Sharif Digital Repository

In this work, we synthesized carbon hollow spheres (CHSs) using the silica templating method, encapsulated 2-mercaptobenzimidazole (MBI) inhibitor in the CHSs and evaluated their corrosion inhibition performance upon exposure of mild steel to a saline solution containing the released inhibitor. The effects of silica template surface modification on the CHS structure was evaluated, while the structure and morphology of the synthesized CHS was analyzed using field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy. Furthermore, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy... 

In this article, indium doped ZnO nanoparticles (alloy nanoparticles) were investigated as inhibitors against algae growth on adobe mud and earthen artworks for surface preservation from destruction caused by micro-organisms under humid conditions, through surface modification and activation run off. Nanoparticles (NPs) were fabricated by physical vapor deposition (PVD) growth mechanism. The fabricated NPs were approximately 20 nm in size. The Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus quadricauda were tested by application of indium doped ZnO nanoparticles (In/ZnO NPs) as inhibitors. As concentrations of NPs increased, the negative impacts of NPs on the algal growth were enhanced and physical... 

Background: Nutrigenomic has revolutionized our understanding of nutrition. As plants make up a noticeable part of our diet, in the present study we chose microRNAs of edible plants and investigated if they can perfectly match human genes, indicating potential regulatory functionalities. Methods: miRNAs were obtained using the PNRD database. Edible plants were separated and microRNAs in common in at least four of them entered our analysis. Using vmatchPattern, these 64 miRNAs went through four steps of refinement to improve target prediction: Alignment with the whole genome (2581 results), filtered for those in gene regions (1371 results), filtered for exon regions (66 results) and finally... 

Formation of the amyloid beta (Aβ) peptide aggregations represents an indispensable role in appearing and progression of Alzheimer disease. β-sheet breaker peptides can be designed and modified with different amino acids in order to improve biological properties and binding affinity to the amyloid beta peptide. In the present study, three peptide sequences were designed based on the hopeful results of LIAIMA peptide and molecular docking studies were carried out onto the monomer and fibril structure of amyloid beta peptide using AutoDock Vina software. According to the obtained interactions and binding energy from docking, the best-designed peptide (D-GABA-FPLIAIMA) was chosen and... 

The mechanism of surfactants in surfactant-in situ chemical oxidation (S-ISCO) coupled process for trichloroethene (TCE) degradation was firstly reported. The performance of TCE solubilization and inhibition of TCE degradation in three nonionic surfactants (TW-80, Brij-35, TX-100) in PS/Fe(II)/citric acid (CA) system was compared and TW-80 was evaluated to be the optimal surfactant in S-ISCO coupled process due to the best TCE solubilizing ability and minimal inhibition for TCE degradation (only 31.8% TCE inhibition in the presence of 1 g L−1 TW-80 surfactant). The inhibition mechanism in TCE degradation was also demonstrated by comparing the strength of ROSs and PS utilization. In the... 

The global COVID-19 pandemic has affected the world’s population by causing changes in behavior, such as social distancing, masking, restricting people’s movement, and evaluating existing medication as potential therapies. Many pre-existing medications such as tocilizumab, ivermectin, colchicine, interferon, and steroids have been evaluated for being repurposed to use for the treatment of COVID-19. None of these agents have been effective except for steroids and, to a lesser degree, tocilizumab. Ivermectin has been one of the suggested repurposed medications which exhibit an in vitro inhibitory activity on SARS-CoV-2 replication. The most recommended dose of ivermectin for the treatment of... 

Unique physiochemical and biological properties of nanofibers along with the choice of a wide variety of materials for both fabrication and tunable release patterns make nanofibers an ideal option for drug delivery. Loading antibacterial agents into nanofibers has attracted great deal of attention. Whilst there are several studies focusing on applying new generations of antibacterial materials, antibiotics are still the gold standard in clinical applications. Therefore, we aimed at introducing antibiotic-loaded nanofiber substrates with potential for topical skin delivery applications, reduced consumption of antibiotics and increased storage time. We applied Amoxicillin (AMX) as a model drug... 

Polyvinyl alcohol/sodium alginate/nano silver (PVA/SA/Ag) composite films were made by solution casting method. Gamma irradiation was used to synthesize silver nanoparticles in situ via reduction of silver nitrate without using harmful chemical agents for biomedical applications. UV-vis and XRD results demonstrated that spherical silver nanoparticles were produced even at low irradiation dose of 5. kGy. By increasing irradiation dose, more nanoparticles were synthesized while no PVA hydrogel was formed up to 15. kGy. Also the size of nanoparticles was reduced with increasing gamma dose evidenced by higher release rate of silver nanoparticles in lukewarm water and SEM images. Comparing SEM... 

This study investigated the synthesis of Pd nanoparticles (NPs) using a high-gravity technique mediated by Salvia hispanica leaf extracts. Biological assays confirmed their antibacterial activity against gram positive (S. aureus) and gram negative (E. coli) bacteria with significant antioxidant activity in comparison with the standards as well as low cellular toxicity on PC12 and HEK293 cell lines. To the best of our knowledge, this study can be considered as the first investigation of Pd-NPs synthesized by Salvia hispanica leaf extracts assisted by a high-gravity technique. In addition, the mentioned green synthesis procedure led to the formation of nanoparticles with considerable... 

