Bioactivity of Piper guineense Schum. & Thonn seed and Moringa oleifera Lam. leaf powder against Trogoderma granarium Everts (Coleoptera: Dermestidae)

Laboratory studies were carried out to investigate bioactivity of Piper guineense seeds and Moringa oleifera leaf powders applied singly or in a mixture against larvae and adult Trogoderma granarium Everts in airtight containers. Three levels (0.0 g, 0.5 g, and 1.0 g/20 g groundnut seeds) of the plant powders were used and pirimiphos-methyl was applied at 0.01 g/20 g seeds (recommended dose). Another control consisting of untreated seeds with aerated lids was included in the bioassay. Both larvae and adults were not killed in control with aerated lids throughout the experimental period and larvae were also tolerant to airtight storage conditions. Adults were more susceptible to plant powders than larvae and adult mortality recorded in P. guineense at 1.0 g, 0.5 g and M. oleifera at 1.0 g/20 g seeds were not significantly different from the mortality observed with the recommended dose of Pirimiphos methyl at five days after treatment (DAT). Larval mortality observed in a mixture of both plants (1:1; w/w) caused significantly higher mortality (77.5%) than other treatments at 5 DAT. All treatments (P. guineense and M. oleifera applied singly or in a mixture) were repellant to larvae T. granarium with 60% repellency recorded in the mixture of plants, 50% repellency in P. guineense and 30% repellency in M. oleifera slurry. The water absorption capacity of treated seeds was not affected by treatment with plant powders and ranged from 31.98% to 37.59%.     

DEAR1 Is a Dominant Regulator of Acinar Morphogenesis and an Independent Predictor of Local Recurrence-Free Survival in Early-Onset Breast Cancer

Background

Breast cancer in young women tends to have a natural history of aggressive disease for which rates of recurrence are higher than in breast cancers detected later in life. Little is known about the genetic pathways that underlie early-onset breast cancer. Here we report the discovery of DEAR1 (ductal epithelium–associated RING Chromosome 1), a novel gene encoding a member of the TRIM (tripartite motif) subfamily of RING finger proteins, and provide evidence for its role as a dominant regulator of acinar morphogenesis in the mammary gland and as an independent predictor of local recurrence-free survival in early-onset breast cancer.

Methods and Findings

Suppression subtractive hybridization identified DEAR1 as a novel gene mapping to a region of high-frequency loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in a number of histologically diverse human cancers within Chromosome 1p35.1. In the breast epithelium, DEAR1 expression is limited to the ductal and glandular epithelium and is down-regulated in transition to ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), an early histologic stage in breast tumorigenesis. DEAR1 missense mutations and homozygous deletion (HD) were discovered in breast cancer cell lines and tumor samples. Introduction of the DEAR1 wild type and not the missense mutant alleles to complement a mutation in a breast cancer cell line, derived from a 36-year-old female with invasive breast cancer, initiated acinar morphogenesis in three-dimensional (3D) basement membrane culture and restored tissue architecture reminiscent of normal acinar structures in the mammary gland in vivo. Stable knockdown of DEAR1 in immortalized human mammary epithelial cells (HMECs) recapitulated the growth in 3D culture of breast cancer cell lines containing mutated DEAR1, in that shDEAR1 clones demonstrated disruption of tissue architecture, loss of apical basal polarity, diffuse apoptosis, and failure of lumen formation. Furthermore, immunohistochemical staining of a tissue microarray from a cohort of 123 young female breast cancer patients with a 20-year follow-up indicated that in early-onset breast cancer, DEAR1 expression serves as an independent predictor of local recurrence-free survival and correlates significantly with strong family history of breast cancer and the triple-negative phenotype (ER⁻, PR⁻, HER-2⁻) of breast cancers with poor prognosis.

Conclusions

Our data provide compelling evidence for the genetic alteration and loss of expression of DEAR1 in breast cancer, for the functional role of DEAR1 in the dominant regulation of acinar morphogenesis in 3D culture, and for the potential utility of an immunohistochemical assay for DEAR1 expression as an independent prognostic marker for stratification of early-onset disease.     

Heavy metal tolerance potential of Aspergillus strains isolated from mining sites

Increased heavy metal pollution generated through anthropogenic activities into the environment has necessitated the need for eco-friendly remediation strategies such as mycoremediation. With a view to prospecting for fungi with heavy metal remediation potentials, the tolerance of five Aspergillus species isolated from soils of three active gold and gemstone mining sites in southwestern Nigeria to varied heavy metal concentrations was investigated. Isolated Aspergillus strains were identified based on the internal transcribed spacer 1 and 2 (ITS 1 and ITS 2) regions. Growth of Aspergillus strains were challenged with a range of varied concentrations of heavy metals: cadmium (Cd) (0–100), copper (Cu) (0–1000), lead (Pb) (0–400), arsenic (As) (0–500), and iron (Fe) (0–800) concentrations (ppm) incorporated into Malt Extract Agar (MEA) in triplicates. Mycelial radial growths were recorded at intervals of 3 days during a 13-day incubation period. Aspergillus strains were identified as A. tubingensis, A. fumigatus, A. terreus, A. nidulans, and A. nomius. A. tubingensis tolerated Cd, Cu, Pb, As, and Fe at all test concentrations (100–1000 ppm), showing no significant (p > .05) difference compared with the control. Similarly, A. nomius tolerated all concentrations of Cu, Pb, As, and Fe and only 50 ppm Cd concentrations. A. nidulans, A. terreus, and A. fumigatus, on the other hand, tolerated all concentrations of Cu, Pb, and Fe with no statistical significance (p > .05) difference from the controls. Overall, the Aspergillus species showed tolerance to heavy metal concentrations above permissible limits for contaminated soils globally. These heavy metal tolerance traits exhibited by the Aspergillus isolates may suggest that they are potential candidates for bioremediation of heavy metal–polluted environments.     

