Fungal response to abruptly or gradually delivered antifungal agent amphotericin B is growth stage dependent

Anthropogenic disturbances pose a multitude of novel challenges to ecosystems. While many experiments have tested effects using abrupt treatment applications, most environmental changes in fact are gradual. Since ecosystem responses might be highly dependent on the temporal nature of stressors, it is crucial to differentiate the effects of abrupt vs gradual treatment application. Antifungal agents, which are widely used in disease control both for humans and in agriculture, are becoming a new class of environmental contaminants. In this study, we examined the effect of a sub-lethal application of one antifungal agent, amphotericin B. We applied different rates of delivery, e.g. gradual and abrupt, and monitored biomass and sporulation of the model fungus Neurospora crassa in a batch culture. Our results demonstrate that: (i) the effect size difference between abrupt and gradual treatments is fungal growth stage dependent and (ii) the gradual treatment clearly had a higher sporulation level compared with all types of abrupt treatments. Our findings highlight the importance of considering the rate of change in environmental change research and point to a new research direction for future global change studies. Furthermore, our results also have important implications for avoiding treatment-induced spore production in agriculture and medical practise

Small internal jugular veins with restricted outflow are associated with severe multiple sclerosis: a sonographer-blinded, case-control ultrasound study

Background: Recent evidence has indicated an association between chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) and multiple sclerosis. Small internal jugular veins (IJVs) (with a cross-sectional area of less than 0.4 cm(2)) have been previously described as difficult to catheterize, and their presence may potentially affect cerebrospinal venous drainage. In this blinded extracranial color-Doppler study we had two principal aims: first, to assess prevalence of CCSVI among Serbian MS patients compared to healthy controls; and second, to assess prevalence of small IJVs (with a CSA LT = 0.4 cm(2)) among MS patients and controls. Methods: The sixty seven unrelated patients with clinical isolated syndrome (CIS), relapsing-remitting (RR), secondary progressive (SP) and primary progressive (PP) multiple sclerosis and 21 healthy controls were examined by high-resolution color-Doppler. Results: The ultrasonographic criteria of CCSVI (according to Zamboni) were positive in 11.9% of the patients and in none of the control subjects. The CCSVI-positive patients had significantly longer disease durations and were significantly more disabled (measured by their Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) and Multiple Sclerosis Severity Score (MSSS) scores), but after adjustment for gender and disease duration, CCSVI was not an independent risk factor for multiple sclerosis severity. The small IJVs were found in 28.4% of the patients and 28.6% of the controls. The patients with small IJVs were associated with decreased venous outflow from the brain and presented with longer disease durations and significantly higher EDSS and MSSS scores compared to patients without small IJVs. A multivariate logistic regression analysis adjusted for gender and disease duration showed that small IJV is an independent factor associated with multiple sclerosis severity (EDSS GT = 6) (adjusted OR = 8.9, 95% CI: 1.8-45.6, p = 0.007). Among patients with small IJVs the 36.84% were also CCSVI positive. Conclusions: Both, CCSVI and small IJVs seem to influence or follow MS severity, but only small IJVs turned out to be an independent factor in this study. Thus, small IJVs with restricted outflow, which might be aspects of CCSVI different from the criteria originally described by Zamboni, emerge as a cofactor in the multifactorial pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis

Efectos de los metabolitos secundarios de Fusarium oxysporum en la preferencia alimentaria de larvas de Tenebrio molitor

