BACKGROUND A family of secreted cathepsin L proteases with differential activities is essential for host colonization and survival in the parasitic flatworm Fasciola hepatica. While the blood feeding adult secretes predominantly FheCL1, an enzyme with a strong preference for Leu at the S2 pocket of the active site, the infective stage produces FheCL3, a unique enzyme with collagenolytic activit...

Legionella pneumophila directs the formation of a specialized vacuole within host cells, dependent on protein substrates of the Icm/Dot translocation system. Survival of the host cell is essential for intracellular replication of L. pneumophila. Strains lacking the translocated substrate SdhA are defective for intracellular replication and activate host cell death pathways in primary macrophage...

Semen analysis, sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF) and hypo-osmotic swelling test (HOST) are usually performed for the evaluation of sperm fertilizing ability. There are some debates over the necessity of SDF and HOST incorporation in male infertility work-up.Semen of 77 men was evaluated by SDF and HOST through three semen analyses. Sperm parameters were arranged into different categories: <5%, 5-1...

hyalomma dromedarii (h. dromedarii) is a very characteristic tick with a cosmopolitan distribution, which is closely associated with camels. it is well adapted to extreme dryness of habitat and to camel hosts. in this study, we studied rural husbandry of one-humped camels (dromedaries) in a village in south-west of semnan (biabanak). a total of 163 ticks (94 adults and 67 nymphs) were found on ...

in the current study, the information on occurrence, distribution and host aphid-plant associations for the species of praon haliday in iran are presented. eight species of praon were found in the areas under study, which include four previously reported species, viz. praon absinthi bignell, praon barbatum mackauer, praon exsoletum (nees) and praon volucre (haliday), and four new records, praon...

an outbreak of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by leishmania major was identified in ghanavat rural district, qom province, central iran, during 1999-2001. among 1069 inhabitants examined in dec. 1999, 5.14% showed evidence of active lesions and 12.44% had scar indicative of past infection. the most highly infected age group was 5-9 years old for ulcers with a rate of 6.56%. the inciden...

As nanoelectronic devices based on two-dimensional (2D) materials are moving towards maturity, optimization of the properties active 2D material must be accompanied by equal attention to optimizing and interfaces other around it, such as electrodes, gate dielectrics, substrate. While these usually either or 3D materials, recently K. Liu et al. [Nat. Electron. 4, 906 (2021)] reported use zero-di...

Abstract This paper aimed to investigate the selected physicochemical and biological properties of titanium dioxide thin films deposited by atomic layer deposition on 316LVM stainless steel dedicated for cardiovascular implants. The main challenge in surface modification these implants is complexity processes taking place circulatory system. was carried out a number cycles 500 temperature 200 °...

Magnaporthe oryzae, which causes the devastating rice-blast disease, invades its host plants via a specialized infection structure called the appressorium. Previously, we showed that the ATP-Binding Cassette 3 transporter is necessary for appressorial function (host penetration) in M. oryzae. However, thus far, the molecular basis underlying impaired appressorial function in the abc3Δ remains e...