Causative Agents of Superficial Mycoses in Istanbul,Turkey: Retrospective Study

The aim of the present study was to determine the percentage of agents, which can give rise to superficial fungal infections in Istanbul, Turkey. Between 2000 and 2007, the clinical samples collected from 8,200 patients attending the outpatient Dermatology Clinic at Mihrimahsultan Medical Center were examined by direct microscopy and culture. Pathogen fungi were detected in 5,722 of the patients. Of the isolates were 4,218 (74%) dermatophytes, 1,196 (21%) Candida sp., 170 (3%) Malassezia furfur, and 138 (2%) Trichosporon sp. Among the dermatophytes, Trichophyton sp. was the most common isolate followed by Epidermophyton floccosum (243) and Microsporum sp. Among the Candida species, C. albicans (549) was also frequently found. Onychomycosis was the most prevalent type of infection, followed by tinea pedis, tinea cruris, tinea corporis, and tinea capitis. In conclusion, our study showed that the most common isolated agents from superficial infections were T. rubrum being Candida sp. the second most prevalent.     

鼠类种群动态:食物资源影响力的实验评估

本研究在美国伊利诺斯州中东部测定了中等食物质量(莓系属的牧草)和低食物质量(高杆草牧场)栖息地内橙腹田鼠(Microtusochrogaster)和草原田鼠(M.pennsylvanicus)种群对附加食物的响应。在中等食物质量栖息地内投放附加食物,橙腹田鼠种群的波动幅度高于对照样地,但同类型食物质量栖息地内,种群平均密度和波动模式无显著的差异。仅在低等食物质量的高杆草栖息地内,投放附加食物可导致草原田鼠的种群密度高于对照样地。附加食物不直接影响两种栖息地内橙腹田鼠的成活率或成熟率,在中等食物质量栖息地中投放附加食物,繁殖活跃的成熟雌性个体比例及雄性成体的体重高于对照。附加食物不影响莓系属牧草内草原田鼠,也不能影响该动物在高杆草环境中的存活率。然而,投放附加食物,可缩短低等食物质量栖息地内草原田鼠的成熟期,提高繁殖活跃雌性的比例和迁入个体比例,增加并引起雄性个体体重增加。据此,本研究证明食物资源在橙腹田鼠和草原田鼠种群动态中只起极小的作用。     

The dyslipidemia of chronic renal disease: effects of statin therapy

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Dyslipidemia is a prevalent condition in patients with chronic renal disease, but is often left untreated. Statin treatment constitutes an effective way to improve lipid abnormalities. This review summarizes present studies on dyslipidemia and its treatment in patients with chronic renal disease. RECENT FINDINGS: The specific dyslipidemia in renal disease is associated with the presence of proteinuria and decreased creatinine clearance, and may even adversely affect the progression of chronic renal disease. Statin therapy may have renoprotective effects due to a combination of lipid lowering and pleiotropic effects. Statins exert several anti-inflammatory properties and lead to a decrease of proteinuria. Post-hoc analyses of large-scale lipid lowering trials have shown that the reduction of cardiovascular risk was equivalent to the reduction achieved in patients without chronic renal failure. We feel, however, that if intervention with statins is postponed until patients reach end-stage renal disease, statins have limited benefit. SUMMARY: Present studies suggest that patients with renal disease should be screened early for dyslipidemia and that statins have to be considered as the lipid lowering therapy of choice. These drugs reduce cardiovascular risk. Further studies are needed to firmly establish whether statins preserve renal function.     

Population responses to perturbations: the importance of trait-based analysis illustrated through a microcosm experiment

Environmental change continually perturbs populations from a stable state, leading to transient dynamics that can last multiple generations. Several long-term studies have reported changes in trait distributions along with demographic response to environmental change. Here we conducted an experimental study on soil mites and investigated the interaction between demography and an individual trait over a period of nonstationary dynamics. By following individual fates and body sizes at each life-history stage, we investigated how body size and population density influenced demographic rates. By comparing the ability of two alternative approaches, a matrix projection model and an integral projection model, we investigated whether consideration of trait-based demography enhances our ability to predict transient dynamics. By utilizing a prospective perturbation analysis, we addressed which stage-specific demographic or trait-transition rate had the greatest influence on population dynamics. Both body size and population density had important effects on most rates; however, these effects differed substantially among life-history stages. Considering the observed trait-demography relationships resulted in better predictions of a population's response to perturbations, which highlights the role of phenotypic plasticity in transient dynamics. Although the perturbation analyses provided comparable predictions of stage-specific elasticities between the matrix and integral projection models, the order of importance of the life-history stages differed between the two analyses. In conclusion, we demonstrate how a trait-based demographic approach provides further insight into transient population dynamics.     

