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Recently, it has been reported that osteocalcin (OC), in particular its undercarboxylated (ucOC) form, is not only a bone remodeling marker but also an active hormone that intercedes glucose metabolism in humans. This study aimed to determine the impact of an exercise intervention on ucOC, adiponectin, leptin, and insulin resistance (measured by HOMA-IR). PubMed, CINAHL, Medline, Google Scholar, and Scopus databases and reference lists of included studies were searched. Twenty-two randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of exercise training impact in adults were included in the analysis. Results showed an overall significant increase in serum ucOC (MD: 0.15 ng/ml; 95% CI: 0.05 to 0.25) and adiponectin (MD: 2.83 mg/ml; 95% CI: 1.67 to 3.98), a significant decline in leptin (MD: − 4.89 pg/ml; 95% CI: − 6.94 to − 2.84), fasting glucose (MD: − 2.29 mg/dl; 95% CI: − 4.04 to − 0.54), fasting insulin (MD, − 8.90 μIU/ml; 95% CI: − 13.81 to − 3.98), and HOMA-IR (MD: − 1.96; 95% CI: − 3.11 to − 0.80). However, after removal of studies that had prescribed a balanced diet along with exercise intervention, total OC (TOC) levels also increased in the exercise group compared with the control group (MD: 0.36 ng/ml; 95% CI: 0.07 to 0.65). Our findings demonstrate that exercise-induced increases in ucOC are the probable cause of increased adiponectin. Additionally, increases in ucOC itself are probably due to changes in leptin levels and other factors, rather than its direct impact on bone and its osteoblastic activity. Further studies are required to clarify the mechanisms underlying the impact of exercise training on ucOC, adipocytokines, and insulin resistance.

Several implementations of electrochemical systems are being considered within the electrochemistry and climate change framework. Besides emerging tasks such as CO2 capture [6,7,8] and conversion [9,10,11], electrochemical systems are mainly being developed to help integrate renewable energy into electricity systems, through developing electrochemical energy storage systems such as batteries. Since the field of LIBs is advancing rapidly and attracting an increasing number of researchers, it is necessary to often provide the community with the latest updates. [...]this Special Issue was designed to focus on updating the electrochemical community with the latest advances and prospects on various aspects of LIBs. The determination of coulombic efficiency of LIBs can contribute to comprehend better their degradation behavior. [...]a detailed understanding of the effect of these parameters would be beneficial to further optimize the cell charge/discharge procedures. The developed equivalent circuit models were found to be very accurate and computationally cost-effective [30]. Besides the detailed research papers,

Intestinal parasitic infections have high prevalence rate in many regions especially in developing countries. The aim of this study was to determine the presence and genotype/subtype of some intestinal protozoa in livestock in Iran. Stool samples were collected from cattle, sheep, chickens, and horses. The presence of targeted parasites was evaluated using real-time PCR. Genotyping/subtyping of positive samples was characterized using sequencing of the ITS and barcoding region, respectively. Blastocystis sp., 27.7% (48/173) and Enterocytozoon bieneusi 26.0% (45/173) were the most frequent protozoa followed by Encephalitozoon spp., 0.57% (1/173). Cryptosporidium spp. were not detected among samples. Encephalitozoon spp., was detected only in chickens 2.2% (1/45). A statistically correlation was seen between animals and the prevalence of targeted protozoa. E. bieneusi genotypes I (9/38; 23.68%), BEB6 (22/38; 57.89%), D (6/38; 15.79%), and horse1 (1/38; 2.63%) were detected among samples. A statistically significant correlation was seen between the genotypes and animals ( P  ≤ 0.05). Blastocystis sp., ST1 (1/45; 2.22%), ST5 3/45; 6.66%), ST7 (1/45; 2.22%), ST10 (24/45; 53.33%), and ST14 (16/45; 35.55%) were characterized among samples. There was no significant correlation between certain subtypes and animals ( P  = 0.173). The presence of zoonotic potential genotypes of E. bieneusi in animals and zoonotic potential subtypes ST1 and ST7 among our samples provide a clue about the transmission dynamic of E. bieneusi and Blastocystis sp. between animals–animals and humans–animals.

