An approach to optimize process parameter for peptides extraction from Zophobas morio (Fabricius) using antifungal activity as the response

Antifungal peptides have been successfully extracted from whole body larvae of Zophobas morio (Fabricius) by using acidified isopropanol. To ensure that the extraction is cost effective for maximum yield, Response Surface Methodology (RSM) using a Central Composite Design (CCD) strategy was adopted to optimize the extraction process parameters. The effect of independent parameters, namely, the homogenization temperature (°C), homogenization time (min) and solid (g) to the solvent (ml) ratio of the extraction process on the fungal growth was studied. The extracted samples obtained by conducting runs accorded by the experimental design showed varying degree of antifungal activity against Aspergillus niger, the selected fungal strain, as assayed by the ‘‘Poisoned agar technique’. The investigation showed that the optimum values of the extraction parameters for the maximum antifungal peptides were 5 minutes homogenization time, 4°C homogenization temperature and 3.5:1 solid to solvent ratio. This study reports the development of an extraction process that allows careful recovery of antifungal peptides from insect larvae. In the validation of the experimental model, the error between the actual value and the predicted value was determined to be 3.57%

Evaluation of functional outcome of arthroscopic isolated anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with quadriceps tendon

Background: The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the most important intra-articular ligaments in the knee joint. It is regarded as the main barrier preventing the tibia from anteriorly translating onto the femur. The greatest incidence occurs in 15 to 25-year-old participants of work and pivoting sports. This study aimed to assess the functional outcome of arthroscopic isolated ACL reconstruction with quadriceps tendon. Methods: This was a prospective interventional study conducted in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Dhaka, Bangladesh during the period from March 2020 to August 2022. In our study, we included 30 patients with anterior cruciate ligament injuries who attended the orthopaedic department within the study period. Results: The preoperative Lysholm score was found to be poor in all cases. Nine months after arthroscopic isolated ACL reconstruction with quadriceps tendon Lysholm score was found as excellent in 18 (60%) cases, good in 8 (26.7%), and fair in 4 (13.3%) cases. During the last follow-up of 9 months after arthroscopic isolated ACL reconstruction with quadriceps tendon, 26 (86.7%) patients were found as satisfactory results, and only 4 (13.3%) patients were found as unsatisfactory. A significant difference was observed between preoperative and postoperative functional outcomes. Conclusions: In our study, we found that arthroscopic isolated ACL reconstruction with quadriceps tendon showed satisfactory functional outcomes for the treatment of ACL injury, and all the functions of the knee were improved in compared with their pre-operative status

An overview of drug delivery vehicles for cancer treatment: Nanocarriers and nanoparticles including photovoltaic nanoparticles

Cancer is a complicated disease for which finding a cure presents challenges. In recent decades, new ways to treat cancer are being sought; one being nanomedicine, which manipulates nanoparticles to target a cancer and release drugs directly to the cancer cells. A number of cancer treatments based on nanomedicine are under way and mostly are in preclinical trials owing to challenges in administration, safety, and effectiveness. One alternative method for drug delivery is the use of photovoltaic nanoparticles,which has the potential to deliver drugs via light activation. The concepts are based on standard photovoltaic cell that holds opposite charges on its surfaces and releases drugs when charge intensity or polarity changes upon photo-stimulation such as from a laser source or sunlight. This review will cover some recent progress in cancer treatment using nanoparticles, including photovoltaic nanoparticles

Conventional activated sludge vs. photo-sequencing batch reactor for enhanced nitrogen removal in municipal wastewater: Microalgal-bacterial consortium and pathogenic load insights

Municipal wastewater treatment plants are mostly based on traditional activated sludge (AS) processes. These systems are characterised by major drawbacks: high energy consumption, large amount of excess sludge and high greenhouse gases emissions. Treatment through microalgal-bacterial consortia (MBC) is an alternative and promising solution thanks to lower energy consumption and emissions, biomass production and water sanitation. Here, microbial difference between a traditional anaerobic sludge (AS) and a consortium-based system (photo-sequencing batch reactor (PSBR)) with the same wastewater inlet were characterised through shotgun metagenomics. Stable nitrification was achieved in the PSBR ensuring ammonium removal > 95 % and significant total nitrogen removal thanks to larger flocs enhancing denitrification. The new system showed enhanced pathogen removal, a higher abundance of photosynthetic and denitrifying microorganisms with a reduced emissions potential identifying this novel PSBR as an effective alternative to AS

Measurements of the pp → ZZ production cross section and the Z → 4ℓ branching fraction, and constraints on anomalous triple gauge couplings at √s = 13 TeV

Four-lepton production in proton-proton collisions, pp -> (Z/gamma*)(Z/gamma*) -> 4l, where l = e or mu, is studied at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1). The ZZ production cross section, sigma(pp -> ZZ) = 17.2 +/- 0.5 (stat) +/- 0.7 (syst) +/- 0.4 (theo) +/- 0.4 (lumi) pb, measured using events with two opposite-sign, same-flavor lepton pairs produced in the mass region 60 4l) = 4.83(-0.22)(+0.23) (stat)(-0.29)(+0.32) (syst) +/- 0.08 (theo) +/- 0.12(lumi) x 10(-6) for events with a four-lepton invariant mass in the range 80 4GeV for all opposite-sign, same-flavor lepton pairs. The results agree with standard model predictions. The invariant mass distribution of the four-lepton system is used to set limits on anomalous ZZZ and ZZ. couplings at 95% confidence level: -0.0012 < f(4)(Z) < 0.0010, -0.0010 < f(5)(Z) < 0.0013, -0.0012 < f(4)(gamma) < 0.0013, -0.0012 < f(5)(gamma) < 0.0013

