THE EFFECTS OF INJURY PREVENTION WARM-UP PROGRAMMES ON KNEE STRENGTH IN MALE SOCCER PLAYERS

The study investigates the effects of the 11+ and HarmoKnee injury prevention programmes on knee strength in male soccer players. Under-21-year-old players (n=36) were divided equally into: the 11+, HarmoKnee and control groups. The programmes were performed for 24 sessions (20-25 min each). The hamstrings and quadriceps strength were measured bilaterally at 60°·s^-1, 180°·s^-1 and 300°·s^-1. The concentric quadriceps peak torque (PT) of the 11+ increased by 27.7% at 300°·s^-1 in the dominant leg (p<0.05). The concentric quadriceps PT of HarmoKnee increased by 36.6%, 36.2% and 28% in the dominant leg, and by 31.3%, 31.7% and 20.05% at 60°·s^-1, 180°·s^-1 and 300°·s^-1 in the non-dominant leg respectively. In the 11+ group the concentric hamstring PT increased by 22%, 21.4% and 22.1% at 60°·s^-1, 180°·s^-1 and 300°·s^-1, respectively in the dominant leg, and by 22.3%, and 15.7% at 60°·s^-1 and 180°·s^-1, in the non-dominant leg. In the HarmoKnee group the hamstrings in the dominant leg showed an increase in PT by 32.5%, 31.3% and 14.3% at 60°·s^-1, 180°·s^-1 and 300°·s^-1, and in the non-dominant leg hamstrings PT increased by 21.1% and 19.3% at 60°·s^-1 and 180°·s^-1 respectively. The concentric hamstrings strength was significantly different between the 11+ and control groups in the dominant (p=0.01) and non-dominant legs (p=0.02). The HarmoKnee programme enhanced the concentric strength of quadriceps. The 11+ and HarmoKnee programmes are useful warm-up protocols for improving concentric hamstring strength in young professional male soccer players. The 11+ programme is more advantageous for its greater concentric hamstring strength improvement compared to the HarmoKnee programme.     

Speciation of inorganic arsenic and selenium in leachates from landfills in relation to water quality assessment

Speciation of arsenic and selenium was carried out on water samples taken from rivers used as water intake points in the vicinity of landfill areas used for land-based waste disposal system. Leachates from these landfill areas may contaminate the river water through underground seepage or overflowing, especially after a heavy downpour. Preconcentration of the chemical species was done using a mixture of ammonium pyrrolidinethiocarbamate-chloroform (APDTC-CHCl₃). Because only the reduced forms of both arsenic and selenium species could be extracted by the preconcentrating mixture, suitable reducing agents such as 25% sodium thiosulfate for As(III) and 6M HCl for Se(IV) were used throughout the studies. Care was taken to exclude the interfering elements such as the alkali and alkali earth metals from the inorganic arsenic and selenium species by introducing 12% EDTA solution as the masking agent. The extracted mixture was irradiated in a thermal neutron flux of 4 × 10¹²/cm/s from a TRIGA Mk.II reactor at the Malaysia Institute of Nuclear Technology Research (MINT). Gamma rays of 559 keV and 297 keV from⁷⁶As and⁷⁵Se, respectively, were used in the quantitative determination of the inorganic species. Mixed standards of As(III) and Se(IV) used in the percentage efficiency procedure were prepared from salts of Analar grade. The water quality evaluation was viewed from the ratio of the inorganic species present.     

Identification of Cryptosporidium from Dairy Cattle in Pahang,Malaysia

Cryptosporidium, a protozoan parasite, can cause cryptosporidiosis which is a gastrointestinal disease that can infect humans and livestock. Cattle are the most common livestock that can be infected with this protozoan. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of Cryptosporidium infection in cattle in Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia and to find out the association between the occurrence of infection and 3 different ages of cattle (calves less than 1 year, yearling, and adult cattle). The samples were processed by using formol-ether concentration technique and stained by modified Ziehl Neelsen. The results showed that 15.9% (24/151) of cattle were positive for Cryptosporidium oocysts. The occurrence of Cryptosporidium in calves less than 1 year was the highest with the percentage of 20.0% (11/55) followed by yearling and adult cattle, with the percentage occurrence of 15.6 % (7/45) and 11.8% (6/51), respectively. There was no significant association between the occurrence and age of cattle and presence of diarrhea. Good management practices and proper hygiene management must be taken in order to reduce the infection. It is highly important to control the infection since infected cattle may serve as potential reservoirs of the infection to other animals and humans, especially animal handlers.     

