Bioremediation of Crude Oil-Contaminated Soil Using Slurry-Phase Biological Treatment and Land Farming Techniques

Field-scale experiments on bioremediation of soil heavily contaminated with crude oil were undertaken on the territory of the Kokuyskoye oil field (Perm region, West Urals, Russia) owned by the LUKOIL Company. The pollution consisted of the contents of a oil waste storage pit, which mostly received soils contaminated after accidental oil spills and also the solid n-alkane (paraffin) wastes removed from the surface of drilling equipment. Laboratory analyses of soil samples indicated contamination levels up to 200?g/kg of total recoverable petroleum hydrocarbons (TRPH). Average oil composition consisted of 64% aliphatics, 25% aromatics, 8% heterocyclics, and 3% of tars/asphaltenes. Ex situ bioremediation techniques involved the successive treatment of contaminated soil using a bioslurry reactor and land farming cells. An oleophilic biofertilizer based on Rhodococcus surfactant complexes was used in both treatment systems. An aerobic slurry bioreactor was designed, and the biofertilizer applied weekly. Slurry-phase biotreatment of the contaminated soil resulted in an 88% reduction in oil concentration after 2 months. The resulting reactor product, containing approximately 25?g/kg of TRPH, was then loaded into land farming cells for further decontamination. To enhance bioremediation, different treatments (e.g., soil tilling, bulking with woodchips, watering, and biofertilizer addition) were used. The rates of oil biodegradation were 300 to 600?ppm/day. As a result, contamination levels dropped to 1.0 to 1.5?g/kg of TRPH after 5 to 7 weeks. Tertiary soil management involved phytoremediation where land farming cells were seeded with a mixture of three species of perennial grass. The effect of phytoremediation on the residual decontamination and rehabilitation of soil fertility is being evaluated.     

Increased solubility of lamins and redistribution of lamin C in X-linked Emery–Dreifuss muscular dystrophy fibroblasts

Emery–Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD) is caused by mutations in the gene encoding the nuclear membrane protein emerin (X-linked EDMD) or in the gene encoding lamins A/C (autosomal dominant EDMD). One hypothesis explaining the disease suggests that the mutations lead to weakness of the nuclear lamina. To test this hypothesis we investigated lamin solubility and distribution in skin fibroblasts from X-EDMD patients. Using in situ extraction of cells and immunofluorescence microscopy or biochemical fractionation and immunoblotting, we found that all lamin subtypes displayed increased solubility properties in fibroblasts from X-EDMD patients compared to normal individuals. Lamin and emerin solubility was mildly increased in fibroblasts from an X-EDMD carrier. Biochemical fractionation and immunoblotting also indicated that lamin C but no other lamin became redistributed from the nuclear lamina to the nucleoplasm in X-EDMD fibroblasts. Indirect immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy studies using lamin A- and lamin C-specific antibodies confirmed that lamin C but not lamin A became redistributed to the nucleoplasm. Interestingly, the lamin A/C binding protein LAP2α was also mislocalized in X-EDMD fibroblasts.     

Invertebrate population genetics across Earth's largest habitat: The deep‐sea floor

Despite the deep sea being the largest habitat on Earth, there are just 77 population genetic studies of invertebrates (115 species) inhabiting non‐chemosynthetic ecosystems on the deep‐sea floor (below 200 m depth). We review and synthesize the results of these papers. Studies reveal levels of genetic diversity comparable to shallow‐water species. Generally, populations at similar depths were well connected over 100s–1,000s km, but studies that sampled across depth ranges reveal population structure at much smaller scales (100s–1,000s m) consistent with isolation by adaptation across environmental gradients, or the existence of physical barriers to connectivity with depth. Few studies were ocean‐wide (under 4%), and 48% were Atlantic‐focused. There is strong emphasis on megafauna and commercial species with research into meiofauna, “ecosystem engineers” and other ecologically important species lacking. Only nine papers account for ~50% of the planet's surface (depths below 3,500 m). Just two species were studied below 5,000 m, a quarter of Earth's seafloor. Most studies used single‐locus mitochondrial genes revealing a common pattern of non‐neutrality, consistent with demographic instability or selective sweeps; similar to deep‐sea hydrothermal vent fauna. The absence of a clear difference between vent and non‐vent could signify that demographic instability is common in the deep sea, or that selective sweeps render single‐locus mitochondrial studies demographically uninformative. The number of population genetics studies to date is miniscule in relation to the size of the deep sea. The paucity of studies constrains meta‐analyses where broad inferences about deep‐sea ecology could be made.     

