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Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the most common metabolic disorders characterized by hyperglycemia due to insufficiency of insulin and/or insulin resistance. Clinical studies have revealed a higher risk of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease in diabetic patients. Recently, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is an attractive potential treatment modality for various neurodegenerative diseases. In our study, we aimed to investigate whether exenatide, a GLP-1 analogue, has neuroprotective effects against glucose and fructose-induced toxicity in human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cell line. Neurotoxicity was induced by incubating SH-SY5Y cells with different doses (25-100 mM) of glucose and fructose for 24, 48 and 72 hours. Following determination of the significant toxic doses of glucose and fructose, the cells were treated with various doses of exenatide (10-250 nM) in the presence or absence of glucose and fructose. Neurotoxicity was evaluated by MTT assay and Hoechst 33258 staining. Caspase-3 activity and the levels of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) were determined in the cytosolic fractions of treated cells. Our results demonstrated that both glucose and fructose treatments decreased cell viability in neuronal cells dose and time-dependently. Glucose and fructose-treated groups showed increased numbers of apoptotic cells, caspase-3 activity and AGEs levels. Treatment of the cells with exenatide significantly prevented cell death. The most prominent effect was observed at 100 nM exenatide-treated cultures. Our results suggest that high doses of glucose and fructose may lead to neurotoxicity, and exenatide may have protective effects against neuronal damage through its anti-apoptotic feature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a set of endomorphismsΣ:= (σ1, ..., σn) and derivations Δ = (δ1, ..., δn), we first introduce S-compatible ideals which are a generalization of S-rigid ideals and study the connections of the prime radical and the upper nil radical of R with the prime radical and the upper nil radical of the skew PBW extension. Let A = R (x1, ..., xn,ΣΔ) be a bijective skew PBW extension of an (Σ,Δ)-compatible ring R. (i) It is shown that if R is a (semi)prime ring, then A is a (semi)prime ring. (ii) If R is a completely (semi)prime ring, then A is a completely (semi)prime ring. (iii) If R is a strongly (semi)prime ring, then A is a strongly (semi)prime ring. Also, we prove that R is 2-primal if and only if the skew PBW extension A is 2-primal if and only if nil(R) = nil*(R,ΣΔ) if and only if nil(R) (x1, ..., xn,Σ,Δ) = nil*(A) if and only if every minimal (Σ,Δ)-prime ideal of R is completely prime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the nanoparticles of sol-gel-synthesized NiO were used as effective adsorbents for removing Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions. To do so, the effect of four initial parameters including Cr(VI) concentration, the amount of NiO adsorbent, contact time, and pH on removing Cr(VI) with sol-gel-synthesized NiO was studied. Using the results of designing the experiment, the process of surface adsorption by ANN was modelled. For modelling the results of Cr(VI) removal process with NiO nanoparticles, a three-layered ANN of feed-forward back-propagation having 4:10:1 topology was used. The findings indicated that the results obtained from ANN correspond well with the data obtained from response surface methodology and experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Chlorella vulgaris (CV) has exhibited immune-enhancing and protective activities against cancer and infections. However, there is an increasing concern about the use of Chlorella species in human, regarding its various molecules with antigenic features found in infectious microorganisms. Our goal was to investigate the impact of higher concentrations of CV on tumor growth in spontaneous mouse mammary tumor (SMMT) models.Methods: Balb/c mice were daily given CV powder at doses of 0, 200, or 300 mg/kg for 42 days (CONTROL, CV200, and CV300 groups, respectively; n = 6/group). On day 14, the SMMT was inoculated. Tumor volume (TV) and body weight (BW) were monitored on 5-day intervals following tumor challenge. On day 43, blood, spleen, lungs, and tumor tissues were collected. Histopathological examinations on lungs and tumor tissues were performed following hematoxylin-eosin staining. Intratumor expression of 27 genes was assessed by real-time PCR. Total IgG, IFNγ, and IL-4 levels in serum and spleen culture supernatant were measured by ELISA.Results: The TV/BW index showed significant increase in the CV200 group compared to the CONTROL (p = 0.047). The CV200 tumors exhibited more malignant phenotype, higher angiogenesis rate, and lower peritumoral