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Since Carl Woese's discovery of archaea as a third domain of life, numerous archaeal species have been discovered, yet archaeal diversity is poorly characterized. Culturing archaea is complicated, but several queries about archaeal cell biology, evolution, physiology, and diversity need to be solved by culturing and culture-dependent techniques. Increasing interest in demand for innovative culturing methods has led to various technological and methodological advances. The current review explains frequent hurdles hindering uncultured archaea isolation and discusses features for more archaeal cultivation. This review also discusses successful strategies and available media for archaeal culturing, which might be helpful for future culturing practices.

Our study used the full-potential linearized augmented plane waves (FP-LAPW) method to conduct a first-principles evaluation of the structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of ThMn 2 X 2 (X = Si and Ge) compounds. To establish theoretical dependability with the currently available experimental results, computations for the structural findings of ternary intermetallic thorium (Th)-based compounds were achieved using the generalized gradient approximation in the scheme of Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE-GGA) potential, while the generalized gradient approximation plus the Hubbard U (GGA + U) approach was employed to improve the electrical and magnetic properties. In contrast with both the paramagnetic (PM) and antiferromagnetic (AFM) phases, the ThMn 2 X 2 compounds were optimized in a stable ferromagnetic (FM) phase, which was more suited for studying and analyzing magnetic properties. The electronic band structures (BS) and the density of state (DOS) were computed using the two PBE-GGA and GGA + U approximations. The thorium (Th)-based ThMn 2 X 2 compound has full metallic character, due to the crossing and overlapping of bands across the Fermi level of energy, as well as the absence of a gap through both spin (up and down) channels. There was a significant hybridization between (Mn- d and (X = Si and Ge)- p states of conduction band with Th- f states in the valence band. The total magnetic moment of ThMn 2 Si 2 in the ferromagnetic phase was 7.94534 μB, while for ThMn 2 Ge 2 it was 8.73824 μB with a major contribution from the Mn atom. In addition, the ThMn 2 Ge 2 compound's total magnetic moment confirmed that it exhibits higher ferromagnetism than does the ThMn 2 Si 2 compound.

The use of medical devices for therapeutic and diagnostic purpose is globally increasing; however, bacterial colonization on therapeutic devices can occur, causing severe infections in the human body. It has become an issue for public health. It is necessary to develop a nanomaterial based on photothermal treatment to kill toxic bacterial strains. Appropriately, high photothermal conversion and low-cost powerful photothermal agents have been investigated. Recently, gold nanocomposites have attracted great interest in biological applications. Here, we prepared rod-shaped Se-Te@Au nanocomposites of about 200 nm with uniform shape and surface-coated with gold nanoparticles for the first time showing high anti-bacterial and anti-cancer activities. Se-Te@Au showed proper structural consistency and natural resistance to bacterial and cancer cells. The strong absorption and high photothermal conversion efficacy made it a good photothermal agent material for the photothermal treatment of bacterial and cancer cells. The Se-Te@Au rod showed excellent anti-bacterial efficacy against Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus, with highest recorded inhibition zones of 25 ± 2 mm and 22 ± 2 mm, respectively. More than 99% of both types of strains were killed after 5 min with a near-infrared (NIR) laser at the very low concentration of 48 µg/mL. The Se-Te@Au rod's explosion in HeLa cells was extensively repressed and demonstrated high toxicity at 100 µg/mL for 5 min when subjected to an NIR laser. As a result of its high photothermal characteristics, the exceptional anti-bacterial and anti-cancer effects of the Se-Te@Au rod are considerably better than those of other methods previously published in articles. This study could open a new framework for sterilization applications on the industrial level.

Gastronomic tourism is becoming an essential consideration among tourists when choosing a tourist destination. One of the main reasons for visiting a specific destination for almost 15% of tourists is "gastronomy". This has led to the development of a new kind of tourism called "Gastronomic Tourism". However, there has been minimal research on gastronomy tourism, specifically in Pakistan. The primary purpose of this study is to measure the level of satisfaction in a tourist destination and furthermore consider gastronomy as a component of visitor motivation. A survey of 307 tourists who had recently visited Pakistan's northern areas was undertaken to conduct the study. This has enabled us to better understand the variables that influence the behaviors and attitudes of tourists toward this popular tourist attraction. Gastronomy motivation impacts tourism location selection, and gastronomic experience influences satisfaction, according to the research. Specifically, tourists show a keen interest in gastronomic experiences after feeling satisfied with the destination and local foods, developing loyalty toward the destination.