AFN-1252 is a potent inhibitor of enoyl-ACP reductase from Burkholderia pseudomallei—Crystal structure,mode of action,and biological activity

Melioidosis is a tropical bacterial infection caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei (B. pseudomallei; Bpm), a Gram-negative bacterium. Current therapeutic options are largely limited to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and β-lactam drugs, and the treatment duration is about 4 months. Moreover, resistance has been reported to these drugs. Hence, there is a pressing need to develop new antibiotics for Melioidosis. Inhibition of enoyl-ACP reducatase (FabI), a key enzyme in the fatty acid biosynthesis pathway has shown significant promise for antibacterial drug development. FabI has been identified as the major enoyl-ACP reductase present in B. pseudomallei. In this study, we evaluated AFN-1252, a Staphylococcus aureus FabI inhibitor currently in clinical development, for its potential to bind to BpmFabI enzyme and inhibit B. pseudomallei bacterial growth. AFN-1252 stabilized BpmFabI and inhibited the enzyme activity with an IC₅₀ of 9.6 nM. It showed good antibacterial activity against B. pseudomallei R15 strain, isolated from a melioidosis patient (MIC of 2.35 mg/L). X-ray structure of BpmFabI with AFN-1252 was determined at a resolution of 2.3 Å. Complex of BpmFabI with AFN-1252 formed a symmetrical tetrameric structure with one molecule of AFN-1252 bound to each monomeric subunit. The kinetic and thermal melting studies supported the finding that AFN-1252 can bind to BpmFabI independent of cofactor. The structural and mechanistic insights from these studies might help the rational design and development of new FabI inhibitors.     

Immunohistochemical expression of pi class glutathione S-transferase and alpha-fetoprotein in hepatocellular carcinoma and chronic liver disease

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether tumor marker pi glutathione transferase (GST-pi) is expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and other chronic liver diseases and to compare its expression with that of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). STUDY DESIGN: Samples used were formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded liver tissues: normal (n = 3), chronic hepatitis B (n = 15), cirrhosis (n = 15) and HCC (n = 30). The expression of AFP and GST-pi was detected by using immunohistochemistry with the peroxidase-antiperoxidase method. AFP immunoreactivity was based on the cytoplasm of the hepatocytes, while GST-pi immunoreactivity was based on the nuclei of hepatocytes. RESULTS: In normal liver tissues, AFP was not expressed. However, there was strong staining of GST-pi in bile duct epithelium cells and weak staining in hepatocytes. Our results showed higher AFP immunoreactivity in cases of HCC (36.7%) as compared to cirrhosis (6.7%) and hepatitis B (0%), whereas GST-pi immunoreactivity was lower in cases of HCC (53.3%) as compared to cases of cirrhosis (100.0%) and hepatitis B (93.3%). Percent sensitivity of AFP determination for HCC was 36.7% as compared to 53.3% for GST-pi, thus making GST-pi a more sensitive marker for detection of HCC. This study showed a significant relationship between the intensity and percentage of cells stained in hepatitis B, cirrhosis and HCC for GST-pi immunoreactivity (P < .001, .001 and .05, respectively) but not for AFP (P > .05). Statistical analysis showed that there was no significant relationship between expression of AFP and GST-pi in cirrhosis and HCC cases. Hepatitis B virus infection in HCC cases showed a positive rate of 46.7%, with AFP staining positively in 42.9% of tissues and GST-pi staining positively in 57.1% of tissues. CONCLUSION: AFP is a diagnostic but rather insensitive tissue marker for HCC. However, the absence of AFP in benign chronic liver disease makes this marker useful in differentiating between HCC and other chronic liver diseases, whereas GST-pi can be used as a diagnostic marker for HCC as well as in detecting other chronic liver diseases.     

