The alimentary impact of the hemp seed

Hemp seed and hemp seed oil can supply us with many important substances. Their essential fatty acid compositions are favourable, but they may contain non-psychotropic cannabinoids. Emerging data show that these components can influence the health status of the population beneficially. Some data also showed trace amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol in seed oils, the main psychotropic cannabinoid that is contraindicated.Our aim was to examine cannabinoids and fatty acid composition as well as metal and non-metal element compositions in products, like hemp seed oil and chopped hemp seed capsule.The cannabinoids were separated by thin layer chromatography. Fatty acid composition was determined with gas chromatography, and elements (Al, B, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, P, Pb, S, Si, Sn, Sr, V, and Zn) were measured by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometric method. Selenium was determined with polarographic analyser.Cannabinoids were not detectable by thin layer chromatography, so hemp seed oil, as well as the capsule, have no psychotropic adverse effect. Our data showed that hemp seed contains essential fatty acids close to the recommended ratio. The B and Se concentrations of the oils and the P concentration of the capsule are also relevant

Cleavage of Kininogen and Subsequent Bradykinin Release by the Complement Component: Mannose-Binding Lectin-Associated Serine Protease (MASP)-1

Bradykinin (BK), generated from high-molecular-weight kininogen (HK) is the major mediator of swelling attacks in hereditary angioedema (HAE), a disease associated with C1-inhibitor deficiency. Plasma kallikrein, activated by factor XIIa, is responsible for most of HK cleavage. However other proteases, which activate during episodes of angioedema, might also contribute to BK production. The lectin pathway of the complement system activates after infection and oxidative stress on endothelial cells generating active serine proteases: MASP-1 and MASP-2. Our aim was to study whether activated MASPs are able to digest HK to release BK. Initially we were trying to find potential new substrates of MASP-1 in human plasma by differential gel electrophoresis, and we identified kininogen cleavage products by this proteomic approach. As a control, MASP-2 was included in the study in addition to MASP-1 and kallikrein. The proteolytic cleavage of HK by MASPs was followed by SDS-PAGE, and BK release was detected by HPLC. We showed that MASP-1 was able to cleave HK resulting in BK production. MASP-2 could also cleave HK but could not release BK. The cleavage pattern of MASPs is similar but not strictly identical to that of kallikrein. The catalytic efficiency of HK cleavage by a recombinant version of MASP-1 and MASP-2 was about 4.0×102 and 2.7×102 M−1s−1, respectively. C1-inhibitor, the major inhibitor of factor XIIa and kallikrein, also prevented the cleavage of HK by MASPs. In all, a new factor XII- and kallikrein-independent mechanism of bradykinin production by MASP-1 was demonstrated, which may contribute to the pro-inflammatory effect of the lectin pathway of complement and to the elevated bradykinin levels in HAE patients

Identification of Surprisingly Diverse Type IV Pili, across a Broad Range of Gram-Positive Bacteria

In Gram-negative bacteria, type IV pili (TFP) have long been known to play important roles in such diverse biological phenomena as surface adhesion, motility, and DNA transfer, with significant consequences for pathogenicity. More recently it became apparent that Gram-positive bacteria also express type IV pili; however, little is known about the diversity and abundance of these structures in Gram-positives. Computational tools for automated identification of type IV pilins are not currently available.To assess TFP diversity in Gram-positive bacteria and facilitate pilin identification, we compiled a comprehensive list of putative Gram-positive pilins encoded by operons containing highly conserved pilus biosynthetic genes (pilB, pilC). A surprisingly large number of species were found to contain multiple TFP operons (pil, com and/or tad). The N-terminal sequences of predicted pilins were exploited to develop PilFind, a rule-based algorithm for genome-wide identification of otherwise poorly conserved type IV pilins in any species, regardless of their association with TFP biosynthetic operons (http://signalfind.org). Using PilFind to scan 53 Gram-positive genomes (encoding >187,000 proteins), we identified 286 candidate pilins, including 214 in operons containing TFP biosynthetic genes (TBG+ operons). Although trained on Gram-positive pilins, PilFind identified 55 of 58 manually curated Gram-negative pilins in TBG+ operons, as well as 53 additional pilin candidates in operons lacking biosynthetic genes in ten species (>38,000 proteins), including 27 of 29 experimentally verified pilins. False positive rates appear to be low, as PilFind predicted only four pilin candidates in eleven bacterial species (>13,000 proteins) lacking TFP biosynthetic genes.We have shown that Gram-positive bacteria contain a highly diverse set of type IV pili. PilFind can be an invaluable tool to study bacterial cellular processes known to involve type IV pilus-like structures. Its use in combination with other currently available computational tools should improve the accuracy of predicting the subcellular localization of bacterial proteins

