Crystal structure of human PACRG in complex with MEIG1 reveals roles in axoneme formation and tubulin binding

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Determinants of natural fertility in Sudan

The population of Sudan (North) is at a very early stage of fertility transition and experiences high, stable fertility at a close to natural level. The high observed fertility is found to be a function of the high proportion of married women and ineffective contraceptive procedures. The data used in this study were drawn from the 1979 Sudan Fertility Survey (SUDFS), in which 3115 ever-married women 50 years old from 12,028 households were interviewed. 90% of Sudanese women breast fed for at least 6 months and 80% for at least 12. The main inhibitor of fertility is perceived to be lactational amenorrhea averaging about 11.8 months, which is reported to be high, although among younger women the duration of amenorrhea is shorter due to earlier introduction of supplementary foods. An average of 5.2 months of postpartum sexual abstinence is evidenced, but this is shorter than the period of amennorhea, and therefore has no effect on the birth interval. Neither does marital instability or mean length of separation, which are both close to nonexistent. Sudanese women are comparatively very infecund. 22% gave birth within the 1st year of marriage, 62% within the 2nd, and 83% the 3rd. The proportion of ever-users of contraception is high (e.g. 15.4% among the 25-34 among category), but current use was low (8.1% for the same). The use of contraception is responsible for a reduction of 4.2% of the fertility per married woman. The duration of temporary separation between spouses, due to temporary or seasonal migration of husbands, and the pathological causes of high primary sterility, which contribute to the low fecundability, need further investigation.     

Hyalomma (Hyalommina) arabica: nymphal and larval identity and spiny mouse hosts in Saudi Arabia (Acarina: Ixodoidea: Ixodidae)

Nymphal and larval Hyalomma (Hyalommina) arabica Pegram, Hoogstraal, and Wassef, 1982, described herein, closely resemble those of Hyalomma (Hyalommina) rhipicephaloides Neumann, differing chiefly in body size (both stages), nymphal basis capituli and scutal proportional dimensions, and distinctness of larval coxal spurs. Females of these species are also structurally similar but males differ in major critical characters. Nymphs and larvae of both species parasitize the spiny mouse (Acomys spp.), but immatures of the third African- Arabian species of this subgenus, Hyalomma (Hyalommina) punt Hoogstraal, Kaiser, and Pedersen, are unknown. Hyalomma (Hyalommina) arabica occurs in valleys and hills of western Saudi Arabia and western Yemen; H. (H.) rhipicephaloides in the Red Sea and Dead Sea areas; and H. (H.) punt in northeastern Somalia and eastern Ethiopia. The ibex (Capra ibex nubiana Cuvier) is probably the original host of adult H. (H.) arabica and H. (H.) rhipicephaloides; the related domestic goat is an important host of adults of the 3 species, which also parasitize domestic sheep. Gazelles are recorded hosts of adults of H. (H.) rhipicephaloides and H. (H.) punt and the latter is also recorded from goats, sheep, camels and cattle.     

QUANTITATIVE MEASUREMENTS OF INTERACTIONS BETWEEN CROWN-GALL TUMORS AND THE PINTO BEAN HOST

Interactions between crown-gall tumors on the primary pinto bean leaf and the pinto bean seedling (Phaseolus vulgaris L. ‘Pinto‘) were estimated by quantitative measurements of tumor initiation and growth as affected by certain modifications of the host. Effects of the tumors on the host were estimated by measurements of host growth and correlation responses. The presence of crown-gall tumors was found to reduce the growth of the leaf in area but to nearly double the weight of the leaf 9 days after inoculation with Agrobacterium tumefaciens (Smith and Town.) Conn, strain B6. The presence of tumors on only one of the two primary leaves resulted in a decrease in the weight of the leaf without tumors, showing the tumors to be effective mobilization centers. Tumors also delayed the abscission of petiole explants and delayed the growth of the epicotyl bud, both reminiscent of auxin effects. The excision of the cotyledons, the epicotyl bud, or one of the pair of primary leaves at the time of inoculation increased the number of tumors initiated per leaf. Removing the epicotyl bud or one of the primary leaves, or placing a cytokinin on one of the leaves, altered leaf growth but failed to alter tumor growth, indicating that tumor growth is not affected by the changes responsible for the compensatory growth effects induced by these treatments. Tumor growth was shown to be generally correlated with leaf growth from day 2 through 8 after inoculation, suggesting that the factors normally limiting leaf growth in a determinate type leaf are also active in limiting tumor growth. The changes in the plant cell responsible for the enhanced rate of growth seen in crown-gall tumor cells, therefore, appear to occur in regulatory systems other than those normally limiting leaf growth. The regulatory systems that are affected may be identical with those activated in compensatory host growth effects.     

Determinants of birth intervals in Sudan

Using individual birth history data from the Sudan Fertility Survey, 1979, parity-related differences in fertility are demonstrated, as well as differences between socioeconomic groups. Rural women, women with no education and those married to uneducated husbands show rapid parity progression and its cumulative effects on fertility which are consistent over all birth intervals. Urban women, women with some education and those married to educated husbands, however, go rapidly through their second and third birth intervals and then more slowly at higher parities. A limitation of the study was the inability to control fully for the effects of breast-feeding and contraception. There is evidence for a reduction in high parity births, starting in the 1970s.     

