A Simple and Rapid Method for the Isolation of Cholesterol from Spinal Cord of Cattle

A method is described for the large scale isolation of cholesterol from cattle spinal cord. Cholesterol is released from the lipo-protein by drying the wet tissues with calcium oxide. This treatment appears to prevent the extraction of polar lipids with acetone, which reduces the lipophilic properties of the solution and thus provides a method for almost exclusive extraction of cholesterol. The further role of calcium oxide is also discussed. The method evolved is simple, rapid and eliminates several previously required steps.     

Induction of Tyrosine Hydroxylase Gene Expression in Embryonal Carcinoma Stem Cells Using a Natural Tissue‐Specific Inducer

A large number of studies have focused on the generation of dopaminergic neurons from pluripotent cells. Differentiation of stem cells into distinct cell types is influenced by tissue‐specific microenvironment. Since, central nervous system undergoes further development during postnatal life, in the present study neonatal rat brain tissue extract (NRBE) was applied to direct the differentiation of embryonal carcinoma stem cell line, P19 into dopaminergic (DA) phenotypes. Additionally, a neuroprotective drug, deprenyl was used alone or in combination with the extract. Results from morphological, immunofluorescence, and qPCR analyses showed that during a period of one to three weeks, a large percentage of stem cells were differentiated into neural cells. The results also indicated the greater effect of NRBE on the differentiation of the cells into tyrosine hydroxylase‐expressing cells. MS analysis of NRBE showed the enrichment of gene ontology terms related to cell differentiation and neurogenesis. Network analysis of the studied genes and some DA markers resulted in the suggestion of potential regulatory candidates such as AVP, ACHE, LHFPL5, and DLK1 genes. In conclusion, NRBE as a natural native inducer was apparently able to simulate the brain microenvironment and support neural differentiation of P19 cells.     

Labeling of nucleosides with fluorescamine and detection by spectrofluorometer for End Stage Renal Disease

Nucleosides are characterized as biomarkers in AIDS, Alzheimer, tumor, breast cancer and various malignant diseases. In the present work a direct method for the detection of nucleosides (adenosine, cytidine, uridine and guanosine) from urine samples has been developed. Nucleosides represent the extent of damage in genetic material, analysis of nucleosides by ultrasonic assisted microextraction effectively eliminates the interfering constituent of urine. This has made it a highly selective and sensitive method to analyze the nucleosides with a lower limit of detection 0.220 μmol/L and Limit of quantitation 0.660 μmol/L. The method has been validated with good linearity and correlation of coefficients of the calibration curves was higher than 0.997. The coefficients were in the range of 0.11–16.92% (inter-day) and 0.38–16.43% (intra-day), respectively.     

Fly-attracting volatiles produced by Rhodococcus fascians and Mycobacterium aurum isolated from myiatic lesions of sheep.

Bacterial strains isolated from the healthy breech mucosa and myiatic wounds of ewes were tested for their volatile production as fly attractants towards Wohlfahrtia magnifica (Diptera: Sarcophagidae). Cultures were studied as fly baits in field experiments, and strains performing with the best chemotropic effect were selected for further analysis. Static and dynamic headspace samples from shaken cultures were examined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Strains identified as Rhodococcus fascians and Mycobacterium aurum produced various volatile sulfur compounds and benzene, and proved to be the best fly attractants.     

Differences in structural elements of Bcr-Abl oncoprotein isoforms in Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

in silico modeling, using Psipred and ExPASy servers was employed to determine the structural elements of Bcr-Abl oncoprotein (p210^BCR-ABL) isoforms, b2a2 and b3a2, expressed in Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML). Both these proteins are tyrosine kinases having masses of 210-kDa and differing only by 25 amino acids coded by the b3 exonand an amino acidsubstitution (Glu903Asp). The secondary structure elements of the two proteins show differences in five α-helices and nine β-strands which relates to differences in the SH₃, SH₂, SH1 and DNA-binding domains. These differences can result in different roles played by the two isoforms in mediating signal transduction during the course of CML.     

Probiotics,prebiotics, and COVID-19 infection: A review article

The beneficial live microbes of humans and animals are termed probiotics, and the chemical compounds that improve the growth of probiotics are known as prebiotics. Paraprobiotics and postbiotics refer to dead or inactivated living cells of probiotics and healthful metabolic products that are produced by the living cells of probiotics, respectively. Although the healthful, functional, nutritional, and immune benefits of probiotics and prebiotics are scientifically well established beyond a reasonable doubt, their potential biological roles against COVID-19 infection still warrant further clinical and laboratory investigation.