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Rise in 2017-2018 measles morbidity in Serbia and northwest Russia
Get PDFIn 2017, the WHO registered 23,927 measles cases in 44 out of 53 countries in the European region. In 2018, measles incidence rate increased up to 82,599 cases registered in 48 countries of the region, with a large number of measles-associated deaths. Overall, 72 measles fatalities were registered in 10 European countries, including Serbia (15 cases). Aim of the study: to characterize 2017-2018 epidemiological upsurge of measles incidence rate observed in the Republic of Serbia (RS) and the Northwestern Federal District (NWFD) of the Russian Federation. Materials and methods. During the 2017-2018 season, 944 serum samples were collected from patients with measles, rubella, or exanthematous diseases in the NWFD and tested in the Laboratory of Virology at the St. Petersburg Regional Centre for Measles Surveillance (SPbRC). In 2017-2018, 2,946 serum samples from the Republic of Serbia were analyzed in the SPbRC by using ELISA with IgM measles test system (Vector-Best, Russia; or Siemens, Germany). Urine and swab samples were examined by RT-PCR and used for isolation and genotyping of measles viruses. Results. From 2017 to 2018, 5,798 measles cases were registered in the RS, among which 2,946 were laboratory-confirmed (serological testing and/or PCR). Unvaccinated subjects or those with unknown vaccination status accounted for majority of the cases. Children under 5 years of age and adults aged 30 years and over dominated among measles patients. During this season, 15 deaths were reported. Several genotypes of measles virus circulated in the RS, e.g. B3 Dublin, D8 Gir Somnath, and D8 Herborn. In 2018, 109 measles cases were recorded in the NWFD, 5 of which were imported from abroad. Among patients, adults comprised 64.2%, wherein 74.3% were covered by unvaccinated subjects or those with unknown vaccination status. Rise in measles incidence rate linked to multiple importations of various measles virus genotypes: B3 Kabul; B3 Dublin; D8 Frankfurt; D8 Cambridge; and D8 Gir Somnath
Age and sex determine CD4+T cell stimulatory and polarizing capacity of rat splenic dendritic cells
No full textThe study investigated influence of sex and age on splenic myeloid dendritic cells (DCs) from Dark Agouti rats. Freshly isolated DCs from young males exhibited less mature phenotype and greater endocytic capacity compared with those from age-matched females. Upon LPS stimulation in vitro they were less potent in stimulating allogeneic CD4+ cells in mixed leukocyte reaction (MLR), due to lower expression of MHC II, and greater NO and IL-10 production. In accordance with higher TGF-beta production, young male rat DCs were less potent in stimulating IL-17 production in MLR than those from young females. Irrespective of sex, endocytic capacity and responsiveness of DCs to LPS stimulation in culture, judging by their allostimulatory capacity in MLR decreased with age, reflecting decline in MHC II surface density followed by their greater NO production; the effects more prominent in females. Additionally, compared with LPS-stimulated DCs from young rats, those from sex-matched aged rats were more potent in stimulating IL-10 production in MLR, whereas capacity of DCs from aged female and male rats to stimulate IL-17 production remained unaltered and decreased, respectively. This reflected age-related shift in IL-6/TGF-beta production level ratio in LPS-stimulated DC cultures towards TGF-beta, and sex-specific age-related remodeling CD4+ cell cytokine pathways. Additionally, compared with LPS-stimulated DCs from young rats, those cells from sex-matched aged rats were less potent in stimulating IFN-gamma production in MLR, the effect particularly prominent in MLRs encompassing male rat DCs. The study showed that stimulatory and polarizing capacity of DCs depends on rat sex and age
Sex-Based Differences in Monocytic Lineage Cells Contribute to More Severe Collagen-Induced Arthritis in Female Rats Compared with Male Rats
