Prevalence of resistance genes to biocides in antibiotic-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates

Molecular Biology Reports - Biocides are frequently used as preservative, disinfectant and sterilizer against many microorganisms in hospitals, industry and home. However, the reduced...     

Social impact and social performance of paddy rice production in Iran and Malaysia

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment - Sustainable agri-food production is incredibly important for society. Despite Iran and Malaysia being one of the highest production countries...     

Of PCOS Symptoms,Hirsutism Has the Most Significant Impact on the Quality of Life of Iranian Women

Introduction

Polycystic ovary syndrome is a common endocrine disorder affecting women both physically and psychologically and can lead to a poor quality of life compared to their normal counterparts. The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of various clinical features of polycystic ovary syndrome on the health-related quality of life of Iranian women diagnosed with this syndrome.

Materials and Methods

A total of 796 women diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, aged 15–49 years, completed the questionnaires, interviews, and medical assessments required for this study. A reliable and validated Persian version of the health-related quality of life questionnaire for polycystic ovary syndrome patients was used. Linear regression models were used to assess the association between the symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome and health-related quality of life.

Results

The mean age of participants was 28.02 years. 35.4% of the subjects were classified as overweight or obese. Hirsutism, was reported to have the strongest impact on the patients’ health-related quality of life, followed in descending order by body mass index, irregular menses and infertility. The relative level of hirsutism was directly proportional to decrease in health-related quality of life score (p<0.001).

Conclusions

The results of the study found that hirsutism had the strongest impact on the health-related quality of life measures in Iranian women diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome. Health care officials need to evaluate in depth the effect of each clinical feature of polycystic ovary syndrome separately and design management strategies, keeping in mind the psychological and physical manifestations.     

Long-term storage of sexual and asexual Trichogramma brassicae (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae)

The effect of exposure duration to pre-storage (representing fall conditions) and storage (representing winter conditions) temperatures on the emergence rate in sexual and asexual Trichogramma brassicae Bezdenko (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) was studied under controlled laboratory conditions. Asexual T. brassicae was infected by Wolbachia, an endosymbiont bacterium. We considered 0, 30, 40, 50 and 60 days as exposure duration at 10°C and 0, 30, 60, 90 followed by 180 days as exposure duration at 4°C for both T. brassicae strains. Emergence rate was significantly affected by the presence of Wolbachia, the duration of exposure to 10°C, the duration of storage at 4°C and their interactions, but not by the interaction between strain × storage duration at 4°C. Emergence rate of adults was positively correlated with exposure duration at 10°C, but it gradually decreased as the cold storage duration (4°C) increased in both strains. In conclusion, we are able to store both asexual and sexual strains for longer periods of time at 4°C, but the emergence rate of sexual T. brassicae was greater than asexual in all the treatments. The presence of Wolbachia could have a negative effect on fitness of T. brassicae and reduces its emergence rate after long-term storage.     

Micell-mediated extraction for the spectrophotometric determination of nitrite in water and biological samples based on its reaction with p-nitroaniline in the presence of diphenylamine

A cloud point extraction process using the nonionic surfactant Triton X-100 to extract nitrite from aqueous solution was investigated. The method is based on the color reaction of nitrite with p-nitroaniline in the presence of diphenylamine in acid media and micell-mediated extraction of an azo product. The optimal extraction and reaction conditions (e.g., acid concentration, reagent concentration, effect of time) were studied, and the analytical characteristics of the method (e.g., limit of detection, linear range, molar absorptivity, preconcentration, and improvement factors) were obtained. Linearity was obeyed in the range of 2-40 ng ml(-1) of nitrite ion. The detection limit of the method is 0.87 ng ml(-1) of nitrite ion. The interference effect of some anions and cations was also tested. The method was applied to the determination of nitrite in tap water, waste water, and human urine samples.     

Induction of Protective Anti-CTL Epitope Responses against HER-2-Positive Breast Cancer Based on Multivalent T7 Phage Nanoparticles

We report here the development of multivalent T7 bacteriophage nanoparticles displaying an immunodominant H-2k^d-restricted CTL epitope derived from the rat HER2/neu oncoprotein. The immunotherapeutic potential of the chimeric T7 nanoparticles as anti-cancer vaccine was investigated in BALB/c mice in an implantable breast tumor model. The results showed that T7 phage nanoparticles confer a high immunogenicity to the HER-2-derived minimal CTL epitope, as shown by inducing robust CTL responses. Furthermore, the chimeric nanoparticles protected mice against HER-2-positive tumor challenge in both prophylactic and therapeutic setting. In conclusion, these results suggest that CTL epitope-carrying T7 phage nanoparticles might be a promising approach for development of T cell epitope-based cancer vaccines.     

Record Open‐Circuit Voltage Wide‐Bandgap Perovskite Solar Cells Utilizing 2D/3D Perovskite Heterostructure

In this work, the authors realize stable and highly efficient wide‐bandgap perovskite solar cells that promise high power conversion efficiencies (PCE) and are likely to play a key role in next generation multi‐junction photovoltaics (PV). This work reports on wide‐bandgap (≈1.72 eV) perovskite solar cells exhibiting stable PCEs of up to 19.4% and a remarkably high open‐circuit voltage (V_OC) of 1.31 V. The V_OC‐to‐bandgap ratio is the highest reported for wide‐bandgap organic?inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells and the V_OC also exceeds 90% of the theoretical maximum, defined by the Shockley–Queisser limit. This advance is based on creating a hybrid 2D/3D perovskite heterostructure. By spin coating n‐butylammonium bromide on the double‐cation perovskite absorber layer, a thin 2D Ruddlesden–Popper perovskite layer of intermediate phases is formed, which mitigates nonradiative recombination in the perovskite absorber layer. As a result, V_OC is enhanced by 80 mV.