Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM), Hypothyroidism,and Gene Variants (Keap1 Rs11085735) in Patients with Preeclampsia

Background:Preeclampsia is a multifactorial hypertensive disorder of pregnancy with multisystem involvement. Recent studies have demonstrated that preeclampsia is associated with increased placental oxidative stress at the cellular level. The nuclear factor erythroid-2-like 2 (Nrf2) / Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1) signaling is an antioxidant pathway that plays an important role in protecting cells against oxidative stress. Here, we aimed to determine the possible association between the Keap1 variants and genetic susceptibility to preeclampsia.Methods:In a case-control study, 150 preeclampsia patients and 150 women with normal pregnancy from Northern Iran were selected to evaluate the genotypes of Keap1 (rs11085735) using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-restriction length polymorphism (RFLP) method.Results:A significant association between genotypes of Keap1 rs11085735 polymorphism with the renal function biomarkers and the risk of preeclampsia was not found. However, the aspartate aminotransferase (AST) level was higher in the presence of the Keap1 AA genotype compared to AC and CC genotypes. We found a significantly higher prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in mild- and severe- preeclampsia and also hypothyroidism in severe preeclampsia compared to controls.Conclusion:We found an association between preeclampsia with GDM and hypothyroidism. Our findings suggest that the Keap1rs11085735 polymorphism may not be a risk factor for susceptibility to preeclampsia in our studied population; however, this polymorphism could affect the activity of AST.Key Words: Gestational diabetes mellitus, Hypothyroidism, Keap1 variants, Oxidative stress, Preeclampsia     

Computationally Design of Inhibitory Peptides Against Wnt Signaling Pathway: In Silico Insight on Complex of DKK1 and LRP6

Wnt signaling pathway plays a major role in the regulation of cell proliferation, migration, tissue homeostasis, tumor progression and cancer. This pathway can be antagonized by different proteins such as DKK proteins, which disrupt the initiatory complex (Frizzled–LRP6 complex). Therefore, interruption of its formation could be a promising strategy for the design of Low-density lipoprotein receptor-Related Protein 6 (LRP6) inhibitors. A computational study was conducted in order to assist in the design of inhibitory peptides against LRP6 as co-receptor of frizzled. Twelve fragments as peptide derivatives of natural ligand of LRP6 receptor (DKK1) were designed using the information from the analysis of the DKK1_C/LRP6 complex, hot spot residues and the secondary structure. These fragments were based on cys2 domain of DKK1. The designed peptides were energy minimized by molecular dynamics simulations in the presence and absence of LRP6 receptor and their binding affinities were investigated via molecular docking using ClusPro, HADDOCK and PRODIGY webservers. Finally, the stability and free energy of binding in peptides were calculated by FoldX software. The results showed that four designed peptides had the highest affinity (the interaction energy: ?10.2867, ?10.1388, ?7.94339 and ?7.57536 kcal/mol) to interact with the receptor which showed the most interacting residues and the lowest free energy of binding. Also, the RMSD, RMSF and RoG of the protein–peptide complex exhibited less structural fluctuations which can be linked to the stability of peptides associated to the receptor. These peptides may be considered as candidates for inhibiting Wnt signaling pathway through LRP6 receptor.     

Nitrogen fertilization raises CO2 efflux from inorganic carbon: A global assessment