No full textMonocytes' plasticity has an important role in the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an autoimmune disease exhibiting greater prevalence in women. Contribution of this phenomenon to sex bias in RA severity was investigated in rat collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) model of RA. The greater severity of CIA in females (exhibiting signs of bone resorption) was accompanied by the higher blood level of advanced oxidation protein products and a more pro-oxidant profile. Consistently, in females, the greater density of giant multinuclear cells (monocytes/macrophages and osteoclasts) in inflamed joint tissue was found. This correlated with the higher frequencies of CCR2- and CX3CR1- expressing cells (precursors of inflammatory monocytes/macrophages and osteoclasts) among CD11b+ splenocytes. This in conjunction with the enhanced migratory capacity of CD11b+ monocytic cells in females compared with males could be linked with the higher frequencies of CCR2+CX3CR1-CD43(low)CD11b+ and CCR2-CX3CR1+CD43(hi)CD11b+ cells (corresponding to "classical" and "non-classical" monocytes, respectively) and the greater density of CD68+ cells (monocytes/macrophages and osteoclast precursors/osteoclasts) in blood and inflamed paws from female rats, respectively. Consistently, the higher levels of GM-CSF, TNF-alpha and IL-6, IL-1 beta (driving Th17 cell differentiation), and IL-17 followed by the lower level of IL-10 were measured in inflamed paw cultures from female compared with male rats. To the greater IL-17 production (associated with enhanced monocyte immigration and differentiation into osteoclasts) most likely contributed augmented Th17 cell generation in the lymph nodes draining arthritic joints from female compared with male rats. Overall, the study suggests the sex-specific contribution of monocytic lineage cells to CIA, and possibly RA development.Supplementary information: [https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_intor_647
Impact of Tree Pollen Distribution on Allergic Diseases in Serbia: Evidence of Implementation of Allergen Immunotherapy to Betula verrucosa
Get PDFBackground and objectives: The relationship between air pollen quantity and the sensitization of allergic patients is crucial for both the diagnosis and treatment of allergic diseases. Weather conditions influence the distribution of allergenic pollen and increases in pollen concentration may negatively affect the health of allergic patients. The aim of this study was to analyze the implementation of allergen immunotherapy with regard to air pollen concentration. Material and Methods: Here we examined the relationship between Betula air pollen concentration and the usage of Betula verrucosa allergen immunotherapy in Serbia. Examination covered the period from 2015 to 2018. Measurement of airborne pollen concentration was performed with Lanzoni volumetric pollen traps. The evidence of the usage of sublingual allergen immunotherapy (SLIT) was gathered from patients with documented sensitization to specific pollen. Results: During this period tree pollens were represented with 58% +/- 21% of all measured air pollen species, while Betula pollen represented 15% +/- 8% of all tree pollens. Betula pollination peaked in April. Allergen immunotherapy to Betula verrucosa in Serbia is entirely conducted as sublingual immunotherapy and represents 47.1% +/- 1.4% of issued tree pollen SLIT. The use of pollen SLIT increased by 68% from 2015 to 2018, with an even greater increase in usage recorded for Betula SLIT-80%. Conclusions: This analysis shows a clear causative relationship between pollination and the type/prevalence of applied allergen immunotherapy. Information about the flowering seasons of allergenic plants is very important for people who suffer from allergy, for clinical allergologists, as well as for governing authorities. The presented data is of practical importance to the proper timing of immunotherapy initiation and of importance for urban landscaping. The obtained data can be the starting point for the instatement of a thorough epidemiological study and the inclusion of Serbia on the pollen map of Europe
Supplementary information for the article: Kosanović, D.; Grogan, H.; Kavanagh, K. Exposure of Agaricus Bisporus to Trichoderma Aggressivum f. Europaeum Leads to Growth Inhibition and Induction of an Oxidative Stress Response. Fungal Biology 2020, 124 (9), 814–820. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.funbio.2020.07.003.
