Bilan nutritionnel au cours du développement de l'ectoparasite grégaire Dinarmus vagabundus et du solitaire Dinarmus basalis

Résumé Nos méthodes expérimentales permettent l'isolement d'une larve de sexe déterminé par hôte de l'ectoparasite grégaire Dinarmus vagabundus et du solaitire, D. basalis. Des hôtes porteurs de 3 à 8 larves par hôte de D. vagabundus sont aussi isolés. Dans ces conditions la quantité de nourriture disponible est la même pour toutes les densités larvaires étudiées.Les larves élevées en solitaire des deux espèces assimilent une quantité de nourriture significativement supérieure à celle assimilée par les . Ceci conduit à des adultes de poids moyen supérieur à celui des . Le poids moyen des et des de D. vagabundus diminue significativement aux fortes densités larvaires. L'intensité de la liaison entre la quantité de nourriture assimilée et la biomasse produite s'affaiblit au fur et à mesure que la densité larvaire par hôte augmente.Les de D. vagabundus de poids moyen (0,42 mg) engendrent deux fois et demi plus de descendants que les lilliputiennes (0,20 mg) émergées d'hôtes à forte densité larvaire. Celles de D. basalis (0,65 g) sont moins prolifiques que les de D. vagabundus.     

An ultrastructural study of the development of afferent and efferent synapses on outer hair cells of the guinea pig organ of Corti

The guinea pig organ of Corti was studied using transmission electron microscopy, the second turn of the cochlea being examined at various ages between 20 days before birth and 30 days postnatal. Outer hair cells were examined at each of these ages. At all ages studied, the efferent (presynaptic) terminals are large and are packed with synaptic vesicles, whereas the afferent (postsynaptic) terminals are generally smaller, with a relatively small number of vesicles. During development, the subsynaptic cistern changes from a fragmented, diffuse profile extending over 50-70% of the length of the efferent contact zones, to a continuous, compact structure spanning neighbouring synapses. Synaptic vesicles in the efferent terminals are predominantly rounded in early development, flattened vesicles appearing postnatally. The synaptic bodies at afferent synapses do not change noticeably during development. Quantitative analysis revealed that the area of efferent terminals and the length of their active zone increase with increasing age, the same parameters decreasing in afferent terminals. Synaptic vesicles in the efferent terminals decrease in diameter, but remain constant in afferent terminals, with increasing age. The number of hair cell membrane invaginations decreases as development proceeds.     

VEGF gene polymorphism interactions with dietary trace elements intake in determining the risk of metabolic syndrome

There is a complex association among genetic, metabolic, and environmental factors in determining the risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS). The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the association between the dietary intake of iron, copper, zinc, manganese, selenium, and iodine (assessed by 24 recall) with vascular endothelial growth factor variants (rs6921438, rs4416670, rs6993770, and rs10738760), on the risk of MetS. Two-hundred and forty-eight individuals with MetS and 100 individuals without MetS were recruited. The dietary intake and the daily average of energy and nutrient intake were obtained by a questionnaire and quantified using Diet Plan 6 software. DNA was extracted from EDTA anticoagulated whole blood. The SNPs were assessed using using a Sequenom iPLEX Gold assay. Data analysis was undertaken using the Student t test, χ2 test and logistic regression using SPSS 11.5 software. There was a significant association between low dietary iron intake and rs6993770 (β = .10, P < .05), and a low dietary zinc and a high manganese intake with rs6921438 in relation to the presence of MetS (β = −.17, P < .05, β = −.30, P < .05, respectively). Our data showed the association of rs6993770 with iron intake and rs6921438 with zinc and manganese intake, indicating further investigation in a larger population to evaluate their values.     

Gene expression analysis of intestinal IL-8, IL-17 A and IL-10 in patients with celiac and inflammatory bowel diseases

Molecular Biology Reports - Celiac disease (CeD) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are accompanied by impaired immune responses. To study the immune regulation of these diseases, we evaluated...     

Property evaluation of two anticancer candidate platinum complexes with N-isobutyl glycine ligand against human colon cancer

BioMetals - Small molecules have potential usage in cancer therapy due to their remarkable potency of disarranging the natural structure of nucleic acids. In this study, two complexes...     

