Cell-Penetrating PEPTIDES (CPPs): A tool in modern biotechnology

     The major limitation in the application of bioactive molecule is their low permeation across plasma membrane. In 1988 it was discovered, that a natural polycationic protein, the trans-acting activator of transcription (TAT) of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1), passed very efficiently through cell membrane of cultured mammalian cells. TAT became known as the first cell penetrating peptide (CPP). CPPs have demonstrated themselves to be capable of delivering biologically active cargo to the cell interior and the vehicular capabilities of CPPs have already been harnessed for use as laboratory tools. Attached to a CPP, therapeutic cargo could be delivered to an intracellular target, thus overcoming the entry restrictions set by the plasma membrane. Since the discovery of TAT, the number of known peptides with cell-penetrating capabilities has grown and in 2003, the first CPP-based drug reached phase ɪɪ clinical trials. In this review we introduce and discuss the current knowledge of CPPs.

The Effects of Urtica dioica and Lamium album Extracts on the Expression Level of Cyclooxygenase-2 and Caspase-3 in the Liver and Kidney of Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats

Background: Diabetes seems to be associated with increased inflammation and induced apoptosis in several tissues. Urtica dioica and Lamium album have shown to possess a variety of beneficial properties like anti-inflammatory effects. In this experimental study, we tried to evaluate the effects of U. dioica and L. album extracts on the expression level of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2; as an inflammation marker) and caspase-3 (CASP-3; as an apoptotic marker) in the liver and kidney tissues of diabetic rats. Methods: Thirty-two male Wistar rats were randomly allocated to four groups: normal control, diabetic control, diabetic treated with U. dioica (100 mg/kg/daily), and diabetic treated with L. album (100 mg/kg/daily) for 28 days. At the end of the study, liver and kidney tissues were harvested and mRNA expression level of COX-2 and CASP-3 was determined by real-time PCR technique. Also, serum glucose was measured. Results: Liver COX-2 mRNA in diabetic rats was significantly higher than normal control rats (P=0.02). However, U. dioica and L. album caused significant decrease in mRNA expression of liver COX-2 in diabetic rats (P=0.015 and P=0.03, respectively). Also, in diabetic rats treated with both extracts, serum glucose was remarkably lower than diabetic control rats (P<0.0001 and P<0.01, respectively). Conclusion: It appears that U. dioica and L. album might decrease liver damage by decreasing the inflammatory effects of COX-2 in streptozocin-induced diabetic rats. Since these plant extracts may influence diabetes by several mechanisms, further research in this field is warranted

Prevalence of group B streptococcus colonization in Iranian pregnant women: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is an important pathogen in newborns and pregnant women. Objective:&nbsp;The present study was carried out to estimate the prevalence of GBS colonization in pregnant women in Iran. Materials and Methods:&nbsp;This systematic review and meta-analysis was based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guideline using the national databases including Society for Information Display, Magiran, Irandoc,Iran Medex, and international databases including MEDLINE, Web of Science, Scopus,PubMed, Science-Direct, Cochrane, Embase, Elton Bryson Stephens Company, Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and Google Scholar, published by 01/30/2017. The I2 index was used to measureheterogeneity between the studies. Results:&nbsp;In a total of 667 documents, 30 (4.49%) were selected. In this study, the prevalence of GBS colonization in 10090 Iranian pregnant women was calculated as 13.65% [confidence interval (CI): 95%: 10.56–17.45]. Based on geographic region,24.63% [CI: 95%: 11.52–45.06] in the West and 8.75% [CI: 95%: 6.43–11.8] in the East were the highest and lowest areas in Iran, respectively, and were statistically significant (p = 0.001). Also, with regards to swapping sampling area, Vaginal with 11.96%, Vaginal and Rectal with 13.62%, and Anal and Vaginal with 25.63% were the least to the greatest, respectively, and were statistically significant (p = 0.001). Conclusion:&nbsp;Therefore, based on the recommendation of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as reported by the Ministry of Health and Medical education, early diagnosis, and screening of high-risk women should be done at 35–37 weeks of pregnancy. Key words: Streptococcus agalactiae, Iran, Pregnancy, Prevalence, Female

Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B virus Infection by Quantitative Chemiluminescent in Tabriz (North West of Iran), 2010-2011

