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New Issue Published; 8(4)

Advancements in Life Sciences, volume 8, issue 4Cover; Volume 8, Issue 4
Published: 31 December 2021
ISSN 2310-5380 

Important Note: This issue was due to be published in October 2021 but appeared online in December 2021. We were adapting to changing working dynamics due to COVID-19 and Omicron pandemics. It is taking us time to carry editorial operations. We are sorry for this delay and appreciate the understanding of our readers and esteemed authors.


IN THIS ISSUE

 

Review Articles


Prunus Avium L.; Phytochemistry, Nutritional and Pharmacological Review
Shabbir Hussain, Mohsin Javed, Muhammad Amin Abid, Muhammad Amjad Khan, Shahzada Khurram Syed, Muhammad Faizan, Farah Feroz, pages 307-314
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 Current studies were made to investigate the phytochemistry, nutritional and pharmacological studies on Prunus Avium L. (sweet cherry or wild cherry). The plant is a rich source of many phytochemicals, nutrients, phenolic compounds, sugars, anthocyanins, perillyl and phenolics. The presence of chemical compounds such as cyanidin 3-sophoroside, cyanidin 3-rutinoside, cyanidin 3-glucosylrutinoside, cyanidin 3-glucoside etc. renders the cherry fruit to demonstrate anti-cancer and anti-oxidation potential, antigenotoxic, anti-inflammatory, cytotoxic, antimicrobial, neuroprotective and diuretic activities. Cherry consists of cyanogenic glucoside (prunasin) which assists the body in tranquilizing cough and also effective for nervous touchiness and nervous dyspepsia. For secure treatment of cough, pharmaceutical companies isolate prussic acid from the cherry bark as a dynamic component. Wild cherry is also helpful in treatment of arthritis due to the presence of anthocyanins.  

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CRISPR/Cas9 application in tomato breeding improvement: a review
Anh Phu Nam Buipages 315-319
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 Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is an essential plant because of its social and economic importance. Therefore, research have been focusing on improving tomato production. The introduction of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated proteins (CRISPR/Cas9) system provides unique opportunities to better understand the gene functions and to rapidly generate new tomato cultivars harboring desired traits such as disease resistance, better harvest quality and abiotic tolerance. This review aims to provide latest information about the application of CRISPR/Cas9 system on tomato breeding.  

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Role of commercially available SARS-CoV-2 detection kits in pandemic of COVID-19 on the basis of N and E gene detection
Mubeen Khalid, Rani Wafa Shear, Wadiat Rehman, Rahat Rehman, Babar Ali, Shahid Nazir, Muhammad Usman Basharat, Muhammad Farhan Khanpages 320-325
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 Coronavirus has blowout worldwide from the time when its revelation in Hubei Province, China in December 2019 introducing a genuine general wellbeing emergency. The capacity to recognize an irresistible specialist in a broad pestilence is vital to the achievement of isolate endeavors notwithstanding the delicate and precise screening of expected instances of disease from patients in a clinical setting. Structural proteins the basic key role-playing in SARS-CoV2 identification include a spike, envelope membrane, nucleocapsid, and helper proteins. N-protein ties to the infection single positive-strand RNA that permits the infection to assume control over human cells and transform them into infection industrial facilities inside the capsid and E-protein shows a significant part in infection gathering, film permeability of the host cell, and infection has cell correspondence. Nucleic-Acid base testing presently offers the most touchy and early discovery of COVID-19. Notwithstanding, analytic advancements have explicit impediments and announced a few false negative and false positive cases, particularly during the beginning phases of contamination. Presently, more refined diagnostics are being created to improve the COVID-19 determination. This article presents an outline of diagnostic approaches to address a few inquiries and issues identified with the constraints of flow innovations and future innovative work difficulties to empower ideal, fast, minimal effort, and precise analysis of arising irresistible illnesses We depict purpose of-care diagnostics that are not too far off and urge scholastics to propel their advancements past origination. Creating fitting and-play diagnostics to deal with the SARS-CoV-2 flare-up would be valuable in forestalling forthcoming pandemics.  

