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The Polymorphisms in GSTO Genes (GSTO1 rs4925, GSTO2 rs156697, and GSTO2 rs2297235) Affect the Risk for Testicular Germ Cell Tumor Development: A Pilot Study
Get PDFMembers of the omega class of glutathione transferases (GSTs), GSTO1, and GSTO2, catalyze a range of reduction reactions as a part of the antioxidant defense system. Polymorphisms of genes encoding antioxidant proteins and the resultant altered redox profile have already been associated with the increased risk for testicular germ cell cancer (GCT) development. The aim of this pilot study was to assess the individual, combined, haplotype, and cumulative effect of GSTO1rs4925, GSTO2rs156697, and GSTO2rs2297235 polymorphisms with the risk for testicular GCT development, in 88 patients and 96 matched controls, through logistic regression models. We found that carriers of the GSTO1*C/A*C/C genotype exhibited an increased risk for testicular GCT development. Significant association with increased risk of testicular GCT was observed in carriers of GSTO2rs2297235*A/G*G/G genotype, and in carriers of combined GSTO2rs156697*A/G*G/G and GSTO2rs2297235*A/G*G/G genotypes. Haplotype H7 (GSTO1rs4925*C/GSTO2rs2297235*G/GSTO2rs156697*G) exhibited higher risk of testicular GCT, however, without significant association (p > 0.05). Finally, 51% of testicular GCT patients were the carriers of all three risk-associated genotypes, with 2.5-fold increased cumulative risk. In conclusion, the results of this pilot study suggest that GSTO polymorphisms might affect the protective antioxidant activity of GSTO isoenzymes, therefore predisposing susceptible individuals toward higher risk for testicular GCT development
Chemical characterization and antimicrobial activity of Juglans nigra L. nut and green husk
Get PDFJuglans nigra (Black walnut) is a source of health-supporting biologically active compounds used in traditional medicine. The investigation of bioactive compounds in black walnut could lead to its broader application, as well as to the application of its by-products. Therefore, this study aimed to characterize J. nigra nut and green husk based on chemical analysis of their petroleum ether and ethanol extracts obtained by ultrasonic and reflux extraction methods, respectively. Different extract fractions were tested for their antimicrobial activities using Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa), Gram-positive bacteria (Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus) and yeast (reference strain and clinical isolates of Candida albicans). The ethanol extracts analysis, performed by high performance liquid chromatography, singled out the ellagic acid as the most dominant compound in nut ((55.0±1.3)×10-3 kg m-3) and green husk ((114.1±0.5)×10-3 kg m-3) extracts. Non-polar compounds were evaluated using gas chromatography analysis of petroleum ether extracts. Juglans nigra nut and green husk contained two saturated fatty acids, palmitic acid (C16:0) and stearic acid (C18:0), then, monounsaturated fatty acids, palmitoleic (C16:1n-7), oleic (C18:1n-9) and vaccenic acid (C18:1n-7), as well as polyunsaturated fatty acids, linoleic (C18:2n- -6), γ-linolenic (C18:3n-6) and α-linolenic (C18:3n-3) acids. Ethanol extracts of both J. nigra nut and green husk showed antimicrobial activity against C. albicans, which is the most common cause of yeast infections
Unveiling the incidences and trends of the neglected zoonosis cystic echinococcosis in Europe: a systematic review from the MEmE project
No full textThe neglected zoonosis cystic echinococcosis affects mainly pastoral and rural communities in both low-income and upper-middle-income countries. In Europe, it should be regarded as an orphan and rare disease. Although human cystic echinococcosis is a notifiable parasitic infectious disease in most European countries, in practice it is largely under-reported by national health systems. To fill this gap, we extracted data on the number, incidence, and trend of human cases in Europe through a systematic review approach, using both the scientific and grey literature and accounting for the period of publication from 1997 to 2021. The highest number of possible human cases at the national level was calculated from various data sources to generate a descriptive model of human cystic echinococcosis in Europe. We identified 64 745 human cystic echinococcosis cases from 40 European countries. The mean annual incidence from 1997 to 2020 throughout Europe was 0·64 cases per 100 000 people and in EU member states was 0·50 cases per 100 000 people. Based on incidence rates and trends detected in this study, the current epicentre of cystic echinococcosis in Europe is in the southeastern European countries, whereas historical endemic European Mediterranean countries have recorded a decrease in the number of cases over the time
