Proteolytic Activity of Vibrio parahaemolyticus Isolated from Epinephilus spp. A Preliminary Report

Vibrio infection is becoming more and more common worldwide. A Protease producing bacterium was isolated and identified from the eye of Epinephillus spp using phenotypic, morphological and 16S rRNA identification methods. Protease screening was carried out by the caseinolytic method. The unknown bacterium was found to have 98% maximum identity with Vibrio  parahaemolyticus in NCBI database after BLAST. The bacterium produces  protease enzyme on a nutrient agar medium containing 10% casein. The aim of this research was to identify the bacterium in question and its ability to produce extracellular proteases, which may be its virulence factor so that its biotechnological application can be explored in future

PADC-NTM Applied in 7Li+Pb at 31 MeV Reaction Products Study

Passive nuclear track methodology (NTM) is applied to study charged particles products of the reaction 7Li+Pb at ~ 31 MeV. It is a contribution to the 8pLP Project (LNL-INFN-Italy) in where we show an alternative approach to register charged particle from reaction fragments by PADC detection. The main advantage is that the passive system integrates data over the whole experiment and has its importance for low rate reaction processes. Reaction products as well as scattered beam particles are determined from track shape analysis. Some limitations are inherent to NTM since a priori knowledge is required to correlate track size distribution given by each type of particle emerging from the target. Results show that the passive technique gives useful information when applied in reaction data interpretation for a relatively large range of particle types

Antibacterial activity of cow ghee, urine, and milk on some pathogenic organisms (Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus)

Background: Infectious diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide. Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli are implicated in many infections such as gastroenteritis, urinary tract infections among others. Cowghee and urine are among the most appreciated natural substances known to mankind since ancient times and their medicinal application has been greatly mentioned in depth in Ayurveda. Cow milk is a healthy food, with bio-protective role and is easily digestible.Aim: This study was aimed at determining the antibacterial activities of Ghee, urine and milk of cow on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus.Methodology: Antibacterial activities of varying concentrations of Cow Ghee, urine and milk was determined against E. coli and S. aureus clinical isolates. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were also determined. The dilutions were made using Dimethyl Sulfoxide, while the antibacterial assay was by modified ditch diffusion method. Antibacterial activities were assessed by determination of zones of inhibition (ZI).Results: The clinical isolates were sensitive mostly at higher concentrations. Cow Ghee yielded zone of inhibition at a least concentration of 50% against S. aureus and 25% concentration against E. coli. While Cow urine produced ZI at least concentration of 50% for both the isolates. Cow milk did not have any activity against the isolates at all concentrations. Cow Ghee has MBC and MIC at 60% and 40% respectively for both of the isolates. For cow urine, the MBC was 80% for S. aureus and 60% for E. coli. while the MIC was 60% for S. aureus and 40% for E. coli.Conclusion: This showed that cow ghee and cow urine has antibacterial bioactive components and are potential sources of antibacterials. As such the use of cow ghee can also be encourage not only for its organoleptic properties but also due its significant pharmacological advantages

ALCOHOL AND PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCE USE AMONG MEDICAL STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN, NIGERIA

The study was aimed at determining the prevalence and predictive factors associated with alcohol and other psychoactive substance use among medical students of the University of Ilorin. A self administered interview schedule consisting of WHO Students Drug Use Survey Questionnaire, and the General Health Questionnaire-12 were administered to a weighted proportionate sample of the respondents. The most currently used substances were mild stimulants (19.4%), alcohol (12.5%), hypnosedatives (3.4%), tobacco (1.7%), cannabis (1.7%), opioids (0.9%) and organic solvents (0.4%). Parents’ alcohol use, respondents perceived harm of alcohol use, level of religiosity, peers’ influence were found to have significant association with current alcohol use. There was no significant association between respondent’s perceived harm of substance use and current use of tobacco, hypnosedatives, mild stimulants and cannabis. Eighty five percent of respondents had a GHQ score of 0-2 (negative) while 14.7% had a score of 3-12 (positive). There was no significant association between psychiatric morbidity on one hand and current or lifetime substance use on the other. We concluded that while the prevalence of current use of some psychoactive substances has reduced over the past 6 years, others have increased. It was suggested that planners of medical education should continue to lay emphasis on the risks of psychoactive substance use as part of the medical school curriculum. Other governmental and non-governmental bodies should also continue to plan and implement campaigns against substance use, not only among medical students, but the society in general

Creating a Septic Shock Model in Adult Wistar Rats and Observing the Effect of Noradrenaline

