Oxidative stress,nitric oxide,endothelial dysfunction and tinnitus

To assess whether pathogenic endothelial dysfunction is involved in acute idiopathic tinnitus we enrolled 44 patients and 25 healthy volunteers. In blood from the internal jugular vein and brachial vein we determined malonaldehyde, 4-hydroxynonenal, mieloperoxidase, glutathione peroxidase, nitric oxide, l-arginine and l-ornitine, thrombomodulin (TM) and von Willebrand factor (vWF) activity during tinnitus and asymptomatic period.

Higher plasma concentrations of oxidative markers and l-arginine, and lower nitric oxide and l-ornitine levels were observed in jugular blood of patients with tinnitus, there being a significant difference between brachial and jugular veins. TM and vWF activity were significantly higher in patients' jugular blood than in brachial blood.

Our results suggest oxidant, TM, vWF activity production are increased and nitric oxide production reduced in brain circulation reflux blood of patients with acute tinnitus. These conditions are able to cause a general cerebro-vascular endothelial dysfunction, which in turn induce a dysfunction of microcirculation in the inner ear.     

Saccharomyces uvarum, a proper species within Saccharomyces sensu stricto

Saccharomyces uvarum is proposed as a proper species within the complex Saccharomyces sensu stricto. Molecular characteristics including the similarity of the restriction profile of the non-transcribed spacer 2 (NTS2) and of the D1/D2 sequences of the rDNA, as well as other genotypic and phenotypic characteristics confirm that this group of strains is highly homogeneous and distinguishable from other species of the Saccharomyces sensu stricto group.     

Karyotyping of Saccharomyces strains with different temperature profiles

This study examined the karyotype, the fermentation performance and the optimum growth temperature (Topt) of 28 yeast strains all identified as species belonging to Saccharomyces sensu stricto . The strains were isolated from fermented musts, which had not been inoculated, at two temperature ranges: 20–40 °C and approximately 0–6 °C. The results demonstrated a correlation between the Topt and the chromosome organization. In particular, strains with Topt of less than 30 °C showed only two bands in the region between 365 and 225 kb, while those with a Topt greater than 30 °C had three bands in this size range. From a taxonomic viewpoint, the Topt is a better indicator for the Saccharomyces sp. than the ceiling temperature of 37 °C currently used to differentiate cryotolerant Saccharomyces bayanus and S. pastorianus from non-cryotolerant S. cerevisiae and S. paradoxus strains.     

Annual Acoustic Presence of Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus) Offshore Eastern Sicily,Central Mediterranean Sea

In recent years, an increasing number of surveys have definitively confirmed the seasonal presence of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in highly productive regions of the Mediterranean Sea. Despite this, very little is yet known about the routes that the species seasonally follows within the Mediterranean basin and, particularly, in the Ionian area. The present study assesses for the first time fin whale acoustic presence offshore Eastern Sicily (Ionian Sea), throughout the processing of about 10 months of continuous acoustic monitoring. The recording of fin whale vocalizations was made possible by the cabled deep-sea multidisciplinary observatory, “NEMO-SN1”, deployed 25 km off the Catania harbor at a depth of about 2,100 meters. NEMO-SN1 is an operational node of the European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water-column Observatory (EMSO) Research Infrastructure. The observatory was equipped with a low-frequency hydrophone (bandwidth: 0.05 Hz–1 kHz, sampling rate: 2 kHz) which continuously acquired data from July 2012 to May 2013. About 7,200 hours of acoustic data were analyzed by means of spectrogram display. Calls with the typical structure and patterns associated to the Mediterranean fin whale population were identified and monitored in the area for the first time. Furthermore, a background noise analysis within the fin whale communication frequency band (17.9–22.5 Hz) was conducted to investigate possible detection-masking effects. The study confirms the hypothesis that fin whales are present in the Ionian Sea throughout all seasons, with peaks in call detection rate during spring and summer months. The analysis also demonstrates that calls were more frequently detected in low background noise conditions. Further analysis will be performed to understand whether observed levels of noise limit the acoustic detection of the fin whales vocalizations, or whether the animals vocalize less in the presence of high background noise.     

In vitro and in silico cloning of Xenopus laevis SOD2 cDNA and its phylogenetic analysis

By using the methodology of both wet and dry biology (i.e., RT-PCR and cycle sequencing, and biocomputational technology, respectively) and the data obtained through the Genome Projects, we have cloned Xenopus laevis SOD2 (MnSOD) cDNA and determined its nucleotide sequence. These data and the deduced protein primary structure were compared with all the other SOD2 nucleotide and amino acid sequences from eukaryotes and prokaryotes, published in public databases. The analysis was performed by using both Clustal W, a well known and widely used program for sequence analysis, and AntiClustAl, a new algorithm recently created and implemented by our group. Our results demonstrate a very high conservation of the enzyme amino acid sequence during evolution, which proves a close structure-function relationship. This is to be expected for very ancient molecules endowed with critical biological functions, performed through a specific structural organization. The nucleotide sequence conservation is less pronounced: this too was foreseeable, due to neutral mutations and to the species-specific codon usage. The data obtained by using AntiClustAl are comparable with those produced with Clustal W, which validates this algorithm as an important new tool for biocomputational analysis. Finally, it is noteworthy that evolutionary trees, drawn by using all the available data on SOD2 nucleotide sequences and amino acid and either Clustal W or AntiClustAl, are comparable to those obtained through phylogenetic analysis based on fossil records.     

