Sharif Digital Repository

The current study was designed to assess the association between temporal variations in urban PM2.5 chemical composition, sources, and the oxidative stress and inflammatory response in an alveolar macrophage (AM) model. A year-long sampling campaign collected PM2.5 samples at the Sharif University in Tehran, Iran. PM-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production was measured both with an acellular dithiothreitol consumption assay (DTT-ROS; ranged from 2.1 to 9.3 nmoles min−1 m−3) and an in vitro macrophage-mediated ROS production assay (AM-ROS; ranged from 125 to 1213 μg Zymosan equivalents m−3). The production of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α; ranged from ~60 to 518 pg TNF-α m−3)... 

Biomass, originates from plant- or animal-based materials with a huge potential to be reused. Here we report a simple, rapid and inexpensive method for preparation of modified biochars derived from the banana peel followed by their applications in pipette-tip micro solid-phase extraction (PT-µSPE). Due to the contribution of various effective parameters on modification of banana peel biochars (BPBs), Taguchi design was used to optimize activation temperature, activation repetition, treatment material and impregnation ratio. Efficiency of the prepared BPBs were studied by extraction of twelve various pesticides, as model analytes with an extended range of log P values (1.4–5.7), followed by... 

Over the past few years, due to increasing population, limited water resources, and other pressures on the urban water systems (UWS), urban water management has become a major concern for urban policymakers to develop efficient management solutions. In this study, a new hybrid model called sustainable dynamic urban water metabolism management (SDUWMM) is presented, based on urban water metabolism and system dynamics. Isfahan's UWS has been modeled by SDUWMM and its conditions have been simulated until 2041. SDUWMM considers effective internal relationships of the UWS components such as population, climate change, water supply and demand, infrastructures condition, water price, costs and... 

The biodegradability and mechanical properties of polysaccharides are dependent on their architecture (linear or branched) as well as their crystallinity (size of crystals and crystallinity percent). The amount of crystalline zones in the polysaccharide significantly governs their ultimate properties and applications (from packaging to biomedicine). Although synthesis, characterization, and properties of polysaccharides have been the subject of several review papers, the effects of crystallization kinetics and crystalline domains on the properties and application have not been comprehensively addressed. This review places focus on different aspects of crystallization of polysaccharides as... 

Background: The exact pathogenic mechanism causes hair miniaturization during androgenic alopecia (AGA) has not been delineated. Recent evidence has shown a role for non-coding regulatory RNAs, such as microRNAs (miRNAs), in skin and hair disease. There is no reported information about the role of miRNAs in hair epithelial cells of AGA. Objectives: To investigate the roles of miRNAs affecting AGA in normal and patient's epithelial hair cells. Methods: Normal follicular stem and progenitor cells, as well as follicular patient's stem cells, were sorted from hair follicles, and a miRNA q-PCR profiling to compare the expression of 748 miRNA (miRs) in sorted cells were performed. Further, we... 

Through the activation process of T cells, actin filaments move from the cell periphery toward the cell center. The moving filaments engage with T cell receptors and thus contribute to transportation of the signaling molecules. To study the connection between the moving actin filaments and T cell receptors, an experiment available in the literature has measured filaments flow velocity passing over a region of confined clusters of receptors. It shows that flow velocity decreases in the proximity of the receptors, and then regains its normal value after traversing the region, suggesting a dissipative friction-like connection. In this work, we develop a minimal theoretical model to re-examine... 

Keratinocyte Growth Factor (KGF) is a paracrine-acting, epithelial mitogen that plays a prominent role in the regeneration of damaged epithelial tissues. In spite of different attempts to produce recombinant human KGF in many organisms, including bacteria, mammalian cells, plant cells and insect cells; production of recombinant form suffers from lower yields and recovery relative to other recombinant proteins of similar size and properties. Due to many advantages of Pichia pastoris expression systems for producing industrial enzymes and pharmaceutical proteins, in this study P. pastoris was chosen as a host for KGF expression. For preparing human KGF coding sequence, MCF-7 cell line was... 

