Evaluation the latex agglutination test for detection of the causative agents of bacterial mastitis in milk samples

Mastitis is the main disease in dairy farms that causes serious losses. The early diagnosis and specific treatment can prevent the spread of the disease and the economic losses. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of the latex agglutination assay for detection of the main bacterial mastitis agents. The antiserum against Staphylococcus aureus, Trueperella pyogenes, Streptococcus agalactiae and Escherichia coli were prepared from immunized rabbits. The couplings of antibodies to latex particles were optimized and after that, the limit of detection (LOD) of latex agglutination test was evaluated for detection of the mentioned bacteria. The detection limit for the Streptococcus agalactiae, E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus and T. pyogenes were respectively 1.3×103, 2×107, 1.58×104 and 5.4×104 colony-forming unit per each milliliter of the bacterial suspensions. The prepared latex test has more sensitivity in the setting of phosphate buffered saline than in contaminated milk samples. This method can be used for the fast detection of the mentioned bacteria in bacterial cultures and milk samples. The latex agglutination test could be evaluated as a fast, cost benefit, and practical method in dairy farms

Femtosecond Laser Transient Spectroscopy of Carotenoids and Carbon Nanotubes

Carotenoids and semiconducting single-wall carbon nanotubes, which are both nanoscale carbon-based quantum mechanical systems, were studied using different optical spectroscopy techniques in this dissertation. In both cases, adelocalized molecularorbital system governs the interaction with the visible light. The ultrafast dynamics of thesedelocalized molecularorbital systems right after the excitation with visible femtosecond laser pulses were investigated. The lineshapes and respective lifetimes of the excited states involved in the decay process of two photoexcited carotenoids, spheroidene and spheroidenone, were examined using transient absorption and transient grating spectroscopy. By employing a model-based lifetime analysis routine, written as part of this dissertation, the lifetimes of the S2 excited states of the molecules were estimated. Considering a 5‑level model, these lifetimes were found to be 40±20 femtoseconds for spheroidenone and 90±20 femtoseconds for spheroidene, which are shorter than the values previously reported in the literature. This indicates the necessity of further measurements using shorter pulses (10 femtoseconds) to understand the dynamics of the S2 excited state of carotenoids more comprehensively. It was also found that the addition of a conjugated carbonyl group to the chain in spheroidenone has several crucial effects on the optical response due to the alteration of the delocalized conjugated molecular orbital system of the molecule. These effects include the shortening of the lifetimes of all the excited states, the change in the absorption of the S1 excited state, and the occurrence of unresolved vibrational peaks in the steady-state absorption spectrum. The decay of the E22excitonic state of (6,5) single-wall semiconducting carbon nanotube dispersed in water with flavin mononucleotide (FMN) was observed using transient grating spectroscopy. The lifetime of this excitonic state was measured to be 450 ± 50 fs. A very strong single-frequency oscillatory component was observed in the decay profile. The period of this oscillatory component varies from 40 femtoseconds to 150 femtoseconds in the laboratory time frame. It was hypothesized that electronic/vibrational coherences of carbon nanotubes or flavin mononucleotide molecules cause this oscillation. The true origin of this oscillatory component is yet to be determined

The effects of inhalation aromatherapy with Boswellia carterii essential oil on the intensity of labor pain among nulliparous women

Background: Labor pain is a major reason behind preferring cesarean section over normal vaginal delivery. Aromatherapy is among the most common nonpharmacological therapies for pain. Objectives: The objective of this study aimed to evaluate the effects of inhalation aromatherapy with Boswellia carterii (BC) essential oil on the intensity of labor pain among nulliparous women. Methods: This randomized controlled trial was carried out on 126 nulliparous women. Women were randomly allocated to an aromatherapy (n = 63) and a placebo (n = 63) group. For each woman in the aromatherapy group, a piece of gauze was soaked with 0.2 ml of 0.2 BC essential oil diluted in 2 ml of normal saline, and then, it was attached to the collar of each woman. The intervention was repeated for each woman every 30 min up to a cervical dilation of 10 cm. The intervention in the placebo group was the same as the aromatherapy group except that the gauze was soaked only with 2 ml of normal saline. A numeric pain rating scale was used to assess the labor pain intensity before the intervention and at cervical dilations of 3-4, 5-7, and 8-10 cm. Statistical analyses were performed using descriptive and inferential statistics such as the Chi-square, the independent sample t- test, and paired t-test. Results: Between-group comparisons revealed that labor pain intensity in the aromatherapy group was significantly lower than the control group at cervical dilations of 3-4 (4.98 ± 0.93 vs. 6.68 ± 1.28, P P P > 0.05). Conclusion: Inhalation aromatherapy with BC essential oil has positive effects on labor pain. Therefore, it can be used for relieving labor pain in the first stage of labor

