Iodine concentration of milk in a dose–response study with dairy cows and implications for consumer iodine intake

Most feed is poor in iodine and iodine supplementation of cow's diets must guarantee milk iodine concentrations for humans that contribute to prevention of the deficiency and minimize the risk of exceeding an upper limit of iodine intake. Five Holstein cows were fed four iodine doses (via Ca(ΙO₃)₂·6H₂O). In four sequential 14-d periods, doses of 0.2 (basal diet), 1.3, 5.1, and 10.1 mg iodine kg^?1 diet dry matter (DM) were administered. Samples of milk were collected during each period; blood was also sampled from each cow for each iodine dosage. In an 18-d depletion period, a non-supplemented diet was provided. Iodine was determined by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. The iodine content of milk and serum reflected the iodine dosages in feed significantly. The levels for the four doses tested in milk were 101±32, 343±109, 1215±222, and 2762±852 μg iodine kg^?1. The total amount of iodine in milk per day was 30–40% of ingested supplemental iodine. Omitting additional iodine resulted in a short-term reduction of serum and milk iodine following an exponential decay function. The iodine supplementation of 0.5–1.5 mg kg^?1 diet DM represents the requirement of the cow, resulting in 100–300 μg iodine L^?1 milk, which optimally contributes to human supply. The maximum dietary levels of former and present EU legislations (10 and 5 mg iodine kg^?1 cow feed) increase the risk of iodine excess in humans.     

Evaluation of TLR4 expression and chosen parameters of oxidative-antioxidative balance in young children with food allergy

The authors evaluated mRNA TLR4 expression on neutrophils and the chosen parameters of oxidative-antioxidative balance in blood of 35 children with food allergy (17 of them with IgE-dependent allergy and 18 with IgE-independent allergy) and 15 healthy children without any allergy. The age of these children ranged from 1 to 36 months. Children with food allergy in comparison with healthy children were found to have lower mRNA TLR4 expression, higher average value of chemiluminescence (CL) and its increase after stimulation by fMLP, PMA and OZ as well as lower TAS values. Disturbances of oxidative-antioxidative balance were found in children with food allergy. We suggest that natural immunity is involved in the development of food allergy mechanisms. Moreover, chemiluminescence can be used as an additional diagnostic test.     

Anti-neoplastic effect of protein kinase CK2 inhibitor, 2-dimethylamino-4,5,6,7-tetrabromobenzimidazole (DMAT), on growth and hormonal activity of human adrenocortical carcinoma cell line (H295R) in vitro

Several studies indicate the involvement of protein kinases in the progression of various malignancies. Kinase inhibitors are therefore becoming important anticancer drugs. CK2 kinase (casein kinase-2) has been suggested to be a constituent of a neoplastic milleu, and its inhibition might represent a new approach to cancer therapy. Adrenocortical carcinomas (ACCs) are highly malignant neoplasms with poor overall prognosis. We have examined the effects of 2-dimethylamino-4,5,6,7-tetrabromobenzimidazole (DMAT), a potent CK2 inhibitor, on the H295R human adrenocortical cancer cell line. Treatment with DMAT decreases the secretion of aldosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, and androstendione and results in an accumulation of 17-OH-progesterone. Cell growth as measured by the MTT and 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine incorporation assays is inhibited, and cell cycle analysis has revealed a slight induction of apoptosis. Thus, CK2 kinase activity is probably involved in human ACC endocrine activity and growth.     

Biological and Molecular Characterization of Polish Isolates of Tomato torrado virus*

Three isolates of Tomato torrado virus (ToTV) were found in Poland. The isolates were characterized on the basis of their symptomatology on plant species, serological reactions, electron microscopy, and nucleotide and amino acid sequence analyses of coat protein subunit genes. In comparative tests, the Polish ToTV isolates were shown to be closely related to each other and also to the isolate from Spain.     

Copper binding to chicken and human prion protein amylodogenic regions: Differences and similarities revealed by Ni as a diamagnetic probe

Both human (h) and chicken (Ch) prion proteins (PrP) bind copper ions within the so called “tandem repeat” N-terminal region. Outside this region, hPrP possesses two additional copper binding sites, localized at His-96 and His-111 in the so called “amylodogenic” or neurotoxic region (residues 91-126). Also ChPrP possesses a similar region (ChPrP_105−140) containing two His (His-110 and His-124) and an identical hydrophobic tail of 15 amino acids rich in Ala and Gly. The copper binding abilities within such region of ChPrP were investigated by NMR, CD and potentiometry using Ni²⁺ as diamagnetic probe. The formation of diamagnetic metal complexes allowed to monitor the chemical shift and signal intensity variations and to determine the structural and kinetic features of the His-110 and His-124 metal binding sites. Finally a comparison between the hPrP and ChPrP metal binding abilities was performed. We found that the two prion proteins exhibited different copper and nickel preferences with the favoured metal binding sites localized at opposite His: His-110 for ChPrP, and His-111 for hPrP.     

