Alkaline protease production on date waste by an alkalophilic Bacillus sp. 2-5 isolated from soil

This research focused on isolation and characterization of a new strain of Bacillus sp. from alkaline soil, which was able to producing extracellular alkaline protease and amylase from date waste at pHranging from 8 to 11 and temperatures of 20 to 50°C. Purification was conducted by fractionation, concentration, and cation exchange chromatography. The yield and fold of enzyme purification was24% and 50 times, respectively. Molecular weight of purified enzyme was measured by SDS-PAGE as 24.7 kDa. Produced alkaline protease by Bacillus sp. 2 - 5 showed the most caseinolytic activity(without any gelatinolytic activity) at pH > 10. The highest protease activity was achieved in the following conditions: starch concentration (as carbon source) 0.5 g/L, yeast extract and casamino acid(as mixed nitrogen source) 0.5 and 0.3% (w/w), temperature of 45°C at pH 10.7 after 36 h. Based on the optimization studies of production and purification stages, specific and protease activity 143550APU/mg and 57420 APU/mL were achieve

Application of zein antimicrobial edible film incorporating Zataria multiflora boiss essential oil for preservation of Iranian ultrafiltered Feta cheese

Zein based edible film was developed and incorporated with Zataria multiflora boiss essential oil. Mechanical and microbiological characteristics of this biofilms were measured. Increasing concentration of antimicrobial agent in film reduced stretchability, tensile strength and elongation, however increased the thickness and water vapor transmission parameters (P<0.05). Addition of Z. multiflora boiss essential oil, resulted in decreasing the count of viable Salmonella enteritidis, Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus in the produced cheese. This investigation concludes that the biofilm containing Z. multiflora boiss essential oil can be highly recommended for packaging of Feta cheese with the improved microbiological and sensory quality. Besides, application of natural plant essential oil has economical and health promoting benefits.Keywords: Zein, Zataria multiflora, cheese, pathogens, mechanical properties

Some remarks on Φ-sharp modules

The purpose of this paper is to introduce some new classes of modules which is closely related to the classes of sharp modules, pseudo-Dedekind modules and TV-modules. In this paper we introduce the concepts of Φ-sharp modules, Φ-pseudo-Dedekind modules and Φ-TV-modules. Let R be a commutative ring with identity and set H={M∣M is an R-module and Nil(M) is a divided prime submodule of M}. For an R-module M∈H, set T=(R∖Z(M))∩(R∖Z(R)), T(M)=T−1(M) and P:=(Nil(M):RM). In this case the mapping Φ:T(M)⟶MP given by Φ(x/s)=x/s is an R-module homomorphism. The restriction of Φ to M is also an R-module homomorphism from M in to MP given by Φ(m/1)=m/1 for every m∈M. An R-module M∈H is called a Φ-sharp module if for every nonnil submodules N,L of M and every nonnil ideal I of R with N⊇IL, there exist a nonnil ideal I′⊇I of R and a submodule L′⊇L of M such that N=I′L′. We prove that Many of the properties and characterizations of sharp modules may be extended to Φ-sharp modules, but some can not

A Combined Metaheuristic Algorithm for the Vehicle Routing Problem and its Open Version

Abstract: The Open Vehicle Routing Problem (OVRP) is one of the most important extensions of the vehicle routing problem (VRP) that has many applications in industrial and service. In the VRP, a set of customers with a specified demand of goods are given and a depot where a fleet of identical capacitated vehicles is located. We are also given the ‘‘traveling costs’’ between the depot and all the customers, and between each pair of customers. In the OVRP against to VRP, vehicles are not required to return to the depot after completing service. Because VRP and OVRP belong to NP-hard Problems, an efficient hybrid elite ant system called EACO is proposed for solving them in the paper. In this algorithm, a modified tabu search (TS), a new state transition rule and a modified pheromone updating rule are used for more improving solutions. These modifications lead that the proposed algorithm does not trapped at the local optimum and discovers different parts of the solution space. Computational results on fourteen standard benchmark instances for VRP and OVRP show that EACO finds the best known solutions for most of the instances and is comparable in terms of solutions quality to the best performing published metaheuristics in the literature

Rapid differential diagnosis of vaginal infections using gold nanoparticles coated with specific antibodies

