protocols exhibiting longer developmental (median 2 ½ years) and implementation times (>3years). We also found that protocols exceeding the median number of days for completing the development interval had significantly longer implementation. Limitations The use of a relatively small set of protocols may have limited our ability to detect differences across phase groupings. Some timing effects

School-based intervention to prevent overweight and disordered eating in secondary school Malaysian adolescents: a study protocol.

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Sharif Ishak, Sharifah Intan Zainun; Chin, Yit Siew; Mohd Taib, Mohd Nasir; Mohd Shariff, Zalilah

2016-10-20

Obesity, eating disorders and unhealthy weight-loss practices have been associated with diminished growth in adolescents worldwide. Interventions that address relevant behavioural dimensions have been lacking in Malaysia. This paper describes the protocol of an integrated health education intervention namely 'Eat Right, Be Positive About Your Body and Live Actively' (EPaL), a primary prevention which aimed to promote healthy lifestyle in preventing overweight and disordered eating among secondary school adolescents aged 13-14 years old. Following quasi-experimental design, the intervention is conducted in two secondary schools located in the district of Hulu Langat, Selangor, Malaysia. Adolescents aged 13-14 years will be included in the study. A peer-education strategy is adopted to convey knowledge and teach skills relevant to achieving a healthy lifestyle. The intervention mainly promoted: healthy eating, positive body image and active lifestyle. The following parameters will be assessed: body weight, disordered eating status, stages of change (for healthy diet, breakfast, food portion size, screen viewing and physical activity), body image, health-related quality of life, self-esteem, eating and physical activity behaviours; and knowledge, attitude and practice towards a healthy lifestyle. Assessment will be conducted at three time points: baseline, post-intervention and 3-month follow-up. It is hypothesized that EPaL intervention will contribute in preventing overweight and disordered eating by giving the positive effects on body weight status, healthy lifestyle behaviour, as well as health-related quality of life of peer educators and participants. It may serve as a model for similar future interventions designed for the Malaysian community, specifically adolescents. UMIN Clinical Trial Registration UMIN000024349 (Date of registration: 11th. October 2016, retrospectively registered).

Preventing hepatocyte oxidative stress cytotoxicity with Mangifera indica L. extract (Vimang).

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Remirez, Diadelis; Tafazoli, Shahrzad; Delgado, Rene; Harandi, Asghar A; O'Brien, Peter J

2005-01-01

Vimang is an aqueous extract of Mangifera indica used in Cuba to improve the quality of life in patients suffering from inflammatory diseases. In the present study we evaluated the effects of Vimang at preventing reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation and lipid peroxidation in intact isolated rat hepatocytes. Vimang at 20, 50 and 100 microg/ml inhibited hepatocyte ROS formation induced by glucose-glucose oxidase. Hepatocyte cytotoxicity and lipid peroxidation induced by cumene hydroperoxide was also inhibited by Vimang in a dose and time dependent manner at the same concentration. Vimang also inhibited superoxide radical formation by xanthine oxidase and hypoxanthine. The superoxide radical scavenging and antioxidant activity of the Vimang extract was likely related to its gallates, catechins and mangiferin content. To our knowledge, this is the first report of cytoprotective antioxidant effects of Vimang in cellular oxidative stress models.

Vitamins D, C, and E in the prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus: modulation of inflammation and oxidative stress

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Bibiana Garcia-Bailo

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Bibiana Garcia-Bailo1,2, Ahmed El-Sohemy2, Pierre S Haddad3, Paul Arora1,4, Firas BenZaied5, Mohamed Karmali1,2,4, Alaa Badawi11Office for Biotechnology, Genomics and Population Health, Public Health Agency of Canada, Toronto, ON, Canada; 2Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; 3Natural Health Products and Metabolic Diseases Laboratory, Department of Pharmacology, Université de Montréal and Montreal Diabetes Research Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada; 4Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; 5Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, Toronto, ON, CanadaAbstract: The incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM is increasing worldwide, and certain population subgroups are especially vulnerable to the disease. To reduce T2DM risk and progression at the population level, preventative strategies are needed that can be implemented on a population-wide scale with minimal cost and effort. Chronic low-grade inflammation resulting from oxidative stress and imbalances in the innate immune system has been associated with obesity, metabolic syndrome, and insulin resistance – critical stages in the development and progression of T2DM. Therefore, inflammation may play a causal role in the pathogenesis of T2DM, and reducing it via modulation of oxidative stress and the innate immune response could lead to a status of improved insulin sensitivity and delayed disease onset. Dietary supplementation with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant nutritional factors, such as micronutrients, might present a novel strategy toward the prevention and control of T2DM at the population level. This review examines current knowledge linking oxidation, inflammatory signaling pathways, and vitamin supplementation or intake to the risk of T2DM. The concept that micronutrients, via attenuation of inflammation, could be employed as a novel preventive measure for T2DM is evaluated in the context of its

Sibanye Methods for Prevention Packages Program Project Protocol: Pilot Study of HIV Prevention Interventions for Men Who Have Sex With Men in South Africa.

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McNaghten, Ad; Kearns, Rachel; Siegler, Aaron J; Phaswana-Mafuya, Nancy; Bekker, Linda-Gail; Stephenson, Rob; Baral, Stefan D; Brookmeyer, Ron; Yah, Clarence S; Lambert, Andrew J; Brown, Benjamin; Rosenberg, Eli; Blalock Tharp, Mondie; de Voux, Alex; Beyrer, Chris; Sullivan, Patrick S

2014-10-16

-negative men. Formative qualitative research consisted of 79 in-depth interviews, and six focus group discussions in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. Analysis of these data has informed pilot study protocol development and has been documented in peer-reviewed manuscripts. Qualitative work regarding stigma faced by South African MSM resulted in finalized scales for use in the pilot study questionnaire. A total of 37 health care providers completed training designed to facilitate clinically and culturally competent care for MSM in the Eastern Cape. The design of a future, larger study of the HIV prevention package will be conducted at the end of the pilot study, powered to detect efficacy of the prevention package. Data from the updated mathematical model, results of the pilot study, acceptability data, and advancements in HIV prevention sciences will be considered in developing the final proposed package and study design. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02043015; http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT02043015 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6THvp7rAj).

Resveratrol Prevents Cardiovascular Complications in the SHR/STZ Rat by Reductions in Oxidative Stress and Inflammation

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Rebecca K. Vella

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The cardioprotective effects of resveratrol are well established in animal models of metabolic disease but are yet to be investigated in a combined model of hypertension and diabetes. This study investigated the ability of resveratrol’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects to prevent cardiovascular complications in the spontaneously hypertensive streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat. Diabetes was induced in eight-week-old male spontaneously hypertensive rats via a single intravenous injection of streptozotocin. Following this, resveratrol was administered orally for an eight-week period until the animals were sixteen weeks of age. Upon completion of the treatment regime assessments of oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, inflammation, and cardiovascular function were made. Resveratrol administration to hypertensive-diabetic animals did not impact upon blood glucose or haemodynamics but significantly reduced oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, and inflammatory cytokines. Reductions in systemic levels of oxidative stress and inflammation conferred improvements in vascular reactivity and left ventricular pump function and electrophysiology. This study demonstrates that resveratrol administration to hypertensive diabetic animals can elicit cardioprotective properties via antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. The observed preservation of cardiovascular function was independent of changes in blood glucose concentration and haemodynamics, suggesting that oxidative stress and inflammation are key components within the pathological cascade associated with hypertension and diabetes.

Ethanol Extract from Ulva prolifera Prevents High-Fat Diet-Induced Insulin Resistance, Oxidative Stress, and Inflammation Response in Mice

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Wei Song

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Ulva prolifera is the major causative species in the green tide, a serious marine ecological disaster, which bloomed in the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea of China. However, it is also a popular edible seaweed and its extracts exerts anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. The present study investigated the effects of ethanol extract of U. prolifera (EUP on insulin sensitivity, inflammatory response, and oxidative stress in high-fat-diet- (HFD- treated mice. HFD-treated mice obtained drinking water containing 2% or 5% EUP. The results showed that EUP supplementation significantly prevented HFD-induced weight gain of liver and fat. EUP supplementation also improved glucose tolerance and insulin resistance in HFD-treated mice. Moreover, EUP supplementation prevented the increased expression of genes involved in triglyceride synthesis and proinflammatory genes and the decreased expression of genes involved in fatty acid oxidation in liver of HFD-treated mice. Furthermore, EUP supplementation decreased reactive oxygen species content, while increasing glutathione content and glutathione peroxidase activity in HFD-treated mice. In conclusion, our results showed that EUP improved insulin resistance and had antilipid accumulation and anti-inflammatory and antioxidative effects on HFD-treated mice. We suggested that U. prolifera extracts may be regarded as potential candidate for the prevention of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Quercetin Prevents Diastolic Dysfunction Induced by a High-Cholesterol Diet: Role of Oxidative Stress and Bioenergetics in Hyperglycemic Rats

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Rodrigo L. Castillo

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Alterations in cardiac energy metabolism play a key role in the pathogenesis of diabetic cardiomyopathy. Hypercholesterolemia associated with bioenergetic impairment and oxidative stress has not been well characterized in the cardiac function under glycemic control deficiency conditions. This work aimed to determine the cardioprotective effects of quercetin (QUE against the damage induced by a high-cholesterol (HC diet in hyperglycemic rats, addressing intracellular antioxidant mechanisms and bioenergetics. Quercetin reduced HC-induced alterations in the lipid profile and glycemia in rats. In addition, QUE attenuated cardiac diastolic dysfunction (increased E:A ratio, prevented cardiac cholesterol accumulation, and reduced the increase in HC-induced myocyte density. Moreover, QUE reduced HC-induced oxidative stress by preventing the decrease in GSH/GSSG ratio, Nrf2 nuclear translocation, HO-1 expression, and antioxidant enzymatic activity. Quercetin also counteracted HC-induced bioenergetic impairment, preventing a reduction in ATP levels and alterations in PGC-1α, UCP2, and PPARγ expression. In conclusion, the mechanisms that support the cardioprotective effect of QUE in rats with HC might be mediated by the upregulation of antioxidant mechanisms and improved bioenergetics on the heart. Targeting bioenergetics with QUE can be used as a pharmacological approach to modulate structural and functional changes of the heart under hypercholesterolemic and hyperglycemic conditions.

EPA:DHA 6:1 prevents angiotensin II-induced hypertension and endothelial dysfunction in rats: role of NADPH oxidase- and COX-derived oxidative stress.

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Niazi, Zahid Rasul; Silva, Grazielle C; Ribeiro, Thais Porto; León-González, Antonio J; Kassem, Mohamad; Mirajkar, Abdur; Alvi, Azhar; Abbas, Malak; Zgheel, Faraj; Schini-Kerth, Valérie B; Auger, Cyril

2017-12-01

Eicosapentaenoic acid:docosahexaenoic acid (EPA:DHA) 6:1, an omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid formulation, has been shown to induce a sustained formation of endothelial nitric oxide (NO) synthase-derived NO, a major vasoprotective factor. This study examined whether chronic intake of EPA:DHA 6:1 prevents hypertension and endothelial dysfunction induced by angiotensin II (Ang II) in rats. Male Wister rats received orally corn oil or EPA:DHA 6:1 (500 mg kg -1 per day) before chronic infusion of Ang II (0.4 mg kg -1 per day). Systolic blood pressure was determined by tail cuff sphingomanometry, vascular reactivity using a myograph, oxidative stress using dihydroethidium and protein expression by immunofluorescence and western blot analysis. Ang II-induced hypertension was associated with reduced acetylcholine-induced relaxations of secondary branch mesenteric artery rings affecting the endothelium-dependent hyperpolarization (EDH)- and the NO-mediated relaxations, both of which were improved by the NADPH oxidase inhibitor VAS-2870. The Ang II treatment induced also endothelium-dependent contractile responses (EDCFs), which were abolished by the cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitor indomethacin. An increased level of vascular oxidative stress and expression of NADPH oxidase subunits (p47 phox and p22 phox ), COX-1 and COX-2, endothelial NO synthase and Ang II type 1 receptors were observed in the Ang II group, whereas SK Ca and connexin 37 were downregulated. Intake of EPA:DHA 6:1 prevented the Ang II-induced hypertension and endothelial dysfunction by improving both the NO- and EDH-mediated relaxations, and by reducing EDCFs and the expression of target proteins. The present findings indicate that chronic intake of EPA:DHA 6:1 prevented the Ang II-induced hypertension and endothelial dysfunction in rats, most likely by preventing NADPH oxidase- and COX-derived oxidative stress.

Controlled Delegation Protocol in Mobile RFID Networks

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Yang MingHour

2010-01-01

Full Text Available To achieve off-line delegation for mobile readers, we propose a delegation protocol for mobile RFID allowing its readers access to specific tags through back-end server. That is to say, reader-tag mutual authentication can be performed without readers being connected to back-end server. Readers are also allowed off-line access to tags' data. Compared with other delegation protocols, our scheme uniquely enables back-end server to limit each reader's reading times during delegation. Even in a multireader situation, our protocol can limit reading times and reading time periods for each of them and therefore makes back-end server's delegation more flexible. Besides, our protocol can prevent authorized readers from transferring their authority to the unauthorized, declining invalid access to tags. Our scheme is proved viable and secure with GNY logic; it is against certain security threats, such as replay attacks, denial of service (DoS attacks, Man-in-the-Middle attacks, counterfeit tags, and breaches of location and data privacy. Also, the performance analysis of our protocol proves that current tags can afford the computation load required in this scheme.

Efficient and simple approaches towards direct oxidative esterification of alcohols.

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Ray, Ritwika; Jana, Rahul Dev; Bhadra, Mayukh; Maiti, Debabrata; Lahiri, Goutam Kumar

2014-11-17

The present article describes novel oxidative protocols for direct esterification of alcohols. The protocols involve successful demonstrations of both "cross" and "self" esterification of a wide variety of alcohols. The cross-esterification proceeds under a simple transition-metal-free condition, containing catalytic amounts of TEMPO (2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxy)/TBAB (tetra-n-butylammonium bromide) in combination with oxone (potassium peroxo monosulfate) as the oxidant, whereas the self-esterification is achieved through simple induction of Fe(OAc)2 /dipic (dipic=2,6-pyridinedicarboxylic acid) as the active catalyst under an identical oxidizing environment. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Zinc oxide overdose

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Zinc oxide is an ingredient in many products. Some of these are certain creams and ointments used ... prevent or treat minor skin burns and irritation. Zinc oxide overdose occurs when someone eats one of ...

Astragaloside IV Prevents Cardiac Remodeling in the Apolipoprotein E-Deficient Mice by Regulating Cardiac Homeostasis and Oxidative Stress

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Xiong-Zhi Li

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Background: Hypercholesterolemia is a risk factor for the development of cardiac hypertrophy. Astragaloside IV (AST-IV possesses cardiovascular protective properties. We hypothesize that AST-IV prevents cardiac remodeling with hypercholesterolemia via modulating tissue homeostasis and alleviating oxidative stress. Methods: The ApoE-/- mice were treated with AST-IV at 1 or 10 mg/kg for 8 weeks. The blood lipids tests, echocardiography, and TUNEL were performed. The mRNA expression profile was detected by real-time PCR. The myocytes size and number, and the expressions of proliferation (ki67, senescence (p16INK4a, oxidant (NADPH oxidase 4, NOX4 and antioxidant (superoxide dismutase, SOD were observed by immunofluorescence staining. Results: Neither 1 mg/kg nor 10 mg/kg AST-IV treatment could decrease blood lipids in ApoE-/- mice. However, the decreased left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF and fractional shortening (FS in ApoE–/– mice were significantly improved after AST-IV treatment. The cardiac collagen volume fraction declined nearly in half after AST-IV treatment. The enlarged myocyte size was suppressed, and myocyte number was recovered, and the alterations of genes expressions linked to cell cycle, proliferation, senescence, p53-apoptosis pathway and oxidant-antioxidants in the hearts of ApoE-/- mice were reversed after AST-IV treatment. The decreased ki67 and increased p16INK4a in the hearts of ApoE-/- mice were recovered after AST-IV treatment. The percentages of apoptotic myocytes and NOX4-positive cells in AST-IV treated mice were decreased, which were consistent with the gene expressions. Conclusion: AST-IV treatment could prevent cardiac remodeling and recover the impaired ventricular function induced by hypercholesterolemia. The beneficial effect of AST-IV might partly be through regulating cardiac homeostasis and anti-oxidative stress.

School-based intervention to prevent overweight and disordered eating in secondary school Malaysian adolescents: a study protocol

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Sharifah Intan Zainun Sharif Ishak

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Obesity, eating disorders and unhealthy weight-loss practices have been associated with diminished growth in adolescents worldwide. Interventions that address relevant behavioural dimensions have been lacking in Malaysia. This paper describes the protocol of an integrated health education intervention namely ‘Eat Right, Be Positive About Your Body and Live Actively’ (EPaL, a primary prevention which aimed to promote healthy lifestyle in preventing overweight and disordered eating among secondary school adolescents aged 13–14 years old. Methods/Design Following quasi-experimental design, the intervention is conducted in two secondary schools located in the district of Hulu Langat, Selangor, Malaysia. Adolescents aged 13–14 years will be included in the study. A peer-education strategy is adopted to convey knowledge and teach skills relevant to achieving a healthy lifestyle. The intervention mainly promoted: healthy eating, positive body image and active lifestyle. The following parameters will be assessed: body weight, disordered eating status, stages of change (for healthy diet, breakfast, food portion size, screen viewing and physical activity, body image, health-related quality of life, self-esteem, eating and physical activity behaviours; and knowledge, attitude and practice towards a healthy lifestyle. Assessment will be conducted at three time points: baseline, post-intervention and 3-month follow-up. Discussion It is hypothesized that EPaL intervention will contribute in preventing overweight and disordered eating by giving the positive effects on body weight status, healthy lifestyle behaviour, as well as health-related quality of life of peer educators and participants. It may serve as a model for similar future interventions designed for the Malaysian community, specifically adolescents. Trial registration UMIN Clinical Trial Registration UMIN000024349 (Date of registration: 11th. October 2016

Team Training and Institutional Protocols to Prevent Shoulder Dystocia Complications.

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Smith, Samuel

2016-12-01

Shoulder dystocia is an obstetrical emergency that may result in significant neonatal complications. It requires rapid recognition and a coordinated response. Standardization of care, teamwork and communication, and clinical simulation are the key components of patient safety programs in obstetrics. Simulation-based team training and institutional protocols for the management of shoulder dystocia are emerging as integral components of many labor and delivery safety initiatives because of their impact on technical skills and team performance.

Curcumin Induces Nrf2 Nuclear Translocation and Prevents Glomerular Hypertension, Hyperfiltration, Oxidant Stress, and the Decrease in Antioxidant Enzymes in 5/6 Nephrectomized Rats

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Edilia Tapia

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Renal injury resulting from renal ablation induced by 5/6 nephrectomy (5/6NX is associated with oxidant stress, glomerular hypertension, hyperfiltration, and impaired Nrf2-Keap1 pathway. The purpose of this work was to know if the bifunctional antioxidant curcumin may induce nuclear translocation of Nrf2 and prevents 5/6NX-induced oxidant stress, renal injury, decrease in antioxidant enzymes, and glomerular hypertension and hyperfiltration. Four groups of rats were studied: (1 control, (2 5/6NX, (3 5/6NX +CUR, and (4 CUR (n=8–10. Curcumin was given by gavage to NX5/6 +CUR and CUR groups (60 mg/kg/day starting seven days before surgery. Rats were studied 30 days after NX5/6 or sham surgery. Curcumin attenuated 5/6NX-induced proteinuria, systemic and glomerular hypertension, hyperfiltration, glomerular sclerosis, interstitial fibrosis, interstitial inflammation, and increase in plasma creatinine and blood urea nitrogen. This protective effect was associated with enhanced nuclear translocation of Nrf2 and with prevention of 5/6NX-induced oxidant stress and decrease in the activity of antioxidant enzymes. It is concluded that the protective effect of curcumin against 5/6NX-induced glomerular and systemic hypertension, hyperfiltration, renal dysfunction, and renal injury was associated with the nuclear translocation of Nrf2 and the prevention of both oxidant stress and the decrease of antioxidant enzymes.

Achieving sink node anonymity in tactical wireless sensor networks using a reactive routing protocol

Science.gov (United States)

2017-06-01

node anonymity, base station anonymity, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET), Lightweight Ad hoc On-Demand – Next Generation ... Generation (LOADng) reactive-routing protocol to achieve anonymity. This modified protocol prevents an attacker from identifying the sink node without...within the constraints of WSN communication protocols, specifically IEEE 802.15.4. We use and modify the Lightweight Ad hoc On-Demand – Next Generation

Efficacy of long-acting release octreotide for preventing chemotherapy-induced diarrhoea: protocol for a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Chao; Deng, Bo; Jia, Liqun; Tan, Huangying

2017-06-21

Diarrhoea is a common adverse effect induced by chemotherapy that can reduce the dose of chemotherapeutic drugs or interrupt the chemotherapy schedule. The current treatment strategies have various limitations. It has been shown that long-acting release octreotide (octreotide LAR) can decrease the occurrence and severity of diarrhoea, yet the efficacy of octreotide LAR in preventing chemotherapy-induced diarrhoea (CID) remains to be assessed. The main objective of this paper was to draw up a protocol for systematic review to evaluate the protective effects of octreotide LAR on CID. We searched Medline, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data and the VIP Database without language restrictions from inception until 1 September 2016. The references of relevant studies were also manually searched. Two investigators independently accessed the selected studies, extracted data and assessed the reliability of the studies. Any discrepancies were resolved by a third investigator. The effect size of the selected studies was assessed by different measures based on the type of data. The selected studies were descriptively analysed. We then chose a fixed-effect model or a random-effect model based on statistical homogeneity, and pooled data from the studies for meta-analysis, if possible. The primary outcome was the incidence of diarrhoea. The secondary outcomes were the duration of diarrhoea, incidence of diarrhoea-associated symptoms, physical function and quality of life. All statistical analyses were performed by Review Manager V.5.3. This systematic review did not require ethics approval, because it included aggregated published data, and not individual patient data. The review was published in a peer-reviewed journal. This systematic review protocol was registered with PROSPERO (registration number: CRD 42016048573). © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights

Prevention of hypertension in patients with pre-hypertension: protocol for the PREVER-prevention trial

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Neto José

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Blood pressure (BP within pre-hypertensive levels confers higher cardiovascular risk and is an intermediate stage for full hypertension, which develops in an annual rate of 7 out of 100 individuals with 40 to 50 years of age. Non-drug interventions to prevent hypertension have had low effectiveness. In individuals with previous cardiovascular disease or diabetes, the use of BP-lowering agents reduces the incidence of major cardiovascular events. In the absence of higher baseline risk, the use of BP agents reduces the incidence of hypertension. The PREVER-prevention trial aims to investigate the efficacy, safety and feasibility of a population-based intervention to prevent the incidence of hypertension and the development of target-organ damage. Methods This is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, with participants aged 30 to 70 years, with pre-hypertension. The trial arms will be chlorthalidone 12.5 mg plus amiloride 2.5 mg or identical placebo. The primary outcomes will be the incidence of hypertension, adverse events and development or worsening of microalbuminuria and of left ventricular hypertrophy in the EKG. The secondary outcomes will be fatal or non-fatal cardiovascular events: myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure, evidence of new sub-clinical atherosclerosis, and sudden death. The study will last 18 months. The sample size was calculated on the basis of an incidence of hypertension of 14% in the control group, a size effect of 40%, power of 85% and P alpha of 5%, resulting in 625 participants per group. The project was approved by the Ethics committee of each participating institution. Discussion The early use of blood pressure-lowering drugs, particularly diuretics, which act on the main mechanism of blood pressure rising with age, may prevent cardiovascular events and the incidence of hypertension in individuals with hypertension. If this intervention shows to be effective and safe

BL153 Partially Prevents High-Fat Diet Induced Liver Damage Probably via Inhibition of Lipid Accumulation, Inflammation, and Oxidative Stress

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Jian Wang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The present study was to investigate whether a magnolia extract, named BL153, can prevent obesity-induced liver damage and identify the possible protective mechanism. To this end, obese mice were induced by feeding with high fat diet (HFD, 60% kcal as fat and the age-matched control mice were fed with control diet (10% kcal as fat for 6 months. Simultaneously these mice were treated with or without BL153 daily at 3 dose levels (2.5, 5, and 10 mg/kg by gavage. HFD feeding significantly increased the body weight and the liver weight. Administration of BL153 significantly reduced the liver weight but without effects on body weight. As a critical step of the development of NAFLD, hepatic fibrosis was induced in the mice fed with HFD, shown by upregulating the expression of connective tissue growth factor and transforming growth factor beta 1, which were significantly attenuated by BL153 in a dose-dependent manner. Mechanism study revealed that BL153 significantly suppressed HFD induced hepatic lipid accumulation and oxidative stress and slightly prevented liver inflammation. These results suggest that HFD induced fibrosis in the liver can be prevented partially by BL153, probably due to reduction of hepatic lipid accumulation, inflammation and oxidative stress.

Hypervalent iodine/TEMPO-mediated oxidation in flow systems: a fast and efficient protocol for alcohol oxidation

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Nida Ambreen

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Hypervalent iodine(III/TEMPO-mediated oxidation of various aliphatic, aromatic and allylic alcohols to their corresponding carbonyl compounds was successfully achieved by using microreactor technology. This method can be used as an alternative for the oxidation of various alcohols achieving excellent yields and selectivities in significantly shortened reaction times.

Further Highlighting on the Prevention of Oxidative Damage by Polyphenol-Rich Wine Extracts.

Science.gov (United States)

Salucci, Sara; Burattini, Sabrina; Giordano, Francesco Maria; Lucarini, Simone; Diamantini, Giuseppe; Falcieri, Elisabetta

2017-04-01

Wine contains various polyphenols such as flavonoids, anthocyanins, and tannins. These molecules are responsible for the quality of wines, influencing their astringency, bitterness, and color and they are considered to have antioxidant activity. Polyphenols, extracted from grapes during the processes of vinification, could protect the body cells against reactive oxygen species level increase and could be useful to rescue several pathologies where oxidative stress represents the main cause. For that, in this study, red and white wine, provided by an Italian vinery (Marche region), have been analyzed. Chromatographic and morphofunctional analyses have been carried out for polyphenol extraction and to evaluate their protective effect on human myeloid U937 cells exposed to hydrogen peroxide. Both types of wines contained a mix of phenolic compounds with antioxidant properties and their content decreased, as expected, in white wine. Ultrastructural observations evidenced that wines, in particular red wine, strongly prevent mitochondrial damage and apoptotic cell death. In conclusion, the considered extracts show a relevant polyphenol content with strong antioxidant properties and abilities to prevent apoptosis. These findings suggest, for these compounds, a potential role in all pathological conditions where the body antioxidant system is overwhelmed.

NecroX-7 prevents oxidative stress-induced cardiomyopathy by inhibition of NADPH oxidase activity in rats

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Joonghoon; Park, Eok; Ahn, Bong-Hyun; Kim, Hyoung Jin [LG Life Sciences Ltd., R and D Park, Daejeon, 305-380 (Korea, Republic of); Park, Ji-hoon [Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, 301-747 (Korea, Republic of); Koo, Sun Young; Kwak, Hyo-Shin; Park, Heui Sul; Kim, Dong Wook; Song, Myoungsub; Yim, Hyeon Joo; Seo, Dong Ook [LG Life Sciences Ltd., R and D Park, Daejeon, 305-380 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Soon Ha, E-mail: shakim@lgls.com [LG Life Sciences Ltd., R and D Park, Daejeon, 305-380 (Korea, Republic of)

2012-08-15

Oxidative stress is one of the causes of cardiomyopathy. In the present study, NecroXs, novel class of mitochondrial ROS/RNS scavengers, were evaluated for cardioprotection in in vitro and in vivo model, and the putative mechanism of the cardioprotection of NecroX-7 was investigated by global gene expression profiling and subsequent biochemical analysis. NecroX-7 prevented tert-butyl hydroperoxide (tBHP)-induced death of H9C2 rat cardiomyocytes at EC{sub 50} = 0.057 μM. In doxorubicin (DOX)-induced cardiomyopathy in rats, NecroX-7 significantly reduced the plasma levels of creatine kinase (CK-MB) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) which were increased by DOX treatment (p < 0.05). Microarray analysis revealed that 21 genes differentially expressed in tBHP-treated H9C2 cells were involved in ‘Production of reactive oxygen species’ (p = 0.022), and they were resolved by concurrent NecroX-7 treatment. Gene-to-gene networking also identified that NecroX-7 relieved cell death through Ncf1/p47phox and Rac2 modulation. In subsequent biochemical analysis, NecroX-7 inhibited NADPH oxidase (NOX) activity by 53.3% (p < 0.001). These findings demonstrate that NecroX-7, in part, provides substantial protection of cardiomyopathy induced by tBHP or DOX via NOX-mediated cell death. -- Highlights: ► NecroX-7 prevented tert-butyl hydroperoxide-induced in vitro cardiac cell death. ► NecroX-7 ameliorated doxorubicin-induced in vivo cardiomyopathy. ► NecroX-7 prevented oxidative stress and necrosis-enriched transcriptional changes. ► NecroX-7 effectively inhibited NADPH oxidase activation. ► Cardioprotection of Necro-7 was brought on by modulation of NADPH oxidase activity.

Highly efficient oxidation of amines to imines by singlet oxygen and its application in Ugi-type reactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Gaoxi; Chen, Jian; Huang, Jie-Sheng; Che, Chi-Ming

2009-10-15

A variety of secondary benzylic amines were oxidized to imines in 90% to >99% yields by singlet oxygen generated from oxygen and a porphyrin photosensitizer. On the basis of these reactions, a protocol was developed for oxidative Ugi-type reactions with singlet oxygen as the oxidant. This protocol has been used to synthesize C1- and N-functionalized benzylic amines in up to 96% yields.

A police education programme to integrate occupational safety and HIV prevention: protocol for a modified stepped-wedge study design with parallel prospective cohorts to assess behavioural outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Strathdee, Steffanie A; Arredondo, Jaime; Rocha, Teresita; Abramovitz, Daniela; Rolon, Maria Luisa; Patiño Mandujano, Efrain; Rangel, Maria Gudelia; Olivarria, Horcasitas Omar; Gaines, Tommi; Patterson, Thomas L; Beletsky, Leo

2015-01-01

Introduction Policing practices are key drivers of HIV among people who inject drugs (PWID). This paper describes the protocol for the first study to prospectively examine the impact of a police education programme (PEP) to align law enforcement and HIV prevention. PEPs incorporating HIV prevention (including harm reduction programmes like syringe exchange) have been successfully piloted in several countries but were limited to brief pre–post assessments; the impact of PEPs on policing behaviours and occupational safety is unknown. Objectives Proyecto ESCUDO (SHIELD) aims to evaluate the efficacy of the PEP on uptake of occupational safety procedures, as assessed through the incidence of needle stick injuries (NSIs) (primary outcome) and changes in knowledge of transmission, prevention and treatment of HIV and viral hepatitis; attitudes towards PWID, adverse behaviours that interfere with HIV prevention and protective behaviours (secondary outcomes). Methods/analysis ESCUDO is a hybrid type I design that simultaneously tests an intervention and an implementation strategy. Using a modified stepped-wedge design involving all active duty street-level police officers in Tijuana (N=∼1200), we will administer one 3 h PEP course to groups of 20–50 officers until the entire force is trained. NSI incidence and geocoded arrest data will be assessed from department-wide de-identified data. Of the consenting police officers, a subcohort (N=500) will be randomly sampled from each class to undergo pre-PEP and post-PEP surveys with a semiannual follow-up for 2 years to assess self-reported NSIs, attitudes and behaviour changes. The impact on PWIDs will be externally validated through a parallel cohort of Tijuana PWIDs. Ethics/dissemination Research ethics approval was obtained from the USA and Mexico. Findings will be disseminated through open access to protocol materials through the Law Enforcement and HIV Network. Trial registration number NCT02444403. PMID:26260350

Effectiveness of the home-based alcohol prevention program "In control: No alcohol!": study protocol of a randomized controlled trial

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Verdurmen Jacqueline EE

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In the Netherlands, children start to drink at an early age; of the Dutch 12-year olds, 40% reports lifetime alcohol use, while 9.7% reports last-month drinking. Starting to drink at an early age puts youth at risk of developing several alcohol-related problems later in life. Recently, a home-based prevention program called "In control: No alcohol!" was developed to delay the age of alcohol onset in children. The main aim of this project is to conduct a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. Methods/Design The prevention program will be tested with an RCT among mothers and their 6 grade primary school children (11-12 years old, randomly assigned to the prevention or control condition. The program consists of five printed magazines and an activity book designed to improve parental alcohol-specific socialization. Parent-child dyads in the control group receive a factsheet information brochure, which is the standard alcohol brochure of the Trimbos Institute (the Netherlands Institute for Mental Health and Addiction. Outcome measures are initiation of alcohol use (have been drinking at least one glass of alcohol, alcohol-specific parenting, susceptibility to drinking alcohol, alcohol expectancies, self-efficacy, and frequency and intensity of child alcohol use. Questionnaires will be administered online on secured Internet webpages, with personal login codes for both mothers and children. Mothers and children in both the experimental and control condition will be surveyed at baseline and after 6, 12, and 18 months (follow-ups. Discussion The present study protocol presents the design of an RCT evaluating the effectiveness of the home-based "In control: No alcohol!" program for 6 grade primary school children (11-12 years old. It is hypothesized that children in the prevention condition will be less likely to have their first glass of alcohol, compared to the control condition. When the

Rationale, design, and protocol for the prevention of low back pain in the military (POLM trial (NCT00373009

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Dugan Jessica L

2007-09-01

. Soldiers will receive a monthly email that queries whether any LBP was experienced in the previous calendar month. Soldiers reporting LBP will enter episode-specific data related to pain intensity, pain-related disability, fear-avoidance beliefs, and pain catastrophizing. We are hypothesizing that Soldiers receiving the CSEP and PSEP will report the longest duration to first episode of LBP, the lowest frequency of LBP, and the lowest severity of LBP episodes. Statistical comparisons will be made between each of the randomly assigned prevention programs to test our hypotheses related to determining which of the 4 programs is most effective. Discussion We have presented the design and protocol for the POLM trial. Completion of this trial will provide important information on how to effectively train Soldiers for the prevention of LBP. Trial registration NCT00373009

Development and validation of a protocol for field validation of passive dosimeters for ethylene oxide excursion limit monitoring

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Puskar, M.A.; Szopinski, F.G.; Hecker, L.H. (Corporate Industrial Hygiene Laboratory, Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, IL (USA))

1991-04-01

An exposure and analysis protocol is described for the field validation of passive dosimeters for ethylene oxide (EtO) excursion limit monitoring. The protocol calls for the use of a field exposure chamber with concurrent sampling using Tedlar air-sampling bags. The bags are analyzed immediately after sampling by gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID). The chamber design allows all monitors to be exposed for the exact same time in the field. The sampling and analysis procedure not only determines the actual concentration of EtO present during the monitor's exposure but estimates if concentrations of EtO vary from point to point in the monitor array during the exposure. In chamber operation, the accuracy of the standard generator used to calibrate the GC-FID was independently verified in the field by the standard additions method. The sampling bias of the sampling train was determined to be -3.5% in the 2.4 ppm to 14.3 ppm concentration range. To estimate the stability of collected EtO samples in Tedlar bags, the rate of EtO loss in the bags was determined to be 0.011 ppm/hr at 2.57 ppm and 0.066 ppm/hr at 8.07 ppm. Sampling bias of the passive methods by additional EtO exposure of the monitors in the closed chamber after sampling and during purging was determined to be +1.5%. The Tedlar bag sampling method with subsequent GC-FID determination demonstrated a coefficient of variation of 1.8% at 2.43 ppm.

Prevention and assessment of infectious diseases among children and adult migrants arriving to the European Union/European Economic Association: a protocol for a suite of systematic reviews for public health and health systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Pottie, Kevin; Mayhew, Alain D; Morton, Rachael L; Greenaway, Christina; Akl, Elie A; Rahman, Prinon; Zenner, Dominik; Pareek, Manish; Tugwell, Peter; Welch, Vivian; Meerpohl, Joerg; Alonso-Coello, Pablo; Hui, Charles; Biggs, Beverley-Ann; Requena-Méndez, Ana; Agbata, Eric; Noori, Teymur; Schünemann, Holger J

2017-09-11

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control is developing evidence-based guidance for voluntary screening, treatment and vaccine prevention of infectious diseases for newly arriving migrants to the European Union/European Economic Area. The objective of this systematic review protocol is to guide the identification, appraisal and synthesis of the best available evidence on prevention and assessment of the following priority infectious diseases: tuberculosis, HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, poliomyelitis (polio), Haemophilus influenza disease, strongyloidiasis and schistosomiasis. The search strategy will identify evidence from existing systematic reviews and then update the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness evidence using prospective trials, economic evaluations and/or recently published systematic reviews. Interdisciplinary teams have designed logic models to help define study inclusion and exclusion criteria, guiding the search strategy and identifying relevant outcomes. We will assess the certainty of evidence using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. There are no ethical or safety issues. We anticipate disseminating the findings through open-access publications, conference abstracts and presentations. We plan to publish technical syntheses as GRADEpro evidence summaries and the systematic reviews as part of a special edition open-access publication on refugee health. We are following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses for Protocols reporting guideline. This protocol is registered in PROSPERO: CRD42016045798. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Copper oxide as efficient catalyst for oxidative dehydrogenation of alcohols with air

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Poreddy, Raju; Engelbrekt, Christian; Riisager, Anders

2015-01-01

The oxidative dehydrogenation of alcohols to carbonyl compounds was studied using CuO nanoparticle catalysts prepared by solution synthesis in buffered media. CuO nanoparticles synthesized in N-cyclohexyl- 3-aminopropanesulfonic acid buffer showed high catalytic activity for the oxidation...... of benzylic, alicyclic and unsaturated alcohols to their corresponding carbonyl compounds with excellent selectivities. The observed trend in activity for conversion of substituted alcohols suggested a β-H elimination step to be involved, thus enabling a possible reaction mechanism for oxidative...... dehydrogenation of benzyl alcohols to be proposed. The use of CuO as an inexpensive and efficient heterogeneous catalyst under aerobic conditions provides a new noble metal-free and green reaction protocol for carbonyl compound synthesis....

Determination of the exercise intensity that elicits maximal fat oxidation in individuals with obesity.

Science.gov (United States)

Dandanell, Sune; Præst, Charlotte Boslev; Søndergård, Stine Dam; Skovborg, Camilla; Dela, Flemming; Larsen, Steen; Helge, Jørn Wulff

2017-04-01

Maximal fat oxidation (MFO) and the exercise intensity that elicits MFO (Fat Max ) are commonly determined by indirect calorimetry during graded exercise tests in both obese and normal-weight individuals. However, no protocol has been validated in individuals with obesity. Thus, the aims were to develop a graded exercise protocol for determination of Fat Max in individuals with obesity, and to test validity and inter-method reliability. Fat oxidation was assessed over a range of exercise intensities in 16 individuals (age: 28 (26-29) years; body mass index: 36 (35-38) kg·m -2 ; 95% confidence interval) on a cycle ergometer. The graded exercise protocol was validated against a short continuous exercise (SCE) protocol, in which Fat Max was determined from fat oxidation at rest and during 10 min of continuous exercise at 35%, 50%, and 65% of maximal oxygen uptake. Intraclass and Pearson correlation coefficients between the protocols were 0.75 and 0.72 and within-subject coefficient of variation (CV) was 5 (3-7)%. A Bland-Altman plot revealed a bias of -3% points of maximal oxygen uptake (limits of agreement: -12 to 7). A tendency towards a systematic difference (p = 0.06) was observed, where Fat Max occurred at 42 (40-44)% and 45 (43-47)% of maximal oxygen uptake with the graded and the SCE protocol, respectively. In conclusion, there was a high-excellent correlation and a low CV between the 2 protocols, suggesting that the graded exercise protocol has a high inter-method reliability. However, considerable intra-individual variation and a trend towards systematic difference between the protocols reveal that further optimization of the graded exercise protocol is needed to improve validity.

Dual watermarking scheme for secure buyer-seller watermarking protocol

Science.gov (United States)

Mehra, Neelesh; Shandilya, Madhu

2012-04-01

A buyer-seller watermarking protocol utilize watermarking along with cryptography for copyright and copy protection for the seller and meanwhile it also preserve buyers rights for privacy. It enables a seller to successfully identify a malicious seller from a pirated copy, while preventing the seller from framing an innocent buyer and provide anonymity to buyer. Up to now many buyer-seller watermarking protocols have been proposed which utilize more and more cryptographic scheme to solve many common problems such as customer's rights, unbinding problem, buyer's anonymity problem and buyer's participation in the dispute resolution. But most of them are infeasible since the buyer may not have knowledge of cryptography. Another issue is the number of steps to complete the protocols are large, a buyer needs to interact with different parties many times in these protocols, which is very inconvenient for buyer. To overcome these drawbacks, in this paper we proposed dual watermarking scheme in encrypted domain. Since neither of watermark has been generated by buyer so a general layman buyer can use the protocol.

Reading the Kyoto Protocol. Ethical aspects of the convention on climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vermeersch, E.; Weiler, R.; Petrella, R.; Krause, F.; Sachs, W.; Zwart, H.; Keulartz, J.

2005-01-01

The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by urging the international community to take measures preventing 'dangerous man-made interference with the climate system'. Since its publication in 1997, the Kyoto Protocol has triggered heated debates among scientists and politicians. According to a number of critics, the questions as to whether global warming is caused by human intervention, and whether taking appropriate measures could reduce the trend, has not yet been conclusively answered. In a limited number of countries, this situation has led to a delay in the ratification process. Only when these disputes were settled in February 2005 the Kyoto Protocol became legally binding on all the signatories. If predictions are accurate, measures have to be taken to prevent a global catastrophe. This leads to another, much overlooked, but no less important question, namely how mankind can be motivated to accept the burden attached to the measures proposed by the Kyoto Protocol; in other words, how do we find and formulate an ethical basis for measures forcing us to sacrifice some of our wealth and riches, for a cleaner, more sustainable world?

Quantitative combination of natural anti-oxidants prevents metabolic syndrome by reducing oxidative stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Mingjing; Zhao, Zhen; Lv, Pengyu; Li, YuFang; Gao, Juntao; Zhang, Michael; Zhao, Baolu

2015-12-01

Insulin resistance and abdominal obesity are present in the majority of people with the metabolic syndrome. Antioxidant therapy might be a useful strategy for type 2 diabetes and other insulin-resistant states. The combination of vitamin C (Vc) and vitamin E has synthetic scavenging effect on free radicals and inhibition effect on lipid peroxidation. However, there are few studies about how to define the best combination of more than three anti-oxidants as it is difficult or impossible to test the anti-oxidant effect of the combination of every concentration of each ingredient experimentally. Here we present a math model, which is based on the classical Hill equation to determine the best combination, called Fixed Dose Combination (FDC), of several natural anti-oxidants, including Vc, green tea polyphenols (GTP) and grape seed extract proanthocyanidin (GSEP). Then we investigated the effects of FDC on oxidative stress, blood glucose and serum lipid levels in cultured 3T3-L1 adipocytes, high fat diet (HFD)-fed rats which serve as obesity model, and KK-ay mice as diabetic model. The level of serum malondialdehyde (MDA) in the treated rats was studied and Hematoxylin-Eosin (HE) staining or Oil red slices of liver and adipose tissue in the rats were examined as well. FDC shows excellent antioxidant and anti-glycation activity by attenuating lipid peroxidation. FDC determined in this investigation can become a potential solution to reduce obesity, to improve insulin sensitivity and be beneficial for the treatment of fat and diabetic patients. It is the first time to use the math model to determine the best ratio of three anti-oxidants, which can save much more time and chemical materials than traditional experimental method. This quantitative method represents a potentially new and useful strategy to screen all possible combinations of many natural anti-oxidants, therefore may help develop novel therapeutics with the potential to ameliorate the worldwide metabolic

Citrus flavanones prevent systemic inflammation and ameliorate oxidative stress in C57BL/6J mice fed high-fat diet.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferreira, Paula S; Spolidorio, Luis C; Manthey, John A; Cesar, Thais B

2016-06-15

The flavanones hesperidin, eriocitrin and eriodictyol were investigated for their prevention of the oxidative stress and systemic inflammation caused by high-fat diet in C57BL/6J mice. The mice received a standard diet (9.5% kcal from fat), high-fat diet (45% kcal from fat) or high-fat diet supplemented with hesperidin, eriocitrin or eriodictyol for a period of four weeks. Hesperidin, eriocitrin and eriodictyol increased the serum total antioxidant capacity, and restrained the elevation of interleukin-6 (IL-6), macrophage chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), and C-reactive protein (hs-CRP). In addition, the liver TBARS levels and spleen mass (g per kg body weight) were lower for the flavanone-treated mice than in the unsupplemented mice. Eriocitrin and eriodictyol reduced TBARS levels in the blood serum, and hesperidin and eriodictyol also reduced fat accumulation and liver damage. The results showed that hesperidin, eriocitrin and eriodictyol had protective effects against inflammation and oxidative stress caused by high-fat diet in mice, and may therefore prevent metabolic alterations associated with the development of cardiovascular diseases in other animals.

BRCA1 and Oxidative Stress

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yi, Yong Weon; Kang, Hyo Jin [Department of Oncology, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20057 (United States); Bae, Insoo, E-mail: ib42@georgetown.edu [Department of Oncology, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20057 (United States); Department of Radiation Medicine, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20057 (United States)

2014-04-03

The breast cancer susceptibility gene 1 (BRCA1) has been well established as a tumor suppressor and functions primarily by maintaining genome integrity. Genome stability is compromised when cells are exposed to oxidative stress. Increasing evidence suggests that BRCA1 regulates oxidative stress and this may be another mechanism in preventing carcinogenesis in normal cells. Oxidative stress caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) is implicated in carcinogenesis and is used strategically to treat human cancer. Thus, it is essential to understand the function of BRCA1 in oxidative stress regulation. In this review, we briefly summarize BRCA1’s many binding partners and mechanisms, and discuss data supporting the function of BRCA1 in oxidative stress regulation. Finally, we consider its significance in prevention and/or treatment of BRCA1-related cancers.

