Identification of Turnip mosaic virus isolated from canola in northeast area of Iran

During March and April of 2011, 436 samples showing viral disease symptoms were collected from canola fields in the Khorasan Razavi province. The samples were tested by double-antibody sandwich (DAS)-enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the presence of Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV). Among the 436 samples, 117 samples were found to be infected with TuMV. One of the infected samples from Govareshk region (TuMV-IRN GSK) was selected for biological purification. Total RNA of this isolate were extracted and reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR was performed with specific primers according to the coat protein gene. PCR products (986 bp) was first purified and then directly sequenced. Phylogenetic analyses based on ClustalW multiple alignments with previously reported 33 isolates indicated 88 to 98% similarity in nucleotide and 94 to 99% in amino acid levels among isolates. TuMV-IRN GSK represented the highest identity to another Iranian isolate (IRN TRa6). Phylogenetic tree clustered all sequences into four groups and IRN GSK fell into the basal-B group. Nucleotide and amino acid distances between IRN GSK and other isolates in the basal-B group showed that this isolate was closely related to another Iranian isolate IRN TRa6, and distinct from other isolates in the basal-B group. These results indicate that TuMV is a common pathogen of canola crops in the Khorasan Razavi province.Key words: Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV), canola, reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), coat protein gene, sequence analysis

Earnings Management, Related Party Transactions and Corporate Performance: The Moderating Role of Internal Control

The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the impacts of earnings management (EM) and related party transactions (RPTs) on corporate financial performance in an emerging market, Iran. This paper also aims to examine the moderating role of internal control weakness (ICW) in the relationship between them. The study sample includes 108 Iranian manufacturing companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) between 2013 and 2018, and panel data with random effects are used to test the hypotheses. When an accounting-based measure called ROA is defined as a proxy for corporate performance, the results show that there is a negative association between real earnings management (REM) and corporate financial situation, while accrual-based earnings management (AEM) and firm value are correlated positively. However, when Tobin's Q index is defined as a proxy for corporate performance, we do not find any significant association between them. Consistent with the tunneling hypothesis or agency theory, our findings confirm RPTs damage corporate value (ROA and Tobin's Q) because managers probably consider it a mechanism to exploit enterprise resources owing to existing conflictual interests. Moreover, purchase-related party transactions lead to lower ROA, whereas sale-related party transactions and Tobin's Q are correlated negatively. Moreover, weak internal control has a positive moderating influence on the linkage between AEM and Tobin's Q index. Finally, we provide robust evidence that there is a positive association between sale growth and institutional owners with ROA and Tobin's Q, although financial leverage and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have a destructive effect on corporate value

Comparative evaluation of hydrogen peroxide sporicidal efficacy bdifferent standard test methods

Background and Objectives: There are different sporicidal standard tests with various specifications to deal with products that are claimed for sporicidal activity. The aim of this study was to compare the 7 H2O2 sporicidal efficacy against Bacillus subtilis spores using different standard test methods. Materials and Methods: The 7 H2O2 sporicidal efficacy against Bacillus subtilis spores was determined according to the AOAC MB-15-04 standard of carrier test and two standard suspension tests (BS EN 13704, AFNOR NF 72-230) in both clean and dirty conditions and by using different interfering substances including bovine serum albumin, yeast extract and skimmed milk. Results: The results of suspension tests with 3 � 105 and 2 � 107 CFU/ml of B. subtilis spore concentration demonstrated that the higher spore counts lead to lower efficacy of 7 H2O2. Also, the sporicidal activity of 7 H2O2 was reduced in the presence of interfering substances. Bovine serum albumin, yeast, and skimmed milk showed similar interfering effects in suspension test with 3 � 105 CFU/ml. While, in suspension tests with higher initial spore count (2 � 107 CFU/ml) severity of interfering effects were intensified and distinct. Our results indicated that the carrier sporicidal test in comparison with suspension tests required more contact time to kill B. subtilis spores. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that it is reasonable to use interfering substances and inoculated carriers in accordance with actual conditions of product usage in a sporicidal test. Interfering substances may reduce the contact surface between H2O2 and test spores; therefore, the sporicidal efficacy of H2O2 was diminished. So applying suspension test in clean condition to verify the claim of sporicidal activity is strongly discouraged. © 2020, Tehran University of Medical Science. All rights reserved

