Microbial Transglutaminase Is Immunogenic and Potentially Pathogenic in Pediatric Celiac Disease

The enzyme microbial transglutaminase is heavily used in the food processing industries to ameliorate food qualities and elongate the products' shelf life. As a protein's glue, it cross-links gliadin peptides, creating neo-complexes that are immunogenic and potentially pathogenic to celiac disease communities. Even lacking sequence identity, it imitates functionally the endogenous tissue transglutaminase, known to be the autoantigen of celiac disease and representing an undisputable key player in celiac disease initiation and progress. The present review expend on the enzyme characteristics, exogenous intestinal sources, its cross-linking avidity to gluten or gliadin, turning naïve protein to immunogenic ones. Several observation on microbial transglutaminase cross linked complexes immunogenicity in celiac patients are reviewed and its pathogenicity is summarized. Warnings on its potential risks for the gluten dependent conditions are highlighted. When substantiated, it might represent a new environmental factor of celiac disease genesis. It is hoped that the presented knowledge will encourage further research to explore the mechanism and the pathogenic pathways taken by the gliadin cross linked enzyme in driving celiac disease

Gluten-free Diet -Tough Alley in Torrid Time

Abstract Dietitians play a pivotal role in the education, follow-up and navigation of the gluten-free diet for patients affected by celiac disease. Since gluten withdrawal is the cornerstone of celiac disease therapy, and since various future therapeutic strategies, are not yet on the market, the patients relay heavily on the registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) advice and service to cope with the gluten-free diet tough alley. Unfortunately, gluten withdrawal, nowadays, represent also a torrid time. The actual surge in incidence, wheat content, gluten intake, celiac disease-related T-cell stimulatory epitopes in wheat, usage in the processed food industries, nutritional deficiencies, changing phenotype and the fact that gluten is potentially detrimental to humankind health, make the RDNs role more complex, difficult and challenging. The present review expands on the gluten-free diet related tough alley in torrid time, which the registered dietitian nutritionists are facing when dealing with gluten-sensitive patients

Sharing and Preserving Computational Analyses for Posterity with encapsulator

Open data and open-source software may be part of the solution to science's "reproducibility crisis", but they are insufficient to guarantee reproducibility. Requiring minimal end-user expertise, encapsulator creates a "time capsule" with reproducible code in a self-contained computational environment. encapsulator provides end-users with a fully-featured desktop environment for reproducible research.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

Transplantation of Human Melanocytes

Recent advances in the culturing of pigment cells from human beings have made it possible to begin the transplantation of autologous melanocytes into areas of skin that are hypopigmented. In a patient with piebaldism we were able to take pigment cells from a shave biopsy of the normally pigmented skin of the back, expand the cells in culture, and return them to an area devoid of pigment cells and get a perfect take. To grow the cells in culture we used 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) as well as cholera toxin and isobutylmethyl xanthine. At this time, one can substitute basic fibroblast growth factor for TPA. The procedure of using autologous pigment cell cultures opens the door for further advances in the treatment of patients who do not have melanocytes in certain areas of the skin, as seen in patients with vitiligo or piebaldism, or as a consequence of severe mechanical or thermal trauma

A Rapid Histochemical Test for Mammalian Tyrosinase

A simple, rapid separation of epidermis from dermis was achieved following incubation of human of guinea-pig skin in one molar sodium bromide at 37°C for 30 min. The resulting epidermal sheets incubated at 37°C in 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 6.8) for 15 to 120 minutes with 5 × 10-3 M dopa or for 120 to 240 minutes with a mixture of 5 × 10-3 M tyrosine and 5 × 10-3 M ascorbic acid gave good dopa-tyrosinase and tyrosine-tyrosinase reactions. Melanocytes were readily visualized because new melanin formed within the cytoplasm