Lost in space? Searching for directions in the spatial modelling of individuals,populations and species ranges

The workshop ‘Spatial models in animal ecology, management and conservation’ held at Silwood Park (UK), 9–11 March 2010, aimed to synthesize recent progress in modelling the spatial dynamics of individuals, populations and species ranges and to provide directions for research. It brought together marine and terrestrial researchers working on spatial models at different levels of organization, using empirical as well as theory-driven approaches. Different approaches, temporal and spatial scales, and practical constraints predominate at different levels of organization and in different environments. However, there are theoretical concepts and specific methods that can fruitfully be transferred across levels and systems, including: habitat suitability characterization, movement rules, and ways of estimating uncertainty.     

Effect of predation risk on the presence and persistence of yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris) colonies

Habitat selection may have population level consequences and ultimately may influence a population's local persistence or extinction. We capitalized on a long-term study (1962–2004) of yellow-bellied marmots Marmota flaviventris in and around the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Gothic, Colorado, USA, and compared habitat characteristics associated with food availability and predation risk to explain variation in persistence of marmots at 27 sites, and their absence at 22 additional, randomly selected sites. We classified sites as persistent, intermittent or null based on whether there was a history of extinction; intermittent sites periodically went extinct and null sites never had marmots. Logistic regression analyses revealed that environmental variables associated with visibility and safety, rather than food, correctly classified sites as persistent or non-persistent as well as persistent or intermittent. Discriminant function analysis that included the null sites revealed that the same visibility-related characteristics predicted where marmots were found. These results highlight the importance of variation in safety among sites in predicting long-term population persistence, as well as a species' distribution.     

In vitro effects of standard antioxidants on lactoperoxidase enzyme–A molecular docking approach

Lactoperoxidase (LPO), an antioxidant enzyme, is a natural antimicrobial system that eliminates the harmful effects of microorganisms in milk. It has a wide range of applications and is also preferred in cosmetic and clinical applications, as well as used in foods. The use of antioxidants is well recognized in the food and feed industries to improve the shelf life of products. This study aimed to determine the in vitro inhibition effects of Trolox, α‐tocopherol, butylated hydroxyanisole, butylated hydroxytoluene, and propyl gallate, which are commonly used as antioxidants in food and pharmaceutical products. For this purpose, LPO was first purified in a single step using sepharose‐4B‐l ‐tyrosine‐sulfanilamide affinity gel chromatography. Also, some inhibition parameters, including half‐maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀), K_i values, and inhibition types, were calculated for each antioxidant molecule. The IC₅₀ values of these molecules, which exhibited competitive inhibition, varied between 377.7 and 3397.8 nM. Molecular docking studies were also performed for all compounds. According to the binding scores, α‐tocopherol was shown to exhibit the most effective inhibitor property (IC₅₀: 377.7 nM and K_i: 635.8 ± 16.8 nM) among the standard antioxidants used in this study. Inhibiting the LPO activity by standard antioxidants results in the weakening of the immune system during lactation, which is important for metabolism.     

SYBR green dye-based probe-free SNP genotyping: Introduction of T-Plex real-time PCR assay

Single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping is widely used in genetic association studies to characterize genetic factors underlying inherited traits. Despite many recent advances in high-throughput SNP genotyping, inexpensive and flexible methods with reasonable throughput levels are still needed. Real-time PCR methods for discovering and genotyping SNPs are becoming increasingly important in various fields of biology. In this study, we introduce a new, single-tube strategy that combines the tetra-primer ARMS PCR assay, SYBR Green I-based real-time PCR, and melting-point analysis with primer design strategies to detect the SNP of interest. This assay, T-Plex real-time PCR, is based on the T_m discrimination of the amplified allele-specific amplicons in a single tube. The specificity, sensitivity, and robustness of the assay were evaluated for common mutations in the FV, PII, MTHFR, and FGFR3 genes. We believe that T-Plex real-time PCR would be a useful alternative for either individual genotyping requests or large epidemiological studies.     

Sensitivity of muscle and intervertebral disc force computations to variations in muscle attachment sites

Abstract

The current paper aims at assessing the sensitivity of muscle and intervertebral disc force computations against potential errors in modeling muscle attachment sites. We perturbed each attachment location in a complete and coherent musculoskeletal model of the human spine and quantified the changes in muscle and disc forces during standing upright, flexion, lateral bending, and axial rotation of the trunk. Although the majority of the muscles caused minor changes (less than 5%) in the disc forces, certain muscle groups, for example, quadratus lumborum, altered the shear and compressive forces as high as 353% and 17%, respectively. Furthermore, percent changes were higher in the shear forces than in the compressive forces. Our analyses identified certain muscles in the rib cage (intercostales interni and intercostales externi) and lumbar spine (quadratus lumborum and longissimus thoracis) as being more influential for computing muscle and disc forces. Furthermore, the disc forces at the L4/L5 joint were the most sensitive against muscle attachment sites, followed by T6/T7 and T12/L1 joints. Presented findings suggest that modeling muscle attachment sites based on solely anatomical illustrations might lead to erroneous evaluation of internal forces and promote using anatomical datasets where these locations were accurately measured. When developing a personalized model of the spine, certain care should also be paid especially for the muscles indicated in this work.