Immuno-bioinformatic approach for designing of multi-epitope merozoite surface antigen of Babesia bigemina and evaluation of its immunogenicity in inoculated calves

Babesiosis is a parasitic disease caused by intraerythrocytic parasites of the genus Babesia, which infect both wild and domestic animals. Merozoite surface antigens (MSAs) have been identified as efficient immunogens in Babesia-infected animals. MSAs play a key role in the invasion process and have been proposed as potential targets for vaccine development. Epitope-based vaccines offer several advantages over whole protein vaccines as the immunogenic proteins are small and can induce both Th1 and Th2 immune responses, which are desirable for protection. However, the MSA, particularly gp45, is polymorphic in Babesia bigemina, posing a challenge to vaccine development. The purpose of this study was to develop a recombinant gpME (gp45-multi-epitope) for a vaccine against Babesia bigemina. B-cell, T-cell, and HLA epitope predictions were used to synthesize the gpME sequence from the consensus sequence of gp45. The gpME sequence was synthesized and cloned in the pET28α vector through the commercial biotechnology company to get pET28-gpME. The plasmid cloned with the gpME sequence comprising 1068 bp was expressed in a bacterial expression system. A band of 39 kDa of rec-gpME was obtained via SDS-PAGE and Western blotting. Rec-gpME @200ng was injected in calves 3 times at 2 weeks interval. The humoral response was evaluated through the indirect ELISA method. The ELISA with rec-gp45 protein showed a significant value of optical density. The recombinant protein containing multiple epitopes from the MSA gp45 may represent a promising candidate for a vaccine against Babesia bigemina.

Molecular prevalence of Anaplasma marginale in ruminants and Rhipicephalus ticks in northern Pakistan

Anaplasma marginale is the most prevalent tick-borne haemoparasite of cattle and causes huge economic losses to the dairy industry worldwide. This study aimed to determine the occurrence of A. marginale infection in blood and tick samples collected from livestock animals in the districts located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan. A total of 184 blood and 370 tick samples were included in this study. It has never been reported that sheep, goats, and cattle in Tank, Ghulam Khan, Birmil and Miran Shah areas were infected with A. marginale. All samples of blood and ticks were collected through random sampling from March 2021 to January 2022 from cattle, sheep and goats and screened through PCR for anaplasmosis by using primer pairs of Anaplasma spp. Three hundred and seventy ticks were collected from infested hosts (120/184, 64.21%). Among the four morphologically identified tick species, the highest occurrence was recorded for Rhipicephalus sanguineus (n=138, 37.29%), followed by Rhipicephalus microplus (n=131, 35.4%), Rhipicephalus annulatus (n=40, 10.81%), Hyalomma anatolicum (n=31, 8.37%), and Hyalomma marginatum (n=30, 8.1%). The occurrence of female tick was highest (n=160, 43.24%), followed by nymphs (n=140, 37.38%) and males ticks (n=70, 18.9%). Among these ticks, A. marginale was detected in female ticks of R. microplus, and R. sanguineus. Molecular identification of A. marginale was confirmed in 120 out of 184 blood samples and 6 out of 74 tick samples. Overall, occurrence of A. marginale in blood and tick samples was found to be 65.21% and 8.1% respectively. Species-wise occurrence in blood samples of goats were 71.11% followed by sheep 68.31% and cattle 50%. Specie-wise occurrence of A. marginale in tick samples of cattle were 12.5% followed by goats 6.89%. The obtained sequence showed similarity with A. marginale reported from Kenya and USA. We report the first PCR based detection of A. marginale infection in blood samples and in R. sanguineus ticks of goats simultaneously.

