Arginine metabolism in Trichomonas vaginalis infected with Mycoplasma hominis

Both Mycoplasma hominis and Trichomonas vaginalis utilize arginine as an energy source via the arginine dihydrolase (ADH) pathway. It has been previously demonstrated that M. hominis forms a stable intracellular relationship with T. vaginalis; hence, in this study we examined the interaction of two localized ADH pathways by comparing T. vaginalis strain SS22 with the laboratory-generated T. vaginalis strain SS22-MOZ2 infected with M. hominis MOZ2. The presence of M. hominis resulted in an approximately 16-fold increase in intracellular ornithine and a threefold increase in putrescine, compared with control T. vaginalis cultures. No change in the activity of enzymes of the ADH pathway could be demonstrated in SS22-MOZ2 compared with the parent SS22, and the increased production of ornithine could be attributed to the presence of M. hominis. Using metabolic flow analysis it was determined that the elasticity of enzymes of the ADH pathway in SS22-MOZ2 was unchanged compared with the parent SS22; however, the elasticity of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) in SS22 was small, and it was doubled in SS22-MOZ2 cells. The potential benefit of this relationship to both T. vaginalis and M. hominis is discussed

Prevalence of Trichomonas vaginalis infection in symptomatic and asymptomatic women in Central Vietnam

Introduction: The diffusion of trichomoniasis in Vietnam has been scarcely studied. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of trichomoniasis in a group of symptomatic and asymptomatic women in Central Vietnam. Relationships between education, socioeconomical and marital status, and sexual behavior with infection have also been investigated. Methodology: 249 symptomatic and 534 asymptomatic women from Hue City, Vietnam, were enrolled in this study. All women were interviewed about socioeconomical and behavioral status. They underwent clinical examination, and vaginal swabs were taken to assess T. vaginalis infection by wet mount microscopy examination. In addition, an ELISA test to detect antibodies to T. vaginalis in patients' sera was used. Results: The overall prevalence of trichomoniasis assessed by microscopic examination was 6.6%. A significant difference between symptomatic and asymptomatic groups was observed, resulting in 19.3% and 0.7%, respectively. Anti-T.vaginalis antibodies were detected in 31.3% of symptomatic and in 13.3% of asymptomatic women. High-risk sexual behaviour, residence in urban areas, and low level of education were positively associated with infection. Conclusion: This is the first report on the diffusion of trichomoniasis in Central Vietnam on symptomatic and asymptomatic subjects. Data demonstrated that T. vaginalis is a common cause of vaginal infection in the Hue province. The prevalence detected by microscopic examination was high in symptomatic subjects, while serological ELISA test detected infection also in asymptomatic patients, who tested negative by microscopy. The ELISA test may be useful to detect infection, especially in asymptomatic population

EPR and proton ENDOR study of the solution equilibria of bis(2-ethyl-2-hydroxybutanoato(2-))oxochromate(V) and bis(2-hydroxy-2-methylbutanoato(2-))oxochromate(V)

The behavior of the bischelated oxochromium(V) complex of 2-ethyl-2-hydroxybutanoate(2-) and its 2-hydroxy- 2-methylbutanoate(2-) analogue has been reexamined by EPR and H ENDOR spectroscopy in a range of solvents. It has been confirmed that the complexes rearrange in solution to yield two species which are in equilibrium, the kinetics of the process being dependent on the nature of the solvent. The results rule out that such a rearrangement is due to an acid-base process involving the alcoholic group of one of the ligands and suggest that the two species are the cis and trans isomeric forms of the bischelated complex, both exhibiting a distorted five-coordinate geometry

Synthesis of enantiomerically pure α-[4-(1-substituted)-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl]-benzylacetamides via microwave-assisted click chemistry: towards new potential antimicrobial agents

Chiral 1-phenyl-2-propynylamines are important building blocks for the synthesis of antifungal and antiaromatase agents related to bifonazole. In this report, a microwave-assisted Cu(I)-catalyzed 'click chemistry' approach has been employed to easily generate a small library of enantiomerically pure α-[4-(1-substituted)-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl]benzylacetamides starting from racemic propargylamines. These compounds could represent easily accessible intermediates for the synthesis of new antimicrobial agents

AI-Based Analysis of Policies and Images for Privacy-Conscious Content Sharing

Thanks to the popularity of personal mobile devices, more and more of the different types of private content, such as images and videos, are shared on social networking applications. While content sharing may be an effective practice to enhance social relationships, it is also a source of relevant privacy issues. Unfortunately, users find it difficult to understanding the terms and implications of the privacy policies of apps and services. Moreover, taking privacy decisions about content sharing on social networks is cumbersome and prone to errors that could determine privacy leaks. In this paper, we propose two techniques aimed at supporting the user in taking privacy choices about sharing personal content online. Our techniques are based on machine learning and natural language processing to analyze privacy policies, and on computer vision to assist the user in the privacy-conscious sharing of multimedia content. Experiments with real-world data show the potential of our solutions. We also present ongoing work on a system prototype and chatbot for natural language user assistance