APPLICATION OF SALVIA OFFICINALIS AND PICEA ABIES ESSENTIAL OILS FOR CONTROLLING COLLETOTRICHUM SPP.

Colletotrichum spp. is a significant strawberry fruit pathogen, causing yield losses of up to 80% - growing resistance to pesticides demands to new, environmentally-friendly plant protection. Essential oils (EO) are one of the biological plant protection products suitable for pathogens control. The antimicrobial and antifungal activity of EO, biodegradability and low toxicity, make it potential for use in plant protection against pathogens instead of chemicals. The present study was carried out to investigate the antifungal effects of Salvia officinalis and Picea abies essential oils against strawberry Colletotrichum spp. The research carried at the LAMMC Institute of Horticulture. The bio-fungicidal effect was assessed based on radial growth inhibitions. There were evaluated several EO concentrations: 1000-1800 µl/l. Single-spore isolate fragment placed in the centre of PDA with different concentrations. Plates were incubated at oils 25 o C in darkness and evaluated after 2, 4, 7 days. S. officinalis and P. abies EO showed inhibitory effect on Colletotrichum spp. mycelial development. The S. officinalis inhibitory effect was more than 50% in all concentrations. The present study revealed that highest 1800 μl/l S. officinalis EO concentration Colletotrichum spp. colony diameter was significantly lower (1.84 cm) compared with control (5.75 cm). However, P. abies inhibition more than 50 % were only in concentrations from 1600 μl/l. According to our results, treatment with EO can reduce the growth of Colletotrichum spp. and EO could be an effective potential bio-fungicide to control strawberry anthracnose. EO as bio-fungicides characteristics is their natural origin and low risk for resistance development

Biophysics is reshaping our perception of the epigenome: from changing the landscape of how we study DNA-level epigenetic marks to enabling high-throughput applications

Epigenetic research holds great promise to advance our understanding of biomarkers and regulatory processes in health and disease. An increasing number of new approaches ranging from molecular to biophysical analyses enable identifying epigenetic changes on the level of a single gene or the whole epigenome. The aim of this review is to highlight how the field is shifting from completely molecular biology driven solutions to multi-disciplinary strategies including more reliance on biophysical analysis tools. Biophysics not only offers technical advancements in imaging or structure analysis, but also helps to explore regulatory interactions. New computational methods are also being developed to meet the demand of growing data volumes and their processing. Therefore, it is important to capture these new directions in epigenetics from a biophysical perspective and discuss current challenges as well as multiple applications of biophysical methods and tools. Specifically, we gradually introduce different biophysical research methods by first considering the DNA level information and eventually higher-order chromatin structures. Moreover, we aim to highlight that the incorporation of bioinformatics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence into biophysical analysis allows gaining new insights into complex epigenetic processes. The gained understanding has already proven useful in translational and clinical research providing better patient stratification options or new therapeutic insights. Together, this offers a better readiness to transform bench-top experiments into industrial high-throughput applications with a possibility to employ developed methods in clinical practice and diagnostics

Association of hair glucocorticoid levels with sleep quality indicators: a pilot study in apparently healthy perimenopausal and menopausal women

BackgroundPoor sleep quality is associated with different physical and mental health diseases. It is proposed that increased hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity is a potential contributor affecting sleep pattern and quality. We aimed to analyze the relationship between subjective sleep quality indicators and hair glucocorticoid levels among relatively healthy perimenopausal and postmenopausal women.MethodsA total of 145 women aged 50–64 y.o. were enrolled in the cross-sectional pilot study. Sleep quality was evaluated using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, while stress level was measured using the Perceived Stress Scale. Hair cortisol and cortisone levels were determined by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.ResultsStatistically significant positive relationship was found between hair cortisol concentration and Pittsburgh sleep quality index score. Similarly, statistically significant positive associations were observed between hair total glucocorticoid level and Pittsburgh sleep quality index, sleep disturbance, and Perceived Stress Scale scores. Subjects with prolonged sleep latency had significantly higher hair cortisol and total hair glucocorticoid concentrations compared with individuals whose sleep latency is not disturbed. Additionally, Chi-squared test indicated that lower hair cortisol concentration was significantly related to better sleep efficiency.ConclusionIncreased hair glucocorticoid (cortisol, cortisone) levels were found to be related with worse sleep quality measured by Pittsburgh sleep quality index score

Application of Salvia officinalis and Picea abies essential oils for controlling Colletotrichum spp.

Colletotrichum spp. is a significant strawberry fruit pathogen, causing yield losses of up to 80% - growing resistance to pesticides demands to new, environmentally-friendly plant protection. Essential oils (EO) are one of the biological plant protection products suitable for pathogens control. The antimicrobial and antifungal activity of EO, biodegradability and low toxicity, make it potential for use in plant protection against pathogens instead of chemical pesticides. The present study was carried out to investigate the antifungal effects of Salvia officinalis and Picea abies essential oils against strawberry Colletotrichum spp. isolate. The research carried out at the LAMMC Institute of Horticulture. The biofungicidal effect was assessed based on radial growth inhibitions. There were evaluated several EO concentrations from 1000 till 1800 µl/l. Single-spore isolate fragment placed in the centre of PDA with different concentrations. Plates were incubated at 25 o C in dark and evaluated after 2, 4, 7 days. S. officinalis and P. abies EO showed inhibitory effect on Colletotrichum spp. mycelial development. The S. officinalis inhibitory effect was more than 50% in all concentrations. The present study revealed that highest 1800 μl/l S. officinalis EO concentration Colletotrichum spp. colony diameter was significantly lower (1.84 cm) compared with control (5.75 cm). However, P. abies inhibition more than 50 % were only in concentrations from 1600 μl/l. According to our results, treatment with EO can reduce the growth of Colletotrichum spp. and EO could be an effective potential bio-fungicide to control strawberry anthracnose. EO as bio-fungicides characteristics is their natural origin and low risk for resistance development

