A Biodegradable Polymeric Matrix for the Repair of Annulus Fibrosus Defects in Intervertebral Discs

Saghari Fard Mohammad R.,Krueger Jan Philipp,Stich Stefan,Berger Phil,Kühl Anja A.,Sittinger Michael,Sittinger Michael,Endres Michaela 한국조직공학과 재생의학회 2022 조직공학과 재생의학 Vol.19 No.6

BACKGROUND: Tissue defects in the annulus fibrosus (AF) due to intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration or after nucleodiscectomy have little self-healing capacity. To prevent progressive degeneration of the IVD, the AF must be repaired. Biological closure has not yet been achieved and is a challenge for the research community. In this study, a scaffold made of absorbable poly (glycolic acid) (PGA) and hyaluronan (HA) that exhibit excellent biocompatibility and cell colonization properties was used to repair AF defects in an ovine model. METHODS: A partial resection was performed in AF in L3/4 or L4/5 of 10 sheep and PGA-HA scaffolds were implanted on the defects (n = 5), while defects in the control group were left untreated (n = 5). Three months post-operation, the lumbar discs were sectioned and stained with hematoxylin and eosin and safranin-O/fast-green. Histological features including proteoglycan content, annular structure, cellular morphology, blood vessel ingrowth and tear/cleft formation were scored using a modified scoring scheme by 3 investigators and evaluated by a pathologist independently. RESULTS: The treated AF exhibited significantly enhanced repair tissue structure with signs of proteoglycan formation compared to the untreated group. The median scores were 4.3 for the treated and 9.8 for the untreated group. Cystic degeneration, perivascular infiltration, inflammation and necrosis were only present in the untreated group. Blood vessel ingrowth and tear/cleft formation were increased, though not significant, in the untreated group while cell morphology was comparable in both groups. CONCLUSION: PGA-HA scaffolds used for AF closure support repair tissue formation in an ovine lumbar disc defect model.

Molecular insights into the role of genetic determinants of congenital hypothyroidism

Kollati, Yedukondalu,Akella, Radha Rama Devi,Naushad, Shaik Mohammad,Patel, Rajesh K.,Reddy, G. Bhanuprakash,Dirisala, Vijaya R. Korea Genome Organization 2021 Genomics & informatics Vol.19 No.3

In our previous studies, we have demonstrated the association of certain variants of the thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR), thyroid peroxidase (TPO), and thyroglobulin (TG) genes with congenital hypothyroidism. Herein, we explored the mechanistic basis for this association using different in silico tools. The mRNA 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) plays key roles in gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. In TSHR variants (rs2268477, rs7144481, and rs17630128), the binding affinity of microRNAs (miRs) (hsa-miR-154-5p, hsa-miR-376a-2-5p, hsa-miR-3935, hsa-miR-4280, and hsa-miR-6858-3p) to the 3'-UTR is disrupted, affecting post-transcriptional gene regulation. TPO and TG are the two key proteins necessary for the biosynthesis of thyroid hormones in the presence of iodide and H₂O₂. Reduced stability of these proteins leads to aberrant biosynthesis of thyroid hormones. Compared to the wild-type TPO protein, the p.S398T variant was found to exhibit less stability and significant rearrangements of intra-atomic bonds affecting the stoichiometry and substrate binding (binding energies, ΔG of wild-type vs. mutant: -15 vs. -13.8 kcal/mol; and dissociation constant, K_d of wild-type vs. mutant: 7.2E^-12 vs. 7.0E^-11 M). The missense mutations p.G653D and p.R1999W on the TG protein showed altered ΔG(0.24 kcal/mol and 0.79 kcal/mol, respectively). In conclusion, an in silico analysis of TSHR genetic variants in the 3'-UTR showed that they alter the binding affinities of different miRs. The TPO protein structure and mutant protein complex (p.S398T) are less stable, with potentially deleterious effects. A structural and energy analysis showed that TG mutations (p.G653D and p.R1999W) reduce the stability of the TG protein and affect its structure-functional relationship.