Nitrogen (N) fertilization is an indispensable agricultural practice worldwide, serving the survival of half of the global population. Nitrogen transformation (e.g., nitrification) in soil as well as plant N uptake releases protons and increases soil acidification. Neutralizing this acidity in carbonate‐containing soils (7.49 × 10⁹ ha; ca. 54% of the global land surface area) leads to a CO₂ release corresponding to 0.21 kg C per kg of applied N. We here for the first time raise this problem of acidification of carbonate‐containing soils and assess the global CO₂ release from pedogenic and geogenic carbonates in the upper 1 m soil depth. Based on a global N‐fertilization map and the distribution of soils containing CaCO₃, we calculated the CO₂ amount released annually from the acidification of such soils to be 7.48 × 10¹² g C/year. This level of continuous CO₂ release will remain constant at least until soils are fertilized by N. Moreover, we estimated that about 273 × 10¹² g CO₂‐C are released annually in the same process of CaCO₃ neutralization but involving liming of acid soils. These two CO₂ sources correspond to 3% of global CO₂ emissions by fossil fuel combustion or 30% of CO₂ by land‐use changes. Importantly, the duration of CO₂ release after land‐use changes usually lasts only 1–3 decades before a new C equilibrium is reached in soil. In contrast, the CO₂ released by CaCO₃ acidification cannot reach equilibrium, as long as N fertilizer is applied until it becomes completely neutralized. As the CaCO₃ amounts in soils, if present, are nearly unlimited, their complete dissolution and CO₂ release will take centuries or even millennia. This emphasizes the necessity of preventing soil acidification in N‐fertilized soils as an effective strategy to inhibit millennia of CO₂ efflux to the atmosphere. Hence, N fertilization should be strictly calculated based on plant‐demand, and overfertilization should be avoided not only because N is a source of local and regional eutrophication, but also because of the continuous CO₂ release by global acidification.     

Use of bacterial acc deaminase to increase oil (especially poly aromatic hydrocarbons) phytoremediation efficiency for maize (zea mays) seedlings

Oil presence in soil, as a stressor, reduces phytoremediation efficiency through an increase in the plant stress ethylene. Bacterial 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase, as a plant stress ethylene reducer, was employed to increase oil phytoremediation efficiency. For this purpose, the ability of ACC deaminase-producing Pseudomonas strains to grow in oil-polluted culture media and withstand various concentrations of oil and also their ability to reduce plant stress ethylene and enhance some growth characteristics of maize and finally their effects on increasing phytoremediation efficiency of poly aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soil were investigated. Based on the results, of tested strains just P9 and P12 were able to perform oil degradation. Increasing oil concentration from 0 to 10% augmented these two strains population, 15.7% and 12.9%, respectively. The maximum increase in maize growth was observed in presence of P12 strain. Results of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) revealed that PAHs phytoremediation efficiency was higher for inoculated seeds than uninoculated. The highest plant growth and PAHs removal percentage (74.9%) from oil-polluted soil was observed in maize inoculated with P12. These results indicate the significance of ACC deaminase producing bacteria in alleviation of plant stress ethylene in oil-polluted soils and increasing phytoremediation efficiency of such soils.     

Study of PM10, PM2.5, and PM1 levels in during dust storms and local air pollution events in urban and rural sites in Tehran

The aim of this study is to survey the PM₁₀, PM_2.5, and PM₁ concentrations in rural and urban areas in Tehran province during cold, warm and dust storm days from December 22, 2016 to June 5, 2017 using Grimm Model aerosol spectrometer. During the study period, daily PM₁₀, PM_2.5, and PM₁ concentrations ranged from 27.2 to 244.96, 8.4 to 77.9, and 6.5 to 56.8 μg/m³ in urban sites, and 22.8 to 286.4, 6 to 41.1, and 2.1 to 20.2 μg/m³ in rural parts, respectively. Particularly, both daily WHO limits for outdoor PM₁₀ (50.0 μg/m³) and PM_2.5 (25.0 μg/m³) exceeded in 95% and 83% of the outdoor measurements in winter and 82% and 58% in total sampled days in urban site, respectively. The 24-h average PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 concentrations also exceeded by 59% and 18% in winter and by 36% and 14% of all sampling days in rural site, respectively. During the dust storm, the 24-h average PM₁₀, PM_2.5, and PM₁ concentrations were, respectively 4.7, 2, and 1.96 times higher than those in urban site and 2, 1.7, and 1.3 times more than those in rural site in all sampled days.     

