Phycobiliproteins: Molecular structure,production, applications,and prospects

Phycobiliproteins (PBPs) are the main component of light-harvesting complexes in cyanobacteria and red algae. In addition to their important role in photosynthesis, PBPs have many potential applications in foods, cosmetics, medical diagnosis and treatment of diseases. However, basic researches and technological innovations are urgently needed for exploring those potentials, such as structure and function, their biosynthesis as well as downstream purification. For medical use and application, mechanisms underlying their therapeutic effects must be elucidated. Focusing on these issues, this article gives a critical review on the current status on PBPs, including their structures and functions, preparation processes and applications. In addition, key technical challenges and possible solutions are prospected.     

Mushrooms, tumors, and immunity.

Medicinal properties have been attributed to mushrooms for thousands of years. Mushroom extracts are widely sold as nutritional supplements and touted as beneficial for health. Yet, there has not been a critical review attempting to integrate their nutraceutical potential with basic science. Relatively few studies are available on the biologic effects of mushroom consumption, and those have been performed exclusively in murine models. In this paper, we review existing data on the mechanism of whole mushrooms and isolated mushroom compounds, in particular (1-->3)-beta-D-glucans, and the means by which they modulate the immune system and potentially exert tumor-inhibitory effects. We believe that the antitumor mechanisms of several species of whole mushrooms as well as of polysaccharides isolated from Lentinus edodes, Schizophyllum commune, Grifola frondosa, and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum are mediated largely by T cells and macrophages. Despite the structural and functional similarities of these glucans, they differ in their effectiveness against specific tumors and in their ability to elicit various cellular responses, particularly cytokine expression and production. Unfortunately, our data base on the involvement of these important mediators is still rather limited, as are studies concerning the molecular mechanisms of the interactions of glucans with their target cells. As long as it remains unclear what receptors are involved in, and what downstream events are triggered by, the binding of these glucans to their target cells, it will be difficult to make further progress in understanding not only their antitumor mechanisms but also their other biological activities.     

Virus Entry, Assembly, Budding, and Membrane Rafts

As intracellular parasites, viruses rely heavily on the use of numerous cellular machineries for completion of their replication cycle. The recent discovery of the heterogeneous distribution of the various lipids within cell membranes has led to the proposal that sphingolipids and cholesterol tend to segregate in microdomains called membrane rafts. The involvement of membrane rafts in biosynthetic traffic, signal transduction, and endocytosis has suggested that viruses may also take advantage of rafts for completion of some steps of their replication cycle, such as entry into their cell host, assembly, and budding. In this review, we have attempted to delineate all the reliable data sustaining this hypothesis and to build some models of how rafts are used as platforms for assembly of some viruses. Indeed, if in many cases a formal proof of raft involvement in a virus replication cycle is still lacking, one can reasonably suggest that, owing to their ability to specifically attract some proteins, lipid microdomains provide a particular milieu suitable for increasing the efficiency of many protein-protein interactions which are crucial for virus infection and growth.     

Piscidin,Fish Antimicrobial Peptide: Structure,Classification, Properties,Mechanism, Gene Regulation and Therapeutical Importance

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are short molecules produced by almost all organisms. Fish AMPs contain innate immune components as their primary immune molecules. The fish AMPs include piscidins, hepcidins, defensins, cathelicidins and histone-derived peptides. Piscidin is potent and broad-spectrum; this peptide was conserved among Acanthopterygii superorder and is therapeutically important among other AMPs. It was present mainly in the tissues of gills, muscle, head-kidney, skin and intestine of teleost. Piscidin AMP family includes piscidin, moronecidin, pleurocidin, epinecidin, gaduscidin, misgurin, dicentracin, chrysophsin and myxinidin. This review reports the structural properties of various piscidin and their mode of action as it is important to know their mechanism how the peptide involved in antimicrobial activity. In addition, the gene expression of piscidin which influenced the immune responses, their pharmaceutical importance and biological applications were described. Overall, the review explains a broad spectrum of knowledge on piscidin, its classes and types, structure, cytotoxicity, membrane permeabilization, properties and therapeutical implications.

     

Doctors,physiotherapists, and placebo pharmacology.

