The encounter of distinct Morimus asper (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) phylogeographic lineages on the Balkan Peninsula: conservation implications

Journal of Insect Conservation - The first step in monitoring and management of any taxa includes resolving taxonomic ambiguities which complicate the identification of its management units. One of...     

Improved Framework for Tractography Reconstruction of the Optic Radiation

The optic radiation (OR) is one of the major components of the visual system and a key structure at risk in white matter diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). However, it is challenging to perform track reconstruction of the OR using diffusion MRI due to a sharp change of direction in the Meyer’s loop and the presence of kissing and crossing fibers along the pathway. As such, we aimed to provide a highly precise and reproducible framework for tracking the OR from thalamic and visual cortex masks. The framework combined the generation of probabilistic streamlines by high order fiber orientation distributions estimated with constrained spherical deconvolution and an automatic post-processing based on anatomical exclusion criteria (AEC) to compensate for the presence of anatomically implausible streamlines. Specifically, those ending in the contralateral hemisphere, cerebrospinal fluid or grey matter outside the visual cortex were automatically excluded. We applied the framework to two distinct high angular resolution diffusion-weighted imaging (HARDI) acquisition protocols on one cohort, comprised of ten healthy volunteers and five MS patients. The OR was successfully delineated in both HARDI acquisitions in the healthy volunteers and MS patients. Quantitative evaluation of the OR position was done by comparing the results with histological reference data. Compared with histological mask, the OR reconstruction into a template (OR-TCT) was highly precise (percentage of voxels within the OR-TCT correctly defined as OR), ranging from 0.71 to 0.83. The sensitivity (percentage of voxels in histological reference mask correctly defined as OR in OR-TCT) ranged from 0.65 to 0.81 and the accuracy (measured by F1 score) was 0.73 to 0.77 in healthy volunteers. When AEC was not applied the precision and accuracy decreased. The absolute agreement between both HARDI datasets measured by the intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.73. This improved framework allowed us to reconstruct the OR with high reliability and accuracy independently of the acquisition parameters. Moreover, the reconstruction was possible even in the presence of tissue damage due to MS. This framework could also be applied to other tracts with complex configuration.     

Parasitofauna of freshwater fishes in the Serbian open waters: a checklist of parasites of freshwater fishes in Serbian open waters

As a result of freshwater fish parasitofauna investigations, throughout the past 75 years, the number of parasitic species is presented. This paper reviews the history, current state, and tendencies of the fish parasitofauna studies in Serbian open waters. Up to now, in total 170 parasitic species have been reported. Systematic parasitofauna investigations have been carried out on 54 freshwater fish species in waters of the Danube River Basin in Serbia, also in hill-mountanious watercourses, lakes and salmonid fishpond of Sjenicko-Pesterska plateau (south-west region of Serbia), Homolje area (east Serbia), and in Vlasina lake (south-east Serbia). This data review pointed that it is necessary to continue the investigation on fish parasites in Serbia. The data on freshwater fish parasites are important for evaluation of general influence on the community structure.     

Functional studies of aegerolysin and MACPF‐like proteins in Aspergillus niger

Proteins of the aegerolysin family have a high abundance in Fungi. Due to their specific binding to membrane lipids, and their membrane‐permeabilization potential in concert with protein partner(s) belonging to a membrane‐attack‐complex/perforin (MACPF) superfamily, they were proposed as useful tools in different biotechnological and biomedical applications. In this work, we performed functional studies on expression of the genes encoding aegerolysin and MACPF‐like proteins in Aspergillus niger. Our results suggest the sporulation process being crucial for strong induction of the expression of all these genes. However, deletion of either of the aegerolysin genes did not influence the growth, development, sporulation efficiency and phenotype of the mutants, indicating that aegerolysins are not key factors in the sporulation process. In all our expression studies we noticed a strong correlation in the expression of one aegerolysin and MACPF‐like gene. Aegerolysins were confirmed to be secreted from the fungus. We also showed the specific interaction of a recombinant A. niger aegerolysin with an invertebrate‐specific membrane sphingolipid. Moreover, using this protein labelled with mCherry we successfully stained insect cells membranes containing this particular sphingolipid. Our combined results suggest, that aegerolysins in this species, and probably also in other aspergilli, could be involved in defence against predators.     

