Antifungal Activity of Dried Extracts of Anise (Pimpinella anisum L.) and Star anise (Illicium verum Hook. f.) Against Dermatophyte and Saprophyte Fungi

Background: Medicinal plants synthesize a vast array of secondary metabolites that are important for human life. For medicinal purpose, antimicrobial activity of substances derived from plant extracts has been recognized for many years. Pimpinella anisum L.(Apiaceae) and Illicium verum Hook. f. (Illiciaceae) plant species, have been used for treatment of infectious diseases in Iranian traditional medicine. Objective: In this study methanol extracts of Pimpinella anisum L. (Apiaceae) and Illicium verum Hook. f. (Illiciaceae), were tested for their potential antifungal activities. Methods: Methanolic extracts were dried by freeze drying method, Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) was was determined according to agar dilution method and Minimum Fungicidal Concentration (MFC) was determined by incorporating various concentrations of extracts (2-256 mg/ml) in Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA) in tubes against 4 dermatophyte and one saprophyte fungi. Results: The extracts of anise seeds inhibited only dermatophyte species, while extracts of star anise fruits inhibited growth of all dermatophytes and saprophytes. MIC and MFC for each extracts were different and MFC was higher than MIC for all species. Conclusion: As a result of this experiment, these plants can be candidate for further studies due to their antifungal potencies

The effect of Pogostone on viability, membrane integrity, and apoptosis of liver cancer cells

OBJECTIVE: The incidence of liver cancer is still high in many countries, including Iran. Drug resistance and various side effects are the main obstacles to treating this cancer. Herbs, which are traditionally used, are now widely regarded as treatment options for cancer. Pogostone is a natural substance isolated from Indian mint (Pogostemon cablin) and has various medicinal activities. This study aimed to determine the effect of Pogostone on liver cancer cell line (viability, membrane integrity, and apoptosis). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The liver cancer cell line was prepared from Pasteur Institute of Iran and treated with appropriate concentrations of Pogostone. Cytotoxicity was determined by MTT, trypan blue, and lactate dehydrogenase assay. Apoptosis induction was evaluated by diphenylamine assay, Annexin V-FITC staining and a Real-time PCR test. Data were analyzed by SPSS statistical software using Tukey’s test one-way analysis of variance. RESULTS: After all three time periods, a significant decrease in viability was observed (p <0.05) in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. The cytotoxicity of Pogostone to liver cancer cells was in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. Pogostone significantly induced apoptosis compared to control cells (p<0.05). Treatment of liver cancer cells with Pogostone significantly reduced Bcl-2 gene expression (p<0.05). On the other hand, expression of all three Bax, p53, and caspase 3 genes showed a significant increase after treatment (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Pogostone had a concentration- and time-dependent toxic effect on liver cancer cells. It induced apoptosis by increasing the Bax to Bcl-2 ratio

Level Crossing Analysis of Burgers Equation in 1+1 Dimensions

We investigate the average frequency of positive slope $\nu_{\alpha}^{+}$, crossing the velocity field $u(x)- \bar u = \alpha$ in the Burgers equation. The level crossing analysis in the inviscid limit and total number of positive crossing of velocity field before creation of singularities are given. The main goal of this paper is to show that this quantity, $\nu_{\alpha}^{+}$, is a good measure for the fluctuations of velocity fields in the Burgers turbulence.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Energy Performance of Advanced Reboiled and Flash Stripper Configurations for CO2 Capture Using Monoethanolamine

CO2 capture by absorption using amine solvents has the potential to significantly reduce the CO2 emissions from fossil-fuel power plants. One of the major costs of this technology is the energy required for solvent regeneration. Complex process configurations claim to have promising potential to reduce the energy required for solvent regeneration. In this work, the effect of flow-sheet complexity is explored by studying two advanced stripping flow sheets: an advanced flash stripper and an advanced reboiled stripper. Both advanced configurations recover the stripping steam heat by means of a heat integration comprised of cold- and warm-rich solvent bypasses. The advanced configurations are simulated and optimized in Aspen Plus V.8.4 using 7 m monoethanolamine (MEA) with lean loading from 0.15 to 0.38 (mol CO2/mol MEA). The rich loading associated with each lean loading is determined by simulating the absorber providing 90% capture from flue gas with 4 mol % CO2, typical of a natural gas-fired turbine. The results are compared to a simple stripper in terms of total equivalent work. Both the advanced reboiled stripper and the advanced flash stripper require 12% less equivalent work than a simple stripper. The associated cold-rich and warm-rich bypasses for the optimum cases are, respectively, 20% and 50% for the advanced reboiled stripper and 15% and 35% for the advanced flash stripper

Overall Survival by Response to First-line Induction Treatment with Atezolizumab plus Platinum-based Chemotherapy or Placebo plus Platinum-based Chemotherapy for Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma

Standard-of-care first-line treatment for metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) is platinum-based chemotherapy (CTx). Maintenance immunotherapy is a treatment option for patients without progressive disease (PD) after induction CTx. IMvigor130 was a randomised, phase 3 study evaluating atezolizumab plus platinum-based CTx (arm A), atezolizumab monotherapy (arm B), or placebo plus platinum-based CTx (arm C) as first-line treatment for mUC. The primary progression-free survival (PFS) analysis showed a statistically significant PFS benefit favouring arm A versus arm C, which did not translate into overall survival (OS) benefit at the final OS analysis. We report exploratory analyses based on response to combination induction treatment (arm A vs arm C) using final OS data. Post-induction OS was analysed for patients without PD during induction (4-6 CTx cycles) who received at least one dose of single-agent atezolizumab/placebo maintenance treatment. Post-progression OS was analysed for patients with PD during induction CTx. Addition of atezolizumab to CTx did not impact OS outcomes, regardless of response to induction CTx, with hazard ratios of 0.84 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.63-1.10) for patients without PD and 0.75 (95% CI 0.54-1.05) for those with PD during induction CTx. Treatment effects appeared to be greatest for patients treated with cisplatin and for those with PD-L1-high tumours. Patient summary: The IMvigor130 trial showed that addition of atezolizumab to chemotherapy (CTx) did not improve survival over CTx alone in patients with bladder cancer. Overall, patients whose cancer did not progress during initial treatment tended to live longer than patients whose cancer did progress, but addition of atezolizumab to CTx did not help either group live longer in comparison to CTx alone. However, the results suggest that patients who received a certain CTx drug (cisplatin) or who had high levels of a marker called PD-L1 in their tumour may get the most improvement from addition of atezolizumab to CTx. The IMvigor130 trial is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT02807636. (c) 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of European Association of Urology. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Homozygous Missense Variants in NTNG2, Encoding a Presynaptic Netrin-G2 Adhesion Protein, Lead to a Distinct Neurodevelopmental Disorder.

NTNG2 encodes netrin-G2, a membrane-anchored protein implicated in the molecular organization of neuronal circuitry and synaptic organization and diversification in vertebrates. In this study, through a combination of exome sequencing and autozygosity mapping, we have identified 16 individuals (from seven unrelated families) with ultra-rare homozygous missense variants in NTNG2; these individuals present with shared features of a neurodevelopmental disorder consisting of global developmental delay, severe to profound intellectual disability, muscle weakness and abnormal tone, autistic features, behavioral abnormalities, and variable dysmorphisms. The variants disrupt highly conserved residues across the protein. Functional experiments, including in silico analysis of the protein structure, in vitro assessment of cell surface expression, and in vitro knockdown, revealed potential mechanisms of pathogenicity of the variants, including loss of protein function and decreased neurite outgrowth. Our data indicate that appropriate expression of NTNG2 plays an important role in neurotypical development