Illya Ilyich Mechnikov's contribution to the fight against tuberculosis: results of the 1911 Astrakhan expedition

Our compatriot, well-known scientist, Nobel Prize winner in medicine and physiology Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov left a bright mark not only in domestic but also in world science. Ilya Ilyich's multifaceted scientific activity was devoted to various areas of research in biology and medicine. The scientist's success in studying important problems of zoology, embryology, comparative pathology, gerontology, immunology, virology and bacteriology is renowned around the world. One of the areas of his research activity aimed at studying tuberculosis. In May 1911, the Pasteur Institute organized the Astrakhan expedition led by I.I. Mechnikov. Leading scientists were among the participants of the expedition – specialists in microbiology and epidemiology from Russia, France, Italy and Japan. The expedition was to address important issues related to the spread of plague and tuberculosis in the Kalmyk steppes. Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov set the task to use diagnostic tests (Pirke test and ophthalmological test) to determine the level of tuberculosis infection in the steppe population and to investigate the relationship between the incidence of tuberculosis and increased contact of Kalmyks with non-steppe population. The work of the Astrakhan expedition led by I.I. Mechnikov became the starting point for successful studies of tuberculosis infection. When beginning studying tuberculosis, I.I. Mechnikov planned to completely defeat this disease. Although he did not achieve this goal, scientific conclusions made by Mechnikov while studying biological properties of the pathogen and mechanisms of immunity to tuberculosis were further developed, and joint efforts of domestic and foreign scientists made it possible to elaborate tailor-made measures for particular regions to prevent tuberculosis and justify the use of antimicrobials in the treatment of this infection.DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.388524

Вплив добавок та різних мікроорганізмів на процеси бродіння в рубці

The article provides information on the use of drugs to improve scarring. Some changes in the composition of the diet may improve the profile of fermentation of microorganisms. Diarrhea is the main cause of morbidity and mortality of calves at an early age, so its prevention is important for stimulating the development of calves. However, due to the growing risk of antibiotic resistance being released into the environment and entering animal products, probiotic supplements have been developed as an alternative to improve animal health and productivity. Although the administration of probiotics to animals has been linked to the efficacy of certain groups (pathogens) in the gut microbiota, it is currently unclear how they interact with the entire gut society.Probiotics and prebiotics have the ability to regulate the balance and activity of the microbiota of the gastrointestinal tract, and are therefore considered beneficial to animals and used as a functional feed. Feeding restrictions have shown that they significantly affect the structure and activity of the gut microbial cultures of ruminants. Probiotics are micro-organisms that are not of scar origin but can be adapted to scar conditions and improve the fermentation process. Probiotics are defined as living microorganisms or components of microbial cells that favorably affect the host organism as they regulate the gut microbiota in order to improve animal health. inconsistent, perhaps because the dynamics of gastrointestinal development have not been taken into account. Probiotics may be used to reduce the risk or severity of pathological conditions in stressful conditions caused by impaired bowel function. Probiotics used in feed for ruminants mainly include fungi and bacteria that have replaced traditional antibiotics. In healthy calves in which the microorganism culture is relatively stable, the minimal benefits of probiotics may be noticeable. Probiotic yeast organisms have been introduced to increase the effectiveness of the scar to regulate the microflora. The focus is on the benefits of probiotics and prebiotics for the gastrointestinal ecosystem microbiome in ruminants, which are closely related to animal feeding and health.В статті наведено дані щодо використання препаратів для поліпшення рубцевого травлення. Деякі зміни в складі раціону можуть поліпшити профіль ферментації мікроорганізмів. Діарея є основною причиною захворюваності та смертності телят в ранньому віці, тому її профілактика важлива для стимулювання розвитку телят. Проте у зв’язку зі зростаючою небезпекою щодо появи  стійкості до антибіотиків, що викидаються в навколишнє середовище і потрапляють в продукти тваринного походження, були розроблені пробіотичні добавки як альтернатива для поліпшення здоров’я і продуктивності тварин. Хоча призначення пробіотиків тваринам було пов’язано з ефективністю щодо певних груп (патогенів) в мікробіоти кишечнику, в даний час залишається неясним, як вони взаємодіють з усім вмістом кишечнику. Пробіотики та пребіотики мають здатність регулювати баланс і активність мікробіоти шлунково-кишкового тракту, через що вважаються корисними для тварин і використовуються як функціональний корм. Обмеження в годівлі показали, що вони помітно впливають на структуру і діяльність кишкових мікробних культур жуйних тварин. Пробіотики – це мікроорганізми, які не є рубцевого походження, але можуть бути адаптовані до рубцевих умов і покращувати процес бродіння. Пробіотики визначаються як живі мікроорганізми або компоненти мікробних клітин, які сприятливо впливають на організм господаря, оскільки вони регулюють мікрофлору кишечнику з метою поліпшення здоров’я тварин. Попередні дослідження показали потенційні можливості пробіотиків та пребіотиків в годівлі тварин, але їхня ефективність часто варіюється і є непослідовною, можливо, тому, що динаміка розвитку шлунково-кишкової культури не була взята до уваги. Для зниження ризику або тяжкості наслідків патологій у стресових умовах, що викликані порушенням нормальної роботи кишечнику, можуть використовуватись пробіотики. Пробіотики, що використовуються в кормах для жуйних тварин, в основному включають в себе грибки і бактерії, які замінили традиційні антибіотики. У здорових телят, в яких культура мікроорганізмів відносно стабільна, можуть бути помітні мінімальні переваги пробіотиків. Пробіотичні дріжджові організми були введені з метою підвищення ефективності роботи рубця для регулювання мікрофлори. Основна увага приділена перевагам пробіотиків та пребіотиків для мікробіому шлунково-кишкової екосистеми у жуйних тварин, які тісно пов’язані з годівлею і здоров’ям тварини

