574 research outputs found
EFICĂCIA DOS RASPADORES DE LĂNGUA NA SAĂDE BUCAL
A literatura atual carece de estudos que comprovam a eficĂĄcia e os benefĂcios dos raspadores de lĂngua. Por se tratar de um mĂ©todo de prevenção de higiene bucal de baixo custo, podem ser utilizados por indivĂduos de todas as idades, seus benefĂcios podem atingir todos os nĂveis sociais inclusive as populaçÔes menos favorecidas
Persistence of anticancer activity in berry extracts after simulated gastrointestinal digestion and colonic fermentation
Fruit and vegetable consumption is associated at the population level with a protective effect against colorectal cancer. Phenolic compounds, especially abundant in berries, are of interest due to their putative anticancer activity. After consumption, however, phenolic compounds are subject to digestive conditions within the gastrointestinal tract that alter their structures and potentially their function. However, the majority of phenolic compounds are not efficiently absorbed in the small intestine and a substantial portion pass into the colon. We characterized berry extracts (raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants) produced by in vitro-simulated upper intestinal tract digestion and subsequent fecal fermentation. These extracts and selected individual colonic metabolites were then evaluated for their putative anticancer activities using in vitro models of colorectal cancer, representing the key stages of initiation, promotion and invasion. Over a physiologically-relevant dose range (0â50 ”g/ml gallic acid equivalents), the digested and fermented extracts demonstrated significant anti-genotoxic, anti-mutagenic and anti-invasive activity on colonocytes. This work indicates that phenolic compounds from berries undergo considerable structural modifications during their passage through the gastrointestinal tract but their breakdown products and metabolites retain biological activity and can modulate cellular processes associated with colon cancer
Brain energy metabolism: A roadmap for future research
Although we have learned much about how the brain fuels its functions over the last decades, there remains much still to discover in an organ that is so complex. This article lays out major gaps in our knowledge of interrelationships between brain metabolism and brain function, including biochemical, cellular, and subcellular aspects of functional metabolism and its imaging in adult brain, as well as during development, aging, and disease. The focus is on unknowns in metabolism of major brain substrates and associated transporters, the roles of insulin and of lipid droplets, the emerging role of metabolism in microglia, mysteries about the major brain cofactor and signaling molecule NAD+, as well as unsolved problems underlying brain metabolism in pathologies such as traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, and metabolic downregulation during hibernation. It describes our current level of understanding of these facets of brain energy metabolism as well as a roadmap for future research
Fungal infestation boosts fruit aroma and fruit removal by mammals and birds
For four decades, an influential hypothesis has posited that competition for food resources between
microbes and vertebrates selects for microbes to alter these resources in ways that make them
unpalatable to vertebrates. We chose an understudied cross kingdom interaction to experimentally
evaluate the effect of fruit infection by fungi on both vertebrate (mammals and birds) fruit preferences
and on ecologically relevant fruit traits (volatile compounds, toughness, etc). Our well-replicated field
experiments revealed that, in contrast to previous studies, frugivorous mammals and birds consistently
preferred infested over intact fruits. This was concordant with the higher level of attractive volatiles
(esters, ethanol) in infested fruits. This investigation suggests that vertebrate frugivores, fleshyfruited
plants, and microbes form a tripartite interaction in which each part could interact positively
with the other two (e.g. both orange seeds and fungal spores are likely dispersed by mammals). Such
a mutualistic view of these complex interactions is opposed to the generalized idea of competition
between frugivorous vertebrates and microorganisms. Thus, this research provides a new perspective
on the widely accepted plant evolutionary dilemma to make fruits attractive to mutualistic frugivores
while unattractive to presumed antagonistic microbes that constrain seed dispersalinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Enzymatic Shaving of the Tegument Surface of Live Schistosomes for Proteomic Analysis: A Rational Approach to Select Vaccine Candidates
Adult schistosome parasites can reside in the host bloodstream for decades surrounded by components of the immune system. It was originally proposed that their survival depended on the secretion of an inert bilayer, the membranocalyx, to protect the underlying plasma membrane from attack. We have investigated whether any proteins were exposed on the surface of live worms using incubation with selected hydrolases, in combination with mass spectrometry to identify released proteins. We show that a small number of parasite proteins are accessible to the enzymes and so could represent constituents of the membranocalyx. We also identified several proteins acquired by the parasite on contact with host cells. In addition, components of the cytolytic complement pathway were detected, but these appeared not to harm the worm, indicating that some of its own surface proteins could inhibit the lytic pathway. We suggest that, collectively, the âsuperficialâ parasite proteins may provide good candidates for a schistosome vaccine
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