Transgenic apple plants overexpressing the Lc gene of maize show an altered growth habit and increased resistance to apple scab and fire blight

Transgenic apple plants (Malus × domestica cv. ‘Holsteiner Cox’) overexpressing the Leaf Colour (Lc) gene from maize (Zea mays) exhibit strongly increased production of anthocyanins and flavan-3-ols (catechins, proanthocyanidins). Greenhouse plants investigated in this study exhibit altered phenotypes with regard to growth habit and resistance traits. Lc-transgenic plants show reduced size, transversal gravitropism of lateral shoots, reduced trichome development, and frequently reduced shoot diameter and abnormal leaf development with fused leaves. Such phenotypes seem to be in accordance with a direct or an indirect effect on polar-auxin-transport in the transgenic plants. Furthermore, leaves often develop necrotic lesions resembling hypersensitive response lesions. In tests, higher resistance against fire blight (caused by the bacterium Erwinia amylovora) and against scab (caused by the fungus Venturia inaequalis) is observed. These phenotypes are discussed with respect to the underlying altered physiology of the Lc-transgenic plants. The results are expected to be considered in apple breeding strategies.     

Microarray analysis of relative gene expression stability for selection of internal reference genes in the rhesus macaque brain

Background  

Normalization of gene expression data refers to the comparison of expression values using reference standards that are consistent across all conditions of an experiment. In PCR studies, genes designated as "housekeeping genes" have been used as internal reference genes under the assumption that their expression is stable and independent of experimental conditions. However, verification of this assumption is rarely performed. Here we assess the use of gene microarray analysis to facilitate selection of internal reference sequences with higher expression stability across experimental conditions than can be expected using traditional selection methods.     

Cytopathology of Tomato torrado virus Infection in Tomato and Nicotiana benthamiana

Electron microscopy studies were carried out to investigate the cytopathological changes induced in tomato leaves by Tomato torrado virus (ToTV) that infects tomato plants worldwide causing severe necrotic symptoms. Plants infected with one of the Polish isolates of ToTV were used for cytopathological research. The results revealed severe cellular alterations, especially in Solanum lycopersicum. Moreover, it was shown that crystalline aggregates of virions occurred not only within the phloem cells as it has been previously reported.     

The DNA-B of the non-phloem-limited bean dwarf mosaic virus (BDMV) is able to move the phloem-limited Abutilon mosaic virus (AbMV) out of the phloem,but DNA-B of AbMV is unable to confine BDMV to the phloem

Abutilon mosaic virus (AbMV) and bean dwarf mosaic virus (BDMV) are two phylogenetically related bipartite begomoviruses. While AbMV is restricted to phloem, BDMV spreads to non-phloem tissues. Cell-to-cell and long-distance movement of AbMV and BDMV were investigated after replacing the coat protein (CP) gene with the reporter gene encoding the green fluorescence protein (GFP). The DNA-A and DNA-B genomic components of AbMV and BDMV, and their pseudorecombinants (PR), were delivered to bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) seedlings and detached leaves with DNA-coated microprojectiles. Virus-associated fluorescence was observed with the confocal microscope. Delivery of AbMV and BDMV GFP reporters showed that the epidermal tissue was the main recipient of the viral DNA; the DNA-A of the two viruses was unable to move out of the recipient cells. AbMV DNA-A co-inoculated with AbMV DNA-B did not move from cell to cell in the epidermis and did not reach the phloem. However, co-inoculation of AbMV DNA-A with BDMV DNA-B resulted in PR cell-to-cell movement out of the epidermis and long-distance movement in the phloem. In contrast, BDMV DNA-A moved from cell to cell and over a long distance when co-inoculated with either its own DNA-B or with the DNA-B of AbMV. Thus, the DNA-B of the non-phloem-limited BDMV overcame the phloem limitation of AbMV. In the reciprocal case, the DNA-B of the phloem-limited AbMV did not confine the non-phloem limited BDMV to the phloem. Hence, we assume that the DNA-A component of BDMV includes determinants involved in the movement pattern of the virus in addition to the DNA-B-encoded BC1 and BV1 which have previously been shown to be involved in virus movement. The results also confirm that the CP is not necessary for virus movement; however, replacing the CP of AbMV and BDMV with GFP resulted in a decrease in symptom severity. DNA-B was involved in symptom severity; the B component of BDMV produced symptoms more severe than those induced by that of AbMV, whether in wild-type PRs or in PRs with CP-GFP replacement. It is interesting to note that when the GFP gene under the control of the CaMV 35S promoter (35S-GFP) was delivered to the bean tissue, with or without the DNA-B component of BDMV, GFP was expressed but did not move from cell to cell. However, when the 35S-GFP was delivered together with BDMV DNA-A and DNA-B, GFP showed cell-to-cell movement in the epidermis but was restricted to these cells. Hence, infection of cells with a functional bipartite begomovirus may facilitate cell-to-cell movement of macromolecules.