Phytochemical profiles, antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of Actinidia polygama and A. arguta fruits and leaves

Plants of two species of Actinidia genus grown in an adverse steppe climate were examined in terms of secondary metabolites’ accumulation, antioxidant potential, and antimicrobial ability. The aim of the work was to reveal whether the introduced plants A. arguta and A. polygama retain their well-known health benefits. Total content of polyphenols (549.2 and 428.1 mg GAE/100 g FW, respectively), flavonoids, and phenolic acids as well as total antioxidant activity and reducing power of the fruit isopropanol extracts were found to be equal or even higher than the reported data on kiwifruit varieties cultivated in China and other regions. Antioxidant potential and phenolic compounds’ content in the fruit peel of both species were higher when compared to pulp, while corresponding indices of leaves exceeded those of the fruit. Disc-diffusion assays showed low to moderate antibacterial activity of A. arguta and A. polygama fruit and leaf extracts against collection Gram-negative and Gram-positive strains. Clinical strains of P. aeruginosa and E. coli resistant to the action of ofloxacin were notably inhibited by A. arguta and A. polygama fruit and leaf crude extracts. Inhibiting effects of plant extracts on clinical strains of K. pneumoniae and A. baumannii were comparable with the effect of ofloxacin. GC-MS assays identified 23 and 36 chemical constituents, respectively in A. arguta and A. polygama fruit isopropanol extracts. The main compounds in both extracts were 2-propenoic acid, pentadecyl ester followed by squalene, 7,9-di-tert-butyl-1-oxaspiro(4,5)deca-6,9-dien-2,8-dione, octadecanoic acid, 2-oxo-methyl ester, ethyl-isoallocholate, and phytol having known bioactivities. Our findings confirmed the preservation of useful properties by the introduced plants and also indicated the rich health-promoting abilities and expedience of cultivating A. arguta and A. polygama in a steppe climate

Phytochemical profiles and antimicrobial activity of the inflorescences of Sorbus domestica, S. aucuparia, and S. torminalis