Background: Hepatitis B is considered as one of the most common infectious diseases. The contamination of this virus has caused hygienic problems all over the world. Liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma are most important consequences of this disease. The purpose of this study is to determine the rate of infection in Tabriz North West of Iran.Materials and Methods: This study is carried out, on partial and short time basis between 2010 and 2011, on test results of 21421 examined individuals whom have visited clinics in Tabriz. HBsAg of the samples was analyzed with chemiluminescence apparatus and finally, SPSS software was used to conduct the statistical examination of the results.Results: Among 21421 examined individuals (5021 cases in 2010 and 16400 cases in 2011), 594 samples (2.77%) were reported positive and 20827 samples (97.23%) were reported negative.Conclusion: According to the results, gender was not a determining factor affecting the susceptibility of patients. Our country is endemic to this disease, so diagnostic and preventive methods are crucial, more over comprehensive national vaccination can help to noticeably reduce the infectious cases caused by the disease

Short-term Effects of PM10 to Increase Rate of Hospital Admission Cardiovascular and Respiratory of Sanandaj, Iran During 2015

Sanandaj in the west of Iran is one of the main city that suffered from Arabic Dust Storm (ADS). As Sanandaj isn’t industrial city and located in the mountainous region, one of the main sources of air pollution which has adverse effects on citizens and environment is PM10 which comes from Arabic Dust Storm. In this way, the goal of this study was to the assessment of these adverse health effects. So the hourly data of concentration of PM10 (measured by Beta attenuation method) were taken from Kurdistan Environmental Protection Agency in 2015. the 24-hour average concentration of particulate matter has exceeded about 182 times (days) more than the National Standards and WHO guideline values and the average annual concentration of PM10 were about 1.5 times more than the National Standard and WHO guideline values during the period of the exam. By means of Air Q2,2,3 software the data analyzed and baseline incidence(BI), relative risk(RR) and attributable proportion(AP) were calculated. The results of this study showed that short-term health effect of PM10 could increase of total mortality except accidents and poisoning(4.13%), hospital admission cardiovascular(4.98%), cardiovascular mortality(4.45%), hospital admission respiratory(4.45%) and respiratory mortality(0.2%). This study demonstrated that a high percentage of cardiovascular and respiratory morbidity and mortality rate increased due to the raising of the concentration of PM10. To reduce the emission of PM10 from main sources and relationship between the hospital and Kurdistan Environmental Protection Agency and whether organization and people to be alert are necessary

Seroprevalence of Toxoplasmosis among Women Referring to Shahid Beheshti Hospital, Hamadan, Iran

Background: Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii. The aim of this study was investigate the prevalence of toxoplasmosis among young women who referred to check up for toxoplasmosis attended in Shahid Beheshti hospital, Hamadan during 2013-2014.Materials and Methods: This study was performed on 2523 pregnant women who referred to laboratory of Shahid Beheshti hospital in Hamadan province (western of Iran) during 2013-2014. Age, level of education and place of residence were recorded in the relevant forms. Antibodies serum levels for all samples were examined by ELISA. IgG titer equals and more than 1:200 was presumed as seropositive. Data were analyzed using by SPSS version 19.0 software.Results: 26.1% of IgG seropositive persons were city residents while 32.3% of them lived at village and suburb of city. 1.4% and 1.1% of at risk persons (based on IgG titration) were city and village residents, respectively. 1.3% and 1.9% of IgM seropositives were city and village residents, respectively. The percentage of at risk persons of city and village (based on IgM titration) were 0.3% and 0.6%, in a row. 29.7% of IgG seropositives did not have academic education while 30.4% of them graduated from high school, at least. The seropositive IgM percentage of non-academic educated persons and graduated/academic ones were 1.7% and 1.4%, respectively.Conclusion: Our funding indicates the association between age of women and their level of education with percentage of contamination and prevalence. IgM seropositive is lesser than IgG. It means that toxoplasmosis is chronic or there is previous contact. To avoid the risk of toxoplasmosis infection particularly in pregnant women should be examined and the necessary preventive measures and training for young women should be presented

Analysis of Carotenoid Production by Halorubrum sp. TBZ126; an Extremely Halophilic Archeon from Urmia Lake

