Effects of bacterial lipopolysaccharide exposure on immune responsiveness in a rodent model of Parkinson’s disease

The effects of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on immune modulation in rats subjected to a right-unilateral lesion of the substantia nigra neurons by means of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), were investigated. LPS administration (250 μg) significantly decreases the total number of leukocytes and erythrocytes, as well as the hemoglobin level in the 6-OHDAlesioned rats. In addition, LPS administration was also associated with an increase, relative to control, in the erythrocyte indexes and the phagocytosis by neutrophils, and in blastic transformation of T lymphocytes. The obtained data indicated that LPS exposure might represent a risk factor for the development of the immunological changes associated with Parkinson’s disease

Complex Regulation of p73 Isoforms after Alteration of Amyloid Precursor Polypeptide (APP) Function and DNA Damage in Neurons

Background: Alterations of the APP pathway or DNA damage induce neuronal cell death. Results: Alterations of the APP pathway or DNA damage increase TAp73 expression and reduce Delta Np73 protein levels. Conclusion: A tight control of the expression of p73 isoforms participates in neuronal cell death. Significance: p73 isoforms may play a role in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer and in the neurotoxicity of anticancer drug therapies

Cigarette Smoking and Cognitive Function in Chinese Male Schizophrenia: A Case-Control study

Schizophrenic patients have higher smoking rates than the general population. Studies show that smoking may be a form of self-medication in an attempt to alleviate cognitive deficits in schizophrenic patients of European background. This study examined the relationships between smoking and cognitive deficits in Chinese schizophrenic patients, which have previously received little systemic study. We recruited 580 male chronic patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia and 175 male control subjects who were matched on age and education. The subjects completed a detailed cigarette smoking questionnaire, the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND), and the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). Patients also were rated on the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS), the Simpson and Angus Extrapyramidal Symptom Rating Scale (SAES), and the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS). All five RBANS subscales except for the Visuospatial/Constructional index showed significantly lower cognitive performance for schizophrenics than normal controls. The schizophrenic smokers scored lower than the schizophrenic non-smokers on the RBANS total score and the Visuospatial/Constructional and Immediate Memory indices. Similarly, the control smokers scored lower than the control non-smokers on the RBANS total score and the Immediate Memory index . Also, the schizophrenic smokers consistently performed the poorest on the cognitive domains of the RBANS. Among the schizophrenic patients, smokers displayed significantly fewer negative symptoms than non-smokers. Using multivariate regression analysis the following variables were independently associated with the RBANS total score: years of education, PANSS negative symptom score, age at schizophrenia onset, and number of hospitalizations. Our results show that smoking is associated with significant cognitive impairment in both schizophrenic patients and normal controls, but the smokers with schizophrenia had a reduced level of negative symptoms, suggesting that the benefits of smoking for those with schizophrenia may be limited to certain aspects of a given clinical phenotype

The International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce (INPST) and the power of Twitter networking exemplified through #INPST hashtag analysis

Background: The development of digital technologies and the evolution of open innovation approaches have enabled the creation of diverse virtual organizations and enterprises coordinating their activities primarily online. The open innovation platform titled "International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce" (INPST) was established in 2018, to bring together in collaborative environment individuals and organizations interested in natural product scientific research, and to empower their interactions by using digital communication tools. Methods: In this work, we present a general overview of INPST activities and showcase the specific use of Twitter as a powerful networking tool that was used to host a one-week "2021 INPST Twitter Networking Event" (spanning from 31st May 2021 to 6th June 2021) based on the application of the Twitter hashtag #INPST. Results and Conclusion: The use of this hashtag during the networking event period was analyzed with Symplur Signals (https://www.symplur.com/), revealing a total of 6,036 tweets, shared by 686 users, which generated a total of 65,004,773 impressions (views of the respective tweets). This networking event's achieved high visibility and participation rate showcases a convincing example of how this social media platform can be used as a highly effective tool to host virtual Twitter-based international biomedical research events

Testing noninterference, quickly

Information-flow control mechanisms are difficult to design and labor intensive to prove correct. To reduce the time wasted on proof attempts doomed to fail due to broken definitions, we advocate modern random testing techniques for finding counterexamples during the design process. We show how to use QuickCheck, a property-based random-testing tool, to guide the design of a simple information-flow abstract machine. We find that both sophisticated strategies for generating well-distributed random programs and readily falsifiable formulations of noninterference properties are critically important. We propose several approaches and evaluate their effectiveness on a collection of injected bugs of varying subtlety. We also present an effective technique for shrinking large counterexamples to minimal, easily comprehensible ones. Taken together, our best methods enable us to quickly and automatically generate simple counterexamples for all these bugs

Organometallic assembling of chitosan-Iron oxide nanoparticles with their antifungal evaluation against Rhizopus oryzae

The ever-increasing resistance of plant microbes towards fungicides and bactericides has been causing serious threat to plant production in recent years. For the development of an effective antifungal agent, we introduce a novel hydrothermal protocol for synthesis of chitosan iron oxide nanoparticles (CH-Fe2O3 NPs) using acetate buffer of low pH 5.0 for intermolecular interaction of Fe2O3 NPs and CH. The composite structure and elemental elucidation were carried out by using X-ray power diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Ultraviolet Visible Absorption Spectroscopy (UV-vis spectroscopy). Additionally, antifungal activity was evaluated both In vitro and In vivo against Rhizopus oryzae which is causing fruit rot disease of strawberry. We compared different concentrations (0.25%, 0.50%, 075% and 1%) of CH-Fe2O3 NPs and 50% synthetic fungicide (Matalyxal Mancozab) to figure out suitable concentration for application in the field. XRD analysis showed a high crystalline nature of the NPs with average size of 52 nanometer (nm). SEM images revealed spherical shape with size range of 50-70 nm, whereas, TEM also revealed spherical shape, size ranging from 0 nm to 80 nm. EDX and FTIR results revealed presence of CH on surface of Fe2O3 NPs. The band gap measurement showed peak 317-318 nm for bare Fe2O3 NPs and CH-Fe2O3 NPs respectively. Antifungal activity in both In vitro and In vivo significantly increased with increase in concentration. The overall results revealed high synergetic antifungal potential of organometallic CH-Fe2O3 NPs against Rhizopus oryzae and suggest the use of CH-Fe2O3 NPs against other Phyto-pathological diseases due to biodegradable nature