Late Endosomes Act as mRNA Translation Platforms and Sustain Mitochondria in Axons

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Nutlet micromorphology of Iranian Nepeta (Lamiaceae) species

To evaluate nutlets characteristics for systematic relationships, a comprehensive morphological and micro‐morphological study of the nutlets of 16 Iranian taxa of Nepeta (Lamiaceae) was conducted using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Differences in surface ornamentation, size, shape and color were observed between the species. The studied taxa were categorized in two basic types based on surface ornamentation: non‐sculptured (smooth‐type) and sculptured nutlets. The non‐sculptured nutlets type could be further divided into four sub‐types, including smooth, granulate, undulate‐cellular and reticulate. In the sculptured nutlets, three subtypes of tuberculate, tuberculate‐cellular and verrucate were recognized. The shape of nutlets were described as oblong, ovoid‐oblong, oblong‐linear, to elliptic‐oblong and their size range are 1.2–2.0 mm in length and 0.5–2.0 mm in width. Based on micrographs, the areole form and location were defined as bi‐lobed, straight, basal, sub‐basal or lateral. Nutlet micromorphological characteristics such as surface ornamentation can be useful for classification and identification of e.g. medicinal species of Nepeta in Iran.     

Exploring cultural differences in wildlife value orientations using student samples in seven nations

Biodiversity and Conservation - Understanding differences in the way people think about wildlife across countries is important as many conservation challenges transcend jurisdictions. We explored...     

Media optimization for SHuffle T7 Escherichia coli expressing SUMO-Lispro proinsulin by response surface methodology

Background

The present study intends to optimize the processing technology for the wine-processing of Rhizoma Coptidis, using alkaloids as indicators.

Method

In the present study, the Box–Behnken design method was adopted to optimize the processing technology for Rhizoma Coptidis, using the alkaloid component quantities as the index. 100 g of Rhizoma Coptidis slices and 12.5 g of Rhizoma Coptidis wine were used. After full mixing, box-Behnken design method was used to optimize the processing time, processing temperature and processing time of coptis chinensis by taking alkaloid content as index. After mixing well, these components were fried in a container at 125 °C for 6 min and exhibited good parallelism.

Results

The content of alkaloids in coptis chinensis was the highest after roasting at 125 °C for 6 min. The characteristic components were berberine hydrochloride, and the relative content was about 15.96%. And showed good parallelism. The effective components of Rhizoma Coptidis were primarily alkaloids.

Conclusion

The optimized processing technology for Rhizoma Coptidis is good.

     

Efficient downregulation of alb1 gene using an AMA1-based episomal expression of RNAi construct in Aspergillus fumigatus

An episomal RNAi silencing construct containing the inducible cbhB promoter and a hairpin structure has been made to downregulate the alb1 gene in the human pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. Transformation of fungal protoplasts resulted in a high number of transformants with an inducible silenced phenotype (white spores). Efficient downregulation of the alb1 gene using this system suggests that this approach may overcome the variable downregulation observed with integrative constructs.     

ELABELA (ELA) Peptide Exerts Cardioprotection Against Myocardial Infarction by Targeting Oxidative Stress and the Improvement of Heart Function

International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics - Emerging evidence has shown that ELA peptide plays a pivotal role in cardiac development and modulation of vascular and cardiac...     

The evaluation of cartilage differentiations using transforming growth factor beta3 alone and with combination of bone morphogenetic protein-6 on adult stem cells

In our quest to standardize our formula for a clinical trial, transforming growth factor-beta3 (TGF-β3) alone and in combination with bone morphogenetic protein-6 (BMP-6) were evaluated for their effectiveness in cartilage differentiation. Bone Marrow Stem Cells (BMSCs) and Adipose Derived Stem Cells (ADSCs) were induced to chondrogenic lineage using two different media. Native chondrocytes served as positive control. ADSCs and BMSCs proved multipotency by tri-lineage differentiations. ADSC has significantly higher growth kinetics compare to Chondrocyte only p ≤ 0.05. Using TGF-β3 alone, BMSC revealed higher expressions for hyaline cartilage genes compare to ADSCs. Chondrocyte has significantly higher early chondrogenic markers expression to ADSCs and BMSCs, while BMSCs was only higher to ADSC at chondroadherin, p ≤ 0.0001. On mature chondrogenic markers, chondrocytes were significantly higher to ADSCs and BMSCs for aggrecan, collagen IX, sry (sex determining region y)-box9, collagen II and fibromodullin; and only to ADSC for collagen XI. BMSC was higher to ADSC for aggrecan and collagen IX, p ≤ 0.0001. The combination of TGF-β3 + BMP-6 revealed increased gene expressions on both BMSCs and ADSCs for early and mature chondrogenic markers, but no significance difference. For dedifferentiation markers, ADSC was significantly higher to chondrocyte for collagen I. Glycosaminoglycan evaluations with both formulas revealed that chondrocytes were significantly higher to ADSCs and BMSCs, but none was significant to each other, p ≤ 0.0001. Combination of 10 ng TGF-β3 with 10 ng of BMP-6 enhanced chondrogenic potentials of BMSCs and ADSCs compare to TGF-β3 alone. This could be the ideal cocktail for either cell’s chondrogenic induction.     

Morphometric study and sexual dimorphism analyses in an Iranian population of Scorpio maurus (Arachnida: Scorpionidae)

Natural selection and sexual selection are cardinal factors in shaping the body of animals such as scorpions. Scorpio maurus (Scorpiones: Scorpionidae) has a worldwide distribution. Sexual dimorphism has been reported from this species in a study in Egypt. Morphometry is used to determine the sexual dimorphism between the two sexes. In the current study, scorpions were collected from six locations of the southern and northern provinces of Fars, Iran. In this study, 53 morphological characters of 15 specimens of each sex of Scorpio maurus were studied based on statistical analyses; however, dimorphism was only observed in 21 morphological characters, including chelicerae and carapace length, pedipalp characters, width of the second segment of metasoma, telson and pectin length, number of left pectin teeth, and some of the leg''s segments. It means that these characters are in the control of sexual and natural selection. This study was performed for the first time on Scorpio maurus species in Iran.