A comparative study between placental alpha microglobulin-1 rapid immunoassay and standard diagnostic methods for detection of rupture of membranes

Background: To determine the efficacy of an immunoassay to measure levels of placental alpha-microglobulin-1 in cervico-vaginal secretions.Methods: 100 ANC cases admitted in Dr D. Y. Patil Hospital with symptoms of rupture of membranes during study period. Inclusion criteria-Pregnant women who presented with symptoms of ROM either in labour or not in labour, gestational age from 28 weeks onwards and who have given consent.Results: In 9 cases, the immunoassay test was negative, in 91 cases, it was positive and in one case, the liquor had a lot of meconium, the woman had to undergo an emergency cesarean section. This patient was deemed to have a false negative result by the test. Pooling was positive in 87 cases, nitrazine test in 86 cases and ferning in 88 cases. Hence, in comparison to immunoassay test which had 100% specificity and 98.91% sensitivity due to incomplete evaluation, nitrazine test had 95.58% sensitivity and 100% specificity, Pooling has 97.79% sensitivity and 100% specificity, whereas ferning has 98.34% sensitivity and 100% specificity.Conclusions: The PAMG1 is a non-invasive, rapid, one step test with very high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy as compared to the conventional methods together and also individually. Preforming this test instead of conventional methods can aid the early detection of rupture of membranes and largely affect the outcome of maternal and fetal health as timely decision can be taken once diagnosis is confirmed

Problems with paranthropus

Carbon isotopic analysis has been challenging our ideas about hominin diet for nearly 30 years. The first study in 1994 revealed that Paranthropus robustus from South Africa consumed principally C3 foods (e.g., tree fruits and leaves) but also about 25% C4/CAM resources (e.g., tropical grasses and sedges). This result was largely consistent with morphological and dental microwear evidence suggesting P. robustus had a diet which included hard objects like nuts and seeds. Decades later, however, P. boisei from eastern Africa was shown to have eaten nearly 80% C4/CAM plants like the contemporaneous grass-eating primate Theropithecus. Moreover, dental microwear revealed no evidence of hard object consumption in P. boisei, suggesting a diet of tough foods such as grass or sedge leaf and stem. So Paranthropus presents us with two central problems: 1) Why do dietary proxies suggest different diets for the two robust australopiths despite their morphological congruity; and 2) How could P. boisei have consumed tough foods with teeth that seem unsuited to the task. Here we review these questions and more with a particular focus on new isotopic data from the Omo and insights that can be gleaned from mammals outside the haplorrhine primates. We argue that extant Primates do not capture the ecomorphological diversity of P. boisei and other extinct primates and should not narrowly circumscribe the behaviors we ascribe to extinct taxa. We also discuss possible digestive strategies for P. boisei in light of its morphology, dietary proxy data, food mechanical properties, and comparative data on mammalian digestive kinetics.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Phytochemical characterization of Tabernanthe iboga root bark and its effects on dysfunctional metabolism and cognitive performance in high-fat-fed C57BL/6J mice

Preparations of the root bark of Tabernanthe iboga have long been used in Central and West African traditional medicine to combat fatigue, as a neuro-stimulant in rituals, and for treatment of diabetes. The principal alkaloid of T. iboga, ibogaine, has attracted attention in many countries around the world for providing relief for opioid craving in drug addicts. Using a plant metabolomics approach, we detected five phenolic compounds, including 3- O-caffeoylquinic acid, and 30 alkaloids, seven of which were previously reported from T. iboga root bark. Following a report that iboga extracts contain insulinotropic agents, we aimed to determine the potential alleviating effects of the water extract of iboga root bark on high-fat diet (HFD)-induced hyperglycemia as well as its effects on cognitive function in male C57BL/6J mice. Feeding a HFD to mice for 10 weeks produced manifestations of metabolic syndrome such as increased body weight and increased plasma levels of glucose, triacylglycerols, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, insulin, leptin, and pro-inflammatory mediators (IL-6, MCP-1, ICAM-1), as compared to mice fed a low-fat diet (LFD). Supplementation of HFD with iboga extract at ibogaine doses of 0.83 (low) and 2.07 (high) mg/kg/day did not improve these HFD-induced metabolic effects except for a reduction of plasma MCP-1 in the low dose group, indicative of an anti-inflammatory effect. When the HFD mice were tested in the water maze, the high-dose iboga extract caused hippocampus-dependent impairments in spatial learning and memory, as compared to mice receiving only a HFD.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

APPLaUD: access for patients and participants to individual level uninterpreted genomic data.

