In vitro and in vivo antifungal properties of silver nanoparticles against Rhizoctonia solani, a common agent of rice sheath blight disease

Sheath blight disease in rice has caused major crop losses worldwide. Managing the causal agent of disease Rhizoctonia solani Kühn is difficult because of its broad host range and formation of sclerotia which can survive in harsh environmental conditions; therefore developing innovative disease management methods without application of hazardous chemicals has been considered as the main concern to maintain sustainable agriculture. This presented research has revealed the negative impact of Silver nanoparticles (SNPs) on R. solani and disease progress both in vitro and in vivo. The adverse effects of the SNPs on R. solani are significantly dependent on the quantity of SNPs, sprayed at different concentrations in vitro. The highest inhibition level against sclerotia formation and mycelia growth are 92 and 85%, respectively, at a SNPs concentration of 50 ppm. In vivo glasshouse experiments also showed that SNPs at the same concentration favorably affects both the fresh and dry weight of rice plants with a remarkable suppressive effect on the lesion development in leaves

OpenPNM: A Pore Network Modeling Package

Pore network modeling is a widely used technique for simulating multiphase transport in porous materials, but there are very few software options available. This work outlines the OpenPNM package that was jointly developed by several porous media research groups to help address this gap. OpenPNM is written in Python using NumPy and SciPy for most mathematical operations, thus combining Python's ease of use with the performance necessary to perform large simulations. The package assists the user with managing and interacting with all the topological, geometrical, and thermophysical data. It also includes a suite of commonly used algorithms for simulating percolation and performing transport calculations on pore networks. Most importantly, it was designed to be highly flexible to suit any application and be easily customized to include user-specified pore-scale physics models. The framework is fast, powerful, and concise. An illustrative example is included that determines the effective diffusivity through a partially water-saturated porous material with just 29 lines of code

Prenatal urban traffic noise exposure impairs spatial learning and memory and reduces glucocorticoid receptor expression in the hippocampus of male rat offspring

Introduction: Exposure to noise stress during early life may permanently affect the structure and function of the central nervous system. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of prenatal exposure to urban traffic noise on the spatial learning and memory of the rats' offspring and the expression of glucocorticoid receptors (GRs) in their hippocampi. Methods: Three g\roups of pregnant rats were exposed to recorded urban traffic noise for 1, 2 or 4 h/day during the last week of pregnancy. At the age of 45 days, their male offspring were introduced to the Morris water maze (MWM) for assessment of spatial learning and memory. The corticosterone levels were measured in the offspring's sera by radioimmunoassay, and the relative expression of glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptors (MRs) in their hippocampi was evaluated via RT-PCR. Results: Facing urban traffic noise for 2 and 4 h/day during the third trimester of pregnancy caused the offspring to spend more time and to travel a larger distance than the controls to find the target platform. Analogously, these two groups were inferior to their control counterparts in the probe test. Also, prenatal noise stress elevated the corticosterone concentration in the sera of the rats' offspring and dose-dependently decreased the relative expression of the mRNA of both GRs and MRs in their hippocampi. Conclusions: Urban traffic noise exposure during the last trimester of pregnancy impairs spatial learning and memory of rat offspring and reduces GRs and MRs gene expression in the hippocampus

Prenatal urban traffic noise exposure impairs spatial learning and memory and reduces glucocorticoid receptor expression in the hippocampus of male rat offspring