Occurrence of ticks and tick-borne mixed parasitic microbiota in cross-bred cattle in District Lahore, Pakistan

The present study was focused on the incidence of ticks and tick-borne diseases (TTBD) in cross-bred cattle (Friesian x Sahiwal) of two farms (n = 2548) in district Lahore, Pakistan. We collected total of 572 ticks (adults and nymphs) and blood samples (10 ml) for microscopic i.e., blood smear test - Giemsa Stain (BST) and molecular analysis; Reverse Line Blot-General Primer-PCR (RLB-PCR) and Specie Specific Primer PCR (SP-PCR) from infested cattle (n = 100) from months of April to September. Results: The tick specie identified was Rhipicephalus microplus at both farms, with significant difference in infestations rate amongst both farms (p< 0.0001). The cross-bred cattle having higher ratio of Friesian blood and lower ratio of Sahiwal blood were mostly infested by ticks (p < 0.0458) and haemoparasites (p <0.474) and vice versa. The SP-PCR showed higher number of haemoparasites infection than BST, which revealed 16% T. annulata (p < 0.0001 and k value 0.485, 0.0001), 51% B. bigemina (p < 0.0001 and k value 0.485, 0.0001) and 15% A. marginale (p < 0.001 and k value 0.207, 0.001), respectively. The single infection with B. bigemina was 34% (n = 34/100) and A. marginale 6% (n = 6/100). The double infection with T. annulata/B. bigemina was 8% (n = 8/100) and B. bigemina/A. marginale 1% (n = 1/100). Whereas the triple infection with T. annulata/B. bigemina/A .marginale was 8% (n = 8/100). The phylogenetic study of isolated sequence of T. annulata revealed close homology to isolates from Iran (87%), B. bigemina to isolates from Cuba (94 to 100%) and A. marginale with isolates from Pakistan (99 to 98%).

Clinical management of cutaneous bovine papillomatosis in a cow calf: a case report

A Sahiwal breed heifer calf of ~ 5-month age was presented with numerous warts of varying sizes principally on head, face and neck. The history and clinical examination were suggestive of bovine cutaneous papillomatosis. The animal was treated medically with an alternative medicine: Thuja occidentalis 30X. The warts regressed completely after two months of treatment with Thuja occidentalis, suggesting this medicine can be used to treat warts in bovines successfully.

Chemotherapeutic resistance of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is mediated by EpCAM induction driven by IL-6/p62 associated Nrf2-antioxidant pathway activation

Overexpression of epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) has been associated with chemotherapeutic resistance, leads to aggressive tumor behavior, and results in an adverse clinical outcome. The molecular mechanism by which EpCAM enrichment is linked to therapeutic resistance via Nrf2, a key regulator of antioxidant genes is unknown. We have investigated the link between EpCAM and the Nrf2 pathway in light of therapeutic resistance using head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patient tumor samples and cell lines. We report that EpCAM was highly expressed in Nrf2-positive and HPV-negative HNSCC cells. In addition, cisplatin-resistant tumor cells consisted of a higher proportion of EpCAM^high cells compared to the cisplatin sensitive counterpart. EpCAM^high populations exhibited resistance to cisplatin, a higher efficiency in colony formation, sphere growth and invasion capacity, and demonstrated reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) activity. Furthermore, Nrf2 expression was significantly higher in EpCAM^high populations. Mechanistically, expression of Nrf2 and its target genes were most prominently observed in EpCAM^high populations. Silencing of EpCAM expression resulted in the attenuation of expressions of Nrf2 and SOD1 concomitant with a reduction of Sox2 expression. On the other hand, silencing of Nrf2 expression rendered EpCAM^high populations sensitive to cisplatin treatment accompanied by the inhibition of colony formation, sphere formation, and invasion efficiency and increased ROS activity. The molecular mechanistic link between EpCAM expression and activation of Nrf2 was found to be a concerted interaction of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and p62. Silencing of p62 expression in EpCAM^high populations resulted in the attenuation of Nrf2 pathway activation suggesting that Nrf2 pathway activation promoted resistance to cisplatin in EpCAM^high populations. We propose that therapeutic targeting the Nrf2-EpCAM axis might be an excellent approach to modulate stress resistance and thereby survival of HNSCC patients enriched in EpCAM^high populations.

Widespread expression of Sonic hedgehog (Shh) and Nrf2 in patients treated with cisplatin predicts outcome in resected tumors and are potential therapeutic targets for HPV-negative head and neck cancer

Background:

Sonic hedgehog (Shh) and Nrf2 play a critical role in chemotherapeutic resistance. These two genes have been found to be dysregulated in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC). The purpose of this study was to analyze the expression, function and clinical prognostic relationship of Shh and Nrf2 in HNSCC in the context of therapeutic resistance and cancer stem cells (CSCs).

