Effects of apigenin and trans-ferulic acid on microscopic and oxidative stress parameters in the semen of water buffalo bulls during cryopreservation

Cryopreservation involves exposing sperm to stressful conditions that affect cell viability. The high quality of the Azerbaijani water buffalo's by-products, such as buffalo milk, makes it a species of significant importance. Our focus is on protecting its genetic resources by preserving its sperm, as their numbers will decrease in the coming years and they are at risk of extinction. This study's goal was to ascertain how apigenin (A) and trans-ferulic acid (t-FA) affected the semen quality of Azari water buffalo bulls under cryopreservation. Pooled buffalo sperm (n = 35 ejaculations) were diluted in a Tris-based diluent also containing varying amounts of apigenin (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 mM) and trans-ferulic acid (2.5, 5, 10 and 20 mM). Following a freeze-thaw procedure, samples were assayed for total antioxidant capacity (TAC), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione activity (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), progressive motility and total motility, motility properties, plasma membrane functionality, and viability. Sixty days after insemination, the rectal examination was performed on 38 buffaloes that had undergone sexual breeding to confirm pregnancy. The results of the study show that the addition of A-0.2, A-0.4, and t-FA-10 to buffalo semen increases the percentage of intact plasma membrane, motility, and sperm viability, as well as the levels of GSH, GPx, CAT. and TAC. In addition, there is a decrease in MDA and DNA damage after cryopreservation. Furthermore, the results show that 0.4 mM apigenin significantly increases conception rates compared to the control group. The base extender of Tris supplemented with A (0.4 and 0.2 mM) and t-FA (10 mM) improves the antioxidant indices of both frozen and thawed buffalo sperm, which in turn improves post-thawing sperm quality and in vivo fertility improves buffalo sperm.

Associations of diagnostic findings with disease activity in primary Sjӧgren's syndrome: a cluster analysis

OBJECTIVE

The diagnosis of primary Sjӧgren's syndrome still relies upon a constellation of clinical, laboratory, imaging, and pathological findings. We aimed to evaluate the relation of the disease activity with the results of diagnostic tests for primary Sjӧgren's syndrome.

METHODS

A principal component with cluster analysis was performed to classify 69 patients with primary Sjӧgren's syndrome based on the results of diagnostic evaluations.

RESULTS

Anti-SSA autoantibody was the most represented feature on the principal components. The anti-SSA and ultrasound score were positively correlated (p=0.001). We identified two distinct clusters of low or high disease activity (p<0.001). Except for disease duration and serum beta2-microglobulin, the clusters were significantly different in salivary flow (p= 0.004), ultrasound findings (p<0.001), IgG (p= 0.001), and salivary beta2-microglobulin (p= 0.048). Also, positive findings were significantly different between the clusters in rheumatoid factor, antinuclear antibody, anti-SSA, and anti-SSB (all p≤0.013).

CONCLUSION

Patients with higher syndrome activity were best recognized with serological and ultrasound assessments. However, patients with lower syndrome activity had a longer disease duration, higher stimulated salivary flow rate, and a positive biopsy of minor salivary glands (56%).

Mullite ceramic membranes for industrial oily wastewater treatment: experimental and neural network modeling

In this paper, results of an experimental and modeling of separation of oil from industrial oily wastewaters (desalter unit effluent of Seraje, Ghom gas wells, Iran) with mullite ceramic membranes are presented. Mullite microfiltration symmetric membranes were synthesized from kaolin clay and alpha-alumina powder. The results show that the mullite ceramic membrane has a high total organic carbon and chemical oxygen demand rejection (94 and 89%, respectively), a low fouling resistance (30%) and a high final permeation flux (75 L/m2 h). Also, an artificial neural network, a predictive tool for tracking the inputs and outputs of a non-linear problem, is used to model the permeation flux decline during microfiltration of oily wastewater. The aim was to predict the permeation flux as a function of feed temperature, trans-membrane pressure, cross-flow velocity, oil concentration and filtration time, using a feed-forward neural network. Finally the structure of hidden layers and nodes in each layer with minimum error were reported leading to a 4-15 structure which demonstrated good agreement with the experimental measurements with an average error of less than 2%.

