Curcumin (Extracted from Tumeric) and its Therapeutic Effects

Background and Objectives:  The application of herbal medicine has been rising in recent years. Therefore, it is logical to revise and revive these traditional drugs while identifying their mechanisms of action can result in developing new treatments for many diseases. Curcumin is the most important component of Turmeric with numerous therapeutic properties. We aimed to review the anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties of Curcumin and introduce it as a therapeutic molecule in the present article. Methods: In this review, 121 articles were selected from authenticated electronic resources and scientific library databases such as Pubmed, Medline, Sciencedirect, WOS, DOAJ, SID, Iranmedex, Magiran and Google Scholar search engine in which Curcumin (Turmeric) had been evaluated as a therapeutic molecule from differeny aspects. Results: Our findings from the literature revealed that immune responses against infectious and inflammatory factors could be fascilitated by Curcumin. However, the low solubility in water and minimal bioavailability which may lead to poor absorbance from gastrointestinal tract, quick metabolization and elimination from blood circulation are the most important problems during oral consumption. Conclusion: According to the results of the present review article, Curcumin possesses efficient anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-viral and anti-parasitic properties. However, the low bioavailability of this substance has limited its treatment properties. Nowadays, several mechanisms have been proposed to increase the bioavailability which can improve its absorption

Application of UV/TiO2 Advanced Oxidation in Treating Oily Compost Leachate Generated During Oily Sludge Composting

In this work, oily compost leachate (OCL) generated during oily sludge composting was treated by UV/TiO2. OCL subsamples, gathered bi-weekly from the composting process, were thoroughly mixed and then filtered to reduce the solution turbidity. The effects of initial chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration, UV type (A and C), pH (3, 7, and 11), reaction time (30, 60, 90, and 120 min), and TiO2 concentration (0.5, 1, and 2 g L-1) on the total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and COD removal from OLC were examined. The results showed that the efficiency of the process improved with the increase in TiO2 concentration and reaction time and the decrease in pH and pollutant concentration. In the optimal conditions (UV-C, TiO2 concentration of 1 mg L-1, reaction time of 90 min, and pH of 3), 52.29% of TPH was removed. Moreover, 36.69 and 48.3% of TPH was reduced by UV-A/TiO2 and UV-C/TiO2, respectively in real conditions of OCL (pH = 6.3, COD = 1501. 24 mg L-1, and TPH = 170.12 mg L-1) during the 90 min reaction time. The study verified that UV/TiO2 has the potential to be applied to treat OCL

Cloning, Expression, and Purification of Recombinant Mouse Interferon-γ

Background: Interferon-gamma [IFN-γ) is the most important cytokine in the immune system. This protein has been expressed in bacterial cells. However, bacterial cloning is not an easy task. We aimed to clone, express, and purify recombinant mouse IFN-γ and overcome problems in favor of commercial purposes. Materials and Methods: To amplify the gene product for cloning, we primarily designed two specific primers for the target gene. Following PCR amplification, the amplicon was inserted into the pET-21b[+) vector. The E. coli BL21 [DE3) CodonPlus strain was chosen for the expression of the target gene. Finally, the expressed recombinant mouse IFN-γ was assessed through the western blotting method. Results: We performed a cloning process and produced recombinant mouse IFN-γ in an optimal condition. We also noticed that monomeric protein could be transformed to a homodimeric structure which can be observed using the SDS PAGE [SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis) and western blotting. Conclusion: Experimental conditions strongly affect the large-scale cloning procedures required to be optimized in each laboratory. The expressed recombinant mouse IFN-γ described here is appropriate for commercial purposes