Neurology India 2018 66(1):268-268
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Medicine by Alexandros G. Sfakianakis,Anapafseos 5 Agios Nikolaos 72100 Crete Greece,00302841026182,00306932607174,alsfakia@gmail.com,
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) powder (RP) and vitamin E (VE) at different levels on humoral immunity of broilers during a 42-day production cycle. A total of 270 1-day-old male chicks were assigned to nine groups with three replicates of ten birds each, and diets were supplemented with 0, 0.5, or 1.0% RP and 0, 100, or 200 mg/kg VE, respectively. Commercial-inactivated vaccines against avian influenza (AI) and Newcastle disease (ND) viruses, and living infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) vaccine were administered by spray method. Sheep red blood cells (SRBC) were administered subcutaneously. Blood samples were collected from birds 1 week after each vaccination to determine antibody titers. At the 42nd day, blood samples were also assessed for globulin level, and lymphoid tissues (thymus, spleen, and bursa) were weighed. Neither antibody titers against viruses nor lymphoid tissues weight were affected by RP and/or VE (P > 0.05) treatments. However, broilers supplemented with 0 mg/kg of VE had lower antibody titers against SRBC than those fed 100 mg/kg of VE (P < 0.05) at the 24th day. A significant RP × VE interaction effect (P < 0.05) on plasma globulin level was observed. The findings of our study suggest that dietary RP and VE additives can interact and modulate the humoral immunity of broilers, but not sufficiently to improve antibody titers against specific virus during a 42-day production cycle.
This study investigates the role of external debt stock in Turkey, which has suffered from heavy (external and domestic) debt stock for many years. Annual data from 1960 to 2013 was analyzed using time series analysis in order to study this. The results confirm the validity of the conventional environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) in the case of Turkey. However, this study also found that Turkey's external debt stock did not influence the Turkish economy's long-term EKC behavior. Fortunately, the results suggest that there are important interactions among external debt stock, CO2 emissions, energy consumption, and real income; that is, changes in external debt volume precede changes in these aggregates' volumes.
Reducing cadmium (Cd) concentrations in rice grains is important for food safety, particularly in acid paddy fields in South China where the soils have been previously contaminated with Cd. A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of four alkaline amendments, i.e., lime, compost, biochar, and carbide slag on soil bioavailability and uptake of Cd in plants of two rice cultivars (Oryza sativa L.) in a Cd-contaminated acid paddy soil. The addition of these amendments significantly decreased the concentrations of CaCl2-extractable Cd by 13–41%. Cd in the acid-soluble fraction was decreased in these amended soils while it increased in the residual fraction. The amendments also decreased the uptake of Cd in the plants at the tillering and mature growth stages. The concentrations of Cd in plant tissues at maturity were in the order: root > shoot > bran > polished rice > husk. The amendment of carbide slag decreased Cd concentration in rice grains the most, followed by lime, biochar, and compost. The increases in soil pH and the decreases in the acid-soluble fraction of Cd (F1-Cd) indicated that these amendments can directly transform the highly availability fraction of Cd to a more stable fraction (residual Cd fraction) in soils. Furthermore, the Cd concentrations in polished rice grains of the two rice cultivars used were reduced by 66–67% by treatment with carbide slag. Our study suggests that carbide slag has a great potential to reduce the bioavailability and uptake of Cd in rice plants in Cd-contaminated acid paddy field soils.
Bacteria residing in oral biofilms live in a state of dynamic equilibrium with one another. The intricate synergistic or antagonistic interactions between them are crucial for determining this balance. Using the 6-species Zürich "supragingival" biofilm model, this study aimed to investigate interactions regarding growth and localization of the constituent species. As control, an inoculum containing all six strains was used, whereas in each of the further five inocula one of the bacterial species was absent, and in the last both streptococci were absent. Biofilms were grown anaerobically on hydroxyapatite discs, and after 64 h they were harvested and quantified by culture analyses. For visualization, fluorescence in situ hybridization and confocal laser scanning microscopy was used. Compared to the control, no statistically significant difference of total CFU was observed in the absence of any of the biofilm species, except for F. nucleatum whose absence caused a significant decrease in total bacterial numbers. Absence of S. oralis resulted in a significant decrease in A. oris, and increase in S. mutans (p<0.001). Absence of A. oris, V. dispar or S. mutans did not cause any changes. The structure of the biofilm with regards to the localization of the species did not result in observable changes. In summary, the most striking observation was that absence of S. oralis resulted in limited growth of commensal A. oris and overgrowth of S. mutans. This data establishes S. oralis as commensal keeper of homeostasis in the biofilm by antagonizing S. mutans, thus preventing a caries-favoring dysbiotic state.
