A comparison of biosurfactant production between clinical and environmental exophiala isolates

Black Yeast in the genus Exophiala are able to grow in hydrocarbon-contaminated environments and are pathogenic in immunosuppressed hosts. The biosurfactant produced by Exophiala species May be associated with strain pathogenicity by changing the hydrophobicity. The aim of this study was to prove the hypothesis that biosurfactant production in Exophilia strains isolated from clinical samples is lower than the strains isolates from toxic (dishwasher and railway sleepers) environments. A total of 122 Exophiala isolates 108 environmental (isolated from 82 dishwashers and 36 railway sleepers) and 14 clinical isolates confirmed by molecular tests were included in the study. Biosurfactant activity was tested by the drop collapse method, in which the surface of a microtiter plate well was evaluated for the presence of a biosurfactant, and by the oil spreading technique on crude oil. An open source analyses program, ImageJ ® , was used for crude oil spreading technique data. A clear surface zone that differs more than two standard deviations from the mean size was accepted as a positive result. Among the 122 Exophiala species, 11 (9.0%) and 10 (8.2%) strains showed biosurfactant activity by the drop collapse test and oil spreading method, respectively. An acceptable relation was found between the drop collapse test and oil spreading method (Cohen κ coefficient= 0.30). Despite the presence of isolates showing biosurfactant activity, no statistically significant difference was detected between Exophiala strains (p= 0.72). The biosurfactant levels of environmental isolates were higher than the isolates obtained from the patients (p= 0.03). The highest biosurfactant level was observed in one Exophiala phaeomuriformis strain isolated from a dishwasher. There was no difference between the biosurfactant levels of the dishwasher and railway sleeper isolates (p= 0.66). Biosurfactant production May be a more important determinant of virulence in Exophiala species than expected. In this study, biosurfactant activity was higher in environmental isolates compared to the clinical isolates. Consensus of multiple biosurfactant screening protocols May clarify why environmental Exophiala species are less virulent. Further studies should evaluate biosurfactant activity in additional clinical Exophiala isolates. The biosurfactant activity of more Exophiala isolates obtained from patients should be investigated with further planned studies. © 2018 Ankara Microbiology Society. All rights reserved

Impact of quercetin supplementation on testicular functions in summer heat-stressed rabbits

[EN] The current study was designed to determine the effects of dietary quercetin on epididymal sperm and testicular changes in male rabbits during summer heat stress (HS). Twelve adult male New Zealand white rabbits were submitted to summer heat conditions (temperature-humidity index 29.9±1.2). One group was fed a basal ration (BR; n=6), whereas the other group was fed the same basal diet supplemented with quercetin (30 mg/kg d; Que-BR; n=6) for 60 d, and both groups were sacrificed at the end of the experiment. Epididymis and testicles isolation was done for sperm, histopathology and apoptosis assessments. The results showed that quercetin improved epididymis weight, but did not affect other testicular dimensions except testicular length. A significant improvement was observed in epididymal sperm motility, concentration, kinematic parameters, viability, mitochondrial potential and acrosome integrity in Que-BR compared to the BR group. Lowered serum malondialdehyde level was observed in quercetin supplemented rabbits. Moreover, the quercetin supplementation maintained the interstitial stroma, seminiferous tubules architecture, germinal and Sertoli cells under HS, decreasing the apoptotic germ cell rate in seminiferous tubules. In conclusion, HS condition affects the sperm and testes configurations in rabbits and dietary quercetin minimises oxidative stress, which in turn protects the testes and sperm against HS induced damage.The financial support for this work was granted by ADU-BAP, Project number VTF-15034, Adnan Menderes University, Aydin, Turkey.Naseer, Z.; Ahmad, E.; Aksoy, M.; Epikmen, E. (2020). Impact of quercetin supplementation on testicular functions in summer heat-stressed rabbits. World Rabbit Science. 28(1):19-27. https://doi.org/10.4995/wrs.2020.12420OJS1927281Abarikwu S.O., Pant A.B., Farombi E.O. 2012. 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Heating of magnetic fluid systems driven by circularly polarized magnetic field