The application of traceability technology is an important way to solve food safety problems. Different traceability technologies bring different effects to consumers. Existing studies have not explored consumers' preferences in regards to product traceability technology applications, and they have not analyzed their willingness to pay. Therefore, this study focused on organic rice, an ecological agricultural product. The study was based on a survey from Jiangxi Province, China. It used a selective experiment method in order to analyze consumer preferences and the willingness to pay for ecological agricultural product traceability technology. The results show that consumer preferences are as follows: blockchain technology application attributes, traditional traceability-technology-application attributes, high credit-supervision attributes, and international-certification attributes. In terms of willingness to pay, consumers have the highest willingness to pay for the application of blockchain technology, which they are willing to pay CNY 21.902 more per kg for this attribute. At the same time, consumers are also willing to make additional payments for traditional traceability-technology-application attributes, high credit-supervision attributes, and international-certification attributes. Their willingness to pay is CNY 20.426, CNY 17.115 yuan, and CNY 11.049, respectively.

Zearalenone (ZEA) is a secondary metabolite produced by Fusarium spp., the filamentous fungi. Food and feed contamination with zearalenone has adverse effects on health and economy. ZEA degradation through microorganisms is providing a promising preventive measure. The current study includes isolation of 47 bacterial strains from 100 different food and rumen samples. Seventeen isolates showed maximum activity of ZEA reduction. A bacterial isolate, RS-5, reduced ZEA concentration up to 78.3% through ELISA analysis and 74.3% as determined through HPLC. Ten of the most efficient strains were further selected for comparison of their biodegradation activity in different conditions such as incubation period, and different growth media. The samples were analyzed after 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h of incubation. De Man Rogosa Sharp (MRS) broth, Tryptic soy broth, and nutrient broth were used as different carbon sources for comparison of activity through ELISA. The mean degradation % ± SD through ELISA and HPLC were 70.77% ± 3.935 and 69.11% ± 2.768, respectively. Optimum reducing activity was detected at 72 h of incubation, and MRS broth is a suitable medium. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene nucleotide sequences confirmed that one of the bacterial isolate RS-5 bacterial isolates with higher mycotoxin degradation is identified as Bacillus subtilis isolated from rumen sample. B05 (FSL-8) bacterial isolate of yogurt belongs to the genus Lactobacillus with 99.66% similarity with Lactobacillus delbrukii . Similarly, three other bacterial isolates, D05, H05 and F04 (FS-17, FSL-2 and FS-20), were found to be the sub-species/strains Pseudomonas gessardii of genus Pseudomonas based on their similarity level of (99.2%, 96% and 96.88%) and positioning in the phylogenetic tree. Promising detoxification results were revealed through GC-MS analysis of RS-5 and FSL-8 activity.

Raf kinase inhibitory protein (RKIP), also known as a phosphatidylethanolamine-binding protein 1 (PEBP1), functions as a tumor suppressor and regulates several signaling pathways, including ERK and NF-κκB. RKIP is severely downregulated in human malignant cancers, indicating a functional association with cancer metastasis and poor prognosis. The transcription regulation of RKIP gene in human cancers is not well understood. In this study, we suggested a possible transcription mechanism for the regulation of RKIP in human cancer cells. We found that Metadherin (MTDH) significantly repressed the transcriptional activity of RKIP gene. An analysis of publicly available datasets showed that the knockdown of MTDH in breast and endometrial cancer cell lines induced the expression RKIP. In addition, the results obtained from qRT-PCR and ChIP analyses showed that MTDH considerably inhibited RKIP expression. In addition, the RKIP transcript levels in MTDH -knockdown or MTDH -overexpressing MCF-7 cells were likely correlated to the protein levels, suggesting that MTDH regulates RKIP expression. In conclusion, we suggest that MTDH is a novel factor that controls the RKIP transcription, which is essential for cancer progression.

Xeroderma pigmentosum is a rare autosomal recessive skin disorder characterized by freckle-like dry pigmented skin, photosensitivity, and photophobia. Skin and ocular symptoms are confined to sun exposed areas of the body. Patients have markedly increased risk for UV-induced skin, ocular, and oral cancers. Some patients develop neurodegenerative symptoms, including diminished tendon reflexes and microcephaly. In this study, we describe clinical and genetic findings of 36 XP patients from Egypt, a highly consanguineous population from North Africa. Thorough clinical evaluation followed by Sanger sequencing of XPA and XPC genes were done. Six novel and seven previously reported mutations were identified. Phenotype-genotype correlation was investigated. We report clinical and molecular findings consistent with previous reports of countries sharing common population structure, and geographical and historical backgrounds with implications on common ancestral origins and historical migration flows. Clinical and genetic profiling improves diagnosis, management, counselling, and implementation of future targeted therapies.

