Human adenoviruses role in ophthalmic pterygium formation

Background: Ophthalmic pterygium is a common benign lesion of unknown origin and the pathogenesis might be vision-threatening. This problem is often associated with exposure to solar light. Recent evidence suggests that potentially oncogenic viruses such as human papillomavirus and Epstein-Barr virus may be involved in the pathogenesis of pterygia. Expression of specific adenovirus genes such as E1A and E1B, which potentially have many functions, may contribute to their oncogenic activity as well as relevance to cellular immortalization. Objectives: For the first time, we aimed to investigate involvement of adenoviruses in pterygium formation. Patients and Methods: Fifty tissue specimens of pterygium from patients undergoing pterygium surgery (as cases), 50 conjunctival swab samples from the same patients and 10 conjunctival biopsy specimens from individuals without pterygium such as patients undergoing cataract surgery (as controls) were analyzed for evidence of adenovirus infection with polymerase chain reaction using specific primers chosen from the moderately conserved region of the hexon gene. Furthermore, ß-globin primers were used to access the quality of extracted DNA. Data was analyzed using SPSS (version 16) software. Results: Of 50 patients, 20 were men and 30 women with mean age of 61.1 ± 16.9 years ranged between 22 and 85 years. All samples of pterygia had positive results for adenoviruses DNA with polymerase chain reaction, but none of the negative control groups displayed adenoviruses. The pterygium group and the control groups were ß-globin positive. Direct sequencing of PCR products confirmed Adenovirus infection. Conclusions: Adenoviruses might act as a possible cause of pterygium formation and other factors could play a synergistic role in the development. However, further larger studies are required to confirm this hypothesis. © 2015, Kowsar Medical Publishing Company. All rights reserved

Mutations in pre-core and basal-core promoter regions of hepatitis B virus in chronic HBV patients from Golestan, Iran

Objective(s): It has been reported that the mutation of the pre-core (PC) and basal-core promoter (BCP) may play an important role in the development of HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study the PC and BCP mutations were investigated in chronic HBV patients. Materials and Methods: In this study, 120 chronic HBV patients from Golestan, Northeast of Iran who were not vaccinated against HBV, were recruited from the year 2008 to 2012. HBV-DNA extraction from plasma and PCR were performed and positive PCR products were subjected to automated sequencing. Results: One hundred out of 120 (83.3%) patients were HBeAg negative. Comparison of our nucleotide sequences with reference sequence showed high rate mutation in BCP and PC region (96.66%). Frame shift mutation was found in 78 (65%) of patients in BCP region, among them 8 (6.6%) patients showed mutation in PC region. Conclusion: Our results demonstrated high rate of mutations in BCP and PC regions among HBV chronic patients in Northeast of Iran

EFFECT OF BIOVET AND PROBIOTIC (BM-TECHNOLOGY) ON MILK PRODUCTION IN LACTATING BUFFALOES

This trial was conducted for a period of 90 days at the Livestock Experiment Station, Bahadurnagar, Okara, Pakistan during September - November, 2002. Eighteen lactating buffaloes were divided into three groups A, B and C, with six animals in each group. Animals of Group A were fed a concentrate ration with 2 ml of Biovet per kg of feed, while those of Group B were fed an experimental ration having probiotic 500 gms in 100 kg of concentrate mixture. The Group C animals served as control group. The average daily milk yield was 7.60, 7.39 and 6.15 litres in groups A, B and C, respectively. The corresponding values for milk fat were 7.60, 7.39 and 6.15 percent. The daily feed intakes for concentrate mixture were 4.36, 4.38 and 4.41 kg, while fodder intakes were 35.28, 35.29 and 37.46 kg in respective groups. The values for feed efficiency per kg were 1.70, 1.75 and 2.14 on dry matter basis, 0.197, 0.203 and 0.251 on crude protein basis, while 1.05, 1.08 and 1.35 on TDN basis in Groups A, B and C, respectively. It was also observed that under same feeding and management conditions, the lactating buffaloes supplemented with Biovet (Group A) produced more milk @ 1.45 litres per day, while Group B buffaloes supplemented with probiotic produced 1.22 litres more milk per day than Group C. There was a significant (P<0.05) difference in milk yield between groups A and C, and B and C, while these differences were not significant for average daily feed intake and feed efficiency on crude protein basis. The Biovet (BM-Technology) has favourable effect on milk yield and feed efficiency due to beneficial micro-organisms (BM) and combined function for increased digestibility of concentrate mixture and fodder in lactating buffaloes

