Background: Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD) comprises a heterogeneous group of diseases, affecting different muscles, predominantly skeletal muscles and cardiac muscles of the body. LGMD is classified into two main subtypes A and B, which are further subclassified into eight dominant and thirty recessive subtypes.Three genes, namely POPDC1, POPDC2 and POPDC3, encode popeye domaincontaining protein (POPDC), and the variants of POPDC1 and POPDC3 genes have been associated with LGMD.Methods: In the present study, we performed whole-exome sequencing (WES) analysis on a single-family to investigate the hallmark features of LGMD. The results of WES were further confirmed by Sanger sequencing and 3D protein modeling was also conducted.Results: WES data analysis and Sanger sequencing revealed a homozygous missense variant (c.460A>G; p.Lys154Glu) at a highly conserved amino acid position in the POPDC3. Mutations in the POPDC3 gene have been previously associated with recessive limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 26. 3D protein modeling further suggested that the identified variant might affect the POPDC3 structure and proper function.

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Objective To investigate Acacia honey from different altitudes regarding total phenols and flavonoids, laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) spectra and anticancer activity against human cancer cell lines. Methods Anticancer activity was investigated using sulforhodamine B cytotoxicity assays in the following human cancer cell lines: HCT116 (colon); MCF7 (breast), and HepG2 (liver). Total phenols and flavonoids were measured using spectrophotometric methods and LIF was used to differentiate between low and high-altitude honey. Results The LIF spectra differed between low and high-altitude Acacia honey. High altitude Acacia honey was characterized by significantly lower total phenol content (81.47 ± 1.25 mg gallic acid equivalent [GAE]/100 g) and increased total flavonoids (10.63 ± 0.53 mg quercetin equivalent [QE]/100 g) versus low altitude Acacia honey (91.33 ± 0.96 mg GAE/100 g and 8.78 ± 0.23 mg QE/100 g, respectively). Low altitude Acacia honey displayed increased IC50 values against HCT116 and MCF7 cells (264.17 ± 10.5 and 482.65 ± 20.3 µg/ml, respectively) versus high altitude Acacia honey (117.99 ± 12.7 and 189.82 ± 15.8 µg/ml, respectively). Conclusions High altitude Acacia honey had significantly more effective anticancer activity against HCT116 and MCF7 cells compared with low altitude honey.

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This research was carried out at the Experimental Farm of Sakha Agricultural Research Station, Sakha, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt, during the 2018–2020 rice-growing seasons to develop and evaluate four iso-cytoplasmic rice-restorer lines: NRL79, NRL80, NRL81, and NRL82, as well as Giza 178, with ten new hybrids in order to estimate genotypic coefficient, phenotypic coefficient, heritability in a broad sense, and advantage over Giza 178 as a check variety (control) of new restorer lines. This study also estimated combining ability, gene action, better-parent heterosis (BP), mid-parent heterosis (MP), and standard heterosis (SH) over Egyptian Hybrid 1 (IR69A × Giza 178) as a check hybrid (control) for grain yield, agronomic traits, and some grain-quality characters in restorer lines and hybrids. The percentage of advantage over commercial-variety Giza 178 (check) was significant, and highly significant among the newly developed restorer fertility lines for all the studied traits. This indicates that the selection is a highly effective factor in improving these traits. New restorer fertility lines showed highly significant positive values over commercial restorer for grain yield; the values ranged from 51% for NRL80 to 100.4% for NRL82, respectively. Meanwhile, in regard to the grain shape of paddy rice, three lines of the promising lines showed highly significant negative desirable values compared with Giza 178; the values ranged from −7.7% for the NRL80 to −15.2% for NRL79, respectively. Based on the superiority of the new lines, the new lines can be used as new restorer fertility lines to breed promising new hybrids and new inbred rice lines or varieties. From the results of the testcross experiment, the four promising lines were identified as effective restorer fertility lines for two cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) lines. Moreover, the six rice hybrids showed values for SH heterosis of grain yield/plant of more than 15% over the check hybrid variety, with high values of 1000-grain weight and desirable grain shape; these hybrids were G46A × NRL81 (125.1%), G46A × NRL80 (66.9%), IR69A × NRL79 (47.2%), G46A × NRL79 (24.6%), IR69A × NRL81 (23.4%), and IR69A × NRL82 (16.2%).

Introduction The ketogenic diet is a diet that relies on reducing carbohydrate intake to a minimum while increasing fat intake. This induces a state of ketosis where it is hypothesized to favor fat metabolism for energy instead of carbohydrates. The diet is used to treat pediatric patients with seizures to control their symptoms. Today, it is used by many to help in weight loss. Extensive research is being conducted on the benefits of the diet, as it gains popularity among patients with diabetes and obesity, to evaluate its effects on glycemic control. Methods This review looks at the published literature and summarizes the interventional trials that use the ketogenic diet for glycemic control. Emphasis was on pooling the results of selected variables such as weight, glycemic control, and lipid profile. The meta-analysis was conducted by a trained statistician using the Cochrane software review manager (Revman version 5.4; Cochrane, London, UK). Results were reviewed by an independent reviewer adhering to the Cochrane Collaboration's guidelines. Results The findings of this review show a significant effect of the ketogenic diet as compared to controls in terms of weight reduction, glycemic control, and improved lipid profile. A noticeable improvement was seen in glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and in high-density lipoprotein (HDL), favoring the ketogenic diet as compared to control. Conclusion This review concludes that the ketogenic diet is superior to controls in terms of glycemic control and lipid profile improvements, and the results are significant enough to recommend it as an adjunctive treatment for type two diabetes.

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Mosquito-borne diseases are causing serious damage to public health worldwide, and control of these deadly mosquito vectors is a major thrust area for epidemiologists and public health workers. Therefore, the present research reports an eco-friendly solution with multipotency of silver nanoparticle fabricated from shrimp shell biowaste in controlling mosquitoes and bacterial pathogens. The biofabricated chitosan silver nanoparticles (Cs-AgNPs) were confirmed by UV-visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction and zeta potential analysis. The TEM studies showed that the obtained Cs-AgNPs were mostly spherical in shape. Low doses of chitosan and Cs-AgNPs showed high mosquitocidal properties against both larvae and adult of Anopheles stephensi, Aedes aegypti, and Culex quinquefasciatus. The LC50 (lethal concentration 50%) of Cs-AgNPs was 10.240 ppm (fourth instar larvae) and 9.671 ppm (adult) for An. stephensi; 11.349 ppm (fourth instar) and 12.015 ppm (adult) for Ae. aegypti and 12.426 ppm (fourth instar) and 12.965 ppm (adult) for Cx. quinquefasciatus. The concerning part of antibacterial studies showed that Cs-AgNP had significant inhibition on tested bacterial pathogens. Overall, this study shows that chitosan extracted from the shrimp shell wastes can be used as a potential source for controlling major mosquito vectors.