Therapeutic effects of avocado (Persea americana Mill.) seed powder against reproductive toxicity induced by Mancozeb (herbicide) in female rabbits

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : The authors declare no competing interests.Pesticides like Mancozeb are being increasingly indispensable in the control of crop pests. Unfortunately, they have been implicated in genotoxicity due to their ubiquity, toxicological properties, persistence and presence in the food chain. This study sought to evaluate the efficacy of powdered avocado seed on reproductive parameters in the management of oxidative stress in female rabbits caused by the herbicide Mancozeb. Twenty-eight female rabbits aged 7–8 months and weighing between 2780.4 g and 3143.7 g were randomly divided into four groups of seven rabbits each. Each group received for 90 consecutive days distilled water or Mancozeb associated or not with avocado seed powder orally as follows: T1: 10 ml distilled water; T2, T3 and T4: 100 mg/kg bw Mancozeb. This was followed by oral administration of 250, 500, and 0 mg/kg of avocado seed powder for T2, T3, and T4, respectively. Water and feed were distributed ad libitum. Collected data concerned growth, carcass and reproductive performances, hematological and biochemistry characteristics. Results demonstrated that pregnant and lactating female rabbits administered Mancozeb exhibited a significant decrease (P < 0.05) in food intake, body weight, and body weight gain. Female rabbits exposed to Mancozeb had a decrease in litter size and weight from birth to weaning, as well as in weaning body weight and weight increase, fertility and prolificacy rate, milk yield, and daily milk efficiency. However, administration of avocado seed powder reversed (P < 0.05) the trends in these parameters in a dose-dependent manner. The increase in relative weight of the kidney and liver, concentrations of urea, creatinine, alanine and aspartate aminotransferases, mean cell volume, white blood cells, and lymphocytes were all associated with increased Mancozeb rates (P < 0.05). On the contrary, administration of the Mancozeb caused decrease in hemoglobin (Hb), Red blood Cell (RBC) and protein content. Administration of avocado seed powder significantly (P < 0.05) ameliorated the Mancozeb effects on these parameters. Applying 500 mg/kg b.w Avocado seed powder may be suggested as an alternative therapy for reproductive defects induced by Mancozeb in female rabbits.https://www.cell.com/heliyon/homeZoology and Entomolog

Mutations in TUBG1, DYNC1H1, KIF5C and KIF2A cause malformations of cortical development and microcephaly

The genetic causes of malformations of cortical development (MCD) remain largely unknown. Here we report the discovery of multiple pathogenic missense mutations in TUBG1, DYNC1H1 and KIF2A, as well as a single germline mosaic mutation in KIF5C, in subjects with MCD. We found a frequent recurrence of mutations in DYNC1H1, implying that this gene is a major locus for unexplained MCD. We further show that the mutations in KIF5C, KIF2A and DYNC1H1 affect ATP hydrolysis, productive protein folding and microtubule binding, respectively. In addition, we show that suppression of mouse Tubg1 expression in vivo interferes with proper neuronal migration, whereas expression of altered gamma-tubulin proteins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae disrupts normal microtubule behavior. Our data reinforce the importance of centrosomal and microtubule-related proteins in cortical development and strongly suggest that microtubule-dependent mitotic and postmitotic processes are major contributors to the pathogenesis of MCD

AMPA receptor GluA2 subunit defects are a cause of neurodevelopmental disorders.

AMPA receptors (AMPARs) are tetrameric ligand-gated channels made up of combinations of GluA1-4 subunits encoded by GRIA1-4 genes. GluA2 has an especially important role because, following post-transcriptional editing at the Q607 site, it renders heteromultimeric AMPARs Ca2+-impermeable, with a linear relationship between current and trans-membrane voltage. Here, we report heterozygous de novo GRIA2 mutations in 28 unrelated patients with intellectual disability (ID) and neurodevelopmental abnormalities including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Rett syndrome-like features, and seizures or developmental epileptic encephalopathy (DEE). In functional expression studies, mutations lead to a decrease in agonist-evoked current mediated by mutant subunits compared to wild-type channels. When GluA2 subunits are co-expressed with GluA1, most GRIA2 mutations cause a decreased current amplitude and some also affect voltage rectification. Our results show that de-novo variants in GRIA2 can cause neurodevelopmental disorders, complementing evidence that other genetic causes of ID, ASD and DEE also disrupt glutamatergic synaptic transmission

The ramifications of total underground electric facilities

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston UniversityPLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at [email protected]. Thank you.2031-01-0

