Effects of Viscum album L. extract and quercetin on methotrexate-induced cyto-genotoxicity in mouse bone-marrow cells

Viscum album, a semi-parasitic plant, has been used both in traditional and supplementary medicine in the treatment of many diseases. Quercetin (QE), one of the major flavonoids in some fruits and vegetables, has anti-oxidative and anti-carcinogenic activities. Methotrexate (MTX), an anti-folate anti-metabolite, is a widely used anti-neoplastic drug with significant clastogenic effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the anti-cytogenotoxic effects of pre-treatment with V. album extract (VAE) and QE on MTX-induced chromosomal aberrations (CAs) in mouse bone-marrow cells. Pre-treatment of mice by gavage with VAE (250mg/kgbw/day for 10 days) and QE (50mg/kgbw/day for 10 days) caused a significant decrease in CAs and in the number of aberrant cells with CAs induced by intramuscular treatment of the mice with MTX (10mg/kgbw/day for 3 days), when compared with the group treated with MTX alone. These compounds also significantly increased the mitotic index (MI) in bone-marrow cells that had been suppressed by MTX. In conclusion, from the findings we suggest that VAE and QE may play a role in reducing cyto-genotoxicity induced by anti-neoplastic drugs during cancer chemotherapy.     

The investigation of genetic polymorphisms in the carbonic anhydrase VI gene exon 2 and salivary parameters in type 2 diabetic patients and healthy adults

The aim of this study was to investigate carbonic anhydrase (CA) VI Exon 2 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and its possible association with salivary parameters in type 2 diabetic patients compared to healthy adults. Caries status was measured by using the DMFT (number of decayed, missing, and filled teeth) index. Unstimulated whole saliva and blood samples were taken. SNPs of CA gene exon 2 were determined by PCR and DNA sequencing. Salivary CA activity and buffering capacity were determined by the method of Verpoorte and Ericson, respectively. Furthermore, salivary pH was measured with pH paper and salivary flow rate was calculated. Salivary buffering capacity and pH were significantly lower in diabetic patients than those of healthy subjects (P < 0.05). Salivary flow rate, CA activity and DMFT levels did not differ between groups (P > 0.05). Four SNPs were detected; their pubmed database number are rs2274327 (C/T), rs2274328 (A/C), rs2274329 (G/C) and rs2274330. While first three of those were responsible for amino acid changes, the last one was not. The frequencies of SNPs were not significant between groups (P > 0.05). Positive significant correlation was found between CA activity and the frequency of SNPs. There was no correlation between the SNPs frequencies and pH or buffering capacity. SNPs found in this study may be related to salivary CA activity in diabetics.     

The negative effect of heavy work life during adolescence on height development of young males

The aim of this study was to determine the physical development level of post-adolescent automotive repair workers who had been employed in heavy work during adolescence, a critical developmental period. Young workers (Group 1, N = 106, Mean age = 18.33, SD = 0.65) employed an average of 6 years in workshops in the capital of Turkey, Ankara. For the control group, two groups of the same age but having a difference in terms of socioeconomic status were chosen. The first one of these was comprised of individuals who had the same socioeconomic status as the laborers (Group 2, N = 106, Mean age = 18.33, SD = 0.65) but were not laborers. The second control group was composed of individuals from the higher socioeconomic levels of society (Group 3, N = 100, Mean Age = 18.45 SD = 0.63). Weight, height and measures were taken from the individuals and the body mass index (kg/m2) was calculated. The results of the analysis show that, although all the variables of the labor group were lower than Group 2, the difference is only significant for the height variable (p < 0.05). These findings reveal that, having completed a critical developmental period such as adolescence after being employed in heavy work, the automotive repair youngsters are prone to chronic developmental retardation.     

Contribution of Gamma amino butyric acid (GABA) to salt stress responses of Nicotiana sylvestris CMSII mutant and wild type plants

Plants accumulate high levels of Gamma amino butyric acid (GABA) in response to different environmental stresses and GABA metabolism has different functions such as osmotic and pH regulation, bypass of tricarboxylic acid cycle, and C:N balance. The cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) II mutant of Nicotiana sylvestris has a deletion in the mitochondrial gene nad7 which encodes the NAD7 subunit of complex I which causes increased leaf respiration, impaired photosynthesis, slower growth and increased amino acid levels. In this study we aimed to elucidate the role of GABA and GABA metabolism in different genotypes of the same plant system under salt stress (100mM NaCl) in short (24h) and long (7, 14 and 21 days) terms. We have investigated the differences in leaf fresh and dry weights, relative water content, photosynthetic efficiency (F(v)/F(m)), glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH, EC 1.4.1.4) and glutamate decarboxylase (GAD, EC 4.1.1.15) enzyme activities, GABA content and GAD gene expression profiles. GDH activity showed variations in CMSII and wild type (WT) plants in the first 24h. GAD gene expression profiles were in good agreement with the GAD enzyme activity levels in CMSII and WT plants after 24h. In long-term salinity, GAD activities increased in WT but, decreased in CMSII. GABA accumulation in WT and CMSII plants in short and long term was induced by salt stress. Variations in GDH and GAD activities in relation to GABA levels were discussed and GABA metabolism has been proposed to be involved in better performance of CMSII plants under long term salinity.     

