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Brucella is an important zoonotic pathogen which causes significant commercial loss in industry and considerable disease in livestock and human. Diminishing fertility and also abortion in animal and Malta fever disease in human. In spite of some successful vaccines against animal brucellosis, no satisfactory vaccine has been produced against human brucellosis. Accordingly, OMP31 as a major immunogenic and immunodominant protein in Brucella melitensis has been used to predict substantial epitopes against human and/or sheep MHCII alleles in three different continents (America, Oceania, and Europe) through bioinformatics tools. In order to validate region-based projections, the accuracy of epitopes was assessed by Vaxijen, an online server. The structure of these peptides was predicted through PEP-FOLD server. Predicted epitopes were sifted through docking studies with relevant MHCII receptors and finally, docked complexes were evaluated by molecular dynamic simulations. According to the frequency of human and sheep alleles in different regions, "FGTVRARLG" and "YIGINAGYA" epitopes can be considered for American, Eastern European, and Asian human populations and also sheep flocks of Australia and New Zealand (Corriedale breed), United States (Polypay and Rumbouillet breeds) and France (Rambouillet breed). Besides, "AINNNWTLKSE", "FLESKVNFH", "VLGAETDFQG", and YIGINAGYA can be significant in American and northern Indian human populations and also sheep of France (Suffolk and Columbia breeds), England and Scotland (Cheviot breed) and United States (Polypay breed). Eventually, "AINNNWTLKSE" and "VQAGYNWQL" might be important in American human and Britannia (Scottish Blackface breed), United States (Columbia, Rambouillet, and Polypay breeds) and French (Rambouillet breed) sheep populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Canarypox virus (CNPV) infects captive and wild canaries and cause high mortality and substantial economic losses especially in Middle East countries. Currently, unapproved and illegally imports of embryo propagated, freeze-dried, and live CNPV vaccines are being used by individuals for personal uses in Iran and the region against canarypox disease. The aim of this work was to prepare the stage for the design of a peptide vaccine against canarypox disease. Two immunogenic CNPV proteins were chosen based on homology to antigens from Poxine®, HP1-440 and FP9 strains in fowlpox virus. MHC II specific epitopes of candidate proteins were characterized using various bioinformatics tools. The predicted epitopes were modeled and docked to HLA-DRB1 0101, 0301, 0401, 0405 and 1501 receptors. The stability of docked complexes was evaluated through molecular dynamic simulations. Also, an experimental epitope in vaccinia virus for MHC I receptors was chosen and its canary homolog was docked to two BF receptors in chicken. Due to the critical role of MHC class II in confronting with poxvirus, the IFNAIILWITYAL, LRQLYDVIIPPR, YYNRITSIHM and YRHDDIIAT epitopes were selected among 13 predicted epitopes for MHC class II receptors after docking and MD evaluations. Moreover, due to its long-lasting CD8+ T cell memory responses, the homolog of an experimental epitope from Vaccinia virus (VP35#1) in Canary was evaluated and proposed as potential epitope SLSAYIVSK. These candidate epitopes of high binding affinities may be considered to be included as most effective epitopes for designing epitope-based vaccines against CNPV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Type I diabetes mellitus is a common chronic disease in adolescents. According to statistics, 12,243 diabetic Muslims fast in thirteen Islamic countries, 43% of whom have type I diabetes. This longitudinal study was conducted on volunteer adolescents with type I diabetes aged 13-18 years for 15 days using the census method. Three days before Ramadan and during the last three days of the study period, changes in the insulin dose, HbA1C, lipid profile, and body mass index (BMI) were evaluated. Among 10 volunteer patients, eight individuals could complete Ramadan fasting. Blood glucose analysis indicated a significant difference between the reported blood glucose levels (P<0.001). The highest blood glucose level was reported by the patients at 12 PM (mean: 204.33 mg/dL), and the lowest blood glucose level was reported before Iftar (mean: 120.43 mg/dL). No significant difference was observed in the levels of lowdensity lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), cholesterol, HbA1C, and triglyceride (TG) before and after fasting, and the only significant difference was denoted in the BMI of the patients (P=0.002). According to the results, fasting could be a safe, feasible option for the adolescents with type I diabetes under specific circumstances, such as the provision of intensive training before Ramadan, raising their awareness, and supervision of patients by specialist. Our findings demonstrated that with the exception of BMI, fasting had no effects on other biochemical parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of anticancer peptides (ACPs) as an alternative/complementary strategy to conventional chemotherapy treatments has been shown to decrease drug resistance and/or severe side effects. However, the efficacy of the positively-charged ACP is inhibited by elevated levels of negatively-charged cell-surface components which trap the peptides and prevent their contact with the cell membrane. Consequently, this decreases ACP-mediated membrane pore formation and cell lysis. Negatively-charged heparan sulphate (HS) and chondroitin sulphate (CS) have been shown to inhibit the cytotoxic effect of ACPs. In this study, we propose a strategy to promote the broad utilization of ACPs. In this context, we developed a drug repositioning pipeline to analyse transcriptomics data generated for four different cancer cell lines (A549, HEPG2, HT29, and MCF7) treated with hundreds of drugs in the LINCS L1000 project. Based on previous studies identifying genes modulating levels of the glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) HS and CS at the cell surface, our analysis aimed at identifying drugs inhibiting genes correlated with high HS and CS levels. As a result, we identified six chemicals as likely repositionable drugs with the potential to enhance the performance of ACPs. The codes in R and Python programming languages are publicly available in https://github.com/ElyasMo/ACPs&#95;HS&#95;HSPGs&#95;CS. As a conclusion, these six drugs are highlighted as excellent targets for synergistic studies with ACPs aimed at lowering the costs associated with ACP-treatment., (© 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)