Comprehensive analysis of little leaf disease incidence and resistance in eggplant.

Background: Little leaf disease caused by phytoplasma infection is a significant threat to eggplant (also known as brinjal) cultivation in India. This study focused on the molecular characterisation of the phytoplasma strains and insect vectors responsible for its transmission and screening of brinjal germplasm for resistance to little leaf disease.

Results: Surveys conducted across districts in the Tamil Nadu state of India during 2021-2022 showed a higher incidence of phytoplasma during the Zaid (March to June), followed by Kharif (June to November) and Rabi (November to March) seasons with mean incidence ranging from 22 to 27%.

Cytokines signatures and susceptibility to cutaneous leishmaniasis in patients from Sistan and Baluchestan province of Iran.

Background: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a complex, multifactorial disease that results from environmental factors such as parasite polymorphism, phlebotomine vectors, and host genetic factors. Some studies have identified specific genetic factors that may be associated with cutaneous leishmaniasis. The objective of this research was to resolve the association of 8 cytokine polymorphisms, including TNF-α -308 A/G (rs 1800629), TNF-α -238 A/G (rs 361525), TGF-β1 -509 T/C (rs 1800469), TGF-β1+ 915 G/C (rs 1800471), IFN-γ -874 T/A (rs 2430561), IFN-γ -179 G/A (rs 2069709), IL-10 -819 C/T (rs 1800871), and IL-10 -592 A/C (rs 1800872) with susceptibility to CL.

Soft Injectable Sutures for Dose-Controlled and Continuous Drug Delivery.

Transdermal drug delivery offers a promising alternative to traditional methods such as oral ingestion and hypodermic injection. Hypodermic injections are painful, while oral ingestion requires higher doses due to enzymatic degradation and poor absorption. While microneedles address the pain issue, they are limited to delivering small amounts of drugs and can be impractical due to peeling off with motion and sweat.

Development of a highly sensitive voltammetric sensor for the detection of folic acid by using MoS and ionic liquid-modified carbon paste electrode.

Background And Purpose: Sensitive analytical determination of folic acid is important in clinical laboratories due to its versatile biological functions.

Experimental Approach: A simple folic acid sensor was successfully fabricated based on two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide MoS modified carbon ionic liquid paste electrode (MoS-CILPE). The electrochemical properties of the fabricated electrode were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), and chronoamperometry.

Phage display technology for fabricating a recombinant monoclonal ScFv antibody against tetanus toxin.

Tetanus is a specific infectious disease, often associated with lower immunization in developing countries and catastrophic events (such as earthquakes). Millions of people, especially children, die every year from tetanus disease. Therefore, it is necessary to devise a rapid and sensitive detection method for tetanus toxin to ensure an early diagnosis and clinical treatment of tetanus.

Organochlorine pesticides induce thyroid tumors through oxidative stress; an in vivo and in silico study.

Thyroid disease is one of the most common endocrine problems around the world. Among the numerous factors, exposure to environmental elements such as pesticides is associated with an increase in the incidence of thyroid disorders. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in induction of oxidative stress (OS) and development of thyroid tumors.

The Effect of Acute Intense Exercise on Activity of Antioxidant Enzymes in Smokers and Non-Smokers.

Acute intense exercise causes significant oxidative stress and consequently an increase in total antioxidant capacity; however, the mechanisms and combined effects of intense exercise and smoking on oxidative stress among active and non-active smokers are not clear. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of acute intense exercise on antioxidant enzyme activity responses in active and non-active individuals exposed to cigarette smoke. The study included 40 subjects who were equally classified as: smokers that did exercise (SE), smokers that did not do exercise (SnE), non-smokers that did exercise (NSE), and non-smokers that did not do exercise (NSnE).

Advanced biodegradation process of atrazine in the peroxidase-mediated sequencing batch reactor (SBR) and moving-bed SBR (MSBR): mineralization and detoxification.

