Explore the vast range of titles available.

Mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with persistent sleep-wake dysfunction, including insomnia and circadian rhythm disruption, which can exacerbate functional outcomes including mood, pain, and quality of life. Present therapies to treat sleep-wake disturbances in those with TBI (e.g., cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia) are limited by marginal efficacy, poor patient acceptability, and/or high patient/provider burden. Thus, this study aimed to assess the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of morning bright light therapy, to improve sleep in Veterans with TBI (NCT03578003). Thirty-three Veterans with history of TBI were prospectively enrolled in a single-arm, open-label intervention using a lightbox (~10,000 lux at the eye) for 60-minutes every morning for 4-weeks. Pre- and post-intervention outcomes included questionnaires related to sleep, mood, TBI, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and pain; wrist actigraphy as a proxy for objective sleep; and blood-based biomarkers related to TBI/sleep. The protocol was rated favorably by ~75% of participants, with adherence to the lightbox and actigraphy being ~87% and 97%, respectively. Post-intervention improvements were observed in self-reported symptoms related to insomnia, mood, and pain; actigraphy-derived measures of sleep; and blood-based biomarkers related to peripheral inflammatory balance. The severity of comorbid PTSD was a significant positive predictor of response to treatment. Morning bright light therapy is a feasible and acceptable intervention that shows preliminary efficacy to treat disrupted sleep in Veterans with TBI. A full-scale randomized, placebo-controlled study with longitudinal follow-up is warranted to assess the efficacy of morning bright light therapy to improve sleep, biomarkers, and other TBI related symptoms.

Irradiated pollen pollination combined with embryo rescue is an effective method to induce haploid melons, but it has the disadvantage of low embryo formation efficiency. This study aims to improve the efficiency of this technique in embryo rescue. Firstly, three methods of detecting embryo-containing seeds were compared, which were light box, solid culture, and liquid culture, and the solid culture method was selected for the follow-up experiments. The results showed that a significant variation occurred in both the rate of embryo yield (ROEY) and the rate of turned green embryo (ROTGE) among 12 melon genotypes, ranging from 1.39% to 0 and from 1.05% to 0, respectively. Subsequently, melon materials G6, G61, and G6B were used as materials to design a full-factor experiment, focusing on embryo rescue time (calculated as Days After Pollination, DAP) and the rescue medium. The results showed that the highest proportions of ROEY and ROTGE were 0.89% and 0.64% at 18 DAP, while the proportions of ROEY and ROTGE were 0.71% and 0.27% at 24 DAP, and 0.7% and 0.28% at 30 DAP, respectively. Furthermore, 0.57% of ROTGE was obtained using MS medium supplemented with 0.2 mg/L 6-BA, exceeding the 0.25% obtained using the MS basal medium alone. Consequently, the method of embryo rescue at 18 DAP on MS + 0.2 mg/L 6-BA medium was referred to Treat-A and was then validated across 15 melon genotypes. The result showed a significant improvement in embryo rescue efficiency, with 1.38- and 2.65 times increase in ROEY and ROTGE respectively. Interestingly, Treat-A also resulted in a 2.05-fold increase in the Rate of regeneration plant (P1). Finally, 13 genotype haploids were treated with 200 mg/L to successfully achieve doubled haploids, with a doubling rate varying from 35% down to 0. In summary, this study presents an improved approach to embryo rescue and has acquired 151 haploids for future melon breeding.Key messageThis research improves the embryo rescue efficiency of the irradiated pollen-induced haploid technique.

