The nucleotide sequence of a CpG island demonstrates the presence of the first exon of the gene encoding the human lysosomal membrane protein lamp2 and assigns the gene to Xq24

An EagI-EcoRI clone of human genomic DNA, p2-7, mapped to Xq24 has been sequenced. This analysis has confirmed the presence of a CpG island and has identified the first exon of the human LAMP2 gene, encoding a glycoprotein of the lysosomal membrane. Since the p2-7 clone corresponds to single-copy DNA, we can assign the human LAMP2 gene to Xq24.     

Synthesis,cytotoxic and combined cDDP activity of new stable curcumin derivatives

New curcumin derivatives are synthesized in order to improve chemical properties of curcumin. The aromatic ring glycosylation of curcumin provides more water-soluble compounds with a greater kinetic stability which is a fundamental feature for drug bioavailability. The glycosylation reaction is quite simple, low cost, with high yield and minimum waste. NMR data show that the ability of curcumin to coordinate metal ion, in particular Ga(III), is maintained in the synthesized products. Although the binding of glucose to curcumin reduces the cytotoxicity of the derivatives towards cisplatin (cDDP)-sensitive and -resistant human ovarian carcinoma cell lines, the compounds display a good selectivity since they are much less toxic against non-tumourigenic Vero cells. The combination of cDDP with the most active glycosyl-curcuminoid drug against both cDDP-sensitive and -resistant as well as against Vero cell lines is tested. The results show an improvement of cDDP efficacy with higher selectivity towards cancer cells than non-cancer cells. These studies indicate the need for developing new valid components of drug treatment protocols to cDDP-resistant cells as well.     

CD14 C-159T and early infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa in children with cystic fibrosis

Early acquisition of Pseudomonas aeruginosa is associated with a poorer prognosis in patients with cystic fibrosis. We investigated whether polymorphisms in CD14, the lipopolysaccharide receptor, increase the risk of early infection. Forty-five children with cystic fibrosis were investigated with annual bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and plasma sCD14 levels. Plasma sCD14 levels were significantly lower in children from whom P.aeruginosa was subsequently isolated (492.75 μg/ml vs. 1339.43 μg/ml, p = 0.018). Those with the CD14 -159CC genotype had a significantly increased risk of early infection with P.aeruginosa suggesting that CD14 C-159T plays a role in determining the risk of early infection with P.aeruginosa.     

Fluoride Exposure Aggravates the Testicular Damage and Sperm Quality in Diabetic Mice: Protective Role of Ginseng and Banaba

The current study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary zinc oxide (ZnO) on the antioxidant capacity, small intestine development, and jejunal gene expression in weaned piglets. Ninety-six 21-day-old piglets were randomly assigned to three dietary treatments. Each treatment had eight replicates with four piglets per replicate. The piglets were fed either control diet (control) or control diet supplemented with in-feed antibiotics (300 mg/kg chlortetracycline and 60 mg/kg colistin sulfate) or pharmacological doses of ZnO (3000 mg/kg). The experiment lasted 4 weeks. Blood samples were collected at days 14 and 28, while intestinal samples were harvested at day 28 of the experiment. Dietary high doses of ZnO supplementation significantly increased the body weight (BW) at day 14 and average daily gain (ADG) of days 1 to 14 in weaned piglets, when compared to control group (P < 0.05). The incidence of diarrhea of piglets fed ZnO-supplemented diets, at either days 1 to 14, days 14 to 28, or the overall experimental period, was significantly decreased in comparison with those in other groups (P < 0.05). Supplementation with ZnO increased the villus height of the duodenum and ileum in weaned piglets and decreased the crypt depth of the duodenum, when compared to the other groups (P < 0.05). Dietary ZnO supplementation decreased the malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration at either day 14 or day 28, but increased total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) at day 14, when compared to that in the control (P < 0.05). ZnO supplementation upregulated the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) and occludin in the jejunum mucosa of weaned piglets, compared to those in the control (P < 0.05). The pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-lβ (IL-1β) mRNA expression in the jejunum mucosa was downregulated in the ZnO-supplemented group, compared with the control (P < 0.05). Both in-feed antibiotics and ZnO supplementation decreased the mRNA expression of interferon-γ (IFN-γ), but increased the mRNA expression of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), in the jejunum mucosa of piglets, when compared to those in the control (P < 0.05). In summary, supplemental ZnO was effective on the prevention of post-weaning diarrhea (PWD) in weaned piglets and showed comparative growth-promoting effect on in-feed antibiotics, probably by the mechanism of improvement of the antioxidant capacity, restoration of intestinal barrier function and development, and modulation of immune functions.     