The advanced biodegradation process of atrazine was stimulated with hydrogen peroxide (HO) in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) under different operational conditions due to in situ generation of HO-peroxidase. The complete biodegradation and mineralization of 50 mg/L atrazine was achieved in the SBR with a biomass concentration of 328 mg/L stimulated with 10 mM of HO. The presence of HO in the SBR induced the generation of HO-peroxidase resulted in acceleration of atrazine biodegradation.

Air pollution and hospital admissions due to deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in Ahvaz, Iran.

There are limited studies on the relation between short-term exposure to air pollutants and the risk of deep venous thrombosis (DVT). The aim of this study was to determine the relation between the concentration of these pollutants and the risk of hospital admissions due to DVT in Ahvaz, which is one of the world's highly polluted cities. Daily data on pollutants including O, NO, NO, SO, CO, PM, and PMand DVT hospital admissions were collected from2008until 2018.

Neuronal Network Topology Indicates Distinct Recovery Processes after Stroke.

Despite substantial recent progress in network neuroscience, the impact of stroke on the distinct features of reorganizing neuronal networks during recovery has not been defined. Using a functional connections-based approach through 2-photon in vivo calcium imaging at the level of single neurons, we demonstrate for the first time the functional connectivity maps during motion and nonmotion states, connection length distribution in functional connectome maps and a pattern of high clustering in motor and premotor cortical networks that is disturbed in stroke and reconstitutes partially in recovery. Stroke disrupts the network topology of connected inhibitory and excitatory neurons with distinct patterns in these 2 cell types and in different cortical areas.

To Study the Anti-cancer Effects of Shigella Flexneri in AspC-1 Pancreatic Cancer Cell Line in Approach to Bax and bcl-2 Genes.

Introduction: Cancer is the uncontrolled division of cells and can be caused by genetic or environmental factors. Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest among all cancers. The role of bacteria as an anticancer agent dates back to almost 100 years ago.

Expression Profile of miRNA-17-3p and miRNA-17-5p Genes in Gastric Cancer Patients with Helicobacter pylori Infection.

Background: The most common chronic bacterial infection is Helicobacter pylori. The connection between chronic H. pylori infection and gastric cancer is recognized.

A flow through device for simultaneous dielectrophoretic cell trapping and AC electroporation.

Isolation of cells and their transfection in a controlled manner is an integral step in cell biotechnology. Electric field approaches such as dielectrophoresis (DEP) offers a more viable method for targeted immobilization of cells without any labels. For transfection of cells to incorporate exogenous materials, electrical methods such as electroporation, are preferred over chemical and viral delivery methods since they minimally affect cell viability and can target many types.

Epigenetic modulation of BRCA-1 and MGMT genes, and histones H4 and H3 are associated with breast tumors.

Aberrant patterns in promoter methylation of tumor-suppressor genes and posttranslational modifications of histone proteins are considered as major features of malignancy. In this study, we aimed to investigate promoter methylation of three tumor-suppressor genes (BRCA-1, MGMT, and P16) and three histone marks (H3K9ac, H3K18ac, and H4K20me3) in patients with breast tumors. This case-control study included 27 patients with malignant breast tumors (MBT) and 31 patients with benign breast tumors (BBT).

Cost-effective Fabrication of Chitosan Microneedles for Transdermal Drug Delivery.

In this paper we present fabrication of hollow and solid chitosan microneedles using a recently proposed low-cost and cleanroom-free fabrication method called Cross-Over Lines (COL) laser engraving. COL engraving is achieved using a commercial CO laser-cutter to create microneedle molds on acrylic sheet. PDMS is then casted on the acrylic sheet microneedle mold to create base PDMS microneedles which are then used to generate other polymeric needles.

Low-cost metamaterial-on-paper chemical sensor.

We present a disposable low cost paper-based metamaterial for sensing liquids based on their dielectric properties. The sensor is based on resonance shift due to the change in the effective capacitance of each resonator in the metamaterial array. Key novelty in the design is the implementation of metamaterial on low cost and ubiquitous paper substrate.