Surgical site infection after gastrointestinal surgery in high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries: a prospective, international, multicentre cohort study

Background: Surgical site infection (SSI) is one of the most common infections associated with health care, but its importance as a global health priority is not fully understood. We quantified the burden of SSI after gastrointestinal surgery in countries in all parts of the world. Methods: This international, prospective, multicentre cohort study included consecutive patients undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal resection within 2-week time periods at any health-care facility in any country. Countries with participating centres were stratified into high-income, middle-income, and low-income groups according to the UN's Human Development Index (HDI). Data variables from the GlobalSurg 1 study and other studies that have been found to affect the likelihood of SSI were entered into risk adjustment models. The primary outcome measure was the 30-day SSI incidence (defined by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for superficial and deep incisional SSI). Relationships with explanatory variables were examined using Bayesian multilevel logistic regression models. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02662231. Findings: Between Jan 4, 2016, and July 31, 2016, 13 265 records were submitted for analysis. 12 539 patients from 343 hospitals in 66 countries were included. 7339 (58·5%) patient were from high-HDI countries (193 hospitals in 30 countries), 3918 (31·2%) patients were from middle-HDI countries (82 hospitals in 18 countries), and 1282 (10·2%) patients were from low-HDI countries (68 hospitals in 18 countries). In total, 1538 (12·3%) patients had SSI within 30 days of surgery. The incidence of SSI varied between countries with high (691 [9·4%] of 7339 patients), middle (549 [14·0%] of 3918 patients), and low (298 [23·2%] of 1282) HDI (p < 0·001). The highest SSI incidence in each HDI group was after dirty surgery (102 [17·8%] of 574 patients in high-HDI countries; 74 [31·4%] of 236 patients in middle-HDI countries; 72 [39·8%] of 181 patients in low-HDI countries). Following risk factor adjustment, patients in low-HDI countries were at greatest risk of SSI (adjusted odds ratio 1·60, 95% credible interval 1·05–2·37; p=0·030). 132 (21·6%) of 610 patients with an SSI and a microbiology culture result had an infection that was resistant to the prophylactic antibiotic used. Resistant infections were detected in 49 (16·6%) of 295 patients in high-HDI countries, in 37 (19·8%) of 187 patients in middle-HDI countries, and in 46 (35·9%) of 128 patients in low-HDI countries (p < 0·001). Interpretation: Countries with a low HDI carry a disproportionately greater burden of SSI than countries with a middle or high HDI and might have higher rates of antibiotic resistance. In view of WHO recommendations on SSI prevention that highlight the absence of high-quality interventional research, urgent, pragmatic, randomised trials based in LMICs are needed to assess measures aiming to reduce this preventable complication

Light-cone actions and correlators of self-dual theories in AdS 4

Self-dual Yang-Mills and Einstein gravity in Euclidean AdS4 are useful toy models because they can be described by simple scalar Lagrangians exhibiting a new manifestation of the colour/kinematics duality, as recently shown by two of the authors. In this paper, we clarify how the self-dual sectors fit into the full theories. In particular, we explicitly construct the light-cone action for Yang-Mills theory and Einstein gravity in AdS4 in terms of positive and negative helicity fields, where we are able to pinpoint the self-dual sector as expected. We then show that the boundary correlators of these theories take a remarkably simple form in terms of Feynman diagrams in half of flat space, acted on by certain differential operators. We also analyse their soft limits and show that they exhibit Weinberg-like soft factors, where the soft pole which appears in scattering amplitudes is replaced by a derivative with respect to the energy

Search for heavy resonances decaying to two Higgs bosons in final states containing four b quarks

A search is presented for narrow heavy resonances X decaying into pairs of Higgs bosons (H) in proton-proton collisions collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC at root s = 8 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb(-1). The search considers HH resonances with masses between 1 and 3 TeV, having final states of two b quark pairs. Each Higgs boson is produced with large momentum, and the hadronization products of the pair of b quarks can usually be reconstructed as single large jets. The background from multijet and t (t) over bar events is significantly reduced by applying requirements related to the flavor of the jet, its mass, and its substructure. The signal would be identified as a peak on top of the dijet invariant mass spectrum of the remaining background events. No evidence is observed for such a signal. Upper limits obtained at 95 confidence level for the product of the production cross section and branching fraction sigma(gg -> X) B(X -> HH -> b (b) over barb (b) over bar) range from 10 to 1.5 fb for the mass of X from 1.15 to 2.0 TeV, significantly extending previous searches. For a warped extra dimension theory with amass scale Lambda(R) = 1 TeV, the data exclude radion scalar masses between 1.15 and 1.55 TeV

Implications of noncoding regulatory functions in the development of insulinomas

Insulinomas are rare neuroendocrine tumors arising from pancreatic β cells, characterized by aberrant proliferation and altered insulin secretion, leading to glucose homeostasis failure. With the aim of uncovering the role of noncoding regulatory regions and their aberrations in the development of these tumors, we coupled epigenetic and transcriptome profiling with whole-genome sequencing. As a result, we unraveled somatic mutations associated with changes in regulatory functions. Critically, these regions impact insulin secretion, tumor development, and epigenetic modifying genes, including polycomb complex components. Chromatin remodeling is apparent in insulinoma-selective domains shared across patients, containing a specific set of regulatory sequences dominated by the SOX17 binding motif. Moreover, many of these regions are H3K27me3 repressed in β cells, suggesting that tumoral transition involves derepression of polycomb-targeted domains. Our work provides a compendium of aberrant cis-regulatory elements affecting the function and fate of β cells in their progression to insulinomas and a framework to identify coding and noncoding driver mutations