A review of potential suggested drugs for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) treatment

The latest pandemic, coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), is associated with high prevalence and easy transmission, which is expanding globally with no conventional treatment or vaccine. The new virus revealed 79 and 50 genomic similarities with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), respectively. Accordingly, since the disease resists testing and adopting new therapeutics, repositioning pre-existing drugs may present a fast and attractive strategy with known safety, characteristics, and dosage used. However, they are not specific and targeted. Therefore, several drugs have been investigated for their efficacy and safety in the treatment of COVID-19; most of them are undergoing clinical trials. This article summarizes clinical investigations of potential therapeutic drugs used as COVID-19 therapy. Subsequently, it prepares a pattern of results and therapeutic targets to help further experiment designs. We have investigated drugs as classified in the following three groups; 1) The drugs which computationally showed effectiveness (in silico) but needed further lab confirmations; 2) Emetine, Teicoplanin, and Nelfinavir have shown effectiveness in vitro; 3) The drugs currently under clinical trial. © 2021 Elsevier B.V

A review of potential suggested drugs for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) treatment

The latest pandemic, coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), is associated with high prevalence and easy transmission, which is expanding globally with no conventional treatment or vaccine. The new virus revealed 79 and 50 genomic similarities with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), respectively. Accordingly, since the disease resists testing and adopting new therapeutics, repositioning pre-existing drugs may present a fast and attractive strategy with known safety, characteristics, and dosage used. However, they are not specific and targeted. Therefore, several drugs have been investigated for their efficacy and safety in the treatment of COVID-19; most of them are undergoing clinical trials. This article summarizes clinical investigations of potential therapeutic drugs used as COVID-19 therapy. Subsequently, it prepares a pattern of results and therapeutic targets to help further experiment designs. We have investigated drugs as classified in the following three groups; 1) The drugs which computationally showed effectiveness (in silico) but needed further lab confirmations; 2) Emetine, Teicoplanin, and Nelfinavir have shown effectiveness in vitro; 3) The drugs currently under clinical trial. © 2021 Elsevier B.V

Phenotypic and Genome-Wide Analysis of an Antibiotic-Resistant Small Colony Variant (SCV) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Small colony variants (SCVs) are slow-growing bacteria, which often show increased resistance to antibiotics and cause latent or recurrent infections. It is therefore important to understand the mechanisms at the basis of this phenotypic switch.One SCV (termed PAO-SCV) was isolated, showing high resistance to gentamicin and to the cephalosporine cefotaxime. PAO-SCV was prone to reversion as evidenced by emergence of large colonies with a frequency of 10(-5) on media without antibiotics while it was stably maintained in presence of gentamicin. PAO-SCV showed a delayed growth, defective motility, and strongly reduced levels of the quorum sensing Pseudomonas quinolone signal (PQS). Whole genome expression analysis further suggested a multi-layered antibiotic resistance mechanism, including simultaneous over-expression of two drug efflux pumps (MexAB-OprM, MexXY-OprM), the LPS modification operon arnBCADTEF, and the PhoP-PhoQ two-component system. Conversely, the genes for the synthesis of PQS were strongly down-regulated in PAO-SCV. Finally, genomic analysis revealed the presence of mutations in phoP and phoQ genes as well as in the mexZ gene encoding a repressor of the mexXY and mexAB-oprM genes. Only one mutation occurred only in REV, at nucleotide 1020 of the tufA gene, a paralog of tufB, both encoding the elongation factor Tu, causing a change of the rarely used aspartic acid codon GAU to the more common GAC, possibly causing an increase of tufA mRNA translation. High expression of phoP and phoQ was confirmed for the SCV variant while the revertant showed expression levels reduced to wild-type levels.By combining data coming from phenotypic, gene expression and proteome analysis, we could demonstrate that resistance to aminoglycosides in one SCV mutant is multifactorial including overexpression of efflux mechanisms, LPS modification and is accompanied by a drastic down-regulation of the Pseudomonas quinolone signal quorum sensing system