Zymogram and Preliminary Characterization of Lactobacillus helveticus Autolysins

The autolysins of Lactobacillus helveticus ISLC5 were detected and partially characterized by renaturing sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with substrate-containing gels (zymogram). By using lyophilized Micrococcus luteus cells or heated whole cells of L. helveticus ISLC5 (0.2% [wt/vol]) as a substrate, several lytic activities were detected in the whole-cell SDS extract of strain ISLC5 (i) one activity at 42.4 kDa, which was named autolysin A, and (ii) six other activities having very similar molecular weights (29.1, 29.6, 30, 30.8, 31.7, and 32.8 kDa), which were named autolysins B (B1 through B6, respectively). As regards the temporal distribution of the enzymes, autolysins A and B were detected in the cells harvested from the beginning of the exponential growth phase. Autolysin A appeared to be associated only with viable cells, whereas the autolysins B remained associated with the cell envelope several days after the complete loss of culture viability. When SDS-treated walls of L. helveticus ISLC5 were used as a substrate, a supplementary lytic activity appeared at 37.5 kDa; it was considered a peptidoglycan hydrolase, since it was not able to induce lysis of whole-cell substrate. The autolysins of 30 other strains of L. helveticus from various geographical origins were also analyzed by zymogram; all the activity profiles obtained were similar to that of strain ISLC5 in terms of the number of lytic bands and their apparent molecular weights. Only the relative intensities of the lytic bands corresponding to autolysins A and B were variable depending on the strains. This observation suggested that autolysins are highly conserved enzymes. A concentrated crude lysate of the virulent bacteriophage 832-B1 infecting L. helveticus was also analyzed by zymogram; one lytic activity with an apparent molecular weight of 31.7 kDa, very close to the weights of the autolysins B, was observed. Finally, the autolysins of L. helveticus ISLC5 were successfully extracted from whole cells by using a 1 M lithium chloride solution; they were partially purified by precipitation, selective resolubilization, and gel filtration chromatography, which led to a 20-fold increase in specific activity

Process Migration for Heterogeneous Distributed Systems

The policies and mechanisms for migrating processes in a distributed system become more complicated in a heterogeneous environment, where the hosts may differ in their architecture and operating systems. These distributed systems include a large quantity and great diversity of resources which may not be fully utilized without the means to migrate processes to the idle resources. In this paper, we present a graph model for single process migration which can be used for load balancing as well as other non-traditional scenarios such as migration during the graceful degradation of a host. The graph model provides the basis for a layered approach to implementing the mechanisms for process migration in a Heterogeneous Migration Facility (HMF). HMF provides the user with a library to automatically migrate processes and checkpoint data. 1 Introduction Distributed systems provide users with access to remote resources spread across a room, a community, or even a country. A heterogeneous distrib..

Rapid identification and typing of lactic acid bacteria by MALDI-TOF associated with multivariate statistical analysis

This work was focused on the potential of utilization MALDI-TOF MS in combination with statistics multivariate analysis to distinguish between of lactic acid bacteria species

Mesophilic lactic acid bacteria diversity encountered in brazilian farms producing milk with particular interest in Lactococcus Lactis Strains

The milk produced in regions with different traditions in Brazil is used for artisanal product production, which is characterized by different sensorial characteristics. This study aimed to identify the bacterial ecosystem of farms located in a traditional dairy region in the state of Minas Gerais and to characterize Lactococcus lactis strains, the species of interest in this study, using a multilocus sequence typing (MLST) protocol and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) technique. Samples were collected from raw milk and dairy environment from six farms. A total of 50 isolates were analyzed using 16S rRNA sequencing and species-specific PCR. Five genera were identified: Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc, Lactococcus, Enterococcus, and Staphylococcus, from ten different species. MLST (with six housekeeping genes) and PFGE (with SmaI endonuclease) were used for the characterization of 20 isolates of Lactococcus lactis from a dairy collection in this study. Both methods revealed a high clonal diversity of strains with a higher discriminatory level for PFGE (15 pulsotypes), compared to MLST (12 ST). This study contributes to the preservation of the Brazilian dairy heritage and provides insights into a part of the LAB population found in raw milk and dairy environment

Lemzeiet, a traditional algerian fermented food: first characterization of lactic acid bacteria flora

Algerian couscous named Lemzeiet is manufactured from fermented wheat and characterizedby a brown color and a particular flavors especially appreciated by consumers. Historicallyperformed in underground silos (Matmour) during several years, the fermentation of wheat isnow generally carried out in plastic jerrycans or drums during around one year with orwithout addition of vinegar at the beginning of the fermentation. Most of the cereal- basedfermented foods involve lactic acid fermentation including Lemzeiet. The aim of this workwas to determine the dynamic and the diversity of lactic acid bacteria populations over twoyears, in the presence or absence of vinegar. Culture dependent methods were used and 147isolates were selected based on phenotypic characteristics. 70 were retained for molecularcharacterization. They were identified by coupling different molecular methods (16SrRNA/pheS/rpoA genes sequencing and specific PCR) and the clonal diversity wasinvestigated with randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and pulse-field gelelectrophoresis analysis (PFGE). The population of lactic acid bacteria evolved during theperiod of fermentation. It was dominated by Lactobacillus and Pediococcus species in thewheat fermented without vinegar, and by Enterococcus and Pediococcus species in thepresence of vinegar. We also observed a high level of intra-species diversity. Analysis ofaroma compounds by head space trap-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry is underprogress to determine the impact of the lactic acid bacteria populations on the final aromaprofile of products. These results give a first insight in lactic acid bacteria population diversityin Lemzeiet and will contribute to a better control of the fermentation process