Elevated arsenic (As) contamination in drinking water was detected in many areas of Pakistan. The intoxication of As causes various neurological diseases in humans, which can be inhibited by the administration of potent antioxidants. Trace elements are also found in drinking water such as selenium (Se), which possess antioxidant potential. The main purpose of the current study is to find out the protective effect of Se against As toxicity which can cause anxiety- and depression-like behaviors as well as memory impairment. Thirty-six male rats were divided into six groups: (1) distilled water (dw)+dw, (2) dw+Se (0.175 mg/ml/kg), (3) dw+Se (0.35mg/ml/kg), (4) dw+As (2.5mg/ml/kg), (5) As (2.5mg/ml/kg) + Se (0.175 mg/ml/kg), and (6) As (2.5mg/ml/kg) + Se (0.35 mg/ml/kg). Rats were treated with respective treatment for 4 weeks. Sub-chronic treatment of As reduced time spent in open arm (elevated plus maze), and lightbox (light-dark activity test) and increased immobility time in forced swim test indicate anxiety- and/or depression-like behavior, respectively. Conversely, rats treated with As+Se (at both doses) increased time spent in open arm (elevated plus maze), and lightbox (light-dark activity test) and decreased immobility time in forced swim test indicate the anxiolytic and anti-depressive effect of Se, respectively. Co-administration of Se (0.175 and 0.35) inhibited As instigated reduction of spatial memory performed in Morris water maze. The reversal in the reduced level of malondialdehyde and activity of acetylcholinesterase in the hippocampus by Se was observed in As-treated animals, while the activity of antioxidant enzymes in the hippocampus was increased in As+Se than dw+As-treated animals. Histopathological studies have shown the reversal of hippocampus deterioration by Se in As-treated rats. The results may imply to prevent the intoxication of As instigated impairment in behavioral and biochemical indices by Se supplementation and/or increased safer intake.

Background The production of tropane alkaloids such as atropine and scopolamine by chemical methods is costly. This study aimed to find a more efficient method for producing tropane alkaloids by investigating different LED light qualities and glycine treatment using leaf callus cultures of Hyoscyamus niger L. in vitro. Results In this study, after producing healthy plantlets, callus induction was done in the B5 medium with 2–4-D ( 2 , 4 -Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) at 2 mg L −1 with BA (6-benzyl adenine) at a concentration of 1 mg L −1 . The use of LED light and glycine treatments started from the callus stage, in such a way that the callus produced was placed in culture media containing different concentrations of glycine (0, 2, 4 and 8 mg L −1 ). They were transferred to light boxes, and light treatments were applied at 4 levels (darkness (D), white LED light (WLED), blue LED light (BLED), and red LED light (RLED)). The results demonstrate that, glycine had a significant impact on the accumulation of total carbohydrates and total amino acids, quercetin, total phenols and total flavonoids in H. niger L. callus under LED light qualities. The highest atropine was obtained under Blue LED (BLED) conditions with the glycine at mg L −1 , while the highest scopolamine was observed under BLED conditions with glycine at 4 mg L −1 . Also, the highest gallic acid levels (4.18 mg g −1 ) were observed in callus grown under BLED and RED LED (RLED) light conditions with glycine at 8 mg L −1 . Conclusion In the present study, we have developed an efficient protocol for the production of tropane alkaloids by investigating different LED light colors and glycine treatments exploiting in vitro callus cultures of H.niger . These findings could have potential applications in the pharmaceutical and food industries for efficiently producing high-valued alkaloids from the plants.

Thymoquinone (Tq), an active compound of Nigella sativa, has been known for its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and neuroprotective characteristics. The present study is aimed to evaluate the effect of Tq on reserpine (Rsp)-induced behavioral (anxiety and/or depression) and, memory deficit; hippocampal inflammatory markers, oxidative markers, antioxidant enzymes, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity and histopathology in male mice. Animals were injected with Rsp at a dose of 2 mg/ml/kg and doses of Tq (10 and 20 mg/ml/kg) for 28 days. After the treatment period, behavioral tests [Elevated plus maze (Epm); Light dark box test (Lda); Morris water maze (Mwm); Forced swim test (Fst); Tail suspension test (Tst)] were conducted. After analysis of behaviors, mice were decapitated and brain samples were collected, the hippocampus was removed from the whole-brain sample for biochemical analysis and histology. Administration of Tq at both doses prevent adverse effects of Rsp and increased time spent in open arm and lightbox in Lda and Epm respectively, decreased immobility period in Fst and Tst, decreased latency escape in Mwm, reduced lipid peroxidation (lpo) and inflammatory cytokines, increased defensive enzymes, reduced acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity and corrected histological lines. It is concluded that Rsp-instigated behavioral and memory deficits were prevented by Tq possibly via its strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.