BACKGROUND: There is a growing support for the stance that patients and research participants should have better and easier access to their raw (uninterpreted) genomic sequence data in both clinical and research contexts. MAIN BODY: We review legal frameworks and literature on the benefits, risks, and practical barriers of providing individuals access to their data. We also survey genomic sequencing initiatives that provide or plan to provide individual access. Many patients and research participants expect to be able to access their health and genomic data. Individuals have a legal right to access their genomic data in some countries and contexts. Moreover, increasing numbers of participatory research projects, direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies, and now major national sequencing initiatives grant individuals access to their genomic sequence data upon request. CONCLUSION: Drawing on current practice and regulatory analysis, we outline legal, ethical, and practical guidance for genomic sequencing initiatives seeking to offer interested patients and participants access to their raw genomic data

Identification of new participants in the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) oocyte maturation and ovulation processes using cDNA microarrays

BACKGROUND: The hormonal control of oocyte maturation and ovulation as well as the molecular mechanisms of nuclear maturation have been thoroughly studied in fish. In contrast, the other molecular events occurring in the ovary during post-vitellogenesis have received far less attention. METHODS: Nylon microarrays displaying 9152 rainbow trout cDNAs were hybridized using RNA samples originating from ovarian tissue collected during late vitellogenesis, post-vitellogenesis and oocyte maturation. Differentially expressed genes were identified using a statistical analysis. A supervised clustering analysis was performed using only differentially expressed genes in order to identify gene clusters exhibiting similar expression profiles. In addition, specific genes were selected and their preovulatory ovarian expression was analyzed using real-time PCR. RESULTS: From the statistical analysis, 310 differentially expressed genes were identified. Among those genes, 90 were up-regulated at the time of oocyte maturation while 220 exhibited an opposite pattern. After clustering analysis, 90 clones belonging to 3 gene clusters exhibiting the most remarkable expression patterns were kept for further analysis. Using real-time PCR analysis, we observed a strong up-regulation of ion and water transport genes such as aquaporin 4 (aqp4) and pendrin (slc26). In addition, a dramatic up-regulation of vasotocin (avt) gene was observed. Furthermore, angiotensin-converting-enzyme 2 (ace2), coagulation factor V (cf5), adam 22, and the chemokine cxcl14 genes exhibited a sharp up-regulation at the time of oocyte maturation. Finally, ovarian aromatase (cyp19a1) exhibited a dramatic down-regulation over the post-vitellogenic period while a down-regulation of Cytidine monophosphate-N-acetylneuraminic acid hydroxylase (cmah) was observed at the time of oocyte maturation. CONCLUSION: We showed the over or under expression of more that 300 genes, most of them being previously unstudied or unknown in the fish preovulatory ovary. Our data confirmed the down-regulation of estrogen synthesis genes during the preovulatory period. In addition, the strong up-regulation of aqp4 and slc26 genes prior to ovulation suggests their participation in the oocyte hydration process occurring at that time. Furthermore, among the most up-regulated clones, several genes such as cxcl14, ace2, adam22, cf5 have pro-inflammatory, vasodilatory, proteolytics and coagulatory functions. The identity and expression patterns of those genes support the theory comparing ovulation to an inflammatory-like reaction

Metabotypes with elevated protein and lipid catabolism and inflammation precede clinical mastitis in prepartal transition dairy cows

