Effects of Chemically Interesterified Palm Olein on Lipid Profiles in Hamsters

@#Palm olein (POo) has been perceived as atherogenic due to its high proportion of palmitic acid (41.2%) content. It is interesting that most of the palmitic acid of POo is located at stereospecific numbering sn-1 and sn-3 positions of the triacylglycerol (TAG) backbone. The present study aims to investigate the effects of positional distribution of fatty acids on the lipid profiles of POo or chemically interesterified palm olein (CIE POo) fed hamsters in comparison to high oleic sunflower oil (HOSO) fed hamsters. Male weanling Syrian golden hamsters (n=10 for each group), were fed diets formulated with the above oils for 12 weeks. There was no significant difference between CIE POo and HOSO groups for total cholesterol (TC). CIE POo with increased amount of palmitic acid (43.2%) at sn-2 position did not cause significant increases in TC levels compared to the HOSO group. In addition, the POo group has significantly higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) than that of the HOSO group, P = 0.011 (< 0.05) while the HOSO group has significantly lower total cholesterol (TC) levels than that of the POo group, P = 0.012 (< 0.05).

Histological changes in testes of rats treated with testosterone, nandrolone, and stanozolol

Present study was conducted to observe the effects of testosterone, nandrolone, and stanozolol [forms of AAS] intake during onset of puberty on the rat testicular histology. Juvenile male Sprague-Dawley [SD] rats [n=42] were divided into seven groups and were injected subcutaneously with medium dose of polyethylene glycol-200 [PEG-200] [control], testosterone, nandrolone, and stanozolol for six weeks [PND 41-87]. The animals were weighed daily and sacrificed on PND 88. Testes were removed, weighed, and prepared for histological assessment and finally specimens were observed under microscope. The results showed an insignificant increase in mean daily body weight with highest and lowest body weight gained was of 177.6 +/- 1.69 gr and 140.0 +/- 12.26 gr respectively. There was significant decrease in the testes absolute weight [p

Sexual education in Malaysia: accepted or rejected?

Introduction to sexual education in schools was suggested by the Malaysian government as one of the effort taken in the aim to reduce the sexual-related social problems among Malaysian teenagers nowadays. This study was proposed in the aim to determine the rate of acceptance among adolescents on the implementation of sexual education in schools. This study was conducted using questionnaires distributed to 152 pre-degree students in Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Teknologi MARA [UiTM], Kampus Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia. Obtained data were statistically analyzed. Almost half [49.3%] of the respondents agreed that sexual education might help to overcome the social illness among school teenagers. Besides, a large number [77.6%] of respondents also agreed that this module should be incorporated with other core subjects compare to the feedback received on the implementation of this module on its own [28.9%]. These results have provided some insight towards the perception of sexual education among the teenagers. Since most of the respondents agreed with this idea, so it might be a sign that the implementation of sexual education is almost accepted by the adolescents