Background: As an inflammatory process that involves the paranasal sinuses, chronic sinusitis (CS) is one of the most prevalent chronic illnesses that affects all age groups. Parasitic fungi are involved in sinusitis infections. Objective: This study is aimed at the molecular detection of sinusitis caused by such fungi. Methods: Seventy-two samples were collected from the secretions of maxillary and frontal sinuses of patients from Rasoul-e Akram (PbUH) Hospital in Tehran during sinus operation. Fungal genomic DNA was extracted by a DNP kit. The detection of fungi was carried out by employing a sequence-specific target, namely mt cyte b gene locus, and using primers. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was optimized, and the limit of detection (LOD) and specificity tests were performed. The amplicon was cloned by the T/A cloning method, which was used for sequencing and positive control. Results: The 430-bp PCR product underwent appropriate propagation before being amplified and was observed on 1. 5% electrophoreses gel. The evaluation of the selected primers with seven DNA constructs from another microorganisms demonstrated 100% specificity. The limit of detection of the optimized test was evaluated up to 50 fungi. Out of 72 samples, 9. 7% were positive for fungi existence. Conclusions: This study indicated that molecular diagnosis of the target mt cyte b gene using LOD enhances clinical laboratory detection of fungal sinusitis.

Background and Objectives: Diagnosis of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection could be missed in some cases if serological tests are used solely. Molecular characterization of HEV is essential for diagnosis of acute and chronic HEV infections, and evaluating the chronic HEV infection status in immunocompromised patients. The aim of this study was to prepare a suitable HEV positive control, determine the limit of detection (LOD) of HEV RNA for a specific molecular test, and evaluate the efficiency and precision of the test.Methods: Genomic region of HEV NCBI reference sequence was constructed. LOD, intra-assay precision, and inter-assay precision were calculated to evaluate the efficiency and precision of the test. Then, tenfold serial dilutions of the HEV positive control were prepared.Real time PCR was performed three times for each dilution. Mean, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation of cycle thresholds obtained in three independent and simultaneous tests were calculated, and the results were analyzed.Results: The LOD of this test was determined as 1.4×104 copy/ml or 42 copy/reaction or 14 copy/ml. Intra-assay precision and inter-assay precision for all assays were lower than 2.5% and 10%, respectively.Conclusion: We propose that the real time PCR assay targeting the ORF2/3 overlapping conserved region is suitable for detection of a wide range of different HEV genotypes found in acute and chronic HEV infections. However, the precision of the test should be improved for detecting HEV RNA lower than 103 copy/ml.

Background and Objectives: Lysinoalanine (LAL) is created in the course of preparation of infant formula during the heat processing, alkaline pH, b elimination, dehydroalanine production and reaction with amines group. Produced LAL not only results in losses of necessary amino acids’ content, but also could cause nephrotoxic effects. So the formulated infant formula must be free from LAL. In this study, HPLC for detection and determination of LAL was developed and validated.Materials and Methods: HPLC conditions were optimized (C18 Column, Fluorescence detector, Column temperature 30℃, flow rate 0.9 ml/min. Mobile phase consisted of mixed phosphate buffer, pH: 7, acetonitrile and pure acetonitrile in gradient elution), and LAL was dansylated by adding dansyl chloride. The method was validated according to the above conditions. 10 infant formula brands were analyzed according to the validated method.Results: The calibration curve for concentration versus LAL peak area (R2= 0.9949) was linear in the range of 5_80 mg/L. LOD and LOQ were 2 and 5 mg/L respectively, and the accuracy result (recovery range) was within 83.6-87.7%. Assessment of precision showed that the relative standard deviation (RSD%) of concentration and area peak of spike samples in the intra-day study were less than 2.7% and 3.8% respectively, and in inter-day study were less than 7.4% and 5.2%, respectively. In the analyzed infant formula in seven samples, LAL was not detectable, and it was detected between LOD and LOQ only in three samples.Conclusion: This method is a valuable validated way, available, reliable and cost benefit in LAL detection and determination in infant formula.

This research investigated heavy metals content and their potential health problems in some rivers across Nasarawa west, Nigeria. The mean concentration of Zn was recorded as 0.32 mg/L which was lower than the limits set by the World Health Organization (WHO), USEPA, and EU. Cu with mean of 0.03 mg/L was also lower than limits set by the WHO, USEPA, and EU. Fe with mean of 1.25 mg/L are found higher than limits prescribed by the WHO, USEPA, and EU. Cd with mean of 0.01 mg/L are lower than limits set by the WHO, USEPA, and EU. Pb with mean of 0.01 mg/L are lower than limits set by the WHO, USEPA, and EU. Lastly as with mean of 0.01 mg/L are equal to limits set by the WHO, USEPA, and EU. The values for validation parameters are low indicating minimal variability and uncertainty in our measurements, signifying high precision in measuring instruments and the tested samples. The pH measurement of all the samples proved acidic. Based on the elevated values of iron (Fe) and arsenic (As) recorded in this study, regular monitoring and treatment of drinking water sources are essential to ensure compliance with regulatory limits and to provide iron and arsenic-free as well as other metal-free drinking water to the public within the investigated location.

