Antioxidant and anticancer properties of leaves and seed cones from European yew (Taxus baccata L.)

Plant extracts of the leaves and seed cones of European yew Taxus baccata L. (Taxaceae) were analyzed for total phenolic content, flavonoid concentrations, antioxidant and anticancer properties (cytotoxic and proapoptotic activity). The total phenolic content ranged between 8.23 and 210.01 mg Ga/g, with the IC 50 values for antioxidant activity between 25.24 and 533.66 μg/ml. The MTT test showed that the methanolic extract of leaves had better activity on HCT-116 cells than the extract of seed cones, with IC 50 values of 14.3 for 24 h and 4.59 for 72 h. The MDA-MB-231 cell line displayed significantly lower sensitivity to both extracts as compared to the HCT-116 cell line. Microscopic examination indicated that the extracts induced apoptosis in both cell lines. These results suggest that T. baccata leaves and seed cones are a potential source of phenolic compounds, especially flavonoids, as natural antioxidant, cytotoxic and strong proapoptotic substances of high value

Alteration of oxidative stress parameters in red blood cells of rats after chronic in Vivo treatment with cisplatin and selenium

In this study we evaluated the possible protective effects of selenium (Se) on hematological and oxidative stress parameters in rats chronically treated with cisplatin (cisPt). Four groups of Wistar albino rats were examined: a control, untreated rats (I), rats treated with Se (II), rats treated with cisPt (III), and rats treated with Se and cisPt (IV). All animals were treated for 5 days successively and killed 24 h after the last treatment. Hematological and oxidative stress parameters were followed in whole blood and red blood cells (RBC). Results showed that the chronic application of Se was followed by a higher number of reticulocytes and platelets, increased lipid peroxidation and GSH content in the RBC. Cisplatin treatment induced depletion of RBC and platelet numbers and an elevation of the superoxide anion, nitrites and glutathione levels. Se and cisPt co-treatment was followed by an elevation of the hematological parameters and the recovery of the glutathione status when compared to the control and cisPt-treated rats

The concentration of matrix metalloproteinase 9 in the tumor and peritumoral tissue as a prognostic marker in the breast cancer patients

© 2019, Inst. Sci. inf., Univ. Defence in Belgrade. All rights reserved. Background/Aim. Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies among women all over the world. Tumor microenvironment represents one of the main regulators of tumorigenesis. We investigated the role of matrix metalloproteinases 9 (MMP-9) concentration in peritumoral tissue as a prognostic marker in the breast cancer patients. Methods. The ELISA test was used to determine a total MMP-9 concentration in carcinoma and peritumoral tissue sample in the patients with breast cancer. Comparison of MMP-9 protein expression with the clinicopathological parameters was evaluated. Results. Peritumoral tissue at 3 cm distance from the tumor produces more MMP-9 than the tumor itself. The ratio of concentrations of MMP-9 in the tumor and peritumoral tissue considerably changes in favor of peritumoral tissue with the increase of tumor size and the involvement of axillary lymph nodes. In N0 stage, the concentration ratio of MMP-9 in the tumor and peritumoral tissues was 1: 1.44, but in the N2 stage, the ratio was 1: 26.5. Conclusion. In patients with breast cancer even in an early stadium there is a change in MMP-9 concentration in peritumoral tissue. We can extract the group of patients at increased risk for the development of lymph node metastasis. A statistically significant difference between the concentrations of MMP-9 in the peritumoral tissue and cancer tissue exists only in case of metastatic disease not in MO stadium implying need for early detection of still unknown metastases in such patients

Verification of NAISS model for road traffic noise prediction in urban areas

Background of mathematical model for prediction of road traffic noise called NAISS model is shown in this paper. The model has been created by extracting function relation among the equivalent noise levels and the traffic parameters collected by systematic traffic noise monitoring in urban areas of the city of Nis. Based on the analysis of three different variants of traffic noise prediction model, the model with three input parameters (the number of passenger vehicles, freight vehicles and buses) and one output (Leq) and two separate equations for two ranges of noise levels has been proposed as rather correctly for using in the urban areas of the city of Nis. In order to examine validity of formed model, it is carried out the comparative analysis of NAISS model and the other models available in literature and the verification of NAISS model based on data collected by traffic noise monitoring in urban areas of the city of Nis during the years 2008-2010. The good results obtained in the comparison with other prediction methods have been confirmed in the verification process of NAISS model. Scatter plot for model verification shown in this paper as well as the results of statistical analysis of the differences between measured and calculated data show the validity and enforceability of the NAISS model for traffic noise prediction in urban areas of the city of Nis

Mammaglobin expression in tissue as a predictor of breast carcinoma aggressiveness