Vaginal infections caused by bacteria, Candida and Trichomonas vaginalis, affect millions of women annually worldwide. Symptoms and signs have limited value in differential diagnosis of three causes of vaginitis. Current laboratory methods for differential diagnosis are either expensive or time consuming. Therefore, in this work, development of a method based on gold nanoparticles has been investigated for rapid diagnosis of vaginal infections. Specific antibodies against three main causes of vaginal infections were raised in rabbits. The antibodies were then purified and conjugated to gold nanoparticles and used in an agglutination test for detection of vaginal infections. Finally, sensitivity and specificity of this test for diagnosis of vaginal infections were estimated using culture method as gold standard. Purification of antibodies from sera was confirmed by electrophoresis. Construction of nanoparticles was proved by TEM and FT-IR methods. Conjugation of antibodies to gold nanoparticles was confirmed using XPS method. Sensitivity and specificity of gold nanoparticles for diagnosis of Candida species were 100%, for Gardnerella were 100% and 93%, and for T. vaginalis was 53.3% and 100%, respectively. Gold nanoparticle-based method is a simple, rapid, accurate, and cost-effective test for differential laboratory diagnosis of vaginal infection

Correction to: Isolated Human and Livestock Echinococcus granulosus Genotypes Using Real-Time PCR of cox1 Gene in Northeast Iran (Acta Parasitologica, (2019), 64, 3, (679-685), 10.2478/s11686-019-00117-w)

Unfortunately, the affiliation of Majid Fasihi-Harandi needs to be edited. The correct affiliation is Research Center for Hydatid Disease in Iran, School of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

The therapeutic potential of human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells producing CXCL10 in a mouse melanoma lung metastasis model

Abstract Interferon γ-induced protein 10 kDa (IP-10) is a potent chemoattractant and has been suggested to enhance antitumor activity and mediate tumor regression through multiple mechanisms of action. Multiple lines of evidence have indicated that genetically-modified adult stem cells represent a potential source for cell-based cancer therapy. In the current study, we assessed therapeutic potential of human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells (hADSC) genetically-modified to express IP-10 for the treatment of lung metastasis in an immunocompetent mouse model of metastatic melanoma. A Piggybac vector encoding IP-10 was employed to transfect hADSC ex vivo. Expression and bioactivity of the transgenic protein from hADSCs expressing IP-10 were confirmed prior to in vivo studies. Our results indicated that hADSCs expressing IP-10 could inhibit the growth of B16F10 melanoma cells and significantly prolonged survival. Immunohistochemistry analysis, TUNEL assay and western blot analysis indicated that hADSCs expressing IP-10 inhibited tumor cell growth, hindered tumor infiltration of Tregs, restricted angiogenesis and significantly prolonged survival. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that targeting metastatic tumor sites by hADSC expressing IP-10 could reduce melanoma tumor growth and lung metastasis. Keywords: Melanoma Metastasis Human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells CXCL1

Parasites and immunotherapy: with or against?

Immunotherapy is a sort of therapy in which antibody or antigen administrates to the patient in order to treat or reduce the severity of complications of disease. This kind of treatment practiced in a wide variety of diseases including infectious diseases, autoimmune disorders, cancers and allergy. Successful and unsuccessful immunotherapeutic strategies have been practiced in variety of parasitic infections. On the other hand parasites or parasite antigens have also been considered for immunotherapy against other diseases such as cancer, asthma and multiple sclerosis. In this paper immunotherapy against common parasitic infections, and also immunotherapy of cancer, asthma and multiple sclerosis with parasites or parasite antigens have been reviewe

Enzyme production from food wastes using a biorefinery concept

According to Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), one-third of food produced globally for human consumption (nearly 1.3 billion tonnes) is lost along the food supply chain. In many countries food waste is currently landfilled or incinerated together with other combustible municipal wastes for possible recovery of energy. However, these two options are facing more and more economic and environmental stresses. Due to its organic- and nutrient-rich nature, theoretically food waste can be converted to valuable products (e.g. bio-products such as methane, hydrogen, ethanol, enzymes, organic acids, chemicals and fuels) through various fermentation processes. Such conversion of food waste is potentially more profitable than its conversion to animal feed or transportation fuel. Food waste valorisation has therefore gained interest, with value added bio-products such as methane, hydrogen, ethanol, enzymes, organic acids, chemicals, and fuels. Therefore, the aim of this review is to provide information on the food waste situation with emphasis on Asia–Pacific countries and the state of the art food waste processing technologies to produce enzymes