Behind the Scene: Surprises and Snags of Pseudogenes.

The junk DNA "pseudogenes," known as genomic fossils, are characterized by their ubiquitousness and abundance within the genomic structure. These genomics sets are recognized by the potential activity of meta-regulating the parent genes; these are transcribed into interfering RNA, consequently acting on miRNA concentration, thereby shedding light on the crosstalk of the pseudogenes' miRNA, siRNA, lncRNA/tumor therapy co-relationship. Moreover, an upcoming visualization regarding pseudogenes is under investigation, which describes the potentiality of pseudogenes as a fundamental component of cancerous evolutionary processing tools. Accordingly, here is a systematic review covering pseudobirth, pseudosignatures, and functional properties of pseudogenes, concluding that these pseudogenes are hypothetically predictive tumor therapies.

Epidemiology and antibiogram of common mastitis-causing bacteria in Beetal goats.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Mastitis has been identified as the most prevalent and economically imperative disease among dairy animals. Thus, understanding its common bacterial pathogens and risk factors is necessary to improve udder health at herd, region, or country level. However, scientific research on caprine mastitis, especially on Beetal breed, has remained to be insufficient in Pakistan. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the epidemiology and antibiogram assay of common mastitis-causing bacterial agents, that is, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, and Escherichia coli, in dairy goats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In total, 500 Beetal goats, irrespective of age and those that were not treated with any kind of antimicrobial agents during the past 120 h, were screened using California Mastitis Test in Pattoki, Kasur District, whereas epidemiological factors were recorded. The milk samples of mastitic goats were then collected and processed using standard methods. Each sample was primarily cultured on nutrient agar. Using a specific medium, each bacterial colony was separated using several streak methods. Six antibiotic disks belonging to different antibiotic groups were used for antibiogram profiling of bacterial isolates. Chi-square test was used to assess the association of baseline characteristics and mastitis occurrence. Meanwhile, multivariable logistic regression (p<0.001) was utilized to determine the risk factors associated with positive and negative dichotomous outcome of mastitis. RESULTS: The results revealed that the overall prevalence of goat mastitis was 309 (61.8%), in which 260 (52%) and 49 (9.8%) cases were positive for subclinical mastitis (SCM) and clinical mastitis (CM), respectively. Streptococcus and E. coli were found to be the predominant isolates causing SCM and CM, respectively (p<0.001). It was observed that amoxicillin+clavulanic acid was highly sensitive to isolates of Staphylococcus and Streptococcus and ceftiofur sodium to isolates of Streptococcus and E. coli., while enrofloxacin was found to be sensitive to isolates of Streptococcus and E. coli. Risk factors such as herd structure, deworming, vaccination, presence of ticks, use of teat dip and mineral supplements, feeding type, age, parity, housing, blood in the milk, milk leakage, milk taste, and milk yield were found to have the strongest association with mastitis occurrence, while ease of milking has moderate association. CONCLUSION: In the area examined, cases of SCM were found to be higher compared with that of CM, and ceftiofur sodium has been identified as the preferred treatment in both clinical and subclinical forms of caprine mastitis in Beetal goats. Risk factors for mastitis that was identified in this study can form the basis for the creation of an udder health control program specific for dairy goats. We hope our findings could raise awareness of the risk factors and treatment approaches for common mastitis-causing bacterial agents.

Body Mass Index and C-reactive Protein Are Potential Predictors of Asthma Development in Egyptian Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Patients.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies suggest asthma prevalence in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients. This is the first study to explore asthma prevalence among Egyptian PCOS patients. It highlighted common findings in PCOS and asthma. It investigated whether these findings could serve as potential predictors of asthma. METHODS: A hundred PCOS patients, sixty asthmatic patients and thirty apparently healthy females of matched age were included. Body mass index (BMI), C-reactive protein (CRP), IL-6, IgE, 25 (OH) vitamin D, testosterone and lipid profile were measured. RESULTS: Both PCOS and asthmatics had significantly higher BMI, Total cholesterol (TC), LDL-C, IgE, CRP and IL-6 (P<0.001) and lower 25 (OH) vitamin D levels (P<0.001) compared to controls. Within the PCOS group, 47 patients developed asthma with a significant increase in BMI (P=0.003), CRP and IgE levels (P<0.001) compared to non-asthmatic PCOS. Both asthmatic PCOS and asthmatics expressed elevated BMI, IgE, IL-6 and CRP levels, but with no significant difference between them. Asthmatic PCOS showed significantly higher testosterone and dyslipidemia profile. Multivariate regression revealed that BMI and CRP could predict asthma development within PCOS (OR=1.104, C.I 1.004-1.2 and OR=1, C.I. 1-1.02), respectively. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve showed that BMI and CRP at a cutoff value 28.5 kg/m2 and 117.6 nmol/L respectively could differentiate between asthmatic and non-asthmatic PCOS with sensitivity 63.8 % and specificity 62% for BMI, and sensitivity and specificity of 66% for CRP. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that BMI and CRP are predictors of asthma development in Egyptian PCOS.

Bioconjugation as a smart immobilization approach for α-amylase enzyme using stimuli-responsive Eudragit-L100 polymer: a robust biocatalyst for applications in pharmaceutical industry.

Enzymes are powerful versatile biocatalysts, however, industrial application of enzymes is usually hampered by their susceptibility. Bio-inspired Eudragit-α-amylase conjugate (E-AC) was proposed as a biocatalyst for various pharmaceutical and industrial applications. In this study, α -Amylase (E.C. 3.2.1.1) was immobilized by covalent conjugation to Eudragit L-100 under mild conditions. The effect of polymer, carbodiimide and enzyme concentrations on optimization of (E-AC) was investigated. In addition, characterization of the free α -Amylase and E-AC with regard to pH, temperature, kinetic parameters, reusability and operational and storage conditions was carried out. Results showed a shift of the optimum pH of E-AC towards the alkaline side whereas, E-AC exhibited higher thermal stability at all tested temperatures. The kinetic parameters, Km values were 2.87 mg/ml and 3.15 mg/ml and Vmax values were 8.35 mg/ml/min and 8.98 mg/ml/min for free and E-AC, respectively. E-AC retained 85% of the initial activity after five consecutive amylolytic cycles, thus emphasizing its powerful potentials. Operational storage and thermal stability were highly improved as well for E-AC conjugate with an 11.6 stabilization factor in comparison to the free α-amylase. In this study, Eudragit L-100 polymer was successfully used as smart immobilization support to create a reversibly soluble-insoluble enzyme biocatalyst to enforce and extend biotechnological applications of α-amylase in the pharmaceutical industry.