Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been implicated in hippocampal-dependent learning processes, and carriers of the Met allele of the Val66Met BDNF genotype are characterized by reduced hippocampal structure and function. Recent nonhuman animal work suggests that BDNF is also crucial for amygdala-dependent associative learning. The present study sought to examine fear conditioning as ...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effects of cigarette smoke (CS)-exposed saliva on cellular and antibody responses in an animal model. METHODS The stimulatory and non-stimulatory saliva samples were collected from 10 healthy subjects and were then exposed to CS for 20 or 80 minutes. The CS-exposed saliva samples were administrated intraperitoneally (i.p) to male Balb/c mice. Then the delayed type hy...

OBJECTIVES To determine the need for resuscitation at the birth of babies delivered by elective caesarean section (CS) and to record the time spent by doctors attending such deliveries. METHODS Data were collected prospectively on all elective CSs performed at Groote Schuur Hospital over a 3-month period. Data collected included: total time involved for paediatrician from call to leaving thea...

INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of adding propylene glycol (PG) to mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) liquid with volume ratio of 20% on the compressive strength (CS) of MTA in two time periods (4 and 21 days) after mixing. METHODS AND MATERIALS Four groups of steel cylinders (n=15) with an internal diameter of 3 and a height of 6 mm were prepared and MTA (groups 1...

BACKGROUND Partially unroofed coronary sinus (PUCS) is a rare congenital cardiac anomaly and prone to be misdiagnosed. The purpose of this study was to explore the value of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in CS imaging for the detection of PUCS and to develop a special two-dimensional TEE-based en face view of CS. METHODS Twenty adult patients with suspected PUCS, showing a dilated cor...

Liquid smoking emerges as a potential substitution for traditional smoking method in preserving proteinaceous foods. The study is aimed to investigate antibacterial activity of coconut shell liquid smoke (CSLS) and potential application of CS-LS on fish ball preservation. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of CS-LS is determined with broth dilution method against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and ...

Introduction: The proteoglycans of the extracellular matrix increases in the glial scar during spinal cord injury and significantly affects the inhibition of axonal regeneration.  Methods: The results of injury therapies are limited due to the lack of identifying a timely therapeutic intervention. The present study aimed to investigate the glial scar Chondroitin Sulfate (CS) and Dermatan Sulfa...

Gut microbiota is associated with liver diseases. However, gut microbial characteristics of Budd-Chiari syndrome (B-CS) have not been reported. Here, by MiSeq sequencing, gut microbial alterations were characterized among 37 health controls, 20 liver cirrhosis (LC) patients, 31 initial B-CS patients (B-CS group), 33 stability patients after BCS treatment (stability group) and 23 recurrent patie...

Alveolar macrophages (AM) are known to play an essential role in lung defense through their ability to remove the foreign matters reaching the lung alveoli. Cigarette smoke (CS) is a critical risk factor for many lung diseases. CS is inhaled into the lung by respiretion and affects AM. It has been previously reported that CS induces inhibition of cytokine production, cell surface receptor expre...