A comparative study on the functional response of Wolbachia-infected and uninfected forms of the parasitoid wasp Trichogramma brassicae

Trichogramma species (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) are haplo-diploid egg parasitoids that are frequently used as biological control agents against lepidopteran pests. These wasps display two reproductive modes, including arrhenotoky (bisexuality) and thelytoky (unisexuality). Thelytokous forms are often associated with the presence of endosymbiotic Wolbachia bacteria. The use of thelytokous wasps has long been considered as a way to enhance the efficacy of biological control. The present study investigates the potential of a thelytokous Wolbachiainfected and an arrhenotokous uninfected Trichogramma brassicae Bezdenko strain as inundative biocontrol agents by evaluating their functional response towards different egg densities of the factitious host, the Angoumois grain moth, Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae). The results revealed a type II functional response for both strains in which parasitism efficiency decreases with host egg density because of an increasing host handling time. A model with an indicator variable was used to compare the parameters of Holling’s disc equation in different data sets. It was demonstrated that the two strains did not differ in host attack rate. However, the Wolbachia-infected strain did have an increased host handling time when compared to the bisexual strain. Some applied aspects of the findings are discusse

Concurrent papillary thyroid cancer and parathyroid adenoma as a rare condition: A case report

Although the pathological relationship between parathyroid and thyroid diseases is common, an association between parathyroid adenoma and thyroid cancer is rare. Concomitant thyroid cancer in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) has been reported at varying frequencies. WE present here a 23-year-old man who had papillary thyroid carcinoma in the right thyroid lobe and a parathyroid adenoma in the left thyroid lobe, which were confirmed surgically. Copyright © 2012 Via Medica

Effect of malathion insecticide on liver tissue and enzymes of Rutilus rutilus caspicus of the Caspian Sea

Malathion is an organophosphate insecticide which uses to destroy insects and pests of fruit trees, ornamental plants and agricultural corps. In the present study, effect of Malathion on liver and selected enzymes (SGOT, SGPT and ALP) was studied in Caspian Roach (Rutilus rutilus caspicus). Four treatments with three replications were designed to carry out the survey. Four groups of experimental fish (containing 30 fish in each group) were exposed to different concentrations of Malathion. e. 0, 0.01, 0.05 and 0.1 ppm respectively for 23 days. Blood collection was done in 3rd, 13th and 23th after exposure to Malathion and also 30 days after recovery in clean water and enzymes were measured using standard kits. Also liver tissues were isolated to histological examination. Results showed that tissues of control group (0ppm) were normal and there were no damages, yet there were hepatocytes degeneration, picnotic in nuclear, hepatocytes vacuolization, vascular congestion and sinusoid congestion in liver of other groups. Tissue damages were increased in higher malathion concentration and over time. Results related to enzymes showed that there were no significant differences in SGOT of fish treated with low concentrations of malathion (0.01 and 0.05 ppm) and control group but it was increased in highest concentration (p<0.05). Yet, SGPT increased significantly after passing 23 days in all fish exposed to malathion But ALP changes trend was decreasing

Embeddings of (proper) power graphs of finite groups

The (proper) power graph of a group is a graph whose vertex set is the set of all (nontrivial) elements of the group and two distinct vertices are adjacent if one is a power of the other. Various kinds of planarity of (proper) power graphs of groups are discussed

MHC class II deficiency: Report of a novel mutation and special review

The MHC II deficiency is a rare autosomal recessive primary immunodeficiency syndrome with increased susceptibility to respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, failure to thrive and early mortality. This syndrome is caused by mutations in transcription regulators of the MHC II gene and results in development of blind lymphocytes due to the lack of indicatory MHC II molecules. Despite homogeneity of clinical manifestations of patients with MHC II deficiency, the genetic defects underlying this disease are heterogeneous. Herein, we report an Iranian patient with MHC II deficiency harbouring a novel mutation in RFXANK and novel misleading clinical features. He had ataxic gait and dysarthria from 30 months of age. Epidemiology, clinical and immunological features, therapeutic options and prognosis of patients with MHC II are reviewed in this paper. © 2017 SEICAP. Published by Elsevier Espana, ˜ S.L.U. All rights reserved

Study of -629C/A polymorphism of cholesteryl ester transfer protein gene in statin effects on plasma high density lipoprotein cholesterol level

Background and aim: Cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) plays pivotal role in HDL metabolism and in reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) pathway. CETP gene variants such as -629C/A that affect HDL cholesterol directly modulates CETP gene tranh1ional activity. This study was aimed to determine influence of -629C/A polymorphism of CETP in statin effects with regard to plasma HDL cholesterol levels. Methods: In this deh1ive-analytical study 196 adult patients with LDL-C more than 120mg/dL were divided into two groups base on lovastatin and atorvastatin using. Lipid profile was measured in all subjects before and after treatment and -629C/A polymorphism of CETP promoter was studied using polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism method. Data were compared with paired t-test and ANOVA in SPSS software. Results: Cholesterol was decreased and HDL was increased in AA genotype more than other genotypes by lovastatin but ApoA1 was increased in CC genotype. ApoA1 also was increased in CC genotype more than AA or AC genotypes by atorvastatin. Conclusion: In CC genotype lovastatin and specially atorvastatin increased ApoA1 in HDL particles more than other genotypes. Therefore treatment with lovastatin and atorvastatin is more effective in patients with CC genotype for raising HDL particles activity