A Pork Industry in the Backyard: An Analysis of Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Serbia’s Pigs
Get PDFAs pork is an important source for Toxoplasma gondii infection, we have analyzed T. gondii genotypes and toxoplasmosis prevalence in pigs in Serbia in the context of production statistics and economics to assess the specific risk to public health. Genotyping was performed using MnPCR-RFLP; T. gondii-specific IgG antibodies were detected using a modified agglutination test (MAT); and statistical data were extracted from official records and provided by government authorities. The results indicate that, from 2006 to 2021, the median number of annually slaughtered pigs was 5.6 million, yet only 36.1% were processed by abattoirs. The remainder were “backyard pigs” slaughtered on family farms and homesteads. Toxoplasmosis seroprevalence in market-weight (MW) pigs prior to 2006 was 15.2%, and was 15.1% in 2019. The seroprevalence in owned city cats, likely infected by livestock meat, was 33.2%. ToxoDB#1 was identified in pig tissues. The results indicate that backyard pigs are the backbone of the industry and provide as much as 60% of the pork in Serbia. The seroprevalence in pigs and city cats shows that farms are reservoirs for the parasite. Thus, innovative means of reducing T. gondii infection designed with backyard farmers in mind are needed to reduce the risk to public health
Modeling and Mapping of Forest Fire Occurrence in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship of Poland Based on Machine Learning Methods
Get PDFIn recent years, forest fires have become an important issue in Central Europe. To model the probability of the occurrence of forest fires in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship of Poland, historical fire data and several types of predictors were collected or generated, including topographic, vegetation, climatic, and anthropogenic features. The main objectives of this study were to determine the importance of the predictors of forest fire occurrence and to map the probability of forest fire occurrence. The H2O driverless artificial intelligence (DAI) cloud platform was used to model forest fire probability. The gradient boosted machine (GBM) and random forest (RF) methods were applied to assess the probability of forest fire occurrence. Evaluation the importance of the variables was performed using the H2O platform permutation method. The most important variables were the presence of coniferous forest and the distance to agricultural land according to the GBM and RF methods, respectively. Model validation was conducted using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The areas under the curve (AUCs) of the ROC plots from the GBM and RF models were 83.3% and 81.3%, respectively. Based on the results obtained, the GBM model can be recommended for the mapping of forest fire occurrence in the study area
Use of high-fat high-fructose diet for a model of metabolic syndrome in Wistar rats: challenges remain
Get PDFMetabolic syndrome (MetS) is a global public health challenge and one of the main risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Its pandemic prevalence created a demand for developing a relevant model system for deep insight into the molecular basis of MetS. Animal models, especially Wistar rats, are commonly used for that purpose. However, there are no standardized protocols in terms of the diet, strain, or age of rats used for the development of MetS. Studies have mostly used a high-fat high-fructose (HFHF) diet in Wistar rats but have reported inconsistent results; thus the main aim of this study was to examine the effects of the HFHF diet on inducing MetS in Wistar rats. We used two different sub-strains of Wistar rats – Hannover and Kyoto – of two different age groups (8 weeks and 4 months). Animals were placed on a modified diet, standard chow diet enriched with 25% fat and 20% fructose. Following 8 weeks of treatment, all groups were tested for indicators of MetS and the treatment was extended to 16 weeks for groups that developed some of the required parameters. None of the tested groups developed MetS after 16 weeks of HFHF diet, suggesting that the HFHF diet is not sufficient to develop at least three out of five (visceral obesity, high fasting glucose, high triglyceride, low HDL-cholesterol, high blood pressure) needed parameters. Based on our results, the addition of some pharmacological agents (e.g., cholic acid) is necessary for establishing a rat model system of MetS
Modulating chemosensitivity of oral carcinoma to Cisplatin by combination with plasma activated medium on 3D cell models