Apricot melanoidins prevent oxidative endothelial cell death by counteracting mitochondrial oxidation and membrane depolarization.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Annalisa Cossu

Full Text Available The cardiovascular benefits associated with diets rich in fruit and vegetables are thought to be due to phytochemicals contained in fresh plant material. However, whether processed plant foods provide the same benefits as unprocessed ones is an open question. Melanoidins from heat-processed apricots were isolated and their presence confirmed by colorimetric analysis and browning index. Oxidative injury of endothelial cells (ECs is the key step for the onset and progression of cardiovascular diseases (CVD, therefore the potential protective effect of apricot melanoidins on hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative mitochondrial damage and cell death was explored in human ECs. The redox state of cytoplasmic and mitochondrial compartments was detected by using the redox-sensitive, fluorescent protein (roGFP, while the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP was assessed with the fluorescent dye, JC-1. ECs exposure to hydrogen peroxide, dose-dependently induced mitochondrial and cytoplasmic oxidation. Additionally detected hydrogen peroxide-induced phenomena were MMP dissipation and ECs death. Pretreatment of ECs with apricot melanoidins, significantly counteracted and ultimately abolished hydrogen peroxide-induced intracellular oxidation, mitochondrial depolarization and cell death. In this regard, our current results clearly indicate that melanoidins derived from heat-processed apricots, protect human ECs against oxidative stress.

Tachikawa project for prevention of posttraumatic stress disorder with polyunsaturated fatty acid (TPOP): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Matsuoka, Yutaka; Nishi, Daisuke; Yonemoto, Naohiro; Hamazaki, Kei; Matsumura, Kenta; Noguchi, Hiroko; Hashimoto, Kenji; Hamazaki, Tomohito

2013-01-05

Preclinical and clinical studies suggest that supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids after trauma might reduce subsequent posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). To date, we have shown in an open trial that PTSD symptoms in critically injured patients can be reduced by taking omega-3 fatty acids, hypothesized to stimulate hippocampal neurogenesis. The primary aim of the present randomized controlled trial is to examine the efficacy of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation in the secondary prevention of PTSD following accidental injury, as compared with placebo. This paper describes the rationale and protocol of this trial. The Tachikawa Project for Prevention of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder with Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid (TPOP) is a double-blinded, parallel group, randomized controlled trial to assess whether omega-3 fatty acid supplementation can prevent PTSD symptoms among accident-injured patients consecutively admitted to an intensive care unit. We plan to recruit accident-injured patients and follow them prospectively for 12 weeks. Enrolled patients will be randomized to either the omega-3 fatty acid supplement group (1,470 mg docosahexaenoic acid and 147 mg eicosapentaenoic acid daily) or placebo group. Primary outcome is score on the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS). We will need to randomize 140 injured patients to have 90% power to detect a 10-point difference in mean CAPS scores with omega-3 fatty acid supplementation compared with placebo. Secondary measures are diagnosis of PTSD and major depressive disorder, depressive symptoms, physiologic response in the experiment using script-driven imagery and acoustic stimulation, serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor, health-related quality of life, resilience, and aggression. Analyses will be by intent to treat. The trial was initiated on December 13 2008, with 104 subjects randomized by November 30 2012. This study promises to be the first trial to provide a novel prevention strategy for PTSD among

Cynodon dactylon extract as a preventive and curative agent in experimentally induced nephrolithiasis.

Science.gov (United States)

Atmani, F; Sadki, C; Aziz, M; Mimouni, M; Hacht, B

2009-04-01

Cynodon dactylon (Poaceae family) decoction was used in the treatment of kidney stones. However, no scientific study was undertaken so far to demonstrate the beneficial effect of the plant. Thus, the aim of the current study is to evaluate the effect of Cynodon aqueous extract as a preventive and curative agent in experimentally induced nephrolithiasis in a rat model. Ethylene glycol (EG) was used in the experiment to induce calcium oxalate (CaOx) deposition into kidneys. In preventive protocol, Cynodon decoction was administered in the same day with EG to evaluate the ability of the extract to prevent crystal deposition. However, in curative protocol, rats were first rendered nephrolithiasic and then the extract was administered to assess the ability of the plant to eliminate the pre-existing crystal deposition. In both protocols, urinary biochemical and other variables were measured during the course of the study. Crystalluria and renal histology were examined as well. The results showed that, in both protocols, all measured variables were similar for both the rat groups. Nevertheless, urinary biochemical analysis was apparently unaffected by the extract except oxalate in preventive protocol, and calcium, sodium, and potassium in curative protocol which were significantly highly excreted in treated rats compared to untreated animals. Crystalluria was characterized mostly by the presence of large quantities of CaOx monohydrate and CaOx dihydrate particles in untreated rats. However, crystalluria was mainly dominated by the presence of CaOx dihydrate particles with reduced size. The most apparent beneficial effect of Cynodon extract was seen in kidney tissues where reduced levels of CaOx deposition have been noticed especially in medullary and papillary sections from treated rats. We concluded that C. dactylon extract has beneficial effect in preventing and eliminating CaOx deposition into kidneys. Such findings provide a scientific explanation for its use in the

Protocol for a randomised controlled trial of treatment of asymptomatic candidiasis for the prevention of preterm birth [ACTRN12610000607077

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rickard Kristen R

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Prevention of preterm birth remains one of the most important challenges in maternity care. We propose a randomised trial with: a simple Candida testing protocol that can be easily incorporated into usual antenatal care; a simple, well accepted, treatment intervention; and assessment of outcomes from validated, routinely-collected, computerised databases. Methods/Design Using a prospective, randomised, open-label, blinded-endpoint (PROBE study design, we aim to evaluate whether treating women with asymptomatic vaginal candidiasis early in pregnancy is effective in preventing spontaneous preterm birth. Pregnant women presenting for antenatal care The study protocol draws on the usual antenatal care schedule, has been pilot-tested and the intervention involves only a minor modification of current practice. Women who agree to participate will self-collect a vaginal swab and those who are culture positive for Candida will be randomised (central, telephone to open-label treatment or usual care (screening result is not revealed, no treatment, routine antenatal care. Outcomes will be obtained from population databases. A sample size of 3,208 women with Candida colonisation (1,604 per arm is required to detect a 40% reduction in the spontaneous preterm birth rate among women with asymptomatic candidiasis from 5.0% in the control group to 3.0% in women treated with clotrimazole (significance 0.05, power 0.8. Analyses will be by intention to treat. Discussion For our hypothesis, a placebo-controlled trial had major disadvantages: a placebo arm would not represent current clinical practice; knowledge of vaginal colonisation with Candida may change participants' behaviour; and a placebo with an alcohol preservative may have an independent affect on vaginal flora. These disadvantages can be overcome by the PROBE study design. This trial will provide definitive evidence on whether screening for and treating asymptomatic candidiasis in

Preventing Errors in Laterality

OpenAIRE

Landau, Elliot; Hirschorn, David; Koutras, Iakovos; Malek, Alexander; Demissie, Seleshie

2014-01-01

An error in laterality is the reporting of a finding that is present on the right side as on the left or vice versa. While different medical and surgical specialties have implemented protocols to help prevent such errors, very few studies have been published that describe these errors in radiology reports and ways to prevent them. We devised a system that allows the radiologist to view reports in a separate window, displayed in a simple font and with all terms of laterality highlighted in sep...

Treatment of silymarin, a plant flavonoid, prevents ultraviolet light-induced immune suppression and oxidative stress in mouse skin.

Science.gov (United States)

Katiyar, Santosh K

2002-12-01

It is well documented that ultraviolet (UV) light-induced immune suppression and oxidative stress play an important role in the induction of skin cancers. Earlier, we have shown that topical treatment of silymarin, a plant flavonoid from milk thistle (Silybum marianum L. Gaertn.), to mouse skin prevents photocarcinogenesis, but the preventive mechanism of photocarcinogenesis in vivo animal system by silymarin is not well defined and understood. To define the mechanism of prevention, we employed immunostaining, analytical assays and ELISA which revealed that topical treatment of silymarin (1 mg/cm2 skin area) to C3H/HeN mice inhibits UVB (90 mJ/cm2)-induced suppression of contact hypersensitivity (CHS) response to contact sensitizer dinitrofluorobenzene. Prevention of UVB-induced suppression of CHS by silymarin was found to be associated with the inhibition of infiltrating leukocytes, particularly CD11b+ cell type, and myeloperoxidase activity (50-71%). Silymarin treatment also resulted in significant reduction of UVB-induced immunosuppressive cytokine interleukin-10 producing cells and its production (58-72%, pskin cancer risk human population and ii) development of sunscreen containing silymarin as an antioxidant (chemopreventive agent) or silymarin can be supplemented in skin care products.

Mangifera indica L. extract (Vimang) and its main polyphenol mangiferin prevent mitochondrial oxidative stress in atherosclerosis-prone hypercholesterolemic mouse.

Science.gov (United States)

Pardo-Andreu, Gilberto L; Paim, Bruno A; Castilho, Roger F; Velho, Jesus A; Delgado, René; Vercesi, Anibal E; Oliveira, Helena C F

2008-05-01

Atherosclerosis is linked to a number of oxidative events ranging from low-density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation to the increased production of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). We have recently demonstrated that liver mitochondria isolated from the atherosclerosis-prone hypercholesterolemic LDL receptor knockout (LDLr(-/-)) mice have lower content of NADP(H)-linked substrates than the controls and, as consequence, higher sensitivity to oxidative stress and mitochondrial membrane permeability transition (MPT). In the present work, we show that oral supplementation with the antioxidants Mangifera indica L. extract (Vimang) or its main polyphenol mangiferin shifted the sensitivity of LDLr(-/-) liver mitochondria to MPT to control levels. These in vivo treatments with Vimang and mangiferin also significantly reduced ROS generation by both isolated LDLr(-/-) liver mitochondria and spleen lymphocytes. In addition, these antioxidant treatments prevented mitochondrial NAD(P)H-linked substrates depletion and NADPH spontaneous oxidation. In summary, Vimang and mangiferin spared the endogenous reducing equivalents (NADPH) in LDLr(-/-) mice mitochondria correcting their lower antioxidant capacity and restoring the organelle redox homeostasis. The effective bioavailability of these compounds makes them suitable antioxidants with potential use in atherosclerosis susceptible conditions.

The preparation of Drosophila embryos for live-imaging using the hanging drop protocol.

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, Bruce H; McMillan, Stephanie C; Chaudhary, Roopali

2009-03-13

Green fluorescent protein (GFP)-based timelapse live-imaging is a powerful technique for studying the genetic regulation of dynamic processes such as tissue morphogenesis, cell-cell adhesion, or cell death. Drosophila embryos expressing GFP are readily imaged using either stereoscopic or confocal microscopy. A goal of any live-imaging protocol is to minimize detrimental effects such as dehydration and hypoxia. Previous protocols for preparing Drosophila embryos for live-imaging analysis have involved placing dechorionated embryos in halocarbon oil and sandwiching them between a halocarbon gas-permeable membrane and a coverslip. The introduction of compression through mounting embryos in this manner represents an undesirable complication for any biomechanical-based analysis of morphogenesis. Our method, which we call the hanging drop protocol, results in excellent viability of embryos during live imaging and does not require that embryos be compressed. Briefly, the hanging drop protocol involves the placement of embryos in a drop of halocarbon oil that is suspended from a coverslip, which is, in turn, fixed in position over a humid chamber. In addition to providing gas exchange and preventing dehydration, this arrangement takes advantage of the buoyancy of embryos in halocarbon oil to prevent them from drifting out of position during timelapse acquisition. This video describes in detail how to collect and prepare Drosophila embryos for live imaging using the hanging drop protocol. This protocol is suitable for imaging dechorionated embryos using stereomicroscopy or any upright compound fluorescence microscope.

Alpha B-crystallin prevents the arrhythmogenic effects of particulate matter isolated from ambient air by attenuating oxidative stress

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Hyelim [The Division of Cardiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Brain Korea 21 Project for Medical Science, Yonsei University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Park, Sanghoon; Jeon, Hyunju [The Division of Cardiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Song, Byeong-Wook [The Division of Cardiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Brain Korea 21 Project for Medical Science, Yonsei University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Jin-Bae [Division of Cardiology, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Chang-Soo [The Department of Preventive Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Pak, Hui-Nam [The Division of Cardiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Hwang, Ki-Chul [The Division of Cardiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Brain Korea 21 Project for Medical Science, Yonsei University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Moon-Hyoung [The Division of Cardiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Chung, Ji Hyung, E-mail: jhchung@yuhs.ac [The Division of Cardiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Joung, Boyoung, E-mail: cby6908@yuhs.ac [The Division of Cardiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Brain Korea 21 Project for Medical Science, Yonsei University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2013-01-15

Ca{sup 2+}/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is activated by particulate matter (PM) isolated from ambient air and linked to prolonged repolarization and cardiac arrhythmia. We evaluated whether alpha B-crystallin (CryAB), a heat shock protein, could prevent the arrhythmogenic effects of PM by preventing CaMKII activation. CryAB was delivered into cardiac cells using a TAT-protein transduction domain (TAT-CryAB). ECGs were measured before and after tracheal exposure of diesel exhaust particles (DEP) and each intervention in adult Sprague–Dawley rats. After endotracheal exposure of DEP (200 μg/mL for 30 minutes, n = 11), QT intervals were prolonged from 115 ± 14 ms to 144 ± 20 ms (p = 0.03), and premature ventricular contractions were observed more frequently (0% vs. 44%) than control (n = 5) and TAT-Cry (n = 5). However, DEP-induced arrhythmia was not observed in TAT-CryAB (1 mg/kg) pretreated rats (n = 5). In optical mapping of Langendorff-perfused rat heats, compared with baseline, DEP infusion of 12.5 μg/mL (n = 12) increased apicobasal action potential duration (APD) differences from 2 ± 6 ms to 36 ± 15 ms (p < 0.001), APD restitution slope from 0.26 ± 0.07 to 1.19 ± 0.11 (p < 0.001) and ventricular tachycardia (VT) from 0% to 75% (p < 0.001). DEP infusion easily induced spatially discordant alternans. However, the effects of DEP were prevented by TAT-CryAB (1 mg/kg, n = 9). In rat myocytes, while DEP increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and phosphated CaMKII, TAT-CryAB prevented these effects. In conclusion, CryAB, a small heat shock protein, might prevent the arrhythmogenic effects of PM by attenuating ROS generation and CaMKII activation. -- Highlights: ► Particulate matter (PM) increases arrhythmia. ► PM induced arrhythmias are related with oxidative stress and CaMKII activation. ► Alpha B-crystallin (CryAB) could attenuate the arrhythmogenic effect of PM. ► CryAB decreases oxidative stress and CaMKII activation

Protocol for systematic review of school-based interventions to prevent and control obesity in African learners.

Science.gov (United States)

Adom, Theodosia; Puoane, Thandi; De Villiers, Anniza; Kengne, André Pascal

2017-03-27

The increasing prevalence of obesity and overweight in childhood in developing countries is a public health concern to many governments. Schools play a significant role in the obesity epidemic as well as provide favourable environments for change in behaviours in childhood which can be carried on into adulthood. There is dearth of information on intervention studies in poor-resource settings. This review will summarise the available evidence on school-based interventions that focused on promoting healthy eating and physical activity among learners aged 6-15 years in Africa and to identify factors that lead to successful interventions or potential barriers to success of these programmes within the African context. This protocol is developed following the guidelines of PRIMSA-P 2015. Relevant search terms and keywords generated from the subject headings and the African search filter will be used to conduct a comprehensive search of MEDLINE (PubMed), MEDLINE (EbscoHost), CINAHL (EbscoHost), Register Academic Search Complete (EbscoHost) and ISI Web of Science (Science Citation Index) for published literature on school-based interventions to prevent and control obesity in learners in Africa. Grey literature will be also be obtained. The searches will cover 1 January 2000 to 30 June 2016. No language limitations will be applied. Full-text articles of eligible studies will be screened. Risk of bias and quality of reporting will be assessed. Data will be extracted, synthesised and presented by country and major regional groupings. Meta-analysis will be conducted for identical variables across studies, where data allow. This protocol is developed following the guidelines of PRISMA-P 2015. No primary data will be collected hence ethics is not a requirement. The findings will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals, in conferences and in policy documents for decision-making, where needed. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use

Supplementation with different teas from Camellia sinensis prevents memory deficits and hippocampus oxidative stress in ischemia-reperfusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Martins, Alexandre; Schimidt, Helen L; Garcia, Alexandre; Colletta Altermann, Caroline Dalla; Santos, Francielli W; Carpes, Felipe P; da Silva, Weber Cláudio; Mello-Carpes, Pâmela B

2017-09-01

Memory and cognition impairments resultant of ischemic stroke could be minimized or avoided by antioxidant supplementation. In this regard, the neuroprotective potential of Green tea from Camellia sinensis has been investigated. However, there is a lack of information regarding the neuroprotective potential of others teas processed from the Camellia sinensis. Here we investigate the neuroprotective role of green, red, white and black tea on memory deficits and brain oxidative stress in a model of ischemic stroke in rats. Our findings show that green and red teas prevent deficits in object and social recognition memories, but only green tea protects against deficits in spatial memory and avoids hippocampal oxidative status and intense necrosis and others alterations in the brain tissue. In summary, green tea shows better neuroprotection in ischemic stroke than the others teas from Camellia sinensis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Disinfection protocols for necropsy equipment in rabies laboratories: Safety of personnel and diagnostic outcome.

Science.gov (United States)

Aiello, Roberta; Zecchin, Barbara; Tiozzo Caenazzo, Silvia; Cattoli, Giovanni; De Benedictis, Paola

2016-08-01

In the last decades, molecular techniques have gradually been adopted for the rapid confirmation of results obtained through gold standard methods. However, international organisations discourage their use in routine laboratory investigations for rabies post-mortem diagnosis, as they may lead to false positive results due to cross-contamination. Cleaning and disinfection are essential to prevent cross-contamination of samples in the laboratory environment. The present study evaluated the efficacy of selected disinfectants on rabies-contaminated necropsy equipment under organic challenge using a carrier-based test. The occurrence of detectable Rabies virus (RABV) antigen, viable virus and RNA was assessed through the gold standard Fluorescent Antibody Test, the Rabies Tissue Culture Infection Test and molecular techniques, respectively. None of the tested disinfectants proved to be effective under label conditions. Off label disinfection protocols were found effective for oxidizing agents and phenolic, only. Biguanide and quaternary ammonium compound were both ineffective under all tested conditions. Overall, discordant results were obtained when different diagnostic tests were compared, which means that in the presence of organic contamination common disinfectants may not be effective enough on viable RABV or RNA. Our results indicate that an effective disinfection protocol should be carefully validated to guarantee staff safety and reliability of results. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Lithium ameliorates sleep deprivation-induced mania-like behavior, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis alterations, oxidative stress and elevations of cytokine concentrations in the brain and serum of mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Valvassori, Samira S; Resende, Wilson R; Dal-Pont, Gustavo; Sangaletti-Pereira, Heron; Gava, Fernanda F; Peterle, Bruna R; Carvalho, André F; Varela, Roger B; Dal-Pizzol, Felipe; Quevedo, João

2017-06-01

The goal of the present study was to investigate the effects of lithium administration on behavior, oxidative stress parameters and cytokine levels in the periphery and brain of mice subjected to an animal model of mania induced by paradoxical sleep deprivation (PSD). Male C57 mice were treated with saline or lithium for 7 days. The sleep deprivation protocol started on the 5th day during for the last 36 hours of the treatment period. Immediately after the sleep deprivation protocol, animals locomotor activity was evaluated and serum and brain samples was extracted to evaluation of corticosterone and adrenocorticotropic hormone circulating levels, oxidative stress parameters and citokynes levels. The results showed that PSD induced hyperactivity in mice, which is considered a mania-like behavior. PSD increased lipid peroxidation and oxidative damage to DNA, as well as causing alterations to antioxidant enzymes in the frontal cortex, hippocampus and serum of mice. In addition, PSD increased the levels of cytokines in the brains of mice. Treatment with lithium prevented the mania-like behavior, oxidative damage and cytokine alterations induced by PSD. Improving our understanding of oxidative damage in biomolecules, antioxidant mechanisms and the inflammatory system - alterations presented in the animal models of mania - is important in helping us to improve our knowledge concerning the pathophysiology of BD, and the mechanisms of action employed by mood stabilizers. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Antibiotic prophylaxis in orthopedic surgeries: the results of an implemented protocol

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raquel Queiroz

Full Text Available Though the basic principles of antibiotic prophylaxis have been well established, there is still considerable incorrect usage, including how much is prescribed and especially in the duration of treatment, which is generally superior to what is indicated. The adequate use of these drugs contributes towards decreasing the time of internment of the patient, prevents surgical site infection (SSI, decreasing the development of resistant microorganisms, and towards reduced costs for the hospital pharmacy. A protocol for the use of antibiotic prophylaxis in the Orthopedics and Traumatology Service of the Hospital do Servidor Público Estadual de São Paulo was developed. The objectives of the study were to promote rational antibiotic surgical prophylaxis, through the implantation of a protocol for the use of these drugs in a surgical unit, with the direct contribution of a druggist in collaboration with the Infection Control Committee, to evaluate the adhesion of the health team to the protocol during three distinct periods (daily pre-protocol, early post-protocol and late post-protocol and to define the consumption of antimicrobials used, measured as daily defined dose.

Protocol for a randomised controlled trial investigating the effectiveness of an online e health application for the prevention of Generalised Anxiety Disorder

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kenardy Justin

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD is a highly prevalent psychiatric disorder. Effective prevention in young adulthood has the potential to reduce the prevalence of the disorder, to reduce disability and lower the costs of the disorder to the community. The present trial (the WebGAD trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an evidence-based online prevention website for GAD. Methods/Design The principal clinical question under investigation is the effectiveness of an online GAD intervention (E-couch using a community-based sample. We examine whether the effect of the intervention can be maximised by either human support, in the form of telephone calls, or by automated support through emails. The primary outcome will be a reduction in symptoms on the GAD-7 in the active arms relative to the non active intervention arms. Discussion The WebGAD trial will be the first to evaluate the use of an internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT program contrasted with a credible control condition for the prevention of GAD and the first formal RCT evaluation of a web-based program for GAD using community recruitment. In general, internet-based CBT programs have been shown to be effective for the treatment of other anxiety disorders such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Social Phobia, Panic Disorder and stress in clinical trials; however there is no evidence for the use of internet CBT in the prevention of GAD. Given the severe shortage of therapists identified in Australia and overseas, and the low rates of treatment seeking in those with a mental illness, the successful implementation of this protocol has important practical outcomes. If found to be effective, WebGAD will provide those experiencing GAD with an easily accessible, free, evidence-based prevention tool which can be promoted and disseminated immediately. Trial Registration Controlled-trials.com: ISRCTN76298775

Mobile Health Technology (mDiab) for the Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Muralidharan, Shruti; Mohan, Viswanathan; Anjana, Ranjit Mohan; Jena, Sidhant; Tandon, Nikhil; Allender, Steven; Ranjani, Harish

2017-12-12

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is increasing in epidemic proportions in low- and middle-income countries. There is an urgent need for novel methods to tackle the increasing incidence of diabetes. The ubiquity of mobile phone use and access to Internet makes mobile health (mHealth) technology a viable tool to prevent and manage diabetes. The objective of this randomized controlled trial is to implement and evaluate the feasibility, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability of a reality television-based lifestyle intervention program. This intervention program is delivered via a mobile phone app (mDiab) to approximately 1500 Android smartphone users who are adults at a high risk for type 2 diabetes from three cities in India, namely, Chennai, Bengaluru, and New Delhi. The mDiab intervention would be delivered via a mobile phone app along with weekly coach calls for 12 weeks. Each participant will go through a maintenance phase of 6 to 8 months post intervention. Overall, there would be 3 testing time points in the study: baseline, post intervention, and the end of follow-up. The app will enable individuals to track their weight, physical activity, and diet alongside weekly video lessons on type 2 diabetes prevention. The study outcomes are weight loss (primary measure of effectiveness); improvement in cardiometabolic risk factors (ie, waist circumference, blood pressure, glucose, insulin, and lipids); and improvement in physical activity, quality of life, and dietary habits. Sustainability will be assessed through focus group discussions. If successful, mDiab can be used as a model for translational and implementation research in the use of mHealth technology for diabetes prevention and may be further expanded for the prevention of other noncommunicable diseases such as hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. Clinical Trials Registry of India CTRI/2015/07/006011 http://ctri.nic.in/Clinicaltrials/pdf_generate.php? trialid=11841 (Archived by WebCite at http

Protocol compliance of administering parenteral medication in Dutch hospitals: an evaluation and cost-estimation of the implementation.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schilp, J.; Boot, S.; Blok, C. de; Spreeuwenberg, P.; Wagner, C.

2014-01-01

Objectives: Preventable adverse drug events (ADEs) are closely related to administration processes of parenteral medication. The Dutch Patient Safety Program provided a protocol for administering parenteral medication to reduce the amount of ADEs. The execution of the protocol was evaluated and a

(SalenMn(III Catalyzed Asymmetric Epoxidation Reactions by Hydrogen Peroxide in Water: A Green Protocol

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesco Paolo Ballistreri

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Enantioselective epoxidation reactions of some chosen reactive alkenes by a chiral Mn(III salen catalyst were performed in H2O employing H2O2 as oxidant and diethyltetradecylamine N-oxide (AOE-14 as surfactant. This procedure represents an environmentally benign protocol which leads to e.e. values ranging from good to excellent (up to 95%.

High Temperature Oxidation Behavior of Zirconium Alloy with Nano structured Oxide Layer in Air Environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Y. J.; Kim, J. W.; Park, J. W.; Cho, S. O.

2016-01-01

If the temperature of the cladding materials increases above 1000 .deg. C, which can be caused by a loss of coolant accident (LOCA), Zr becomes an auto-oxidation catalyst and hence produces a huge amount of hydrogen gas from water. Therefore, many investigations are being carried out to prevent (or reduce) the hydrogen production from Zr-based cladding materials in the nuclear reactors. Our team has developed an anodization technique by which nanostructured oxide can be formed on various flat metallic elements such as Al, Ti, and Zr-based alloy. Anodization is a simple electrochemical technique and requires only a power supply and an electrolyte. In this study, Zr-based alloys with nanostructured oxide layers were oxidized by using Thermogravimetry analysis (TGA) and compared with the pristine one. It reveals that the nanostructured oxide layer can prevent oxidation of substrate metal in air. Oxidation behavior of the pristine Zr-Nb-Sn alloy and the Zr-Nb-Sn alloy with nanostructured oxide layer evaluated by measuring weight gain (TGA). In comparison with the pristine Zr-Nb-Sn alloy, weight gain of the Zr-Nb-Sn alloy with nanostructured oxide layer is lower than 10% even for 12 hours oxidation in air.

Neuropeptide Y stimulation as primary target for preventive measures of maladaptative cardiovascular reactions in occupational chronic stress exposure.

Science.gov (United States)

Ciumaşu-Rîmbu, Mălina; Popa, Livia; Vulpoi, Carmen

2012-01-01

Chronic stress may produce a decrease in central NPY expression and subjects exposed to it may prove hypersensitivity to a novel stressor with dysfunctions in the NPY system and cardiovascular maladaptation to stress, even hypertension. Upregulation of NPY expression may contribute to successful behavioral adaptation to stress by reducing cardiovascular tone and suppressing anxious behaviors. Adaptogens, a new class of metabolic regulators stimulate NPY expression and release. The aim of this study is to increase tolerance and adaptation to stress of hypersensitive to novel stressor, occupational chronic stress exposed subjects with cardiovascular maladaptation to mild new stressor using adaptogens as part of prevention protocol. 40 military personnel with known cardiostressor reactional mode and occupational chronic stress exposure were exposed to mild novel stressor: occupational medicine routine evaluation and clinically assessed for maladaptative cardiovascular response prior and before application of 30 day prevention protocol. Employees were randomly split in two groups, one receiving standard prevention protocol (lifestyle counseling) plus adaptogens in multiple dose administration, twice daily and the other receiving only standard prevention protocol. We found significant statistic differences in all cardiovascular parameters in adaptogen group and only in diastolic blood pressure in control group. Adaptogens could be an important factor in successful prevention protocols of chronic occupational stress dysfunctions involving NPY systems.

Solid Oxide Cell and Stack Testing, Safety and Quality Assurance (SOCTESQA)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Auer, C.; Lang, M.; Couturier, K.

2015-01-01

In the EU-funded project “SOCTESQA” partners from Europe and Singapore are working together to develop uniform and industry wide test procedures and protocols for solid oxide cells and stacks SOC cell/stack assembly. New application fields which are based on the operation of the SOC cell/stack as......In the EU-funded project “SOCTESQA” partners from Europe and Singapore are working together to develop uniform and industry wide test procedures and protocols for solid oxide cells and stacks SOC cell/stack assembly. New application fields which are based on the operation of the SOC cell...

Avaliação da utilização de protocolos na prevenção de úlceras por pressão Evaluation of the use of protocols in the prevention of pressure ulcers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rosilene Alves de Almeida

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Introdução: A úlcera por pressão é um problema de saúde que repercute com elevados custos e consequências biopsicossociais sobre os portadores. Para reduzir sua incidência, protocolos de prevenção são utilizados, sendo importante enfatizar o impacto desta estratégia sobre as práticas de saúde e na qualidade de vida do paciente. Objetivo: Este artigo objetiva revisar o impacto da utilização de protocolos de prevenção de úlcera por pressão sobre sua incidência e na assistência. Materiais e Métodos: O estudo é de revisão sistemática fundamentado em publicações disponíveis em meio eletrônico. Foram selecionados 07 trabalhos, do período de 2002 a 2010, encontrados nas bases de dados Medline, Lilacs, IBECS e Cochrane, utilizando os descritores “úlcera por pressão ou úlcera de pressão ou escara de decúbito e protocolo”. Resultados: Três estudos mostraram redução da incidência de úlcera por pressão de 23 para 5%, 60 para 15%, 43 para 28%, com relato de eficácia do protocolo em 79% dos pacientes. Outros revelaram incidências de 0,2 e 2,77% após aplicação do protocolo. Incidências de 23,5 e 25,8% foram verificadas em unidades intensivas após o uso de protocolos. Ademais, a adoção de protocolos para prevenção de úlcera por pressão é uma decisão estratégica eficaz, que além de diminuir a incidência, otimiza recursos, melhora a qualidade da assistência, fortalece as práticas assistenciais. Conclusão: Os protocolos promovem impactos positivos sobre a prevenção das úlceras por pressão e a qualidade de vida das pessoas, sendo um recurso essencial para um cuidado humanizado pautado nas necessidades de saúde.Introduction: Pressure ulcer is a medical condition that involves high costs and biopsychosocial consequences for the patients. Prevention protocols have been used to reduce pressure ulcers incidence, and it is important to emphasize the impact of this strategy on the health care

Development and implementation of intranasal naloxone opioid overdose response protocol at a homeless health clinic.

Science.gov (United States)

Dahlem, Chin Hwa Y; Horstman, Molly J; Williams, Brent C

2016-01-01

To describe the development, implementation, and preliminary evaluation of Opioid Overdose Response Protocol using intranasal (IN) naloxone in a homeless shelter. Opioid Overdose Response Protocol and training curriculum were developed using the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Opioid Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution (OEND) flow chart, the American Heart Association (AHA) simplified adult basic life support algorithm, and resources through Harms Reduction Coalition. Intranasal naloxone offers a safe and effective method for opioid reversal. To combat the rising incidence of opioid overdose, IN naloxone should be made available at homeless shelters and other facilities with high frequency of opioid overdose, including the training of appropriate staff. This project has demonstrated the effective training and implementation of an Opioid Overdose Response Protocol, based on feedback received from cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) trained nonhealthcare staff. Nurse practitioners (NPs), with our focus on patient care, prevention, and education, are well suited to the deployment of this life-saving protocol. NPs are in critical positions to integrate opioid overdose prevention education and provide naloxone rescue kits in clinical practices. ©2015 American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

Growth and thermal oxidation of Ru and ZrO2 thin films as oxidation protective layers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Coloma Ribera, R.

2017-01-01

This thesis focuses on the study of physical and chemical processes occurring during growth and thermal oxidation of Ru and ZrO2 thin films. Acting as oxidation resistant capping materials to prevent oxidation of layers underneath, these films have several applications, i.e., in microelectronics

Antioxidant activity and prevention of pork meat lipid oxidation using traditional Mexican condiments (pasilla dry pepper, achiote, and mole sauce

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emilio Alvarez-Parrilla

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Considering the extensive use of hot peppers and spicy sauces in the Mexican cuisine, in the present paper, three widely consumed Mexican condiments (mole sauce, achiote, and pasilla hot pepper were analyzed for their total phenols, flavonoids and proanthocyanidins, antioxidant activity, and protective effect against lipid oxidation in chopped pork meat. All samples were extracted first with methanol and then with acetone, and the extracts were compared. Pasilla pepper showed the highest phenolic and flavonoid content in both solvents, followed by mole and achiote. Achiote showed the highest proanthocyanidin concentration. All samples showed high antioxidant activity, and good correlations with phenolic compounds and flavonoids, while no correlation was observed in the case of condensed tannins. Mole sauce methanolic extract showed the highest inhibition of pork meat oxidation, followed by pasilla pepper, and finally achiote paste extracts. These results suggest that these condiments are useful to prevent meat lipid oxidation during storage.

An Efficient Data-Gathering Routing Protocol for Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nadeem Javaid

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Most applications of underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs demand reliable data delivery over a longer period in an efficient and timely manner. However, the harsh and unpredictable underwater environment makes routing more challenging as compared to terrestrial WSNs. Most of the existing schemes deploy mobile sensors or a mobile sink (MS to maximize data gathering. However, the relatively high deployment cost prevents their usage in most applications. Thus, this paper presents an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV-aided efficient data-gathering (AEDG routing protocol for reliable data delivery in UWSNs. To prolong the network lifetime, AEDG employs an AUV for data collection from gateways and uses a shortest path tree (SPT algorithm while associating sensor nodes with the gateways. The AEDG protocol also limits the number of associated nodes with the gateway nodes to minimize the network energy consumption and to prevent the gateways from overloading. Moreover, gateways are rotated with the passage of time to balance the energy consumption of the network. To prevent data loss, AEDG allows dynamic data collection at the AUV depending on the limited number of member nodes that are associated with each gateway. We also develop a sub-optimal elliptical trajectory of AUV by using a connected dominating set (CDS to further facilitate network throughput maximization. The performance of the AEDG is validated via simulations, which demonstrate the effectiveness of AEDG in comparison to two existing UWSN routing protocols in terms of the selected performance metrics.

An Efficient Data-Gathering Routing Protocol for Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Javaid, Nadeem; Ilyas, Naveed; Ahmad, Ashfaq; Alrajeh, Nabil; Qasim, Umar; Khan, Zahoor Ali; Liaqat, Tayyaba; Khan, Majid Iqbal

2015-11-17

Most applications of underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) demand reliable data delivery over a longer period in an efficient and timely manner. However, the harsh and unpredictable underwater environment makes routing more challenging as compared to terrestrial WSNs. Most of the existing schemes deploy mobile sensors or a mobile sink (MS) to maximize data gathering. However, the relatively high deployment cost prevents their usage in most applications. Thus, this paper presents an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV)-aided efficient data-gathering (AEDG) routing protocol for reliable data delivery in UWSNs. To prolong the network lifetime, AEDG employs an AUV for data collection from gateways and uses a shortest path tree (SPT) algorithm while associating sensor nodes with the gateways. The AEDG protocol also limits the number of associated nodes with the gateway nodes to minimize the network energy consumption and to prevent the gateways from overloading. Moreover, gateways are rotated with the passage of time to balance the energy consumption of the network. To prevent data loss, AEDG allows dynamic data collection at the AUV depending on the limited number of member nodes that are associated with each gateway. We also develop a sub-optimal elliptical trajectory of AUV by using a connected dominating set (CDS) to further facilitate network throughput maximization. The performance of the AEDG is validated via simulations, which demonstrate the effectiveness of AEDG in comparison to two existing UWSN routing protocols in terms of the selected performance metrics.

A novel six consecutive monthly doses of palivizumab prophylaxis protocol for the prevention of respiratory syncytial virus infection in high-risk preterm infants in Taiwan.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hsin Chi

Full Text Available Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV circulates year round in Taiwan. A novel six consecutive monthly doses of palivizumab for RSV prevention protocol has been approved for high risk preterm infants since December 2010. This study aimed to determine the clinical effectiveness and safety of this novel protocol for the prevention of RSV infection.From April 2011 to March 2013, we enrolled infants born at ≤28 weeks gestation and infants born at ≤35 weeks gestation with chronic lung disease (CLD who received palivizumab prophylaxis as study group and followed up for 12 months. Historic control, those who were born and followed up between July 2000 and June 2008, were retrieved for propensity score matching. Primary endpoint was RSV-related hospitalization, and secondary endpoints included the length of hospital stay and intensive care unit (ICU care.We enrolled 127 infants (108 infants born at ≤28 weeks and 19 infants born at 29-35 weeks with CLD. They completed 6-dose palivizumab as scheduled. Among the study group, the RSV-related hospitalizations were 2 (1.6% within 6 months and 5 (3.9% within 12 months after discharge. We matched 127 infants in the control group with 127 infants in the study group by propensity score matching. The reduction of RSV-related hospitalization rates were 86% (10.2% vs 1.6%, p = 0.002 within 6 months after discharge and 78% (15.7% vs 3.9%, p = 0.004 within 12 months after discharge. Compared to the control group, the rate of ICU care significantly decreased from 7.1% to 0.8% (p = 0.024 within 6 months after discharge and from 7.9% to 0.8% (p = 0.014 within 12 months after discharge. Adverse events were recorded in 6.4% injections.Six monthly intramuscular administration of palivizumab is effective for prevention of RSV hospitalization in regions with no single seasonal peak of RSV infection such as Taiwan.

Increasing fall risk awareness using wearables: A fall risk awareness protocol.

Science.gov (United States)

Danielsen, Asbjørn; Olofsen, Hans; Bremdal, Bernt Arild

2016-10-01

Each year about a third of elderly aged 65 or older experience a fall. Many of these falls may have been avoided if fall risk assessment and prevention tools where available in a daily living situation. We identify what kind of information is relevant for doing fall risk assessment and prevention using wearable sensors in a daily living environment by investigating current research, distinguishing between prospective and context-aware fall risk assessment and prevention. Based on our findings, we propose a fall risk awareness protocol as a fall prevention tool integrating both wearables and ambient sensing technology into a single platform. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Electrosynthesis of Biomimetic Manganese-Calcium Oxides for Water Oxidation Catalysis--Atomic Structure and Functionality.

Science.gov (United States)

González-Flores, Diego; Zaharieva, Ivelina; Heidkamp, Jonathan; Chernev, Petko; Martínez-Moreno, Elías; Pasquini, Chiara; Mohammadi, Mohammad Reza; Klingan, Katharina; Gernet, Ulrich; Fischer, Anna; Dau, Holger

2016-02-19

Water-oxidizing calcium-manganese oxides, which mimic the inorganic core of the biological catalyst, were synthesized and structurally characterized by X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the manganese and calcium K edges. The amorphous, birnesite-type oxides are obtained through a simple protocol that involves electrodeposition followed by active-site creation through annealing at moderate temperatures. Calcium ions are inessential, but tune the electrocatalytic properties. For increasing calcium/manganese molar ratios, both Tafel slopes and exchange current densities decrease gradually, resulting in optimal catalytic performance at calcium/manganese molar ratios of close to 10 %. Tracking UV/Vis absorption changes during electrochemical operation suggests that inactive oxides reach their highest, all-Mn(IV) oxidation state at comparably low electrode potentials. The ability to undergo redox transitions and the presence of a minor fraction of Mn(III) ions at catalytic potentials is identified as a prerequisite for catalytic activity. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Investigations of botanicals on food intake, satiety, weight loss and oxidative stress: study protocol of a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study.

Science.gov (United States)

Anton, Stephen D; Shuster, Jonathan; Leeuwenburgh, Christiaan

2011-11-01

Botanicals represent an important and underexplored source of potential new therapies that may facilitate caloric restriction and thereby may produce long-term weight loss. In particular, one promising botanical that may reduce food intake and body weight by affecting neuroendocrine pathways related to satiety is hydroxycitric acid (HCA) derived from Garcinia cambogia Desr. The objective of this article is to describe the protocol of a clinical trial designed to directly test the effects of Garcinia cambogia-derived HCA on food intake, satiety, weight loss and oxidative stress levels, and to serve as a model for similar trials. A total of 48 healthy, overweight or obese individuals (with a body mass index range of 25.0 to 39.9 kg/m(2)) between the ages of 50 to 70 will participate in this double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study designed to examine the effects of two doses of Garcinia cambogia-derived HCA on food intake, satiety, weight loss, and oxidative stress levels. Food intake represents the primary outcome measure and is calculated based on the total calories consumed at breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals during each test meal day. This study can be completed with far fewer subjects than a parallel design. Of the numerous botanical compounds, the compound Garcinia cambogia-derived HCA is selected for testing in the present study because of its potential to safely reduce food intake, body weight, and oxidative stress levels. We will review potential mechanisms of action and safety parameters throughout this clinical trial. ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT01238887).

A novel tandem Betti/Ullmann oxidation reaction as an efficient route ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Betti reaction; cross-coupling reaction; oxidation; heterogeneous catalysis. Abstract. A novel tandem Betti/Ullmann/oxidation reaction was used for synthesis of new oxazepine derivatives containing kojic acid. This protocol ... This method provides a new and useful strategy for the construction of heterocycles. Also novel Betti ...

Performance Analysis of the Mobile IP Protocol (RFC 3344 and Related RFCS)

Science.gov (United States)

2006-12-01

field of 9 identifies the ICMP message as an adverstisement . Code Mobile IP home agents and foreign agents use the value of 16 to prevent any nodes...ANALYSIS OF THE MOBILE IP PROTOCOL (RFC 3344 AND RELATED RFCS) by Chin Chin Ng December 2006 Thesis Co-Advisors: George W. Dinolt J. D...December 2006 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED Master’s Thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Performance Analysis of the Mobile IP Protocol (RFC 3344 and

Debate - Achievements of the Trafficking Protocol: Perspectives from the former UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons

OpenAIRE

Joy N Ezeilo

2015-01-01

The United Nations (UN) Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, 2000 (Trafficking Protocol), is a watershed in galvanising the global movement against human trafficking. Thanks to the Protocol, international and regional bodies, along with civil society groups, have become involved in researching the issue and supporting anti-trafficking efforts; and states have begun...

Network Based Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems in IP-Level Security Protocols

OpenAIRE

R. Kabila

2008-01-01

IPsec has now become a standard information security technology throughout the Internet society. It provides a well-defined architecture that takes into account confidentiality, authentication, integrity, secure key exchange and protection mechanism against replay attack also. For the connectionless security services on packet basis, IETF IPsec Working Group has standardized two extension headers (AH&ESP), key exchange and authentication protocols. It is also working on l...

Preventive effect of the flavonoid, quercetin, on hepatic cancer in rats via oxidant/antioxidant activity: molecular and histological evidences

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Seufi AlaaEddeen M

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma is increasing in many countries. The estimated number of new cases annually is over 500,000, and the yearly incidence comprises between 2.5 and 7% of patients with liver cirrhosis. The incidence varies between different geographic areas, being higher in developing areas; males are predominantly affected, with a 2:3 male/female ratio Methods Experiments were designed to examine the effect of N-Nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA as cancer-inducer compound and to confirm the preventive effect of the flavonoid quercetin on hepatocellular carcinoma in rats. Briefly, thirty six male albino rats of Wistar strain were divided into 3 groups: the 1st group was administered NDEA alone (NDEA-treated, the 2nd group was treated simultaneously with NDEA and quercetin (NDEA+Q and the 3rd group was used as control (CON. Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA polymerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR as well as p53-specifi PCR assays were employed to determine genomic difference between treated, and control animals. Histological confirmation as well as oxidant/antioxidant status of the liver tissue was done. Results RAPD analysis of liver samples generated 8 monomorphic bands and 22 polymorphic bands in a total of 30-banded RAPD patterns. Cluster analysis and statistical analyses of RAPD data resulted in grouping control and NDEA+Q samples in the same group with 80% similarity cut-off value. NDEA-treated samples were clustered in a separate group. Specific PCR assay for polymorphism of P53 gene revealed a uniform pattern of allele separation in both control and NDEA+Q samples. Quercetin anticancer effect was exhibited in significant decrease of oxidative stress and significant decrease of antioxidant activity. Histopathological studies showed normal liver histology of the NDEA+Q samples. Meanwhile, several cancer-induced features were clearly observable in NDEA-treated samples. Conclusion This paper demonstrated that

The monoterpene terpinolene from the oil of Pinus mugo L. in concert with alpha-tocopherol and beta-carotene effectively prevents oxidation of LDL.

Science.gov (United States)

Grassmann, J; Hippeli, S; Spitzenberger, R; Elstner, E F

2005-06-01

Antioxidants from several nutrients, e.g. vitamin E, beta-carotene, or flavonoids, inhibit the oxidative modification of low-density lipoproteins. This protective effect could possibly retard atherogenesis and in consequence avoid coronary heart diseases. Some studies have shown a positive effect of those antioxidants on cardiovascular disease. Another class of naturally occurring antioxidants are terpenoids, which are found in essential oils. The essential oil of Pinus mugo and the contained monoterpene terpinolene effectively prevent low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-oxidation. In order to test the mechanism by which terpinolene protects LDL from oxidation, LDL from human blood plasma enriched in terpinolene was isolated. In this preparation not only the lipid part of LDL is protected against copper-induced oxidation--as proven by following the formation of conjugated dienes, but also the oxidation of the protein part is inhibited, since loss of tryptophan fluorescence is strongly delayed. This inhibition is due to a retarded oxidation of intrinsic carotenoids of LDL, and not, as in the case of some flavonoids, attributable to a protection of intrinsic alpha-tocopherol. These results are in agreement with our previous results, which showed the same effects for a monoterpene from lemon oil, i.e. gamma-terpinene.

Design and implementation of a field pilot study on using coal fly ash to prevent oxidation of reactive mine tailings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, H.L.; Shang, J.Q.; Xu, Y.Q.; Yanful, E.K.

2009-01-01

This paper reported on a pilot scale study that investigated the feasibility of using coal fly ash in mine tailings management and acid mine drainage (AMD) treatment at Goldcorp's Musselwhite Mine site in northern Ontario. The principles and key aspects of the fly ash application in mine tailings management were described. Fly ash from the Atikokan coal-fired power generating plant was added to the Musselwhite tailings as a mixture as well as intermediate and top layers. The physical, chemical and hydrogeological effects of the two approaches were monitored. The paper provided details of the design, implementation, monitoring, sampling and testing over 2 years. The objectives were to evaluate the optimum mass ratio of coal fly ash and mine tailings, effectiveness in reducing the infiltration of precipitation, and projected long-term durability and performance on tailings oxidation prevention. The pilot study was designed based on the principles of cementitious materials formation and secondary mineral formation by the reactions of coal fly ash and water/AMD. Calcium oxide, aluminum oxide, silicon oxide, and ferric oxide are major components of coal fly ash. The preliminary test results revealed that water did not accumulate and cracks did not form on top of 4 tanks. The settlements of the mixing approaches were lower than that of the stratified approach and the temperature distributions in the 4 tanks were comparable. 9 refs., 3 tabs., 11 figs.

