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ß-thalassemia is a hereditary disorder due to mutation in the ß-globin gene on chromosome 11. Out of 200 known ß-globin gene chain mutations recognized, it is better to identify the most common mutation in specific regions and ethnicity for cost-effective molecular diagnosis of this disorder. Therefore, this study aims to practice multiplex-amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS) PCR on patients with thalassemia in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to investigate the most common mutations in the ß-globin chain gene.

Twenty-two individuals (patients, their parents and non-affected siblings) with signed consent were studied from six consanguineous families of ß-thalassemia. Blood samples were collected for DNA isolation. For the detection of mutations in the ß-globin gene, ARMS-PCR was used. The amplicon was visualized through 2% Agarose Gel.

The most common mutations among different ethnic groups in the study area residents were Fr 8-9 (+G) and IVS 1-5 (G> C). The prominent enhancing factors for ß-thalassemia are inter-family marriages and lack of awareness.

Multiplex ARMS_PCR is the most valuable technique for assessing multiple mutations in a single reaction tube.

Due to extensively found ethnic and regional variations and a high rate of consanguinity, the Pashtun population has a great risk of mutations in their genome. Therefore, ARMS-PCR is a cost-effective mutational diagnostic strategy that can help to control disease burden.

Limited studies using ARMS-PCR for mutational analysis in the ß-globin gene are conducted. This study is unique as it targeted consanguineous families of KP Pakistan.

This paper aims to study the color change kinetics of lac dye in response to pH and food spoilage metabolites (ammonia, lactic acid and tyramine) for its potential application in intelligent food packaging.

UV-Vis spectroscopy was used to study the color change of dye solution. Ratio of absorbance of dye solution at 528 nm (peak of ionized form) to absorbance at 488 nm (peak of unionized form) was used to study the color change. Color change kinetics was studied in terms of change in absorbance ratio (A528/A488) with time using zero- and first-order reaction kinetics. An indicator was prepared by incorporating lac dye in agarose membrane to validate the result of study for monitoring quality of raw milk.

Dye was orange-red in acidic medium (pH: 2 to 5) and exhibited absorbance peak at 488 nm. It turned purple in alkaline medium (pH: 7 to10) and exhibited absorbance peak at 528 nm. The change in absorbance ratio with pH followed zero-order model. Acid dissociation constant (pKa) of dye was found to be 6.3. Color change of dye in response to ammonia and tyramine followed zero-order reaction kinetics, whereas for lactic acid, the first-order model was found best. In the validation part, the color of the indicator label changed from purple to orange-red when the milk gets spoiled.

The study opens a new application area for lac dye. The results suggest that lac dye has potential to be used as an indicator in intelligent food packaging for detection of spoilage in seafood, meat, poultry and milk.

Recently, powerful instruments for biomedical engineering research studies, including disease modeling, drug designing and nano-drug delivering, have been extremely investigated by researchers. Particularly, investigation in various microfluidics techniques and novel biomedical approaches for microfluidic-based substrate have progressed in recent years, and therefore, various cell culture platforms have been manufactured for these types of approaches. These microinstruments, known as tissue chip platforms, mimic in vivo living tissue and exhibit more physiologically similar vitro models of human tissues. Using lab-on-a-chip technologies in vitro cell culturing quickly caused in optimized systems of tissues compared to static culture. These chipsets prepare cell culture media to mimic physiological reactions and behaviors.

The authors used the application of lab chip instruments as a versatile tool for point of health-care (PHC) applications, and the authors applied a current progress in various platforms toward biochip DNA sensors as an alternative to the general bio electrochemical sensors. Basically, optical sensing is related to the intercalation between glass surfaces containing biomolecules with fluorescence and, subsequently, its reflected light that arises from the characteristics of the chemical agents. Recently, various techniques using optical fiber have progressed significantly, and researchers apply highlighted remarks and future perspectives of these kinds of platforms for PHC applications.

The authors assembled several microfluidic chips through cell culture and immune-fluorescent, as well as using microscopy measurement and image analysis for RNA sequencing. By this work, several chip assemblies were fabricated, and the application of the fluidic routing mechanism enables us to provide chip-to-chip communication with a variety of tissue-on-a-chip. By lab-on-a-chip techniques, the authors exhibited that coating the cell membrane via poly-dopamine and collagen was the best cell membrane coating due to the monolayer growth and differentiation of the cell types during the differentiation period. The authors found the artificial membrane, through coating with Collagen-A, has improved the growth of mouse podocytes cells-5 compared with the fibronectin-coated membrane.

The authors could distinguish the differences across the patient cohort when they used a collagen-coated microfluidic chip. For instance, von Willebrand factor, a blood glycoprotein that promotes hemostasis, can be identified and measured through these type-coated microfluidic chips.

This paper aims to introduce a custom-designed integrated nucleic acid detection polymerase chain reaction (PCR) instrument for clinical detection applications.

