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The Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacterial pathogen is responsible for the ongoing global tuberculosis (TB) epidemic. Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), the only currently approved TB vaccine, is successful in preventing disseminated disease in newborns. However, it has a variable efficacy against pulmonary TB in adults. This protective effect of the vaccine varies greatly among different populations and geographical areas, which the increased exposure of particular populations to non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) is considered as one of the reasons for this issue. Numerous studies have shown that exposure to NTM species causes the host immune system to be improperly primed. It has also been suggested that NTM species may be blamed for reduction in BCG vaccine effectiveness against M. tuberculosis . The increased exposure of certain populations to NTM has diverse effects on BCG efficacy. Moreover, the exposure to NTM can induce opposite effects on BCG efficacy depending on the NTM exposure route and survivability. A detailed understanding of the impact of NTM exposure on the efficacy of the BCG vaccine is essential for ongoing efforts to develop new TB vaccines as it may ultimately be a crucial success factor. The aim of this study was to review the findings of the studies focusing on the effects of NTM on BCG vaccine efficacy in animal models., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Author(s).)

Background and Aims: Intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFS) theory is more powerful than classic fuzzy sets theory in handling uncertainty. A new approach for Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) was developed based on IFS and group decision-making (known as IF-FMEA) for investigating Personal Fall Arrest System (PFAS)., Method: FMEA parameters, including occurrence, consequence, and detection, were re-defined based on a seven-point linguistic scale. Each linguistic term was associated with an intuitionistic triangular fuzzy set. Opinions on the parameters were gathered from a panel of experts, integrated using the similarity aggregation method, and defuzzified utilizing the center of gravity approach., Results: Nine failure modes were identified and analyzed using both FMEA and IF-FMEA. The risk priority numbers (RPNs) and prioritization obtained from the two approaches were different, highlighting the importance of using IFS. The highest RPN was associated with the lanyard web failure, while the failure of the anchor D-ring had the least RPN. Detection score was higher for metal parts of the PFAS, suggesting that failures in these parts are harder to detect., Conclusion: In addition to being economical in terms of calculations, the proposed method was efficient in handling uncertainty. Different parts of a PFAS create different levels of risk., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Author(s).)

Protective gloves can affect hand performance indicators (HPIs) like manual dexterity and hand grip. The present study was conducted to comprehensively and comparatively investigate several types of protective gloves and HPI assessment tools. Seventeen healthy men participated in this study. Four types of protective gloves, two structural firefighting and two general protective gloves, were investigated using four different dexterity tests and the bulb dynamometer. Structural firefighting gloves were significantly different in terms of dexterity, while there was no significant difference between general protective gloves. In contrast, firefighting gloves were not significantly different in terms of hand grip strength, while general protective gloves were significantly different in this regard. Among the four investigated tests, the hand tool dexterity test had the highest discrimination power. The negative effects of structural firefighting gloves on HPIs were higher than those of general protective gloves. A trade-off between safety requirements and hand performance is needed., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Background: SARS-CoV-2 initially originated in Wuhan (China) around December 2019, and spread all over the world. Currently, WHO (Word Health Organization) has licensed several vaccines for this viral infection. However, not everyone can be vaccinated. People with underlying health conditions that weaken their immune systems or those with severe allergies to some vaccine components, may not be able to be vaccinated. Moreover, no vaccination is 100% safe, and the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 mutations may reduce the efficacy of immunizations. Therefore, it is urgent to develop effective drugs to protect people against this virus., Material and Method: We performed structure-based virtual screening (SBVS) of a library that was built from ChemDiv and PubChem databases against four SARS-CoV-2 target proteins: S-protein (spike), main protease (M Pro ), RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, and PL pro . A virtual screening study was performed using PyRx and AutoDock tools., Results: Our results suggest that twenty-five top-ranked drugs with the highest energy binding as the potential inhibitors against four SARS-CoV-2 targets, relative to the reference molecules. Based on the energy binding, we suggest that these compounds could be used to produce effective anti-viral drugs against SARS-CoV-2., Conclusion: The discovery of novel compounds for COVID-19 using computer-aided drug discovery tools requires knowledge of the structure of coronavirus and various target proteins of the virus. These compounds should be further assessed in experimental assays and clinical trials to validate their actual activity against the disease. These findings may contribute to the drug design studies against COVID-19., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2022 The Authors.)

