Immunomodulating and Revascularizing Activity of Kalanchoe pinnata Synergize with Fungicide Activity of Biogenic Peptide Cecropin P1

© 2017 N. S. Zakharchenko et al. Previously transgenic Kalanchoe pinnata plants producing an antimicrobial peptide cecropin P1 (CecP1) have been reported. Now we report biological testing K. pinnata extracts containing CecP1 as a candidate drug for treatment of wounds infected with Candida albicans. The drug constitutes the whole juice from K. pinnata leaves (not ethanol extract) sterilized with nanofiltration. A microbicide activity of CecP1 against an animal fungal pathogen in vivo was demonstrated for the first time. However, a favorable therapeutic effect of the transgenic K. pinnata extract was attributed to a synergism between the fungicide activity of CecP1 and wound healing (antiscar), revascularizing, and immunomodulating effect of natural biologically active components of K. pinnata. A commercial fungicide preparation clotrimazole eliminated C. albicans cells within infected wounds in rats with efficiency comparable to CecP1-enriched K. pinnata extract. But in contrast to K. pinnata extract, clotrimazole did not exhibit neither wound healing activity nor remodeling of the scar matrix. Taken together, our results allow assumption that CecP1-enriched K. pinnata extracts should be considered as a candidate drug for treatment of dermatomycoses, wounds infected with fungi, and bedsores

Biochemical changes of synovial fluid in patients with osteoporosis of knee joint of various etiology

The aim of this study was to perform comparative analysis of biochemical composition of synovial fluid in patients with osteoarthrosis of various etiology. Studies were conducted on samples of synovial fluid of patients which were divided into two groups. Thefirstgroup consisted of 16 patients with patellofemoral arthrosis of the 2nd stage, the second group included 54 patients with bilateral gonarthrosis. The samples of synovial fluid of 11 cadavers of suddenly dead people of both sexes (4 men and 7 women) of 23-79 years who didn't have articular pathology registered by an expert were considered as a norm. Conducted study testifies significant imbalance of prooxidant and antioxidant processes in the synovial fluid and development of oxidative stress the intensity of which depends on the severity of the pathological process but is regardless to its etiology

Yarrowia lipolytica growth under increased air pressure: influence on enzymes production

Improvement of microbial cell cultures oxygenation can be achieved by the increase of total air pressure, which increases oxygen solubility in the medium. In this work, a pressurized bioreactor was used for Yarrowia lipolytica batch cultivation under increased air pressure from 1 to 6 bar. Cell growth was strongly enhanced by the pressure rise. Fivefold and 3.4-fold increases in the biomass production and in specific growth rate, respectively, were observed under 6 bar. The increase of oxygen availability caused the induction of the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase, which indicates that the defensive mechanisms of the cells against oxidative stress were effective and cells could cope with increased pressure. The pregrowth of Y. lipolytica under increased pressure conditions did not affect the lipase production ability of the cells. Moreover, the extracellular lipase activity increased 96% using a 5-bar air pressure instead of air at 1- bar pressure during the enzyme production phase. Thus, air pressure increase in bioreactors is an effective mean of cell mass and enzyme productivity enhancement in bioprocess based in Y. lipolytica cultures

The MYST-Containing Protein Chameau Is Required for Proper Sensory Organ Specification during Drosophila Thorax Morphogenesis

The adult thorax of Drosophila melanogaster is covered by a stereotyped pattern of mechanosensory bristles called macrochaetes. Here, we report that the MYST containing protein Chameau (Chm) contributes to the establishment of this pattern in the most dorsal part of the thorax. Chm mutant pupae present extra-dorsocentral (DC) and scutellar (SC) macrochaetes, but a normal number of the other macrochaetes. We provide evidences that chm restricts the singling out of sensory organ precursors from proneural clusters and genetically interacts with transcriptional regulators involved in the regulation of achaete and scute in the DC and SC proneural cluster. This function of chm likely relies on chromatin structure regulation since a protein with a mutation in the conserved catalytic site fails to rescue the formation of supernumerary DC and SC bristles in chm mutant flies. This is further supported by the finding that mutations in genes encoding chromatin modifiers and remodeling factors, including Polycomb group (PcG) and Trithorax group (TrxG) members, dominantly modulate the penetrance of chm extra bristle phenotype. These data support a critical role for chromatin structure modulation in the establishment of the stereotyped sensory bristle pattern in the fly thorax

A bi-articular model for scapular-humeral rhythm reconstruction through data from wearable sensors

Patient-specific performance assessment of arm movements in daily life activities is fundamental for neurological rehabilitation therapy. In most applications, the shoulder movement is simplified through a socket-ball joint, neglecting the movement of the scapular-thoracic complex. This may lead to significant errors. We propose an innovative bi-articular model of the human shoulder for estimating the position of the hand in relation to the sternum. The model takes into account both the scapular-toracic and gleno-humeral movements and their ratio governed by the scapular-humeral rhythm, fusing the information of inertial and textile-based strain sensors

The Manipulative Complexity of Lower Paleolithic Stone Toolmaking

Early stone tools provide direct evidence of human cognitive and behavioral evolution that is otherwise unavailable. Proper interpretation of these data requires a robust interpretive framework linking archaeological evidence to specific behavioral and cognitive actions.Here we employ a data glove to record manual joint angles in a modern experimental toolmaker (the 4(th) author) replicating ancient tool forms in order to characterize and compare the manipulative complexity of two major Lower Paleolithic technologies (Oldowan and Acheulean). To this end we used a principled and general measure of behavioral complexity based on the statistics of joint movements.This allowed us to confirm that previously observed differences in brain activation associated with Oldowan versus Acheulean technologies reflect higher-level behavior organization rather than lower-level differences in manipulative complexity. This conclusion is consistent with a scenario in which the earliest stages of human technological evolution depended on novel perceptual-motor capacities (such as the control of joint stiffness) whereas later developments increasingly relied on enhanced mechanisms for cognitive control. This further suggests possible links between toolmaking and language evolution

An integrated dataset on the effectiveness of labour migrant’s linguodidactic modelling

The dataset describes and verifies the educational capacity of linguodidactic modelling in lunguocultural development of labour migrants. Linguodidactic modelling is considered to be an effective instrument of pedagogical portraiting of different labour migrant categories which improves the process of their language and culture education. This role of linguodidactic modelling has been verified experimentally by comparing the communicative competence of three groups of migrants (14 language learners in each group, male and female equally) after completing training courses based on the preliminary (1) linguocultural profiling; (2) didactic portraiting in terms of the European Language Portfolio; (3) pedagogical portraiting based on the concept of language personality. The testing outcomes were compared. To detail and interpret the collected data, the language teachers were interviewed. To add to the exploratory investigation, a theoretical analysis of the concept linguodidactic model was carried out