Peroxometal-mediated oxidation of bromine leading to ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Administrator

Peroxometal-mediated oxidation of bromine leading to environmentally favourable protocol for selective bromination of organic substrates: Implications for vanadium bromo peroxidase (VBrPO). SIDDHARTHA D DHAR and MIHIR K CHAUDHURI. Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology,. Guwahati 781 001 ...

Determination of the exercise intensity that elicits maximal fat oxidation in individuals with obesity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Sune Dandanell; Præst, Charlotte Boslev; Søndergård, Stine Dam

2017-01-01

. The graded exercise protocol was validated against a short continuous exercise (SCE) protocol, in which FatMax was determined from fat oxidation at rest and during 10-min continuous exercise at 35, 50 and 65% of maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max). Intraclass and Pearson correlation coefficients between......2max with the graded and the SCE protocol, respectively. In conclusion, there was a high-excellent correlation and a low CV between the two protocols, suggesting that the graded exercise protocol has a high inter-method reliability. However, considerable intra-individual variation and a trend...

A Security plan for LMOs - concentrated on environmental policy of Biosafety Protocol

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Yong Ha [Korea Environment Institute, Seoul (Korea)

1998-12-01

Biotechnology industry in Korea is raised by the national support. Also, Korea imports 70% of entire agricultural products. Considering the present situation in Korea, signing a Biosafety Protocol is necessary to prevent harm by LMOs and to protect associated biotechnological industry. Therefore, the problems on signing Biosafety Protocol were analyzed and the environmental policy to be pursued was proposed. This study result will be a cornerstone to prepare a definite environmental policy by government. 54 refs., 7 figs., 27 tabs.

Grape Seed Proanthocyanidin Extract Prevents Ovarian Aging by Inhibiting Oxidative Stress in the Hens

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Xingting Liu

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Oxidative stress is an important inducement in ovarian aging which results in fecundity decline in human and diverse animals. As a potent antioxidant, grape seed proanthocyanidin extract (GSPE was investigated to ameliorate chicken ovarian aging in this study. Firstly, ovarian antioxidant capacity of hens at different ages (90, 150, 280, and 580 days old was compared to elucidate its age-related changes. Subsequently, a D-gal-induced (2.5 mg/mL aging ovarian model was established and the cultured ovarian tissues were treated with GSPE at 5 μg/mL for 72 h to evaluate the putative attenuating effects of GSPE on ovarian aging. Meanwhile, ovaries of D280 (young and D580 (old were treated with GSPE for 72 h in culture to verify the protective effects of GSPE on natural aging ovary. The results showed that GSPE could rescue the antioxidant capacity decline by increasing the antioxidase activities and their gene expression in either D-gal-induced or natural aging ovaries. Moreover, GSPE could maintain the homeostasis between cell proliferation and apoptosis in the D-gal-induced and natural aging ovaries, as well as alleviate D-gal-induced nucleus chromatin condensation in the ovarian granulosa cells. In conclusion, GSPE treatment can effectively prevent the ovarian aging process in hens by reducing oxidative stress.

Dietary Berries and Ellagic Acid Prevent Oxidative DNA Damage and Modulate Expression of DNA Repair Genes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ramesh C. Gupta

2008-03-01

Full Text Available DNA damage is a pre-requisite for the initiation of cancer and agents that reduce this damage are useful in cancer prevention. In this study, we evaluated the ability of whole berries and berry phytochemical, ellagic acid to reduce endogenous oxidative DNA damage. Ellagic acid was selected based on > 95% inhibition of 8-oxodeoxyguosine (8-oxodG and other unidentified oxidative DNA adducts induced by 4-hydroxy-17B;-estradiol and CuCl2 in vitro. Inhibition of the latter occurred at lower concentrations (10 u(microM than that for 8-oxodG (100 u(microM. In the in vivo study, female CD-1 mice (n=6 were fed either a control diet or diet supplemented with ellagic acid (400 ppm and dehydrated berries (5% w/w with varying ellagic acid contents -- blueberry (low, strawberry (medium and red raspberry (high, for 3 weeks. Blueberry and strawberry diets showed moderate reductions in endogenous DNA adducts (25%. However, both red raspberry and ellagic acid diets showed a significant reduction of 59% (p < 0.001 and 48% (p < 0.01, respectively. Both diets also resulted in a 3-8 fold over-expression of genes involved in DNA repair such as xeroderma pigmentosum group A complementing protein (XPA, DNA excision repair protein (ERCC5 and DNA ligase III (DNL3. These results suggest that red raspberry and ellagic acid reduce endogenous oxidative DNA damage by mechanisms which may involve increase in DNA repair.

P-02: Echocardiography Has Low Clinical Efficacy of Libyan Screening Protocol in Athletes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Salaheddin Sharif

2017-03-01

Full Text Available INTRODUCTIONPre-participation screening has been largely accepted as a means to identify those athletes at risk of cardiovascular diseases which are responsible for sudden cardiac death. The objectives of athlete screening are to reduce injuries and prevent sudden. However, there is no single commonly adopted protocol to screen athletes. Although the European Society of Cardiology and the American Heart Association recommend the routine screening of athletes to prevent sudden death, there is significant disagreement regarding use 12 lead ECG. FIFA has recommend the inclusion of an Echocardiography (ECHO in screening protocol.PURPOSEExplore the debate regarding differences between European and the USA pre-participation screening protocol for sudden death while also considering pre-competition medical assessment protocol used by the Libyan Football Federation. To provide evidence based recommendations on the best protocol to be used for pre-participation screening, and thus to standardize the screening method.MATERIALS and METHOD1236 male athletic received a medical history, general physical examination, cardiovascular and musculoskeletal examination, 12 lead ECG, blood laboratory test, and echocardiography.FINDINGS1235 athletics were found to be eligible to participate in sport and were given a full medical clearance. One athletic was diagnosed with second degree heart block by ECG while his medical history, physical examination, echocardiograph, and blood test were normal.DISCUSSIONEchocardiography alone do did not identify pathological condition and using echocardiography is still controversial and clinically not effective in young athletesCONCLUSIONThe Screening protocol should include a combination of medical history, physical examination and ECG due to the high sensitivity found, and thus it was able to identify all athletes at risk for the disease.

Falls prevention among older people and care providers: protocol for an integrative review

OpenAIRE

Cuesta Benjumea, Carmen de la; Henriques, Maria Adriana; Abad Corpa, Eva; Roe, Brenda; Orts-Cortés, María Isabel; Lidón-Cerezuela, Beatriz; Avendaño-Céspedes, Almudena; Oliver-Carbonell, José Luis; Sánchez Ardila, Carmen

2017-01-01

Aim. To review the evidence about the role of care providers in fall prevention in older adults aged ≥ 65 years, this includes their views, strategies, and approaches on falls prevention and effectiveness of nursing interventions. Background. Some fall prevention programmes are successfully implemented and led by nurses and it is acknowledged the vital role they play in developing plans for fall prevention. Nevertheless, there has not been a systematic review of the literature that describes ...

Statins Increase Mitochondrial and Peroxisomal Fatty Acid Oxidation in the Liver and Prevent Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis in Mice

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Han-Sol Park

2016-04-01

Full Text Available BackgroundNon-alcoholic fatty liver disease is the most common form of chronic liver disease in industrialized countries. Recent studies have highlighted the association between peroxisomal dysfunction and hepatic steatosis. Peroxisomes are intracellular organelles that contribute to several crucial metabolic processes, such as facilitation of mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation (FAO and removal of reactive oxygen species through catalase or plasmalogen synthesis. Statins are known to prevent hepatic steatosis and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH, but underlying mechanisms of this prevention are largely unknown.MethodsSeven-week-old C57BL/6J mice were given normal chow or a methionine- and choline-deficient diet (MCDD with or without various statins, fluvastatin, pravastatin, simvastatin, atorvastatin, and rosuvastatin (15 mg/kg/day, for 6 weeks. Histological lesions were analyzed by grading and staging systems of NASH. We also measured mitochondrial and peroxisomal FAO in the liver.ResultsStatin treatment prevented the development of MCDD-induced NASH. Both steatosis and inflammation or fibrosis grades were significantly improved by statins compared with MCDD-fed mice. Gene expression levels of peroxisomal proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα were decreased by MCDD and recovered by statin treatment. MCDD-induced suppression of mitochondrial and peroxisomal FAO was restored by statins. Each statin's effect on increasing FAO and improving NASH was independent on its effect of decreasing cholesterol levels.ConclusionStatins prevented NASH and increased mitochondrial and peroxisomal FAO via induction of PPARα. The ability to increase hepatic FAO is likely the major determinant of NASH prevention by statins. Improvement of peroxisomal function by statins may contribute to the prevention of NASH.

A Push-pull Protocol to Reduce Colonization of Bird Nest Boxes by Honey Bees.

Science.gov (United States)

Efstathion, Caroline A; Kern, William H

2016-09-04

Introduction of the invasive Africanized honey bee (AHB) into the Neotropics is a serious problem for many cavity nesting birds, specifically parrots. These bees select cavities that are suitable nest sites for birds, resulting in competition. The difficulty of removing bees and their defensive behavior makes a prevention protocol necessary. Here, we describe a push-pull integrated pest management protocol to deter bees from inhabiting bird boxes by applying a bird safe insecticide, permethrin, to repel bees from nest boxes, while simultaneously attracting them to pheromone-baited swarm traps. Shown here is an example experiment using Barn Owl nest boxes. This protocol successfully reduced colonization of Barn Owl nest boxes by Africanized honey bees. This protocol is flexible, allowing adjustments to accommodate a wide range of bird species and habitats. This protocol could benefit conservation efforts where AHB are located.

Lycopene Prevents Amyloid [Beta]-Induced Mitochondrial Oxidative Stress and Dysfunctions in Cultured Rat Cortical Neurons.

Science.gov (United States)

Qu, Mingyue; Jiang, Zheng; Liao, Yuanxiang; Song, Zhenyao; Nan, Xinzhong

2016-06-01

Brains affected by Alzheimer's disease (AD) show a large spectrum of mitochondrial alterations at both morphological and genetic level. The causal link between β-amyloid (Aβ) and mitochondrial dysfunction has been established in cellular models of AD. We observed previously that lycopene, a member of the carotenoid family of phytochemicals, could counteract neuronal apoptosis and cell damage induced by Aβ and other neurotoxic substances, and that this neuroprotective action somehow involved the mitochondria. The present study aims to investigate the effects of lycopene on mitochondria in cultured rat cortical neurons exposed to Aβ. It was found that lycopene attenuated Aβ-induced oxidative stress, as evidenced by the decreased intracellular reactive oxygen species generation and mitochondria-derived superoxide production. Additionally, lycopene ameliorated Aβ-induced mitochondrial morphological alteration, opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pores and the consequent cytochrome c release. Lycopene also improved mitochondrial complex activities and restored ATP levels in Aβ-treated neuron. Furthermore, lycopene prevented mitochondrial DNA damages and improved the protein level of mitochondrial transcription factor A in mitochondria. Those results indicate that lycopene protects mitochondria against Aβ-induced damages, at least in part by inhibiting mitochondrial oxidative stress and improving mitochondrial function. These beneficial effects of lycopene may account for its protection against Aβ-induced neurotoxicity.

Combined chemical-biological treatment for prevention/rehabilitation of clogged wells by an iron-oxidizing bacterium.

Science.gov (United States)

Gino, Efrat; Starosvetsky, Jeanna; Kurzbaum, Eyal; Armon, Robert

2010-04-15

Groundwater wells containing large concentrations of ferrous iron face serious clogging problems as a result of biotic iron oxidation. Following a short time after their start off, wells get clogged, and their production efficiency drop significantly up to a total obstruction, making cleanup and rehabilitation an economic burden. The present study was undertaken to test an experimental combined treatment (chemical and biological) for future prevention or rehabilitation of clogged wells. Sphaerotilus natans (an iron-oxidizing bacterium) freshly isolated from a deep well was grown to form biofilms on two systems: coupons and sand buried miniature wedge wire screen baskets. A combined chemical-biological treatment, applied at laboratory scale by use of glycolic acid (2%) and isolated bacteriophages against Sphaerotilus natans (SN1 and ER1-a newly isolated phage) at low multiplicity of infection (MOI), showed inhibition of biofilm formation and inactivation of the contaminant bacteria. In addition to complete inactivation of S. natans planktonic bacteria by the respective phages, earlier biofilm treatment with reduced glycolic acid concentration revealed efficient exopolysaccharide (EPS) digestion allowing phages to be increasingly efficient against biofilm matrix bacteria. Utilization of this combined treatment revealed clean surfaces of a model stainless steel wedge wire screen baskets (commonly used in wells) for up to 60 days.

Multiple low-dose radiation prevents type 2 diabetes-induced renal damage through attenuation of dyslipidemia and insulin resistance and subsequent renal inflammation and oxidative stress.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Minglong Shao

Full Text Available Dyslipidemia and lipotoxicity-induced insulin resistance, inflammation and oxidative stress are the key pathogeneses of renal damage in type 2 diabetes. Increasing evidence shows that whole-body low dose radiation (LDR plays a critical role in attenuating insulin resistance, inflammation and oxidative stress.The aims of the present study were to investigate whether LDR can prevent type 2 diabetes-induced renal damage and the underlying mechanisms.Mice were fed with a high-fat diet (HFD, 40% of calories from fat for 12 weeks to induce obesity followed by a single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ, 50 mg/kg to develop a type 2 diabetic mouse model. The mice were exposed to LDR at different doses (25, 50 and 75 mGy for 4 or 8 weeks along with HFD treatment. At each time-point, the kidney weight, renal function, blood glucose level and insulin resistance were examined. The pathological changes, renal lipid profiles, inflammation, oxidative stress and fibrosis were also measured.HFD/STZ-induced type 2 diabetic mice exhibited severe pathological changes in the kidney and renal dysfunction. Exposure of the mice to LDR for 4 weeks, especially at 50 and 75 mGy, significantly improved lipid profiles, insulin sensitivity and protein kinase B activation, meanwhile, attenuated inflammation and oxidative stress in the diabetic kidney. The LDR-induced anti-oxidative effect was associated with up-regulation of renal nuclear factor E2-related factor-2 (Nrf-2 expression and function. However, the above beneficial effects were weakened once LDR treatment was extended to 8 weeks.These results suggest that LDR exposure significantly prevented type 2 diabetes-induced kidney injury characterized by renal dysfunction and pathological changes. The protective mechanisms of LDR are complicated but may be mainly attributed to the attenuation of dyslipidemia and the subsequent lipotoxicity-induced insulin resistance, inflammation and oxidative stress.

Protocols development for security and privacy of radio frequency identification systems

Science.gov (United States)

Sabbagha, Fatin

There are benefits to adopting radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, although there are methods of attack that can compromise the system. This research determined how that may happen and what possible solutions can keep that from happening. Protocols were developed to implement better security. In addition, new topologies were developed to handle the problems of the key management. Previously proposed protocols focused on providing mutual authentication and privacy between readers and tags. However, those protocols are still vulnerable to be attacked. These protocols were analyzed and the disadvantages shown for each one. Previous works assumed that the channels between readers and the servers were secure. In the proposed protocols, a compromised reader is considered along with how to prevent tags from being read by that reader. The new protocols provide mutual authentication between readers and tags and, at the same time, remove the compromised reader from the system. Three protocols are proposed. In the first protocol, a mutual authentication is achieved and a compromised reader is not allowed in the network. In the second protocol, the number of times a reader contacts the server is reduced. The third protocol provides authentication and privacy between tags and readers using a trusted third party. The developed topology is implemented using python language and simulates work to check the efficiency regarding the processing time. The three protocols are implemented by writing codes in C language and then compiling them in MSP430. IAR Embedded workbench is used, which is an integrated development environment with the C/C++ compiler to generate a faster code and to debug the microcontroller. In summary, the goal of this research is to find solutions for the problems on previously proposed protocols, handle a compromised reader, and solve key management problems.

Interventions for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases: a protocol for a systematic review of economic evaluations in low-income and middle-income countries.

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Aminde, Leopold Ndemnge; Veerman, Lennert

2016-12-21

Low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) are experiencing a growing disease burden due to cardiovascular and other chronic non-communicable diseases. Interventions for the control of these diseases are paramount; however, these countries are faced with competing health and financial needs. There is an urgent need for quality evidence on cost-effective strategies to address these chronic diseases. We aim to synthesise the current literature on economic evaluations of interventions for primary and secondary cardiovascular disease prevention in LMICs. A systematic review of studies (published and unpublished) in LMICs up to 30 October 2016 will be conducted. The following databases will be searched: PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, SCOPUS, CINAHL, Web of Science, EconLit, NHS Economic Evaluations Database (NHS EED). Data sources specific to African literature, such as the WHO AFROLIB, Africa Index Medicus and African Journals online (AJOL) as well as grey literature, will also be searched. 2 reviewers shall independently screen potential articles for inclusion and disagreements shall be resolved by consensus. Quality appraisal of studies shall be done using Drummond's checklist for economic evaluation of studies. A descriptive synthesis of the evidence obtained is planned. The primary outcomes will be costs per life years gained or unit of clinical outcome, cost per quality-adjusted life years or disability-adjusted life years. This systematic review protocol has been prepared according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-analyses for Protocols (PRISMA-P) 2015 statement. Ethics approval is not required considering that this is a protocol for a systematic review of published studies. Results from this review will be disseminated via conference presentations and peer-reviewed journal publications. CRD42016043510. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Cholesterol oxidized products in foods: potential health hazards and the role of antioxidants in prevention

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Nieto, Susana

2004-09-01

Full Text Available Cholesterol is a molecule with a double bond in its structure, and therefore it is susceptible to oxidation leading to the formation of oxysterols. These oxidation products are found in many commonly consumed foods and are formed during their manufacture and/or processing. Concern about the consumption of oxysterols arises from the potentially cytotoxic, mutagenic, atherogenic, and possibly carcinogenic effects of some of them. Eggs and egg-derived products are the main dietary sources of oxysterols. Thermally processed milk and milk-derived products are also another source of oxysterols in our diet. Fried meats, and other miscellaneous foods, such as French fried potatoes, when prepared using vegetable/animal frying oil, are another important source of oxysterols in the western diet. Efforts to prevent or to reduce cholesterol oxidation are directed to the application of antioxidants of either synthetic or natural origin. Antioxidants cannot only inhibit triglyceride oxidation, but some of them can also inhibit cholesterol oxidation. Among synthetic antioxidants, 2,6-di-ter tiarybutyl-4-methylphenol (BHT and ter tiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ , can eff icient ly inhibit the thermal-induced oxidation of cholesterol. Among natural antioxidants, alpha- and gamma-tocopherol, rosemary extracts, and flavonoid quercetin, show the strongest inhibitory action against cholesterol oxidation.El colesterol es una molécula con un doble enlace en su estructura; por lo tanto es susceptible a la oxidación y su transformación en oxiesteroles. Estos productos de oxidación se encuentran en gran diversidad de alimentos y se forman durante la manufactura y procesamiento. Algunos de los oxiesteroles son potencialmente citotóxicos, mutagénicos, aterogénicos y carcinogénicos. Los huevos y productos derivados del huevo constituyen la principal fuente en la dieta de oxiesteroles. También se encuentran oxiesteroles en derivados lácteos y leche sometida a altas

Latency correction of event-related potentials between different experimental protocols

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Iturrate, I.; Chavarriaga, R.; Montesano, L.; Minguez, J.; Millán, JdR

2014-06-01

Objective. A fundamental issue in EEG event-related potentials (ERPs) studies is the amount of data required to have an accurate ERP model. This also impacts the time required to train a classifier for a brain-computer interface (BCI). This issue is mainly due to the poor signal-to-noise ratio and the large fluctuations of the EEG caused by several sources of variability. One of these sources is directly related to the experimental protocol or application designed, and may affect the amplitude or latency of ERPs. This usually prevents BCI classifiers from generalizing among different experimental protocols. In this paper, we analyze the effect of the amplitude and the latency variations among different experimental protocols based on the same type of ERP. Approach. We present a method to analyze and compensate for the latency variations in BCI applications. The algorithm has been tested on two widely used ERPs (P300 and observation error potentials), in three experimental protocols in each case. We report the ERP analysis and single-trial classification. Main results. The results obtained show that the designed experimental protocols significantly affect the latency of the recorded potentials but not the amplitudes. Significance. These results show how the use of latency-corrected data can be used to generalize the BCIs, reducing the calibration time when facing a new experimental protocol.

Improvement of pressure ulcer prevention care in private for-profit residential care homes: an action research study.

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Kwong, Enid Wy; Hung, Maria Sy; Woo, Kevin

2016-11-25

A need exits to develop a protocol for preventing pressure ulcers (PUs) in private for-profit nursing homes in Hong Kong, where the incidence of PUs is relatively high and which have high proportion of non-professional care staff. The implementation of such protocol would involve changes in the practice of care, likely evoking feelings of fear and uncertainty that may become a barrier to staff adherence. We thus adopted the Systems Model of Action Research in this study to manage the process of change for improving PU prevention care and to develop a pressure ulcer prevention protocol for private for-profit nursing homes. A total of 474 residents and care staff who were health workers, personal care workers, and/or nurses from four private, for-profit nursing homes in Hong Kong participated in this study. Three cyclic stages and steps, namely, unfreezing (planning), changing (action), and refreezing (results) were carried out. During each cycle, focus group interviews, field observations of the care staff's practices and inspections of the skin of the residents for pressure ulcers were conducted to evaluate the implementation of the protocol. Qualitative content analysis was adopted to analyse the data. The data and methodological triangulation used in this study increased the credibility and validity of the results. The following nine themes emerged from this study: prevention practices after the occurrence of PUs, the improper use of pressure ulcer prevention materials, non-compliance with several prevention practices, improper prevention practices, the perception that the preventive care was being performed correctly, inadequate readiness to use the risk assessment tool, an undesirable environment, the supplying of unfavorable resources, and various management styles in the homes with or without nurses. At the end of the third cycle, the changes that were identified included improved compliance with the revised risk assessment method, the timely and appropriate

Translational study of obesity management using the Diabetes Prevention Program "Group Lifestyle Balance" in primary care clinics and public hospitals from Mexico: study protocol

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Rolando Giovanni Díaz-Zavala

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Obesity is the main modifiable risk factor for the development of chronic diseases in Mexico. Several randomized controlled trials have shown that intensive lifestyle programs are efficacious for the management of obesity. These programs include frequent sessions (14 or more contacts in the first 6 months focused on diet and physical activity and use a behavior change protocol. However, most Mexican primary care clinics and public hospitals apply traditional treatments for obesity management with limited results on weight loss. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP “Group Lifestyle Balance” for weight loss among adults with overweight and obesity from baseline to 6 months and from baseline to 12 months in primary care clinics and public hospitals from Sonora, Mexico. Material and Methods: This is a translational, multi-center, non-controlled, 6 and 12-month follow-up clinical study with a pre-test and post-test design. Healthcare providers from two primary care clinics, two hospitals and one university clinic will be trained with the DPP protocol to implement on their patients with overweight and obesity. Body weight, body mass index, waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, depression, quality of life and stress scales will be measured in participants receiving the program at baseline, 6 and 12 months. Biochemical parameters will be measured at baseline and 12 months. The primary outcome is the change in body weight at 6 and 12 months. Discussion: This study will provide scientific evidence of the effectiveness of the DPP protocol as a model for obesity management in real world clinical practice among the adult Mexican population.

Complementation of biotransformations with chemical C-H oxidation: copper-catalyzed oxidation of tertiary amines in complex pharmaceuticals.

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Genovino, Julien; Lütz, Stephan; Sames, Dalibor; Touré, B Barry

2013-08-21

The isolation, quantitation, and characterization of drug metabolites in biological fluids remain challenging. Rapid access to oxidized drugs could facilitate metabolite identification and enable early pharmacology and toxicity studies. Herein, we compared biotransformations to classical and new chemical C-H oxidation methods using oxcarbazepine, naproxen, and an early compound hit (phthalazine 1). These studies illustrated the low preparative efficacy of biotransformations and the inability of chemical methods to oxidize complex pharmaceuticals. We also disclose an aerobic catalytic protocole (CuI/air) to oxidize tertiary amines and benzylic CH's in drugs. The reaction tolerates a broad range of functionalities and displays a high level of chemoselectivity, which is not generally explained by the strength of the C-H bonds but by the individual structural chemotype. This study represents a first step toward establishing a chemical toolkit (chemotransformations) that can selectively oxidize C-H bonds in complex pharmaceuticals and rapidly deliver drug metabolites.

Desensitization to clopidogrel: a tailor-made protocol.

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Barreira, P; Cadinha, S; Malheiro, D; Moreira da Silva, J P

2014-01-01

Clopidogrel is an antiplatelet drug widely used for treatment and prevention of a variety of cardiovascular diseases. We report a successful desensitization to clopidogrel in a 70-year-old Caucasian man with delayed hypersensitivity (HS) reaction. He developed lip, hand and foot swelling, erythematous papular non-pruritic lesions and arthralgias 2 weeks after starting treatment with clopidogrel 75 mg/d. A 3-hour desensitization protocol was started, achieving a cumulative dose of 154 mg without any reaction, and a daily dose of 75 mg was recommended. On the 4th day, the patient developed skin lesions similar to the previously described. He was treated with topical steroids and oral antihistamines, and the daily dose of clopidogrel was reduced to 20 mg. A new desensitization protocol was established, with a slow dose increment, according to the patient's response. It was only possible to achieve the dose of 75 mg/d after 2 months. Although well tolerated by most patients, HS reactions with clopidogrel may occur and desensitization is rising as a safe alternative in those patients. In delayed reactions with cutaneous lesions, a slower desensitization protocol may be necessary, as in this case.

Development and validation of a remote home safety protocol.

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Romero, Sergio; Lee, Mi Jung; Simic, Ivana; Levy, Charles; Sanford, Jon

2018-02-01

Environmental assessments and subsequent modifications conducted by healthcare professionals can enhance home safety and promote independent living. However, travel time, expense and the availability of qualified professionals can limit the broad application of this intervention. Remote technology has the potential to increase access to home safety evaluations. This study describes the development and validation of a remote home safety protocol that can be used by a caregiver of an elderly person to video-record their home environment for later viewing and evaluation by a trained professional. The protocol was developed based on literature reviews and evaluations from clinical and content experts. Cognitive interviews were conducted with a group of six caregivers to validate the protocol. The final protocol included step-by-step directions to record indoor and outdoor areas of the home. The validation process resulted in modifications related to safety, clarity of the protocol, readability, visual appearance, technical descriptions and usability. Our final protocol includes detailed instructions that a caregiver should be able to follow to record a home environment for subsequent evaluation by a home safety professional. Implications for Rehabilitation The results of this study have several implications for rehabilitation practice The remote home safety evaluation protocol can potentially improve access to rehabilitation services for clients in remote areas and prevent unnecessary delays for needed care. Using our protocol, a patient's caregiver can partner with therapists to quickly and efficiently evaluate a patient's home before they are released from the hospital. Caregiver narration, which reflects a caregiver's own perspective, is critical to evaluating home safety. In-home safety evaluations, currently not available to all who need them due to access barriers, can enhance a patient's independence and provide a safer home environment.

Preventive evidence into practice (PEP study: implementation of guidelines to prevent primary vascular disease in general practice protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial

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Harris Mark F

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background There are significant gaps in the implementation and uptake of evidence-based guideline recommendations for cardiovascular disease (CVD and diabetes in Australian general practice. This study protocol describes the methodology for a cluster randomised trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a model that aims to improve the implementation of these guidelines in Australian general practice developed by a collaboration between researchers, non-government organisations, and the profession. Methods We hypothesise that the intervention will alter the behaviour of clinicians and patients resulting in improvements of recording of lifestyle and physiological risk factors (by 20% and increased adherence to guideline recommendations for: the management of CVD and diabetes risk factors (by 20%; and lifestyle and physiological risk factors of patients at risk (by 5%. Thirty-two general practices will be randomised in a 1:1 allocation to receive either the intervention or continue with usual care, after stratification by state. The intervention will be delivered through: small group education; audit of patient records to determine preventive care; and practice facilitation visits adapted to the needs of the practices. Outcome data will be extracted from electronic medical records and patient questionnaires, and qualitative evaluation from provider and patient interviews. Discussion We plan to disseminate study findings widely and directly inform implementation strategies by governments, professional bodies, and non-government organisations including the partner organisations.

Smart Traffic Management Protocol Based on VANET architecture

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Amilcare Francesco Santamaria

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Nowadays one of the hottest theme in wireless environments research is the application of the newest technologies to road safety problems and traffic management exploiting the (VANET architecture. In this work, a novel protocol that aims to achieve a better traffic management is proposed. The overal system is able to reduce traffic level inside the city exploiting inter-communication among vehicles and support infrastructures also known as (V2V and (V2I communications. We design a network protocol called (STMP that takes advantages of IEEE 802.11p standard. On each road several sensors system are placed and they are responsible of monitoring. Gathered data are spread in the network exploiting ad-hoc protocol messages. The increasing knowledge about environment conditions make possible to take preventive actions. Moreover, having a realtime monitoring of the lanes it is possible to reveal roads and city blocks congestions in a shorter time. An external entity to the (VANET is responsible to manage traffic and rearrange traffic along the lanes of the city avoiding huge traffic levels.

Design and implementation of a field pilot study on using coal fly ash to prevent oxidation of reactive mine tailings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, H.L.; Shang, J.Q.; Xu, Y.Q.; Yanful, E.K. [Western Ontario Univ., London, ON (Canada). Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Hmidi, N. [Goldcorp Inc., Musselwhite Mine, Thunder Bay, ON (Canada)

2009-07-01

This paper reported on a pilot scale study that investigated the feasibility of using coal fly ash in mine tailings management and acid mine drainage (AMD) treatment at Goldcorp's Musselwhite Mine site in northern Ontario. The principles and key aspects of the fly ash application in mine tailings management were described. Fly ash from the Atikokan coal-fired power generating plant was added to the Musselwhite tailings as a mixture as well as intermediate and top layers. The physical, chemical and hydrogeological effects of the two approaches were monitored. The paper provided details of the design, implementation, monitoring, sampling and testing over 2 years. The objectives were to evaluate the optimum mass ratio of coal fly ash and mine tailings, effectiveness in reducing the infiltration of precipitation, and projected long-term durability and performance on tailings oxidation prevention. The pilot study was designed based on the principles of cementitious materials formation and secondary mineral formation by the reactions of coal fly ash and water/AMD. Calcium oxide, aluminum oxide, silicon oxide, and ferric oxide are major components of coal fly ash. The preliminary test results revealed that water did not accumulate and cracks did not form on top of 4 tanks. The settlements of the mixing approaches were lower than that of the stratified approach and the temperature distributions in the 4 tanks were comparable. 9 refs., 3 tabs., 11 figs.

Preventive Effects of Drinking Hydrogen-Rich Water on Gingival Oxidative Stress and Alveolar Bone Resorption in Rats Fed a High-Fat Diet.

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Yoneda, Toshiki; Tomofuji, Takaaki; Kunitomo, Muneyoshi; Ekuni, Daisuke; Irie, Koichiro; Azuma, Tetsuji; Machida, Tatsuya; Miyai, Hisataka; Fujimori, Kouhei; Morita, Manabu

2017-01-13

Obesity induces gingival oxidative stress, which is involved in the progression of alveolar bone resorption. The antioxidant effect of hydrogen-rich water may attenuate gingival oxidative stress and prevent alveolar bone resorption in cases of obesity. We examined whether hydrogen-rich water could suppress gingival oxidative stress and alveolar bone resorption in obese rats fed a high-fat diet. Male Fischer 344 rats ( n = 18) were divided into three groups of six rats each: a control group (fed a regular diet and drinking distilled water) and two experimental groups (fed a high-fat diet and drinking distilled water or hydrogen-rich water). The level of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine was determined to evaluate oxidative stress. The bone mineral density of the alveolar bone was analyzed by micro-computerized tomography. Obese rats, induced by a high-fat diet, showed a higher gingival level of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine and a lower level of alveolar bone density compared to the control group. Drinking hydrogen-rich water suppressed body weight gain, lowered gingival level of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine, and reduced alveolar bone resorption in rats on a high-fat diet. The results indicate that hydrogen-rich water could suppress gingival oxidative stress and alveolar bone resorption by limiting obesity.

Copper(I)/TEMPO Catalyzed Aerobic Oxidation of Primary Alcohols to Aldehydes with Ambient Air

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Hoover, Jessica M.; Steves, Janelle E.; Stahl, Shannon S.

2012-01-01

This protocol describes a practical laboratory-scale method for aerobic oxidation of primary alcohols to aldehydes, using a chemoselective CuI/TEMPO catalyst system. The catalyst is prepared in situ from commercially available reagents, and the reactions are performed in a common organic solvent (acetonitrile) with ambient air as the oxidant. Three different reaction conditions and three procedures for the isolation and purification of the aldehyde product are presented. The oxidations of eight different alcohols, described here, include representative examples of each reaction condition and purification method. Reaction times vary from 20 min to 24 h, depending on the alcohol, while the purification methods each take about 2 h. The total time necessary for the complete protocol ranges from 3 – 26 h. PMID:22635108

Role of ultraviolet irradiation and oxidative stress in cataract formation-medical prevention by nutritional antioxidants and metabolic agonists.

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Varma, Shambhu D; Kovtun, Svitlana; Hegde, Kavita R

2011-07-01

Cataract is a significant cause of visual disability with relatively high incidence. It has been proposed that such high incidence is related to oxidative stress induced by continued intraocular penetration of light and consequent photochemical generation of reactive oxygen species, such as superoxide and singlet oxygen and their derivatization to other oxidants, such as hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radical. The latter two can also interact to generate singlet oxygen by Haber-Weiss reaction. It has been proposed that in addition to the endogenous enzymatic antioxidant enzymes, the process can be inhibited by many nutritional and metabolic oxyradical scavengers, such as ascorbate, vitamin E, pyruvate, and xanthine alkaloids, such as caffeine. Initial verification of the hypothesis has been done primarily by rat and mouse lens organ culture studies under ambient as well as ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation and determining the effect of such irradiation on its physiology in terms of its efficiency of active membrane transport activity and the levels of certain metabolites such as glutathione and adenosine triphosphate as well as in terms of apoptotic cell death. In vivo studies on the possible prevention of oxidative stress and cataract formation have been conducted by administering pyruvate and caffeine orally in drinking water and by their topical application using diabetic and galactosemic animal models. Photosensitized damage to lens caused by exposure to visible light and UVA has been found to be significantly prevented by ascorbate and pyruvate. Caffeine has been found be effective against UVA and UVB. Oral or topical application of pyruvate has been found to inhibit the formation of cataracts induced by diabetes and galactosemia. Caffeine has also been found to inhibit cataract induced by sodium selenite and high levels of galactose. Studies with diabetes are in progress. Various in vitro and in vivo studies summarized in this review strongly support the

High-Yield HIV Testing, Facilitated Linkage to Care, and Prevention for Female Youth in Kenya (GIRLS Study): Implementation Science Protocol for a Priority Population.

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Inwani, Irene; Chhun, Nok; Agot, Kawango; Cleland, Charles M; Buttolph, Jasmine; Thirumurthy, Harsha; Kurth, Ann E

2017-12-13

Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the highest HIV burden. Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in the age range of 15 to 24 years are twice as likely as their male peers to be infected, making females in sub-Saharan Africa the most at-risk group for HIV infection. It is therefore critical to prioritize access to HIV testing, prevention, and treatment for this vulnerable population. Using an implementation science framework, the purpose of this research protocol was to describe the approaches we propose to optimize engagement of AGYW in both the HIV prevention and care continuum and to determine the recruitment and testing strategies that identify the highest proportion of previously undiagnosed HIV infections. We will compare two seek recruitment strategies, three test strategies, and pilot adaptive linkage to care interventions (sequential multiple assignment randomized trial [SMART] design) among AGYW in the age range of 15 to 24 years in Homa Bay County, western Kenya. AGYW will be recruited in the home or community-based setting and offered three testing options: oral fluid HIV self-testing, staff-aided rapid HIV testing, or referral to a health care facility for standard HIV testing services. Newly diagnosed AGYW with HIV will be enrolled in the SMART trial pilot to determine the most effective way to support initial linkage to care after a positive diagnosis. They will be randomized to standard referral (counseling and a referral note) or standard referral plus SMS text message (short message service, SMS); those not linked to care within 2 weeks will be rerandomized to receive an additional SMS text message or a one-time financial incentive (approximately US $4). We will also evaluate a primary prevention messaging intervention to support identified high-risk HIV-negative AGYW to reduce their HIV risk and adhere to HIV retesting recommendations. We will also conduct analyses to determine the incremental cost-effectiveness of the seek, testing and

Postoperative intermittent fasting prevents hippocampal oxidative stress and memory deficits in a rat model of chronic cerebral hypoperfusion.

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Hu, Yuan; Zhang, Miao; Chen, Yunyun; Yang, Ying; Zhang, Jun-Jian

2018-01-11

Whether intermittent fasting (IF) treatment after stroke can prevent its long-term detrimental effects remains unknown. Here, we investigate the effects of postoperative IF on cognitive deficits and its underlying mechanisms in a permanent two-vessel occlusion (2VO) vascular dementia rat model. Rats were subjected to either IF or ad libitum feeding 1 week after 2VO surgery. The cognition of rats was assessed using the novel object recognition (NOR) task and Morris water maze (MWM) 8 weeks after surgery. After behavioral testing, hippocampal malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH) concentrations, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, gene expression of antioxidative enzymes, inflammatory protein levels, and microglia density were determined. Postoperative IF significantly ameliorated the cognitive performance of 2VO rats in the NOR and MWM tests. Cognitive enhancement paralleled preservation of the PSD95 and BDNF levels in the 2VO rat hippocampus. Mechanistically, postoperative IF mitigated hippocampal oxidative stress in 2VO rats, as indicated by the reduced MDA concentration and mRNA and the protein levels of the reactive oxygen species-generating enzyme nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase 1. IF treatment also preserved the GSH level and SOD activity, as well as the levels of their upstream regulating enzymes, resulting in preserved antioxidative capability. In addition, postoperative IF prevented hippocampal microglial activation and elevation of sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor 1 and inflammatory cytokines in 2VO rats. Our results suggest that postoperative IF suppresses neuroinflammation and oxidative stress induced by chronic cerebral ischemia, thereby preserving cognitive function in a vascular dementia rat model.

[Nutritional approaches to modulate oxidative stress that induce Alzheimer's disease. Nutritional approaches to prevent Alzheimer's disease].

Science.gov (United States)

Lara, Humberto Herman; Alanís-Garza, Eduardo Javier; Estrada Puente, María Fernanda; Mureyko, Lucía Liliana; Alarcón Torres, David Alejandro; Ixtepan Turrent, Liliana

2015-01-01

Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia in the world; symptoms first appear after age 65 and have a progressive evolution. Expecting an increase on its incidence and knowing there is currently no cure for Alzheimer's disease, it is a necessity to prevent progression. The change in diet due to globalization may explain the growth of the incidence in places such as Japan and Mediterranean countries, which used to have fewer incidences. There is a direct correlation between disease progression and the increased intake of alcohol, saturated fats, and red meat. Therefore, we find obesity and higher serum levels in cholesterol due to saturated fat as a result. A way to decrease the progression of Alzheimer's is through a diet rich in polipheno/es (potent antioxidants), unsaturated fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated), fish, vegetable fa t, fruits with low glycemic index, and a moderate consumption of red wine. Through this potent antioxidant diet we accomplish the prevention of dementia and the progression of Alzheimer's disease. This article emphasizes the food and other components that have been demonstrated to decrease the oxidative stress related to these progressive diseases.

Cultivation, detection, and ecophysiology of anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing bacteria.

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Kartal, Boran; Geerts, Wim; Jetten, Mike S M

2011-01-01

Anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing (anammox) bacteria oxidize ammonium with nitrite under anoxic conditions. The anammox process is currently used to remove ammonium from wastewater and contributes significantly to the loss of fixed nitrogen from the oceans. In this chapter, we focus on the ecophysiology of anammox bacteria and describe new methodologies to grow these microorganisms. Now, it is possible to enrich anammox bacteria up to 95% with a membrane bioreactor that removes forces of selection for fast settling aggregates and facilitates the growth of planktonic cells. The biomass from this system has a high anaerobic ammonium oxidation rate (50 fmol NH(4)(+) · cell(-1) day(-1)) and is suitable for many ecophysiological and molecular experiments. A high throughput Percoll density gradient centrifugation protocol may be applied on this biomass for further enrichment (>99.5%) of anammox bacteria. Furthermore, we provide an up-to-date list of commonly used primers and introduce protocols for quantification and detection of functional genes of anammox bacteria in their natural environment. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Improving the security of a quantum secret sharing protocol between multiparty and multiparty without entanglement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han Lianfang; Liu Yimin; Shi Shouhua; Zhang Zhanjun

2007-01-01

Recently Yan and Gao [F.L. Yan, T. Gao, Phys. Rev. A 72 (2005) 012304] have proposed a quantum secret sharing protocol which allows a secret message to be shared between one group of m parties and another group of n parties. The protocol is claimed to be secure. In this Letter, first we show that any subgroup consisting of evil cooperative parties (or one and only one evil party) can successfully cheat other parties to obtain the secret message without being detected. Then we improve the original Yan-Gao protocol such that the insider's cheats are prevented

Rapid and Sensitive Determination of Lipid Oxidation Using the Reagent Kit Based on Spectrophotometry (FOODLABfat System

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Chang Woo Kwon

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The reliability and availability of FOODLABfat system for determining acid value (AV and peroxide value (POV were assessed during the hydrolytic rancidification and lipid oxidation of edible oils. This reagent kit based on spectrophotometry was compared to the official methods (ISO 660 and 3960 protocols based on manual titration employing the standard mixture for the simulated oxidation models and edible oils during the thermally induced oxidation at 180°C. The linear regression line of standard mixture and the significant difference of thermally oxidized time course study determined between them showed high correlations (R2=0.998 and p<0.05 in both AVs and POVs. Considering ISO protocols with a probability of human error in manual titration, the rapidness and simplicity of the reagent kit based on spectrophotometry make it a promising alternative to monitor the lipid oxidation of edible oils and lipid-containing foods.

Ghrelin Pre-treatment Attenuates Local Oxidative Stress and End Organ Damage During Cardiopulmonary Bypass in Anesthetized Rats

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Sukumaran, Vijayakumar; Tsuchimochi, Hirotsugu; Fujii, Yutaka; Hosoda, Hiroshi; Kangawa, Kenji; Akiyama, Tsuyoshi; Shirai, Mikiyasu; Tatsumi, Eisuke; Pearson, James T.

2018-01-01

Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) induced systemic inflammation significantly contributes to the development of postoperative complications, including respiratory failure, myocardial, renal and neurological dysfunction and ultimately can lead to failure of multiple organs. Ghrelin is a small endogenous peptide with wide ranging physiological effects on metabolism and cardiovascular regulation. Herein, we investigated the protective effects of ghrelin against CPB-induced inflammatory reactions, oxidative stress and acute organ damage. Adult male Sprague Dawley rats randomly received vehicle (n = 5) or a bolus of ghrelin (150 μg/kg, sc, n = 5) and were subjected to CPB for 4 h (protocol 1). In separate rats, ghrelin pre-treatment (protocol 2) was compared to two doses of ghrelin (protocol 3) before and after CPB for 2 h followed by recovery for 2 h. Blood samples were taken prior to CPB, and following CPB at 2 h and 4 h. Organ nitrosative stress (3-nitrotyrosine) was measured by Western blotting. CPB induced leukocytosis with increased plasma levels of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6 indicating a potent inflammatory response. Ghrelin treatment significantly reduced plasma organ damage markers (lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase) and protein levels of 3-nitrotyrosine, particularly in the brain, lung and liver, but only partly suppressed inflammatory cell invasion and did not reduce proinflammatory cytokine production. Ghrelin partially attenuated the CPB-induced elevation of epinephrine and to a lesser extent norepinephrine when compared to the CPB saline group, while dopamine levels were completely suppressed. Ghrelin treatment sustained plasma levels of reduced glutathione and decreased glutathione disulphide when compared to CPB saline rats. These results suggest that even though ghrelin only partially inhibited the large CPB induced increase in catecholamines and organ macrophage infiltration, it reduced oxidative

Compliance With Protocols for Prevention of Neonatal Group B Streptococcal Sepsis: Practicalities and Limitations

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Gwendolyn L. Gilbert

2003-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: To compare two protocols for intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP against neonatal group B streptococcal (GBS sepsis, with respect to staff compliance, in a prospective cohort study in the obstetric units of a community hospital (A and a university teaching hospital (B.

A metal-free general procedure for oxidation of secondary amines to nitrones.

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Gella, Carolina; Ferrer, Eric; Alibés, Ramon; Busqué, Félíx; de March, Pedro; Figueredo, Marta; Font, Josep

2009-08-21

An efficient and metal-free protocol for direct oxidation of secondary amines to nitrones has been developed, using Oxone in a biphasic basic medium as the sole oxidant. The method is general and tolerant with other functional groups or existing stereogenic centers, providing rapid access to enantiomerically pure compounds in good yields.

Lactate oxidation in human skeletal muscle mitochondria

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jacobs, Robert A; Meinild, Anne-Kristine; Nordsborg, Nikolai B

2013-01-01

of four separate and specific substrate titration protocols, the respirometric analysis revealed that mitochondria were capable of oxidizing lactate in the absence of exogenous LDH. The titration of lactate and NAD(+) into the respiration medium stimulated respiration (P = 0.003). The addition...... of exogenous LDH failed to increase lactate-stimulated respiration (P = 1.0). The results further demonstrate that human skeletal muscle mitochondria cannot directly oxidize lactate within the mitochondrial matrix. Alternately, these data support previous claims that lactate is converted to pyruvate within...

Inhibition of macrophage oxidative stress prevents the reduction of ABCA-1 transporter induced by advanced glycated albumin.

