METHODS: Female rats were treated with quercetin (10, 25 and 50mg/kg/day) subcutaneously beginning from day-1 pregnancy. Uterus was harvested at day-4 (following three days quercetin treatment) for morphological, ultra-structural, protein and mRNA expressional changes and plasma sex-steroid levels analyses. In another cohort of rats, implantation rate was determined at day-6 (following five days quercetin treatment).
RESULTS: Administration of 50mg/kg/day quercetin causes increased in uterine fluid volume and CFTR expression but decreased in γ-ENaC, AQP-5, AQP-9 claudin-4, occludin, E-cadherin, integrin αnβЗ, FGF, Ihh and Msx-1expression in the uterus. Pinopodes were poorly develop, tight junctions appear less complex and implantation rate decreased. Serum estradiol levels increased but serum progesterone levels decreased.
CONCLUSIONS: Interference in the fluid volume and receptivity development of the uterus during peri-implantation period by quercetin could adversely affect embryo implantation.
METHODS: In this study, twenty one healthy prepubertal female buffaloes aged 8 months were divided into seven groups of 3 buffaloes each (G1-G7). Group 1 (G1) served as the negative control group and were inoculated orally with 10 mL sterile Phosphate Buffer Saline (PBS), groups 2 (G2) and 3 (G3) were inoculated orally and subcutaneously with 10 mL of 10(12) colony forming unit (cfu) of P.multocida type B: 2, while groups 4 (G4) and 5 (G5) received 10 mL of bacterial LPS orally and intravenously, respectively. Lastly, groups 6 (G6) and 7 (G7) were orally and subcutaneously inoculated with 10 mL of bacterial OMPs. Whole blood was collected in EDTA vials at stipulated time points (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 24, 36, 48, 72, 120, 168, 216, 264, 312, 360, 408, 456 and 504 h), while tissue sections of the pituitary glands were collected and transported to the histopathology laboratory in 10% buffered formalin for processing and Hematoxylin and eosin staining. Plasma levels of luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), progesterone (PG), estradiol (EST) and gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH) were determined.
RESULTS: The histopathological lesions observed in the pituitary gland included hemorrhage, congestion, inflammatory cell infiltration, hydropic degeneration, necrosis and edema. These changes were higher (p
RESULTS: All HPs of B. lehensis G1 were grouped according to their predicted functions based on the presence of functional domains in their sequences. From the metal-binding group of HPs of the cluster, an HP termed Bleg1_2507 was discovered to contain a thioredoxin (Trx) domain and highly-conserved metal-binding ligands represented by Cys69, Cys73 and His159, similar to all prokaryotic and eukaryotic Sco proteins. The built 3D structure of Bleg1_2507 showed that it shared the βαβαββ core structure of Trx-like proteins as well as three flanking β-sheets, a 310 -helix at the N-terminus and a hairpin structure unique to Sco proteins. Docking simulations provided an interesting view of Bleg1_2507 in association with its putative cytochrome c oxidase subunit II (COXII) redox partner, Bleg1_2337, where the latter can be seen to hold its partner in an embrace, facilitated by hydrophobic and ionic interactions between the proteins. Although Bleg1_2507 shares relatively low sequence identity (47%) to BsSco, interestingly, the predicted metal-binding residues of Bleg1_2507 i.e. Cys-69, Cys-73 and His-159 were located at flexible active loops similar to other Sco proteins across biological taxa. This highlights structural conservation of Sco despite their various functions in prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
CONCLUSIONS: We propose that HP Bleg1_2507 is a Sco protein which is able to interact with COXII, its redox partner and therefore, may possess metallochaperone and redox functions similar to other documented bacterial Sco proteins. It is hoped that this scientific effort will help to spur the search for other physiologically relevant proteins among the so-called "orphan" proteins of any given organism.
Methods: A yearly correlation test for a 5-year period was performed to investigate the association between the wholesale and RRP medicine prices declared by the pharmaceutical industry from 2011 to 2015 on the one hand and the consumer wholesale and retail medicine price database on the other hand. The median price ratio (MPR) was calculated by comparing the consumer retail medicine price to its international reference price. The Krukal Wallis test was used to analyse the pricing trend throughout the 5-year period, and factors that might elevate the MPR above 2.5 were modelled using binary logistic regression.
Results: A total of 2527 medicine price data were analysed. There was a strong significant association between medicine prices declared to the PSD and the retail medicine prices in every year of the 5-year period. Moreover, there was no significant increase in retail medicine prices throughout the 5-year period. The medicine types, retail location, type of manufacturer, medicinal indications, declared wholesale and RRPs significantly influenced the consumer MPRs that where > 2.5.
Conclusion: The declared medicine price was found to have a significant association with the consumer retail medicine price. Thus, it may be a useful reference for consumers purchasing medicines in private healthcare settings. However, the government of Malaysia must develop strategies to increase medicine price transparency for price-control mechanisms in the private healthcare sector.