Ground beetle community in suburban Satoyama — A case study onwing type and body size under small scale management

Sonomi Shibuya,Zaal Kikvidze,Wataru Toki,Yasuto Kanazawa,Tatsuya Suizu,Tamio Yajima,Takahiro Fujimori,Mohammad Reza Mansournia,Zuhair Sule,Kôhei Kubota,Kenji Fukuda 한국응용곤충학회 2014 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.17 No.4

A Satoyama landscape is an important reservoir of biodiversity; however, in post-industrial era traditionalSatoyama management became economically unfeasible. To maintain Satoyama, labor-saving management styles have begun to be implemented. In contrast to thetraditional styles based on labor-intensive practices such as rotational tree clear-cutting, the labor-saving stylesconsist mainly in tree thinning and ground vegetation cutting within a small spatial range. The consequencesof this newapproach are unclear, and our study aimed at filling this gap in our knowledge by analyzing the effectsofsmall scalemanagement on ground beetle community in suburban Satoyama (Kashiwacity, central Japan).Weapplied labor-savingmanagement at limited spatial range, and sampled and analyzed ground beetles both beforeand after management. Cluster analysis revealed three groups of beetle assemblages, corresponding to threehabitats: forest, bamboo stand and grassland. Comparison of wing traits showed that, before management, brachypterousbeetles dominated forest plots and macropterous beetleswere more prominent in the grassland plot,while in the bamboo stand both types of wing morphology were evenly represented. This trend can be linked tohabitat structural stability driven by vegetation regeneration cycleswhich reflect dominant plant longevity. Aftermanagement, macroptery increased in all three habitats. Probably, habitat disturbance created by vegetationmanagement gave advantage to macropterous beetles over brachypterous beetles. These results suggest thatwing type can be linked to vegetation structural stability. In some species, decline in abundance was accompaniedwith decline in body size. Our study shows that small scale Satoyama management can have pronouncedeffects on beetle assemblages.

Integration of Traffic Management and an Artificial Intelligence to Evaluate Urban Air Quality

Mohammad K. Younes,Ghassan Sulaiman,Ali Al-Mashni 한국대기환경학회 2020 Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment (AJAE) Vol.14 No.3

Emissions from motor vehicles are the primary source of air pollution, especially in congested urban centres. However, through effective traffic management, it has been found that the level of pollution can be significantly reduced, facilitating the mobility of urban arterials. This study aims to quantify the extent of traffic emissions and to identify the influence of traffic management to improve air quality and reducing traffic emissions. An Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) model was developed to estimate the extent of traffic emissions(NO2 and PM10) at certain intersections. Then, a traffic management simulation software was also used to simulate traffic and to build a traffic improvement scenario at these intersections. This was followed by measuring the improvement in air quality due to traffic management modification, analysed using the developed ANFIS model. The results showed that reducing the delay at certain intersections may reduce NO2 and PM10 significantly. The proposed hybrid model increased the forecasting accuracy and improved the perception between the relationship between traffic characteristics and pollutant emissions. Additionally, it facilitates the work of city planners and helps decision making regarding urban air quality.

Cyclic load testing and numerical modeling of concrete columns with substandard seismic details

Mohammad K. Bahrani,Mohammad S. Marefat,Mohammad Khanmohammadi,Ali Goli 한국계산역학회 2005 Computers and Concrete, An International Journal Vol.2 No.5

Recent earthquakes have shown that many of existing buildings in Iran sustain heavy damage due to defective seismic details. To assess vulnerability of one common type of buildings, which consists of low rise framed concrete structures, three defective and three standard columns have been tested under reversed cyclic load. The substandard specimens suffered in average 37% loss of strength and 45% loss of energy dissipation capacity relative to standard specimens, and this was mainly due to less lateral and longitudinal reinforcement and insufficient sectional dimensions. A relationship has been developed to introduce variation of plastic length under increasing displacement amplitude. At ultimate state, the length of plastic hinge is almost equal to full depth of section. Using calibrated hysteresis models, the response of different specimens under two earthquakes has been analyzed. The analysis indicated that the ratio between displacement demand and capacity of standard specimens is about unity and that of deficient ones is about 1.7.

