Skeletal porous lesions such as cribra orbitalia (CO) have long been of interest to bioanthropologists worldwide, mainly due to their high prevalence in osteological material. Previous studies considered CO as an external morphological manifestation, and therefore, research has mainly focused on visible (macroscopic) CO patterns. However, the understanding of CO-induced micro-scale bone changes is still scarce. Therefore, here we performed high-resolution micro-computed tomography imaging to investigate three-dimensional CO-induced micro-architectural patterns in non-adults, with a particular focus on the correlation between macroscopic and micro-architectural orbital features. Cortical and trabecular micro-architectural changes in the orbital roof were analyzed in non-adults up to 15 years of age, using orbital roof samples with and without macroscopic traces of CO (n=28). A widely accepted five-grade macroscopic CO scoring system was applied to analyze CO severity. Areas affected with CO (area 1) and areas without macroscopic CO traces (area 2) were analyzed separately. The conducted high-resolution analysis showed that cortical and trabecular micro-architecture varied with CO presence, lesion severity (CO grade), and the analyzed area. Inter-grade comparisons suggested that most of the analyzed micro-architectural parameters were not significantly different between adjacent CO grades. Based on the micro-architectural evaluation of areas 1 and 2, the porous lesions were much more extensive than revealed by gross examination. Our analysis also revealed that micro-architectural differences were particularly pronounced in younger non-adults. Taken together, the macroscopic examination of CO appears to reflect only the tip of the iceberg, as the micro-architectural changes are much larger than macroscopically identified.

This study was carried out to investigate the macro-anatomical, morphometric, histological and electron microscopic characteristics of the uropygial gland in adult male and female turkeys (Meleagris Gallapova). The glandula uropygialis of thirteen adult turkeys (6 males, 7 females) were used for this study. It was determined that this glandular structure located dorsal to the last caudal vertebrae was heart-shaped and consisted of two lobes and a papilla system. As a result of statistical evaluation, significant differences were found between the sexes in the parameters of lobe length, papilla width and papilla height (P<0.05). Also, PUI value had a statistically significant difference (P<0.05). Tissue samples taken to determine the histological structure of the gland were stained with Haematoxylin & Eosin, Crossman’s and Periodic Acid Schiff. Histological examination revealed that the gland had a two-lobed structure surrounded by a capsule composed of connective tissue. It was determined that the gland had a tubuloalveolar-holocrine structure and the epithelial layer consisted of cellular layers as germinative layer, intermediate layer, secretory layer and degenerative layer from the periphery to the centre. In the scanning electron microscope examination, the lobe structure of the gland consisted of different shaped follicles protruding from the surface. It was observed that these glandular follicle structures were gathered together in different ways or mostly disorganised. As a result of the study, it was determined that the morphological and histological structure of the uropygial gland in turkeys was similar to that of other bird species, but showed some species-specific and habitat-dependent differences in general. Research Highlights: The uropygial gland consisted of a system of two lobes and one papilla in each of male and female turkeys. The glandular lobes consisted of follicles surrounded by connective tissue, while the follicles were connected to each other by interfollicular septae. The results obtained in morphometric measurements revealed statistical differences between male and female birds. Histological examination showed PAS (+) reaction in the basal membranes of tubule epithelial cells and secretion. Lymphoid cell communities were found in both connective tissue and intertubular regions.

