Therapeutic Effects of High-Intensity Interval Training Exercise Alone and Its Combination with Ecdysterone Against Amyloid Beta-Induced Rat Model of Alzheimer’s Disease: A Behavioral,Biochemical, and Histological Study

Neurochemical Research - Hippocampal oxidative stress has a vital role in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-associated behavioral deficits. Ecdysterone (Ecdy), a natural product...     

Modified AHP-based decision-making model toward accurate selection of eligible maintenance media for production of <Emphasis Type="Italic">taxanes</Emphasis> in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Taxus baccata</Emphasis> callus culture

Attempts were made here to apply a modified analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach based on refinement assay of dominated alternatives in monitoring the most reliable callus maintenance media (supplemented with l-glutamine and Casamino acid) of Taxus baccata callus cultures in terms of five criteria. Generally, regarding stem-derived calli, 6 out of 18 maintenance media were nominated as non-dominated alternatives, and following AHP ranking test Casamino acid-based media (i.e., A12, A15 and A19) were overall nominated as the premiere. Taking leaf-derived calli into account, only l-glutamine-based media in an ascending order of A8, A4, A6, A5, A9 and A3 were introduced as non-dominated alternatives. Such results connote that l-glutamine-based feeding appears to generate more significant results either for continuous calli growth or taxanes production. In contrast, regarding the second explant, stem, both amino acid supplies had fairly equal worth. Our findings, overall, demonstrate promising applications of the proposed AHP method regarding accurate selection of the best callus maintenance cultures of T. baccata for production of different taxanes including paclitaxel, Baccatin III and 10-deacetylbaccatin III. Similarly, this statistical approach could be also applicable for other crops, for instance, for accurate selection of the best callus cultures/media and consequently production improvement of a given plant secondary metabolite/product.     

Genetic diversity of the common bacterial blight pathogen of bean, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Xanthomonas axonopodis</Emphasis> pv. <Emphasis Type="Italic">phaseoli</Emphasis>, in Iran revealed by rep-PCR and PCR–RFLP analyses

Xanthomonad-like bacteria that are associated with common bacterial blight of bean in Iran were identified on the basis of their colonial morphology, biochemical and serological properties, presence of a specific DNA fragment using PCR primers and pathogenicity on bean. Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. phaseoli (Xap) strains were further characterized using rep-PCR and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). RFLP profiles generated by the restriction endonucleases RsaI, TaqI, HaeIII and Sau96I and rep-PCR analysis revealed that Iranian strains were relatively genetically homogenous. The similarity coefficients among the strains ranged from 0.87 to 1. The genetic diversity coefficients among strains from three infected provinces, Isfahan, Markazi and Lorestan, were 0.019, 0.072 and 0.033, respectively. The low overall level of polymorphism within Xap isolates collected from the three Iranian infected regions could suggest that few initial inoculum introductions might have distributed among these different bean-growing areas in Iran.     

The effect of crocin and safranal, constituents of saffron, against subacute effect of diazinon on hematological and genotoxicity indices in rats

In this study, the effect of crocin and safranal was studied against subacute toxicity of diazinon (DZN) on hematological and genotoxicity indices in rats. The rats were divided into 16 groups consisted of 6 rats in control, diazinon, vitamin E, vitamin E and DZN, crocin (3 doses), crocin (3 doses) and DZN, safranal (3 doses), safranal (3 doses) and DZN groups. Vitamin E (200 IU/kg), safranal at doses 0.025, 0.05 and 0.1 ml/kg and crocin at doses 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg were injected intraperitoneally to rats three times per week alone or with DZN (20 mg/kg/day, orally) for 4 weeks. Hematological parameters were evaluated at the end of 4 weeks. The evaluation of genotoxicity was done using the micronucleus assay. Vitamin E and, at lower doses, safranal (0.025 and 0.05 ml/kg) and crocin (50 mg/kg) restored the reduction of red blood cell, hemoglobin and hematocrit indices induced by DZN. These agents at some doses also prevented the reduction in platelets counts indices in diazinon treated group. A significant increase in reticulocyte was induced by diazinon. Vitamin E, safranal (0.025 or 0.05 ml/kg) and all doses of crocin decreased this effect of diazinon. In all doses vitamin E, crocin and safranal did not inhibit the effect of diazinon on RBC cholinesterase activity. A significant increase in micronucleus indices was seen with diazinon. Vitamin E, safranal and crocin could not prevent this genotoxicity. This study showed that vitamin E, safranal and crocin (without effects on cholinesterase) reduced diazinon hematological toxicity, but they did not prevent the genotoxicity induced by diazinon.     

IL-12Rβ1 deficiency in two of fifty children with severe tuberculosis from Iran, Morocco, and Turkey

Background and Objectives

In the last decade, autosomal recessive IL-12Rβ1 deficiency has been diagnosed in four children with severe tuberculosis from three unrelated families from Morocco, Spain, and Turkey, providing proof-of-principle that tuberculosis in otherwise healthy children may result from single-gene inborn errors of immunity. We aimed to estimate the fraction of children developing severe tuberculosis due to IL-12Rβ1 deficiency in areas endemic for tuberculosis and where parental consanguinity is common.

Methods and Principal Findings

We searched for IL12RB1 mutations in a series of 50 children from Iran, Morocco, and Turkey. All children had established severe pulmonary and/or disseminated tuberculosis requiring hospitalization and were otherwise normally resistant to weakly virulent BCG vaccines and environmental mycobacteria. In one child from Iran and another from Morocco, homozygosity for loss-of-function IL12RB1 alleles was documented, resulting in complete IL-12Rβ1 deficiency. Despite the small sample studied, our findings suggest that IL-12Rβ1 deficiency is not a very rare cause of pediatric tuberculosis in these countries, where it should be considered in selected children with severe disease.

Significance

This finding may have important medical implications, as recombinant IFN-γ is an effective treatment for mycobacterial infections in IL-12Rβ1-deficient patients. It also provides additional support for the view that severe tuberculosis in childhood may result from a collection of single-gene inborn errors of immunity.