Cadmium exposure in tobacco workers: possible renal effects.

Cadmium is a nephrotoxic metal widely used in industry and the main source of Cd in general population is smoking. Considering that the source of Cd in cigarettes is the tobacco leaf, the exposure to Cd was evaluated in workers employed at a tobacco leaf processing factory. Blood and urinary Cd levels were measured by flameless atomic absorption spectrometry in 87 workers and 35 controls. Urinary enzymes, total protein, albumin and uric acid were also determined to investigate the possible nephrotoxic effects of Cd. Blood Cd levels were significantly higher in workers (1.63 +/- 1.95 microg/L) than in controls (0.91 +/- 1.15 microg/L) (p = 0.044). The increase observed in urinary Cd levels of workers was non significant (0.56 +/- 0.5 microg/g creatinine in workers and 0.46 +/- 0.5 microg/g creatinine in controls). Both in workers and in controls, subjects smoking >10 cigarettes/day showed significantly increased blood Cd levels compared to non-smokers (p = 0.000 and p = 0.011, respectively). In workers, urinary alkaline phosphatase (ALP), gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT), total protein, and uric acid were observed to be significantly increased (p = 0.013, p = 0.000, p = 0.000, p = 0.025, respectively), ALP, GGT and total protein being positively correlated with Cd in urine. In conclusion, the workers in the tobacco leaf processing factory were found to be exposed to Cd compared to the general population. The increase in the urinary enzymes and proteins suggests that an exposure to Cd affects kidney functions even below the toxic limits generally accepted.     

Wavelets filtering for classification of very noisy electron microscopic single particles images- application on structure determination of VP5-VP19C recombinant

Background

Images of frozen hydrated [vitrified] virus particles were taken close-to-focus in an electron microscope containing structural signals at high spatial frequencies. These images had very low contrast due to the high levels of noise present in the image. The low contrast made particle selection, classification and orientation determination very difficult. The final purpose of the classification is to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the particle representing the class, which is usually the average. In this paper, the proposed method is based on wavelet filtering and multi-resolution processing for the classification and reconstruction of this very noisy data. A multivariate statistical analysis (MSA) is used for this classification.

Results

The MSA classification method is noise dependant. A set of 2600 projections from a 3D map of a herpes simplex virus -to which noise was added- was classified by MSA. The classification shows the power of wavelet filtering in enhancing the quality of class averages (used in 3D reconstruction) compared to Fourier band pass filtering. A 3D reconstruction of a recombinant virus (VP5-VP19C) is presented as an application of multi-resolution processing for classification and reconstruction.

Conclusion

The wavelet filtering and multi-resolution processing method proposed in this paper offers a new way for processing very noisy images obtained from electron cryo-microscopes. The multi-resolution and filtering improves the speed and accuracy of classification, which is vital for the 3D reconstruction of biological objects. The VP5-VP19C recombinant virus reconstruction presented here is an example, which demonstrates the power of this method. Without this processing, it is not possible to get the correct 3D map of this virus.

     

Altered Antibody Profiles against Common Infectious Agents in Chronic Disease

Despite the important diagnostic value of evaluating antibody responses to individual human pathogens, antibody profiles against multiple infectious agents have not been used to explore health and disease mainly for technical reasons.  We hypothesized that the interplay between infection and chronic disease might be revealed by profiling antibodies against multiple agents. Here, the levels of antibodies against a panel of 13 common infectious agents were evaluated with the quantitative Luciferase Immunoprecipitation Systems (LIPS) in patients from three disease cohorts including those with pathogenic anti-interferon-γ autoantibodies (IFN-γ AAB), HIV and Sjögren’s syndrome (SjS) to determine if their antibody profiles differed from control subjects.  The IFN-γ AAB patients compared to controls demonstrated statistically higher levels of antibodies against VZV (p=0.0003), EBV (p=0.002), CMV (p=0.003), and C. albicans (p=0.03), but lower antibody levels against poliovirus (p=0.04). Comparison of HIV patients with blood donor controls revealed that the patients had higher levels of antibodies against CMV (p=0.0008), HSV-2 (p=0.0008), EBV (p=0.001), and C. albicans (p=0.01), but showed decreased levels of antibodies against coxsackievirus B4 (p=0.0008), poliovirus (p=0.0005),   and HHV-6B (p=0.002). Lastly, SjS patients had higher levels of anti-EBV antibodies (p=0.03), but lower antibody levels against several enteroviruses including a newly identified picornavirus, HCoSV-A (p=0.004), coxsackievirus B4 (p=0.04), and poliovirus (p=0.02). For the IFN-γ AAB and HIV cohorts, principal component analysis revealed unique antibody clusters that showed the potential to discriminate patients from controls.  The results suggest that antibody profiles against these and likely other common infectious agents may yield insight into the interplay between exposure to infectious agents, dysbiosis, adaptive immunity and disease activity.     