Two types of aspartic proteinases from buckwheat seed--gene structure and expression analysis

Two types of aspartic proteinase (AP) genes have been isolated from the cDNA library of developing buckwheat seeds. Analysis of their sequences showed that one of these, FeAP9, resembled the structure and shared high homology with the so-called typical plant APs characterized by the presence of a plant-specific insert (PSI), an element unique among APs. The other cDNA, FeAPL1, encoded an AP-like protein lacking that domain. Different expression profiles were observed for FeAP9 and FeAPL1. FeAPL1 mRNAs were restricted to the seeds only, whereas FeAP9 mRNAs were also present in the other plant tissues - leaves, roots, and flowers. Higher levels of FeAP9 were observed in senescent leaves compared with green leaves. The differential expression pattern of these two unique APs raises the interesting possibility that these proteinases have unique substrate specificity and may have different roles in plant development and other physiological processes.     

The antimetastatic effect of macrophages restored by indomethacin: concomitant tumor immunity model

The role of macrophages acting as immunologic antitumor effectors and promoters of tumor growth are poorly understood as yet. We investigated the role of macrophage in model of concomitant immunity (CI), a phenomenon of secondary tumor rejection during the primary tumor growth. It has been shown that the period of CI weakening can coincide with appearance of tumor metastases. We used mammary carcinoma (MC) artificial lung metastases to evaluate the influence of macrophages from various period of CI on the development of metastases in mice. Our results indicated that macrophages are responsible for the late period of CI weakening and suppression. To investigate weather prostaglandins can mediate suppressive effect of macrophages we used experiments with indomethacin and we found that inhibition of prostaglandin E2 synthesis by indomethacin restored antimetastatic effect of concomitant immune macrophages.     

The influence on coagulation of transdermal estrogen hormone replacement therapy as a preoperative preparation of the tissue before vaginal hysterectomy

In 32 postmenopausal patients who underwent vaginal hysterectomy due to the presence of uterine prolapse at the Department of Uro-gynaecology and Pelvic Floor Disorders in the Clinic of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Medical School, Skopje in the period from 1st January 2002 to 1st January 2003, and who were preoperatively treated with transdermal estradiol 50 microg/day during 14 days the following parameters of the coagulating status were estimated: prothrombin time (PT) that is expressed in: absolute value, percentage and INR; activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT Pathrombin SL); thrombin time and platelets number before and after hormone replacement therapy. After 14-day transdermal estrogen therapy, the parameters: PT, PT%, PT INR, aPTT Pathrombin SL didn't expressed significant changes, the thrombin time expressed significant extension, and the platelets expressed a significant decrease. According to our results, the transdermal estrogens might not have any influence on the hepatic synthesis of coagulating factors till the step of prothrombin formation. They might have an essential influence on the step of prothrombin transformation into thrombin, as well as on the process of megacaryocytes segregation into platelets.     

Expression analysis of buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) metallothionein-like gene (MT3) under different stress and physiological conditions

The buckwheat metallothionein-like (MT3) gene expression was studied throughout seed and leaf development, as well as under the influence of different external stimuli. MT3 mRNAs were detected from the early stage of seed development to the end of maturation, reaching the highest level during the mid-maturation stage. High MT3 mRNA level was noticed for both green and senescent leaves. The influence of raising Cu ion concentrations on MT3 gene expression was studied only in leaves, while the effect of Zn ions was analyzed through seed development as well. It was found that Cu and Zn ions had stimulatory effects on expression in leaves. MT3 expression was significantly enhanced in the early stage of seed development in response to Zn ions, while after this stage, influence of Zn ions was not detected. After H2O2/NaCl treatment, MT3 mRNA level was decreased in green leaves, contrary to senescent leaves where expression levels remained unchanged. H2O2 treatment caused the increase of MT3 mRNA levels in the mid-maturation stage of seed development. NaCl had no effect on expression levels in seeds. According to obtained results, proposed functions in different plant organs regarding oxidative stress and metal homeostasis are discussed.     

Synthesis and intramolecular transesterifications of pivaloylated methyl alpha-D-galactopyranosides

Selective pivaloylations of methyl alpha-D-galactopyranoside have been studied under various reaction conditions. Partially pivaloylated products were submitted to additional acetylations. The structures were established by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopies. Both, 2,6- and 3,6-dipivalates underwent intramolecular cyclization in neutral conditions (phosphate buffered saline, pH 7.2) to give a stable 2,3-orthoacid with a parallel 6-->4 migration of the pivaloyl group.