Using Immunoinformatics and Structural Approaches to Design a Novel HHV8 Vaccine

International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics - Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS)-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) or human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8) has caused infection in different parts of the...     

DNA binding studies of antibiotic drug cephalexin using spectroscopic and molecular docking techniques

The purpose of this study was to explore an accurate characterization of the binding interaction of antibiotic drug cephalexin with calf thymus DNA (CT-DNA) as a relevant biological target by using UV absorption, fluorescence spectroscopy and circular dichroism (CD) in vitro under simulated physiological conditions (pH = 7.4) and also through a molecular modeling study. The results showed that the drug interacts with the DNA helix via a minor groove binding mode. The thermodynamic parameters were calculated and showed that the reaction between the drug and CT-DNA was exothermic. In addition, the drug enforced traceable changes in the viscosity of DNA. The molecular modeling results indicated that cephalexin forcefully binds to the minor groove of DNA with a relative binding energy of ?21.02?kJ mol^?1. The obtained theoretical results were in good agreement with those obtained from experimental studies.     

Effects of Freezing Stress on the Expression of Fatty Acid Desaturase (FAD2, FAD6 and FAD7) and Beta-Glucosidase (BGLC) Genes in Tolerant and Sensitive Olive Cultivars

Russian Journal of Plant Physiology - In this study, the effect of freezing stress on expression of fatty acid desaturases (FAD2-2, FAD6 and FAD7) and beta-glucosidase (BGLC) genes was investigated...     

Improving ECG classification accuracy using an ensemble of neural network modules

This paper illustrates the use of a combined neural network model based on Stacked Generalization method for classification of electrocardiogram (ECG) beats. In conventional Stacked Generalization method, the combiner learns to map the base classifiers' outputs to the target data. We claim adding the input pattern to the base classifiers' outputs helps the combiner to obtain knowledge about the input space and as the result, performs better on the same task. Experimental results support our claim that the additional knowledge according to the input space, improves the performance of the proposed method which is called Modified Stacked Generalization. In particular, for classification of 14966 ECG beats that were not previously seen during training phase, the Modified Stacked Generalization method reduced the error rate for 12.41% in comparison with the best of ten popular classifier fusion methods including Max, Min, Average, Product, Majority Voting, Borda Count, Decision Templates, Weighted Averaging based on Particle Swarm Optimization and Stacked Generalization.     

Olive (Olea europaea L.) freezing tolerance related to antioxidant enzymes activity during cold acclimation and non acclimation

The changes in the antioxidant enzymes activity, total protein and proline content and their correlations with freezing tolerance (FT) (expressed as LT₅₀) were investigated at 11 different olive cultivars at cold-acclimation (CA, in February) and non-acclimation (NA, in August) stages. Leaf samples were collected from each cultivar and were divided into two groups. The first group was immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen for further biochemical analysis. The second ones was subjected to different freezing temperatures (?5, ?10, ?15 and ?20 °C) for 10 h, in order to determine their FT. The unfrozen control samples were kept at 4 °C. The results showed that Fishomi, Mission and Shengeh were the most freezing tolerant among other cultivars. In contrast, Zard, Manzanilla and Amigdalolia were the most sensitive ones. The cold acclimation enhanced the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), catalase (CAT), polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and total protein content. However, proline content and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) activity did not change or even decreased slightly at CA stage, compare to those samples at NA stage. It was found that LT₅₀ to be closely correlated to POD, CAT, and PPO activity at CA and NA stages. Overall, higher leaf POD, CAT, and PPO activity could be used as important selection criteria in screening tolerant olive cultivars for cold zone climatic.     

Sex-specific modification of progesterone receptor expression by 17β-oestradiol in human cardiac tissues

Background

Although circulating levels of sexual hormones in elderly men and women are low and quite similar, the adaptation of the elderly heart to stress differs between the sexes. We have hypothesized that the effects of sexual hormones in the heart may differ in men and women. Here, we assessed whether 17β-oestradiol regulates gene expression in the human heart in a sex-dependent manner. We selected the progesterone receptor as a well studied 17β-oestradiol target that may be pathologically linked to cardiac remodelling.

Methods

In order to assess the ex vivo effects of 17β-oestradiol in intact human cardiac tissues, we developed a 24-h model for the culture of human atrial myocardium. We verified tissue viability after 24 h in culture with two standard assays to determine the degree of apoptosis and metabolic activity of cardiac tissues. Progesterone receptor mRNA and protein level were measured after 24-h treatment of tissues with 17β-oestradiol. Statistical analysis was performed by the Mann-Whitney U test and two-way ANOVA.

Results

We established a tissue culture model that allows for the study of viable human cardiac tissue over a 24-h period. After 24 h, cultured cardiac tissues revealed low apoptosis, retained their metabolic activity and, therefore, remained viable. Treatment with 17β-oestradiol led to an induction of the progesterone receptor mRNA level in female (P = 0.001) but not in male tissues. Similarly, there was an increase in the level of progesterone receptor protein in female tissues (P = 0.03), while a decreasing trend was observed in male tissues (P = 0.079) exposed to 17β-oestradiol.

Conclusions

Our novel finding may offer a molecular explanation for the sex-specific differences observed in cardiac remodelling. The culture model we established for human cardiac tissue will facilitate the study of cellular processes in health and disease and will be of use for pharmacological testing.     

Effects of Cymbopogon citratus and Ferula assa-foetida extracts on glutamate-induced neurotoxicity

Many of CNS diseases can lead to a great quantity of release of glutamate and the extreme glutamate induces neuronal cell damage and death. Here, we wanted to investigate the effects of Cymbopogon citratus essential oil and Ferula assa-foetida extracts treatment on glutamate-induced cell damage in a primary culture of rat cerebellar granule neurons. Cerebellums were collected from 7-d rat brains and cerebellar granule neurons were obtained after 8-d culture. CGN cells were treated with C. citratus essential oil and F. assa-foetida extracts at concentration of 100 μg/ml before, after, and during exposure to 30 μM glutamate. The cellular viability was evaluated by 3-(4, 5-dimethytthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazoliumbromide (MTT) staining. The flow cytometry assay was used to examine cell cycle and apoptosis. MTT assay showed a glutamate-induced reduction in cellular viability while treatment with C. citratus essential oil and F. assa-foetida extracts before, during, and after exposure to glutamate was increased. Flow cytometric analysis indicated that F. assa-foetida extracts treatment significantly (p?<?0.001) attenuated glutamate-induced apoptotic/necrotic cell death and the necrotic rate was decreased by C. citratus essential oil treatment compared to glutamate group, significantly (p?<?0.001). The results show that C. citratus essential oil and F. assa-foetida extracts display neuroprotective effects in glutamate-induced neurotoxicity. These extracts exert antiapoptotic activity in cerebellar granule neurons due to cell cycle arrest in G0G1 phase, which explain the beneficial effects of C. citratus essential oil and F. assa-foetida extracts as therapies for neurologic disorders.     

Evaluating Drug Resistant Mutations to HCV NS3 Protease Inhibitors in Iranian Naïve Patients

International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics - Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an important causative agent of acute and chronic hepatitis. The non-structural protein 3 (NS3) of HCV...