Incidence of enteric viruses in sewage, the efficacy of wastewater treatment plants to remove these viruses, and health effects from their release into the surface water are very important environmental issues in the microbiology field. One of the most pathogenic enteric viruses is adenovirus which can cause a serious disease such as gastroenteritis with low grade fever and mild dehydration in humans. In this study we performed qualitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of HAdV on 60 stool samples from children with acute gastroenteritis admitted to Abu-Rish hospital and 96 environmental samples (32 raw sewage, 32 treated sewage, 32 sewage sludge) collected from Zenin wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). HAdV were detected in 17 (28.3%) of stool, 27 (84.4%) of raw sewage, 16 (50%) of treated sewage and 25 (78%) of sludge samples. The viral concentrations were in the range of 2.02 × 106–7.23 × 106, 8.7 × 105–4.3 × 106, 1.22 × 104–3.7 × 106 and 1.48 × 106–1.77 × 107 GC/mL in stool, raw sewage, treated sewage, and sludge, respectively. HAdV was detected throughout the whole year of sample collection. Moreover, our results suggested that males were more susceptible to adenovirus infections than females. The results indicate that the high incidence of HAdV in the treated sewage may cause adverse health effects. This article has been made Open Access thanks to the generous support of a global network of libraries as part of the Knowledge Unlatched Select initiative.

Purpose: Current direct-acting antiviral agents for treatment of hepatitis C virus genotype 4a (HCV-4a) have been reported to cause adverse effects, and therefore less toxic antivirals are needed. This study investigated the role of curcumin chitosan (CuCs) nanocomposite as a potential anti-HCV-4a agent in human hepatoma cells Huh7. Methods: Docking of curcumin and CuCs nanocomposite and binding energy calculations were carried out. Chitosan nanoparticles (CsNPs) and CuCs nanocomposite were prepared with an ionic gelation method and characterized with TEM, zeta size and potential, and HPLC to calculate encapsulation efficiency. Cytotoxicity studies were performed on Huh7 cells using MTT assay and confirmed with cellular and molecular assays. Anti-HCV-4a activity was determined using real-time PCR and Western blot. Results: The strength of binding interactions between protein ligand complexes gave scores with NS3 protease, NS5A polymerase, and NS5B polymerase of -124.91, -159.02, and -129.16, for curcumin respectively, and -68.51, -54.52, and -157.63 for CuCs nanocomposite, respectively. CuCs nanocomposite was prepared at sizes 29-39.5 nm and charges of 33 mV. HPLC detected 4% of curcumin encapsulated into CsNPs. IC50 was 8 µg/mL for curcumin and 25 µg/ mL for the nanocomposite on Huh7 but was 25.8 µg/mL and 34 µg/mL on WISH cells. CsNPs had no cytotoxic effect on tested cell lines. Apoptotic genes' expression revealed the caspasedependent pathway mechanism. CsNPs and CuCs nanocomposite demonstrated 100% inhibition of viral entry and replication, which was confirmed with HCV core protein expression. Conclusion: CuCs nanocomposite inhibited HCV-4a entry and replication compared to curcumin alone, suggesting its potential role as an effective therapeutic agent. Plain Language SummaryHepatitis C virus genotype 4a (HCV-4a) is a major public health problem, especially among the Egyptian population. There are more than 70 million individuals infected worldwide. It is the leading cause of chronic liver diseases, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Newly emerged anti-HCV viral agents have recently become available on the market but with serious complications, high cost, and possible development of resistance. This has encouraged scientists to search for alternative, safer antiviral approaches. Nanoparticles offer unique physical properties that have associated benefits for antimicrobial activity or as drug carrier that can improve antiviral therapy. The significance of our research is in establishment of a natural nanoparticle drug carrier system that we screened with computer simulation studies and in cells against HCV-4a replication into human hepatoblastoma cell

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Ebola virus causes severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fevers in humans. The 2014 Ebola epidemic affected multiple countries. The virus matrix protein (VP40) plays a central role in virus assembly and budding. Since there is no FDA-approved vaccine or medicine against Ebola viral infection, discovering new compounds with different binding patterns against it is required. Therefore, we aim to identify small molecules that target the Arg 134 RNA binding and active site of VP40 protein. 1800 molecules were retrieved from PubChem compound database based on Structure Similarity and Conformers of pyrimidine-2, 4-dione. Molecular docking approach using Lamarckian Genetic Algorithm was carried out to find the potent inhibitors for VP40 based on calculated ligand-protein pairwise interaction energies. The grid maps representing the protein were calculated using auto grid and grid size was set to 60*60*60 points with grid spacing of 0.375 Ǻ. Ten independent docking runs were carried out for each ligand and results were clustered according to the 1.0 Ǻ RMSD criteria. The post-docking analysis showed that binding energies ranged from -8.87 to 0.6 Kcal/mol. We report 7 molecules, which showed promising ADMET results, LD-50, as well as H-bond interaction in the binding pocket. The small molecules discovered could act as potential inhibitors for VP40 and could interfere with virus assembly and budding process.

