Protein attributes contribute to halo-stability, bioinformatics approach

Halophile proteins can tolerate high salt concentrations. Understanding halophilicity features is the first step toward engineering halostable crops. To this end, we examined protein features contributing to the halo-toleration of halophilic organisms. We compared more than 850 features for halophilic and non-halophilic proteins with various screening, clustering, decision tree, and generalized rule induction models to search for patterns that code for halo-toleration. Up to 251 protein attributes selected by various attribute weighting algorithms as important features contribute to halo-stability; from them 14 attributes selected by 90% of models and the count of hydrogen gained the highest value (1.0) in 70% of attribute weighting models, showing the importance of this attribute in feature selection modeling. The other attributes mostly were the frequencies of di-peptides. No changes were found in the numbers of groups when K-Means and TwoStep clustering modeling were performed on datasets with or without feature selection filtering. Although the depths of induced trees were not high, the accuracies of trees were higher than 94% and the frequency of hydrophobic residues pointed as the most important feature to build trees. The performance evaluation of decision tree models had the same values and the best correctness percentage recorded with the Exhaustive CHAID and CHAID models. We did not find any significant difference in the percent of correctness, performance evaluation, and mean correctness of various decision tree models with or without feature selection. For the first time, we analyzed the performance of different screening, clustering, and decision tree algorithms for discriminating halophilic and non-halophilic proteins and the results showed that amino acid composition can be used to discriminate between halo-tolerant and halo-sensitive proteins

Hepatoprotective and Anti-oxidant effects of Nepeta Ispahanica Boiss extract on CCL4 induced liver Injury

Background: Natural products might be applicable as remedial agents with their roles in oxidative stress regulation and as natural antioxidants.  In this regard, Nepeta ispahanica bioss has been utilized in traditional medicine for several functions. Despite numerous properties of the Nepeta species including their antioxidant properties, Nepeta ispahanica boiss effects against hepatic injury induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) have not been studied. This study aimed to investigate the hepatoprotective effects of Nepeta ispahanica boiss on CCL4 induced acute hepatic injury in an animal model.  Materials and Methods: The experiment used a total of 36 male Wistar rats, that were divided into six groups. Except for the intact control groups, all groups received a single intraperitoneal injection of CCl4 after pre‐treatment period with distilled water, Nepeta ispahanica boiss extracts, or legalon. After 24 hours, rats were anesthetized, sacrificed and blood samples were obtained. Serum level of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total bilirubin (TB), urea and plasma levels of total protein and malondialdehyde (MDA) were evaluated. Besides, SOD and CAT enzyme activities and GSH levels were determined.  Histopathological studies also were done in liver tissue samples. Results: After the CCl4 injection, oxidative stress‐mediated necrotic acute liver injuries were observed. Also, serum ALP, AST, and ALT elevated. Hepatic lipid peroxidation and related decrease of endogenous antioxidants and antioxidative enzymes; lipid peroxidation markers, and oxidative stress markers were presented. Nevertheless, histological and biochemical markers of liver injury were reserved by the pre‐treatment with Nepeta ispahanica boiss extracts. Conclusion: The present study confirmed that the administration of Nepeta ispahanica boiss extracts before exposure to CCl4, induced significant hepatoprotective effects. These findings verified that Nepeta ispahanica boiss has favorable properties as an antioxidant and hepatoprotective agent

Discovery of EST-SSRs in Lung Cancer: Tagged ESTs with SSRs Lead to Differential Amino Acid and Protein Expression Patterns in Cancerous Tissues

Tandem repeats are found in both coding and non-coding sequences of higher organisms. These sequences can be used in cancer genetics and diagnosis to unravel the genetic basis of tumor formation and progression. In this study, a possible relationship between SSR distributions and lung cancer was studied by comparative analysis of EST-SSRs in normal and lung cancerous tissues. While the EST-SSR distribution was similar between tumorous tissues, this distribution was different between normal and tumorous tissues. Trinucleotides tandem repeats were highly different; the number of trinucleotides in ESTs of lung cancer was 3 times higher than normal tissue. Significant negative correlation between normal and cancerous tissue showed that cancerous tissue generates different types of trinucleotides. GGC and CGC were the more frequent expressed trinucleotides in cancerous tissue, but these SSRs were not expressed in normal tissue. Similar to the EST level, the expression pattern of EST-SSRs-derived amino acids was significantly different between normal and cancerous tissues. Arg, Pro, Ser, Gly, and Lys were the most abundant amino acids in cancerous tissues, and Leu, Cys, Phe, and His were significantly more abundant in normal tissues than in cancerous tissues. Next, the putative functions of triplet SSR-containing genes were analyzed. In cancerous tissue, EST-SSRs produce different types of proteins. Chromodomain helicase DNA binding proteins were one of the major protein products of EST-SSRs in the cancerous library, while these proteins were not produced from EST-SSRs in normal tissue. For the first time, the findings of this study confirmed that EST-SSRs in normal lung tissues are different than in unhealthy tissues, and tagged ESTs with SSRs cause remarkable differences in amino acid and protein expression patterns in cancerous tissue. We suggest that EST-SSRs and EST-SSRs differentially expressed in cancerous tissue may be suitable candidate markers for lung cancer diagnosis and prediction

