The effect of exercise on high-level mobility in individuals with neurodegenerative disease: a systematic literature review

Objective: To investigate the effect of exercise on high-level mobility (i.e. mobility more advanced than independent level walking) in individuals with neurodegenerative disease. Data sources: A systematic literature search was conducted in Medline, CINAHL, Scopus, SportDiscus and PEDro. Study selection: Randomised controlled trials of exercise interventions for individuals with neurodegenerative disease, with an outcome measure that contained high-level mobility items were included. High-level mobility items included running, jumping, bounding, stair climbing and backward walking. Outcome measures with high-level mobility items include the High Level Mobility Assessment Tool (HiMAT); Dynamic Gait Index; Rivermead Mobility Index (RMI) or modified RMI; Functional Gait Assessment and the Functional Ambulation Category. Study appraisal: Quality was evaluated with the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. Results: Twenty-four studies with predominantly moderate to low risk of bias met the review criteria. High-level mobility items were included within primary outcome measures for only two studies and secondary outcome measures for 22 studies. Eight types of exercise interventions were investigated within which high-level mobility tasks were not commonly included. In the absence of outcome measures or interventions focused on high-level mobility, findings suggest some benefit from treadmill training for individuals with multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's disease. Progressive resistance training for individuals with multiple sclerosis may also be beneficial. With few studies on other neurodegenerative diseases, further inferences cannot be made. Conclusion: Future studies need to specifically target high-level mobility in the early stages of neurodegenerative disease and determine the impact of high-level mobility interventions on community participation and maintenance of an active lifestyle. Systematic review registration number PROSPERO register for systematic reviews (registration number: CRD42016050362)

Antibiotic and Antimalarial Quinones from Fungus-Growing Ant-Associated Pseudonocardia sp.

Three new members of the angucycline class of antibiotics, pseudonocardones A–C (1–3), along with the known antibiotics 6-deoxy-8-O-methylrabelomycin (4) and X-14881 E (5) have been isolated from the culture of a Pseudonocardia strain associated with the fungus-growing ant Apterostigma dentigerum. Compounds 4 and 5 showed antibiotic activity against Bacillus subtilis 3610 and liver-stage Plasmodium berghei, while 1–3 were inactive or only weakly active in a variety of biological assays. Compound 5 also showed moderate cytotoxicity against HepG2 cells

GARDINERIN, A BIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE ACETOGENIN FROM THE SRI LANKAN GONIOTHALAMUS GARDINERI HOOK. F. AND THOMSON

Objective: The study was undertaken to isolate biologically active compounds from Goniothalamus gardineri, a plant endemic to Sri Lanka. Methods: Roots and flowers of Goniothalamus gardineri were extracted into dichloromethane and methanol. A new acetogenin, gardinerin isolated by column chromatography of the dichloromethane extract was structurally characterized using NMR and Mass spectroscopies. It was found to be mosquito larvicidal (against 2nd instar larvae of Aedes aegypti), cytotoxic (in the brine shrimp assay) and antioxidant (DPPH assay). Results: Gardinerin exhibited potent mosquitolarvicidal activity (LC50 = 0.0744±0.37 ppm.), cytotoxicity (LC50 = 1.5±0.37 ppm) and antioxidant activity (IC50 =10.02±0.01 ppm). The same extract furnished (5R)-goniothalamin. The hexane extract of the flowers of G. gardineri yielded poriferesterol and stigmast-4, 22-dien-3-one.Conclusion: The endemic plant G. gardineri has yielded an acetogenin possessing highly potent antioxidant, cytotoxic and mosquitolarvicidal activity. Â

Bactobolin Resistance Is Conferred by Mutations in the L2 Ribosomal Protein

Burkholderia thailandensis produces a family of polyketide-peptide molecules called bactobolins, some of which are potent antibiotics. We found that growth of B. thailandensis at 30°C versus that at 37°C resulted in increased production of bactobolins. We purified the three most abundant bactobolins and determined their activities against a battery of bacteria and mouse fibroblasts. Two of the three compounds showed strong activities against both bacteria and fibroblasts. The third analog was much less potent in both assays. These results suggested that the target of bactobolins might be conserved across bacteria and mammalian cells. To learn about the mechanism of bactobolin activity, we isolated four spontaneous bactobolin-resistant Bacillus subtilis mutants. We used genomic sequencing technology to show that each of the four resistant variants had mutations in rplB, which codes for the 50S ribosome-associated L2 protein. Ectopic expression of a mutant rplB gene in wild-type B. subtilis conferred bactobolin resistance. Finally, the L2 mutations did not confer resistance to other antibiotics known to interfere with ribosome function. Our data indicate that bactobolins target the L2 protein or a nearby site and that this is not the target of other antibiotics. We presume that the mammalian target of bactobolins involves the eukaryotic homolog of L2 (L8e)

Bactobolin Resistance Is Conferred by Mutations in the L2 Ribosomal Protein

Burkholderia thailandensis produces a family of polyketide-peptide molecules called bactobolins, some of which are potent antibiotics. We found that growth of B. thailandensis at 30°C versus that at 37°C resulted in increased production of bactobolins. We purified the three most abundant bactobolins and determined their activities against a battery of bacteria and mouse fibroblasts. Two of the three compounds showed strong activities against both bacteria and fibroblasts. The third analog was much less potent in both assays. These results suggested that the target of bactobolins might be conserved across bacteria and mammalian cells. To learn about the mechanism of bactobolin activity, we isolated four spontaneous bactobolin-resistant Bacillus subtilis mutants. We used genomic sequencing technology to show that each of the four resistant variants had mutations in rplB, which codes for the 50S ribosome-associated L2 protein. Ectopic expression of a mutant rplB gene in wild-type B. subtilis conferred bactobolin resistance. Finally, the L2 mutations did not confer resistance to other antibiotics known to interfere with ribosome function. Our data indicate that bactobolins target the L2 protein or a nearby site and that this is not the target of other antibiotics. We presume that the mammalian target of bactobolins involves the eukaryotic homolog of L2 (L8e)

CREATE Research Symposium 2022 Book of Abstracts

This is the book of Abstracts for a recent symposium held by the CREATE research Group in TU Dublin

Omicron neutralising antibodies after COVID-19 vaccination in haemodialysis patients.

Funder: Kidney Research U

Nucleon and hadron structure changes in the nuclear medium and impact on observables

We review the effect of hadron structure changes in a nuclear medium using the quark-meson coupling (QMC) model, which is based on a mean field description of non-overlapping nucleon (or baryon) bags bound by the self-consistent exchange of scalar and vector mesons. This approach leads to simple scaling relations for the changes of hadron masses in a nuclear medium. It can also be extended to describe finite nuclei, as well as the properties of hypernuclei and meson-nucleus deeply bound states. It is of great interest that the model predicts a variation of the nucleon form factors in nuclear matter. We also study the empirically observed, Bloom-Gilman (quark-hadron) duality. Other applications of the model include subthreshold kaon production in heavy ion collisions, D and D-bar meson production in antiproton-nucleus collisions, and J/Psi suppression. In particular, the modification of the D and D-bar meson properties in nuclear medium can lead to a large J/Psi absorption cross section, which explains the observed J/Psi suppression in relativistic heavy ion collisions.Comment: 143 pages, 77 figures, references added, a review article accepted in Prog. Part. Nucl. Phy