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A review on Aluminum phosphide (Rice Tablets) Poisoning; From Exposure to the Applicable and New Strategies of Clinical Management
Aliasghar Manouchehri, Shiva Ghareghani, Shabnam Shamaei, Maede Nilechi, Fatemeh Bossaghzadeh, pages 326-332
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 Rice tablets (especially aluminum phosphide) as a solid fumigant pesticide is one of the major areas of interest within the field of pesticide poisoning due to high fatality. It is commonly used in grain storage places including silos, warehouses, and grain transporting systems such as ships to control damages of pests and rodents. Unfortunately, it is considerably consumed for suicidal purpose in developing countries because of the ease of access. Aluminum phosphide (ALP) has been conceived as the most mortal one among others and accounts for many deaths each year. ALP toxicity is associated with phosphine gas liberation which is highly toxic and may cause various toxicities in all body organs, especially in cardiovascular and respiratory systems. As there is no certain antidote to prevent human's death, hence having thorough information about this pesticide is required. Thus, in this article physiochemical features of rice tablets, various toxicological, clinical/pathological impacts of ALP on human body and also applicable and new strategies of its managements have been highlighted. Eventually, gathering all published information about ALP intoxication till date demonstrated that restricted preventative measures plus early and improved management protocols can limit the organ injuries and mortality. 

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Short Communication


Wavelet-based Statistical and Mathematical Analysis of Spread of COVID-19
Samreen Fatima, Mehwish Shafi Khan, Yumna Sajid, pages 333-338
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 The outbreak of coronavirus-19 (NCoV-19) has developed a universal crisis due to high rate of infection and mortality. Therefore, the researchers are using various available methods to study the pattern of spread of COVID-19 which will help in planning to control the disease and to manage the health care resources. This study compares Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) (statistical), Logistic, Gompertz (mathematical) and their hybrid using Wavelet-based Forecast (WBF) models to model and predict the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19. The study area includes the countries: Iran, Italy, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, USA, UK and Canada. Moreover, root mean squares error (RMSE) is used to compare the performance of studied models. Empirical analysis shows that confirmed cases could be adequately modelled using ARIMA and ARIMA-WBF for all the countries under consideration. However, for future prediction significance of the models varies region to region.  

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Full Length Research Articles


Isolation and characterization of Vancomycin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) from Intensive Care Units (ICU) of different hospitals in Lahore, Pakistan
Sana Riaz, Abid Hussain, Muhammad Sohail, Shafiq UR Rehman, Numan Javed, Zaigham Abbas, pages 339-344
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 Background: Nosocomial infections present a major threat because of the increased prevalence of clinical cases appearing among both developed as well as developing countries thus resulting in an alarming condition. This descriptive study was designed to determine the prevalence of hospital acquired vancomycin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) in intensive care units (ICU) of different hospitals of Lahore.

Methods: Sixty three swab samples were collected from different local hospitals in Lahore. The study was conducted at the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of the Punjab, Lahore from 2013 to 2014. Methicillin sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA), Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and VRSA were isolated and confirmed using Clinical & Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI), 2015 guidelines. vanA gene was amplified to determine the molecular basis of resistance of all VRSA isolates by using strain of S. aureus (ATCC 29213) as a gold standard.

Results: Prevalence of VRSA is comparatively low in the hospital settings of Lahore than MRSA. Out of sixty three S. aureus, four (6%) isolates were VRSA positive, and eight isolates (17%) showed intermediate resistance. The absence of vanA gene in VRSA showed that mechanism of resistance is other than vanA gene transfer.

Conclusions: Presence of VRSA in hospital settings is alarming for health care workers, patients and researchers and it also highlights the importance of alternative medicines to cure infections.  

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Determinants of COVID-19 Anxiety in Pakistan Through Binary Logistic Regression
Qaisar Mehmood, Maqbool Hussain Sial, Saira Sharif, Muhammad Riaz, pages 345-348

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 Background: This study was conducted to evaluate the determinants of anxiety among the people living in hassled environment for last few months due to outbreak of COVID-19.

Methods: 279 participants were interviewed through a questionnaire about COVID-19 anxiety on four likert scales. Data was analyzed by using statistical software IBM SPSS Statistics 21. A binary logistic regression was used to estimate relationship between anxiety and T.V news, social media news, social isolation, disturbance of sleep and decrease in daily income. Significance of these factors are tested at 5 percent level of significance.

Results: 90.33 percent of the respondents are feeling COVID-19 anxiety while 9.67 percent peoples are taking it mild. The values of test statistics for the variables listening of T.V news, social media news, social isolation, disturbance of sleep and decrease in daily income are highly significant at p < 0.05.

Conclusion: The existence of anxiety was found to be highly significance due to listening of T.V news, social media news, social isolation, disturbance of sleep and decrease in daily income.  