Oily wastewater treatment by ultrafiltration using Taguchi experimental design

In this research, results of an experimental investigation on separation of oil from a real oily wastewater using an ultrafiltration (UF) polymeric membrane are presented. In order to enhance the performance of UF in API separator effluent treatment and to get more permeation flux (PF), effects of operating factors on the yield of PF were studied. Five factors at four levels were investigated: trans-membrane pressure (TMP), temperature (T), cross flow velocity (CFV), pH and salt concentration (SC). Taguchi method (L(16) orthogonal array (OA)) was used. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to calculate sum of square, variance, error variance and contribution percentage of each factor on response. The optimal levels thus determined for the four influential factors were: TMP, 3 bar; T, 40˚C; CFV, 1.0 m/s; SC, 25 g/L and pH, 8. The results showed that CFV and SC are the most and the least effective factors on PF, respectively. Increasing CFV, TMP, T and pH caused the better performance of UF membrane process due to enhancement of driving force and fouling residence. Also, effects of oil concentration (OC) in the wastewater on PF and total organic carbon (TOC) rejection were investigated. Finally, the highest TOC rejection was found to be 85%.

Experimental investigation of oily wastewater treatment using combined membrane systems

Investigations were carried out for purification of oily wastewater by a combined of ultrafiltration/reverse osmosis (UF/RO) processes. Laboratory-scale UF using polysulfone (PS) and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) membranes were employed with typical oily wastewater collected from API unit of Tehran refinery. The PAN membrane showed higher rejection, more permeation flux and less fouling resistance than the PS membrane. Both membranes produced permeate with oil and grease contents generally less than 5 ppm. Rejection of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD5) were found to be 65% for UF treatment. In this work, Hermia's models were used to investigate the fouling mechanism involved in UF of the oily wastewater. The results showed that the best fit to experimental data corresponds to the cake layer formation model followed by the intermediate blocking model for both the UF membranes. For further treatment of the UF permeates, RO was applied using a thin film composite polyamide membrane. The rejection of COD, BOD5 and total dissolved solid (TDS) after UF/RO treatment increased up to 98%, 98% and 95%, respectively. The results showed that the final permeate has very high quality and even better than that is currently introduced to the cooling towers in Tehran refinery.

Optimal sampling time after preparation of platelet concentrates for detection of bacterial contamination by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

A universal quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), based on bacterial 16S rDNA, to detect bacterial contamination of platelet concentrates (PCs), was developed previously and compared with automated culturing. In the present study, this real-time PCR method was evaluated to determine the optimal sampling time for screening of bacterial contamination in PCs.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Routinely prepared PCs were spiked with suspensions of Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Propionibacterium acnes to 1, 10 and 100 colony-forming units (CFU)/ml and stored at room temperature for 7 days. The presence of bacteria in these PCs was monitored by quantitative real-time PCR. As a reference method (additional control), BacT/Alert automated culturing was used. For PCR, 1-ml aliquots were drawn from all (spiked) PCs on days 0, 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7 of storage. As a control, triplicate samples (10 ml) were inoculated into aerobic and anaerobic BacT/Alert culture bottles immediately after spiking (day 0) and after storage for 1, 2, 3, 6 or 7 days.

RESULTS

With quantitative real-time PCR, all bacterial species tested were reproducibly detected on day 1 after spiking at original concentrations of 10 and 100 CFU/ml. Bacteria were also detected on day 1 from PCs spiked with an initial concentration of 1 CFU/ml, except for E. coli, which was detected in only one of the three samples and P. aeruginosa, for which analysis was not performed on day 1. With the reference method, bacteria were detected in culture bottles (inoculated on day 0) within a mean time of 20.1 h, with the exception of P. acnes which was detected at a mean time of 102.3 and 49.3 h (for original spiking concentrations of 10 and 100 CFU/ml respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

PCR enables the rapid detection of low initial numbers of bacteria in PCs. For reliable detection, our results support that sampling of PCs for real-time PCR screening should not be carried out earlier than 1 day after preparation (48 h after blood collection). Importantly, the real-time PCR approach has the potential to be used before the release of PCs from the blood centre or shortly before they are transfused in the hospital.

