Quorum sensing blockade in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: biodegrading of N-Acyl homoserine lactone by Bacillus cereus UT26 and its consequent effects on their interaction

Bacteria use a chemical language to communicate with each other which enables them to synchronize gene expression as a result of cell density. This special language which is called quorum sensing (QS) is based on producing and sensing the small signals and eventually leads them to perceive when a minimum population unit is reached. On the contrary, quorum sensing blockade (quorum quenching) has been recently grabbed scientists attention as a promising tool in controlling bacterial pathogens which utilize N-acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) to regulate their virulence factor production. Biodegradation of AHL molecules is an efficient way in QS interrupting which normally happens in the natural environment. In this survey, the effect of Bacillus cereus UT26 strain as an efficient quorum quencher on degrading both signal molecules (C4-HSL and 3oxoC12-HSL) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was investigated. The strain strongly degraded both AHLs and hereby inhibited pyocyanin production in the lab condition. Moreover, co-culture experiments revealed that quorum quenching activity has an important role in interaction between different bacterial species; since the wild type (wt) strain of B. cereus UT26 reached 1000 fold higher growth yield comparing aiiA mutant strain of  which has lost quorum quenching activity by a site directed mutation in AiiA lactonase gene

Analyzing and studying educational pyramid and changes in demographical indices of Tehran students during the school years 2000-2010

One of the effective factors in planning is paying attention to the increase and decrease of student population. In this study, using a variety of resources, it has been attempted that the growth changes and population decrease in the student population of Tehran in a 10-year period and considering the measures such as population density in-class students, the educational staff ratio, academic pyramid, the separation of school, number of classes and other aspects will be dealt with. Obviously, the results and findings of this potential research could be used in educational planning and population policy. In the present study, the method of data collection was done using the quantitative techniques of demography and a variety of statistical calculations. The research findings showed that the student population, number of classes and schools and the staff of ministry of education are being significantly decreased and has been associated with a negative growth rate in all levels

Analyzing and studying educational pyramid and changes in demographical indices of Tehran students during the school years 2000-2010

One of the effective factors in planning is paying attention to the increase and decrease of student population. In this study, using a variety of resources, it has been attempted that the growth changes and population decrease in the student population of Tehran in a 10-year period and considering the measures such as population density in-class students, the educational staff ratio, academic pyramid, the separation of school, number of classes and other aspects will be dealt with. Obviously, the results and findings of this potential research could be used in educational planning and population policy. In the present study, the method of data collection was done using the quantitative techniques of demography and a variety of statistical calculations. The research findings showed that the student population, number of classes and schools and the staff of ministry of education are being significantly decreased and has been associated with a negative growth rate in all levels

Neuroimaging and Analytical Methods for Studying the Pathways from Mild Cognitive Impairment to Alzheimer’s Disease: Protocol for a Rapid Systematic Review

Background Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder commonly associated with deficits of cognition and changes in behavior. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is the prodromal stage of AD that is defined by slight cognitive decline. Not all with MCI progress to AD dementia. Thus, the accurate prediction of progression to Alzheimer’s, particularly in the stage of MCI could potentially offer developing treatments to delay or prevent the transition process. The objective of the present study is to investigate the most recent neuroimaging procedures in the domain of prediction of transition from MCI to AD dementia for clinical applications and to systematically discuss the machine learning techniques used for the prediction of MCI conversion. Methods Electronic databases including PubMed, SCOPUS, and Web of Science will be searched from January 1, 2017, to the date of search commencement to provide a rapid review of the most recent studies that have investigated the prediction of conversion from MCI to Alzheimer’s using neuroimaging modalities in randomized trial or observational studies. Two reviewers will screen full texts of included papers using predefined eligibility criteria. Studies will be included if addressed research on AD dementia and MCI, explained the results in a way that would be able to report the performance measures such as the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. Only studies addressed Alzheimer’s type of dementia and its early-stage MCI using neuroimaging modalities will be included. We will exclude other forms of dementia such as vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia, and Parkinson’s disease. The risk of bias in individual studies will be appraised using an appropriate tool. If feasible, we will conduct a random effects meta-analysis. Sensitivity analyses will be conducted to explore the potential sources of heterogeneity. Discussion The information gathered in our study will establish the extent of the evidence underlying the prediction of conversion to AD dementia from its early stage and will provide a rigorous and updated synthesis of neuroimaging modalities allied with the data analysis techniques used to measure the brain changes during the conversion process