A seminar of physiotherapists studied the psychological aspects of their work. Difficulty with doctors rather than patients was unexpectedly prominent. The following factors were identified as contributing to their dissatisfaction: doctors misused physiotherapy as a placebo in cases of incurable and untreatable disease and mental problems; because they faced questions about diagnosis and prognosis that doctors escaped they learnt to avoid knowing the facts about their patients; using quasiscientific apparatus had tended to replace physical contact; they saw their psychological skill as illicit and unprofessional; and they were uncertain about their role as social workers. Nevertheless, they tended to idealise doctors, which sharpened gratification in collaborative work and helped to alleviate anxiety about death and disease, but tended to reinforce sexual stereotyping and the image of physiotherapy as "unscientific," empirical, and intuititive ("feminine").     

Infection, autoimmune diseases, atherosclerosis, infarct, stroke, cancerogenesis: what is in common

The problem of the transformation of specific antibodies into nonspecific polyreactive immunoglobulins (PRIG) was considered. On the basis of the obtained data the conclusion has been made that this process can occur not only in vitro, but also in vivo. The biological consequences of such a transformation of circulated specific antibodies into PRIG or increase of PRIG reactivity because of their unblocking are discussed. It was supposed that PRIG was able to play positive role in the defence of organisms against some infections. Meanwhile, disregulation of the PRIG production in vivo can, probably, lead to their participation in induction and/or in aggravation of some danger diseases, such as autoimmune diseases, atherosclerosis, infarct, stroke, and cancer. If so, farther investigation of PRIG involvement in these pathological processes could open new ways for their curing or even prophylaxis.     

Virus entry, assembly, budding, and membrane rafts.

As intracellular parasites, viruses rely heavily on the use of numerous cellular machineries for completion of their replication cycle. The recent discovery of the heterogeneous distribution of the various lipids within cell membranes has led to the proposal that sphingolipids and cholesterol tend to segregate in microdomains called membrane rafts. The involvement of membrane rafts in biosynthetic traffic, signal transduction, and endocytosis has suggested that viruses may also take advantage of rafts for completion of some steps of their replication cycle, such as entry into their cell host, assembly, and budding. In this review, we have attempted to delineate all the reliable data sustaining this hypothesis and to build some models of how rafts are used as platforms for assembly of some viruses. Indeed, if in many cases a formal proof of raft involvement in a virus replication cycle is still lacking, one can reasonably suggest that, owing to their ability to specifically attract some proteins, lipid microdomains provide a particular milieu suitable for increasing the efficiency of many protein-protein interactions which are crucial for virus infection and growth.     

Student Perceptions of,and Attitudes toward,Bats in Barak Valley,Assam, India

Bats are commonly found all over the world and provide significant ecosystem services. These animals are facing serious threats due to various anthropogenic activities, including hunting. Additionally, bats are often not particularly well liked due to their non-aesthetic characteristics. A positive attitude to these animals is essential to protect them through appropriate conservation measures involving public intervention. Current high school students are the conservationists of the future, and the extent of support for bat conservation received from this and future generations is dependent upon their attitude toward these animals. It is therefore important to assess their perceptions of bats so that appropriate awareness programs can be devised, and negative attitudes (if any) rectified. The present study aimed to understand this aspect in order to provide inputs for shaping positive attitudes toward bat conservation. The study was undertaken in Barak Valley, Assam, India, where 65 bat colonies had already been recorded. A total of 3,059 high school students from 36 schools situated in their vicinity were questioned using a close-ended questionnaire to determine their perceptions. The responses received were divided among three categories: familiarity with bats, opinion on bats, and attitudes toward conservation, and were ranked on a scale of 10, based on selected aspects. Most students were awarded a score of four, indicating an average knowledge and opinion of bats. These findings suggest that awareness programs are urgently needed in schools to improve the general knowledge of and attitudes toward bats, and to inspire the next generation of bat conservationists.     