Science.gov (United States)

de Souza Pinto, Raphael; Castilho, Gabriela; Paim, Bruno Alves; Machado-Lima, Adriana; Inada, Natalia M; Nakandakare, Edna Regina; Vercesi, Aníbal Eugênio; Passarelli, Marisa

2012-05-01

We investigated the role of aminoguanidine and benfotiamine on the inhibition of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in macrophages induced by advanced glycated albumin (AGE-albumin) and its relationship with cell cholesterol homeostasis, emphasizing the expression of the ATP binding cassette transporter A-1 (ABCA-1). AGE-albumin was made by incubating fatty acid-free albumin with 10 mM glycolaldehyde. ROS production and ABCA-1 protein level were determined by flow cytometry in J774 macrophages treated along time with control (C) or AGE-albumin alone or in the presence of aminoguanidine or benfotiamine. Mitochondrial function was evaluated by oxygraphy. Compared to C-albumin, AGE-albumin increased ROS production in macrophages, which was ascribed to the activities of NADPH oxidase and of the mitochondrial system. Mitochondrial respiratory chain activity was reduced in cells incubated with AGE-albumin. ROS generation along time was associated with the reduction in macrophage ABCA-1 protein level. Aminoguanidine prevented ROS elevation and restored the ABCA-1 content in macrophages; on the other hand, benfotiamine that promoted a lesser reduction in ROS generation was not able to restore ABCA-1 levels. Inhibition of oxidative stress induced by AGE-albumin prevents disturbances in reverse cholesterol transport by curbing the reduction of ABCA-1 elicited by advanced glycation in macrophages and therefore may contribute to the prevention of atherosclerosis in diabetes mellitus.

Supplementation with vitamin A enhances oxidative stress in the lungs of rats submitted to aerobic exercise.

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Gasparotto, Juciano; Petiz, Lyvia Lintzmaier; Girardi, Carolina Saibro; Bortolin, Rafael Calixto; de Vargas, Amanda Rodrigues; Henkin, Bernardo Saldanha; Chaves, Paloma Rodrigues; Roncato, Sabrina; Matté, Cristiane; Zanotto-Filho, Alfeu; Moreira, José Cláudio Fonseca; Gelain, Daniel Pens

2015-12-01

Exercise training induces reactive oxygen species production and low levels of oxidative damage, which are required for induction of antioxidant defenses and tissue adaptation. This process is physiological and essential to improve physical conditioning and performance. During exercise, endogenous antioxidants are recruited to prevent excessive oxidative stress, demanding appropriate intake of antioxidants from diet or supplements; in this context, the search for vitamin supplements that enhance the antioxidant defenses and improve exercise performance has been continuously increasing. On the other hand, excess of antioxidants may hinder the pro-oxidant signals necessary for this process of adaptation. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of vitamin A supplementation (2000 IU/kg, oral) upon oxidative stress and parameters of pro-inflammatory signaling in lungs of rats submitted to aerobic exercise (swimming protocol). When combined with exercise, vitamin A inhibited biochemical parameters of adaptation/conditioning by attenuating exercise-induced antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase) and decreasing the content of the receptor for advanced glycation end-products. Increased oxidative damage to proteins (carbonylation) and lipids (lipoperoxidation) was also observed in these animals. In sedentary animals, vitamin A decreased superoxide dismutase and increased lipoperoxidation. Vitamin A also enhanced the levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha and decreased interleukin-10, effects partially reversed by aerobic training. Taken together, the results presented herein point to negative effects associated with vitamin A supplementation at the specific dose here used upon oxidative stress and pro-inflammatory cytokines in lung tissues of rats submitted to aerobic exercise.

pCramoll and rCramoll as New Preventive Agents against the Oxidative Dysfunction Induced by Hydrogen Peroxide

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luís Cláudio Nascimento da Silva

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Oxidative stress plays an important role in the induction of cell death and is associated with various pathologic disorders; therefore, the search for natural products that attenuate the effects produced by oxidant agents is greatly increased. Here, the protective effects of native lectin from Cratylia mollis seeds (pCramoll and recombinant Cramoll 1 (rCramoll against H2O2-induced oxidative stress in Vero cells were evaluated. Both lectins significantly attenuated the H2O2-induced cytotoxicity in a concentration-dependent way. The maximum protective effects were 96.85±15.59% (rCramoll and 59.48±23.44% (pCramoll. The Live/Dead analysis showed a reduction in the percentage of dead cells from 65.04±3.29% (H2O2 to 39.77±2.93% (pCramoll and 13.90±9.01% (rCramoll. The deleterious effects of H2O2 on cell proliferation were reduced to 10.83% (pCramoll and 24.17% (rCramoll. Lectins treatment attenuated the excessive superoxide production, the collapse of the mitochondrial membrane potential, and the lysosomal and DNA damage in H2O2-treated cells. In conclusion, our results suggest that pCramoll and rCramoll blocked H2O2-induced cytotoxicity through decreasing reactive oxygen species, restoring the mitochondrial potential, preventing the lysosomal damage and DNA fragmentation, and thus promoting cell survival and proliferation.

Statins Prevent Dextrose-Induced Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress and Oxidative Stress in Endothelial and HepG2 Cells.

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Kojanian, Hagop; Szafran-Swietlik, Anna; Onstead-Haas, Luisa M; Haas, Michael J; Mooradian, Arshag D

Statins have favorable effects on endothelial function partly because of their capacity to reduce oxidative stress. However, antioxidant vitamins, unlike statins, are not as cardioprotective, and this paradox has been explained by failure of vitamin antioxidants to ameliorate endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. To determine whether statins prevent dextrose-induced ER stress in addition to their antioxidative effects, human umbilical vein endothelial cells and HepG2 hepatocytes were treated with 27.5 mM dextrose in the presence of simvastatin (lipophilic statin that is a prodrug) and pravastatin (water-soluble active drug), and oxidative stress, ER stress, and cell death were measured. Superoxide generation was measured using 2-methyl-6-(4-methoxyphenyl)-3,7-dihydroimidazo[1,2-A]pyrazin-3-one hydrochloride. ER stress was measured using the placental alkaline phosphatase assay and Western blot of glucose-regulated protein 75, c-jun-N-terminal kinase, phospho-JNK, eukaryotic initiating factor 2α and phospho-eIF2α, and X-box binding protein 1 mRNA splicing. Cell viability was measured by propidium iodide staining. Superoxide anion production, ER stress, and cell death induced by 27.5 mM dextrose were inhibited by therapeutic concentrations of simvastatin and pravastatin. The salutary effects of statins on endothelial cells in reducing both ER stress and oxidative stress observed with pravastatin and the prodrug simvastatin suggest that the effects may be independent of cholesterol-lowering activity.

A network identity authentication protocol of bank account system based on fingerprint identification and mixed encryption

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Lijuan; Liu, Jingao

2013-07-01

This paper describes a network identity authentication protocol of bank account system based on fingerprint identification and mixed encryption. This protocol can provide every bank user a safe and effective way to manage his own bank account, and also can effectively prevent the hacker attacks and bank clerk crime, so that it is absolute to guarantee the legitimate rights and interests of bank users.

Protocol Implementation Generator

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Carvalho Quaresma, Jose Nuno; Probst, Christian W.

2010-01-01

Users expect communication systems to guarantee, amongst others, privacy and integrity of their data. These can be ensured by using well-established protocols; the best protocol, however, is useless if not all parties involved in a communication have a correct implementation of the protocol and a...... Generator framework based on the LySatool and a translator from the LySa language into C or Java....... necessary tools. In this paper, we present the Protocol Implementation Generator (PiG), a framework that can be used to add protocol generation to protocol negotiation, or to easily share and implement new protocols throughout a network. PiG enables the sharing, verification, and translation...

Physical exercise prevents short and long-term deficits on aversive and recognition memory and attenuates brain oxidative damage induced by maternal deprivation.

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Neves, Ben-Hur; Menezes, Jefferson; Souza, Mauren Assis; Mello-Carpes, Pâmela B

2015-12-01

It is known from previous research that physical exercise prevents long-term memory deficits induced by maternal deprivation in rats. But we could not assume similar effects of physical exercise on short-term memory, as short- and long-term memories are known to result from some different memory consolidation processes. Here we demonstrated that, in addition to long-term memory deficit, the short-term memory deficit resultant from maternal deprivation in object recognition and aversive memory tasks is also prevented by physical exercise. Additionally, one of the mechanisms by which the physical exercise influences the memory processes involves its effects attenuating the oxidative damage in the maternal deprived rats' hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.

The radiological monitoring protocol for metallic products and cleared scrap management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gil Lopez, E.

2003-01-01

Event though the use of nuclear and radiological techniques is subject to strict controls in most countries, the presence of radioactive material in batches of metallic scrap has been detected with relative frequency in the last few years. This circumstance has motivated the implementation of a series of national and international initiatives aimed at detecting and preventing this type of events, whether they be intentional or involuntary. The Spanish iron and steel industry is one of the country's most important industrial sectors, and to a great extent it depends on the importation of a very significant amount of metallic scrap that it uses as raw material. Experience has shown that countries that import large amounts of scrap, apart from supporting the mentioned international initiatives, should complement them with other national initiatives to reduce the risks resulting from the presence of radioactive material in scrap. In this context, the Spanish authorities, together with trade unions and entrepreneurial associations in the metal reclamations and smelting sectors and ENRESA, have signed a voluntary Protocol that defines and implements a national radiological monitoring and control system for scrap materials and their byproducts. The Protocol defines the obligations and rights of the signatories, and it describes the monitoring and control system and its legal bases, the operation of both specific and other general-purpose radiological monitoring equipment that existed prior to this initiative, the development of radiological training and dissemination plans for professionals in the metal reclamation and smelting sectors, the establishment of effective systems for the safe management of any radioactive materials detected, and the general improvement of the national response system in the event of radiological emergencies. Since the Protocol took effect in November 1999, more than 100 enterprises from the metallurgical (steel, copper, lead and aluminum

Real-Time QoS Routing Protocols in Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks: Study and Analysis.

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Alanazi, Adwan; Elleithy, Khaled

2015-09-02

Many routing protocols have been proposed for wireless sensor networks. These routing protocols are almost always based on energy efficiency. However, recent advances in complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) cameras and small microphones have led to the development of Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks (WMSN) as a class of wireless sensor networks which pose additional challenges. The transmission of imaging and video data needs routing protocols with both energy efficiency and Quality of Service (QoS) characteristics in order to guarantee the efficient use of the sensor nodes and effective access to the collected data. Also, with integration of real time applications in Wireless Senor Networks (WSNs), the use of QoS routing protocols is not only becoming a significant topic, but is also gaining the attention of researchers. In designing an efficient QoS routing protocol, the reliability and guarantee of end-to-end delay are critical events while conserving energy. Thus, considerable research has been focused on designing energy efficient and robust QoS routing protocols. In this paper, we present a state of the art research work based on real-time QoS routing protocols for WMSNs that have already been proposed. This paper categorizes the real-time QoS routing protocols into probabilistic and deterministic protocols. In addition, both categories are classified into soft and hard real time protocols by highlighting the QoS issues including the limitations and features of each protocol. Furthermore, we have compared the performance of mobility-aware query based real-time QoS routing protocols from each category using Network Simulator-2 (NS2). This paper also focuses on the design challenges and future research directions as well as highlights the characteristics of each QoS routing protocol.

Evaluation of a protocol for the non-operative management of perforated peptic ulcer.

Science.gov (United States)

Marshall, C; Ramaswamy, P; Bergin, F G; Rosenberg, I L; Leaper, D J

1999-01-01

The non-operative management of perforated peptic ulcer has previously been shown to be both safe and effective although it remains controversial. A protocol for non-operative management was set up in this hospital in 1989. Adherence to the guidelines in the protocol has been audited over a 6-year period with a review of outcome. The case-notes of patients with a diagnosis of perforated peptic ulcer were reviewed. Twelve guidelines from the protocol were selected for evaluation of compliance to the protocol. Forty-nine patients underwent non-operative treatment initially. Eight patients failed to respond and underwent operation. Complications included abscess formation (seven patients), renal failure (one), gastric ileus (one), chest infection (two), and cardiac failure and stroke (one). Four deaths occurred in this group. Adherence to certain protocol guidelines was poor, notably those concerning prevention of thromboembolism, use of antibiotics, use of contrast examination to confirm the diagnosis and referral for follow-up endoscopy. Two gastric cancers were detected on subsequent endoscopy. This experience demonstrates that non-operative treatment can be used successfully in a general hospital. Adherence to protocol guidelines was found to be variable and the protocol has therefore been simplified. This study highlights the need for an accurate diagnosis and the importance of follow-up endoscopy.

Increased electrochemical properties of ruthenium oxide and graphene/ruthenium oxide hybrid dispersed by polyvinylpyrrolidone

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Yao; Zhang, Xiong; Zhang, Dacheng; Ma, Yanwei

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► A good dispersion of RuO 2 and graphene/RuO 2 is obtained by polyvinylpyrrolidone. ► PVP as a dispersant also can prevent the formation of metal Ru in graphene/RuO 2 . ► The max capacitances of the hybrid and RuO 2 reach 435 and 597 F g −1 at 0.2 A g −1 . ► The hybrid shows the best rate capability of 39% at 50 A g −1 . - Abstract: Ruthenium oxide has been prepared by a sol–gel method. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as an excellent polymeric dispersant is adopted to prevent aggregation of ruthenium oxide. In order to enhance the rate capability of ruthenium oxide, graphene with residual oxygen functional groups as a 2D support has been merged into ruthenium oxide. These oxygen functional groups not only favor to form stable few layers of graphene colloids, but also offer the sites to anchor ruthenium oxide nanoparticles. X-ray diffraction infers that PVP can also hinder the partial formation of Ru by blocking the direct contact between the Ru 3+ and the graphene in the sol–gel synthesis of the hybrids. The ruthenium oxide and the graphene/ruthenium oxide hybrids dispersed by PVP have superior electrochemical properties due to good dispersing and protecting ability of PVP. Especially, the hybrids using PVP exhibit the best rate capability, indicating that the composites possess an advanced structure of combining sheets and particles in nano-scale.

Camellia sinensis Prevents Perinatal Nicotine-Induced Neurobehavioral Alterations, Tissue Injury, and Oxidative Stress in Male and Female Mice Newborns

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Ajarem, Jamaan S.; Al-Basher, Gadh; Allam, Ahmed A.

2017-01-01

Nicotine exposure during pregnancy induces oxidative stress and leads to behavioral alterations in early childhood and young adulthood. The current study aimed to investigate the possible protective effects of green tea (Camellia sinensis) against perinatal nicotine-induced behavioral alterations and oxidative stress in mice newborns. Pregnant mice received 50 mg/kg C. sinensis on gestational day 1 (PD1) to postnatal day 15 (D15) and were subcutaneously injected with 0.25 mg/kg nicotine from PD12 to D15. Nicotine-exposed newborns showed significant delay in eye opening and hair appearance and declined body weight at birth and at D21. Nicotine induced neuromotor alterations in both male and female newborns evidenced by the suppressed righting, rotating, and cliff avoidance reflexes. Nicotine-exposed newborns exhibited declined memory, learning, and equilibrium capabilities, as well as marked anxiety behavior. C. sinensis significantly improved the physical development, neuromotor maturation, and behavioral performance in nicotine-exposed male and female newborns. In addition, C. sinensis prevented nicotine-induced tissue injury and lipid peroxidation and enhanced antioxidant defenses in the cerebellum and medulla oblongata of male and female newborns. In conclusion, this study shows that C. sinensis confers protective effects against perinatal nicotine-induced neurobehavioral alterations, tissue injury, and oxidative stress in mice newborns. PMID:28588748

Supporting Tablet Configuration, Tracking, and Infection Control Practices in Digital Health Interventions: Study Protocol.

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Furberg, Robert D; Ortiz, Alexa M; Zulkiewicz, Brittany A; Hudson, Jordan P; Taylor, Olivia M; Lewis, Megan A

2016-06-27

Tablet-based health care interventions have the potential to encourage patient care in a timelier manner, allow physicians convenient access to patient records, and provide an improved method for patient education. However, along with the continued adoption of tablet technologies, there is a concomitant need to develop protocols focusing on the configuration, management, and maintenance of these devices within the health care setting to support the conduct of clinical research. Develop three protocols to support tablet configuration, tablet management, and tablet maintenance. The Configurator software, Tile technology, and current infection control recommendations were employed to develop three distinct protocols for tablet-based digital health interventions. Configurator is a mobile device management software specifically for iPhone operating system (iOS) devices. The capabilities and current applications of Configurator were reviewed and used to develop the protocol to support device configuration. Tile is a tracking tag associated with a free mobile app available for iOS and Android devices. The features associated with Tile were evaluated and used to develop the Tile protocol to support tablet management. Furthermore, current recommendations on preventing health care-related infections were reviewed to develop the infection control protocol to support tablet maintenance. This article provides three protocols: the Configurator protocol, the Tile protocol, and the infection control protocol. These protocols can help to ensure consistent implementation of tablet-based interventions, enhance fidelity when employing tablets for research purposes, and serve as a guide for tablet deployments within clinical settings.

Improvement of pressure ulcer prevention care in private for-profit residential care homes: an action research study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Enid WY Kwong

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background A need exits to develop a protocol for preventing pressure ulcers (PUs in private for-profit nursing homes in Hong Kong, where the incidence of PUs is relatively high and which have high proportion of non-professional care staff. The implementation of such protocol would involve changes in the practice of care, likely evoking feelings of fear and uncertainty that may become a barrier to staff adherence. We thus adopted the Systems Model of Action Research in this study to manage the process of change for improving PU prevention care and to develop a pressure ulcer prevention protocol for private for-profit nursing homes. Methods A total of 474 residents and care staff who were health workers, personal care workers, and/or nurses from four private, for-profit nursing homes in Hong Kong participated in this study. Three cyclic stages and steps, namely, unfreezing (planning, changing (action, and refreezing (results were carried out. During each cycle, focus group interviews, field observations of the care staff’s practices and inspections of the skin of the residents for pressure ulcers were conducted to evaluate the implementation of the protocol. Qualitative content analysis was adopted to analyse the data. The data and methodological triangulation used in this study increased the credibility and validity of the results. Results The following nine themes emerged from this study: prevention practices after the occurrence of PUs, the improper use of pressure ulcer prevention materials, non-compliance with several prevention practices, improper prevention practices, the perception that the preventive care was being performed correctly, inadequate readiness to use the risk assessment tool, an undesirable environment, the supplying of unfavorable resources, and various management styles in the homes with or without nurses. At the end of the third cycle, the changes that were identified included improved compliance with the

Vertical Protocol Composition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Groß, Thomas; Mödersheim, Sebastian Alexander

2011-01-01

The security of key exchange and secure channel protocols, such as TLS, has been studied intensively. However, only few works have considered what happens when the established keys are actually used—to run some protocol securely over the established “channel”. We call this a vertical protocol.......e., that the combination cannot introduce attacks that the individual protocols in isolation do not have. In this work, we prove a composability result in the symbolic model that allows for arbitrary vertical composition (including self-composition). It holds for protocols from any suite of channel and application...

The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing synergies: protocol for a prospective observational study to measure the Impact of a community-based program on prevention and mitigation of frailty (ICP – PMF) in community-dwelling older adults

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Liotta, G.; Orfila, F.; Vollenbroek-Hutten, Miriam Marie Rosé; Roller-Winsberger, R.; Illaria, M.; Musian, D.; Alvino, S.; O'Caoimh, R.; Cano, A.; Molloy, W.; Iaccarino, G.; Marazzi, M.C.; Inzerilli, M.C.; Madaro, O.; Paul, C.; Csonka, P.; Vince, A.C.; Menditto, E.; Maggio, M.; Scarcella, P.; Gilardi, F.; Lucaroni, F.; Abete, P.; Girardi, V.; Barra, R.; Palombi, L.

2016-01-01

Aim of this paper is to describe the protocol of the study “Impact of a Community-based Program on Prevention and Mitigation of Frailty in community-dwelling older adults‿ developed in the framework of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing. This proposal has been developed

A Healthy School Start Plus for prevention of childhood overweight and obesity in disadvantaged areas through parental support in the school setting - study protocol for a parallel group cluster randomised trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Elinder, Liselotte Schäfer; Patterson, Emma; Nyberg, Gisela; Norman, Åsa

2018-04-06

Systematic reviews conclude that interventions to prevent overweight and obesity in children obtain stronger effects when parents are involved. Parenting practices and parent-child interactions shape children's health-related behaviours. The Healthy School Start Plus intervention aims to promote healthy dietary habits and physical activity and prevent obesity in children through parental support in disadvantaged areas with increased health needs, delivered by teachers and school nurses. This protocol describes the design, outcome and process evaluation of the study. Effectiveness of the intervention is compared to standard care within school health services. The 6-month programme, based on Social Cognitive Theory, consists of four components: 1) Health information to parents regarding the child; 2) Motivational Interviewing with the parents by the school nurse concerning the child; 3) classroom activities for the children by teachers; and 4) a web-based self-test of type-2 diabetes risk by parents. Effects will be studied in a cluster randomised trial including 17 schools and 352 six-year old children. The primary outcome is dietary intake of indicator foods, and secondary outcomes are physical activity, sedentary behaviour and BMI. Outcomes will be measured at baseline, at 6 months directly after the intervention, and at follow-up 18 months post baseline. Statistical analysis will be by mixed-effect regression analysis according to intention to treat and per protocol. Mediation analysis will be performed with parental self-efficacy and parenting practices. Quantitative and qualitative methods will be used to study implementation in terms of dose, fidelity, feasibility and acceptability. The hypothesis is that the programme will be more effective than standard care and feasible to perform in the school context. The programme is in line with the cumulated evidence regarding the prevention of childhood obesity: That schools should be a focal point of prevention

Hexapeptides from human milk prevent the induction of oxidative stress from parenteral nutrition in the newborn guinea pig

Science.gov (United States)

Miloudi, Khalil; Tsopmo, Apollinaire; Friel, James K.; Rouleau, Thérèse; Comte, Blandine; Lavoie, Jean-Claude

2016-01-01

INTRODUCTION In preterm neonates, peroxides contaminating total parenteral nutrition (TPN) contribute to oxidative stress, which is suspected to be a strong inducer of hepatic complications related to prematurity. Recently, others reported that hexapeptides derived from human milk (HM) exerted free radical–scavenging activities in vitro. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the capacity of these hexapeptides to limit the generation of peroxides in TPN and to prevent TPN-induced hepatic oxidative stress. METHODS At 3 d of life, guinea pigs were infused, through a catheter in jugular vein, with TPN containing or not peptide-A (YGYTGA) or peptide-B (ISELGW). Peroxide concentrations were measured in TPN solutions, whereas glutathione, glutathionyl-1,4-dihydroxynonenal (GS-HNE) and mRNA levels of interleukin-1 (IL-1) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) were determined in liver after 4 d of infusion. RESULTS The addition of peptide-A to TPN allowed a reduction in peroxide contamination by half. In vivo, peptide-A or peptide-B corrected the hepatic oxidative status induced by TPN. Indeed, both peptides lowered the hepatic redox potential of glutathione and the level of GS-HNE, a marker of lipid peroxidation. As compared with animals infused with TPN without peptide, the hepatic mRNA levels of IL-1 and TNFα were lower in animals infused with TPN containing peptide-A or peptide-B. DISCUSSION These results suggest that the addition of YGYTGA or ISELGW to TPN will reduce oxidative stress in newborns. The reduction in mRNA of two proinflammatory cytokines could be important for the incidence of hepatic complications related to TPN. PMID:22337230

Application of the Intervention Mapping protocol to develop Keys, a family child care home intervention to prevent early childhood obesity.

Science.gov (United States)

Mann, Courtney M; Ward, Dianne S; Vaughn, Amber; Benjamin Neelon, Sara E; Long Vidal, Lenita J; Omar, Sakinah; Namenek Brouwer, Rebecca J; Østbye, Truls

2015-12-10

Many families rely on child care outside the home, making these settings important influences on child development. Nearly 1.5 million children in the U.S. spend time in family child care homes (FCCHs), where providers care for children in their own residences. There is some evidence that children in FCCHs are heavier than those cared for in centers. However, few interventions have targeted FCCHs for obesity prevention. This paper will describe the application of the Intervention Mapping (IM) framework to the development of a childhood obesity prevention intervention for FCCHs Following the IM protocol, six steps were completed in the planning and development of an intervention targeting FCCHs: needs assessment, formulation of change objectives matrices, selection of theory-based methods and strategies, creation of intervention components and materials, adoption and implementation planning, and evaluation planning Application of the IM process resulted in the creation of the Keys to Healthy Family Child Care Homes program (Keys), which includes three modules: Healthy You, Healthy Home, and Healthy Business. Delivery of each module includes a workshop, educational binder and tool-kit resources, and four coaching contacts. Social Cognitive Theory and Self-Determination Theory helped guide development of change objective matrices, selection of behavior change strategies, and identification of outcome measures. The Keys program is currently being evaluated through a cluster-randomized controlled trial The IM process, while time-consuming, enabled rigorous and systematic development of intervention components that are directly tied to behavior change theory and may increase the potential for behavior change within the FCCHs.

The rationale for preventing cancer cachexia: targeting excessive fatty acid oxidation.

Science.gov (United States)

Qian, Chao-Nan

2016-07-21

Cachexia commonly occurs at the terminal stage of cancer and has largely unclear molecular mechanisms. A recent study published in Nature Medicine, entitled "Excessive fatty acid oxidation induces muscle atrophy in cancer cachexia," reveals that cachectic cancer cells can secrete multiple cytokines that induce excessive fatty acid oxidation, which is responsible for muscle loss in cancer cachexia. Inhibition of fatty acid oxidation using etomoxir can increase muscle mass and body weight in cancer cachexia animal models. The usage of stable cachexia animal models is also discussed in this research highlight.

Advertisement-Based Energy Efficient Medium Access Protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Ray, Surjya Sarathi

One of the main challenges that prevents the large-scale deployment of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is providing the applications with the required quality of service (QoS) given the sensor nodes' limited energy supplies. WSNs are an important tool in supporting applications ranging from environmental and industrial monitoring, to battlefield surveillance and traffic control, among others. Most of these applications require sensors to function for long periods of time without human intervention and without battery replacement. Therefore, energy conservation is one of the main goals for protocols for WSNs. Energy conservation can be performed in different layers of the protocol stack. In particular, as the medium access control (MAC) layer can access and control the radio directly, large energy savings is possible through intelligent MAC protocol design. To maximize the network lifetime, MAC protocols for WSNs aim to minimize idle listening of the sensor nodes, packet collisions, and overhearing. Several approaches such as duty cycling and low power listening have been proposed at the MAC layer to achieve energy efficiency. In this thesis, I explore the possibility of further energy savings through the advertisement of data packets in the MAC layer. In the first part of my research, I propose Advertisement-MAC or ADV-MAC, a new MAC protocol for WSNs that utilizes the concept of advertising for data contention. This technique lets nodes listen dynamically to any desired transmission and sleep during transmissions not of interest. This minimizes the energy lost in idle listening and overhearing while maintaining an adaptive duty cycle to handle variable loads. Additionally, ADV-MAC enables energy efficient MAC-level multicasting. An analytical model for the packet delivery ratio and the energy consumption of the protocol is also proposed. The analytical model is verified with simulations and is used to choose an optimal value of the advertisement period

Security Enhanced EMV-Based Mobile Payment Protocol

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ming-Hour Yang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Near field communication has enabled customers to put their credit cards into a smartphone and use the phone for credit card transaction. But EMV contactless payment allows unauthorized readers to access credit cards. Besides, in offline transaction, a merchant’s reader cannot verify whether a card has been revoked. Therefore, we propose an EMV-compatible payment protocol to mitigate the transaction risk. And our modifications to the EMV standard are transparent to merchants and users. We also encrypt the communications between a card and a reader to prevent eavesdropping on sensitive data. The protocol is able to resist impersonation attacks and to avoid the security threats in EMV. In offline transactions, our scheme requires a user to apply for a temporary offline certificate in advance. With the certificate, banks no longer need to lower customer’s credits for risk control, and users can have online-equivalent credits in offline transactions.

A high-fat diet increases oxidative renal injury and protein glycation in D-galactose-induced aging rats and its prevention by Korea red ginseng.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Sok; Kim, Chan-Sik; Min, Jinah; Lee, Soo Hwan; Jung, Yi-Sook

2014-01-01

Declining renal function is commonly observed with age. Obesity induced by a high-fat diet (HFD) may reduce renal function. Korean red ginseng (KRG) has been reported to ameliorate oxidative tissue injury and have an anti-aging effect. This study was designed to investigate whether HFD would accelerate the D-galactose-induced aging process in the rat kidney and to examine the preventive effect of KRG on HFD and D-galactose-induced aging-related renal injury. When rats with D-galactose-induced aging were fed an HFD for 9 wk, enhanced oxidative DNA damage, renal cell apoptosis, protein glycation, and extracellular high mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1), a signal of tissue damage, were observed in renal glomerular cells and tubular epithelial cells. However, treatment of rats with HFD- plus D-galactose-induced aging with KRG restored all of these renal changes. Our data suggested that a long-term HFD may enhance D-galactose-induced oxidative renal injury in rats and that this age-related renal injury could be suppressed by KRG through the repression of oxidative injury.

Phenolic extract from Ocimum basilicum restores lipid metabolism in Triton WR-1339-induced hyperlipidemic mice and prevents lipoprotein-rich plasma oxidation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ilham Touiss

2017-03-01

Full Text Available In this study we investigated the hypolipidemic and anti-lipoprotein-oxidation activities of phenolic extract from sweet basil a popular culinary herb. The hypolipidemic activity was studied in mice model injected intraperitoneally with Triton WR-1339 at a dose of 200 mg/kg body weight. The animals were grouped as follows: normolipidemic control group (n = 8, hyperlipidemic control group (n = 8 and phenolic extract-treated group (n = 8 at a dose of 200 mg/kg body weight. After 7 h and 24 h treatment, the oral administration of the phenolic extract exerts a significant reduction of plasma total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL-cholesterol concentrations (P < 0.001. On the other hand, we demonstrated that the phenolic extract prevents plasma lipid oxidation by 16% (P < 0.001, 20% (P < 0.001, 32% (P < 0.001 and 44% (P < 0.001 at a doses of 10, 25, 50 and 100 μg/mL, respectively. The results were compared with ascorbic acid used as standard synthetic antioxidant. HPLC analysis shows that the extract contains 4 major phenolics and is especially rich in rosmarinic acid. This finding indicates that the phenolic extract might be beneficial in lowering hyperlipidemia and preventing atherosclerosis.

Procedures of Laboratory Fumigation for Pest Control with Nitric Oxide Gas.

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Liu, Yong-Biao; Yang, Xiangbing; Masuda, Tiffany

2017-11-24

Nitric oxide (NO) is a newly discovered fumigant for postharvest pest control. This paper provides detailed protocols for conducting NO fumigation on fresh products and procedures for residue analysis and product quality evaluation. An airtight fumigation chamber containing fresh fruit and vegetables is first flushed with nitrogen (N2) to establish an ultralow oxygen (ULO) environment followed by injection of NO. The fumigation chamber is then kept at a low temperature of 2 - 5 °C for a specified time period necessary to kill a target pest to complete a fumigation treatment. At the end of a fumigation treatment, the fumigation chamber is flushed with N2 to dilute NO prior to opening the chamber to ambient air to prevent the reaction between NO and O2, which produces NO2 and may damage delicate fresh products. At different times after NO fumigation, NO2 in headspace and nitrate and nitrite in liquid samples were measured as residues. Product quality was evaluated after 2 weeks of post-treatment cold storage to determine effects of NO fumigation on product quality. Keeping O2 from reacting with NO is critical to NO fumigation and is an important part of the protocols. Measuring NO levels is challenging and a practical solution is provided. Possible protocol modifications are also suggested for measuring NO levels in the fumigation chambers as well as residues. NO fumigation has the potential to be a practical alternative to methyl bromide fumigation for postharvest pest control on fresh and stored products. This publication is intended to assist other researchers in conducting NO fumigation research for postharvest pest control and accelerating the development of NO fumigation for practical applications.

A mixed methods protocol for developing and testing implementation strategies for evidence-based obesity prevention in childcare: a cluster randomized hybrid type III trial.

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Swindle, Taren; Johnson, Susan L; Whiteside-Mansell, Leanne; Curran, Geoffrey M

2017-07-18

Despite the potential to reach at-risk children in childcare, there is a significant gap between current practices and evidence-based obesity prevention in this setting. There are few investigations of the impact of implementation strategies on the uptake of evidence-based practices (EBPs) for obesity prevention and nutrition promotion. This study protocol describes a three-phase approach to developing and testing implementation strategies to support uptake of EBPs for obesity prevention practices in childcare (i.e., key components of the WISE intervention). Informed by the i-PARIHS framework, we will use a stakeholder-driven evidence-based quality improvement (EBQI) process to apply information gathered in qualitative interviews on barriers and facilitators to practice to inform the design of implementation strategies. Then, a Hybrid Type III cluster randomized trial will compare a basic implementation strategy (i.e., intervention as usual) with an enhanced implementation strategy informed by stakeholders. All Head Start centers (N = 12) within one agency in an urban area in a southern state in the USA will be randomized to receive the basic or enhanced implementation with approximately 20 classrooms per group (40 educators, 400 children per group). The educators involved in the study, the data collectors, and the biostastician will be blinded to the study condition. The basic and enhanced implementation strategies will be compared on outcomes specified by the RE-AIM model (e.g., Reach to families, Effectiveness of impact on child diet and health indicators, Adoption commitment of agency, Implementation fidelity and acceptability, and Maintenance after 6 months). Principles of formative evaluation will be used throughout the hybrid trial. This study will test a stakeholder-driven approach to improve implementation, fidelity, and maintenance of EBPs for obesity prevention in childcare. Further, this study provides an example of a systematic process to develop

Protocol for the CHORD project (community health outreach to reduce diabetes): a cluster-randomized community health worker trial to prevent diabetes.

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Islam, Nadia; Gepts, Thomas; Lief, Isaac; Gore, Radhika; Levy, Natalie; Tanner, Michael; Fang, Yixin; Sherman, Scott E; Schwartz, Mark D

2018-04-19

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) affects 9.4% of US adults and children, while another 33.9% of Americans are at risk of DM. Health care institutions face many barriers to systematically delivering the preventive care needed to decrease DM incidence. Community health workers (CHWs) may, as frontline public health workers bridging clinic and community, help overcome these challenges. This paper presents the protocol for a pragmatic, cluster-randomized trial integrating CHWs into two primary care clinics to support DM prevention for at-risk patients. The trial will randomize 15 care teams, stratified by practice site (Bellevue Hospital and Manhattan VA), totaling 56 primary care physicians. The study cohort will consist of ~ 2000 patients who are 18-75 years of age, actively enrolled in a primary care team, able to speak English or Spanish, and have at least one glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) result in the prediabetic range (5.7-6.4%) since 2012. Those with a current DM diagnosis or DM medication prescription (other than metformin) are ineligible. The intervention consists of four core activities - setting health goals, health education, activation for doctor's appointments, and referrals to DM prevention programs - adjustable according to the patient's needs and readiness. The primary outcome is DM incidence. Secondary outcomes include weight loss, HbA1C, and self-reported health behaviors. Clinical variables and health behaviors will be obtained through electronic medical records and surveys, respectively. Implementation outcomes, namely implementation fidelity and physicians' perspectives about CHW integration into the clinic, will be assessed using interviews and CHW activity logs and analyzed for the influence of moderating organizational factors. This is the first rigorous, pragmatic trial to test the effectiveness of integrating CHWs into primary care for DM prevention reaching a population-based sample. Our study's limitations include language

Investigation of the Reduction of Graphene Oxide by Lithium Triethylborohydride

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Guangyuan Xu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The chemical reduction of a wet colloidal suspension of graphene oxide is a cost-effective and adaptable method for large scale production of “quasi” graphene for a wide variety of optoelectronic applications. In this study, modified Hummers’ procedure was used to synthesize high quality graphene oxide at 50°C. This modified protocol thus eliminates the potentially hazardous second high-temperature step in Hummers’ method for the production of GO. Furthermore, the reduction of graphene oxide by lithium triethylborohydride is demonstrated for the first time. According to FT-IR, UV-Vis, TGA, Raman, SEM/EDS, and AFM results, the reduced graphene oxide (LiEt3BH-RGO has properties comparable to other reduced graphene oxide products reported in the literature.

Tongxinluo Prevents Endothelial Dysfunction Induced by Homocysteine Thiolactone In Vivo via Suppression of Oxidative Stress

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yi Zhang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Aim. To explore whether Chinese traditional medicine, tongxinluo (TXL, exerts beneficial effects on endothelial dysfunction induced by homocysteine thiolactone (HTL and to investigate the potential mechanisms. Methods and Results. Incubation of cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells with HTL (1 mM for 24 hours significantly reduced cell viabilities assayed by MTT, and enhanced productions of reactive oxygen species. Pretreatment of cells with TXL (100, 200, and 400 μg/mL for 1 hour reversed these effects induced by HTL. Further, coincubation with GW9662 (0.01, 0.1 mM abolished the protective effects of TXL on HTL-treated cells. In ex vivo experiments, exposure of isolated aortic rings from rats to HTL (1 mM for 1 hour dramatically impaired acetylcholine-induced endothelium-dependent relaxation, reduced SOD activity, and increased malondialdehyde content in aortic tissues. Preincubation of aortic rings with TXL (100, 200, and 400 μg/mL normalized the disorders induced by HTL. Importantly, all effects induced by TXL were reversed by GW9662. In vivo analysis indicated that the administration of TXL (1.0 g/kg/d remarkably suppressed oxidative stress and prevented endothelial dysfunction in rats fed with HTL (50 mg/kg/d for 8 weeks. Conclusions. TXL improves endothelial functions in rats fed with HTL, which is related to PPARγ-dependent suppression of oxidative stress.

Nickel Inhibits Mitochondrial Fatty Acid Oxidation

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Uppala, Radha; McKinney, Richard W.; Brant, Kelly A.; Fabisiak, James P.; Goetzman, Eric S.

2015-01-01

Nickel exposure is associated with changes in cellular energy metabolism which may contribute to its carcinogenic properties. Here, we demonstrate that nickel strongly represses mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation—the pathway by which fatty acids are catabolized for energy—in both primary human lung fibroblasts and mouse embryonic fibroblasts. At the concentrations used, nickel suppresses fatty acid oxidation without globally suppressing mitochondrial function as evidenced by increased glucose oxidation to CO2. Pre-treatment with L-carnitine, previously shown to prevent nickel-induced mitochondrial dysfunction in neuroblastoma cells, did not prevent the inhibition of fatty acid oxidation. The effect of nickel on fatty acid oxidation occurred only with prolonged exposure (>5 hr), suggesting that direct inhibition of the active sites of metabolic enzymes is not the mechanism of action. Nickel is a known hypoxia-mimetic that activates hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF1α). Nickel-induced inhibition of fatty acid oxidation was blunted in HIF1α knockout fibroblasts, implicating HIF1α as one contributor to the mechanism. Additionally, nickel down-regulated the protein levels of the key fatty acid oxidation enzyme very long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (VLCAD) in a dose-dependent fashion. In conclusion, inhibition of fatty acid oxidation by nickel, concurrent with increased glucose metabolism, represents a form of metabolic reprogramming that may contribute to nickel-induced carcinogenesis. PMID:26051273

A comparison of sennosides-based bowel protocols with and without docusate in hospitalized patients with cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Hawley, Philippa Helen; Byeon, Jai Jun

2008-05-01

Constipation is a common and distressing condition in patients with cancer, especially those taking opioid analgesics. Many institutions prevent and treat constipation with titrated laxatives, which is known as a bowel protocol. An effective and well-tolerated bowel protocol is a very important component of cancer care, and there is little evidence on which to base selection of the most appropriate agents. This study compares a protocol of the stimulant laxative sennosides alone with a protocol of sennosides plus the stool softener docusate, in hospitalized patients at an oncology center. The docusate-containing protocol had an initial docusate-only step for patients not taking opioids, and four to six 100-mg capsules of docusate sodium in addition to the sennosides for the rest of the protocol. Thirty patients received the sennosides-only (S) protocol and 30 the sennosides plus docusate (DS) protocol. The efficacy and adverse effects of the protocols were monitored for 5-12 days. The two protocols were used sequentially, creating two cohorts, one on each protocol. Eighty percent of patients were taking oral opioids and 72% were admitted for symptom control/supportive care. Over a total of 488 days of observation it was found that the S protocol produced more bowel movements than the DS protocol, and in the symptom control/supportive care patients this difference was statistically significant (p sennosides did not reduce bowel cramps, and was less effective in inducing laxation than the sennosides-only protocol. Further research into the appropriate use of docusate and into the details of bowel protocol design are required.

Effect of curcumin against oxidation of biomolecules by hydroxyl radicals.

Science.gov (United States)

Borra, Sai Krishna; Mahendra, Jaideep; Gurumurthy, Prema; Jayamathi; Iqbal, Shabeer S; Mahendra, Little

2014-10-01

Among various reactive oxygen species, hydroxyl radicals have the strongest chemical activity, which can damage a wide range of essential biomolecules such as lipids, proteins, and DNA. The objective of this study was to investigate the beneficial effects of curcumin on prevention of oxidative damage of biomolecules by hydroxyl radicals generated in in vitro by a Fenton like reaction. We have incubated the serum, plasma and whole blood with H2O2/Cu2+/ Ascorbic acid system for 4 hours at 37 0C and observed the oxidation of biomolecules like albumin, lipids, proteins and DNA. Curcumin at the concentrations of 50,100 and 200 μmoles, prevented the formation of ischemia modified albumin, MDA, protein carbonyls, oxidized DNA and increased the total antioxidant levels and GSH significantly. These observations suggest the hydroxyl radical scavenging potentials of curcumin and protective actions to prevent the oxidation of biomolecules by hydroxyl radicals.

A new automated colorimetric method for measuring total oxidant status.

Science.gov (United States)

Erel, Ozcan

2005-12-01

To develop a new, colorimetric and automated method for measuring total oxidation status (TOS). The assay is based on the oxidation of ferrous ion to ferric ion in the presence of various oxidant species in acidic medium and the measurement of the ferric ion by xylenol orange. The oxidation reaction of the assay was enhanced and precipitation of proteins was prevented. In addition, autoxidation of ferrous ion present in the reagent was prevented during storage. The method was applied to an automated analyzer, which was calibrated with hydrogen peroxide and the analytical performance characteristics of the assay were determined. There were important correlations with hydrogen peroxide, tert-butyl hydroperoxide and cumene hydroperoxide solutions (r=0.99, Ptotal antioxidant capacity (TAC) (r=-0.66 Ptotal oxidant status.

Inter-comparison of NIOSH and IMPROVE protocols for OC and EC determination: implications for inter-protocol data conversion

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Cheng; Huang, X. H. Hilda; Ng, Wai Man; Griffith, Stephen M.; Zhen Yu, Jian

2016-09-01

Organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) are operationally defined by analytical methods. As a result, OC and EC measurements are protocol dependent, leading to uncertainties in their quantification. In this study, more than 1300 Hong Kong samples were analyzed using both National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) thermal optical transmittance (TOT) and Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environment (IMPROVE) thermal optical reflectance (TOR) protocols to explore the cause of EC disagreement between the two protocols. EC discrepancy mainly (83 %) arises from a difference in peak inert mode temperature, which determines the allocation of OC4NSH, while the rest (17 %) is attributed to a difference in the optical method (transmittance vs. reflectance) applied for the charring correction. Evidence shows that the magnitude of the EC discrepancy is positively correlated with the intensity of the biomass burning signal, whereby biomass burning increases the fraction of OC4NSH and widens the disagreement in the inter-protocol EC determination. It is also found that the EC discrepancy is positively correlated with the abundance of metal oxide in the samples. Two approaches (M1 and M2) that translate NIOSH TOT OC and EC data into IMPROVE TOR OC and EC data are proposed. M1 uses direct relationship between ECNSH_TOT and ECIMP_TOR for reconstruction: M1 : ECIMP_TOR = a × ECNSH_TOT + b; while M2 deconstructs ECIMP_TOR into several terms based on analysis principles and applies regression only on the unknown terms: M2 : ECIMP_TOR = AECNSH + OC4NSH - (a × PCNSH_TOR + b), where AECNSH, apparent EC by the NIOSH protocol, is the carbon that evolves in the He-O2 analysis stage, OC4NSH is the carbon that evolves at the fourth temperature step of the pure helium analysis stage of NIOSH, and PCNSH_TOR is the pyrolyzed carbon as determined by the NIOSH protocol. The implementation of M1 to all urban site data (without considering seasonal specificity

Grape juice concentrate prevents oxidative DNA damage in peripheral blood cells of rats subjected to a high-cholesterol diet.

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Aguiar, Odair; Gollücke, Andréa Pittelli Boiago; de Moraes, Bárbara Bueno; Pasquini, Gabriela; Catharino, Rodrigo Ramos; Riccio, Maria Francesca; Ihara, Silvia Saiuli Miki; Ribeiro, Daniel Araki

2011-03-01

The goal of the present study was to investigate whether subchronic treatment with grape juice concentrate is able to protect liver and peripheral blood cells against cholesterol-induced injury in rats. The effects of the grape juice concentrate treatment on histopathological changes, immunohistochemistry for cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2), and basal and oxidative DNA damage induced by H2O2 using a single-cell gel (comet) assay were evaluated. Male Wistar rats (n 18) were divided into three groups: group 1--negative control; group 2--cholesterol at 1 % (w/w) in their diet, treated for 5 weeks; group 3--cholesterol at 1 % in their chow, treated for 5 weeks, and grape juice concentrate at 222 mg/d in their drinking-water in the final week only. The results indicated that the treatment with grape juice concentrate did not show remarkable differences regarding liver tissue in group 3 compared with group 2. However, grape juice concentrate was able to decrease oxidative DNA damage induced by H2O2 in peripheral blood cells, as depicted by the tail moment results. COX-2 expression in the liver did not show statistically significant differences (P>0·05) between groups. Taken together, the present results suggest that the administration of subchronic grape juice concentrate prevents oxidative DNA damage in peripheral blood cells.

Implementation of the protocol on treatment of outpatients and hospitalized patients with iodine 131r

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mildred De Mendoza, L.

1996-01-01

In Nuclear medicine different working protocols are used which are adequate for the treatment of patients with radioactive materials and which at the same time prevent the contamination of the occupationally exposed workers In Guatemala (the implementation of these protocols aims at keeping a records all the personal and centers that make use of iodine 131, improving the quality of diagnostic information; utilizing the necessary amount of radionuclide activity so as to ensure a good diagnosis and effectively utilizing economic resources

Statistical Considerations of Food Allergy Prevention Studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Bahnson, Henry T; du Toit, George; Lack, Gideon

Clinical studies to prevent the development of food allergy have recently helped reshape public policy recommendations on the early introduction of allergenic foods. These trials are also prompting new research, and it is therefore important to address the unique design and analysis challenges of prevention trials. We highlight statistical concepts and give recommendations that clinical researchers may wish to adopt when designing future study protocols and analysis plans for prevention studies. Topics include selecting a study sample, addressing internal and external validity, improving statistical power, choosing alpha and beta, analysis innovations to address dilution effects, and analysis methods to deal with poor compliance, dropout, and missing data. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Antibiotics for secondary prevention of coronary heart disease

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sethi, Naqash J.; Safi, Sanam; Korang, Steven Kwasi

2017-01-01

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows: To assess the beneficial and harmful effects of antibiotics for the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease. As a secondary objective, we plan to assess the effects of individual types of antibiotics...

