The final carbonation mud resulted from sugar beet clarification process has been and still represents the most common waste problem in sugar industry. It contains mainly calcium carbonate beside other minor constituents. In this study, a novel technique was developed, which involves combination of Limex method and sol–gel method for the preparation of calcium oxide nanoparticles (CON) from the carbonation mud waste. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The SEM and TEM images showed that the CON particles are semi-hexagonal in morphology with particles size 60–275 nm. A high surface area 747.62 m²/g was also determined. Minerals analysis of CON showed high content of calcium oxide (92.81%) and significant reduction in the percentage of …

Men with non-obstructive azoospermia constitute a challenging subgroup of male infertility patients in whom a genetic cause of defective spermatogenesis may be a contributing factor. The aim of this prospective observational cohort study was to determine whether assessment of meiotic nuclear division 1 (MND1) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) gene expression (MND1/GAPDH) in testicular tissue could be a prognostic indicator for sperm retrieval and ICSI outcome in patients with non-obstructive azoospermia. The study participants underwent clinical evaluation, conventional semen analysis, serum follicular stimulating hormone (FSH), testosterone assay, scrotal ultrasound examination, microsurgical testicular sperm extraction (mTESE), and assessment of MND1/GAPDH gene expression levels in testicular tissue via quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) techniques

Few studies investigated yeasts potentiality as plant growth promoters as well as the yeasts ability to mitigate unfavorable conditions for plants by improving their compliance with stress. In this study, we tested eight yeast strains (Yarrowia lipolytica YEAST-1, Candida diddensiae YEAST-2, Trichosporon gamsii YEAST-5, T. ovoides YEAST-6, Y. lipolytica YEAST-16, C. subhashii YEAST-17, Saccharomyces cerevisiae YEAST-30, and S. cerevisiae YEAST-34) involving plant growth-promotion (PGP) traits to alleviate salinity stress on the early seed germination of Triticum aestivum L. Also, their ability to form biofilm was detected. Y. lipolytica YEAST-1 yeast strain enhanced the plumule length of T. aestivum seedling by more than 4.0, 3.0, and 2.0 cm at salinity stress of 50, 100, and 200 mM NaCl, respectively, after 96 h. The genes required for the synthesis of the extracellular amino-cyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase (ACCD) displayed the highest expression level in S. cerevisiae YEAST-34, at 5 mM ACC. S. cerevisiae YEAST-34, Y. lipolytica YEAST-1, and C. subhashii YEAST-17 exhibited a significant (P < 0.05) increase in the ACCD gene expression by adding different levels of ACC. Y. lipolytica YEAST-1 inoculation enhanced the radicle length of T. aestivum seedling significantly by 2.0 cm at 0.0 mM NaCl, 0.8 cm at 50 mM NaCl, 0.7 at 100 mM NaCl, and 0.06 cm at 200 mM NaCl stress. This improvement of plant growth under salinity stress may be due to the yeast's ability to secrete the extracellular amino-cyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase.

Synthesized magnetic core-shell Ce-Ti@Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles were tested, as an adsorbent, for fluoride removal and the adsorption studies were optimized. Adsorption capacity was compared with the synthesized Ce-Ti oxide nanoparticles. The adsorption equilibrium for the Ce-Ti@Fe₃O₄ adsorbent was found to occur in < 15 min and it was demonstrated to be stable and efficient in a wide pH range of 5–11 with high fluoride removal efficiency over 80% of all cases. Furthermore, isotherm data were fitted using Langmuir and Freundlich models, and the adsorption capacities resulted in 44.37 and 91.04 mg/g, at pH 7, for Ce-Ti oxides and Ce-Ti@Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles, respectively. The physical sorption mechanism was estimated using the Dubinin-Radushkevich model. An anionic exchange process between the OH⁻ group on the surface of the Ce-Ti@Fe₃O₄ nanomaterial and the F⁻ was involved in the adsorption. Moreover, thermodynamic parameters proved the spontaneous process for the adsorption of fluoride on Ce-Ti@Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles. The reusability of the material through magnetic recovery was demonstrated for five cycles of adsorption-desorption. Although the nanoparticles suffer slight structure modifications after their reusability, they keep their adsorption capacity. Likewise, the efficiency of the Ce-Ti@Fe₃O₄ was demonstrated when applied to real water to obtain a residual concentration of F⁻ below the maximum contaminated level, 1.5 mg/L (WHO, 2006).

