Kinetics of inhibition of polyphenol oxidase mediated browning in apple juice by beta-cyclodextrin and L-ascorbate-2-triphosphate

Polyphenol Oxidase (PPO) mediated browning in raw fruits and vegetables is a major cause of quality deterioration in fruits and vegetables and derived food products. Here the rate of browning reaction in apple juice treated individually and in combination (1:1) of beta-Cyclodextrin (beta-CD) and L-Ascorbate-2-triphosphate (L-AATP) is described. It was observed that the rate of quinone formation can be minimized using a combination of beta-CD and L-AATP as compared to individual treatment with these agents. Kinetic experiments revealed that both compounds are non-competitive inhibitors of PPO.     

Displacement of a mandibular incisor--an infrequent complication of mandibular fracture

A case of a mandibular fracture with an unusual complication is reported. A 13-year-old boy was admitted four years after conservative treatment of a symphyseal fracture. He complained of recurrent swelling. A radiographic evaluation showed a horizontally laid permanent mandibular left lateral incisor (PMLLI) that had probably slid into the fracture line and provoked repetitive infection episodes. After a surgery, a clinical and radiological analysis showed satisfactory healing.     

Submerged cultivation of Ganoderma lucidum biomass and immunostimulatory effects of fungal polysaccharides

Original Ganoderma lucidum strain MZKI G97 isolated from Slovenian forests was cultivated in a liquid substrate based on potato dextrose and olive oil. The influences of inoculum and oxygen partial pressure in batch and fed batch cultivation in a 10-l laboratory stirred tank reactor were studied. Fungal biomass was found to be oxygen and shear sensible. Using a 17% (wet weight) 6 days old vegetative inoculum, 9.6 g l(-1) of dry biomass in batch cultivation and 15.2 g l(-1) in fed batch process were obtained. Extracellular (9.6 g l(-1)) and intracellular (6.3 g l(-1)) polysaccharide fractions were isolated. Extracellular polysaccharide fraction and four intracellular polysaccharide fractions were obtained. Polysaccharides were further separated by ion-exchange, gel and affinity chromatography. The isolated polysaccharides were mainly beta-D-glucanes. Immunostimulatory effects of isolates were tested on induction of cytokine (tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and interferon gamma (IFN-gamma)) synthesis in primary cultures of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) isolated from a buffy coat. The TNF-alpha inducing activity is comparable with romurtide, which has been used as a supporting therapy in cancer patients treated with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy.     

Reproductive Performance,Udder Health,and Antibiotic Resistance in Mastitis Bacteria isolated from Norwegian Red cows in Conventional and Organic Farming

Background  

The objectives of this study were to investigate whether there were differences between Norwegian Red cows in conventional and organic farming with respect to reproductive performance, udder health, and antibiotic resistance in udder pathogens.     

Potential therapeutic drug target identification in Community Acquired-Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) using computational analysis

The emergence of multidrug-resistant strain of community-acquired methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) strain has highlighted the urgent need for the alternative and effective therapeutic approach to combat the menace of this nosocomial pathogen. In the present work novel potential therapeutic drug targets have been identified through the metabolic pathways analysis. All the gene products involved in different metabolic pathways of CA-MRSA in KEGG database were searched against the proteome of Homo sapiens using the BLASTp program and the threshold of E-value was set to as 0.001. After database searching, 152 putative targets were identified. Among all 152 putative targets, 39 genes encoding for putative targets were identified as the essential genes from the DEG database which are indispensable for the survival of CA-MRSA. After extensive literature review, 7 targets were identified as potential therapeutic drug target. These targets are Fructose-bisphosphate aldolase, Phosphoglyceromutase, Purine nucleoside phosphorylase, Uridylate kinase, Tryptophan synthase subunit beta, Acetate kinase and UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 1-carboxyvinyltransferase. Except Uridylate kinase all the identified targets were involved in more than one metabolic pathways of CA-MRSA which underlines the importance of drug targets. These potential therapeutic drug targets can be exploited for the discovery of novel inhibitors for CA-MRSA using the structure based drug design (SBDD) strategy.     

