Introduction: In the present study, the effects of gamma irradiation and packaging on storage quality of partially matured peach was studied. The fruit was irradiated in the dose range of 2.5 and 5.0 kGy and was stored in paper and wooden boxes at ambient temperature (25±2 OC).
The infection pathway of virus in living cell is of interest from the viewpoint of the physics of diffusion. Here, recent developments about a diffusion theory for the infection pathway of an adeno-associated virus in cytoplasm of a living HeLa cell are reported. Generalizing fractional kinetics successfully modeling anomalous diffusion, a theory for describing the infection pathway of the virus over the cytoplasm is presented. The statistical property of the fluctuations of the anomalous-diffusion exponent is also discussed based on a maximum-entropy-principle approach. In addition, an issue regarding the continuum limit of the entropy introduced in the approach is carefully examined. The theory is found to imply that the motion of the virus may obey a scaling law.
The Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) Norway will set the terms for and follow up that players in the Norwegian petroleum industry maintain a high level of health, safety and the environment and emergency preparedness, and thereby contribute to creating the highest possible value for society. Ensuring good material selection process and structural integrity is an important effort where different corrosion forms are of concern and corrosion protection measures of interest, especially in respect to major accidents.PSA addresses corrosion in rules and regulations, requiring “robust material selection”, with reference to international standards and guidelines. The operators addressing and monitoring of the corrosion effects on the process and structural integrity by incident reporting, reviews and site audits are the key tools for PSA in assessing the corrosion challenges and control in the industry.It is of paramount importance to avoid major accidents. The subject of this paper is to address the challenges with material degradation in ageing structures, and the challenges associated with life extension considerations. Corrosion plays a major role in this respect; especially PSA is concerned with corrosion under insulation (CUI). This paper presents some of our work in these areas.
It has been reported that Matrixmetalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) is involved in the pathogenesis of cancer. The over expression of MMP-2 is associated with the progression of malignancy of several types of carcinoma. Human saliva is a biological fluid with several advantages for non-invasive diagnosis and prognosis of diseases. The aim of this study was to detect MMPs expression and activity in biological fluids (saliva, urine etc .) derived from breast cancer patients. Here, our results showed that the activity of MMP-2 was higher at the time before the surgery than after the saliva collected from the same patients. Therefore, we suggested that the highly active form of MMP-2 presented in saliva could be used as a novel potential biomarker for non-invasive diagnosis of breast cancer.
According to general doctrine [1] canceroselectivity of Cyclophosphamide is based on different activities of the 4-hydroxycyclophosphamide (OHCP) detoxifying cellular enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase in tumor and normal cells. Aldehyde dehydrogenase converts the OHCP tautomere aldophosphamide (ALDO) to the non-cytotoxic carboxyphosphamide. Due to different activities of the detoxifying enzyme more cytotoxic phosporamide mustard (PAM) is spontaneously released from OHCP/ALDO in tumor cells. PAM unfolds its cytotoxic activity by forming intrastrand and interstrand DNA crosslinks. This hypothesis is supported by in vitro experiments which show inverse correlations of aldehyde dehydrogenase activity and sensitivity of tumor cells against activated congeners of cyclophosphamide like mafosfamide which hydrolyses within a few minutes to OHCP. In protein free rat serum ultrafiltrate however free OHCP and its coexisting tautomer ALDO are stable compounds. Its half-life in protein free rat serum ultrafiltrate (pH7, 37oC) is more than 20 h. Contrary to protein free ultrafiltrate in whole serum ALDO is enzymatically decomposed to PAM and 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde (HPA) within minutes. The decomposing enzyme was identified as 3´-5´ phosphodiesterase, the Michaelis constant was determined to be 10-3M in human serum.The experiments presented clearly demonstrate that ALDO is not only cleaved base catalyzed yielding acrolein and PAM [2, 3] but also cleaved enzymatically by serum phosphodiesterases yielding HPA and PAM. It is discussed that the reason of the high canceroselectivity of cyclophosphamide is not only due to enrichment of OHCP/ALDO in tumor cells due to less detoxification of ALDO in tumor cells than in normal cells. It is discussed that there is a good reason for an additional mechanism namely the amplification of apoptosis of PAM damaged cells by HPA.A two step mechanism for the mechanism of action of OHCP/ALDO is discussed. During the first step, the DNA is damaged by alkylation by PAM. During the second step the cell containing damaged DNA is eliminated by apoptosis, supported by HPA.
