Exercise Improves Clinical Symptoms, Pathological Changes and Oxidative/Antioxidative Balance in Animal Model of Colitis

Background

Ulcerative colitis is one of the major phenotypic forms of inflammatory bowel diseases. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of force swimming exercise on clinical symptoms (disease activity index; DAI), colon histopathology, inflammation and fibrosis, and oxidant/antioxidant balance in dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis mice.

Methods

Male C57BL6 mice were randomly divided into five groups (n = 6 each): control, exercise, colitis, colitis + sulfasalazine, and colitis + exercise. Exercise was performed by forced swimming six weeks before and during the experiment. Colitis was induced by 1.5% DSS in drinking water. The animals were evaluated for body weight changes and DAI (including changes of body weight, stool consistency, rectal bleeding, and prolapse) during the induction of colitis and treatment. At the end of experiment, colons and spleens were evaluated by H and E and Masson Trichrome stainings. Oxidant (Malon dialdehyde; MDA), and antioxidant markers [total thiol groups, superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase activity] were also measured in colon tissue.

Results

Results indicated that exercise in colitis mice significantly improved DAI, colon length, spleen weight, and histological injury score and alleviated fibrotic changes in colon tissue that were comparable to sulfasalazine group. Exercise also restored the oxidant/antioxidant balance in colitis mice by reducing MDA and increasing antioxidative markers including total thiol groups, SOD, and catalase activity.

Conclusions

Taken together, aerobic exercise could improve clinical symptoms and colonic inflammation through, at least, the balancing the oxidative stress markers. Thus, it can be considered in management of colitis patients as effective method.

The national health program for vitamin D supplementation in a developing country

BACKGROUND

Previous studies have reported a high frequency of vitamin D deficiency (VDD) among different age groups in Iran.

AIMS

In this study, the current coverage, status of vitamin D supplement taking, and program efficacy have been evaluated by the Office of Nutrition Department Society in Iran since 2014.

METHODS

This study was conducted in collaboration with the International UNESCO center for Health-Related Basic Sciences and Human Nutrition and the Office of Nutrition Department Society. Sixty three medical universities were included in the current study to calculate the availability, accessibility and acceptability coverages. Furthermore, 3 medical universities including Mashhad (MUMS), Qom (QUMS) and Zahedan (ZAUMS) University of Medical Sciences were selected based on the results of the National Integrated Micronutrient Survey 2012 (NIMS-II study), in order to assess the status of vitamin D supplement intake in all age ranges.

RESULTS

Quantitative analysis showed that availability coverage was 74.96% and 77.56% and accessibility was 80.70% and 83.26% in elderly and middle-aged subjects, respectively in 2018. The acceptability was approximately 43.7% and 43.9% among elderly and middle-aged participants, respectively. The availability and acceptability coverage was 80.99% and 85.0% among students in high schools. The mean vitamin D supplement uptake frequency was 27.0% (n = 387); 20.7% and 29.2% in rural and urban area, respectively (P = 0.001). The results showed that there was no significant difference in serum vitamin D levels between urban (20.41 ± 6.43 ng/ml) and rural areas, (P = 0.887). There was no significant difference in the serum vitamin D concentrations between men and women (P = 0.461).

CONCLUSIONS

The frequency of taking vitamin D supplements was 27.0% in Iran in 2018. The frequency of taking of vitamin D supplements among vitamin D deficient group (serum vitamin D levels <19.99 ng/ml) was 43.6%. Lack of knowledge was the most important reason for not taking vitamin D supplement. Moreover, the serum vitamin D levels have increased in subjects aged 18-30 years old after the implementation of the vitamin D supplementary program.

Proposing a new model for location - routing problem of perishable raw material suppliers with using meta-heuristic algorithms

In the last three decades, an integrated approach to optimize logistics system is considered as one of the most important aspects of optimizing supply chain management. This approach involves the ties between locations of facility, allocation of suppliers/customers, structure of transportation routes and inventory control. The aim of this paper is to investigate the ordering planning of a supply chain with multi supplier, multi distribution center, multi customer and one perishable raw material. This paper provides a mathematical model taking in consideration the limitation of raw material corruptibility (perishable material) which belongs to the category of NP-hard problems. To solve the proposed model, the Ant Colony Optimization algorithm (ACO) and Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (PSO) are employed. In order to improve performances of ACO and PSO parameters, a Taguchi experimental design method was applied to set their proper values. Besides, to evaluate the performance of the proposed model, an example of the dairy industry is analyzed by using MATLAB R 2015a. To validate the proposed meta-heuristic algorithms, the results of them were compared with together. The results of the comparison show that ACO is greater than PSO in speed convergence rate and the number of solutions iterations.