CtBP3/BARS drives membrane fission in dynamin-independent transport pathways

Membrane fission is a fundamental step in membrane transport. So far, the only fission protein machinery that has been implicated in in vivo transport involves dynamin, and functions in several, but not all, transport pathways. Thus, other fission machineries may exist. Here, we report that carboxy-terminal binding protein 3/brefeldin A-ribosylated substrate (CtBP3/BARS) controls fission in basolateral transport from the Golgi to the plasma membrane and in fluid-phase endocytosis, whereas dynamin is not involved in these steps. Conversely, CtBP3/BARS protein is inactive in apical transport to the plasma membrane and in receptor-mediated endocytosis, both steps being controlled by dynamin. This indicates that CtBP3/BARS controls membrane fission in endocytic and exocytic transport pathways, distinct from those that require dynamin.     

Ochratoxin A adsorption phenotype: An inheritable yeast trait

This study aimed to evaluate the inheritance of the trait ochratoxin A adsorption in two wine strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and their 46 descendants. Each strain was inoculated in triplicate in test tubes containing 10 ml of must obtained from the Calabrian Zibibbo white grape variety, artificially contaminated with ochratoxin A to reach a total content of 4.10 ng/ml. The microvinification trials were performed at 25°C. After 30 days, ochratoxin A values ranged from 0.74 to 3.18 ng/ml, from 0.01 to 2.69 ng/ml, and from 0.60 to 2.95 ng/ml respectively in wines, in lees after washing, and in the saline solution used to wash the lees. The analysis of OTA in wines was performed to find the residual toxin content after yeast activity, thus obtaining technological evidence of yeast influence on wine detoxification. The analysis of OTA in lees after washing was performed to distinguish the OTA linked to cells. The analysis of OTA in the saline solution used to wash the lees was performed to distinguish the OTA adsorbed on yeast cell walls and removed by washing, thus focusing on the adsorption activity of wine yeast through electrostatic and ionic interactions between parietal mannoproteins and OTA. Ploidy of the two parental strains was controlled by flow cytometry. Results demonstrated that the ochratoxin A adsorption is genetically controlled and is a polygenic inheritable trait of wine yeasts. The majority of the descendants are characterized by a great and significant diversity compared to their parents. Both the parental strains had genome sizes consistent with their being diploid, so validating the observed results. These findings constitute an initial step to demonstrate the mechanisms of inheritance and establish breeding strategies to improve the ochratoxin A adsorption trait in wine yeasts. This will allow a decrease in the ochratoxin A content of contaminated musts during winemaking, by using genetically improved wine yeasts.     

miRandola: Extracellular Circulating MicroRNAs Database

MicroRNAs are small noncoding RNAs that play an important role in the regulation of various biological processes through their interaction with cellular messenger RNAs. They are frequently dysregulated in cancer and have shown great potential as tissue-based markers for cancer classification and prognostication. microRNAs are also present in extracellular human body fluids such as serum, plasma, saliva, and urine. Most of circulating microRNAs are present in human plasma and serum cofractionate with the Argonaute2 (Ago2) protein. However, circulating microRNAs have been also found in membrane-bound vesicles such as exosomes. Since microRNAs circulate in the bloodstream in a highly stable, extracellular form, they may be used as blood-based biomarkers for cancer and other diseases. A knowledge base of extracellular circulating miRNAs is a fundamental tool for biomedical research. In this work, we present miRandola, a comprehensive manually curated classification of extracellular circulating miRNAs. miRandola is connected to miRò, the miRNA knowledge base, allowing users to infer the potential biological functions of circulating miRNAs and their connections with phenotypes. The miRandola database contains 2132 entries, with 581 unique mature miRNAs and 21 types of samples. miRNAs are classified into four categories, based on their extracellular form: miRNA-Ago2 (173 entries), miRNA-exosome (856 entries), miRNA-HDL (20 entries) and miRNA-circulating (1083 entries). miRandola is available online at: http://atlas.dmi.unict.it/mirandola/index.html.     

The inheritance of mtDNA in lager brewing strains

In this work, we compared the mtDNA of a number of interspecific Saccharomyces hybrids (Saccharomyces cerevisiae x Saccharomyces uvarum and S. cerevisiae x Saccharomyces bayanus) to the mtDNA of 22 lager brewing strains that are thought to be the result of a natural hybridization between S. cerevisiae and another Saccharomyces yeast, possibly belonging to the species S. bayanus. We detected that in hybrids constructed in vitro, the mtDNA could be inherited from either parental strain. Conversely, in the lager strains tested, the mtDNA was never of the S. cerevisiae type. Moreover, the nucleotide sequence of lager brewing strains COXII gene was identical to S. bayanus strain NBRC 1948 COXII gene. MtDNA restriction analysis carried out with three enzymes confirmed this finding. However, restriction analysis with a fourth enzyme (AvaI) provided restriction patterns for lager strains that differed from those of S. bayanus strain NBRC 1948. Our results raise the hypothesis that the human-driven selection carried out on existing lager yeasts has favored only those bearing optimal fermentation characteristics at low temperatures, which harbor the mtDNA of S. bayanus.