Bowen’s disease (BD) is a relatively rare early-stage squamous cell carcinoma in situ, most commonly affecting the middle-aged and elderly, and occurring on the skin or mucous membranes of various parts of the body. Its onset is concealed, the course of the disease is chronic, and some patients are accompanied by malignant tumors outside the skin, so it is necessary to diagnose and evaluate the disease in its early stage. This study aims to investigate the application of reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) in diagnosing Bowen’s disease. We performed RCM imaging on the lesion site of 113 patients initially diagnosed with Bowen’s disease in clinic, of which 92 patients underwent skin biopsy for histological diagnosis. A retrospective analysis of the RCM result as well as the histological examination revealed that after analyzing RCM images, 69 out of 113 patients were diagnosed with Bowen’s disease; out of 92 biopsy lesions, 61 were Bowen’s disease, of which 54 were consistent with RCM diagnosis. Among 59 cases diagnosed with Bowen’s disease by RCM, 54 cases were consistent with histological diagnosis. Afterwards, we analyzed the RCM characteristics in patients with Bowen’s disease verified by biopsy, and compared the RCM images of two different lesions, Classic Bowen’s Disease (CBD) and Pigmented Bowen’s Disease (PBD), and further summarized the key points of Bowen’s disease under RCM. Finally, we focused on the differential characteristics between Bowen’s disease and other skin diseases under RCM. It is found that RCM is of great value in diagnosing Bowen’s disease.

Bisphenol A [2,2-bis(4hydroxyphenyl) propane, BPA], one of the endocrine disruptors, is of great concern due to its widespread use throughout the world. Several studies have shown that BPA has toxic effects when ingested, making contact with this substance a risk factor for the development of diseases in various organs, including the intestine and associated lymphoid tissue. Therefore, the objective of this work was to study the morphology of Peyer’s patches in young rats supplemented with selenium and exposed to BPA. The study was approved by the UFPI Animal Use Ethics Committee, with protocol number 583/19. 28 male Wistar rats ( Rattus novergicus albinus) were randomly divided into 4 groups: Control (CT), BPA, Se and BPA+Se. The pups were weaned on the 21st day and, from the 22nd postnatal day, the animals in the BPA group received daily doses of 5 mg/kg of BPA diluted in 0.3 ml of corn oil, administered orally. The Se group received 10 μg/kg of Se, the BPA+Se group received 5 mg/kg of BPA and 10 μg/kg of Se and the CT group did not receive any substance but was subjected to the oral gavage process. After 4 weeks of exposure, the puppies were anesthetized and euthanized for intestinal collection and subsequent histological, immunohistochemical and morphometric analysis. Our results showed that BPA caused damage to the epithelial layer of Peyer’s patches, there was a structural disarray in the architecture of the follicular region of the BPA and BPA+Se groups, zones of inflammation with the presence of vacuoles in the tissue. A reduction in Ki-67 expression in Peyer’s patches was also observed in the BPA group, as well as a significant reduction in the number of defense cells in the group. Animals exposed to BPA, but supplemented with Se, showed no damage to the epithelial layer and there was no reduction in Ki-67 expression. BPA, when ingested above the safe level, altered Peyer’s patches tissue, and reduced cell proliferation. Additionally, BPA reduced the immune cell population in Peyer’s patches. Se was able to reverse the observed damage, suggesting antioxidant potential.

Lindenia tetraphylla (Van der Linden, 1825) eggs exhibit an egg structure that is very rare in other Gomphidae species. They have a well-developed surface reticulation structure. The anterior pole of the egg has a small, rounded micropylar area consisting of 7 orifices arranged radially around a central area. The posterior pole has a sessile, truncated cone that carries 55-65 coiled filaments. This study provides a detailed analysis of the ultrastructure of L. tetraphylla eggs using scanning electron microscopy, and the functional and taxonomic significance of the eggshell are discussed.

The palynology and distribution of the trichomes, on the aerial parts and anatomy of Plectranthus scutellarioides from Udalguri district of Assam were studied in order to understand the significance of these features in systematics. The present work on Plectranthus scutellarioides thus provides an empirical basis for the identification of the species. Micromorphological features such as epidermal cell, stomata and trichomes were also studied under both light microscope and scanning electron microscope. The main types of trichomes - peltate, glandular and non-glandular were observed in leaves. Different features of pollen were observed and recorded. Photographs and Micrographs were also provided. All the observations were done under Light microscope and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The research provides the first detailed descriptions of floral micromorphological and palynological characteristics for Plectranthus scutellarioides, contributing to the empirical identification of the species. The findings offer valuable insights into the structure, size, and shape of stomata, as well as trichome diversity and pollen characteristics

