Bioinformatics Tools for RNA-seq Data Analysis

RNA-Seq is a recently developed approach to transcriptome profiling that uses deep-sequencing technologies. The availability of RNA-seq data encouraged computational biologists to develop algorithms to process the data in a statistically disciplinary manner to generate biologically meaningful results. Clustering viral sequences allows us to characterize the composition and structure of intrahost and interhost viral populations, which play a crucial role in disease progression and epidemic spread. In this research, we propose and validate a new entropy-based method for clustering aligned viral sequences considered as categorical data. The method finds a homogeneous clustering by minimizing information entropy rather than the distance between sequences in the same cluster. Moreover in this research, we present a novel pathway analysis method based on Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm to study the enzyme expression and pathway activity using meta-transcriptomic data. We will also discuss our approaches to generating unique gene signatures to understand the role of sensory nerve interference in the anti-melanoma immune response and study the racial disparity in Triple-negative breast cancer. Finally, we present our method to detect the retained introns in RNA-seq data to develop a vaccine against cancer having p53 mutations. In summary, this research provides novel approaches to exploring RNA-seq data and their application to real-world biological research

Effect Of Nanoparticulates (Gd2o3, Eu2o3, Ce2o3) Addition On Properties Of (Bi1.6 Pb 0.4)Sr2 Ca2 Cu3 O10 Ceramics Superconductors

The effects of Rare Earth oxide (M) nanoparticulates addition in (Bi1.6Pb0.4)Sr2Ca2Cu3O10 + xM with M = Gd2O3, Eu2O3, Ce2O3 and x = 0.0-0.05 system, prepared by the conventional solid state reaction method have been investigated for structural, electrical and magnetic properties. The sizes of nanoparticulates oxide are 150 nm, 4 nm and 50nm respectively for Gd2O3, Eu2O3 and Ce2O3. The samples were calcined at 800° C and 830° C for 48 hours followed by sintering at 850° C for 120 hours. The morphological appearance of the samples with Gd2O3 addition generally showed platelet-like grains with random orientations, typically of 2223 phase’s structure, and by increasing the amount of nanoparticulate the platelet tend to stick together. At high percentage of nanoparticulate addition in Gd2O3 the microstructure displayed grain size from to 1.5 μm to 10 μm and increased number of pores. The morphologies of fractured surface of pellets of specimen from x=0.00-x=0.05 Ce2O3 nanoparticulate, showed that the flaky nature of the grains gradually vanished and the edges of the grains become softer and the size of the grain changed from 10 μm to 2 μm. At x=0.03 of Eu2O3 the grain size become larger in comparison with other samples. The volume fraction of the high-TC (2223) phase for addition of Gd2O3 decreased from 89% for x=0.005 to 58% for x=0.05 and in the low- TC (2212) phase the volume increased from 3.4% to 41.2 % for x=0.005 and x=0.05, respectively. The c-axis parameter decreased from 37.1293 Å to 36.7800 Å at x=0.005 to x=0.05 for Gd2O3 addition on Bi-2223. For addition with Eu2O3, we can observe some increasing in x=0.03, from x=0.01-x=0.03 volume fractions increased from x=0.01-x=0.03 according to following percentage of 83.2% to 94.3%, respectively. The lattice parameter in the c-axis increased for x=0.00 to x=0.03 in Eu2O3 addition from 37.1264 Å to 37.1432 Å. In addition with Ce2O3 nanoparticulate in pure Bi-2223, with increasing in the amount, the volume fractions reduced from 92.67% for x=0.00 to 57% in x=0.05, the c-axis also decreased from 37.1193Å to 36.8870Å for x=0.00-0.05. The critical temperature with increasing amounts of Gd2O3 x=0.00-x=0.05 decreased from 101 K to 96 K, respectively. For samples with the addition of Eu2O3, TC decreased from 101 K to 98 K and started to increase for x=0.03 with TC =103.74 K. When Ce2O3 content was further increased, the electrical behavior started to change. The onset critical temperatures were reduced from 101 K to 93 K for x=0.00-x=0.05, respectively. Measurements of AC magnetic susceptibility as a function of temperature and AC field amplitudes have been carried out for samples containing Gd2O3 nanoparticulate at constant frequency f=333.3 Hz. It is shown that with increasing addition content from x=0.00- x=0.05, the diamagnetic onset temperature decreased from 107 K for pure sample to 97 K for Gd2O3 in last content. The analysis for comparison is based on the availability of higher percentage of the high-TC (2223) phase in the sample, the suppression degree of diamagnetic behavior with respect to AC fields; rapid or slow shift of the summit in χʹʹ (T) to lower temperature with increasing field amplitude and the sharpness of χʹ (T) for the intergranular component for the same field amplitude

Iran: migrant smuggling and trafficking in persons

Each year, thousands of people are moved illegally – oftenin dangerous or inhumane conditions – into, through andfrom Iran

Design and Synthesis of Curcumin Analogs for Anticancer Activity and Discovery of Novel Hit Molecules Targeting CXCR4.

