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Maria Parvaneh,1,2 Golgis Karimi,1,3 Rosita Jamaluddin,1 Min Hwei Ng,4 Ibrahim Zuriati,1 Sani Ismaila Muhammad5 1Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia; 2Discipline of Life Science, School of Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Charles Perkin Centre, Sydney, NSW, Australia; 3Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Julius Centre University of Malaya (JCUM), University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 4Faculty of Medicine, Tissue Engineering Center, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 5Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, Sokoto, Nigeria Purpose: Osteoporosis is one of the major health concerns among the elderly population, especially in postmenopausal women. Many menopausal women over 50 years of age lose their bone density and suffer bone fractures. In addition, many mortality and morbidity cases among the elderly are related to hip fracture. This study aims to investigate the effect of Lactobacillus helveticus (L. helveticus) on bone health status among ovariectomized (OVX) bone loss-induced rats. Methods: The rats were either OVX or sham OVX (sham), then were randomly assigned into three groups, G1: sham, G2: OVX and G3: OVX+L. helveticus (1 mL of 108–109 colony forming units). The supplementation was force-fed to the rats once a day for 16 weeks while control groups were force-fed with demineralized water. Results: L. helveticus upregulated the expression of Runx2 and Bmp2, increased serum osteocalcin, bone volume/total volume and trabecular thickness, and decreased serum C-terminal telopeptide and total porosity percentage. It also altered bone microstructure, as a result increasing bone mineral density and bone strength. Conclusion: Our results indicate that L. helveticus attenuates bone remodeling and consequently improves bone health in OVX rats by increasing bone formation along with bone resorption reduction. This study suggests a potential therapeutic effect of L. helveticus (ATCC 27558) on postmenopausal osteoporosis. Keywords: Lactobacillus helveticus, bone mineral density, bone loss, osteoporosis, ovariectomized rats

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) is world-renowned for its nutritional and health benefits and its adaptability to different environments. Despite some research on quinoa cultivation, determining the appropriate planting date and density for different genotypes and regions needs to be studied. The main objective of this study was to determine the effects of planting date and planting density on quinoa seed yield in climatic conditions of Kermanshah. In this regard, field experiments were conducted during two growing seasons (2019-2020) at the research farm of Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran. The experiments were conducted as split-plot factorial in randomized complete blocks design with three replications. Three sowing dates (March 15th, April 15th, and May 15th) were assigned to the main plots, two planting densities (40 and 60 plants m-2), and three genotypes including Titicaca, Q29, and Red Carina as subplots. The results showed that the highest seed yield (2179.72 and 2267.39 kg ha-1) were achieved on April 15th, 2019 and May 15th, 2020, respectively. Sowing dates of April 15th in 2019 and May 15th in 2020 with a plant density of 60 plants m-2 and Titicaca genotype had the highest seed yield for quinoa in Kermanshah climatic conditions. The results showed that panicle length and biological yield had a positive and significant correlation with grain yield in all studied planting dates. There was a positive and significant correlation between grain yield and grain weight per plant, 1000-grain weight, and biological yield at both densities. The path analysis revealed that panicle length had the highest positive direct effect on seed yield followed by 1000-seed weight on the first sowing date in 2019 and 2020, while biological yield and panicle length had the highest positive direct effect on seed yield on the second and third sowing dates, respectively. This experiment showed that genotypes and planting dates are the most determining factors affecting quinoa growth, development, and yield compared with planting densities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental chemicals and drugs can induce cardiotoxicity, mainly by generating free radicals. Reactive oxygen species play a critical role in the pathogenesis of cardiac tissue injury. This highlights a need for prevention of cardiotoxicity by scavenging free radicals. Melatonin has been shown to act as a protector against various conditions in which free radicals cause molecular and tissue injury. Some of the mechanisms by which melatonin operates as a free radical scavenger and antioxidant have been identified. The importance of endogenous melatonin in cardiovascular health and the benefits of melatonin supplementation in different cardiac pathophysiological disorders have been shown in a variety of model systems. Melatonin continues to attract attention for its potential therapeutic value for cardiovascular toxicity. The therapeutic potential of melatonin in treatment of cardiotoxicities caused by various chemicals along with suggested molecular mechanisms of action for melatonin is reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Doxorubicin (DOX) is an antineoplastic agent obtained from Streptomyces peucetius. It is utilized in treating different kinds of cancers, such as leukemia, lymphoma, and lung, and breast cancers. The main side effect of DOX is cardiotoxicity. Metformin (MET) is an antihyperglycemic drug used for type 2 diabetes treatment. It is proposed that MET has a protective effect against DOX cardiotoxicity. Our review demonstrated that MET has several possible mechanisms of action, which can prevent or at least reduce DOX cardiotoxicity including a decrease of free radical generation and oxidative stress, 5′ adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase activation, and ferritin heavy chain expression in cardiomyocytes cells. The combination of MET and DOX has been shown to enhance the anticancer activity of DOX by a number of authors. The literature reviewed in the present report supports the hypothesis that MET can reduce the cardiotoxicity that often occurs with DOX treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: G. Karimi, F. Jafarpour, M. Binazadeh, X. Li Water management is one of the most critical issues for high-performance Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cells. A flow network model was developed to study the possibility of two-phase flow inception along the gas flow channels in the cathode side of a PEM fuel cell stack. The conventional Darcy-Weisbach equation and homogeneous flow model are used to estimate the pressure distributions in the network. The corresponding species concentrations as well as the thermodynamic quality distributions are also calculated. The simulation results have revealed that under certain operating conditions, the quality is lower than one for parts of the stack. However, the amount of the liquified water in the stack is not significant to cause a major pressure drop or an appreciable change in the O2 concentration. Effects of current density and channel diameter on the system quality are also investigated.