Introduction: Exposure to noise stress during early life may permanently affect the structure and function of the central nervous system. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of prenatal exposure to urban traffic noise on the spatial learning and memory of the rats' offspring and the expression of glucocorticoid receptors (GRs) in their hippocampi. Methods: Three g\roups of pregnant rats were exposed to recorded urban traffic noise for 1, 2 or 4 h/day during the last week of pregnancy. At the age of 45 days, their male offspring were introduced to the Morris water maze (MWM) for assessment of spatial learning and memory. The corticosterone levels were measured in the offspring's sera by radioimmunoassay, and the relative expression of glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptors (MRs) in their hippocampi was evaluated via RT-PCR. Results: Facing urban traffic noise for 2 and 4 h/day during the third trimester of pregnancy caused the offspring to spend more time and to travel a larger distance than the controls to find the target platform. Analogously, these two groups were inferior to their control counterparts in the probe test. Also, prenatal noise stress elevated the corticosterone concentration in the sera of the rats' offspring and dose-dependently decreased the relative expression of the mRNA of both GRs and MRs in their hippocampi. Conclusions: Urban traffic noise exposure during the last trimester of pregnancy impairs spatial learning and memory of rat offspring and reduces GRs and MRs gene expression in the hippocampus

Theranostic nanoparticles enhance the response of glioblastomas to radiation

YesDespite considerable progress with our understanding of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and the precise delivery of radiotherapy, the prognosis for GBM patients is still unfavorable with tumor recurrence due to radioresistance being a major concern. We recently developed a cross-linked iron oxide nanoparticle conjugated to azademethylcolchicine (CLIO-ICT) to target and eradicate a subpopulation of quiescent cells, glioblastoma initiating cells (GICs), which could be a reason for radioresistance and tumor relapse. The purpose of our study was to investigate if CLIO-ICT has an additive therapeutic effect to enhance the response of GBMs to ionizing radiation. Methods: NSG™ mice bearing human GBMs and C57BL/6J mice bearing murine GBMs received CLIO-ICT, radiation, or combination treatment. The mice underwent pre- and post-treatment magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, bioluminescence imaging (BLI), and histological analysis. Tumor nanoparticle enhancement, tumor flux, microvessel density, GIC, and apoptosis markers were compared between different groups using a one-way ANOVA and two-tailed Mann-Whitney test. Additional NSG™ mice underwent survival analyses with Kaplan–Meier curves and a log rank (Mantel–Cox) test. Results: At 2 weeks post-treatment, BLI and MRI scans revealed significant reduction in tumor size for CLIO-ICT plus radiation treated tumors compared to monotherapy or vehicle-treated tumors. Combining CLIO-ICT with radiation therapy significantly decreased microvessel density, decreased GICs, increased caspase-3 expression, and prolonged the survival of GBM-bearing mice. CLIO-ICT delivery to GBM could be monitored with MRI. and was not significantly different before and after radiation. There was no significant caspase-3 expression in normal brain at therapeutic doses of CLIO-ICT administered. Conclusion: Our data shows additive anti-tumor effects of CLIO-ICT nanoparticles in combination with radiotherapy. The combination therapy proposed here could potentially be a clinically translatable strategy for treating GBMs

Characterization of Actinomycetes Antagonist Fusariumoxysporum f.sp.passiflora Isolated from Rhizosphere Soil ofPurple Passion Fruit Plants, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

To survey rhizosphere actinomycetes as potential biocontrol against fungal diseaseof passion fruits, rhizosphere soil of the plant were used as an isolation sources. Twenty fivestrains were assigned to Streptomyces-like strain based on morphological properties of sporechain. Four strain with distinguishing characteristic based on the macroscopic appearance ofcolonies on different media, were recovery from rhizosphere soil of passion fruits plantsuggesting that various Streptomyces spp. grow surrounding of plant roots. On an agarmedium, four strains (11.43%) commonly formed a clear growth-inhibition zone against fungal pathogen of passion fruits, Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. radicalix passiflori (FORP), indicatingthat this strains can produce antifungal substances. The present results indicate that four strainare a suitable candidate for the biocontrol of fusarium wilt. Keywords: Actinomycetes, AntifungalFusarium oxysporum f.sp.passiflora Rhizosphere, Purple Passion Fruit Plants, South Sulawesi, Indonesi