Construction of human anti-tetanus single-chain variable fragment applying SYMPLEX technology.

Background: Human monoclonal antibodies are important molecules in clinical research. Current Limitations of mAb technologies namely instability of immortalized B-cell line and probability of forming unusual VH-VL pairs in phage-display method led to mAbs technology based on single plasma cell called ``SYMPLEX''.

Objective: In this method, cognate VH and VL fragments generated from individual antibody genes exactly the same as natural ones.

Mechanical or cold lateral compaction: The incidence of dentinal defects.

Background: The incidence of dentinal defects may influence the outcome of root canal treatment. The aims of this study were to evaluate and compare the incidence of dentinal defects following root canal obturation with two different techniques.

Materials And Methods: A total of 110 mesial roots of human mandibular first molars were selected.

Stem Cell Transplant in Severe Glanzmann Thrombasthenia in an Adult Patient.

Glanzmann thrombasthenia is an inherited auto-somal recessive disorder characterized by normal platelet count but lack of platelet aggregation due to absence of platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa. The disease usually is associated with mild bleeding, but severe fatal hemorrhage may occur. Allogeneic stem cell transplant is the only curative method of treatment.

Preparation and characterization of triple shape memory composite foams.

Foams prepared from shape memory polymers (SMPs) offer the potential for low density materials that can be triggered to deploy with a large volume change, unlike their solid counterparts that do so at near-constant volume. While examples of shape memory foams have been reported in the past, they have been limited to dual SMPs: those polymers featuring one switching transition between an arbitrarily programmed shape and a single permanent shape established by constituent crosslinks. Meanwhile, advances by SMP researchers have led to several approaches toward triple- or multi-shape polymers that feature more than one switching phase and thus a multitude of temporary shapes allowing for a complex sequence of shape deployments.

Properties of triple shape memory composites prepared via polymerization-induced phase separation.

Research in the field of shape memory polymers has recently witnessed the introduction of increasing complexity of material response, including such phenomena as triple/multishape behavior, temperature memory, and reversible actuation. Ordinarily, such complexity in physical behaviour is achieved through comparable complexity in material composition and synthesis. Seeking to achieve a triple shape behaviour with a simple route to materials synthesis, we introduce here a method that utilizes polymerization induced phase separation (PIPS) to yield the requisite combination of microstructure and composition.

Construction of scFv library of human antibodies against tetanus toxin.

Background: Over the last three decades, monoclonal antibodies have become powerful therapeutics and diagnostics tools. Progress in the antibody engineering, and the appearance of great selection technology such as phage display has made human antibodies production possible against antigens with high affinities.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to construct an immune antibody library from a vaccinated donor against tetanus toxin.

Characterization of the geometry of negative dielectrophoresis traps for particle immobilization in digital microfluidic platforms.

This paper studies the effect of dielectrophoresis on particle manipulation and immobilization in digital microfluidic (DMF) devices. The dimensions of negative dielectrophoresis (nDEP) traps in the form of circular and square shapes are characterized using numerical and experimental approaches. These efforts will result in defining lifting and trapping zones, the ratio of which is shown to remain constant for trap sizes larger than 40 μm.

Generation and analysis of bacteriorhodopsin mutants with the potential for biotechnological applications.

The properties of bacteriorhodopsin (BR) can be manipulated by genetic engineering. Therefore, by the methods of gene engineering, Asp85 was replaced individually by two other amino acids (D85V, D85S). The resulting recombinant proteins were assembled into soybean vesicles retinylated to form functional BR-like nano-particles.

Distribution of hepatitis C virus genotypes amongst the beta-thalassemia patients in North of Iran.

Beta-thalassemia patients have high prevalence for HCV infection. In developing countries, HCV antibody is reported to be high in this group of patients. This study carried out to determine the distribution of HCV genotypes amongst the beta-thalassemia patients in North of Iran.