Characterization of Bacterial Endotoxins by Chip Techniques, Structure and Immune Function Relationship

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Bioanalitikai kérdések: Bioanalytical solutions

Fatty acids everywhere, ionic liquids and proteins, endotoxin structure and function. Kivonat Zsírsavak mindenhol, ionfolyadékok és fehérjék, endotoxin szerkezet és funkció. &nbsp

Forest Bathing Always Makes Sense: Blood Pressure-Lowering and Immune System-Balancing Effects in Late Spring and Winter in Central Europe

Various formats of forest bathing have been receiving increasing attention owing to their perspectives in health promotion and the treatment of chronic lifestyle diseases. The majority of field studies are still being conducted in the Far Eastern region, and they often make psychological assessments mainly in the green season. In our pretest–posttest field experiment, twelve healthy, working-age volunteers participated in a 2-h leisurely forest walking program, first in the green season (May) and then in the winter season (January), in the Mecsek Hills, next to Pécs, Hungary. Systolic blood pressure decreased after the trips both in late spring and in the winter. Based on changes in the expressions of CD69, an early activation marker, NKG2D, a major recognition receptor, perforin, granzyme B, and TIM-3, an inhibitory immune checkpoint molecule, on CD8+ cytotoxic T, NK, NKdim, NKbright, and NKT cells, we detected the stimulation of NKbright cells and activation of all examined immune cell subsets in the green season. In the winter, a slight activating and an interesting balancing effect regarding TIM-3 could be observed considering our finding that basal (pretest) TIM-3 expression by NK cells was significantly lower in the winter. Our work expands the knowledge on and potentials of forest medicine

Efficacy of lyophilised bacteria-rich faecal sediment and supernatant with reduced bacterial count for treating patients with Clostridioides difficile Infection – A novel method for capsule faecal microbiota transfer

Background and aimsFaecal microbiota transfer (FMT) has managed to earn its place in the Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) guidelines by having comparable efficacy and recurrence rate of fidaxomicin. After more than 100 successful FMT administration through nasogastric tube, we started using hard gelatine capsules filled with lyophilised faecal sediment and supernatant. Our main question was whether uncoated capsules (containing faecal sediment or supernatant) are comparable to the widely used nasogastric tubes in CDI. We also investigated the effect of storage and time on the survival rate of bacteria in the samples.MethodsWe compared the efficacy of our capsules to other treatment options of CDI at the Department of Infectology at the University of Pécs (Hungary). For our study, stool was collected from a single donor. We treated 10 patients with relapsing CDI, 5 of them received supernatant, 5 received sediment. Donor samples were stored on 4 different temperatures and tested to determine the survival rates of bacteria. As pilot projects, we also assessed the changes of bacterial taxa, protein- and lipid compositions. Moreover, we selected 4 patients to compare their samples prior and after FMT by using microbiome (16S amplicon sequencing), protein, and lipid analyses.Results4 out of the 5 patients who received supernatant became symptomless within 2 days after FMT. In the sediment group 3 out of 5 patients were cured from CDI. Comparing the supernatant to the sediment, we found significantly lower number of colony-forming units in the supernatant. We found that -80°C is the most suitable temperature to store the samples. The stool lipid profiles of recipients showed a more diverse composition after FMT, and changes in the stool protein profiles were observed as well. In the microbiome analysis, we observed an increase in the alpha diversity after FMT.ConclusionsOur study of 10 patients showed good efficacy of lyophilised faecal supernatant using capsules. The single donor approach proved to be effective in our investigation. A significantly lower CFU number was sufficient for the effect, the separation can be achieved by widely available instruments. For storage temperature, -20°C was sufficient in our clinical practice

Celebrities and Breast Cancer: A Multidimensional Quali-Quantitative Analysis of News Stories Shared on Social Media

In 2020, breast cancer was the most frequent type of cancer in 158 countries. To advise the population about risk factors and the importance of preventive measures, celebrities can be of great help, acting as spokespersons for reliable scientific information. The goal of this study is to analyse the content of news stories about breast cancer shared on different social media, examining how stories with celebrity presence are constructed. We performed a quali-quantitative multidimensional analysis of news stories in English that addressed breast cancer on the following social media platforms: Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Reddit. We compared news stories with and without the presence of celebrities. Our sample consists of 1594 news stories that had at least 1000 total shares across all analysed social media; 262 news stories mention a celebrity (16.44%), while 1332 stories do not (83.56%). Nevertheless, the ones that feature celebrities are, as a rule, more shared. The percentage of stories with celebrities addressing breast cancer prevention is quite low (1.9%). The same can be said for mentions of scientific papers/specialist quotes (3.4%). This research may help outline some possible paths that healthcare organizations and communication professionals can take to improve breast cancer content available online

CZE-ESI/QTOF-MS analysis of organic acids in red Vranec wines from different locations

