The subterranean genus Niphargus (Crustacea, Amphipoda) in the Middle East: A faunistic overview with descriptions of two new species

The Middle East is at the southeastern borderline of the range of the subterranean amphipod Niphargus. The review of new and published data identified two new species and set the guidelines for the future research in the area. The genus in this part of the world seems to be insufficiently studied. The taxonomic status of Niphargus valachicus, population identified as N. spoeckeri and some populations, identified as N. nadarini, need to be reviewed. According to present data, we expect the highest diversity in Western Turkey. The eventual new records of the genus in the Middle East can be expected from those areas where even the longest periods of drought in the recent geological history did not affect the water supply.     

Verbascum eskisehirensis sp. nov. (Scrophulariaceae) from central Anatolia, Turkey

Verbascum eskisehirensis Karavel., Ocak & Ekici sp. nov. (sect. Bothrosperma Murb.) is described and illustrated from Turkey. This new species is confined to B3 Eskisehir in central Anatolia. A morphological comparison is made with the closely related species; V. oreophilum K. Koch and V. pyramidatum M. Bieb. In addition, a cluster analysis was conducted and a distribution map of the new species and the related species is also given.     

Microbial inactivation and shelf life of apple juice treated with high pressure carbon dioxide

Apple juice prepared from 'Annurca' apple puree was treated with a HPCD batch system. The pH, °Brix, color parameters and microbial load of the treated apple juice were compared with those of thermally processed juice. Thermal processes were carried out at 35, 50, 65, 85°C and treatment times ranging between 10 and 140 minutes. Microbial inactivation kinetics indicated that 5-log reduction of natural flora in apple juice was achieved at 85°C and 60 minutes of treatment time for conventional thermal process and at 16.0 MPa, 60°C and 40 minutes for HPCD process. Results suggested that temperature played a fundamental role on HPCD treatment efficiency, with inactivation significantly enhanced when it increased from 35 to 60°C. Less significant was the role of the pressure at the tested levels of 7.0, 13.0 and 16.0 MPa. Also, 5-log reduction of natural flora in apple juice was obtained at lower temperatures by cyclic treatments of six compression and decompression steps. There were no significant differences between treated and untreated samples in °Brix (α = 0.05). Significant differences were detected in pH values between the untreated and HPCD treated samples (α = 0.05). There was a significant decrease in 'L*' and 'b*' values and also differences were detected in 'a*' values between the untreated and the HPCD treated samples (α = 0.05). Statistical analysis for °Brix, pH and color data showed no differences between the untreated and HPCD treated samples in the first 2 weeks of storage at 4°C. These results emphasize the potential use of HPCD in industrial applications.     

Intracardiac injection of erythropoietin induces stem cell recruitment and improves cardiac functions in a rat myocardial infarction model

Erythropoietin (EPO) protects the myocardium from ischaemic injury and promotes beneficial remodelling. We assessed the therapeutic efficacy of intracardiac EPO injection and EPO-mediated stem cell homing in a rat myocardial infarction (MI) model. Following MI, EPO (3000 U/kg) or saline was delivered by intracardiac injection. Compared to myocardial infarction control group (MIC), EPO significantly improved left ventricular function ( n = 11–14, P < 0.05) and decreased right ventricular wall stress ( n = 8, P < 0.05) assessed by pressure-volume loops after 6 weeks. MI-EPO hearts exhibited smaller infarction size (20.1 ± 1.1% versus 27.8 ± 1.2%; n = 6–8, P < 0.001) and greater capillary density (338.5 ± 14.7 versus 259.8 ± 9.2 vessels per mm; n = 6–8, P < 0.001) than MIC hearts. Direct EPO injection reduced post-MI myocardial apoptosis by approximately 41% (0.27 ± 0.03% versus 0.42 ± 0.03%; n = 6, P = 0.005). The chemoattractant SDF-1 was up-regulated significantly assessed by quantitative realtime PCR and immunohistology. c-Kit⁺ and CD34⁺ stem cells were significantly more numerous in MI-EPO than in MIC at 24 hrs in peripheral blood ( n = 7, P < 0.05) and 48 hrs in the infarcted hearts ( n = 6, P < 0.001). Further, the mRNAs of Akt, eNOS and EPO receptor were significantly enhanced in MI-EPO hearts ( n = 7, P < 0.05). Intracardiac EPO injection restores myocardial functions following MI, which may attribute to the improved early recruitment of c-Kit⁺ and CD34⁺ stem cells via the enhanced expression of chemoattractant SDF-1.     

