Isolation of glucocardiolipins from Geobacillus stearothermophilus NRS 2004/3a

Glucose-substituted cardiolipins account for about 4 mol% of total phospholipid extracted from exponentially grown cells of Geobacillus stearothermophilus NRS 2004/3a. Individual glucocardiolipin species exhibited differences in fatty acid substitution, with iso-C(15:0) and anteiso-C(17:0) prevailing. The compounds were purified to homogeneity by a novel protocol and precharacterized by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry.     

The influence of coumestrol,zearalenone, and genistein administration on insulin receptors and insulin secretion in ovariectomized rats

The influence of phytoestrogens (genistein and coumestrol) and mycoestrogen (zearalenone) on insulin secretion, liver insulin receptors and some aspects of lipid and carbohydrate metabolism were investigated in this study. Ovariectomized rats were injected s.c. with the above mentioned compounds in the amount of 1 mg for three days. Coumestrol and zearalenone caused a significant increase in uterus weight, similar to the effects observed after estrone action, while this effect was not observed after the genistein injection. Blood insulin level was not changed after phyto- or mycoestrogen treatment. However, coumestrol and genistein significantly decreased the binding capacity of liver insulin receptors. These changes corresponded with alterations in glucose and free fatty acids profiles in blood, as well as with glycogen content in liver. The effects observed after genistein and coumestrol injections differed from those noticed in rats treated with zearalenone or estrone. On the basis of these results we conclude that metabolic effects of high doses of coumestrol and genistein in ovariectomized rats are partly mediated by changes in insulin sensitivity of the liver and that the action of plant estrogens on metabolism is, at least to the some degree, independent of their estrogen activity.     

Double tooth

The form of primary and permanent teeth can differ morphologically from that which is considered normal, completely or in some parts. The changes in tooth form can be hereditary or caused by some disease or trauma. Fusion is a union of one or more teeth during development. Gemination means that two separate morphological units were created by division of the tooth germ. The intention of this study was to state the prevalence of double teeth (fusion and gemination) among the persons tested, as to gender, distribution in the maxilla or mandible, and whether the anomaly occurred bilaterally or unilaterally. The results of this investigation have shown that in a total of examined 3,517 plaster models, a prevalence of double teeth was 0.2%. 57.2% of them were fusioned and 42.9% geminated.     

A Bayesian framework for combining gene predictions

MOTIVATION: Gene identification and gene discovery in new genomic sequences is one of the most timely computational questions addressed by bioinformatics scientists. This computational research has resulted in several systems that have been used successfully in many whole-genome analysis projects. As the number of such systems grows the need for a rigorous way to combine the predictions becomes more essential. RESULTS: In this paper we provide a Bayesian network framework for combining gene predictions from multiple systems. The framework allows us to treat the problem as combining the advice of multiple experts. Previous work in the area used relatively simple ideas such as majority voting. We introduce, for the first time, the use of hidden input/output Markov models for combining gene predictions. We apply the framework to the analysis of the Adh region in Drosophila that has been carefully studied in the context of gene finding and used as a basis for the GASP competition. The main challenge in combination of gene prediction programs is the fact that the systems are relying on similar features such as cod on usage and as a result the predictions are often correlated. We show that our approach is promising to improve the prediction accuracy and provides a systematic and flexible framework for incorporating multiple sources of evidence into gene prediction systems.     

Selenium status of patients with Balkan endemic nephropathy

The selenium (Se) contents in common cereals in endemic and nonendemic areas in Serbia are very low. Plasma Se levels of both patients and healthy subjects, were also low, reflecting low Se intakes. Patients with Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) had significantly lower (p<0.05) plasma Se levels than healthy individuals, both from regions close to endemic areas, and from Belgrade. Mean plasma Se of BEN patients was slightly but insignificantly higher in samples taken immediately after dialysis than in those taken before, suggesting that very little of the Se present in plasma is dialyzable. Plasma SeGSH-Px activities before and after hemodialysis in both BEN and Nonendemic chronic renal failure (NCRF) patients were not significantly different, but BEN patients had lower enzyme activities than those with NCRF and healthy controls. In BEN patients, a significant correlation between plasma Se and SeGSH-Px activity was found. NCFR patients were with diagnoses: TBC of kidneys, chronic glomerulonephritis, chronic pyelonephritis, and polycystic kidneys.     