A potential nitrergic mechanism of action for indomethacin, but not of other COX inhibitors: relevance to indomethacin-sensitive headaches

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) that act as cyclo-oxygenase (COX) inhibitors are commonly used in the treatment of a range of headache disorders, although their mechanism of action is unclear. Indomethacin is of particular interest given its very special effect in some primary headaches. Here the in vivo technique of intravital microscopy in rats has been utilised as a model of trigeminovascular nociception to study the potential mechanism of action of indomethacin. Dural vascular changes were produced using electrical (neurogenic) dural vasodilation (NDV), calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) induced dural vasodilation and nitric oxide (NO) induced dural vasodilation using NO donors. In each of these settings the effect of intravenously administered indomethacin (5 mg kg−1), naproxen (30 mg kg−1) and ibuprofen (30 mg kg−1) was tested. All of the tested drugs significantly inhibited NDV (between 30 and 52%). Whilst none of them was able to inhibit CGRP-induced dural vasodilation, only indomethacin reduced NO induced dural vasodilation (35 ± 7%, 10 min post administration). We conclude NSAIDs inhibit release of CGRP after NDV without an effect on CGRP directly. Further we describe a differentiating effect of indomethacin inhibiting nitric oxide induced dural vasodilation that is potentially relevant to understanding its unique action in disorders such as paroxysmal hemicrania and hemicrania continua

Blame, Symbolic Stigma and HIV Misconceptions are Associated with Support for Coercive Measures in Urban India

This study was designed to examine the prevalence of stigma and its underlying factors in two large Indian cities. Cross-sectional interview data were collected from 1,076 non-HIV patients in multiple healthcare settings in Mumbai and Bengaluru, India. The vast majority of participants supported mandatory testing for marginalized groups and coercive family policies for PLHA, stating that they “deserved” their infections and “didn’t care” about infecting others. Most participants did not want to be treated at the same clinic or use the same utensils as PLHA and transmission misconceptions were common. Multiple linear regression showed that blame, transmission misconceptions, symbolic stigma and negative feelings toward PLHA were significantly associated with both stigma and discrimination. The results indicate an urgent need for continued stigma reduction efforts to reduce the suffering of PLHA and barriers to prevention and treatment. Given the high levels of blame and endorsement of coercive policies, it is crucial that such programs are shaped within a human rights framework

Positional variations among heterogeneous nucleosome maps give dynamical information on chromatin

Although nucleosome remodeling is essential to transcriptional regulation in eukaryotes, little is known about its genome-wide behavior. Since a number of nucleosome positioning maps in vivo have been recently determined, we examined if their comparisons might be used for obtaining a genome-wide profile of nucleosome remodeling. Using seven yeast maps, the local variability of nucleosomes, measured by the entropy, was significantly higher in a set of reported unstable nucleosomes. The binding sites of four transcription factors, known as the remodeling factors, were distinctively high both in entropy and linker ratio, whereas those of Yhp1, their potential inhibitor, showed the lowest values in both of them. Taken together, our map shows the general information of nucleosome dynamics reasonably well. The “nucleosome dynamics” map provides the new significant correlation with the degree of expression variety instead of their intensity. Furthermore, the associations with gene function and histone modification were also discussed here