Background: Pesticides are a group of chemical compounds which are used in vegetables to control or remove some pests. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quantity of some pesticides in cucumbers used in salad production plants.Methods: In this study, 22 cucumber samples were collected from 3 salad production plants in Isfahan City, Iran. Simultaneous determination of 16 permitted pesticides defined in Iranian national standard including bromopropylate, permethrin, pirimicarb, tetradifone, deltamethrin, diazinon, dichlorvos, dimethoate, famoxadone, fenazaquine, fenpropathrin, carbaryl, chlorpyrifos, chlorothalonil, malathion and metalaxyl were determined via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Findings: This procedure showed satisfactory recovery (86-119 percent) with relative standard deviation (RSD) of £ 20.22%. The limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantification (LOQ) were between 3.54-14.91 and 11.81-49.92 mg/l, respectively. Dichlorvos and chlorpyrifos detected over than maximum residue limits (MRLs) defined in Iranian national standard in 6 out of 22 cucumber samples (27%) in the range of 95-188.75 and 230-771 mg/kg, respectively. Dimethoate and metalaxyl were detected less than maximum residue limits in national standard in all samples. Contamination with other pesticides was not observed in the samples.Conclusion: Pesticides including dichlorvos and chlorpyrifos were found in one third of cucumber samples of current study. Regarding the importance of vegetables consumption as well as the adverse effects of pesticides on human health, it is necessary to perform and manage the routine monitoring of pesticides in supervision organizations.

In this Study، according to microfluidic structure and bio inspired techniques، a material detection sensor has been designed and fabricated based on micro fabrication method. The capacitive sensing has been designed numerically and optimized by a familiar multi physics software. In this type of sensor، a defined aptamer has been coated on the capacitor electrode surface and by flowing the fluid through the microchannel، the targeted material would be involved between the aptamer string structure and it makes a change in capacitor value. In this research، a novel readout system based on limit cycle has been introduced and implemented. In this method، a virtual nonlinear dynamic has been supposed beside the real system and makes the whole system behave in a limit cycle (LC). By measuring LC frequency and amplitude، capacitor value is estimated.

In recent years, a lot of attention has been paid to quantum dot (QD) nanoparticles as fluorescent sensors for sensitive and accurate detection of cancer biomarkers. Here, using a homemade specific monoclonal antibody against CA125 and QD525-or FITC-labeled probes, expression of this marker in an ovarian cancer cell line and cancer tissues were traced and optical properties of fluorophores were compared qualitatively and quantitatively. Our results clearly showed that besides lower background and exceptionally higher photobleaching resistance, QD525 exhibited higher fluorescent intensity for both ovarian cancer cell and tissues at different exposure times (p<0. 0001) and excitation filter sets (p<0. 0001) exemplified by significantly higher staining index (p<0. 016). More importantly, the FITC-labeled probe detected antigen-antibody complex at minimum concentration of 0. 3  g/mL of anti-CA125, while reactivity limit decreased to 0. 078  g/mL of anti-CA125 when QD525-labeled probe was applied showing four times higher reactivity level of QD525 probe compared to the same probe labeled with FITC. Based on our results, it seems that QDs are inimitable tags for sensitive detection and localization of ovarian cancer micrometastasis and molecular demarcation of cancer tissues in surgical practice, which subsequently figure out accurate therapeutic approaches.

Herein, magnetic metal-organic framework nanocomposite consisting of aminodibenzo-18-crown-6 magnetite nanoparticles and MIL-101(Cr) was synthesized. The nanoadsorbent was characterized with FT-IR, VSM, SEM and XRD. The nanoadsorbent was suitable for extractive preconcentration of Tl(I) and Tl(III) ions. The total amount of thalliumwas then determined by reducing Tl(III) to Tl(I) by hydroxylamine hydrochloride and also extracting it. .Experimental design was employed for optimizing the affective variables. Under the opted conditions, limit of detection and relative standard deviation (%) of the developed method was as low as 1.5 ng L−1, the quantification limit is 5.0 ng L−1, the linear range extends from 5 to 400 ng L−1, and is <12% (for n = 5 at levels of 5, 50 and 250 ng L−1), respectively. Maximum sorption capacity of the sorbent for Tl(I) and Tl(III) ions was 197 mg g−1. this method was utilized for analysis of a certified reference material (NIST SRM1643d water sample and to various real water samples.