Molecular phylogenetics reveal multiple tertiary vicariance origins of the African rain forest trees

Background  

Tropical rain forests are the most diverse terrestrial ecosystems on the planet. How this diversity evolved remains largely unexplained. In Africa, rain forests are situated in two geographically isolated regions: the West-Central Guineo-Congolian region and the coastal and montane regions of East Africa. These regions have strong floristic affinities with each other, suggesting a former connection via an Eocene pan-African rain forest. High levels of endemism observed in both regions have been hypothesized to be the result of either 1) a single break-up followed by a long isolation or 2) multiple fragmentation and reconnection since the Oligocene. To test these hypotheses the evolutionary history of endemic taxa within a rain forest restricted African lineage of the plant family Annonaceae was studied. Molecular phylogenies and divergence dates were estimated using a Bayesian relaxed uncorrelated molecular clock assumption accounting for both calibration and phylogenetic uncertainties.     

Dermaseptins from Phyllomedusa oreades and Phyllomedusa distincta: Secondary structure, antimicrobial activity, and mammalian cell toxicity

The present study reports the structural characteristics, the biological activities, and preliminary clinical investigations of three synthetic members of the dermaseptin family of antimicrobial peptides. The three peptides showed similar tendencies to form alpha-helical structures in non-polar media. The antimicrobial activity towards bacteria and fungi was determined in the micromolar concentration and the peptides did not influenced peritoneal cells viability. One of the peptides was intravenously administered in mice at concentrations similar to those of antibiotics employed in bacterial/fungal infections and it did not cause any detectable changes in cells and tissues.     

Lectin-binding patterns in the olfactory system of the lizard, Physignathus lesueurii

Lectin binding histochemistry was performed on the olfactory system of Physignathus lesueurii to investigate the distribution and density of defined carbohydrate terminals on the cell-surface glycoproteins of the olfactory and vomeronasal receptor cells and their terminals in the olfactory bulbs. The lectin staining patterns indicate that the vomeronasal and olfactory receptor cells are characterized by glycoconjugates containing alpha-D-galactose and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine terminal residues. The presence of specific glycoproteins, whose terminal sugars are detected by lectin binding, might be related to the chemoreception and transduction of the odorous message into a nervous signal or to the histogenesis and development of the olfactory system. The olfactory and vomeronasal receptor cells are vertebrate neurons that undergo a continual cycle of proliferation not only during development but also in mature animals.     

Impact of biocontrol Pseudomonas fluorescens CHA0 and a genetically modified derivative on the diversity of culturable fungi in the cucumber rhizosphere

Little is known about the effects of Pseudomonas biocontrol inoculants on nontarget rhizosphere fungi. This issue was addressed using the biocontrol agent Pseudomonas fluorescens CHA0-Rif, which produces the antimicrobial polyketides 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol (Phl) and pyoluteorin (Plt) and protects cucumber from several fungal pathogens, including Pythium spp., as well as the genetically modified derivative CHA0-Rif(pME3424). Strain CHA0-Rif(pME3424) overproduces Phl and Plt and displays improved biocontrol efficacy compared with CHA0-Rif. Cucumber was grown repeatedly in the same soil, which was left uninoculated, was inoculated with CHA0-Rif or CHA0-Rif(pME3424), or was treated with the fungicide metalaxyl (Ridomil). Treatments were applied to soil at the start of each 32-day-long cucumber growth cycle, and their effects on the diversity of the rhizosphere populations of culturable fungi were assessed at the end of the first and fifth cycles. Over 11,000 colonies were studied and assigned to 105 fungal species (plus several sterile morphotypes). The most frequently isolated fungal species (mainly belonging to the genera Paecilomyces, Phialocephala, Fusarium, Gliocladium, Penicillium, Mortierella, Verticillium, Trichoderma, Staphylotrichum, Coniothyrium, Cylindrocarpon, Myrothecium, and Monocillium) were common in the four treatments, and no fungal species was totally suppressed or found exclusively following one particular treatment. However, in each of the two growth cycles studied, significant differences were found between treatments (e.g., between the control and the other treatments and/or between the two inoculation treatments) using discriminant analysis. Despite these differences in the composition and/or relative abundance of species in the fungal community, treatments had no effect on species diversity indices, and species abundance distributions fit the truncated lognormal function in most cases. In addition, the impact of treatments at the 32-day mark of either growth cycle was smaller than the effect of growing cucumber repeatedly in the same soil.