Radical‐scavenging activity of penicillin G,ampicillin, oxacillin,and dicloxacillin

The aim of this study was to characterize the antioxidant activity of penicillin G (PG), ampicillin (AMP), oxacillin (OX) and dicloxacillin (DOX) through their reactivity towards reactive oxygen species (superoxide anion radical, ; hydroxyl radical, HO^?; peroxyl radical, ROO^?; hydrogen peroxide, H₂O₂; DPPH^?) using various in vitro antioxidant assays with chemiluminescence (CL) and spectrophotometry as measurement techniques. In hydroxyl radical assays , PG, OX and AMP were found to inhibit the CL signal arising from the Fenton‐like reaction in a dose‐dependent manner with IC₅₀ = 0.480 ± 0.020 mM, IC₅₀ = 0.569 ± 0.021 mM, and IC₅₀ = 0.630 ± 0.019 mM, respectively. The highest reactivity of PG among the tested penicillins towards the HO radical was confirmed in the deoxyribose degradation assay. In the ABAP‐derived ROO radical assay, the radical‐scavenging ability of the test penicillins was in the following order: AMP > PG > DOX > OX. The number of reduced DPPH radicals by the drugs tested was <1 being the biggest for PG. The weak antioxidant capacity of the test penicillins was confirmed in the trolox antioxidant capacity assay (0.075 ± 0.004; 0.093 ± 0.006; 0.123 ± 0.005; 0.126 ± 0.004) for OX, AMP, DOX, PG, respectively. Use of luminol as a CL probe for estimation of penicillin reactivity towards H₂O₂ showed that only AMP was able to quench light emission; the remaining antibiotics demonstrated a strong enhancing effect. All the examined compounds showed a weak antioxidant potential when estimated using the ferric‐ferrozine assay. This study is the first to report the evaluation of test penicillins as antioxidants under the same reaction conditions.     

Synthesis and in vitro antioxidant activity study of some new piperazinyl flavone compounds

Flavones exhibit a variety of beneficial effects and are well known for their medicinal importance in several diseases, including cardiovascular, neurodegenerative and cancer. The inclusion of the piperazine ring to the flavone backbone is an important strategy in drug discovery but only a few studies have synthesized piperazinyl flavone compounds to test their biological activity. While there is a major focus on the antioxidant properties of drugs in therapy of several diseases of inflammatory origin, we synthesized a series of the novel piperazinyl flavone analogues bearing the phenyl ring with different substituents. The analogues were evaluated for in vitro antioxidant activity against superoxide anion radical, hydroxyl radical, 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl radical, and hydrogen peroxide scavenging properties. The total antioxidant status based on the absorbance of the 2,2′‐azino‐bis(3‐ethylbenzothiazoline‐6‐sulphonic acid) radical cation (ABTS^+?) and total antioxidant capacity using the Fe(III)‐ferrozine complex were also monitored. The results of the above studies showed that the compounds synthesized were found possessed moderate radical scavenging potential, and that their interaction with reactive oxygen species is complex and depends on their structural conformation and the type of substituent R in the piperazine ring being attached. Best antiradical activity were found for the compounds with methoxy groups on the phenyl ring of substituent R, whereas the presence of methoxy or trifluoromethyl groups in substituent R resulted in higher ABTS^+? and ion Fe(III) reduction. These compounds are promising molecules to be used for their antioxidant properties and may be regarded, after improvement of the antioxidant potential, to control diseases of free radical etiology.     

The in silico identification and characterization of a bread wheat/Triticum militinae introgression line

The capacity of the bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) genome to tolerate introgression from related genomes can be exploited for wheat improvement. A resistance to powdery mildew expressed by a derivative of the cross‐bread wheat cv. Tähti × T. militinae (Tm) is known to be due to the incorporation of a Tm segment into the long arm of chromosome 4A. Here, a newly developed in silico method termed rearrangement identification and characterization (RICh) has been applied to characterize the introgression. A virtual gene order, assembled using the GenomeZipper approach, was obtained for the native copy of chromosome 4A; it incorporated 570 4A DArTseq markers to produce a zipper comprising 2132 loci. A comparison between the native and introgressed forms of the 4AL chromosome arm showed that the introgressed region is located at the distal part of the arm. The Tm segment, derived from chromosome 7G, harbours 131 homoeologs of the 357 genes present on the corresponding region of Chinese Spring 4AL. The estimated number of Tm genes transferred along with the disease resistance gene was 169. Characterizing the introgression's position, gene content and internal gene order should not only facilitate gene isolation, but may also be informative with respect to chromatin structure and behaviour studies.     

