Kombucha microbiome as a probiotic: a view from the perspective of post-genomics and synthetic ecology

Probiotics are essential for establishing and maintaining optimal immune health. The probiotic therapy is known from alternative medicine for ages; however, the recent demonstration of the normal microflora to induce innate immunity has introduced the science-based concept of therapeutic application of potentially beneficial probiotic microorganisms for a treatment of functional disorders. Traditionally, probiotics are associated with dairy products, however, novel formulations are needed, first of all, originated from naturally occurring symbiotic microbial communities as the most robust assemblages. Especially, safe and robust probiotics are needed for long-term expeditions, outposts, extraterrestrial permanently-manned bases, where humans are exposed to adverse environmental factors. Kombucha beverage is Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast (SCOBY) and associated with health-promoting effects. Kombucha tea/mat is being in use in human livings within millennia as a probiotic drink for healing and health prophylaxis effects, however, new research opportunities promise its «renaissance», going to be used pharmacologically

Використання мікродренуючої елімінаційної електролізисної санації в лікуванні хворих із нагнійними формами епітеліальних куприкових ходів

Метою нашої роботи було поліпшення результатів хірургічного лікування хворих із нагнійними формамиепітеліальних куприкових ходів шляхом використання поєднаної дії електричного поля постійного струму тарозчину антисептика “Октенісепт”.Мікродренуюча елімінаційна електролізисна санація включає в себе мікродренуючу санацію гнояка із введен-ням розчину антисептика з подальшим проведенням сеансу внутрішньотканинного електрофорезу на ділянкукуприка

BEAM POSITION MONITOR SYSTEM FOR 2 MEV ELECTRON COOLER FOR COSY

Abstract The 2 MEV electron cooler for COSY storage ring FZJ is assembling in BINP. Beam position monitor (BPM) system for orbit measurements has been developed and fabricated at BINP. The system contains 2 BPMs inside the cooling section and 10 BPMs in transport channels. Continuous electron beam is modulated with a 3 MHz signal for capability to get signals from pickup electrodes. The beam current modulation can be varied in the range of 0.3-1.5 mA. The BPMs inside the cooling section can measure both electron and proton beams. It is achieved by means of switching the reference signals inside the BPM electronics. The BPM electronics provides highly precise beam position measurements. Position measurement error doesn't exceed 1 micron. Design features of the BPM system, its parameters and testing results are presented in this paper

The impact of the time interval from diagnosis to radical prostatectomy on oncological outcomes in high-risk prostate cancer

Introduction. To date, the impact of the time interval from diagnostic prostate biopsy to radical prostatectomy on treatment outcomes remains a topical issue.Objective. To evaluate the effect of the timespan from diagnosis to radical treatment of prostate cancer (PCa) patients on tumor morphology and long-term oncological outcomes.Materials and methods. A retrospective analysis of the results of treatment of patients with high-risk PCa who underwent radical prostatectomy with extended lymphadenectomy from 2001 to 2019 in three St. Petersburg clinics was performed. The influence of the time interval from prostate biopsy to radical treatment on long-term outcomes was assessed.Results. An increase in the time interval before surgical treatment over three months did not affect the tumor morphology. Five-year biochemical relapse-free survival was 79.7%, 67.8% and 52.5% among patients with time interval from biopsy to surgical treatment less than 30 days, 30 – 90 days and more than 90 days, respectively. The time interval prior to radical treatment did not have any effect on overall and cancer-specific survival.Conclusion. The time interval from prostate biopsy to surgical intervention, not exceeding 3 months, is the most favorable with respect to long-term outcomes