Investigation and functional characterization of rare genetic variants in the adipose triglyceride lipase in a large healthy working population

Recent studies demonstrated a strong influence of rare genetic variants on several lipid-related traits. However, their impact on free fatty acid (FFA) plasma concentrations, as well as the role of rare variants in a general population, has not yet been thoroughly addressed. The adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) is encoded by the PNPLA2 gene and catalyzes the rate-limiting step of lipolysis. It represents a prominent candidate gene affecting FFA concentrations. We therefore screened the full genomic region of ATGL for mutations in 1,473 randomly selected individuals from the SAPHIR (Salzburg Atherosclerosis Prevention program in subjects at High Individual Risk) Study using a combined Ecotilling and sequencing approach and functionally investigated all detected protein variants by in-vitro studies. We observed 55 novel mostly rare genetic variants in this general population sample. Biochemical evaluation of all non-synonymous variants demonstrated the presence of several mutated but mostly still functional ATGL alleles with largely varying residual lipolytic activity. About one-quarter (3 out of 13) of the investigated variants presented a marked decrease or total loss of catalytic function. Genetic association studies using both continuous and dichotomous approaches showed a shift towards lower plasma FFA concentrations for rare variant carriers and an accumulation of variants in the lower 10%-quantile of the FFA distribution. However, the generally rather small effects suggest either only a secondary role of rare ATGL variants on the FFA levels in the SAPHIR population or a recessive action of ATGL variants. In contrast to these rather small effects, we describe here also the first patient with "neutral lipid storage disease with myopathy" (NLSDM) with a point mutation in the catalytic dyad, but otherwise intact protein.     

Antimicrobial Activity of Novel Synthetic Peptides Derived from Indolicidin and Ranalexin against Streptococcus pneumoniae

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) represent promising alternatives to conventional antibiotics in order to defeat multidrug-resistant bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae. In this study, thirteen antimicrobial peptides were designed based on two natural peptides indolicidin and ranalexin. Our results revealed that four hybrid peptides RN7-IN10, RN7-IN9, RN7-IN8, and RN7-IN6 possess potent antibacterial activity against 30 pneumococcal clinical isolates (MIC 7.81-15.62µg/ml). These four hybrid peptides also showed broad spectrum antibacterial activity (7.81µg/ml) against S. aureus, methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA), and E. coli. Furthermore, the time killing assay results showed that the hybrid peptides were able to eliminate S. pneumoniae within less than one hour which is faster than the standard drugs erythromycin and ceftriaxone. The cytotoxic effects of peptides were tested against human erythrocytes, WRL-68 normal liver cell line, and NL-20 normal lung cell line. The results revealed that none of the thirteen peptides have cytotoxic or hemolytic effects at their MIC values. The in silico molecular docking study was carried out to investigate the binding properties of peptides with three pneumococcal virulent targets by Autodock Vina. RN7IN6 showed a strong affinity to target proteins; autolysin, pneumolysin, and pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA) based on rigid docking studies. Our results suggest that the hybrid peptides could be suitable candidates for antibacterial drug development.     

Isozyme analysis and relationships among three species in Malaysian Trichoderma isolates

Isozyme and protein electrophoresis data from mycelial extracts of 27 isolates of Trichoderma harzianum, 10 isolates of T. aureoviride and 10 isolates of T. longibrachiatum from Southern Peninsular Malaysia were investigated. The eight enzyme and a single protein pattern systems were analyzed. Three isozyme and total protein patterns were shown to be useful for the detection of three Trichoderma species. The isozyme and protein data were analyzed using the Nei and Li Dice similarity coefficient for pairwise comparison between individual isolates, species isolate group, and for generating a distance matrix. The UPGMA cluster analysis showed a higher degree of relationship between T. harzianum and T. aureoviride than to T. longibrachiatum. These results suggested that the T. harzianum isolates had high levels of genetic variation compared to the other isolates of Trichoderma species.