Edible films made from natural resources; microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), methylcellulose (MC) and corn starch and polyols-Part 2

Aqueous blends of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) or methyl cellulose (MC) and corn starch with or without polyols were extruded, hot pressed and studied, after their conditioning at different relative humidities, in terms of their thermal, mechanical and water and gas permeability properties. An increase in water or polyol content showed a considerable increase in percentage elongation but also a decrease in the tensile strength of films. The presence of high cellulose contents increased the tensile strength and decreased the water vapour transmission of films. The development of crystallinity with time resulted in a decrease of both gas and water permeability. Several semiempirical models for calculation of gas permeability and tensile strength and tensile and flexural moduli were applied. The obtained values were compared to those experimentally determined and with the ones reported in the literature. On several occasions, quite significant discrepancies were found which were attributed to differences in molecular weight, percentage crystallinity and polymorphism.     

Regeneration of Elaeagnus angustifolia from leaf segments of in vitro-derived shoots

Shoot regeneration was achieved from in vitro-produced leaves of Elaeagnus angustifolia L. Half-leaf explants from the terminal part of the shoot produced more shoots than explants from the basal part of the in vitro-derived shoots on agar-solidified WPM medium supplemented with 1 M benzyladenine (BA). In liquid medium of the same formulation, compact shoots that did not elongate were formed on the explants. Leaf cross-section explants (1 mm thick) produced shoots both on solid and liquid medium with 1 M BA, whereas again compact shoots were formed with 10 M BA. Further shoot development on these explants was promoted by their transfer to fresh solid medium containing 1 M BA and 1 M gibberellic acid (GA₃).Abbreviations BA benzyladenine - GA₃ gibberellic acid - WPM woody plant medium     

Differential responsiveness of late passage C-6 glial cells and advanced passages of astrocytes derived from aged mouse cerebral hemispheres to cytokines and growth factor: Glutamine synthetase activity

In this study, we were interested to compare the responsiveness to growth factors, NGF, b-FGF and EGF and cytokines, IL1β, and TNF-α, in late passages (74–79) C6 glial cells committed astrocytes and astrocytes of advanced passages (26–28) in cultures derived from aged mouse cerebral hemispheres (MACH). Cultures were grown in either DMEM or chemically defined medium (CDM/TIPS) in order to test the effects of growth factors or cytokines. The activity of glutamine synthetase (GS), a marker for astrocytes, was used as a test parameter. We found that treatment with growth factors increased GS activity in both glial cell culture systems with the exception of EGF in C-6 glial cells. Treatment with cytokines markedly decreased GS activity in the late passage C6 glial cells whereas only TNF-α had a similar effect on MACH astrocytes. In view of the generally opposite effects of growth factors and cytokines on GS activity, we-speculate that these molecules which are also endogenously present in glial cells may play a role in the maintenance of cellular homeostasis.     

Imbalances in Mobilization and Activation of Pro-Inflammatory and Vascular Reparative Bone Marrow-Derived Cells in Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy is a sight-threatening complication of diabetes, affecting 65% of patients after 10 years of the disease. Diabetic metabolic insult leads to chronic low-grade inflammation, retinal endothelial cell loss and inadequate vascular repair. This is partly due to bone marrow (BM) pathology leading to increased activity of BM-derived pro-inflammatory monocytes and impaired function of BM-derived reparative circulating angiogenic cells (CACs). We propose that diabetes has a significant long-term effect on the nature and proportion of BM-derived cells that circulate in the blood, localize to the retina and home back to their BM niche. Using a streptozotocin mouse model of diabetic retinopathy with GFP BM-transplantation, we have demonstrated that BM-derived circulating pro-inflammatory monocytes are increased in diabetes while reparative CACs are trapped in the BM and spleen, with impaired release into circulation. Diabetes also alters activation of splenocytes and BM-derived dendritic cells in response to LPS stimulation. A majority of the BM-derived GFP cells that migrate to the retina express microglial markers, while others express endothelial, pericyte and Müller cell markers. Diabetes significantly increases infiltration of BM-derived microglia in an activated state, while reducing infiltration of BM-derived endothelial progenitor cells in the retina. Further, control CACs injected into the vitreous are very efficient at migrating back to their BM niche, whereas diabetic CACs have lost this ability, indicating that the in vivo homing efficiency of diabetic CACs is dramatically decreased. Moreover, diabetes causes a significant reduction in expression of specific integrins regulating CAC migration. Collectively, these findings indicate that BM pathology in diabetes could play a role in both increased pro-inflammatory state and inadequate vascular repair contributing to diabetic retinopathy.     

The Implicitome: A Resource for Rationalizing Gene-Disease Associations

High-throughput experimental methods such as medical sequencing and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identify increasingly large numbers of potential relations between genetic variants and diseases. Both biological complexity (millions of potential gene-disease associations) and the accelerating rate of data production necessitate computational approaches to prioritize and rationalize potential gene-disease relations. Here, we use concept profile technology to expose from the biomedical literature both explicitly stated gene-disease relations (the explicitome) and a much larger set of implied gene-disease associations (the implicitome). Implicit relations are largely unknown to, or are even unintended by the original authors, but they vastly extend the reach of existing biomedical knowledge for identification and interpretation of gene-disease associations. The implicitome can be used in conjunction with experimental data resources to rationalize both known and novel associations. We demonstrate the usefulness of the implicitome by rationalizing known and novel gene-disease associations, including those from GWAS. To facilitate the re-use of implicit gene-disease associations, we publish our data in compliance with FAIR Data Publishing recommendations [https://www.force11.org/group/fairgroup] using nanopublications. An online tool (http://knowledge.bio) is available to explore established and potential gene-disease associations in the context of other biomedical relations.     

Evaluation of tubulointerstitial lesions' severity in patients with glomerulonephritides: an NMR-based metabonomic study

An 1H NMR-based metabonomic approach was used to investigate the correlation of histopathologically assessed tubulointerstitial lesions with the urinary metabolite profile in 77 patients with glomerulonephritides submitted to renal biopsy. The presence of renal damage was predicted with a sensitivity of 96% and a specificity of 99%. Patients with mild, moderate, and severe tubulointerstitial lesions were progressively differentiated from the healthy individuals in the Orthogonal Signal Correction Partial Least-Squares-Discriminant Analysis (OSC/PLS-DA) models with a statistically significant separation between those with mild and with severe lesions. The onset of the tubulointerstitial lesions is characterized by decreased excretion of citrate, hippurate, glycine, and creatinine, whereas further deterioration is followed by glycosuria, selective aminoaciduria, total depletion of citrate and hippurate, and gradual increase in the excretion of lactate, acetate, and trimethylamine-N-oxide. NMR-based metabonomic urinalysis could contribute to the early evaluation of the severity of the renal damage and possibly to the monitoring of kidney function.     

Ubiquitous expression of the rtTA2S-M2 inducible system in transgenic mice driven by the human hnRNPA2B1/CBX3 CpG island

Background  

A sensitive, ubiquitously expressed tetracycline inducible system would be a valuable tool in mouse transgenesis. However, this has been difficult to obtain due to position effects observed at different chromosomal sites of transgene integration, which negatively affect expression in many tissues. The aim of this study was to test the utility of a mammalian methylation-free CpG island to drive ubiquitous expression of the sensitive doxycycline (Dox) inducible rtTA2S-M2 Tet-transactivator in transgenic mice.