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Analysis of ALT and AST levels in HCV infected patient
Sadia Amjad, Ayesha Akram, Mudassar Iqbal, Manzoor Hussain, Mirwais Khan, pages 349-354

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 Background: Hepatitis C infection is spreading worldwide at an alarming rate and Pakistan is the second largest country to be infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). Abnormal levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) has been reported to be associated with hepatitis C infection and HCV associated pathologies.

Methods: The serum of study participants was isolated and analyzed for confirmed HCV infection and HCV RNA was extracted by QIAamp DSP Virus Kit followed by quantification by real time PCR. For the measurement of ALT and AST analysis, aspartate aminotransferase activity assay kit and alanine aminotransferase activity assay kit of Sigma Aldrich were used.

Results: Gender-wise analysis showed that 58% females while 42% males were HCV infected. Participants’ age ranged between ≥15 to ≤75 years. A confirmatory test of HCV infection by real time PCR showed 63% positive while 37% participants to be negative for HCV infection. An age-wise comparison of AST and ALT level showed a higher level of ALT in all age groups of HCV patients with significant higher level in 21-60 years of males and 61—80 years of female. The gender-wise comparison of these enzyme level showed higher level of ALT and AST in females as compared to males. The correlation analysis showed a positive association between viral load and AST/ALT level.

Conclusion: Though irregular levels have been reported in HCV patients previously but this gender-based study shows an increased level of both the enzymes in females as compared to males. Moreover, ALT have increased levels in HCV patients as compared to AST indicating ALT to be more specific biomarker of HCV infection and liver damage.  

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Diagnostic accuracy of chest computed tomography for detecting COVID-19 pneumonia in low disease prevalence area: A local experience
Mounir Benmessaoud, Ahmed Dadouch, Maghnouj Abdelmajid, Anass Abir, Youssef el-Ouardi, Assiya Lemmassi, Khalid Nouader, Inssaf Chibani, pages 355-359

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 Background: The role of computed tomography (CT) was crucial in detecting coronavirus disease 2019, their diagnostic performances were evaluated frequently in the high disease prevalence regions. In contrast, limited studies assessed the accuracy of chest CT in low disease prevalence areas.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted at a single center from April 3 to October 16, 2020. The data were collected manually involving age, gender, symptoms, chest CT and RT-PCR results. Patients included were all suspected cases diagnosed by both chest CT and RT-PCR. The confidence intervals (95%) were estimated using the Wilson method.

Results: A total of 104 patients (mean age 59±15 years, 61 males) were included. 6/104(15%) were presented with fever, 22/104(21%) with cough, 19/104(18%) with dyspnea, 4/104(4%) with diarrhea, and 7/104(6%) with headache. Regarding reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests, 34 cases were positive and 70 were negatives. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy of chest CT using RT-PCR as a reference were 97% (33/34,95%CI; [85-99%]), 50% (35/70,95%CI; [38-61%]), 48% (33/68,95%CI; [37-60%]), 97% (35/36,95%CI; [85-99%]) and 65% (68/104,95%CI; [56-74%]), respectively.

Conclusion: Chest CT is an important tool that contributed to the treatment decision of the high-suspected cases, as an early intervention before the confirmation with RT-PCR.  

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Characterization and Quantification of Betasatellites Research from Google Scholar Using a Bibliometric Approach
Syed Ishfaq Ahmad, Zeeshan Nasar, Zaib Ullah, Naeem Akhtar, Fazal Akbar, Nisar Ahmad, pages 360-367

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 Background: Begomoviruses belongs to the family Geminiviridae. These viruses are associated with various satellite DNA molecules (alpha satellites, delta satellites, and betasatellites).

Methods: The standardized search strategy was applied to get the research output regarding betasatellites worldwide for bibliometric analysis. Google scholar database was used to collect the data regarding betasatellites research from past 1997 to June 2018.

Results: A total of 213 documents regarding the studied subject were identified, out of which the maximum number of documents 153 (71.83%) were found to have been published in the form of original research articles. The common language of publications 208 (97.65%) was English. The results declare that the number of publications shows an increase from 1997 to 2014, with the maximum number of publications in 2014. The top 10 productive countries based on the maximum number of publications were India 83 (38.96%), Pakistan 66 (30.98%), China 26 (12.20%) followed by some other countries. USA and Oman were the top collaborative countries with Pakistan respectively.