The current study was aimed to formulate a continuous release mucoadhesive buccal tablet containing propranolol HCl. The type and quantities of polymers as well as method of compression were set in a preliminary study (F1-F13). Direct compression method was employed in the main study (F14-F24) using Carbopol® 934P (CP), ethylcellulose (EC), sodium alginate (SA), hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC k4M) and carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) as mucoadhesive polymers and were tested for physicochemical tests i.e. swellability, surface pH, mucoadhesive time, mucoadhesive strength, in vitro release etc. Results obtained from the study were optimized using NeuralPower® 3.1, an artificial intelligence approach. Against the desirability of physico-chemical parameters, the software optimized the ingredients as HPMC (150mg), CMC (25mg), CP (20mg) and EC (20mg). Outcome revealed that HPMC primarily contributed to the physicochemical properties of mucoadhesive formulation. To compare prediction, optimized ingredients were formulated (F25) and tested. The swellability index of confirmation formulation (F25) was 102% at 6 h. As predicted, similar release pattern was of F25 was obtained as 26% (0.5h), 34% (1h), 40% (2h), 45% (3h), 50% (4h), 62% (5h), 76% (6h), 85% (7h) and 97% (8h) respectively. For release kinetics, DD solver® suggested the release of the drug to be non-Fickian.
Emergence of multidrug resistant strains ofMycobacterium tuberculosis(MDR-TB) threatens humanity. This problem was complicated by the crisis in development of new anti-tuberculosis antibiotics. Induced reversion of drug resistance seems promising to overcome the problem. Successful clinical trial of a new anti-tuberculosis nanomolecular complex FS-1 has demonstrated prospectively of this approach in combating MDR-TB. Several clinical MDR-TB cultures were isolated from sputum samples prior and in the process of the clinical trial. Every isolate was tested for susceptibility to antibiotics and then they were sequenced for comparative genomics. It was found that the treatment with FS-1 caused an increase in the number of antibiotic susceptible strains among Mtb isolates that was associated with a general increase of genetic heterogeneity of the isolates. Observed impairing of phthiocerol dimycocerosate biosynthesis by disruptive mutations inppsACDsubunits indicated a possible virulence remission for the sake of persistence. It was hypothesized that the FS-1 treatment eradicated the most drug resistant Mtb variants from the population by aggravating the fitness cost of drug resistance mutations. Analysis of distribution of these mutations in the global Mtb population revealed that many of them were incompatible with each other and dependent on allelic states of many other polymorphic loci. The latter discovery may explain the negative correlation between the genetic heterogeneity of the population and the level of drug tolerance. To the best of our knowledge, this work was the first experimental confirmation of the drug induced antibiotic resistance reversion by the induced synergy mechanism that previously was predicted theoretically.
The treatment of acute and chronic severe pain remains a common major challenge faced by clinicians working with the general population, and even after the application of recent advances to treatments, there may still continue to be manifestations of adverse effects.Chronic pain affects the personal and social life of the patient, and often also their families. In some cases, after an acute pain the patient continues to experience chronic pain, which can be a result of diseases such as cancer.Morphine is recommended as the first choice opioid in the treatment of moderate to severe acute and chronic pain. However, the development of adverse effects and tolerance to the analgesic effects of morphine often leads to treatment discontinuation.The present work reviews the different pharmaceutical innovations reported concerning the use of morphine. First, its utilization as the first medication for the treatment of moderate to severe cancer pain and non-cancer pain in patients is evaluated, taking into account the most common complications and adverse effects. Next, strategies utilized to manage these side effects are considered, and we also summarize results using omega-3 fatty acids (eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid) as a monotherapy or as an adjunct to morphine in the treatment of pain.
