Optimizing the extract yield of bioactive compounds in Valeriana officinalis root: a D-optimal design.

It is estimated that 80% of all synthetic drugs are derived from medicinal plants, and nowadays, many synthetic drugs are derived from medicinal plants. Valeriana officinalis can treat many diseases of the nervous system. A crucial aspect of valerian extract is that it inhibits the proliferation of breast cancer cells. To optimize the yield of bioactive compounds in the V. officinalis root extraction, a response surface methodology-based D-optimal design was used. To fulfill this aim, the effects of various factors such as solvent type and concentration, mixing temperature, ultrasound time, and drying method were examined. The optimal conditions for solvent percentages, mixing temperature, ultrasound time, solvent type, and drying methods were determined to be 94.88%, 25 °C, 48.95 min, methanol, and microwave, respectively, with a desirability of 0.921. The predicted valerenic acid, total phenols, total flavonoids, and antioxidant activity in V. officinalis extract were 1.19 (mg/g DW), 8.22 (mg/g DW), 5.27 (mg/g DW), and 92.64%, respectively. In optimal conditions, the extracted amounts of valerenic acid, total phenols, total flavonoids, and antioxidant activity were 2.07 mg/g DW, 7.96 mg/g DW, 5.52 mg/g DW, and 78.68%, respectively, which were consistent with the model predicted amounts (based on 95% prediction interval). This study could be useful as a model for demonstrating the efficacy of microwave drying to maximize the biochemical content of V. officinalis, as well as the antioxidant activity of the root extracts of V. officinalis on industrial scale.

A reference transcriptome for walnut anthracnose pathogen, Ophiognomonia leptostyla, guides the discovery of candidate virulence genes.

Despite the economic losses due to the walnut anthracnose, Ophiognomonia leptostyla is an orphan fungus with respect to genomic resources. In the present study, the transcriptome of O. leptostyla was assembled for the first time. RNA sequencing was conducted for the fungal mycelia grown in a liquid media, and the inoculated leaf samples of walnut with the fungal conidia sampled at 48, 96 and 144 h post inoculation (hpi). The completeness, correctness, and contiguity of the de novo transcriptome assemblies generated with Trinity, Oases, SOAPdenovo-Trans and Bridger were compared to identify a single superior reference assembly. In most of the assessment criteria including N50, Transrate score, number of ORFs with known description in gene bank, the percentage of reads mapped back to the transcript (RMBT), BUSCO score, Swiss-Prot coverage bin and RESM-EVAL score, the Bridger assembly was the superior and thus used as a reference for profiling the O. leptostyla transcriptome in liquid media vs. during walnut infection. The k-means clustering of transcripts resulted in four distinct transcription patterns across the three sampling time points. Most of the detected CAZy transcripts had elevated transcription at 96 hpi that is hypothetically concurrent with the start of intracellular growth. The in-silico analysis revealed 103 candidate effectors of which six were members of Necrosis and Ethylene Inducing Like Protein (NLP) gene family belonging to three distinct k-means clusters. This study provided a complex and temporal pattern of the CAZys and candidate effectors transcription during six days post O. leptostyla inoculation on walnut leaves, introducing a list of candidate virulence genes for validation in future studies.

Donor nerve graft assessment for covering thumb nerve defects: a cadaveric study.