Removal of Reactive Red 141 Dye from Synthetic Wastewater by Electrocoagulation Process: Investigation of Operational Parameters

Release of textile industries waste especially their dying effluent impose a serious pollution on the environment. Reactive dyes are one of the most used dyes which are recalcitrant to conventional treatment processes. In the performed project, the effectiveness of electrocoagulation process was studied on decolorization. RR141 was selected as model dye and treatment process was performed in a simple batch of electrocoagulation (EC) cell using iron electrodes. Central Composite Design (CCD) was used to plan study runs. Experiments were done under 5 levels of various operational parameters at bench scale. Initial concentration of dye was varied among 50 and 500ppm, pH ranging from 4-12; retention time was ranged between 3-30 minutes, 1-3cm was selected as the distance between electrodes, and current intensity studied under the range of 5-30 mA/cm2. EC treatment process of dyestuff wastewater was satisfactory at high levels of current density, pH, and retention time. While increasing the initial dye concentration and electrodes gap had a negative effect on decolorization performance. Determined optimal conditions to treat 200ml of sample were including pH: 9.68, electrode gap: 1.58cm, dye concentration: 180ppm, retention time: 10.82 minutes, and current intensity: 22.76mA/cm2. Successful removal of the model dye about 99.88% was recorded in the mentioned values of variables. Simple design and operation of the experiments can be an interesting option for implementation and applying of inexpensive electrocoagulation treatment process which was successful to reach nearly a complete decolorization

Removal of Reactive Red 141 Dye from Synthetic Wastewater by Electrocoagulation Process: Investigation of Operational Parameters

Release of textile industries waste especially their dying effluent impose a serious pollution on the environment. Reactive dyes are one of the most used dyes which are recalcitrant to conventional treatment processes. In the performed project, the effectiveness of electrocoagulation process was studied on decolorization. RR141 was selected as model dye and treatment process was performed in a simple batch of electrocoagulation (EC) cell using iron electrodes. Central Composite Design (CCD) was used to plan study runs. Experiments were done under 5 levels of various operational parameters at bench scale. Initial concentration of dye was varied among 50 and 500ppm, pH ranging from 4-12; retention time was ranged between 3-30 minutes, 1-3cm was selected as the distance between electrodes, and current intensity studied under the range of 5-30 mA/cm2. EC treatment process of dyestuff wastewater was satisfactory at high levels of current density, pH, and retention time. While increasing the initial dye concentration and electrodes gap had a negative effect on decolorization performance. Determined optimal conditions to treat 200ml of sample were including pH: 9.68, electrode gap: 1.58cm, dye concentration: 180ppm, retention time: 10.82 minutes, and current intensity: 22.76mA/cm2. Successful removal of the model dye about 99.88% was recorded in the mentioned values of variables. Simple design and operation of the experiments can be an interesting option for implementation and applying of inexpensive electrocoagulation treatment process which was successful to reach nearly a complete decolorization

Molecular Targeting of Her-2/neu Protein Is Not Recommended as an Adjuvant Therapy in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Oral Lichen Planus

Purpose: Target therapy against molecular markers of EGFR family has been recently used in the treatment protocol of several diseases. However, the role of Her-2/neu in OSCC is a matter of controversy and more studies are required to clarify the role of Her-2/neu in OSCC. We aimed to investigate the role of Her-2/neu in the process of carcinogenesis in oral epithelium as ELP is a premalignant and OSCC is a malignant lesion, but RLP shows no evidence of premalignancy and malignancy.To our Knowledge, this is the first study comparing Her-2/neu expression in erosive lichen planus (ELP), reticular lichen planus (RLP), and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Methods: 60 samples, including 20 cases of RLP, 20 cases of ELP, and 20 cases of OSCC were evaluated immunohistochemically in this study. Results: Our findings showed that there was not a significant increase in Her-2/neu expression from RLP to ELP and from ELP to OSCC. Therefore, Her-2/neu had no role in differentiating between RLP, ELP and OSCC and this protein does not contribute to the process of carcinogenesis in the oral epithelium. Conclusion: The lack of Her-2/neu overexpression indicates that molecular targeting of Her-2/neu protein is not recommended as an adjuvant therapy in OSCC and OLP

Optimization of electrocoagulation process for efficient removal of ciprofloxacin antibiotic using iron electrode; kinetic and isothermstudies of adsorption