Background: Newcastle disease virus (NDV) has shown noticeable oncolytic properties, especially against cervical cancer. However, in order to improve the spread rate and oncotoxicity of the virus, employment of other therapeutic reagents would be helpful. It has been shown that some viral fusogenic membrane glycoproteins (FMGs) could facilitate viral propagation and increase the infection rate of tumor cells by oncolytic viruses. Additionally, immune checkpoint blockade has widely been investigated for its anti-tumor effects against several types of cancers. Here, we investigated for the first time whether the incorporation of influenza hemagglutinin-2 (HA2) FMG could improve the oncolytic... 

In the last decades, numerous attempts have been made to prevent microbial pollution spreading, using antibacterial agents. Zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) belongs to a subgroup of metal organic frameworks (MOFs) merits of attention due to the zinc ion clusters and its effective antibacterial activity. In this work, Ag-doped magnetic microporous γ-Fe2O3@SiO2@ZIF-8-Ag (FSZ-Ag) was successfully synthesized by a facile methodology in room temperature and used as an antibacterial agent against the growth of the Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Several characterization methods were applied to analyze the properties of the materials, and the... 

AgNPs@Chitosan and Co3O4-NPs@Chitosan were fabricated with Salvia hispanica. Results showed MZI values of 5 and 30 mm for Co3O4-NPs- and AgNPs@Chitosan against S. aureus, and 15 and 21 mm for Co3O4-NPs- and AgNPs@Chitosan against E. coli (24 h, 20 μg/mL), respectively. MTT assays showed up to 80% and 90%, 71% and 75%, and 91% and 94% mammalian cell viability for the green synthesized, chemically synthesized AgNPs and green synthesized AgNPs@Chitosan for HEK-293 and PC12 cells, respectively, and 70% and 71%, 59% and 62%, and 88% and 73% for the related Co3O4-NPs (24 h, 20 μg/mL). The photocatalytic activities showed dye degradation after 135 and 105 min for AgNPs@Chitosan and... 

The simultaneous oxidation performance of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) by nanoscale calcium peroxide particles (nCaO2) activated with ferric ions (Fe(III)) and the mechanism of the enhancement of BTEX degradation by L-cysteine (L-cys) were investigated. The batch experimental results showed that the nCaO2/Fe(III)/L-cys process was effective in the destruction of BTEX in both ultrapure water and actual groundwater. A proper amount of L-cys could enhance BTEX degradation due to the promotion of Fe(II)/Fe(III) redox cycles by the participation of L-cys, but an excessive presence of L-cys would cause inhibition. Adding 1.0 mM L-cys to the nCaO2/Fe(III) system, the... 

In this project, the protective effect of Biebersteinia multifida root extract (BMRE) against corrosion of 1018 low carbon steel (1018LCS) in HCl solutions was appraised by assessing weight loss, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and polarization at 25 °C. The maximum inhibitory efficacy for the concentration of 1 g/l of the BMRE was 92.8% at 25 °C after 2 h and increased to 95.3% after 24 h of immersion. Polarization experiments have shown that the extract in acidic solutions can act as a mixed corrosion inhibitor. The corrosion inhibitory efficacy of BMRE decreased with increasing temperature, and at all temperature settings studied, the adsorption of BMRE molecules on 1018 LCS... 

Conformational diseases, constituting a large number of diseases, have been connected with protein misfolding, leading to aggregation known as amyloid fibrils. Mainly due to the lack of detailed molecular mechanisms, there has not been an effective drug to combat amyloid-associated diseases. Recently, a small organic pyridazine-based molecule (RS-0406) has shown significant reductions in amyloid fibrils in both in vitro and in vivo animal studies. However, no information on molecular details of inhibition for the small molecule has been reported. In this work, we have decided to explore structure-activity relationship of pyridazine-based compounds to investigate structural parameters for... 

Oncolytic virotherapy has currently emerged as a promising approach upon which scientists have been able to induce tumor-specific cell death in a broad spectrum of malignancies. Paramyxoviruses represent intrinsic oncolytic capability, which makes them excellent candidates to be widely used in oncolytic virotherapy. The mechanisms through which these viruses destroy the cancerous cells involve triggering the autophagic machinery and apoptosis in target cells. Interestingly, oncolytic paramyxoviruses have been found to induce autophagy and lead to tumor cells death rather than their survival. Indeed, the induction of autophagy has been revealed to enhance the immunogenicity of tumor cells via... 

Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are frequently deregulated in various types of cancer. While antisense oligonucleotides are used to block oncomiRs, delivery of tumour-suppressive miRNAs holds great potential as a potent anti-cancer strategy. Here, we aim to determine, and functionally analyse, miRNAs that are lowly expressed in various types of tumour but abundantly expressed in multiple normal tissues. Methods The miRNA sequencing data of 14 cancer types were downloaded from the TCGA dataset. Significant differences in miRNA expression between tumor and normal samples were calculated using limma package (R programming). An adjusted p value < 0.05 was used to compare normal versus tumor miRNA...