Life in arid regions and, in particular, hot deserts is often limited due to their harsh environmental conditions, such as large temperature fluctuations and low amounts of water. These extreme environments can influence the microbial community present on the surface sands and any rhizosphere members surrounding desert plant roots. The Jizan desert area, located in Saudi Arabia, supports particular vegetation that grows in the large sandy flat terrain. We examined five different samples, four from the rhizosphere of pioneer plants plus a surface sand sample, and used pyrosequencing of PCR-amplified V1-V3 regions of 16S rDNA genes from total extracted DNA to reveal and compare the bacterial population diversity of the samples. The results showed a total of 3,530 OTUs in the five samples, calculated using ≥ 97% sequence similarity levels. The Chao1 estimation of the bacterial diversity fluctuated from 637 to 2,026 OTUs for a given sample. The most abundant members found in the samples belong to the Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria phyla. This work shows that the Jizan desert area of Saudi Arabia can contain a diverse bacterial community on the sand and surrounding the roots of pioneer desert plants. It also shows that desert sand microbiomes can vary depending on conditions, with broad implications for sandstone monument bacterial communities
Sameterol xinafoate is a selective β2-adrenoceptor agonist used in the treatment of some lung diseases and play a vital role in the regulation of bone mass and bone turnover. 99mTc-salmeterol was formulated for the development of a novel potential diagnostic bone imaging agent with excellent biological properties. Factors influencing the labeling yield such as salmeterol xinafoate amount, pH of the reaction medium, reducing agent amount and the reaction time were studied in details. 99mTc-salmeterol was obtained with a high radiochemical yield of 94.6±0.5% and in vitro stability of 6 h when 0.5 mg of salmeterol was mixed with 10 mg NaBH4 at pH 9 and a reaction time 30 min. The biological distribution showed that 99mTc-salmeterol was highly concentrated in the bone (36.5 ± 2%ID/organ) at 30 min post injection. The bone uptake of 99mTc-salmeterol was remained high (29.3 ± 2ID/organ) for a time up to 2h post injection. The results revealed that 99mTc-salmeterol could solve the 99mTc-phosphonate drawbacks and could be used as a bone imaging agent.
Microbial agents are among the major causes of deterioration of cultural heritage, strongly affecting our global cultural legacy, the stone, glass, wood and other sources used to fabricate millions of artworks and monuments around the world. However, it is not all about rotting and erosion! Microbial action has been harnessed to clean the surfaces of stone sculptures and buildings and frescoes. In particular, the ability and potential of different microorganisms to remove undesired sulphates, nitrates and organic matter have been demonstrated a number of times in the last decade.
Endophytic fungi isolated from Rauvolfia serpentina, a well known Indian medicinal plant, is used in Ayurveda for treatment of many diseases. Isolated endophytes were screened for their antibacterial activity against pathogenic bacteria. Twenty fungal isolates were recovered from different parts of the host plant and they were characterized for their morphological features through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and on the basis of observations they were grouped in eight genus as Fusarium sp., Phomopsis sp., Colletotrichum sp., Cladosporium sp., Aspergillus sp., Xylaria sp., Alterneria sp. and Gleomastix sp. The secret of the fungal endophytes of this medicinal plant was revealed by the evaluation of the extract against the target bacteria. The extracts of four fungal isolates Colletotrichum sp. (Rs-R5), Fusarium sp.(Rs-R1), (Rs-R7) and Cladosporium sp.(Rs-S4) among twenty isolates were found effective against human pathogenic bacterial strains E. coli (ATCC 25922), Gram negative bacteria and S. aureus (ATCC 25323), Gram positive bacteria. Ethyl acetate extract of active fungal isolate (Colletotrichum sp; Rs-R 5) was most effective than other extract, with maximum inhibition zone 16 mm and 14 mm and minimum MIC 25μg/ml and 36.5μg/ml against E. coli and S. aureus respectively.
The present study used two non destructive technics, chlorophyll fluorescence and colorimetry to assess the Chlorella vulgaris growth on stone surface treated by experimental treatments for preventing biofouling. A protocol for laboratory tests was set up, consisting of inoculating treated slabs stone with a suspension of an algae culture (Chlorella vulgaris), that is a well known monument colonizing organism. The biofouling test was carried out under fluorescent lights for four weeks at room temperature which was 20°C and monitored by chlorophyll a fluorescence and colorimetry analysis. These techniques are rapid, non-invasive, and reliable.