Laccase production by indigenous fungus, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, requires solving optimal problems to determine the maximum production of the enzyme within a definite time period and conditions specified in the solid-state fermentation process. For this purpose, parallel to response surface methodology, an analytical approach has been proposed based on the advanced concepts of Poisson geometry and Lie groups, which lead to a system of the Hamiltonian equations. Despite the dating of the Hamiltonian approach to solving biological problems, the novelty of this paper is based on the expression of a Hamiltonian system in notions of Poisson geometry, Lie algebras and symmetry groups and... 

Background: A small amount of methanol is produced endogenously in the human body but it is efficiently metabolized by alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and other enzymes, and the products eliminated without harm. In this study, we present a new entity of inborn error of methanol metabolism due to a mutation in the ADH1C gene coding for the γ subunit that is part of several ADH isoenzymes. Results: This disorder was discovered in an 11.58-year-old boy. During one 9-month hospital admission, he had periods of 1–4 days during which he was comatose, and between these periods he was sometimes verbose and euphoric, and had ataxia, dysarthria. Following hemodialysis treatments, he became conscious and... 

Aims Previous reports on the possible effects of Extremely Low Frequency Magnetic Fields (ELF MF) on mood have been paradoxical in different settings while no study has yet been conducted on animal behavior. In addition, it was shown that ELF MF exposure makes an increase in brain nitric oxide level. Therefore, in the current study, we aimed to assess the possible effect(s) of ELF MF exposure on mice Forced Swimming Test (FST) and evaluate the probable role of the increased level of nitric oxide in the observed behavior. Main methods Male adult mice NMRI were recruited to investigate the short term and long term ELF MF exposure (0.5 mT and 50 Hz, single 2 h and 2 weeks 2 h a day). Locomotor... 

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignancies in the world and has a high mortality rate. It is believed that dysfunction in the expression of mucins and aberrant expression of some lncRNAs are associated with the occurrence and development of CRC. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the expression of MUC15, MUC16, MUC20, PCAT1, CCAT1 and HOTAIR genes in colorectal cancer and its relationship with clinicopathological variables. Materials and methods: This research was prospective case-control study. Tumors from CRC patients were collected from the Taleghani Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. RNA... 

In this study, electrolytic plasma processing (EPP) was employed for surface nitrocarburizing of AISI 1020 steel in a urea electrolyte, where the substrate samples were connected cathodically to a high-voltage DC current power supply. The structural, mechanical, wear and corrosion properties of the samples treated for 3-5 min were investigated. The results show that the surface layers formed on the samples by this treatment at 220 V have a ferritic nitrocarburizing characteristic which consists of a compound layer and diffusion zone. The surface layers of the treated samples at 240 V consisted of a compound layer, martensitic layer and diffusion zone, respectively, which is a marker of... 

Teratozoospermia is one of conditions that can cause male infertility. The mechanism of teratozoospermia remains unclear. The knowledge of the metabolites in human seminal plasma (HSP) is meaningful for the pathological study of teratozoospermia. Analysis of changed metabolites in HSP can help understand the cellular mechanism, find the novel biomarkers and subsequently design a diagnosis test. In this study, the analysis of samples performed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H NMR spectroscopy) to identify the various metabolites, with the aim of finding metabolic profiles and biomarkers related to male infertility. Eighteen de-regulated metabolites were identified in... 

Chitosan-coated human serum albumin nanoparticles were functionalized by MUC1 aptamer to obtain a selective drug carrier toward cancers overexpressing MUC1. The negative charges of albumin nanoparticles were shifted to positive charges by surface modification with chitosan, and MUC1 was conjugated through an acrylate spacer. The cytotoxicity of targeted nanoparticles was significantly more than non-aptamer nanoparticles, and also the chitosan-coated nanoparticles had more cytotoxic effects than the negatively charged albumin nanoparticles. The IC50 of targeted nanoparticles was 28 and 26% of free paclitaxel in MCF7 and T47D cells at 48 h, respectively. Confocal laser scanning electron... 

