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Copyright of Journal of Plant Protection & Pathology is the property of Egyptian National Agricultural Library (ENAL) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

USING OXO-PHYTODIENOATE REDUCTASE 7 (OPR7) GENE Although, hundreds of rice genes have been sequenced and there are many genes reported to have a vital role in gaining drought tolerance in rice, there is a clear limitation in the production and development of drought tolerant rice varieties (Todaka et al., 2015). Molecular analysis for the transgenic rice plants • Conventional PCR and Real time PCR analysis To confirm the presence of the TDNA containing the ORP7, PCR reactions were carried out on the putative transformed plantlets. The results of transgenic plantlets analysis showed that OPR7 gene was successfully integrated into some transgenic T0 and T1 plantlets of both rice cultivars. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Arab Universities Journal of Agricultural Sciences is the property of Arab Universities Union of Agricultural Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Naglaa S Elabd,1 Safaa I Tayel,2 Moamena S Elhamouly,1 Shaimaa A Hassanein,3 Samar M Kamaleldeen,4 Fatma E Ahmed,5 Mahmoud Rizk,6 Abdelnaser A Gadallah,7 Soma E Ajlan,8 Ahmed S Sief9 1Tropical Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Menoufia, Egypt; 2Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Menoufia, Egypt; 3Diagnostic Radiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Menoufia, Egypt; 4Clinical Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Menoufia, Egypt; 5Clinical Pharmacology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Menoufia, Egypt; 6Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Banha University, Banha, Egypt; 7Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Menoufia, Egypt; 8Microbiology and Immunology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Menoufia, Egypt; 9Hepatology and Gastroenterology Department, Shebin Elkom Teaching Hospital, Menoufia, EgyptCorrespondence: Safaa I TayelMedical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shebin El-Kom, Menoufia, 32511, EgyptTel +20 1003383097Email drsafaa_tayel@yahoo.comBackground: Treatment response to antiviral drugs is a challenging issue in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Although microRNA-122 represents the majority of the microRNA content in hepatic tissues, few studies have evaluated its role in the treatment response, so we aimed to study its role in chronic HCV patients and in predicting the treatment response to direct-acting antivirals (DAAs).Methods: The study included 125 chronic HCV patients (89 naïve and 36 with a prior failed peginterferon/ribavirin response) and 50 apparently healthy subjects. Complete blood count, liver function, α-fetoprotein, lipid profiles, serum creatinine, abdominal ultrasound, and FibroScan® were assessed. Viral markers, HCV antibodies, and hepatitis B surface antigen were measured by enzyme-linked fluorescent immunoassay, with quantitative estimation of HCV RNA and microRNA-122 levels by real-time PCR.Results: The microRNA-122 level in HCV patients (those with a sustained virologic response 12 weeks after finishing therapy [SVR12] and non-responders) was significantly increased compared with controls and expressed more in non-responders versus SVR12 (p=0.042). ROC curve analysis of microRNA-122 for differentiating HCV patients from healthy controls revealed that a cut-off point of > 1.45 had a sensitivity of 67.20%, specificity of 94.0%, AUC=0.861, and p< 0.001; and for predicting response to treatment a cut-off point ≤ 5.66 could significantly (p=0.022) predict the occurrence of SVR, with a sensitivity of 60.34%, specificity of 66.67%, and AUC=0.729. Logistic regression analysis showed significant values for microRNA-122 in multivariate and univariate analysis for the prediction of response to DAAs.Conclusion: The results demonstrated the possible function of microRNA-122 as an indicative tool for distinguishing chronic HCV patients from controls and in the assessment of the therapeutic reaction to DAAs.Keywords: CHC, FibroScan, microRNA-122, DAAs

The article offers information on the functional genomic profiling of drought responsive Micro-RNA in Wheat. Topics discussed include information on the drought as the major abiotic stresses that affect wheat production; discussions on the post transcription regulation as the most powerful mechanisms of gene regulation; and the information on the study provides a comprehensive analysis of these miRNAs expressed in leaves of bread wheat in response to drought stress.