Get PDFFigure S1. Produce Phase III substrate which was heavily colonised by T. aggressivum and used as inoculum for subsequent experiment; Figure S2. Most probable number (MPN) analysis results, a) -2 dilution level, b) -5 dilution level; Figure S3. PCR verification of T. aggressivum f. europaeum. Wells 2,3,4 are negativeve control (culture FM5 T. harzianum). Wells 5,6,7 are T. aggressivum FM10. Wells 6,7 are very faint in the image unfortunately, but they were on the gel. We can still slightly see them. Sample CBS 100526 is in wells 8,9,10 and they are all clearly positive. Well 8 is Trichoderma universal (ITS1/4 primers), well 9 is for both Th2/Th4 biotypes (TH1 INT/ITS4 primers). Th2 biotype is T. aggressivum f. europaeum, Th4 biotype is T. aggressivum f. aggressivum, and in well 10 is Th2 biotype specific (i.e. T. aggressivum f. europium, 18S/TH1 INT REV primers); Figure S4. Principal component analysis (PCA statistical procedure). ▫ - T. aggressivum group and ▫ - Control group; Figure S5 a. Increase/Decrease in biological processes in A. bisporus after 4 days treatment with T. aggressivum 48h supernatant; Figure S5 b. Increase/Decrease in molecular function in A. bisporus after 4 days treatment with T. aggressivum 48h supernatant; Figure S5 c. Increased/decreased cellular components in A. bisporus after 4 day treatment with T. aggressivum 48h supernatant; Figure S5 d. Increase/decrease in enzyme activity of A. bisporus after 4 day of treatment with 48h T. aggressivum supernatant; Figure S6. Green mold was observed on the mushroom casing of inoculated plots (c:10-3 and b:10-4), but not on the control plots (a). Starting from day 14th dense white mycelia was observed, after few days the color changed into green after extensive sporulation (b, c); Figure S7. Symptoms of green mould (deformities of sporocarp and brown spots) on fruiting body on day 17th after casing the compost; Table S1. Colorimetry assay on mushroom pilei in infected or controlled plots; Figure S8. Proteomic responses of A. bisporus following 25-day incubation with 10-4 inoculum of T. aggressivum. Volcano plot represent protein intensity difference (− log2 mean intensity difference) and significance in differences (− log P-value) based on a two-sided t-test. Proteins above the line are considered statistically significant (p value 1.5. Annotations are given for the most differentially abundant proteins identified. These plots are based upon post imputed data; Figure S9. Proteomic responses of A. bisporus following 25-day incubation with -3 inoculum of T. aggressivum. Volcano plot represent protein intensity difference (− log2 mean intensity difference) and significance in differences (− log P-value) based on a two-sided t-test. Proteins above the line are considered statistically significant (p value 1.5. Annotations are given for the most differentially abundant proteins identified. These plots are based upon post imputed data; Figure S10 a. Increased molecular function 25 days after A. bisporus inoculation with T. aggressivum; Figure S10 b. Increased cellular component day 24 after A. bisporus inoculation with T. aggressivum; Figure S10 c. Increased enzymes day 25 after inoculation of A. bisporus with T. aggressivum; Figure S11a. Proteomic responses of A. bisporus following 2 day incubation with 25% v/v 48h supernatant of T. aggressivum. Volcano plot represent protein intensity difference (− log2 mean intensity difference) and significance in differences (− log P-value) based on a two-sided t-test. Proteins above the line are considered statistically significant (p value 2. Annotations are given for the most differentially abundant proteins identified. These plots are based upon post imputed data; Figure S11b. Proteomic responses of A. bisporus following 8 day incubation with 25% v/v 48h supernatant of T. aggressivum. Volcano plot represent protein intensity difference (− log2 mean intensity difference) and significance in differences (− log P-value) based on a two-sided t-test. Proteins above the line are considered statistically significant (p value 2. Annotations are given for the most differentially abundant proteins identified. These plots are based upon post imputedSupplementary material for: [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.funbio.2020.07.003]Related to the published version: [https://intor.torlakinstitut.com/handle/123456789/557
Supplementary information for the article: Radosavljević, J.; Apostolović, D.; Mihailović, J.; Atanasković-Marković, M.; Burazer, L.; van Hage, M.; Ćirković Veličković, T. Digestomics of Cow’s Milk: Short Digestion-Resistant Peptides of Casein Form Functional Complexes by Aggregation. Foods 2020, 9 (11), 1576. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9111576.
