Enzymatic activities and arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization of Plantago lanceolata and Plantago major in a soil root zone under heavy metal stres

The objectives of the present field study were to examine the soil enzyme activities in the soil root zones of Plantago lanceolata and Plantago major in different heavy metal contaminated stands. Moreover, the investigations concerned the intensity of root endophytic colonization and metal bioaccumulation in roots and shoots. The investigated Plantago species exhibited an excluder strategy, accumulating higher metal content in the roots than in the shoots. The heavy metal accumulation levels found in the two plantain species in this study were comparable to other plants suggested as phytostabilizers; therefore, the selected Plantago species may be applied in the phytostabilization of heavy metal contaminated areas. The lower level of soil enzymes (dehydrogenase, urease, acid, and alkaline phosphatase) as well as the higher bioavailability of metals in the root zone soil of the two plantain species were found in an area affected by smelting activity, where organic matter content in the soil was also the smallest. Mycorrhizal colonization on both species in the contaminated area was similar to colonization in non-contaminated stands. However, the lowest arbuscule occurrence and an absence of dark septate endophytes were found in the area affected by the smelting activity. It corresponded with the lowest plant cover observed in this stand. The assessment of enzyme activity, mycorrhizal colonization, and the chemical and physical properties of soils proved to be sensitive to differences between sites and between Plantago species

Evidence for cytoprotective effect of carbon monoxide donor in the development of acute esophagitis leading to acute esophageal epithelium lesions

Exposure to acidic gastric content due to malfunction of lower esophageal sphincter leads to acute reflux esophagitis (RE) leading to disruption of esophageal epithelial cells. Carbon monoxide (CO) produced by heme oxygenase (HMOX) activity or released from its donor, tricarbonyldichlororuthenium (II) dimer (CORM-2) was reported to protect gastric mucosa against acid-dependent non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug-induced damage. Thus, we aimed to investigate if CO affects RE-induced esophageal epithelium lesions development. RE induced in Wistar rats by the ligation of a junction between pylorus and forestomach were pretreated i.g. with vehicle CORM-2; RuCl3; zinc protoporphyrin IX, or hemin. CORM-2 was combined with NG-nitro-L-arginine (L-NNA), indomethacin, capsazepine, or capsaicin-induced sensory nerve ablation. Esophageal lesion score (ELS), esophageal blood flow (EBF), and mucus production were determined by planimetry, laser flowmetry, histology. Esophageal Nrf-2, HMOXs, COXs, NOSs, TNF-α and its receptor, IL-1 family and IL-1 receptor antagonist (RA), NF-κB, HIF-1α, annexin-A1, suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS3), TRPV1, c-Jun, c-Fos mRNA/protein expressions, PGE2, 8-hydroxy-deoxyguanozine (8-OHdG) and serum COHb, TGF-β1, TGF-β2, IL-1β, and IL-6 content were assessed by PCR, immunoblotting, immunohistochemistry, gas chromatography, ELISA or Luminex platform. Hemin or CORM-2 alone or combined with L-NNA or indomethacin decreased ELS. Capsazepine or capsaicin-induced denervation reversed CORM-2 effects. COHb blood content, esophageal HMOX-1, Nrf-2, TRPV1 protein, annexin-A1, HIF-1α, IL-1 family, NF-κB, c-Jun, c-Fos, SOCS3 mRNA expressions, and 8-OHdG levels were elevated while PGE2 concentration was decreased after RE. CO donor-maintained elevated mucosal TRPV1 protein, HIF-1 α, annexin-A1, IL-1RA, SOCS3 mRNA expression, or TGF-β serum content, decreasing 8-OHdG level, and particular inflammatory markers expression/concentration. CORM-2 and Nrf-2/HMOX-1/CO pathway prevent esophageal mucosa against RE-induced lesions, DNA oxidation, and inflammatory response involving HIF-1α, annexin-A1, SOCS3, IL-1RA, TGF-β-modulated pathways. Esophagoprotective and hyperemic CO effects are in part mediated by afferent sensory neurons and TRPV1 receptors activity with questionable COX/PGE2 or NO/NOS systems involvement

Usefulness of the SCC, CEA, CYFRA 21.1, and CRP markers for the diagnosis and monitoring of cervical squamous cell carcinoma

