Efficiency of Expired Drugs Used as Corrosion Inhibitors: A Review.

Corrosion inhibitors represent one of the most commonly used methods for significantly reducing the corrosion rate of metals and alloys. Adsorption inhibitors have a wide range of applications in cooling water systems, deicing solutions for aircrafts, airports and ways, etching and degreasing solutions, oil pipelines, paints and coatings and metal processing solutions. Adsorption corrosion inhibitors of metals and alloys are generally organic compounds that contain structures with heteroatoms (N, P, S, As, O) in their molecules, having lone pair electrons or π electrons in aromatic rings or multiple bonds.

Urine Metabolomic Signature of People Diagnosed with Balkan Endemic Nephropathy and Other Types of Chronic Kidney Disease Compared with Healthy Subjects in Romania.

Metabolomic analysis methods were employed to determine biomarkers for various chronic kidney diseases (CKDs). Modern analytical methods were developed and applied successfully to find a specific metabolomic profile in urine samples from CKD and Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) patients. The aim was to explore a specific metabolomic profile defined by feasible/easy-to-identify molecular markers.

Automation and Optimization of Rat Heart Decellularization Using a Vibrating Fluid Column.

This paper presents the validation of a software application to optimize the discoloration process in simulated hearts and to automate and determine the final moment of decellularization in rat hearts using a vibrating fluid column. The implemented algorithm specifically for the automated verification of a simulated heart's discoloration process was optimized in this study. Initially, we used a latex balloon containing enough dye to reach the opacity of a heart.

Decellularized Extracellular Matrix Scaffolds for Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering: Current Techniques and Challenges.

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of global mortality. Over the past two decades, researchers have tried to provide novel solutions for end-stage heart failure to address cardiac transplantation hurdles such as donor organ shortage, chronic rejection, and life-long immunosuppression. Cardiac decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) has been widely explored as a promising approach in tissue-regenerative medicine because of its remarkable similarity to the original tissue.

Optimization of Complete Rat Heart Decellularization Using Artificial Neural Networks.

Whole organ decellularization techniques have facilitated the fabrication of extracellular matrices (ECMs) for engineering new organs. Unfortunately, there is no objective gold standard evaluation of the scaffold without applying a destructive method such as histological analysis or DNA removal quantification of the dry tissue. Our proposal is a software application using deep convolutional neural networks (DCNN) to distinguish between different stages of decellularization, determining the exact moment of completion.

Development of a high-performance anesthesia ventilator for research in small animals.

Introduction: Small animal models are used extensively in basic research because of their low cost and possibility to mimic several human pathologies. These models are used to either analyze the underlying mechanisms and/or assess therapeutic approaches. In this respect, gentle and safe artificial ventilation is mandatory, especially for prolonged experimental procedures that require the survival of the animals.

Enucleation: a possible mechanism of cancer cell death.

There are few major morphologies of cell death that have been described so far: apoptosis (type I), cell death associated with autophagy (type II), necrosis (type III) and anchorage-dependent mechanisms-anoikis. Here, we show for the first time a possibly novel mechanism inducing tumour cell death under in vitro conditions-enucleation. We pursued the influence of colloidal suspensions of Fe3 O4 nanoparticles on tumour cell lines (SK-BR-3 and MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines) grown according to standard cell culture protocols.

Adipocytes differentiated in vitro from rat mesenchymal stem cells lack essential free fatty acids compared to adult adipocytes.

Adult bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) can be differentiated in vitro to become adipocyte-like cells with lipid vacuoles, similar to adipocytes derived from adult adipose tissue. Little is known regarding the composition of free fatty acids (FFAs) of the in vitro-differentiated adipocytes, or whether it resembles that of native adult adipocytes. We used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to identify FFA species in BMSC-derived adipocytes and compared them with FFAs found in adipocytes derived from adult adipose tissue.

Arachidonic acid accumulates in the stromal macrophages during thymus involution in diabetes.

Diabetes is a debilitating disease with chronic evolution that affects many tissues and organs over its course. Thymus is an organ that is affected early after the onset of diabetes, gradually involuting until it loses most of its thymocyte populations. We show evidence of accumulating free fatty acids with generation of eicosanoids in the diabetic thymus and we present a possible mechanism for the involution of the organ during the disease.

Optimal access to the rat heart by transverse bilateral thoracotomy with double ligature of the internal thoracic arteries.

Rats are used widely in ischemia-reperfusion and other heart experiments, but current protocols for thoracotomy have serious shortcomings. Median sternotomy causes bleeding from sternum itself and the internal thoracic arteries, whereas left thoracotomy requires exteriorization of the heart and its reintroduction after completion of the procedure and often is complicated by traction or torsion of the cardiopulmonary bundle and atelectasis in the left lung. Here we describe a new, terminal procedure that minimizes blood loss and allows wide access to the heart without disturbing its anatomic position.

Artificial device for extracorporeal blood oxygenation in rats.

Blood oxygenation devices are an essential component of any cardiopulomonary bypass circuit in various species of laboratory animals. When using larger animals like dogs or pigs, the human and pediatric blood oxygenators could be easily used, but the disadvantage of these species is the scarcity of biochemical and genetic assays for experimental follow-up. However, small rodents like rats have plenty of biochemical assays, but their size requires special oxygenators adapted for their small blood volume and often primed with blood of another animal or other physiological solution.

The role of lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase and organic substances from coal in the etiology of Balkan endemic nephropathy: a new hypothesis.

Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) occurs in Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia. BEN has been characterized as a chronic, slowly progressive renal disease of unknown etiology. In this study, we examined the influence of soluble organic compounds in drinking water leached from Pliocene lignite from BEN-endemic areas on plasma lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) activity.

Indomethacin inhibits thymic involution in mice with streptozotocin-induced diabetes.

Diabetes is chronic disease that is accompanied by a rapid thymus involution. To investigate the factors responsible for thymic involution in a model of STZ-induced diabetes, mice were injected with STZ alone or in combination with the cyclooxygenase 2 inhibitor indomethacin (INDO). Thymus weight, glycemia and serum corticosterone were measured, and apoptosis in thymus and thymocyte cultures was analyzed by flow cytometry.

A pressure-controlled rat ventilator with electronically preset respirations.

Major experimental surgery on laboratory animals requires adequate anesthesia and ventilation to keep the animal alive throughout the procedure. A ventilator is a machine that helps the anesthesized animal breathe through an endotracheal tube by pumping a volume of gas (oxygen, air, or other gaseous mixtures), comparable with the normal tidal volume, into the animal's lungs. There are two main categories of ventilators for small laboratory rodents: volume-controlled and pressure-controlled ones.

Improved electrodes for electrical defibrillation of rats.

Experimental induction of ventricular fibrillation in animals yields valuable information about this deadly arrhythmia. Human adult or pediatric defibrillators and their paddles can be used easily in larger animals such as dogs and pigs, but these animals are more difficult to house and handle, and available biochemical assays may be limited. In contrast, rats are easy and relatively inexpensive to house and handle, and numerous biochemical tests are available.

A simple device for intubation of rats.

Endotracheal intubation of rats is often necessary for lengthy survival surgeries, but the animal's small size and the lack of suitable equipment may complicate the procedure. The authors describe the construction and use of a simple device for the easy intubation of rats, requiring no expensive, specialized equipment.