Adaptive changes in lipid composition of rat liver plasma membrane during postnatal development following maternal ethanol ingestion

The fatty acid composition of constituent phospholipids and the cholesterol content of rat liver plasma membranes were determined subsequent to maternal alcohol ingestion during pregnancy and lactation. The alcoholic group was given a liquid Metrecal diet containing 37% ethanol-derived calories. The control group was pair-fed an isocaloric sucrose/Metrecal diet. Litters were killed for lipid analyses at days 5, 15 and 25 after birth. These studies revealed that the total phospholipid phosphorus was similar and increased significantly with age in both groups. Cholesterol also increased significantly with age in both groups but was greater in the alcoholic pups, resulting in a higher cholesterol/phospholipid molar ratio. While the phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) content increased with age in both groups, that of sphingomyelin decreased. Phosphatidylserine + phosphatidylinositol (PS + PI) was significantly higher in the control group at all ages studied. A consistent increase of C22:6 in phosphatidylcholine (PC), sphingomyelin, PS + PI and in the total phospholipid fraction from alcoholic pups was observed. Although other fatty acid changes were found in PC, PS + PI and sphingomyelin, PE was not affected. These results suggest that specific adaptive changes were induced in the liver plasma membrane lipids of the progeny from alcoholic rats.     

The effects of N-alkylmaleimides on the activity of rat liver glucose 6-phosphatase.

A series of N-alkylmaleimides has been synthesized and used to investigate the thiol groups that are essential for the activity of rat liver microsomal glucose 6-phosphatase. All of the N-alkylmaleimides inactivated glucose 6-phosphatase when preincubated with microsomes (microsomal fractions) at pH 6.5 and 30 degrees C. When enzyme activity was assayed in intact microsomes, the inactivation was non-linear with respect time, showing an initial rapid phase followed by a slower secondary phase. During the initial rapid phase the inactivation may apparently be completely reversed by disrupting the microsomal membrane with detergent. However, after longer exposure to N-alkylmaleimides the reversal is no longer complete. This observation was explained by the results obtained from studying the inactivation in detergent-disrupted microsomes. In this case glucose 6-phosphatase was also completely inactivated, but much more slowly than was seen in intact microsomes, and the process was linear with respect to time. When assayed in both intact and detergent-disrupted microsomes, glucose 6-phosphatase inactivation was dependent on the number of carbon atoms in the alkyl side chain of the N-alkylmaleimides; this dependence was much more marked in disrupted microsomes. Analysis of the data showed that in neither case was there a saturating effect at high concentrations of maleimide. The data have been interpreted to suggest that there are are least two thiol groups essential for activity located in two separate non-polar regions of the membrane-enzyme system. The conclusions are discussed in the light of the current model for the microsomal glucose 6-phosphatase system.     

The influence of chronic ethanol feeding to rats on the integrity of liver mitochondrial membrane as assessed with the Mg2+-stimulated ATPase enzyme.

The mouse submaxillary proteases (A + D), the isolation and properties of which were previously described by us, hydrolyze only arginyl bonds in proteins. Formol titrations and peptide mapping on digests of polyarginine, polylysine, lysozyme, histone, and insulin suggested this specificity. Amino acid compositions of peptides from lysozyme and insulin showed that most but not all arginyl bonds were hydrolyzed but that no lysyl bonds were split. The proteases should be useful in the sequencing of proteins.     

Investigating the Effect of Ag and Au Nanostructures with Spherical and Rod Shapes on the Emission Wavelength of OLED

Noble metals, especially Ag and Au nanostructures, have unique and adjustable optical attributes in terms of surface plasmon resonance. In this research, the effect of Ag and Au nanoparticles with spherical and rod shapes on the light extraction efficiency and the FWHM of OLED structures was investigated using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. The simulation results displayed that by changing the shape and size of Ag and Au nanostructures, the emission wavelength can be adjusted, and the FWHM can be reduced. The presence of Ag and Au nanoparticles in the OLEDs showed a blue and red shift of the emission wavelength, respectively. Also, the Ag and Au nanorods caused a significant reduction in the FWHM and a shift to the longer wavelengths in the structures. The structures containing Ag nanorods showed the narrowest FWHM and longer emission wavelength than the other structures.

     

Fatal Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis in COVID-19 Patient with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Iran

Mycopathologia - Although patients with severe immunodeficiency and hematological malignancies has been considered at highest risk for invasive fungal infection, patients with severe pneumonia due...     