Computational pharmacology: new avenues for COVID-19 therapeutics search and better preparedness for future pandemic crises

The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented global healthcare emergency prompting the exploration of new therapeutic avenues, including drug repurposing. A large number of ongoing studies revealed pervasive issues in clinical research, such as the lack of accessible and organised data. Moreover, current shortcomings in clinical studies highlighted the need for a multi-faceted approach to tackle this health crisis. Thus, we set out to explore and develop new strategies for drug repositioning by employing computational pharmacology, data mining, systems biology, and computational chemistry to advance shared efforts in identifying key targets, affected networks, and potential pharmaceutical intervention options. Our study revealed that formulating pharmacological strategies should rely on both therapeutic targets and their networks. We showed how data mining can reveal regulatory patterns, capture novel targets, alert about side-effects, and help identify new therapeutic avenues. We also highlighted the importance of the miRNA regulatory layer and how this information could be used to monitor disease progression or devise treatment strategies. Importantly, our work bridged the interactome with the chemical compound space to better understand the complex landscape of COVID-19 drugs. Machine and deep learning allowed us to showcase limitations in current chemical libraries for COVID-19 suggesting that both in silico and experimental analyses should be combined to retrieve therapeutically valuable compounds. Based on the gathered data, we strongly advocate for taking this opportunity to establish robust practices for treating today’s and future infectious diseases by preparing solid analytical frameworks

A de novo 8q22.2q22.3 interstitial microdeletion in a girl with developmental delay and congenital defects

Background and Objectives: Only nine patients with interstitial de novo 8q22.2q22.3 microdeletions have been reported to date. The objective of this report is to present clinical features of a new patient with an 8q22.2q22.3 microdeletion, to compare her phenotype to other previously reported patients, and to further expand the phenotype associated with this microdeletion. Materials and Methods: We describe an 8½-year-old girl with developmental delay, congenital hip dysplasia, a bilateral foot deformity, bilateral congenital radioulnar synostosis, a congenital heart defect, and minor facial anomalies. Results: Chromosomal microarray analysis revealed a 4.9 Mb deletion in the 8q22.2q22.3 region. De novo origin was confirmed by real-time PCR analysis. Conclusions: Microdeletions in the 8q22.2q22.3 region are characterized by moderate to severe intellectual disability, seizures, distinct facial features and skeletal abnormalities. In addition to one already reported individual with an 8q22.2q22.3 microdeletion and unilateral radioulnar synostosis, this report of a child with bilateral radioulnar synostosis provides additional evidence, that radioulnar synostosis is not an incidental finding in individuals with an 8q22.2q22.3 microdeletion. Additional patients with similar microdeletions would be of a great importance for more accurate phenotypic description and further analysis of the genotypic-phenotypic relationship

Association between hair cortisol concentration and metabolic syndrome

Metabolic syndrome(MetS)is a highly preva-lent disorder defined as a cluster of cardiometabolic riskfactors including obesity, hyperglycemia, hypertension,and dyslipidemia. It is believed that excessive cortisolsecretion due to psychosocial stress-induced hypotha-lamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activation might be involvedin the pathogenesis of MetS. We sought to explore theassociation between MetS and psychosocial risk factors,as well as cortisol concentration measured in different bio-logical specimens including saliva, blood serum, and hairsamples. The study was conducted on a sample of 163young and middle-aged men who were divided into groupsaccording to the presence of MetS. Hair cortisol concentra-tion(HCC)was determined using high performance liquidchromatography with UV detection, while blood serum andsalivary cortisol levels were measured by enzyme-linkedimmunoassay. Lipid metabolism biomarkers were deter-mined using routine laboratory methods. Anthropometricand lifestyle characteristics, as well as self-reported psy-chosocial indicators, were also examined. Significantlyhigher HCC and lower social support level among partici-pants with MetS compared with individuals without MetSwere found. However, no significant differences in bloodserum and salivary cortisol levels were observed betweenmen with and without MetS. In conclusion, chronically elevated cortisol concentration might be a potential contri-buting factor to the development of MetS

Malondialdehyde, Antioxidant Defense System Components and Their Relationship with Anthropometric Measures and Lipid Metabolism Biomarkers in Apparently Healthy Women

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Since atherosclerosis, an inflammatory, lipid-driven disease, is an underlying basis for the development of cardiovascular disease, it is important to understand its relationship with confounding factors, such as oxidative lipid degradation. In contrast, circulating antioxidants prevent oxidative lipid damage, and therefore, may be associated with reduced development of atherosclerosis. We aimed to assess oxidative lipid degradation biomarker malondialdehyde (MDA) and antioxidant defense system components, total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) inhibition rate levels, in healthy women and evaluate their relationships with age, anthropometric measures, and lipid metabolism biomarkers. The study included 86 healthy middle-aged women. MDA in human serum samples was evaluated by HPLC, and the TAC and SOD inhibition rates were measured by photometric methods. MDA was found to be associated with age, total cholesterol, non-HDL cholesterol, apolipoprotein B and triacylglycerols. TAC was shown to be associated with age, BMI, and waist circumference, as well as lipid metabolism biomarkers apolipoprotein B and triacylglycerol, while SOD inhibition rate was only associated with total cholesterol, apolipoprotein B and triacylglycerols. In conclusion, the association of oxidative status indices, MDA, TAC and SOD, with cardiovascular risk factors suggests that they could be additional useful biomarkers in the research of aging, obesity, and atherosclerosis pathogenesis