Summary Objective: To determine the usefulness of the SCC, CEA, CYFRA 21.1, and CRP markers for the diagnosis and early monitoring after treatment completion in women diagnosed with cervical squamous cell carcinoma. Material and methods: Serum of 140 patients with diagnosed cervical squamous cell carcinoma was investigated. The women with the advanced stage of cervical carcinoma (FIGO IIIB) were divided into two subgroups: with positive and negative outcomes of the treatment. Levels of SCC, CEA, CYFRA 21.1, and CRP were measured before the treatment and immediately after the completion of radiotherapy. Immunochemical methods were used to measure proteins in both serum and plasma samples. Results: 75% of the markers measured were within the reference range for FIGO stage I. The marker levels rose with the clinical progression of the disease. The median levels of all markers and the CRP levels in both groups were compared before the treatment. Only in case of CEA a considerable variation between these groups was observed. Elevated levels of CRP were observed twice more often in patients with negative outcome of the treatment. After the treatment, a significant decrease in all marker levels was observed in patients with positive outcome when compared to the levels at the moment of the diagnosis. Conclusions: SCC, CEA and CYFRA 21.1 markers show low diagnostic sensitivity in early stages of the disease in women diagnosed with cervical squamous cell carcinoma. The concentration of markers measured before the treatment, particularly CEA, may prove to be of prognostic value for women diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer. Certain markers may prove useful in the assessment of the therapy used. Measuring the CRP before the treatment may aid the prognosis of response to treatment in these patients

Intestinal alkaline phosphatase combined with voluntary physical activity alleviates experimental colitis in obese mice : involvement of oxidative stress, myokines, adipokines and proinflammatory biomarkers

Intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP) is an essential mucosal defense factor involved in the process of maintenance of gut homeostasis. We determined the effect of moderate exercise (voluntary wheel running) with or without treatment with IAP on the course of experimental murine 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS) colitis by assessing disease activity index (DAI), colonic blood flow (CBF), plasma myokine irisin levels and the colonic and adipose tissue expression of proinflammatory cytokines, markers of oxidative stress (SOD2, GPx) and adipokines in mice fed a standard diet (SD) or high-fat diet (HFD). Macroscopic and microscopic colitis in sedentary SD mice was accompanied by a significant decrease in CBF, and a significant increase in the colonic expression of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), IL-6, IL-1β and leptin mRNAs and decrease in the mRNA expression of adiponectin. These effects were aggravated in sedentary HFD mice but reduced in exercising animals, potentiated by concomitant treatment with IAP, especially in obese mice. Exercising HFD mice demonstrated a substantial increase in the mRNA for adiponectin and a decrease in mRNA leptin expression in intestinal mucosa and mesenteric fat as compared to sedentary animals. The expression of SOD2 and GPx mRNAs was significantly decreased in adipose tissue in HFD mice, but these effects were reversed in exercising mice with IAP administration. Our study shows for the first time that the combination of voluntary exercise and oral IAP treatment synergistically favored healing of intestinal inflammation, strengthened the antioxidant defense and ameliorated the course of experimental colitis; thus, IAP may represent a novel adjuvant therapy to alleviate inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in humans

Usefulness of osteopontin (OPN) determinations in ovarian cancer patients who underwent first-line chemotherapy

Abstract Introduction: Currently CA 125 is a marker of choice for monitoring ovarian cancer. Nonetheless, scientists are still searching for new markers, which could provide additional information for the evaluation of treatment, especially in patients with normal CA 125 levels, despite the progression of the disease. According to the latest reports, OPN can be a potential new marker. Aim: Estimation of usefulness of OPN determinations in the monitoring of ovarian cancer patients. Material and Methods: The study included 54 ovarian cancer patients, undergoing chemotherapy. Markers were measured before, during and after treatment. The dynamics of the change of OPN levels was shown on line graphs, using Microsoft Excel programme. Statistical analysis was performed by Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test. Results: 44% of patients from the study group were found to have low CA 125 levels. In these cases only the increase of OPN concentration indicated recurrence of the disease. In 43% of patients the high initial CA 125 and OPN levels decreased during chemotherapy and complete regression was stated in these patients. Nevertheless, in 13/17 patients a repeated increase of OPN concentration signalling the recurrence, earlier than CA 125 and clinical recurrence manifestation, was observed. In 13% of patients high initial levels of markers did not decrease during chemotherapy, which correlated with the progression of the disease. Our study showed that only the CA 125 levels had a significant influence (p=0.00063) on the disease-free survival time. Conclusions: Our data suggest a potential usefulness of the OPN determinations in estimating ovarian cancer recurrence. Nonetheless, there was no correlation between the initial OPN concentration and the disease-free survival time

Evaluation of selected serum protein markers as early detectors of ovarian cancer

