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Background and aim Various chemical drugs have been approved for the treatment of patients with hepatitis C, but most of these treatments are costly, and also have an inadequate response and many side effects. Also, there is no effective vaccine for hepatitis C due to its high genetic diversity. In recent decades, clinical trials have grown dramatically regarding the benefits of stem cell therapy as a modulator of immune system responses and anti-inflammatory drugs. The most promising point in stem cell therapy and similar therapies is that patients with chronic pain and severe injuries are offered drug-free treatment or surgery. In the present study, we examine the various dimensions of the use of stem cells with the approach of gene therapy carriers as a new treatment method in the treatment of Hepatitis C. Methods Search terms were including gene carrier, stem cell therapy, gene therapy, liver disorders, hepatitis C virus. At first, 1000 article titles related to the mentioned keywords for different diseases were found. After removing duplicate titles and items that did not match the scope of the research, articles that met the criteria for entering the research and had usable information were selected. All abstracts of selected articles were studied by researchers. In the initial review, articles related to the title were identified and categorized based on the type of challenge. Conclusion Gene therapy, either directly and in vivo or indirectly and in vitro, requires carriers (vectors) to transfer the gene. These carriers are divided into two groups, viral and non-viral. In indirect gene therapy, living cells are isolated from a person's body and genetically modified. Stem cells have the properties to transfer the desired genes to the patient's body, including the ability to proliferate for a long time and differentiate into the tissue cells in which they are located. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nodal explants from field grown plants were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium + 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 or 8.0 μM of N6-benzyladenine (BA) or Kinetin (Kin) alone or in combination with indole-3-butyric acid (IBA: 0.5, 1.0 or 2.0 μM) for micropropagation of Physalis minima. The highest (78.3%) number (6.0) and long axillary shoots (3.3 cm) were produced at 0.5 μM BA after 10 days. Nodal explants from these in vitro shoots were further cultured that resulted in 1.6 mean shoots with BA. In subsequent experiment, shoot tips from formerly sub-cultured shoots on BA (4.0 μM) + IBA (2.0 μM) formed 40 shoots with 6.1 cm length on MS liquid basal medium, after 20 days. Shoots were rooted on 1/2 MS + IBA or α- naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) at 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1.0 or 2.0 μM alone or in combinations. The highest rooting (100%) with more than 50 roots per shoot were obtained at 1.0 μM IBA after 15 days. Rooted shoots were acclimatized for 4 weeks in greenhouse with 90% survival. Efficient and simple method using liquid basal medium has been established for high frequency multiple shoot formation with fair survival rate in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of the present research is scaling lognormal water retention curves for dissimilar soils. This method requires a reference curve and the amount of water content in a particular suction. The scaling factor in this method equals the log amount of moisture in a particular suction (e.g. S e 5000 ) in the reference soil to the log amount of water content in the same suction in the soil. The proposed method was evaluated for 14 different soil samples. The scaling factor obtained by this method was evaluated by the scaling factor obtained from the optimization method ( α O p t ). The results showed that the average scaling factor based on S e 5000 is closest to the average α O p t . The water retention curve obtained by the method presented in this research is fitted on the water retention curve obtained from the lognormal model with superior accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil texture is a physical property of soil and knowledge on its spatial distribution is essential for many agricultural and environmental activities especially in alluvial plains. This study aimed to predict the spatial distribution of soil fractions (i.e. percentages of sand, silt, and clay) in Sistan floodplain on a regional scale (area: 1500 km2). Random forest (RF), regression kriging-neural network residual kriging (RKNNRK), neural network residual kriging (NNRK), regression kriging (RK), and cokriging (COK) methods were used to map soil texture components over the region. Soil fractions were measured for 160 soil samples taken from the surface layer (0–30 cm) of various soil series in agriculture land of Sistan floodplain. The additive log-ratio (alr) transformation was applied to transform texture components prior to prediction. Remote sensing data including Landsat 8′ Bands (1–8), Band 4 to Band 8 ratio, Band 4 to Band 3 ratio, NDVI, GSI, Brightness Index, and Clay Index were used as auxiliary variables for interpolation of soil fractions. 80% of actual data was used for prediction and 20% of data was used for validation. The performance of methods used was evaluated using RMSE, ME and MAE criteria. The results showed that the RKNNRK model has the highest accuracy for prediction of sand (RMSE = 15.04%) and clay (RMSE = 8.77%) contents while the most accurate model for predicting silt content is NNRK (RMSE = 12.68%). RK and COK performed worse than NNRK and RKNNRK. A relatively high value of RMSE obtained for sand (17.89%), silt (14.15%), and clay (8.89%) contents by the RF model. This could be due to the low relief of study area, regional scale effects, low density of sampling points and high heterogeneity of soil texture components in floodplains. Our findings revealed that RKNNRK and NNRK models, when combined with remote sensing data, produce more accurate results and therefore can be used for appropriate mapping of soil fractions in floodplains and on a regional scale. • Hybrid geostatistical models properly estimated soil texture fractions over Sistan floodplain. • RMSE values were relatively high mainly due to heterogeneity of soil texture fractions across the region. • Cokriging and random forest were not able to accurately estimate soil fractions over the study region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drinking water related environmental issues and diseases are major concern for people living in Karak area, located in arid to semi-arid region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. In the present research, surface and subsurface water resources of Karak District are analyzed to determine the concentration ranges of various contaminants for effluence and assess their health-related risks. Surface and subsurface samples were collected from Kamangar, Shagi, Khusrara, Dabli Louaghar, Tiran Kuhi, Mamani, Kanda and Karak areas of the District Karak. The physico-chemical characteristics i.e. color, odor, taste, turbidity, Eh, chloride (Cl), sulfate (SO4) and potassium (K) were found within their separate tolerable parameters in comparison with WHO fixed values of 2008. However, the concentrations of sodium (Na), total dissolved solids (TDS) and pH exceeded the acceptable parameters in few water samples. The concentrations of heavy metals e.g. iron (Fe), chromium (Cr) and zinc (Zn) were observed within the specified values fixed by WHO, 2008. For heavy metals, hazard quotient (HQ) indices and daily chronic intake (CDI) were tabulated. Daily chronic intake (CDI) values were found as Zn > Fe > Cr, whilst the HQ indices values were observed as Zn > Fe > Cr. The hazard quotient >1 shows no human health threats. The present study represents that the surface and subsurface water sources from Tehsil Karak of District Karak, are found suitable for the drinking purpose based on their chemical constituents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Percutaneous kidney biopsy has been established as a safe, reliable and minimally invasive method. This study aims to describe the author's experience with biopsy of the kidney and to compare the results in sitting position versus prone in terms of the complication rate.Materials and Methods: Patients were divided into two groups: prone and sitting position according to the clinician's and patient's preference. Followed by kidney biopsy, a questionnaire was completed. Then, data and the mean number of glomeruli in each group were compared.Results: Apart from sweat, presumably due to the prone position, no significant differences were found regarding the side effects including dizziness, seizure, nausea, and vomiting between the two groups. The number of glomeruli was not significantly different between two groups.Conclusion: In comparison with the prone position, kidney biopsy at sitting position is more comfortable at least for patients who seems couldn't tolerate prone position. We recommend sitting position for kidney biopsy owing to the low side effects rate of this diagnostic technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Data loss in the process of state estimation has been addressed in this article. • The existing method based on AR model has been improved by replacing ARMA model. • A simple minimum error based mechanism is proposed to decide order of LP filter. • The computational time is reduced by avoidance of inversion of matrices. • The existing schemes are compared with the proposed one to show the performance. Data loss problems severely effect the performance of state estimation in most of communication and control systems. The normal techniques adopted for compensation in the process of state estimation are Open-loop Kalman filter and compensating closed-loop Kalman filter. The compensated closed-loop Kalman filtering scheme employs three (03) strategies namely Normal Equation, Levionson-Durbin and Leroux-Gueguen algorithms, using Autoregressive (AR) model, where only previous measurements are used. In this paper, the compensated vector is proposed based on Autoregressive Moving Average or ARMA model instead of AR model. This model contains more information than Autoregressive model, i.e. measurement and input signals, which is believed to generate more efficient results. Necessary steps including the computation of linear prediction coefficients have been taken to accommodate the input signal. Computation of this extra linear prediction coefficient however, bears an observable increase in computation time. The selection of AR and ARMA models is a trade-off between computation time and improved performance, which is the ultimate consequence of extra input signal. A standard mass-spring-damper case study is simulated to provide a comprehensive comparison in light of various parameters including state estimation, error, gain elements etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • Synthesis of sensitive heterojunction nanomaterial with controllable morphology. • 3D interlayer Bi 2 O 3 -Bi 2 S 3 /MoS 2 nanocomposite revealed excellent gas sensing at RT. • The enhanced sensing properties are attributed to the synergism of the 3D structure. Abstract Synthesizing a gas sensor based on heterostructured nanomaterials (NMs) via a controllable morphology by a facile hydrothermal method is an area of frontier research. In the present work, we designed a facile strategy to synthesize a controllable morphology and composition for three component heterojunctions (MoS 2 -Bi 2 O 3 -Bi 2 S 3) NMs using different hydrothermal reaction times. The Bi 2 S 3 easily form as an intermediate phase due to the strong interaction of the Bi 2 O 3 with MoS 2 nanosheets (NSs). The as fabricated heterojunctions MB-5 NMs exhibited a sensitive response to NO x gas (R a /R g = 10.7 at 50 ppm), with an ultra-fast response time of only 1 s (s) at room temperature (RT) in air. The detection limit was predicted to be as low as 50 ppb. This sensational behaviour of the sensor reveals the outstanding morphological structure and synergistic effect of the MoS 2 NSs with Bi 2 O 3 nanoparticles (NPs), which was realized by the flow of electrons across MoS 2 -Bi 2 O 3 -Bi 2 S 3 interfaces through band energy alignment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • Vertically aligned MoS 2 nanosheets on the surface of mesoporous In 2 O 3 nanocubes. • The interfacial transfer of electrons from In 2 O 3 to MoS 2 nanosheets. • Highly exposed edge sites of the MoS 2 to enhanced gas sensing properties of the sensor. • The sensor revealed excellent response to NO x at room temperature. Abstract The coupling of MoS 2 with In 2 O 3 is a well-known challenge due to the lower stability of MoS 2 in the presence of oxygen at high temperature. In the present work, stable mesoporous MoS 2 @In 2 O 3 composites were designed by a sonochemical reaction and a low temperature hydrothermal method, in which MoS 2 nanosheets (NSs) were vertically planted on highly mesoporous In 2 O 3 nanocubes. The mesoporous MoS 2 @In 2 O 3 -II nanocomposite with a MoS 2 and In 2 O 3 mass ratio of 1:1 exhibited a high response of 10.3–100 ppm NO x , and ultrafast response time of 1–9 s from 100 to 0.1 ppm. The enhance gas response of MoS 2 @In 2 O 3 -II reveals the synergistic effect of the interfacial transfer of electrons from In 2 O 3 nanocubes to MoS 2 NSs, and the highly exposed active edges of vertically aligned MoS 2 NSs. The MoS 2 @In 2 O 3 -II sensor is a promising candidate as a gas sensing material due to its excellent structure and outstanding properties at room temperature (RT). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Copper oxide nanoparticles were synthesized by Grewia Asiatica L. fruit extract. • Synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by several analytical techniques. • Fabricated nanoparticles were used as catalyst in the degradation of toxic dyes. • CuO NPs showed remarkable degradation under optimized condition. • The work added another efficient option for degradation of dyes in wastewater. Industrial wastewater has been an alarming issue that can have harmful effects on humans and the environment. Numerous treatment methods have been introduced to reduce toxicity, but photocatalyst treatment has been gaining interest because of its environmental behavior. This study used Grewia asiatica L. extract, which was not previously utilized to synthesize the copper oxide nanoparticles; various spectroscopic and microscopic techniques were used to characterize synthesized nanoparticles. The UV–visible spectrophotometer spectra showed an absorbance peak at 248 nm that confirmed the synthesis of copper oxide nanoparticles. Similarly, the scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) revealed that the synthesized nanoparticles have a size of 33.71 nm and are spherical. The energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) spectra showed the sample's elemental composition, in which copper and oxygen are present in high percentages. The Fourier infrared spectrophotometer (FTIR) spectra confirmed the fundamental biomolecules that have reduced and stabilized the copper oxide nanoparticles. The synthesized nanoparticles were developed as a catalyst under solar radiation to reduce methylene blue and rhodamine B dyes. Methylene blue was degraded 92% in 25 min with a 0.0397 min−1 rate constant. The Rhodamine B dye was degraded 98% in 50 min with a rate constant of 0.0198 min−1. Results revealed that Grewia asiatica L. mediated copper oxide nanoparticles can be used as a wastewater treatment catalyst to reduce toxic dyes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the size-effect and fluid-structure interaction on the vibrational characteristics of a simply supported rectangular microplate is investigated. The influences of rotary inertia and transverse shear deformation which have the remarkable role in the analysis of moderately thick microplates are considered. The first order shear deformation theory along with the modified couple stress theory has been used to perform the free vibrational analysis of the considered problem. The Hamilton's principle is employed to derive the governing differential equations of motion and the corresponding boundary conditions. The fluid is assumed to be incompressible, inviscid and irrotational. The fluid velocity potential is obtained using the boundary and compatibility conditions. Then the Rayleigh-Ritz method has been applied to calculate the natural frequencies of the system. A convergence study is carried out. The obtained results are compared against available data in the published papers and very good agreements have been observed. Finally by referring to the numerical results, the effects of dimensionless thickness, side to thickness ratio, aspect ratio, material length scale parameter and fluid depth ratio on the natural frequencies are discussed in details. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To fabricate sensors that are capable of ultrasensitive detection of NO x as well as optimize their synthetic route, highly porous and hierarchically structured Co 3 O 4 /CuO nanosheets were synthesized by a facile hydrothermal-calcination route. The CC2-1 sample synthesized with the 2:1 molar ratio of Co(NO 3 ) 2 ·6H 2 O and CuCl 2 ·2H 2 O has the most abundant porosity. Structural measurements found that the size of pore is 3.37 nm, the specific surface area is 24.04 m 2 g −1 , and the average slice thickness is about 5 nm. This optimum sample presented excellent NO x sensing performance at room temperature (RT = 21 °C), which has not only the highest response (14.16–1000 ppm), the shortest response time (2 s to 1000 ppm), and the minimum detection limit (0.01 ppm), but also good reversibility and selectivity. The superior property arises from the appropriate CuO ratio and the addition of pore-forming agent NaHCO 3 , and all together resulted in the unique hierarchical heterojunction structure, endowed with abundant porosity and a large number of defects, which eventually engender the remarkable chemisorbed ability to oxygen species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale: Fluoxetine (Prozac®) is the most frequently prescribed drug to battle depression in pregnant women, but its safety in the unborn child has not yet been established. Fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, crosses the placenta, leading to increased extracellular serotonin levels and potentially neurodevelopmental changes in the fetus. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to elucidate the long-term consequences of prenatal fluoxetine in rats. Methods: Pregnant rats were injected daily with 12 mg/kg fluoxetine or vehicle from gestational day 11 until birth, and the behavior of the offspring was monitored. Results: Plasma fluoxetine transfer from mother to pup was 83%, and high levels of fluoxetine (13.0 μg/g) were detected in the pup brain 5 h after the last injection. Fluoxetine-treated dams gave birth to litters 15% smaller than usual and to pups of reduced weight (until postnatal day 7). Furthermore, prenatal fluoxetine exposure significantly increased anxiety in the novelty-suppressed feeding test, the footshock-induced conditioned place aversion test, and the elevated plus maze test (following footshock pre-exposure) during adulthood, and also significantly decreased components of social play behavior at 4 weeks of age, and a strong tendency for increased self-grooming and making less contact in adults. Behavioral despair, anhedonia, and sexual behavior were not different between treatment groups. Finally, the hypothermic response to the 5-HT agonist flesinoxan was observed at a lower dose in prenatally fluoxetine-exposed rats than in controls. Conclusions: Prenatal fluoxetine exposure in rats leads to detrimental behavioral outcomes in later life, which may partly be due to altered 5-HT receptor signaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]