Field Emission Behaviour of the Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes Grown by Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition (PECVD) System

Single wall carbon nanotubes have been grown on Fe using Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition (PECVD) system. The thickness of the Fe film prepared by RF sputtering system was about 10 nm. The field emission characteristic was measured which showed good enhancement factor. The grown CNTs were characterized by various techniques such as SEM, Raman study etc. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/3100

Association between CTLA-4 gene polymorphism and the risk of systemic lupus erythematosus: Brief report

Background: Cytotoxic lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) plays an important role in regulating T cell activation. CTLA-4 gene polymorphisms are related with genetic susceptibility to various autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We analyzed the role of CTLA-4 polymorphisms at positions -318CT in patients who suffer from SLE. Methods: This study was performed on 180 SLE patients referred to 5th Azar University Hospital in Gorgan, Iran. Three hundred and four ethnically-and age-matched healthy controls with no history of autoimmune diseases entered the study between 5th May 2008 and 23rd October 2009. DNA was extracted from blood samples according to the standard procedure. Polymerase chain reaction- restriction fragments length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to analyze the genotype and allele frequencies of this polymorphism. PCR was carried out using the following primers: forward 5′- AAATGAATTGGACTGGATGGT-3′ and reverse 5′-TTACGAGAAAGGAAGCCGT G-3′. The frequency of alleles and genotypes were assessed using direct counting. Chisquare test and Fisher’s exact test were used to compare the association between the alleles and genotype frequencies and SLE. P<0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: The CC genotype was observed in 94.5% of the SLE patients and 82.4% of the controls; the difference was statistically significant (P=0.0001, OR=3.51, CI95%=1.77- 7.53). The CT genotype, on the other hand, was more frequently observed in the control group (17.1% vs. 5.5%, P=0.0001, OR=0.28). T allele was significantly more common in the controls compared to SLE patients (P=0.0001, OR=0.26, CI95%=0.13-0.53). Conclusion: Our results suggest that the -318C/T polymorphism of CTLA-4 gene might play a significant role in the genetic susceptibility to SLE. Therefore, further studies on populations, especially from other Middle East countries, are needed to confirm our results. © 2015, Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All Rights Reserved

No evidence of association between CTLA-4 polymorphisms and systemic lupus erythematosus in Iranian patients

Aim: Cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) is an important negative regulator of T-cell responses. CTLA-4 polymorphisms have been confirmed to be associated with several autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We analyzed the role of CTLA-4 polymorphism at positions -1661 and -1722 in Iranian patients suffering from SLE. Methods: One hundred and eighty SLE patients and 304 ethnically and age-matched healthy controls were studied. Polymerase chain reaction restriction fragments length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to analyze the genotype and allele frequencies of these polymorphisms. Results: There was no significant association between the studied genotypic and allelic frequencies between SLE patients and the controls. Although the TC genotype in 1722TC polymorphism was more common among the control group, the correlation was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Our results suggest that the -1661AG and -1722TC polymorphisms in the promoter region of the CTLA-4 gene does not play any role in genetic susceptibility to SLE. However, further studies on larger sample sizes are needed to approve our results. © 2013 Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd

Anomalous rotational-alignment in N=Z nuclei and residual neutron-proton interaction

Recent experiments have demonstrated that the rotational-alignment for the $N=Z$ nuclei in the mass-80 region is considerably delayed as compared to the neighboring $N \ne Z$ nuclei. We investigate whether this observation can be understood by a known component of nuclear residual interactions. It is shown that the quadrupole-pairing interaction, which explains many of the delays known in rare-earth nuclei, does not produce the substantial delay observed for these $N=Z$ nuclei. However, the residual neutron-proton interaction which is conjectured to be relevant for $N=Z$ nuclei is shown to be quite important in explaining the new experimental data.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, final version accepted by Phys. Rev. C as a Rapid Communicatio