Association of IL-10-1082G>A, -819C>T and -592C>A Polymorphisms with susceptibility to asthma in children: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

SUMMARY: Studies evaluating the association of Interleukin 10 (IL-10) polymorphisms with risk of pediatric asthma found inconsistent data. Here, we performed a meta-analysis to get a precise estimation of the associations. Relevant studies identified in the PubMed, Scopus, CNKI databases were used to perform a meta-analysis. A total of 23 case-control studies including nine studies with 1298 cases and 1079 controls on IL-10-1082G>A, four studies with 622 cases and 603 controls on -819C>T and ten studies with 1480 case and 1462 controls on -592C>A were selected. Overall, there was no significant association between IL-10 polymorphisms with pediatric asthma risk in global population. When stratified by ethnicity, there was a significant association of IL-10-1082G>A with pediatric asthma in Asians and Chinese. This meta-analysis result revealed that IL-10-1082G>A, -819C>T and -592C>A polymorphisms were not associated with pediatric asthma risk in the global population.

Coronaviruses as the emerging threats for human health: should we be prepared for the future outbreaks of new coronaviruses?

Recent emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in human communities as the first major zoonotic pandemics of the new millennium following the emergence of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV has increased our awareness about the future threat of viral zoonosis. Although, several studies have been conducted for better understanding of these viruses` evolution, and designing the effective anti-viral drugs and vaccines, the impact of human beings on occurrence of zoonotic diseases has been less considered and discussed. Improvement in global health resulted in human population growth, increasing demand for animal proteins, more exposures to wildlife, zoonotic and degradation of environment, which have facilitated interspecies transmissions. Since world population is increasing proportionately, the protection of public health against zoonotic diseases is a challenging task. It seems that intensified revision of human lifestyle is the best strategy to prevent the potential devastating future zoonotic pandemics. Herein, the characteristics of SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, their transmission routs, their pathogenicity, the therapeutic and prevention approaches including of attempts for designing of effective prophylactic vaccines, anti-viral drugs, and the animal models that have been used for these studies have been reviewed (Ref. 134). Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, pandemic, zoonosis, SARS, MERS.

Micro-suspension coating method: a new approach in formulation and development of controlled porosity osmotic pump systems.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to design and evaluate diltiazem hydrochloride controlled porosity osmotic pump (CPOP) system employing a new coating technique named the micro suspension coating method. METHOD: In this method the fast dissolving pore formers were suspended in polymeric coating solution as micronized particles. Cellulose acetate and dextrose were used as film former polymer and pore former, respectively. 4 comparative parameters i. e., D24h (cumulative release percent after 24 h), Devzero (mean percent deviation of drug release from zero order kinetic), tL (lag time of the drug release) and RSQzero were used to assess various formulations. RESULTS: The results showed a significant increase of D24h due to the decrease in the thickness of the semipermeable membrane (SPM) and increase of the sucrose concentration (P<0.05). An inverse relationship was seen between sucrose amounts and drug release lag times of the formulations. In addition, lag time was significantly reduced following addition of tween 80 to SPM formulation (P<0.05). Results of scanning electron microscopy studies exhibited formation of pores in the membrane from where the drug release occurred. CONCLUSION: Micro suspension coating method was found to be a novel and promising method to formulate CPOP system of diltiazem hydrochloride.

The effects of planting methods and head pruning on seed yield and yield components of medicinal pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo subsp. Pepo convar. Pepo var. styriaca) at low temperature areas.

This experiment carried out to evaluate the effects of planting methods (seed sowing and transplanting) and head pruning (no pruning, pruning after 12th node and pruning after 16th node) on yield and yield components such as number of branches (sub-branches) per plant, fruits per plant, growth, fruit size, weight of fresh fruit, weight of seeds per fruit, number of seeds per fruit and seed yield of medicinal pumpkin. The experiment was carried out based of factorial experiment with Randomized Completely Blocks Design (RCBD) by three replications in Ardabil Agricultural and Natural Resources Researches Station at 2007. Seedlings were grown in heated greenhouse. When the climatic condition became suitable and seedlings were at the four leaves stage, both seeds and seedlings were planted at the same time in the farm. Maintenance operations were done during the growth season. Head pruning treatments were done the forecast time. The results showed that the planting methods had significant effect on the number of ripen fruits per plant, fruits diameter, weight of seeds per fruit, weight of 1000 seeds and seed yield and had no significant effect on the other traits. Also the results indicated that head pruning treatments had significant effects on the number of branches per plant, growth and seed yield and no significant on the other traits. In this experiment the most seed yield (997.8 kg ha(-1)) obtained from transplanting method with head pruning after 12th node and the least seed yield obtained from control.