BACKGROUND: Even though several studies reported donor autologous nerve grafts for digital nerve defects, there is no report in the literature regarding acceptable graft for thumb nerves. The purpose of this study is to provide guidelines for autologous nerve graft selection by detecting similarities between thumb nerve zones and donor nerve with regard to the number of fascicles and cross-sectional area. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Five cadavers were used in this study. An anatomical zoning system was defined for thumb nerves (zones 1, 2, 3). Sural nerve (SN), medial antebrachial cutaneous nerve (MABCN), lateral antebrachial cutaneous nerve (LABCN), posterior interosseous nerve (PIN), and anterior interosseous nerve (AIN) were selected as donor nerve grafts. The number of fascicles and surface area (mm2) was defined. RESULTS: The mean of the fascicle number in zone 1, zone 2, zone 3, AIN, PIN, LABCN, MABCN, and SN were 3.8, 4.7, 6.1, 2.2, 1.8, 4.5, 3.1, and 6.4, respectively. The mean of the surface area in zone 1, zone 2, zone 3, AIN, PIN, LABCN, MABCN, and SN were 2.19, 6.26, 4.04, 1.58, 0.71, 5.00, 3.01, and 8.06, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: LABCN is the best choice for all zones that has fascicular matching with all three zones of thumb nerves and caliber matching with zones 2 and 3. In zone 1, the best nerve graft is MABCN which has both suitable caliber and fascicle count.

An investigation of the rate of cyclooxygenase-2 expression on the surface of adenomatous and colorectal adenocarcinoma polyps.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) (adenomatous, adenocarcinoma) is one of the major causes of mortality and morbidity in human societies. Considering the importance of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression in the incidence of CRC, in this study, the rate of COX-2 gene expression on polyps and CRCs were addressed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional descriptive analytic study carried out on the blocks of sampled tissue of adenomatous and colorectal adenocarcinoma polyps on 68 patients referred to Digestive Clinic in Isfahan Shariati Hospital in 2013. Patients were divided into two groups of polyps (n = 52) and cancer (n = 16). Given the presence of CRC or polyps by colonoscopy, samples were sent to the laboratory to measure the rate of COX-2 gene expression using immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: In polyp group, 41 individuals (78.8%) had two or <2 polyps, 24 cases (46.2%) had a tubular polyp, and about a third of all patients had a big polyp. The most frequency of the polyp site was related to sigmoid with 19 cases (36.54%), in cancer group, it was related to the rectum with 9 cases (56.25%) that there was no significant difference between two groups (P < 0.05). The overall prevalence of COX-2 expression was positive in 51 cases (75%) and negative in 17 cases (25%). COX-2 gene expression was separately observed in 38 individuals (73.10%) in the polyp group and in 13 cases (81.25%) in the cancer group, and no significant difference was found (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: There is no relationship between COX-2 gene expression and the surface of adenomatous and colorectal adenocarcinoma polyps.

Evaluation of problem-based learning in medical students' education.

INTRODUCTION: In traditional medical education systems much interest is placed on the cramming of basic and clinical facts without considering their applicability in the future professional career. The aim of this study is to evaluate a novice medical training method (problem-based learning) as compared to the contemporary teacher-based medical education or traditional methods. METHODS: Selection of the study subjects was done through simple sampling and according to the division of medical students introduced from Medical Faculty to the Pediatrics Department with no personal involvement. 120 medical students were assigned to 8 groups of 15 students each. For four months, 4 groups were trained with traditional method and 4 other groups underwent problem-based learning method on selected subject materials. In each method, a pre-course test at the beginning and a post-course test at the end of each course were given to each group. The questionnaire used in this study as the instrument was composed of 39 questions, 37 multiple choice questions and two short answer questions. Three professors of pediatric gastroenterologist took part in the training. Two of these professors were responsible for solving task training method. The third professor used traditional teacher-centered methodology to eliminate any possible bias. Scores obtained from these tests were analyzed using paired t-test and independent t-test. P-values of less than 0.05 were considered as significant. RESULTS: The scores of the students undergoing the traditional method were 14.70±3.03 and 21.20±4.07 in the first and second test, respectively. In problem-based learning, the scores were 15.82±3.29 in the first and 27.52±4.72 in the second test. There was a significant difference between the mean scores of post-course exams of the two groups (p=0.001), while no significant difference was observed between the mean scores of pre-course exams of the groups (p=0.550). CONCLUSION: It may be concluded that problem-based learning method leads to a significant increase in learning and recalling output compared to the traditional method. Given the evolving medical education in the country's medical schools toward problem-based learning, it is suggested that the grounds be laid so that this change will take place based on thought, principles and problem solving.