Curcumin as a natural compound is made of various components including protein, carbohydrate, and curcuminoid. Curcuminoid is made of curcumin, desmethoxycurcumin and bis desmethoxycurcumin. Curcumin is used for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory disorders, but it has some therapeutic problems like poor bioavailability, poor efficacy, and chemical instability. To overcome these problems, the objective of this study is (1) synthesis of pyrazole curcumin analogs, (2) synthesis of triazole curcumin analogs, and (3) in-vitro study of the anticancer activity of these curcumin analogs on head & neck, breast, pancreatic and glioblastoma cancer cells. During this part of my Ph.D. project, we have synthesized 9 pyrazole and 4 triazole curcumin analogs and studied their anticancer activity against CAL 27 and UM-SCC-74A as head & neck cancer cell lines, MDA-MB-231 as breast cancer cell line, HPAF as pancreatic cancer cell line, and MG118 as glioblastoma cancer cell lines. We have studied the effect of these analogs on head & neck cancer cell lines by using cell proliferation assay and western blotting analysis. Compound 49 was shown the best anticancer activity on these cancer cell lines. Western blotting analysis revealed that compounds 49, 81, and 77, showed anticancer activity. We did MTS assay study on MDA-MB 231 as a human cancer cell line and the study revealed that compounds 6 and 81 had good anticancer activity against these cancer cell lines, while triazole analogs showed weak anticancer activity. We also used MTS assay study to investigate the effect of curcumin analogs. Compounds 6 and 86 showed good anticancer activity against HPAF cell line. Cell Titer Glo-2 assay study on MG118 cell line revealed that compounds 49, 51, and 80 had good anticancer activity against glioblastoma cancer cell lines. The expression of the CXCR4 gene leads to making a CXCR4 protein which is a GPCR protein. Research showed that this protein is involved in different cancer types. Overexpression of CXCR4 leads to cancer metastasis. The objective of this study as the second part of my Ph.D. project is the discovery of novel hit molecules targeting CXCR4. We did the virtual screening of 229358 natural product compounds. Based on the crystallography structure, we generated the receptor file. FRED docking led to the identification of 500 hit compounds out of 229358 compounds. 500 hit compounds were filtered based on several parameters which led to the identification of 4 hit molecules. Root Mean Square Deviation study has shown that two of these hit molecules stabilized the protein Structure. Moreover, based on the Radius of the gyration study, three of these molecules maintain the compactness of protein. The hydrogen bond study of these complexes showed that two complexes made hydrogen bonds with targets. So, molecular dynamic analysis by Gromacs led to the identification of 2 hit molecules for CXCR4 antagonist activity. Keywords: Curcumin, Cancers, In-vitro study

A Study of Physical and Psychological Domains of Quality of Life in Kidney Transplantation Patients in Kerman City, Iran

Background and Objectives: Renal transplantation as a treatment of choice in most of the patients with ESRD (End Stage Renal Disease) improves physical domain of quality of life, but because of the effects of immunosuppressive drags, ongoing medical care may be required, and this problem influence on psychological, economic, and social status, and therefore quality of life. The objective of this study was to evaluate physical and psychological domains of quality of life in kidney transplantation patients in Kerman City. Methods: In this descriptive analytical study, quality of life of 105 kidney transplantation patients in Kerman city was assessed using SF36 questionnaire. The data were analyzed by Statistical Tests, such as independent t-test, Spearman’s correlation coefficient, and ANOVA. Significance level was considered to be p<0.05. Results: The mean score of quality of life in kidney transplantations patients was 60.95±18.01, physical domain score was 59.77±14.78, and psychological domain score was 62.58±10.22. The maximum score was related to role limitation due to physical problems (72.25) and minimum score was related to general health (58.25). Analysis of the psychological domain scores according to demographic variables showed no significant difference, but in the physical domain, this difference was significant in terms of age and marital status (p≤0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study showed that kidney transplantation patients have relatively favorable quality of life, and psychological domain scores of quality of life were higher than those of physical domain

The Impact of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Sponsorship Programs on Brand Equity: A Case Study among Customers in Samsung Products in Tehran

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of advertising, sales promotion and sponsorship programs (selected elements of marketing communications) on brand equity. Since marketing communications play major role in creating value for different brands and also advertising, sales promotion and sponsorship are three important and costly activities in marketing, it is very important to manage these activities. Theoretical and conceptual model of this study have been taken from the Buil model. The research is considered applied according to the type of purpose, and is descriptive - survey of classified sampling according to the type of data collected, and is considered causal research because of examining the causal relationships between variables. Library and field methods of data collection were used , and for this purpose a questionnaire with 38 questions with five- option Likert scale was used as a research tool. The infinite population of this study were the customers of Samsung products in Tehran and the sample size was 500 according to Cochran's formula. In order to analyze the survey data, descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used. Kolmogorov - Smirnov test was used to determine the normal distribution of the sample, and Pearson correlation test, T -test and bivariate regression were used for testing the research hypotheses. The result of the test of this hypothesis suggests that advertising, sales promotion and sponsorship programs have a direct impact on brand equity. According to the results, the suggestions for strengthening these elements are presented