Cloning,Expression and Characterization of Recombinant Exotoxin A-Flagellin Fusion Protein as a New Vaccine Candidate against Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infections     

Asghar Tanom  Safar Farajnia  Shahin Najar Peerayeh  Jafar Majidi 《Iranian Biomedical Journal》2013,17(1):1-7

Background: Infections due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in patients who suffer from impaired immune responses and chronic diseases such as cystic fibrosis. At present, aggressive antibiotic therapy is the only choice for management of P. aeruginosa infections, but emergence of highly resistant strains necessitated the development of novel alternative therapeutics including an effective vaccine. Several P. aeruginosa antigens have been tested for vaccine development, including lipopolysaccharide alone, polysaccharides alginate, extracellular proteins, exotoxin A (exo A) and killed whole cell. However, none of them are currently available clinically. Methods: In this research, recombinant exoA-flagellin (fliC) fusion protein as a cocktail antigen was expressed and purified and its antigenic characteristics were evaluated. Results: Expression of recombinant fusion protein by E. coli using pET22b vector resulted in production of exoA-fliC fusion protein in high concentration. Based on Western-blotting results, recombinant fusion protein showed a good antigenic interaction with sera from patients with various P. aeruginosa infections. Conclusion: These results suggested that recombinant exoA-fliC fusion protein can be produced in the laboratory, and tested as a candidate vaccine in P. aeruginosa infections. Key Words: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Exotoxin A (exoA), Flagellin (fliC), Vaccines  相似文献   

Ultrasonographic measurement of the adrenal gland-to-abdominal aortic ratio as a valuable method of estimating normal adrenal size in rabbits     

Tina Ghaffari  Ali Mirshahi  Ali Asghar Sarchahi  Mohammad Azizzadeh 《Anatomia, histologia, embryologia》2023,52(2):234-240

A wide range has been reported for the ultrasonographic measurements of the normal adrenal gland in rabbits. Therefore, having sufficient information about the normal measurements of the adrenal gland and their relationship with indicators such as weight, sex and the diameter of the internal abdominal aorta will be of great help in diagnosing diseases of the adrenal gland. In the present study, 21 healthy adult intact rabbits were selected. The abdominal cavity of the animals was examined using ultrasound; adrenal gland parameters such as length, width, height, circumference and area on the right and left sides were measured in both sagittal and transverse planes. Additionally, the diameter of the abdominal aorta in the sagittal plane was imaged. After statistical analysis, the parameters of the adrenal glands on the right and left showed a positive significant correlation with the weight and the diameter of the abdominal aorta, although no significant correlation was found between these parameters and sex. The ratio of adrenal gland parameters to abdominal aortic diameter was calculated and the statistical analysis of the values showed that, except for the ratio of left adrenal area to aortic diameter, the other ratio of adrenal gland parameters to abdominal aortic diameter was not significantly related to weight. Therefore, these ratios can be used as suitable indicators for assessing the change in size of the adrenal gland of rabbits of different sizes. Knowing the relationship between normal adrenal measurements and the indices such as weight, sex and diameter of the abdominal aorta can help clinicians and researchers evaluate the changes in the size of the adrenal gland.  相似文献   

Occurrence of Cucumber mosaic virus Subgroup IA in tomato in Pakistan     

Akhtar  K. P.  Ryu  K. H.  Saleem  M. Y.  Asghar  M.  Jamil  F. F.  Haq  M. A.  Khan  I. A. 《植物病害和植物保护杂志》2008,115(1):2-3

Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection - Infection of tomato in Faisalabad, Pakistan with subgroup IA strain of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) is reported for the first time. The virus was detected...  相似文献   

Comparative studies on some yield contributing traits of wheat sown in binary mixtures     

Sabina Asghar  Muhammad Kashif  Abdus Salam Khan  Ihsan Khaliq  Jehanzeb Farooq 《Frontiers of Agriculture in China》2011,5(2):141-145