Значение и объем тазовой лимфаденэктомии в лечении больных раком мочевого пузыря

Purpose: The benefit of pelvic lymph node dissection in patients with bladder cancer remains controversial. We have compared these methods of dissection in regard to the following parameters: number of extracted lymph nodes, frequency and location of identifiable metastases, complications rate, and time before development of relapses. Also we have estimated influence of clinical and intra-operative regional changes on a choice of a extent of lymph node dissection.Materials and methods: Analysis included data on 59 patients who underwent radical cystectomy for bladder cancer between 2002 and 2008. Extended lymph node dissection was carried out in 18 patients (30,5%), and limited lymph node dissection — in 41 (69,5 %) patients.Results: The average quantity of removed lymph nodes was 11,2 in cases of limited and 20,8 — in cases of extended lymph node dissection. Consequently, the number of revealed metastases has increased from 21,9 to 33,3%. Complex estimation of preoperative and intraoperative data has demonstrated the greatest efficiency in diagnostics of changes in lymph nodes. Among perioperative complications only frequency of lymphorrhea has appeared to be higher in patients after extended lymph node dissection. Disease-free survival rate was 9,8 months (9,4 in cases of limited and 10,1 — in cases of extended dissection).Conclusions: Extended pelvic lymph node dissection should be recommended as a component of radical cystectomy with diagnostic and, probably, with the therapeutic purpose, especially in patients with suspicion for lymph nodes involvement arisen pre- and/or intra-operatively. Both clinical examination and intra-operative and qualitative pathomorphologic evaluation of regional lymph nodes are very important for full value staging of bladder cancer.

Test of detuning system for dielectronic recombination experiment at CSRm

The storage ring equipped with an electron cooler is an ideal platform for dielectronic recombination (DR) experiments. In order to fulfil the requirement of DR measurements at the main Cooler Storage Ring, a detuning system for the precision control of the relative energy between the ion beam and the electron beam has been installed on the electron cooler device. The test run using 7.0 MeV/u C6+ beam was performed to examine the influence of this system on the performance of the stored ion beam. The Schottky spectra and the ion beam currents were recorded to monitor the beam status. The influence of pulse heights and widths of the detuning voltage on the ion beam was investigated. For the small pulse height, the experimental results from the Schottky spectrum were in good agreement with the theoretical results. The frequency shift in the Schottky spectrum is significantly reduced for the short pulse width. For the large pulse height, an oscillation phenomenon was observed. From the Schottky spectrum, we found the oscillation amplitude is dependent on the pulse width of detuning and the ion beam intensity. The detailed description of the phenomenon and the theoretical model based on the plasma oscillation was discussed in this paper.Comment: contributed to Chinese Physics

The effect of iodine-containing nano-micelles, FS-1, on antibiotic resistance, gene expression and epigenetic modifications in the genome of multidrug resistant MRSA strain staphylococcus aureus ATCC BAA-39

Application of supplementary drugs which increase susceptibility of pathogenic bacteria to antibiotics is a promising yet unexplored approach to overcome the global problem of multidrug-resistant infections. The discovery of a new drug, an iodinecontaining nano-molecular complex FS-1, which has proven to improve susceptibility to antibiotics in various pathogens, including MRSA strain Staphylococcus aureus ATCC BAA-39TM, allowed studying this phenomenon. Chromosomal DNA and total RNA samples extracted from the FS-1 treated strain (FS) and from the negative control (NC) cultures were sequenced by PacBio SMRT and Ion Torrent technologies, respectively. PacBio DNA reads were used to assemble chromosomal DNA of the NC and FS variants of S. aureus BAA-39 and to perform profiling of epigenetically modified nucleotides. Results of transcriptional profiling, variant calling and detection of epigenetic modifications in the FS variant were compared to the NC variant. Additionally, the genetic alterations caused by the treatment of S. aureus BAA-39 with FS-1 were compared to the results of a similar experiment conducted with another model organism, E. coli ATCC BAA-196. Several commonalities in responses of these phylogenetically distant microorganisms to the treatment with FS-1 were discovered, which included metabolic transition toward anaerobiosis and oxidative/osmotic stress response. S. aureus culture appeared to be more sensitive to FS-1 due to a higher penetrability of cells by iodine bound compounds, which caused carbonyl stress associated with nucleotide damaging by FS-1, abnormal epigenetic modifications and an increased rate of mutations. It was hypothesized that the disrupted pattern of adenine methylated loci within methicillin-resistance chromosome cassettes (SCCmec) may promote excision of this antibiotic resistance determinant from chromosomes while the altered pattern of cytosine methylation was behind the adaptive gene regulation in the culture FS. The selection against the antibiotic resistance in bacterial populations caused by abnormal epigenetic modifications exemplifies possible mechanisms of antibiotic resistance reversion induced by iodine-containing compounds. These finding will facilitate development of therapeutic agents against multidrug-resistant infections.The South African National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Industrial development and industrial safety committee of the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan.http://frontiersin.org/Microbiologypm2021BiochemistryGeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