Soyasapogenol B (SB), aglycone of soybean saponin, is known to have hepatoprotective, antimutagenic, antivirus, and anti-inflammatory activities. This research examined the use of whole-cell biocatalyst to produce SB from soybean saponin. It was found that Aspergillus flavus, a fungus isolated from peanut pods, was capable of expressing extracellular and intracellular saponin hydrolase enzyme. However, the total enzyme activity produced using fungal whole cells (37U) in the reaction mixture was about 3 times that produced using the extracellular (12.4U) or intracellular (11.5U) enzyme. Cells with maximum hydrolytic activity for production of SB (12.2 U/g) was obtained using production medium supplemented by 2% soybean saponin, as inducer for enzyme production, adjusted at pH 9 and incubated at 30°C for 2 days. The highest yield of SB was achieved when the reaction mixture was incubated at pH 5.5 and 45°C for 48h; using 20% wet cells (corresponding to 4% cell dry weight) and soybean saponin (2%, w/v) as a substrate. Under these optimal conditions, the cells bioconversion efficiency (SB yield) increased from 5.3 to 60%. Whole cell biocatalyst has several advantages with regard to industrial applications: a consistent quality, easy to be prepared and a very low price compared with purified enzyme. Consequently, this study is significant for production of SB from soybean saponin on an industrial scale.
Auditory stress has been known to affect the development of plants. Recent findings have shown that the stress produced by music induced a positive effect on plants growth. However, different types of music have different kinds of stimulation on plant development. The aim of this study was to examine the in vitro seed germination of two Grammatophyllum species when exposed to five different music genres. The Grammatophyllum species used were G. hybrid and G. stapeliiflorum while the music genres were Instrumental, Rock, Hip hop, Yassin (Quranic reciting) and Ballad. Green capsules of Grammatophyllum hybrid and Grammatophyllum stapeliiflorum were obtained from Triang Botanical Valley, Pahang, Malaysia. Each group of seed cultures were exposed to different music genre for 8 hours starting from 9 am until 5 pm, each for a 6 months period. Seed cultures were kept in the dark for the first 3 months. One untreated (no music) group was kept as a control. All cultures were maintained on half-strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) media supplemented with 30 g/L sucrose, 0.5 mg/L 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP), 2 g/L peptone, 1 g/L activated charcoal and 2.5 g/L gelrite. Observations were recorded every month for the number of shoots emerged and shoot length. Data was analysed by using a one-way ANOVA. At the end of the experiment, it was found that music exposure had a positive effect on the seeds’ germination as compared to the untreated control group. For G. hybrid species, the highest shoots number counted was 19.33±3.79 which was observed on seeds exposed to Yassin. The highest shoot length measured was 2.02±1.10 cm when it was exposed to Rocks music. In contrast, G. stapeliiflorum species showed the highest number of shoots of 12.00±2.64 when exposed to Ballad and the highest shoot length achieved by this species was 0.99±0.38 cm when it was exposed to Instrumental music. Analysis by using Kruskal-Wallis H and one-way ANOVA showed that p < 0.05 for all parameters. The findings showed that different species of orchids need a different type of music to influence the rate of its germination and growth.
Tuberculosis (TB) is a major global health problem and has been declared “a global emergency” by the World Health Organization. The failures of the currently available vaccine against TB, i.e. Mycobacterium bovis BCG, to impart consistent protection against TB, have led to the need for alternative vaccines. The low molecular weight major antigenic proteins, i.e. PE35, CFP10 and ESAT6, encoded by Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific region of difference-1 (RD1) are among the antigens considered important to develop new TB vaccines. To deliver these antigens, two DNA vaccine vectors (pUMVC6 and pUMVC7) and three live mycobacterial species (M. bovis BCG, M. vaccae and M. smegmatis) were evaluated for the induction of antigenspecific cellular immune responses in animals. DNA corresponding to pe35, esat6 and cfp10 genes were amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from the genomic DNA of M. tuberculosis and cloned into plasmids pUMVC6 and pUMVC7 to prepare DNA vaccine constructs. Furthermore, the PCR-amplified DNA were cloned into a shuttle plasmid (pDE22), and the recombinant shuttle plasmids (pDE22-PE35, pDE22-CFP10 and pDE22-ESAT6) were electroporated into mycobacteria. The induction of antigen specific cellular immune responses was studied by immunizing mice and guinea-pigs with the recombinant constructs. The results with all the recombinant constructs and both animal models showed the consistent induction of antigen-specific cellular immune responses (spleen cell proliferation and secretion of protective T helper 1 cytokine interferon-γ in mice, and delayed-type hypersensitivity skin responses in guinea-pigs) only with the recombinant constructs expressing PE35 protein. These results suggest the superiority of PE35 antigen in inducing protective cellular immune responses in animals.
