Seroprevalence of Brucellosis,Leptospirosis, and Q Fever among Butchers and Slaughterhouse Workers in South-Eastern Iran

Zoonotic diseases can be occupational hazards to people who work in close contact with animals or their carcasses. In this cross-sectional study, 190 sera were collected from butchers and slaughterhouse workers in different regions of the Sistan va Baluchestan province, in Iran in 2011. A questionnaire was filled for each participant to document personal and behavioural information. The sera were tested for detection of specific IgG antibodies against brucellosis, leptospirosis, and Q fever (phase I and II) using commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). The seroprevalence of brucellosis was 7.9%, leptospirosis 23.4%, and phase I and II of Q fever were 18.1% and 14.4%, respectively. The seroprevalence of Q fever and leptospirosis, but not brucellosis, varied among regions within the province (p = 0.01). Additionally, a significant relationship was found between seropositivity of Q fever and camel slaughtering (p = 0.04). Reduced seropositivity rate of brucellosis was associated with use of personal protective equipment (PPE) (p = 0.004). This study shows that brucellosis, leptospirosis and Q fever occur among butchers and slaughterhouse workers in this area.     

Immunoinformatics Approach to Engineer a Potent Poly-epitope Fusion Protein Vaccine Against Coxiella burnetii

International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics - Coxiella burnetii pathogen, which causes Q fever, is one of the most dangerous pathogens transmitted from the livestock to humans. The...     

Wolbachia in scale insects: a distinct pattern of infection frequencies and potential transfer routes via ant associates

Wolbachia is one of the most successful endosymbiotic bacteria of arthropods. Known as the ‘master of manipulation’, Wolbachia can induce a wide range of phenotypes in its host that can have far-reaching ecological and evolutionary consequences and may be exploited for disease and pest control. However, our knowledge of Wolbachia's distribution and the infection rate is unevenly distributed across arthropod groups such as scale insects. We fitted a distribution of within-species prevalence of Wolbachia to our data and compared it to distributions fitted to an up-to-date dataset compiled from surveys across all arthropods. The estimated distribution parameters indicate a Wolbachia infection frequency of 43.6% (at a 10% prevalence threshold) in scale insects. Prevalence of Wolbachia in scale insects follows a distribution similar to exponential decline (most species are predicted to have low prevalence infections), in contrast to the U-shaped distribution estimated for other taxa (most species have a very low or very high prevalence). We observed no significant associations between Wolbachia infection and scale insect traits. Finally, we screened for Wolbachia in scale insect's ecological associates. We found a positive correlation between Wolbachia infection in scale insects and their ant associates, pointing to a possible route of horizontal transfer of Wolbachia.     

Metronidazole aryloxy,carboxy and azole derivatives: Synthesis,anti-tumor activity,QSAR, molecular docking and dynamics studies

A series of novel metronidazole aryloxy, carboxy and azole derivatives has been synthesized and their cytotoxic activities on three cancer cell lines were evaluated by MTT assay. Compounds 4m, 4l and 4d showed the most potent cytotoxic activity (IC₅₀s?less than?100?µg/mL). Apoptosis was also detected for these compounds by flow cytometry. Docking studies were performed in order to propose the probable target protein. In the next step, molecular dynamics simulation was carried out on the proposed target protein, focal adhesion kinase (FAK, PDB code: 2ETM), bound to compound 4m. As, 4m showed a potent cytotoxic activity and an acceptable apoptotic effect, it can be a potential anticancer candidate that may work through inhibition of FAK.     

The cyanobacterial UV-absorbing pigment scytonemin displays radical-scavenging activity

Scytonemin is a 544-Da hydrophobic pigment that can absorb UV-A radiation. It is present in cyanobacterial sheaths and is thought to function as a UV protectant. In this study, scytonemin was purified from the terrestrial cyanobacterium Nostoc commune, and its radical-scavenging activity was characterized. The purified scytonemin quenched an organic radical in vitro and accounted for up to 10% of the total activity of an ethanol extract of N. commune. These results suggest that the extracellular UV-absorbing pigment scytonemin has multiple roles, functioning as a UV sunscreen and an antioxidant relevant to anhydrobiosis in N. commune.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Agrobacterium</Emphasis>-mediated genetic transformation and regeneration of transgenic plants using leaf segments as explants in Valencia sweet orange

In this study, attempts were made to develop a protocol for regeneration of transgenic plants via Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation of leaf segments from ‘Valencia’ sweet orange (Citrus sinensis L. Osbeck) using gfp (green fluorescence protein) as a vital marker. Sensitivity of the leaf segments regeneration to kanamycin was evaluated, which showed that 50 mg l⁻¹ was the best among the tested concentrations. In addition, factors affecting the frequency of transient gfp expression were optimized, including leaf age, Agrobacterium concentration, infection time, and co-cultivation period. Adventitious shoots regenerated on medium containing Murashige and Tucker basal medium plus 0.1 mg l⁻¹ α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), 0.5 mg l⁻¹ 6-benzyladenine (BA) and 0.5 mg l⁻¹ kinetin (KT). The leaf segments from 3-month-old in vitro seedlings, Agrobacterium concentration at OD₆₀₀ of 0.6, 10-min immersion, and co-cultivation for 3 days yielded the highest frequency of transient gfp expression, shoots regeneration response and transformation efficiency. By applying these optimized parameters we recovered independent transformed plants at the transformation efficiency of 23.33% on selection medium (MT salts augmented with 0.5 mg l⁻¹ BA, 0.5 mg l⁻¹ KT, 0.1 mg l⁻¹ NAA, 50 mg l⁻¹ kanamycin and 250 mg l⁻¹ cefotaxime). Expression of gfp in the leaf segments and regenerated shoots was confirmed using fluorescence microscope. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis using gfp and nptII gene-specific primers further confirmed the integration of the transgene in the independent transgenic plants. The transformation methodology described here may pave the way for generating transgenic plants using leaf segments as explants.