Get PDFOral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the most malignant neoplasms of the oral cavity, with a high mortality rate. Since the long-term survival rate of patients diagnosed with OSCC has remained unchanged over the past several decades, it is of utmost importance to discover new treatment modalities or enhance existing ones [1]. Since we previously demonstrated the antitumor efficacy of cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAP) on OSCC cell lines in a two-dimensional (2D) monolayer cell model, we moved further and tried to explain the mechanism of these cytotoxic events as well as analyze the effect of plasma-activated medium (PAM) in combination with chemotherapy as a gold standard in carcinoma treatment. The modified plasma needle operating at 13.56MHz with He as working gas was used for PAM generation with the distance of 3 mm between liquid surface and the tube and applying different exposure intervals [2]. OSCC cell line (SCC25) was cultivated in 2D or 3D culture systems when regular culture medium was changed for PAM for 24 h before performing assays. PAM treatment showed cytotoxic effects on 2D-cultured OSCC by inducing apoptotic cell death through the activation of the intrinsic caspase pathway. To analyze the combined effect of cisplatin and PAM we used a 3D cell culture approach with OSCC spheroids, as this method reflects more closely the in vivo cellular response to chemotherapeutics [3]. When PAM was combined with the increasing concentrations of cisplatin, the results showed an almost linear dose dependent decrease in OSCC spheroid viability. These arepromising and encouraging results for a potential application of CAP in the treatment of oral carcinoma. By combining the effects of chemotherapeutics with PAM, we developed a new prospect for a possible cancer treatment in which the same or even better antitumor effects could be achieved with lower doses of cytotoxic drugs. Consequently, it means that with lower doses of chemotherapeutics, we could minimize potential side effects associated with the high-dose usage of cytostatics and improve the quality of life for patients with these malignancies
Theta-modulated transcranial electrical stimulation for targeting Associative memory: A cross-modal integration of EEG and behavioral indicators
Get PDFAssociative memory (AM) represents an ability to bind unrelated information into meaningful units and encode them as distinct memories. AM has been the function of interest in many non-invasive transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) studies aiming to maximize the potential for memory modulation by varying stimulation loci, frequency, and amplitude.
In the current study, we aimed to capture modulation potential of AM performance when tailoring the stimulation protocols to the individual brain rhythms. By matching the stimulation frequency to the frequency of each subject’s AM task-induced electrophysiological (EEG) activity in theta spectrum (4-8 Hz), we developed two types of personalized oscillatory protocols: theta-modulated transcranial direct current stimulation (otDCS) and transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), which we administered alongside the constant tDCS and a sham condition in the single-blind cross-over experiment. To comparatively assess the effects of different tES protocols delivered over the posterior parietal cortex, we tested the recognition and recall ability of the 42 healthy young adults on paired-associate paradigms after each of four conditions. During AM assessment participant’s EEG activity was recorded.
Group-level comparisons of each active tES condition against sham did not show differences in AM task performance either on recognition or cued-recall. However, data showed variability in performance depending on the task and the outcome measures precluding straightforward comparison between the conditions. To explore the potential sources of variability in effect expression, we propose a methodology for isolating different aspects of the function-relevant neurophysiological markers that could depict the modulatory tES effect, setting the groundwork for further analysis.
Apart from introducing a novel approach to probing AM with personalized tES, this well-powered, multi-protocol, multi-task, and multi-measure study produced a comprehensive dataset for the exploration of factors that could uncover patterns in responsiveness to tES, as well as the insight into the relationship between neurophysiological and behavioral indicators
Formulation of nisin-loaded gelatin microparticles for eliciting bioactivity in bacterial nanocellulose
No full textConference Abstracts : 33rd Annual Conference of the European Society for Biomaterials, September 4-8, 2023, Davos, Switzerlan