Fishroesomes as carriers with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory bioactivities

The great diversity of marine habitats and organisms renders them a high-value source to find/develop novel drugs and formulations. Therefore, herein, sardine (Sardina pilchardus) roe was used as a lipidic source to produce liposomes. This fish product presents high nutritional value, being its lipidic content associated with important health benefits. Consequently, it can be advantageously used to produce therapeutically active delivery devices. Roe lipids were extracted using the Matyash method. After lipid film hydration and extrusion, sardine roe-derived large unilamellar liposomes (LUVs), designated as fishroesomes, presented a size of â 330 nm and a significant negative surface charge (â - 27 mV). Radical scavenging assays demonstrated that fishroesomes efficiently neutralized peroxyl, hydroxyl and nitric oxide radicals. Moreover, fishroesomes significantly reduced the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines by LPS-stimulated macrophages at non-toxic concentrations for L929 and THP-1 cells. Consequently, the developed liposomes exhibit unique properties as bioactive drug carriers for inflammatory diseases treatment.This work was supported by FCT/MCTES (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology / Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education) or FSE/POCH (European Social Fund through the Operational Program of Human Capital) (grant numbers PD/169/2013, PD/ BD/113795/2015, PD/BD/135246/2017, PTDC/BTM-SAL/28882/ 2017), and the NORTE 2020 Structured Project, co-funded by Norte2020 (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000021). Authors also thank the local fisherman for the donation of the samples

Pooled analysis of WHO Surgical Safety Checklist use and mortality after emergency laparotomy

Background The World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist has fostered safe practice for 10 years, yet its place in emergency surgery has not been assessed on a global scale. The aim of this study was to evaluate reported checklist use in emergency settings and examine the relationship with perioperative mortality in patients who had emergency laparotomy. Methods In two multinational cohort studies, adults undergoing emergency laparotomy were compared with those having elective gastrointestinal surgery. Relationships between reported checklist use and mortality were determined using multivariable logistic regression and bootstrapped simulation. Results Of 12 296 patients included from 76 countries, 4843 underwent emergency laparotomy. After adjusting for patient and disease factors, checklist use before emergency laparotomy was more common in countries with a high Human Development Index (HDI) (2455 of 2741, 89.6 per cent) compared with that in countries with a middle (753 of 1242, 60.6 per cent; odds ratio (OR) 0.17, 95 per cent c.i. 0.14 to 0.21, P <0001) or low (363 of 860, 422 per cent; OR 008, 007 to 010, P <0.001) HDI. Checklist use was less common in elective surgery than for emergency laparotomy in high-HDI countries (risk difference -94 (95 per cent c.i. -11.9 to -6.9) per cent; P <0001), but the relationship was reversed in low-HDI countries (+121 (+7.0 to +173) per cent; P <0001). In multivariable models, checklist use was associated with a lower 30-day perioperative mortality (OR 0.60, 0.50 to 073; P <0.001). The greatest absolute benefit was seen for emergency surgery in low- and middle-HDI countries. Conclusion Checklist use in emergency laparotomy was associated with a significantly lower perioperative mortality rate. Checklist use in low-HDI countries was half that in high-HDI countries.Peer reviewe

Global variation in anastomosis and end colostomy formation following left-sided colorectal resection

Background End colostomy rates following colorectal resection vary across institutions in high-income settings, being influenced by patient, disease, surgeon and system factors. This study aimed to assess global variation in end colostomy rates after left-sided colorectal resection. Methods This study comprised an analysis of GlobalSurg-1 and -2 international, prospective, observational cohort studies (2014, 2016), including consecutive adult patients undergoing elective or emergency left-sided colorectal resection within discrete 2-week windows. Countries were grouped into high-, middle- and low-income tertiles according to the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI). Factors associated with colostomy formation versus primary anastomosis were explored using a multilevel, multivariable logistic regression model. Results In total, 1635 patients from 242 hospitals in 57 countries undergoing left-sided colorectal resection were included: 113 (6·9 per cent) from low-HDI, 254 (15·5 per cent) from middle-HDI and 1268 (77·6 per cent) from high-HDI countries. There was a higher proportion of patients with perforated disease (57·5, 40·9 and 35·4 per cent; P < 0·001) and subsequent use of end colostomy (52·2, 24·8 and 18·9 per cent; P < 0·001) in low- compared with middle- and high-HDI settings. The association with colostomy use in low-HDI settings persisted (odds ratio (OR) 3·20, 95 per cent c.i. 1·35 to 7·57; P = 0·008) after risk adjustment for malignant disease (OR 2·34, 1·65 to 3·32; P < 0·001), emergency surgery (OR 4·08, 2·73 to 6·10; P < 0·001), time to operation at least 48 h (OR 1·99, 1·28 to 3·09; P = 0·002) and disease perforation (OR 4·00, 2·81 to 5·69; P < 0·001). Conclusion Global differences existed in the proportion of patients receiving end stomas after left-sided colorectal resection based on income, which went beyond case mix alone

In planta Agrobacterium-Mediated Transformation of Rice

The floral-dip transformation, the simplest technique, is no requirement of tissue culture procedure, and can directly transfer the interest gene into plant reproductive cells. It has been successfully applied to various plant species. In this study, the optimal conditions of a floral-dip method for production of transgenic rice variety RD41 were explored. The simple and effective inoculation medium was composed of Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium, 5% sucrose, 44 nmol/L benzylaminopurine, and 0.075% surfactant Tween-20 with pH 5.7. The transformation efficiencies of Agrobacterium tumefaciens strains AGL1 and EHA105 were compared with the Agrobacterium density at OD600 = 0.8–1.0 and the co-cultivation at 25 °C for 48 h. A. tumefaciens strain EHA105 gave slightly higher transformation efficiency than AGL1, with statistically non-significant difference. The floral-drop transformation using the optimal floral-dip conditions showed higher transformation efficiency than the floral-dip method, but the dropped flowers turned brown and died within 2 d. Production of transgenic rice variety RD41 by the floral-dip method was achieved using A. tumefaciens strain EHA105 with the optimal conditions. Screening for the gusA gene by PCR using the gusA specific primers in the T0 lines, there were 4 transgenic lines from 286 T0 lines (1.4% transformation efficiency). However, histochemical glucuronidase (GUS) assay demonstrated that only three of four transgenic lines exhibited gusA expression. These results indicated that floral-dip transformation is a potential tool for production of the transgenic rice, which can be used for molecular breeding via genetic engineering in the future

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Examining the link between knowledge management practices and types of innovatio