Qualitative Analysis of Indoor and Outdoor Airborne Fungi in Cowshed

Air pollution is one of the most serious problems to human health. Fungi are the causal agents for different diseases in animals, plants, and human beings. Otomycosis, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, asthma, allergy, and systemic mycosis are among the fungal diseases caused. The present study was conducted to analyze the monthly incidence of airborne fungi, seasonal variation, and influence of meteorological parameters in indoor and outdoor fungi of cowshed at Hesaraghatta village, Bangalore. An aeromycological survey of indoor and outdoor area of cowshed at Hesaraghatta village in Bangalore city was carried out using the Andersen two-stage sampler onto a petri dish containing malt extract agar from January 2011 to December 2011. Altogether, 29 species belonging to 13 genera from indoor and 26 species belonging to 12 genera were recorded from outdoor environment of the cowshed; the dominant fungal species identified were Cladosporium sp., Aspergillus sp., and Alternaria alternata. Seasonal occurrence of fungal spores in both indoor and outdoor of the cowshed revealed that maximum spores were recorded in summer season followed by winter and rainy season

Visualization of the three-dimensional structure of the human centromere in mitotic chromosomes by super-resolution microscopy

The human centromere comprises large arrays of repetitive alpha-satellite DNA at the primary constriction of mitotic chromosomes. In addition, centromeres are epigenetically specified by the centromere-specific histone H3 variant CENP-A that supports kinetochore assembly to enable chromosome segregation. Since CENP-A is bound to only a fraction of the alpha-satellite elements within the megabase-sized centromere DNA, correlating the three-dimensional (3D) organization of alpha-satellite DNA and CENP-A remains elusive. To visualize centromere organization within a single chromatid, we used a combination of the Centromere Chromosome Orientation Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization (Cen-CO-FISH) technique together with Structured Illumination Microscopy (SIM). Cen-CO-FISH allows the differential labeling of the sister chromatids without the denaturation step used in conventional FISH that may affect DNA structure. Our data indicate that alpha-satellite DNA is arranged in a ring-like organization within prometaphase chromosomes, in presence or absence of spindle's microtubules. Using expansion microscopy (ExM), we found that CENP-A organization within mitotic chromosomes follows a rounded pattern similar to that of alpha-satellite DNA, often visible as a ring thicker at the outer surface oriented towards the kinetochore-microtubules interface. Collectively, our data provide a 3D reconstruction of alpha-satellite DNA along with CENP-A clusters that outline the overall architecture of the mitotic centromere. [Media: see text] [Media: see text] [Media: see text] [Media: see text

3D printable acrylate polydimethylsiloxane resins for cell culture and drug testing

Nowadays, most of the microfluidic devices for biological applications are fabricated with only few wellestablished materials. Among these, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is the most used and known. However, it has many limitations, like the operator dependent and time-consuming manufacturing technique and the high molecule retention. TEGORad or Acrylate PDMS is an acrylate polydimethylsiloxane copolymer that can be 3D printed through Digital Light Processing (DLP), a technology that can boast reduction of waste products and the possibility of low cost and rapid manufacturing of complex components. Here, we developed 3D printed Acrylate PDMS-based devices for cell culture and drug testing. Our in vitro study shows that Acrylate PDMS can sustain cell growth of lung and skin epithelium, both of great interest for in vitro drug testing, without causing any genotoxic effect. Moreover, flow experiments with a druglike solution (Rhodamine 6G) show that Acrylate PDMS drug retention is negligible unlike the high signal shown by PDMS. In conclusion, the study demonstrates that this acrylate resin can be an excellent alternative to PDMS to design stretchable platforms for cell culture and drug testing

EFSA's OpenFoodTox: An open source toxicological database on chemicals in food and feed and its future developments

Since its creation in 2002, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has produced risk assessments for over 5000 substances in >2000 Scientific Opinions, Statements and Conclusions through the work of its Scientific Panels, Units and Scientific Committee. OpenFoodTox is an open source toxicological database, available both for download and data visualisation which provides data for all substances evaluated by EFSA including substance characterisation, links to EFSA's outputs, applicable legislations regulations, and a summary of hazard identification and hazard characterisation data for human health, animal health and ecological assessments. The database has been structured using OECD harmonised templates for reporting chemical test summaries (OHTs) to facilitate data sharing with stakeholders with an interest in chemical risk assessment, such as sister agencies, international scientific advisory bodies, and others. This manuscript provides a description of OpenFoodTox including data model, content and tools to download and search the database. Examples of applications of OpenFoodTox in chemical risk assessment are discussed including new quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) models, integration into tools (OECD QSAR Toolbox and AMBIT-2.0), assessment of environmental footprints and testing of threshold of toxicological concern (TTC) values for food related compounds. Finally, future developments for OpenFoodTox 2.0 include the integration of new properties, such as physico-chemical properties, exposure data, toxicokinetic information; and the future integration within in silico modelling platforms such as QSAR models and physiologically-based kinetic models. Such structured in vivo, in vitro and in silico hazard data provide different lines of evidence which can be assembled, weighed and integrated using harmonised Weight of Evidence approaches to support the use of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) in chemical risk assessment and the reduction of animal testing

Evaluation of the efficiency of synthesized efflux pump inhibitors on salmonella enterica ser. typhimurium cells

Multidrug efflux pump inhibitors have a great potential as pharmacological agents that increase the drug susceptibility of bacterial pathogens. Our study was focused on the synthesis and evaluation of the efficiency of resistance\u2013nodulation\u2013division (RND) family efflux pump inhibitors. The efficiency of these inhibitors was investigated on Salmonella enterica ser. typhimurium cells using tetraphenylphosphonium (TPP+) and ethidium cations as the efflux pump substrates. Results of our study indicated that efficiency of the inhibitors depends on the cell outer membrane permeability and method of the assay used. Temperature of the incubation medium and a solvent of the inhibitor used have only minor effect on results of the assay