Due to the importance of using cost-effective methods for therapeutic purposes, the function of probiotics as safe microorganisms and the study of their relevant functional mechanisms have recently been in the spotlight. Finding the mechanisms of attachment and stability and their beneficial effects on the immune system can be useful in identifying and increasing the therapeutic effects of probiotics. In this review, the functional mechanisms of probiotics were comprehensively investigated. Relevant articles were searched in scientific sources, documents, and databases, including PubMed, NCBI, Bactibace, OptiBac, and Bagel4. The most important functional mechanisms of probiotics and their effects on strengthening the epithelial barrier, competitive inhibition of pathogenic microorganisms, production of antimicrobials, binding and interaction with the host, and regulatory effects on the immune system were discussed.In this regard, the attachment of probiotics to the epithelium is very important because the prerequisite for their proper functioning is to establish a proper connection to the epithelium. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the binding effect of probiotics, including sortase A, a significant factor involved in the expression of sortase-dependent proteins (SDP), on their surface as mediators of intestinal epithelial cell binding. In general, by investigating the functional mechanisms of probiotics, it was concluded that the mechanism by which probiotics regulate the immune system and adhesion capacity can directly and indirectly have preventive and therapeutic effects on a wide range of diseases. However, further study of these mechanisms requires extensive research on various aspects.

Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) is the latest pandemic resulted from the coronavirus family. Due to the high prevalence of this disease, its high mortality rate, and the lack of effective treatment, the need for affordable and accessible drugs is one of the main challenges in this regard. It has been proved that RdRp, 3CL, Spike, and Nucleocapsid are the most important viral proteins playing vital roles in the processes of proliferation and infection. Therefore, we started studying a wide range of bio-peptides and then conducted molecular docking analyses to investigate their binding affinity for the inhibition of these proteins. After obtaining the best bio-peptides with the highest affinity scores, they were examined for further study and then manipulated to eliminate their side effects. Additionally, the molecular dynamic simulation was performed to validate the structure and interaction stability. The results of this study reveal that glycocin F from Lactococcus lactis and lactococcine G from Lactobacillus plantarum had the high affinities to bind to the viral proteins, and the manipulation of their sequence also led to the side effects’ elimination. In addition, in some cases, their affinities to attach the SARS-CoV-2 proteins have increased. It seems that these two drugs which were discovered and designed, are optimal for treating the COVID-19 infection. However, experimental and pre-clinical studies are necessary to assay their therapeutic effects.

Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignant tumor which arises in surface epithelium of the posterior wall of the nasopharynx. There's is evidence that Epstein Barr virus (EBV) is associated to NPC development. However, many epidemiologic studies point to a connection between viral infections by the human papillomavirus (HPV) and NPC. Method: Seventy Moroccan patients with NPC were screened for EBV and HPV. EBV detection was performed by PCR amplification of BZLF1 gene, encoding the ZEBRA (Z Epstein-Barr Virus Replication Activator) protein, and HPV infection was screened by PCR amplification with subsequent typing by hybridization with specific oligonucleotides for HPV types 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 45 and 59. Results: The age distribution of our patients revealed a bimodal pattern. Sixty two cases (88.9%) were classified as type 3 (undifferentiated carcinoma), 6 (8.6%) as type 2 (non keratinizing NPC) and only 2 (2.9%) cases were classified as type 1 (keratinizing NPC). EBV was detected in all NPC tumors, whereas HPV DNA was revealed in 34% of cases (24/70). Molecular analysis showed that 20.8% (5/24) were infected with HPV31, and the remaining were infected with other oncogenic types (i.e., HPV59, 16, 18, 33, 35 and 45). In addition, statistical analysis showed that there's no association between sex or age and HPV infection (P > 0.1). Conclusion: Our data indicated that EBV is commonly associated with NPC in Moroccan patients and show for the first time that NPC tumours from Moroccan patients harbour high risk HPV genotypes.

Cyanide compounds are hazardous compounds which are extremely toxic to living organisms, especially free cyanide in the form of hydrogen cyanide gas (HCN) and cyanide ion (CN⁻). These cyanide compounds are metabolic inhibitors since they can tightly bind to the metals of metalloenzymes. Anthropogenic sources contribute significantly to CN⁻ contamination in the environment, more specifically to surface and underground waters. The treatment processes, such as chemical and physical treatment processes, have been implemented. However, these processes have drawbacks since they generate additional contaminants which further exacerbates the environmental pollution. The biological treatment techniques are mostly overlooked as an alternative to the conventional physical and chemical methods. However, the recent research has focused substantially on this method, with different reactor configurations that were proposed. However, minimal attention was given to the emerging technologies that sought to accelerate the treatment with a subsequent resource recovery from the process. Hence, this review focuses on the recent emerging tools that can be used to accelerate cyanide biodegradation. These tools include, amongst others, electro-bioremediation, anaerobic biodegradation and the use of microbial fuel cell technology. These processes were demonstrated to have the possibility of producing value-added products, such as biogas, co-factors of neurotransmitters and electricity from the treatment process.

• The genomes and proteomes of 12 Bifidobacterium and 46 Lactobacillus were reviewed and then compared for bacteriocin identification. • NCBI-Genome, UniProt-Proteome, Bactibase, and BAGL4 databases, as well as BLASTP, and Clustal Omega can be used for bacteriocin mining. • Lactobacillus species have more diversity and abundance of bacteriocin compared to Bifidobacterium species. • Notably, L. sakei, L. plamtarum, L. reuteri, L. fermentum, and L. casei had the highest pathogen inhibition (E. coli MG 1655); respectively. • A set of Lactobacillus bacteria including L. sakei, L. reuteri, L. fermentum, and L. casei can be proposed as a biosecure and safe solution to control gastrointestinal pathogens.