Effects of garlic extract treatment in normal and streptozotocin diabetic rats infected with <Emphasis Type="Italic">Candida albicans</Emphasis>

The anti-candidial effect of garlic extract (Allium sativum L.) was investigated in normal and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Diabetes was induced after a single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (60 mg/kg). Rats were divided into six groups with fifteen rats in each group: (1) Normal control rats (2) Control rats + C. albicans (3) Control rats + garlic extract + C. albicans (4) Diabetic control rats (5) Diabetic rats + C. albicans (6) Diabetic rats + garlic extract + C. albicans. The concerned groups were inoculated with C.albicans on the 15 th day. At the end of one month experiment, fasted rats were killed by cervical decapitation. Blood was collected for estimation of glucose and C. albicans concentrations were estimated in liver and kidneys homogenates. A significant increase was observed in serum glucose levels in diabetic rats. A loss of bodyweight, polydipsia and polyphagia were observed in diabetic rats. Administration of alcoholic extract of garlic (0.25 g/kg body weight) reduced the hyperglycemia, polydipsia, polyphagia and associated weight loss of streptozotocin-treated rats. Administration of garlic extract significantly reduced C. albicans concentrations in liver and kidneys homogenates in infected control and diabetic rats. It is concluded that garlic extract improves candidia infection in diabetic rats.     

Preparation,Characterization and Cytotoxic Effects of Pegylated Nanoliposomal Containing Carboplatin on Ovarian Cancer Cell Lines

Carboplatin is a chemotherapeutic agent used against various malignancies such as ovarian carcinoma. The aim of this study is to improve the therapeutic efficacy of carboplatin using pegylated liposomal nanocarriers. Nanoparticles were synthesized using thin film hydration technique and characterized for shape morphology, particle size, zeta potential and drug-release properties. In the next step, A2780S and A2780CP ovarian cancer cell lines were used to determine the efficacy of nanodrug by MTT assay. The particle size and zeta potential of nanodrug were measured 244.3 ± 19.6 nm and ?22.9 ± 1.7 mV, respectively. High encapsulation capacity (78.6 ± 3.7 %) confirmed the efficiency of technique. The cytotoxicity results also showed that nanodrug compared to free drug improve the efficacy of carboplatin against both A2780S (P < 0.01) and A2780CP (P < 0.05) cell lines. In conclusion, the findings of our study suggested pegylated liposomal nanocarriers are proper for carboplatin delivery to ovarian cancer cell lines A2780S and A2780CP.     

COBRA framework to evaluate e-government services: A citizen-centric perspective

E-government services involve many stakeholders who have different objectives that can have an impact on success. Among these stakeholders, citizens are the primary stakeholders of government activities. Accordingly, their satisfaction plays an important role in e-government success. Although several models have been proposed to assess the success of e-government services through measuring users' satisfaction levels, they fail to provide a comprehensive evaluation model. This study provides an insight and critical analysis of the extant literature to identify the most critical factors and their manifested variables for user satisfaction in the provision of e-government services. The various manifested variables are then grouped into a new quantitative analysis framework consisting of four main constructs: cost; benefit; risk and opportunity (COBRA) by analogy to the well-known SWOT qualitative analysis framework. The COBRA measurement scale is developed, tested, refined and validated on a sample group of e-government service users in Turkey. A structured equation model is used to establish relationships among the identified constructs, associated variables and users' satisfaction. The results confirm that COBRA framework is a useful approach for evaluating the success of e-government services from citizens' perspective and it can be generalised to other perspectives and measurement contexts.