A reproducible method for biochemical, histological and functional assessment of the effects of ischaemia–reperfusion syndrome in the lower limbs

Current methodology described to mimic lower limb ischaemia–reperfusion injury (LL-IRI) does not accurately define the procedures and pressures exerted to induce and maintain ischaemia. In this piece of work, we propose a well-defined and detailed rat model that simulates the conditions established in clinical practice guidelines for tourniquet application and allows us to test treatments that aim to prevent/reduce LL-IRI. Eighty-six male WAG/RijHsd rats were subjected to hind limb IRI (LL-IRI), using a mechanical system applying a 1 kg tension to induce and maintain ischemia for 2 or 3 h, and assessed the damage caused by reperfusion at biochemical and muscular levels at different time points. At the biochemical level, both 2 and 3 h of ischemia induced changes (except for electrolyte levels); 3 h of ischemia induced greater changes in specific markers of muscular damage: creatine kinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). At the histopathological level, 3 h of ischemia and 24 h of reperfusion was associated with an increase in hind limb girth, cross-sectional area, and weight and presence of neutrophils, as well as histological damage in more than 60% of muscle fibres. Our model allows to reliably reproduce the damage associated with the use of a pneumatic tourniquet. CK and LDH, as well as measures of tissue damage, allow to define and characterize the response to LL-IRI-related damage. A period of 3 h of ischemia followed by 3 h of reperfusion caused only local damage but showed greater sensitivity to detect differences in future studies on prophylactic treatments against LL-IRI.

Time Mating Guinea Pigs by Monitoring Changes to the Vaginal Membrane throughout the Estrus Cycle and with Ultrasound Confirmation

One of the greatest challenges to the development and implementation of pregnancy therapeutics is the ability to rigorously test treatments in clinically relevant animal models. Guinea pigs offer a unique advantage in studying the placenta, fetal development, and reproductive health as they have similar developmental milestones to humans, both throughout gestation and following birth. Tracking the guinea pig estrus cycle is imperative to ensuring appropriately timed mating and can be performed by monitoring the guinea pig vaginal membrane. Here, we describe a methodology to efficiently and accurately time mate guinea pigs, and provide a picture representation of changes to the guinea pig vaginal membrane throughout the estrus cycle. Utilization of this monitoring enabled a 100% pregnancy success rate on the first mating attempt in a cohort of five guinea pigs. This approach, along with early pregnancy ultrasounds as a secondary method to confirm pregnancy, offers a reliable approach to timed mating in the guinea pig.

MORPHOMETRIC CHANGES AND POST-PLANTING GROWTH AS A RESPONSE TO HARDENING ON Tabebuia roseo-alba SEEDLINGS

The essay evaluated morphometric changes in response to stem bending and jasmonic acid on Tabebuia roseo-alba (Ridl). Sand. seedlings. We tested 20 daily stem bendings and applications of 1 μmol L-1 of jasmonic acid for 4 or 8 weeks. Stem bending for 8 weeks resulted in seedlings with fewer leaves and smaller shoot dry biomass compared to seedlings subjected to the other treatments. The results of electrolyte leakage from root tissues of control seedlings showed higher value compared to results from seedlings subjected to the test treatments. After planting, we did not detect differences in height and diameter increments from seedlings subjected to the test treatments. Therefore, hardening methods did not improve post-planting seedling growth.

Geophysical investigations of medieval paintings at St. Petri Cathedral Schleswig (Germany) with georadar and thermography

<p>The preservation of culturally significant buildings is challenging due to the variety of historical building materials, the often complex building history and damage patterns. It is usually associated with high financial costs. Non-destructive testing may help to plan, optimize, and monitor conservation measures. Here, we report on non-destructive testing of moisture distribution at the Cathedral St. Petri in Schleswig (Germany) using thermography and georadar measurements.  These methods are standard methods in engineering geology and construction. In the field of heritage conservation, however, the application and especially the combination of several of these methods is not yet established.</p><p>The walls of the ‘Schwahl’ (a three-sided cloister) show medieval paintings from the 14th century. In the Schwahl, large-scale alterations occur due to gypsum deposits and a shellac coating.   Active thermography measurements were taken before and after test treatments to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of different solvents to remove the shellac and the gypsum deposits. Passive thermography and georadar measurements indicate increased moisture content in the area of the gypsum deposits likely caused by a permeable horizontal sealing barrier below the paintings. Examples of the measurements are shown and the processing of the thermography and georadar measurements including the attenuation analysis are discussed.</p>

Effect of national chelated micronutrient fertilizers on the productivity of grape plants and quality indicators of wine

The article presents the results of studies, carried out in 2018-2020 in soil and climatic conditions of viticultural zone of the South Coast of Crimea on wine grape variety ‘Cabernet-Sauvignon’. It was established that double application of national chelated micronutrient fertilizers Tiaton and Chelaton Extra for foliar dressing of grapes contributed to an increase in the average bunch weight by 9.3-15.3 g (10.3-16.9%), shoot productivity by 10.4-17.1% and cropping power by 0.6-1 t/ha (10-16.7%) in comparison with the control. It was experimentally determined that test treatments with Chelaton Extra preparation led to a significant increase in the average length of annual shoots by 13.3 cm (9.3%) and a gain in the green matter of bushes by 265.9 cm3 (12%). Using of the studied micronutrient fertilizers against the background of increased grape productivity positively influenced the process of sugar accumulation and ensured the value component at the control level. The studies have proven that double treatment with Chelaton Extra fertilizer contributed to an increase in the mass concentration of phenolic substances in wine by 10.7%.

