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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a worldwide chronic progressive neurodegenerative disease. We aimed to investigate and compare the neuroprotective impact of acetyl-L-carnitine and caloric restriction (CR) on Al[Cl.sub.3]-induced AD to explore the pathogenesis and therapeutic strategies of AD. Sixty-seven adult male Wistar rats were allocated into Control, Al[Cl.sub.3], Al[Cl.sub.3]-acetyl-L- carnitine, and Al[Cl.sub.3]-CR groups. Each of Al[Cl.sub.3] and acetyl-L-carnitine were given by gavage in a daily dose of 100 mg/kg and CR was conducted by giving 70% of the daily average caloric intake of the control group. Rats were subjected to behavioral assessment using open field test, Y maze, novel object recognition test and passive avoidance test, biochemical assay of serum phosphorylated tau (pTau), hippocampal homogenate phosphorylated adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase, Beclin-1, Bcl-2-associated X protein, and B cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl2) as well as hippocampal Ki-67 and glial fibrillary acidic protein immunohistochemistry. Al[Cl.sub.3]-induced cognitive and behavioral deficits coincident with impaired autophagy and enhanced apoptosis associated with defective neurogenesis and defective astrocyte activation. Acetyl-L-carnitine and CR partially protect against Al[Cl.sub.3]-induced behavioral, cognitive, biochemical, and histological changes, with more ameliorative effect of acetyl-L- carnitine on hippocampal apoptotic markers, and more obvious behavioral and histological improvement with CR. Key words: Alzheimer's disease, acetyl-L-carnitine, caloric restriction, autophagy, astrocytes, neurogenesis, 1. Introduction Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disease that is manifested by cognitive deficits such as memory loss, deterioration of attention, judgment, language, impaired thinking, personality, and [...]

Background: We conducted this updated systematic review to assess the effects of corticosteroids vs. placebo or no treatment for improving patient-relevant outcomes in hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes and low platelets (HELLP) syndrome. Methods: CENTRAL, MEDLINE/PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus, from the date of inception of the databases to February 3, 2024 were searched. Reference lists of included studies and systematic reviews were thoroughly searched. We included RCTs that enrolled women with HELLP syndrome, whether antepartum or postpartum, to receive any corticosteroid versus placebo or no treatment. No language or publication date restrictions were made. We used a dual independent approach for screening titles and abstracts, full text screening, and data extraction. Risk of bias was assessed in the included studies using Cochrane's RoB 2 tool. Pairwise meta-analyses were conducted, where two or more studies met methodological criteria for inclusion. GRADE approach was used to assess certainty of evidence for the pre-specified outcomes. Results: Fifteen trials (821 women) compared corticosteroids with placebo or no treatment. The effect of corticosteroids is uncertain for the primary outcome i.e., maternal death (risk ratio [RR] 0.77, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.25 to 2.38, very low certainty evidence). Out of 6 studies reporting maternal death, 5 were judged overall to have "low risk" of bias. The effect of corticosteroids is also uncertain for other important outcomes including pulmonary edema (RR 0.70, 95% CI 0.23 to 2.09), dialysis (RR 3, 95% CI 0.13 to 70.78), liver morbidity (hematoma, rupture, and failure; RR 0.22, 95% CI 0.03 to 1.83), or perinatal death (0.64, 95% CI 0.21 to 1.97) because of very low certainty evidence. Low certainty evidence suggests that corticosteroids have little or no effect on the need for platelet transfusion (RR 0.98, 95% CI 0.60 to 1.60) and may result in a slight reduction in acute renal failure (RR 0.67, 95% CI 0.40 to 1.12). Subgroup and sensitivity analyses showed results that were similar to the primary synthesis. Conclusions: In women with HELLP syndrome, the effect of corticosteroids vs. placebo or no treatment is uncertain for patient-relevant outcomes including maternal death, maternal morbidity, and perinatal death. These uncertainties regarding this critical question should be addressed by adequately powered rigorous trials. Systematic review registration: Center for Open Science, osf.io/yzku5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a worldwide chronic progressive neurodegenerative disease. We aimed to investigate and compare the neuroprotective impact of acetyl-l-carnitine and caloric restriction (CR) on AlCl3-induced AD to explore the pathogenesis and therapeutic strategies of AD. Sixty-seven adult male Wistar rats were allocated into Control, AlCl3, AlCl3–acetyl-l-carnitine, and AlCl3–CR groups. Each of AlCl3 and acetyl-l-carnitine were given by gavage in a daily dose of 100 mg/kg and CR was conducted by giving 70% of the daily average caloric intake of the control group. Rats were subjected to behavioral assessment using open field test, Y maze, novel object recognition test and passive avoidance test, biochemical assay of serum phosphorylated tau (pTau), hippocampal homogenate phosphorylated adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase, Beclin-1, Bcl-2-associated X protein, and B cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl2) as well as hippocampal Ki-67 and glial fibrillary acidic protein immunohistochemistry. AlCl3-induced cognitive and behavioral deficits coincident with impaired autophagy and enhanced apoptosis associated with defective neurogenesis and defective astrocyte activation. Acetyl-l-carnitine and CR partially protect against AlCl3-induced behavioral, cognitive, biochemical, and histological changes, with more ameliorative effect of acetyl-l-carnitine on hippocampal apoptotic markers, and more obvious behavioral and histological improvement with CR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: common pathophysiological feature favors parallel occurrence of severe pre-eclampsia (PET) and fetal growth restriction. Objective: To identify pregnancy and neonatal outcome differences between early-onset and late-onset preeclampsia, in relation to fetal growth restriction (FGR) Methods: this retrospective study included 50 singleton pregnancies with FGR and severe PET who were admitted in Ain Shams University Maternity Hospital. Fetal growth restriction was defined as EFW and/or AC<10th percentile. Preeclampsia with severe features included patients with systolic BP ≥ 160mmHg, diastolic BP ≥ 110mmHg, elevated liver transaminases twice the normal values, elevated serum creatinine twice the normal levels, or >1.1mg/dl, HELLP syndrome, features of impending eclampsia, pulmonary edema, and/or thrombocytopenia with platelets level < 100 x 109/L. obstetric and neonatal outcomes were compared in early and late onset PET. Results: The current study revealed that there was no difference between early and late onset PET in fetal and pregnancy outcomes while there was significant difference in neonatal outcomes. Conclusion: the current study showed that risk of adverse neonatal outcomes as respiratory distress syndrome and neonatal death were higher in cases with early onset PET. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recommender system has been changed from novelties used by a few E-commerce sites, to serious business tools that are re-shaping the world of E-commerce. Many of the largest commerce web sites are already using recommender systems to help their customers find products to purchase. A recommender system learns from customers and recommends products among the available products that they may be interested. An important contribution of this paper is a comparison between TCO (Termite Colony Optimization) approaches to recommender systems, these approaches provide decision making models which are used by termites to adjust their movement trajectories. This study has been tested by four datasets which are Indian Retail Market, MovieLens data, Chinese Grocery market, and Chinese Retail market datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]