Aims: Paraoxonase-1 (PON1) has been shown to protect low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) against oxidative-modification and thereby might protect against coronary-artery-disease (CAD). Here we explored the relationship of a genetic variant (a substitution (R) Arg with (Q) Gln at position 192) of PON1 in 250 patients with/without CAD., Materials and Methods: Genotyping of PON1 Q192R was carried out using Real-Time-PCR TaqMan-based-probe. Demographic-characteristics and biochemical-analyses, including fasting blood sugar (FBS), HDL, LDL, triglycerides (TG) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were evaluated. Univariate/multivariate analyses were performed to determine the association of the genetic polymorphism and CAD as well as with clinical-characteristics of population., Results: Our findings showed that RR-genotype was more frequent in CAD-patients, compared to the wild-type genotype. Moreover, CAD patients with RR-genotype had an odd ratio of 5.0 (95% CI: 1.3-18.6; p = 0.017), versus wild-type genotype, in multivariate-analysis. Of note we also observed that CAD-patients with QQ-genotype had a significantly lower Hs-CRP level, compared to the RR-genotype., Conclusion: we demonstrate that PON1-Q192R-polymorphism was associated with CRP and FBS levels; R-allele of PON1-Q192R may be an independent risk factor for CAD. Further studies are warranted to determine the value of this marker as a surrogate marker in CAD patients., (Copyright © 2019 Diabetes India. All rights reserved.)

Objective: It has been shown that several environmental and physiological factors can affect on the serum levels of calcium and phosphate. The objective of the present study was explored the relationship between serum calcium and phosphate levels with anthropometric and hematological markers., Methods: 908 subjects were recruited from the Mashhad stroke and heart atherosclerosis disorder (MASHHAD) program. Anthropometric parameters, liver/kidney function tests (e.g., Urea nitrogen, creatinine, urea and uric acid, creatinine, AST, ALT) were determined in all participants. Serum concentrations of calcium and phosphate were measured using Autoanalyzer BT3000P (Pars Azmoon kit, Tehran, Iran). SPSS software was used for statistical analyses., Results: We observed that obese subjects had a lower level of serum calcium (p˂0.05). Moreover, a relationship was detected between serum phosphate level and different menopausal status (p˂0.05). Serum calcium and phosphate did not change by increasing age in the population. Additionally, there was a correlation between lymphocyte count with serum phosphate level (p˂0.05). No statistically different were detected for the levels of calcium/phosphate with respect to smoking status, physical activity, lipid profile, liver and renal function markers., Conclusion: We found an association between serum calcium and BMI as well as with serum phosphate and menopausal status., (Copyright © 2019 Diabetes India. All rights reserved.)

Background: Vitamin D deficiency is a global problem that may be improved by vitamin D supplementation; however, the individual's response to the intervention varies. We aimed to investigate possible genetic factors that may modify the impact of environmental exposure on vitamin D status. The candidate gene variant we investigated was the Gc gene-rs4588 polymorphism at the vitamin D receptor (DBP) locus., Methods: A total of 619 healthy adolescent Iranian girls received 50000 IU of vitamin D 3 weekly for 9 weeks. Serum 25(OH) D concentrations, metabolic profiles and dietary intake were measured at baseline and after 9 weeks of supplementation. The genotypes of the DBP variant (rs4588) were analyzed using the TaqMan genotyping assay., Results: Our results revealed that the rs4588 polymorphism might be associated with serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D both at baseline (p value = 0.03) and after intervention (p value = 0.008). It seemed that the outcome of the intervention was gene-related so that the subjects with common AA genotype were a better responder to vitamin D supplementation (Changes (%) 469.5 (427.1) in AA carriers vs. 335.8 (530) in GG holders), and carriers of the less common GG genotype experienced a rise in fasting blood glucose after 9 weeks (Changes (%) 0 (1.5)). Our findings also showed that the statistical interaction between this variant and supplementation was statistically significant (intervention effect p-value<0.001 and p-value SNP effect = 0.03). The regression model also revealed that after adjusted for potential confounders, likelihood of affecting serum 25(OH)D in individuals who were homozygous for the uncommon allele G was less than those homozygous for the more common AA genotype (OR = 4.407 (1.82-8.89); p = 0.001)., Conclusion: Serum vitamin 25(OH) D following vitamin 25(OH) D 3 supplementation appears to be modified by genetic background. The Gc genetic variant, rs4588 encoding the vitamin D receptor seems to influence the response to vitamin D supplementation., (Copyright © 2018 European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)