Conclusion: For all the analyzed documents the total number of citations was 3564 with an average of 16.73 citations per document. The journal “Virus Genes” was the most prolific journal based on a maximum number of publications on the studied subject. Robert William Briddon and Shahid Mansoor were the most productive scientists, and the National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE) was the most productive institute regarding the studied subject. This study shows that India, Pakistan, the USA, and China play an important role in the area of beta satellite research. 

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Socio-economic effects of COVID-19 – a study of the University students and teachers in Pakistan
Inam Ullah, Bibi Nazia Murtaza, Muhammad Mumtaz, Sadia Tabassum, Aziz ud Din Khan, Rubina Mushtaq, Muhammad Qasim, Muhammad Fiaz Khan, Arif Malik, pages 368-373

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 Background: Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID–19) has appeared as a deadly pandemic affecting most of the countries across the world. The disease has caught humanity unprepared; therefore, there has been a lack of awareness about the causes, and transmission and mortality rates. It has also affected the overall socioeconomics from individual to worldwide levels. COVID-19 is an unprecedented and first-time challenge for Pakistan and a lockdown imposed by the Government of Pakistan has further devastated the economy of the country. This online survey was conducted to know the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the social life and economic status of the people of Pakistan. In this article, we mainly focused on teachers and students from different Universities of Pakistan for data generation because they can provide better information due to the use of modern technologies as a source of information.

Methods: An online questionnaire survey covering 11 parameters including age, gender, employment status, mortality rate, education, marital status and, information about the pathogen responsible for the disease was filled by 1260 individuals from Pakistan.

Results: The results obtained show that 56.6% of the responders were males,43.4% were females, 59.9% were unmarried, 37.7% were graduate students and, 48.7% unemployed. Most of the responders (55.6%) said that COVID-19 negatively affected the jobs of the people. We found (93%) of the responders with good knowledge about COVID-19.

Conclusion: We conclude from the results that most of the responders were males, educated and they knew the pathogenic effect of the COVID-19 virus on humans. These results also show that the disease has drastically affected the economy and social life of the people of Pakistan. 

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Response of antioxidants and Reactive oxygen species at various exogenous PEG and proline levels in rice callus
Muhammad Ilyas Khokhar, Imran Habib, Muhammad Jamshaid Anwar, Sajid ur Rehman, pages 374-380

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 Background: Rice is a water loving crop and drought stress at any physiological stage can hamper the growth as well as its yield. Hence this research was conducted to assess the drought tolerance capability of elite basmati rice cultivars of Pakistan.

Methods: Polyethylene glycol (PEG) mediated in vitro experiment was conducted to estimate various water stress related parameters like callogenesis, crude protein, total antioxidant 2,2-Diphenyl-1-Picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and proline accumulation in callus. Dehusked seeds of five rice genotypes i.e. Basmati-2000, Super Basmati, Basmati-515, Basmati-385 and PS-2 were cultured for callogenesis on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium having 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) @ 4mg/L, proline @ 1mg/L and two levels of PEG (0.125g/L and (0.25g/L).

Results: In case of relative performance under all treatments, maximum callus fresh weight (0.308g) was observed in PS-2 followed by Basmati-515 (0.281g) and minimum (0.198g) in Basmati-385 after 30 days of culturing. Maximum proline (72.29 μmol/g FW), crude protein (5.89%) and total antioxidant DPPH (70.77%) were noted in Basmati-2000 while maximum H2O2 (75.55 μmol/g FW) was observed in PS-2 and minimum (37.22 μmol/g FW) in Basmati-2000. It was observed that under both PEG treatments, the rice cultivar Basmati-2000 was found to be highly drought tolerant. Maximum callus fresh weight was observed in the treatment without the addition of PEG and proline. Maximum production of Proline, protein and DPPH were observed at a low level of PEG (0.125g/L) in presence of proline @ 1mg/L.

Conclusion: Results revealed that application of proline in rice may be effective in mitigating the effect of drought stress in the presence of PEG under in-vitro conditions. 

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Experimental Use of the Triazavirin Antiviral Medication in Conditions of Group Administration at the Pig-Breeding Unit
Tatiana Ivanovna Reshetnikova, Alexander Sergeyevich Zenkin, Tatyana Georgievna Krylova, pages 381-386

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 Background: The spread of viral and microbial agents is active in Pig-breeding units. Due to illness, animals lose their productivity, which can affect the economy of the enterprise. The purpose of our experiment was to conduct an experimental study of the use of the Triazavirin antiviral medication on piglets in conditions of group administration at the pig-breeding unit and to assess the long-term effects of administering the medication.