Flattery Harm in Social Interactions and its Pathology from Imam Ali’s Viewpoint

For downloading the full-text of this article please click here.Background and Objective: The issue of flattery and its individual and social consequences are regarded as a moral vice in many human societies and the higher degree of this trait in the society, the more regression and decline. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the harms of flattery in the social relations and its pathology from Imam Ali’s viewpoint.Method: This study was conducted through reviewing texts, and the authors have tried to study different dimensions and damages of the flattery in social interactions, using books and articles in the associated fields of religious sciences and psychology with an emphasis on the Nahjol-Balagheh. The researchers declared no conflicts of interest.Results: The results showed, in the view of Imam Ali, flattery stems from stupidity and humiliation, those in power who like flattering, and the culture of fostering flattering. This is all rooted in atheism and ignorance, the ultimate goal being ego and its outcome being humiliation.Conclusion: Based on the results, it can be concluded that flattering in humans is a relational matter and it results from the action and interaction of the strong and the weak, a social harm which dates back to long time ago, threatening social health.For downloading the full-text of this article please click here.Please cite this article as: Ebrahimi O, Bayrami M, Mohammadi D. Flattery Harm in Social Interactions and its Pathology from Imam Ali’s Viewpoint. J Res Relig Health. 2019; 5(3): 137- 149. doi: https://doi.org/10.22037/jrrh.v5i3.1863

A periodic folded piezoelectric beam for efficient vibration energy harvesting

Periodic piezoelectric beams have been used for broadband vibration energy harvesting in recent years. In this paper, a periodic folded piezoelectric beam (PFPB) is introduced. The PFPB has special features that distinguish it from other periodic piezoelectric beams. The Adomian decomposition method (ADM) is used to calculate the first two band gaps andtwelve natural frequencies of the PFPB. Results show that this periodic beam has wide band gaps at low frequency ranges and the band gaps are close to each other. Results also show that the PFPB can efficiently generate voltage from the localized vibration energy over the band gaps. The natural frequencies of the PFPB are close to each other and most of them are out of the band gaps. Therefore, the PFPB can also generate the maximum voltage over a relatively wide frequency range out of the band gaps. In order to show these features better, the voltage output of the PFPB over a wide frequency range is calculated using the ANSYS software and compared with that of a conventional piezoelectric energy harvester. The ANSYS is also used to validate the analytical results and good agreement is found

Designing, manufacturing and testing of a micro combined heat and power (micro-CHP) system

In the present paper a micro-CHP is designed, built and tested based on a 5 kW diesel engine that is chosen to recover its water jacketing and exhaust waste energy and convert it into hot water. The hot water may be used as heating source or domestic hot water. Heat recovery for the lube oil, radiation, convection, and conduction to ambient is not used since they all count for only 13% of the inlet fuel energy. The results include the main characteristics in the design section, some pictures of the main components, the temperature of exhaust, water jacketing and tap water at different points of the system. In addition the heat recovery at different engine loads is also given. The experiments and results show that the overall efficiency of the CHP system can reach 60% which means more than 30% increase of efficiency when comparing with the case when only electricity was supposed to be produced by the engine

Superpulsed CO 2

Background. Periorbital basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is considered a high risk case because it is associated with high rate of recurrence and complication. Superpulsed CO2 laser with intraoperative pathologic assessment could be an alternative and appropriate treatment for periocular lesions where Mohs micrographic surgery is not available. Objective. To evaluate the efficacy of superpulsed CO2 laser therapy with intraoperative pathologic assessment on periocular BCC involving eyelash line. Method. This follow-up study was performed on 20 patients with a total of 21 BCC lesions that were pathologically documented. Firstly, debulkation of tumoral mass was done by curettage. Then, irradiation and intraoperative pathologic evaluation were done by concurrent CO2 laser. The patients were followed up for a period of 36 months. Results. Out of 21 lesions, the nodular type accounted for 15 (71.4%) lesions, and 12 (57.1%) lesions were seen in the lower lid as the most common clinical type and site involvement. Twenty BCC lesions (95.2%) were treated after one session. Damage to eyelash was seen in 2 (10%) patients, but ectropion and other complications were not seen in any patient. Conclusion. Treatment with superpulsed CO2 laser and intraoperative pathologic evaluation for periorbital BCC lesions much close to conjunctiva could be an effective method with minimal complications without major danger of recurrence. This modality can be used with care in the inner canthus and high risk pathologic lesions