Rhamnolipids are the most common biosurfactants and P. aeruginosa strains are the most frequently studied microorganisms for the production of rhamnolipids. Eco-friendly advantages and promising applications of rhamnolipids in various industries are the major reasons for pursuing the economic production of these biosurfactants. This study shows that cultivation of P. aeruginosa MR01 in medium contained inexpensive soybean oil refinery wastes which exhibited similar levels and homologues of rhamnolipids. Mass spectrometry indicated that the Rha-C10-C10 and Rha-Rha-C10-C10 constitute the main rhamnolipids in different cultures of MR01 including one of oil carbon source analogues. Moreover,... 

Highly porous nanocomposites of graphitic-carbon nitride and tin oxide (g-C3N4/SnO2) were prepared through simple pyrolysis of urea molecules under microwave irradiation. The initial amount of tin was varied in order to investigate the effect of SnO2 content on preparation and properties of the composites. The synthesized nanocomposites were well-characterized by XRD, FE-SEM, HR-TEM, BET, FTIR, XPS, DRS, and PL. A homogeneous distribution of SnO2 nanoparticles with the size of less than 10 nm on the porous C3N4 sheets could be obtained, suggesting that in-situ synthesis of SnO2 nanoparticles was responsible for the formation of g-C3N4. The process likely occurred by the aid of the large... 

In this work, the synthesized graphene oxide/TiO2/doxorubicin (GO/TiO2/DOX) composites were loaded into the chitosan/poly(lactic acid) (PLA) solutions to fabricate the electrospun chitosan/PLA/GO/TiO2/DOX nanofibrous scaffolds via electrospinning process. The synthesized composites and nanofibers were characterized using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. Three-factor three-level central composite design was used to determine the influence of PLA to chitosan ratio, TiO2/DOX content and GO/TiO2/DOX content on the release of DOX from nanofibrous scaffolds. Drug loading efficiency and drug release behavior from... 

Bioremediation of soil and groundwater sites contaminated by petroleum hydrocarbons is known as a technically viable, cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable technology. The purpose of this study is to investigate laboratory-scale bioremediation of petroleum-hydrocarbon contaminated soil through development of eight bioreactors, two bioreactors for each bioremediation mode. The modes were: (1) natural attenuation (NA); (2) biostimulation (BS) with oxygen and nutrients; (3) bioaugmentation (BA) with hydrocarbon degrading isolates; (4) a combination of biostimulation and bioaugmentation (BS-BA). Total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) mass balance over the bioreactors showed about 2% of... 

The phase-pure multiple ternary or quaternary metal selenides in energy boosting, have not been reported yet. Here, self-supported porous crystalline Zn–Ni–Co/Cu selenides microballs arrays were constructed by selenation of the designed tubular Cu(OH)2 arrays decorated with ultrathin Zn–Co–Ni tri-metallic hydroxide on carbon cloth substrate. For this rational engineering, a novel precursor sample was firstly prepared by conversion of deposited Cu layer to hollow tubular Cu(OH)2 arrays on carbon cloth, then, Zn-Co–Ni layered ternary hydroxides with a thin layer structure was deposited around this tubular arrays. The selenation with an exciting morphology change from amorphous tube to highly... 

S. lanata has been traditionally used as a medicinal plant due to its various biological activities such as antioxidant activity. Therefore, identification and quality control studies of this plant are of great importance. To this end, gas chromatography (GC) combined with chemometrics was proposed for fingerprint analysis of S. lanata samples. This study sought to classify GC fingerprints of twenty-eight S. lanata samples from eight different regions of Iran and more importantly, to correlate fingerprints to the antioxidant activity to select S. lanata volatile antioxidant markers. S. lanata samples were classified into five and three classes using partial least squares-discriminant...