No full textFigure S1-S3: Figure S1: Digestion of BLG at pH 1.2, 2.5 and 4.0; Figure S2: Digestion of ALA at pH 1.2, 2.5 and 4.0; Figure S3: MALDI spectra of peptides used in the study Table S1. IgE levels of patients used in the study determined by ImmunoCAP Methods: 1.1 Detection of ALA and BLG by immunoblot; 1.2 Mass spectrometry analysis; 1.3 Size-exclusion chromatography; 1.4 IgG4-binding properties of peptides obtained by digestion; 1.5 Digestion of purified ALA and BLG at different pH; 1.6 MALDI-TOF MS.Supplementary material for: [https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9111576]Related to the published version: [https://intor.torlakinstitut.com/handle/123456789/547
Supplementary information for the article: Micić, M.; Antonijević, Đ.; Milutinović-Smiljanić, S.; Trisić, D.; Colović, B.; Kosanović, D.; Prokić, B.; Vasić, J.; Zivković, S.; Milašin, J.; Danilović, V.; Đurić, M.; Jokanović, V. Developing a Novel Resorptive Hydroxyapatite-Based Bone Substitute for over-Critical Size Defect Reconstruction: Physicochemical and Biological Characterization and Proof of Concept in Segmental Rabbit’s Ulna Reconstruction. Biomedical Engineering-Biomedizinische Technik 2020, 65 (4), 491–505. https://doi.org/10.1515/bmt-2019-0218.
No full textFigure 1S. Change of the Ca concentration in the solution containing investigated nHAP granules with time. Figure 2S. Change of the Ca concentration with time in biological apatite (BioOss). Figure 3S. The correlation of the ALBO-OS compressive strenght and the time of the material’s soaking in Hank’s solution. Table 1S. Reference point indentation outcomes of the ALBOOS. MH – microhardness, ID 1st - 1st Cycle Indentation Distance; US 1st - 1st Cycle Unloading Slope; CID 1st -1st Cycle Creep Indentation Distance; TID - Total Indentation Distance; IDI - Indentation Distance Increase; Avg CID - Avg Creep Indentation Distance; Avg US - Average Unloading Slope; Avg US - Average Unloading Slope; Avg LS - Average Loading Slope; Avg ED - Average Energy Dissipated. Table 2S. Ph of nHAP after soaking in simulated body fluid. Figure 4S. Microacrhitectural and structural characteristics of nHAP in vitro and in contact with bone tissue in vivo. Adequate microstructure and surface nanotopography provide good environment for cells infiltration in vivo. Note the presence of porous paterns within material structure in vivo as well as the lamellar structure of ALBO-OS. Figure 5S. Schematic representation of the extruder design in custom made laboratory 3D printer: from technical reasons, 3D printer was modified to include two extruders: 1 – syringe extruder, 1.1 – glass syringe, 1.2 – external frame of the extruder 1, 1.3 – electrical heater coil, 1.4 –metal piston of the syringe, 1.5 – syringe nozzle (0,8mm in diameter), 1.6 – gears of the piston drive, 1.7 – piston drive motor with reduction, 1.8 – HAP PLA mixture, 2 – PLA extruder, 2.1 – heater block of the PLA extruder, 2.2 – extruder cooler, 2.3 – PLA extruder motor drive with reduction, 2.4 – PLA filament 1.75mm in diameter, 2.5 – PLA extruder nozzle 0,4mm in diameter. Figure 6S. Paste extruder attached to the head of the printer, with removed electrical heater coil, so the syringe with the metal piston can be visible. A) The engineered construct used for the experiments and B) its structure after magnification (X200). C-E) Wettability of the construct. Administration of the reference liquid droplet on the construct surface. F) Histogram showing the time required for reference liquid to completely wet the construct surface. Note that the droplet is absorbed within the part of the second.Supplementary material for: [https://doi.org/10.1515/bmt-2019-0218]Related to the published version: [https://intor.torlakinstitut.com/handle/123456789/542
Food Allergens’ Susceptibility to Proteolysis