The genus Sorbus L. is known for its extremely complex taxonomical relationships and health-promoting phytochemicals included in the composition of its floral constituents. The inflorescences of three Sorbus species (rowans), characterized by distinct molecular-genetic traits, were studied in order to examine the possible chemotaxonomic and antimicrobial value of their metabolites. GC–MS profiling of the hexane extracts of S. domestica, S. aucuparia, and S. torminalis inflorescences identified a total of 87 components, which represented six chemical classes (hydrocarbons, alcohols, esters, fatty acid, aldehydes, and ketones) and miscellaneous minor floral constituents (1-methylinosine, 5-amino tetrazole, 1,4-dimethylbenzene, 3,5-bis(1,1-dimethylethyl)-phenol, 3-acetoxy-7,8-epoxylanostan-11-ol, cycloeucalenol acetate, etc.). Principal component analysis (PCA) of the qualitative and quantitative heterogeneity of the floral metabolites determined 1-hentetracontanol, nonacosane, pentadecyl acrylate, 1-methylhexacosane, cycloeucalenol acetate, butyl acetate, and urs-12-ene as the main components which contributed to the differences between S. domestica, S. aucuparia and S. torminalis and resulted in the distinction between the rowan species. Disc-diffusion assays showed variability in activity of inflorescence extracts against Gram-negative (Enterobacter dissolvens, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumoniae) and Gram-positive (Micrococcus lysodeikticus, Staphylococcus aureus, and S. epidermidis) bacterial and clinical fungal (Candida albicans) strains. The effect of S. torminalis was high against S. epidermidis and P. aeruginosa, while it was at its lowest against clinical C. albicans strains. Inflorescences of S. domestica showed the highest inhibition of P. aeruginosa, and moderate effects against S. epidermidis and C. albicans. Inflorescences of S. aucuparia caused low to moderate growth inhibition of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains, while it showed the highest effect on C. albicans. Antimicrobial properties of rowan inflorescences may be attributed to oleic, linoleic, arachidic, hexadecanoic, and pentadecanoic acids, 24-norursa-3,12-diene, hexahydrofarnesyl acetone, cycloeucalenol acetate, and other compounds which have known bioactivity. These findings indicated rowan inflorescences as a rich source of valuable secondary metabolites and allow us to assume an application of the floral constituents as chemotaxonomic markers of the genus Sorbus species

Soluble cuticular wax composition and antimicrobial activity of the fruits of Chaenomeles species and an interspecific hybrid

Plants of the genus Chaenomeles Lindl. (Rosaceae) naturally grow in Southeast Asia and represent the richest resource of biologically active compounds with beneficial properties for humans. Plants of C. japonica (Thunb.) Lindl. and C. speciosa (Sweet) Nakai species, and interspecific hybrid C. × superba (Frahm) Rehder (C. japonica × C. speciosa, Superba group) have been successfully introduced in the steppe zone of Ukraine and bear fruits. In this study, we evaluated chemical composition of fruit cuticular waxes and antimicrobial activity of fruit extracts. The soluble waxes were characterized using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and 26–36 compounds, representing 91.7–96.6% of the total soluble cuticular waxes, were identified. Waxes of Chaenomeles fruits belonged to six classes, namely fatty acids, alcohols, aldehydes, esters, ethers and alkanes. Aldehydes 7-hexadecenal and heptacosanal, and alkanes hexatriacontane and tetrapentacontane were the main constituents in the soluble cuticular waxes of C. speciosa and C. × superba fruits, accounting for more than half of the total contents. However, alkane tetrapentacontane, alcohol 8,10-hexadecadien-1-ol and heptacosanal prevailed in C. japonica fruit waxes. Isopropanolic fruit extracts exhibited dose-dependent antimicrobial activity against four Gram-negative bacteria, five Gram-positive bacteria and one fungal strain in the disc diffusion assay. In general, extracts from the Chaenomeles fruits demonstrated higher activity against Gram+ bacteria than Gram- strains. The strongest inhibiting activity was shown against Staphylococcus epidermidis (by the fruit extracts of C. × superba and C. speciosa), Micrococcus lysodeikticus and Candida albicans (both by C. × superba fruit extract). Results of the study confirmed accumulation of the bioactive compounds in the fruit waxes of different Chaenomeles species and antimicrobial ability of Chaenomeles fruits as well. These findings revealed the bioactive compounds in fruit cuticular waxes and suggested health-promoting properties of introduced Chaenomeles species

EBImage—an R package for image processing with applications to cellular phenotypes