The domestic duck is classified as a specialist filter-feeder bird living in the water. These birds also use grazing and pecking as terrestrial feeding methods. The tongues of domestic ducks, similar to those of other Anseriformes, exhibit numerous types and shapes of mechanical papillae that serve a number of purposes when collecting food. Purpose: The current study attempts to describe the morphological characteristics of the tongue as well as the mechanical papillae’s development. In addition, the study aims to determine whether the papillae observed post-hatching exhibit similar morphology to those found in adult avian species, as well as to investigate the readiness of the tongue to fulfill its feeding function following hatching. The comprehensive examination of lingual mucosa is examined about the structural modifications necessary for this variety of feeding activities. Methods: In this study, the tongues of nine young and adult females were used. Results: The tongue had three distinct parts: the apex, which had a lingual nail on its ventral surface; the body, which exhibits numerous small and large conical papillae on its lateral sides and a lingual prominence in the caudal region; and the root, which is covered with numerous conical papillae of varying sizes. Conical, filiform, and hair-like mechanical papillae, the three types of food filtration apparatus, are present in both stages. The intra-oral transfer involves several structures, including the median groove, lingual combs, and the rostral border of the lingual prominence. The rostral border of the lingual prominence is characterized by distinct rows of conical papillae. The histological analysis demonstrated the presence of both keratinized and non-keratinized epithelium on different tongue regions. The lingual salivary glands in the rostral and caudal lingual salivary glands exhibit a pronounced periodic acid–Schiff (PAS)-positive reaction. Additionally, the yellow adipose tissue and sensory receptors, namely the Grandry and Herbst corpuscles, which collectively form the bill-tongue organ that monitors the movement of food. Research highlights, these results conclude the presence of microstructural species-specific alterations in specific tongue areas of domestic ducks’ lingual mucosa. These modifications are formed by the filtering mechanism and terrestrial feeding mechanisms such as grazing or pecking. Following hatching, the tongue of the domestic duck undergoes significant development, primarily in preparation for grazing activities. The anatomical and histological structure of the young tongue exhibited similarities to that of the adult domestic duck while also displaying certain variations that could potentially be attributed to the bird’s habitat and mode of feeding.

Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) allows a precise identification of the surface of the structures. When associated with the cryofracture technique, it allows a more detailed analysis, since the samples have their internal structures exposed. Thus, the protocol and results of SEM associated with cryofracture in Astyanax lacustris ovaries are presented here in order to characterize the external and internal structure of the oocytes. A. lacustris ovaries were collected, prefixed in 4% paraformaldehyde, fixed in osmium tetroxide (2% OsO 4) at 4 ºC and kept overnight in phosphate-buffered saline. The samples were washed, immersed in DMSO at different concentrations, followed by their fracture in 50% DMSO cooled by liquid N 2 and then immersed in 50% DMSO until returning to room temperature. The fractured samples were taken for maceration in 1% osmium, in a shaker for 15 hours. Afterwards, the samples were post-fixed in 2% OsO 4 for 2 hours at 4 ºC, dehydrated in an increasing ethanol series and taken to the critical point apparatus Balzers CPD-030 using liquid CO 2. This was followed by the assembly of the blocks and the metallization of the sample with gold ions, with the analyzes carried out in a Scanning Electron Microscope Jeol JSM-7401F 5V. It was found that the cryofracture technique provided images with greater internal detail of the oocytes. Some specific characteristics of fish oogenesis could only be observed using this new technique, with emphasis on the oocyte envelope, the micropyle and the zona pellucida, as well as the connective membrane associated with the ovarian structures.