Unlike medical samples from clinics, samples associated with food products and the environment they come into contact with during their processing are characterized by low initial cell counts and large sample volumes. This calls for different strategies of handling, especially in low-resource settings and in less advanced food industrial laboratories. This paper compares three popular industrial methodologies; MPN method, Petrifilm by 3M, and the standard pour plate technique, relative to a modified surface spread technique using 96-well microtiter plates (MIC). The colony enumeration results obtained from each technique showed good agreement. The miniaturized rapid protocol efficiently managed a large number of samples using multichannel autopipettes and a high-throughput design utilizing 96-well microtiter plates. Useful colony counts were obtained within 12-16 h. The analytical efficacy of the miniaturized protocol surpassed those of the three conventional methods. The colony counts from ready-to-eat product samples showed comparable results to the pour plate technique, displaying good agreement with the universally-accepted standard. The feedback by QC staff from a local Thai food factory revealed good overall acceptance of the MIC method with respect to usability, protocol design and method efficiency. The proposed miniaturized technique gave highly consistent results of colony count numbers and good colony separation. This colony enumeration consistency suggests that the miniaturized rapid protocol can economically replace the slower more complex standard protocols as an in-house protocol for food processing environment swabs.
This review elucidates current knowledge on the significant role of fungi and lichens in the biodeterioration of stone monuments. The effect caused by many epilithic lichen species in the deterioration of different types of stone has been extensively investigated and demonstrated. Nonetheless, many aspects of the deterioration mechanisms of microcolonial fungi (MFC) and endolithic lichens are still to be proved. An interesting hypothesis has recently been put forward involving the secretion of siderophores like compounds. Lichens can provide bioprotection for stone surfaces, acting as a barrier against weathering, retaining moisture, increasing waterproofing, reducing thermal stress and erosion, and absorbing pollutants. Nevertheless, the evaluation of biodeterioration vs. bioprotection cannot be generalised, since it can vary according to the behaviour of different species, as well as being affected by both the lithotype and the environment. In addition to the laboratory studies, more field studies of biological communities are required, to analyse their establishment and succession in natural conditions and after conservation treatments. In order to guarantee the best decision for stone conservation, cleaning operations should not be based on a generalised approach, but should rather be based on a careful evaluation of different aspects concerning biodeterioration and bioprotection.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a structured, eight-phase, mainly non-verbal psychotherapeutic approach that is developed to resolve symptoms that have stemmed from disturbing and unprocessed life experiences. EMDR is well known for the treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). However, modified protocols have been developed for the treatment of other anxiety and mood disorders; especially if rooted from a traumatic experience in the past.
Thirteen cassava genotypes were evaluated from advanced field trial for total carotene content (TCC), % dry matter content (DMC), fresh root yield (FRY) and biotic stresses alongside two widely cultivated cassava varieties (UMUCASS 36 and TMS 30572) as checks in 2013/2014 cropping season at research station of National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) Umudike in Nigeria. The objective of the experiment was to select promising clones for possible release to Nigeria farmers. The results of the TCC analysis ranged from 1.68-10.16 µg/g. Genotypes NR11/0063, NR11/0123 and NR11/0140 had TCC ranged from 10.47-8.72 (µg/g) which are above the national checks (UMUCASS 36 and TMS 30572) of 8.34 and 1.68(µg/g) respectively. The DMC of the genotypes ranged from 33.0-15.0 %. TMS 30572 gave the highest DMC (33.0%) while genotype NR11/0064 had the least (15.0%) DMC. Severity of cassava mosaic disease (CMD), cassava bacterial blight (CBB), cassava green mite (CGM) and cassava anthracnose disease (CAD) evaluated for 12 months varied among the genotypes. Symptom expressions of CMD, CBB and CAD were relatively higher (3.0) for genotype NR11/0123 and this resulted to low fresh root yield (FRY) of 18 t/ha whereas TMS 30572 with moderate severity (1.8) had a higher FRY of 32.6 t/ha. The severity of CGM was moderate across the genotypes with no significant difference (P<0.05) observed. Further analysis showed that CMD, CBB and CAD were significantly correlated (r=0.618, 0.699 and 0.621, p<0.05) with harvest index (HI) among the genotypes evaluated. Three genotypes were selected for further evaluation and possible release to Nigeria farmers.
