Biomedical and therapeutic applications of biosurfactants

During the last years, several applications of biosurfactants with medical purposes have been reported. Biosurfactants are considered relevant molecules for applications in combating many diseases and as therapeutic agents due to their antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral activities. Furthermore, their role as anti-adhesive agents against several pathogens illustrate their utility as suitable anti-adhesive coating agents for medical insertional materials leading to a reduction of a large number of hospital infections without the use of synthetic drugs and chemicals. Biomedical and therapeutic perspectives of biosurfactants applications are presented and discussed in this chapter

Identification of independent association signals and putative functional variants for breast cancer risk through fine-scale mapping of the 12p11 locus.

BACKGROUND: Multiple recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs10771399, at 12p11 that is associated with breast cancer risk. METHOD: We performed a fine-scale mapping study of a 700 kb region including 441 genotyped and more than 1300 imputed genetic variants in 48,155 cases and 43,612 controls of European descent, 6269 cases and 6624 controls of East Asian descent and 1116 cases and 932 controls of African descent in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC; http://bcac.ccge.medschl.cam.ac.uk/ ), and in 15,252 BRCA1 mutation carriers in the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 (CIMBA). Stepwise regression analyses were performed to identify independent association signals. Data from the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements project (ENCODE) and the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were used for functional annotation. RESULTS: Analysis of data from European descendants found evidence for four independent association signals at 12p11, represented by rs7297051 (odds ratio (OR) = 1.09, 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 1.06-1.12; P = 3 × 10(-9)), rs805510 (OR = 1.08, 95 % CI = 1.04-1.12, P = 2 × 10(-5)), and rs1871152 (OR = 1.04, 95 % CI = 1.02-1.06; P = 2 × 10(-4)) identified in the general populations, and rs113824616 (P = 7 × 10(-5)) identified in the meta-analysis of BCAC ER-negative cases and BRCA1 mutation carriers. SNPs rs7297051, rs805510 and rs113824616 were also associated with breast cancer risk at P < 0.05 in East Asians, but none of the associations were statistically significant in African descendants. Multiple candidate functional variants are located in putative enhancer sequences. Chromatin interaction data suggested that PTHLH was the likely target gene of these enhancers. Of the six variants with the strongest evidence of potential functionality, rs11049453 was statistically significantly associated with the expression of PTHLH and its nearby gene CCDC91 at P < 0.05. CONCLUSION: This study identified four independent association signals at 12p11 and revealed potentially functional variants, providing additional insights into the underlying biological mechanism(s) for the association observed between variants at 12p11 and breast cancer risk.UK funding includes Cancer Research UK and NIH.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from BioMed Central via http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13058-016-0718-

An unusual morphological transformation of rhamnolipid aggregates induced by concentration and addition of styrene: A small angle neutron scattering (SANS) study

The aggregation behaviour of rhamnolipid as mixed with styrene (as a representative of hydrophobic molecules commonly found in contaminated soils) was investigated by small angle neutron scattering (SANS) as a function of both rhamnolipid and styrene concentrations. Contrast variation was applied (i.e., deuterated and hydrogenated styrene) to resolve the morphologies of aggregates. A structural transformation from cylindrical micelles to a binary mixture of cylindrical micelles and vesicles induced by both elevated rhamnolipid and styrene concentration is proposed based on the analysis of the SANS data. The resultant structure of the aggregates, vesicle, is different from the " oil droplets" commonly reported in the microemulsions of water-oil-surfactant mixtures. It is also found that this transformation is far from being complete even at the highest styrene solubility, implying that further dissolution of styrene may be constrained by other factors. \ua9 2010.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

The Coalition for Improving Maternity Services: Evidence Basis for the Ten Steps of Mother-Friendly Care

One factor explaining why women choose unnecessary high-tech births is their lack of knowledge of the research. Presenting research in Lamaze class can be difficult; however, teaching tools described in this article may help facilitate evidence-based discussions. The recently published Journal of Perinatal Education supplement issue written by the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services Expert Work Group gives Lamaze educators a rich resource to pass along to expectant parents

Key roles for AMP-activated protein kinase in the function of the carotid body?

The carotid bodies play a critical role in initiating compensatory ventilatory responses to hypoxia. However, the complete mechanism by which hypoxia excites the oxygen-sensing carotid body type 1 cells has not been fully defined. We have previously proposed that the enzyme adenosine monophosphateactivated protein kinase (AMPK) may couple hypoxic inhibition of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation to carotid body type I cell excitation (Evans, Mustard, Wyatt, Peers, Dipp, Kumar, Kinnear and Hardie 2005). Here we discuss evidence that AMPK is a key requirement for hypoxic chemotransduction by the carotid body. In addition, we postulate upon a role for AMPK in the plasticity observed in the carotid body during both chronic and chronic intermittent hypoxia