The Effect of Talking Chips Technique Toward the Improvement of Students’ Speaking Achievement at one of the Senior High Schools in Bandung

This study investigated how the Talking Chips Technique can help students to improve their speaking. The sample was only one class and total number of students was 36 students. This study used a time series design and three data collection, i.e. note taking, participant observation, and speaking test. The data from observation were analyzed by using thematic analysis and band score of speaking. This study was conducted by using multiple pre-test and post-test. Therefore, the findings of this study were based on pre- test, treatments and post- test. During the treatments, there were problems related to classroom management (noisy, low participation, laughing), fluency (pause, flow and speed) and accuracy (pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary). Those problems could be minimized. After post-test, there were still problems, but the problems were fewer than previous ones like only fluency and accuracy because students had showed the awareness and enthusiasm in speaking English. This study showed the improvement of students’ speaking achievement from treatment until posttest. It was proved by the mean score pretest and posttest. In pre-test, the mean score of fluency was 61.1 and 62.81 for accuracy. In post-test, the mean score of fluency was 71.451 and accuracy was 74.69. Then, t- test for fluency was 7.05 and t-test for accuracy was 8.31 with t critical or table was 2.031. It meant that H1 was accepted. There was significance improvement of students’ speaking in terms of fluency and accuracy. The findings suggest that the students still need further treatments to improve their speaking even though they have achieved the target.

Human cerebral organoids and consciousness: a double-edged sword

Human cerebral organoids (HCOs) are three-dimensional in vitro cell cultures that mimic the developmental process and organization of the developing human brain. In just a few years this technique has produced brain models that are already being used to study diseases of the nervous system and to test treatments and drugs. Currently, HCOs consist of tens of millions of cells and have a size of a few millimeters. The greatest limitation to further development is due to their lack of vascularization. However, recent research has shown that human cerebral organoids can manifest the same electrical activity and connections between brain neurons and EEG patterns as those recorded in preterm babies. All this suggests that, in the future, HCOs may manifest an ability to experience basic sensations such as pain, therefore manifesting sentience, or even rudimentary forms of consciousness. This calls for consideration of whether cerebral organoids should be given a moral status and what limitations should be introduced to regulate research. In this article I focus particularly on the study of the emergence and mechanisms of human consciousness, i.e. one of the most complex scientific problems there are, by means of experiments on HCOs. This type of experiment raises relevant ethical issues and, as I will argue, should probably not be considered morally acceptable.

Effect of White Potatoes on Subjective Appetite, Food Intake, and Glycemic Response in Healthy Older Adults

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of white potato cooking methods on subjective appetite, short-term food intake (FI), and glycemic response in healthy older adults. Using a within-subject, repeated-measures design, 20 participants (age: 70.4 ± 0.6 y) completed, in random order, five treatment conditions: three potato treatments (baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, and French fries), an isocaloric control treatment (white bread), or a fasting condition (meal skipping). Subjective appetite and glycemic response were measured for 120 min using visual analogue scales and capillary blood samples, respectively. Lunch FI was measured with an ad libitum pizza meal at 120 min. Change from baseline subjective appetite (p < 0.001) and lunch FI (p < 0.001) were lower after all test treatments compared with meal skipping (p < 0.001), but did not differ among test treatments. Cumulative FI (test treatment + lunch FI) did not differ among treatment conditions. Blood glucose concentrations were higher after all test treatments compared with meal skipping (p < 0.001), but were not different from each other. In healthy older adults, white potatoes suppressed subjective appetite and lunch FI compared with meal skipping, suggesting white potatoes do not bypass regulatory control mechanisms of FI.

Effects of sub-lethal concentrations of corexit 9500® dispersant on growth and condition factor of juvenile Clarias gariepinus (Burchell 1822), Rivers state, Nigeria

The effects of sub-lethal concentrations of Corexit 9500 on growth and condition factor of juveniles of Clarias gariepinus was investigated after 21days, in 2018. 160 fishes were used as test organisms with a loading of 10/treatment and were exposed to 0.00, 0.0125, 0.025 and 0.05 ml/L concentrations of Corexit 9500. Treatments were in triplicate and Complete Randomised Design was adopted. The growth in length and weight of C. gariepinus was significantly higher in the control than the test treatments (P<0.05). The increase in weight of the control was significantly different from the three treatments. Temperature was not significantly different (P>0.05); however, the DO of control was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than that of the treatments, with the lowest DO in the 0.05ml/l treatment. pH was acidic for all treatments including the control but was more acidic with increasing concentration of Corexit 9500. The pH value for each treatment was significantly different (P<0.05). The conductivity was significantly different from each other (P<0.05) with higher values at the 0.025 ml/L concentrations. The condition factor (K) decreased with increasing toxicant concentration and was significantly different (P<0.05) at 0.0125ml/L and at Weeks 2 and 3 of 0.05 ml/L. Corexit 9500 dispersants should be appropriately assessed before deployment, and their use near fish breeding grounds should be avoided. Key words: Clarias gariepinus, dispersant, growth, physicochemical parameters, sub-lethal