Assessment of HER-2 gene overexpression in Isfahan province breast cancer patients using Real Time RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry

Purpose

Overexpression of proto-oncogene HER-2 is one of the main molecular markers of breast cancer involved in prognosis and diagnosis and also in trastuzumab therapy. Thus, a request for the evaluation of HER-2 status in breast cancer has been increasing. The aim of our study was assessment of HER-2 overexpression in malignant and benign breast cancer specimens by Real Time RT-PCR technique and comparison of its results with IHC outcomes.

Methods

Twenty benign and sixty malignant breast cancers in addition to fifteen normal breast tissue specimens were analyzed by Real Time RT-PCR method. Fresh tissue samples were disrupted by mortar and pestle. A syringe and a needle were used for complete homogenization of the tissues. The RNA was then isolated from the samples and converted to cDNA. A standard curve was initially plotted using BioEasy SYBR Green I and then all 95 specimens were studied by Real Time RT-PCR using 2^− ΔΔCt method.

Results

23.3% of 60 malignant specimens showed HER-2 overexpression, while all of the benign samples represented the normal expression level of HER-2 gene. The concordance rate between the results of Real Time RT-PCR and IHC was 86.6%.

Conclusion

Real Time RT-PCR method is an almost reliable technique and at least can be used as a complementary method for confirming IHC results. This is emanated from relatively high rate of concordance between outcomes of IHC test, as a routine method of detecting the HER-2 gene expression status, and Real Time RT-PCR technique.     

Conformational behaviours of 2-substituted cyclohexanones: a complete basis set,hybrid-DFT study and NBO interpretation

The generalised anomeric effect (GAE) and gauche effect (GE) associated with donor–acceptor delocalisations, dipole–dipole interactions and total steric exchange energies (TSEE) on the conformational properties of 2-methoxy- (1), 2-methylthio- (2), 2-methylseleno- (3), 2-fluoro- (4), 2-chloro- (5) and 2-bromocyclohexanone (6) have been studied by means of ab initio and hybrid density functional theory methods and natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis. All methods used showed that the axial conformation stability increased from 2-methoxy- (1) to 2-methylselenocyclohexanone (3) and also from 2-fluoro- (4) to 2-bromocyclohexanone (6), which is in agreement with reported NMR data. The results obtained by complete basis set 4 (CBS-4), B3LYP/6-311+G** and HF/6-311+G** levels for compounds 1, 5 and 6 are very similar, but the CBS-4 results for compound 4 are not in agreement with the reported experimental data (vapour phase). The NBO analysis showed that the GAE increases from compounds 1 to 3 and also from compounds 4 to 6. The low axial conformer populations of compounds 1 and 4 can be reasonably explained by their small GAE. GE does not have significant impact on the conformational behaviours of compounds 1–6 and GAE succeeds in accounting qualitatively for the increase in the axial preferences in both series of compounds. The results showed that the calculated Δ(TSEE_eq–ax) values decrease from compounds 4 to 6 which contradicts the suggested arguments in the literature about these compounds. On the other hand, the calculated differences between the dipole moment values of the axial and equatorial conformations, Δ(μ_eq ? μ_ax), increase from compounds 1 to 2, but decrease from compounds 2 to 3 and also decrease from compounds 4 to 6. The calculated GAE values are more significant for the explanation of the conformational preferences of compounds 1–6 than the dipole–dipole repulsion effects. The correlations between the GAE, GE, dipole–dipole interactions, Wiberg Bond Index, TSEE, donor and acceptor orbital energies and occupancies, structural parameters and conformational behaviour of compounds 1–6 have been investigated.     

Effects of Zinc Supplement on Plasma Homocysteine Level in End-Stage Renal Disease Patients: a Double-Blind Randomized Clinical Trial

Increased homocysteine (hCys) level is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular complications in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate effect of zinc (Zn) supplement on serum hCys level in ESRD patients. One hundred ESRD patients with Zn deficiency were enrolled in this double-blind randomized clinical trial. They were randomly subdivided into two groups and supplemented with Zn (Zn group) or placebo (control group) for 6 weeks. Fasting plasma hCys and Zn levels were measured before and at 43rd days after the start of the study. Serum Zn levels increased significantly (p?<?0.0001), in Zn-treated group in comparison to placebo-treated group. In the Zn-treated group, serum hCys levels reduced significantly (p?<?0.0001), compared to placebo group (p?>?0.05). There was a significant (p?<?0.0001) reduction of mean percentage of hCys in Zn-treated group compared to the placebo group. Our study showed that Zn supplementation decreases serum hCys levels in ESRD patients with Zn deficiency.