Publications by authors named "Lateef A"

Recently, attention has been shifting toward the perspective of the existence of plants and microbes as a functioning ecological unit. However, studies highlighting the impacts of the microbial community on plant health are still limited. In this study, fungal community (mycobiome) of leaf, root, and soil of symptomatic leaf-spot diseased (SS) oil palm were compared against asymptomatic (AS) trees using ITS2 rRNA gene metabarcoding.

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Objective: High disease activity status (HDAS) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is associated with adverse long-term outcomes. We examined the frequency of lupus low disease activity state (LLDAS) and remission (REM) attainment in HDAS patients and whether their attainment was associated with improved patient outcomes.

Methods: Demographic, clinical and outcomes data, collected prospectively from a multinational cohort between 2013 and 2020, were analysed.

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  • The lupus low disease activity state (LLDAS) allows some activity in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) as long as it stays within certain limits; this study examined the outcomes of patients achieving LLDAS with different levels of activity.
  • A total of 2,099 SLE patients were analyzed over a median follow-up of 3.5 years, revealing that 20.8% had clinical activity, 50.4% had serological activity only, and 28.8% had neither while in LLDAS.
  • Results indicated that all LLDAS subsets reduced the risk of disease flares and damage, with LLDAS showing no activity being the most protective against severe flares.
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Natural biopolymers have a rich history, with many uses across the fields of healthcare and medicine, including formulations for wound dressings, surgical implants, tissue culture substrates, and drug delivery vehicles. Yet, synthetic-based materials have been more successful in translation due to precise control and regulation achievable during manufacturing. However, there is a renewed interest in natural biopolymers, which offer a diverse landscape of architecture, sustainable sourcing, functional groups, and properties that synthetic counterparts cannot fully replicate as processing and sourcing of these materials has improved.

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Background: Validation of protective associations of the lupus low disease activity state (LLDAS) against flare, irreversible damage, health-related quality of life, and mortality has enabled the adoption of treat-to-target strategies in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Previous validation studies were of short duration, limiting the ability to detect longer term signals in flare rate and irreversible damage. In addition, previous studies have focused on percent time at target, rather than actual periods of time that are more useful in clinical practice and trials.

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This study focused on developing novel pyridine-3-carboxamide analogs to treat bacterial wilt in tomatoes caused by Ralstonia solanacearum. The analogs were synthesized through a multistep process and their structures confirmed using spectroscopy. Molecular docking studies identified the most potent analog from the series.

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  • This study looked at how standard medications for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) affect important health outcomes like disease activity, flare-ups, and damage over time, using a substantial patient data set from the Asia Pacific Lupus Collaboration (APLC).
  • Findings showed that a significant percentage of patients reached low disease activity levels, but many also had flares, with variations in medication use across different countries; specifically, some medications appeared to have a steroid-sparing effect.
  • Key results revealed that patients on specific medications like tacrolimus had better odds of achieving low disease activity, while those taking azathioprine and methotrexate were less likely to reach that outcome; however
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  • *A study analyzed the microbiome of T. absoluta larvae and adults, revealing significant differences in bacterial communities with 433 shared genera and unique ones for each life stage.
  • *The findings highlighted the dominance of certain bacterial phyla, with distinct genera enriched in larvae and adults, and indicated strong interactions within the microbial communities, emphasizing their potential role in pest management strategies.*
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Physiologically modeled test samples with known properties and characteristics, or phantoms, are essential for developing sensitive, repeatable, and accurate quantitative MRI techniques. Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) is one such technique used to estimate tissue mechanical properties, and it is advantageous to use phantoms with independently tunable mechanical properties to benchmark the accuracy of MRE methods. Phantoms with tunable shear stiffness are commonly used for MRE, but tuning the viscosity or damping ratio has proven to be difficult.

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  • The study aimed to determine if achieving Lupus Low Disease Activity State (LLDAS) leads to better outcomes for patients with newly diagnosed systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
  • Data was collected from a longitudinal SLE cohort in 13 countries, focusing on patients diagnosed within the last year, revealing that these patients had higher disease activity and use of glucocorticoids, but less organ damage initially compared to older patients in the study.
  • Results showed that while fewer patients in the recent onset group were in LLDAS at the start, they were more likely to achieve it during follow-up and LLDAS attainment was linked to a lower risk of disease flare-ups.
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Silk fibers are produced by a wide variety of insects. The silkworm () was domesticated because the physical properties of its silk fibers were amenable to the production of fine textiles. Subsequently, engineers have regenerated silk fibroin to form biomaterials.