To analyze images in various fields of science and technology, it is often necessary to count observed objects and determine their parameters. This can be quite labor-intensive and time-consuming. This article presents DLgram, a universal, user-friendly cloud service that is developed for this purpose. It is based on deep learning technologies and does not require programming skills. The user labels several objects in the image and uploads it to the cloud where the neural network is trained to recognize the objects being studied. The user receives recognition results which, if necessary, can be corrected, errors removed, or missing objects added. In addition, it is possible to carry out mathematical processing of the data obtained to get information about the sizes, areas, and coordinates of the observed objects. The article describes the service features and discusses examples of its application. The DLgram service allows to reduce significantly the time spent on quantitative image analysis, reduce subjective factor influence, and increase the accuracy of analysis.

In the study, the achene macro and micro morphological characters of the genus Artemisia distributed in Turkey have been researched with the target to know systematically important carpological structures for the examined species. Color, shape and dimension of achene have macro-morphologically shown variations. The examined achenes are separated into 4 shapes; fusiform-oblong, oblong, oblong-ovate and ovate. Oblong-ovate is the most common type. However, oblong is typical form for A. abrotanum. Achene dimensions range from 0.62 mm to 2.48 mm in length, from 0.30 mm to 1.21 mm in width. As A. santonicum subsp. patens is of the largest achenes , A. annua and A. verloitorum have the smallest achenes. Also, carpopodium diameter vary between 0.10 mm and 0.19 mm. The largest carpopodium diameter is found in taxa A. fragrans and A. taurica var. vanensis , while the narrowest one is A. alpina species. Achene surfaces of the examined taxa are micro-morphologically assessed, and the substantial differences are noticeably detected on behalf of the surface structures for instance, surface ornamentation, anticlinal and periclinal cell walls, epidermal cells and presence of secondary structures of the achenes. Surface ornamentation is separated into 10 types: irregularly sulcate, regularly sulcate, ruminate, sulcate-scalariform, rugose, favulariate, slightly sulcate, alveolate, tuberculate and reticulate. The most common types are irregularly sulcate (in 7 taxa) and regularly sulcate (in 7 taxa), while ruminate (in A. abrotanum), rugose (in A. chamaemelifolia), favulariate (in A. arborescens), alveolate (in A. santonicum subsp. patens), tuberculate (in A. taurica var. vanensis) and reticulate (in A. bashkalensis) ornamentation types are found as taxon-specific. A percentage comparison of the elements in the achene pericarp of the studied taxa have performed with SEM-EDS. Accordingly, pericarps in taxa include C, Ca, K, Mg, Cl, Si, Na and S elements. The most common seen element is C, which ranges from 77.4 (in A. austriaca) to 96.2 (in A. absinthium). Na element is observed only in A. santonicum subspecies and A. arborescens species. On the other hand, S element is found in low amounts only in A. alpina species. In the taxonomy of the genus Artemisia, the achene morphological characters are very significant characteristics that disclose inter-specific relations among the examined taxa. Moreover, a dichotomous key is offered for the identification of the studied taxa based on achene characters.

Introduction & Objective: Recently, the utilization of herbals for the biosynthesis of nanoparticles has been noticed in their properties such as environmental compatibility, simplicity, and economics. Numerous medicinal plants possess the ability to synthesize nanoparticles that have applications in medicine, biosciences, and the pharmaceutical industry. The primary objective of this research is to propose an environmentally friendly approach for synthesizing silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) for use in drug delivery, medicine, industry. Methods: First, the polygonum aviculare L. extract was prepared by maceration and synthesized by 2 mM AgNO 3 solution using the green method. After changing the color of the extract, confirmation of the formation of nanoparticles by UV-Vis spectroscopy, and Morphological investigation by TEM, FE-SEM, XRD and FT-IR to examine functional groups in nanoparticles and investigation of antioxidant and antibacterial activities of nanoparticles by DPPH assay and Disk Diffusion method. Results: The emergence of an absorption peak between the wavelengths of 400-450 nm on the UV-Vis spectrophotometer indicates the synthesis of silver nanoparticles. The shape of spherical and rod particles, their average size is about 25-70 nm. The free radical scavenging activity was calculated as IC 50 = 15.63 mg/L. The synthesized silver nanoparticles had significant antimicrobial activity. Conclusion: polygonum aviculare L. extract can reduce Ag + ions to silver nanoparticles. In addition, synthesized silver nanoparticles have good antioxidant and antimicrobial properties.