Autophagy is the cell self-eating mechanism to maintain cell homeostasis by removing damaged intracellular proteins or organelles. It has also been implicated in the development and differentiation of various cell types including the adipocyte. Several links between adipogenic transcription factors and key autophagy genes has been suggested. In this study, we tried to model the gene expression and their transcriptional regulation during the adipocyte differentiation using high-throughput sequencing datasets of the 3T3-L1 cell model. We applied the gene expression and co-expression analysis to all and the subset of autophagy genes to study the binding, and occupancy patterns of adipogenic factors, co-factors and histone modifications on key autophagy genes. We also analyzed the gene expression of key autophagy genes under different transcription factor knockdown adipocyte cells. We found that a significant percent of the variance in the autophagy gene expression is explained by the differentiation stage of the cell. Adipogenic master regulators, such as CEBPB and PPARG target key autophagy genes directly. In addition, the same factor may also control autophagy gene expression indirectly through autophagy transcription factors such as FOXO1, TFEB or XBP1. Finally, the binding of adipogenic factors is associated with certain patterns of co-factors binding that might modulate the functions. Some of the findings were further confirmed under the knockdown of the adipogenic factors in the differentiating adipocytes. In conclusion, autophagy genes are regulated as part of the transcriptional programs through adipogenic factors either directly or indirectly through autophagy transcription factors during adipogenesis.

Autophagy, an intracellular degradation process, is essential for maintaining cell homeostasis by removing damaged organelles and proteins under various conditions of stress. In cancer, autophagy has conflicting functions. It plays a key role in protecting against cancerous transformation by maintaining genomic stability against genotoxic components, leading to cancerous transformation. It can also promote cancer cell survival by supplying minimal amounts of nutrients during cancer progression. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying how autophagy regulates the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cancer metastasis are unknown. Here, we show that starvation-induced autophagy promotes Snail (SNAI1) degradation and inhibits EMT and metastasis in cancer cells. Interestingly, SNAI1 proteins were physically associated and colocalized with LC3 and SQSTM1 in cancer cells. We also found a significant decrease in the levels of EMT and metastatic proteins under starvation conditions. Furthermore, ATG7 knockdown inhibited autophagy-induced SNAI1 degradation in the cytoplasm, which was associated with a decrease in SNAI1 nuclear translocation. Moreover, cancer cell invasion and migration were significantly inhibited by starvation-induced autophagy. These findings suggest that autophagy-dependent SNAI1 degradation could specifically regulate EMT and cancer metastasis during tumorigenesis.

Raf kinase inhibitor protein (RKIP) plays a critical role in many signaling pathways as a multi-functional adapter protein. In particular, the loss of RKIP's function in certain types of cancer cells results in epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and the promotion of cancer metastasis. In addition, RKIP inhibits autophagy by modulating LC3-lipidation and mTORC1. How the RKIP-dependent inhibition of autophagy is linked to EMT and cancer progression is still under investigation. In this study, we investigated the ways by which RKIP interacts with key gene products in EMT and autophagy during the progression of prostate cancer. We first identified the gene products of interest using the corresponding gene ontology terms. The weighted-gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was applied on a gene expression dataset from three groups of prostate tissues; benign prostate hyperplasia, primary and metastatic cancer. We found two modules of highly co-expressed genes, which were preserved in other independent datasets of prostate cancer tissues. RKIP showed potentially novel interactions with one EMT and seven autophagy gene products (TGFBR1; PIK3C3, PIK3CB, TBC1D25, TBC1D5, TOLLIP, WDR45 and WIPI1). In addition, we identified several upstream transcription modulators that could regulate the expression of these gene products. Finally, we verified some RKIP novel interactions by co-localization using the confocal microscopy analysis in a prostate cancer cell line. To summarize, RKIP interacts with EMT and autophagy as part of the same functional unit in developing prostate cancer.

Autophagy is involved in the development and differentiation of many cell types. It is essential for the pre-adipocytes to respond to the differentiation stimuli and may contribute to reorganizing the intracellulum to adapt the morphological and metabolic demands. Although AMPK, an energy sensor, has been associated with autophagy in several cellular processes, how it connects to autophagy during the adipocyte differentiation remains to be investigated. Here, we studied the interaction between AMPK and autophagy gene products at the mRNA level during adipocyte differentiation using public-access datasets. We used the weighted-gene co-expression analysis to detect and validate multiple interconnected modules of co-expressed genes in a dataset of MDI-induced 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes. These modules were found to be highly correlated with the differentiation course of the adipocytes. Several novel interactions between AMPK and autophagy gene products were identified. Together, it is possible that AMPK-autophagy interaction is temporally and locally modulated in response to the differentiation stimuli.