The PCR instrument can make rapid, sensitive, low-cost and quantitative molecular diagnosis compared with the current routine test flow from the pipette, series reagent to RT-PCR by manual manipulation. By integrating the multichannel automatic pipetting module, heat amplification module and real-time fluorescence detection module for the first time, the custom-designed integrated nucleic acid detection PCR instrument can achieve sample collection, subpackage, mixing, extracting, measuring and result presentation.

The multichannel automatic pipetting module was assembled with an accuracy of 0.4% (2 microliters) for accuracy measurement. Besides, the accuracy and sensitivity of nucleic acid using integrated low-cost nucleic acid detection PCR instruments were checked with COV-2019 virus (staining method) and African swine fever virus (probe method) under different concentrations.

Because of its high cost, complex system and bulky laboratory settings, including sample subpackage, mixing, extracting, measuring and finally result in presentation, the current nucleic acid detection system is not suitable for field operation and disease diagnosis in remote areas. The group independently designed and assembled an integrated low-cost multichannel nucleic acid detection PCR instrument, including a multichannel automatic pipetting module, a heat amplification module and a real-time fluorescence detection module.

The above equipment showed better reliability compared with commercial qPCR. These results can lay the foundation for functional, fast and low-cost PCR equipment for trace measurements.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the efficacy of bacterial exopolysaccharides (Eps) in reactive black 5 (RB5) textile dye wastewater bioremediation.

The Eps were produced by bacteria isolated from cotton gin trash soils collected from different cotton-growing regions in Kenya for comparison purposes. A broth medium reconstituted using molasses was assessed for its capacity to produce the Eps. RB5 textile dye wastewater was optimized for dye removal under different temperatures, times and molasses concentrations. Dye removal was studied by Lovibond-Day Light Comparator, UV–Vis spectrophotometer and FTIR.

It was found that cotton gin trash soils contained Eps-producing bacteria. Three of the Eps studied were found to have the capacity to remove at least 80% of the dye from the wastewater.

This research did not assess the efficacy of the RB5 dye removal from the wastewater by mixtures of the Eps.

Bioremediation of textile dye wastewater with Eps produced by bacteria cultured from cotton gin trash soil is significant because it will offer an effective and cleaner alternative to the chemical coagulants.

Alternative treatment of textile wastewater with the Eps would result in safer water being released into the water bodies as opposed to the chemically treated wastewater that contains remnant chemicals.

Research on the use of Eps produced by bacteria isolated from cotton gin trash soils for removal of RB5 dye from textile wastewater has not been done before.

This study aims to focus on the main materials used in consolidation processes of illuminated paper manuscripts and leather binding.

For each material, chemical structure, chemical composition, molecular formula, solubility, advantages, disadvantages and its role in treatment process are presented.

This study concluded that carboxy methyl cellulose, hydroxy propyl cellulose, methyl cellulose, cellulose acetate, nanocrystalline cellulose, funori, sturgeon glue, poly vinyl alcohol, chitosan, chitosan nanoparticles (NPs), gelatin, aquazol, paraloid B72 and hydroxyapatite NPs were the most common and important materials used for the consolidation of illuminated paper manuscripts. For the leather bindings, hydroxy propyl cellulose, polyethylene glycol, oligomeric melamine-formaldehyde resin, acrylic wax SC6000, pliantex, paraloid B67 and B72, silicone oil and collagen NPs are the most consolidants used.

Illuminated paper manuscripts with leather binding are considered one of the most important objects in libraries, museums and storehouses. The uncontrolled conditions and other deterioration factors inside the libraries and storehouses lead to degradation of these artifacts. The brittleness, fragility and weakness are considered the most common deterioration aspects of illuminated paper manuscripts and leather binding. Therefore, the consolidation process became vital and important to solve this problem. This study presents the main materials used for consolidation process of illuminated paper manuscripts and leather bindings.

In this study, an attempt has been made to collect the research that has been done on the construction and design of the H₂O₂ sensor. So far, many efforts have been made to quickly and sensitively determine H₂O₂ concentration based on different analytical principles. In this study, the importance of H₂O₂, its applications in various industries, especially the food industry, and the importance of measuring it with different techniques, especially portable sensors and on-site analysis, have been investigated and studied.

Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) is a very simple molecule in nature, but due to its strong oxidizing and reducing properties, it has been widely used in the pharmaceutical, medical, environmental, mining, textile, paper, food production and chemical industries. Sensitive, rapid and continuous detection of H₂O₂ is of great importance in many systems for product quality control, health care, medical diagnostics, food safety and environmental protection.

Various methods have been developed and applied for the analysis of H₂O₂, such as fluorescence, colorimetry and electrochemistry, among them, the electrochemical technique due to its advantages in simple instrumentation, easy miniaturization, sensitivity and selectivity.

Monitoring the H₂O₂ concentration level is of practical importance for academic and industrial purposes. Edible oils are prone to oxidation during processing and storage, which may adversely affect oil quality and human health. Determination of peroxide value (PV) of edible oils is essential because PV is one of the most common quality parameters for monitoring lipid oxidation and oil quality control. The development of cheap, simple, fast, sensitive and selective H₂O₂ sensors is essential.

This scientific article aims to evaluate the efficacy of the drug Doxorubicin for treating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Egypt. The study analyzes data from patients referred to a multi-disciplinary consultation at the National Cancer Institute, Cairo University. The study includes 40 intermediate-stage HCC patients who underwent treatment with either Doxorubicin-Lipiodol or Doxorubicin-loaded drug-eluting beads-trans-arterial chemoembolization (DEB-TACE).

Patients referred to a multi-disciplinary consultation at the National Cancer Institute, Cairo University with a possible diagnosis of HCC in the intermediate stage were eligible for the study.

The study finds that the plasma peak concentration of Doxorubicin is significantly higher in patients treated with Lipiodol compared to those treated with DEB-TACE. The median plasma peak concentration of patients treated with Lipiodol was significantly higher 424 (202.5–731) than the peak level of patients treated with beads 84.95 (26.6–156.5) with p-value = 0.036. However, there is no significant difference in other pharmacokinetic parameters between the two treatment groups. The research article also investigates the genetic polymorphisms in HCC patients treated with Doxorubicin-Lipiodol and Doxorubicin-loaded DEB-TACE. It identifies a significant association between the ABCB1 gene (C3435T) and the concentration of Doxorubicin in plasma. Patients with the CCand computed tomography (CT) genotypes of ABCB1 have higher concentrations of Doxorubicin compared to those with the TT genotype. Furthermore, the study examines the progression-free survival rates and tumour response in the two treatment groups. It demonstrates that DEB-TACE patients have a higher progression-free survival rate compared to cTACE patients. DEB-TACE also leads to better tumour regression.

The current study helps to increase the understanding of the genetic factors that may contribute to HCC susceptibility in the Egyptian population. However, it is essential to consider that genetic polymorphism is just one aspect of HCC risk, and other factors such as environment, lifestyle and viral infections also play crucial roles. Further research is needed to elucidate the complex interactions between genetic and environmental factors in HCC development among Egyptians.

The textile sector struggles with cotton stickiness from honeydew contamination. It hurts agriculture and marketability. This study aims to examine how bacterial enzymes could reduce honeydew-contaminated cotton adherence in textile businesses sustainably.

Enzyme was extracted from bacteria isolated from the fermented bamboo shoots “Lung siej”. The enzyme was tested for α-glucosidase using p-nitrophenyl-α-D-glucopyranoside as a substrate. Design of experiments determined enzyme activity temperature and reaction time. Laboratory-prepared artificial honeydew was added to ginning mill cotton to show honeydew contamination. After enzyme treatment, sticky cotton was tested for microscopic examination, ultraviolet (UV), Benedict’s, Elsner colorimetric, high volume instrument (HVI) and viscosity tests.

The bacterial isolate is characterized as Lysinibacillus sp. as confirmed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The enzyme extracted was identified as α-glucosidase. The ideal temperature and reaction time for enzymatic activity were 32 °C and 35 min, respectively, using central composite design. The microscopic examination, UV test, Benedict’s test, Elsner colorimetric test, HVI test and viscosity test showed that bacterial enzyme treatment reduced cotton fiber adherence.

Although few patents have examined the effect of yeast enzymes, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, a bacterial enzyme is investigated for the first time to reduce the adhesion of honeydew-contaminated cotton.

The purpose of this article is to investigate on changes of the microbial load and the chemical and physical properties of date fruits stored for 6 months under two different temperatures.

A composite sample of 100 kg date fruits from the Khalas variety, season 2019, was collected from the local market in Al Ahsa Province, Saudi Arabia, packaged in 1 kg lots, stored at room and refrigerator temperatures and the microbial contamination and the chemical and physical properties monitored over a period of six months of storage. Total bacteria, lactic acid bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, yeasts and molds were counted and representatives of yeast and mold contaminants were identified using morphological, physiological and molecular typing techniques. Changes in the color and texture of the samples were also monitored during storage.

The yeasts detected were two strains of each of Lachancea thermotolerans and Rhodosporidiobolus fluvialis and one strain of Cystofilobasidium lacus-mascardii. For molds, one strain of each of Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Penicillium chrysogenum and Aspergillus caespitosus have been detected. No significant growth of these microorganisms was observed, but enough load persisted during storage that makes the samples not meeting the microbiological standards. There were significant changes in the color and texture of the fruits during storage.

These findings add important information that can help producers and processors to improve quality and promote marketing of date fruits, especially to international markets.