[ES] Fusarium oxysporum (Hypocreales: Nectriaceae) es un patógeno vegetal bien conocido, pero también es un habitante saprobiano del suelo y un hongo productor de micotoxinas que causa daño a humanos y animales. Este hongo es un complejo de especies taxonómicamente aún problemáticas de distinguir. Tenebrio molitor (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) (Linnaeus) es un insecto considerado plaga de granos de almacenamiento, que también es consumido como alimento animal y humano. Los fosfonatos son moléculas producidas sintéticamente o de origen natural que constan de un fuerte enlace directo de fósforo y carbono. Algunos fosfonatos son producidos por microorganismos. La Fosfonoclorina, que tiene propiedades antibióticas, es únicamente producida por varias especies de hongos, entre ellos, Fusarium oxysporum. Los fosfonatos son frecuentemente investigados en medicina y agricultura, pero su actividad biológica apenas ha sido estudiada. Este estudio analiza la preferencia de alimentación de larvas de Tenebrio molitor entre cepas ectópicas de Fusarium oxysporum productoras de fosfonato y cepas mutantes, que son incapaces de sintetizar fosfonatos. Muestra el papel del fosfonato como atrayente alimentario y plantea cuestiones sobre otras funciones biológicas que podrían tener estas sustancias.[EN] Fusarium oxysporum (Hypocreales: Nectriaceae) is a well-known plant pathogen, but also soil saprobic inhabitant and mycotoxin producer fungus causing harm to humans and animals. This fungus is a complex of species taxonomically still problematic to distinguish. Tenebrio molitor (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) (Linnaeus) is an insect recognized as a storage grain pest and consumed as animal and human feed. Phosphonates are synthetically produced or naturally occurring molecules which consist of strong direct carbon phosphorous bond. Some phosphonates are produced by microorganisms. Fosfonochlorin with antibiotic properties is the uniquely described substance produced by several fungal species, including Fusarium oxysporum. Phosphonates are frequently investigated in medical and agricultural extent, but the biological activity of these molecules is scarcely studied. This study analyzes the Tenebrio molitor larvae feeding preference among Fusarium oxysporum ectopic strains phosphonate producers and the mutant strains which are unable to synthesize phosphonates. It shows phosphonate role as an attractive food choice and instigates raise questions of further biological functions of these substances.This Master thesis research work has been developed as a result of a mobility stay funded by the Erasmus+ KA1 Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree Programme of the European Commission under the PLANT HEALTH Project.Krsmanovic, A. (2019). Efectos de los metabolitos secundarios de Fusarium oxysporum en la preferencia alimentaria de larvas de Tenebrio molitor. Universitat Politècnica de València. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/124188TFG

Quality of Service Provided by Deficit Round Robin Algorithm

In this paper we examine performance of the switches with output buffers for traffic with reservations and best-effort traffic. Packets are scheduled according to the Deficit Round Robin (DRR) algorithm. The DRR has been modeled, and quality of service in terms of delay and fairness provided by this architecture has been analyzed. Our results confirm that DRR provide both delay guarantees and a fair servic

Analysis of K-ras gene codon 12 mutation in pancreatic tissue of patients with pancreatic cancer

Ovo istraživanje je imalo za cilj da se analizira prisustvo mutacije u kodonu 12 gena K-ras u pankreasnom tkivu pacijenata sa karcinomom pankreasa i da se proceni da li ova mutacija predstavlja potencijalni molekularni marker za karcinom pankreasa u srpskoj populaciji. Istraživanje je obuhvatilo analizu 40 uzoraka tkiva pankreasa pacijenata sa kliničkom dijagnozom karcinoma pankreasa. Prisustvo mutacije u kodonu 12 gena K-ras analizirano je metodom PCR-RFLP (polymerase chain reaction - restriction fragment length poly­morphism). Rezultati istraživanja ukazuju da je mutacija u kodonu 12 gena K-ras u tkivu pankreasa prisutna sa visokom učestalošću (66 %) kod pacijenata sa karcinomom pankreasa.The aim of this study was to analyze K-ras codon 12 mutation in the pancreatic tissue of Serbian patients with pancreatic cancer and assess whether the given mutation can be used as a molecular marker for this disease. The study was performed on pancreatic tissue samples obtained from 40 patients with clinical diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. The presence of K-ras codon 12 mutation was analyzed by the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. Our study showed that K-ras mutation is present with a high frequency (66%) in the pancreatic tissue of patients with pancretic cancer