Glia Signaling and Brain Microenvironment in Migraine

Migraine is a complicated neurological disorder affecting 6% of men and 18% of women worldwide. Various mechanisms, including neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, altered mitochondrial function, neurotransmitter disturbances, cortical hyperexcitability, genetic factors, and endocrine system problems, are responsible for migraine. However, these mechanisms have not completely delineated the pathophysiology behind migraine, and they should be further studied. The brain microenvironment comprises neurons, glial cells, and vascular structures with complex interactions. Disruption of the brain microenvironment is the main culprit behind various neurological disorders. Neuron-glia crosstalk contributes to hyperalgesia in migraine. In the brain, microenvironment and related peripheral regulatory circuits, microglia, astrocytes, and satellite cells are necessary for proper function. These are the most important cells that could induce migraine headaches by disturbing the balance of the neurotransmitters in the nervous system. Neuroinflammation and oxidative stress are the prominent reactions glial cells drive during migraine. Understanding the role of cellular and molecular components of the brain microenvironment on the major neurotransmitters engaged in migraine pathophysiology facilitates the development of new therapeutic approaches with higher effectiveness for migraine headaches. Investigating the role of the brain microenvironment and neuroinflammation in migraine may help decipher its pathophysiology and provide an opportunity to develop novel therapeutic approaches for its management. This review aims to discuss the neuron-glia interactions in the brain microenvironment during migraine and their potential role as a therapeutic target for the treatment of migraine.

Pharmacotherapeutic potential of pomegranate in age-related neurological disorders

Age-related neurological disorders [AND] include neurodegenerative diseases [NDDs] such as Alzheimer's disease [AD] and Parkinson's disease [PD], which are the most prevalent types of dementia in the elderly. It also includes other illnesses such as migraine and epilepsy. ANDs are multifactorial, but aging is their major risk factor. The most frequent and vital pathological features of AND are oxidative stress, inflammation, and accumulation of misfolded proteins. As AND brain damage is a significant public health burden and its incidence is increasing, much has been done to overcome it. Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is one of the polyphenol-rich fruits that is widely mentioned in medical folklore. Pomegranate is commonly used to treat common disorders such as diarrhea, abdominal pain, wound healing, bleeding, dysentery, acidosis, microbial infections, infectious and noninfectious respiratory diseases, and neurological disorders. In the current review article, we aimed to summarize the data on the pharmacotherapeutic potentials of pomegranate in ANDs.

Influence of Baking Temperature and Formulation on Physical, Sensorial, and Morphological Properties of Pogácsa Cake: An Image Analysis Study

Pogácsa is a high-demand bakery product with a unique texture, where crumb structure is a determining factor for its textural quality and consumer acceptability. At present, there is no non-destructive in-line inspection method for textural quality assessment of pogácsa. Therefore, this study was aimed to evaluate the texture of pogácsa using the image processing technique, which was prepared using different cheeses with varying moisture contents (MC) and was baked at 200 and 215 °C. Samples were assessed for textural, visual, physical, and sensorial properties. The findings indicated that the highest porosity (72.75%) was found for the sample baked at 215 °C with low-moisture cheese (58%), while the lowest porosity (32.66%) was observed for cheese-free sample baked at 200 °C. Pore volumetric ratio and MC showed strong correlations (p < 0.01) with hardness (−0.90 and −0.89), resilience (0.87 and 0.83), cohesiveness (0.84 and 0.82), springiness (0.87 and 0.90), gumminess (−0.92 and −0.92), and chewiness (−0.92 and −0.92), respectively. The pore volumetric ratio showed a strong correlation (p < 0.01) with reference porosity (0.71). Overall, the current study indicated that adding cheese with varying MC and baking temperature could affect the texture of pogácsa cake, which could be detected by image analysis.

Evaluating real-world national and regional trends in definitive closure in US burn care: A survey of US Burn Centers

To better understand trends in burn treatment patterns related to definitive closure, this study sought to benchmark real-world survey data with national data contained within the National Burn Repository version 8.0 (NBR v8.0) across key burn center practice patterns, resource utilization, and clinical outcomes. A survey, administered to a representative sample of U.S. burn surgeons, collected information across several domains: burn center characteristics, patient characteristics including number of patients and burn size and depth, aggregate number of procedures, resource use such as autograft procedure time and dressing changes, and costs. Survey findings were aggregated by key outcomes (number of procedures, costs) nationally and regionally. Aggregated burn center data were also compared to the NBR to identify trends relative to current treatment patterns. Benchmarking survey results against the NBR v8.0 demonstrated shifts in burn center patient mix, with more severe cases being seen in the inpatient setting and less severe burns moving to the outpatient setting. An overall reduction in the number of autograft procedures was observed compared to NBR v8.0, and time efficiencies improved as the intervention time per TBSA decreases as TBSA increases. Both nationally and regionally, an increase in costs was observed. The results suggest resource use estimates from NBR v8.0 may be higher than current practices, thus highlighting the importance of improved and timely NBR reporting and further research on burn center standard of care practices. This study demonstrates significant variations in burn center characteristics, practice patterns, and resource utilization, thus increasing our understanding of burn center operations and behavior.