Sequential treatment for landfill leachate by applying coagulation-adsorption process

mohammad J. K. bashir,Tay Ming Xian,Areeb Shehzad,Sumathi Sethupahi,Ng Choon Aun,Salem Abu Amr 한국자원공학회 2017 Geosystem engineering Vol.20 No.1

Landfill leachate has always been the most problematic factor in municipal solid waste management. Leachate generated from landfills generally contains high amount of organic and inorganic compounds that might cause pollution to water resources. In the current study, sequential treatment of landfill leachate using coagulation–flocculations a pretreatment process followed by adsorption process was used to treat chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonical nitrogen (NH3-N) and color from raw landfill leachate. Coagulation–flocculation process was examined using alum and ferric chloride. The optimum working pH for the tested coagulants was 5 and FeCl3 showed higher removal efficiency for landfill leachate than alum. The pretreated leachate was further treated via two types of adsorbents i.e., powdered activated carbon (PAC) and zeolite. The optimum experimental conditions for PAC and zeolite adsorptions were found to be 40 g/L at 30 min and 80 g/L at 120 min, respectively. Scanning electron microscope and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy tests were conducted to examine the surface morphology and chemical properties of the adsorbents. The results showed that the Freundlich isotherm was best fitted for PAC adsorption while Langmuir isotherm model showed good conformity for zeolite adsorption. Besides, pseudo-second order model was found to be the best fitted kinetic model for both PAC and zeolite adsorption where the R2 was closed to unity for all parameters. On balance, FeCl3 coagulation-PAC adsorption has shown higher removal efficiency for color, COD, and NH3-N as compared to FeCl3 coagulation-zeolite adsorption.

Effect of Cooking Methods and Fat Levels on the Physico-chemical, Processing, Sensory and Microbial Quality of Buffalo Meat Patties

Mohammad, Nisar P.U.,Chatli, M.K.,Sharma, D.K.,Sahoo, J. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2010 Animal Bioscience Vol.23 No.10

Buffalo meat patties with two fat levels, F1 (15% added fat) and F2 (5% added fat and 3% tapioca starch), were cooked in a pre-heated hot air oven (HO) at $175{\pm}2^{\circ}C$ for 15 min, in a microwave oven (MO) for 70 sec and by pressure cooking (PC) at 15 psi pressure for 10 min. and compared for physico-chemical, processing, sensory and microbiological quality attributes. F2 had significantly (p<0.05) higher value for the moisture and moisture protein ratio than F1. However, MO and PC patties had significantly (p<0.05) higher moisture content than HO-cooked buffalo meat patties irrespective of fat content. Highest fat percentage was in MO patties while the minimum was in PC patties. Moisture and fat retention and cooking yield were highest in MO patties irrespective of added fat content in the formulation. Cooking yield and dimensional parameters were better maintained in F2 than F1. Sensory scores viz. appearance and color, flavour, juiciness and texture for HO patties were better than other cooking methods. Sensory panelists rated overall acceptability of HO patties very good to excellent, whereas PC and MO patties were rated as good to very good irrespective of fat content. Microbiological quality was comparable in both groups irrespective of cooking methods used.