neutrophil and macrophage-to-lymphocyte infiltration ratio compared to the CONTROL. Serum concentrations of IFNγ, IL-4, and IgG were declined, and the spleen IFNγ and IgG production was higher in the CV200 compared to the CONTROL. The IL-1β, IL-10, TGFβ1, FOXP3, HO-1, Gr1, CD11b, PCNA, LCN2, iNOS2, VEGFR2, CD31, and CD105L expressions were markedly increased in the CV200 tumors compared to the CONTROL (p = 0.001, 0.002, 0.006, 0.021, 0.004, 0.030, 0.016, 0.031, 0.025, 0.008, 0.014, 0.022, and 0.037, respectively). The changes in cytokine, IgG and gene expression values considerably correlated with tumor size, as well as with each other.Conclusions: Our data provided evidence that C. vulgaris at a specific dose (200 mg/kg) promoted tumor growth in a mammary tumor model. This consequence might reflect an immune derangement in favor of developing a protumor microenvironment. However, this hypothesis needs to be further investigated in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using nanoparticles (NPs) in certain base fluids is the method that has been recently introduced for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), which seems to be the key solution for rock wettability alteration in carbonate oil reservoirs. This research attempts to offer a better understanding of the ZrO 2 NPs' role in the EOR methods, with a special focus on the interfacial tension (IFT) between oil and water, the zeta potential, the contact angle, and the water and oil viscosity measurements. The results of contact angle measurements in different concentrations of NPs illustrate the highest contact angle reduction for 0.008 mol/L of NPs which changed the rock wettability from strongly oil-wet to a moderately water-wet condition by overcoming the available disjoining pressure in the system. In this specific concentration, the zeta potential measurement was the highest (~− 55.4 mV) which agrees well with the contact angle results. In addition, the measurements were all above − 40 mV which indicates a good stability for NPs in formation water (FW). The IFT measurements indicate that the smallest IFT value for 0.006 mol/L of ZrO 2 NPs at 80 °C and 8.273 Mpa. This reduction is due to the adsorption of large oil molecules onto the NPs surface which prevents asphaltene precipitation on the interface between two fluids. Finally, the viscosity measurements at 60 °C show the reduction and increase of oil and FW viscosity with increased concentration, respectively. The oil viscosity reduction results from the breakdown of C C bonds in the large oil molecules by NPs, which is intensified at higher temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer-aided cooling curve thermal analysis technique was used to investigate microstructure and phase evolutions in Mg-5Zn alloy containing 0-1.5 mass% yttrium (Y) solidified at 0.7 °C s cooling rate. Optical and field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis were performed to characterise microstructure of the cast alloys. The observations revealed that a considerable refinement, calculated as over 74%, was occurred in the alloys with increasing Y content to 1.5 mass%. The first derivative curves revealed two peaks corresponding to α-Mg and MgZn for the binary Mg-5Zn alloy. The results also showed the evolution of three peaks related to the α-Mg, W-phase (MgZnY) and I-phase (MgZnY) in the Mg-5Zn- xY alloys. The nucleation temperature of both α-Mg and I-phase decreased slightly by increasing Y content. In addition, the solidification range and total solidification time increased by 44.4 and 50% with increasing Y content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores cast Mg-5Zn alloy, containing small amounts of yttrium (Y: 0.1-1.5 wt.%), through microstructure evaluation and tensile and hardness tests. The results reveal that addition of Y to the alloy refines microstructure, especially when secondary phases, MgZnY (I) and MgZnY (W), form. I-phase is detected when 0.3 wt.% Y is added to the alloy, while W-phase is only observed in Mg-5Zn-1.5Y alloy. The results also show that the addition of Y improves yield and tensile strength as well as the hardness value of the Mg-5Zn alloy at the expense of its formability. The three effects of the solid solution of Y in α-Mg, grain refinement, and the formation of I- and W-phases are the reasons for such behavior. The improvement is more pronounced when W-phase appears in the microstructure. In other words, Mg-5Zn-1.5Y alloy behaves stronger and harder than other alloys and may be considered as a potential candidate for bioimplant applications if its degradation behavior meets the requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. We hypothesized that Tumor cell lysate (TCL) prepared from spontaneous mouse mammary tumor (SMMT) may elicit IgG production by spleen mononuclear cells (SMCs) in ex vivo. Methods. The SMCs from healthy mice (HM, n = 6) and four-week SMMT-bearing mice (TBM, n = 6) was cultured in presence of TCL and mitogen for 42 hr at 37°C, separately. Serum and SMCs culture supernatant levels of IFNγ, IL-4, and total IgG were measured using special ELISA kits. Results. Serum IgG level of TBM was significantly higher than that of HM group (P = 0.019), while serum IFNγ and IL-4 did not differ between two groups (P > 0.05). Mitogen significantly induced ex vivo production of both IFNγ (P = 0.013) and IL-4 (P = 0.015) by SMCs from HM group, and only IL-4 (P = 0.049) by SMCs from TBM group. In contrast, TCL increased ex vivo production of IgG by SMCs from both HM (P = 0.034) and TBM (P = 0.016) groups. The ex vivo IgG revealed a moderate positive correlation with tumor size (r = 0.578, P = 0.422). Conclusion. It seems that TCL prepared from SMMT are potent inducers of IgG production. This may propose TCL as a potential tool for monitoring of humoral immunity in animal models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to explore the dimensions and attributes of productive and agricultural landscape in the Persian gardens. The methodology of conducting this study is descriptive-analytical. The data is gathered through library research and interviews, as well as field studies in the six Persian Gardens (Akbariyeh, Rahim Abad, Amir Abad, Bahlgerd, Pahlavanpur, and Shahzadeh). The results, which show the need to provide recreational services for owners, guests and in some cases people, has led to the significant presence of fruitful greenery, even in the governmental gardens. There are various fruit trees in the gardens of Shahzadeh, Amirabad and Pahlavanpur which demonstrate the importance of targeted food products for human consumption as well as animals in the system of designing the traditional green spaces. Promotion the quality of the beauty of inner green scenery of the gardens is other characteristics of agricultural landscape, specifically in Birjand's gardens which the visual landscape system has been created by composition of fruitful and ornamental species. Additionally, attitudes into increasing the efficiency, profitability and self-sufficiency of landscape have been ordered the planting of multipurpose plant species in the Iranian garden design. There are varieties of vegetables and herbs in the garden of Shahzadeh, and fragrant flowers, saffron, plum, pomegranate and fig trees representing in Birjand's garden proving the medicinal properties of productive scenery in addition to their appropriateness to the climate and scarce resources. Throughout history the structural importance of the edible landscape in Persian garden is due to the knowledgeable use of green spaces and landscaping. The combination of ornamental horticulture and fruit farming results in a multi-functional garden. Therefore, the agricultural landscape can be introduced as an indicator to assess the quality of garden management, an efficient tool for assessing the status of agricultural knowledge, gardens health assessment, as well as evaluating the lifestyle and the natural- cultural continuity of a garden to its context which should be considered more by the researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reservoir heterogeneity is an important factor which should be considered for each operation in oilfields. Acidizing operation is performed to eliminate or reduce the damages of reservoirs. The dissolution of the minerals and rock texture in damaged areas is the main goal of acidizing. However, the existence of high permeable zones through flowing paths results in extra damages and fluid loss. Some additives could be added to the injected acid to avoid these undesirable phenomena. In this research, we added a Zwitterionic sulfonate surfactant to hydrochloric acid (HCl) solution and evaluated the rheological behavior of several compositions of acid‐based viscoelastic surfactant (VES) solutions under various temperature and shear rates. The capability of optimum solution to plug the high permeable zone and divert the acid flow to low permeable zone is examined. The optimum solution was injected into a parallel sandpacked system with different permeabilities at various flow rates (1, 3 and 5 cc/min). It was observed that the injection rate of 3 cc/min has the most efficiency to reduce the heterogeneity. Besides the tendency of VES based solutions for altering wettability of rock to more water‐wet condition is observed. The findings of this study can help the better understanding of practical application of VES in acidizing through heterogeneous reservoirs. Besides, effective parameters for such application are determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historic gardens have the ability to provide several ecosystem services in cities, including provisioning services (i.e., food production). The historic gardens in Iran (known as "Persian Gardens") have never been considered as places that could be used for food production. As a result, the purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the Iranian historic gardens' spatial and structural layout is suitable for modern urban food gardening. We conducted field studies in six recognized Persian gardens in four provinces of Iran via qualitative analysis according to socio-cultural guidelines drawn from a literature review. The results suggested that combining the elements of formal landscape design, non-edible decorative plants, and traditional artwork would increase the Persian gardens' attractiveness. Regarding encouraging users to become involved in urban gardening, we found that separating productive units containing edible plants from public units using a central meeting spot populated by aesthetic plants and items may attract ordinary visitors who are interested in gardening without disturbing anyone's activities. Furthermore, the Persian gardens' multifunctionality, aesthetic value, and health-promoting qualities constitute a considerable historic achievement in garden design, making the gardens a suitable model for edible urban gardening. The results of this study can enhance our understanding of the Persian gardens' spatial and structural design and provide practical implications for sustainable urban planning and landscape architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wettability alteration is one of the promising mechanisms for enhancement of oil recovery from preferentially oil-wet rocks. Many water-based EOR methods containing chemicals (e.g. surfactants) or ions (e.g. low salinity water: Low-Sal) were proposed to alter rock wettability to more water wetness. But, one of the possible challenges to get the full potential of such EOR methods is the occurrence of the viscous fingering phenomena. This could be the case for those of EOR methods in which an oil mobility profile over the flow domain could be formed due to the wettability alteration and thus potentially trigger viscous fingering with a negative impact on the oil displacement. In this paper, we aimed to describe this kind of viscous fingering phenomena by applying the fractional flow theory for the case of a tertiary Low-Sal injection process in a core sample previously flooded by a high salinity water. We explained the fractional flow procedure to obtain the saturation and location of the viscous fingered-region. As to the results, water saturation continuously decreases over the viscous fingered-region from an upstream point located at the Low-Sal region to a downstream point at the High-Sal region. The severity of the viscous fingering phenomena could be well addressed by the location of upstream and downstream saturation points as the proposed model honors these points. The model performance to predict breakthrough time and oil recovery factor was also validated by the previously reported Low-Sal experimental data and we found a good agreement between the model outcome and lab data. [Display omitted] • Wettability alteration during Low-Sal injection is modeled by tuning and relative permeability due to the salinity. • Viscous fingering phenomena due to Low-Sal injection, is modeled by fractional flow theory • Using above mentioned models, viscous fingering during Low-Sal injection is examined. • Investigated viscous fingering belongs to penetration of Low-Sal phase in High-Sal phase. • The model is evaluated by experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High water production in oil fields is an area of concern due to economic issues and borehole/wellhead damages. Colloidal gels can be a good alternative to polymers to address this as they can tolerate harsh oil reservoir conditions. A series of bottle tests with different silica and NaCl concentrations were first conducted. The gelation time, cation valence, rheology, and viscosity were investigated to characterize the gels. The applicability of solid gels in porous media was finally inspected in a dual-patterned glass micromodel. Bottle test results showed that increasing NaCl concentration at a constant silica concentration can convert solid gels into two-phase gels and then viscous suspensions. Na+ replacement with Mg2+ resulted a distinctive behaviour probably due to higher coagulating ability of Mg2+. Rheology and viscosity results agreed with gelation times: gel with shortest gelation time had the highest viscosity and storage/loss modulus but was not the most elastic one. Water injection into glass micromodel half-saturated with crude oil and solid gel proved that the gel is strong against pressure gradients applied by injected phase which is promising for water conformance controls. The diverted injected phase recorded an oil recovery of 53% which was not feasible without blocking the water zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animals use olfactory receptors to navigate