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  • * Data from a large international cohort of 1,850 mSACQ patients revealed that reducing GCs by 1 mg/day did not increase the risk of overall or severe flares; in fact, the use of antimalarials was linked to a lower risk of flares.
  • * Tapering GCs was found to reduce the risk of damage accrual for patients starting with higher prednisolone doses (over 5 mg/day
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Hepatic hydrothorax refers to the presence of a pleural effusion (usually >500 mL) in a patient with cirrhosis who does not have other reasons to have a pleural effusion (e.g., cardiac, pulmonary, or pleural disease).

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Background: Targets of treatment for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) include the Lupus Low Disease Activity State (LLDAS), remission, and complete remission. Whether treatment can be tapered after attaining these targets and whether tapering is safer in patients in complete remission compared with LLDAS are unknown. We aimed to assess the odds of disease flares after treatment tapering in stable disease, versus continuing the same therapy.

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  • The study analyzes soil fungal diversity globally by examining over 4,000 topsoil samples from various ecosystems, revealing how different environmental factors influence fungal communities.
  • It demonstrates the effects of temperature and precipitation on local species richness (alpha diversity) and how these factors contribute to variations in fungal composition and evolutionary relationships (beta and phylogenetic diversity).
  • The research integrates fungal diversity into global biodiversity frameworks, providing maps and insights that can aid in conservation efforts and ecological studies worldwide.
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Background: Malignant gliomas are the most frequent and lethal brain tumors. Their molecular aspects remain intangible but current studies have pointed to certain genetic polymorphic loci that pose the risk. The polymorphic sequence variations of the epidermal growth factor receptor gene (EGFR) pathway play a vital role in the glioma risk, and the EGFR variants (216G>T and 191C>A) are identified to affect the risk for the development of different tumors including glioma.

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The search for effective production of xylanase which is an important industrial enzyme led to the present study that explored xylanase production by SF through Taguchi optimization that incorporated nanoconjugates in submerged fermentation. Calcium and zinc oxide nanoconjugates biosynthesized by xylanase were characterized via UV-Vis spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The xylanase-mediated calcium oxide and zinc oxide nanoconjugates with λ of 374 and 316 nm, respectively, and were 5.

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Mercury is a toxic environmental element, so it was necessary to prepare a new, highly efficient, cheap sorbent to remove it. A mesoporous thioacetamide/chitosan (MTA/CS) was manufactured via a simplistic strategy; the chitin deacetylation to gain chitosan (CS) and the addition of thioacetamide. The as-prepared MTA/CS was characterized using X-ray diffraction, EDX, SEM, FTIR, and BET surface analysis.

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The environment is fundamental to human existence, and protecting it from dangerous contaminants should be a top priority for all stakeholders. Reducing garbage output has helped, but as the world's population grows, more waste will be generated. Tons of waste inadvertently and advertently received by environmental matrixes adversely affect the sustainable environment.

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Introduction: This review aims to provide evidence-based recommendations for an enhanced primary series (third dose) coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination in people with rheumatic diseases (PRDs) in the local and regional context.

Methods: Literature reviews were performed regarding the necessity, efficacy, safety and strategies for enhanced primary series COVID-19 vaccination in PRDs. Recommendations were developed based on evidence according to the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology.

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Objectives: Platelets and low-density neutrophils (LDNs) are major players in the immunopathogenesis of SLE. Despite evidence showing the importance of platelet-neutrophil complexes (PNCs) in inflammation, little is known about the relationship between LDNs and platelets in SLE. We sought to characterize the role of LDNs and Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) in clinical disease.

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To explore and analyze the correlation between LncRNA TDRG1 expression degree and the prognosis of cervical carcinoma tissues. The cervical cancer tissues and para-carcinoma tissues of 106 patients with cervical carcinoma surgically removed in our hospital were chosen as specimens. LncRNA TDRG1 expression in cervical carcinoma tissues and para-carcinoma tissues was inspected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR, and the correlation between LncRNA TDRG1 and the clinicopathological parameters and disease prognosis was analyzed.

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Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a life-threatening disorder that severely disrupts normal lung architecture and function, resulting in severe respiratory failure and death. It has no definite treatment. Empagliflozin (EMPA), a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor, has protective potential in PF.

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Several economically important diseases of forest trees and agricultural crops in many parts of the world have been linked to the ascomycete fungal pathogen . This study compared the growth rate of 41 isolates of sourced from different hosts and two countries (Nigeria and Papua New Guinea (PNG)) under six temperature levels (22 °C, 25 °C, 30 °C, 32 °C, 34 °C and 35 °C). Phylogenetic relationships were obtained from the analysis of their nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed sequence (ITS) data.

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