Effect of Probiotic Soy Milk on Serum Levels of Adiponectin,Inflammatory Mediators,Lipid Profile,and Fasting Blood Glucose Among Patients with Type II Diabetes Mellitus

Probiotic therapies are going to be an effective alternative therapeutic strategy in the treatment and management of diabetes. The mechanism behind the essential effects of probiotic therapies in diabetic patients was not fully understood. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of probiotic soy milk containing Lactobacillus planetarum A7 on inflammation, lipid profile, fasting blood glucose, and serum adiponectin among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Forty patients with type 2 diabetes, at the age of 35–68 years old, were assigned to two groups in this randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial. The patients in the intervention group consumed 200 ml/day of probiotic soy milk containing L. planetarum A7 and those in control group consumed 200 ml/day of pure soy milk for 8 weeks. Serum TNF-α, C reactive protein, adiponectin, lipid profile, and fasting blood glucose were determined before and after intervention. In intervention group, serum adiponectin in pre- and post-treatment did not show any significant changes (2.52 ± 0.74 vs 2.84 ± 0.61, P = 0.658), as well as changes in serum TNF-α and C reactive protein (172.44 ± 5.7 vs 172.83 ± 7.6, P = 0.278, 4.2 ± 1.4 vs 4.5 ± 1.9, P = 0.765, respectively). Low-density cholesterol and high-density cholesterol changed significantly (P = 0.023, P = 0.017, respectively), but fasting blood glucose did not show any significant changes. The results of this study showed that consumption of probiotic soy milk and soy milk has no effect on serum adiponectin and inflammation, but it can change lipid profile among type 2 diabetic patients.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Lactobacillus plantarum</Emphasis> as a Probiotic Potential from Kouzeh Cheese (Traditional Iranian Cheese) and Its Antimicrobial Activity

The aim of this study is to isolate and identify Lactobacillus plantarum isolates from traditional cheese, Kouzeh, and evaluate their antimicrobial activity against some food pathogens. In total, 56 lactic acid bacteria were isolated by morphological and biochemical methods, 12 of which were identified as Lactobacillus plantarum by biochemical method and 11 were confirmed by molecular method. For analyzing the antimicrobial activity of these isolates properly, diffusion method was performed. The isolates were identified by 318 bp band dedicated for L. plantarum. The isolated L. plantarum represented an inhibitory activity against four of the pathogenic bacteria and showed different inhibition halos against each other. The larger halos were observed against Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis (15 ± 0.3 and 14.8 ± 0.7 mm, respectively). The inhibition halo of Escherichia coli was smaller than that of other pathogen and some L. plantarum did not show any inhibitory activity against E. coli, which were resistant to antimicrobial compounds produced by L. plantarum. The isolated L. plantarum isolates with the antimicrobial activity in this study had strong probiotic properties. These results indicated the nutritional value of Kouzeh cheese and usage of the isolated isolates as probiotic strains.     

Simultaneous Cellulose Degradation and Electricity Production by Enterobacter cloacae in a Microbial Fuel Cell