Nondestructive evaluation of baking parameters on pogácsa texture

This study aimed to investigate the potential application of image texture processing method on visible crumb structure of salty cake pogácsa, which was prepared with different baking times (5 and 7 min) and temperatures (200, 215, and 230°C). For this purpose, changes in gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) features including energy, contrast, correlation, homogeneity, and entropy were monitored and their relationship with the instrumental texture parameters (hardness, adhesiveness, cohesiveness, springiness, gumminess, and chewiness) were assessed. The pore ratios were also extracted and visualized using image processing technique. Texture profile parameters indicated strong correlation (p < .01) with the image pattern parameters in different pogácsa groups. Gumminess showed strong correlation with contrast (0.503), correlation (-0.498), and homogeneity (0.401). Hardness also exhibited correlation with contrast (0.517), entropy (0.341), and correlation (-0.476). The pore ratio showed marked variation in crumb structure when different times and temperatures were used. Baking at 230°C for 7 min maximized the pore ratio (0.56). Penalty analysis revealed that oiliness, pore structure, and color of products were linked with baking time and temperature. Overall, the results suggested that the GLCM-based technique had the potential to be used as a nondestructive method for rapid quality assessment of pogácsa.

Current progress in the utilization of smartphone-based imaging for quality assessment of food products: a review

The cell phone has been merely used for image acquisition and transmission in the last decades. Owing to the recent technological progress, its new generation, i.e., the smartphone, draws remarkable attention to food quality assessment with versatile applications. Smartphones possess high-resolution cameras, enabling them to be used instead of digital cameras in the computer vision system. Furthermore, their programmability and portability have recently encouraged researchers to introduce smartphone-based image processing in food analytical studies. This promising approach has advantages such as high sensing capability, being user friendly, and cost-effective over the conventional method, and therefore might be considered an emerging nondestructive technique for quality control purposes. However, there is a great effort to tackle implementation, calibration, as well as industrialization issues. In this context, this review aims to highlight the most recent studies of smartphone-based imaging systems in various food systems such as dairy, meat, fruit, and vegetables. Besides, the existing challenges and future trends for applying smartphones in food quality control are discussed. Although moving the computer vision systems toward a portable tool like a smartphone improves its versatility, more research works are needed to resolve its set-up weakness and limitations.

HsCRP in Patients with Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

BACKGROUND

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is currently the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. As there is systemic as well as local inflammation in COPD patients and evaluating the stage of the disease is not possible by spirometery alone, we evaluated High-Sensitivity C-reactive Protein (HS-CRP) in a group of COPD patients as an available and cost effective auxiliary marker in determining COPD stages.

METHODS

In a cross-sectional study in 160 COPD patients who were admitted for exacerbations in Razi Hospital in Rasht, Data on patients' demographic characteristics, pulmonary function test (PFT) and laboratory results consist of arterial blood gases and HSCRP levels were analyzed.

RESULTS

A significant positive correlation was seen between serum HSCRP level and stages of the disease (as GOLD criteria). There was a significant relationship between HSCRP level and patients' sex, BMI, and smoking history in a way that men and smokers showed higher and patients with normal BMI showed lower HSCRP levels. The patients with higher PCO2 also showed a higher level of serum HSCRP.

CONCLUSIONS

This survey supports the role of HSCRP as a simple auxiliary marker in staging and determining the prognosis of COPD for early management.

The Anopheles superpictus complex: introduction of a new malaria vector complex in Iran

Anopheles superpictus Grassi is one of the most widespread malaria vectors in Iran. Two morphologically independent forms of this mosquito, both at larval and adult stage as well as a great diversity in its mtDNA loci have been previously described in Iran. Because of existence of mtDNA haplotypes, co-occurrence of two forms in diverse climates as well as different roles of populations played in malaria transmission, we hypothesized the possibility of emerging species (or sub-species) within the taxon. We surveyed the molecular variation in sympatric and allopatric populations of the two forms, using sequences from the ribosomal-DNA spacer region (ITS2). This analysis revealed a high degree of polymorphism (32.3%) as well as a length polymorphism (357 vs. 378 bp) in the ITS2 region among the populations but not so among morphological forms. Further examination identified three different ITS2 sequences, designated as genotypes X, Y and Z within species. Interestingly, while the sympatric Y and Z genotypes appear to be exclusive to the populations from the southeastern part of the country, genotype X is geographically separated and present in the North, the West, the South and the Central territories. The degree of divergence in ITS2 is much more than an intra-specific variation seen within the anopheline mosquitoes, and it points out the possibility of cryptic species within the taxon. Further studies are necessary to identify the species composition of the An. superpictus and their role played in the transmission of malaria in its geographical range.