Curriculum of bachelor's degree in forensic science at Al Istiqlal University in Palestine and students' evaluation of the model.

Background: Any science can be a forensic science (FS) if it has some justice application. Therefore, FS is an extremely interdisciplinary field at the interface of chemistry, biology, physics, medicine, law, criminology, and other related sciences. The Al Istiqlal University obtained the first and only license in Palestine to open a bachelor's program specialized in FS, and there is a limited number of similar programs in the region, while there is growth around the world in this field. A full bachelor's program in FS has been established at the Al Istiqlal University. This study aimed to describe the FS program model and its curricula and, in addition, evaluation of such a program from its students' point of view. To achieve the aims of this study, a questionnaire was developed, and its validity and reliability were confirmed. The study sample consisted of all 35 male and female students enrolled in the FS program at the Al Istiqlal University for the spring semester of the academic years 2021-2022. Results: After collecting and analyzing the study tool, the results showed that the students agreed on all the paragraphs of the questionnaire that encourage the specialization of FS according to the model established at the Al Istiqlal University. The overall degree of students' evaluation of the FS program was high, and the total mean of the students' responses for all study fields was 3.56. The total degree for determining the students' evaluation of faculty members, students' evaluation of curricula and contents, and students' evaluation of academic support services came to a high degree with a means of 3.75, 3.51, and 3.42 respectively. Conclusion: This study recommended the importance of the Bachelor of FS Program at the Al Istiqlal University and recommended developing disseminating and raising awareness of this new scientific field. The success of the Bachelor of FS program at the Al Istiqlal University is a model for the region to follow. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s41935-023-00335-4.

Screening for antitumor activity of various plant extracts on HeLa and C 4-I cell lines.

PURPOSE: Cancer is a long process that leads the organism to death and is associated with the normal cells acquiring the ability to divide permanently. Nowadays, the use of natural products in cancer therapy has a great importance. In addition, working with plants that are endemic to Turkey and determining the biological activities of these plant extracts, is extremely important due to the potential for new drug development. There is no comparative study available in the literature on the antitumor effects of Colchicum sanguicolle, a new found species of the genus Colchicum in Turkey, Crateagus microphylla, of the genus Crateagus and Centaurea antiochia of the genus Centaurea. In this study, we tried to demonstrate the antitumor effect of these plant extracts on HeLa and C 4-1 cells. METHODS: Five different doses (0.001, 0.01, 0.05, 0.25 and 0.5 mg/ml) of the three plant types were prepared and applied for 24, 48 and 72 hrs on the cervical cancer derived cell lines. Subsequently, the growth rate was evaluated with the mitochondrial dehydrogenase enzyme method. RESULTS: Colchicum sanguicolle extracts showed the most effective antitumor activity. For the Colchicum sanguicolle extract, the IC50 dose for HeLa cells was 0.01 mg/ml at 48 hrs, while for the C-4 I cells it was 0.001 mg/ml at 48 hrs. These results showed that C-4 I cells were more sensitive to the Colchicum sanguicolle extracts. Conclus?on: The results of from this study regarding the antitumor effect of plant extracts of endemic varieties of Turkey may have an important place in design and development of anticancer drugs and would make contributions to other studies to be conducted in this area.

Effects of hypobaric conditions on apoptosis signalling pathways in HeLa cells.

Nowadays increasing effectiveness in cancer therapy and investigation of formation of new strategies that enhance antiproliferative activity against target organs has become a subject of interest. Although the molecular mechanisms of apoptosis can not be fully explained, it is known that cell suicide program existing in their memory genetically is activated by pathophysiological conditions and events such as oxidative stress. Low pressure (hypobaric) conditions that create hypoxia promote apoptosis by inhibiting cell cycling. In this study, determination of the effects of fractional hypobaric applications at different times on HeLa cells at cellular and molecular levels were targeted. Experiments were carried out under hypobaric conditions (35.2 kPa) in a specially designed hypobaric cabin including 2% O2 and 98% N. Application of fractional hypobaric conditions was repeated two times for 3 hours with an interval of 24 hours. At the end of the implementation period cells were allowed to incubate for 24 hours for activation of repair mechanisms. Cell kinetic parameters such as growth rate (MTT) and apoptotic index were used in determination of the effect of hypobaric conditions on HeLa cells. Also in our study expression levels of the Bcl-2 gene family that have regulatory roles in apoptosis were determined by the RT-PCR technique to evaluate molecular mechanisms. The results showed that antiproliferative effect of hypobaric conditions on HeLa cells started three hours from the time of application and increased depending on the period of exposure. While there was a significant decrease in growth rate values, there was a significant increase in apoptotic index values (p<0.01). Also molecular studies showed that hypobaric conditions caused a significant increase in expression level of proapoptotic gene Bax and significant decrease in antiapoptotic Bfl-1. Consequently fractional application of hypobaric conditions on HeLa cell cultures increased both antiproliferative and apoptotic effects and these effects were triggered by the Bax gene.