A novel phytase characterized by thermostability and high pH tolerance from rice phyllosphere isolated Bacillus subtilis B.S.46

AbstractIn this study, an extracellular alkali-thermostable phytase producing bacteria, Bacillus subtilis B.S.46, were isolated and molecularly identified using 16S rRNA sequencing. Response surface methodology was applied to study the interaction effects of assay conditions to obtain optimum value for maximizing phytase activity. The optimization resulted in 137% (4.627U/mL) increase in phytase activity under optimum condition (56.5°C, pH 7.30 and 2.05mM sodium phytate). The enzyme also showed 60–73% of maximum activity at wide ranges of temperature (47–68°C), pH (6.3–8.0) and phytate concentration (1.40–2.50mM). The partially purified phytase demonstrated high stability over a wide range of pH (6.0–10.0) after 24h, retaining 85% of its initial activity at pH 6 and even interestingly, the phytase activity enhanced at pH 8.0–10.0. It also exhibited thermostability, retaining about 60% of its original activity after 2h at 60°C. Cations such as Ca2+ and Li+ enhanced the phytase activity by 10–46% at 1mM concentration. The phytase activity was completely inhibited by Cu2+, Mg2+, Fe2+, Zn2+, Hg2+ and Mn2+ and the inhibition was in a dose dependent manner. B. subtilis B.S.46 phytase had interesting characteristics to be considered as animal feed additive, dephytinization of food ingredients, and bioremediation of phosphorous pollution in the environment

Short-term Effects of Transcranial Near-Infrared Photobiomodulation on Motor Performance in Healthy Human Subjects: An Experimental Single-Blind Randomized Clinical Trial

Introduction: Transcranial near-infrared photobiomodulation (NIR-PBM) is a new noninvasive procedure which transcranially applies a near-infrared wavelength to the scalp with a laser or a light-emitting diode (LED) source. Improvement in the neurological or psychological symptoms has been reported following light irradiation. However, to our knowledge, there is no study to investigate the effects of transcranial NIR-PBM on motor performance directly. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the short-term effects of transcranial NIR-PBM on motor performance in healthy human subjects.Methods: In this experimental single-blind randomized clinical trial study, 56 right-handed healthy participants, whose ages ranged from 18 to 30, were randomly assigned to (1) Real transcranial NIR-PBMC3 group (n=14), (2) Sham transcranial NIR-PBMC3 group (n=14), (3) Real transcranial NIR-PBMC4 group (n=14), and (4) Sham transcranial NIR-PBMC4 group (n=14). We applied the 808 nm laser with irradiation energy density of 60 J/cm2 and power density of 200 mw/cm2 to the C3 or C4 points of the scalp. The number of finger taps as an indicator of motor performance was assessed by the finger-tapping test (FTT) before and after irradiation of transcranial NIR-PBM on the corresponding points of the scalp for 5 minutes.Results: The results showed that the number of finger taps in both right and left hands following the use of transcranial NIR-PBM in the real transcranial NIR-PBMC3 group significantly increased (P < 0.05).Conclusion: We concluded that using transcranial NIR-PBM with a laser source on C3 point of the motor cortex in right-handed healthy people can increase the number of finger taps in both hands as an indicator of motor performance improvement

Potential role of a nutraceutical spice (Allium hirtifolium) in reduction of atherosclerotic plaques

Introduction: Spices are now considered as agents that not only can prevent but may even treat chronic diseases. This study was aimed to investigate the effects of Allium hirtifolium as a hypolipidemic and anti-atherosclerotic substance in hypercholesterolemic rabbits. Methods: Twenty four adult New Zealand male rabbits were divided randomly into 3 groups of 8 animals each and treated for 60 days as follows. Normal group received basal feed, while the two intervention groups were fed with hypercholesterolemic diet (1% cholesterol) and hypercholesterolemic diet plus A. hirtifolium extract, respectively. At the start and the end of the experiment, fasting blood was taken from all animals. Serum concentrations of total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides (TG), apolipoproteins A and B, serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT), serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), glucose and insulin were measured at the end of supplementation period in all studied groups. Atherosclerotic plaque thickness of aorta to media was also determined in all groups. Results: Rabbits fed only with high cholesterol diet showed increased atherosclerotic plaque thickness to media compared to the control group, while the group fed with hypercholesterolemia diet plus A. hirtifolium extract significantly decreased atherosclerotic plaque thickness to media, TC, TG, LDL-C, and significantly increased HDL-C compared to hypercholesterolemic diet group. Supplementation with A. hirtifolium extract did not cause any significant alteration in apolipoproteins, SGOT, SGPT, hs-CRP, glucose and insulin compared to the hypercholesterolemic diet group (p>0.05). Conclusion: Ethanolic extract of A. hirtifolium ameliorates fatty lesions in aorta and may reduce risk factors of cardiovascular disease

Potential role of a nutraceutical spice (<em>Allium hirtifolium</em>) in reduction of atherosclerotic plaques