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The concentrations of the potentially toxic dissolved elements (PTEs) As, Hg, Cr, Pb, Cd, and Cu in the main rivers into Jiaozhou Bay (JZB) during 1981–2006 were measured, and the impact of the fluvial PTE fluxes on their distributions in the bay was investigated. The overall average concentration in the rivers into JZB ranged from 8.8 to 39.6 μg L−1 for As, 10.1 to 632.6 ng L−1 for Hg, 4.1 to 3003.6 μg L−1 for Cr, 8.5 to 141.9 μg L−1 for Pb, 1.1 to 34.2 μg L−1 for Cd, and 13.2 to 1042.8 μg L−1 for Cu. The interannual average concentration variations of the PTEs in these rivers were enormous, with maximum differences of 41–21,680 times, while their relative seasonal changes were far smaller with maximum differences of 3–12 times. The total annual fluvial fluxes for As, Hg, and Cr into JZB exhibited the inverse "U" pattern, while those for Pb and Cd showed the "N" pattern. As a whole, the total annual Cu flux presented a growing tendency from 1998 to 2006. In general, the changing trends of the PTE concentrations in JZB were similar to those of their annual fluxes from the rivers, indicating a great impact of their fluvial fluxes on their distributions in JZB. The annual concentration of Cd in the bay almost remained constant and differed from the fluvial flux of Cd. The diversified pattern of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) represented China's approach to industrialization as "improving while developing."
Biochar application to soil is currently widely advocated for a variety of reasons related to sustainability. However, the synergistic effects of biochar combined with mineral or organic fertilizer on soil N2O emissions, NH3 volatilization, and plant N uptake are poorly documented. Field plot experiments planted with peanut were conducted under the application of biochar (derived from rice husk and cottonseed husk, 50 t ha−1) with organic or mineral fertilizer. It was found that biochar increased soil nutrient availability and decreased surface soil bulk density, demonstrating that biochar could improve the soil quality especially in the 0–20-cm profile. The total N content of the plant changed little with treatments, but the kernel N concentration increased significantly when biochar was applied with organic fertilizer. Peanut yield increased with biochar amendment while no significant difference was observed in plant biomass, suggesting biochar had a positive effect on belowground biomass. Peanut N uptake was also increased following biochar amendment with either organic or mineral fertilizers. While biochar amendment had no significant effect on soil NH3 volatilization, it did decrease the cumulative N2O emission by 36.3% on average with organic fertilizer, and by 32.6% with mineral fertilizer, respectively (p < 0.05). The copy numbers of 16S rDNA, nifH, nirK, and nirS were not influenced by the application of biochar; however, the copy number of nosZ was significantly increased under biochar plus mineral fertilizer treatment. The results imply that biochar application can suppress N2O emissions, as a result of abiotic factors and enhanced peanut N uptake rather than changes of denitrification genes.
Agro-industrial waste can be used to replace traditional carbohydrates, such as sucrose, starch, and glucose in many industrial fermentation processes. This study investigated the conversion of pre-treated waste sweetpotato vines (SV) into lipid by Trichosporon fermentans under the separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) and the simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) processes. The results showed that SV autoclaving significantly increased the lipid accumulation of T. fermentans compared with acid or alkaline hydrolysis. The effects of different pre-treatments on SV were also studied by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, which showed the partial removal of the aliphatic fractions, hemicelluloses, and lignin during pre-treatment. Moreover, the lipid yield of T. fermentans in SSF was 6.98 g L−1, which was threefold higher than that (2.79 g L−1) in SHF, and the lipid contents of yeast in SSF and SHF were 36 and 25%, respectively. Overall, this study indicated that SSF using autoclaved SV could increase the growth and lipid production of T. fermentans and provided an efficient way to realize the resource utilization of waste SV.
Calcium hydroxide is a common endodontic medicament and has an anti-microbial effect by increasing the localized pH within the root canal. However, Enterococcus faecalis has shown some resistance to calcium hydroxide.
A flow cell apparatus was used to grow an E. faecalis biofilm on dentine discs. Following 4 weeks growth in Todd Hewitt Broth, flow cells were exposed to either a rapid or slow increase to pH 11.5 or 12.5. Cellular viability was determined using serial plating and the number of colony forming units was normalised against the cellular protein content. Scanning electron microscopy was carried out to qualitatively observe the effects of the different rates of pH increase.
A significant difference in viability between the pH rapid and slow groups was not shown in this study. Compared to pH 11.5 solutions, pH 12.5 solutions were more effective at killing bacteria although some E. faecalis still survived.
E. faecalis did not adapt and develop a greater resistance to high pH following a slow rise in pH compared with a rapid rise in pH. As expected, pH 12.5 was more effective in reducing bacterial numbers compared to pH 11.5 although E. faecalis was not completely eliminated.