Ethology, Natural History, the Life Sciences, and the Problem of Place

Investigators of animal behavior since the eighteenth century have sought to make their work integral to the enterprises of natural history and/or the life sciences. In their efforts to do so, they have frequently based their claims of authority on the advantages offered by the special places where they have conducted their research. The zoo, the laboratory, and the field have been major settings for animal behavior studies. The issue of the relative advantages of these different sites has been a persistent one in the history of animal behavior studies up to and including the work of the ethologists of the twentieth century. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Nest, but Not Egg, Fidelity in a Territorial Salamander

Egg recognition and subsequent egg brooding are costly forms of parental investment in many species of vertebrates. Life history factors, such as coloniality or risk of brood parasitism, may constrain egg recognition in vertebrates. Female red-backed salamanders ( Plethodon cinereus ) from my study site are territorial and do not share nest sites with other females. They are terrestrial and neither they nor their eggs are likely to be displaced by environmental factors such as flooding. I experimentally tested, in the laboratory, the hypothesis that female red-backed salamanders can discriminate between their own eggs and the eggs of unfamiliar females. Each female was allowed to move about a test chamber containing two clutches of eggs, one clutch with which it was found in the forest and one that had been found with a distant female. Most females remained with one clutch of eggs, which they brooded during the entire observation period. However, they did not significantly prefer to brood their own eggs over the eggs of another female. In a corollary field experiment, I tested whether brooding females that were displaced 1 m from their nest sites would return to their territories and commence brooding behaviour within 3 d. All 10 displaced females returned to their own nest within this time period and were found brooding their eggs. Because female red-backed salamanders at my study site do not tend to share nest sites with other females and because their eggs remain in stationary nests, selection may not have favoured egg recognition. However, the results suggest that female salamanders indirectly recognize their own eggs by actively recognizing their territorial nest sites.     

Bacteriocins: criteria,classification, characteristics,methods of detection

The review on bacteriocins of Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria. Criteria making it possible to regard antagonistic substances as bateriocins or bacteriocin-like substances and on their classification are presented. Examples of bacteriocins naming depending on the taxonomic position of the producer culture are given. Information on the physico-chemical and biological properties of bacteriocins and their purification is presented as well as on detection tools of bacteriocins in microorganisms and evaluation of the producer activity of the bacteriological culture.     

Revision of the Genera Thyca, Stilifer, Scalenostoma, Mucronalia and Echineulima (Mollusca, Prosobranchia, Eulimidae)

All species that have been described of the genera mentioned in the title are listed and their systematic position given. The species of Stilifer (with 11 species, including S. inflatus sp.n. and 5. concavus sp.n.) are parasites of starfishes. Scalenostoma (3 species) are parasites of stone corals. Thyca (with 8 species) is removed from Capulidae, and included in Eulimidae. T. hawaiiensis sp.n. is described. The species of Thyca are parasites of starfishes. The species of Mucronalia (including M. trilineata sp.n.) are probably parasites of ophiuroids and Echineulima (with 4–6 species, including E. ponderi sp.n.) are parasites of echinoids. All species are figured, their characteristics are given and their host species and distributions are listed. Keys are given to the species of each genus, except Mucronalia. The genera Stilimella Laseron and Hyperlia Pilsbry are synonymized with Scalenostoma and the genera Kiramodulus Kuroda, Granulithyca Habe and Bessomia Berry are considered subgenera of Thyca.     

Metal-based new sulfonamides: Design, synthesis, antibacterial, antifungal, and cytotoxic properties

Cobalt(II), copper(II), nickel(II) and zinc(II) metal complexes with 5-chlorosalicyladehyde derived Schiff base sulfonamides have been synthesized and characterized. Structure and bonding nature of all the synthesized compounds have been deduced from physical, analytical, and spectral (IR, (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR, Mass, electronic) data. An octahedral geometry has been proposed for all the metal complexes. The ligands and their metal complexes have been screened for their in vitro antibacterial, antifungal, and cytotoxic properties and results are reported.     

Lysosomal enzyme activities in polymorphonuclear leukocytes,macrophages, serum,and spleen of conventional,germ-free,and antigen-free minnesota miniature swine

The activities of lysozyme, myeloperoxidase, and elastase were lower in PMNs and AMs from GF and AF Minnesota miniature piglets than in the leukocytes from their CONV counterparts. In the spleen and serum of gnotobiotic piglets only the levels of lysozyme were slightly reduced. Substantially depressed activities of these LEs were found also in PMNs from precolostral piglets in comparison with PMNs from their CONV mother. The bisassociation of GF piglets with Enterococcus liquefaciens and Escherichia coli caused an increase of LE activities in their AMs, spleens, and sera. Fewer LEs were released after phygocytic stimulation with zymosan from PMNs of GF, AF, and precolostral piglets than from PMNs of CONV animals of the same age. These data suggest that the antigenic-microbial stimulation is important for the development of normal lysosomal enzyme activities in PMNs and AMs from gnotobiotic animals.     