Detecting and Preventing Beacon Replay Attacks in Receiver-Initiated MAC Protocols for Energy Efficient WSNs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Di Mauro, Alessio; Fafoutis, Xenofon; Mödersheim, Sebastian Alexander

2013-01-01

In receiver-initiated MAC protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), communication is initiated by the receiver of the data through beacons containing the receiver's identity. In this paper, we consider the case of a network intruder that captures and replays such beacons towards legitimate...

[Daily practice using the guidelines for prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. Effectiveness of exercise for preventing and treating osteoporosis].

Science.gov (United States)

Miyakoshi, Naohisa

2008-08-01

There is increasing evidence that exercise is an effective strategy for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. The randomized controlled trials and their meta-analyses to date, evaluating the effects of exercise on osteoporosis reveal that the exercise is effective in preserving bone mass, preventing fractures and falls, and improving quality of life in patients with osteoporosis. Emphasis is also given to the importance of the specific protocols of exercises needed to achieve positive effects safely, keeping in view the age and general physical condition of the person.

Oxidation of Marine Omega-3 Supplements and Human Health

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Benjamin B. Albert

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Marine omega-3 rich oils are used by more than a third of American adults for a wide range of purported benefits including prevention of cardiovascular disease. These oils are highly prone to oxidation to lipid peroxides and other secondary oxidation products. Oxidized oils may have altered biological activity making them ineffective or harmful, though there is also evidence that some beneficial effects of marine oils could be mediated through lipid peroxides. To date, human clinical trials have not reported the oxidative status of the trial oil. This makes it impossible to understand the importance of oxidation to efficacy or harm. However, animal studies show that oxidized lipid products can cause harm. Oxidation of trial oils may be responsible for the conflicting omega-3 trial literature, including the prevention of cardiovascular disease. The oxidative state of an oil can be simply determined by the peroxide value and anisidine value assays. We recommend that all clinical trials investigating omega-3 harms or benefits report the results of these assays; this will enable better understanding of the benefits and harms of omega-3 and the clinical importance of oxidized supplements.

A mindfulness-based stress prevention training for medical students (MediMind): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

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Kuhlmann, Sophie Merle; Bürger, Arne; Esser, Günter; Hammerle, Florian

2015-02-08

Medical training is very demanding and associated with a high prevalence of psychological distress. Compared to the general population, medical students are at a greater risk of developing a psychological disorder. Various attempts of stress management training in medical school have achieved positive results on minimizing psychological distress; however, there are often limitations. Therefore, the use of a rigorous scientific method is needed. The present study protocol describes a randomized controlled trial to examine the effectiveness of a specifically developed mindfulness-based stress prevention training for medical students that includes selected elements of cognitive behavioral strategies (MediMind). This study protocol presents a prospective randomized controlled trial, involving four assessment time points: baseline, post-intervention, one-year follow-up and five-year follow-up. The aims include evaluating the effect on stress, coping, psychological morbidity and personality traits with validated measures. Participants are allocated randomly to one of three conditions: MediMind, Autogenic Training or control group. Eligible participants are medical or dental students in the second or eighth semester of a German university. They form a population of approximately 420 students in each academic term. A final total sample size of 126 (at five-year follow-up) is targeted. The trainings (MediMind and Autogenic Training) comprise five weekly sessions lasting 90 minutes each. MediMind will be offered to participants of the control group once the five-year follow-up is completed. The allotment is randomized with a stratified allocation ratio by course of studies, semester, and gender. After descriptive statistics have been evaluated, inferential statistical analysis will be carried out with a repeated measures ANOVA-design with interactions between time and group. Effect sizes will be calculated using partial η-square values. Potential limitations of this study

An SDN-Based Authentication Mechanism for Securing Neighbor Discovery Protocol in IPv6

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Yiqin Lu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP is one of the main protocols in the Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6 suite, and it provides many basic functions for the normal operation of IPv6 in a local area network (LAN, such as address autoconfiguration and address resolution. However, it has many vulnerabilities that can be used by malicious nodes to launch attacks, because the NDP messages are easily spoofed without protection. Surrounding this problem, many solutions have been proposed for securing NDP, but these solutions either proposed new protocols that need to be supported by all nodes or built mechanisms that require the cooperation of all nodes, which is inevitable in the traditional distributed networks. Nevertheless, Software-Defined Networking (SDN provides a new perspective to think about protecting NDP. In this paper, we proposed an SDN-based authentication mechanism to verify the identity of NDP packets transmitted in a LAN. Using the centralized control and programmability of SDN, it can effectively prevent the spoofing attacks and other derived attacks based on spoofing. In addition, this mechanism needs no additional protocol supporting or configuration at hosts and routers and does not introduce any dedicated devices.

Failure of antiarrhythmic drugs to prevent experimental reperfusion ventricular fibrillation.

Science.gov (United States)

Naito, M; Michelson, E L; Kmetzo, J J; Kaplinsky, E; Dreifus, L S

1981-01-01

Ninety-nine adult mongrel dogs underwent acute ligation of the proximal left anterior descending coronary artery. Thirty minutes later, the occlusion was released to evaluate the effectiveness of five antiarrhythmic protocols in eliminating reperfusion ventricular fibrillation. The five protocols included: protocol 1 --i.v. lidocaine, preligation and prerelease (n = 19); protocol 2 -- i.v. lidocaine, prereperfusion only (n = 22); protocol 3 -- chronic, oral, daily amiodarone for 2 weeks preligation (n = 19); protocol 4 -- i.v. procainamide, preligation and prereperfusion (n = 21); and protocol 5 -- i.v. verapamil, prereperfusion (n = 18). Each regimen was evaluated with respect to the incidence of reperfusion ventricular fibrillation in dogs that survived to reperfusion, and the results were compared to 77 control dogs that underwent identical coronary artery occlusion and release procedures without drug therapy. The incidence of reperfusion ventricular fibrillation was as follows: protocol 1 -- seven of 15 dogs (47%); protocol 2 -- six of 18 (33%); protocol 3 -- 11 of 16 dogs (69%); protocol 4 -- eight of 17 dogs (47%); and protocol 5 -- 10 of 17 dogs (59%), compared with 36 of 60 (60%) in control dogs. Using chi-square analysis, protocol 2 was beneficial (p antecedent coronary artery ligation periods, and predictive risk indexes for the occurrence of reperfusion ventricular fibrillation were developed. the Mantel-Haenszel method of statistical analysis revealed that none of these protocols resulted in a statistically significant reduction in the incidence of reperfusion ventricular fibrillation. Thus, use of these predictive indexes plus appropriate statistical methods has revealed, unexpectedly, limitations in the efficacy of a spectrum of antiarrhythmic agents in preventing reperfusion ventricular fibrillation.

An Adaptive Information Quantity-Based Broadcast Protocol for Safety Services in VANET

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Wenjie Wang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Vehicle-to-vehicle communication plays a significantly important role in implementing safe and efficient road traffic. When disseminating safety messages in the network, the information quantity on safety packets changes over time and space. However, most of existing protocols view each packet the same to disseminate, preventing vehicles from collecting more recent and precise safety information. Hence, an information quantity-based broadcast protocol is proposed in this paper to ensure the efficiency of safety messages dissemination. In particular, we propose the concept of emergency-degree to evaluate packets’ information quantity. Then we present EDCast, an emergency-degree-based broadcast protocol. EDCast differentiates each packet’s priority for accessing the channel based on its emergency-degree so as to provide vehicles with more safety information timely and accurately. In addition, an adaptive scheme is presented to ensure fast dissemination of messages in different network condition. We compare the performance of EDCast with those of three other representative protocols in a typical highway scenario. Simulation results indicate that EDCast achieves higher broadcast efficiency and less redundancy with less delivery delay. What we found demonstrates that it is feasible and necessary for incorporating information quantity of messages in designing an efficient safety message broadcast protocol.

Nuts and oxidation: a systematic review

OpenAIRE

Mònica Bulló; Patricia López-Uriarte; Patricia Casas-Agustench; Nancy Babio; Jordi Salas-Salvadó

2009-01-01

Nuts and oxidation: a systematic review In recent years, nuts have received special attention because of their potential role in preventing cardiovascular disease. Because nuts are very rich in total fat that can potentially be oxidized and their skins contain several antioxidants, studies have been conducted to evaluate the potential effect of nut consumption on oxidative stress. This review evaluates the in vitro and in vivo studies conducted in animals or humans to analyze the effect of...

Tranexamic Acid versus Placebo to Prevent Blood Transfusion during Radical Cystectomy for Bladder Cancer (TACT): Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Breau, Rodney H; Lavallée, Luke T; Cnossen, Sonya; Witiuk, Kelsey; Cagiannos, Ilias; Momoli, Franco; Bryson, Gregory; Kanji, Salmaan; Morash, Christopher; Turgeon, Alexis; Zarychanski, Ryan; Mallick, Ranjeeta; Knoll, Greg; Fergusson, Dean A

2018-05-02

Radical cystectomy for bladder cancer is associated with a high risk of needing red blood cell transfusion. Tranexamic acid reduces blood loss during cardiac and orthopedic surgery, but no study has yet evaluated tranexamic acid use during cystectomy. A randomized, double-blind (surgeon-, anesthesiologist-, patient-, data-monitor-blinded), placebo-controlled trial of tranexamic acid during cystectomy was initiated in June 2013. Prior to incision, the intervention arm participants receive a 10 mg/kg loading dose of intravenously administered tranexamic acid, followed by a 5 mg/kg/h maintenance infusion. In the control arm, the patient receives an identical volume of normal saline that is indistinguishable from the intervention. The primary outcome is any blood transfusion from the start of surgery up to 30 days post operative. There are no strict criteria to mandate the transfusion of blood products. The decision to transfuse is entirely at the discretion of the treating physicians who are blinded to patient allocation. Physicians are allowed to utilize all resources to make transfusion decisions, including serum hemoglobin concentration and vital signs. To date, 147 patients of a planned 354 have been randomized to the study. This protocol reviews pertinent data relating to blood transfusion during radical cystectomy, highlighting the need to identify methods for reducing blood loss and preventing transfusion in patients receiving radical cystectomy. It explains the clinical rationale for using tranexamic acid to reduce blood loss during cystectomy, and outlines the study methods of our ongoing randomized controlled trial. Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR) Protocol: MOP-342559; ClinicalTrials.gov, ID: NCT01869413. Registered on 5 June 2013.

Effects of surface-finishing protocols on the roughness, color change, and translucency of different ceramic systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Akar, Gülcan Coşkun; Pekkan, Gürel; Çal, Ebru; Eskitaşçıoğlu, Gürcan; Özcan, Mutlu

2014-08-01

Surface-finishing protocols have a mechanical impact on ceramic surfaces that could eventually affect surface topography and light scattering. An optimum protocol is needed to avoid damaging the optical properties of ceramics. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of different surface-finishing protocols on the surface roughness, color change, and translucency of ceramic and metal ceramic restorations. Standardized disk-shaped specimens (1.5 × 10 mm, n=128) were fabricated from 3 different ceramic core materials (aluminum oxide [Al2O3]-AL, zirconium oxide [ZrO2]-ZR, lithium disilicate [Li2Si2O5]-LIT), veneered (V) with dentin ceramics (n=32 per group), and placed in the following groups: ALV, ZRV, and LITV. The metal ceramic group acted as the control (n=32). Four different surface-finishing methods were tested. Airborne-particle abrasion with 50 μm Al2O3, polishing with adjustment kit, polishing with adjustment kit plus diamond polishing paste, and autoglazing (n=8 subgroup) were applied on the veneering ceramics. The specimens were analyzed with a profilometer for surface roughness, and color change and translucency were measured with a clinical spectrophotometer. Statistical analyses were performed with 1-way ANOVA and the Tukey honest significant difference tests (α=.05). Specimens treated with the airborne particle abrasion method showed significantly higher mean profilometer for surface roughness values in all groups (P.05). With the diamond polishing paste method, lower surface roughness values were achieved in the ZRV and metal ceramic groups acted as the control groups. Different surface-finishing methods affected the color change of the ceramic systems, except for ZRV. Surface-finishing protocols significantly affected the translucency values of the ALV, LITV, and metal ceramic groups (Pceramics tested. The airborne-particle abrasion protocol created rougher surfaces and decreased translucency, and color change in zirconia was not

Glyoxalase I reduces glycative and oxidative stress and prevents age-related endothelial dysfunction through modulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase phosphorylation.

Science.gov (United States)

Jo-Watanabe, Airi; Ohse, Takamoto; Nishimatsu, Hiroaki; Takahashi, Masao; Ikeda, Yoichiro; Wada, Takehiko; Shirakawa, Jun-ichi; Nagai, Ryoji; Miyata, Toshio; Nagano, Tetsuo; Hirata, Yasunobu; Inagi, Reiko; Nangaku, Masaomi

2014-06-01

Endothelial dysfunction is a major contributor to cardiovascular disease (CVD), particularly in elderly people. Studies have demonstrated the role of glycation in endothelial dysfunction in nonphysiological models, but the physiological role of glycation in age-related endothelial dysfunction has been poorly addressed. Here, to investigate how vascular glycation affects age-related endothelial function, we employed rats systemically overexpressing glyoxalase I (GLO1), which detoxifies methylglyoxal (MG), a representative precursor of glycation. Four groups of rats were examined, namely young (13 weeks old), mid-age (53 weeks old) wild-type, and GLO1 transgenic (WT/GLO1 Tg) rats. Age-related acceleration in glycation was attenuated in GLO1 Tg rats, together with lower aortic carboxymethyllysine (CML) and urinary 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) levels. Age-related impairment of endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation was attenuated in GLO1 Tg rats, whereas endothelium-independent vasorelaxation was not different between WT and GLO1 Tg rats. Nitric oxide (NO) production was decreased in mid-age WT rats, but not in mid-age GLO1 Tg rats. Age-related inactivation of endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) due to phosphorylation of eNOS on Thr495 and dephosphorylation on Ser1177 was ameliorated in GLO1 Tg rats. In vitro, MG increased phosphorylation of eNOS (Thr495) in primary human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs), and overexpression of GLO1 decreased glycative stress and phosphorylation of eNOS (Thr495). Together, GLO1 reduced age-related endothelial glycative and oxidative stress, altered phohphorylation of eNOS, and attenuated endothelial dysfunction. As a molecular mechanism, GLO1 lessened inhibitory phosphorylation of eNOS (Thr495) by reducing glycative stress. Our study demonstrates that blunting glycative stress prevents the long-term impact of endothelial dysfunction on vascular aging. © 2014 The Authors. Aging Cell published by the Anatomical Society and John Wiley & Sons

An Efficient and Secure Arbitrary N-Party Quantum Key Agreement Protocol Using Bell States

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Wen-Jie; Xu, Yong; Yang, Ching-Nung; Gao, Pei-Pei; Yu, Wen-Bin

2018-01-01

Two quantum key agreement protocols using Bell states and Bell measurement were recently proposed by Shukla et al. (Quantum Inf. Process. 13(11), 2391-2405, 2014). However, Zhu et al. pointed out that there are some security flaws and proposed an improved version (Quantum Inf. Process. 14(11), 4245-4254, 2015). In this study, we will show Zhu et al.'s improvement still exists some security problems, and its efficiency is not high enough. For solving these problems, we utilize four Pauli operations { I, Z, X, Y} to encode two bits instead of the original two operations { I, X} to encode one bit, and then propose an efficient and secure arbitrary N-party quantum key agreement protocol. In the protocol, the channel checking with decoy single photons is introduced to avoid the eavesdropper's flip attack, and a post-measurement mechanism is used to prevent against the collusion attack. The security analysis shows the present protocol can guarantee the correctness, security, privacy and fairness of quantum key agreement.

Attacks on quantum key distribution protocols that employ non-ITS authentication

Science.gov (United States)

Pacher, C.; Abidin, A.; Lorünser, T.; Peev, M.; Ursin, R.; Zeilinger, A.; Larsson, J.-Å.

2016-01-01

We demonstrate how adversaries with large computing resources can break quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols which employ a particular message authentication code suggested previously. This authentication code, featuring low key consumption, is not information-theoretically secure (ITS) since for each message the eavesdropper has intercepted she is able to send a different message from a set of messages that she can calculate by finding collisions of a cryptographic hash function. However, when this authentication code was introduced, it was shown to prevent straightforward man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks against QKD protocols. In this paper, we prove that the set of messages that collide with any given message under this authentication code contains with high probability a message that has small Hamming distance to any other given message. Based on this fact, we present extended MITM attacks against different versions of BB84 QKD protocols using the addressed authentication code; for three protocols, we describe every single action taken by the adversary. For all protocols, the adversary can obtain complete knowledge of the key, and for most protocols her success probability in doing so approaches unity. Since the attacks work against all authentication methods which allow to calculate colliding messages, the underlying building blocks of the presented attacks expose the potential pitfalls arising as a consequence of non-ITS authentication in QKD post-processing. We propose countermeasures, increasing the eavesdroppers demand for computational power, and also prove necessary and sufficient conditions for upgrading the discussed authentication code to the ITS level.

Revisiting the electrochemical oxidation of ammonia on carbon-supported metal nanoparticle catalysts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Zhe-Fei; Wang, Yuxuan; Botte, Gerardine G.

2017-01-01

Highlights: • A procedure to pretreat electrocatalysts to study the ammonia oxidation is provided. • N ads and O/OH ads were identified as the major deactivation species that prevent ammonia oxidatoin. • The electrocatalytic activity, thermodynamics, and possible deactivation mechanisms for ammonia oxidation were elucidated. • The onset potential for ammonia oxidation is related to the hydrogen binding energy of the catalyst. • Ammonia electro-oxidation involves a complex decoupled electron and proton transfer process. - Abstract: The ammonia electro-oxidation reaction (AOR) has been studied due to its promising applications in ammonia electrolysis, wastewater remediation, direct ammonia fuel cells, and sensors. However, it is difficult to compare and analyze the reported electrocatalytic activity of AOR reliably, likely due to the variation in catalyst synthesis, electrode composition, electrode morphology, and testing protocol. In this paper, the electro-oxidation of ammonia on different carbon-supported precious metal nanoparticle catalysts was revisited. The effect of experimental conditions, electrochemical test parameters, electrocatalytic activity, thermodynamics, and possible deactivation mechanism of the catalysts were investigated. Pt/C catalyst possesses the highest electrocatalytic activity, while Ir/C and Rh/C show lower overpotential. The onset potential of the AOR is related to the hydrogen binding energy of the catalyst. N ads is one major cause of deactivation accompanied with the formation of surface O/OH ads at high potentials. The coulombic efficiency of N ads formation on Pt is about 1% initially and gradually decreases with reaction time. Increase in ammonia concentration leads to increase in current density, while increase in hydroxyl ions concentration can enhance the current density and reduce the overpotential simultaneously. The slopes of AOR onset potential and hydrogen adsorption/desorption potential of Pt/C as a function of p

The inhibition of the kynurenine pathway prevents behavioral disturbances and oxidative stress in the brain of adult rats subjected to an animal model of schizophrenia.

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Réus, Gislaine Z; Becker, Indianara R T; Scaini, Giselli; Petronilho, Fabricia; Oses, Jean P; Kaddurah-Daouk, Rima; Ceretta, Luciane B; Zugno, Alexandra I; Dal-Pizzol, Felipe; Quevedo, João; Barichello, Tatiana

2018-02-02

Evidence has shown that the kynurenine pathway (KP) plays a role in the onset of oxidative stress and also in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to use a pharmacological animal model of schizophrenia induced by ketamine to investigate if KP inhibitors could protect the brains of Wistar rats against oxidative stress and behavioral changes. Ketamine, injected at the dose of 25mg/kg, increased spontaneous locomotor activity. However, the inhibitors of tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase (TDO), indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) and kynurenine-3-monooxygenase (KMO) were able to reverse these changes. In addition, the IDO inhibitor prevented lipid peroxidation, and decreased the levels of protein carbonyl in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), hippocampus and striatum. It also increased the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the hippocampus, as well as increasing the levels of catalase activity in the PFC and hippocampus. The TDO inhibitor prevented lipid damage in the striatum and reduced the levels of protein carbonyl in the hippocampus and striatum. Also, the TDO inhibitor increased the levels of SOD activity in the striatum and CAT activity in the hippocampus of ketamine-induced pro-oxidant effects. Lipid damage was not reversed by the KMO inhibitor. The KMO inhibitor increased the levels of SOD activity in the hippocampus, and reduced the levels of protein carbonyl while elevating the levels of CAT activity in the striatum of rats that had been injected with ketamine. Our findings revealed that the KP pathway could be a potential mechanism by which a schizophrenia animal model induced by ketamine could cause interference by producing behavioral disturbance and inducing oxidative stress in the brain, suggesting that the inhibition of the KP pathway could be a potential target in treating schizophrenia. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effect of ozone oxidative preconditioning in preventing early radiation-induced lung injury in rats

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Bakkal, B.H. [Department of Radiation Oncology, School of Medicine, Bulent Ecevit University, Kozlu, Zonguldak (Turkey); Gultekin, F.A. [Department of General Surgery, School of Medicine, Bulent Ecevit University, Kozlu, Zonguldak (Turkey); Guven, B. [Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Bulent Ecevit University, Kozlu, Zonguldak (Turkey); Turkcu, U.O. [Mugla School of Health Sciences, Mugla Sitki Kocman University, Mugla (Turkey); Bektas, S. [Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Bulent Ecevit University, Kozlu, Zonguldak (Turkey); Can, M. [Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Bulent Ecevit University, Kozlu, Zonguldak (Turkey)

2013-09-27

Ionizing radiation causes its biological effects mainly through oxidative damage induced by reactive oxygen species. Previous studies showed that ozone oxidative preconditioning attenuated pathophysiological events mediated by reactive oxygen species. As inhalation of ozone induces lung injury, the aim of this study was to examine whether ozone oxidative preconditioning potentiates or attenuates the effects of irradiation on the lung. Rats were subjected to total body irradiation, with or without treatment with ozone oxidative preconditioning (0.72 mg/kg). Serum proinflammatory cytokine levels, oxidative damage markers, and histopathological analysis were compared at 6 and 72 h after total body irradiation. Irradiation significantly increased lung malondialdehyde levels as an end-product of lipoperoxidation. Irradiation also significantly decreased lung superoxide dismutase activity, which is an indicator of the generation of oxidative stress and an early protective response to oxidative damage. Ozone oxidative preconditioning plus irradiation significantly decreased malondialdehyde levels and increased the activity of superoxide dismutase, which might indicate protection of the lung from radiation-induced lung injury. Serum tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-1 beta levels, which increased significantly following total body irradiation, were decreased with ozone oxidative preconditioning. Moreover, ozone oxidative preconditioning was able to ameliorate radiation-induced lung injury assessed by histopathological evaluation. In conclusion, ozone oxidative preconditioning, repeated low-dose intraperitoneal administration of ozone, did not exacerbate radiation-induced lung injury, and, on the contrary, it provided protection against radiation-induced lung damage.

Effect of ozone oxidative preconditioning in preventing early radiation-induced lung injury in rats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bakkal, B.H.; Gultekin, F.A.; Guven, B.; Turkcu, U.O.; Bektas, S.; Can, M.

2013-01-01

Ionizing radiation causes its biological effects mainly through oxidative damage induced by reactive oxygen species. Previous studies showed that ozone oxidative preconditioning attenuated pathophysiological events mediated by reactive oxygen species. As inhalation of ozone induces lung injury, the aim of this study was to examine whether ozone oxidative preconditioning potentiates or attenuates the effects of irradiation on the lung. Rats were subjected to total body irradiation, with or without treatment with ozone oxidative preconditioning (0.72 mg/kg). Serum proinflammatory cytokine levels, oxidative damage markers, and histopathological analysis were compared at 6 and 72 h after total body irradiation. Irradiation significantly increased lung malondialdehyde levels as an end-product of lipoperoxidation. Irradiation also significantly decreased lung superoxide dismutase activity, which is an indicator of the generation of oxidative stress and an early protective response to oxidative damage. Ozone oxidative preconditioning plus irradiation significantly decreased malondialdehyde levels and increased the activity of superoxide dismutase, which might indicate protection of the lung from radiation-induced lung injury. Serum tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-1 beta levels, which increased significantly following total body irradiation, were decreased with ozone oxidative preconditioning. Moreover, ozone oxidative preconditioning was able to ameliorate radiation-induced lung injury assessed by histopathological evaluation. In conclusion, ozone oxidative preconditioning, repeated low-dose intraperitoneal administration of ozone, did not exacerbate radiation-induced lung injury, and, on the contrary, it provided protection against radiation-induced lung damage

Sardine protein diet increases plasma glucagon-like peptide-1 levels and prevents tissue oxidative stress in rats fed a high-fructose diet.

Science.gov (United States)

Madani, Zohra; Sener, Abdullah; Malaisse, Willy J; Dalila, Ait Yahia

2015-11-01

The current study investigated whether sardine protein mitigates the adverse effects of fructose on plasma glucagon‑like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and oxidative stress in rats. Rats were fed casein (C) or sardine protein (S) with or without high‑fructose (HF) for 2 months. Plasma glucose, insulin, GLP‑1, lipid and protein oxidation and antioxidant enzymes were assayed. HF rats developed obesity, hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance and oxidative stress despite reduced energy and food intakes. High plasma creatinine and uric acid levels, in addition to albuminuria were observed in the HF groups. The S‑HF diet reduced plasma glucose, insulin, creatinine, uric acid and homeostasis model assessment‑insulin resistance index levels, however increased GLP‑1 levels compared with the C‑HF diet. Hydroperoxides were reduced in the liver, kidney, heart and muscle of S‑HF fed rats compared with C‑HF fed rats. A reduction in liver, kidney and heart carbonyls was observed in S‑HF fed rats compared with C‑HF fed rats. Reduced levels of nitric oxide (NO) were detected in the liver, kidney and heart of the S‑HF fed rats compared with C‑HF fed rats. The S diet compared with the C diet reduced levels of liver hydroperoxides, heart carbonyls and kidney NO. The S‑HF diet compared with the C‑HF diet increased the levels of liver and kidney superoxide dismutase, liver and muscle catalase, liver, heart and muscle glutathione peroxidase and liver ascorbic acid. The S diet prevented and reversed insulin resistance and oxidative stress, and may have benefits in patients with metabolic syndrome.

Analyzing the effect of routing protocols on media access control protocols in radio networks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barrett, C. L. (Christopher L.); Drozda, M. (Martin); Marathe, A. (Achla); Marathe, M. V. (Madhav V.)

2002-01-01

We study the effect of routing protocols on the performance of media access control (MAC) protocols in wireless radio networks. Three well known MAC protocols: 802.11, CSMA, and MACA are considered. Similarly three recently proposed routing protocols: AODV, DSR and LAR scheme 1 are considered. The experimental analysis was carried out using GloMoSim: a tool for simulating wireless networks. The main focus of our experiments was to study how the routing protocols affect the performance of the MAC protocols when the underlying network and traffic parameters are varied. The performance of the protocols was measured w.r.t. five important parameters: (i) number of received packets, (ii) average latency of each packet, (iii) throughput (iv) long term fairness and (v) number of control packets at the MAC layer level. Our results show that combinations of routing and MAC protocols yield varying performance under varying network topology and traffic situations. The result has an important implication; no combination of routing protocol and MAC protocol is the best over all situations. Also, the performance analysis of protocols at a given level in the protocol stack needs to be studied not locally in isolation but as a part of the complete protocol stack. A novel aspect of our work is the use of statistical technique, ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) to characterize the effect of routing protocols on MAC protocols. This technique is of independent interest and can be utilized in several other simulation and empirical studies.

Effective Prevention of Oxidative Deterioration of Fish Oil: Focus on Flavor Deterioration.

Science.gov (United States)

Miyashita, Kazuo; Uemura, Mariko; Hosokawa, Masashi

2018-03-25

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), both abundant in fish oil, are known to have significant biochemical and physiological effects primarily linked to the improvement of human health, especially cardiovascular and brain health. However, the incorporation of fish oil into foods and beverages is often challenging, as fish oil is very easily oxidized and can cause undesirable flavors. This review discusses this rapid formation of the fishy and metallic off-flavors, focusing especially on an early stage of fish oil oxidation. Although oxidative stability and quality of commercialized fish oil have improved over the past few years, there is a still a problem with its application: Flavor deterioration can be found even at very low oxidation levels. This review also notes the effective way to inhibit the formation of the volatile compounds responsible for the flavor deterioration.

PRALIMAP: study protocol for a high school-based, factorial cluster randomised interventional trial of three overweight and obesity prevention strategies

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Agrinier Nelly

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Given the increase in overweight and obesity prevalence in adolescents in the last decade, effective prevention strategies for these conditions in adolescents are urgently needed. The PRALIMAP (Promotion de l'ALImentation et de l'Activité Physique trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness for these conditions of 3 health promotion strategies -- educational, screening and environmental -- applied singly or in combination in high schools over a 2-year intervention period. Methods PRALIMAP is a stratified 2 × 2 × 2 factorial cluster randomised controlled trial including 24 state high schools in Lorraine, northeastern France, in 2 waves: 8 schools in 2006 (wave 1 and 16 in 2007 (wave 2. Students entering the selected high schools in the 4 academic years from 2006 to 2009 are eligible for data collection. Interventional strategies are organized over 2 academic years. The follow-up consists of 3 visits: at the entry of grade 10 (T0, grade 11 (T1 and grade 12 (T2. At T0, 5,458 (85.7% adolescents participated. The educational strategy consists of nutritional lessons, working groups and a final party. The screening strategy consists in detecting overweight/obesity and eating disorders in adolescents and proposing, if necessary, an adapted care management program of 7 group educational sessions. The environmental strategy consists in improving dietary and physical activity offerings in high schools and facilities, especially catering. The main outcomes are body size evolution over time, nutritional behaviour and knowledge, health and quality of life. An evaluation process documents how each intervention strategy is implemented in the schools and estimates the dose of the intervention, allowing for a per protocol analysis after the main intention-to-treat analysis. Discussion PRALIMAP aims at improving the prevention and management of overweight and obesity in adolescents by translating current evidence into public health practice

Omega-3 fatty acids and mood stabilizers alter behavioral and oxidative stress parameters in animals subjected to fenproporex administration.

Science.gov (United States)

Gomes, Lara M; Carvalho-Silva, Milena; Teixeira, Letícia J; Rebelo, Joyce; Mota, Isabella T; Bilesimo, Rafaela; Michels, Monique; Arent, Camila O; Mariot, Edemilson; Dal-Pizzol, Felipe; Scaini, Giselli; Quevedo, João; Streck, Emilio L

2017-04-01

Studies have shown that oxidative stress is involved in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder (BD). It is suggested that omega-3 (ω3) fatty acids are fundamental to maintaining the functional integrity of the central nervous system. The animal model used in this study displayed fenproporex-induced hyperactivity, a symptom similar to manic BD. Our results showed that the administration of fenproporex, in the prevent treatment protocol, increased lipid peroxidation in the prefrontal cortex (143%), hippocampus (58%) and striatum (181%), and ω3 fatty acids alone prevented this change in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, whereas the co-administration of ω3 fatty acids with VPA prevented the lipoperoxidation in all analyzed brain areas, and the co-administration of ω3 fatty acids with Li prevented this increase only in the prefrontal cortex and striatum. Moreover, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was decreased in the striatum (54%) in the prevention treatment, and the administration of ω3 fatty acids alone or in combination with Li and VPA partially prevented this inhibition. On the other hand, in the reversal treatment protocol, the administration of fenproporex increased carbonyl content in the prefrontal cortex (25%), hippocampus (114%) and striatum (91%), and in prefrontal coxter the administration of ω3 fatty acids alone or in combination with Li and VPA reversed this change, whereas in the hippocampus and striatum only ω3 fatty acids alone or in combination with VPA reversed this effect. Additionally, the administration of fenproporex resulted in a marked increase of TBARS in the hippocampus and striatum, and ω3 fatty acids alone or in combination with Li and VPA reversed this change. Finally, fenproporex administration decreased SOD activity in the prefrontal cortex (85%), hippocampus (52%) and striatum (76%), and the ω3 fatty acids in combination with VPA reversed this change in the prefrontal cortex and striatum, while the co-administration of

Compact wireless control network protocol with fast path switching

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Yasutaka Kawamoto

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Sensor network protocol stacks require the addition or adjustment of functions based on customer requirements. Sensor network protocols that require low delay and low packet error rate (PER, such as wireless control networks, often adopt time division multiple access (TDMA. However, it is difficult to add or adjust functions in protocol stacks that use TDMA methods. Therefore, to add or adjust functions easily, we propose NES-SOURCE, a compact wireless control network protocol with a fast path-switching function. NES-SOURCE is implemented using carrier sense multiple access/collision avoidance (CSMA/CA rather than TDMA. Wireless control networks that use TDMA prevent communication failure by duplicating the communication path. If CSMA/CA networks use duplicate paths, collisions occur frequently, and communication will fail. NES-SOURCE switches paths quickly when communication fails, which reduces the effect of communication failures. Since NES-SOURCE is implemented using CSMA/CA rather than TDMA, the implementation scale is less than one-half that of existing network stacks. Furthermore, since NES-SOURCE’s code complexity is low, functions can be added or adjusted easily and quickly. Communication failures occur owing to changes in the communication environment and collisions. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed NES-SOURCE’s path-switching function reduces the amount of communication failures when the communication environment changes owing to human movement and others. Furthermore, we clarify the relationships among the probability of a changing communication environment, the collision occurrence rate, and the PER of NES-SOURCE.

Cardamom powder supplementation prevents obesity, improves glucose intolerance, inflammation and oxidative stress in liver of high carbohydrate high fat diet induced obese rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Rahman, Md Mizanur; Alam, Mohammad Nazmul; Ulla, Anayt; Sumi, Farzana Akther; Subhan, Nusrat; Khan, Trisha; Sikder, Bishwajit; Hossain, Hemayet; Reza, Hasan Mahmud; Alam, Md Ashraful

2017-08-14

Cardamom is a well-known spice in Indian subcontinent, used in culinary and traditional medicine practices since ancient times. The current investigation was untaken to evaluate the potential benefit of cardamom powder supplementation in high carbohydrate high fat (HCHF) diet induced obese rats. Male Wistar rats (28 rats) were divided into four different groups such as Control, Control + cardamom, HCHF, HCHF + cardamom. High carbohydrate and high fat (HCHF) diet was prepared in our laboratory. Oral glucose tolerance test, organs wet weight measurements and oxidative stress parameters analysis as well as liver marker enzymes such as alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities were assayed on the tissues collected from the rats. Plasma lipids profiles were also measured in all groups of animals. Moreover, histological staining was also performed to evaluate inflammatory cells infiltration and fibrosis in liver. The current investigation showed that, HCHF diet feeding in rats developed glucose intolerance and increased peritoneal fat deposition compared to control rats. Cardamom powder supplementation improved the glucose intolerance significantly (p > 0.05) and prevented the abdominal fat deposition in HCHF diet fed rats. HCHF diet feeding in rats also developed dyslipidemia, increased fat deposition and inflammation in liver compared to control rats. Cardamom powder supplementation significantly prevented the rise of lipid parameters (p > 0.05) in HCHF diet fed rats. Histological assessments confirmed that HCHF diet increased the fat deposition and inflammatory cells infiltration in liver which was normalized by cardamom powder supplementation in HCHF diet fed rats. Furthermore, HCHF diet increased lipid peroxidation, decreased antioxidant enzymes activities and increased advanced protein oxidation product level significantly (p > 0.05) both in plasma and liver tissue which were modulated by

Protocols on prenatal care for pregnant women with Zika infection and children with microcephaly: nutritional approach

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Rachel de Sá Barreto Luna Callou Cruz

Full Text Available Abstract This summary aimed to synthesize the protocol guidelines of Pernambuco, the Ministry of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which deal with health care related to Zika virus infection during pregnancy and the preliminary procedures for surveillance on microcephaly cases including nutritional care. With the increase of number of cases on this event since August, 2015, it was necessary to reorganize the prenatal care which is offered to pregnant women, including the protocols in order to reduce the chances of a possible contamination of the virus, to detect previously suspected cases as well as perform follow up on confirmed cases. The gaps in the knowledge of this morbidity, it should be noted that the information and recommendations are subject to revision due to possible incorporation of new knowledge and other evidence, as well as the need for adequacy of surveillance actions in new epidemiological scenarios. It is known that cases of nutritional deficiencies are capable of producing malformation of the Central Nervous System, including microcephaly. In the analysis of the protocols, there were no changes as to the nutritional recommendations already established for the low-risk pregnant women. The authors presented a hypothesis and conceptually, as a prevention measurement, the inclusion of prenatal care to prevent and control isolated or multiple deficiencies associated to microcephaly, such as protein, vitamin A, iodine, folate, B12, vitamin D, biotin, zinc and selenium.

Benzyl Alcohol-Mediated Versatile Method to Fabricate Nonstoichiometric Metal Oxide Nanostructures.

Science.gov (United States)

Qamar, Mohammad; Adam, Alaaldin; Azad, Abdul-Majeed; Kim, Yong-Wah

2017-11-22

Nanostructured metal oxides with cationic or anionic deficiency find applications in a wide range of technological areas including the energy sector and environment. However, a facile route to prepare such materials in bulk with acceptable reproducibility is still lacking; many synthesis techniques are still only bench-top and cannot be easily scaled-up. Here, we report that the benzyl alcohol (BA)-mediated method is capable of producing a host of nanostructured metal oxides (MO x , where M = Ti, Zn, Ce, Sn, In, Ga, or Fe) with inherent nonstoichiometry. It employs multifunctional BA as a solvent, a reducing agent, and a structure-directing agent. Depending on the oxidation states of metal, elemental or nonstoichiometric oxide forms are obtained. Augmented photoelectrochemical oxidation of water under visible light by some of these nonstoichiometric oxides highlights the versatility of the BA-mediated synthesis protocol.

ONIOM Studies of Esterification at Oxidized Carbon Nanotube Tips

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Contreras-Torres, F F; Basiuk, V A [Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Circuito Exterior C.U., A. Postal 70-543, 04510 Mexico D. F. (Mexico)

2007-03-15

Esterification of oxidized carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can open a new route for the separation of zigzag and armchair nanotubes. We studied theoretically (by using hybrid DFT within the ONIOM embedding protocol) the reactions of monocarboxy-substituted oxidized tips of zigzag and armchair single-walled CNTs (SWCNTs) with methanol. According to the calculated values of activation energy, Gibbs free-activation barriers, and enthalpies of formation for the SWCNT-(COOH)H5 models, the zigzag nanotube isomer is more reactive as compared to its armchair counterpart. For other models we obtained variable results.

Comparison of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions to prevent delirium in critically ill patients: a protocol for a systematic review incorporating network meta-analyses.

Science.gov (United States)

Burry, L D; Hutton, B; Guenette, M; Williamson, D; Mehta, S; Egerod, I; Kanji, S; Adhikari, N K; Moher, D; Martin, C M; Rose, L

2016-09-08

Delirium is characterized by acute changes in mental status including inattention, disorganized thinking, and altered level of consciousness, and is highly prevalent in critically ill adults. Delirium has adverse consequences for both patients and the healthcare system; however, at this time, no effective treatment exists. The identification of effective prevention strategies is therefore a clinical and research imperative. An important limitation of previous reviews of delirium prevention is that interventions were considered in isolation and only direct evidence was used. Our systematic review will synthesize all existing data using network meta-analysis, a powerful statistical approach that enables synthesis of both direct and indirect evidence. We will search Ovid MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, and Web of Science from 1980 to March 2016. We will search the PROSPERO registry for protocols and the Cochrane Library for published systematic reviews. We will examine reference lists of pertinent reviews and search grey literature and the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform for unpublished studies and ongoing trials. We will include randomized and quasi-randomized trials of critically ill adults evaluating any pharmacological, non-pharmacological, or multi-component intervention for delirium prevention, administered in or prior to (i.e., peri-operatively) transfer to the ICU. Two authors will independently screen search results and extract data from eligible studies. Risk of bias assessments will be completed on all included studies. To inform our network meta-analysis, we will first conduct conventional pair-wise meta-analyses for primary and secondary outcomes using random-effects models. We will generate our network meta-analysis using a Bayesian framework, assuming a common heterogeneity parameter across all comparisons, and accounting for correlations in multi-arm studies. We will perform analyses using WinBUGS software. This systematic review

A Modern Approach to Preventing Prosthetic Joint Infections.

Science.gov (United States)

Papas, Paraskevi Vivian; Congiusta, Dominick; Scuderi, Giles R; Cushner, Fred D

2018-02-28

Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is recognized as one of the most successful surgical procedures performed today. One of the most common and dreaded complications of TKA is postoperative infection. To prevent infections, it is critical to identify patients at high risk through analyzing their risk factors, and help in addressing them prior to surgery. The effort to prevent infection must be carried through every step of the surgical process, from preoperative counseling to intraoperative measures and postoperative protocols. Hair removal, the application of antiseptics, the utilization of antibiotics, barbed sutures, smart dressings, and antibacterial washes are some of the avenues surgeons may explore to help prevent infection. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

On-farm comparisons of different cleaning protocols in broiler houses.

Science.gov (United States)

Luyckx, K Y; Van Weyenberg, S; Dewulf, J; Herman, L; Zoons, J; Vervaet, E; Heyndrickx, M; De Reu, K

2015-08-01

The present study evaluated the effectiveness of 4 cleaning protocols designed to reduce the bacteriological infection pressure on broiler farms and prevent food-borne zoonoses. Additionally, difficult to clean locations and possible sources of infection were identified. Cleaning and disinfection rounds were evaluated in 12 broiler houses on 5 farms through microbiological analyses and adenosine triphosphate hygiene monitoring. Samples were taken at 3 different times: before cleaning, after cleaning, and after disinfection. At each sampling time, swabs were taken from various locations for enumeration of the total aerobic flora and Enterococcus species pluralis ( SPP:). In addition, before cleaning and after disinfection, testing for Escherichia coli and Salmonella was carried out. Finally, adenosine triphosphate swabs and agar contact plates for total aerobic flora counts were taken after cleaning and disinfection, respectively. Total aerobic flora and Enterococcus spp. counts on the swab samples showed that cleaning protocols which were preceded by an overnight soaking with water caused a higher bacterial reduction compared to protocols without a preceding soaking step. Moreover, soaking of broiler houses leads to less water consumption and reduced working time during high pressure cleaning. No differences were found between protocols using cold or warm water during cleaning. Drinking cups, drain holes, and floor cracks were identified as critical locations for cleaning and disinfection in broiler houses. © 2015 Poultry Science Association Inc.

An authenticated encrypted routing protocol against attacks in mobile ad-hoc networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C.C. Suma

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Mobile Ad hoc Network is stated as a cluster that contains Digital data terminals and they are furnished with the wireless transceivers which are able to communicate with each other with no need of any fixed architecture or concentrated authority. Security is one of the major issues in MANETs because of vast applications such as Military Battlefields, emergency and rescue operations[10]. In order to provide anonymous communications and to identify the malicious nodes in MANETs, many authors have proposed different secure routing protocols but each protocol have their own advantages and disadvantages. In MANTE’s each and every node in the communicating network functions like router and transmits the packets among the networking nodes for the purpose of communication[11]. Sometimes nodes may be attacked by the malicious nodes or the legitimate node will be caught by foemen there by controlling and preventing the nodes to perform the assigned task or nodes may be corrupted due to loss of energy. So, due to these drawbacks securing the network under the presence of adversaries is an important thing. The existing protocols were designed with keeping anonymity and the identification of vicious nodes in the network as the main goal. For providing better security, the anonymity factors such as Unidentifiability and Unlinkability must be fully satisfied[1]. Many anonymous routing schemes that concentrate on achieving anonymity are proposed in the past decade and they provides the security at different levels and also provides the privacy protection that is of different cost. In this paper we consider a protocol called Authenticated Secure Routing Protocol proposed which provides both security & anonymity. Anonymity is achieved in this protocol using Group signature. Over all by using this protocol performance in terms of throughput as well as the packet dropping rate is good compared to the other living protocols.

Effect of broccoli extract enriched diet on liver cholesterol oxidation in rats subjected to exhaustive exercise.

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Cardenia, Vladimiro; Rodriguez-Estrada, Maria Teresa; Lorenzini, Antonello; Bandini, Erika; Angeloni, Cristina; Hrelia, Silvana; Malaguti, Marco

2017-05-01

The effect of broccoli extract (BE)-enriched diet was studied in order to evaluate its ability to counteract liver cholesterol oxidation products (COPs) induced by acute strenuous exercise in rats. Thirty-two female Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups: control diet without exercise (C), BE-enriched diet without exercise (B), control diet with acute exhaustive exercise (S) and BE-enriched diet with acute exhaustive exercise (BS). The study lasted 45days and on the last day, rats of S and BS groups were forced to run until exhaustion on a treadmill. Glutathione-S-transferase (GST), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase (CAT) and cholesterol oxidation products (COPs) were determined in liver. Exhaustive exercise was clearly responsible for tissue damage, as evidenced by the increase of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) plasma activity in the S group. Moreover, the exercise protocol reduced CAT activity in liver, while it did not affect GST, GR and GPx. BE-enriched diet raised GST, GR and CAT activities in rats of BS group. The main COPs found were 7α-hydroxycholesterol, 7β-hydroxycholesterol, 7-ketocholesterol, cholestanetriol, 24-hydroxycholesterol and 27-hydroxycholesterol. The BE-enriched diet led to reduced cholesterol oxidation following exhaustive exercise; the highest level of COPs was found in the S group, whereas the BS rats showed the lowest amount. This study indicates that the BE-enriched diet increases antioxidant enzyme activities and exerts an antioxidant effect towards cholesterol oxidation in rat liver, suggesting the use of phytochemicals in the prevention of oxidative damage and in the modulation of the redox environment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Preventing DoS attacks in peer-to-peer media streaming systems

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Conner, William; Nahrstedt, Klara; Gupta, Indranil

2006-01-01

This paper presents a framework for preventing both selfishness and denial-of-service attacks in peer-to-peer media streaming systems. Our framework, called Oversight, achieves prevention of these undesirable activities by running a separate peer-to-peer download rate enforcement protocol along with the underlying peer-to-peer media streaming protocol. This separate Oversight protocol enforces download rate limitations on each participating peer. These limitations prevent selfish or malicious nodes from downloading an overwhelming amount of media stream data that could potentially exhaust the entire system. Since Oversight is based on a peer-to-peer architecture, it can accomplish this enforcement functionality in a scalable, efficient, and decentralized way that fits better with peer-to-peer media streaming systems compared to other solutions based on central server architectures. As peer-to-peer media streaming systems continue to grow in popularity, the threat of selfish and malicious peers participating in such large peer-to-peer networks will continue to grow as well. For example, since peer-to-peer media streaming systems allow users to send small request messages that result in the streaming of large media objects, these systems provide an opportunity for malicious users to exhaust resources in the system with little effort expended on their part. However, Oversight addresses these threats associated with selfish or malicious peers who cause such disruptions with excessive download requests. We evaluated our Oversight solution through simulations and our results show that applying Oversight to peer-to-peer media streaming systems can prevent both selfishness and denial-of-service attacks by effectively limiting the download rates of all nodes in the system.