Background/Aim. Human mammaglobin is considered to be one of the most significant markers of hematogenous dissemi-nation of breast carcinoma. This paper aimed to indicate the important role of peritumoral tissue as an active participant in the tumorigenesis process and the concentration/expression of mammaglobins in the peritumoral tissue as a significant prog-nostic factor. Methods. This research included 64 female pa-tients with primary breast carcinoma during the five-year fol-low-up period. To determine the concentration of mammaglo-bin A in samples of carcinoma tissue and peritumoral tissue, Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test was used, and for the determination of relative gene expression of mammaglobin A, quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used. Results. The concentra-tion of mammaglobin A was increased in both the carcinoma tissue and peritumoral tissue with an increase in tumor size, number of affected lymph nodes, number of metastases, while relative expression of mammaglobin A was statistically signifi-cantly higher in carcinoma tissue than in peritumoral tissue, re-gardless of the tumor size, number of affected lymph nodes, number of metastases and tumor type. The concentration of mammaglobin A was higher in peritumoral tissue than in tissue of ductal carcinoma, while in the case of lobular carcinoma the concentration of mammaglobin A was higher in carcinoma tis-sue than in peritumoral tissue. Conclusion. Mammaglobin A concentration in peritumoral tissue higher than 0.6704221 ng/mL, and in carcinoma tissue higher than 0.5784426 ng/mL, as well as mammaglobin A relative gene expression in carcino-ma tissue higher than 1.003, were determined as cut-off values. These values may identify patients who are at higher risk of metastatic disease, which would be treated with early radical ad-juvant treatment

Antioxidant and anticancer properties of leaves and seed cones from European yew (Taxus baccata L.)

Plant extracts of the leaves and seed cones of European yew Taxus baccata L. (Taxaceae) were analyzed for total phenolic content, flavonoid concentrations, antioxidant and anticancer properties (cytotoxic and proapoptotic activity). The total phenolic content ranged between 8.23 and 210.01 mg Ga/g, with the IC 50 values for antioxidant activity between 25.24 and 533.66 μg/ml. The MTT test showed that the methanolic extract of leaves had better activity on HCT-116 cells than the extract of seed cones, with IC 50 values of 14.3 for 24 h and 4.59 for 72 h. The MDA-MB-231 cell line displayed significantly lower sensitivity to both extracts as compared to the HCT-116 cell line. Microscopic examination indicated that the extracts induced apoptosis in both cell lines. These results suggest that T. baccata leaves and seed cones are a potential source of phenolic compounds, especially flavonoids, as natural antioxidant, cytotoxic and strong proapoptotic substances of high value

Chemical composition and in vitro antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities of plum (Prunus domestica L.) wine

© 2016 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling. A moderate intake of wine is associated with a positive impact on human health owing to the effects of important biologically active components present in the wine in large amounts. The aim of this study was to examine the chemical composition and to assess antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities of fruit wines produced from three plum varieties (Čačanska rana, Čačanska lepotica and Požegača) commonly grown in Serbia as an approach to assess the quality and acceptability of these wines as a functional food. Furthermore, the activity of a series of control samples was assessed in order to determine components from the wine that are responsible for its functional properties. The plum wines produced showed considerable antimicrobial activity against six bacterial and two yeast strains used in this study. In addition to antimicrobial activity, the plum wines showed a significant cytotoxic effect (IC50<50μgmL-1) on the growth of three tested cancer cell lines (Hep2c, RD and L2OB). Regarding the determined activities, Čačanska rana plum wine achieved the best results. The results indicated that the antimicrobial activity of the plum wines was, in large part, based on the effects of the total acids and the pH value, while the contribution of ethanol and the content of the phenolic compounds were not significant. Similar conclusions were drawn regarding the cytotoxic activity of this fruit wine. The results can be seen as a contribution to the global acceptance of fruit wines as a functional food, with the accent placed on moderate consumption. An important advantage of fruit wines (in particular plum wine), compared with traditional grape wine, is their lower alcohol content

Epidemiological Predictive Modeling of COVID-19 Infection: Development, Testing, and Implementation on the Population of the Benelux Union

Since the outbreak of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), the whole world has taken interest in the mechanisms of its spread and development. Mathematical models have been valuable instruments for the study of the spread and control of infectious diseases. For that purpose, we propose a two-way approach in modeling COVID-19 spread: a susceptible, exposed, infected, recovered, deceased (SEIRD) model based on differential equations and a long short-term memory (LSTM) deep learning model. The SEIRD model is a compartmental epidemiological model with included components: susceptible, exposed, infected, recovered, deceased. In the case of the SEIRD model, official statistical data available online for countries of Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg (Benelux) in the period of March 15 2020 to March 15 2021 were used. Based on them, we have calculated key parameters and forward them to the epidemiological model, which will predict the number of infected, deceased, and recovered people. Results show that the SEIRD model is able to accurately predict several peaks for all the three countries of interest, with very small root mean square error (RMSE), except for the mild cases (maximum RMSE was 240.79 ± 90.556), which can be explained by the fact that no official data were available for mild cases, but this number was derived from other statistics. On the other hand, LSTM represents a special kind of recurrent neural network structure that can comparatively learn long-term temporal dependencies. Results show that LSTM is capable of predicting several peaks based on the position of previous peaks with low values of RMSE. Higher values of RMSE are observed in the number of infected cases in Belgium (RMSE was 535.93) and Netherlands (RMSE was 434.28), and are expected because of thousands of people getting infected per day in those countries. In future studies, we will extend the models to include mobility information, variants of concern, as well as a medical intervention, etc. A prognostic model could help us predict epidemic peaks. In that way, we could react in a timely manner by introducing new or tightening existing measures before the health system is overloaded