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Publication date: 15 May 2018
Source:Biosensors and Bioelectronics, Volume 105
Author(s): Samira Mansouri Majd, Abdollah Salimi, Foad Ghasemi
MicroRNAs (miRNAs), critical biomarkers of acute and chronic diseases, play key regulatory roles in many biological processes. As a result, robust assay platforms to enable an accurate and efficient detection of low-level miRNAs in complex biological samples are of great significance. In this work, a label-free and direct hybridization assay using molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) field-effect transistor (FET) biosensor has been developed for ultrasensitive detection of miRNA-155 as a breast cancer biomarker in human serum and cell-line samples. MoS2, the novel 2D layered material with excellent physical and chemical properties, was prepared through sequential solvent exchange method and was used as an active channel material. MoS2 was comprehensively characterized by spectroscopic and microscopic methods and it was applied for fabrication of FET device by drop-casting MoS2 flacks suspension onto the FET surface. MoS2 FET device showed a relatively low subthreshold swing of 48.10mV/decade and a high mobility of 1.98 × 103cm2V−1s−1. Subsequently, probe miRNA-155 strands were immobilized on the surface of the MoS2 FET device. Under optimized conditions detection limit of 0.03fM and concentration range 0.1fM to 10nM were achieved. The developed biosensor not only was capable to identification of fully matched versus one-base mismatch miRNA-155 sequence, but also it could detect target miRNA-155 in spiked real human serum and extracts from human breast cancer cell-line samples. This approach paves a way for label-free, early detection of miRNA as a biomarker in cancer diagnostics with very high sensitivity and good specificity, thus offering a significant potential for clinical application.
Publication date: Available online 10 January 2018
Source:International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics
Author(s): Juheon Lee, Bailiang Li, Yi Cui, Xiaoli Sun, Jia Wu, Hui Zhu, Jinming Yu, Michael F. Gensheimer, Billy W. Loo, Maximilian Diehn, Ruijiang Li
BackgroundPrognostic biomarkers are needed to guide the management of early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This work aims to develop an image-based prognostic signature and assess its complementary value to existing biomarkers.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed outcomes of stage I NSCLC in seven cohorts. Based on an analysis of 39 CT features characterizing tumor and its relation to neighboring pleura, we developed a prognostic signature in an institutional cohort (n=117) and tested it in an external cohort (n=88). A third cohort of 89 patients with CT and gene expression data was employed to create a surrogate genomic signature of the imaging signature. We conducted further validation using data from five gene expression cohorts (n=639), and built a composite signature by integrating with the cell-cycle progression (CCP) score and clinical variables.ResultsAn imaging signature consisting of pleural contact index and normalized inverse difference was significantly associated with overall survival in both imaging cohorts (p=0.0005 and 0.0009). Functional enrichment analysis revealed that genes highly correlated with the imaging signature were related to immune response, such as lymphocyte activation and chemotaxis (false discovery rate<0.05). A genomic surrogate of the imaging signature remained a significant predictor of survival adjusting for known prognostic factors (hazard ratio: 1.81, 95% CI: 1.34-2.44, p<0.0001), and stratified patients within subgroups as defined by stage, histology, or CCP score. A composite signature outperformed the genomic surrogate, CCP score, and clinical model alone (p<0.01) regarding concordance index (0.70 vs 0.62-0.63).ConclusionThe proposed CT imaging signature reflects fundamental biologic differences in tumors and predicts overall survival in patients with stage I NSCLC. When combined with established prognosticators, the imaging signature improves survival prediction.
In the last two decades, several studies have examined the association between maternal thyroid hormone insufficiency during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental disorders in children and shown conflicting results.
This systematic review aimed to assess the evidence for an association between maternal thyroid hormone insufficiency during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental disorders in children. We also sought to assess whether levothyroxine treatment for maternal thyroid hormone insufficiency improves child neurodevelopment outcomes.
We performed systematic literature searches in MEDLINE, EMBASE, PSYCinfo, CINAHL, AMED, BNI, Cochrane, Scopus, Web of Science, GreyLit, Grey Source and Open Grey (latest search: March 2017). We also conducted targeted web searching and performed forwards and backwards citation chasing. Meta-analyses of eligible studies were carried out using the random-effects model.
We identified 39 eligible articles (37 observational studies and 2 randomised controlled trials (RCT)). Meta-analysis showed that maternal subclinical hypothyroidism and hypothyroxinaemia are associated with indicators of intellectual disability in offspring (odds ratio (OR) 2.14, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.20 to 3.83, p= 0.01, and OR 1.63, 95% CI 1.03 to 2.56, p=0.04, respectively). Maternal subclinical hypothyroidism and hypothyroxinaemia were not associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and their effect on the risk of autism in offspring was unclear. Meta-analysis of RCTs showed no evidence that levothyroxine treatment for maternal hypothyroxinaemia or subclinical hypothyroidism reduces the incidence of low intelligence quotient in offspring.
Although studies were generally of good quality, there was evidence of heterogeneity between the included observational studies (I2 72-79%).
Maternal hypothyroxinaemia and subclinical hypothyroidism may be associated with intellectual disability in offspring. Currently there is no evidence that levothyroxine treatment, when initiated 8 to 20 weeks gestation (mostly between 12-17 weeks), for mild maternal thyroid hormone insufficiency during pregnancy reduces intellectual disability in offspring.
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