Biochemical characterization of digestive amylase of wheat bug, Eurygaster maura (Hemiptera: Scutelleridae)

Biochemical characterization of  -amylase in the midgut and salivary glands of Eurygaster maura was conducted. Results showed that -amylase activities were present in the salivary glands and gut. The activity of -amylase in the midgut and in the salivary glands was 0.098 and 0.057 U/ml, respectively. The pH of salivary glands and the gut was determined to be in the range of 5- 5.5 (for the salivary glands) and in the range of 6-6.5 (for the gut), using staining indicator. The optimum pH and temperature for salivary glands and midgut amylase activity was 6-7 and 35-40ºC, respectively. The stability of amylase was highest in the acidic pH (4-5). Ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA), urea, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and Mg2+ inhibited the enzyme activity but, NaCl and KCl enhanced enzyme activity. Based on linear regression analysis of reciprocal starch concentration versus reciprocal amylase activity Km and Vmax were 0.11% and 0.04 mM maltose/min for midgut amylase and 0.298% and 0.071 mM maltose/min for salivary amylase, respectively. Sodium dodecyl sulfate electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) showed that both midgut and salivary glands contain isozymes

Investigation of the impact of excavation (reinforced) on the seismic behavior of adjacent steel structures under the influence of near-fault and far-fault earthquakes

Every year, as a result of earthquake, abundant losses may be created as result of roof motion and sliding and rupture. Under normal conditions, the ground and soils forming the ground tolerate and transfer the existing stresses and any kind of action like excavation and release of trench and applying dynamic load could distort the balance of stresses and endanger stability of roof. In this study, behavior of a steel building in adjacency of excavation is studied. The pit is stabled using hybrid system of pinching and anchoring and is studied before and after excavation under the effect of far and near-fault earthquakes with regard to soil-structure interaction. The results obtained from nonlinear dynamic analysis of time history of two said spectrums showed that the momentum of floor in the structure after excavation is increased compared to the time before excavation. The momentum of floor in the desired structure in near-fault earthquake has been increased compared to far-fault earthquake before excavation compared to the time after excavation. However, the overall drift of floors in the structure before excavation in near-fault earthquakes has been increased more than far-fault earthquakes.Keywords: excavation, earthquake, far and near-fault zone, dynamic behavior, soil-structure interaction, steel structur

Pulmonary Nocardiosis in Suspected Tuberculosis Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Cross-Sectional Studies

Background: nocardiosis is an opportunistic infectious disease in immunocompromised patients. The most common form of nocardiosis infection in humans is pulmonary nocrdiosis caused by inhaling Nocardia species from the environment. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the pulmonary nocardiosis in patients with suspected tuberculosis using systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: We conducted a systematic search for cross-sectional studies focused on the pulmonary nocardiosis among patients with pulmonary tuberculosis based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) published from January 2001 to October 2019. The search was conducted in MEDLINE/PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, Science Direct databases, and Iranian databases. Medical subject headings (MeSH) and text words were searched: "pulmonary nocardiosis", "nocardiosis", OR "nocardial infection", "pulmonary nocardial infections/agents", AND "pulmonary tuberculosis", OR "pulmonary TB", AND "Iran". Two of the reviewers enrolled independently articles published in English and Persian languages according to the inclusion and the exclusion criteria. Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software (Version 3.3.070) was used for meta-analysis. Results: Only 4 studies met the eligibility criteria. The pulmonary nocardiosis prevalence varied from 1.7 to 6.7. The combined prevalence of nocardiosis among patients with suspected pulmonary tuberculosis in Iran was 4.8 (95 CI: 3-7.3, Q=5.8, Z=12.7). No heterogeneity was observed between studies because I2 was 48.3. N. cyriacigeorgica and N. asteroides were reported as the prevalent isolates, respectively. Conclusions: This review showed in patients suspected TB when they were negative in all diagnosis laboratory tests, nocardiosis cases which be considered. © 2020 Susan MM., et al

Detection of COVID-19 Using Heart Rate and Blood Pressure: Lessons Learned from Patients with ARDS

The world has been affected by COVID-19 coronavirus. At the time of this study, the number of infected people in the United States is the highest globally (7.9 million infections). Within the infected population, patients diagnosed with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are in more life-threatening circumstances, resulting in severe respiratory system failure. Various studies have investigated the infections to COVID-19 and ARDS by monitoring laboratory metrics and symptoms. Unfortunately, these methods are merely limited to clinical settings, and symptom-based methods are shown to be ineffective. In contrast, vital signs (e.g., heart rate) have been utilized to early-detect different respiratory diseases in ubiquitous health monitoring. We posit that such biomarkers are informative in identifying ARDS patients infected with COVID-19. In this study, we investigate the behavior of COVID-19 on ARDS patients by utilizing simple vital signs. We analyze the long-term daily logs of blood pressure and heart rate associated with 70 ARDS patients admitted to five University of California academic health centers (containing 42506 samples for each vital sign) to distinguish subjects with COVID-19 positive and negative test results. In addition to the statistical analysis, we develop a deep neural network model to extract features from the longitudinal data. Using only the first eight days of the data, our deep learning model is able to achieve 78.79% accuracy to classify the vital signs of ARDS patients infected with COVID-19 versus other ARDS diagnosed patients

Molecular detection of TEM broad spectrum β-lactamase in clinical isolates of Escherichia coli

