Modelling of glucoamylase thermal inactivation in the presence of starch by artificial neural network

Thermal inactivation is suspected to be a limiting factor for use of glucoamylase in starch saccharification at elevated temperatures. Thus, inactivation of the enzyme has been studied in the presence of reagents (enzyme, substrate and product in wide range of concentrations, and moderate stirring). The influence of substrate and glucose as stability modulators showed the complexity of the studied system. Hence, one might expect multilateral correlations that could depreciate some efforts for phenomenological modelling. These obstacles forced to apply artificial neural network (ANN) modelling to map the enzyme activity decays. For this purpose, a dynamic network with four hidden neurons was selected. The database containing 42 data vectors was used for neural model training and verification process. The standard error of calculations and correlation coefficient (0.997-0.999) for dynamic simulations has proved correctness of the developed ANN.     

Host-specific differences in the physiology of acid secretion related to prostaglandins may play a role in gastric inflammation and injury

Immune mediators are involved in strain-specific manifestations of Helicobacter pylori infection, and the type of immune response is associated with production of PGE(2), which in turn influences gastric acid secretion. Acid secretion plays a pivotal role, not only in the pattern of H. pylori-induced gastritis and its consequences, but also in nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)-induced gastropathies. Mice and their transgenic modifications are widely used in Helicobacter and eicosanoid research. Using [(14)C]aminopyrine accumulation and pylorus ligation, we aimed to study acid secretion in gastric gland preparations from the commonly used strains of BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice. We found that PGE(2) does not inhibit acid secretion in gastric glands from C57BL/6 mice, in contrast to the expected antisecretory effect of PGE(2) observed in BALB/c mice. In BALB/c mice the effect of histamine and carbachol was reduced by PGE(2), whereas in C57BL/6 mice dose-response curves to these secretagogues were not affected. EP(3) receptors are not involved in acid secretion in C57BL/6 mice, as confirmed by significantly lower expression of mRNA for the EP(3) receptor. These contrary findings are important to the interpretation of the antisecretory role of eicosanoids in BALB/c and C57BL/6 mouse strains and the involvement of prostanoids in the etiology of Helicobacter-induced inflammation and NSAID-induced gastropathies. We propose that the lack of antisecretory effect of PGE(2) observed in C57BL/6 mice could reflect the extent of Helicobacter-induced inflammation and status of acid secretion in response to anti-inflammatory drugs.     

Ultrastructural features of supraspinal muscles in rabbits after long-term transcutaneous lateral electrical surface stimulation (LESS)

Lateral electrical surface stimulation is one of methods used in the therapy of the progressive form of idiopathic scoliosis (IS) in children and youth. However, there are data suggesting that this method may lead to serious adverse side effects, when used for a too long period of time per day. To clarify this issue, the present study was aimed at disclosing possible changes in the ultrastructural appearance of rabbit supraspinal muscles undergoing long-term stimulation (9 h per day, 3 months), an animal model successfully used to mimic the situation in humans. In comparison to the control animals, muscles of "overstimulated" rabbits exhibited clear signs of microscopical lesions, including depletion and disintegration of myofilaments, proliferation, dilatation and, sometimes, swelling of sarcoplasmic reticulum and/or mitochondria, as well as signs of destruction of the Z line. The above-mentioned abnormalities, especially the signs of degenerative processes associated with the Z line and the observed microlesions strongly suggest that the failure of the long-term LESS therapy of the IS may be attributable to these ultrastructural lesions.     

Tyrosine kinases. New target of anticancer therapy

Recently, clinical studies of new drugs development to target specific forms of cancer were reported. Herceptin, a monoclonal antibody against the Her2/neu receptor tyrosine kinase, prolonged the survival of women with Her2/neu positive metastatic breast cancer. STI571, a small molecule inhibitor of the BCR/ABL, c-Kit and platelet derived growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase, produced pronounced clinical responses in patients with BCR/ABL positive chronic myeloid leukemia and c-Kit positive gastrointestial stromal tumors. In order to consider the use of the inhibitor of tyrosine kinases activity as anticancer drug, their mechanisms of the oncogenic activation and their impact on tumor transformation should be studied. The treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as STI571 or herceptin was a spectacular clinical success which stimulated research on the structure and function of both kinases and their inhibitors.     

Uridine recognition motifs of human equilibrative nucleoside transporters 1 and 2 produced in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The sugar moiety of nucleosides has been shown to play a major role in permeant-transporter interaction with human equilibrative nucleoside transporters 1 and 2 (hENT1 and hENT2). To better understand the structural requirements for interactions with hENT1 and hENT2, a series of uridine analogs with sugar modifications were subjected to an assay that tested their abilities to inhibit [3H]uridine transport mediated by recombinant hENT1 and hENT2 produced in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. hENT1 displayed higher affinity for uridine than hENT2. Both transporters barely tolerated modifications or inversion of configuration at C(3'). The C(2')-OH at uridine was a structural determinant for uridine-hENT1, but not for uridine-hENT2, interactions. Both transporters were sensitive to modifications at C(5') and hENT2 displayed more tolerance to removal of C(5')-OH than hENT1; addition of an O-methyl group at C(5') greatly reduced interaction with either hENT1 or hENT2. The changes in binding energies between transporter proteins and the different uridine analogs suggested that hENT1 formed strong interactions with C(3')-OH and moderate interactions with C(2')-OH and C(5')-OH of uridine, whereas hENT2 formed strong interactions with C(3')-OH, weak interactions with C(5')-OH, and no interaction with C(2')-OH.     