Effects of an anti-oxidative ACAT inhibitor on apoptosis/necrosis and cholesterol accumulation under oxidative stress in THP-1 cell-derived foam cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Miike, Tomohiro; Shirahase, Hiroaki; Jino, Hiroshi; Kunishiro, Kazuyoshi; Kanda, Mamoru; Kurahashi, Kazuyoshi

2008-01-02

THP-1 cell-derived foam cells were exposed to oxidative stress through combined treatment with acetylated LDL (acLDL) and copper ions (Cu2+). The foam cells showed caspase-dependent apoptotic changes on exposure to oxidative stress for 6 h, and necrotic changes with the leakage of LDH after 24 h. KY-455, an anti-oxidative ACAT inhibitor, and ascorbic acid (VC) but not YM-750, an ACAT inhibitor, prevented apoptotic and necrotic changes. These preventive effects of KY-455 and VC were accompanied by the inhibition of lipid peroxidation in culture medium containing acLDL and Cu2+, suggesting the involvement of oxidized acLDL in apoptosis and necrosis. Foam cells accumulated esterified cholesterol (EC) for 24 h in the presence of acLDL without Cu2+, which was suppressed by KY-455 and YM-750. Foam cells showed necrotic changes and died in the presence of acLDL and Cu2+. KY-455 but not YM-750 prevented cell death and reduced the amount of EC accumulated. The foam cells treated with VC further accumulated EC without necrotic changes for 24 h even in the presence of acLDL and Cu2+. YM-750 as well as KY-455 inhibited lipid accumulation when co-incubated with VC in foam cells exposed to oxidative stress. It is concluded that an anti-oxidative ACAT inhibitor or the combination of an antioxidant and an ACAT inhibitor protects foam cells from oxidative stress and effectively reduces cholesterol levels, which would be a promising approach in anti-atherosclerotic therapy.

Creatine supplementation prevents hyperhomocysteinemia, oxidative stress and cancer-induced cachexia progression in Walker-256 tumor-bearing rats.

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Deminice, Rafael; Cella, Paola Sanches; Padilha, Camila S; Borges, Fernando H; da Silva, Lilian Eslaine Costa Mendes; Campos-Ferraz, Patrícia L; Jordao, Alceu Afonso; Robinson, Jason Lorne; Bertolo, Robert F; Cecchini, Rubens; Guarnier, Flávia Alessandra

2016-08-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate (1) the impact of tumor growth on homocysteine (Hcy) metabolism, liver oxidative stress and cancer cachexia and, (2) the potential benefits of creatine supplementation in Walker-256 tumor-bearing rats. Three experiments were conducted. First, rats were killed on days 5 (D5), 10 (D10) and 14 (D14) after tumor implantation. In experiment 2, rats were randomly assigned to three groups designated as control (C), tumor-bearing (T) and tumor-bearing supplemented with creatine (TCr). A life span experiment was conducted as the third experiment. Creatine was supplied in drinking water for 21 days (8 g/L) in all cases. Tumor implantation consisted of a suspension of Walker-256 cells (8.0 × 10(7) cells in 0.5 mL of PBS). The progressive increase (P creatine supplementation promoted a 28 % reduction of tumor weight (P Creatine supplementation was unable to decrease Hcy concentration and to increase SAM/SAH ratio in tumor tissue. These data suggest that creatine effects on hepatic impaired Hcy metabolism promoted by tumor cell inoculation are responsible to decrease plasma Hcy in tumor-bearing rats. In conclusion, Walker-256 tumor growth is associated with progressive hyperhomocysteinemia, body weight loss and liver oxidative stress in rats. Creatine supplementation, however, prevented these tumor-associated perturbations.

Dual contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of the liver with superparamagnetic iron oxide followed by gadolinium for lesion detection and characterization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kubaska, Samantha; Sahani, Dushyant V.; Saini, Sanjay; Hahn, Peter F.; Halpern, Elkan

2001-01-01

AIM: Iron oxide contrast agents are useful for lesion detection, and extracellular gadolinium chelates are advocated for lesion characterization. We undertook a study to determine if dual contrast enhanced liver imaging with sequential use of ferumoxides particles and gadolinium (Gd)-DTPA can be performed in the same imaging protocol. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixteen patients underwent dual contrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the liver for evaluation of known/suspected focal lesions which included, metastases (n = 5), hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC;n = 3), cholangiocharcinoma(n = 1) and focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH;n = 3). Pre- and post-iron oxide T1-weighted gradient recalled echo (GRE) and T2-weighted fast spin echo (FSE) sequences were obtained, followed by post-Gd-DTPA (0.1 mmol/kg) multi-phase dynamic T1-weighted out-of-phase GRE imaging. Images were analysed in a blinded fashion by three experts using a three-point scoring system for lesion conspicuity on pre- and post-iron oxide T1 images as well as for reader's confidence in characterizing liver lesions on post Gd-DTPA T1 images. RESULTS: No statistically significant difference in lesion conspicuity was observed on pre- and post-iron oxide T1-GRE images in this small study cohort. The presence of iron oxide did not appreciably diminish image quality of post-gadolinium sequences and did not prevent characterization of liver lesions. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that characterization of focal liver lesion with Gd-enhanced liver MRI is still possible following iron oxide enhanced imaging. Kubaska, S. et al. (2001)

A Multi-Hop Advertising Discovery and Delivering Protocol for Multi Administrative Domain MANET

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Federico Mari

2013-01-01

Full Text Available A Mobile Ad-hoc NETwork (MANET is Multi Administrative Domain (MAD if each network node belongs to an independent authority, that is each node owns its resources and there is no central authority owning all network nodes. One of the main obstructions in designing Service Advertising, Discovery and Delivery (SADD protocol for MAD MANETs is the fact that, in an attempt to increase their own visibility, network nodes tend to flood the network with their advertisements. In this paper, we present a SADD protocol for MAD MANET, based on Bloom filters, that effectively prevents advertising floods due to such misbehaving nodes. Our results with the ns-2 simulator show that our SADD protocol is effective in counteracting advertising floods, it keeps low the collision rate as well as the energy consumption while ensuring that each peer receives all messages broadcasted by other peers.

Curcumin and dexmedetomidine prevents oxidative stress and renal injury in hind limb ischemia/reperfusion injury in a rat model.

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Karahan, M A; Yalcin, S; Aydogan, H; Büyükfirat, E; Kücük, A; Kocarslan, S; Yüce, H H; Taskın, A; Aksoy, N

2016-06-01

Curcumin and dexmedetomidine have been shown to have protective effects in ischemia-reperfusion injury on various organs. However, their protective effects on kidney tissue against ischemia-reperfusion injury remain unclear. We aimed to determine whether curcumin or dexmedetomidine prevents renal tissue from injury that was induced by hind limb ischemia-reperfusion in rats. Fifty rats were divided into five groups: sham, control, curcumin (CUR) group (200 mg/kg curcumin, n = 10), dexmedetomidine (DEX) group (25 μg/kg dexmedetomidine, n = 10), and curcumin-dexmedetomidine (CUR-DEX) group (200 mg/kg curcumin and 25 μg/kg dexmedetomidine). Curcumin and dexmedetomidine were administered intraperitoneally immediately after the end of 4 h ischemia, just 5 min before reperfusion. The extremity re-perfused for 2 h and then blood samples were taken and total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total oxidative status (TOS) levels, and oxidative stress index (OSI) were measured, and renal tissue samples were histopathologically examined. The TAC activity levels in blood samples were significantly lower in the control than the other groups (p OSI were found to be significantly increased in the control group compared to others groups (p model.

Cloud-assisted mutual authentication and privacy preservation protocol for telecare medical information systems.

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Li, Chun-Ta; Shih, Dong-Her; Wang, Chun-Cheng

2018-04-01

 With the rapid development of wireless communication technologies and the growing prevalence of smart devices, telecare medical information system (TMIS) allows patients to receive medical treatments from the doctors via Internet technology without visiting hospitals in person. By adopting mobile device, cloud-assisted platform and wireless body area network, the patients can collect their physiological conditions and upload them to medical cloud via their mobile devices, enabling caregivers or doctors to provide patients with appropriate treatments at anytime and anywhere. In order to protect the medical privacy of the patient and guarantee reliability of the system, before accessing the TMIS, all system participants must be authenticated.  Mohit et al. recently suggested a lightweight authentication protocol for cloud-based health care system. They claimed their protocol ensures resilience of all well-known security attacks and has several important features such as mutual authentication and patient anonymity. In this paper, we demonstrate that Mohit et al.'s authentication protocol has various security flaws and we further introduce an enhanced version of their protocol for cloud-assisted TMIS, which can ensure patient anonymity and patient unlinkability and prevent the security threats of report revelation and report forgery attacks.  The security analysis proves that our enhanced protocol is secure against various known attacks as well as found in Mohit et al.'s protocol. Compared with existing related protocols, our enhanced protocol keeps the merits of all desirable security requirements and also maintains the efficiency in terms of computation costs for cloud-assisted TMIS.  We propose a more secure mutual authentication and privacy preservation protocol for cloud-assisted TMIS, which fixes the mentioned security weaknesses found in Mohit et al.'s protocol. According to our analysis, our authentication protocol satisfies most functionality features

Pre-exposure and postexposure prophylaxes and the combination HIV prevention methods (The Combine! Study): protocol for a pragmatic clinical trial at public healthcare clinics in Brazil.

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Grangeiro, Alexandre; Couto, Márcia Thereza; Peres, Maria Fernanda; Luiz, Olinda; Zucchi, Eliana Miura; de Castilho, Euclides Ayres; Estevam, Denize Lotufo; Alencar, Rosa; Wolffenbüttel, Karina; Escuder, Maria Mercedes; Calazans, Gabriela; Ferraz, Dulce; Arruda, Érico; Corrêa, Maria da Gloria; Amaral, Fabiana Rezende; Santos, Juliane Cardoso Villela; Alvarez, Vivian Salles; Kietzmann, Tiago

2015-08-25

Few results from programmes based on combination prevention methods are available. We propose to analyse the degree of protection provided by postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) for consensual sexual activity at healthcare clinics, its compensatory effects on sexual behaviour; and the effectiveness of combination prevention methods and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), compared with exclusively using traditional methods. A total of 3200 individuals aged 16 years or older presenting for PEP at 5 sexually transmitted disease (STD)/HIV clinics in 3 regions of Brazil will be allocated to one of two groups: the PEP group-individuals who come to the clinic within 72 h after a sexual exposure and start PEP; and the non-PEP group-individuals who come after 72 h but within 30 days of exposure and do not start PEP. Clinical follow-up will be conducted initially for 6 months and comprise educational interventions based on information and counselling for using prevention methods, including PrEP. In the second study phase, individuals who remain HIV negative will be regrouped according to the reported use of prevention methods and observed for 18 months: only traditional methods; combined methods; and PrEP. Effectiveness will be analysed according to the incidence of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B and C and protected sexual behaviour. A structured questionnaire will be administered to participants at baseline and every 6 months thereafter. Qualitative methods will be employed to provide a comprehensive understanding of PEP-seeking behaviour, preventive choices and exposure to HIV. This study will be conducted in accordance with the resolution of the School of Medicine Research Ethics Commission of Universidade de São Paulo (protocol no. 251/14). The databases will be available for specific studies, after management committee approval. Findings will be presented to researchers, health managers and civil society members by means of newspapers, electronic media and scientific journals

Compliant flooring to prevent fall-related injuries: a scoping review protocol.

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Lachance, Chantelle C; Jurkowski, Michal P; Dymarz, Ania C; Mackey, Dawn C

2016-08-16

Fall-related injuries can have serious consequences for older adults, including increased risk of dependence in daily activities and mortality. Compliant flooring is a passive intervention that may reduce the incidence and severity of fall-related injuries in healthcare settings, including acute and long-term care, but few sites have implemented compliant flooring, in part because synthesised evidence about key performance aspects has not been available. We will conduct a scoping review to address the question: what is presented about the biomechanical efficacy, clinical effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and workplace safety associated with compliant flooring systems that aim to prevent fall-related injuries? We will conduct a comprehensive and systematic literature search of academic databases (AgeLine, CINAHL, EBM Reviews, MEDLINE (Ovid), SportDiscus and Web of Science) and grey literature (clinical trial registries, theses/dissertations, abstracts/conference proceedings and relevant websites). 2 team members will independently screen records (first titles and abstracts, then full text) and extract data from included records. Numerical and narrative analyses will be presented by theme (biomechanical efficacy, clinical effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, workplace safety). This scoping review responds to the information needs of healthcare decision-makers tasked with preventing fall-related injuries. This review will summarise evidence about compliant flooring as a potential intervention for preventing fall-related injuries in older adults and identify gaps in evidence and new avenues for research. Results will be especially useful in long-term care, but also applicable in acute care, assisted living and home care. We will disseminate the review's findings via open-access publications, conference presentations, a webinar, a Stakeholder Symposium and a Knowledge-to-Action Report. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not

Evaluation of a commercially available molybdate formulation and zinc oxide boluses in preventing hepatic copper accumulation and thus enzootic icterus in sheep

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C.J. Botha

2001-07-01

Full Text Available The efficacy of a molybdate formulation and a zinc oxide bolus as prophylactic agents for enzootic icterus was evaluated in sheep. Before copper loading, liver biopsies were performed on 12 male, 6-month-old, Mutton Merino sheep to determine hepatic copper (Cu and zinc (Zn concentrations. The animals were restrictively randomised according to liver copper concentrations to 3 treatment groups (n = 4 to achieve similar mean liver copper concentrations per group. All sheep received 4 m /kg of a 0.5 %aqueous solution of CuSO4·5H2O intraruminally 7 days per week for 10 weeks. On Day 0 the sheep in the Mo-group were injected subcutaneously with 42 mg molybdenum (Mo contained in a commercial molybdate formulation. The animals in the Zn-group each received a zinc oxide bolus, containing 43 g zinc oxide, via a rumen cannula. Treatment was repeated on Day 42. Four animals served as untreated controls. Urinary copper excretion, plasma copper concentration, haematocrit and glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH activity were determined throughout the trial. The animals were sacrificed after 10 weeks and liver samples were submitted for histopathological examination. Liver and kidney copper and zinc concentrations were determined. Neither the molybdate treatment nor the zinc oxide boluses prevented hepatic copper accumulation. The urinary copper excretion, plasma copper concentration, haematocrit and GLDH activity were not significantly different (P > 0.05 from the controls.

A Comparison Between Inter-Asterisk eXchange Protocol and Jingle Protocol: Session Time

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H. S. Haj Aliwi

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Over the last few years, many multimedia conferencing and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP applications have been developed due to the use of signaling protocols in providing video, audio and text chatting services between at least two participants. This paper compares between two widely common signaling protocols: InterAsterisk eXchange Protocol (IAX and the extension of the eXtensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (Jingle in terms of delay time during call setup, call teardown, and media sessions.

Bilirubin prevents acute DSS-induced colitis by inhibiting leukocyte infiltration and suppressing upregulation of inducible nitric oxide synthase.

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Zucker, Stephen D; Vogel, Megan E; Kindel, Tammy L; Smith, Darcey L H; Idelman, Gila; Avissar, Uri; Kakarlapudi, Ganesh; Masnovi, Michelle E

2015-11-15

Bilirubin is thought to exert anti-inflammatory effects by inhibiting vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1)-dependent leukocyte migration and by suppressing the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). As VCAM-1 and iNOS are important mediators of tissue injury in the dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) murine model of inflammatory colitis, we examined whether bilirubin prevents colonic injury in DSS-treated mice. Male C57BL/6 mice were administered 2.5% DSS in the drinking water for 7 days, while simultaneously receiving intraperitoneal injections of bilirubin (30 mg/kg) or potassium phosphate vehicle. Disease activity was monitored, peripheral blood counts and serum nitrate levels were determined, and intestinal specimens were analyzed for histological injury, leukocyte infiltration, and iNOS expression. The effect of bilirubin on IL-5 production by HSB-2 cells and on Jurkat cell transendothelial migration also was determined. DSS-treated mice that simultaneously received bilirubin lost less body weight, had lower serum nitrate levels, and exhibited reduced disease severity than vehicle-treated animals. Concordantly, histopathological analyses revealed that bilirubin-treated mice manifested significantly less colonic injury, including reduced infiltration of eosinophils, lymphocytes, and monocytes, and diminished iNOS expression. Bilirubin administration also was associated with decreased eosinophil and monocyte infiltration into the small intestine, with a corresponding increase in peripheral blood eosinophilia. Bilirubin prevented Jurkat migration but did not alter IL-5 production. In conclusion, bilirubin prevents DSS-induced colitis by inhibiting the migration of leukocytes across the vascular endothelium and by suppressing iNOS expression. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

Evaluation of an advanced pressure ulcer management protocol followed by trained wound, ostomy, and continence nurses: a non-randomized controlled trial

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Kaitani T

2015-02-01

the advanced protocol and 19 others as controls. Statistical analysis included a linear mixed-effects model and a logistic regression model. Results: In week 0–1, the advanced protocol was significantly associated with prevention of PU deterioration. Using the linear mixed-effects model, we observed a greater decrease in the DESIGN-R score (healing in the advanced protocol group. There were no reports of excessive bleeding, pain or infection with the advanced protocol. Conclusion: Using the advanced protocol, WOCNs detected PU severity, assessed PUs, and treated PUs safely. This protocol prevented PU deterioration and/or facilitated wound healing. Relevance to clinical practice: With proper training, WOCNs can assess and treat PUs safer and quicker than when a physician's assessment is required, leading to an improvement in wound healing and prevention of PU deterioration. Keywords: pressure ulcers, WOCN, interventions, protocols, deep tissue injury

First Steps towards Evidence-Based Preventive Home Visits: Experiences Gathered in a Swedish Municipality

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Charlotte Löfqvist

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of preventive home visits is to promote overall health and wellbeing in old age. The aim of this paper was to describe the process of the development of evidence-based preventive home visits, targeting independent community-living older persons. The evidence base was generated from published studies and practical experiences. The results demonstrate that preventive home visits should be directed to persons 80 years old and older and involve various professional competences. The visits should be personalized, lead to concrete interventions, and be followed up. The health areas assessed should derive from a broad perspective and include social, psychological, and medical aspects. Core components in the protocol developed in this study captured physical, medical, psychosocial, and environmental aspects. Results of a pilot study showed that the protocol validly identified health risks among older people with different levels of ADL dependence.

Successful Short Desensitization Treatment Protocol with Narrowband UVB Phototherapy (TL-01) in Polymorphic Light Eruption.

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Combalia, A; Fernández-Sartorio, C; Fustà, X; Morgado-Carrasco, D; Podlipnik, S; Aguilera, P

2017-10-01

Polymorphic light eruption (PLE) is a common idiopathic photodermatosis that typically presents with pruritic papular or papulovesicular lesions on sun-exposed skin between spring and autumn. In many subjects PLE is mild, and can usually be prevented by the use of broad-spectrum topical sunscreens and a gradual increase in sunlight exposure. However, in some individuals, sunlight exposure results in florid PLE and they often benefit from prophylactic desensitization treatment using phototherapy in early spring, an artificial method that induces a "hardening" phenomenon. To describe and evaluate the efficacy of a short desensitization protocol, based on a one-month-treatment, administered twice a week with narrow band UVB in subjects with severe polymorphic light eruption (PLE). A retrospective, open planned and non-randomized study to assess the efficacy of UVB phototherapy in prevention of polymorphic light eruption. Fifteen subjects diagnosed with severe PLE were treated with the standard protocol in our Photobiology Unit between 2014 and 2015. The effect of hardening was sustained during follow up in 87.5% of desensitization treatments. A statistically significant association (pPLE and the response to treatment was found. The effect of hardening was maintained in the vast majority of subjects, obtaining a good benefit with no PLE episodes during all the summer. We demonstrate that our standard protocol is effective, and produces a successful outcome for the majority of PLE subjects. Our protocol is shorter than those currently applied, being favourable both for the patient and the physician. Copyright © 2017 AEDV. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Breakthrough reactions of iodinated and gadolinium contrast media after oral steroid premedication protocol.

Science.gov (United States)

Jingu, Akiko; Fukuda, Junya; Taketomi-Takahashi, Ayako; Tsushima, Yoshito

2014-10-06

Adverse reactions to iodinated and gadolinium contrast media are an important clinical issue. Although some guidelines have proposed oral steroid premedication protocols to prevent adverse reactions, some patients may have reactions to contrast media in spite of premedication (breakthrough reaction; BTR).The purpose of this study was to assess the frequency, type and severity of BTR when following an oral steroid premedication protocol. All iodinated and gadolinium contrast-enhanced radiologic examinations between August 2011 and February 2013 for which the premedication protocol was applied in our institution were assessed for BTRs. The protocol was applied to a total of 252 examinations (153 patients, ages 15-87 years; 63 males, 90 females). Of these, 152 were for prior acute adverse reactions to contrast media, 85 were for a history of bronchial asthma, and 15 were for other reasons. There were 198 contrast enhanced CTs and 54 contrast enhanced MRIs. There were nine BTR (4.5%) for iodinated contrast media, and only one BTR (1.9%) for gadolinium contrast media: eight were mild and one was moderate. No patient who had a mild index reaction (IR) had a severe BTR. Incidence of BTRs when following the premedication protocol was low. This study by no means proves the efficacy of premedication, but provides some support for following a premedication protocol to improve safety of contrast-enhanced examinations when prior adverse reactions are mild, or when there is a history of asthma.

Breakthrough reactions of iodinated and gadolinium contrast media after oral steroid premedication protocol

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jingu, Akiko; Fukuda, Junya; Taketomi-Takahashi, Ayako; Tsushima, Yoshito

2014-01-01

Adverse reactions to iodinated and gadolinium contrast media are an important clinical issue. Although some guidelines have proposed oral steroid premedication protocols to prevent adverse reactions, some patients may have reactions to contrast media in spite of premedication (breakthrough reaction; BTR). The purpose of this study was to assess the frequency, type and severity of BTR when following an oral steroid premedication protocol. All iodinated and gadolinium contrast-enhanced radiologic examinations between August 2011 and February 2013 for which the premedication protocol was applied in our institution were assessed for BTRs. The protocol was applied to a total of 252 examinations (153 patients, ages 15–87 years; 63 males, 90 females). Of these, 152 were for prior acute adverse reactions to contrast media, 85 were for a history of bronchial asthma, and 15 were for other reasons. There were 198 contrast enhanced CTs and 54 contrast enhanced MRIs. There were nine BTR (4.5%) for iodinated contrast media, and only one BTR (1.9%) for gadolinium contrast media: eight were mild and one was moderate. No patient who had a mild index reaction (IR) had a severe BTR. Incidence of BTRs when following the premedication protocol was low. This study by no means proves the efficacy of premedication, but provides some support for following a premedication protocol to improve safety of contrast-enhanced examinations when prior adverse reactions are mild, or when there is a history of asthma

Use of a patient hand hygiene protocol to reduce hospital-acquired infections and improve nurses' hand washing.

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Fox, Cherie; Wavra, Teresa; Drake, Diane Ash; Mulligan, Debbie; Bennett, Yvonne Pacheco; Nelson, Carla; Kirkwood, Peggy; Jones, Louise; Bader, Mary Kay

2015-05-01

Critically ill patients are at marked risk of hospital-acquired infections, which increase patients' morbidity and mortality. Registered nurses are the main health care providers of physical care, including hygiene to reduce and prevent hospital-acquired infections, for hospitalized critically ill patients. To investigate a new patient hand hygiene protocol designed to reduce hospital-acquired infection rates and improve nurses' hand-washing compliance in an intensive care unit. A preexperimental study design was used to compare 12-month rates of 2 common hospital-acquired infections, central catheter-associated bloodstream infection and catheter-associated urinary tract infection, and nurses' hand-washing compliance measured before and during use of the protocol. Reductions in 12-month infection rates were reported for both types of infections, but neither reduction was statistically significant. Mean 12-month nurse hand-washing compliance also improved, but not significantly. A hand hygiene protocol for patients in the intensive care unit was associated with reductions in hospital-acquired infections and improvements in nurses' hand-washing compliance. Prevention of such infections requires continuous quality improvement efforts to monitor lasting effectiveness as well as investigation of strategies to eliminate these infections. ©2015 American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

Anti-oxidative Effect of Ligustrazine on Treatment and Prevention of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, School of Food Science and Technology, ... Keywords: Ligustrazine, Oxidative stress, Umbilical vein, Endothelial cells, Atherosclerosis .... The percentage of LDH release, NO production,.

o-Naphthoquinone-Catalyzed Aerobic Oxidation of Amines to (Ket)imines: A Modular Catalyst Approach.

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Goriya, Yogesh; Kim, Hun Young; Oh, Kyungsoo

2016-10-07

A modular aerobic oxidation of amines to imines has been achieved using an ortho-naphthoquinone (o-NQ) catalyst. The cooperative catalyst system of o-NQ and Cu(OAc) 2 enabled the formation of homocoupled imines from benzylamines, while the presence of TFA helped the formation of cross-coupled imines in excellent yields. The current mild aerobic oxidation protocol could also be applied to the oxidation of secondary amines to imines or ketimines with the help of cocatalyst, Ag 2 CO 3 , with excellent yields.

Integral approaches to wastewater treatment plant upgrading for odor prevention: Activated Sludge and Oxidized Ammonium Recycling.

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Estrada, José M; Kraakman, N J R; Lebrero, R; Muñoz, R

2015-11-01

Traditional physical/chemical end-of-the-pipe technologies for odor abatement are relatively expensive and present high environmental impacts. On the other hand, biotechnologies have recently emerged as cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternatives but are still limited by their investment costs and land requirements. A more desirable approach to odor control is the prevention of odorant formation before being released to the atmosphere, but limited information is available beyond good design and operational practices of the wastewater treatment process. The present paper reviews two widely applicable and economic alternatives for odor control, Activated Sludge Recycling (ASR) and Oxidized Ammonium Recycling (OAR), by discussing their fundamentals, key operating parameters and experience from the available pilot and field studies. Both technologies present high application potential using readily available plant by-products with a minimum plant upgrading, and low investment and operating costs, contributing to the sustainability and economic efficiency of odor control at wastewater treatment facilities. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cluster randomized trial in the general practice research database: 2. Secondary prevention after first stroke (eCRT study: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

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Dregan Alex

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The purpose of this research is to develop and evaluate methods for conducting pragmatic cluster randomized trials in a primary care electronic database. The proposal describes one application, in a less frequent chronic condition of public health importance, secondary prevention of stroke. A related protocol in antibiotic prescribing was reported previously. Methods/Design The study aims to implement a cluster randomized trial (CRT using the electronic patient records of the General Practice Research Database (GPRD as a sampling frame and data source. The specific objective of the trial is to evaluate the effectiveness of a computer-delivered intervention at enhancing the delivery of stroke secondary prevention in primary care. GPRD family practices will be allocated to the intervention or usual care. The intervention promotes the use of electronic prompts to support adherence with the recommendations of the UK Intercollegiate Stroke Working Party and NICE guidelines for the secondary prevention of stroke in primary care. Primary outcome measure will be the difference in systolic blood pressure between intervention and control trial arms at 12-month follow-up. Secondary outcomes will be differences in serum cholesterol, prescribing of antihypertensive drugs, statins, and antiplatelet therapy. The intervention will continue for 12 months. Information on the utilization of the decision-support tools will also be analyzed. Discussion The CRT will investigate the effectiveness of using a computer-delivered intervention to reduce the risk of stroke recurrence following a first stroke event. The study will provide methodological guidance on the implementation of CRTs in electronic databases in primary care. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN35701810

The French dosimetry protocol

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dutreix, A.

1985-01-01

After a general introduction the protocol is divided in five sections dealing with: determination of the quality of X-ray, γ-ray and electron beams; the measuring instrument; calibration of the reference instrument; determination of the reference absorbed dose in the user's beams; determination of the absorbed dose in water at other points, in other conditions. The French protocol is not essentially different from the Nordic protocol and it is based on the experience gained in using both the American and the Nordic protocols. Therefore, only the main difference with the published protocols are discussed. (Auth.)

Prevention of cisplatin nephrotoxicity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hayati Fatemeh

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Cisplatin has a well-established role in the treatment of broad spectrum of malignancies; however its use is limited because of cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity (CIN which can be progressive in more than 50% of cases. The most important risk factors for CIN include higher doses of cisplatin, previous cisplatin chemotherapy, underlying kidney damage and concurrent treatment with other potential nephrotoxin agents, such as aminoglycosides, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents, or iodinated contrast media. Different strategies have been offered to diminish or prevent nephrotoxicity of cisplatin. The standard approach for prevention of CIN is the administration of lower doses of cisplatin in combination with full intravenous hydration prior and after cisplatin administration. Cisplatin-induced oxidative stress in the kidney may be prevented by natural antioxidant compounds. The results of this review show that many strategies for prevention of CIN exist, however, attention to the administration of these agent for CIN is necessary.

Hydration for the prevention of contrast medium-induced nephropathy. An update

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heinrich, M.; Uder, M.

2006-01-01

Contrast medium-induced nephropathy (CIN) continues to be one of the most common causes of hospital-acquired acute renal failure. Since most of the clinical studies on the prophylactic use of different drugs to prevent CIN produced disappointing results, hydration remains the mainstay of prophylaxis. A number of recent prospective randomized trials provided further evidence of the effectiveness of hydration and relevant information regarding the optimization of hydration protocols. It was shown that a bolus hydration solely during examination is not sufficient to prevent CIN. In addition, isotonic 0.9% saline was superior to the commonly used halfisotonic 0.45% saline in another trial. An outpatient hydration protocol including oral hydration before the examination followed by forced intravenous hydration over 6 hrs. beginning 30 to 60 min. prior to examination seems to be comparable to the usual hydration over 24 hrs. Another hydration protocol, which could also be very attractive especially for outpatients, included the infusion of sodium bicarbonate. In a recent trial, hydration with sodium bicarbonate, given as a bolus for 1 hr. prior to examination followed by an infusion for 6 hrs. after examination, was more effective than hydration with sodium chloride for the prophylaxis of CIN. However, there is still a lack of large-scale, multi-center trials comparing different hydration protocols and investigating their influence on clinically relevant endpoints such as mortality or the need for dialysis. (orig.)

[Childhood obesity prevention from a community view].

Science.gov (United States)

Ariza, Carles; Ortega-Rodríguez, Eduard; Sánchez-Martínez, Francesca; Valmayor, Sara; Juárez, Olga; Pasarín, M Isabel

2015-04-01

The percentage of failure and relapse in the treatment of obesity is high. Where possible, the preferred strategy for preventing obesity is to modify eating habits and lifestyles. This article aims to provide a framework for evidence on the most effective interventions for addressing childhood obesity, both from a prevention point of view, as well as reducing it, when it is already established. After a review of the scientific literature, the issues that must be considered both in the universal and selective prevention of childhood obesity are presented. Also, in light of the controversy over the tools for measuring and controlling the problem, some clarification is provided on the criteria. Finally, the approach to the prevention of overweight and obesity with a community perspective is separated, with two short protocols being offered with diagrams of the basic procedure to follow. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Development of a Comprehensive Programme to Prevent and Reduce the Negative Impact of Railway Fatalities, Injuries and Close Calls on Railway Employees.

Science.gov (United States)

Bardon, Cécile; Mishara, Brian L

2015-09-01

This article presents a strategy to prevent trauma, support and care for railway personnel who experience critical incidents (CI) on the job, usually fatalities by accident or suicide. We reviewed all publications on CI management, support and care practices in the railway industry, as well as practices in place in Canada (unpublished protocols). Semi structured interviews were conducted with 40 train engineers and conductors involved in CIs and the content was coded and analysed quantitatively. Employees' satisfaction with the help received after the incident varies according to the behaviour of the local manager, company officers and police, the level of compliance with existing company protocols to help them, the presence of unmet expectations for support and care, their perceived competency of clinicians they consulted and the level of trust toward their employers. On the basis of the interview results, the review of existing railway practices and discussions with railway stakeholders, a model protocol was developed for a comprehensive workplace prevention, support and care protocol to reduce the negative impact of railway critical incidents on employees. This protocol includes preventive actions before traumatic events occur, immediate responses at the site of incident, interventions within the first few days after the incident and longer term support and interventions provided by the company and by outsourced experts.

Anti-oxidative Effect of Ligustrazine on Treatment and Prevention of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

induced atherosclerosis. Methods: The indicators related to oxidative stress were determined using commercially available assay kits. MTT assay was used to assess the survival rate of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs).

Resveratrol and Endothelial Nitric Oxide

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ning Xia

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Nitric oxide (NO derived from the endothelial NO synthase (eNOS has antihypertensive, antithrombotic, anti-atherosclerotic and antiobesogenic properties. Resveratrol is a polyphenol phytoalexin with multiple cardiovascular and metabolic effects. Part of the beneficial effects of resveratrol are mediated by eNOS. Resveratrol stimulates NO production from eNOS by a number of mechanisms, including upregulation of eNOS expression, stimulation of eNOS enzymatic activity and reversal of eNOS uncoupling. In addition, by reducing oxidative stress, resveratrol prevents oxidative NO inactivation by superoxide thereby enhancing NO bioavailability. Molecular pathways underlying these effects of resveratrol involve SIRT1, AMPK, Nrf2 and estrogen receptors.

Polyamines contribute to salinity tolerance in the symbiosis Medicago truncatula-Sinorhizobium meliloti by preventing oxidative damage.

Science.gov (United States)

López-Gómez, Miguel; Hidalgo-Castellanos, Javier; Muñoz-Sánchez, J Rubén; Marín-Peña, Agustín J; Lluch, Carmen; Herrera-Cervera, José A

2017-07-01

Polyamines (PAs) such as spermidine (Spd) and spermine (Spm) are small ubiquitous polycationic compounds that contribute to plant adaptation to salt stress. The positive effect of PAs has been associated to a cross-talk with other anti-stress hormones such as brassinosteroids (BRs). In this work we have studied the effects of exogenous Spd and Spm pre-treatments in the response to salt stress of the symbiotic interaction between Medicago truncatula and Sinorhizobium meliloti by analyzing parameters related to nitrogen fixation, oxidative damage and cross-talk with BRs in the response to salinity. Exogenous PAs treatments incremented the foliar and nodular Spd and Spm content which correlated with an increment of the nodule biomass and nitrogenase activity. Exogenous Spm treatment partially prevented proline accumulation which suggests that this polyamine could replace the role of this amino acid in the salt stress response. Additionally, Spd and Spm pre-treatments reduced the levels of H 2 O 2 and lipid peroxidation under salt stress. PAs induced the expression of genes involved in BRs biosynthesis which support a cross-talk between PAs and BRs in the salt stress response of M. truncatula-S. meliloti symbiosis. In conclusion, exogenous PAs improved the response to salinity of the M. truncatula-S. meliloti symbiosis by reducing the oxidative damage induced under salt stress conditions. In addition, in this work we provide evidences of the cross-talk between PAs and BRs in the adaptive responses to salinity. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Pineapple Waste Extract for Preventing Oxidation in Model Food Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Segovia Gómez, Francisco; Almajano Pablos, María Pilar

2016-07-01

Pineapple (Ananas comosus) is consumed in the form of chunks (canned), cubes, fruit salad, and also in juices, concentrates, and jams. In the processes to produce these products, the waste generated represents a high percentage of the total fruit. Some studies have shown that residues of certain fruits, such as pineapple, have the same antioxidant activity as the fruit pulp. So although these residues are discarded, they could be used as an alternative source of polyphenols, as natural antioxidants. This study is focused on the antioxidant activity of wastes obtained in the production of pineapple products and their application. The polyphenols' scavenging activity was determined by the oxygen radical antioxidant capacity assay. The antioxidant potential was determined in emulsions (o/w) and in muffins, where the primary oxidation products (by peroxide value, PV) and the secondary oxidation products (by thiobarbituric acid reactive substances) were analyzed. In addition the muffins were analyzed by means of a triangular sensory test. The PV method showed that pineapple waste extracts caused a reduction in oxidation products of 59% in emulsions and 91% in the muffins. The reduction in TBARs values for emulsions were 27% and for muffins were 51%. The triangular sensory test showed that the samples containing the extract were not distinguished from the control (α = 0.05). © 2016 Institute of Food Technologists®

IL-6, Antioxidant Capacity and Muscle Damage Markers Following High-Intensity Interval Training Protocols.

Science.gov (United States)

Cipryan, Lukas

2017-02-01

The aim of this study was to investigate changes of interleukin-6 (IL-6), total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and muscle damage markers (creatine kinase (CK), myoglobin and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)) in response to three different high-intensity interval training (HIIT) protocols of identical external work. Twelve moderately-trained males participated in the three HIIT trials which consisted of a warm-up, followed by 12 min of 15 s, 30 s or 60 s HIIT sequences with the work/rest ratio 1. The biochemical markers of inflammation, oxidative stress and muscle damage were analysed POST, 3 h and 24 h after the exercise. All HIIT protocols caused an immediate increase in IL-6, TAC, CK, myoglobin and LDH. The most pronounced between-trials differences were found for the POST-exercise changes in IL-6 (Effect size ± 90% confidence interval: 1.51 ± 0.63, 0.84 ± 0.34 and 1.80 ± 0.60 for the 15s/15s, 30s/30s and 60s/60s protocol, respectively) and myoglobin (1.11 ± 0.29, 0.45 ± 0.48 and 1.09 ± 0.22 for the 15s/15s, 30s/30s and 60s/60s protocol, respectively). There were no substantial between-trial differences in other biochemical variables. In conclusion, the 15s/15s and 60s/60s protocols might be preferred to the 30s/30s protocols in order to maximize the training stimulus.

Rehabilitation protocol for patellar tendinopathy applied among 16- to 19-year old volleyball players.

Science.gov (United States)

Biernat, Ryszard; Trzaskoma, Zbigniew; Trzaskoma, Lukasz; Czaprowski, Dariusz

2014-01-01

The aim of the study was to investigate the efficacy of rehabilitation protocol applied during competitive period for the treatment of patellar tendinopathy. A total of 28 male volleyball players were divided into two groups. Fifteen from experimental group (E) and 13 from control group (C) fulfilled the same tests 3 times: before the training program started (first measurement), after 12 weeks (second measurement) and after 24 weeks (third measurement). The above-mentioned protocol included the following: USG imagining with color Doppler function, clinical testing, pain intensity evaluation with VISA-P questionnaire, leg muscle strength and power and jumping ability measurements. The key element of the rehabilitation program was eccentric squat on decline board with additional unstable surface. The essential factor of the protocol was a set of preventive functional exercises, with focus on eccentric exercises of hamstrings. Patellar tendinopathy was observed in 18% of the tested young volleyball players. Implementation of the presented rehabilitation protocol with eccentric squat on decline board applied during sports season lowered the pain level of the young volleyball players. Presented rehabilitation protocol applied without interrupting the competitive period among young volleyball players together with functional exercises could be an effective method for the treatment of patellar tendinopathy.

Stress Prevention@Work : A study protocol for the evaluation of a multifaceted integral stress prevention strategy to prevent employee stress in a healthcare organization: a cluster controlled trial

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoek, R.J.A.; Havermans, B.M.; Houtman, I.L.D.; Brouwers, E.P.M.; Heerkens, Y.F.; Zijlstra-vlasveld, M.C.; Anema, J.R.; van der Beek, A.J.; Boot, C.R.L.

2018-01-01

Adequate implementation of work-related stress management interventions can reduce or prevent work-related stress and sick leave in organizations. We developed a multifaceted integral stress-prevention strategy for organizations from several sectors that includes a digital platform and collaborative

Stress Prevention@Work: a study protocol for the evaluation of a multifaceted integral stress prevention strategy to prevent employee stress in a healthcare organization: a cluster controlled trial

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoek, R.J.A.; Havermans, B.M.; Houtman, I.L.D.; Brouwers, E.P.M.; Heerkens, Y.F.; Zijlstra-Vlasveld, M.C.; Anema, J.R.; Beek, A.J. van der; Boot, C.R.L.

2017-01-01

Background. Adequate implementation of work-related stress management interventions can reduce or prevent work-related stress and sick leave in organizations. We developed a multifaceted integral stress-prevention strategy for organizations from several sectors that includes a digital platform and

Site-Specific Antioxidative Therapy for Prevention of Atherosclerosis and Cardiovascular Disease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hajime Otani

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Oxidative stress has been implicated in pathophysiology of aging and age-associated disease. Antioxidative medicine has become a practice for prevention of atherosclerosis. However, limited success in preventing cardiovascular disease (CVD in individuals with atherosclerosis using general antioxidants has prompted us to develop a novel antioxidative strategy to prevent atherosclerosis. Reducing visceral adipose tissue by calorie restriction (CR and regular endurance exercise represents a causative therapy for ameliorating oxidative stress. Some of the recently emerging drugs used for the treatment of CVD may be assigned as site-specific antioxidants. CR and exercise mimetic agents are the choice for individuals who are difficult to continue CR and exercise. Better understanding of molecular and cellular biology of redox signaling will pave the way for more effective antioxidative medicine for prevention of CVD and prolongation of healthy life span.

High temperature oxidation test of oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) steel claddings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Narita, Takeshi; Ukai, Shigeharu; Kaito, Takeji; Ohtsuka, Satoshi; Matsuda, Yasushi

2006-07-01

In a feasibility study of ODS steel cladding, its high temperature oxidation resistance was evaluated. Although addition of Cr is effective for preventing high temperature oxidation, excessively higher amount of Cr leads to embrittlement due to the Cr-rich α' precipitate formation. In the ODS steel developed by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), the Cr content is controlled in 9Cr-ODS martensite and 12Cr-ODS ferrite. In this study, high temperature oxidation test was conducted for ODS steels, and their results were compared with that of conventional austenitic stainless steel and ferritic-martensitic stainless steel. Following results were obtained in this study. (1) 9Cr-ODS martensitic and 12Cr-ODS ferritic steel have superior high temperature oxidation resistance compared to 11mass%Cr PNC-FMS and even 17mass% SUS430 and equivalent to austenitic PNC316. (2) The superior oxidation resistance of ODS steel was attributed to earlier formation of the protective alpha-Cr 2 O 3 layer at the matrix and inner oxide scale interface. The grain size of ODS steel is finer than that of PNC-FMS, so the superior oxidation resistance of ODS steel can be attributed to the enhanced Cr-supplying rate throughout the accelerated grain boundary diffusion. Finely dispersed Y 2 O 3 oxide particles in the ODS steel matrix may also stabilized the adherence between the protective alpha-Cr 2 O 3 layer and the matrix. (author)

An ameliorative protocol for the quantification of purine 5',8-cyclo-2'-deoxynucleosides in oxidized DNA

Science.gov (United States)

Terzidis, Michael; Chatgilialoglu, Chryssostomos

2015-07-01

5',8-Cyclo-2'-deoxyadenosine (cdA) and 5',8-cyclo-2'-deoxyguanosine (cdG) are lesions resulting from hydroxyl radical (HO•) attack on the 5'H of the nucleoside sugar moiety and exist in both 5'R and 5'S diastereomeric forms. Increased levels of cdA and cdG are linked to Nucleotide Excision Repair mechanism deficiency and mutagenesis. Discrepancies in the damage measurements reported over recent years indicated the weakness of the actual protocols, in particular for ensuring the quantitative release of these lesions from the DNA sample and the appropriate method for their analysis. Herein we report the detailed revision leading to a cost-effective and efficient protocol for the DNA damage measurement, consisting of the nuclease benzonase and nuclease P1 enzymatic combination for DNA digestion followed by liquid chromatography isotope dilution tandem mass spectrometry analysis.

Oxidation of urate by a therapeutic nitric oxide/air mixture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hicks, M.; Nguyen, L.; Day, R.; Rogers, P.

1996-01-01

Full text: Little is known about the potential toxicological consequences of therapeutic exposure of lung tissue to inhaled nitric oxide (NO). This route of administration is currently being successfully employed for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension and other lung pathologies including acute reperfusion injury in lung transplant patients. The toxicity of NO lies in its ability to act as an oxidant either in its own right or in concert with oxygen or with the superoxide free radical. One important interaction may be the reaction of these products with protective antioxidants in the lung epithelial lining fluid. One such antioxidant found in significant concentrations in both upper and lower airways is uric acid. In the present study, urate solutions (30μM) were exposed to a therapeutic concentration of NO gas, (35 ppm in air), for up to 90 minutes. Oxidative changes were followed spectrophotometrically and by HPLC. Significant loss of uric acid was observed with a concomitant formation of nitrite and allantoin, the stable oxidation product of NO and the major oxidation product of uric acid, respectively. No oxidation of urate was observed in the presence of air alone or when urate was incubated with nitrite. Uric acid oxidation could also be prevented by passing the NO / air stream through 10% KOH before the uric acid solution. This strategy removed trace amounts of higher oxides of nitrogen, (especially NO 2 ), from the NO / air stream. Thus, therapeutic inhalation of NO may deplete soluble antioxidants such as uric acid, especially during long-term chronic exposure unless care is taken to minimise formation of higher oxides of nitrogen

Methodological aspects of crossover and maximum fat-oxidation rate point determination.

Science.gov (United States)

Michallet, A-S; Tonini, J; Regnier, J; Guinot, M; Favre-Juvin, A; Bricout, V; Halimi, S; Wuyam, B; Flore, P

2008-11-01

Indirect calorimetry during exercise provides two metabolic indices of substrate oxidation balance: the crossover point (COP) and maximum fat oxidation rate (LIPOXmax). We aimed to study the effects of the analytical device, protocol type and ventilatory response on variability of these indices, and the relationship with lactate and ventilation thresholds. After maximum exercise testing, 14 relatively fit subjects (aged 32+/-10 years; nine men, five women) performed three submaximum graded tests: one was based on a theoretical maximum power (tMAP) reference; and two were based on the true maximum aerobic power (MAP). Gas exchange was measured concomitantly using a Douglas bag (D) and an ergospirometer (E). All metabolic indices were interpretable only when obtained by the D reference method and MAP protocol. Bland and Altman analysis showed overestimation of both indices with E versus D. Despite no mean differences between COP and LIPOXmax whether tMAP or MAP was used, the individual data clearly showed disagreement between the two protocols. Ventilation explained 10-16% of the metabolic index variations. COP was correlated with ventilation (r=0.96, P<0.01) and the rate of increase in blood lactate (r=0.79, P<0.01), and LIPOXmax correlated with the ventilation threshold (r=0.95, P<0.01). This study shows that, in fit healthy subjects, the analytical device, reference used to build the protocol and ventilation responses affect metabolic indices. In this population, and particularly to obtain interpretable metabolic indices, we recommend a protocol based on the true MAP or one adapted to include the transition from fat to carbohydrate. The correlation between metabolic indices and lactate/ventilation thresholds suggests that shorter, classical maximum progressive exercise testing may be an alternative means of estimating these indices in relatively fit subjects. However, this needs to be confirmed in patients who have metabolic defects.