Growth and mineral content of coriander (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Coriandrum sativum</Emphasis> L.) plants under mild salinity with different salts

Soil salinity is a complex issue in which various anions and cations contribute to have a general adverse effect on plant growth. In the present study, effects of salinity from various salts including sodium chloride (NaCl), potassium chloride?+?sodium chloride?+?calcium chloride (KCl?+?NaCl?+?CaCl₂), potassium sulfate?+?magnesium nitrate (K₂SO₄?+?Mg(NO₃)₂) at two electric conductivities (EC) of 2 and 4 dS m^?1 of irrigation water, and a distilled water control were evaluated on coriander plants (Coriandrum sativum L.). At EC?=?2, all salts increased plant yield (shoot fresh weight) than control. Most growth traits including plant height, shoot fresh and dry weight, leaf SPAD value and vitamin C, leaf K, Mg and P concentrations were increased by K₂SO₄?+?MgNO₃, and remained unchanged by KCl?+?NaCl?+?CaCl₂ treatment (except reduced plant height). Leaf’s zinc concentration reduced by either treatment. Even sodium chloride at EC?=?2 showed some beneficial effects on leaf chlorophyll index, root fresh weight, leaf’s calcium and phosphorus concentration; however, most traits remained unchanged than control. Treatment of plants with NaCl or KCl?+?NaCl?+?CaCl₂ at either EC increased the number of flowered shoots and leaf proline content than control. Most growth and quality traits including leaf minerals and vitamin C content were reduced by NaCl at EC?=?4; however, shoot fresh and dry weights remained unchanged than control. Plant root fresh weight increased by NaCl at EC?=?2 and decreased at EC?=?4 than control. At EC?=?4, shoot dry weight was increased and leaf Ca, P, Zn and Mn were decreased by KCl?+?NaCl?+?CaCl₂, whereas shoot dry weight, leaf SPAD value and vitamin C content, leaf Mg and P were increased and leaf Zn was decreased by K₂SO₄?+?MgNO₃ than control. The results indicate that in contrast to sodium chloride, the salinity effects of other salts can not be detrimental on coriander plant growth.     

Genome annotation and comparative genomic analysis of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bacillus subtilis</Emphasis> MJ01, a new bio-degradation strain isolated from oil-contaminated soil

One of the main challenges in elimination of oil contamination from polluted environments is improvement of biodegradation by highly efficient microorganisms. Bacillus subtilis MJ01 has been evaluated as a new resource for producing biosurfactant compounds. This bacterium, which produces surfactin, is able to enhance bio-accessibility to oil hydrocarbons in contaminated soils. The genome of B. subtilis MJ01 was sequenced and assembled by PacBio RS sequencing technology. One big contig with a length of 4,108,293 bp without any gap was assembled. Genome annotation and prediction of gene showed that MJ01 genome is very similar to B. subtilis spizizenii TU-B-10 (95% similarity). The comparison and analysis of orthologous genes carried out between B. subtilis MJ01, reference strain B. subtilis subsp. subtilis str. 168, and close relative spizizenii TU-B-10 by microscope platform and various bioinformatics tools. More than 88% of 4269 predicted coding sequences in MJ01 had at least one similar sequence in genome of reference strain and spizizenii TU-B-10. Despite this high similarity, some differences were detected among encoding sequences of non-ribosome protein and bacteriocins in MJ01 and spizizenii TU-B-10. MJ01 has unique nucleotide sequences and a novel predicted lasso-peptide bacteriocin; it also has not any similar nucleotide sequence in non-redundant nucleotide data base.     

Weeds ability to phytoremediate cadmium-contaminated soil

An alternative method to other technologies to clean up the soil, air and water pollution by heavy metals is phytoremediation. Therefore, a pot culture experiment was conducted at the College of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran, in 2014 to determine the potential absorption of cadmium by Portulaca oleracea (Common purslane), Solanum nigrum (Black nightshade), Abutilon theophrasti (Velvetleaf) and Taraxacum officinale (Dandelion). The type of experiment was completely randomized design with factorial arrangement and four replications. The soil in pot was treated with different rates of CdCl₂.H₂O (0 (control), 10, 20, 40, 60, and 80 mg Cd/kg soil) and the plants were sown. With increasing concentration levels, fresh weight and dry weight of shoots and roots of all plant species were reduced. The reduction severity was ranked according the following order, P. oleracea > A. theophrasti > S. nigrum > T. officinale. Bioconcentration factor (BCF), Translocation factor (TF) and Translocation efficiency (TE%) was ranked according the following order, T. officinale > S. nigrum > A. theophrasti > P. oleracea. The results of this study revealed that T. officinale and S. nigrum are effective species to phytoremediate Cd-contaminated soil.