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The most prevalent monogenic blood illness is sickle cell disease (SCD), which affects millions of people globally and around 100,000 Americans.

Introduction and background: Hydatid disease (HD) is a parasitic infection caused by the larval form of Echinococcus granulosus. It is endemic in regions with widespread livestock farming and close human-animal contact. Although the liver and lungs are the most frequently involved organs, rare cases of primary subcutaneous hydatid cysts have been reported, especially in the absence of visceral involvement. Gluteal localization is extremely rare and may be misdiagnosed due to its nonspecific presentation.Case presentation: We report the case of a 25-year-old woman who presented with a gradually enlarging, painless swelling over the lateral aspect of her right buttock, noted over five months. There were no systemic symptoms, and she had no history of trauma or prior medical conditions. Physical examination revealed a well-circumscribed, fluctuating, non-mobile mass measuring 5 × 4 cm with no overlying skin changes. Laboratory results were within normal limits. Ultrasound imaging revealed multiple well-defined cystic lesions in the subcutaneous tissue. Chest X-ray and abdominal ultrasound excluded hepatic or pulmonary hydatidosis. A diagnosis of primary subcutaneous hydatid cyst was made. The patient underwent pericystectomy under spinal anesthesia. Intraoperatively, typical hydatid features were noted, and the cyst cavity was thoroughly irrigated with hypertonic saline. Postoperatively, Albendazole therapy (400 mg twice daily) was administered for three months. There were no signs of recurrence during 6 months of follow-up.Discussion: Primary soft tissue hydatid cysts are rare and can mimic benign soft tissue tumors or abscesses. In endemic regions, such lesions should be carefully evaluated using imaging and clinical suspicion. The diagnosis is typically made through imaging, and definitive treatment includes surgical excision with careful handling to prevent dissemination, accompanied by pre- and postoperative anthelmintic therapy to minimize recurrence.Conclusion: This case highlights the importance of considering hydatid disease in the differential diagnosis of gluteal masses, especially in endemic areas. Prompt diagnosis and combined surgical and pharmacologic therapy can lead to excellent outcomes without recurrence.

In order to provide theoretical foundation for forestation of Phyllostachys bambusoides f. shouzhu Yi, the site factors, and the morphological character and biomass of standard bamboo were investigated in 16 sample spots of bamboo forest in Liangping county, Chongqing City, and then the effects of site factors on the clonal growth was discussed. Three site factors as the slope position, altitude, species diversity, had significant effects on the clonal growth of the bamboo. The effects of the gradient, slope aspect, humus thickness, and soil thickness were little, but that of slope aspects was not significant. The altitude of above 800 m, the upper slope, the steep slope and slope, and the thin soil were not suitable for its clonal growth. The results showed that (1) the main site factors affecting the growth of P. bambusoides f. shouzhu were slope position, soil thickness and humus thickness; (2) The forestation site of P. bambusoides f. shouzhu should be selected at the flat ground and the gentle slope of the hills below altitude of 800 m, and the slope position of the forestation site should be selected at the mid and lower position of a hill; (3) Soil thickness and humus thickness should be kept at a suitable level; (4) The diversity of plant species in the bamboo forest should be kept at a suitable level for keeping its growth environment.

Natural dyes have become a viable alternative to expensive and rare organic sensitizers because of their low cost, easy attainability, abundance of supply of raw materials and environmental friendliness. Chlorophyll, the most abundant pigment, can be extracted from plant leaves with simple and inexpensive methods, but it’s difficult to use as a Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC) sensitizer due to the absence of OH and COOH groups. The opposite is true for xanthophylls, a particular class of carotenoids that contain free hydroxyl groups and thus may be considered as potential DSSC sensitizers. In this work we describe a new and inexpensive method of chlorophyll extraction from leaves based on the use of a basic solvent that provides the creation of COOH groups, allowing chlorophyll binding on the TiO2 layer. This modified chlorophyll dye showed a higher DSSC efficiency level (0.72%) compared to xanthophylls, which had lower efficiency.

Background: Allergic rhinitis (AR) affects approximately 10% - 30% of the global population and represents a significant healthcare burden. The condition involves complex inflammatory pathways where oxidative stress plays a crucial role, with malondialdehyde serving as a key biomarker of cellular damage. Quercetin, a naturally occurring flavonoid, demonstrates promising antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that may benefit allergic rhinitis management.Methods: We conducted a systematic review following PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Four electronic databases (PubMed, Google Scholar, SagePub, and Semantic Scholar) were searched for studies published between 2000 and 2024. The PICO framework guided study selection, focusing on quercetin intervention in allergic rhinitis models. Both preclinical and clinical studies measuring malondialdehyde levels or clinical symptom improvement were included.Results: Eighteen studies met our inclusion criteria, comprising 14 animal studies and four human clinical trials. Preclinical evidence consistently demonstrated quercetin’s ability to reduce malondialdehyde levels across various tissues, including serum, lung, and liver samples. Human studies showed superior symptom improvement when quercetin-containing supplements were added to standard therapy compared to conventional treatment alone.The primary mechanism involves nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 pathway activation, enhancing endogenous antioxidant enzyme production.Conclusion: Current evidence supports quercetin’s effectiveness in reducing oxidative stress and improving clinical outcomes in allergic rhinitis through dual antioxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanisms. While most evidence derives from animal studies, quercetin Shows promise as safe adjuvant therapy. Large-scale human clinical trials using high- high-bioavailability formulations are needed to establish standardized clinical protocols.Key messages:•    Quercetin consistently reduces oxidative stress markers in allergic rhinitis models.•    Clinical symptoms improve significantly when quercetin supplements are added to standard therapy.•    The therapeutic mechanism involves both direct antioxidant activity and endogenous defense system enhancement.•    High-quality human clinical trials are needed to establish definitive treatment guidelines.