Erratum to: Synthesis and Anticancer Activity of Functionalized Thieno[2,3-d]pyrimidine Compounds and Their Triazinyl and Tetrazinyl Derivatives

Russian Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry - erratum     

Optimization of the demineralization process for the extraction of chitin from Omani Portunidae segnis

Chitin is an organic polymer and it is the most frequent marine natural polysaccharide after cellulose. The main natural sources of chitin are exoskeletons of insects, mollusks, the cell walls of certain fungi and crustaceans such as crabs, shrimps and lobsters. The waste of these marine exoskeletons are pollutant for the environment, but these waste raw materials could be useful for production of commercial products like chitin. Chitin is an important raw material used for water treatment, agricultural, biomedical, biotechnological purposes, food and paper industry and cosmetics. Based on the variety of importance, the present targets of this study are to optimize the demineralization process for the removal of calcium and phosphate contents from the waste of Portunidae segnis (P. segnis) by using acid at ambient temperature and to characterize the isolated demineralized sample as well as the percentage of remaining calcium and phosphorus contents by using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). The prepared waste carbs coarse powder samples of P. segnis were demineralized with seven different concentrations of hydrochloric acid at ambient temperature for 1 h. All the demineralization samples by the different concentrations were analyzed by using sensitive ICP-OES. The results based on ICP-OES showed that among the seven different concentrations used in the demineralization process for the isolation of chitin, the best was 2 M of HCl concentration for the production of chitin. The results also showed that the optimized concentration 2 M HCl gave the minimum concentration of calcium and phosphorus compared to other concentrations applied in this experiment. In conclusion, the optimized concentration for demineralization process could be used commercially for the isolation or commercial production of chitin for agricultural, biomedical and biotechnological purposes.     

Adipogenetic effects of retrofractamide A derivatives in 3T3-L1 cells

In a previous study, retrofractamide A from the fruit of Piper chaba was shown to promote adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 cells. In the present study, retrofractamide A and its derivatives were synthesized, and their adipogenetic effects in 3T3-L1 cells were examined. Among the tested compounds, an amide composed of 9-(3′,4′-methylenedioxyphenyl)-nona-2E,4E,8E-trienoic acid and an n-butyl or n-pentyl amine showed strongest activity. Moreover, the amide with the n-pentyl amine moiety significantly increased the uptake of 2-deoxyglucose into the cells, and also increased the mRNA levels of adiponectin, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ2 (PPARγ2), glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4), fatty acid-binding protein (aP2), and CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein (C/EBP) α and β in a similar manner as the PPARγ agonist troglitazone, although it had less agonistic activity against PPARγ.     

Germline recombination in a novel Cre transgenic line,Prl3b1‐Cre mouse

Spermatogenesis is a complex and highly regulated process by which spermatogonial stem cells differentiate into spermatozoa. To better understand the molecular mechanisms of the process, the Cre/loxP system has been widely utilized for conditional gene knockout in mice. In this study, we generated a transgenic mouse line that expresses Cre recombinase under the control of the 2.5 kbp of the Prolactin family 3, subfamily b, member 1 (Prl3b1) gene promoter (Prl3b1‐cre). Prl3b1 was initially reported to code for placental lactogen 2 (PL‐2) protein in placenta along with increased expression toward the end of pregnancy. PL‐2 was found to be expressed in germ cells in the testis, especially in spermatocytes. To analyze the specificity and efficiency of Cre recombinase activity in Prl3b1‐cre mice, the mice were mated with reporter R26GRR mice, which express GFP ubiquitously before and tdsRed exclusively after Cre recombination. The systemic examination of Prl3b1‐cre;R26GRR mice revealed that tdsRed‐positive cells were detected only in the testis and epididymis. Fluorescence imaging of Prl3b1‐cre;R26GRR testes suggested that Cre‐mediated recombination took place in the germ cells with approximately 74% efficiency determined by in vitro fertilization. In conclusion, our results suggest that the Prl3b1‐cre mice line provides a unique resource to understand testicular germ‐cell development. genesis 54:389–397, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Drug repurposing for SARS-CoV-2 main protease: Molecular docking and molecular dynamics investigations

The current novel corona virus illness (COVID-19) is a developing viral disease that was discovered in 2019. There is currently no viable therapeutic strategy for this illness management. Because traditional medication development and discovery has lagged behind the threat of emerging and re-emerging illnesses like Ebola, MERS-CoV, and, more recently, SARS-CoV-2. Drug developers began to consider drug repurposing (or repositioning) as a viable option to the more traditional drug development method. The goal of drug repurposing is to uncover new uses for an approved or investigational medicine that aren't related to its original use. The main benefits of this strategy are that there is less developmental risk and that it takes less time because the safety and pharmacologic requirements are met. The main protease (Mpro) of corona viruses is one of the well-studied and appealing therapeutic targets. As a result, the current research examines the molecular docking of Mpro (PDB ID: 5R81) conjugated repurposed drugs. 12,432 approved drugs were collected from ChEMBL and drugbank libraries, and docked separately into the receptor grid created on 5R81, using the three phases of molecular docking including high throughput virtual screening (HTVS), standard precision (SP), and extra precision (XP). Based on docking scores and MM-GBSA binding free energy calculation, top three drugs (kanamycin, sulfinalol and carvedilol) were chosen for further analyses for molecular dynamic simulations.