The HPA photon protocol and proposed electron protocol

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pitchford, W.G.

1985-01-01

The Hospital Physicists Association (HPA) photon dosimetry protocol has been produced and was published in 1983. Revised values of some components of Csub(lambda) and refinements introduced into the theory in the last few years have enabled new Csub(lambda) values to be produced. The proposed HPA electron protocol is at present in draft form and will be published shortly. Both protocels are discussed. (Auth.)

Rural Indonesian health care workers' constructs of infection prevention and control knowledge.

Science.gov (United States)

Marjadi, Brahmaputra; McLaws, Mary-Louise

2010-06-01

Understanding the constructs of knowledge behind clinical practices in low-resource rural health care settings with limited laboratory facilities and surveillance programs may help in designing resource-appropriate infection prevention and control education. Multiple qualitative methods of direct observations, individual and group focus discussions, and document analysis were used to examine health care workers' knowledge of infection prevention and control practices in intravenous therapy, antibiotic therapy, instrument reprocessing, and hand hygiene in 10 rural Indonesian health care facilities. Awareness of health care-associated infections was low. Protocols were in the main based on verbal instructions handed down through the ranks of health care workers. The evidence-based knowledge gained across professional training was overridden by empiricism, nonscientific modifications, and organizational and societal cultures when resources were restricted or patients demanded inappropriate therapies. This phenomenon remained undetected by accreditation systems and clinical educators. Rural Indonesian health care workers would benefit from a formal introduction to evidence-based practice that would deconstruct individual protocols that include nonscientific knowledge. To achieve levels of acceptable patient safety, protocols would have to be both evidence-based and resource-appropriate. Copyright 2010 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. All rights reserved.

Satellite Communications Using Commercial Protocols

Science.gov (United States)

Ivancic, William D.; Griner, James H.; Dimond, Robert; Frantz, Brian D.; Kachmar, Brian; Shell, Dan

2000-01-01

NASA Glenn Research Center has been working with industry, academia, and other government agencies in assessing commercial communications protocols for satellite and space-based applications. In addition, NASA Glenn has been developing and advocating new satellite-friendly modifications to existing communications protocol standards. This paper summarizes recent research into the applicability of various commercial standard protocols for use over satellite and space- based communications networks as well as expectations for future protocol development. It serves as a reference point from which the detailed work can be readily accessed. Areas that will be addressed include asynchronous-transfer-mode quality of service; completed and ongoing work of the Internet Engineering Task Force; data-link-layer protocol development for unidirectional link routing; and protocols for aeronautical applications, including mobile Internet protocol routing for wireless/mobile hosts and the aeronautical telecommunications network protocol.

Novel Techniques with the Aid of a Staged CBCT Guided Surgical Protocol

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Evdokia Chasioti

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The case report will present some novel techniques for using a “staged” protocol utilizing strategic periodontally involved teeth as transitional abutments in combination with CBCT guided implant surgery. Staging the case prevented premature loading of the grafted sites during the healing phase. A CBCT following a tenting screw guided bone regeneration procedure ensured adequate bone to place an implant fixture. Proper assessment of the CBCT allowed the surgeon to do an osteotome internal sinus lift in an optimum location. The depth of the bone needed for the osteotome sinus floor elevation was planned. The staged appliance allowed these sinus-augmented sites to heal for an extended period of time compared to implants, which were uncovered and loaded at an earlier time frame. The staged protocol and CBCT analysis enabled the immediate implants to be placed in proper alignment to the adjacent fixture. After teeth were extracted, the osseointegrated implants were converted to abutments for the transitional appliance. Finally, the staged protocol allowed for soft tissue enhancement in the implant and pontic areas prior to final insertion of the prosthesis.

Addressing Viral Hepatitis in People with Substance Use Disorders. Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series 53

Science.gov (United States)

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2011

2011-01-01

Treatment Improvement Protocols (TIPs) are developed by the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), part of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Each TIP involves the development of topic-specific best-practice guidelines for the prevention and…

Security Protocols in a Nutshell

OpenAIRE

Toorani, Mohsen

2016-01-01

Security protocols are building blocks in secure communications. They deploy some security mechanisms to provide certain security services. Security protocols are considered abstract when analyzed, but they can have extra vulnerabilities when implemented. This manuscript provides a holistic study on security protocols. It reviews foundations of security protocols, taxonomy of attacks on security protocols and their implementations, and different methods and models for security analysis of pro...

Adolescent Self-Consent for Biomedical Human Immunodeficiency Virus Prevention Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Gilbert, Amy Lewis; Knopf, Amelia S; Fortenberry, J Dennis; Hosek, Sybil G; Kapogiannis, Bill G; Zimet, Gregory D

2015-07-01

The Adolescent Medicine Trials Network Protocol 113 (ATN113) is an open-label, multisite demonstration project and Phase II safety study of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) preexposure prophylaxis with 15- to 17-year-old young men who have sex with men that requires adolescent consent for participation. The purpose of this study was to examine factors related to the process by which Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and researchers made decisions regarding whether to approve and implement ATN113 so as to inform future biomedical HIV prevention research with high-risk adolescent populations. Participants included 17 researchers at 13 sites in 12 states considering ATN113 implementation. Qualitative descriptive methods were used. Data sources included interviews and documents generated during the initiation process. A common process for initiating ATN113 emerged, and informants described how they identified and addressed practical, ethical, and legal challenges that arose. Informants described the process as responding to the protocol, preparing for IRB submission, abstaining from or proceeding with submission, responding to IRB concerns, and reacting to the outcomes. A complex array of factors impacting approval and implementation were identified, and ATN113 was ultimately implemented in seven of 13 sites. Informants also reflected on lessons learned that may help inform future biomedical HIV prevention research with high-risk adolescent populations. The results illustrate factors for consideration in determining whether to implement such trials, demonstrate that such protocols have the potential to be approved, and highlight a need for clearer standards regarding biomedical HIV prevention research with high-risk adolescent populations. Copyright © 2015 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Minimizing transfusion requirements for children undergoing craniosynostosis repair: the CHoR protocol.

Science.gov (United States)

Vega, Rafael A; Lyon, Camila; Kierce, Jeannette F; Tye, Gary W; Ritter, Ann M; Rhodes, Jennifer L

2014-08-01

Children with craniosynostosis may require cranial vault remodeling to prevent or relieve elevated intracranial pressure and to correct the underlying craniofacial abnormalities. The procedure is typically associated with significant blood loss and high transfusion rates. The risks associated with transfusions are well documented and include transmission of infectious agents, bacterial contamination, acute hemolytic reactions, transfusion-related lung injury, and transfusion-related immune modulation. This study presents the Children's Hospital of Richmond (CHoR) protocol, which was developed to reduce the rate of blood transfusion in infants undergoing primary craniosynostosis repair. A retrospective chart review of pediatric patients treated between January 2003 and Febuary 2012 was performed. The CHoR protocol was instituted in November 2008, with the following 3 components; 1) the use of preoperative erythropoietin and iron therapy, 2) the use of an intraoperative blood recycling device, and 3) acceptance of a lower level of hemoglobin as a trigger for transfusion (protocol implementation served as controls. A total of 60 children were included in the study, 32 of whom were treated with the CHoR protocol. The control (C) and protocol (P) groups were comparable with respect to patient age (7 vs 8.4 months, p = 0.145). Recombinant erythropoietin effectively raised the mean preoperative hemoglobin level in the P group (12 vs 9.7 g/dl, p protocol that includes preoperative administration of recombinant erythropoietin, intraoperative autologous blood recycling, and accepting a lower transfusion trigger significantly decreased transfusion utilization (p < 0.001). A decreased length of stay (p < 0.001) was seen, although the authors did not investigate whether composite transfusion complication reductions led to better outcomes.

Components of an Anticancer Diet: Dietary Recommendations, Restrictions and Supplements of the Bill Henderson Protocol

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laurie Heilman Bell

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The use of complementary and alternative medicines including dietary supplements, herbals and special diets to prevent or treat disease continues to be popular. The following paper provides a description of an alternative dietary approach to the self-management and treatment of cancer, the Bill Henderson Protocol (BHP. This diet encourages daily intake of raw foods, a combination of cottage cheese and flaxseed oil and a number of supplements. Some foods and food groups are restricted (e.g., gluten, meat, dairy. Early background theory that contributed to the protocol’s development is presented as is a summary of relevant evidence concerning the anti-cancer fighting properties of the individual components. Supplement intake is considered in relation to daily recommended intakes. Challenges and risks to protocol adherence are discussed. As with many complementary and alternative interventions, clear evidence of this dietary protocol’s safety and efficacy is lacking. Consumers of this protocol may require guidance on the ability of this protocol to meet their individual nutritional needs.

Women's perspectives on falls and fall prevention during pregnancy.

Science.gov (United States)

Brewin, Dorothy; Naninni, Angela

2014-01-01

Falls are the leading cause of unintentional injury in women. During pregnancy, even a minor fall can result in adverse consequences. Evidence to inform effective and developmentally appropriate pregnancy fall prevention programs is lacking. Early research on pregnancy fall prevention suggests that exercise may reduce falls. However, acceptability and effectiveness of pregnancy fall prevention programs are untested. To better understand postpartum women's perspective and preferences on fall prevention strategies during pregnancy to formulate an intervention. Focus groups and individual interviews were conducted with 31 postpartum women using descriptive qualitative methodology. Discussion of falls during pregnancy and fall prevention strategies was guided by a focus group protocol and enhanced by 1- to 3-minute videos on proposed interventions. Focus groups were audio recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using NVivo 10 software. Emerging themes were environmental circumstances and physical changes of pregnancy leading to a fall, prevention strategies, barriers, safety concerns, and marketing a fall prevention program. Wet surfaces and inappropriate footwear commonly contributed to falls. Women preferred direct provider counseling and programs including yoga and Pilates. Fall prevention strategies tailored to pregnant women are needed. Perspectives of postpartum women support fall prevention through provider counseling and individual or supervised exercise programs.

Role of Nrf2 in preventing oxidative stress induced chloride current alteration in human lung cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Canella, Rita; Benedusi, Mascia; Martini, Marta; Cervellati, Franco; Cavicchio, Carlotta; Valacchi, Giuseppe

2018-08-01

The lung tissue is one of the main targets of oxidative stress due to external sources and respiratory activity. In our previous work, we have demonstrated in that O 3 exposure alters the Cl - current-voltage relationship, with the appearance of a large outward rectifier component mainly sustained by outward rectifier chloride channels (ORCCs) in human lung epithelial cells (A549 line). In the present study, we have performed patch clamp experiments, in order to identify which one of the O 3 byproducts (4hydroxynonenal (HNE) and/or H 2 O 2 ) was responsible for chloride current change. While 4HNE exposition (up to 25 μM for 30' before electrophysiological analysis) did not reproduce O 3 effect, H 2 O 2 produced by glucose oxidase 10 mU for 24 hr before electrophysiological analysis mimicked O 3 response. This result was confirmed treating the cell with catalase (CAT) before O 3 exposure (1,000 U/ml for 2 hr): CAT was able to rescue Cl - current alteration. Since CAT is regulated by Nrf2 transcription factor, we pre-treated the cells with the Nrf2 activators, resveratrol and tBHQ. Immunochemical and immunocytochemical results showed Nrf2 activation with both substances that lead to prevent OS effect on Cl - current. These data bring new insights into the mechanisms involved in OS-induced lung tissue damage, pointing out the role of H 2 O 2 in chloride current alteration and the ability of Nfr2 activation in preventing this effect. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Protection by 6-aminonicotinamide against oxidative stress in cardiac cells

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hofgaard, Johannes P; Sigurdardottir, Kristin Sigridur; Treiman, Marek

2006-01-01

necrosis following global ischemia in an isolated rat heart, apparently by limiting the oxidative injury component. We therefore explored the antioxidative potential of 6AN in a model using H9C2(2-1) rat cardiac myoblasts exposed to H2O2 stress. Dependent on the specific protocol, 6AN pretreatment for 6...

Hyaluronate acid and oxidized regenerated cellulose prevent adhesion reformation after adhesiolysis in rat models

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Zhang Y

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Yan Zhang, Qin Liu, Ning Yang, Xuegang Zhang Department of Gynecology, Kunshan Hospital Affiliated to Jiangsu University, Kunshan, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China Abstract: Postsurgical adhesion formation is the most common complication in abdominal and pelvic surgery. Adhesiolysis is the most commonly applied treatment for adhesion formation but is often followed by adhesion reformation. Therefore, an efficient strategy should be adopted to solve these problems. This study aimed to explore whether hyaluronic acid and oxidized regenerated cellulose (ORC could prevent adhesion formation and reformation. Thirty female Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups (n=10 each and subjected to different treatments during the first and second surgery. The control group was treated with isotonic sodium chloride, the ORC group was treated with ORC (1.5×1 cm, and the medical sodium hyaluronate (MSH group was treated with 1% MSH (0.5 mL. At 2 weeks after the first surgery, adhesion scores in the MSH group (1.90±0.99 and the ORC group (1.40±0.97 were significantly lower than those in the control group (3.00±0.82 (P=0.005. Similarly, 2 weeks after the second surgery, adhesion scores in the MSH group (2.00±0.82 and the ORC group (1.50±1.27 were significantly lower than those in the control group (3.50±0.53 (P=0.001. In addition, body weights in the MSH group and the ORC group did not change significantly, whereas the control group showed a consistent decrease in body weight during the experiment. Histological examination revealed that inflammatory infiltration was involved in both adhesion formation and reformation. In conclusion, hyaluronic acid and ORC were both efficient in reducing adhesion formation and reformation in the rat model. Keywords: hyaluronic acid, oxidized regenerated cellulose, adhesion formation, adhesion reformation, rat model 

Business protocol in integrated Europe

OpenAIRE

Pavelová, Nina

2009-01-01

The first chapter devotes to definitions of basic terms such as protocol or business protocol, to differences between protocol and etiquette, and between social etiquette and business etiquette. The second chapter focuses on the factors influencing the European business protocol. The third chapter is devoted to the etiquette of business protocol in the European countries. It touches the topics such as punctuality and planning of business appointment, greeting, business cards, dress and appear...

Daily exercise prevents diastolic dysfunction and oxidative stress in a female mouse model of western diet induced obesity by maintaining cardiac heme oxygenase-1 levels.

Science.gov (United States)

Bostick, Brian; Aroor, Annayya R; Habibi, Javad; Durante, William; Ma, Lixin; DeMarco, Vincent G; Garro, Mona; Hayden, Melvin R; Booth, Frank W; Sowers, James R

2017-01-01

Obesity is a global epidemic with profound cardiovascular disease (CVD) complications. Obese women are particularly vulnerable to CVD, suffering higher rates of CVD compared to non-obese females. Diastolic dysfunction is the earliest manifestation of CVD in obese women but remains poorly understood with no evidence-based therapies. We have shown early diastolic dysfunction in obesity is associated with oxidative stress and myocardial fibrosis. Recent evidence suggests exercise may increase levels of the antioxidant heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1). Accordingly, we hypothesized that diastolic dysfunction in female mice consuming a western diet (WD) could be prevented by daily volitional exercise with reductions in oxidative stress, myocardial fibrosis and maintenance of myocardial HO-1 levels. Four-week-old female C57BL/6J mice were fed a high-fat/high-fructose WD for 16weeks (N=8) alongside control diet fed mice (N=8). A separate cohort of WD fed females was allowed a running wheel for the entire study (N=7). Cardiac function was assessed at 20weeks by high-resolution cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Functional assessment was followed by immunohistochemistry, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Western blotting to identify pathologic mechanisms and assess HO-1 protein levels. There was no significant body weight decrease in exercising mice, normalized body weight 14.3g/mm, compared to sedentary mice, normalized body weight 13.6g/mm (p=0.38). Total body fat was also unchanged in exercising, fat mass of 6.6g, compared to sedentary mice, fat mass 7.4g (p=0.55). Exercise prevented diastolic dysfunction with a significant reduction in left ventricular relaxation time to 23.8ms for exercising group compared to 33.0ms in sedentary group (pstress and myocardial fibrosis with improved mitochondrial architecture. HO-1 protein levels were increased in the hearts of exercising mice compared to sedentary WD fed females. This study provides seminal evidence that exercise

Blockchain protocols in clinical trials: Transparency and traceability of consent

Science.gov (United States)

Benchoufi, Mehdi; Porcher, Raphael; Ravaud, Philippe

2018-01-01

Clinical trial consent for protocols and their revisions should be transparent for patients and traceable for stakeholders. Our goal is to implement a process allowing for collection of patients’ informed consent, which is bound to protocol revisions, storing and tracking the consent in a secure, unfalsifiable and publicly verifiable way, and enabling the sharing of this information in real time. For that, we build a consent workflow using a trending technology called Blockchain. This is a distributed technology that brings a built-in layer of transparency and traceability. From a more general and prospective point of view, we believe Blockchain technology brings a paradigmatical shift to the entire clinical research field. We designed a Proof-of-Concept protocol consisting of time-stamping each step of the patient’s consent collection using Blockchain, thus archiving and historicising the consent through cryptographic validation in a securely unfalsifiable and transparent way. For each protocol revision, consent was sought again.  We obtained a single document, in an open format, that accounted for the whole consent collection process: a time-stamped consent status regarding each version of the protocol. This document cannot be corrupted and can be checked on any dedicated public website. It should be considered a robust proof of data. However, in a live clinical trial, the authentication system should be strengthened to remove the need for third parties, here trial stakeholders, and give participative control to the peer users. In the future, the complex data flow of a clinical trial could be tracked by using Blockchain, which core functionality, named Smart Contract, could help prevent clinical trial events not occurring in the correct chronological order, for example including patients before they consented or analysing case report form data before freezing the database. Globally, Blockchain could help with reliability, security, transparency and could be

Blockchain protocols in clinical trials: Transparency and traceability of consent.

Science.gov (United States)

Benchoufi, Mehdi; Porcher, Raphael; Ravaud, Philippe

2017-01-01

Clinical trial consent for protocols and their revisions should be transparent for patients and traceable for stakeholders. Our goal is to implement a process allowing for collection of patients' informed consent, which is bound to protocol revisions, storing and tracking the consent in a secure, unfalsifiable and publicly verifiable way, and enabling the sharing of this information in real time. For that, we build a consent workflow using a trending technology called Blockchain. This is a distributed technology that brings a built-in layer of transparency and traceability. From a more general and prospective point of view, we believe Blockchain technology brings a paradigmatical shift to the entire clinical research field. We designed a Proof-of-Concept protocol consisting of time-stamping each step of the patient's consent collection using Blockchain, thus archiving and historicising the consent through cryptographic validation in a securely unfalsifiable and transparent way. For each protocol revision, consent was sought again.  We obtained a single document, in an open format, that accounted for the whole consent collection process: a time-stamped consent status regarding each version of the protocol. This document cannot be corrupted and can be checked on any dedicated public website. It should be considered a robust proof of data. However, in a live clinical trial, the authentication system should be strengthened to remove the need for third parties, here trial stakeholders, and give participative control to the peer users. In the future, the complex data flow of a clinical trial could be tracked by using Blockchain, which core functionality, named Smart Contract, could help prevent clinical trial events not occurring in the correct chronological order, for example including patients before they consented or analysing case report form data before freezing the database. Globally, Blockchain could help with reliability, security, transparency and could be a

Transgenic and conventional Brazilian soybeans don't cause or prevent preneoplastic colon lesions or oxidative stress in a 90-day in vivo study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Felipe Augusto Sbruzzi

2013-08-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: The study presents the results of a 90-day safety assessment of rats fed with four varieties of soybeans, BRS 245 RR and BRS Valiosa RR (transgenic, BRS 133 and MG BR46 Conquista (non-transgenic. METHODS: Diets were prepared by incorporating toasted soybean flour to a commercial diet at 1%, 10% or 20% weight In the in vivo experimental the rats' body weight, body weight gain, food consumption, number of aberrant crypt foci, oxidative stress biomarkers, urea and creatinine levels were analyzed and compared between experimental groups, as well as histopathological observations (digestive tract, liver, kidneys. RESULTS: The results indicate that glyphosate-tolerant soy varieties neither induce nor prevent aberrant crypt foci induction, nor do their conventional counterparts. Similarly, none of the four soybean varieties tested induced changes in the digestive tract, liver or kidney. Serum biochemical parameters were also unchanged. CONCLUSION: The consumption of both, conventional and transgenic soybeans, were insufficient to ameliorate dimethylhydrazine-induced oxidative stress.

A robust ECC based mutual authentication protocol with anonymity for session initiation protocol.

Science.gov (United States)

Mehmood, Zahid; Chen, Gongliang; Li, Jianhua; Li, Linsen; Alzahrani, Bander

2017-01-01

Over the past few years, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is found as a substantial application-layer protocol for the multimedia services. It is extensively used for managing, altering, terminating and distributing the multimedia sessions. Authentication plays a pivotal role in SIP environment. Currently, Lu et al. presented an authentication protocol for SIP and profess that newly proposed protocol is protected against all the familiar attacks. However, the detailed analysis describes that the Lu et al.'s protocol is exposed against server masquerading attack and user's masquerading attack. Moreover, it also fails to protect the user's identity as well as it possesses incorrect login and authentication phase. In order to establish a suitable and efficient protocol, having ability to overcome all these discrepancies, a robust ECC-based novel mutual authentication mechanism with anonymity for SIP is presented in this manuscript. The improved protocol contains an explicit parameter for user to cope the issues of security and correctness and is found to be more secure and relatively effective to protect the user's privacy, user's masquerading and server masquerading as it is verified through the comprehensive formal and informal security analysis.

A robust ECC based mutual authentication protocol with anonymity for session initiation protocol.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zahid Mehmood

Full Text Available Over the past few years, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP is found as a substantial application-layer protocol for the multimedia services. It is extensively used for managing, altering, terminating and distributing the multimedia sessions. Authentication plays a pivotal role in SIP environment. Currently, Lu et al. presented an authentication protocol for SIP and profess that newly proposed protocol is protected against all the familiar attacks. However, the detailed analysis describes that the Lu et al.'s protocol is exposed against server masquerading attack and user's masquerading attack. Moreover, it also fails to protect the user's identity as well as it possesses incorrect login and authentication phase. In order to establish a suitable and efficient protocol, having ability to overcome all these discrepancies, a robust ECC-based novel mutual authentication mechanism with anonymity for SIP is presented in this manuscript. The improved protocol contains an explicit parameter for user to cope the issues of security and correctness and is found to be more secure and relatively effective to protect the user's privacy, user's masquerading and server masquerading as it is verified through the comprehensive formal and informal security analysis.

The Role of Oxidative Stress and Antioxidants in Liver Diseases

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sha Li

2015-11-01

Full Text Available A complex antioxidant system has been developed in mammals to relieve oxidative stress. However, excessive reactive species derived from oxygen and nitrogen may still lead to oxidative damage to tissue and organs. Oxidative stress has been considered as a conjoint pathological mechanism, and it contributes to initiation and progression of liver injury. A lot of risk factors, including alcohol, drugs, environmental pollutants and irradiation, may induce oxidative stress in liver, which in turn results in severe liver diseases, such as alcoholic liver disease and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Application of antioxidants signifies a rational curative strategy to prevent and cure liver diseases involving oxidative stress. Although conclusions drawn from clinical studies remain uncertain, animal studies have revealed the promising in vivo therapeutic effect of antioxidants on liver diseases. Natural antioxidants contained in edible or medicinal plants often possess strong antioxidant and free radical scavenging abilities as well as anti-inflammatory action, which are also supposed to be the basis of other bioactivities and health benefits. In this review, PubMed was extensively searched for literature research. The keywords for searching oxidative stress were free radicals, reactive oxygen, nitrogen species, anti-oxidative therapy, Chinese medicines, natural products, antioxidants and liver diseases. The literature, including ours, with studies on oxidative stress and anti-oxidative therapy in liver diseases were the focus. Various factors that cause oxidative stress in liver and effects of antioxidants in the prevention and treatment of liver diseases were summarized, questioned, and discussed.

Interventions for preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission: protocol of an overview of systematic reviews.

Science.gov (United States)

Wariki, Windy Mariane Virenia; Ota, Erika; Mori, Rintaro; Wiysonge, Charles S; Horvath, Hacsi; Read, Jennifer S

2017-06-21

Various interventions to prevent mother-to-child-transmission (MTCT) of HIV have been investigated and implemented. A number of systematic reviews assessing the efficacy of interventions for the prevention of MTCT of HIV reported antiretroviral prophylaxis, caesarean section before labour and before ruptured membranes, and complete avoidance of breastfeeding were efficacious for preventing MTCT of HIV. Recent WHO guidelines recommend lifelong antiretroviral therapy for all pregnant women for treatment of the woman's own HIV infection and for prevention of MTCT of HIV. Therefore, the objective of this overview is to evaluate the currently available systematic reviews of interventions for preventing MTCT of HIV, and to identify the current best evidence-based interventions for reducing the risk of MTCT of HIV. We will include only peer-reviewed systematic reviews of randomised or quasi-randomised controlled trials assessing the effects of interventions for preventing MTCT of HIV that target both HIV-infected women and children aged 2 years and younger born to HIV-infected women. We will search the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness, Ovid MEDLINE and EMBASE. We will assess review eligibility, the methodological quality of included systematic reviews using A Measurement Tool to Assess The Systematic Reviews and will extract data, comparing our results and resolving discrepancies by consensus. Finally, we will independently assess the certainty of the evidence using Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation. Ethics approval is not required. We will publish the results in a peer-reviewed journal and present at conferences, which will inform future research and will be useful for healthcare managers, administrators and policymakers to guide resource allocation decisions and optimisation of interventions to prevent the MTCT of HIV. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless

PEGylated lipid bilayer-wrapped nano-graphene oxides for synergistic co-delivery of doxorubicin and rapamycin to prevent drug resistance in cancers

Science.gov (United States)

Thapa, Raj Kumar; Byeon, Jeong Hoon; Choi, Han-Gon; Yong, Chul Soon; Kim, Jong Oh

2017-07-01

Nano-graphene oxide (nGO) is a carbon allotrope studied for its potential as carrier for chemotherapeutic delivery and its photoablation effects. However, interaction of nGO with blood components and the subsequent toxicities warrant a hybrid system for effective cancer drug delivery. Combination chemotherapy aids in effective cancer treatment and prevention of drug resistance. Therefore, in this study, we attempted to prepare polyethylene glycosylated (PEGylated) lipid bilayer-wrapped nGO co-loaded with doxorubicin (DOX) and rapamycin (RAPA), GOLDR, for the prevention and treatment of resistant cancers. Our results revealed a stable GOLDR formulation with appropriate particle size (∼170 nm), polydispersity (∼0.19) and drug loading. Free drug combination (DOX and RAPA) presented synergistic anticancer effects in MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, and BT474 cells. Treatment with GOLDR formulation maintained this synergism in treated cancer cells, which was further enhanced by the near infrared (NIR) laser irradiation-induced photothermal effects of nGO. Higher chromatin condensation and apoptotic body formation, and enhanced protein expression of apoptosis-related markers (Bax, p53, p21, and c-caspase 3) following GOLDR treatment in the presence of NIR laser treatment clearly suggests its superiority in effective chemo-photothermal therapy of resistant cancers. The hybrid nanosystem that we developed provides a basis for the effective use of GOLDR treatment in the prevention and treatment of resistant cancer types.

N-oxide as a traceless oxidizing directing group: mild rhodium(III)-catalyzed C-H olefination for the synthesis of ortho-alkenylated tertiary anilines.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Xiaolei; Huang, Jingsheng; Du, Chenglong; Zhang, Xingyi; Song, Feijie; You, Jingsong

2013-12-02

Double role: A traceless directing group also acts as an internal oxidant in a novel Rh(III) -catalyzed protocol developed for the synthesis of ortho-alkenylated tertiary anilines. A five-membered cyclometalated Rh(III) complex is proposed as a plausible intermediate and confirmed by X-ray crystallographic analysis. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Significance of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) modification by zinc oxide nanoparticles for fungal biofilm formation.

Science.gov (United States)

Cierech, Mariusz; Kolenda, Adam; Grudniak, Anna M; Wojnarowicz, Jacek; Woźniak, Bartosz; Gołaś, Marlena; Swoboda-Kopeć, Ewa; Łojkowski, Witold; Mierzwińska-Nastalska, Elżbieta

2016-08-20

The objective of this study was to obtain a material composite with antifungal properties for dentures to be used as an alternative protocol in denture stomatitis treatment and prevention. Denture stomatitis is still a clinical problem in patients particularly vulnerable to this disease. Composites of PMMA and doped ZnO-NPs (weight concentrations, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%) and PMMA with sprayed solvothermal and hydrothermal ZnO-NPs were tested. The following investigations of newly formed biomaterials were undertaken: influence on Candida albicans solution, biofilm staining, XTT analysis and a quantitative analysis of adhered C. albicans. These studies evidenced the antifungal activity of both nanocomposites PMMA-ZnO-NPs and the efficacy of sputtering of zinc oxide nanoparticles on the PMMA. The study of the biofilm deposition on the surface showed that antifungal properties increase with increasing concentration of ZnO-NPs. The XTT assay in conjunction with testing the turbidity of solutions may indicate the mechanism by which ZnO-NPs exert their effect on the increased induction of antioxidative stress in microorganism cells. The denture base made of the aforesaid materials may play a preventive role in patients susceptible to fungal infections. Based on the results obtained a modified treatment of stomatitis Type II (Newton's classification) complicated by fungal infection was proposed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Power Saving MAC Protocols for WSNs and Optimization of S-MAC Protocol

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simarpreet Kaur

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Low power MAC protocols have received a lot of consideration in the last few years because of their influence on the lifetime of wireless sensor networks. Since, sensors typically operate on batteries, replacement of which is often difficult. A lot of work has been done to minimize the energy expenditure and prolong the sensor lifetime through energy efficient designs, across layers. Meanwhile, the sensor network should be able to maintain a certain throughput in order to fulfill the QoS requirements of the end user, and to ensure the constancy of the network. This paper introduces different types of MAC protocols used for WSNs and proposes S‐MAC, a Medium‐Access Control protocol designed for Wireless Sensor Networks. S‐MAC uses a few innovative techniques to reduce energy consumption and support selfconfiguration. A new protocol is suggested to improve the energy efficiency, latency and throughput of existing MAC protocol for WSNs. A modification of the protocol is then proposed to eliminate the need for some nodes to stay awake longer than the other nodes which improves the energy efficiency, latency and throughput and hence increases the life span of a wireless sensor network.

A literature-based cost analysis of tissue plasminogen activator for prevention of biliary stricture in donation after circulatory death liver transplantation.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, J M; Bhutiani, N; Wei, D; Goldstein, L; Jones, C M; Cannon, R M

2018-04-17

This study sought to approximate the cost-effectiveness of tPA utilization for prevention of biliary strictures (PTBS) in donation after circulatory death liver transplantation (DCD-LT). Previously-reported PTBS rates in DCD-LT with and without tPA were used to calculate the number needed to treat (NNT) for prevention of one PTBS. The incremental cost of PTBS was then used to determine the cost effectiveness of tPA for prevention of PTBS. The incidence of PTBS in the setting of tPA administration was 20%, while incidence in patients without tPA use was 43% (p PTBS management, use of tPA in DCD-LT protocols was estimated to save $31,528 per PTBS prevented. Utilization of tPA in DCD-LT protocols represents one possible cost-effective strategy for prevention of PTBS in DCD-LT. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Venlafaxine prevents morphine antinociceptive tolerance: The role of neuroinflammation and the l-arginine-nitric oxide pathway.

Science.gov (United States)

Mansouri, Mohammad Taghi; Naghizadeh, Bahareh; Ghorbanzadeh, Behnam; Alboghobeish, Soheila; Amirgholami, Neda; Houshmand, Gholamreza; Cauli, Omar

2018-05-01

Opioid-induced neuroinflammation and the nitric oxide (NO) signal-transduction pathway are involved in the development of opioid analgesic tolerance. The antidepressant venlafaxine (VLF) modulates NO in nervous tissues, and so we investigated its effect on induced tolerance to morphine, neuroinflammation, and oxidative stress in mice. Tolerance to the analgesic effects of morphine were induced by injecting mice with morphine (50 mg/kg) once a day for three consecutive days; the effect of co-administration of VLF (5 or 40 mg/kg) with morphine was similarly tested in a separate group. To determine if the NO precursor l-arginine hydrochloride (l-arg) or NO are involved in the effects rendered by VLF, animals were pre-treated with l-arg (200 mg/kg), or the NO synthesis inhibitors N(ω)-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME; 30 mg/kg) or aminoguanidine hydrochloride (AG; 100 mg/kg), along with VLF (40 mg/kg) for three days before receiving morphine for another three days. Nociception was assessed with a hot-plate test on the fourth day, and the concentration of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1beta (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-10, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, NO, and oxidative stress factors such as total thiol, malondialdehyde content, and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity in the brain was also determined. Co-administration of VLF with morphine attenuated morphine-induced analgesic tolerance and prevented the upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6), NO, and malondialdehyde in brains of mice with induced morphine tolerance; chronic VLF administration inhibited this decrease in brain-derived neurotrophic factor, total thiol, and GPx levels. Moreover, repeated administration of l-arg before receipt of VLF antagonized the effects induced by VLF, while L-NAME and AG potentiated these effects. VLF attenuates morphine-induced analgesic tolerance, at least partly because of its anti

Promoting CARE: including parents in youth suicide prevention.

Science.gov (United States)

Hooven, Carole; Walsh, Elaine; Pike, Kenneth C; Herting, Jerald R

2012-01-01

This study evaluated the effectiveness of augmenting a youth suicide-preventive intervention with a brief, home-based parent program. A total of 615 high school youth and their parents participated. Three suicide prevention protocols, a youth intervention, a parent intervention, and a combination of youth and parent intervention, were compared with an "intervention as usual" (IAU) group. All groups experienced a decline in risk factors and an increase in protective factors during the intervention period, and sustained these improvements over 15 months. Results reveal that the youth intervention and combined youth and parent intervention produced significantly greater reductions in suicide risk factors and increases in protective factors than IAU comparison group.

Antioxidant Phytochemicals for the Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Diseases

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu-Jie Zhang

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Overproduction of oxidants (reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species in the human body is responsible for the pathogenesis of some diseases. The scavenging of these oxidants is thought to be an effective measure to depress the level of oxidative stress of organisms. It has been reported that intake of vegetables and fruits is inversely associated with the risk of many chronic diseases, and antioxidant phytochemicals in vegetables and fruits are considered to be responsible for these health benefits. Antioxidant phytochemicals can be found in many foods and medicinal plants, and play an important role in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases caused by oxidative stress. They often possess strong antioxidant and free radical scavenging abilities, as well as anti-inflammatory action, which are also the basis of other bioactivities and health benefits, such as anticancer, anti-aging, and protective action for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, obesity and neurodegenerative diseases. This review summarizes recent progress on the health benefits of antioxidant phytochemicals, and discusses their potential mechanisms in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases.

Osteoradionecrosis: Causes and prevention

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Friedman, R.B.

1990-01-01

Osteoradionecrosis (ORN) is one of the most serious complications arising from head and neck radiation therapy. Current research has shown that ORN represents nonhealing, dead bone and is not a state of infection. ORN is the result of functional and structural bony changes that may not be expressed for months or years. ORN may occur spontaneously or in response to wounding. Predisposing factors include absorbed radiation dose, fractionation, delivery modality, and dental status. Timing of dental extractions and other factors have also been shown to affect incidence. ORN may be reduced through early intraoral evaluation, treatment, and adequate healing time prior to beginning RT. Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy has been beneficial in the prevention and treatment of ORN. It is of paramount importance for the medical community to recognize the factors that may reduce ORN incidence, endorse oral care protocols, and acknowledge the value of HBO therapy in the prevention and treatment of this disease. 60 references

Electrochromic device containing metal oxide nanoparticles and ultraviolet blocking material

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia, Guillermo; Koo, Bonil; Gregoratto, Ivano; Basu, Sourav; Rosen, Evelyn; Holt, Jason; Thomsen, Scott

2017-10-17

An electrochromic device includes a nanostructured transition metal oxide bronze layer that includes one or more transition metal oxide and one or more dopant. The electrochromic device also includes nanoparticles containing one or more transparent conducting oxide (TCO), a solid state electrolyte, a counter electrode, and at least one protective layer to prevent degradation of the one or more nanostructured transition metal oxide bronze. The nanostructured transition metal oxide bronze selectively modulates transmittance of near-infrared (NIR) and visible radiation as a function of an applied voltage to the device.

Oxidized LDL-induced angiogenesis involves sphingosine 1-phosphate: prevention by anti-S1P antibody.

Science.gov (United States)

Camaré, Caroline; Trayssac, Magali; Garmy-Susini, Barbara; Mucher, Elodie; Sabbadini, Roger; Salvayre, Robert; Negre-Salvayre, Anne

2015-01-01

Neovascularization occurring in atherosclerotic lesions may promote plaque expansion, intraplaque haemorrhage and rupture. Oxidized LDL (oxLDL) are atherogenic, but their angiogenic effect is controversial; both angiogenic and anti-angiogenic effects have been reported. The angiogenic mechanism of oxLDL is partly understood, but the role of the angiogenic sphingolipid, sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P), in this process is not known. Thus, we investigated whether S1P is involved in the oxLDL-induced angiogenesis and whether an anti-S1P monoclonal antibody can prevent this effect. Angiogenesis was assessed by capillary tube formation by human microvascular endothelial cells (HMEC-1) cultured on Matrigel and in vivo by the Matrigel plug assay in C57BL/6 mice. Human oxLDL exhibited a biphasic angiogenic effect on HMEC-1; low concentrations were angiogenic, higher concentrations were cytotoxic. The angiogenic response to oxLDL was blocked by the sphingosine kinase (SPHK) inhibitor, dimethylsphingosine, by SPHK1-siRNA and by an anti-S1P monoclonal antibody. Moreover, inhibition of oxLDL uptake and subsequent redox signalling by anti-CD36 and anti-LOX-1 receptor antibodies and by N-acetylcysteine, respectively, blocked SPHK1 activation and tube formation. In vivo, in the Matrigel plug assay, low concentrations of human oxLDL or murine oxVLDL also triggered angiogenesis, which was prevented by i.p. injection of the anti-S1P antibody. These data highlight the role of S1P in angiogenesis induced by oxLDL both in HMEC-1 cultured on Matrigel and in vivo in the Matrigel plug model in mice, and demonstrate that the anti-S1P antibody effectively blocks the angiogenic effect of oxLDL. © 2014 The British Pharmacological Society.

A biphasic oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes and ketones using a simplified packed-bed microreactor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew Bogdan

2009-04-01

Full Text Available We demonstrate the preparation and characterization of a simplified packed-bed microreactor using an immobilized TEMPO catalyst shown to oxidize primary and secondary alcohols via the biphasic Anelli-Montanari protocol. Oxidations occurred in high yields with great stability over time. We observed that plugs of aqueous oxidant and organic alcohol entered the reactor as plugs but merged into an emulsion on the packed-bed. The emulsion coalesced into larger plugs upon exiting the reactor, leaving the organic product separate from the aqueous by-products. Furthermore, the microreactor oxidized a wide range of alcohols and remained active in excess of 100 trials without showing any loss of catalytic activity.

Cross-Layer Protocol as a Better Option in Wireless Mesh Network with Respect to Layered-Protocol

OpenAIRE

Ahmed Abdulwahab Al-Ahdal; Dr. V. P. Pawar; G. N. Shinde

2014-01-01

The Optimal way to improve Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) performance is to use a better network protocol, but whether layered-protocol design or cross-layer design is a better option to optimize protocol performance in WMNs is still an on-going research topic. In this paper, we focus on cross-layer protocol as a better option with respect to layered-protocol. The layered protocol architecture (OSI) model divides networking tasks into layers and defines a pocket of services for each layer to b...

L2-LBMT: A Layered Load Balance Routing Protocol for underwater multimedia data transmission

Science.gov (United States)

Lv, Ze; Tang, Ruichun; Tao, Ye; Sun, Xin; Xu, Xiaowei

2017-12-01

Providing highly efficient underwater transmission of mass multimedia data is challenging due to the particularities of the underwater environment. Although there are many schemes proposed to optimize the underwater acoustic network communication protocols, from physical layer, data link layer, network layer to transport layer, the existing routing protocols for underwater wireless sensor network (UWSN) still cannot well deal with the problems in transmitting multimedia data because of the difficulties involved in high energy consumption, low transmission reliability or high transmission delay. It prevents us from applying underwater multimedia data to real-time monitoring of marine environment in practical application, especially in emergency search, rescue operation and military field. Therefore, the inefficient transmission of marine multimedia data has become a serious problem that needs to be solved urgently. In this paper, A Layered Load Balance Routing Protocol (L2-LBMT) is proposed for underwater multimedia data transmission. In L2-LBMT, we use layered and load-balance Ad Hoc Network to transmit data, and adopt segmented data reliable transfer (SDRT) protocol to improve the data transport reliability. And a 3-node variant of tornado (3-VT) code is also combined with the Ad Hoc Network to transmit little emergency data more quickly. The simulation results show that the proposed protocol can balance energy consumption of each node, effectively prolong the network lifetime and reduce transmission delay of marine multimedia data.

Implementation of preventive strength training in residential geriatric care: a multi-centre study protocol with one year of interventions on multiple levels.

Science.gov (United States)

Brach, Michael; Nieder, Frank; Nieder, Ulrike; Mechling, Heinz

2009-11-24

There is scientific evidence that preventive physical exercise is effective even in high age. In contrast, there are few opportunities of preventive exercise for highly aged people endangered by or actually in need of care. For example, they would not be able to easily go to training facilities; standard exercises may be too intensive and therefore be harmful to them; orientation disorders like dementia would exacerbate individuals and groups in following instructions and keeping exercises going. In order to develop appropriate interventions, these and other issues were assigned to different levels: the individual-social level (ISL), the organisational-institutional level (OIL) and the political-cultural level (PCL). Consequently, this conceptional framework was utilised for development, implementation and evaluation of a new strength and balance exercise programme for old people endangered by or actually in need of daily care. The present paper contains the development of this programme labeled "fit for 100", and a study protocol of an interventional single-arm multi-centre trial. The intervention consisted of (a) two group training sessions every week over one year, mainly resistance exercises, accompanied by sensorimotor and communicative group exercises and games (ISL), (b) a sustainable implementation concept, starting new groups by instructors belonging to the project, followed by training and supervision of local staff, who stepwise take over the group (OIL), (c) informing and convincing activities in professional, administrative and governmental contexts, public relation activities, and establishing an advisory council with renowned experts and public figures (PCL). Participating institutions of geriatric care were selected through several steps of quality criteria assessment. Primary outcome measures were continuous documentation of individual participation (ISL), number of groups continued without external financial support (at the end of the project, and

Implementation of preventive strength training in residential geriatric care: a multi-centre study protocol with one year of interventions on multiple levels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nieder Ulrike

2009-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background There is scientific evidence that preventive physical exercise is effective even in high age. In contrast, there are few opportunities of preventive exercise for highly aged people endangered by or actually in need of care. For example, they would not be able to easily go to training facilities; standard exercises may be too intensive and therefore be harmful to them; orientation disorders like dementia would exacerbate individuals and groups in following instructions and keeping exercises going. In order to develop appropriate interventions, these and other issues were assigned to different levels: the individual-social level (ISL, the organisational-institutional level (OIL and the political-cultural level (PCL. Consequently, this conceptional framework was utilised for development, implementation and evaluation of a new strength and balance exercise programme for old people endangered by or actually in need of daily care. The present paper contains the development of this programme labeled "fit for 100", and a study protocol of an interventional single-arm multi-centre trial. Methods The intervention consisted of (a two group training sessions every week over one year, mainly resistance exercises, accompanied by sensorimotor and communicative group exercises and games (ISL, (b a sustainable implementation concept, starting new groups by instructors belonging to the project, followed by training and supervision of local staff, who stepwise take over the group (OIL, (c informing and convincing activities in professional, administrative and governmental contexts, public relation activities, and establishing an advisory council with renowned experts and public figures (PCL. Participating institutions of geriatric care were selected through several steps of quality criteria assessment. Primary outcome measures were continuous documentation of individual participation (ISL, number of groups continued without external financial

Glutamine prevents gastric oxidative stress in an animal model of portal hypertension gastropathy.

Science.gov (United States)

Marques, Camila; Mauriz, José L; Simonetto, Douglas; Marroni, Claudio A; Tuñon, María J; González-Gallego, Javier; Marrón, Norma P

2011-01-01

Portal hypertension (PHI) is a clinical syndrome characterized by increases of the blood flow and/or of the vascular resistance in the portal system. A direct consequence of PHI can appearance different lesions on the gastric mucosa and submucosa, cumulatively termed portal hypertensive gastropathy (PHG). To investigate the effects of glutamine on oxidative stress in an experimental model of PHG induced by partial portal vein ligation (PPVL). Portal pressure, transaminase and alkaline phosphatase activity were quantified. Gastric tissue damage was assessed by histological analysis. Oxidative stress was measured by quantification of cytosolic concentration of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), hydroperoxide-initiated chemiluminescence (QL), and nitric oxide (NO) production. Moreover, activities of the antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and catalase (CAT) were analyzed. Transaminase and alkaline phosphatase activities were not significantly modified by PPVL, indicating absence of liver injury. Histological analysis of gastric sections showed a lost of normal architecture, with edema and vasodilatation. TBARS, QL, and NO production were significantly increased in PPVL animals. A reduction of SOD activity was found. Glutamine administration markedly alleviated histological abnormalities and oxidative stress, normalized SOD activity, and blocked NO overproduction. Our results confirm that the use of molecules with antioxidant capacity can provide protection of the gastric tissue in portal hypertension. Glutamine treatment can be useful to reduce the oxidative damage induced by PHI on gastric tissue.

Silymarin modulates doxorubicin-induced oxidative stress, Bcl-xL and p53 expression while preventing apoptotic and necrotic cell death in the liver

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Patel, Nirav; Joseph, Cecil; Corcoran, George B.; Ray, Sidhartha D.