Plant hormones are versatile chemical regulators of plant growth. The concept of hormone ‘interaction’ [1] has gained much importance and several key players of hormonal network are uncovered for major plant hormones. The fact that hormones are structurally unrelated and their interaction elicits different genomic and non-genomic responses suggest hormone interaction involve co-regulation at multiple levels [2]. Recent studies suggest that hormonal interaction involves control over biosynthesis genes [3-6], key components of signalling pathways [7,8], hormone distribution [9,10], and interaction at the level of gene expression [11-13].

In this work we used semi-isolated heart of the cockroach Nauphoeta cinerea for the investigation of the pharmacological effects of extracts (aqueous, 1:1, 1:2, 1:4 and 1:8) from Nephrolepis exaltata L. leaves, a popular ornamental fern considered to be safe. The use of insects in experimental studies has grown due to the easy handling, proliferation/growing assuring its rapid obtention, and absence of ethical issues. An aqueous extract 0.2 % was obtained after maceration of 1 g N. exaltata leaves powder with 20 mL of distilled water (1:20). Diluted extracts in water were obtained to have the following proportion 1:1, 1:2, 1:4 and 1:8. Experiments (n=4) consisted of 200 µL addition onto semi-isolated heart preparation of N. cinerea with concomitant heart beating counting. Aqueous, 1:1 and 1:2 extracts paralyzed completely the heart beatings of cockroachs (p<0.05 compared to saline control), but not 1:4 or 1:8, which showed only a slight decline (p>0.05 compared to saline control). A preliminary thin layer chromatography showed the presence of unidentified terpenoid in aqueous extract of N. exaltata. These pharmacological findings of N. exaltata can be exploited for future use as insecticide or as dose-dependently cholinergic agent.

Tropical forests have long been of interest to biologists because of their high species diversity and their complicated patterns of community organization. The recent ecological studies which have demonstrated that tropical trees are diverse in their reproductive biology and dynamic population structure. Asynchronous flowering among the clones in a clonal seed orchard is an inherent problem resulting in poor seed and fruit set in them. These results in the complete defeat of the prime objective of establishment of clonal seed orchards (CSOs) i.e. abundant quality seed production poor flowering and asynchronous flowering between the clones are a major bottleneck in higher seed set in these clonal seed orchards across the country. Asynchrony found between clones may be attributed to the origin of clones, which are collected from different zonal populations as revealed by isoenzyme and DNA markers studies. This article reviews the work done in CSOs across the world and suggests an alternate strategy in designing the clonal seed orchards of the future.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the role of women in Asturias in October 1934, which has hardly any specific studies. Especially women from the mining working class and politicized young women actively participated in support of men; of course, almost always in functions “appropriate to their sex” (nurses, provisioners of the support of the combatants and caregivers of the children). They were victims of repression by Moors and legionnaires and some fell in combat.

The calyces of Hibiscus sabdariffa have been used by many communities as herbal tea. Their anthocyanin contents have been reported as the key component in anti-obesity studies. This present work reported results of anthocyanin content of calyces in two varieties of H. sabdariffa collected from Sabak Bernam, Selangor, Malaysia. The samples have been authenticated in the Herbarium, Institute of Bioscience, University Putra Malaysia prior to the study. The samples were processed and the ground dry raw material and its aqueous extract were analyzed using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and Two-Dimensional Infrared (2DIR). The short hybrid calyces (FT11-15A) raw material spectrum showed more than 80% similarity with long wild variety calyces (FT11-15B) when using “Compare” in analysis. The differences of both samples were obviously shown in their aqueous extract spectra. The peak at 1672 cm-1 and 841 cm-1 showed that tri-substituted double bond in FT11-15B aqueous extract was not present in FT11-15A aqueous extract spectra, whereby a double peak was assigned at 1221 cm-1 referred to anti symmetry stretching of aromatic and vinyl =C-O-C- with other =C-O- and 1192 cm-1 is assigned In-plane δ C-H in FT11-15A aqueous extract. The peak at 1071 cm-1 assigned as bonding C-H in plane bending of phenyl of both samples was the only peak comparable with standard delphinidin and cyanidin which are used for qualification and quantification of sample content. Aqueous extract spectra of both samples showed higher number of peaks detected compared with raw material spectra, which was attributed to the higher solubility of anthocyanins in water. The 2DIR correlation spectroscopy is advantageous in enhancing the qualitative analysis of herbal products. The anthocyanin content in both varieties of H. sabdariffa in descending amount is delphinidin-3-O-sambubioside (DS), cyanidin-3-O-sambubioside (CS), delphenidin-3-O-glucoside (DG) and lastly cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (CG). FT11-15A has more content of DS and DG of raw material and CG of water extract plus TFA than FT11-15B, whereby, FT11-15B has more content of CS, CG of raw material and DS, DG, CS of water extract plus TFA than FT11-15A.