A Unified Model of the GABA(A) Receptor Comprising Agonist and Benzodiazepine Binding Sites

We present a full-length α(1)β(2)γ(2) GABA receptor model optimized for agonists and benzodiazepine (BZD) allosteric modulators. We propose binding hypotheses for the agonists GABA, muscimol and THIP and for the allosteric modulator diazepam (DZP). The receptor model is primarily based on the glutamate-gated chloride channel (GluCl) from C. elegans and includes additional structural information from the prokaryotic ligand-gated ion channel ELIC in a few regions. Available mutational data of the binding sites are well explained by the model and the proposed ligand binding poses. We suggest a GABA binding mode similar to the binding mode of glutamate in the GluCl X-ray structure. Key interactions are predicted with residues α(1)R66, β(2)T202, α(1)T129, β(2)E155, β(2)Y205 and the backbone of β(2)S156. Muscimol is predicted to bind similarly, however, with minor differences rationalized with quantum mechanical energy calculations. Muscimol key interactions are predicted to be α(1)R66, β(2)T202, α(1)T129, β(2)E155, β(2)Y205 and β(2)F200. Furthermore, we argue that a water molecule could mediate further interactions between muscimol and the backbone of β(2)S156 and β(2)Y157. DZP is predicted to bind with interactions comparable to those of the agonists in the orthosteric site. The carbonyl group of DZP is predicted to interact with two threonines α(1)T206 and γ(2)T142, similar to the acidic moiety of GABA. The chlorine atom of DZP is placed near the important α(1)H101 and the N-methyl group near α(1)Y159, α(1)T206, and α(1)Y209. We present a binding mode of DZP in which the pending phenyl moiety of DZP is buried in the binding pocket and thus shielded from solvent exposure. Our full length GABA(A) receptor is made available as Model S1

Effect of Fennel (Foeniculum Vulgare Mill.) Used as a Feed Additive on The Egg Quality of Laying Hens Under Heat Stress

In this study, one hundred and twenty 40-wk-old White Leghorn laying hens were submitted to two different thermal conditions (24° C vs. 34° C) and were fed three levels (0, 10, or and 20 g/kg of diet)of fennel fruits (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) as a feed additive in. This study was carried out according to a factorial design consisting of two temperatures and three fennel levels with five 5 replicates each (n = 2 × 3 × 5). Performance, egg production, egg quality, and oxidative product levels (malondialdehyde, MDA, and carbonyl) in the eggs were measured before and after heat exposure. The results showed that the tested temperatures did not affect egg production (p>0.05), but the production of eggs with broken shell and feed intake were affected by heat stress (p0.05), but increased yolk triglyceride levels. Hens that consumed fennel presented lower yolk cholesterol and triglyceride levels (p<0.05). In general, fennel fruit influenced egg yolk cholesterol and triglyceride contents, and because of its antioxidant properties, it may alleviate the adverse effects of heat stress on laying hens

Hybrid UV/COP advanced oxidation process using ZnO as a catalyst immobilized on a stone surface for degradation of acid red 18 dye

Azo dyes are the largest group of synthetic organic dyes which containing the linkage CsbndNdbndNsbndC and used in various industries such as textile industries leather articles, and some foods. Azo dyes are resistant compounds against the biodegradation processes. The purpose of this research was hybrid UV/COP advanced oxidation process using ZnO as a catalyst immobilized on a stone surface for degradation of acid red 18 (AR18) Dye. In the hybrid process using some parameters such as the dye initial concentration, pH, contact time and catalyst concentration, the process efficiency was investigated. In order to the dye removal, the sole ozonation process (SOP), catalytic ozonation process (COP) and photocatalytic process (UV/ZnO) were used. The ZnO nanoparticles were characterized by XRD, SEM and TEM analyses. The maximum dye removal was achieved 97% at the dye initial concentration 25 mg/L, catalyst concentration 3 g/L, contact time 40 min and pH 5. As a real sample, the Yazdbaf textile factory wastewater was selected. After that, the physicochemical quality was evaluated. As well as, in the optimal conditions, the AR18 dye removal efficiency was achieved 65%. The kinetic results demonstrated that the degradation reaction was fitted by pseudo-first-order kinetic. The UV/COP hybrid process had high efficiency for removal of resistant dyes from the textile wastewater. Advantages of this technique were as follows: � ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized as catalyst by thermal method and were immobilized on the stones. � pH changes had no significant effect on the removal efficiency. � In the kinetic studies, the decomposition reaction followed pseudo-first order kinetic. © 2020 The Author