Assembly of complete genome sequences of negative-control and experimental strain variants of staphylococcus aureus ATCC BAA-39 selected under the effect of the drug FS-1, which induces antibiotic resistance reversion

Staphylococcus aureus ATCC BAA-39 is the reference organism for a multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strain that was used to study druginduced resistance reversion by an iodine-containing nanomolecular complex, FS-1. PacBio sequencing was performed on both the experimental and control strains, followed by genome assembly, variant calling, and DNA modification profiling.Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan and South African National Research Foundation (NRF).https://mra.asm.orgpm2020BiochemistryGeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

Complete genome sequences of gram-positive opportunistic pathogens isolated from hospitals in Almaty, Kazakhstan

The genomes are available from NCBI BioProject number PRJNA754843 under the accession numbers shown in Table 1.The appearance of drug-resistant pathogens reduces the therapeutic applicability of antibiotics and increases the rate of hospital infections among patients. Complete genome sequences of four Gram-positive clinical isolates of Streptococcus and Staphylococcus were obtained and analyzed to serve as model microorganisms for further studies on drug-induced antibiotic resistance reversion.Sequencing was funded by grant BR09458960 of the program “Study of Reversion of Antibiotic Resistance of Pathogenic Microorganisms” provided by the Industrial Development Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan.https://journals.asm.org/journal/mraam2023BiochemistryGeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

Transcriptomics and methylomics study on the effect of iodine-containing drug FS-1 on Escherichia coli ATCC BAA-196

AIM : Promising results on application of iodine-containing nano-micelles, FS-1, against antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli was demonstrated. MATERIALS AMD METHODS : RNA sequencing for transcriptomics and the complete genome sequencing by SMRT PacBio were followed by genome assembly and methylomics. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION : FS-1-treated E. coli showed an increased susceptibility to antibiotics ampicillin and gentamicin. Cultivation with FS-1 caused gene expression alterations toward anaerobic respiration, increased anabolism and inhibition of many nutrient uptake systems. Main targets of iodine-containing particles were cell membrane structures causing oxidative, osmotic and acidic stresses. Identification of methylated nucleotides showed an altered pattern in the FS-1-treated culture. Possible role of transcriptional and epigenetic modifications in the observed increase in susceptibility to gentamicin and ampicillin were discussed.LAY ABSTRACT : New approaches of combatting drug-resistant infections are in demand as the development of new antibiotics is in a deep crisis. This study was set out to investigate molecular mechanisms of action of new iodine-containing nano-micelle drug FS-1, which potentially may improve the antibiotic therapy of drug-resistant infections. Iodine is one of the oldest antimicrobials and until now there were no reports on development of resistance to iodine. Recent studies showed promising results on application of iodine-containing nano-micelles against antibiotic-resistant pathogens as a supplement to antibiotic therapy. The mechanisms of action, however, remain unclear. The collection strain Escherichia coli ATCC BAA-196 showing an extended spectrum of resistance to ββ-lactam and aminoglycoside antibiotics was used in this study as a model organism. Antibiotic resistance patterns, whole genomes and total RNA sequences of the FS-1-treated (FS) and negative control (NC) variants of E. coli BAA-196 were obtained and analyzed. FS culture showed an increased susceptibility to antibiotics associated with profound gene expression alterations switching the bacterial metabolism to anaerobic respiration, increased anabolism, osmotic stress response and inhibition of many nutrient uptake systems. Nucleotide methylation pattern were identified in FS and NC cultures. While the numbers of methylated sites in both genomes remained similar, some peculiar alterations were observed in their distribution along chromosomal and plasmid sequences.Sequencing was funded by the program “Study of reversion of antibiotic resistance of pathogenic microorganisms” provided by the Industrial development and industrial safety committee of the Ministry of industry and infrastructural development of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Genome assembly, annotation, bioinformatics analysis and student support were funded by the South African National Research Foundation (NRF).http://www.futuremedicine.com/loi/fmbhj2022BiochemistryGeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog