Evaluation of local and circulating osteopontin in malignant and benign primary bone tumors

Purpose: The development of novel and efficient biomarkers for primary bone cancers is of grave importance. Methods: The expression pattern of osteopontin (OPN) was investigated in the 153 patients with benign (n = 72) and malignant (n = 81) primary bone cancers. Both local and circulating OPN mRNA expression levels and their protein concentration in serum and tumor site were assessed using real-time qRT-PCR, ELISA, and immunohistochemistry techniques, respectively. As a control, 29 healthy individuals were considered. The number of 153 tumor tissue specimens and the 153 paired margins were taken on surgical resection from the patients. 153 blood samples were also drained from all participants, then peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and sera were separated. Results: The mean mRNA expression was significantly higher in all of the cancerous tissues than the paired margins and the PBMC of the patients than the controls. Consistently, the protein concentrations of OPN in serum and tumor tissues were significantly higher in the patients. Furthermore, the malignant cases had significantly elevated the mRNA levels and the protein compared to the benign cases. OPN could potentially differentiate the patients from the controls with 100 sensitivity and specificity in serum. Moreover, OPN could predict some of the malignant cases' clinicopathological features, including metastasis, recurrence, grade, and response to chemotherapy. Conclusions: In conclusion, OPN might be involved in the pathogenesis of primary bone tumors and can be considered as a potential biomarker to bone cancer diagnosis. © 202

Prevalence of cryptosporidiosis in animals in Iran: A systematic review and metaanalysis

Objective: To review the prevalence of cryptosporidiosis among animal population of Iran. Methods: Data were systematically gathered from 1 January 2000 to 1 January 2020 in the Islamic Republic of Iran from the following electronic databases: PubMed, Springer, Google Scholar, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science, Magiran, and Scientific Information Database (SID). According to the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) and inclusion criteria, 88 eligible studies were obtained. Results: The pooled prevalence of cryptosporidiosis using random and fixed effects model according to heterogeneity among animals was as follows: rodents 18.8 (95 CI 12.6-25.0), camels 17.1 (95 CI 8.6-25.7), cattle 16.8 (95 CI 13.4-20.1), goats 14.1 (95 CI 5.2-23.0), horses 12.2 (95 CI 8.3- 16.2), birds 10.5 (95 CI 7.6-13.4), sheep 9.9 (95 CI 2.4-4.9), cats 8.8 (95 CI 4.8-12.8) and dogs 3.7 (95 CI 7.0-12.8). Conclusions: Cryptosporidiosis has been reported and present in a wide range of animals in Iran over the years and has a high prevalence in most of these species. © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved

Green One-Step Synthesis of Catalytically Active Palladium Nanoparticles Supported on Cellulose Nanocrystals.

Palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs) supported on cellulose nanocrystals (CNXL) were synthesized in a single step from Pd(hexafluoroacetylacetonate)2 (Pd(hfac)2) in subcrit. and supercrit. carbon dioxide. CNXLs acted as both the reducing agent and support material for the obtained nanoparticles. Dry Pd nanoparticles supported on the cellulose nanocrystals (PdNP@CNXL) were obtained by simply venting the CO2 and were characterized by FT-IR, XPS, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric anal. (TGA), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that the Pd nanoparticle diams. varied between 6 and 13 nm with varying pressure (240-2200 psi), reaction time (2-17 h), and wt. ratio of the precursor Pd(hfac)2 to CNXL (1-4% wt./wt.). Particles with diams. above 13 nm appeared not to remain attached to the CNXL surface. Reaction conditions also affected the Pd loading in the final PdNP@CNXL composite. Finally, the PdNP@CNXL composites were shown to be effective catalysts for carbon-carbon bond formation in the Mizoroki-Heck cross-coupling reaction, in line with other reports. [on SciFinder(R)