Survey of moss-dwelling bdelloid rotifers from middle Arctic Spitsbergen (Svalbard)

A survey of bdelloid rotifers from moss and lichen samples collected in the middle Arctic tundra subzone of Spitsbergen (Svalbard) revealed an unexpected high species richness of 52 taxa, of which 18 fully identified species are new for the region. About one-fifth of the European bdelloid species are present. Moisture regime and geographic localization of the moss appeared the most important ecological features driving differences in species composition between samples.     

Assessment of microsatellite instability in head and neck cancer using consensus markers

Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common cancer in the world and one of the most lethal cancers. Microsatellite instability is an important characteristic of tumor cells and is observed both in presence and absence of mismatch repair gene mutations. The importance of microsatellite instability in head and neck cancer is not well established due to the lack of a consensus panel and selection of different markers, criteria and methodological variances. The main objective of this study was to investigate the performance of a consensus panel of microsatellite repeats by automated fragment analysis. Matched tumor and normal tissue samples from 99 patients were analyzed using five mononucleotide markers. Following PCR the amplified fragments were analyzed by capillary electrophoresis on an ABI 310 genetic analyzer. Microsatellite instability was observed in 26 patients. In 17 patients instability was detected at multiple loci. NR21 and BAT25 were the most frequently altered targets. These two mononucleotide markers could detect all samples displaying high-instability. In this study we describe a standardized fluorescent multiplex PCR combined with computerized analysis, which allows rapid and accurate analysis of a high number of samples and obviates the need to compare tumors with matching normal tissue.     

Synthetic riboswitches that induce gene expression in diverse bacterial species

We developed a series of ligand-inducible riboswitches that control gene expression in diverse species of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, including human pathogens that have few or no previously reported inducible expression systems. We anticipate that these riboswitches will be useful tools for genetic studies in a wide range of bacteria.     

Expression of Human A4V Mutant Cu,Zn Superoxide Dismutase in Schizosaccharomyces pombe: Investigations of its Toxic Properties

Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) is an antioxidant enzyme that catalyzes the removal of superoxide radicals generated in various biological oxidations. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders, occurring in families (FALS) and sporadically (SALS). FALS and SALS are distinguishable genetically but not clinically. More than 100 point mutations in the human SOD 1 gene have been identified that cause FALS. In order to determine the effects of mutant SOD protein, we first cloned wild-type and A4V mutant human SOD1 into Schizosaccharomyces pombe. This study shows viabilities and some antioxidant properties including SOD, catalase, proteasomal activity, and protein carbonyl levels of transformants in SOD1 deleted strain (MN415); and its parental strain (JY741) at different stress conditions. There was no more oxidative damage in the human mutant SOD carrying the transformant strain compared with other strains. These results may help to explain whether ALS progresses as a consequence of cellular oxidative damage.     

How sequence determines elasticity of disordered proteins

How nature tunes sequences of disordered protein to yield the desired coiling properties is not yet well understood. To shed light on the relationship between protein sequence and elasticity, we here investigate four different natural disordered proteins with elastomeric function, namely: FG repeats in the nucleoporins; resilin in the wing tendon of dragonfly; PPAK in the muscle protein titin; and spider silk. We obtain force-extension curves for these proteins from extensive explicit solvent molecular dynamics simulations, which we compare to purely entropic coiling by modeling the four proteins as entropic chains. Although proline and glycine content are in general indicators for the entropic elasticity as expected, divergence from simple additivity is observed. Namely, coiling propensities correlate with polyproline II content more strongly than with proline content, and given a preponderance of glycines for sufficient backbone flexibility, nonlocal interactions such as electrostatic forces can result in strongly enhanced coiling, which results for the case of resilin in a distinct hump in the force-extension curve. Our results, which are directly testable by force spectroscopy experiments, shed light on how evolution has designed unfolded elastomeric proteins for different functions.     

Cytotoxicity and apoptotic effects of nickel oxide nanoparticles in cultured HeLa cells

The aim of this study was to observe the cytotoxicity and apoptotic effects of nickel oxide nanoparticles on human cervix epithelioid carcinoma cell line (HeLa). Nickel oxide precursors were synthesized by an nickel sulphate-excess urea reaction in boiling aqueous solution. The synthesized NiO nanoparticles (<200 nm) were investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis and transmission electron microscopy techniques. For cytotoxicity experiments, HeLa cells were incubated in 50-500 μg/mL NiO for 2, 6, 12 and 16 hours. The viable cells were counted with a haemacytometer using light microscopy. The cytotoxicity was observed low in 50-200 μg/mL concentration for 16 h, but high in 400-500 μg/mL concentration for 2-6 h. HeLa cells' cytoplasm membrane was lysed and detached from the well surface in 400 μg/mL concentration NiO nanoparticles. Double staining and M30 immunostaining were performed to quantify the number of apoptotic cells in culture on the basis of apoptotic cell nuclei scores. The apoptotic effect was observed 20% for 16 h incubation.