Purpose: Carotenoids are of great interest in many scientific disciplines because of their wide distribution, diverse functions and interesting properties. The present report describes a new natural source for carotenoid production. Methods: Halorubrum sp., TBZ126, an extremely halophilic archaeon, was isolated from Urmia Lack following culture of water sample on marine agar medium and incubation at 30 °C. Then single colonies were cultivated in broth media. After that the cells were collected and carotenoids were extracted with acetone-methanol (7:3 v/v). The identification of carotenoids was performed by UV-VIS spectroscopy and confirmed by thin layer chromatography (TLC) in the presence of antimony pentachloride (SbCl5). The production profile was analyzed using liquid-chromatography mass spectroscopy (LC-MS) techniques. Phenotypic characteristics of the isolate were carried out and the 16S rRNA gene was amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: LC-MS analytical results revealed that produced carotenoids are bacterioruberin, lycopene and β-carotene. Bacterioruberin was found to be the predominant produced carotenoid. 16S rRNA analysis showed that TBZ126 has 100% similarity with Halorubrum chaoviator Halo-G*T (AM048786). Conclusion: Halorubrum sp. TBZ126, isolated from Urmia Lake has high capacity in the production of carotenoids. This extremely halophilic archaeon could be considered as a prokaryotic candidate for carotenoid production source for future studies

Comparison and application of top and bottom air decks to improve blasting operations

The blasting operation is an integral part of mines, and it is still being used as the most economical tool to fragment and displace rock mass. Appropriate blast optimization alleviates undesirable side effects, such as ground vibration, air blasts and flyrock, and it and enhances rock fragmentation. Blast optimization can also be effective in reducing the overall mining cost. One way of reducing blasting side effects is to use deck charges instead of continuous ones. The location of the deck(s) is still considered an unanswered question for many researchers. In this study, an investigation was carried out to find an appropriate air deck position(s) within the blast hole. For this, air decks were placed at three different positions (top, middle and bottom) within a blast hole at Cheshmeh-Parvar gypsum and Chah-Gaz iron ore mines to understand and evaluate air deck location impact on blast fragmentation and blast nuisances. The results were compared based on the existing blasting practices at both mines, as well as the air-deck blasting results. The results obtained from the blasting were very satisfactory; it was found that charging with a top air deck, as compared to current blasting practices, causes a decrement in the specific charge, as well as a decrement of 38% in the back break and 50% in flyrock; the average size of fragments obtained from blasting was increased by 26%. Thus, it can be said that the top air deck is more advantageous than the bottom air deck in terms of reducing undesired blasting consequences

Characterization of the exopolysaccharides from Rhodotorula minuta IBRC-M 30135 and evaluation of their emulsifying, antioxidant and antiproliferative activities

Some microorganisms such as yeasts can produce high molecular weight and valuable polymers that known as exopolysaccharides (EPSs). Given the functional properties of yeast exopolysaccharides (EPSs) and a few numbers of studies in this field, the present study was aimed to characterize the EPSs from Rhodotorula minuta (IBRC-M 30135) and to evaluate their emulsifying, antioxidant and antiproliferative activities. R.minuta excreted 1.2 +/- 0.1 g of the EPSs per 1000 ml of fermentation medium. Glucose, mannose and rhamnose were found as main monosaccharides of the EPSs (49, 38 and 13 mol%, respectively) through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. In addition, three EPS fractions were obtained with the molecular weights of 356, 500 and 220 kDa. The water retention capacity of the EPSs was 342 +/- 27%. The EPSs exhibited relatively good oil-emulsifying activity and the enhanced synergism between the R.minuta's EPSs and commercially used hydrocolloids (guar gum and sodium alginate) was observed. In vitro, antioxidant activity was investigated against DPPH, hydroxyl and superoxide free radicals. At a concentration of 10 mg/ml, the DPPH, hydroxyl and superoxide free radicals scavenging activities were 21.8 +/- 0.7%, 24.6 +/- 1.4% and 12.1 +/- 0.4%, respectively; and the scavenging activities against all were higher than hyaluronic acid. In addition, the treatment of human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF7) and Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) cell lines with 20-1000 mu g/ml of the EPSs caused no significant differences in the cells proliferation (P>0.05). These results indicated the promising potential of the EPSs from R.minuta as non-toxic and biocompatible compounds for using in food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical fields