Prediction of Poor Outcome in Patients with Acute Liver Failure—Systematic Review of Prediction Models

Introduction

Acute liver failure is a rare disease with high mortality and liver transplantation is the only life saving therapy. Accurate prognosis of ALF is crucial for proper intervention.

Aim

To identify and characterize newly developed prognostic models of mortality for ALF patients, assess study quality, identify important variables and provide recommendations for the development of improved models in the future.

Methods

The online databases MEDLINE® (1950–2012) and EMBASE® (1980–2012) were searched for English-language articles that reported original data from clinical trials or observational studies on prognostic models in ALF patients. Studies were included if they developed a new model or modified existing prognostic models. The studies were evaluated based on an existing framework for scoring the methodological and reporting quality of prognostic models.

Results

Twenty studies were included, of which 18 reported on newly developed models, 1 on modification of the Kings College Criteria (KCC) and 1 on the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD). Ten studies compared the newly developed models to previously existing models (e.g. KCC); they all reported that the new models were superior. In the 12-point methodological quality score, only one study scored full points. On the 38-point reporting score, no study scored full points. There was a general lack of reporting on missing values. In addition, none of the studies used performance measures for calibration and accuracy (e.g. Hosmer-Lemeshow statistics, Brier score), and only 5 studies used the AUC as a measure of discrimination.

Conclusions

There are many studies on prognostic models for ALF but they show methodological and reporting limitations. Future studies could be improved by better reporting and handling of missing data, the inclusion of model calibration aspects, use of absolute risk measures, explicit considerations for variable selection, the use of a more extensive set of reference models and more thorough validation.     

Association of humoral immunity to human Hsp60 with the IL-6 gene polymorphism C-174G in patients with type 2 diabetes and controls.

The relationship between humoral immunity to hsp60 and type 2 diabetes along with other relevant metabolic, inflammatory and immunogenetic variables was studied in 76 non-diabetic and 74 diabetic persons aged 55-74 years selected from the population-based KORA Survey 2000. Antibodies to human hsp60 were measured in serum samples by ELISA. Hsp60 antibodies were detected in all but two individuals in a considerable range of titres (22-1,856 AU/ml). There was no significant association to age and sex, or to key clinical or metabolic parameters (BMI, WHR, HbA1c, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, albumin, uric acid) or immunological parameters (CRP, IL-6, sIL-6R, TNFalpha, sTNFalpha R60, sTNFalpha R80). Analysis of antibody-positive individuals revealed an association between hsp60 antibodies and diabetes at borderline significance (p = 0.047), which was lost when the two antibody-negative individuals were included. Genetic analyses indicated that this association was significant in carriers of the C allele of the IL-6 promoter region polymorphism at nucleotide -174 (p = 0.02), but not in GG genotype carriers. We conclude that humoral immunity to human hsp60 may be enhanced in those diabetic patients carrying the -174C allele of the IL-6 gene. This finding may contribute to an understanding of the relationship between the -174C allele and increased risk of atherosclerosis.     

Synthesis,cytotoxicity assessment,and interaction and docking of novel palladium(II) complexes of imidazole derivatives with human serum albumin

Imidazole analogs are the agents that attract both bioinorganic chemist and drug designer. Numerous methods have been proposed for synthesis of imidazole derivatives. In this study, a series of heterocyclic system with p-conjugated system such as 2-aryl-imidazo[4,5-f][1,10]phenanthroline analogs were synthesized. Then, three new palladium(II) complexes containing 2-(Furan-2-yl)-1H-Imidazo[4,5-f][1,10]Phenanthroline (FIP) and 2-(thiophen-2-yl)-1H-imidazo[4,5-f][1,10]phenanthroline (TIP) ligands were synthesized. The structures of the compounds, [Pd(Phen)(TIP)](NO₃)₂, [Pd(Phen)(FIP)](NO₃)₂, and [Pd(FIP)₂]Cl were determined by spectroscopic methods and elemental analysis. Biological activity of the complexes synthesized was assessed against chronic myelogenous leukemia cell line, K562. Also, the interactions of human serum albumin with complexes were investigated using isothermal titration in the Tris buffer, pH 7.4. According to the results obtained, it was found that there is a set of six binding sites for these complexes on HSA with positive cooperativity in the binding process. Docking technique was also applied to confirm the experimental results. The results showed that smaller complexes have higher interaction affinity.