Recent developments in the literature have demonstrated that curcumin exhibit antioxidant properties supporting its anti-inflammatory, chemopreventive and antitumoral activities against aggressive and recurrent cancers. Despite the valuable findings of curcumin against different cancer cells, the clinical use of curcumin in cancer treatment is limited due to its extremely low aqueous solubility and instability, which lead to poor in vivo bioavailability and limited therapeutic effects. We therefore focused in the present study to evaluate the anti-tumor potential of curcumin analogues on the human breast carcinoma cell lines MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7, as well as their effects on non-tumorigenic normal breast epithelial cells (MCF-10). The IC₅₀ values of curcumin analogue J1 in these cancer cell lines were determined to be 5 ng/ml and 10 ng/ml, in MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells respectively. Interestingly, at these concentrations, the J1 did not affect the viability of non-tumorigenic normal breast epithelial cells MCF-10. Furthermore, we found that J1 strongly induced growth arrest of these cancer cells by modulating the mitochondrial membrane potentials without significant effect on normal MCF-10 cells using JC-1 staining and flow cytometry analysis. Using annexin-V/PI double staining assay followed by flow cytometry analysis, we found that J1 robustly enhanced the induction of apoptosis by increasing the activity of caspases in MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cancer cells. In addition, treatment of breast cancer cells with J1 revealed that, in contrast to the expression of cyclin B1, this curcumin analogue vigorously decreased the expression of cyclin A, CDK2 and cyclin E and subsequently sensitized tumor cells to cell cycle arrest. Most importantly, the phosphorylation of AKT, mTOR and PKC-theta in J1-treated cancer cells was markedly decreased and hence affecting the survival of these cancer cells. Most interestingly, J1-treated cancer cells exhibited a significant inhibition in the activation of RhoA followed by reduction in actin polymerization and cytoskeletal rearrangement in response to CXCL12. Our data reveal the therapeutic potential of the curcumin analogue J1 and the underlying mechanisms to fight breast cancer cells.

Aims: This study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the synthesised carvacrol loaded chitosan nanoparticles (CLCNPs) on the growing and pre-formed biofilms of Listeria monocytogenes isolated from slaughterhouses.
Methodology and results: The swab samples were collected from knives, hocks and cutting tables representing slaughterhouses meat contact surfaces (MCS), while those samples from walls and floors represent slaughterhouses meat non-contact surfaces (MNCS). The bacteriological analysis revealed the existence of L. monocytogenes with a prevalence rate of 3.3, 10 and 6.7% for knives, hocks and cutting tables, respectively and 2.2 and 6.6% for walls and floors, respectively. The isolates L. monocytogenes were assayed for biofilm production by the crystal violet binding assay method. Among the 10 L. monocytogenes isolates, 10%, 50% and 30% of the isolates were found to be strong, moderate and weak biofilm producers, respectively. The activities of carvacrol, chitosan nanoparticles (NPs) and CLCNPs against the only strong biofilm producer strain of L. monocytogenes were tested by microtiter plate assay. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) values were 3.75 mg/mL for CAR, 5 mg/mL for chitosan NPs and 0.62 mg/mL for CLCNPs. CLCNPs inhibit the produced biofilm by 35.79, 73.37 and 77.76%, when 0.5 MIC, 1 MIC and 2 MIC were used, respectively. Furthermore, the pre-formed L. monocytogenes biofilms were significantly reduced from 1.01 (control) OD570 to 0.40 and 0.29 OD570 by applying 2 MIC and 4 MIC doses, respectively.
Conclusion, significance and impact of study: The data generated is promising to develop bio-green disinfectants to inhibit biofilm formation by L. monocytogenes in the food processing environment and control its adverse effects for consumers.