Fumigant toxicity of essential oil of Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris L.) against three major stored product beetles

Application of plants essential oil for the evaluation of their fumigant toxicity and insecticidal properties is the goal of many researches. In this study, aerial parts of Artemisia vulgaris L. were subjected to hydrodistillation using a Clevenger-type apparatus, and the chemical composition of the volatile oils was studied by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Alpha-Pinene (23.56) was the main component of the essential oil. Insecticidal activity of the oil was evaluated against Tribolium castaneum (Herbst), Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) and Rhizopertha dominica (F.) after 24, 48 and 72 h. After 24-h exposure time, C. maculatus was more susceptible (LC₅₀ = 52.47 μl/l air) and T. castaneum was more tolerant (LC₅₀ = 279.86 μl/l air) than other species. LT₅₀ values were indicated using highest concentration of LC₅₀ tests for three species. In general, mortality increased as the doses of essential oil and exposure time increased. These results proposed that A. vulgaris oil might have potential as a control agent against T. castaneum, R. dominica and especially C. maculates in storages.     

Core flooding tests to investigate the effects of IFT reduction and wettability alteration on oil recovery during MEOR process in an Iranian oil reservoir

Microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) refers to the process of using bacterial activities for more oil recovery from oil reservoirs mainly by interfacial tension reduction and wettability alteration mechanisms. Investigating the impact of these two mechanisms on enhanced oil recovery during MEOR process is the main objective of this work. Different analytical methods such as oil spreading and surface activity measurements were utilized to screen the biosurfactant-producing bacteria isolated from the brine of a specific oil reservoir located in the southwest of Iran. The isolates identified by 16S rDNA and biochemical analysis as Enterobacter cloacae (Persian Type Culture Collection (PTCC) 1798) and Enterobacter hormaechei (PTCC 1799) produce 1.53 g/l of biosurfactant. The produced biosurfactant caused substantial surface tension reduction of the growth medium and interfacial tension reduction between oil and brine to 31 and 3.2 mN/m from the original value of 72 and 29 mN/m, respectively. A novel set of core flooding tests, including in situ and ex situ scenarios, was designed to explore the potential of the isolated consortium as an agent for MEOR process. Besides, the individual effects of wettability alteration and IFT reduction on oil recovery efficiency by this process were investigated. The results show that the wettability alteration of the reservoir rock toward neutrally wet condition in the course of the adsorption of bacteria cells and biofilm formation are the dominant mechanisms on the improvement of oil recovery efficiency.     

Snow melt stimulates ecosystem respiration in Arctic ecosystems

Cold seasons in Arctic ecosystems are increasingly important to the annual carbon balance of these vulnerable ecosystems. Arctic winters are largely harsh and inaccessible leading historic data gaps during that time. Until recently, cold seasons have been assumed to have negligible impacts on the annual carbon balance but as data coverage increases and the Arctic warms, the cold season has been shown to account for over half of annual methane (CH₄) emissions and can offset summer photosynthetic carbon dioxide (CO₂) uptake. Freeze–thaw cycle dynamics play a critical role in controlling cold season CO₂ and CH₄ loss, but the relationship has not been extensively studied. Here, we analyze freeze–thaw processes through in situ CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes in conjunction with soil cores for physical structure and porewater samples for redox biogeochemistry. We find a movement of water toward freezing fronts in soil cores, leaving air spaces in soils, which allows for rapid infiltration of oxygen‐rich snow melt in spring as shown by oxidized iron in porewater. The snow melt period coincides with rising ecosystem respiration and can offset up to 41% of the summer CO₂ uptake. Our study highlights this important seasonal process and shows spring greenhouse gas emissions are largely due to production from respiration instead of only bursts of stored gases. Further warming is projected to result in increases of snowpack and deeper thaws, which could increase this ecosystem respiration dominate snow melt period causing larger greenhouse gas losses during spring.     

