[ biological aspects of the gold fish Carassius auratus [L. 1758] in the Euphrates river, middle of Iraq]

Some biological aspects of the gold fish Carassius auratus [L. 1758] were studied in the Euphrates river near Al-Mussaib Power Station in the middle of Iraq, during the period of September 2002 to December 2003 .A total of 301 specimens were collected, with total length ranged between 6.2 to 25.5 cm and total weight between 10 to 175 gm. The b value obtained from length-weight relationship was volued 2.89. The age of fishes ranged from 1 to 4 years. From Von Bertalanffy growth pattern, Linfinity was 27.9 cm and K was 0.36. The highest mean of highet values of natural mortality rate coincides with the gonad weights at cold and warm months. The present study recorded increased values in the total length on the account of the weight of male as compared with female. Thus, the gold fish reached an optimum length in short time, although, there is increasing in the natural mortality rate of fishes increased and the gonads, were developed two months earlier compared with the same fish species in natural environment. This can be due to the thermal effluents effect of Al-Mussaib power station

Hepatoprotective effect of ethanol extract from leaves of Phyllanthus emblica in rats

In this study, phytochemical extraction was carried out on the leaves of Phyllanthus emblica using ethanol as the organic solvent. The antioxidant activity of ethanol extract from Phyllanthus emblica was evaluated by various biochemical marker parameters, including super oxide dismutase [SOD - anion radical scavenging], catalase [CAT - hydrogen peroxide scavenging], glutathione peroxidase [GPX], glutathione reductase [GRD - reducing power], glutathione transferase [GTS] and thio-barbituric acid reactive substances [TBARS] measurement. Hepato cellular damage was induced by intraperitoneal administration of CCl[4] in male albino Sprague-Dawley strain rats. The reduced levels of SOD, CAT, GPX and GRD with CCl[4] treated animals attain normal level, after administration of ethanolic extract of Phyllanthus emblica. However, the activity of GTS was significantly higher in CCl[4] treated animals, which were brought down towards normal level in herb treated rats. The increased concentration of TBARS with CCl[4] treated rats attains normal level after administration of ethanolic extract of the same plant. An antioxidant property appears to be predominantly responsible for this hepato-protective action of the drug

Impact of operator on determining functional parameters of nuclear medicine procedures

The study was designed to assess the significance of the interoperator variability in theestimation of functional parameters forfour nuclear medicine procedures. Three nuclear medicine technologists with varying years of experience processed the following randomly selected 20 cases with diverse functions of each study type: renography, renal cortical scans, myocardial perfusion gated single-photon emission computed tomography [MP-GSPECT] and gated blood pool ventriculography [GBPV]. The technologists used the same standard processing routines and were blinded to the results of each other. The means of the values and the means of differences calculated case by case were statistically analyzed by one-way ANOVA. The values were further analyzed using Pearson correlation. The range of the mean values and standard deviation of relative renal function obtained by the three technologists were 50.65 +/- 3.9 to 50.92 +/- 4.4% for renography, 51.43 +/- 8.4 to 51.55 +/- 8.8% for renal cortical scans, 57.40 +/- 14.3 to 58.30 +/- 14.9% for left ventricular ejection fraction from MP-GSPECT and 54.80 +/- 12.8 to 55.10 +/- 13.1% for GBPV. The difference was not statistically significant, p > 0.9. The values showed a high correlation of more than 0.95. Calculated case by case, the mean of differences +/- SD was found to range from 0.42 +/- 0.36% in renal cortical scans to 1.35 +/- 0.87% in MP-GSPECT with a maximum difference of 4.00%. The difference was not statistically significant, p >0.19. The estimated functional parameters were repro ducible and operator independent as long as the standard processing instructions were followed

effect of salbutamol inhalation on the forced expiratory volumes in smoker and non smoker patients with obstructive pulmonary diseases

This work was designed to study the effect of aerosol Beta- agonist [salbutamol] on the forced expiratory data [FEV, FVC, and FEV./ FVC] in smoker and nonsmoker patients with obstructive pulmonary diseases [their basal FEV values were equal or less than 65%]. This study showed that the percento change in forced expiratory data were significantly less in smokers than non- smokers. It is concluded that the narrowing of the airways in smoker patients is less reversible due to the smoking

electrical behaviour of an excitable cell at different conditions

The Hodgkin-Huxley, H-H model has been modified in this work to study the electrical behavior of an excitable cell due to changes in the permeability of K and Na ions [9K and 9Na], the simultaneous stochastic variations of gK and 9Na, the current stimulus [Jstim] and the non-inactivation of Na-channel [NI-NaC]. The amplitude and duration of the generated action potential [AP] was found to increase as 9K increase, with the appearance of repetitive AP spikes in the range of 21.5 >/= 9K >/= 3.5, while the K- and Na-currents [JK and JNa] showed a pronounced decrease. On the other hand, the increase of 9Na was accompanied by an increase in AP amplitudes and durations and also in JK and JNa with the appearance of a repetitive AP at 1400 >/= 9Na >/= 189 m/cm2, whose frequency increases with the increase of 9Na. Moreover, the stochastic variations in 9K and 9Na could generate a repetitive AP whose frequency could be changed either by changing the values of 9K or 9Na or both, and may represent an information carried by the sensory cells for example. The electrical behavior of the stimulated cell can also be affected by Jstim at different values of 9K except at the range of 21.5 >/= 9K >/= 3.5 m/cm2 and also depended on NI- NaC fraction