Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate supplementation to treat symptomatic disc degeneration: Biochemical rationale and case report

BACKGROUND: Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate preparations are widely used as food supplements against osteoarthritis, but critics are skeptical about their efficacy, because of the lack of convincing clinical trials and a reasonable scientific rationale for the use of these nutraceuticals. Most trials were on osteoarthritis of the knee, while virtually no documentation exists on spinal disc degeneration. The purpose of this article is to highlight the potential of these food additives against cartilage degeneration in general, and against symptomatic spinal disc degeneration in particular, as is illustrated by a case report. The water content of the intervertebral disc is a reliable measure of its degeneration/ regeneration status, and can be objectively determined by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) signals. CASE PRESENTATION: Oral intake of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate for two years associated with disk recovery (brightening of MRI signal) in a case of symptomatic spinal disc degeneration. We provide a biochemical explanation for the possible efficacy of these nutraceuticals. They are bioavailable to cartilage chondrocytes, may stimulate the biosynthesis and inhibit the breakdown of their extracellular matrix proteoglycans. CONCLUSION: The case suggests that long-term glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate intake may counteract symptomatic spinal disc degeneration, particularly at an early stage. However, definite proof requires well-conducted clinical trials with these food supplements, in which disc de-/regeneration can be objectively determined by MRI. A number of biochemical reasons (that mechanistically need to be further resolved) explain why these agents may have cartilage structure- and symptom-modifying effects, suggesting their therapeutic efficacy against osteoarthritis in general

Mitochondrial Sequence Diversity Among Alloplasmic and Euplasmic Triticum Species

Four mitochondrial genomes of Triticum species were sequenced and annotated: 1) (lo) durum mitochondrial genome, which is an alloplasmic line with Triticum longissimum(SS) cytoplasm and T. turgidum (AABB) nucleus, 2) T. longissimum, 3) T. turgidum and 4) T. tauschii (DD). Comparison showed major differences in atp6, nad9, nad6, rps19-p, cob and cox2 genes among all four species. Additionally, species-specific ORFs were also identified. A single nucleotide polymorphism search within known genes showed that the alloplasmic line differs from the two parental lines by six nucleotides in the cox3, mttB, rps2, rps4 and rps13 genes. We were able to recognize mitochondrial heteroplasmy based on single nucleotide variation (SNV) and regions of high SNV density within a given species. Structural differences between T. turgidum, (lo) durum and T. longissimum mitochondrial genomes were observed; however, conserved gene blocks and gene pairs among these species were identified. Three possible recombination events in gene blocks I, V and VI were recognized. We observed differences in the alloplasmic line, compared to its parental lines in: sequence, predicted genes, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and genome structure. These facts support the hypothesis of the accelerated evolution of the mitochondrial genome when transferred into alien nuclear background. We also found that major gene changes recognized here appear to be common among Triticum species. Based on sequence assembly, we report full mitochondrial sequence of T. turgidum. We recognized 40 SNP differences compared to the T. aestivum mitochondrial genome, where 5 SNPs were found in known mitochondrial genes: rps1, rps2, cox3 and ccmFN. The T. longissimum and T. tauschii share highly similar genomes in structure and content, different only at the level of SNVs. A method to establish phylogenetic relationships based on mitochondrial genome sequence is proposed using differences in reference assembly with a common mitochondrial backbone sequence. We confirm conservation of the mitochondrial gene content within Triticum species. These results create background to explore the role of mitochondrial genes in conditioning nuclear cytoplasmic incompatibility in a wide range of Triticum alloplasmic lines and also deepen our understanding of evolutionary relationships that exist in the Triticum genus.US Army Research Offic

Porównanie wybranych metod statystycznych i metod sztucznej inteligencji do przewidywania zdarzeń w oprogramowaniu zabezpieczającym systemy przechowywania dokumentów cyfrowych, w tym systemy klasy Enterprise Content Management

W ostatnich latach nastąpił wzrost zainteresowania wykorzystywaniem metod statystycznych do analizy zdarzeń z zakresu bezpieczeństwa teleinformatycznego. Coraz częściej moduły analityczne implementuje się w systemach chroniących przedsiębiorstwa przed zagrożeniami. Bardzo duże znaczenie ma w tej dziedzinie automatyzm i wykonywanie analiz bez nadzoru człowieka. W pracy opisane zostały efekty zastosowania działających automatycznie modułów eksperckich do przewidywania wartości szeregów czasowych, w sytuacji gdy nie były znane ich własności. Bez zastosowania właściwych metod przekształcenia szeregu i odpowiedniej parametryzacji tworzone modele mogą w wielu sytuacjach działać niepoprawnie. Natomiast w przypadku mających charakter cykliczny szeregów uzyskiwane prognozy mogą stanowić wartościową informację o potencjalnym zagrożeniu dla bezpieczeństwa przedsiębiorstwa

Automatic Threat Detection in ICT Systems by Selected Data Mining Methods and Software

The paper presents some real‑time analytical solutions that work in a proprietary‑designed system for IT security. It describes automatic methods of data transformations and analysis aiming at detection of potential threats (irregular system events, abnormal user behavior) both for time series and text documents without human supervision. Automation procedures used for time series and text documents are presented. Analyzed data was collected by Free Construction while protecting systems of electronic documents repositories (also including the Enterprise Content Management standards)