Summary Objective: an attempt to determine the value of the simultaneous quantization of osteopontin (OPN), insulingrowth factor II (IGF II), leptin, prolactin and CA 125 for early detection of ovarian cancer Materials and methods: Prospective study of 69 women including: - 15 females with ovarian cancer - 33 females with benign ovarian neoplasm - 21 disease-free females The levels of IGF II, prolactin, leptin and CA 125 were determined in serum, while the level of OPN was checked in plasma. Results: The concentrations of IGF II, leptin and prolactin do not let us distinguish among disease-free females, females with ovarian cancer and those with benign ovarian neoplasms on the basis of biochemical markers. The comparison of OPN and CA 125 levels showed significant differences in the concentrations of the biomarkers between disease-free females and females with ovarian cancer, as well as between females with benign ovarian neoplasms and females with ovarian cancer. The ROC curves for two groups: disease-free females and females with ovarian cancer, proved the diagnostic value of OPN and CA 125. Conclusions: The simultaneous quantization of OPN, IGF II leptin and prolactin has not been proved useful for the early detection of ovarian cancer. Statistically significant increase of OPN & CA 125 levels was noted in case of women with ovarian cancer diagnosed through microscopic examination. The analysis of ROC curves showed comparable diagnostic usefulness of both markers. Quantization of OPN may have an additional value for treatment monitoring of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer but with concentration of CA 125 within the reference value

Tools and data services registry: a community effort to document bioinformatics resources

Life sciences are yielding huge data sets that underpin scientific discoveries fundamental to improvement in human health, agriculture and the environment. In support of these discoveries, a plethora of databases and tools are deployed, in technically complex and diverse implementations, across a spectrum of scientific disciplines. The corpus of documentation of these resources is fragmented across the Web, with much redundancy, and has lacked a common standard of information. The outcome is that scientists must often struggle to find, understand, compare and use the best resources for the task at hand. Here we present a community-driven curation effort, supported by ELIXIR—the European infrastructure for biological information—that aspires to a comprehensive and consistent registry of information about bioinformatics resources. The sustainable upkeep of this Tools and Data Services Registry is assured by a curation effort driven by and tailored to local needs, and shared amongst a network of engaged partners. As of November 2015, the registry includes 1785 resources, with depositions from 126 individual registrations including 52 institutional providers and 74 individuals. With community support, the registry can become a standard for dissemination of information about bioinformatics resources: we welcome everyone to join us in this common endeavour. The registry is freely available at https://bio.tools

Temperature Effects Explain Continental Scale Distribution of Cyanobacterial Toxins

Insight into how environmental change determines the production and distribution of cyanobacterial toxins is necessary for risk assessment. Management guidelines currently focus on hepatotoxins (microcystins). Increasing attention is given to other classes, such as neurotoxins (e.g., anatoxin-a) and cytotoxins (e.g., cylindrospermopsin) due to their potency. Most studies examine the relationship between individual toxin variants and environmental factors, such as nutrients, temperature and light. In summer 2015, we collected samples across Europe to investigate the effect of nutrient and temperature gradients on the variability of toxin production at a continental scale. Direct and indirect effects of temperature were the main drivers of the spatial distribution in the toxins produced by the cyanobacterial community, the toxin concentrations and toxin quota. Generalized linear models showed that a Toxin Diversity Index (TDI) increased with latitude, while it decreased with water stability. Increases in TDI were explained through a significant increase in toxin variants such as MC-YR, anatoxin and cylindrospermopsin, accompanied by a decreasing presence of MC-LR. While global warming continues, the direct and indirect effects of increased lake temperatures will drive changes in the distribution of cyanobacterial toxins in Europe, potentially promoting selection of a few highly toxic species or strains.Peer reviewe

Recruitment of employees in the recruitment process by non-governmental organizations

Celem pracy jest opisanie procesów rekrutacyjnych zachodzących w organizacjach pozarządowych. Dodatkowo przedstawiono formy, metody i zasady używane w trakcie rekrutacji i selekcji. Zbadano, które z elementów procesów rekrutacyjnych i selekcyjnych sprzyjają efektywnemu pozyskaniu wykwalifikowanych pracowników. W pracy wykorzystano strategie ilościowe i jakościowe, w których analiza danych zastanych objęła 232 organizacje. Wywiad natomiast przeprowadzony został z trzema organizacjami. W badaniach opisano w jaki sposób organizacje poszukują pracowników na wybrane stanowisko.Z danych jakościowych wynika, że poszukujący pracy oraz zatrudnieni oczekują od pracodawców możliwości rozwoju zawodowego i zdobycia przydatnego doświadczenia. Ze względu na niereprezentatywne próby badawcze do wyników badań należy podejść w sposób ostrożny.The aim of the work is to present how recruitment process influences to non-governmental organizations. Furthermore, it is also presented which methods and practices were used in those processes. It was examined which of the recruitment and selection elements effect to successful acquire of workers. The data was obtained using quantitative and qualitative method in which analyzes of existing data were covered by 232 organizations. Interview was carried out with three organizations.The data show that jobseekers and employees expect from employers possibility of career develop and gain useful experience. However, due unrepresentative test sample, the test results should be interpreted carefully