Total sulfane sulfur bioavailability reflects ethnic and gender disparities in cardiovascular disease

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has emerged as an important physiological and pathophysiological signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system influencing vascular tone, cytoprotective responses, redox reactions, vascular adap- tation, and mitochondrial respiration. However, bioavailable levels of H2S in its various biochemical metabolite forms during clinical cardiovascular disease remain poorly understood. We performed a case-controlled study to quantify and compare the bioavailability of various biochemical forms of H2S in patients with and without cardiovascular disease (CVD). In our study, we used the reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography monobromobimane assay to analytically measure bioavailable pools of H2S. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were also identified using DNA Pyrosequencing. We found that plasma acid labile sulfide levels were significantly reduced in Caucasian females with CVD compared with those without the disease. Conversely, plasma bound sulfane sulfur levels were significantly reduced in Caucasian males with CVD compared with those without the disease. Surprisingly, gender differences of H2S bioavailability were not observed in African Americans, although H2S bioavailability was significantly lower overall in this ethnic group compared to Caucasians. We also performed SNP analysis of H2S synthesizing enzymes and found a significant increase in cystathionine gamma-lyase (CTH) 1364 G-T allele frequency in patients with CVD compared to controls. Lastly, plasma H2S bioavailability was found to be predictive for cardiovascular disease in Caucasian subjects as de- termined by receiver operator characteristic analysis. These findings reveal that plasma H2S bioavailability could be considered a biomarker for CVD in an ethnic and gender manner. Cystathionine gamma-lyase 1346 G-T SNP might also contribute to the risk of cardiovascular disease development

Evaluation of early detection of mucorales by rapid one step off- plate protein extraction using maldi -tof ms

Aim: To validate a simple one step method of protein extraction of moulds for routine early detection of fungi using automated instrument like MALDI- TOF MS. Methodology: A total of 123 clinical mould isolated were tested in Department of Microbiology, Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, Bihar, India during period of 3 months (August 2021-October 2021) with the routine Laboratory and culture investigations. Out of these specimens, approximately 50 specimens were suspected of Mucorales based on their growth timing, colony morphology, history of patient, character of tissue or sample, and corresponding KOH mount findings having hyphae in tissues or samples were included in study. Samples were inoculated on routine fungal culture media like SDA. The plates were examined at earliest for appearance of any growth and the process of protein extraction was done to be analysed in MALDI- TOF MS and compared with KOH preparation findings of sample. The culture were again incubated further for appearance of mature colony and later on isolates were identified by LPCB mount examination. Results: Around 70% growth of mucorales could be identified by this method and 30% could not be identified