mates, food, and danger. However, for complex olfactory systems, it is unknown what proportion of primary olfactory sensory neurons can individually drive avoidance or attraction. Similarly, the rules that govern behavioral responses to receptor combinations are unclear. We used optogenetic analysis in Drosophila to map the behavior elicited by olfactory- receptor neuron (ORN) classes: just one- fifth of ORN- types drove either avoidance or attraction. Although wind and hunger are closely linked to olfaction, neither had much effect on single- class responses. Several pooling rules have been invoked to explain how ORN types combine their behavioral influences; we activated two- way combinations and compared patterns of single- and double- ORN responses: these comparisons were inconsistent with simple pooling. We infer that the majority of primary olfactory sensory neurons have neutral behavioral effects individually, but participate in broad, odor- elicited ensembles with potent behavioral effects arising from complex interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Therapeutic cancer vaccines are designed to increase tumor-specific T cell immunity. However, suppressive mechanisms within the tumor microenvironment (TME) may limit T cell function. Here, we assessed how the route of vaccination alters intratumoral myeloid cells. Using a self-assembling nanoparticle vaccine that links tumor antigen peptides to a Toll-like receptor 7/8 agonist (SNP-7/8a), we treated tumor-bearing mice subcutaneously (SNP-SC) or intravenously (SNP-IV). Both routes generated antigen-specific CD8+ T cells that infiltrated tumors. However, only SNP-IV mediated tumor regression, dependent on systemic type I interferon at the time of boost. Single-cell RNA-sequencing revealed that intratumoral monocytes expressing an immunoregulatory gene signature (Chil3 , Anxa2 , Wfdc17) were reduced after SNP-IV boost. In humans, the Chil3 + monocyte gene signature is enriched in CD16– monocytes and associated with worse outcomes. Our results show that the generation of tumor-specific CD8+ T cells combined with remodeling of the TME is a promising approach for tumor immunotherapy. [Display omitted] • Tumor-specific T cells are necessary but not sufficient for therapeutic efficacy • IV vaccination promotes tumor regression by remodeling the TME • Systemic IFN-I following IV vaccination alters intratumoral Chil3 + monocytes • Enrichment of human homologs of Chil3 + monocytes is associated with worse outcomes Intravenous administration of a cancer vaccine promotes tumor regression via antigen-specific CD8+ T cells and type I interferon-dependent modulation of the tumor microenvironment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) divisional fate and function are determined by cellular metabolism, yet the contribution of specific cellular organelles and metabolic pathways to blood maintenance and stress-induced responses in the bone marrow remains poorly understood. The outer mitochondrial membrane-localized E3 ubiquitin ligase MITOL/MARCHF5 (encoded by the Mitol gene) is known to regulate mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) interaction and to promote cell survival. Here, we investigated the functional involvement of MITOL in HSC maintenance by generating MX1-cre inducible Mitol knockout mice. MITOL deletion in the bone marrow resulted in HSC exhaustion and impairment of bone marrow reconstitution capability in vivo. Interestingly, MITOL loss did not induce major mitochondrial dysfunction in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. In contrast, MITOL deletion induced prolonged ER stress in HSCs, which triggered cellular apoptosis regulated by IRE1α. In line, dampening of ER stress signaling by IRE1α inihibitor KIRA6 partially rescued apoptosis of long-term-reconstituting HSC. In summary, our observations indicate that MITOL is a principal regulator of hematopoietic homeostasis and protects blood stem cells from cell death through its function in ER stress signaling. Synopsis: Metabolic control of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) function in blood maintenance remains poorly understood. Here, genetic work reports mitochondrial ubiquitin ligase MITOL (also known as MARCHF5) as a factor required for HSC survival and hematopoietic homeostasis in mice via suppression of ER stress signaling. MITOL deletion in the bone marrow causes HSC exhaustion and failure of blood reconstitution post engraftment. MITOL deletion induces unresolved ER stress in HSCs but only minor mitochondrial dysfunction. MITOL deletion induces ER stress-mediated apoptosis in HSCs via IRE1α-XBP1 signaling. IRE1α inhibition partially rescues Mitol deletion-induced apoptosis of HSCs. Mitochondrial E3 ubiquitin ligase MITOL is a critical regulator of blood stem cell survival and bone marrow reconstitution capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]