2010-01-01

The emergence of silymarin (SMN) as a natural remedy for liver diseases, coupled with its entry into NIH clinical trial, signifies its hepatoprotective potential. SMN is noted for its ability to interfere with apoptotic signaling while acting as an antioxidant. This in vivo study was designed to explore the hepatotoxic potential of Doxorubicin (Dox), the well-known cardiotoxin, and in particular whether pre-exposures to SMN can prevent hepatotoxicity by reducing Dox-induced free radical mediated oxidative stress, by modulating expression of apoptotic signaling proteins like Bcl-xL, and by minimizing liver cell death occurring by apoptosis or necrosis. Groups of male ICR mice included Control, Dox alone, SMN alone, and Dox with SMN pre/co-treatment. Control and Dox groups received saline i.p. for 14 days. SMN was administered p.o. for 14 days at 16 mg/kg/day. An approximate LD 50 dose of Dox, 60 mg/kg, was administered i.p. on day 12 to animals receiving saline or SMN. Animals were euthanized 48 h later. Dox alone induced frank liver injury (> 50-fold increase in serum ALT) and oxidative stress (> 20-fold increase in malondialdehyde [MDA]), as well as direct damage to DNA (> 15-fold increase in DNA fragmentation). Coincident genomic damage and oxidative stress influenced genomic stability, reflected in increased PARP activity and p53 expression. Decreases in Bcl-xL protein coupled with enhanced accumulation of cytochrome c in the cytosol accompanied elevated indexes of apoptotic and necrotic cell death. Significantly, SMN exposure reduced Dox hepatotoxicity and associated apoptotic and necrotic cell death. The effects of SMN on Dox were broad, including the ability to modulate changes in both Bcl-xL and p53 expression. In animals treated with SMN, tissue Bcl-xL expression exceeded control values after Dox treatment. Taken together, these results demonstrated that SMN (i) reduced, delayed onset, or prevented toxic effects of Dox which are typically associated with

Gentamicin coating of plasma chemical oxidized titanium alloy prevents implant-related osteomyelitis in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Diefenbeck, M; Schrader, C; Gras, F; Mückley, T; Schmidt, J; Zankovych, S; Bossert, J; Jandt, K D; Völpel, A; Sigusch, B W; Schubert, H; Bischoff, S; Pfister, W; Edel, B; Faucon, M; Finger, U

2016-09-01

Implant related infection is one of the most feared and devastating complication associated with the use of orthopaedic implant devices. Development of anti-infective surfaces is the main strategy to prevent implant contamination, biofilm formation and implant related osteomyelitis. A second concern in orthopaedics is insufficient osseointegration of uncemented implant devices. Recently, we reported on a macroporous titanium-oxide surface (bioactive TiOB) which increases osseointegration and implant fixation. To combine enhanced osseointegration and antibacterial function, the TiOB surfaces were, in addition, modified with a gentamicin coating. A rat osteomyelitis model with bilateral placement of titanium alloy implants was employed to analyse the prophylactic effect of gentamicin-sodiumdodecylsulfate (SDS) and gentamicin-tannic acid coatings in vivo. 20 rats were randomly assigned to four groups: (A) titanium alloy; PBS inoculum (negative control), (B) titanium alloy, Staphylococcus aureus inoculum (positive control), (C) bioactive TiOB with gentamicin-SDS and (D) bioactive TiOB plus gentamicin-tannic acid coating. Contamination of implants, bacterial load of bone powder and radiographic as well as histological signs of implant-related osteomyelitis were evaluated after four weeks. Gentamicin-SDS coating prevented implant contamination in 10 of 10 tibiae and gentamicin-tannic acid coating in 9 of 10 tibiae (infection prophylaxis rate 100% and 90% of cases, respectively). In Group (D) one implant showed colonisation of bacteria (swab of entry point and roll-out test positive for S. aureus). The interobserver reliability showed no difference in the histologic and radiographic osteomyelitis scores. In both gentamicin coated groups, a significant reduction of the histological osteomyelitis score (geometric mean values: C = 0.111 ± 0.023; D = 0.056 ± 0.006) compared to the positive control group (B: 0.244 ± 0.015; p < 0.05) was observed. The

National protocol for quality assurance in DXA-bone densitometry

Science.gov (United States)

Slavchev, A.; Avramova-Cholakova, S.; Vassileva, J.

2008-01-01

Osteoporosis becomes largely one of the most important socially significant and costly diseases. Modern techniques (DXA, US) are applied for bone densitometry. The paper presents a protocol for quality assurance especially of DXA-bone densitometers including quality control made in compliance with international standards (ISCD, IOF). The methodology has been tested in practice by measurements on site-functional assessment, entrance dose, radiation protection, calibration, in-vitro precision. It is expected to raise the quality of the diagnostic process in concert with the EU Medical Directive 97/43 particularly for population screening and sensitive groups. The protocol is an essential part of the National Program for constraining osteoporosis which has been elaborated at the Ministry of Health and at present under implementation throughout the country. It aims at reducing the risk, factors spreading, at diminishing the fracture risk the morbidity and the mortality from osteoporosis. An integral multidisciplinary approach to the problem solving is applied as well as training on three levels — doctors, patients, population, which effectively will contribute for obtaining real results in preventing osteoporosis.

An electromagnetic field measurement protocol for monitoring power lines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lubritto, C.; Iavazzo, A.; D'Onofrio, A.; Palmieri, A.; Sabbarese, C.; Terrasi, F.

2002-01-01

In the actions aiming to prevent risks related to the exposure to Low Frequencies Non Ionising electromagnetic Radiations (ELF-NIR), always arises the need to perform measurements in order to assess the field level existing in the considered sites. As a matter of fact very often it turns out difficult to predict, on the base of calculations, with sufficient approximation the field levels, due to extended variability of environmental conditions (e.g. coexistence of several sources, ground and building conformation, etc..). The measurement procedures must follow a methodology that could allow to minimise the interferences with the measurement set-up and the systematic and accidental errors. Risks for the operator and damages to the instrument should also be taken into account. One of the goal set for this research program was then the definition of the measurement protocol for electromagnetic field generated by low frequency non ionising radiation sources. In particular sources like power lines will be considered in order to validate the protocol by means of in-field measurements

[Multidisciplinary protocol for computed tomography imaging and angiographic embolization of splenic injury due to trauma: assessment of pre-protocol and post-protocol outcomes].

Science.gov (United States)

Koo, M; Sabaté, A; Magalló, P; García, M A; Domínguez, J; de Lama, M E; López, S

2011-11-01

To assess conservative treatment of splenic injury due to trauma, following a protocol for computed tomography (CT) and angiographic embolization. To quantify the predictive value of CT for detecting bleeding and need for embolization. The care protocol developed by the multidisciplinary team consisted of angiography with embolization of lesions revealed by contrast extravasation under CT as well as embolization of grade III-V injuries observed, or grade I-II injuries causing hemodynamic instability and/or need for blood transfusion. We collected data on demographic variables, injury severity score (ISS), angiographic findings, and injuries revealed by CT. Pre-protocol and post-protocol outcomes were compared. The sensitivity and specificity of CT findings were calculated for all patients who required angiographic embolization. Forty-four and 30 angiographies were performed in the pre- and post-protocol periods, respectively. The mean (SD) ISSs in the two periods were 25 (11) and 26 (12), respectively. A total of 24 (54%) embolizations were performed in the pre-protocol period and 28 (98%) after implementation of the protocol. Two and 7 embolizations involved the spleen in the 2 periods, respectively; abdominal laparotomies numbered 32 and 25, respectively, and 10 (31%) vs 4 (16%) splenectomies were performed. The specificity and sensitivity values for contrast extravasation found on CT and followed by embolization were 77.7% and 79.5%. The implementation of this multidisciplinary protocol using CT imaging and angiographic embolization led to a decrease in the number of splenectomies. The protocol allows us to take a more conservative treatment approach.

Taurine prevents arsenic-induced cardiac oxidative stress and apoptotic damage: Role of NF-κB, p38 and JNK MAPK pathway

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghosh, Jyotirmoy; Das, Joydeep; Manna, Prasenjit; Sil, Parames C.

2009-01-01

Cardiac dysfunction is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide due to its complex pathogenesis. However, little is known about the mechanism of arsenic-induced cardiac abnormalities and the use of antioxidants as the possible protective agents in this pathophysiology. Conditionally essential amino acid, taurine, accounts for 25% to 50% of the amino acid pool in myocardium and possesses antioxidant properties. The present study has, therefore, been carried out to investigate the underlying mechanism of the beneficial role of taurine in arsenic-induced cardiac oxidative damage and cell death. Arsenic reduced cardiomyocyte viability, increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and intracellular calcium overload, and induced apoptotic cell death by mitochondrial dependent caspase-3 activation and poly-ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) cleavage. These changes due to arsenic exposure were found to be associated with increased IKK and NF-κB (p65) phosphorylation. Pre-exposure of myocytes to an IKK inhibitor (PS-1145) prevented As-induced caspase-3 and PARP cleavage. Arsenic also markedly increased the activity of p38 and JNK MAPKs, but not ERK to that extent. Pre-treatment with SP600125 (JNK inhibitor) and SB203580 (p38 MAPK inhibitor) attenuated NF-κB and IKK phosphorylation indicating that p38 and JNK MAPKs are mainly involved in arsenic-induced NF-κB activation. Taurine treatment suppressed these apoptotic actions, suggesting that its protective role in arsenic-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis is mediated by attenuation of p38 and JNK MAPK signaling pathways. Similarly, arsenic intoxication altered a number of biomarkers related to cardiac oxidative stress and other apoptotic indices in vivo and taurine supplementation could reduce it. Results suggest that taurine prevented arsenic-induced myocardial pathophysiology, attenuated NF-κB activation via IKK, p38 and JNK MAPK signaling pathways and could possibly provide a protection against As

Hardening Stratum, the Bitcoin Pool Mining Protocol

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Recabarren Ruben

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Stratum, the de-facto mining communication protocol used by blockchain based cryptocurrency systems, enables miners to reliably and efficiently fetch jobs from mining pool servers. In this paper we exploit Stratum’s lack of encryption to develop passive and active attacks on Bitcoin’s mining protocol, with important implications on the privacy, security and even safety of mining equipment owners. We introduce StraTap and ISP Log attacks, that infer miner earnings if given access to miner communications, or even their logs. We develop BiteCoin, an active attack that hijacks shares submitted by miners, and their associated payouts. We build BiteCoin on WireGhost, a tool we developed to hijack and surreptitiously maintain Stratum connections. Our attacks reveal that securing Stratum through pervasive encryption is not only undesirable (due to large overheads, but also ineffective: an adversary can predict miner earnings even when given access to only packet timestamps. Instead, we devise Bedrock, a minimalistic Stratum extension that protects the privacy and security of mining participants. We introduce and leverage the mining cookie concept, a secret that each miner shares with the pool and includes in its puzzle computations, and that prevents attackers from reconstructing or hijacking the puzzles.

Follow-up care, surveillance protocol, and secondary prevention measures for survivors of colorectal cancer: American Society of Clinical Oncology clinical practice guideline endorsement.

Science.gov (United States)

Meyerhardt, Jeffrey A; Mangu, Pamela B; Flynn, Patrick J; Korde, Larissa; Loprinzi, Charles L; Minsky, Bruce D; Petrelli, Nicholas J; Ryan, Kim; Schrag, Deborah H; Wong, Sandra L; Benson, Al B

2013-12-10

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has a policy and set of procedures for endorsing recent clinical practice guidelines that have been developed by other professional organizations. The Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) Guideline on Follow-up Care, Surveillance Protocol, and Secondary Prevention Measures for Survivors of Colorectal Cancer was reviewed by ASCO for methodologic rigor and considered for endorsement. The ASCO Panel concurred with the CCO recommendations and recommended endorsement, with the addition of several qualifying statements. Surveillance should be guided by presumed risk of recurrence and functional status of the patient (important within the first 2 to 4 years). Medical history, physical examination, and carcinoembryonic antigen testing should be performed every 3 to 6 months for 5 years. Patients at higher risk of recurrence should be considered for testing in the more frequent end of the range. A computed tomography scan (abdominal and chest) is recommended annually for 3 years, in most cases. Positron emission tomography scans should not be used for surveillance outside of a clinical trial. A surveillance colonoscopy should be performed 1 year after the initial surgery and then every 5 years, dictated by the findings of the previous one. If a colonoscopy was not preformed before diagnosis, it should be done after completion of adjuvant therapy (before 1 year). Secondary prevention (maintaining a healthy body weight and active lifestyle) is recommended. If a patient is not a candidate for surgery or systemic therapy because of severe comorbid conditions, surveillance tests should not be performed. A treatment plan from the specialist should have clear directions on appropriate follow-up by a nonspecialist.

Benzimidazole for the prevention of toxic effects of air pollutants on plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Takaoka, I; Fukuda, M; Kitano, H; Shinohara, T

1974-02-02

Tobacco plants were sprayed with benzimidazole before being exposed to 30 ppM of photochemical oxidants for a period of two hours. The plants were observed 48 hours after exposure and found to have suffered no toxic effects from the oxidants. It may be concluded that benzimidazole is an effective agent for preventing the toxic effects of air pollutants, such as photochemical oxidants on plants.

A unique polysaccharide purified from Hericium erinaceus mycelium prevents oxidative stress induced by H2O2 in human gastric mucosa epithelium cell.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Mingxing; Kanako, Nakajima; Zhang, Yanqiu; Xiao, Xulang; Gao, Qipin; Tetsuya, Konishi

2017-01-01

Hericium erinaceus (HE) has been used both as a traditional Chinese medicine and home remedy for treatment of gastric and duodenal ulcers and gastritis. EP-1, a purified polysaccharide isolated from HE mycelium, has recently been identified as the active component responsible for HE anti-gastritis activity. Because oxidative stress has been implicated as a pathogenic cause of gastritis and gastric ulcers, EP-1 antioxidant properties were systematically examined in vitro using the human gastric mucosal epithelial cell line, GES-1. Results showed that EP-1 possessed higher oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) and 2-3 times higher ability to scavenge 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), superoxide and hydroxyl radicals than a hot water extract of commercially available HE fruiting body. A crude mycelial polysaccharide (CMPS) extract of HE, from which EP-1 was purified, showed slightly stronger radical scavenging activity and ORAC than EP-1, with the exception of DPPH-scavenging activity. Antioxidant activities of these extracts were further studied using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-abused GES-1 cells; EP-1 dose-dependently preserved cell viability of abused cells as assessed via MTT assay. Moreover, FACS analysis revealed that EP-1 prevented H2O2-induced apoptotic cell death by inhibiting activation of apoptotic cellular signals within mitochondria-dependent apoptotic pathways. CMPS also prevented H2O2-induced oxidative stress, but to a lesser degree than did EP-1, even though CMPS exhibited comparable or stronger in vitro antioxidant activity than did EP-1.

A unique polysaccharide purified from Hericium erinaceus mycelium prevents oxidative stress induced by H2O2 in human gastric mucosa epithelium cell.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mingxing Wang

Full Text Available Hericium erinaceus (HE has been used both as a traditional Chinese medicine and home remedy for treatment of gastric and duodenal ulcers and gastritis. EP-1, a purified polysaccharide isolated from HE mycelium, has recently been identified as the active component responsible for HE anti-gastritis activity. Because oxidative stress has been implicated as a pathogenic cause of gastritis and gastric ulcers, EP-1 antioxidant properties were systematically examined in vitro using the human gastric mucosal epithelial cell line, GES-1. Results showed that EP-1 possessed higher oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC and 2-3 times higher ability to scavenge 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH, superoxide and hydroxyl radicals than a hot water extract of commercially available HE fruiting body. A crude mycelial polysaccharide (CMPS extract of HE, from which EP-1 was purified, showed slightly stronger radical scavenging activity and ORAC than EP-1, with the exception of DPPH-scavenging activity. Antioxidant activities of these extracts were further studied using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2-abused GES-1 cells; EP-1 dose-dependently preserved cell viability of abused cells as assessed via MTT assay. Moreover, FACS analysis revealed that EP-1 prevented H2O2-induced apoptotic cell death by inhibiting activation of apoptotic cellular signals within mitochondria-dependent apoptotic pathways. CMPS also prevented H2O2-induced oxidative stress, but to a lesser degree than did EP-1, even though CMPS exhibited comparable or stronger in vitro antioxidant activity than did EP-1.

Quantification of Fatty Acid Oxidation Products Using On-line High Performance Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Science.gov (United States)

Levison, Bruce S.; Zhang, Renliang; Wang, Zeneng; Fu, Xiaoming; DiDonato, Joseph A.; Hazen, Stanley L.

2013-01-01

Oxidized fatty acids formed via lipid peroxidation are implicated in pathological processes such as inflammation and atherosclerosis. A number of methods may be used to detect specific oxidized fatty acids containing a single or multiple combinations of epoxide, hydroxyl, ketone and hydroperoxide moieties on varying carbon chain lengths from C8 up to C30. Some of these methods are nonspecific and their use in biological systems is fraught with difficulty. Measures of specific-oxidized fatty acid derivatives help in identifying oxidation pathways in pathological processes. We used liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) as efficient, selective and sensitive methods for identifying and analyzing multiple specific fatty acid peroxidation products in human plasma and other biological matrices. We then distilled the essential components of a number of these analyses to provide an efficient protocol by which fatty acid oxidation products and their parent compounds can be determined. In this protocol, addition of synthetic internal standard to the sample, followed by base hydrolysis at elevated temperature, and liquid-liquid phase sample extraction with lighter than water solvents facilitates isolation of the oxidized fatty acid species. These species can be identified and accurately quantified using stable isotope dilution and multiple reaction monitoring. Use of a coupled multiplexed gradient HPLC system on the front end enables high-throughput chromatography and more efficient use of mass spectrometer time. PMID:23499838

[Role and integration of technical prevention figures in the management system].

Science.gov (United States)

Bartolucci, G B; Santantonio, P; Casciani, M; Dagazzini, I

2010-01-01

The multifarious issues of health and safety at work require multi-disciplinary skills, both in the risk assessment and in the subsequent definition and management of preventive measures, and this requires a renewed operational protocol that supports integration and co-operation between the technical prevention figures. Thus, between occupational physicians and technical advisers there should be a concrete and fruitful interaction, which should not be episodic or occasional, but a modus operandi systematic and constant. In this contribution is discussed as the technical prevention figures should be included in the Health and Safety Management System and should make a specific contribution in defining corporate policies on prevention. In particular it is outlined the role that the occupational physician may play in the development of prevention and health promotion activities within the strategies of corporate social responsibility.

Cryptographic Protocols:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Geisler, Martin Joakim Bittel

cryptography was thus concerned with message confidentiality and integrity. Modern cryptography cover a much wider range of subjects including the area of secure multiparty computation, which will be the main topic of this dissertation. Our first contribution is a new protocol for secure comparison, presented...... implemented the comparison protocol in Java and benchmarks show that is it highly competitive and practical. The biggest contribution of this dissertation is a general framework for secure multiparty computation. Instead of making new ad hoc implementations for each protocol, we want a single and extensible...... in Chapter 2. Comparisons play a key role in many systems such as online auctions and benchmarks — it is not unreasonable to say that when parties come together for a multiparty computation, it is because they want to make decisions that depend on private information. Decisions depend on comparisons. We have...

Oxidative stress signaling to chromatin in health and disease

KAUST Repository

Kreuz, Sarah

2016-06-20

Oxidative stress has a significant impact on the development and progression of common human pathologies, including cancer, diabetes, hypertension and neurodegenerative diseases. Increasing evidence suggests that oxidative stress globally influences chromatin structure, DNA methylation, enzymatic and non-enzymatic post-translational modifications of histones and DNA-binding proteins. The effects of oxidative stress on these chromatin alterations mediate a number of cellular changes, including modulation of gene expression, cell death, cell survival and mutagenesis, which are disease-driving mechanisms in human pathologies. Targeting oxidative stress-dependent pathways is thus a promising strategy for the prevention and treatment of these diseases. We summarize recent research developments connecting oxidative stress and chromatin regulation.

Micro-layers of polystyrene film preventing metal oxidation: implications in cultural heritage conservation

Science.gov (United States)

Giambi, Francesca; Carretti, Emiliano; Dei, Luigi; Baglioni, Piero

2014-12-01

Protection of surfaces directly exposed to the detrimental action of degradative agents (i.e. oxygen, air pollutants and bacteria) is one of the most important challenges in the field of conservation of works of art. Metallic objects are subjected to specific surface corrosion phenomena that, over the years, make mandatory the research of innovative materials that should avoid the direct contact between the metal surface and the weathering agents. In this paper, the set-up, characterisation and application of a new reversible material for preserving metal artefacts are reported. Micro-layers constituted of low-adhesive polystyrene (PS) films obtained from recycling waste packaging materials made of expanded PS were studied. The morphology and thickness of PS films were characterised by optical, atomic force and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A further check on thickness was carried out by means of visible spectrophotometry doping the films with a hydrophobic dye. Thermal properties of the PS micro-layers were studied by means of differential scanning calorimetry coupled with optical microscopy. Permeability of the PS films to water vapour was also determined. The potential of the low-adhesive PS films, that enabled an easy removal in case of film deterioration, for preventing metal oxidation was investigated on brass specimens by simulating standard artificial corrosion programmes. Morphological and chemical (coupling the energy-dispersive X-rays spectrometry to SEM measurements) analyses carried out on these metal samples showed promising results in terms of surface protection against corrosion.

An investigation into current protocols and radiographer opinions on contrast extravasation in Irish CT departments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cleary, N.; McNulty, J.P.; Foley, S.J.; Kelly, E.

2017-01-01

Background: Iodinated contrast extravasation is a serious complication associated with intravenous administration in radiology. Departmental protocols and the radiographer's approach on both prevention techniques and treatment will affect the prevalence of extravasation, and the eventual outcome for the patient when it does occur. Aims: To examine contrast extravasation protocols in place in Irish CT departments for alignment with European Society of Urogenital Radiology (ESUR) Guidelines (2014); to establish radiographer's opinions on contrast extravasation; and to examine radiographer adherence to protocols. Methods: Contrast extravasation protocols from a purposively selected sample of CT departments across Ireland (n = 6) were compared to ESUR guidelines, followed by an online survey of CT radiographers practicing in the participating centres. Results: All participating CT departments (n = 5) had written protocols in place. High risk patients, such as elderly or unconscious, were identified in most protocols, however, children were mentioned in just one protocol and obese patients were not specified in any. The response rate of CT radiographers was 23% (n = 24). 58% (n = 14) of respondents indicated that contrast extravasation was more likely during CTA examinations. While high levels of confidence in managing extravasation were reported, suggested treatment approaches, and confidence in same, was more variable. Clinical workload in CT departments was also identified as a factor impacting on patient care and management. Conclusion: While contrast extravasation protocols were generally in line with ESUR Guidelines, high risk patients may not be getting sufficient attention. More radiographer awareness of patient monitoring needs, particularly in busy departments with a heavy workload may also reduce extravasation risk, and improve management of same. - Highlights: • Irish protocols on contrast extravasation are generally in line with

Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor in the prevention of postoperative infectious complications and sub-optimal recovery from operation in patients with colorectal cancer and increased preoperative risk (ASA 3 and 4). Protocol of a controlled clinical trial developed by consensus of an international study group. Part three: individual patient, complication algorithm and quality manage.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stinner, B.; Bauhofer, A.; Lorenz, W.; Rothmund, M.; Plaul, U.; Torossian, A.; Celik, I.; Sitter, H.; Koller, M.; Black, A.; Duda, D.; Encke, A.; Greger, B.; Goor, H. van; Hanisch, E.; Hesterberg, R.; Klose, K.J.; Lacaine, F.; Lorijn, R.H.; Margolis, C.; Neugebauer, E.; Nystrom, P.O.; Reemst, P.H.M.; Schein, M.; Solovera, J.

2001-01-01

GENERAL DESIGN: Presentation of a new type of a study protocol for evaluation of the effectiveness of an immune modifier (rhG-CSF, filgrastim): prevention of postoperative infectious complications and of sub-optimal recovery from operation in patients with colorectal cancer and increased

Multimode Communication Protocols Enabling Reconfigurable Radios

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Berlemann Lars

2005-01-01

Full Text Available This paper focuses on the realization and application of a generic protocol stack for reconfigurable wireless communication systems. This focus extends the field of software-defined radios which usually concentrates on the physical layer. The generic protocol stack comprises common protocol functionality and behavior which are extended through specific parts of the targeted radio access technology. This paper considers parameterizable modules of basic protocol functions residing in the data link layer of the ISO/OSI model. System-specific functionality of the protocol software is realized through adequate parameterization and composition of the generic modules. The generic protocol stack allows an efficient realization of reconfigurable protocol software and enables a completely reconfigurable wireless communication system. It is a first step from side-by-side realized, preinstalled modes in a terminal towards a dynamic reconfigurable anymode terminal. The presented modules of the generic protocol stack can also be regarded as a toolbox for the accelerated and cost-efficient development of future communication protocols.

Priority Setting for Improvement of Cervical Cancer Prevention in Iran

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Majidi, A.; Ghiasvand, R.; Hadji, M.

2016-01-01

, ICC has low incidence in Iran and many other Muslim countries. There is no organized cervical screening in these countries. Therefore, ICC is usually diagnosed in advanced stages with poor prognosis in these countries. We performed a priority setting exercise and suggested priorities for prevention...... of ICC in this setting. Methods: We invited experts and researchers to a workshop and asked them to list important suggestions for ICC prevention in Iran. After merging similar items and removing the duplicates, we asked the experts to rank the list of suggested items. We used a strategy grid and Go......-zone analysis to determine final list of priorities for ICC prevention in Iran. Results: From 26 final items suggested as priorities for prevention of ICC, the most important priorities were developing national guidelines for cervical screening and quality control protocol for patient follow-up and management...

Ancestors protocol for scalable key management

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Dieter Gollmann

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Group key management is an important functional building block for secure multicast architecture. Thereby, it has been extensively studied in the literature. The main proposed protocol is Adaptive Clustering for Scalable Group Key Management (ASGK. According to ASGK protocol, the multicast group is divided into clusters, where each cluster consists of areas of members. Each cluster uses its own Traffic Encryption Key (TEK. These clusters are updated periodically depending on the dynamism of the members during the secure session. The modified protocol has been proposed based on ASGK with some modifications to balance the number of affected members and the encryption/decryption overhead with any number of the areas when a member joins or leaves the group. This modified protocol is called Ancestors protocol. According to Ancestors protocol, every area receives the dynamism of the members from its parents. The main objective of the modified protocol is to reduce the number of affected members during the leaving and joining members, then 1 affects n overhead would be reduced. A comparative study has been done between ASGK protocol and the modified protocol. According to the comparative results, it found that the modified protocol is always outperforming the ASGK protocol.

A modified error correction protocol for CCITT signalling system no. 7 on satellite links

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Kreuer, Dieter; Quernheim, Ulrich

1991-10-01

Comite Consultatif International des Telegraphe et Telephone (CCITT) Signalling System No. 7 (SS7) provides a level 2 error correction protocol particularly suited for links with propagation delays higher than 15 ms. Not being originally designed for satellite links, however, the so called Preventive Cyclic Retransmission (PCR) Method only performs well on satellite channels when traffic is low. A modified level 2 error control protocol, termed Fix Delay Retransmission (FDR) method is suggested which performs better at high loads, thus providing a more efficient use of the limited carrier capacity. Both the PCR and the FDR methods are investigated by means of simulation and results concerning throughput, queueing delay, and system delay, respectively. The FDR method exhibits higher capacity and shorter delay than the PCR method.

A milk-based wolfberry preparation prevents prenatal stress-induced cognitive impairment of offspring rats, and inhibits oxidative damage and mitochondrial dysfunction in vitro.

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Feng, Zhihui; Jia, Haiqun; Li, Xuesen; Bai, Zhuanli; Liu, Zhongbo; Sun, Lijuan; Zhu, Zhongliang; Bucheli, Peter; Ballèvre, Olivier; Wang, Junkuan; Liu, Jiankang

2010-05-01

Lycium barbarum (Fructus Lycii, Wolfberry, or Gouqi) belongs to the Solanaceae. The red-colored fruits of L. barbarum have been used for a long time as an ingredient in Chinese cuisine and brewing, and also in traditional Chinese herbal medicine for improving health. However, its effects on cognitive function have not been well studied. In the present study, prevention of a milk-based wolfberry preparation (WP) on cognitive dysfunction was tested in a prenatal stress model with rats and the antioxidant mechanism was tested by in vitro experiments. We found that prenatal stress caused a significant decrease in cognitive function (Morris water maze test) in female offspring. Pretreatment of the mother rats with WP significantly prevented the prenatal stress-induced cognitive dysfunction. In vitro studies showed that WP dose-dependently scavenged hydroxyl and superoxide radicals (determined by an electron spin resonance spectrometric assay), and inhibited FeCl(2)/ascorbic acid-induced dysfunction in brain tissue and tissue mitochondria, including increases in reactive oxygen species and lipid peroxidation and decreases in the activities of complex I, complex II, and glutamate cysteine ligase. These results suggest that dietary supplementation with WP may be an effective strategy for preventing the brain oxidative mitochondrial damage and cognitive dysfunction associated with prenatal stress.

Protocol of study and pursuit of the radioinduced burns

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Portas, Mercedes; Glustein, Daniel; Pomerane, Armando; Peragallo, Mabel; Guzman, Alejandra; Ciordia, Irma; Genovese, Jorge; Cymberknoh, Manuel; Dubner, Diana; Michelin, Severino; Perez, Maria del Rosario; Trano, Jose Luis Di; Gisone, Pablo

2001-01-01

A study of localized overexposures based on local experience and international criteria is being carried out within the framework of a cooperation agreement between the Buenos Aires Burned Hospital and the Nuclear Regulatory Authority. This protocol was designed considering separately acute and chronic reactions, including the following aspects: patient reception: clinical findings, laboratory tests, photographic recording, and multidisciplinary evaluation; dose reconstruction: evaluation of the dose distribution by biophysical and biological procedures; extension and depth estimation: telethermography, computed tomography, magnetic resonance, radioisotopic procedures, capillaroscopy and percutaneous oxymetry; therapeutic strategies: pain treatment, prevention of infections, systemic administration of pentoxiphyllin and alpha-tocopherol, local application of trolamine and antioxidants, prevention and treatment of radioinduced fibrosis. When it is indicated, surgical treatment includes partial or total excision followed by covering by graft or flap. The application of tissue-engineering techniques will be considered. Study of individual radiosensitivity: evaluation of apoptosis in peripheral lymphocytes and clonogenic assays in dermal fibroblasts 'in vitro' irradiated. (author)

Weaning of inhaled nitric oxide: is there a best strategy?

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Anita M. Ware

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Background: Inhaled nitric oxide (iNO has been used in the treatment of pulmonary hypertension in neonates for many years. iNO was approved by the FDA in 1999 for hypoxic respiratory failure (HRF in term and near term infants, defined as > 34 weeks gestational age (GA. iNO is used for persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN, secondary pulmonary hypertension caused by congenital heart disease (CHD, congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH, meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS, pneumonia, respiratory distress syndrome (RDS, and other pathologies. iNO has its effect locally on the pulmonary vasculature and has been studied extensively regarding its effect on morbidities such as: need for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO, oxygen requirements, and mechanical ventilatory support. However, protocols for weaning iNO and for the duration of iNO weaning have not been studied extensively. It has been shown that an abrupt discontinuation leads to rebound pulmonary hypertension.Methods: Electronic literature search and review of published articles on the use of iNO in the neonate.Results: Electronic databases including Medline and PubMed were searched from the years 1995-2015, using the keywords "iNO", "nitric oxide", "neonate", and "weaning nitric oxide." This search revealed 2,124 articles. Articles were determined to be eligible for review if they included a specific protocol for weaning iNO, and were published in English. 16 articles with specific protocols for iNO weaning have been identified and reviewed. The studies had enrolled a total of 1,735 neonates either at term either preterm and with a mean birth weight of 3.3 kg (± 2 kg. Main diagnoses included MAS, CHD (total anomalous pulmonary venous return [TAPVR], d-transposition of the great vessels [DTGV], atrial septal defect [ASD], pulmonary atresia [PA], hypoplastic left heart syndrome [HLH], pneumonia, RDS, hyaline membrane disease (HMD, PPHN, CDH, sepsis, pulmonary hypoplasia

Establishing the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and student experience of a Simulation-based education Training program On the Prevention of Falls (STOP-Falls) among hospitalised inpatients: a protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

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Williams, Cylie; Bowles, Kelly-Ann; Kiegaldie, Debra; Maloney, Stephen; Nestel, Debra; Kaplonyi, Jessica; Haines, Terry

2016-06-02

Simulation-based education (SBE) is now commonly used across health professional disciplines to teach a range of skills. The evidence base supporting the effectiveness of this approach for improving patient health outcomes is relatively narrow, focused mainly on the development of procedural skills. However, there are other simulation approaches used to support non-procedure specific skills that are in need of further investigation. This cluster, cross-over randomised controlled trial with a concurrent economic evaluation (cost per fall prevented) trial will evaluate the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and student experience of health professional students undertaking simulation training for the prevention of falls among hospitalised inpatients. This research will target the students within the established undergraduate student placements of Monash University medicine, nursing and allied health across Peninsula Health acute and subacute inpatient wards. The intervention will train the students in how to provide the Safe Recovery program, the only single intervention approach demonstrated to reduce falls in hospitals. This will involve redevelopment of the Safe Recovery program into a one-to-many participant SBE program, so that groups of students learn the communication skills and falls prevention knowledge necessary for delivery of the program. The primary outcome of this research will be patient falls across participating inpatient wards, with secondary outcomes including student satisfaction with the SBE and knowledge gain, ward-level practice change and cost of acute/rehabilitation care for each patient measured using clinical costing data. The Human Research Ethics Committees of Peninsula Health (LRR/15/PH/11) and Monash University (CF15/3523-2015001384) have approved this research. The participant information and consent forms provide information on privacy, storage of results and dissemination. Registration of this trial has been completed with the

The Emergency Public Relations Protocol: How to Work Effectively on Controversial Projects in an Academic Health Setting

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Rosser, B. R. Simon; Kilian, Gunna; West, William G.

2012-01-01

Certain research topics - including studies of sexual behavior, substance use, and HIV risk -- are more likely to be scrutinized by the media and groups opposed to this area of research. When studying topics that others might deem controversial, it is critical that researchers anticipate potential negative media events prior to their occurrence. By developing an Emergency Public Relations Protocol at the genesis of a study, researchers can identify and plan for events that might result in higher scrutiny. For each identified risk, a good protocol details procedures to enact before, during and after a media event. This manuscript offers recommendations for developing a protocol based on both Situational Crisis Communication Theory and our experience as an HIV prevention research group who recently experienced such an event. The need to have procedures in place to monitor and address social media is highlighted. PMID:23565067

The Emergency Public Relations Protocol: How to Work Effectively on Controversial Projects in an Academic Health Setting.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosser, B R Simon; Kilian, Gunna; West, William G

2013-03-01

Certain research topics - including studies of sexual behavior, substance use, and HIV risk -- are more likely to be scrutinized by the media and groups opposed to this area of research. When studying topics that others might deem controversial, it is critical that researchers anticipate potential negative media events prior to their occurrence. By developing an Emergency Public Relations Protocol at the genesis of a study, researchers can identify and plan for events that might result in higher scrutiny. For each identified risk, a good protocol details procedures to enact before, during and after a media event. This manuscript offers recommendations for developing a protocol based on both Situational Crisis Communication Theory and our experience as an HIV prevention research group who recently experienced such an event. The need to have procedures in place to monitor and address social media is highlighted.

Epistemic Protocols for Distributed Gossiping

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Krzysztof R. Apt

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Gossip protocols aim at arriving, by means of point-to-point or group communications, at a situation in which all the agents know each other's secrets. We consider distributed gossip protocols which are expressed by means of epistemic logic. We provide an operational semantics of such protocols and set up an appropriate framework to argue about their correctness. Then we analyze specific protocols for complete graphs and for directed rings.

Performance measures for improving the prevention of venous thromboembolism: achievement in clinical practice.

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Wilson, Kenneth C; Merli, Geno J

2011-10-01

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common complication during and after hospitalization for acute medical illness or surgery. Despite the existence of evidence-based guidelines for VTE prevention, real-world prescribing practices are frequently suboptimal. Specific performance measures relating to VTE prevention and treatment have been developed by US health care organizations to increase adherence with best-practice recommendations and ultimately reduce the number of preventable VTE events. Two measures developed by the Surgical Care Improvement Project have been endorsed by the National Quality Forum (NQF) and focus on VTE prevention. In addition, six measures have been developed recently by The Joint Commission in collaboration with the NQF; three measures relate to VTE prevention and three focus on treatment. To attain widespread achievement of these performance goals, it is essential to raise awareness of their existence and specifications. It is also imperative that hospitals develop and implement effective VTE protocols. The use of multiple, active strategies, such as computer decision support systems with regular audit and feedback, may be particularly valuable approaches to improve current practices within an integrated quality improvement program. During practical implementation of VTE protocols at Norton Healthcare (Kentucky's largest healthcare system), strong leadership, physician engagement, and caregiver accountability were identified as key factors influencing the process. As such, more hospitals may be able to increase adherence with guidelines, improve achievement of quality goals, and help to reduce the substantial burden associated with avoidable VTE.

Using semantics for representing experimental protocols.

Science.gov (United States)

Giraldo, Olga; García, Alexander; López, Federico; Corcho, Oscar

2017-11-13

An experimental protocol is a sequence of tasks and operations executed to perform experimental research in biological and biomedical areas, e.g. biology, genetics, immunology, neurosciences, virology. Protocols often include references to equipment, reagents, descriptions of critical steps, troubleshooting and tips, as well as any other information that researchers deem important for facilitating the reusability of the protocol. Although experimental protocols are central to reproducibility, the descriptions are often cursory. There is the need for a unified framework with respect to the syntactic structure and the semantics for representing experimental protocols. In this paper we present "SMART Protocols ontology", an ontology for representing experimental protocols. Our ontology represents the protocol as a workflow with domain specific knowledge embedded within a document. We also present the S ample I nstrument R eagent O bjective (SIRO) model, which represents the minimal common information shared across experimental protocols. SIRO was conceived in the same realm as the Patient Intervention Comparison Outcome (PICO) model that supports search, retrieval and classification purposes in evidence based medicine. We evaluate our approach against a set of competency questions modeled as SPARQL queries and processed against a set of published and unpublished protocols modeled with the SP Ontology and the SIRO model. Our approach makes it possible to answer queries such as Which protocols use tumor tissue as a sample. Improving reporting structures for experimental protocols requires collective efforts from authors, peer reviewers, editors and funding bodies. The SP Ontology is a contribution towards this goal. We build upon previous experiences and bringing together the view of researchers managing protocols in their laboratory work. Website: https://smartprotocols.github.io/ .

PREvention STudy On preventing or reducing disability from musculoskeletal complaints in music school students (PRESTO): protocol of a randomised controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Baadjou, Vera A E; Verbunt, Jeanine A M C F; Eijsden-Besseling, Marjon D F van; Samama-Polak, Ans L W; Bie, Rob A D E; Smeets, Rob J E M

2014-12-01

Up to 87% of professional musicians develop work-related complaints of the musculoskeletal system during their careers. Music school students are at specific risk for developing musculoskeletal complaints and disabilities. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a biopsychosocial prevention program to prevent or reduce disabilities from playing-related musculoskeletal disorders. Secondary objectives are evaluation of cost-effectiveness and feasibility. Healthy, first or second year students (n=150) will be asked to participate in a multicentre, single-blinded, parallel-group randomised controlled trial. Students randomised to the intervention group (n=75) will participate in a biopsychosocial prevention program that addresses playing-related health problems and provides postural training according to the Mensendieck or Cesar methods of postural exercise therapy, while incorporating aspects from behavioural change theories. A control group (n=75) will participate in a program that stimulates a healthy physical activity level using a pedometer, which conforms to international recommendations. No long-term effects are expected from this control intervention. Total follow-up duration is two years. The primary outcome measure is disability (Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder and Hand questionnaire). The secondary outcome measures are pain, quality of life and changes in health behaviour. Multilevel mixed-effect logistic or linear regression analyses will be performed to analyse the effects of the program on the aforementioned outcome measurements. Furthermore, cost-effectiveness, cost-utility and feasibility will be analysed. It is believed that this is the first comprehensive randomised controlled trial on the effect and rationale of a biopsychosocial prevention program for music students. Copyright © 2014 Australian Physiotherapy Association. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Andrographolide Sodium Bisulfate Prevents UV-Induced Skin Photoaging through Inhibiting Oxidative Stress and Inflammation

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Janis Ya-Xian Zhan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Andrographolide sodium bisulfate (ASB, a water-soluble form made from andrographolide through sulfonating reaction, is an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory drug; however, the antiphotoaging effect of ASB has still not been revealed. Oxidative stress and inflammation are known to be responsible for ultraviolet (UV irradiation induced skin damage and consequently premature aging. In this study, we aimed at examining the effect of ASB on UV-induced skin photoaging of mice by physiological and histological analysis of skin and examination of skin antioxidant enzymes and immunity analyses. Results showed that topical administration of ASB suppressed the UV-induced skin thickness, elasticity, wrinkles, and water content, while ASB, especially at dose of 3.6 mg/mouse, increased the skin collagen content by about 53.17%, decreased the epidermal thickness by about 41.38%, and prevented the UV-induced disruption of collagen fibers and elastic fibers. Furthermore, ASB decreased MDA level by about 40.21% and upregulated the activities of SOD and CAT and downregulated the production of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-α in UV-irradiated mice. Our study confirmed the protective effect of ASB against UV-induced photoaging and initially indicated that this effect can be attributed to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities in vivo, suggesting that ASB may be a potential antiphotoaging agent.

Andrographolide Sodium Bisulfate Prevents UV-Induced Skin Photoaging through Inhibiting Oxidative Stress and Inflammation

Science.gov (United States)

Zhan, Janis Ya-Xian; Wang, Xiu-Fen; Liu, Yu-Hong; Zhang, Zhen-Biao; Wang, Lan; Chen, Jian-Nan; Huang, Song; Zeng, Hui-Fang; Lai, Xiao-Ping

2016-01-01

Andrographolide sodium bisulfate (ASB), a water-soluble form made from andrographolide through sulfonating reaction, is an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory drug; however, the antiphotoaging effect of ASB has still not been revealed. Oxidative stress and inflammation are known to be responsible for ultraviolet (UV) irradiation induced skin damage and consequently premature aging. In this study, we aimed at examining the effect of ASB on UV-induced skin photoaging of mice by physiological and histological analysis of skin and examination of skin antioxidant enzymes and immunity analyses. Results showed that topical administration of ASB suppressed the UV-induced skin thickness, elasticity, wrinkles, and water content, while ASB, especially at dose of 3.6 mg/mouse, increased the skin collagen content by about 53.17%, decreased the epidermal thickness by about 41.38%, and prevented the UV-induced disruption of collagen fibers and elastic fibers. Furthermore, ASB decreased MDA level by about 40.21% and upregulated the activities of SOD and CAT and downregulated the production of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-α in UV-irradiated mice. Our study confirmed the protective effect of ASB against UV-induced photoaging and initially indicated that this effect can be attributed to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities in vivo, suggesting that ASB may be a potential antiphotoaging agent. PMID:26903706

Modification of radiation-induced oxidative damage in liposomal and microsomal membrane by eugenol

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pandey, B.N. [Radiation Biology and Health Sciences Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai 400 085 (India); Lathika, K.M. [Radiation Biology and Health Sciences Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai 400 085 (India); Mishra, K.P. [Radiation Biology and Health Sciences Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai 400 085 (India)]. E-mail: kpm@magnum.barc.ernet.in

2006-03-15

Radiation-induced membrane oxidative damage, and their modification by eugenol, a natural antioxidant, was investigated in liposomes and microsomes. Liposomes prepared with DPH showed decrease in fluorescence after {gamma}-irradiation, which was prevented significantly by eugenol and correlated with magnitude of oxidation of phospholipids. Presence of eugenol resulted in substantial inhibition in MDA formation in irradiated liposomes/microsomes, which was less effective when added after irradiation. Similarly, the increase in phospholipase C activity observed after irradiation in microsomes was inhibited in samples pre-treated with eugenol. Results suggest association of radio- oxidative membrane damage with alterations in signaling molecules, and eugenol significantly prevented these membrane damaging events.

Tank vent processing system having a corrosion preventive device

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ouchi, Shoichi; Sato, Hirofumi

1987-01-01

Purpose: To prevent corrosion of a tank vent processing device by injecting an oxygen gas. Constitution: Oxygen gas and phosphorous at high temperature are poured into a tank vent processing device and amorphous oxide layers optimum to the prevention of external corrosion are formed to the inner surface of the device. Since the corrosion preventive device using the oxygen gas injection can be constituted as a relatively simple device, it is more economical than constituting a relatively large tank vent processing device with corrosion resistant stainless steels. (Kamimura, M.)

Gamma ray induced oxidative damage to human red blood cells proteins under hypotonic conditions and its prevention by natural phenolic malabaricone compounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meenakshi, K.; Chattopadhyay, Subrata

2015-01-01

As an oxygen shuttle, Human RBCs must continue to perform the task while being exposed to a wide range of environments for each vascular circuit and to a variety of xenobiotics across its life time. The inability to synthesise new protein makes them uniquely vulnerable to oxidative stress. Antioxidants can help in protecting the RBCs from oxidative insults. Currently herbal antioxidants gained worldwide popularity as drugs and food/drug supplements for the treatment of various diseases. The present effort was aimed at formulating some natural phenolic compounds isolated from M.malabarica (mal B and mal C) to prevent the biochemical parameters which are considered as biomarkers of redox balance primarily contribute to alterations in red blood cells proteins during gamma radiation induced oxidative stress. Compared to control gamma ray treatment with hypotonic stress resulted in significant haemolysis, associated with increased MDA (3.3 fold, p<0.001) and met-haemoglobin (7.0 fold, p<0.001). The structural deformation due to membrane damage was confirmed from SEM images and Heinz body formation, while the cell permeability was evident from the K + efflux (30.4%, p<0.05) and increased intracellular Na + concentration (5.2%, p<0.05). The membrane damage, due to the reduction of the cholesterol/phospholipids ratio and depletion (p<0.001) of ATP, 2,3-DPG by 54.7% and Na + -K + ATPase activity (48.%) indicated loss of RBC functionally. Pre-treatment of the RBCs with mal B (5μM), mal C (2.5 μM) or vitamin E (50 μM) for 1 h reversed these adverse effects of gamma radiation under hypotonic conditions on all these parameters and provided significant protection against oxidative haemolysis. (author)