Vygotsky-inspired sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 1962) indicates that human learning is mainly a social and cultural process that occurs through meaningful negotiation and interaction (scaffolding) between learners. The present study investigates whether training student reviewers can help them provide stronger scaffolding for their peers through providing feedback of a higher quality than those who do not undergo such training. In other words, this study investigates the effect of training student reviewers on the quality of their feedback and the effect of their comments on the quality of the revisions as well as their writing in the long run. To this end, two groups of Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners (n = 56) were randomly assigned to a trained group and an untrained group. The students in the trained group participated in two training sessions as well as student–teacher conferences, where they learned how to review a paragraph and provide effective feedback on it. The two groups then proceeded to review their peers’ writing. The results suggested that the trained students shifted attention from mere focus on formal aspects of writing to global comments (comments on the content and organization of writing) after training, while the feedback provided by untrained students mainly addressed formal errors. The results also indicated that the trained group made significant improvement in their writing in the long run and wrote paragraphs of a much higher quality as compared to the untrained group.

Proteins are not static but are flexible molecules that can adopt many different conformations. The HIV-1 protease is an important target for the development of therapies to treat AIDS, due to its critical role in the viral life cycle. We investigated several dynamics studies on the HIV-1 protease families to illustrate the significance of examining the dynamic behaviors and molecular motions for an entire understanding of their dynamics-structure–function relationships. Using computer simulations and principal component analysis approaches, the dynamics data obtained revealed that: (i) The flap regions are the most obvious sign of the evolution of conformational dynamics in HIV-1 protease; (ii) There are dynamic structural regions in some proteins that contribute to the biological function and allostery of proteins via appropriate flexibility. These regions are a clear sign of the evolution of conformational dynamics of proteins, which we call dynamozones. The flap regions are one of the most important dynamozones members that are critical for HIV-1 protease function. Due to the existence of other members of dynamozones in different proteins, we propose to consider dynamozones as a footprint of the evolution of the conformational dynamics of proteins.

Effectiveness of exercise on bone mass is closely related to the mode of exercise training regimen, as well as the study design. This study aimed to determine the effect of different modes of exercise training on lumbar spine and femoral neck bone mineral density (BMD) in older postmenopausal women (PMW). PubMed, CINAHL, Medline, Google Scholar, and Scopus databases and reference lists of included studies were searched up until March 25, 2019 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that evaluated the effectiveness of various modes of exercise training in PMW. Sixteen RCTs with 1624 subjects were included. Our study found no significant change in both lumbar spine and femoral neck BMD following exercise training (MD: 0.01 g/cm 2 ; 95% confidence interval (CI) [− 0.01, 0.02] and MD: 0.00 g/cm 2 ; 95% CI [− 0.01, 0.01], respectively). However, subgroup analysis by type of exercise training revealed that lumbar spine BMD (MD: 0.01; 95% CI [0.00, 0.02]) raised significantly when whole-body vibration (WBV) was employed as intervention compared with RCTs that utilized aerobic (MD: − 0.01; 95% CI [− 0.02, − 0.01]), resistance (MD: 0.01; 95% CI [− 0.04, 0.06]), and combined training (MD: 0.03; 95% CI [− 0.01, 0.08]). On the other hand, lumbar spine BMD (MD: − 0.01; 95% CI [− 0.02, − 0.01]) reduced significantly when aerobic exercise training was used as intervention compared with RCTs that utilized resistance training, combined training, and WBV. By contrast, these analyses did not have significant effect on change in femoral neck BMD. WBV is an effective method to improve lumbar spine BMD in older PMW.

The last 4 decades of conflict in Afghanistan resulted in incalculable deaths, injuries, and millions of displacements. Although there are routine reports on casualties of the warfare, the information on its long-term psycho-social sequelae is somehow discounted. This study aimed to assess post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) probability and its associated factors among parents who live in Kandahar, the southern province of Afghanistan, and lost at least one child to armed conflict. We conducted a health-facility-based cross-sectional study involving 474 bereaved parents in Kandahar province from November/2020 to January/2021. The questionnaire was composed of sections on socio-demographic characteristics and mental and medical histories of the parent, features of the traumatic event and the time elapsed since then, age and gender of the lost child, and PCL-5. We performed multivariable logistic analysis to determine factors associated with PTSD probability in such parents. A staggering number of the parents (430; 90.72%) scored > 33 on PCL-5 denoting presence of probable PTSD. We noticed that several attributes of the bereaved parents (rural residence [AOR = 3.71 (95% CI 1.37–9.97)], older age [AOR = 2.41 (95% CI 1.03–5.57)], experiencing more than one traumatic event [AOR = 2.91 (95% CI 1.05–7.94)], pre-existing medical condition [AOR = 3.5 (95% CI 1.55–8.05)], and losing a < 5-years-old child [AOR = 2.38 (95% CI 1.16–4.70)] were significantly associated with PTSD probability. We assert that a very high number of bereaved parents are susceptible to probable PTSD. This finding signifies the eminent necessity of mental health services in such settings and provides implicit insights to relevant humanitarian assistance providers.