Electricity can be directly generated by bacteria in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) from many different biodegradable substrates. When cellulose is used as the substrate, electricity generation requires a microbial community with both cellulolytic and exoelectrogenic activities. Cellulose degradation with electricity production by a pure culture has not been previously demonstrated without addition of an exogenous mediator. Using a specially designed U-tube MFC, we enriched a consortium of exoelectrogenic bacteria capable of using cellulose as the sole electron donor. After 19 dilution-to-extinction serial transfers of the consortium, 16S rRNA gene-based community analysis using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and band sequencing revealed that the dominant bacterium was Enterobacter cloacae. An isolate designated E. cloacae FR from the enrichment was found to be 100% identical to E. cloacae ATCC 13047^T based on a partial 16S rRNA sequence. In polarization tests using the U-tube MFC and cellulose as a substrate, strain FR produced 4.9 ± 0.01 mW/m², compared to 5.4 ± 0.3 mW/m² for strain ATCC 13047^T. These results demonstrate for the first time that it is possible to generate electricity from cellulose using a single bacterial strain without exogenous mediators.Exoelectrogenic microorganisms can release electrons to electron acceptors outside the cell, such as iron oxides or carbon anodes in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Members of many genera, including Rhodoferax (6), Shewanella (13, 14), Pseudomonas (29), Aeromonas (28), Geobacter (2), Geopsychrobacter (10), Desulfuromonas (1), Desulfobulbus (9), Clostridium (27), Geothrix (3), Ochrobactrum (40), and Rhodopseudomonas (38), have been shown to produce electricity in an MFC. These bacteria have been grown on simple soluble substrates, such as glucose or acetate, that can be directly taken into the cell and used for energy production.Cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer in the world, and there is great interest in using this material as a substrate in an MFC. However, use of a particulate substrate in an MFC has not been well investigated. Cellulose must first be hydrolyzed to a soluble substrate that can be taken up by the cell. In previous MFC tests this has required the use of enzymes to hydrolyze the cellulose into sugars or the use of cocultures or mixed cultures (32, 33, 35). For example, Ren et al. (32) used a coculture of the cellulose fermentor Clostridium cellulolyticum and the exoelectrogen Geobacter sulfurreducens to generate electricity in an MFC fed with cellulose. Analysis of the anode microbial communities in other studies of cellulose-fed MFCs showed that Clostridium spp. (in a biofilm) and Comamonadaceae (in suspension) were predominant when rumen contents were used as an inoculum (35), while a rice paddy soil inoculum (12) converged to a Rhizobiales-dominated anode community (more than 30% of the population). To date, it has not been demonstrated that a single microbe can both degrade cellulose and generate current.Conventional methods of isolating exoelectrogenic microorganisms are based primarily on identifying microorganisms that can respire using soluble or insoluble metal oxides in agar plates (20-22). However, not all dissimilatory metal oxide-reducing bacteria are capable of producing electricity in an MFC, and not all bacteria that produce current in an MFC can grow using metal oxides (5, 34). Therefore, these methods may miss important electrochemically active strains of microorganisms. A new method to isolate exoelectrogenic microorganisms was recently developed (40); this method is based on dilution to extinction and a specially designed U-tube MFC that enriches exoelectrogenic bacteria on the anode. Using this method, a bacterium that could produce electricity in an MFC but not respire using iron was isolated (40).The main objective of this study was to isolate a bacterium capable of producing current from particulate cellulose. A cellulose-degrading consortium was diluted and serially transferred into U-tube MFCs using cellulose as the sole electron donor. Community analysis demonstrated the predominance of a single bacterium, which was isolated and compared to a culture collection strain for generation of current in an MFC.     

Measurement of opsonophagocytic activity of antibodies specific toNeisseria meningitidis serogroup A capsular polysaccharide-serogroup B outer membrane vesicle conjugate in animal model

Neisseria meningitidis is efficiently phagocytosed by polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNS) following opsonization with opsonic antibodies; opsonophagocytosis is the primary mechanism for clearance of meningococci from the host. Thus, in testing meningococcal vaccines, the level of opsonophagocytic antibodies appears to correlate with vaccine-induced protection. Our previous studies demonstrated that the conjugation ofN. meningitidis serogroup A capsular polysaccharide (CPSA) to serogroup B outer membrane vesicle (OMV) could induce a high level of bactericidal antibody response against serogroup A meningococci in animals. The purpose of this study was to evaluate opsonophagocytic activity of the conjugate of CPSA to OMV (CPSA-OMV). In order to evaluate the potential efficacy of CPSA-OMV a flow cytometric opsonophagocytic assay was used. The conjugate and controls were injected intramuscularly into four groups of rabbits with boosters on days 14, 28 and 42 following primary immunization. The rabbits were bled prior to injection and two weeks after each injection. Opsonophagocytic activity of antibodies in hyperimmune sera through rabbit PMNS were measured with flow cytometer, using dihydrorhodamine-123 as a probe. The results indicated that our conjugate could induce a highly significant level of opsonophagocytic activity against serogroup A meningococci after 56 days compared to the control groups (P<0.05). We conclude that this conjugate represents a vaccine candidate against serogroups A and B meningococci after further investigation.     