Cataloged from PDF version of article.A theory is presented to calculate the heat dissipation of a magnetic suspension, a ferrofluid, driven by7 circularly polarized magnetic field. Theory is tested by in vitro experiments and it is shown that, regardless of the character of the relaxation process, linearly and circularly polarized magnetic field excitations, having the same root-mean-square magnitude, are equivalent in terms of heating efficiency. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Integrating biological pathways and genomic profiles with ChiBE 2

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Background: Dynamic visual exploration of detailed pathway information can help researchers digest and interpret complex mechanisms and genomic datasets. Results: ChiBE is a free, open-source software tool for visualizing, querying, and analyzing human biological pathways in BioPAX format. The recently released version 2 can search for neighborhoods, paths between molecules, and common regulators/targets of molecules, on large integrated cellular networks in the Pathway Commons database as well as in local BioPAX models. Resulting networks can be automatically laid out for visualization using a graphically rich, process-centric notation. Profiling data from the cBioPortal for Cancer Genomics and expression data from the Gene Expression Omnibus can be overlaid on these networks. Conclusions: ChiBE's new capabilities are organized around a genomics-oriented workflow and offer a unique comprehensive pathway analysis solution for genomics researchers

Systematic identification of cancer driving signaling pathways based on mutual exclusivity of genomic alterations.

We present a novel method for the identification of sets of mutually exclusive gene alterations in a given set of genomic profiles. We scan the groups of genes with a common downstream effect on the signaling network, using a mutual exclusivity criterion that ensures that each gene in the group significantly contributes to the mutual exclusivity pattern. We test the method on all available TCGA cancer genomics datasets, and detect multiple previously unreported alterations that show significant mutual exclusivity and are likely to be driver events

Inequality and Procedural Justice in Social Dilemmas

This study investigates the influence of resource inequality and the fairness of the allocation procedure of unequal resources on cooperative behavior in social dilemmas. We propose a simple formal behavioral model that incorporates conflicting selfish and social motivations. This model allows us to predict how inequality influences cooperative behavior. Allocation of resources is manipulated by three treatments that vary in terms of procedural justice: allocating resources randomly, based on merit, and based on ascription. As predicted, procedural justice influences cooperation significantly. Moreover, gender is found to be an important factor interacting with the association between procedural justice and cooperative behavior.

Case Report Jugular Venous Catheterization: A Case of Knotting

A 79-year-old woman, diagnosed for cancer of the ovary, had a central catheter that was placed with difficulty through the right internal jugular vein intraoperatively. After oophorectomy, it was realized that the catheter was knotted. Thus, the central venous catheter was removed successfully using a traction technique in the operating room. Central venous catheter use may result in various complications, although it has been used as an invasive method for hemodynamic monitoring and fluid and drug infusion. Here, we present catheter knotting in a case with solutions for this complication, under literature review

Trypanosoma brucei gambiense group 1 is distinguished by a unique amino acid substitution in the HpHb receptor implicated in human serum resistance

Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense (Tbr) and T. b. gambiense (Tbg), causative agents of Human African Trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) in Africa, have evolved alternative mechanisms of resisting the activity of trypanosome lytic factors (TLFs), components of innate immunity in human serum that protect against infection by other African trypanosomes. In Tbr, lytic activity is suppressed by the Tbr-specific serum-resistance associated (SRA) protein. The mechanism in Tbg is less well understood but has been hypothesized to involve altered activity and expression of haptoglobin haemoglobin receptor (HpHbR). HpHbR has been shown to facilitate internalization of TLF-1 in T.b. brucei (Tbb), a member of the T. brucei species complex that is susceptible to human serum. By evaluating the genetic variability of HpHbR in a comprehensive geographical and taxonomic context, we show that a single substitution that replaces leucine with serine at position 210 is conserved in the most widespread form of Tbg (Tbg group 1) and not found in related taxa, which are either human serum susceptible (Tbb) or known to resist lysis via an alternative mechanism (Tbr and Tbg group 2). We hypothesize that this single substitution contributes to reduced uptake of TLF and thus may play a key role in conferring serum resistance to Tbg group 1. In contrast, similarity in HpHbR sequence among isolates of Tbg group 2 and Tbb/Tbr provides further evidence that human serum resistance in Tbg group 2 is likely independent of HpHbR functio