Role of aldo‐keto reductase family 1 member B1 (AKR1B1) in the cancer process and its therapeutic potential

The role of aldo‐keto reductase family 1 member B1 (AKR1B1) in cancer is not totally clear but growing evidence is suggesting to have a great impact on cancer progression. AKR1B1 could participate in a complicated network of signalling pathways, proteins and miRNAs such as mir‐21 mediating mechanisms like inflammatory responses, cell cycle, epithelial to mesenchymal transition, cell survival and apoptosis. AKR1B1 has been shown to be mostly overexpressed in cancer. This overexpression has been associated with inflammatory mediators including nuclear factor kappa‐light‐chain‐enhancer of activated B cells (NFκB), cell cycle mediators such as cyclins and cyclin‐dependent kinases (CDKs), survival proteins and pathways like mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and protein kinase B (PKB) or AKT, and other regulatory factors in response to reactive oxygen species (ROS) and prostaglandin synthesis. In addition, inhibition of AKR1B1 has been shown to mostly have anti‐cancer effects. Several studies have also suggested that AKR1B1 inhibition as an adjuvant therapy could render tumour cells more sensitive to anti‐cancer therapy or alleviate the adverse effects of therapy. AKR1B1 could also be considered as a potential cancer diagnostic biomarker since its promoter has shown high levels of methylation. Although pre‐clinical investigations on the role of AKR1B1 in cancer and the application of its inhibitors have shown promising results, the lack of clinical studies on AKR1B1 inhibitors has hampered the use of these drugs to treat cancer. Thus, there is a need to conduct more clinical studies on the application of AKR1B1 inhibitors as adjuvant therapy on different cancers.     

In Silico Designing a Candidate Vaccine Against Breast Cancer

International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics - Breast cancer (BC) is the most common type of women’s cancer with a prevalence of about 25%, although it is rare in men...     

Functional Polymorphisms of FAS and FASL Gene and Risk of Breast Cancer – Pilot Study of 134 Cases

Fas/Fas ligand (FasL) system is one of the key apoptotic signaling entities in the extrinsic apoptotic pathway. De-regulation of this pathway, i.e. by mutations may prevent the immune system from the removal of newly-formed tumor cells, and thus lead to tumor formation. The present study investigated the association between −1377 G/A (rs2234767) and −670 A/G (rs1800682) polymorphisms in Fas as well as single nucleotide polymorphisms INV2nt −124 A/G (rs5030772) and −844 C/T (rs763110) in FasL in a sample of Iranian patients with breast cancer. This case-control study was done on 134 breast cancer patients and 152 normal women. Genomic DNA was extracted from whole blood samples. The polymorphisms were determined by using tetra-ARMS-PCR method. There was no significant difference in the genotype distribution of FAS rs2234767 polymorphism between cases and controls. FAS rs1800682, FASL rs5030772, and FASL rs763110 genotypes showed significant associations with an increasing risk of breast cancer (odds ratio OR = 3.18, P = 0.019; OR = 5.08, P = 0.012; OR = 2.40, P = 0.024, respectively). In conclusion, FAS rs2234767 was not associated with breast cancer risk. Though, FAS rs1800682, FASL rs5030772, and FASL rs763110 polymorphisms were associated with the risk of breast cancer in the examined population.     

Hip extension, knee flexion paradox: a new mechanism for non-contact ACL injury

Considering that an athlete performs at-risk sports activities countless times throughout the course of his or her career prior to the instance of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, one may conclude that non-contact ACL injury is a rare event. Nevertheless, the overall number of non-contact ACL injuries, both in the US and worldwide, remains alarming due to the growing number of recreational and professional athletes participating in high-risk activities. To date, numerous non-contact ACL injury mechanisms have been proposed, but none provides a detailed picture of sequence of events leading to injury and the exact cause of this injury remains elusive. In this perspective article, we propose a new conception of non-contact ACL injury mechanism that comprehensively integrates risk factors inside and outside the knee joint. The proposed mechanism is robust in the sense that it is biomechanically justifiable and addresses a number of confounding issues related to ACL injury.     

Paying attention with the latest technology

In this issue of Neuron, Parikh et al. utilize biosensors to probe the cholinergic system in freely moving rats performing cue-detection/reward delivery tasks. They show that cue-evoked cholinergic activity in the medial prefrontal cortex is associated with cue detection and not reward delivery. We discuss the implications of their research in behavioral neuroscience.     

The immunomodulatory role of probiotics in allergy therapy

The increased incidence of allergic disorders may be the result of a relative fall in microbial induction in the intestinal immune system during infancy and early childhood. Probiotics have recently been proposed as viable microorganisms for the prevention and treatment of specific allergic diseases. Different mechanisms have been considered for this probiotic property, such as generation of cytokines from activated pro-T-helper type 1 after bacterial contact. However, the effects of its immunomodulatory potential require validation for clinical applications. This review will focus on the currently available data on the benefits of probiotics in allergy disease.