BackgroundTo understand the complex and largely not well-understood apoptotic pathway and immune system evasion mechanisms in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and HCV associated chronic hepatitis (CH), we studied the expression patterns of a number of pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic genes (Fas, FasL, Bcl-2, Bcl-xL and Bak) in HepG2 cell line harboring HCV- genotype-4 replication. For confirmation, we also assessed the expression levels of the same group of genes in clinical samples obtained from 35 HCC and 34 CH patients.MethodsViral replication was assessed in the tissue culture medium by RT-PCR, quantitative Real-Time PCR (qRT-PCR); detection of HCV core protein by western blot and inhibition of HCV replication with siRNA. The expression level of Fas, FasL, Bcl-2, Bcl-xL and Bak was assessed by immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR whereas caspases 3, 8 and 9 were assessed by colorimetric assay kits up to 135 days post infection.ResultsThere was a consistent increase in apoptotic activity for the first 4 weeks post-CV infection followed by a consistent decrease up to the end of the experiment. The concordance between the changes in the expression levels of Fas, FasL, Bcl-2, Bcl-xL and Bak in vitro and in situ was statistically significant (p < 0.05). Fas was highly expressed at early stages of infection in cell lines and in normal control liver tissues followed by a dramatic reduction post-HCV infection and an increase in the expression level of FasL post HCV infection. The effect of HCV infection on other apoptotic proteins started very early post-infection, suggesting that hepatitis C modulating apoptosis by modulating intracellular pro-apoptotic signals.ConclusionsChronic HCV infection differently modulates the apoptotic machinery during the course of infection, where the virus induces apoptosis early in the course of infection, and as the disease progresses apoptosis is modulated. This study could open a new opportunity for understanding the various signaling of apoptosis and in the developing a targeted therapy to inhibit viral persistence and HCC development.

Recently oncogenic viruses that are greatly associated with human cancers were detected in urban sewage and other water environments worldwide. The direct contact with contaminated water and sewage can result in serious infections associated with a wide range of diseases. Human Papillomaviruses (HPVs) and Human Polyomaviruses (HPyVs) were the most common virusesthat have been detected in urban sewage worldwide. In the present study, Ninety sewage samples were collected from Zenin wastewater treatment plant in Giza Governorate. Sixty stool samples were obtained from cancer patients. The findings showed that the prevalence of HPVs in sewage and stool samples was 24.4 % (22/90) and 28.3 % (17/60), respectively. HPV16 genotype was the most predominant genotype using sequencing. On the other hand, the prevalence of HPyV in sewage and stool samples was 78.9% (71/90) and 58.3% (35/60) respectively. JC HPyV and BK HPyV were the most common genotypes of human polyomaviruses in sewage 57.8% (41/71), 42.3% (30/71), respectively and in stool 54.3% (19/35), 45.7% (16/35), respectively. By using quantitative Real-time PCR, the number of HPyV DNA copies ranged from 5.3x10 4 to 6.02x10 4 GC\L in raw wastewater and 6.2x10 3 to 6.85x10 3 GC\L in treated effluent of wastewater treatment plant. Regarding to stool samples, their numbers range were 2.5x10 5 and 1.24x10 7 GC\L. These results are indicator of risk for the prevalence of HPVs and HPyVs in Egyptian environment. This is the first report in Egypt to study the human oncogenic viruses in the same study of environmental and clinical samples.

The Editor and Publisher of International Journal of Nanomedicine wish to retract the published article. Concerns were raised regarding the alleged duplication of images in Figure 8. The authors responded to our queries and explained the western blot experiments were performed by a commercial laboratory; however, they were unable to provide all the original data. The data that was provided showed inconstancies between what was considered original western blot data and what was shown in Figure 8. This raised concerns over the reliability and validity of the findings and the Editor requested for the article to be retracted and the authors do not agree with this decision.Our decision-making was informed by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retraction.The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as "Retracted".

A worldwide shortage of molecular biology consumables is in surge. This includes filter tips, nucleic acid purification kits, polymerases, reverse-transcriptase, and different types of reagents which are included in viral diagnostic kits. In developing countries, the problem is even worse, since there is few capital enterprise to adopt this kind of industry. So, our aim is to develop a suitable, functional, comparable to commercial ones, and affordable in-house protocol to purify viral RNA. We sought some published and commercial RNA purification solutions to set-up an in-house protocol for viral RNA extraction. Solution was prepared accordingly. Also, LPA (linearized polyacrylamide) carrier was evaluated. The whole setting of in-house solutions with addition of LPA carrier was compared to QIAamp viral RNA minikit solutions. Our results showed that linearized polyacrylamide (LPA) carrier in homemade solutions is comparable to poly A carrier which is used in the most commercial kit. In addition, the whole setting of RNA purification solutions did achieve the purpose of viral RNA purification. Also, the result was confirmed using sputum of a Sars-Cov2 infected patient. Our experiments did end up with an affordable homemade solutions for viral RNA purification.