Cardiac shock-wave therapy in the treatment of coronary artery disease: systematic review and meta-analysis

Aim

To systematically review currently available cardiac shock-wave therapy (CSWT) studies in humans and perform meta-analysis regarding anti-anginal efficacy of CSWT.

Methods

The Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, Medline, Medscape, Research Gate, Science Direct, and Web of Science databases were explored. In total 39 studies evaluating the efficacy of CSWT in patients with stable angina were identified including single arm, non- and randomized trials. Information on study design, subject’s characteristics, clinical data and endpoints were obtained. Assessment of publication risk of bias was performed and heterogeneity across the studies was calculated by using random effects model.

Results

Totally, 1189 patients were included in 39 reviewed studies, with 1006 patients treated with CSWT. The largest patient sample of single arm study consisted of 111 patients. All selected studies demonstrated significant improvement in subjective measures of angina symptoms and/or quality of life, in the majority of studies left ventricular function and myocardial perfusion improved. In 12 controlled studies with 483 patients included (183 controls) angina class, Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ) score, nitrates consumption were significantly improved after the treatment.In 593 participants across 22 studies the exercise capacity was significantly improved after CSWT, as compared with the baseline values (in meta-analysis standardized mean difference SMD?=??0.74; 95% CI, ?0.97 to ?0.5; p?<?0.001).

Conclusions

Systematic review of CSWT studies in stable coronary artery disease (CAD) demonstrated consistent improvement of clinical variables. Meta-analysis showed a moderate improvement of exercise capacity.Overall, CSWT is a promising non-invasive option for patients with end-stage CAD, but evidence is limited to small sample single-center studies. Multi-center adequately powered randomised double blind studies are warranted.

     

Improvement of potential therapeutic value of tumor necrosis-alpha (TNF-alpha) by charge modulation in the tip region

Analysis of published data reveals that the introduction of more basic amino acid residues in the flexible N-terminal region of the human tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF) molecule indicates a weak but consistent trend towards increased in vitro cytotoxicity, especially when the effect of N-terminal length is taken into account. In our laboratory, a series of TNF analogues with a charge modification in the tip region of the molecule was prepared, and cytotoxicity measured. Similar trends in cytotoxicity with increasing basicity of the TNF analogue were found in this study for two mouse cell lines, L929 and WEHI-164 clone 13-1, as well as for the human line KYM-1D4. For the series of analogues as a whole, a general increase in in vitro cytotoxicity with increasing pI values was not apparent, but some analogues with charge reversal in the tip region, for example, the LK-805 analogue (E107K), exhibited significantly increased cytotoxicity in comparison to native TNF in a range of cell lines, including L929, KYM-1D4-K, WEHI-164 clone 13-1, HEPA 1-6 and EAhy926 cell lines. Experiments with heparinase-pre-treated cells demonstrated that the increased in vitro cytotoxicity of LK-805 is most probably due to interactions with cell surface heparan sulphates that effectively concentrate it before binding to TNF receptors occurs. Examination of structural models of TNF bound to soluble TNF receptor 1 (TNFR1) indicates that simple mutations in the tip region most probably cannot interact with receptor binding sites, and therefore do not directly modulate cytotoxicity.     

Some trends in the somatic development of children and adolescents under iodine-deficiency: materials from the Saratov region

2,106 girls and 2,169 boys from 7 to 17 were investigated in 2002-2004 in three urban settlements of the Saratov region (Povolzhje area): the town of Khvalynsk, population 15,000, with a low level of industrialization; the city of Balakovo, population 220,000, highly industrialized and with a nuclear power station; and the city of Saratov, population around 1,000,000 a regional capital, and also highly industrialized. The whole area, particularly the location of Khvalynsk, is also characterized by iodine deficiency (iodine concentration is 0.78 mkg/kg v. normal values of 5-7 mkg/kg).The program included about 30 anthropometric measurements, evaluation of developmental stages of secondary sexual characteristics, and information on menarcheal age by the status quo method. Information on parental occupation and education, as well as number of children per family was collected by questionnaire. For the analysis all the data were standardized, and further comparisons were made irrespective of age groups. The significance of differences was assessed by one-way ANOVA. For height, weight and chest circumference there are significant differences among the three populations (p < 0.001), with Khvalynsk children being the smallest in body height and weight. However, in chest circumference they are close to or even bigger (girls) than Balakovo children. The children from Khvalynsk are characterized by the lowest values for subcutaneous fat layer, both on the trunk and extremities. For the age of menarche, Khvalynsk girls have the highest values: 13 years 5 months (13.42). In Balakovo and Saratov, the corresponding figures are identical: 13 years 2 months (13.17). Secular changes in Khvalynsk and Saratov children are discussed as compared to the literature.