Effect of Fennel (Foeniculum Vulgare Mill.) Used as a Feed Additive on The Egg Quality of Laying Hens Under Heat Stress

ABSTRACT In this study, one hundred and twenty 40-wk-old White Leghorn laying hens were submitted to two different thermal conditions (24° C vs. 34° C) and were fed three levels (0, 10, or and 20 g/kg of diet) of fennel fruits (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) as a feed additive in. This study was carried out according to a factorial design consisting of two temperatures and three fennel levels with five 5 replicates each (n = 2 × 3 × 5). Performance, egg production, egg quality, and oxidative product levels (malondialdehyde, MDA, and carbonyl) in the eggs were measured before and after heat exposure. The results showed that the tested temperatures did not affect egg production (p&gt;0.05), but the production of eggs with broken shell and feed intake were affected by heat stress (p&lt;0.05). The different temperatures also affected egg quality (p&lt;0.05), reducing egg weight (EW), eggshell thickness (EST), eggshell strength (ESS), Haugh units (HU), albumen height (AH), and albumen weight (AW). At the high environmental temperature, MDA and carbonyl egg contents increased (p&lt;0.05), while fennel consumption reduced the values of both parameters. Heat stress had no effect on yolk cholesterol levels (p&gt;0.05), but increased yolk triglyceride levels. Hens that consumed fennel presented lower yolk cholesterol and triglyceride levels (p&lt;0.05). In general, fennel fruit influenced egg yolk cholesterol and triglyceride contents, and because of its antioxidant properties, it may alleviate the adverse effects of heat stress on laying hens

Scoring multiple features to predict drug disease associations using information fusion and aggregation

<p>Prediction of drug–disease associations is one of the current fields in drug repositioning that has turned into a challenging topic in pharmaceutical science. Several available computational methods use network-based and machine learning approaches to reposition old drugs for new indications. However, they often ignore features of drugs and diseases as well as the priority and importance of each feature, relation, or interactions between features and the degree of uncertainty. When predicting unknown drug–disease interactions there are diverse data sources and multiple features available that can provide more accurate and reliable results. This information can be collectively mined using data fusion methods and aggregation operators. Therefore, we can use the feature fusion method to make high-level features. We have proposed a computational method named scored mean kernel fusion (SMKF), which uses a new method to score the average aggregation operator called scored mean. To predict novel drug indications, this method systematically combines multiple features related to drugs or diseases at two levels: the drug–drug level and the drug–disease level. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of drug and disease features as well as data fusion to predict drug–disease interactions. The method was validated against a well-established drug–disease gold-standard dataset. When compared with the available methods, our proposed method outperformed them and competed well in performance with area under cover (AUC) of 0.91, F-measure of 84.9% and Matthews correlation coefficient of 70.31%.</p

A study on the photocatalytic degradation of p-Nitroaniline on glass plates by Thermo-Immobilized ZnO nanoparticle

ZnO nanoparticles have been synthesized via a hydrothermal technique has been utilized for synthesizing ZnO nanoparticles, which had been immobilized on glass plates for the purpose of settling the portion of p-nitroaniline (PNA) removal that can be attained by performing a photocatalytic degradation process (UV/ZnO). In order to evaluate the structural properties of nanoparticles, we have exerted the SEM, TEM, PL, DRS, and XRD analyzes. The highest efficiency for elimination of p-nitroaniline (94/4) was achieved via the utilization of a photocatalytic degradation procedure (UV/ZnO) at the optimal pH of 7, 105 min contact time, at concentration of p-nitroaniline 10 mg/L, with an immobilized dose of 1 g/L for ZnO. The total organic carbon (TOC) removal has been ascertained under the optimal conditions (maximum 72.2). Thus, the photocatalytic degradation procedure (UV/ZnO) is apparently a viable proposal for degrading the organic compounds from aqueous solution. © 2019, © 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC