Isolation and Identification of Alicyclobacillus with High Dipicolinic Acid and Heat Resistant Proteins from Mango Juice

Background and Objectives: Microbial spoilage of juices and industries related with Alicyclobacillus are considerable international issues. This spore-forming bacterium causes changes in juices odor and taste. The isolation and identification of Alicyclobacillus contamination in juice producing and packaging industries has an essential role in the prevention and control of this type of spoilage bacterium in HACCP (Hazard analysis and critical control points ) manner.Materials and Methods: A thermo-acidophilic, non-pathogenic and sporeforming bacterium was isolated from mango juice. Preliminary identification of the isolates was based on morphological, biochemical and physiological properties. Identification at species level was made by PCR amplification. The influence of temperature in the range of 25-65°C in the growth of bacterium and in the range of 80-120°C in spore-resistant and heat resistant proteins was investigated and compared with other spore producing bacteria.Results and Conclusion: Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequencing indicated that the isolated strain constituted a distinct lineage in the Alicyclobacillus cluster and submitted to NCBI with access number Alicyclobacillus HRM-5 KM983424.1. The spores resisted 110°C for 3 h, and produced 28% dipicolinic acid more comparable to Bacillus licheniformis. Also they could produce 0.69 mg heat resistance protein after 1.5 h treatment in 100°C. The results showed that this strain could have biotechnological applications.Conflict of interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest

Perception of patients with COVID-19 about respecting their dignity in hospital settings: a cross-sectional study

Background: Dignity therapy is a psychotherapy intervention whose main goal is to improve the quality of life, promote spiritual and psychological health, and reduce suffering in people with life-threatening diseases. Deteriorating health status is associated with low perceived dignity. The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with growing concerns about the quality of health care. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the perception of patients with COVID-19 about respecting their dignity in the hospital settings and related variables. Patients and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2021, on 206 patients with COVID-19 in hospitals. Patient Dignity Questionnaire (PDI) was used to collect data and descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: The mean age of the participants was 54.83 ± 14.98 years and the majority of them were male (67.5%). The mean score of overall perceived dignity was 69.76 ± 10.62 out of 125. Participants rated 7 out of 25 items as 3 or higher, indicating the importance of these items in the clinical setting. The highest and lowest mean scores were in the dependence (3.28 ± 0.55) and social support (1.49 ± 0.59) subscales, respectively. The mean dignity score was associated with the patients' educational level and gender (p = 0.012) (p = 0.065). Conclusions: Patients with COVID-19 were concerned about respecting their dignity. Our patients were more concerned about the dimensions of symptom distress, existential distress, and dependence. Conducting training workshops on respecting human dignity in patients with COVID-19 can improve nurses’ knowledge and skills in this area and promote respect for patient dignity

Corpus Callosum Functional Activities in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Background: Since cerebral palsy (CP) is a corollary to brain damage, persistent treatment should accompany an alteration in brain functional activity in line with clinical improvements. In this regard, the corpus callosum (CC), as a connecting bridge between the two hemispheres, plays an essential role.Objective: This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic effects of occupational therapy (OT) on CC functional activity and walking capacity in children with cerebral palsy.Material and Methods: In this clinical trial study, 4 children with CP (8.25±1.71 years) received 45 min OT sessions 3 times weekly for 8 weeks. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was acquired while conducting passive motor tasks to quantify CC activation. The pre-post activation changes in CC following therapy were quantified in terms of activated voxels. Walking capacity was evaluated using the timed-up-and-go (TUG), 6-minute walk test (6 MWT), and 10-meter walk test (10 MWT) in pre-and post-treatment.Results: The number of activated voxels in CC indicated significant improvement in participants. Post-treatment activated voxels substantially exceeded pre-treatment active voxels. Clinical measures, including TUG, 6 MWT, and 10 MWT are improved by 11.9%, 12.6%, and 25.4%, respectively.  Conclusion: Passive task-based fMRI can detect the effects of OT on CC functional activity in children with CP. According to the results, OT improves CC functional activity in addition to gait and balance performance