Agitated saline microbubbles (MBs) is a common contrast agent for determining right-to-left shunt (RLS) by the contrast Transcranial Doppler (c-TCD). The size of the generated bubbles is not standardized in clinical practice. The microbubbles were generated using the recommended manual method by reciprocating motion through two syringes. The bubble size distributions (BSD) were measured using the microscopic shadow imaging technique. The results show that the diameter of MBs is mainly distributed between 10-100 µm, the mean bubble size is between 21-34 μm, the Sauter mean diameter (D 32) is mainly between 50-300 μm, and the standard deviation (SD) is between 6-17 μm in 60 experiments. It provides a more accurate basis for the recommended manual method instability. The high variance values of the BSD indicate that the manual method has low stability and repeatability. The results of this study can be useful for further improvement of the reliability of c-TCD in detecting RLS. Research Highlights This study provided the first detailed descriptions of the size distribution of microbubbles in a flowing contrast agent by the microscopic shadow imaging technique. It reveals significant differences in the bubble size of manual foaming during repeated manipulations for each individual and between individuals.

Cypsela macro and micromorphological features of 28 taxa belonging to 7 genera namely Saussurea DC. s.str., Lipschitziella Kamelin , Himalaiella Raab-Straube, Dolomiaea DC, Aucklandia Falconer, Frolovia (DC.) Lipsch. and Shangwua Yu J. Wang of the tribe Cardueae (Asteraceae) were studied through light and scanning electron microscope to assess their taxonomic significance. Various cypsela features like pappus series, cypsela shape and surface patterns were found most significant characters for the taxonomic delimitation of Saussurea (s.l.). The genus Saussurea s.str. was delined from its allied genera by having biseriate pappus. While, in remaining genera pappus were either uniseriate or multiseriate and among these genera, Dolomiaea was characterized due to multiseriate pappus. While, remaining genera such as, Lipschitziella, Himalaiella, Aucklandia, Shangwa and Frolovia had uniseriate pappus. Furthermore, these genera could be delimited on the basis of cypsela shape and surface patterns. Similar to the generic delimitation, cypsela micro and macromorphological characters were also found to be useful for specific delimitation within studied genera. Most of the cypsela morphological variables when analyzed numerically, also proved the taxonomic affiliation within all the taxa of the genus Saussurea and its allied genera. Similarly, these cypsela features could be well correlated with the gross morphological and molecular decisions at generic and partially for specific delimitation of Saussurea (s.l.) from Pakistan and Kashmir.

Quality control of herbal medicines is an important and necessary issue, especially the role of herbal drug identification to avoid misuse of herb that affect efficacy, or cause toxicity. Scleromitrion diffusum (SD) is one of the most common herbs but often confused with Oldenlandia corymbosa (OC). 10 samples of SD and 10 samples of OC were collected on the Taiwan markets. This study conducted the analysis of morphology, microscopy, TLC, HPLC using two markers Asperuloside (ASP) and Scandoside methyl ester (SME) to distinguish SD and OC. Through quantification of total polyphenols and total flavanoids, investigating antioxidant activity through DPPH free radical scavenging effect, ABTS •+ scavenging effect and reducing power to further clarify the biological effects of two herbs. Study results show the differences in microscopy and suggests a TLC method for distinguishing two herbs on the markets. In HPLC, the ratio of two markers ASP and SME in two herbs was also different when SD contained higher content of ASP and conversely OC higher SME. With more total polyphenols and total flavonoids in SD than that in OC, the antioxidant activity of SD is superior to that of OC. This study provides a more comprehensive perspective for identification and quality evaluation of SD on the markets.