No full textCommon properties of food allergens are prominent resistance to heat treatment and enzyme proteolysis. Stability of the proteins upon gastrointestinal proteolysis of food highly correlates with its allergenic potential. At this moment, the scientific community is putting a lot of effort to connect the available knowledge on the structure and function of food proteins, with stability to proteolysis in order to provide the most reliable prediction tool for allergenicity of novel proteins. Moreover, choosing the conditions under which gastrointestinal proteolysis is simulated may profoundly affect the results of assays and allergenicity assessment. At the beginning of research, for the link between allergenicity and proteolytic stability, purified allergens were used. However, this approchad was proved to be prone to production of erroneous data, since the proteolytic stability of purified proteins was frequently affected by the methodology used for protein purification and the ratio of protens to digestive enzymes used in the assays. Nowadays, the scientific community thrives to establish in vitro digestion protocols that mimic physiological conditions and take into account complex compositon of the food. New studies support this tendency, since it was shown that the presence of various biomolecules in food matrix affects the proteolysis in the simulated gastrointestinal conditions. On top of that, survival of intact proteins upon proteolysis seems not to be necessary, but frequently protein fragments of higher molecular weight with partially preserved structure might be enough to elicit allergic reaction in sensitized individuals
Histidine-Triad Hydrolases Provide Resistance to Peptide-Nucleotide Antibiotics
No full textThe Escherichia coli microcin C (McC) and related compounds are potent Trojan horse peptide-nucleotide antibiotics. The peptide part facilitates transport into sensitive cells. Inside the cell, the peptide part is degraded by nonspecific peptidases releasing an aspartamide-adenylate containing a phosphoramide bond. This nonhydrolyzable compound inhibits aspartyl-tRNA synthetase. In addition to the efficient export of McC outside the producing cells, special mechanisms have evolved to avoid self-toxicity caused by the degradation of the peptide part inside the producers. Here, we report that histidine-triad (HIT) hydrolases encoded in biosynthetic clusters of some McC homologs or by standalone genes confer resistance to McC-like compounds by hydrolyzing the phosphoramide bond in toxic aspartamide-adenosine, rendering them inactive.IMPORTANCE Uncovering the mechanisms of resistance is a required step for countering the looming antibiotic resistance crisis. In this communication, we show how universally conserved histidine-triad hydrolases provide resistance to microcin C, a potent inhibitor of bacterial protein synthesis
Supplementary information for the article: Kosanović, D.; Sheehan, G.; Grogan, H.; Kavanagh, K. Characterisation of the Interaction of Pseudomonas Putida and Pseudomonas Tolaasii with Trichoderma Aggressivum. European Journal of Plant Pathology 2020, 156 (1), 111–121. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-019-01867-z.
Get PDFFigure S1. Pathogenicity assay on mushroom caps. Top of the pilei were inoculated with 20 μl of Pseudomonas tolaasii (1×1013 CFU ml−1). Sterile water was used as a negative control. Brown blotch on mushroom caps, 48h after inoculation (b), no blotch on a control (a); Figure S2. Zones of Inhibition due to P. putida (a, b) and P. tolaasii (c, d) supernatants on PDA (b, d) and ME (a, c) plates inoculated with with 104 T. aggressivum conidia and wells filled with 50 µl of 96h SN, after 48h, 30 °C; Figure S3. Comparison of superimposed P. putida and P. tolaasii supernatant chromatographs. Tolaasin Rt = 17.418 min. detected only in 96- and 120-hours P. tolaasii supernatants; Figure S4. PCA analysis. ◦ - P. putida group, ∆ - P. tolaasii group and ▫- Control group; Figure S5. Gene Ontology analysis by Blast2GO software tool. Biological process, molecular function, and cellular components significantly enriched within the proteome of P. putida/tolaasii treated T. aggressivum.Supplementary material for: [https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-019-01867-z]Related to the published version: [https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_intor_559