Eighteen new polymorphic markers in the multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) region

Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) is an autosomal dominant disorder in which affected individuals develop tumors primarily in the parathyroids, anterior pituitary, endocrine pancreas, and duodenum. The locus for MEN1 is tightly linked to the marker PYGM on chromosome 11q13, and linkage analysis has previously placed the MEN1 gene within a 2-Mb interval flanked by markers D11S1883 and D11S449. Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) studies in MEN1 and sporadic tumors have helped narrow the location of the gene to a 600-kb interval between PYGM and D11S449. Eighteen new polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based polymorphic markers were generated for the MEN1 region, with ten mapping to the PYGM-D11S449 interval. These new markers, along with 14 previously known polymorphic markers, were precisely mapped on a 2.8-Mb (D11S480–D11S913) high-density clone contig-based, physical map generated for the MEN1 region. Received: 21 February 1997 / Accepted: 5 June 1997     

Prevalence of multiple antibiotic resistance among bacterial isolates from selected poultry waste dumps in Southwestern Nigeria

The prevalence of multiple antibiotic resistant bacteria in the waste dumpsite of ten poultry farms in Southwestern Nigeria was investigated. The susceptibility of 195 organisms isolated from the study sites to eight antimicrobial agents were tested using disc diffusion method and the minimum inhibitory concentration of cloxacillin and amoxicillin determined by the agar dilution method. Resistance to the test antibiotics ranged between 0% for gentamicin and 100% for tetracycline and ampicillin among the organisms. Overall, 70 and 90% of the isolates from Okuku, 65.2 and 95.6% from Ogbomoso, and 46.1 and 84.6% from Oyo had MIC above 512 μg/ml for amoxicillin and cloxacillin. Generally, drugs used in high volumes in the studied farms are the least active against the bacterial isolates. Results of this study shows that poultry waste can serve as environmental reservoirs of multiple antibiotic resistant bacteria and their indiscriminate dumping in the environment can expose surrounding human populations to health risks from drug resistant zoonotic pathogens. Part of the data presented in this paper was the subject of a presentation at the World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences/67TH International Congress of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), 31 August—6 September 2007, Beijing, People’s Republic of China.     

Cancer incidence in Nigeria: A report from population-based cancer registries

Introduction: Cancer has become a major source of morbidity and mortality globally. Despite the threat that cancer poses to public health in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), few countries in this region have data on cancer incidence. In this paper, we present estimates of cancer incidence in Nigeria based on data from 2 population-based cancer registries (PBCR) that are part of the Nigerian national cancer registry program. Materials and methods: We analyzed data from 2 population based cancer registries in Nigeria, the Ibadan Population Based Cancer Registry (IBCR) and the Abuja Population Based Cancer Registry (ABCR) covering a 2 year period 2009-2010. Data are reported by registry, gender and in age groups. We present data on the age specific incidence rates of all invasive cancers and report age standardized rates of the most common cancers stratified by gender in both registries. Results: The age standardized incidence rate for all invasive cancers from the IBCR was 66.4 per 100000 men and 130.6 per 100000 women. In ABCR it was 58.3 per 100000 for men and 138.6 per 100000 for women. A total of 3393 cancer cases were reported by the IBCR. Of these cases, 34% (1155) were seen among males and 66% (2238) in females. In Abuja over the same period, 1128 invasive cancers were reported. 33.6% (389) of these cases were in males and 66.4% (768) in females. Mean age of diagnosis of all cancers in men for Ibadan and Abuja were 51.1 and 49.9 years respectively. For women, mean age of diagnosis of all cancers in Ibadan and Abuja were 49.1 and 45.4 respectively. Breast and cervical cancer were the commonest cancers among women and prostate cancer the most common among men. Breast cancer age standardized incidence rate (ASR) at the IBCR was 52.0 per 100000 in IBCR and 64.6 per 100000 in ABCR. Cervical cancer ASR at the IBCR was 36.0 per 100000 and 30.3 per 100000 at the ABCR. The observed differences in incidence rates of breast, cervical and prostate cancer between Ibadan and Abuja, were not statistically significant. Conclusion: Cancer incidence data from two population based cancer registries in Nigeria suggests substantial increase in incidence of breast cancer in recent times. This paper highlights the need for high quality regional cancer registries in Nigeria and other SSA countries.