Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is one of the most successful techniques of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) and is mostly in use for the treatment of infertility with male factors. In this method, before injecting sperm into the intracytoplasmic of the oocyte, cumulus cells around the oocyte must be stripped to facilitate the injection process. To achieve this, both enzymatic and mechanical methods are used in embryological laboratories for denudation, which has major deficiencies, including the possibility of damaging the oocyte prior to the injection process. In this research, a microfluidic-based device is introduced for the separation of cumulus cells around the oocyte with minimum manual operations. The results prove high efficiency, and non-destructive denudation of the oocyte with the reduced amount of culture medium leads to the low-cost preparation process of oocytes. The process can also be integrated with ICSI chips under development and will be reported shortly.

How to profoundly change the beliefs of the polytheists during the age of revelation from the denial of the Prophet (pbuh) to the certainty of his Message and the acceptance of his full guardianship is a question worthy of attention. The order of verses about prophecy based on the order of revelation is the reason to lead a transformative process and a special Quranic method in institutionalizing the belief of prophecy in the lives of Arabs. In the first stage, the Holy Quran in the first Makkī (Arabic: المکّیّ, suras revealed in Mecca) chapters has prepared the community from the motivational side to accept the truth of the Prophet’s (pbuh) prophecy and briefly stating the key issues surrounding it. The Holy Book of Quran at the time of the emergence of oppositions and doubts (the second stage) destroyed the arguments of the polytheists and explained the prophecy and proved its authenticity from a cognitive perspective in the second stage by presenting clear arguments. and the Holy Book of Quran in the third stage after Madanī (Arabic: المدنیّ, suras revealed in Medina) period has undertaken measures in order to fulfill the goals of the Massage by explaining the true position of the Prophet (pbuh) to deepen and operationalize the Prophetic belief through explaining practical duties for the Prophet (pbuh) and behavior based on the acceptance of Walaya (Arabic: ولایة, meaning “guardianship” or “governance”).

Background and Objectives: Phenolic compounds are presence in many industrial wastewaters, and have been classified as priority pollutants. Application of several conventional processes due to high cost and low efficiency has been limited. Thus, new methods such as enzymatic polymerization seem to be preferable and effective processes with high potential to substitute the conventional processes.This study was carried out to evaluate Raphanus sativus extract as a peroxides enzyme source for polymerization and removal of phenol from synthetic wastewater in the presence of hydrogen peroxide.Materials and Methods: The study was performed in batch reactor at room temperature. Peroxidase enzyme was extracted from Raphanus sativus plant roots. Primary concentration of phenol in wastewater was 1000 mgl-1. The concentration of phenol and enzymatic activity was been measured by photometric assay.Results: The results show that Raphanus sativus extract is a suitable source of peroxidase enzyme. Mean enzymatic activities in this extract was 3.107 Uml-1. Also, our results showed that elevation of extract volume lead to high efficiency of phenol removal, in which the increase in the extract volume from 5 to 50 ml, resulted in the efficiency of processes increased from 7.6 to 98.2%. Also, sequencing addition of H2O2 and extract has improved the effects. The phenol removal efficiency of the reaction time after 3 h with single and three stages adding of reactants was 84.2 and 93.1%, respectively.Conclusion: Enzymatic polymerization can be used as an appropriate process for the removal of phenolic compounds from wastewaters. To meet the optimized condition in process, the ratios of phenol/ enzyme and H2O2/ phenol and sequences of the adding of reactants should be considered.

During the composing process, microorganisms involved in degradation of agricultural and municipal waste are of great importance. Therefore, identification of beneficial microorganisms could play an important role in improving the quality of the produced compost. Fungi play an effective role in degradation of organic matter, So the objective of the present study was to isolate and characterize effective fungal strains during composting process. The fungi were isolated from mature compost in Isfahan Compost manufacture using serial dilution method. The enzymatic activities (lipase, amylase, cellulose, xylanase and protease) of the isolates were measured by qualitative and quantitative methods. Three isolates with enzyme activity were isolated and used for more detailed studies. The isolated fungal strains showed a wide range of different enzymatic activities. Molecular identification of the selected strains was performed based on PCR amplification and sequencing of a 1100 bp fragment of fungal 18SrDNA using M13R and M13F primers. Phylogenic studies revealed that the isolated fungal strains belonged to Aspergillus fumigates which are commonly exist in composting process. According to Municipal Solid Waste enrich cellulosic, starchy and protein compounds and these three strains have high potential of producing degradation enzymes, application of these fungal strains as accelerator in composting process (microbial booster) with different enzyme activities can transform wastes rapidly, then the efficiency of compost.

