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A novel coronavirus member was reported in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, at the end of the year 2019. Initially, the infection spread locally, affecting the Wuhan people, and then expanded rapidly throughout the world. On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) proclaimed it a global pandemic. The virus is a new strain most closely related to a bat coronavirus (RaTG13) which was not previously discovered in humans and is now formally known as the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the disease syndrome that the SARS-CoV-2 virus triggers. It is suggested that SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted through aerosols, direct/indirect contact, and also during medical procedures and specimen handling. The infection is characterized by isolated flu-like symptoms, but there may be specific signs of fever, fatigue, cough, and shortness of breath, as well as the loss of smell and breathing difficulty. Within this report, we tried to review the most current scientific literature published by January 2021 on various aspects of the outbreak, including virus structure, pathogenesis, clinical presentation, epidemiology, diagnostic approaches, potential therapeutics and vaccines, and prospects. We hope this article makes a beneficial impact on public education to better deal with the SARS-CoV-2 crisis and push a step forward in the near term towards its prevention and control.

Supplements produced by mouse testicular cells (mTCs) and the interaction between cells can increase the differentiation rate of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) into the germ-like cells. We studied the differentiation rate of hUCMSCs into the germ-like cells under effect of mTCs co-culturing. Isolated hUCMSCs from postpartum human umbilical cords were cultured. Then, the expression of mesenchymal (CD73, CD90 and CD105) and haematopoietic (CD34 and CD45) markers of hUCMSCs were confirmed by flow cytometry. Then, the hUCMSCs were cultured in four distinct groups: (a) control, (b) co-culture until D0, (c) co-culture until D5 and (d) co-culture until D10, in order to differentiate into the germ-like cells. After 10 days, the expression of OCT4, VASA, Fragilis and SYCP3 genes were examined by Real-Time qPCR. The flow cytometry indicated a high expression of mesenchymal markers and a low expression of haematopoietic markers (CD73:98.6%, CD90: 99.1%, CD105: 99.5%, CD34: 4.22% and CD45: 2.54%). The expression of OCT4 decreased during the time while the expression of VASA, Fragilis and SYCP3 markers increased in the co-culture with testicular cells (p value

Membrane proteins play important functions, such as cellular communication and transferring materials in the cell. Many membrane proteins are involved in human diseases. However, little information is available on their structure, stability and folding. To study their structure, membrane proteins should primarily be produces in large amounts. However, production of these proteins is limited by various technical issues. Developing novel strategies to circumvent these issues seems to be highly important to proceed in membrane protein science. In this review, we have summarized the recent findings which can promote membrane protein expression and purification.

Background: The CRISPR-Cas9 system, a powerful tool, has revolutionized genome engineering in eukaryotic cells and living organisms. However, this approach poses unique concerns and limitations when used by conventional transfection methods, including limited packaging size and low delivery efficiency. Here, we aim at assessing the transfection efficiency of DNA encoding for the CRISPR-Cas9 system by PEI coated Magnetic NanoParticle (MNPs) to improve the delivery of CRISPR/Cas9 constructs into eukaryotic cells. Results: Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) coated with polyethylenimine (PEI) and then complexed with pCXLE-dCas9VPH-T2A-GFP-shP53 plasmid DNA. We used HEK-293 (human embryonic kidney) and Human foreskin fibroblasts (HFF) cells to express GFP after transfection to evaluate delivery efficiency with MNPs and Lipofection methods. PEI-coated nanoparticles with magnetic iron oxide core were synthesized by co-precipitation technique resulting in an average size of ~ 20 nm in diameter. Characterization of Magnetic Nano Particle (MNPs) revealed that particles have narrow size distribution sufficient colloidal stability. The result showed that the magnetofection method with an efficiency around 85.7% for HEK-293 and 28.2% for HFF. Also, transfection efficiency by lipofection method was 83.2% and 7.89% for HEK-293 and HFF respectively. Conclusion: The magnetofection was revealed to be more efficient than classic Lipofectamine transfection as measured by GFP expression. We show that PEI-MNPs enable effective delivery and improved safety of plasmids encoding CRISPR/Cas9 into eukaryote cells.

Background Sitagliptin is known as an antidiabetic agent inhibiting the dipeptidyl peptidase-4. Although sitagliptin may influence weight, controversial results have been reported, and there is no general agreement on this issue. Therefore, this study assessed the effect of sitagliptin as monotherapy and add-on therapy to metformin on weight reduction in overweight or obese cases with type 2 diabetes. Methods We reviewed the following databases to identify all relevant papers published until 1st April 2021: Web of Science, MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar. The research included all clinical trials investigating the effect of sitagliptin in obese or overweight adult patients with type 2 diabetes without any language restriction. Results In total, eighteen randomized controlled trials with 2009 participants were included in our meta-analysis. Results showed supplementation of sitagliptin has led to weight loss for sitagliptin treated (MD −0.99; 95% CI; (−1.87, −0.12); p=0.026)) and sitagliptin+metformin treated groups (MD −1.09; 95% CI; (−1.69, −0.49); p Conclusion Our results demonstrated that sitagliptin administration with or without metformin might reduce the body weight and body mass index if these drugs are taken for more than 6 months.

Background Programmed cell death is critical to maintain tissue homeostasis. Necroptosis, as well as apoptosis, has been considered as another form of regulated cell death which can be used as an effective way to overcome apoptosis-resistant tumor tissue growth. The aim of present study was to test whether or not ripk1, ripk3, or mlkl expression levels, as the key necroptotic modulators in different stages of prostate tumor growth. Methods Sixty-seven prostate tissues representing histologically confirmed cancer were selected. The cancer samples were categorized into 4 different stages based on cellular differentiation, tumor growth rate, and extra tissue expansion to regional lymph nodes, average PSA levels, and tumor volume. RNA extraction, cDNA synthesis and quantitative real time PCR were done based on standard guidelines. Results No statistically significant changes in ripk1 expression showed in all three stages (stage II to IV). The expression pattern of ripk3 represented a remarkable elevation in early stage, while, predominantly repressed in final cancer stage (IV). Also, there has been a significant negative correlation between ripk3 gene expression and tumor size and PSA levels. Conclusions We cannot exclude the importance of the key regulator proteins in development and progression of prevalent lethal disease like prostate cancer. The ripk1/ripk3 mediated necroptosis pathway is more activated in early stages of prostate cancer via induced ripk3 expression, while repressed during prostate cancer final stages. Also, the repression of ripk3 is related to elevation of both PSA levels and tumor volume which represented the tumor progression in final stages.

Ferula species have diverse biological functions. This study set out to investigate the anti-proliferative effects of methanolic extract of F. pseudalliacea against human colon cancer HCT-116 cell line. Cytotoxic effects of F. pseudalliacea on HCT-116 cells was estimated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium (MTT) assay. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Western blot were employed to analyze BAX and Bcl2 expression. Cell cycle analysis and apoptosis were conducted using flowcytometry and Annexin V/ propidium iodide (PI) staining. Rhodamine 123 staining and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) assay were employed to quantify the mitochondria membrane potential (MMP) and caspase 3 activity, respectively. F. pseudalliacea markedly decreased HCT-116 cells viability. The gene and protein expression of BAX were increased, whereas Bcl-2 was decreased in F. pseudalliacea treated cells. F. pseudalliacea induced apoptosis via promotion of cell cycle arrest, caspase 3 activation, and destruction of MMP. These results demonstrate that F. pseudalliacea extract is able to induce apoptosis in HCT-116 cells mainly by activation of the mitochondrial pathway.