Iranian

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Background: Initial studies have shown that low-energy ultrasound stimulates living tissue cells to reduce regeneration or speed up their recovery. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of various ultrasound parameters on the speed of recovery in injured sciatic nerves. Methods: NMRI mice (n = 200) with injured left paw, caused by crushing their sciatic nerves, were randomly selected. The animals were exposed to ultrasound radiation with various frequencies, intensities, and exposure time. They were allocated into 20 groups (19 treatment and 1 control groups). Sciatic functional index (SFI) test was used to evaluate the difference between the groups with respect to functional efficiency of the sciatic nerve and its recovery. Results: The results of SFI test obtained from the 14th day showed a significant difference among the groups (P<0.05). On the 14th day after treatment, one of the groups (US11) recovered up to 90%. Conclusion: Altered ultrasound exposure parameters had more favorable outcomes compared with our previous work.

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Background: Phenolic compounds, which are produced routinely by industrial and urban activities, possess dangers to live organisms and environment. Laccases are oxidoreductase enzymes with the ability of remediating a wide variety of phenolic compounds to more benign molecules. The purpose of the present research is surface display of a laccase enzyme with adhesin involved in diffuse adhesion (AIDA-I) autotransporter system on the surface of Escherichia coli cells for bioremediation of phenolic compounds. Methods: The expression of laccase was regulated by a phenol-responsive promoter (a σ⁵⁴ promoter). The constitutively-expressed CapR transcription activator was able to induce laccase expression in the presence of phenolic compounds. Results: Western blot analysis showed the expression and correct transfer of the enzyme to the outer membrane of E. coli cells in the presence of phenol. Activity assay confirmed the correct folding of the enzyme after translocation through the autotransporter system. HPLC analysis of residual phenol in culture medium showed a significant reduction of phenol concentration in the presence of cells displaying laccase on the surface. Conclusion: Our findings confirm that autodisplay enables functional surface display of laccase for direct substrate-enzyme availability by overcoming membrane hindrance.

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Like the biological clock in the body, replication of each cell type (even different cells of the same organism) follows a timing program. Abnormal function of this timer could be an alarm for a disease like cancer.

DNA replication starts from a specific point on the chromosome that is called the origin of replication. In contrast to prokaryotes in which DNA replication starts from a single origin, eukaryotic DNA replication starts from many origins scattered along the chromosomes. Budding yeast contains 300 origins, whereas fission yeast has 1,100, and the numbers of replication origins for human increase to over 20,000. These origins are fired in a coordinated manner, and there are spatial and temporal disciplines for this process, which happens in the S phase of the cell cycle. It was known that eukaryotic cells prepare all these potential origins during the G1 phase of the cell cycle but utilize only a portion of these origins during S phase. Furthermore, firing some of these origins are delayed until the mid and late phases of the S phase. Coordinated activation of these origins occurs under “Replication Timing Program”. The segments of the chromosome containing co-regulated origins that fire simultaneously are named “Replication Timing Domains”, ranging in size from 100 kb to 1 Mb. Replication timing is determined at a specific time in the early G1 phase that is called Timing Decision Point (TDP). Studies have shown that major chromosome repositioning occurs at TDP. Generally, replication timing domains are classified into three classes including Early, Mid and Late...

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Background: Azo dyes are the most widely used synthetic colorants in the textile, food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and other industries, accounting for nearly 70% of all dyestuffs consumed. Recently, much research attention has been paid to efficient monitoring of these hazardous chemicals and their related metabolites because of their potentially harmful effect on environmental issues. In contrast to the complex and expensive instrumental procedures, the detection system based on the quantum dots (QDs) with the superior optochemical properties provides a new era in the pollution sensing and prevention. Methods: We have developed a QD-enzyme hybrid system to probe methyl red (MR) in aqueous solutions using a fluorescence quenching procedure. Results: The azoreductase enzyme catalyzed the reduction of azo group in MR, which can efficiently decrease the Förster resonance energy transfer between the QDs and MR molecules. The correlation between the QDs photoluminescence recovery and MR enzymatic decolorization at the neutral phosphate buffer permitted the creation of a fluorescence quenching-based sensor. The synthesized biosensor can be used for the accurate detection of MR in a linear calibration over MR concentrations of 5-84 μM, with the limit of detection of 0.5 μM in response time of three minutes. Conclusion: Our findings revealed that this fluorometric sensor has the potential to be successfully applied for monitoring a wide linear range of MR concentration with the relative standard deviation of 4% rather than the other method.

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Background: Adenoid cystic carcinoma is a slow-growing malignancy that most often occurs in the salivary glands. Currently, no FDA-approved therapeutic target or diagnostic biomarker has been identified for this cancer. The aim of this study was to find new therapeutic and diagnostic targets using bioinformatics methods.
Methods: We extracted the gene expression information from two GEO datasets (including GSE59701 and GSE88804). Different expression genes between adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) and normal samples were extracted using R software. The biochemical pathways involved in ACC were obtained by using the Enrichr database. PPI network was drawn by STRING, and important genes were extracted by Cytoscape. Real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry were used for biomarker verification.
Results: After analyzing the PPI network, 20 hub genes were introduced to have potential as diagnostic and therapeutic targets. Among these genes, PLCG1 was presented as new biomarker in ACC. Furthermore, by studying the function of the hub genes in the enriched biochemical pathways, we found that insulin-like growth factor type 1 receptor and PPARG pathways most likely play a critical role in tumorigenesis and drug resistance in ACC and have a high potential for selection as therapeutic targets in future studies.
Conclusion: In this study, we achieved the recognition of the pathways involving in ACC pathogenesis and also found potential targets for treatment and diagnosis of ACC. Further experimental studies are required to confirm the results of this study.

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