Cultivar mixtures have been suggested as ways to increase crop productivity. This field study was conducted to investigate the competition among five cultivated varieties of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) for the traits like plant height, flag leaf area, fertile tillers per plant, spike length, spikelets per spike, spike density, grain weight per spike, and seed index in relation to competition with yield per plant. It was observed that cultivar mixtures ought to be more productive than corresponding pure stands. Four binary combinations of Seher2006-Kohistan97, Farid2006-SH2002, SH2002-Shahkar95, and SH2002-Kohistan97 were superior in performance, showing land equivalent ratio (LER) values greater than one for plant height, fertile tillers per plant, spike density, grain weight per spike, and grain yield per plant. It was observed that the performance of binary mixtures was mainly due to the increased average performance in spike density, grain weight per spike, and grain yield per plant. The competitive ability of wheat varieties in mixtures was independent of each other for the respective traits, which lead to cumulative effects for the increased performance within the associates in mixtures.  相似文献   

Ovipositional preference and life history parameters of Lixus incanescens (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) on selected sugar beet cultivars     

Seyed Ali Asghar Fathi  Ali Akbar Abedi 《国际虫害防治杂志》2014,60(4):293-299

Ovipositional preference and life history parameters of Lixus incanescens were studied on six sugar beet cultivars: Ardabili, Aras, Persia, Flores, Laetitia and Rosire. In both no-choice and free-choice tests, females of L. incanescens laid fewer eggs on Persia and Laetitia compared with Ardabili, Aras, Flores and Rosire. In performance experiments, the pre-imaginal stages developed slower and survived lower on Persia and Laetitia than on Ardabili, Aras and Flores. The intrinsic rate of natural increase and the population growth rate were lowest on Persia (r_m = 0.126 day^?1 and λ = 1.134 day^?1) among the tested cultivars. Petiole diameter and length were positively correlated with pre-imaginal survival rate (r² = 0.96 and r² = 0.98, respectively); therefore, thinner and shorter petioles in Persia and Laetitia led to an increased pre-imaginal mortality. These results suggest that Persia and Laetitia express promising traits that can be an integral component of sugar beet breeding for resistance to L. incanescens.  相似文献   

伞伐更新法对赫卡尼亚(Hyrcanian)森林系统中森林再生和林分结构的影响   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Mohammad Reza Pourmajidian  Hamid Jalilvand  Asghar Fallah  Seyed Ataollah Hosseini  Aidin Parsakhoo  Amin Vosoughian  Ali Rahmani 《林业研究》2010,21(3):265-272

研究伞伐更新法对赫卡尼亚森林系统中森林再生和林分结构的影响。在伊朗北部优势种为山毛榉（Fagus orientalisLipsky）的硬木林,采取伞伐更新法和非伞伐更新法方法设计实验区。结果表明,在山毛榉（F orientalis Lipsky）林中采用伞伐更新法处理,明显影响林下草本植物种的频度和密度。伞伐更新法处理后,林堇菜（Viola silvestris Lam.）、车叶草（Asperula odorata L.）、苔草（Carex spp.）和悬钩子（Rubushyrcanus Juz）的种频度明显增加。在对照区,树种的胸高直径（57.50±2.15cm）大于被处理区（50.67±1.88cm）的树种的胸高直径（50.67±1.88 cm）,但对照区和处理区的树种的高度值相似。在1995-2005年间,波斯铁木（Parrotia persica）苗木数量增加到13.2%,而山毛榉（F orientalis）和欧洲鹅耳枥（Carpinus betulus）的苗木数量却明显减少。总之,应该利用其它育林方法,如,带状择伐作业,而不是伞伐更新法培育赫卡尼亚森林中山毛榉林。  相似文献   

Assessing the potential for biological control of potato field pests in Ardabil,Iran: functional responses of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Orius niger</Emphasis> (Wolf.) and <Emphasis Type="Italic">O. minutus</Emphasis> (L.) (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae)     

Seyed Ali Asghar Fathi  Gadir Nouri-Ganbalani 《Journal of pest science》2010,83(1):47-52