Methods:

We analyzed a cohort of patients with HNSCC to identify potential therapeutic biomarkers correlating with overall survival (OS) as well as disease-free survival (DFS) from our own data and validated these results using The Cancer Genome Atlas dataset. Expression of Shh and Nrf2 was knocked down by siRNA and cell growth, sphere growth and chemotherapeutic resistance were evaluated.

Results:

Widespread abundant expression of Shh and Nrf2 proteins were associated with shorter OS and DFS. The combination of Shh and Nrf2 expression levels was found to be a significant predictor of patient DFS. The tumor stromal index was correlated with Shh expression and inversely associated with shorter OS and DFS. Inhibition of Shh by siRNA or cyclopamine resulted in the attenuation of resistant CSC self-renewal, invasion, clonogenic growth and re-sensitization to the chemotherapeutic agents. Concomitant upregulation of Shh and Nrf2 proved to be an independent predictor of poor OS and DFS in patients with HNSCC.

Conclusions:

These findings suggest that Shh and Nrf2 could serve as therapeutic targets as well as promising dual prognostic therapeutic biomarkers for HNSCC.

Histopathological Investigation of Skin and Hides Damage of Small and Large Ruminants due to Naturally Infested Ticks

Ticks are important ectoparasites which transmit many disease pathogen to animals; these are labelled tick borne diseases (TBD). Tick induced damage to skin and hides has not received attention. Skin and hides are important for the leather product industry, particularly in Pakistan. Due to economic importance and financial loss by ticks in leather industry, the present study was designed to investigate skin and hides damage due to ticks at microscopic level. Naturally tick infested tissue samples of hides and skin were collected from slaughter houses. Primary lesions at tick feeding sites showed epidermal edema with adjacent dermal edema. Histopathological examination revealed degeneration of epidermal layer down to the basal layer. Epidermal and sub dermal layers often displayed focal necrosis infiltrated with neutrophils and mononuclear cells at tick bite sites. Hyperplasia of keratinocytes was also seen at sites of ruptured epidermis. Quality of leather depends upon the grain (Outer) surface skin/hides. Ticks infestation damages the outer surface, due to bites, inflammatory responses, and secondary bacterial infections that often become established at feeding sites. Control of ticks should be given consideration to reduce infestation induced losses in the leather industry in Pakistan.

Insecticide susceptibility status and major detoxifying enzymes activity in Anopheles subpictus from Kasur, Pakistan

Anopheles subpictus s.l. Grassi (Diptera: Culicidae) is a malaria vector in South Asia, where insecticides are the mainstay for vector control interventions. Information on any variation in metabolic enzyme levels in mosquitoes is helpful with respect to adapting alternative strategies for vector control. The scarce data on the biochemical basis of insecticide resistance in malaria vectors of Pakistan limit the available information for vector control interventions within the country. The insecticide susceptibility status and its biochemical basis against dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) (4%), deltamethrin (0.05%) and permethrin (0.75%) in An. subpictus s.l. collected from all Tehsils of district Kasur were evaluated. For this purpose, a World Health Organization susceptibility bioassay was performed followed by the detection of altered metabolic enzyme activity using biochemical assays. Similarly, a significant difference in knock-down effect was observed among field collected and susceptible strain against all insecticides 24 h post exposure. The overall mean mortality rates of DDT, deltamethrin and permethrin were 27.86% [95% confidence interval (CI) = 29.65-26.06], 44.89% (95% CI = 46.23-43.54) and 78.82% (95% CI = 80.16-77.47), respectively. The biochemical assays revealed an elevated level of metabolic enzymes in the field population. The results provide evidence of resistance against organochlorine and pyrethroid groups in a field population of An. subpictus s.l. from district Kasur mediated by multiple metabolic mechanisms, including acetylcholinesterases, esterases, cytochrome P450 and glutathione S-transferases.

