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Serum total cholesterol and triglyceride levels were significantly lower in SGE fed groups compared to HFD. In adipose tissue, SGE significantly decreased adipocyte size than that of HFD and altered adipogenesis-related genes.

In conclusion, steamed ginger exerted anti-obesity effects by regulating genes involved in adipogenesis and lipogenesis in 3T3-L1 cell and epididymal adipose tissue of DIO mice.

In conclusion, steamed ginger exerted anti-obesity effects by regulating genes involved in adipogenesis and lipogenesis in 3T3-L1 cell and epididymal adipose tissue of DIO mice.Asthma is a complex genetic disease. Vitamin D and vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms are involved in asthma pathogenesis. However, accurate inflammatory mechanisms and their role in VDR gene polymorphisms are unclear. The objective of this study was to investigate the association of VDR gene polymorphisms, ApaI, FokI, TaqI, and BsmI with asthma as compared to controls. Children (age 5-15 years) with a history of respiratory symptoms (wheeze, shortness of breath and chest tightness) were recruited as cases. Age matched children admitted with central nervous system disorders (encephalitis/seizures) without any respiratory complaints were recruited as controls after parental consent. Children with a clinical diagnosis of cystic fibrosis, congenital heart disease and whose parents did not consent for participation in the study were excluded. VDR gene polymorphisms were genotyped using PCR-RFLP method. One hundred and sixty asthmatics and one hundred controls were enrolled in this study. Mean age of the cases was 103.29±32.7 months and controls 94.24±30.52 months. Children with heterozygous (AC) genotype [OR=1.83, 95% CI=1.01-3.32, p=0.046] of ApaI polymorphism were found to be associated with the risk of asthma. Our findings suggest that ApaI polymorphism of VDR gene may contribute to asthma susceptibility among children.

Sexually transmitted diseases (STD) are caused by a variety of pathogens transmitted by sexual activity. Untreated infections can cause major complications with a substantial high cost on health sector. With the development of molecular techniques, STD screening became easier with a high sensitivity and specificity.

In Lebanon, official data regarding STD trends are scarce. This study elucidates the STD molecular profile at a tertiary care center, American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC), its distribution among gender and age groups, with a comparison to international studies.

A retrospective data analysis was conducted on all STD panels performed at AUBMC from January 2017 till December 2019 to determine the molecular prevalence of eight different sexually transmitted organisms.

Our samples belonged to 248 females (41.5%) and 349 males (58.5%). Only 53.5% of the samples tested positive for one or more organisms.

was found to be the most common pathogen (49.3%), followed by

(33.5%),

(5.36%),

(5.16%),

(2.5%), Herpes simplex virus (2.5%), and Trichomonas vaginalis (1.39%). Age was distributed between 5 and 80 years old. see more Regarding the pathogen's distribution among gender,

, Herpes simplex virus, and

were more common in females, the rest was more detected in males.

Data will be of great importance for clinicians, in terms of diagnosis and treatment. It will help adopting an evidence based STI control programs in Lebanon, and it is essential for future larger studies and sexual health awareness programs.

Data will be of great importance for clinicians, in terms of diagnosis and treatment. It will help adopting an evidence based STI control programs in Lebanon, and it is essential for future larger studies and sexual health awareness programs.Heavy metal mixture can induce multiple organ damage through oxidative stress and inflammatory processes. Dietary intervention using natural antidotes in resource poor countries where classical metal chelators are either not affordable or available can be explored as an alternative means of management of public health effects of chronic heavy metal exposure. The search for natural antidote against the deleterious effects of heavy metals gives the thrust for this study. Thus, the study investigated the effect of aqueous leaf extract of Costus afer on liver, kidney, brain and testis induced by low dose heavy metal mixture (LDHMM) of PbCl2, CdCl2 and HgCl2 of concentrations of 20 mg/kg, 1.61 mg/kg and 0.40 mg/kg, respectively. Five groups of seven rats each (weight-matched) were used. First and second groups received deionized water and heavy metal mixture and served as normal and toxic controls, respectively. Groups 3, 4 and 5 received through oral gavage 750, 1500, 2250 mg/kg of the Costus afer extract respectively, with the metal mixture concurrently. All treatments were four times a week for 90 days (4/week/90 days). Hepatorenal, hormonal, oxidative stress markers, cytokines (interleukin-6 and interleukin-10), and heavy metals (Pb, Cd and Hg) concentrations were assayed. The one-way analysis of variance, agglomerative hierarchical clustering, parallel coordinates plot, principal component analysis and Bray Curtis dissimilarity were used to statistically analyze the data. LDHMM caused significant changes in these organs and however, the plant extract provided a protective effect against these pathological changes. The statistical analysis revealed that the kidney was the most affected organ, followed by the liver, then brain and testis, respectively. Costus afer may be an important nutraceutical in multi-organ deleterious effects of LDHMM following its regulation of oxidative stress markers, inflammatory cytokines and biometal chelation.Zinc (Zn2+) is important in cellular processes. In the cell, free zinc is tightly regulated and found in minuscule amounts. However, in an unhealthy cellular environment, such as hypoxia, zinc increases in the cell and zinc overload may occur. Studies have shown that zinc overload causes cellular and mitochondrial stress. Mitochondrial stress affects mitochondrial morphology. In normal cells, mitochondrial morphology resembles a long, tubular shape. In unhealthy cells, mitochondrial morphology resembles fragmented, circular shape. To address whether zinc overload contributes directly to the abnormal changes of mitochondrial morphology, we imaged and analyzed mitochondria that were treated with the application of exogenous zinc. In the first part of the study, exogenous zinc was applied to HeLa cells at 1 µM, 10 µM, 50 µM, 100 µM, or 200 µM zinc chloride along with 10 µM pyrithione. Mitochondrial morphology was analyzed with Mito-Morphology micro in ImageJ. Mitochondrial morphology changed from a healthy tubular shape to an unhealthy circular shape and fragmentation.