Paurodontella gilanica n. sp. (Nematoda: Sphaerularioidea) from Iran

Paurodontella gilanica n. sp. is described and illustrated based on morphological, morphometric and molecular characters. The new species is characterised by its small body size, four lines in the lateral field, weak stylet with minute asymmetrical knobs, female reproductive system lacking a diverticulum but with small post-vulval uterine sac, elongate conoid tail with pointed, sometimes filiform, tip, males common with small spicules and cloacal bursa not reaching tail tip. Morphological differences between the new species and seven known species of the genus, namely P. asymmetrica, P. auriculata, P. balochistanica, P. minuta, P. myceliophaga, P. parapitica and P. persica, are discussed. The new species is also compared with four known species of Paurodontus having four lines in the lateral field. Using a 1123 nt long partial 18S rDNA sequence of the new species to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships revealed that it formed a clade with members of the Sphaerulariidae and Paurodontidae. Using a 746 nt long partial sequence of the 28S rDNA D2-D3 segment revealed that P. gilanica n. sp. formed a clade with Abursanema iranicum in both Bayesian inference (BI) and maximum likelihood (ML) analyses with 0.99 Bayesian posterior probability (BPP) and 89% bootstrap support value (BS). The morphological affinities of Paurodontella and Paurodontus are discussed.

Discopersicus n. gen., a New Member of the Family Tylenchidae Örley, 1880 with Detailed SEM Study on Two Known Species of the Genus Discotylenchus Siddiqi, 1980 (Nematoda; Tylenchidae) from Iran

Discopersicus iranicus n. gen., n. comb., previously described from Iran as a new species under the genus Discotylenchus, is illustrated using light microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations and further studied using molecular characters. SEM studies revealed the newly proposed genus has oblique amphidial apertures on the lateral sides of the lip region. SEM images are also provided for two species of Discotylenchus, namely D. discretus and D. brevicaudatus, as the first SEM study of the genus. These results confirmed longitudinal amphidial aperture type on lateral sides of the lip region in genus Discotylenchus, as noted by Siddiqi while erecting the genus with D. discretus as the type species. Molecular phylogenetic analyses using partial small subunit (SSU) and large subunit (LSU) rDNA sequences revealed the affinity of the genus Discopersicus n. gen. with members of the subfamily Boleodorinae, as supported by morphological characters (mainly, the oblique amphidial opening).

Description of Atetylenchus minor n. sp. (Tylenchina: Tylenchidae) and data on two other species of the family

Three species of the family Tylenchidae, including one new and two known species, are described and illustrated. Atetylenchus minor n. sp. is characterised by its short body length of 633 (558-691) μm, MB = 45 (41-46), lateral field with four crenate incisures, stylet 12.0 (11.5-12.5) μm long, without distinct basal knobs but with swollen arms of the shaft at its base, V = 56.3 (53.7-59.3), absence of lateral vulval membranes, and conical tail 57 (51-62) μm long with a rounded tip. Morphological differences of the new species with four known species of the genus, namely A. abulbosus, A. graminus, A. amiri and A. metaporus, are discussed. Molecular phylogenetic studies of the new species using 1089 bp partial sequences of 18S rDNA revealed that the new species formed a clade with an unpublished species assigned to Psilenchus in Bayesian inference (BI) with low Bayesian posterior probability (BPP). This clade forms a sister clade to a major clade containing two species of Psilenchus and several belonolaim species and genera. The same result was achieved using maximum likelihood (ML) analysis. Morphological and molecular phylogenetic studies were also performed on two other species, Malenchus labiatus and Neothada cancellata, using 28S rDNA D2-D3 sequences. In the inferred Bayesian tree, M. labiatus formed a clade with other species of Malenchus with 28S information with maximal support (1.00 BPP), while N. cancellata formed a clade with Boleodorinae, again with maximal (1.00) BPP.

Description of Abursanema iranicum n. gen., n. sp. (Nematoda: Hexatylina, Sphaerularioidea) from Iran and its phylogenetic relationships

Abursanema iranicum n. gen., n. sp. is described and illustrated based on morphological, morphometric and molecular characters. The new genus is characterized by its smooth outer and annulated inner cuticle, having two incisures in lateral field, lacking stylet knobs, having pyriform terminal bulb with stem-like extension projecting into the intestine and lacking of bursa in male. The new genus belongs to the family Paurodontidae. It most closely resembles the genera Paurodontoides and Paurodontus, but has affinities based on male characters with Gymnotylenchus of the family Neotylenchidae too. From Paurodontoides, it differs by the absence of stylet knobs and having six sectors in the head framework. Compared to Paurodontus, the new genus differs by the absence of stylet knobs, structure of the pharynx and absence of a bursa in male. It differs from Gymnotylenchus mainly by lacking of stylet knobs, presence of a basal pharyngeal bulb with an extension into the intestine and in the structure of the spicules. Molecular phylogenetic studies of the new genus using 706 bp partial sequences of the 28S rDNA D2/D3 segment revealed it forming a clade with two species of Sphaerularia in both Bayesian Inference (BI) and maximum likelihood (ML) analyses with 1.00 Bayesian posterior probability (BPP) and 0.96 bootstrap support values (BS). Using 942 bp partial sequences of 18S ribosomal RNA gene, the new genus formed a clade with a species of Deladenus with 0.86 BPP and 0.62 BS in BI and ML methods, respectively. With both BI and ML methods, this clade forms a larger highly supported clade with two species of Sphaerularia.