Serum netrin and VCAM-1 as biomarker for Egyptian patients with type IΙ diabetes mellitus

ObjectiveThis study aimed to evaluate the serum level of netrin and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-I) in patients with type IΙ diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and evaluate the association of their levels with the development of a diabetic complication.Patients and methodsThis study was carried out on type II diabetic patients with and without complications and healthy individuals served as controls. All subjects were submitted to the estimation of serum lipid profile, serum creatinine, urinary albumin/creatinine ratio (ACR), fasting blood glucose (FBG), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), visceral adiposity index (VAI), atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), lipid accumulation product (LAP) and detection of serum level of netrin1 and VCAM1.ResultsDiabetic patients with complications had significantly higher serum levels of creatinine, ACR, cholesterol, Triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein, netrin1, and VCAM1 than diabetic patients without complications. Likewise, the level of VAI and LAP as markers of excessive body fat were significantly higher in diabetic patients with complications than diabetic patients without complications. The netrin1 and VCAM1 were a significant discriminator of T2DM renal complications with a sensitivity of 96%, 90%, and specificity of 82.7%, 91.3% respectively.ConclusionIt can be concluded that serum netrin1 and VCAM1 correlated significantly with markers of excessive body fat, a renal complication in the patient with type 2 diabetes mellitus.     

The Stability of Recurrent Properties of the Hydrobiological Characteristics of a Lake Ecosystem under Conditions of Changing Anthropogenic Load

Biophysics - An analysis of the long-term dynamics of hydroecological characteristics of the Naroch lake system (Belarus) for the period from 1979 to 2018 is presented. During this period, there...     

An integrative study of a meromictic lake ecosystem in Antarctica

In nature, the complexity and structure of microbial communities varies widely, ranging from a few species to thousands of species, and from highly structured to highly unstructured communities. Here, we describe the identity and functional capacity of microbial populations within distinct layers of a pristine, marine-derived, meromictic (stratified) lake (Ace Lake) in Antarctica. Nine million open reading frames were analyzed, representing microbial samples taken from six depths of the lake size fractionated on sequential 3.0, 0.8 and 0.1 μm filters, and including metaproteome data from matching 0.1 μm filters. We determine how the interactions of members of this highly structured and moderately complex community define the biogeochemical fluxes throughout the entire lake. Our view is that the health of this delicate ecosystem is dictated by the effects of the polar light cycle on the dominant role of green sulfur bacteria in primary production and nutrient cycling, and the influence of viruses/phage and phage resistance on the cooperation between members of the microbial community right throughout the lake. To test our assertions, and develop a framework applicable to other microbially driven ecosystems, we developed a mathematical model that describes how cooperation within a microbial system is impacted by periodic fluctuations in environmental parameters on key populations of microorganisms. Our study reveals a mutualistic structure within the microbial community throughout the lake that has arisen as the result of mechanistic interactions between the physico-chemical parameters and the selection of individual members of the community. By exhaustively describing and modelling interactions in Ace Lake, we have developed an approach that may be applicable to learning how environmental perturbations affect the microbial dynamics in more complex aquatic systems.     

The role of perisynaptic glial sheaths in glutamate spillover and extracellular Ca(2+) depletion

Recent findings suggest that rapid activation of extrasynaptic receptors and transient depletion of extracellular Ca(2+) may represent an important component of glutamatergic synaptic transmission. These phenomena imply a previously unrecognized role for synaptic glial sheaths: to retard extracellular diffusion in the synaptic vicinity. The present study is an attempt to assess the extent and physiological implications of this retardation using a detailed compartmental model of the typical synaptic environment. The model allows reconstruction of a partial (asymmetric) glial sheath covered with transporter molecules, which gives a more realistic representation of the vicinity of central synapses. Simulations show to what extent, in conditions compatible with physiology, the occupancy of synaptic receptors and the depletion of Ca(2+) in the cleft increase with increased glial coverage. The impact of glial sheaths on synaptic transmission is shown to become greater with smaller synapses and with slower kinetics of perisynaptic ion transients. At a calyceal synapse, a profound temporal filtering of fast Ca(2+) influx is found, and similar phenomena are predicted to occur following simultaneous activation of multiple synapses in the neuropil. The results provide a quantitative guidance for interpretation of physiological experiments that address fast transients of neurotransmitters and small ions in the brain tissue.     

Glutamate escape from a tortuous synaptic cleft of the hippocampal mossy fibre synapse

The time course of neurotransmitter in the synaptic cleft contributes substantially to the fast kinetics of synaptic signalling. Hippocampal mossy fibres (MFs), a well-characterised excitatory pathway from dentate granule cells to the hippocampus proper, form large glutamatergic synapses at branched spiny structures in CA3 pyramidal cell dendrites. To what extent transmission at these synapses is affected by retarded glutamate clearance from the large tortuous synaptic cleft is not known. Here, we propose a simple geometrical approximation representing the 'typical' geometry of thorny excrescences that form the tortuous cleft interface at a MF synapse. We then employ Monte Carlo simulations to monitor movements of 3000 individual glutamate molecules released within the cleft. The results predict that, in the absence of neuronal glutamate transporters, it should take approximately 10 ms for 50% and 60-70 ms for 90% of glutamate molecules to escape the MF synapse.     

Avidin related protein 2 shows unique structural and functional features among the avidin protein family

Background  

The chicken avidin gene family consists of avidin and several avidin related genes (AVRs). Of these gene products, avidin is the best characterized and is known for its extremely high affinity for D-biotin, a property that is utilized in numerous modern life science applications. Recently, the AVR genes have been expressed as recombinant proteins, which have shown different biotin-binding properties as compared to avidin.     

The mitogenic effect of insulin isolated from the mammalian brain on Swiss 3T3 cells]

Mitogenic properties of the insulin derived from pig brain were compared with the action of pancreatic (standard) pig insulin and epidermal growth factor (EGF) using the culture of Swiss 3T3 cells. The brain insulin, likely as the pancreatic insulin, induced uptake of 14C-thymidine by resting cells in a dose-dependent manner at concentration of 0.5-2.0 micrograms/ml in culture medium. However, at equal concentrations of these hormones the proliferating effect of the brain insulin appeared to be 2-fold higher than the effect of the pancreatic hormone. At the same time the mitogenic action of both hormones was lower than that of EGF (10 ng/ml). The additive effect of the brain insulin and EGF, administered in combination, was more pronounced than the effect of the pancreatic insulin combined with EGF. The data obtained suggest a possible participation of brain insulin in the process of nerve cell proliferation.     

Estimation of spatio-morphofunctional characteristics of presynaptic terminals in the lateral zone at the base of the dorsal horn

This article further develops a statistical/stereological model for estimating 3-dimensional population characteristics of cell elements based on analysis of random (2-dimensional) cross section of planes. This model was used to conduct morphometric electron microscope research on presynaptic terminals (PT) at lateral sites at the base of the dorsal horn of the cat spinal cord. Estimated distributions of PT volumes were thus found, as well as areas of PT axolemma with "corrugation" size of synaptic zones (AZ), and estimates of mean numbers of AZ on a 3-dimensional PT and statistical parameters of AZ location in relation to the point at which the axon passes into the synaptic bouton.Dnepropetrovsk State University. A. A. Bogomolets Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, Kiev. Translated from Neirofiziologiya, Vol. 22, No. 6, pp. 803–811, November–December, 1990.