Chemiluminescence determination of promazine in human serum and drug formulations using Ru(phen)32+–Ce(IV) system and a chemometrical optimization approach

A new chemiluminescence (CL) method using flow injection has been described for the rapid and sensitive determination of promazine hydrochloride (PMH). The method is based on the CL reaction of PMH with tris(1,10 phenanthroline)ruthenium(II), [Ru(phen)₃²⁺] and Ce(IV) in sulfuric acid medium. Effects of chemical variables were investigated employing central composite design and response surface methodology. Under the optimum conditions, the CL intensity was proportional to the concentration of the drug in solution over the ranges 0.020–0.32 and 0.32–32 µg/mL. The limit of detection (signal‐to‐noise ratio = 3) was 0.012 µg/mL. The method was applied successfully to the determination of PMH in drug formulations and human serum (recovery percentages between 96.7 and 105.0%). The relative standard deviation for 11 replicate determinations of 1.5 µg/mL of PMH was 1.7%. The minimum sampling rate was 100 samples per hour. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Host Niches and Defensive Extended Phenotypes Structure Parasitoid Wasp Communities

Oak galls are spectacular extended phenotypes of gallwasp genes in host oak tissues and have evolved complex morphologies that serve, in part, to exclude parasitoid natural enemies.Parasitoids and their insect herbivore hosts have coevolved to produce diverse communities comprising about a third of all animal species. The factors structuring these communities, however, remain poorly understood. An emerging theme in community ecology is the need to consider the effects of host traits, shaped by both natural selection and phylogenetic history, on associated communities of natural enemies. Here we examine the impact of host traits and phylogenetic relatedness on 48 ecologically closed and species-rich communities of parasitoids attacking gall-inducing wasps on oaks. Gallwasps induce the development of spectacular and structurally complex galls whose species- and generation-specific morphologies are the extended phenotypes of gallwasp genes. All the associated natural enemies attack their concealed hosts through gall tissues, and several structural gall traits have been shown to enhance defence against parasitoid attack. Here we explore the significance of these and other host traits in predicting variation in parasitoid community structure across gallwasp species. In particular, we test the “Enemy Hypothesis,” which predicts that galls with similar morphology will exclude similar sets of parasitoids and therefore have similar parasitoid communities. Having controlled for phylogenetic patterning in host traits and communities, we found significant correlations between parasitoid community structure and several gall structural traits (toughness, hairiness, stickiness), supporting the Enemy Hypothesis. Parasitoid community structure was also consistently predicted by components of the hosts'' spatiotemporal niche, particularly host oak taxonomy and gall location (e.g., leaf versus bud versus seed). The combined explanatory power of structural and spatiotemporal traits on community structure can be high, reaching 62% in one analysis. The observed patterns derive mainly from partial niche specialisation of highly generalist parasitoids with broad host ranges (>20 hosts), rather than strict separation of enemies with narrower host ranges, and so may contribute to maintenance of the richness of generalist parasitoids in gallwasp communities. Though evolutionary escape from parasitoids might most effectively be achieved via changes in host oak taxon, extreme conservatism in this trait for gallwasps suggests that selection is more likely to have acted on gall morphology and location. Any escape from parasitoids associated with evolutionary shifts in these traits has probably only been transient, however, due to subsequent recruitment of parasitoid species already attacking other host galls with similar trait combinations.     