The impact of industrial wastewater on some of the morphological and physiologhical characteristics of Cyperus alternifolius, Chrysopogon zizanioide and Aloe vera

The increase of the entry of industrial effluents containing various types of heavy metals into water and soil leads to the ever-increasing spread of environmental problems. Therefore, it is necessary to find less expensive solutions to reduce the pollution. In this regard, in order to compare the effect of the removal of heavy elements on some of the morphological and physiological characteristics of C. alternifolius, Ch. zizanioides and Aloe vera plants, an experiment was conducted in the form of a randomized complete block design with three replications for 14 months at the University of Guilan. The results showed that under the treatment of industrial wastewater, the metal accumulation indices (MAI) of zinc, chromium, lead, copper, manganese, nickel, magnesium were higher in Ch. zizanioides and Aloe vera than those in C. alternifolius. In all three studied plants, the indices of root length, shoot length, total biomass and tolerance index (TI) had a significant decrease compared with those in the control plants, and Ch. zizanioides and A. vera plants had the lowest percentage of decrease. In addition, other investigated components including absorption index (UI), total soluble sugar, total phenol content, total flavonoid, total anthocyanin, total tannin, and DPPH free radical inhibition percentage increased in all three plants under industrial wastewater treatment. The highest percentage of increase in all investigated components, except DPPH free radical inhibition percentage, was observed in Ch. zizanioides. In general, it can be said that in terms of MAI and morphological and physiological characteristics, Ch. zizanioides and A. vera were more successful than the C. alternifolius. Therefore, it is recommended to plant the studied plants in the order of priority (Ch. zizanioides ˃ A. vera ˃ C. alternifolius) in soils contaminated with industrial effluents, in order to remediate the soil

Improved Trust Prediction in Business Environments by Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference Systems

Trust prediction turns out to be an important challenge when cooperation among intelligent agents with an impression of trust in their mind, is investigated. In other words, predicting trust values for future time slots help partners to identify the probability of continuing a relationship. Another important case to be considered is the context of trust, i.e. the services and business commitments for which a relationship is defined. Hence, intelligent agents should focus on improving trust to provide a stable and confident context. Modelling of trust between collaborating parties seems to be an important component of the business intelligence strategy. In this regard, a set of metrics have been considered by which the value of confidence level for predicted trust values has been estimated. These metrics are maturity, distance and density (MD2). Prediction of trust for future mutual relationships among agents is a problem that is addressed in this study. We introduce a simulation-based model which utilizes linguistic variables to create various scenarios. Then, future trust values among agents are predicted by the concept of adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). Mean absolute percentage errors (MAPEs) resulted from ANFIS are compared with confidence levels which are determined by applying MD2. Results determine the efficiency of MD2 for forecasting trust values. This is the first study that utilizes the concept of MD2 for improvement of business trust prediction

The Inhibitory Effect of Ginger Extract on Ovarian Cancer Cell Line; Application of Systems Biology

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers.Purpose: Ginger is a natural compound with anti-cancer properties. The effects of ginger and its mechanism on ovarian cancer and its cell line model, SKOV-3, are unclear. In this study, we have evaluated the effect of ginger extract on SKOV-3. Methods: SKOV-3 cells were incubated with ginger extract for 24, 48 and 72 hours. Cell toxicity assay was performed. Different data mining algorithms were applied to highlight the most important features contributing to ginger inhibition on the SKOV-3 cell proliferation. Moreover, Real-Time PCR was performed to assay p53, p21 and bcl-2 genes expression. For co-expression meta-analysis of p53, mutual ranking (MR) index and transformation to Z-values (Z distribution) were applied on available transcriptome data in NCBI GEO data repository. Results: The ginger extract significantly inhibited cancer growth in ovarian cancer cell line. The most important attribute was 60 μg/ml concentration which received weights higher than 0.50, 0.75 and 0.95 by 90%, 80% and 50% of feature selection models, respectively. The expression level of p53 was increased sharply in response to ginger treatment. Systems biology analysis and meta-analysis of deposited expression value in NCBI based on rank of correlation and Z-transformation approach unraveled the key co-expressed genes and coexpressed network of P53, as the key transcription factor induced by ginger extract. High co-expression between P53 and the other apoptosis-inducing proteins such as CASP2 and DEDD was noticeable, suggesting the molecular mechanism underpinning of ginger action. Conclusion: We found that the ginger extract has anticancer properties through p53 pathway to induce apoptosis