Compared with thermotropic liquid crystals (LCs), the biosensing potential of lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals (LCLCs), which are more biocompatible because of their hydrophilic nature, has scarcely been investigated. In this study, the nematic phase, a mesophase shared by both thermotropic LCs and LCLCs, of disodium cromoglycate (DSCG) was employed as the sensing mesogen in the LCLC-based biosensor. The biosensing platform was constructed so that the LCLC was homogeneously aligned by the planar anchoring strength of polyimide, but was disrupted in the presence of proteins such as bovine serum albumin (BSA) or the cancer biomarker CA125 captured by the anti-CA125 antibody, with the level of disturbance (and the optical signal thus produced) predominated by the amount of the analyte. The concentration- and wavelength-dependent optical response was analyzed by transmission spectrometry in the visible light spectrum with parallel or crossed polarizers. The concentration of CA125 can be quantified with spectrometrically derived parameters in a linear calibration curve. The limit of detection for both BSA and CA125 of the LCLC-based biosensor was superior or comparable to that of thermotropic LC-based biosensing techniques. Our results provide, to the best of our knowledge, the first evidence that LCLCs can be applied in spectrometrically quantitative biosensing.

This study discusses whether the prism used in a Kretschmann-based surface plasmon sensor can be fabricated from a thermotropic liquid crystal (TLC) material. The refractive index of the TLC prism can be thermally tuned to match the excitation requirements for the surface plasmon modes along the metal–TLC interface of the proposed sensing platform. The TLC material was chemically prepared in vitro and was thermally and optically characterized. The measurements reported a wide mesophase temperature range ΔT (~35 °C) and a relatively high clearing temperature TC (~84 °C) which constitutes a stable thermal control for the TLC optical parameters. The experimentally measured refractive indices of the TLC material reflect a linear change in line with the temperatures at several selected wavelengths in the visible region. A design of the surface plasmon sensor was proposed, which provided a linear response to the investigated analytes refractive index. This work highlights the importance of employing TLC material in designs compatible with detecting refractive index changes by thermal tuning and presents refractive index interrogation as an alternative method for exciting surface plasmon modes.

An optical and dielectric biosensor based on a liquid crystal (LC)–photopolymer composite was established in this study for the detection and quantitation of bovine serum albumin (BSA). When the nematic LC E7 was doped with 4-wt.% NOA65, a photo-curable prepolymer, and photopolymerized by UV irradiation at 20 mW/cm2 for 300 s, the limit of detection determined by image analysis of the LC optical texture and dielectric spectroscopic measurements was 3400 and 88 pg/mL for BSA, respectively, which were lower than those detected with E7 alone (10 μg/mL BSA). The photopolymerized NOA65, but not the prepolymer prior to UV exposure, contributed to the enhanced optical signal, and UV irradiation of pristine E7 in the absence of NOA65 had no effect on the optical texture. The effective tilt angle θ, calculated from the real-part dielectric constant ε’, decreased with increasing BSA concentration, providing strong evidence for the correlation of photopolymerized NOA65 to the intensified disruption in the vertically oriented LC molecules to enhance the optical and dielectric signals of BSA. The optical and dielectric anisotropy of LCs and the photo-curable dopant facilitate novel quantitative and signal amplification approaches to potential development of LC-based biosensors.

In this study, an experimental comparison has been made between the traditional plastic materials (Polypropylene and Polyethylene) and selected composite materials (Perlon-Carbon-Perlon and Hybrid Carbon fiber-Glass fiber) to manufacture a long life Partial Foot Prosthesis. To improve the mechanical properties, increase the lifetime of the prosthesis, and reduce the cost to the patient, two types of composite materials were used and compared with plastic materials. Samples were manufactured and tested with different test methods (Tensile, flexural, and fatigue test). All tests were performed at room temperature. The results showed that the composite materials achieve a large increment in mechanical properties such as (σy, σult, E, σb, and Ef) which were increased to a percentage of (200% - 261%), (330% - 243%), (295% - 203%), (276% - 270%), and (413% - 301%) in Perlon-Carbon-Perlon lamination as compared with Polypropylene and Polyethylene respectively. However the increasing percentage in Hybrid Carbon fiber- Glass fiber was (353% - 270%), (470% - 347%), (388% - 267%), (203% - 199%), and (244% - 178%) as compared with Polypropylene and Polyethylene. At the same time, the fatigue life was sharply increased in both of the Perlon- Carbon-Perlon and Hybrid Carbon fiber-Glass fiber.