Decontamination of tomato, red cabbage, carrot, fresh parsley and fresh green onion inoculated with Shigella sonnet and Shigella flexneri by some essential oils [in vitro conditions]

Essential oils and their major constituents are useful sources of antimicrobial compounds. There are a few reports on the decontamination and antimicrobial activity of essential oils towards Shigella spp. In this study, the antimicrobial and decontamination potentials of essential oils at different concentrations, belonging to plants such as Thymus vulgaris, Saturiea hortensis, Mentha polegium, Cuminum cyminum, Lavandula officinalis and Mentha viridis L. [spearmint], towards Shigella sonnei and Shigella flexneri were investigated. The disk diffusion method demonstrated the antimicrobial potential of the essential oils. The ability of essential oils to decontaminate vegetables such as, tomato, red cabbage, carrot, fresh parsley and fresh green onion that were previously inoculated with Shigella spp. was determined. Inhibitory effects of essential oils towards Shigella spp. were noted in the disk diffusion method. There was a reduction in Shigella population following inoculation of cultures with 0.5% and 0.1% [v/v] essential oils. This study confirmed that essential oils have the potential to be used for decontamination of vegetables

Cloning and expression of the variable regions of anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody in E.coli for production of a single chain antibody

Epidermal growth factor receptor [EGFR] overexpression is a characteristic of several malignancies and could be considered as an excellent target for designing specific inhibitors such as anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies for cancer therapy. Drawbacks exerted by large sizes of full-length antibodies have lead to the development of single chain antibodies, which benefit from having smaller sizes and short circulation half-lives. The aim of this study was cloning, expression and purification of variable regions of anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody in E. coli for production of single chain antibodies. The RNA, extracted from the C225 hybridoma cells, was reverse transcribed into cDNA and used for PCR amplification of genes encoding light and heavy chains from the variable regions. The PCR products were cloned and expressed in E. coli BL21 for production of a single chain antibody. The expressed protein was analyzed by SDS-PAGE and purified by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography. The reactivity of purified C225-scFv with EGFR-expressing A431 tumor cell line was tested by western blotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The results indicated that C225-scFv was highly expressed in E. coli and appeared as a protein with a mass of 27 kDa in the sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis [SDS-PAGE] analysis of the induced cell lysate. Reactivity analysis of the purified C225-scFv with A431 tumor cell line by western blotting and enzyme linked immune sorbant assay [ELISA] revealed high binding affinity of the recombinant C225-scFv to the target cells. The results of this study indicated that C225-scFv is capable of binding to EGFR and could be considered as a useful tool for diagnosis and treatment of EGFR-overexpressing tumor cells

Studying the Environmental health status and consumption of Baking soda in military and urban Lavash bakeries of Tehran in 2012

Consumption of baking soda, as a primary material for preparation of bread dough, has been banned due to its health complications in Iran. So bread production in our country faced difficulties and one part of them is related to health issues which are bread production. Also, in some cases, baking soda is used in the bread production. This study was done to study the environmental health status and consumption of baking soda in the military and urban Lavash bakeries of Tehran in 2012. This is a descriptive comparative study done on Lavash bread production of 14 military bakeries and 14 corresponding urban bakeries near them. PH in the samples was tested based on Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran No. 2628. To check the status of environmental health and personal hygiene of bakeries, the check list of Cereal Research Center was used. In terms of environmental health status,28.6% military bakeries and7.1% urban bakeries were at good level. In terms of personal hygiene, all bakeries were in the poor category. Also,42.9% of military Lavash bakeries and 14.3% of urban Lavash bakeries used baking soda in their bread production. Environment health and personal hygiene status in military bakeries are better than the urban bakeries; however, hygiene status was not desirable in military bakeries. Also, baking soda consumption in military bakeries was more common than the urban bakeries. According to the results of this study, control of health status and avoiding baking soda consumption in the bakeries are necessary. [Rostami H. farajzadeh D. Haratian P.Masoumbeigi H.Ebadi A. Delkhosh M. Studying the Environmental health status and consumption of Baking soda in military and urban Lavash bakeries of Tehran in 2012. IJHS 2013; 1[1]: 19-24] http:/jhs.mazums.ac.ir

Degenerate primers facilitate the detection and identification of potyviruses from the northwest region of Iran

Potyviruses are accounted for 40% of viral diseases of various crops including vegetables and legumes. Potyviruses can be transmitted through plant sap, seeds and many aphid species. Due to ease of spread of these viruses detection of such viruses are crucial as to the control of the incited diseases. This study compared the efficiencies of two couples of primers in their detection of potyviruses infecting vegetables in North-West of Iran. To identify potyviruses infecting vegetables, total RNA preparations from leaves of diseased plants were subjected to reverse transcription [RT] with oligo d[T]15, M4T or a potyvirus-specific primer, followed by polymerase chain reactions [PCR] with two pairs of degenerate primers including Sprimer/M4 or NIb2F/NIb3R that would yield [tilde] 1700 or 350 bp fragments, respectively. Amplification was achieved from 7 samples when Sprimer and M4 were used, but non- specific fragments were also amplified. However, specific amplifications from 31 samples were achieved with NIb2F2 and NIb3R. PCR products resulting from the use of NIb2F/NIb3R were subjected for cloning and sequencing. BLAST analysis of the sequenced data revealed that the PCR-amplified fragments belonged to Bean common mosaic virus [green bean], Bean yellow mosaic virus [broad bean], Potato virus Y [potato], Watermelon mosaic virus [squash, muskmelon or melon], Zucchini yellow mosaic virus [squash], and Soybean mosaic virus [bean]. This study demonstrated the efficiency of NIb2F2/NIb3R in detection of potyviruses and revealed the extent of infections with diverse potyviruses species in the northwest part of Iran.