Nebulosides A–B,novel triterpene saponins from under-ground parts of Gypsophila arrostii Guss. var. nebulosa

A bioassay-guided phytochemical analysis of the triterpene saponins from under ground parts of Gypsophila arrostii var. nebulosa allowed the isolation of two triterpene saponins; nebuloside A, B based on gypsogenin and quillaic acid aglycone. Two new oleanane type triterpenoid saponins (nebuloside A, B) and three known saponins (1–3) were isolated from the root bark of Gypsophila arrostii var. nebulosa. The structures of the two new compounds were elucidated as 3-O-β-d-galactopyranosyl-(1→2)-[β-d-xylopyranosyl-(1→3)]-β-d-glucuronopyranosyl quillaic acid 28-O-β-d-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-[β-d-xylopyranosyl-(1→3)-β-d-xylopyranosyl-(1→4)]-α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)-β-d-fucopyranosyl ester (nebuloside A) and 3-O-β-d-xylopyranosyl-(1→3)-[β-d-galactopyranosyl(1→3)-β-d-galactopyranosyl-(1→2)]-β-d-glucuronopyranosyl gypsogenin 28-O-β-d-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-[β-d-xylopyranosyl-(1→3)-β-d-xylopyranosyl-(1→4)]-α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)-β-d-fucopyranosyl ester (nebuloside B), on the basis of extensive spectral analysis and chemical evidence. Nebuloside A and B showed toxicity enhancing properties on saporin a type-I RIP without causing toxicity by themselves at 15 μg/mL.     

Fluorination of BC3 nanotubes: DFT studies

We have studied the adsorption of atomic and molecular fluorines on a BC₃ nanotube by using density functional calculations. It was found that the adsorption of atomic fluorine on a C atom of the tube surface is energetically more favorable than that on a B atom by about 0.97 eV. The adsorption of atomic fluorine on both C and B atoms significantly affects the electronic properties of the BC₃ tube. The HOMO-LUMO energy gap is considerably reduced from 2.37 to 1.50 and 1.14 eV upon atomic F adsorption on B and C atoms, respectively. Molecular fluorine energetically tends to be dissociated on B atoms of the tube surface. The associative and dissociative adsorption energies of F₂ were calculated to be about ?0.42 and ?4.79 eV, respectively. Electron emission density from BC₃ nanotube surface will be increased upon both atomic and molecular fluorine adsorptions due to work function decrement.     

Development of a novel feeding regime for large scale production of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem/stromal cells

Cytotechnology - Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (hUC-MSCs) have attracted significant research interests in regenerative medicine and cell-based therapies due to their...     

The correlation of long non-coding RNAs IFNG-AS1 and ZEB2-AS1 with IFN-γ and ZEB-2 expression in PBMCs and clinical features of patients with coronary artery disease

Molecular Biology Reports - Aberrant expression of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) can contribute to the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease (CAD). In this study, we aimed to evaluate the...     

In vitro photomorphogenesis,plant growth regulators,melatonin content,and DNA methylation under various wavelengths of light in Phalaenopsis amabilis

Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC) - We tested the feasibility to promote growth and shoot proliferation of Phalaenopsis through different wavelengths of LED and fluorescent. Therefore,...     

Comparison of Th1 and Th2 responses in non-healing and healing patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis

Background:

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is an endemic disease in many regions of Iran, including the city of Mashhad. In recent years, some cases have not responded to Glucantime, the usual treatment for this disease. The cellular immune response caused by T-helper type 1 (Th1) cells has an important role in protection against leishmaniasis, and activation of the T-helper type 2 (Th2) response causes progression of the disease. By analyzing these responses we hope to find a more effective treatment than that currently in use for leishmaniasis patients.

Methods:

The cellular immune responses in 60 cases of non-healing and healing cutaneous leishmaniasis, and individuals in a control group, were analyzed by measuring cytokines released by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) when stimulated with Leishmania major antigens by Enzyme Linked Immuno Sorbent Assay (ELISA).

Results:

Subjects from the healing group secreted more interleukin-12 (IL-12) and interferon gamma (IFN-γ) (p<0.05) and less interleukins -4, -5, -10 (IL-4, IL-5, and IL-10) (p<0.005) and -18 (IL-18) (p=0.003) than the non-healing group.

Conclusions:

The results demonstrate that secretion of cytokines that activate Th2 response including IL-4, IL-5 and IL-10 in non-healing subjects was higher than healing subjects and secretion of cytokines that activate Th1 response including IL-12 and IFN-γ in healing subjects was higher relative to the non-healing subjects. In this study it has been shown that the level of IL-18 progresses disease in non-healing patients when the level of IL-12 gets decreased. Key Words: Cytokines, Cutaneous leishmaniasis, Glucantime