A new species of Pomatoschistus (Teleostei: Gobiidae) from Southern Anatolia

Pomatoschistus anatoliae sp. n. is described from estuary of Göksu River on the Mediterranean coast of the Anatolia. It is distinguished from its congeners by the suborbital papilla pattern, meristic, and ecological features. DNA barcoding based on COI sequences revealed that there is a high nucleotide sequence divergence to the nearest neighbour. Kimura’s two parameter distances between P. anatoliae sp. n. and other species of Pomatoschistus and Knipowitchia have found to be at least 5.1%.

http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:4592CF50-07B5-4C25-892F-5D009057675B     

Characterization of mesenchymal stem cells from rat bone marrow: ultrastructural properties,differentiation potential and immunophenotypic markers

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) can differentiate into many lineages. Although the growing interest in BM-MSCs has led to a number of characterization studies, some important biochemical and immunohistochemical properties are still lacking. In this study, morphological and immunophenotypic properties of BM-MSCs were examined in detail. Differentiation potential and growth kinetics of adult rat BM-MSCs were also determined. Immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR results indicated that BM-MSCs expressed myogenic (desmin, myogenin, myosin IIa, and α-SMA), neurogenic (γ-enolase, MAP2a,b, c-fos, nestin, GFAP and beta III tubulin), and osteogenic (osteonectin, osteocalcin, osteopontin, Runx-2, BMP-2, BMP-4 and type I collagen) markers without stimulation towards differentiation. These expression patterns indicated why these cells can easily differentiate into multiple lineages both in vitro and in vivo. Ultrastructural characteristics of rBM-MSCs showed more developed and metabolically active cells.     

Comparison of novel and familiar commercial kits for detection of C-reactive protein levels

In this study, randomized patient sera were used to simultaneously evaluate an automated C-reactive protein (CRP) assay and a commercial semi-automated microCRP assay with respect to correlation, linearity, and accuracy. Patient specimens were analyzed; two independent assay runs were performed on i-CHROMA (Boditech Med Inc., Korea) and IMMAGE 800 (Beckman Coulter Inc., USA) analyzers to estimate the between- and within-run precision. All systems were calibrated, and quality-control materials were analyzed according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The results using the control materials were within the respective manufacturers’ specified limits. The comparison studies were designed using the CLSI EP9-2A guidelines. The mean serum CRP concentrations were 123.2 ± 123.5 mg/L (95 % confidence of interval (CI) 97.9–148.3) using the CRP assay and 130.1 ± 109.3 mg/L (95 % CI 107.9–152.4) using the microCRP assay. The variance values were σ = 15,252.6 and 11,935.8 for the CRP and microCRP assays, respectively. The concordance correlation coefficient value was calculated as 0.8314 (95 % CI 0.7594–0.8833). There was a significant correlation between the CRP and microCRP assays: r = 0.8392 and 95 % CI 0.7675–0.8902 (p < 0.0001). The CRP and microCRP detection methods were well correlated. The i-CHROMA has many advantages over the IMMAGE 800 with respect to space required, analysis time, and system setup/application costs in a laboratory. It may be an attractive instrument for small and intermediate medical centers.     

Electronic Excited States of the CP29 Antenna Complex of Green Plants: A Model Based on Exciton Calculations

We have suggested a model for the electronic excited states of the minorplant antenna, CP29, by incorporating a considerable part of the currentinformation offered by structure determination, site-directed mutagenesis,and spectroscopy in the modeling.We have assumed that the electronic excited states of the complex havebeen decided by the chlorophyll-chlorophyll (Chl) and Chl-proteininteractions and have modeled the Coulombic interaction between a pairof Chls in the point-dipole approximation and the Chl-protein interactionsare treated as empirical fit parameters.We have suggested the Q_y dipole moment orientations and the siteenergies for all the chlorophylls in the complex through a simultaneoussimulation of the absorption and linear dichroism spectra.The assignments proposed have been discussed to yield a satisfactoryreproduction of all prominent features of the absorption, linear and circulardichroism spectra as well as the key spectral and temporal characteristics ofthe energy transfer processes among the chlorophylls.The orientations and the spectral assignments obtained by relatively simpleexciton calculations have been necessary to provide a good point ofdeparture for more detailed treatments of structure-function relationship inCP29. Moreover, it has been discussed that the CP29 model suggested canguide the studies for a better understanding of the structure-functionrelationship in the major plant antenna, LHCII.     

Synthesis,Biological Activity Evaluation and Molecular Docking of Imidazole Derivatives Possessing Hydrazone Moiety

In an attempt to identify potential active anticancer agents with low cytotoxic properties and CA inhibitors, a new series of hybrid compounds incorporating imidazole ring and hydrazone moiety as part of their structure were synthesized by aza-Michael addition reaction followed by intramolecular cyclization. The structure of synthesized compounds was elucidated using various spectral techniques. Synthesized compounds were evaluated for their in vitro anticancer (prostate cell lines; PC3) and CA inhibitory (hCA I and hCA II) activity. Among them, some compound displayed remarkable anticancer activity and CA inhibitory activity with K_i values in range of 17.53±7.19–150.50±68.87 nM against cytosolic hCA I isoform associated with epilepsy, and 28.82±14.26–153.27±55.80 nM against dominant cytosolic hCA II isoforms associated with glaucoma. Furthermore, the theoretical parameters of the bioactive molecules were calculated to establish their drug-likeness qualities. The proteins used for the calculations are prostate cancer protein (PDB ID: 3RUK and 6XXP). ADME/T analysis was carried out to examine the drug properties of the studied molecules.     

A one-year aeropalynological study at Ankara, Turkey

Atmospheric pollen was collected with a Burkard sporetrap in Ankara, Turkey from January 1993 to January1994. The sum of the annual totals of the dailyconcentration of pollen, belonging to 44 taxa, was57,735. A relatively high pollen concentration wasrecorded in June which could be caused by higher windspeed and lower rainfall. Pinaceae,Cupressaceae/Taxaceae, Gramineae, Platanus, Populus,Moraceae, Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae, Acer, Quercus,Betula, Salix, Rumex and Plantago are found tobe the dominant pollen types in the atmosphere inAnkara.