Unlike most other fungi, molds of the genus Trichoderma (Hypocreales, Ascomycota) are aggressive parasites of other fungi and efficient decomposers of plant biomass. Although nutritional shifts are common among hypocrealean fungi, there are no examples of such broad substrate versatility as that observed in Trichoderma. A phylogenomic analysis of 23 hypocrealean fungi (including nine Trichoderma spp. and the related Escovopsis weberi) revealed that the genus Trichoderma has evolved from an ancestor with limited cellulolytic capability that fed on either fungi or arthropods. The evolutionary analysis of Trichoderma genes encoding plant cell wall-degrading carbohydrate-active enzymes and auxiliary proteins (pcwdCAZome, 122 gene families) based on a gene tree / species tree reconciliation demonstrated that the formation of the genus was accompanied by an unprecedented extent of lateral gene transfer (LGT). Nearly one-half of the genes in Trichoderma pcwdCAZome (41%) were obtained via LGT from plant-associated filamentous fungi belonging to different classes of Ascomycota, while no LGT was observed from other potential donors. In addition to the ability to feed on unrelated fungi (such as Basidiomycota), we also showed that Trichoderma is capable of endoparasitism on a broad range of Ascomycota, including extant LGT donors. This phenomenon was not observed in E. weberi and rarely in other mycoparasitic hypocrealean fungi. Thus, our study suggests that LGT is linked to the ability of Trichoderma to parasitize taxonomically related fungi (up to adelphoparasitism in strict sense). This may have allowed primarily mycotrophic Trichoderma fungi to evolve into decomposers of plant biomass.

This paper studies gravitational waves in a dark matter model composed of three types of particles with distinct spins, along with a scalar field ϕ that mediates interactions between Standard Model particles and dark matter. It discusses the electroweak phase transition following the Big Bang, during which all particles are initially massless due to the inactive Higgs mechanism. As temperature decreases, the effective potential reaches zero at two points, leading to two minima at the critical temperature ( T c ), and eventually to a true vacuum state. The formation of new vacuum bubbles, where electroweak symmetry is broken and particles acquire mass, generates gravitational waves as these bubbles interact with the fabric of space-time. The paper derives the gravitational wave frequency and detection range based on the model’s parameters, aligning with observational data from the Planck satellite and detection thresholds from PandaX-4T and XENONnT for some parameter points. It concludes by comparing the predicted background gravitational wave density with the sensitivities of LISA, BBO and μ -Ares detectors.

Hydatidosis is a disease caused by the larval stage of Echinococcus granulosus, which involves several organs of intermediate hosts. Evidence suggests a communication between hydatid cyst (HC) and hosts via extracellular vesicles. However, a little is known about the communication between EVs derived from HC fluid (HCF) and host cells. In the current study, EVs were isolated using differential centrifugation from sheep HCF and characterized by western blot, electron microscope and size distribution analysis. The uptake of EVs by human monocyte cell line (THP‐1) was evaluated. The effects of EVs on the expression levels of pro‐ and anti‐inflammatory cytokines were investigated using quantitative real‐time PCR (RT‐PCR), 3 and 24 h after incubation. Moreover, the cytokine level of IL‐10 was evaluated in supernatant of THP‐1 cell line at 3 and 24 h. EVs were successfully isolated and showed spherical shape with size distribution at 130.6 nm. After 3 h, the expression levels of pro‐inflammatory cytokine genes (IL1Β, IL15 and IL8) were upregulated, while after 24 h, the expression levels of pro‐inflammatory cytokines were decreased and IL13 gene expression showed upregulation. A statistically significant increase was seen in the levels of IL‐10 after 24 h. The main mechanism of the communication between EVs derived from HCF and their host remains unclear; however, time‐dependent anti‐inflammatory effects in our study suggest that HC may modulate the immune responses via EVs.