Effects of the aqueous extract of hyptis pectinata on liver regeneration after 70% partial hepatectomy preliminar results

O uso de plantas medicinais tem aumentado bastante na população mundial. O objetivo desta pesquisa é avaliar os efeitos do extrato aquoso das folhas da Hyptis pectinata, popularmente conhecida como "sambacaitá" ou "canudinho", sobre a regeneração hepática após hepatectomia parcial de 70%. Foram utilizados 24 ratos, divididos em 4 grupos: grupo OS, em que se realizou operação simulada e aplicação oral de água destilada por 4 dias; grupo OSD200, também submetido à laparotomia com manipulação do fígado e aplicação de 200 mg de extrato/Kg de animal durante o mesmo período; grupo HP, hepatectomizado a 70% após 4 dias de aplicação por via oral de água destilada; e grupo HPD200, hepatectomizado a 70% após 4 dias de administração de 200 mg extrato/Kg de animal. Foram dosadas fosfatase alcalina, bilirrubina total e as aminotransferases e estudou-se o estado III da função mitocondrial. O grupo OSD200, quando comparado ao OS, apresentou redução significativa da fosfatase alcalina. O grupo HPD200, em comparação ao HP, teve redução estatisticamente significativa no nível da AST e do estado III da função mitocondrial. _________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT: The use of medicinal plants has strongly increased by the world population. The objetive of this study is to assess the effects of the aqueous extract of Hyptis pectinata leaves, popularly known as "sambacaitá" or "canudinho", on liver regeneration after 70% partial hepatectomy. Twenty four rats were divided into 4 groups: group OS, submitted to sham operation and oral administration of distilled water during 4 days; group OSD200, also submitted to sham operation and ingestion of 200 mg of extract/Kg of animal for the same period of time; group HP, which underwent 70% hepatectomy after 4 days of distilled water administration; and group HPD200, which underwent 70% hepatectomy after 4 days of oral administration of 200 mg of extract/Kg of animal. Alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin and the serum level of aminotransferases were measured and state III of mitochondrial respiratory activity was assessed. Group OSD200, when compared to OS, presented significant decrease of alcaline fosfatase. Group HPD200, when compared to HP, showed statistically significant decrease of AST level and state III respiratory process

HIV-1 anti-retroviral drug effect on the C-albicans hyphal growth rate by a bio-cell tracer system

Declining incidence of oropharyngeal candidosis and opportunistic infections over recent years can be attributed to the use of highly active anti-retroviral therapy ( HAART). Infection with C. albicans generally involves adherence and colonization of superficial tissues. During this process, budding yeasts are able to transform to hyphae and penetrate into the deep tissue. Using the biocell tracer system, C. albicans hyphal growth was dynamically observed at the cellular level. Ritonavir was effective in the inhibition of hyphal growth with growth rate of 0.8 mu m/min. This study showed the in vitro effect of HIV anti-retroviral drug on the growth rate of the C. albicans hyphae.37322522

Interactions and potential implications of Plasmodium falciparum-hookworm coinfection in different age groups in south-central Côte d'Ivoire

BACKGROUND: Given the widespread distribution of Plasmodium and helminth infections, and similarities of ecological requirements for disease transmission, coinfection is a common phenomenon in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere in the tropics. Interactions of Plasmodium falciparum and soil-transmitted helminths, including immunological responses and clinical outcomes of the host, need further scientific inquiry. Understanding the complex interactions between these parasitic infections is of public health relevance considering that control measures targeting malaria and helminthiases are going to scale.METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional survey was carried out in April 2010 in infants, young school-aged children, and young non-pregnant women in south-central Côte d'Ivoire. Stool, urine, and blood samples were collected and subjected to standardized, quality-controlled methods. Soil-transmitted helminth infections were identified and quantified in stool. Finger-prick blood samples were used to determine Plasmodium spp. infection, parasitemia, and hemoglobin concentrations. Iron, vitamin A, riboflavin, and inflammation status were measured in venous blood samples.PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Multivariate regression analysis revealed specific association between infection and demographic, socioeconomic, host inflammatory and nutritional factors. Non-pregnant women infected with P. falciparum had significantly lower odds of hookworm infection, whilst a significant positive association was found between both parasitic infections in 6- to 8-year-old children. Coinfected children had lower odds of anemia and iron deficiency than their counterparts infected with P. falciparum alone.CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings suggest that interaction between P. falciparum and light-intensity hookworm infections vary with age and, in school-aged children, may benefit the host through preventing iron deficiency anemia. This observation warrants additional investigation to elucidate the mechanisms and consequences of coinfections, as this information could have important implications when implementing integrated control measures against malaria and helminthiases

