Studies from our laboratory have shown that Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), an ingredient found in marijuana plant Cannabis sativa, can attenuate acute lung injury induced by Staphylococcus enterotoxin B (SEB). In the current study, we investigated the role of THC on the metabolism of SEB-activated lymphocytes. To this end, we determined metabolic potential of SEB-activated lymphocytes treated with vehicle or THC by performing the Cell Mito Stress Test. The oxygen consumption rate (OCR) in THC-treated cells was decreased when compared to vehicle-treated group whereas the extracellular acidification rate (ECAR) was similar in both the groups. Specifically, electron transport chain inhibitors namely, oligomycin, FCCP and rotenone+antimycinA were added to measure ATP-linked respiration, maximal respiration and non-mitochondrial respiration, respectively. THC treatment led to a significant decrease in the basal respiration, ATP production, proton (H+) leak, maximal respiration, spare respiratory capacity and nonmitochondrial respiration. We also performed the Mito Fuel Flex assay to measure the dependency, capacity and flexibility of cells to oxidize glucose, glutamine and fatty acids. Treatment with inhibitors, BPTES and etomoxir showed a decline in the OCR in SEB+vehicle treated cells demonstrating that glutamine and/or fatty acids serve as major source of fuel in these cells when compared to SEB+THC treated group. However, when UK5099 was added, THC- and vehicle-treated cells showed a reduced response thereby indicating that glucose dependency was similar in both the groups. Together, THC modulates metabolic functions of activated lymphocytes which may affect their signaling, differentiation and toxicity.
Background: Salivary gland neoplasms constitute a group of heterogeneous lesions with complex clinicopathologic characteristics and distinct biological behavior. Numerous studies have suggested geographical variation, therefore the aims of this study were to analyze the characteristics of salivary gland neoplasms in two Iraqi centers and to analyze the postoperative complications that are encountered after surgical treatment of these tumors. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study of the patients who were treated for major and minor epithelial salivary gland tumors was conducted. The analyzed data included; demographic information (age and gender), the site of the tumor, the clinical manifestations, the histological type of the tumo
... Show MoreExperimental investigations have been carried out to investigate the pH-control problems of industrial electroplating wastewater treatment plants. The accurate and sensitive PID control system could treat most problem and disturbances in the normal operation of the water treatment. However, conventional treatment was replaced by proprietary treatment agent called a QUASIL which was found to be more effective for a wide range of pH.
Despite the multiple sources of polycyclic compounds in the agricultural environment, this study suggests that it is possible to adopt the events of plants and their associated microorganisms in the soil, such as mushrooms and bacteria in the decomposition of these compounds can also use harvested plants such as barley and alfalfa grown for animal feed
The stress(Y) – strength(X) model reliability Bayesian estimation which defines life of a component with strength X and stress Y (the component fails if and only if at any time the applied stress is greater than its strength) has been studied, then the reliability; R=P(Y<X), can be considered as a measure of the component performance. In this paper, a Bayesian analysis has been considered for R when the two variables X and Y are independent Weibull random variables with common parameter α in order to study the effect of each of the two different scale parameters β and λ; respectively, using three different [weighted, quadratic and entropy] loss functions under two different prior functions [Gamma and extension of Jeffery
... Show MoreHypertension is a major health problem throughout the world because of its high prevalence and its association with increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. It is defined as systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 mmHg. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy, safety and cardiovascular disease risk lowering ability, of three antihypertensive drug regimens.
A retrospective study was carried out on 66 hypertensive patients, divided in to three groups based on their antihypertensive drug regimens (ACE inhibitors, β-blockers treated and combination antihypertensive therapy, the combination therapy consist of two or more of the following antihypertensive drugs ACE inhibitor di
... Show MoreABSTRACT Background: Viral hepatitis places a heavy burden on the health care. Large number of patient with bleeding disorders has chronic hepatitis C infection, while few are chronic carriers of hepatitis B virus. Aims of study: evaluate the prevalence of HBV, HCV infection among patient with Von Willebrand disease and to find factors that associated with the chance of getting the infection.