Summary: EBImage provides general purpose functionality for reading, writing, processing and analysis of images. Furthermore, in the context of microscopy-based cellular assays, EBImage offers tools to segment cells and extract quantitative cellular descriptors. This allows the automation of such tasks using the R programming language and use of existing tools in the R environment for signal processing, statistical modeling, machine learning and data visualization

Strains of soil microorganisms promising for the creation of a complex plant protection product against mycoses and harmful insects

We evaluated the antagonistic activity of 23 strains of Bacillus spр. against phytopathogenic fungi Fusarium oxysporum, F. culmorum, F. moniliforme, Cladosporium herbarum, Alternaria alternata and Aspergillus niger. The antagonistic activity was tested by agar diffusion (the method of blocks). For determining the influence of bacteria on barley plants , ardent seeds were treated by cultural liquid (dilution 1 : 10) for 2 hours and germinated in Petri dishes on moist filter paper. The fungistatic effect of Bacillus sрp. separately and in combination with entomopathogens (in equal ratio) was determined by the level of inhibition of the fungi Fusarium spp. on a solid nutrient medium with 5% of the culture liquid. Insecticidal activity of microorganisms was determined in the model experiments by the percentage of death of the caterpillar Archips podana Scop. Strains of Bacillus sp. KMB-3 and Bacillus sp. KMB-6 inhibited the growth of all test cultures (zones of growth inhibition 11.4–30.6 and 11.5–29.4 mm, respectively). We established the absence of antagonism between selected strains and entomopathogenic bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis IMB-7186, fungi Beauveria bassiana IMB-F-100043. We found that treatment of barley seeds with culture liquids of Bacillus sp. KMB-3 and Bacillus sp. KMB-6 didn’t have a negative effect on the morphometric indices and dry weight of seedlings. We established that the highest percentage of growth inhibition of F. culmorum IMB-F-50716 was provided by a complex of Bacillus sp. KMB-3, B. bassiana IMB-F-100043 and B. thuringiensis IMB-7186, whose action was at the same level as the action of monoculture Bacillus sp. KMB-3 (85.4% and 84.7%, respectively). The highest percentage inhibition of growth of F. oxysporum ІМВ-F-54201 was provided by a complex of strains of Bacillus sp. KMB-3 and B. bassiana IMB-F-100043, whose effect was slightly inferior to that of the monoculture Bacillus sp. KMB-3 (68.4% and 75.1%, respectively). The insecticidal activity of complexes Bacillus sp. KMB-3, B. bassiana IMB-F-100043, B. thuringiensis IMB-7186 or Bacillus sp. KMB-6, B. bassiana IMB-F-100043, B. thuringiensis IMB-7186 insignificantly differed from that of the complex entomopathogens B. bassiana IMB-F-100043 and B. thuringiensis IMB-7186 (71.1%, 73.3% death versus 80.0%). The selected microbial complexes can be considered as promising for the development of a preparation for the protection of plants against fungal diseases and harmful insects

Anaerobic microbial associations degrading aminoaromatic acids

Anaerobic microbial associations have been isolated that degrade aminoaromatic acids to methane and carbon dioxide at high rates. Significant differences between the morphological, cytological, and physiological traits of cultures isolated from samples of adapted and unadapted sludge are shown. The effects of cultivation temperature, illumination, and presence of mineral nitrogen and bicarbonate in the medium upon adaptation of enrichment cultures to substrates and subsequent behavior of the anaerobic associations have been studied. Intermediate and final products of degradation of aminoaromatic compounds and the sequence of their formation in the cultures have been determined. We have also studied the effects of exogenous electron acceptors and additional carbon sources on the degradation of aminoaromatic compounds

Preparation and characterisation of new biomaterials based on chitosan iodide with biologically active dyes

New composite materials were obtained based on chitosan iodide and organic dyes – methylene blue and fuchsine in fucorcin (Castellani liquid) – by using a simple synthetic procedure. The materials were characterised by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, temperature-programmed desorption mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy and visible and ultraviolet light spectroscopy. The dyes in the composites were distributed uniformly and did not form separate phases. These composites could form structured porous sponges and films and therefore be used in various fields of application. The materials displayed antibacterial activity against antibiotic resistant gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria