No abstract

The synthesis and characterization of novel Mn-MOF nanostructures (UoB-4) with high performance as catalysts and antibacterial agents.

No abstract

There are great concentrations of toxic metallic and metalloid elements such as lead, arsenic, mercury, cadmium or silver in many species of mushrooms comparative to other fruits and vegetables. In this study, contamination with heavy and toxic metallic and metalloid elements in the cultivated mushroom of (Pleurotus florida (Mont.) Singer) is investigated. P. florida was cultivated on different substrates; wheat straw (as blank), wheat straw + pine cone, wheat straw + soybean straw and wheat straw + urea and the effects of these substrates on contamination levels of Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, and Pb were analyzed. The results showed that the concentrations of essential elements (Mn, Fe, Cu, and Zn) in the target mushroom are at the typical levels. The estimated daily intakes of studied metallic and metalloid elements were below their oral reference dosage mentioned by the international regulatory bodies. Health risk index (HRI) was calculated to evaluate the consumer's health risk assessment from the metal intake that contaminated in the cultivated mushroom of P. florida on the different nutrient sources. In this study, the individual HRIs were less than 1, which indicates insignificant potential health risk associated with the consumption of target mushroom from the studied substrates. Based on the HRIs values among the toxic metallic and metalloid elements, As in the target mushroom in the substrate of the wheat straw + pine cone is the main sources of risk, and it may cause severe health problems. Thus, this study suggests that the concentrations of heavy and toxic elements should be periodically monitored in cultivated mushrooms.

The novel metal-organic framework Co 2 (bdda) 1.5 (OAc) 1 ·5H 2 O (UoB-3) was synthesized via a simple method at room temperature. UoB-3 was characterized by the different methods, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), N 2 -adsorption/desorption and elemental analysis. The catalytic ability of UoB-3 was detected to be excellent for primary and secondary alcohols oxidation reaction with high yields under solvent-free conditions. Moreover, UoB-3 was highly active for Henry reaction of different aldehydes with nitromethane in water as a green solvent. The nanocatalyst can be recycled for five consecutive cycles without losing its activity and structural rigidity. The antibacterial activity of UoB-3 nanostructures towards Gram-negative bacteria, Escherichia coli and Gram-positive bacteria, Bacillus cereus was also evaluated by using an inhibition zone test. These nanostructures exhibited strong antibacterial effect against both of them. The purpose of this study was the developing metal-organic framework materials with the enhanced activity in various fields.

<p>Present study is aimed to comparatively investigate the response of two ploidy levels of wheat including a tetraploid (<em>Triticum turgidum</em> L.) and a hexaploid (<em>Triticum aestivum</em> L.) wheat to different durations of flooding stress. Wheat seedlings were exposed to flooding stress for 0, 3, 6 and 9 days. Results showed that all flooding treatments significantly decreased the shoot and root length, and chlorophyll content of both species of wheat. The decrease in chlorophyll content of tetraploid wheat was more than that of hexaploid one. In both species, ADH activity of root was significantly increased under flooding stress, where the increase was more in hexaploid wheat. Flooding stress did not significantly affect root and shoot water content, root porosity, and shoot protein content of any wheat species. Tetraploid and hexaploid wheat used different mechanisms for better tolerance of flooding condition, where tetraploid wheat increased the proline content but in hexaploid wheat, an increase in soluble sugar content was observed.</p>

Background: Breast cancer is the most common female cancer that, despite recent progress, its existing therapies do not have sufficient efficiency, and scientists are trying to find complementary therapies. Medicinal plants, such as pomegranate (Punica granatum L.), attract a great deal of attention in this regard. Objectives: The present study aimed to assess the anticancer effects of pomegranate peel alcoholic extract (PPE) in the mouse cellular model (4T1) of breast cancer and investigate the related molecular mechanism of antiproliferative effects of the extract through the evaluation of the expression level of apoptosis genes (ie, BAX and BCL2). Methods: For the accomplishment of the study objectives, after the preparation of PPE, an evaluation of cellular cytotoxicity was carried out using the 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. According to the MTT assay, the cells were treated for 24 h with selective doses of the extract. Then, ribonucleic acid extraction, complementary deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis, and gene expression analysis of BAX and BCL2 using real-time polymerase chain reaction were performed in this study. Results: The results showed that PPE reduced cancer cell viability in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The molecular analysis indicated that observed cell death could be due to an increase in the BAX/BCL2 ratio. Conclusions: Overall, PPE can be proposed as a potential complementary therapy for breast cancer. However, further studies on animal models and clinical trials are needed to verify the clinical usage of such complementary drugs.

Phylogenetic study of the four sections (Aporum, Crumenata, Strongyle, and Bolbidium) of genus Dendrobium (family Orchidaceae) was conducted using molecular data. Classifications based on morphological characters have not being able to clearly divide these four sections neither do they supported their monophyly origin. Therefore, deeper and detailed analysis especially using molecular data is required to ascertain their status. Molecular evidences were used to clarify their relations either to lump them into one section or reduce them into two. The study has been carried out for the 34 species of Dendrobium using Maximum Parsimony (MP). Three nucleotide sequences data sets from two distinct genomes chloroplast DNA genes (rbcL and matK) and nuclear ribosomal DNA (ITS) were used to construct cladograms. The results that obtained from the Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) gene showed that the nuclear genes are reliable marker for the phylogenetic study of Dendrobium compared to chloroplast DNA with low resolution level among sections.