Amplified-fragment length polymorphism analysis of Propionibacterium isolates implicated in contamination of blood products

Propionibacterium acnes is implicated in most cases of bacterial contamination of platelet concentrates (PCs). To determine the source of contamination, amplified-fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis was applied. This DNA fingerprinting technique was used to study the molecular relationship of 44 isolates derived from 22 PCs and 22 corresponding red blood cells concentrates (RBCs) from the same whole blood donations. The AFLP results together with sequencing analysis of the 1,200 bp of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene revealed the existence of three main groups: two groups (groups 2 and 3) (55%) consisted of isolates that did not originate from skin flora and another group (group 1) (45%) comprised bacteria belonging to the skin flora. This latter group showed complete homology with reference strains of P. acnes. Therefore these isolates can be considered as P. acnes strains. In contrast, contaminants from groups 2 and 3 were shown to be molecularly unrelated to the P. acnes found on the skin surface. The AFLP is reproducible and gave invaluable information about the nature of Propionibacteria contaminating PCs. To gain more insights into the source of contamination, this technique could be exploited in further studies to determine the molecular relationship of different bacteria commonly found in blood products.

Lipid transfer protein: a pan-allergen in plant-derived foods that is highly resistant to pepsin digestion

BACKGROUND

Lipid transfer proteins (LTPs) are stable and highly conserved proteins of around 10 kD. They have recently been identified as allergens in fruits of the Rosaceae family.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the highly conserved structure of LTPs justifies a designation as a true pan-allergen, and to study the role of protein stability in allergenicity.

METHODS

Thirty-eight patients with a positive skin prick test to Rosaceae fruit extracts were characterized by interviews and skin prick tests. To investigate IgE cross-reactivity between Rosaceae and non-Rosaceae LTPs, RAST and RAST inhibition as well as ELISA and ELISA inhibition were performed, using whole food extracts and purified natural and recombinant LTPs. To address the role of protein stability in the allergenicity of LTP, fruit extracts and LTPs were digested with pepsin.

RESULTS

IgE antibodies to Rosaceae LTPs cross-reacted with a broad range of non-Rosaceae vegetable foods. Inhibition studies with purified natural and recombinant LTPs confirmed the role of LTP in this cross-reactivity. Many of the patients with this type of cross-reactive IgE antibodies had a clinical food allergy. In contrast to the typical birch Rosaceae cross-reactive patients, the oral allergy syndrome was frequently accompanied by more severe and systemic reactions. IgE reactivity to LTP was shown to be resistant to pepsin treatment of the allergen.

CONCLUSION

LTP is a true pan-allergen with a degree of cross-reactivity comparable to profilin. Due to its extreme resistance to pepsin digestion, LTP is a potentially severe food allergen.

Lipid transfer protein: a pan-allergen in plant-derived foods that is highly resistant to pepsin digestion

BACKGROUND

Lipid transfer proteins (LTPs) are small molecules of approximately 10 kD that demonstrate high stability. They have recently been identified as allergens in the Rosaceae subfamilies of the Prunoideae (peach, apricot, plum) and of the Pomoideae (apple). They belong to a family of structurally highly conserved proteins that are also present in non-Rosaceae vegetable foods.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to investigate the cross-reactivity to non-Rosaceae LTPs, and to study the role of protein stability in allergenicity.

METHODS

Thirty-eight patients with a positive SPT to Rosaceae fruit extracts enriched for LTP were characterized by interview and SPT. To investigate IgE cross-reactivity between Rosaceae and non-Rosaceae LTPs, RAST and RAST inhibition as well as ELISA and ELISA inhibition were performed, using whole food extracts and purified LTPs. Both purified natural LTPs (peach, carrot and broccoli) and Pichia pastoris recombinant LTPs (carrot and wheat) were included. Pepsin digestion was used to address the role of stability in the allergenicity of LTPs.

RESULTS

IgE antibodies to Rosaceae LTPs reacted to a broad range of vegetable foods, including Gramineae (cereals), Leguminosae (peanut), Juglandaceae (walnut), Anacardiaceae (pistachio), Brassicaceae (broccoli), Umbelliferae (carrot, celery), Solanaceae (tomato), Cucurbitaceae (melon), and Actinidiaceae (kiwi). Binding and inhibition studies with purified natural and recombinant LTPs confirmed their role in this cross-reactivity. Many of these cross-reactivities were accompanied by clinical food allergy, frequently including systemic reactions. Antibody binding to LTP was shown to be resistant to pepsin treatment of whole extract or purified LTP.

CONCLUSION

LTP is a pan-allergen with a degree of cross-reactivity comparable to profilin. Due to its extreme resistance to pepsin digestion, LTP is a potentially severe food allergen.