Methods: The experiment involved 30 heads of piglets. Upon admission, groups were formed taking into account the condition and age of the animals. Piglets with lesions of the respiratory system and with obvious clinical signs were selected for the experiment. In the first experimental group, experimental piglets received the Triazavirin antiviral medication. In the 2nd (control) group, the experimental animals were not subject to any treatment. In the 3rd experimental group, Tylosin-50 antibacterial medication was used for the treatment of animals. During the experiment, clinical studies and blood tests (biochemical, immunological, hormonal tests) were carried out.

Result: When piglets were given the Triazavirin medication, they demonstrated a stable average daily weight gain and the highest percentage of meat yield. When analyzing the biochemical parameters of animals in the first experimental group, stabilization of several indicators was noted (aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, iron, total iron-binding capacity, transferrin saturation coefficient). In the case of Triazavirin administration, there was an increase in the level of free thyroxine and triiodothyronine, a decrease in thyroid-stimulating hormone, and cortisol.

Conclusion: Based on the results of clinical studies, the authors recommend using the Triazavirin medication as part of complex and etiological therapy in the treatment of the respiratory system of pigs affected with diseases of a viral nature. 

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Frequencies and clinical characteristics of common fusion oncogenes in core-binding factor Acute Myeloid Leukemia from Lahore Pakistan
Zafar Iqbal, Muhammad Absar, Masood Shammas, Nawaf Alanazi, Salman Basit, Khalid Aljarrah, Sana Bilal, Mona Elsafadi, Abdulaziz Siyal, Amer Mahmood, pages 387-395

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 Background: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is one of the most common blood cancers among adults. Genetic abnormalities associated with core-binding factor AML (CBF-AML) help in accurate diagnosis and prognostic stratification, and therefore help in clinical management of the disease. No studies have been carried out about frequencies of genetic abnormalities of CBF-AML and their association with clinical parameters in Lahore region of Pakistan. Therefore, objective of this study was to carry out genetic and characterization of CBF-AML.    

Methods: The blood samples were collected along with clinical data AML patients from different hospitals of Lahore Pakistan July 2010 to Dec. 2020. RNA was extracted and RT-PCR was employed to detect CBF-AML -associated fusion oncogenes (AML1-ETO and CBFB-MYH11). Data was analyzed using SPSS version 25.

Results: Frequencies of AML1-ETO and CBFB-MYH11 were 13.6% and 11.4%, respectively. AML1-ETO had significant association with FAB subtype AML-M2, occupational exposure to chemical solvents and exposure to petrol products. One the other hand, CBFB-MYH11 was significantly associated with splenomegaly, FAB subtype AML-M4 patients and insecticides exposure.

Conclusions: Our results show that overall frequencies AML1-ETO and CBFB-MYH11 and hence CBF-AML is comparable to other ethnic groups. Correlation of specific genetic abnormalities with exposures to chemicals indicates a strong interplay between AML genetics and pollutants.   This study will help not only in differential diagnosis and prognostic stratification of AML in Pakistan, but it also opens new windows to better understand biology of AML in correlation with environmental exposure. 

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NaCl affects lipids peroxidation and oxygen free radicals scavenging machinery in callus tissues of a cultivated (Solanum macrocarpon L.) and a wild Eggplant (Solanum dasyphyllum L.)
Sami Hannachi, Insaf Bahrini, Nawaf I. Ibrahim, Abdelmuhsin Abdelgadir, Hira Affan Siddiqui, pages 396-405

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 Background: In vitro techniques are an efficient tool to select salt tolerant lines in several plant species. The impacts of increasing salt concentration on membrane lipids oxidation and oxygen free radicals scavenging enzymes were evaluated in the callus of a cultivated eggplant (Solanum macrocarpon L.) and Wild Eggplant (Solanum dasyphyllum L.)

Methods: A salt stress ranging from 40 to 160 mM NaCl was imposed to callus of S. macrocarpon ‘Akwaseho’, a cultivated African eggplant and callus of S. dasyphyllum var dasyphyllum, a putative wild ancestor, for 40 days. Selected callus physiology and biochemistry features were investigated after 40 days of growing both species in MS medium added with NaCl at the concentration of 0 (control), 40, 80, 120 and 160 mM.

