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Malaria is a global health problem that causes 1.5–2.7 million deaths worldwide each year. Resistance to antimalarial drugs in malaria parasites and to insecticides in vectors is one of the most serious issues in the fight against this disease. Moreover, the lack of an effective vaccine against malaria is still a major problem. Recent developments in nanotechnology have resulted in new prospects for the fight against malaria, especially by obtaining metal nanoparticles (NPs) that are less toxic, highly biocompatible, environmentally friendly, and less expensive. Numerous studies have been conducted on the synthesis of green NPs using plants and microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, algae, actinomycetes, and viruses). To our knowledge, there is no literature review that compares toxicities and antimalarial effects of some of the existing metallic nanoparticles, revealing their advantages and disadvantages. Hence, the purpose of this work is to assess metal NPs obtained through various green synthesis processes, to display the worth of future malaria research and determine future strategies. Results revealed that there are very few studies on green NPs covering all stages of malaria parasites. Additionally, green metal nanoparticles have yet to be studied for their possible toxic effects on infected as well as healthy erythrocytes. Morever, the toxicities of green metal NPs obtained from various sources differed according to concentration, size, shape, synthesis method, and surface charge, indicating the necessity of optimizing the methods to be used in future studies. It was concluded that studies on the toxic properties of green nanoparticles would be very important for the future.

Relevance. The need to dentify the characteristics of the distribution of radioactive elements in the groundwater of Northern Kazakhstan. Aim. Generalization of available data on the geochemistry of groundwater and uranium and radon distribution in them using the example of the northern regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Methods. Generalization of long-term hydrogeochemical research and compilation of an electronic data bank on the territory of Northern Kazakhstan. A laboratory study of the chemical composition of groundwater was carried out at the Research Laboratory of Hydrogeochemistry of the School of Natural Resources Engineering of Tomsk Polytechnic University. Measurements of 222Rn contents in waters were carried out using the Alfarad Plus complex in the Laboratory of Hydrogeology of Sedimentary Basins of Siberia, Institute of Geology and Geography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences. Results. The groundwater of aquifers of different ages, distributed in the territory of Northern Kazakhstan (North Kazakhstan uranium province), was studied. Two geochemical sets of groundwater were identified. The first is characterized by the dominance of HCO3– and Mg2+ in the water composition, and the second by Cl– and Na+. A change in composition and an increase in the value of total mineralization from 0,1 to 49 g/dm3, in the direction from north to south, indicate the development of continental salinization. In natural waters of the first group, uranium content varies from 0.065 to 16000 μg/dm3 and radon activity from 4 to 3885 Bq/dm3. For sodium chloride waters of the second set, concentrations can reach 32500 μg/dm3, and radon activity is 6–59 Bq/dm3, since the emanating reservoir (granitoids) is located to the north – at a distance of 80–100 km. Naturally, granitoid massifs of the studied region are sources of uranium. Their drainage by the river network leads to its removal and concentration on geochemical barriers in the groundwater of the Neogene-Quaternary aquifer. This distribution of radioactive elements is associated with the high migration ability of uranium in solution in the form of uranyl ion in oxidizing geochemical conditions.

The aim of this article is to analyze the delay influence on the attraction for a scalar tick population dynamics equation accompanying two disparate delays. Taking advantage of the fluctuation lemma and some dynamic inequalities, we derive a criterion to assure the persistence and positiveness on the considered model. Furthermore, a time-lag-dependent condition is proposed to insure the global attractivity for the addressed model. Besides, we give some simulation diagrams to substantiate the validity of the theoretical outcomes.

This research aimed to study the effect of supplementation of Lactobacillus brevis and a combination of Lactobacillus brevis and Enterococus faecalis on growth performance, bacterial population and serum biochemical parameters in broilers. A total of 200 one-day-old chicks were obtained from a local hatchery. They were divided into four groups: group 1 served as a control, group 2 received commercial probiotics, group 3 received Lactobacillus brevis, and group 4 received the combination. The main parameters measured through 6 weeks were body weight, food intake, food conversion ratio (FCR), blood total protein, albumin and cholesterol. In addition to enumeration of bacteria from cloaca and caecum. The results showed a statistically significant increase in body weight (26%) for the group receiving the combined supplementation compared to the control. Similarly, there was a significant increase in FCR for this group compared to the control. The results also showed an increase in the Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) count in the caecum and a decrease in the total late count (TPC) and coliform count, showing the inhibitory effect of LAB. Also, there was a significant decrease in cholesterol and albumin level, while there was no difference between the different groups regarding protein level. The results showed that Lactobacillus brevis and Enterococus faecalis have a good potential to be used as probiotics in poultry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted to evaluate the anthelmintic activity of aqueous extracts of Azadirachta indica (Neem), Mallotus philippinensis (Kamala), Melia azedarach (Bakain), and their combination as herbal extracts against Ascaridia galli infection. To determine efficacy, egg hatch test (EHT) and adult motility assay (AMS) were performed using increasing concentrations of 12.5, 25, 50, and 100 mg/ml of aqueous plant extracts, in conjunction with 7.5 mg/ml Albendazole as the positive control and phosphate buffered saline (PBS) as the negative control for up to 15 h. There was 100% mortality achieved with the combined herbal extract (LC50 = 36.7 µg/ml), whereas mortality with extract from Mallotus 50 philippinensis (LC50 = 41.4 µg/ml), Melia azedarach (LC50 = 147 µg/ml), and 50 50 Azadirachta indica (LC50 = 189 µg/ml) were 87.5%, 62.5%, and 50% respectively, 50 at 15 hours post-exposure. These findings suggest that Azadirachta indica, Mallotus philippinensis, Melia azedarach herbal extracts, or their combination, should be further exploited to control Ascaridia galli infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new nonsmooth optimization-based algorithm for solving large-scale regression problems is introduced. The regression problem is modeled as fully-connected feedforward neural networks with one hidden layer, piecewise linear activation, and the L1-loss functions. A modified version of the limited memory bundle method is applied to minimize this nonsmooth objective. In addition, a novel constructive approach for automated determination of the proper number of hidden nodes is developed. Finally, large real-world data sets are used to evaluate the proposed algorithm and to compare it with some state-of-the-art neural network algorithms for regression. The results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm as a predictive tool in most data sets used in numerical experiments.

Time-restricted feeding (TRF) has recently gained interest as a potential anti-ageing treatment for organisms from Drosophila to humans.sup.1-5. TRF restricts food intake to specific hours of the day. Because TRF controls the timing of feeding, rather than nutrient or caloric content, TRF has been hypothesized to depend on circadian-regulated functions; the underlying molecular mechanisms of its effects remain unclear. Here, to exploit the genetic tools and well-characterized ageing markers of Drosophila, we developed an intermittent TRF (iTRF) dietary regimen that robustly extended fly lifespan and delayed the onset of ageing markers in the muscles and gut. We found that iTRF enhanced circadian-regulated transcription and that iTRF-mediated lifespan extension required both circadian regulation and autophagy, a conserved longevity pathway. Night-specific induction of autophagy was both necessary and sufficient to extend lifespan on an ad libitum diet and also prevented further iTRF-mediated lifespan extension. By contrast, day-specific induction of autophagy did not extend lifespan. Thus, these results identify circadian-regulated autophagy as a critical contributor to iTRF-mediated health benefits in Drosophila. Because both circadian regulation and autophagy are highly conserved processes in human ageing, this work highlights the possibility that behavioural or pharmaceutical interventions that stimulate circadian-regulated autophagy might provide people with similar health benefits, such as delayed ageing and lifespan extension. Circadian-regulated autophagy contributes to the health benefits of intermittent time-restricted feeding in Drosophila., Author(s): Matt Ulgherait [sup.1] , Adil M. Midoun [sup.2] , Scarlet J. Park [sup.3] [sup.4] , Jared A. Gatto [sup.1] , Samantha J. Tener [sup.1] , Julia Siewert [sup.1] , [...]