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Sinigrin Encapsulation in Liposomes: Influence on In Vitro Digestion and Antioxidant Potential
Get PDFEncapsulation of sinigrin in liposomes with the proliposomal method was performed in order to evaluate the effect of this process on in vitro simulated digestion and antioxidant potential of sinigrin. The recovery of sinigrin after simulated gastric and duodenal digestion of its free and liposomal forms was determined with HPLC-UV using human digestive juices. The antioxidant potential of sinigrin and sinigrin-loaded liposomes was determined with the Rancimat test as their ability to prolong oxidative stability of edible oil. The efficiency of 62% was obtained by encapsulating sinigrin in liposomes. The values of mean diameter, polydispersity index and zeta potential showed satisfactory size uniformity and physical stability of the liposomes containing sinigrin. Liposomes were shown to inhibit the digestion of sinigrin in both human gastric and intestinal juices, clearly enabling its prolonged release. Moreover, sinigrin in the liposomal form significantly prolonged the induction time of edible oil oxidation compared to its free form. The results obtained are encouraging from the point of view of a possible incorporation of the sinigrin-loaded liposomes in real functional food systems or their use as nutraceuticals
Low dietary polyphenols intake in patients with chronic kidney disease-is supplementation necessary?
No full textPolyphenols are important constituents of the human diet, which are involved in antioxidant and other biological activities. Dietary intake of fruits and vegetables representing polyphenol richfoods are restricted in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) to reduce the risk of hyperkalemia. Nevertheless, intervention studies with polyphenol supplements in hemodialysis patients support their use to counteract high levels of oxidative stress. The objective of this study was to estimate the dietary intake of total polyphenols in patients with CKD. This study enrolled 73 randomly selected subjects, 37 pre-dialysis (PD) and 36 hemodialysis patients (HD) from the Clinic of Nephrology, Military Medical Academy, Belgrade, Serbia. Dietary intake assessment was based on repeated 24-hour dietary recalls. Food consumption was recorded for the dialysis day, the day after dialysis, and one weekend day. Dietary questionnaires were processed using Diet Assess & Plan, an advanced nutritional software tool. Consumption data were converted to nutrient intake estimates according to the Serbian Food Composition Database. The estimated mean dietary intake of polyphenols was 789 ± 418 mg/day in CKD patients. No differences were observed regarding the total polyphenol intake by gender or between PD and HD groups. Dietary intake of less than 500 mg/day polyphenols was found in 22%, between 500 and 1000 mg/day in 53%, and more than 1000 mg/day in 25% of studied CKD patients. Estimated mean dietary intakes of prominent polyphenolrich food groups, i.e., vegetables, fruits and non-milk beverages were 254 ± 174 g, 145 ± 115 g, and 266 ± 191 ml, respectively. In conclusion, the findings of this study revealed low dietary intake of polyphenols among both patients undergoing hemodialysis and those with 3-5 stage CKD. Higher dietary consumption of certain fruits and vegetables abundant in polyphenols and low in potassium may be a valuable strategy in disease-progression management, especially in pre-dialyses patients
Epidemiology of Taenia solium infection in the Russian Federation in the last 20 years: a systematic review
Get PDFTaenia solium is a zoonotic parasite that causes taeniasis and cysticercosis in humans (as final hosts) and cysticercosis in pigs (as intermediate hosts). The Russian Federation (RF) is traditionally considered as endemic for this zoonosis. However, the epidemiological data on T. solium infection have not been reviewed for the past 20 years, in which time dynamic economical and societal changes have occurred in the RF. The aim of this systematic review was to analyse the status of T. solium infection in RF in the 2000–2019 period. A literature search was conducted, which collected published articles, grey literature and official data on the epidemiology of T. solium taeniasis and cysticercosis in the RF published from 2000. From a total of 2021 articles and 24 official reports originally returned by the search, data were extracted from 12 full text articles and 11 official reports. Taenia solium taeniasis was continuously reported in the RF between 2000 and 2019, with a tenfold decrease in the incidence, from 0.2 per 100,000 population in 2000 to 0.023/100,000 in 2019. Also, the number of administrative units where taeniasis was detected continuously decreased. Cysticercosis in pigs had a declining trend after 2006. In conclusion, although decreasing, T. solium infection is still endemic in several regions and suspected to be endemic in most of the RF
Impact of depression on gait variability in Parkinson's disease
Get PDFObjective
The goal of this study was to analyze how depression associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD) affected gait variability in these patients using a dual-task paradigm. Additionally, the dependency of the executive functions and the impact of depression on gait variability were analyzed.