The two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae), and the onion thrips, Thrips tabaci Lind. (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), are significant field pests of potato in the Ardabil region of Iran. Orius niger (Wolf.) and O. minutus (L.) (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) are locally the predominant natural enemies of these pests. This study compared the functional responses of O. niger and O. minutus to female mites and second instar thrips larvae across a range of prey densities (5, 10, 20, and 40 prey/arena) under controlled conditions of 24 ± 1°C, 50 ± 5% RH and 16:8 h (L:D). The resulting data were appropriately fit to Type II functional response models in four predator–prey interactions, including: (1) O. niger to second instar thrips larvae (a = 0.009 h⁻¹; and T _h = 1.62 h); (2) O. niger to females mites (a = 0.006 h⁻¹ and T _h = 1.28 h); (3) O. minutus to second instar thrips larvae (a = 0.008 h⁻¹ and T _h = 1.93 h) and (4) O. minutus to females mites (a = 0.01 h⁻¹ and T _h = 1.1 h). The number of second instar thrips larvae attacked by O. niger was greater than that by O. minutus (P ≤ 0.01); conversely, the number of females mites attacked by O. minutus was greater than that by O. niger (P ≤ 0.01). These results confirm the potential for both O. niger and O. minutus to make valuable contributions to a biological control program against onion thrips and the two-spotted spider mites infesting potato fields in this region.  相似文献   

Water-repellent efficiency of thermally modified wood as affected by its permeability     

Asghar Tarmian  Akbar Mastouri 《林业研究》2018,(3)

This study shows how the air permeability of thermally modified wood contributes to its water-repellent efficiency. For this purpose, freshly cut boards of hornbeam(Carpinus betulus), poplar(Populus nigra), and heartwood of oak(Quercus castanifolia) were modified at a steam temperature of 180 °C for 3 h inside a Thermo Wood kiln.The porous structure, permeability, and water uptake of wood were affected differently by thermal modification,depending on the wood species. The creation of microcracks in the cell walls, due to collapsing of fiber cells,resulted in a noticeable increase in the permeability of hornbeam. Despite checking in the poplar wood structure,its permeability was negatively affected by thermal modification. In contrast to oak and poplar, a negative waterrepellent efficiency was observed for the modified hornbeam, caused by an increase in the permeability.  相似文献   

Mixed-effects modeling for tree height prediction models of Oriental beech in the Hyrcanian forests   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

Siavash Kalbi  Asghar Fallah  Pete Bettinger  Shaban Shataee  Rassoul Yousefpour 《林业研究》2018,29(5):1195-1204

Height–diameter relationships are essential elements of forest assessment and modeling efforts.In this work,two linear and eighteen nonlinear height–diameter equations were evaluated to find a local model for Oriental beech(Fagus orientalis Lipsky) in the Hyrcanian Forest in Iran.The predictive performance of these models was first assessed by different evaluation criteria: adjusted R~2(R~2_(adj)),root mean square error(RMSE),relative RMSE(%RMSE),bias,and relative bias(%bias) criteria.The best model was selected for use as the base mixed-effects model.Random parameters for test plots were estimated with different tree selection options.Results show that the Chapman–Richards model had better predictive ability in terms of adj R~2(0.81),RMSE(3.7 m),%RMSE(12.9),bias(0.8),%Bias(2.79) than the other models.Furthermore,the calibration response,based on a selection of four trees from the sample plots,resulted in a reduction percentage for bias and RMSE of about 1.6–2.7%.Our results indicate that the calibrated model produced the most accurate results.  相似文献   

Comparison of some physiological aspects of drought stress resistance in two ground cover genus     

Maryam Tatari  Reza Fotouhi Ghazvini  Asghar Mousavi  Ghobad Babaei 《Journal of plant nutrition》2018,41(10):1215-1226

Owing to high water requirements of turfgrass, it is essential to find suitable turfgrasses for cultivation in arid and semi-arid conditions. For this purpose, physiological responses of Agropyron desertorum and Poa pratensis cv. “Barimpala” that were subjected to outdoor with holding irrigation were evaluated. Seeds of these two genuses were cultured in polyvinyl chloride tubes and were irrigated daily until drainage occurred. After establishment, irrigation was stopped until leaf wilting occurred. P. pratensis and A. desertorum were wilted during 15 and 20 days after drought treatment, respectively. Turf quality and relative water content were decreased due to drought stress, butthe extent of decrease in A. desertorum was less than that it was in P. pratensis. Five days after stress, malondialdehyde levels increased in P. pratensis more quickly than A. desertorum, while electrolyte leakage rose immediately after with holding irrigation in these genuses. Superoxide dismutase and catalase activities in the two stressed plants increased and then decreased with stress development. In these conditions activities of AT, 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole, peroxidase and glutathione peroxidase had a similar pattern in P. pratensis, while A. desertorum showed continuous increase in these enzyme activities.  相似文献