Resistance to β-lactam antibiotics, along with clinical isolates, frequently results to production of β- lactamase enzymes. In recent years, the production of extended spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) among clinical isolates, especially Escherichia coli has greatly increased. On the other hand, β lactamase genes have several subfamilies, and designing universal primers could be valuable to detect all of them. The beta lactamase enzyme producing E. coli, resistant to β-lactam antibiotics, created many problems for the patients. The TEM gene is responsible for β-lactamase resistance. The purpose of this study was to find out the percentage of E. coli strains that carry TEM in genes. In total, 500 clinical samples were collected from different Hospitals in Tehran. All the samples were isolated on EMB and MacConkey agar and incubated at 37°C for 24 h. The identification was carried out by conventional biochemical tests. Out of the 500 samples, 200 were identified as E. coli. The TEM gene was determined by PCR method on the isolates, which were already identified as Phenotypic by disk diffusion agar and combined disk. Out of the 200 isolated E. coli strains, 128 (64%) were producing ESBls. The PCR results show that 74 isolates of E. coli (57.8%) had the TEM gene. Our findings show that the majority of the ESBL positive clinical isolates of E. coli carried the TEM gene.Key words: Escherichia coli, β-lactamase enzymes, TEM-type extended spectrum beta-lactamases

Biodiversity of order Zoantharia in the Persian Gulf: Hormoz Island

The order Zoantharia (Zoanthids) is one of the most neglected orders of Cnidarians in the Persian Gulf. The present study aims to investigate the biodiversity of this order with morphological and molecular examination in Hormoz Island. For this purpose 34 colonies of zoanthids with variety of shape and colors have been collected of intertidal and shallow water region of Hormoz Island. After sampling, morphological characteristic of each specimen were recorded based in situ photographs. Then DNA was extracted using the CTAB- Chloroform method and mt 16s rDNA gene fragment was amplified and sequenced. The results of preliminary morphological identification integrated with mitochondrial marker sequencing demonstrated the presence of at least three different species in Hormoz Island; Zoanthus sansibaricus, Palythoa cf. mutuki and Palythoa tuberculosa. Although at first sight, morphological characteristics were not successful to identify zoanthid to the species level, after molecular identification they establish as reliable criteria to identify and delineate species

Atonic Postpartum Hemorrhage: Blood Loss, Risk Factors, and Third Stage Management

AbstractObjectiveAtonic postpartum hemorrhage rates have increased in many industrialized countries in recent years. We examined the blood loss, risk factors, and management of the third stage of labour associated with atonic postpartum hemorrhage.MethodsWe carried out a case-control study of patients in eight tertiary care hospitals in Canada between January 2011 and December 2013. Cases were defined as women with a diagnosis of atonic postpartum hemorrhage, and controls (without postpartum hemorrhage) were matched with cases by hospital and date of delivery. Estimated blood loss, risk factors, and management of the third stage labour were compared between cases and controls. Conditional logistic regression was used to adjust for confounding.ResultsThe study included 383 cases and 383 controls. Cases had significantly higher mean estimated blood loss than controls. However, 16.7% of cases who delivered vaginally and 34.1% of cases who delivered by Caesarean section (CS) had a blood loss of < 500 mL and < 1000 mL, respectively; 8.2% of controls who delivered vaginally and 6.7% of controls who delivered by CS had blood loss consistent with a diagnosis of postpartum hemorrhage. Factors associated with atonic postpartum hemorrhage included known protective factors (e.g., delivery by CS) and risk factors (e.g., nulliparity, vaginal birth after CS). Uterotonic use was more common in cases than in controls (97.6% vs. 92.9%, P < 0.001). Delayed cord clamping was only used among those who delivered vaginally (7.7% cases vs. 14.6% controls, P = 0.06).ConclusionThere is substantial misclassification in the diagnosis of atonic postpartum hemorrhage, and this could potentially explain the observed temporal increase in postpartum hemorrhage rates

Serological Survey of Avian Influenza (H9N2) in Commercial Ostrich Farms in Iran, 2015

The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of avian influenzaH9N2 subtype in the industrial ostrich farms and its geographical distribution. This cross-sectional study was conducted from January to June 2015. A total of 40 farms were selected from different provinces of Iran, from each of which 11 ostriches (n=440) were sampled. The sera samples were examined using 4 hemagglutination units of H9N2 antigens. A frequency distribution was used to describe the responses to the survey questions. The mean titers between provinces were compared using one-way analysis of variance. According to the results, 21 (47.5%) out of 40 farms and 108 (24.5%) out of 440 ostriches tested positive in the HI-H9N2 test. There were statistically significant differences between the mean titers of samples in different provinces (

Stress distribution and the fragility of supercooled melts

We formulate a minimal ansatz for local stress distribution in a solid that includes the possibility of strongly anharmonic short-length motions. We discover a broken-symmetry metastable phase that exhibits an aperiodic, frozen-in stress distribution. This aperiodic metastable phase is characterized by many distinct, nearly degenerate configurations. The activated transitions between the configurations are mapped onto the dynamics of a long range classical Heisenberg model with 6-component spins and anisotropic couplings. We argue the metastable phase corresponds to a deeply supercooled non-polymeric, non-metallic liquid, and further establish an order parameter for the glass-to-crystal transition. The spin model itself exhibits a continuous range of behaviors between two limits corresponding to frozen-in shear and uniform compression/dilation respectively. The two regimes are separated by a continuous transition controlled by the anisotropy in the spin-spin interaction, which is directly related to the Poisson ratio $\sigma$ of the material. The latter ratio and the ultra-violet cutoff of the theory determine the liquid configurational entropy. Our results suggest that liquid's fragility depends on the Poisson ratio in a non-monotonic way. The present ansatz provides a microscopic framework for computing the configurational entropy and relaxational spectrum of specific substances.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, Final version published in J Phys Chem