BACKGROUND: septic shock experiments usually use lipopolysaccharides (endotoxemia model) or polymicrobial model (using caecal ligation or puncture methods), while researchers rarely use live bacterial injections. Our broader aim is to create animal models of septic shock using different strains of live bacteria to understand sepsis pathophysiology better. AIM OF THE STUDY: 1. Creation of a rat model of septic shock using live strains of Escherichia coli and studying the various cardiovascular parameters. 2. To study the effect of administering Noradrenaline (a sympathomimetic drug). METHODS: After random selection, we anesthetized the Wistar rats (WR) for Intra-arterial pressure recordings from the carotid artery using ADInstruments® data acquisition device. Live E-Coli suspended in normal saline (5Mcfarland concentration; dose - 650uL/100gram) was injected through the tail vein to induce sepsis and observed for the development of shock (i.e., a drop in mean arterial pressure (MAP) of 50% from the initial MAP). The first group (n=7), consisted of the addition of E.coli alone, whereas the second group (n=7), comprised of rats treated with Noradrenaline. A negative control group (n=4), was also included in the study. The recordings were analyzed using a customized Matlab® code written by us. RESULTS: 75% rats (n=14, Group 1 & 2) had a pressure drop in about 2.5 hours (max – 4.2 hrs & min – 0.6hrs) after the addition of E.coli and 75% rats (n=7, group 1) died within 57 minutes (max – 62.3 minutes & min – 9.9 minutes) without any intervention. Addition of noradrenaline subsequent to pressure drop after Ecoli, in 7 rats (group 2) prolonged the time to death significantly to about 170 minutes (max - 496.04 minutes & min - 104.47minutes). CONCLUSION: 1. The above rat model of E.coli septic shock is useful to study various aspects of septic shock. 2. Noradrenaline prolonged the life of the animal in septic shock. 3. The above model paves the way for sepsis studies due to other common agents of sepsis encountered in clinics

The role of microRNAs in prognosis and therapy resistance of lung adenocarcinoma

The diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) usually occurs when the disease has locally advanced or spread into distant sites. Patients with early-stage NSCLC have a better overall rate of survival than those patients with advanced stages. Assessment of tumor progression is therefore critical for treatment options. For this purpose, this study used two approaches to analyze the development of NSCLC. First, circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) were examined as prognostic markers from serum samples of early-stage lung adenocarcinoma patients. Secondly, this study investigated the role of miRNAs in the progression of lung adenocarcinoma cells after treatment with the tyrosine-kinase inhibitor (TKI) gefitinib and subsequent resistance. Genome-wide circulating miRNA expression profiling revealed miRNAs out of which miR-142-3p was validated to be associated with poor prognosis in patients with lung adenocarcinoma. In order to improve the prognostic value of circulating miRNAs, a miRNA panel was searched to predict the overall survival and the relapse-free survival. Since no stable set of miRNAs was found, pre-analytical variables were identified as critical for miRNA analysis. In this case, the impact of blood collection and hemolysis were shown to have an influence on the expression level. The miRNAs, which were selected based on their prognostic relevance, showed a tendency to be lesser expressed in arterial blood than miRNAs derived from venipuncture. Moreover, miR-20b-5p and miR-486-5p were affected by hemolysis. In order to further investigate the progression of the tumor, the role of miRNAs and mRNAs in the development of resistance to EGFR-TKI gefitinib was studied. Therefore, a gefitinib resistance model was used by co-culturing lung fibroblasts (MRC-5) with the two different gefitinib-sensitive NSCLC cell lines HCC827 and PC-9. Global miRNA analysis revealed expression changes associated with EGFR-TKI resistance. A total of eleven miRNAs were selected, from which miR-503-5p was validated in both EGFR-TKI NSCLC cell lines. Subsequently, global gene expression profiling revealed 211 differentially expressed mRNAs in the resistant HCC827 and PC-9 cells. Putative target genes of miR-503-5p were determined by comparing global gene expression profiling with miRNA prediction databases. The autophagy gene GABARAPL1 was validated at both the mRNA and protein level. Ectopic overexpression of miR-503-5p resulted in significant reduction of GABARAPL1. Moreover, luciferase reporter assays showed the direct interaction between miR-503-5p and the 3’UTR of GABARAPL1. Different autophagy markers were analyzed in co-cultured HCC827 cells after gefitinib treatment. Thereby, the accumulation of the SQSTM1, as well as a decrease of LC3B-II and GABARAPL1 levels were observed. In accordance with this finding, siRNA-mediated knockdown of GABARAPL1 resulted in an accumulation of SQSTM1 (p62). In conclusion, these data suggest that inhibiting GABARAPL1 through miR-503-5p modulates autophagic activity in gefitinib resistant EGFR-mutant lung adenocarcinoma cells

Alpha Emitter Intrinsic Concentration in Copper required for Nuclear Spectrometry Application

Low-level radioactivity content in copper are employed for bolometric thermal radiation sensors and astro-nuclear spectrometers. The required lowest achievable alpha emitters concentration, for treated and untreated surfaces, are measured by Double Sided Silicon Strip Detectors in a high vacuum chamber and provide information on its intrinsic NORM content. Results shows that copper alpha emitters content can be achieved in the range below 0.01 (counts. keV-¹·kg-¹·y-¹) adequate for specific nuclear spectrometry applications