Phytochemistry and antioxidant activity of Lallemantia iberica aerial parts

Background and objectives:Lallemantia iberica (Lamiaceae) is a medicinal plant distributed in different parts of Iran. This research, has evaluated the phytochemical constituents and antioxidant activity of the aerial parts of the plant. Methods: Different chromatographic methods such as column chromatographies using Silica gel (normal and reversed phases), Sephadex LH-20 and HPLC were used for isolation of the compounds from the ethyl acetate and methanol extract of L. iberica aerial parts. The structures of the isolated compounds were elucidated using 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR and EI-MS. Antioxidant activity of the extracts were also evaluated in DPPH and FRAP tests. Results: Two sterols,β-sitosterol acetate (1), β-sitosterol (2), one triterpenoic acid,ursolic acid (3), one polyphenol, rosmarinic acid (4) and six flavonoides,Luteolin-7-O-glucoside (5), 4'-methoxy-luteolin-7-O-glucoside (6), apigenin-7-O-glucoside (7), Luteolin (8),  diosmetin (9), apigenin (10) were isolated and identified from the ethyl acetate and methanol extracts. The antioxidant activity of the ethyl acetate (IC50 189.95±2.8 μg/mL) and the methanol extracts (IC50 140±1.2 μg/mL) were compared to the standard antioxidant, BHA (IC50 100±1.6 μg/mL) in DPPH method. The reducing power of the ethyl acetate (300.28 μmol Eq FeSO4.7H2O/mg DW), the methanol extract (553.14 μmol Eq FeSO4.7H2O/mg DW) and BHA (558.36 μmol Eq FeSO4.7H2O/mg of standard) were elucidated in FRAP assay. Conclusion: The results introduce L. iberica as a medicinal plant with valuable constituents which are responsible of different pharmacological activities

The translational expression of ABCA2 and ABCA3 is a strong prognostic biomarker for multidrug resistance in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Narges Aberuyi,1 Soheila Rahgozar,1 Zohreh Khosravi Dehaghi,1 Alireza Moafi,2 Andrea Masotti,3,* Alessandro Paolini3,* 1Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Isfahan, 2Department of Pediatric-Hematology-Oncology, Sayed-ol-Shohada Hospital, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran; 3Gene Expression – Microarrays Laboratory, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital-Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS), Rome, Italy *These authors contributed equally to the manuscript Purpose: The aim of this work was to study the correlation between the expressions of the ABCA2 and ABCA3 genes at the mRNA and protein levels in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and the effects of this association on multidrug resistance (MDR).Materials and methods: Sixty-nine children with de novo ALL and 25 controls were enrolled in the study. Mononuclear cells were isolated from the bone marrow. The mRNA levels of ABCA2 and ABCA3 were measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Samples with high mRNA levels were assessed for respective protein levels by Western blotting. Following the first year of treatment, persistent monoclonality of T-cell gamma receptors or immunoglobulin H (IgH) gene rearrangement was assessed and considered as the MDR. The tertiary structure of ABCA2 was predicted using Phyre2 and I-TASSER web systems and compared to that of ABCA3, which has been previously reported. Molecular docking was performed using DOCK 6.7.Results: Real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) showed high levels of ABCA2 and ABCA3 mRNAs in 13 and 17 samples, respectively. Among them, five and eight individuals demonstrated high levels of ABCA2 and ABCA3, respectively. Response to chemotherapy was significantly decreased (P=0.001) when the mRNA and protein of both genes were overexpressed compared to individuals with high transcriptional levels of either ABCA2 or ABCA3 alone. Close similarity between ABCA2 and ABCA3 structures was revealed by protein tertiary structure prediction, whereas molecular docking analysis suggested similar binding of chemotherapy drugs and therefore a potentially similar role in determining the MDR.Conclusion: Our findings suggested, for the first time, that quantification of the protein level of ABCA2 and ABCA3 transporters had a prognostic impact on pediatric ALL MDR. Furthermore, the tertiary structure of ABCA2 was predicted for the first time, and docking analysis revealed a possible compensatory effect between ABCA2 and ABCA3 transporters, which may contribute to the efflux of cytotoxic drugs and, ultimately, to chemoresistance. Keywords: ABCA2 transporter, ABCA3 transporter, multidrug resistance, childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia, molecular docking, tertiary structur

Cytotoxic activity of the essential oil of Salvia verticillata L.