Intelligent negotiation model for ubiquitous group decision scenarios

Supporting group decision-making in ubiquitous contexts is a complex task that must deal with a large amount of factors to succeed. Here we propose an approach for an intelligent negotiation model to support the group decision-making process specially designed for ubiquitous contexts. Our approach can be used by researchers that intend to include arguments, complex algorithms and agents' modelling in a negotiation model. It uses a social networking logic due to the type of communication employed by the agents and it intends to support the ubiquitous group decision-making process in a similar way to the real process, which simultaneously preserves the amount and quality of intelligence generated in face-to-face meetings. We propose a new look into this problematic by considering and defining strategies to deal with important points such as the type of attributes in the multicriteria problems, agents' reasoning and intelligent dialogues.This work has been supported by COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) within project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043, by National Funds through the FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within the Projects UID/CEC/00319/2013, UID/EEA/00760/2013, and the João Carneiro PhD grant with the reference SFRH/BD/89697/2012 and by Project MANTIS - Cyber Physical System Based Proactive Collaborative Maintenance (ECSEL JU Grant nr. 662189).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Novel Acyl-CoA Beta-Transaminase Characterized from a Metagenome

BACKGROUND: Bacteria are key components in all ecosystems. However, our knowledge of bacterial metabolism is based solely on the study of cultivated organisms which represent just a tiny fraction of microbial diversity. To access new enzymatic reactions and new or alternative pathways, we investigated bacterial metabolism through analyses of uncultivated bacterial consortia. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We applied the gene context approach to assembled sequences of the metagenome of the anaerobic digester of a municipal wastewater treatment plant, and identified a new gene which may participate in an alternative pathway of lysine fermentation. CONCLUSIONS: We characterized a novel, unique aminotransferase that acts exclusively on Coenzyme A (CoA) esters, and proposed a variant route for lysine fermentation. Results suggest that most of the lysine fermenting organisms use this new pathway in the digester. Its presence in organisms representative of two distinct bacterial divisions indicate that it may also be present in other organisms

A Screen for Spore Wall Permeability Mutants Identifies a Secreted Protease Required for Proper Spore Wall Assembly

The ascospores of Saccharomyces cerevisiae are surrounded by a complex wall that protects the spores from environmental stresses. The outermost layer of the spore wall is composed of a polymer that contains the cross-linked amino acid dityrosine. This dityrosine layer is important for stress resistance of the spore. This work reports that the dityrosine layer acts as a barrier blocking the diffusion of soluble proteins out of the spore wall into the cytoplasm of the ascus. Diffusion of a fluorescent protein out of the spore wall was used as an assay to screen for mutants affecting spore wall permeability. One of the genes identified in this screen, OSW3 (RRT12/YCR045c), encodes a subtilisin-family protease localized to the spore wall. Mutation of the active site serine of Osw3 results in spores with permeable walls, indicating that the catalytic activity of Osw3 is necessary for proper construction of the dityrosine layer. These results indicate that dityrosine promotes stress resistance by acting as a protective shell around the spore. OSW3 and other OSW genes identified in this screen are strong candidates to encode enzymes involved in assembly of this protective dityrosine coat

Sanitation and Health

As one article in a four-part PLoS Medicine series on water and sanitation, David Trouba and colleagues discuss the importance of improved sanitation to health and the role that the health sector can play in its advocacy