Clinical mastitis (CM), the most prevalent and costly disease in dairy cows, is diagnosed most commonly shortly after calving. Current indicators do not satisfactorily predict CM. This study aimed to develop a robust and comprehensive mass spectrometry-based metabolomic and lipidomic workflow using untargeted ultra-performance liquid chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry for predictive biomarker detection. Using a nested case-control design, we measured weekly during the prepartal transition period differences in serum metabolites, lipids, inflammation markers, and minerals between clinically healthy Holstein dairy cows diagnosed with mastitis postcalving (CMP; n = 8; CM diagnosis d 1= 3 cows, d 2 = 2 cows, d 4 = 1 cow; d 25 = 1 cow, and d 43 = 1 cow that had subclinical mastitis since d 3) or not (control; n = 9). The largest fold differences between CMP and control cows during the prepartal transition period were observed for 3'-sialyllactose in serum. Seven metabolites (N-methylethanolamine phosphate, choline, phosphorylcholine, free carnitine, trimethyl lysine, tyrosine, and proline) and 3 metabolite groups (carnitines, AA metabolites, and water-soluble phospholipid metabolites) could correctly classify cows for their future CM status at both 21 and 14 d before calving. Biochemical analysis using lipid and metabolite-specific commercial diagnostic kits supported our mass spectrometry-based omits results and additionally showed elevated inflammatory markers (serum amyloid A and visfatin) in CMP cows. In conclusion, metabolic phenotypes (i.e., metabotype) with elevated protein and lipid metabolism and inflammation may precede CM in prepartal transition dairy cows. The discovered serum metabolites and lipids may assist in predictive diagnostics, prevention strategies, and early treatment intervention against CM, and thereby improve cow health and welfare

The Use of High Performance Liquid Chromatography for the Characterization of the Unfolding and Aggregation of Dairy Proteins

peer-reviewedHigh-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is routinely used to identify and characterize proteins. HPLC can help to understand protein aggregation processes in dairy products, which are induced by common industrial processing steps such as heat treatment. In this chapter, three complementary chromatographic methods are described, which are based on the principles of size exclusion and reversed-phase chromatography. These methods are used to determine the degree of denaturation and aggregation of proteins, and estimate the molecular weight of these aggregates

¹⁸O-Tracer Metabolomics Reveals Protein Turnover and CDP-Choline Cycle Activity in Differentiating 3T3-L1 Pre-Adipocytes

The differentiation of precursor cells into mature adipocytes (adipogenesis) has been an area of increased focus, spurred by a rise in obesity rates. Though our understanding of adipogenesis and its regulation at the cellular level is growing, many questions remain, especially regarding the regulation of the metabolome. The 3T3-L1 cell line is the most well characterized cellular model of adipogenesis. Using a time course metabolomics approach, we show that the 3T3-L1 preadipocyte metabolome is greatly altered during the first 48 hours of differentiation, where cells go through about two rounds of cell division, a process known as mitotic clonal expansion. Short-chain peptides were among several small molecules that were increased during mitotic clonal expansion. Additional indicators of protein turnover were also increased, including bilirubin, a degradation product of heme-containing proteins, and 3-methylhistidine, a post-translationally modified amino acid that is not reutilized for protein synthesis. To study the origin of the peptides, we treated differentiating preadipocytes with ¹⁸O labeled water and found that ¹⁸O was incorporated into the short chain peptides, confirming them, at least in part, as products of hydrolysis. Inhibitors of the proteasome or matrix metalloproteinases affected the peptide levels during differentiation, but inhibitors of autophagy or peptidases did not. ¹⁸O was also incorporated into several choline metabolites including cytidine 5'-diphosphocholine (CDP-choline), glycerophosphocholine, and several phosphatidylcholine species, indicative of phosphatidylcholine synthesis/degradation and of flux through the CDP-choline cycle, a hallmark of proliferating cells. ¹⁸O-Tracer metabolomics further showed metabolic labeling of glutamate, suggestive of glutaminolysis, also characteristic of proliferating cells. Together, these results highlight the utility of ¹⁸O isotope labeling in combination with metabolomics to uncover changes in cellular metabolism that are not detectable by time-resolved metabolomics

Sensing element for the formation fluid refractometer on the basis of total internal reflection

When developing oil fields, there is an urgent task to quickly determine the type of pumped formation fluid, which includes formation gas, formation oil and formation water. In this paper, we propose a new type of a sensor element designed for flow refractometry of formation fluid based on the effect of total internal reflection. The sensor element is a taper tip of a conical shape made of sapphire and is 20 mm in length and 20 mm in diameter. The original shape of the sensor element is determined by a modified ray tracing method, taking into account analytical relations that determine the conditions for providing a larger dynamic range of measurements under specified physical, technological and design constraints. The conversion dependence of the tip is obtained for the wavelengths of 405 nm, 1064 nm and 3300 nm and allows determining the type of formation fluid (gas/water/oil). The proposed method enables the development of conical sensor elements based on the total internal reflection for downhole monitoring systems and optical threshold sensors of the refractive index