Results: A close correlation was observed between rising salinity level and the enhancement of proline accumulation. Callus of S. dasyphyllum var dasyphyllum succeeded efficiently in keeping higher K+, lower Na+ rate and Na+/K+ ratio than S. macrocarpon L. Ion content can be considered as useful tool to select salt tolerant callus tissue. Under saline condition, S. dasyphyllum L. showed lower amounts of malondialdehyde (MDA) and H2O2 but higher activity for superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), guaiacol peroxidase (GPX) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) than S. macrocarpon L. in both case control and NaCl treatments.

Conclusion: The current study concluded that the two species responded differently to salinity induced oxidative damage. S. dasyphyllum L. callus showed more effective antioxidant defense system, which contributes, to better adaptive and protective capacity against salinity induced oxidative impairment by keeping more intense antioxidant enzymes activities than S. macrocarpon L. callus. 

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Knowledge, attitude, and practices on human myiasis with spatial modeling of human risk of exposure to Oestrus ovis among shepherds/ people in Ilam province, southwest of Iran
Morteza Akbari, Kamran Akbarzadeh, Javad Rafinejad, Ahmad Ali Hanafi-Bojd, Soraya Sheikhi, Ali Ashraf Aivazi, pages 406-411

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 Background: Myiasis is the infestation of humans or other animals with the larvae of flies that occurs in the tropical and subtropical regions, worldwide. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate knowledge, attitude, and practice of the population at risk about myiasis and to infer potential risk areas of human myiasis due to the environmental suitability for Oestrus ovis in the Ilam province of Iran.

Methods: This study was conducted from April to June 2020 among the myiasis-infested shepherds in Ilam province. The data were collected by a questionnaire. Maximum Entropy (Maxent) niche modeling was used to predict the environmental suitability for O. ovis.

Results: The level of awareness of the people of Ilam province on myiasis was generally good, while a small percentage of them had poor information about this disease (1.62%). Mean Diurnal range and isothermality revealed the highest and lowest share on the MaxEnt model, respectively.  The elevation variable had the most permutation in the model for predicting the environmental suitability for O. ovis. The best ecological niches for this fly were in the northern parts of the study area.

Conclusion: It can be concluded that due to background knowledge of the involved people in exposure to oral myiasis agent, O. ovis, conducting some preventive measures based on improving their knowledge, attitude, and practices could be useful for reducing the risk of the disease in the area. On the other hand, the suitable areas for the establishment of O. ovis which has been clarified with the model could be used for focusing on the preventive measures in the area. 

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In silico analysis to reveal underlying trans differentiation mechanism of Mesenchymal Stem Cells into Osteocytes
Muhammad Shahid Javaid, Haiba Kaul, Numan Fazal, Faiza Yaqub, Nadia Naseer, Muzaffar Hanif, Noreen Latief, pages 412-418

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 Background: Bone is a mineralized dynamic tissue, helps to protect and support the body. Osteoarthritis damages the cartilage and is responsible for the degeneration of the bone. Many cell-based therapies are available to repair the damage however, the non-availability of autologous cells and slows healing during regeneration of the damaged bone present major constraints. Hence, there is a need to search for a convenient and easily available cell source that can not only be used to repair the bone but can also enhance its regenerative potential. β-glycerophosphate, dexamethasone, and L-ascorbic-2-phosphate can differentiate mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into osteocytes. So far, the interaction of these compounds with osteocytes-specific proteins has not been studied. In this study, in silico analysis was performed to investigate the interaction of proteins with osteocytes specific compounds at the amino acids level.

Methods: 3D structures of Dexamethasone and L-ascorbic-2-phosphate (ascorbic acid) were drawn using Molecular Operating Environment (MOE). Then absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) analysis was achieved using an online tool of “Swiss Package”. By Ramachandran plot, the predicted model of ALPL, MMP13, Osteonectin, and RunX2 proteins were evaluated. Then docking of these proteins with Dexamethasone and L-ascorbic-2-phosphate was performed.

Results: L-ascorbic-2-phosphate and Dexamethasone docked within the binding pockets of ALPL, RunX2, MMP13, and Osteonectin proteins, expressed in the bone cells. These compounds also showed good drug-likeness and pharmacokinetics properties.

Conclusion: It is concluded that β-glycerophosphate, dexamethasone, and L-ascorbic-2-phosphate are novel substrates for osteogenic differentiation. These compounds could increase the healing and regenerative potential of bone cells by enhancing the expression of osteocytes specific proteins.  

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