Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease associated with persistent inflammation, oxidative stress, and epithelial apoptosis. Nicardipine, a dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker, exhibits anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic properties, but its therapeutic potential in UC remains unclear. This study evaluated the effects of nicardipine on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in mice, focusing on inflammatory, oxidative, and apoptotic pathways. Fifty BALB/c mice were assigned to five groups (n = 10): control, DSS, nicardipine 12 mg/kg, nicardipine 24 mg/kg, and 5-aminosalicylate (ASA) 75 mg/kg. Treatments were administered for 3 days before and 10 days during DSS exposure. Disease severity was assessed by body weight, disease activity index (DAI), and colon length. Colonic mRNA levels of Nlrp3, TNF-α, IL-17, and TNFSF10 were quantified by RT-PCR; protein expression of caspase-3, caspase-8, BAX, and BCL-2 was analyzed by Western blot. Serum malondialdehyde (MDA), myeloperoxidase (MPO), glutathione peroxidase-1 (GPX-1), occludin, and prostaglandin E₂ (PGE-2) were measured by ELISA. Histological scoring assessed epithelial integrity and inflammation. Nicardipine dose-dependently reduced DSS-induced weight loss, DAI, and colon shortening. Both doses significantly downregulated Nlrp3, TNF-α, IL-17, and TNFSF10 (p < 0.05), decreased caspase-3 and BAX, and increased BCL-2. Nicardipine restored GPX-1, lowered MDA and MPO, preserved occludin, and reduced PGE-2. Histology confirmed reduced mucosal injury and preserved epithelial architecture. Nicardipine attenuates DSS-induced colitis by suppressing pro-inflammatory cytokines, reducing oxidative stress, and inhibiting apoptosis, supporting its potential as a therapeutic candidate for UC. Further studies are warranted to clarify its molecular mechanisms and clinical relevance.
Strengthening with carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRP) has become one of the most significant methods of enhancing the flexural strength of reinforced concrete members. Extensive research has shown that externally-bonded CFRP sheets tend to debond from the soffit of the concrete members at much lower strains, compared with CFRP rupture strain. Different types of anchorage system have been developed to prevent or delay the debonding type failure, which leads to a higher utilisation of the CFRP sheets before failure occurs. This paper summarises some of the most efficient types of anchorage systems that have shown significant enhancement in terms of increasing the flexural bending c
In regression testing, Test case prioritization (TCP) is a technique to arrange all the available test cases. TCP techniques can improve fault detection performance which is measured by the average percentage of fault detection (APFD). History-based TCP is one of the TCP techniques that consider the history of past data to prioritize test cases. The issue of equal priority allocation to test cases is a common problem for most TCP techniques. However, this problem has not been explored in history-based TCP techniques. To solve this problem in regression testing, most of the researchers resort to random sorting of test cases. This study aims to investigate equal priority in history-based TCP techniques. The first objective is to implement
... Show MoreIn this work, an inventive photovoltaic evaporative cooling (PV/EC) hybrid system was constructed and experimentally investigated. The PV/EC hybrid system has the prosperous advantage of producing electrical energy and cooling the PV panel besides providing cooled-humid air. Two cooling techniques were utilized: backside evaporative cooling (case #1) and combined backside evaporative cooling with a front-side water spray technique (case #2). The water spraying on the front side of the PV panel is intermittent to minimize water and power consumption depending on the PV panel temperature. In addition, two pad thicknesses of 5 cm and 10 cm were investigated at three different water flow rates of 1, 2, and 3 lpm. In Case #1,
... Show MoreIn this research, deposition of titanium oxide (TiO2) and vanadium oxide (V2O5) thin film in different mixing percentage (0, 25 ,50, 75 and100)% on the substrate of glass .The coating thickness was ( 50 nm ).
In this research contact angle was measured and the effect of weather conditions. Results showed that the value of the contact angle of the prepared films reached its highest value at 50% (TiO2+V2O5) was 160º.
The results showed that the optical transmittance of TiO2 and V2O5 thin film decrease with increasing the deposition angle and decrease with increasing V2O5 pro
... Show MoreBackground and Objectives: Dyspepsia is a disorder characterized by difficulty in digestion and represents a major health concern. Therefore, it is crucial to identify functional dyspepsia linked to Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). This research aimed to determine the prevalence of H. pylori among patients with dyspepsia and to examine the potential risk factors associated with the infection. Materials and Methods: From August 14th to September 21st, 2024, a total of 105 patients with dyspepsia, who attended the Central Laboratory of Baghdad Medical City Complex (Iraq), were enrolled in this study. Data on nonsteroidal anti-inflam- matory drugs (NSAIDs), smoking, family history, fasting habits and frequent fast food consumption wer
... Show MoreDevelopment and population expansion have the lion's share of driving up the fuel cost. Biodiesel has considerable attention as a renewable, ecologically friendly and alternative fuel source. In this study, CaO nanocatalyst is produced from mango leaves as a catalysis for the transesterification of waste cooking oil (WCO) to biodiesel. The mango tree is a perennial plant, and its fruit holds significant economic worth due to its abundance of vitamins and minerals. This plant has a wide geographical range and its leaves can be utilized without any negative impact on its growth and yield. An analysis was conducted to determine the calcium content in the fallen leaves, revealing a significant quantity of calcium that holds potential fo
... Show MoreImage classification is the process of finding common features in images from various classes and applying them to categorize and label them. The main problem of the image classification process is the abundance of images, the high complexity of the data, and the shortage of labeled data, presenting the key obstacles in image classification. The cornerstone of image classification is evaluating the convolutional features retrieved from deep learning models and training them with machine learning classifiers. This study proposes a new approach of “hybrid learning” by combining deep learning with machine learning for image classification based on convolutional feature extraction using the VGG-16 deep learning model and seven class
... Show More