Introduction: Spices are now considered as agents that not only can prevent but may even treat chronic diseases. This study was aimed to investigate the effects of Allium hirtifolium as a hypolipidemic and anti-atherosclerotic substance in hypercholesterolemic rabbits. Methods: Twenty four adult New Zealand male rabbits were divided randomly into 3 groups of 8 animals each and treated for 60 days as follows. Normal group received basal feed, while the two intervention groups were fed with hypercholesterolemic diet (1 cholesterol) and hypercholesterolemic diet plus A. hirtifolium extract, respectively. At the start and the end of the experiment, fasting blood was taken from all animals. Serum concentrations of total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides (TG), apolipoproteins A and B, serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT), serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), glucose and insulin were measured at the end of supplementation period in all studied groups. Atherosclerotic plaque thickness of aorta to media was also determined in all groups. Results: Rabbits fed only with high cholesterol diet showed increased atherosclerotic plaque thickness to media compared to the control group, while the group fed with hypercholesterolemia diet plus A. hirtifolium extract significantly decreased atherosclerotic plaque thickness to media, TC, TG, LDL-C, and significantly increased HDL-C compared to hypercholesterolemic diet group. Supplementation with A. hirtifolium extract did not cause any significant alteration in apolipoproteins, SGOT, SGPT, hs-CRP, glucose and insulin compared to the hypercholesterolemic diet group (p&gt;0.05). Conclusion: Ethanolic extract of A. hirtifolium ameliorates fatty lesions in aorta and may reduce risk factors of cardiovascular diseases.</p

The effect of melatonin on in vitro maturation fertilization and early embryo development of mouse oocytes and expression of HMGB1 gene in blastocysts

Antioxidants are commonly used for maturation, fertilization and early development of embryos. Melatonin as an antioxidant have been recently proven to be useful for the assisted reproductive technology. In the present study, we evaluated the roles of melatonin in the in vitro maturation, fertilization, development and also the gene expression of high mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) in the blastocysts. The immature oocytes of BDF1 mice were transferred to the media containing different doses of melatonin (10-6, 10-9, 10-12 M). The blastocysts that developed under in vitro fertilizationfrom each group were stained to determine the cell number of embryos and analyzed to determine the expression level of HMGB1 by real-time PCR. The most effective doses of melatonin for maturation of oocytes were 10-6 and 10-12M (P&lt;0.05). Fertilization rate, early development and the cell number of blastocysts were significantly higher in the group that treated with 10-12 M of melatonin comparing to the other groups. The HMGB1 expression decreased in groups that treated with 10-6M and 10-9M of melatonin and increased in the group that treated with 10-12 M of melatonin, but did not show a significant difference (p˃0.05). From the results, it may be concluded that the melatonin could be effective when the embryos undergo maturation, fertilization and early developmental processes. The HMGB1 expression, as a marker of early development in mice embryos, increased in the groups that treated with low doses of melatonin

Hope and Despair in Amal Donqol and Siavash Kasraei’s Poems (A Semiotic Analysis of Time-Place and Myths Components)

IntroductionSemiotics has provided researchers in the immediate past years with a tool for analyzing, understanding, and criticism of literary texts and discovery of hidden meanings. Semiotics has tried to unveil, decipher, and discover the deep meanings behind the structure. Amal Donqol (a contemporary Egyptian poet) and Siavash Kasraei (an Iranian poet) lived in their turbulent times. Political and social disorders intensively influenced the content and structure of their poems. The comparative semiotic study investigates meticulously and in detail the works of the Egyptian and Iranian poets considering hope and despair. It hopes to have a better and deeper understanding of the poets’ thoughts and spirits and their influence on their poems. Moreover, the study makes the ground for better presenting of the similarities and differences of their attitudes, as they live in rather similar conditions.Using the semiotics of the application of time, place, and myths, the study investigated the duality of despair and hope  in some poems of the two poets regarding the structure and poetic language. It tried to answer the question that how despair and hope have been presented in the poems and in mentioned components and how their poetic and artistic manifestations are.  Method This descriptive-analytic study was done within the American framework of comparative literature.  DiscussionSemiology (or semiotics) is a new type of criticism that has had a great impact on literary studies and related research. This field of study interprets literary texts according to such criteria and layers as time, place, intertextuality, narration, character, etc. This study explored the place, time, and mythical characters to show the appearance of hope and despair in the selected poems. The components work as codes for the poet through which he shows his inner feelings and imposes positive or negative meaning upon them. The analysis of the signs unveils the hidden layers of meanings in a literary text and familiars readers with the world, thoughts, and feelings of its writer.Time and place as signs and their signified are various and wide in literary texts and important for reading texts. The poets have used many words showing place and time. In many cases, adverbs showing the place in Donqol and Kasraei's poems lose the characteristic of being adverb of place and become a signifier having specific signifiers. The time adverbs have also been used in this way as their poems shows the change many times. The words become positively or negatively marked as they convey the poets’ feelings.  These words convey meanings different from their place and time meanings, which engages the readership with one of the dualities of despair or hope. Myth is also an important component that imposes meaning on the meaning in works of both poets. Using and recreating the myths, the poets communicate their ideals and spirits to the audience.   Conclusion- The study investigated the duality of despair or hope in the poems of two poets based on the application of some components of the semiotics of time, place, and myths. The socio-political conditions that the two poets live in seem to be the same and their poems protest against their contemporary situation, but based on the mentioned examples one can say that when the poems have been composed, when death and despair were dominant in the mental space of poets, he optimistically expected a bright future, whereas death and despair are always dominant in Amal Danqol's poems.- As a result of the different views of the poets, time, place, and myth have a hopeful and liberating application in the poems. In Amal's poems, however, the place, time, and myth components become nightmares of fear and failure, as a result of his sad and desperate creations.- Finally, looking from semiotic analysis, it can be concluded that the fully optimistic and hopeful poems of Siavash Kasraei sometimes lack poetic fantasy and becomes similar to prose, making it a weakness of the poems. On the contrary, Amal Danqol's poems, though exaggerates in expressing darkness, they are totally strong and surprising sometimes regarding poetic beauties, creating new meanings, and linguistic deviations.