Purification is one of the main step in the sugar production, in which the purity of the raw juice increases by elimination of impurities. In this study, the efficiency of pectinase enzyme was studied to remove the pectic substance and improve the quality of raw sugar beet juice. Therefore, the effect of enzymatic pre-treatment in combination with lime treatment (4-20 kg/m3) on purification indexes (viscosity, turbidity, color, purity and colloid concentration and total proteins) was investigated. The results showed that the combination treatment significantly reduced the viscosity in comparison with the conventional purification process. The removal efficiency of colloidal and proteins was also facilitated by enzymatic treatment. In addition, the results showed that the improving of purity was approximately equal in the combined treatment of 8 kg/m3 with lime treatment of 20 and 30 kg/m3, and did not show significant differences (P 50%) and save the cost of sugar production.

The etiopathogenesis of dementia in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is still unclear. However, long-term oxidative stress is believed to be one of the major contributing factors in progression of neuronal degeneration and decline of cognitive function in AD. In order to assess the presence of oxidative stress in AD, we examined the enzymatic activities of the erythrocyte Cu-Zn superoxide dismutase (Cu-Zn SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), catalase (CAT), and plasma level of total antioxidant status (TAS) in AD and control groups (age and sex-matched). The results showed that the Cu-Zn SOD activity was significantly higher and the level of GSH-Px and TAS activities were significantly lower in AD subjects than that in the control group (2111 ±324 U/grHb, 43.7 ±11.6 U/grHb, and 1.17± 0.23 mmol/L compared with 1371 ±211 U/gHb; t = -2.17, P = 0.036, 56.3±9.5 U/gHb; t = 3.8, P = 0.014, and 1.54 ±0.2 mmol/L; t = 11.18, P < 0.001, respectively). While, the erythrocyte CAT activity was lower in AD subjects compared to the control group, the difference was not statistically significant (t = 1.3, P = 0.15). These findings support the idea that the oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis underlying AD neurodegeneration. In addition, the enzymatic activity of the erythrocyte Cu-Zn SOD and GSH-Px and the plasma level of TAS can be used as a measure of the oxidative stress and a marker for pathological changes in the brain of patients with AD.

The etiopathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is still unclear. However, long-term oxidative stress is believed to be one of the major contributing factors in progression of neuronal degeneration and decline of cognitive function in AD. In order to assess the presence of oxidative stress in AD, we examined the enzymatic activities of the erythrocyte Cu-Zn superoxide dismutase (Cu-Zn SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), catalase (CAT), and plasma level of total antioxidant status (TAS) in AD and control groups (age and sex-matched). The results showed that the Cu-Zn SOD activity was significantly higher and the level of GSH-Px and TAS activities were significantly lower in AD subjects than that in the control group (2111 ± 324 U/grHb, 43.7 ± 11.6 U/grHb, and 1.17 ± 0.23 mmol/l compared with 1371 ± 211 U/grHb; t= -2.17, P = 0.036, 56.3 ± 9.5 U/grHb; t=3.8, P = 0.014, and 1.54±0.2 mmol/l; t=11.18, P < 0.001, respectively). While, the erythrocyte CAT activity was lower in AD subjects compared to the control group, the difference was not statistically significant (t = 1.3, P = 0.15). These findings support the idea that the oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis underlying AD neurodegeneration. In addition, the enzymatic activity of the erythrocyte Cu-Zn SOD and GSH-Px and the plasma level of TAS can be used as a measure of the oxidative stress and a marker for pathological changes in the brain of patients with AD.