Organic acids are important compounds influencing the stability, flavor, aroma and color of grapes and wine and contributing to the pH, chemical and microbiological stability of the wines. In this study, capillary zone electrophoresis hyphenated to electrospray ionization/quadrupole-time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (CZE-ESI/QTOF-MS) was applied for analysis of organic acids (lactic acid, succinic acid, malic acid, tartaric acid, shikimic acid and citric acid) in red wines [1]. All wines were produced from Vranec V. vinifera grapes, grown in different wine areas in Republic of Macedonia, applying same winemaking technology. Results showed that Vranec wines produced under controlled winemaking protocols presented relatively high content of tartaric, citric, lactic, malic and succinic acids compared to commercial Macedonian wines [2], while shikimic acid was present in a significantly low concentration. In fact, high concentration of tartaric acid in Vranec wines is nevertheless, typical for this variety, influencing higher chemical stability and colour, and giving soft freshens of the wines. Thus, tartaric acid ranged from 14.03 to 33.29 mM, followed by malic acid (range: 0.45 – 30.3 mM). Lactic acid was formed during the spontaneous malolactic fermentation, ranging between 1.24 to 6.74 mM. The concentrations of the naturally present citric acid in the samples (ranging from 1.36 to 4.66 mM) were in accordance to the official regulations, i.e., not higher than 1 g/L (5.24 mM). These results here provide a clear view for the organic acids profile in Vranec wines produced from various wine areas and they are useful for winemakers to manage and/or modify the winemaking protocols for this variety in order to obtain stable and high quality wines for the global market. Key words: organic acids, Vranec wines, CZE-ESI/QTOF-MS. Acknowledgement This work was supported by the grants CEEPUS CII-HU-0010-03-0809, NKFIH K-125275 and project titled “Chemical characterization of wine, alcoholic beverages and food by instrumental techniques”, funded by University “Goce Delčev” – Štip. References [1] V. Ivanova-Petropulos, Z. Naceva, V. Sándor, L. Makszin, L. Nagy, B. Berkics, T. Stafilov, and F. Kilár, Electrophoresis, accepted for publication (2018). [2] K. Tašev, M. Stefova, and V. Ivanova-Petropulos, Macedonian Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, 35, 225-233 (2016)

Effects of clary sage oil and its main components, linalool and linalyl acetate, on the plasma membrane of Candida albicans: an in vivo EPR study

The effects of clary sage (Salvia sclarea L.) oil (CS-oil), and its two main components, linalool (Lol) and linalyl acetate (LA), on cells of the eukaryotic human pathogen yeast Candida albicans were studied. Dynamic and thermodynamic properties of the plasma membrane were investigated by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, with 5-doxylstearic acid (5-SASL) and 16-SASL as spin labels. The monitoring of the head group regions with 5-SASL revealed break-point frequency decrease in a temperature dependent manner of the plasma membrane between 9.55 and 13.15 degrees C in untreated, in CS-oil-, Lol- and LA-treated membranes. The results suggest a significant increase in fluidity of the treated plasma membranes close to the head groups. Comparison of the results observed with the two spin labels demonstrated that CS-oil and LA induced an increased level of fluidization at both depths of the plasma membrane. Whereas Lol treatment induced a less (1 %) ordered bilayer organization in the superficial regions and an increased (10 %) order of the membrane leaflet in deeper layers. Acute toxicity tests and EPR results indicated that both the apoptotic and the effects exerted on the plasma membrane fluidity depended on the composition and chemical structure of the examined materials. In comparison with the control, treatment with CS-oil, Lol or LA induced 13.0, 12.3 and 26.4 % loss respectively, of the metabolites absorbing at 260 nm, as a biological consequence of the plasma membrane fluidizing effects. Our results confirmed that clary sage oil causes plasma membrane perturbations which leads to cell apoptosis process

Effect of Culture Conditions on Fatty Acid Profiles of Bacteria and Lipopolysaccharides of the Genus Pseudomonas—GC-MS Analysis on Ionic Liquid-Based Column

The profiling of bacterial fatty acids is a well-established technique in identifying and classifying bacteria. Cultivation conditions may affect the biosynthesis, thereby, changing the fatty acid profile in bacteria. The effect of the culture conditions on the fatty acid components of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, Pseudomonas aeruginosa polyresistant and Pseudomonas putida all are aligned to the genus Pseudomonas. The fatty acids in the lipopolysaccharides of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 were also examined. The effects of the cultivation conditions were followed by using agar and blood agar media at the characteristic temperatures, 25 °C, 37 °C and 42 °C, respectively, and an analysis was made during the 1st, 3rd and 5th day following inoculation. In addition to quantitative differences, we also experienced qualitative differences in the fatty acid profiles which detect newly appearing fatty acids, due to changes in environmental factors. The application of ionic liquid-based column unveils new possibilities for the analyses of fatty acids in GC-MS experiments for bacterial fatty acid profiling. The validation results (response linearity, limit of detection, limit of quantification, system suitability, intraday and interday repeatability and accuracy) show the high separation efficiency of the ionic liquid-based column in the analyses

Microfluidic Analysis for the Determination of Protein Content in Different Types of Plant-Based Drinks

The widespread consumption of plant-based drinks, driven by health and dietary reasons (including cow’s milk allergy, lactose intolerance, milk protein intolerance, following a vegetarian or vegan diet) necessitates automated and accurate test methods. Our study demonstrates the simultaneous determination of protein components and total protein concentrations in plant-based milk alternatives using a rapid and reproducible microchip gel electrophoretic method. As expected, the electrophoretic profiles of each plant-based drink differed. Based on our analyses and statistical evaluation, it can be determined that the protein profiles of different plant-based beverages do not differ significantly between different manufacturers or different expiry dates. The measured total protein content was compared with the nominal values, i.e., the values stated on the beverage labels. As the number of consumers of functional and specialized plant-based milk alternatives continues to rise, it is important to prioritize methods that provide qualitative and quantitative information on protein composition and other nutrients