Hibernation does not affect memory retention in bats

Long-term memory can be critically important for animals in a variety of contexts, and yet the extreme reduction in body temperature in hibernating animals alters neurochemistry and may therefore impair brain function. Behavioural studies on memory impairment associated with hibernation have been almost exclusively conducted on ground squirrels (Rodentia) and provide conflicting results, including clear evidence for memory loss. Here, we for the first time tested memory retention after hibernation for a vertebrate outside rodents—bats (Chiroptera). In the light of the high mobility, ecology and long life of bats, we hypothesized that maintenance of consolidated memory through hibernation is under strong natural selection. We trained bats to find food in one out of three maze arms. After training, the pre-hibernation performance of all individuals was at 100 per cent correct decisions. After this pre-test, one group of bats was kept, with two interruptions, at 7°C for two months, while the other group was kept under conditions that prevented them from going into hibernation. The hibernated bats performed at the same high level as before hibernation and as the non-hibernated controls. Our data suggest that bats benefit from an as yet unknown neuroprotective mechanism to prevent memory loss in the cold brain.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">MUTYH</Emphasis> Tyr165Cys, <Emphasis Type="Italic">OGG1</Emphasis> Ser326Cys and <Emphasis Type="Italic">XPD</Emphasis> Lys751Gln polymorphisms and head neck cancer susceptibility: a case control study

In the present study we investigated the association between three polymorphisms of the MUTYH (Tyr165Cys, rs34612342), the OGG1 (Ser326Cys, rs1052133) and the XPD (Lys751Gln, rs13181) genes with head and neck cancer risk. Genotypes were determined in DNA from peripheral blood lymphocytes of 265 patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) as well as 280 cancer-free controls by PCR-restriction fragment lenght polymorphisms. We found an association between HNSCC and the Ser326Cys (OR 1.69; 95% CI 1.19–2.45) as well as Cys326Cys (OR 4.56; 95% CI 2.07–10.05) variants of the OGG1 gene. The gene–gene interaction between MUTYH and OGG1 as well as OGG1 and XPD polymorphic variants may contribute to higher prevalence of HNSCC. We also found an association between Ser326Cys and Cys326Cys variants of OGG1 gene and smoking status in HNSCC patients (OR 1.97; 95% CI 1.25–3.11), (OR 3.54; 95% CI 1.39–9.04), respectively. Moreover, we also observed a protective association between Tyr165Cys variant of the MUTYH gene and non-smoking status in HNSCC (OR 0.34; 95% CI 0.17–0.66). We also found a link between gene–gene interaction (MUTYH and OGG1 or OGG1 and XPD) and smoking (ORs 2.17–4.20 and 2.18–5.23) or non-smoking status (ORs 0.11 and 7.61) in HNSCC patients, respectively. In conclusion our data showed that the Ser326Cys polymorphism of the OGG1 gene may modify the risk of HNSCC associated with smoking. Finally we suggested that this polymorphism might be used as predictive factor for head and neck cancer in Polish population.     

Genes of the extinct Caucasian bison still roam the Białowieża Forest and are the source of genetic discrepances between Polish and Belarusian populations of the European bison,Bison bonasus

European bison (Bison bonasus) populations from both the Polish (PL) and the Belarusian (BY) sides of the Bia?owie?a Forest represent the Lowland genetic line (LB line) – progeny of the Lowland bison (Bison bonasus bonasus) that inhabited western, central, and south‐eastern Europe in historical times. During the species recovery, one of the founders was a descendant of the extinct Caucasian bison (Bison bonasus caucasicus) and its descendants formed the other genetic line – Lowland–Caucasian (LC). There have been justified suspicions that LB European bison in the former Soviet Union had undergone cross‐mating with the LC line. We performed a comparative genetic analyses on European bison from the BY and PL parts of the Bia?owie?a Forest, the LC line and extinct Caucasian bison, based on a set of 19 microsatellite markers and 1512 bovine single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers, polymorphic in at least one of the studied populations. Although genetic variability (mean allele number and expected heterozygosity) for both populations were similar, the F_ST jack‐knifing and principal component analyses PCA revealed highly significant differences between PL and BY bison from the Bia?owie?a Forest. Examining DNA of the extinct Caucasian bison revealed that at least part of the genetic variants found in the BY, but not the PL, population were of Caucasian origin. The results indicate that the contemporary population of European bison from the BY part of the Bia?owie?a Forest should not be regarded as a LB line. The results also suggest that the actual global population size of the LB line European bison is only a half of its official status. Consideration of the presented results are crucial in determining management actions and policy decisions in order to conserve LB line bison within the Bia?owie?a Forest – its natural refuge. © 2015 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2015, 114 , 752–763.