Dental caries in primary and permanent teeth in children's worldwide, 1995 to 2019: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Early childhood caries (ECC) is a type of dental caries in the teeth of infants and children that is represented as one of the most prevalent dental problems in this period. Various studies have reported different types of prevalence of dental caries in primary and permanent teeth in children worldwide. However, there has been no comprehensive study to summarize the results of these studies in general, so this study aimed to determine the prevalence of dental caries in primary and permanent teeth in children in different continents of the world during a systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: In this review study, articles were extracted by searching in the national and international databases of SID, MagIran, IranMedex, IranDoc, Cochrane, Embase, ScienceDirect, Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science (ISI) between 1995 and December 2019. Random effects model was used for analysis and heterogeneity of studies was evaluated by using the I2 index. Data were analyzed by using the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (Version 2) software. Findings: In this study, a total of 164 articles (81 articles on the prevalence of dental caries in primary teeth and 83 articles on the prevalence of dental caries in permanent teeth) were entered the meta-analysis. The prevalence of dental caries in primary teeth in children in the world with a sample size of 80,405 was 46.2% (95% CI: 41.6–50.8%), and the prevalence of dental caries in permanent teeth in children in the world with a sample size of 1,454,871 was 53.8% (95% CI: 50–57.5%). Regarding the heterogeneity on the basis of meta-regression analysis, there was a significant difference in the prevalence of dental caries in primary and permanent teeth in children in different continents of the world. With increasing the sample size and the year of study, dental caries in primary teeth increased and in permanent teeth decreased. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the prevalence of primary and permanent dental caries in children in the world was found to be high. Therefore, appropriate strategies should be implemented to improve the aforementioned situation and to troubleshoot and monitor at all levels by providing feedback to hospitals

Analysis of pore pressure distribution in shale formations under hydraulic, chemical, thermal and electrical interactions

Change in pore pressure in chemically active rocks such as shale is caused by several mechanisms and numerous studies have been carried out to investigate these mechanisms. However, some important coupling terms or driving forces have been neglected in these studies due to simplifying assumptions. In this study, a hydro-chemo-thermo-electrical model based on finite element method is presented to investigate the change in pore pressure in shale formations resulted from thermal, hydraulic, chemical and electric potential gradients. The change in pore pressure is induced by hydraulic conduction, chemical, electrical and thermal osmotic flow. In order to solve the problem of ion transfer under the influence of an electrical field, the Nernst-Planck equation is used. In addition, ion advection is considered to investigate its possible effect on ion transfer for the range of shale permeability. All equations are derived based on the thermodynamics of irreversible processes in a discontinuous system. The numerical results are compared against existing and derived uncoupled analytical solutions and good agreement is observed. The numerical results showed that the ion transfer and pore pressure are considerably affected by the electric field in the vicinity of the wellbore. It was also found that advection can play a remarkable role in ion transfer in shale formations. It was further shown that the change in pore pressure in shale formation is characterized by the combined effect of hydraulic, chemical, thermal and electro osmotic flow

Three-dimensional modeling of geomechanical units using acoustic impedance in one of the gas fields in South of Iran

Geomechanical modeling of a reservoir has a very important role in all parts of a field lifecycle. In this paper, we demonstrate a new method for modeling the distribution of elastic properties in the whole reservoir using the concept of geomechanical units (GMUs). In this study, a GMU is a cluster of Young's, Bulk and shear modulus, Poisson's Ratio and unconfined uniaxial strength. To establish these GMUs we used eight wells and the Post-stack seismic data in the field of interest. Dynamic elastic parameters were computed from logging data of mentioned wells. To convert these dynamic parameters to static values, empirical equations were determined in a neighboring field of Salman, in the interval of Kangan and Dalan formations. In the next step, Multi-resolution graph-based clustering was applied to these static elastic parameters to construct five distinct GMUs. For three-dimensional modeling of GMUs, the 3D acoustic impedance model of the field was made by genetic inversion and used as a secondary parameter of Co-kriging. The amounts of elastic parameters of each GMU at the location of well number six in the final 3D model are found to be in good agreement with the known values of this well