Events such as oxidative stress caused by spinal cord injury (SCI) are a serious condition because they negatively affect many organs. Alternative treatment options for this type of injury are quite limited. In this study, we planned to investigate the effect of oxidative damage on the spleen tissue of rats with spinal cord damage and the protective role of valproic acid (VPA) in this damage. Sixteen Wistar albino rats were divided into two equal groups. No treatment was administered to the rats in Group 1 (SCI-(Control), but a single dose of 300 mg/kg intraperitoneally VPA was administered to the rats in Group 2 (SCI-VPA). Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities, total antioxidant status (TAS) and total oxidant status (TOS) levels were examined as markers of oxidative stress in spleen tissues taken after decapitation of rats. VPA treatment increased the SOD and TAS level but decreased the TOS level, indicating improved oxidative damage and impaired enzymatic antioxidant levels in spleen tissue homogenate damaged by SCI. We have observed that VPA, which has many beneficial properties, has a significant healing effect on spleen tissue affected by SCI-induced oxidative stress.

Drought stress is one of the most serious abiotic stresses that cause a reduction in plant growth, development and yield in the world. The aim of this study is to reveal the morphological, physiological and biochemical responses of the Demre pepper variety and nine different pepper genotypes against drought stress. Pepper seeds were planted into trays containing peat: perlite (2: 1) mixture. Then, seedlings having two leaves were transferred to plastic pots containing mixture of peat:perlite (2:1) mixture. Drought stress application was started when the plants have four leaves. The control plants were irrigated with nutrition solution. Genotypes were classified according to the severity of leaf damage symptoms by using 0-5 scale. In addition, shoot fresh and dry weight, plant height, stem diameter, leaf number, leaf area, relative water content (RWC), membrane injury index (MII), potassium (K) and calcium (Ca) concentration of shoot, malondialdehyde content (MDA), total chlorophyll and carotenoid, total flavonoid and phenolic content, anitoxidative enzyme activities (superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GR), ascorbate peroxidase (APX)) were also determined. As a result of the study, it was determined that drought had negative effect in terms of morphological and physiological parameters, and this effect revealed differences among genotypes. While drought stress increased MDA and antioxidative enzyme activity, BIB-6 and BIB-8 genotypes were found to be the most tolerant genotypes among the genotypes examined.

A case report was presented from the peritonea of a 3 year-old mixed breed stray cat weighing 3.2 kg was referred to the Adnan Menderes University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Clinic of Obstetrics and Gynecology for spaying. On physical examination her body condition and warm were normal but mild diarrhoea was detected. After physical and ultrasonographic examination, white larvae-like structures were observed within the abdominal cavity. These structures were collected in saline solution for parasitological examination. On parasitological examination, one hundred eleven larvae were found in the peritonea. After examining macroscopically and microscopically these larvae were identified as L2 stage of Mesocestoides spp. This is the first report from Aydin in Turkey, based on morphological characteristics in this study.