Polyhydroxyalkanoate accumulation in Streptomyces coelicolor affected by SCO7613 gene region

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) is stored as an important carbon and energy source in bacterial cells. For biomedical applications, gram-positive bacteria can be better sources of PHAs, since they lack outer membrane lipopolysaccharide. Although gram-positive Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) has been indicated as a high potential PHA producer, pha C gene that encodes the key enzyme PHA synthase in the metabolic pathway is not determined in its genome. BLAST search results of the GenBank database argued that SCO7613 could specify a putative polyhydroxyalkanoate synthase (PhaC) responsible for PHA biosynthesis. Deduced amino acid sequence of SCO7613 showed the presence of conserved lipase box like sequence, ⁵⁵⁵GASAG⁵⁵⁹, in which serine residue was present as the active nucleophile. Present study describes deletion of putative S. coelicolor pha C gene via PCR dependent method. We showed that SCO7613 is not an essential gene in S. coelicolor and its deletion affected PHA accumulation negatively although it is not ceased. Transcomplementation abolished the mutant phenotype, demonstrating that the decrease in PHA resulted from the deletion of SCO7613.     

Efficient path-based computations on pedigree graphs with compact encodings

A pedigree is a diagram of family relationships, and it is often used to determine the mode of inheritance (dominant, recessive, etc.) of genetic diseases. Along with rapidly growing knowledge of genetics and accumulation of genealogy information, pedigree data is becoming increasingly important. In large pedigree graphs, path-based methods for efficiently computing genealogical measurements, such as inbreeding and kinship coefficients of individuals, depend on efficient identification and processing of paths. In this paper, we propose a new compact path encoding scheme on large pedigrees, accompanied by an efficient algorithm for identifying paths. We demonstrate the utilization of our proposed method by applying it to the inbreeding coefficient computation. We present time and space complexity analysis, and also manifest the efficiency of our method for evaluating inbreeding coefficients as compared to previous methods by experimental results using pedigree graphs with real and synthetic data. Both theoretical and experimental results demonstrate that our method is more scalable and efficient than previous methods in terms of time and space requirements.     

Inhibition of human carbonic anhydrase isozymes I, II and VI with a series of bisphenol, methoxy and bromophenol compounds

Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (CAI) are valuable molecules as they have several therapeutic applications, including anti-glaucoma activity. In this study, inhibition of three human carbonic anhydrase (hCA, EC 4.2.1.1) isozymes I, II and VI with a series of bisphenol and bromophenol derivatives was investigated. Molecular docking studies of a set of such inhibitors within CA I and II were also performed. K(I) values of the molecules 2-9 were in the range of 10.025-892.109 μM for hCA I, 1.437-59.107 μM for hCA II and 11.143-919.182 μM for hCA VI, respectively. Reported inhibitory activities of molecules 2-9 will assist in better understanding of structure-activity relationship studies of CAI.     

Molecularly imprinted cryogel for L-glutamic acid separation

A molecular recognition based L-glutamic acid (L-GLU) imprinted cryogel was prepared for L-GLU separation via chromatographic applications. The novel functional monomer N-methacryloyl-(L)-glutamic acid-Fe(3+) (MAGA-Fe(3+) ) was synthesized to be complex with L-GLU. The L-GLU imprinted cryogel was prepared by free radical polymerization under semifrozen conditions in the presence of a monomer-template complex MAGA-Fe(3+) -L-GLU. The binding mechanism of MAGA-Fe(3+) and L-GLU was characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy in detail. FTIR analyses on the synthesized MAGA-Fe(3+) -GLU complex reveals bridging bidentate and monodentate binding modes of Fe(3+) in complex with the carboxylate groups of the glutamate residues. The template L-GLU could be reversibly detached from the cryogel to form the template cavities using a 100 mM solution of HNO(3) . The amount of adsorbed L-GLU was detected using the phenyl isothiocyanate method. The L-GLU adsorption capacity of the cryogel decreased drastically from 11.3 to 6.4 μmol g(-1) as the flow rate increased from 0.5 to 4.0 mL min(-1) . The adsorption onto the L-GLU imprinted cryogel was highly pH dependent due to electrostatic interaction between the L-GLU and MAGA-Fe(3+) . The PHEMAGA-Fe(3+) -GLU cryogel exhibited high selectivity to the corresponding guest amino acids (i.e., D-GLU, L-ASN, L-GLN, L-, and D-ASP). Finally, the L-GLU imprinted cryogel was recovered and reused many times, with no significant decrease in their adsorption capacities.