Insulators, long-range interactions, and genome function

Insulators are DNA-protein complexes that can mediate interactions in cis or trans between different regions of the genome. Although originally defined on the basis of their ability to block enhancer-promoter communication or to serve as barriers against the spreading of heterochromatin in reporter systems, recent information suggests that their function is more nuanced and depends on the nature of the sequences brought together by contacts between specific insulator sites. Here we provide an overview of new evidence that has uncovered a wide range of functions for these sequences in addition to their two classical roles.     

Computation,wiring, and plasticity in synaptic clusters

Synaptic clusters on dendrites are extraordinarily compact computational building blocks. They contribute to key local computations through biophysical and biochemical signaling that utilizes convergence in space and time as an organizing principle. However, these computations can only arise in very special contexts. Dendritic cluster computations, their highly organized input connectivity, and the mechanisms for their formation are closely linked, yet these have not been analyzed as parts of a single process. Here, we examine these linkages. The sheer density of axonal and dendritic arborizations means that there are far more potential connections (close enough for a spine to reach an axon) than actual ones. We see how dendritic clusters draw upon electrical, chemical, and mechano–chemical signaling to implement the rules for formation of connections and subsequent computations. Crucially, the same mechanisms that underlie their functions also underlie their formation.     

Semantics, Inflammation, Cytokines and Common Sense

Semantic evaluation of some of the terms we regularly employ—inflammation, anti-inflammatory, pro-inflammatory, anti-inflammatory drugs, cytokines, homeostasis and stress—raises concerns about their precise meanings and about their mechanistic implications. Semantic imprecision may have undesirable conceptual consequences.     

Intrinsically Disordered Proteins and Their Environment: Effects of Strong Denaturants, Temperature, pH, Counter Ions, Membranes, Binding Partners, Osmolytes, and Macromolecular Crowding

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) differ from “normal” ordered proteins at several levels, structural, functional and conformational. Amino acid biases characteristic for IDPs determine their structural variability and lack of rigid well-folded structure. This structural plasticity is necessary for the unique functional repertoire of IDPs, which is complementary to the catalytic activities of ordered proteins. Amino acid biases also drive atypical responses of IDPs to changes in their environment. The conformational behavior of IDPs is characterized by the low cooperativity (or the complete lack thereof) of the denaturant-induced unfolding, lack of the measurable excess heat absorption peak(s) characteristic for the melting of ordered proteins, “turned out” response to heat and changes in pH, the ability to gain structure in the presence of various counter ions, osmolytes, membranes and binding partners, and by the unique response to macromolecular crowding. This review describes some of the most characteristic features of the IDP conformational behavior and the unique response of IDPs to changes in their environment.     

Frequency of Discrimination,Harassment, and Violence in Lesbian,Gay Men,and Bisexual in Italy

Background

This cross-sectional study assessed the frequency of discrimination, harassment, and violence and the associated factors among a random sample of 1000 lesbian, gay men, and bisexual women and men recruited from randomly selected public venues in Italy.

Methods

A face-to-face interview sought information about: socio-demographics, frequency of discrimination, verbal harassment, and physical and sexual violence because of their sexual orientation, and their fear of suffering each types of victimization.

Results

In the whole sample, 28.3% and 11.9% self-reported at least one episode of victimization because of the sexual orientation in their lifetime and in the last year. Those unmarried, compared to the others, and with a college degree or higher, compared to less educated respondents, were more likely to have experienced an episode of victimization in their lifetime. Lesbians, compared to bisexual, had almost twice the odds of experiencing an episode of victimization. The most commonly reported experiences across the lifetime were verbal harassment, discrimination, and physical or sexual violence. Among those who had experienced one episode of victimization in their lifetime, 42.1% self-reported one episode in the last year. Perceived fear of suffering violence because of their sexual orientation, measured on a 10-point Likert scale with a higher score indicative of greater fear, ranges from 5.7 for verbal harassment to 6.4 for discrimination. Participants were more likely to have fear of suffering victimization because of their sexual orientation if they were female (compared to male), lesbian and gay men (compared to bisexual women and men), unmarried (compared to the others), and if they have already suffered an episode of victimization (compared to those who have not suffered an episode).

Conclusions

The study provides important insights into the violence experiences of lesbian, gay men, and bisexual women and men and the results may serve for improving policy initiatives to reduce such episodes.