The present study focused on the removal of ciprofloxacin from hospital wastewater using electrocoagulation (EC) process by iron electrode and the kinetic and isotherms of adsorption were investigated. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to evaluate the main effects of parameters, their simultaneous interactions and quadratic effect to achieve the optimum condition for EC process. The maximum removal rate was achieved at the current density of 15 mA·cm−2, initial CIP concentration of 60 mg·L−1, pH 7.5, inter-electrode distance 1.58 cm and electrolyte dose of 0.07 M NaCl within the equilibrium time of 20 min. The obtained experimental results are in good accordance with the Langmuir isotherm model for CIP adsorption on iron hydroxide by predicting themaximum adsorption capacity of 476.19 mg·g−1. The predictedmodel for treatment of synthetic wastewater is in satisfactory agreement with real hospital wastewater treatment. First and second order kinetic modelswere studied to figure out the exactmechanismof the CIP removal using EC process. The obtained results revealed that the second order kinetic model best fitted the experimental results and suggested that the chemisorptionmechanismcontrolled the adsorption of CIP. Under the optimal conditions of EC process, electrode consumption (ELC) and electrical energy consumption (EEC) were found to be 0.0625 g during a single run and 0.522 kWh·m−3, respectively

Correlation of US-7 and US-9 Scores with Disease Activity Score using 28 Joint Counts (DAS28) in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Background: The attentive management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has attracted particular attention. The German 7-joint Ultrasound (US-7) is the first scoring system that combines bone erosions and soft tissue lesions in a single composite scoring system. This study aimed to assess the correlation between US-7 and Disease Activity Score Using 28 Joint Counts (DAS28) in clinically active RA patients. The efficacy of a novel ultrasound score-based system, the US-9 score (joints assessed with US-7 plus knees), was also compared with the standard US-7 score.Methods: All the RA patients referred to the outpatient rheumatology clinic of Ghaem Hospital, Mashhad, Iran, during 2019-2020 were included. 28 joints were clinically examined to calculate DAS28. Nine joints were assessed comprising the German US-7 plus knees using grayscale ultrasonography (GSUS) and power Doppler ultrasonography (PDUS). Retrieved data were analyzed by SPSS software, version 22. The Spearman Correlation test was used to find the correlation between DAS28 and ultrasonographic findings. The statistical significance level was set at P<0.05. Results: This study was composed of thirty-five RA patients with a mean age of 49.1±12.0 years. US-7 synovitis scores in GSUS and PDUS were significantly correlated with DAS28 (P=0.02, r=0.38 and P=0.003, r=0.48, respectively). US-9 synovitis scores in GSUS and PDUS were also significantly correlated with DAS28 (P=0.003, r=0.49 and P=0.006, r=0.45, respectively). The synovitis score measured by GSUS was significantly correlated with the GSUS knee synovial score (P=0.01, r=0.42).Conclusion: Ultrasound assessment of large joints such as knees can be an effective approach to determining RA severity. However, it can be proposed that adding more involved joints into the sonographic assessment does not necessarily provide a better clinical correlation

The Efficacy and Safety of Intrathecal Autologous Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Pilot Study

Purpose: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an uncommon and aggressive neurodegenerative disorder that influences the lower and upper motor neurons. There are low eligible drugs for ALS treatment; in this regard, supplemental and replacement treatments are essential. There are relative studies in the field of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) therapy in ALS, but the different methods, differently used medium, and difference in follow-up periods affect the outcome treatment. Methods: The current survey is a single-center, phase I clinical trial to evaluating the efficacy and safety of autologous bone marrow (BM)-derived MSCs through intrathecal administration in ALS patients. MNCs were isolated from BM specimens and cultured. The clinical outcome was evaluated based Revised Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating (ALSFRS-R) Scale. Results: Each patient received 15±3×106 cells through subarachnoid space. No adverse events (AEs) were detected. Just one patient experienced a mild headache after injection. Following injection, no new intradural cerebrospinal pathology transplant-related was observed. None of the patients’ pathologic disruptions following transplantation were detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The additional analyses have shown the average rate of ALSFRS-R score and forced vital capacity (FVC) reduction have decreased during 10 months following MSCs transplantation versus the pretreatment period, from -5.4±2.3 to -2±3.08 ALSFRS-R points/period (P=0.014) and -12.6±5.22% to -4.8±14.72%/period (P<0.001), respectively. Conclusion: These results have shown that autologous MSCs transplantation reduces the disease’s progression and has favorable safety. Trial Registration: This study performed as a phase I clinical trial (code IRCT20200828048551N1)