Salvia is one of the largest genera of  Lamiaceae family. Several species of this genus are perfumed and wealthy in essential oils. Some of them are used in industry, pharmacy and aromatherapy. They have shown different biological effects such as antibacterial and antioxidant activity. For the present study, Salvia verticillata L. was collected from Shahrestanak, Mazandaran, Iran. Hydrodistilled essential oil from the aerial parts of this plant was obtained with a Clevenger type  apparatus  and was analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Moreover, the cytotoxic activity of the essential oil was investigated against HT-29 (colon adenocarcinoma), Caco-2 (colorectal adenocarcinoma), T-47D (breast ductal carcinoma) and NIH-3T3 (Swiss mouse embryo fibroblast) cell lines by MTT test. 59 components were characterized from the oil with trans-caryophyllene (24.40%), β-phellandrene (9.08%), α-humulene (8.61%), bicyclogermacrene (6.32%), spathulenol (5.89%) and β-pinene (5.00%) as the major constituents. These compounds represented 97.67% of the essential oil and included monoterpenes (34.83%) and sesquiterpens (61.84%). The results of the cytotoxicity assay demonstrated that the essential oil of S. verticillata showed higher cytotoxic effect on Caco-2 cell line

Comparative analysis of the root and leaf transcriptomes in Chelidonium majus L.

Chelidonium majus is a traditional medicinal plant, which commonly known as a rich resource for the major benzylisoquinoline alkaloids (BIAs), including morphine, sanguinarine, and berberine. To understand the biosynthesis of C. majus BIAs, we performed de novo transcriptome sequencing of its leaf and root tissues using Illumina technology. Following comprehensive evaluation of de novo transcriptome assemblies produced with five programs including Trinity, Bridger, BinPacker, IDBA-tran, and Velvet/Oases using a series of k-mer sizes (from 25 to 91), BinPacker was found to produce the best assembly using a k-mer of 25. This study reports the results of differential gene expression (DGE), functional annotation, gene ontology (GO) analysis, classification of transcription factor (TF)s, and SSR and miRNA discovery. Our DGE analysis identified 6,028 transcripts that were up-regulated in the leaf, and 4,722 transcripts that were up-regulated in the root. Further investigations showed that most of the genes involved in the BIA biosynthetic pathway are significantly expressed in the root compared to the leaf. GO analysis showed that the predominant GO domain is "cellular component", while TF analysis found bHLH to be the most highly represented TF family. Our study further identified 10 SSRs, out of a total of 39,841, that showed linkage to five unigenes encoding enzymes in the BIA pathway, and 10 conserved miRNAs that were previously not detected in this plant. The comprehensive transcriptome information presented herein provides a foundation for further explorations on study of the molecular mechanisms of BIA synthesis in C. majus

Larvicidal Activities of Some Iranian Native Plants against the Main Malaria Vector, Anopheles stephensi

Malaria is considered a major health problem in Iran. There are different methods for vector control. In this study we tested the larvicidal effects of some Iranian plants. The methanolic extracts of 11 plants were prepared with percolation method. The larvicidal activities of them against malaria vector, Anopheles stephensi were studied using World Health Organization standard method. All LC50 values of methanolic extracts of plants that we screened were lower than 300 ppm. The methanolic extract of aerial parts of Lawsonia inermis and Stachys byzantina showed high larvicidal activity with LC50 values 69.40 ppm and 103.28 ppm respectively. The results obtained from this study suggest that the methanolic extracts of these plants have larvicidal effects against Anopheles stephensi larvae and could be useful in the search for new natural larvicidal compounds

High-performance thin -layer chromatography fingerprinting, total phenolic and total flavonoid contents and anti -platelet -aggregation activities of Prosopis farcta extracts

Cardiovascular diseases are a leading cause of worldwide death and excessive platelet is closely related with their pathogenesis. Different plants and natural compounds have demonstrated anti-platelet effects. The aim of this study was to report the high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) fingerprinting and anti-platelet-aggregation activities of different leaf extracts (n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, methanol and aqueous) of Prosopis farcta (Syrian mesquite) plant. The results showed a 100% inhibition of aggregation activity after plasmatic adenosine diphosphate (ADP) aggregation activation of ethyl acetate, ethanolic, methanolic and aqueous extracts, at 60 mg/mL concentration. The IC50 ADP value of these extracts ranged between 4.07 and 11.39 mg/mL. Moreover, these extracts reported the highest amounts of phenolic and flavonoid contents. In conclusion, phytochemicals present in P. farcta leaves have anti-platelet-aggregation activities. Future studies are needed to identify the compounds with anti-platelet potential present in P. farcta