Ultrasound Image Filtering and Reconstruction Using DCT/IDCT Filter Structure

In this paper, a new recursive structure based on the convolution model of discrete cosine transform (DCT) for designing of a finite impulse response (FIR) digital filter is proposed. In our derivation, we start with the convolution model of DCT-II to use its Z-transform for the proposed filter structure perspective. Moreover, using the same algorithm, a filter base implementation of the inverse DCT (IDCT) for image reconstruction is developed. The computational time experiments of the proposed DCT/IDCT filter(s) demonstrate that the proposed filters achieve faster elapsed CPU time compared to the direct recursive structures and recursive algorithms for the DCT/IDCT with Arbitrary Length. Experimental results on clinical ultrasound images and comparisons with classical Wiener filter, non-local mean (NLM) filter and total variation (TV) algorithms are used to validate the improvements of the proposed approaches in both noise reduction and reconstruction performance for ultrasound images

Investigating the association between allergic diseases and COVID-19 in 400 Iranian patients

INTRODUCTION: Allergic diseases could play a role of a predisposing factor for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The aim of this study was to investigate allergic comorbidity and its association in COVID-19 patients. METHODS: Demographic data, clinical manifestations, laboratory reports, and radiologic findings, together with underlying comorbidity of patients, were studies. Allergic diseases were identified by using the standard GA2LEN questionnaire. The severity of COVID-19 was assessed by a visual analog scale (VAS) and an intensive care unit (ICU) report. RESULTS: Out of 400 COVID-19 patients admitted in the hospital, 158 (39.5%) presented with different allergic diseases, and a reverse association was observed between having allergic comorbidity and severity of COVID-19 infection (P = 0.005, relative risk = 0.96; 95% Confidence Interval (95% CI): 0.77-1.19). The respective frequency of asthma, allergic rhinitis (AR), chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), atopic dermatitis, chronic urticaria, and food or drug allergy was 7.3%, 16%, 1.8%, 5%, 10% and 13.3%. Significantly, only AR was reversely associated with the severity of COVID-19 (P = 0.02, relative risk = 0.45; 95% CI: 0.77-1.19). Additionally, 43% of the patients presented hypoxemia, and 93.5% had chest CT scan involvement. Interestingly, patients with allergic diseases had significantly lower hypoxemia and chest CT involvement as compared with non-allergic patients (P = 0.002 and 0.003, respectively). CONCLUSION: The results of this study established that allergic diseases were not determined to be a predisposing factor for the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) due to coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Significantly, AR patients developed mild clinical manifestations of COVID-19 and admitted to ICU as compared to non-AR patients

Isofuranodiene, a natural sesquiterpene isolated from wild celery (Smyrnium olusatrum L.), protects rats against acute ischemic stroke

The myrrh-like furanosesquiterpene isofuranodiene (IFD) is the main constituent of wild celery (Smyrnium olusatrum L., Apiaceae), an overlooked vegetable that was cultivated during the Roman Empire. In the present study, we investigated the protective effects of IFD pre-treatment against oxidative stress and inflammatory response in an animal model of ischemic stroke. IFD was isolated by the crystallization of Smyrnium olusatrum essential oil, and its structure and purity were confirmed by NMR and HPLC analyses. Acute pre-treatment of IFD (10 mg/kg i.p.) significantly reduced the levels of the inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and TNF-α, the expression of pNF-κB/NF-κB, and the lipid peroxidation indicator MDA. Finally, IFD boosted a faster recovery and better scores in grid-walking and modified neurological severity scores (mNSS) tests. Taken together, these findings indicate IFD as a promising lead compound for the discovery of new treatments of brain ischemia

Comparing performance of dry and gel EEG electrodes in VR using MI paradigms

Brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) are an emerging technology with numerous applications. Electroencephalogram (EEG) motor imagery (MI) is among the most common BCI paradigms and has been used extensively in healthcare applications such as post-stroke rehabilitation. Using a Virtual Reality (VR) game, Push Me, we con-ducted a pilot study to compare MI accuracy with Gel or active-dry EEG electrodes. The motivation was to (1) investigate the MI paradigm in a VR environment and (2) compare MI accuracy using active dry and gel electrodes with different Machine Learning (ML)classifications (SVM, KNN and RF). The results indicate that while gel-based electrodes, in combination with SVM, achieved the high-est accuracy, dry electrode EEG caps achieved similar outcomes, especially with SVM and KNN models