Cathepsin B/cystatin C complex levels in sera from patients with lung and colorectal cancer

A sandwich-type ELISA has been developed for quantification of the complex between the cysteine proteinase cathepsin B (CB) and its reversible tight-binding inhibitor cystatin C (CC) in normal and pathological sera. The assay is based on a combination of catching Ab (3E1), raised against CB, and a horseradish peroxidase-labelled detection Ab (1A2), raised against CC. Only the CB/CC complex is able to evoke a signal in this assay. The detection limit of the assay was 15.5 nM and the working range between 31.3-200 nM. The within and between-run coefficients of variance (CV) varied from 4.7% to 9.4% and 11% to 12.8%, respectively, demonstrating satisfactory reproducibility of the method. The concentration of the CB/CC complex was determined in sera from 90 healthy controls, 32 patients with non-cancerous lung diseases, 148 patients with lung and 32 patients with colorectal cancer. The CB/CC complex was significantly less abundant in sera of patients bearing malignant lung tumours than in those with non-cancerous lung diseases or healthy controls (p<0.001). In colorectal cancer sera its level was significantly lower in advanced stages C and D than in early Dukes' stages A and B (p=0.02). Our results show that the increased levels of CB in malignant sera are not impaired effectively by CC and support the hypothesis of hindered inhibitory capability during cancer progression.     

The RAS subfamily Evolution – tracing evolution for its utmost exploitation

In the development of multicellularity, signaling proteins has played a very important role. Among them, RAS family is one of the most widely studied protein family. However, evolutionary analysis has been carried out mainly on super family level leaving sub family information in scanty. Thus, a subfamily evolutionary study on RAS evolutionary expansion is imperative as it will aid in better drug designing against dreadful diseases like Cancer and other developmental diseases. The present study was aimed to understand RAS evolution on both holistic as well as reductive level. All human RAS family genes and protein were subjected to BLAST tools to find orthologs and paralogs with different parameters followed by phylogenetic tree generation. Our results clearly showed that H-RAS is the most primitive RAS in higher eukaryotes and then diverged into other RAS family members due to different gene modification events. Furthermore, a site specific selection pressure analysis was carried out using SELECTON server which showed that H-RAS, M-RAS and N-RAS are evolving faster than K-RAS and R-RAS. Thus, the results ascertain a new ground to cancer biologists to exploit negatively selected K-RAS and R-RAS as potent drug targets in cancer therapeutics.     

Motor training programs of arm and hand in patients with MS according to different levels of the ICF: a systematic review

Background

Breast cancer survivors, particularly those treated with chemotherapy, are at significantly increased risk for long-term cognitive and neurobiologic impairments. These deficits tend to involve skills that are subserved by distributed brain networks. Additionally, neuroimaging studies have shown a diffuse pattern of brain structure changes in chemotherapy-treated breast cancer survivors that might impact large-scale brain networks.

Methods

We therefore applied graph theoretical analysis to compare the gray matter structural networks of female breast cancer survivors with a history of chemotherapy treatment and healthy age and education matched female controls.

Results

Results revealed reduced clustering coefficient and small-world index in the brain network of the breast cancer patients across a range of network densities. In addition, the network of the breast cancer group had less highly interactive nodes and reduced degree/centrality in the frontotemporal regions compared to controls, which may help explain the common impairments of memory and executive functioning among these patients.

Conclusions

These results suggest that breast cancer and chemotherapy may decrease regional connectivity as well as global network organization and integration, reducing efficiency of the network. To our knowledge, this is the first report of altered large-scale brain networks associated with breast cancer and chemotherapy.     

Potential of plant oils as inhibitors of Candida albicans growth

Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and minimum fungicidal concentrations (MFCs) were determined for 38 oils of plant origin against Candida albicans. Four strains including one standard strain were used in this study. The antifungal agents, Fluconazole and Amphotericin B were used as positive controls. The standard strain (ATCC10231) used in this study was found to be highly resistant to Fluconazole: 3000 microg ml(-1) of Fluconazole was required to inhibit the growth of this strain partially, and complete inhibition could not be achieved. Other Candida strains were sensitive to 5 microg ml(-1) of Fluconazole. All the strains used were sensitive to Amphotericin B. Of the 38 oils tested, 23 were found effective and fifteen were ineffective. Based on their MFCs, effective oils were categorized into three categories. Seven oils, which exerted fungicidal effect at less than 0.15% concentration of oils, were grouped into the most effective class. The oils exhibiting MFCs in the range of 0.16-1.5% concentration were considered moderately effective. Nine oils, which required more than 1.5% concentration, were regarded as less effective. The Fluconazole-resistant strain (MTCC 227) was sensitive to at least 23 of the plant oils. Results of this study indicate that oils of plant origin may find use as potential anti-Candida agents.