Patients and Methods
Three subject groups were included: patients with PD, but no depression (PD-NonDep; 14 patients), patients with both PD and depression (PD-Dep; 16 patients) and healthy controls (HC; 15 subjects). Gait was recorded using the wireless sensors. The participants walked under four conditions: single-task, motor dual- task, cognitive dual-task, and combined dual-task. Variability of stride length, stride duration, and swing time was calculated and analyzed using the statistical methods.
Results
Variability of stride duration and stride length were not significantly different between PD-Dep and PD-NonDep patients. The linear mixed model showed that swing time variability was statistically significantly higher in PD-Dep patients compared to controls (p = 0.001). Hamilton Disease Rating Scale scores were significantly correlated with the swing time variability (p = 0.01). Variability of all three parameters of gait was significantly higher while performing combined or cognitive task and this effect was more pronounced in PD-Dep group of patients.
Conclusions
Depression in PD was associated with swing time variability, and this effect was more prominent while performing a dual-task.
Significance
Diagnosing and treating depression might be important for gait improvement and fall reduction in PD patients
Forest Fire Probability Mapping in Eastern Serbia: Logistic Regression versus Random Forest Method
Get PDFForest fire risk has increased globally during the previous decades. The Mediterranean region is traditionally the most at risk in Europe, but continental countries like Serbia have experienced significant economic and ecological losses due to forest fires. To prevent damage to forests and infrastructure, alongside other societal losses, it is necessary to create an effective protection system against fire, which minimizes the harmful effects. Forest fire probability mapping, as one of the basic tools in risk management, allows the allocation of resources for fire suppression, within a fire season, from zones with a lower risk to those under higher threat. Logistic regression (LR) has been used as a standard procedure in forest fire probability mapping, but in the last decade, machine learning methods such as fandom forest (RF) have become more frequent. The main goals in this study were to (i) determine the main explanatory variables for forest fire occurrence for both models, LR and RF, and (ii) map the probability of forest fire occurrence in Eastern Serbia based on LR and RF. The most important variable was drought code, followed by different anthropogenic features depending on the type of the model. The RF models demonstrated better overall predictive ability than LR models. The map produced may increase firefighting efficiency due to the early detection of forest fire and enable resources to be allocated in the eastern part of Serbia, which covers more than one-third of the country's area
Mathematical modelling of Toxoplasma gondii transmission: A systematic review
Get PDFBackground: Toxoplasma gondii is a ubiquitous protozoan parasite that can infect virtually all warm-blooded animals. It is the causative agent of toxoplasmosis, a significant public health issue worldwide. Mathematical models are useful to study the transmission dynamics of T. gondii infection in different settings, and may be used to compare the effectiveness of prevention measures. Methods: To obtain an overview of existing mathematical models for transmission of T. gondii, a systematic review was undertaken. The review was conducted according to an a priori protocol and the results were reported according to the PRISMA guidelines. Specific search terms were developed and used in the search of three databases (Scopus, PubMed, and Embase). Results: In total, 484 unique records were retrieved from the systematic search. Among them, 15 studies that used mathematical models to study the transmission of T. gondii. These studies were categorized into four groups based on the primary aims: dynamics of transmission (n = 8), intervention (n = 5), spatial distribution (n = 1), and outbreak investigation (n = 1). Conclusions: Considering the high disease burden caused by T. gondii, the number of studies using mathematical models to understand the transmission dynamics of this parasite and to evaluate the effectiveness of intervention measures was only 15. This systematic review provides an overview of existing mathematical models and identifies the data gaps for model building. The results from this study can be helpful for further development of mathematical models and improved understanding of the transmission dynamics of T. gondii infection