Untapped potential of zeolites in optimization of food waste composting

This study aims to examine the effect of zeolites in optimizing the process of food waste composting. A novel method of sequential hydrothermal was introduced to modify the natural zeolite and apply to in-vessel compost bioreactors. Raw and modified natural zeolites were applied at 10 and 15% (w/w) of the total waste and compared with un-amended control trial. Both raw and modified zeolites affected the composting process, but the notable results were observed for modified natural zeolite. The results for compost stability parameters were prominent at 15% modified natural zeolite concentration. The rapid and long-term thermophillic temperature and moisture content reduction to the optimum range was observed for modified natural zeolite. Furthermore, the total ammonium (NH₄⁺) and nitrate (NO₃^-) concentration in modified natural zeolite were increased by 11.1 and 21.5% respectively as compared to raw zeolite. Compost stability against moisture contents (MC), electrical conductivity (EC), organic matters (OM), total carbon (TC), mineral nitrogen, nitrification index (NI) and germination index (GI) was achieved after 60 days of composting that was in accordance with the international compost quality standards. The findings of this study suggested the suitability of modified natural zeolite addition at 15% to the total waste as the optimum ratio for the composting of food waste in order to achieve a stable nutrient-rich compost.

Fishing for vaccines against Vibrio cholerae using in silico pan-proteomic reverse vaccinology approach

BACKGROUND

Cholera, an acute enteric infection, is a serious health challenge in both the underdeveloped and the developing world. It is caused by Vibrio cholerae after ingestion of fecal contaminated food or water. Cholera outbreaks have recently been observed in regions facing natural calamities (i.e., earthquake in Haiti 2010) or war (i.e., ongoing civil war in Yemen 2016) where healthcare and sanitary setups have been disrupted as a consequence. Whole-cell oral cholera vaccines (OCVs) have been in market but their regimen efficacy has been questioned. A reverse vaccinology (RV) approach has been applied as a successful anti-microbial measure for many infectious diseases.

METHODOLOGY

With the aim of finding new protective antigens for vaccine development, the V. cholerae O1 (biovar eltr str. N16961) proteome was computationally screened in a sequential prioritization approach that focused on determining the antigenicity of potential vaccine candidates. Essential, accessible, virulent and immunogenic proteins were selected as potential candidates. The predicted epitopes were filtered for effective binding with MHC alleles and epitopes binding with greater MHC alleles were selected.

RESULTS

In this study, we report lipoprotein NlpD, outer membrane protein OmpU, accessory colonization factor AcfA, Porin, putative and outer membrane protein OmpW as potential candidates qualifying all the set criteria. These predicted epitopes can offer a potential for development of a reliable peptide or subunit vaccine for V. cholerae.

Effect of Reactive Black 5 azo dye on soil processes related to C and N cycling

Azo dyes are one of the largest classes of synthetic dyes being used in textile industries. It has been reported that 15-50% of these dyes find their way into wastewater that is often used for irrigation purpose in developing countries. The effect of azo dyes contamination on soil nitrogen (N) has been studied previously. However, how does the azo dye contamination affect soil carbon (C) cycling is unknown. Therefore, we assessed the effect of azo dye contamination (Reactive Black 5, 30 mg kg^-1 dry soil), bacteria that decolorize this dye and dye + bacteria in the presence or absence of maize leaf litter on soil respiration, soil inorganic N and microbial biomass. We found that dye contamination did not induce any change in soil respiration, soil microbial biomass or soil inorganic N availability (P > 0.05). Litter evidently increased soil respiration. Our study concludes that the Reactive Black 5 azo dye (applied in low amount, i.e., 30 mg kg^-1 dry soil) contamination did not modify organic matter decomposition, N mineralization and microbial biomass in a silty loam soil.

Effect of aerobic exercise on patients with primary fibromyalgia syndrome

Sixty eight adult patients of fibromyalgia were included in this prospective study from the Outpatient Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Dhaka during the period of January 2003 to June 2003. Study samples were assigned into two treatment groups: Group A (n = 38) with exercise by static bicycle and aerobic walking in addition to tricyclic antidepressant and analgesic and Group B (n = 30) was non exercise group, treated with tricyclic antidepressant and analgesic only. The total duration of treatment was 16 weeks. Pre-treatment (week 0) and post treatment (week 16) evaluation was performed in both groups. Evaluation parameters included pain grade, number of trigger points, occurrence of arousal at night, frequency of micturition and global evaluation by the physician. After 16 weeks, mean improvement of exercise group and non exercise group was 48% and 39% respectively but this difference was not statistically significant. Therefore, from this study it was observed that aerobic exercise showed no significant benefit to fibromyalgia patients.