Square-cut: a segmentation algorithm on the basis of a rectangle shape

We present a rectangle-based segmentation algorithm that sets up a graph and performs a graph cut to separate an object from the background. However, graph-based algorithms distribute the graph's nodes uniformly and equidistantly on the image. Then, a smoothness term is added to force the cut to prefer a particular shape. This strategy does not allow the cut to prefer a certain structure, especially when areas of the object are indistinguishable from the background. We solve this problem by referring to a rectangle shape of the object when sampling the graph nodes, i.e., the nodes are distributed non-uniformly and non-equidistantly on the image. This strategy can be useful, when areas of the object are indistinguishable from the background. For evaluation, we focus on vertebrae images from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) datasets to support the time consuming manual slice-by-slice segmentation performed by physicians. The ground truth of the vertebrae boundaries were manually extracted by two clinical experts (neurological surgeons) with several years of experience in spine surgery and afterwards compared with the automatic segmentation results of the proposed scheme yielding an average Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC) of 90.97±2.2%.     

Immunocytochemical study of the glucocorticoid receptor in rat liver nuclei after hyperthermic stress

The presence of glucocorticoid receptors (GR) in rat liver nuclei over a 24 h time period following hyperthermic stress at 41 degrees C was immunocytologically studied using unfixed nuclear smears. Liver nuclei in unstressed animals were found to be immunonegative for GR. However, intense GR immunopositivity followed by a subsequent gradual decrease in receptor levels was observed in the nuclei of test animals during the first 2 h after stress. This stress-related increase in the receptor nuclear level was greater than the increase seen after dexamethasone administration. These results suggest that hyperthermic stress could potentiate the hormonal stimulation of receptor nuclear translocation.     

Methanol Extracts of 28 Hieracium Species from the Balkan Peninsula – Comparative LC–MS Analysis,Chemosystematic Evaluation of their Flavonoid and Phenolic Acid Profiles and Antioxidant Potentials

Introduction

Hieracium s. str. represents one of the largest and most complex genera of flowering plants. As molecular genetics seems unlikely to disentangle intricate relationships within this reticulate species complex, analysis of flavonoids and phenolic acids, known as good chemosystematic markers, promise to be more reliable. Data about pharmacological activity of Hieracium species are scarce.

Objective

Evaluation of the chemosystematic significance of flavonoids and phenolic acids of methanol extracts of aerial flowering parts of 28 Hieracium species from the Balkans. Additionally, investigation of antioxidant potentials of the extracts.

Methods

Comparative qualitative and quantitative analysis of flavonoids and phenolic acids was performed by LC–MS. Multivariate statistical data analysis included non‐metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS), unweighted pair‐group arithmetic averages (UPGMA) and principal component analysis (PCA). Antioxidant activity was evaluated using three colorimetric tests.

Results

Dominant phenolics in almost all species were luteolin type flavonoids, followed by phenolic acids. Although the investigated Hieracium species share many compounds, the current classification of the genus was supported by nMDS and UPGMA analyses with a good resolution to the group level. Hieracium naegelianum was clearly separated from the other investigated species. Spatial and ecological distances of the samples were likely to influence unexpected differentiation of some groups within H. sect. Pannosa. The vast majority of dominant compounds significantly contributed to differences between taxa. The antioxidant potential of the extracts was satisfactory and in accordance with their phenolics composition.

Conclusions

Comparative LC–MS analysis demonstrated that flavonoids and phenolic acids are good indicators of chemosystematic relationships within Hieracium, particularly between non‐hybrid species and groups from the same location. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.