Community impacts of anthropogenic disturbance: natural enemies exploit multiple routes in pursuit of invading herbivore hosts

Background  

Biological invasions provide a window on the process of community assembly. In particular, tracking natural enemy recruitment to invading hosts can reveal the relative roles of co-evolution (including local adaptation) and ecological sorting. We use molecular data to examine colonisation of northern Europe by the parasitoid Megastigmus stigmatizans following invasions of its herbivorous oak gallwasp hosts from the Balkans. Local host adaptation predicts that invading gallwasp populations will have been tracked primarily by sympatric Balkan populations of M. stigmatizans (Host Pursuit Hypothesis). Alternatively, ecological sorting allows parasitoid recruitment from geographically distinct populations with no recent experience of the invading hosts (Host Shift Hypothesis). Finally, we test for long-term persistence of parasitoids introduced via human trade of their hosts' galls (Introduction Hypothesis).     

Proteinase K-resistant material in ARR/VRQ sheep brain affected with classical scrapie is composed mainly of VRQ prion protein

Classical scrapie is a prion disease in sheep and goats. In sheep, susceptibility to disease is genetically influenced by single amino acid substitutions. Genetic breeding programs aimed at enrichment of arginine-171 (171R) prion protein (PrP), the so-called ARR allele, in the sheep population have been demonstrated to be effective in reducing the occurrence of classical scrapie in the field. Understanding the molecular basis for this reduced prevalence would serve the assessment of ARR adaptation. The prion formation mechanism and conversion of PrP from the normal form (PrP(C)) to the scrapie-associated form (PrP(Sc)) could play a key role in this process. Therefore, we investigated whether the ARR allele substantially contributes to scrapie prion formation in naturally infected heterozygous 171Q/R animals. Two methods were applied to brain tissue of 171Q/R heterozygous sheep with natural scrapie to determine the relative amount of the 171R PrP fraction in PrP(res), the proteinase K-resistant PrP(Sc) core. An antibody test differentiating between 171Q and 171R PrP fragments showed that PrP(res) was mostly composed of the 171Q allelotype. Furthermore, using a novel tool for prion research, endoproteinase Lys-C-digested PrP(res) yielded substantial amounts of a nonglycosylated and a monoglycosylated PrP fragment comprising codons 114 to 188. Following two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, only marginal amounts (<9%) of 171R PrP(res) were detected. Enhanced 171R(res) proteolytic susceptibility could be excluded. Thus, these data support a nearly zero contribution of 171R PrP in PrP(res) of 171R/Q field scrapie-infected animals. This is suggestive of a poor adaptation of classical scrapie to this resistance allele under these natural conditions.     

A novel function for proSAAS as an amyloid anti‐aggregant in Alzheimer's disease

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) are characterized by an abnormal aggregation of misfolded beta‐sheet rich proteins such as β‐amyloid (Aβ). Various ubiquitously expressed molecular chaperones control the correct folding of cellular proteins and prevent the accumulation of harmful species. We here describe a novel anti‐aggregant chaperone function for the neuroendocrine protein proSAAS, an abundant secretory polypeptide that is widely expressed within neural and endocrine tissues and which has previously been associated with neurodegenerative disease in various proteomics studies. In the brains of 12‐month‐old APdE9 mice, and in the cortex of a human AD‐affected brain, proSAAS immunoreactivity was highly colocalized with amyloid pathology. Immunoreactive proSAAS co‐immunoprecipitated with Aβ immunoreactivity in lysates from APdE9 mouse brains. In vitro, proSAAS efficiently prevented the fibrillation of Aβ_1–42 at molar ratios of 1 : 10, and this anti‐aggregation effect was dose dependent. Structure‐function studies showed that residues 97–180 were sufficient for the anti‐aggregation function against Aβ. Finally, inclusion of recombinant proSAAS in the medium of Neuro2a cells, as well as lentiviral‐mediated proSAAS over‐expression, blocked the neurocytotoxic effect of Aβ_1–42 in Neuro2a cells. Taken together, our results suggest that proSAAS may play a role in Alzheimer's disease pathology.