Optimization of culture media for enhancing gamma-linolenic acid production by Mucor hiemalis

Introduction: g-linolenic acid is an essential fatty acid in human nutrition. In the present study, production of g-linolenic acid by Mucor hiemalis PTCC 5292 was evaluated in submerged fermentation. Materials and methods: The fermentation variables were chosen according to the fractional factorial design and further optimized via full factorial method. Four significant variables, glucose, peptone, ammonium nitrate and pH were selected for the optimization studies. The design consisted of total 16 runs consisting of runs at two levels for each factor with three replications of the center points. Results: The analysis of variance and three-dimensional response surface plot of effects indicated that variables were regarded to be significant for production of g-linolenic acid by Mucor hiemalis. Results indicated that fermentation at the optimum conditions (100 g/l glucose concentration; 1 g/l peptone; 1 g/l ammonium nitrate, and pH of 4.5) enhanced the g-linolenic acid production up to 709 mg/l. Discussion and conclusion: The results of this study indicated that higher g-linolenic acid yield can be achieved in a simple medium at high glucose and ammonium nitrate, low peptone concentrations and acidic pH by Mucor hiemalis PTCC 5292. This simple and low cost optimization condition of culture media can be applied for g-linolenic acid production at higher scale for pharmaceutical and nutritional industries.&nbsp

The effect of carbon and nitrogen sources on the fatty acids profile of Mortierella vinacea

Introduction: Microbial lipids attract attention of many researchers due to their therapeutic effects. The goal of this study is the production and optimization of lipids and fatty acids in Mortierella vinaceaby applying different media to achieve invaluable fatty acids in pharmaceutical and food industry. Materials and methods: Mortierella vinacea was cultured on potato dextrose agar. Then the spores were inoculated to the production medium. After 72 hours, the lipids were extracted and they were analyzedby gas chromatography. To optimize lipid and important fatty acids production in medium, various carbon and nitrogen sources were substituted with glucose and yeast extract respectively. Results: The effect of some carbon and nitrogen sources on biomass, lipid and fatty acids production were assayed. The highest level of lipid production was in a medium which contains lactose and yeast extract (26.66%). Linoleic acid was only produced in presence of lactose and yeast extract (25.7%). While, M. vinacea yielded the highest level of linoleic acid (52.76%) in a medium containing peptone, linolenic acid was achieved only in presence of lactose and triptone. Discussion and conclusion: In this study, lactose as a carbon source was the most effective one in the production of lipids. In addition, linoleic acid was produced in presence of lactose, so lactose was selected as the best carbon source. Peptone and triptone as a nitrogen source were chosen for the production of linoleic acid and linolenic acid in M. vinacea respectively. All of these findings reveal that Mortierella strain is a potential candidate for enhancement of linoleic acid and linolenic acid production. Furthermore, this simple media can be used in production of linoleic acid and linolenic acid for industrial goals in large scales

Equilibrium studies of 2,2'-(5-bromo-6-methylpyrimidine-2,4-diyl)bis(azanediyl)dipropanoic acid with some transition-metal ions in aqueous solution

The stability constants of the 1:1 complexes formed between M2+ (M2+: Mn2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, or Cd2+) and BMADA2- (BMADA: 2,2'-(5-bromo-6-methylpyrimidine-2,4 diyl)bis(azanediyl)dipropanoic acid) were determined by potentiometric pH titration in aqueous solution (I = 0.1 mol L-1, NaNO3, 25 °C). The stability of the binary M - BMADA complexes is determined by the basicity of the carboxyl or amino groups. All the stability constants reported in this work exhibit the usual trend, and the order obtained was Mn2+ Cd2+. The observed stability order for BMADA approximately follows the Irving - Williams sequence. In the M - BMADA complexes, the M ion is able to form a macrochelate via the pyrimidine group of BMADA