Effects of pomegranate juice on lipid profile in patients with metabolic syndrome: short- and long-term consumption
No full textBiological and molecular characterization of lineage III strains Toxoplasma gondii isolated in Serbia
Get PDFToxoplasma gondii, protozoa iz filuma Apikompleksa, patogeni je endoparazit svih homeotermnih vrsta koji se prenosi ingestijom kontaminirane hrane i vode i uzročnik je toksoplazmoze. Na osnovu podataka o visokoj globalnoj prevalenciji i saznanju da patologija koju prouzrokuje infekcija može biti ozbiljna i kod imunokompetentne populacije, T. gondii je po značaju za javno zdravlje rangirana kao globalnom nivou na 4., a u Evropi na 2. mesto. Intenzitet patologije uslovljene specifičnim interakcijama sa imunskim ćelijama domaćina, velikim se delom zasniva na genotipu parazita, kojih ima preko 300 u globalnoj cirkulaciji. Iako su mnogi geni markeri virulencije identifikovani, fenotip virulenije je teško utvrditi isključivo genetikom, te se istraživanja fokusiraju na mehanizame virulencije. U ovom radu je ispitana virulencija četiri različita varijantna genotipa T. gondii loze III koja čini 25,3% populacione strukture T. gondii u Srbiji, na in vivo modelu Swiss Webster miševa, dok su mehanizmi ispitani in vitro u VERO ćelijama i kroz ekspresiju gena u mozgu i slezini u ranoj i kasnoj infekciji.Utvrđeno je da su genotipovi EQ40 I K1 intermedijarno virulentni dok su EQ39 (ToxoDB#54) iG13 nisko virulentni. Pokazano je da su mehanizmi virulencije stopa proliferacije i litičkikapacitet, koji su posledica više metaboličke aktivnosti, pokazane kroz povišenu ekspresijuENO2. Ovi mehanizmi uslovljavaju intenzivan proinflamatorni odgovor koji je u ranoj infekciji evidentan kroz povišen nivo IL-12p40 i IFN-γ mRNK u mozgu i slezini. Uprkos različitim karakteristikama imunskog odgovora na genotipove intermedijarne i niske virulencije,imunizovani miševi preživljavaju re-infekciju RH (ToxoDB#10) sojem, što ukazuje na to da kvalitet imunskog odgovora ne zavisi od virulencije genotipa.Toxoplasma gondii, the etiological agent of toxoplasmosis, is a food and waterborne Apicomplexan protozoan endoparasite of homeothermic species transmissible by ingestion. Dueto a high global prevalence and the fact that infection can cause serious pathology in the immunocompetent individuals, T. gondii was ranked globally as the 4th and in Europe as the 2nd parasite of significance to public health. The severity of the pathology, which follows from specific interactions of the parasite with immune cells, depends on the parasite’s genotype, over 300 of which circulate globally. While many virulence conferring genes have been identified, the virulence phenotype is difficult to predict by genetics alone, thus the focus is on discovering the underlying mechanisms. In this study, the virulence of four distinct lineage III variant genotypes, which constitute 25% of the population structure of T. gondii in Serbia, has been determined by cumulative mortality of Swiss Webster mice, while mechanisms were analyzed using VERO cells and through gene expression in the brain and the spleen in early and late infection.Genotypes EQ40 and K1 were found to be of intermediate, while EQ39 (ToxoDB#54) and G13were of low virulence. Virulence mechanisms included high proliferation rate and lytic capacity, supported by enhanced metabolic activity, evident in sustained higher ENO2 expression. This results in an intense proinflammatory response in early infection, characterized by high levels of expression of IL-12p40 and IFN-γ mRNA in the brain and spleen. However, despite distinct characteristics of the immune response to genotypes of different virulence, immunized mice survived RH (ToxoDB#10) challenge, which implies that the quality of the immune response is independent of virulence
Multitrait Multimethod validation of Implicit Association Test as a measure of individual differences in personality: Is there personality at all?
No full textThe objective of the study was to investigate the validity of IAT in the assessment of the Big five personality traits. We employed the Multi-Trait Multi-Method (MTMM) approach on a sample of 146 respondents. We collected measures on IATs assessing Big five personality traits, self-reports, and two ratings of close others of different gender on NEO PI-R. Additionally, we assessed behavior related to the Big five personality traits in a structured interview where three experts independently provided rating measures. MTMM analyses suggest that personality IAT measures have little in common with personality traits measured traditionally using explicit methods. The evidence does not support the claim that personality IAT can serve as a valid measure of individual differences in personality traits