Conceptus-related measurements at early pregnancy in Black Bengal goat: an abattoir study

Anup K. Talukder,Mohammad A. Rahman,Mohammad N. Hoque,Mohammad T. Islam,Abu N. M. A. Rahman,Ziban C. Das 사단법인 한국동물생명공학회 2020 한국동물생명공학회지 Vol.35 No.2

The present study aimed to investigate the conceptus-related changes during early pregnancy in the Black Bengal breed of goat. A total of 22 gravid genitalia of the Black Bengal goats were collected from local slaughterhouses. The crown-rump lengths (CRL) of the conceptuses were determined to estimate the gestational age (GA). The length and diameter of uterine horn and amniotic sac were measured, and volume of amniotic and allantoic fluid formed by individual conceptus were recorded. The results reveal that the CRL is positively correlated with GA of the conceptus (R2 = 0.89, p < 0.05); however, CRL was not influenced by number of conceptus. Both the left and the right uterine horn gradually increased in size with the advancement of pregnancy irrespective of conceptus number present in the horn. The size of the amniotic sac of conceptus gradually increased with the conceptus age but maintained spherical shape from 5 to 7 weeks of pregnancy. The amniotic fluid formed by individual conceptus rapidly increased from 5 weeks (3.4 ± 0.3 mL) to 7 weeks (21.0 ± 2.0 mL) and 9 weeks (111.5 ± 4.0 mL). The volume of allantoic fluid formed by individual conceptus was steadily increased until 7 weeks (60.0 ± 5.0 mL) and began to decline slowly thereafter (50.0 ± 5.0 mL at 9 weeks). Notably, there was no effect of conceptus number per pregnancy on individual amniotic and allantoic fluid volume. The cotyledons have first appeared on the allanto-chorionic surface from 4 to 5 weeks of pregnancy. The closed eye, nostril and hooves of the conceptus became visible at 7 weeks of pregnancy. The present study has shown the basic information on conceptus-related developmental changes during early pregnancy up to 9 weeks in Black Bengal goat.

Statistical model to determine surface roughness when milling hastelloy C-22HS

B. Mohammad,K. Kadirgama,K. A. Abou-El-Hossein,H. Habeeb 대한기계학회 2007 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.21 No.10

Conceptus-related measurements at early pregnancy in Black Bengal goat : an abattoir study

Anup K. Talukder,Mohammad A. Rahman,Mohammad N. Hoque,Mohammad T. Islam,Abu N. M. A. Rahman,Ziban C. Das 한국동물생명공학회(구 한국동물번식학회) 2020 Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology Vol.35 No.2

The present study aimed to investigate the conceptus-related changes during early pregnancy in the Black Bengal breed of goat. A total of 22 gravid genitalia of the Black Bengal goats were collected from local slaughterhouses. The crown-rump lengths (CRL) of the conceptuses were determined to estimate the gestational age (GA). The length and diameter of uterine horn and amniotic sac were measured, and volume of amniotic and allantoic fluid formed by individual conceptus were recorded. The results reveal that the CRL is positively correlated with GA of the conceptus (R2 = 0.89, p < 0.05); however, CRL was not influenced by number of conceptus. Both the left and the right uterine horn gradually increased in size with the advancement of pregnancy irrespective of conceptus number present in the horn. The size of the amniotic sac of conceptus gradually increased with the conceptus age but maintained spherical shape from 5 to 7 weeks of pregnancy. The amniotic fluid formed by individual conceptus rapidly increased from 5 weeks (3.4 ± 0.3 mL) to 7 weeks (21.0 ± 2.0 mL) and 9 weeks (111.5 ± 4.0 mL). The volume of allantoic fluid formed by individual conceptus was steadily increased until 7 weeks (60.0 ± 5.0 mL) and began to decline slowly thereafter (50.0 ± 5.0 mL at 9 weeks). Notably, there was no effect of conceptus number per pregnancy on individual amniotic and allantoic fluid volume. The cotyledons have first appeared on the allanto-chorionic surface from 4 to 5 weeks of pregnancy. The closed eye, nostril and hooves of the conceptus became visible at 7 weeks of pregnancy. The present study has shown the basic information on conceptus-related developmental changes during early pregnancy up to 9 weeks in Black Bengal goat.