Study on Propagation and Adaptation of EDS-76 Avian Adenovirus in Duck and SPF Primary Embryonic Chicken Cell Culture Comparison to Duck and SPF Embryonated Chicken Eggs

Egg drop syndrome (EDS) is a major viral infectious poultry disease with severe economic losses in laying hens. The disease is caused by an adenovirus and can be transmitted horizontally and vertically. This study investigated the EDS virus (EDSV) infection in duck embryo fibroblasts (DEF), specific pathogen-free (SPF) embryo fibroblasts, and SPF egg embryos using different methods. The results were compared to the virus culture in duck and SPF chicken eggs. Duck and chicken fibroblast cells were used as the primary cell culture in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium, and the low-pathogenic duck adenovirus was used to infect the ducks and SPF fibroblasts primary cell cultures, as well as the duck and SPF eggs. The titer of the virus was measured by hemagglutination assay, ECID50, plaque-forming unit, and TCID50 methods. The results revealed that EDSV could proliferate in the chorioallantoic membrane of DEF cells and duck eggs, compared to the chorioallantoic membrane of chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEF) and SPF chicken eggs. The findings showed that duck egg embryos and primary DEF cell lines are more appropriate for EDSV replication, compared to CEF and SPF chicken eggs. This suggests that the use of DEF culture for producing avian adenovirus EDS-76 is a suitable alternative for the embryonic egg culture.

The Effect of Palm Pollen and Black Seed Pollen on Male Sex Hormones and Sperm Quality: A Single-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial Study

BACKGROUND

Nowadays, using medicinal properties is a good alternative for infertility treatment to use them is increasing in the world. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of Herbal oral capsules included palm pollen extract (DPP) and Nigella Sativa extract (NS) on sex hormones in adult infertile men.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this a single-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial study, a total of 62 infertile men between 22 and 42 years of age were randomly selected and tested for sex hormones and prolactin. Thirty people in the case group received two 500 mg/kg capsules on a daily basis containing an herbal composition of palm pollen extract (350 mg) and black seed powder extract (250 mg) and the 20 in the control group received a placebo in the morning and at night for 3 months. The herbal composition capsules were manufactured by the Golbadistan Company. At the end of the three -month period, blood and semen tests were performed before and after the intervention in the case group that was compared with the control group. Hormonal assays were performed by Immunoradiometric Assay (IRMA) method. The data entered SPSS statistical software and the level of significance was set at P≤0.05.

RESULTS

The spermiogram test results showed significant changes in the sperm count, progressive motility and rapid progressivity of the case group at the end of a quarterly period after consuming plant composition except for morphology (P=0.001, P=0.001, P=0.02, P=0.23). In addition, in the case group, the concentration of testosterone, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH) was significantly increased compared to the control group (P=0.000, P=0.004, P=0.012).

CONCLUSION

It seems that taking one 500 mg/kg capsule of DPP and NS extract can significantly increase sperm parameters and testosterone (registration number: IRCT2015020120895N1).

Clinical Evaluation of an HTK Solution for Liver Transplantation: A Phase 3 Randomized Pilot Clinical Trial Study

BACKGROUND

Organ preservation solutions are not easily accessible in Iran, similar to many resource-limited countries. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a locally-produced HTK solution among adult liver transplantation candidates in a pilot clinical trial study.

METHODS

Adult patients undergoing liver transplantation were randomly allocated into two groups. One received the HTK solution (PharMedCina Inc., Shiraz, Iran), and the second received the commercially available HTK solution (Custodiol ®).

RESULTS

Overall, 28 individuals entered the study, including 11 and 9 males (78.6% and 64.3%) in the Custodiol® and local HTK groups, respectively. Clinical characteristics, including postoperative biliary complications, reperfusion syndrome, infection and primary non-function (PNF) rates, amount of intraoperative bleeding, length of hospital and ICU stay, peak aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and duration of follow-up were similar between the two groups (P>0.05). One patient died in the locally-produced HTK group. The patient underwent re-transplantation 20 days after his first liver transplantation due to PNF. Two patients died in the Custodiol group, both due to PNF of the liver, which occurred five and three days after transplantation. The two groups did not show any difference regarding serum levels of AST, ALT, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), bilirubin, platelet count, prothrombin time and international normalized ratio, white blood cell count, blood urea nitrogen, and creatinine on the first postoperative day and on the day of discharge (P>0.05).

CONCLUSION

Based on the findings of this pilot study with the current sample size, no statistically significant difference was found between our locally-produced HTK solution and Custodiol® regarding clinical outcomes.

Enterobacter sp. Mediated Synthesis of Biocompatible Nanostructured Iron-Polysaccharide Complexes: a Nutritional Supplement for Iron-Deficiency Anemia

FDA has approved iron oxide nanoparticles (IONs) coated with organic compounds as a safe material with less toxic effects compared with the naked metal ions and nanoparticles. In this study, the biological and physicochemical characteristics of a nanostructured iron-polysaccharide complexes (Nano-IPC) biosynthesized by Enterobacter sp. were evaluated. Furthermore, the serum biochemical parameters, tissue iron level, red blood cell parameters, and organ ferritin of rats were measured for investigating the effect of the Nano-IPCs in comparison with FeSO₄ as a supplement for iron deficiency. The biosafety data demonstrated 35% increment of viability in Hep-G2 hepatocarcinoma cell lines when treated with nanoparticles (500 μg/mL) for 24 h. Besides, iron concentration in serum and tissue as well as the expression of ferritin L subunit in animals treated with the Nano-IPCs supplement were meaningfully higher than the FeSO₄-supplemented and negative control animals. Moreover, the expression level of ferritin H subunit and biochemical factors remained similar to the negative control animals in the Nano-IPC-supplemented group. These results indicated that Nano-IPCs can be considered as a nontoxic supplement for patients carrying iron-deficiency anemia (IDA).

Hydrothermal synthesis, experimental and theoretical characterization of a novel cocrystal compound in the 2:1 stoichiometric ratio containing 6-methyluracil and dipicolinic acid

This paper reports the hydrothermal synthesis, experimental and theoretical studies of a novel cocrystal compound in the 2:1 stoichiometric ratio of 6-methyluracil (6mu) and dipicolinic acid (pydcH(2)) formulated as [6mu](2)[pydcH(2)] (1), for the first time. DFT calculations were performed to access the most possible geometry of the title cocrystal compound. All calculations were carried out with the B3LYP hybrid density functional level and 6-311+G(d,p) basis sets. The vibrational frequencies together with the (1)H and (13)C NMR chemical shifts have been calculated on the fully optimized geometry of 1. The theoretical results are in good agreement with the experimental and solution data. The theoretical, solution, and experimental (elemental analysis, mass spectrometry, FTIR, (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopies) results confirmed our proposed structure for 1 in the 2:1 stoichiometric ratio of 6mu and pydcH(2), respectively. The protonation and equilibrium constants of 6mu and pydcH(2) and constituent systems were determined by potentiometric studies and the corresponding distribution diagrams depicted.