Blumjones7196

Alpha radiation from Polonium-210 (210Po) is considered to be an important agent of bronchial cancer in smokers. Besides reexamination of the radionuclide in domestic and imported cigarette brands separately, the radioactive contamination was also followed during the cigarette-producing procedure in Gilan as one of the major regions of tobacco cultivation in Iran. The activity level of 210Po in Iranian domestic and imported cigarettes averaged 38.4 ± 6% and 20.0 ± 7% mBq g-1, respectively. Drying in direct contact with fumes of fossil fuel seems like one of the main excessive sources of 210Po in Persian cigarettes.

Mass spectrometry-based phosphoproteomics can routinely identify and quantify thousands of phosphorylated peptides from a single experiment. However interrogating possible upstream kinases and identifying key literature for phosphorylation sites is laborious and time-consuming.

Here, we present Phosphomatics - a publicly available web resource for interrogating phosphoproteomics data. Phosphomatics allows researchers to upload phosphoproteomics data and interrogate possible relationships from a substrate-, kinase-, or pathway-centric viewpoint.

Phosphomatics is freely available via the internet at https//phosphomatics.com.

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Historical and emerging data implicate fungi in Crohn's disease (CD) pathogenesis. However, a causal link between mycobiota, dysregulated immunity and any impact of NOD2 variants remains elusive. This study aims to evaluate associations between NOD2 variants and faecal mycobiota in CD patients and non-CD subjects.

Faecal samples were obtained from 34 CD patients (18 NOD2 mutant, 16 NOD2 wild-type) identified from the UK IBD Genetics Consortium. To avoid confounding influence of mucosal inflammation CD patients were in clinical remission and had a faecal calprotectin <250 μg/g. 47 non-CD subjects were included as comparator groups, including 22 matched household (4 NOD2 mutant) and 25 non-household subjects with known NOD2 genotype (14 NOD2 mutant) identified by the NIHR BioResource Cambridge. Faecal mycobiota composition was determined using ITS1 sequencing, and compared to 16S rRNA gene sequences and volatile organic compounds.

CD was associated with higher numbers of observed fungal OTUs (P=0.033). Principal coordinates analysis using Jaccard index (P=0.018) and weighted Bray-Curtis dissimilarities (P=0.01) showed Candida spp. clustered closer to CD patients whereas Cryptococcus spp. clustered closer to non-CD. In CD, we found higher relative abundance of Ascomycota (P=0.001) and lower relative abundance Basidiomycota (P=0.019) phyla. An inverse relationship was found between bacterial and fungal Shannon diversity in NOD2 wild-type that was independent of CD (r=-0.349; P=0.029).

This study confirms compositional changes in the gut mycobiota in CD and provides evidence that fungi may play a role in CD pathogenesis. No NOD2 genotype-specific differences were observed in the faecal mycobiota.

This study confirms compositional changes in the gut mycobiota in CD and provides evidence that fungi may play a role in CD pathogenesis. No NOD2 genotype-specific differences were observed in the faecal mycobiota.Among the cardiovascular risk factors, cholesterol-rich atherogenic lipoproteins play a central role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. In middle-aged adults, the size of the total atherosclerotic plaque burden is influenced by both the concentration of circulating atherogenic lipoproteins and by the total duration of exposure to these lipoproteins. This review describes the evidence supporting a causal link between life-long elevations in atherogenic lipoproteins and future risk of atherosclerosis; evidence strengthened by recent epidemiological, genetic and clinical data. By consequence, adolescence and early adulthood are a crucial time for determining later cardiovascular disease risk. Arguments showing that early optimal lipid control leads to improved outcomes will be presented, and suggestions put forward for how those most at risk should be identified and managed.

Artemisinin derivatives are the leading class of antimalarial drugs due to their rapid onset of action and rapid clearance of circulating parasites. The parasite clearance (PC) half-life measures the rate of loss of parasites from blood after treatment, and this is currently used to assess antimalarial activity of novel agents and to monitor resistance. However, a number of recent studies have challenged the use of PC to measure drug activity, arguing that many circulating parasites may be non-viable.

Plasmodium falciparum infected subjects (n=10) in a malaria volunteer infection study were administered a single dose of artesunate (2mg/kg). Circulating parasite concentration was assessed by quantitative PCR (qPCR). Parasite viability after artesunate administration was estimated by mathematical modelling of the ex vivo growth of parasites collected from subjects.

We showed that in artemisinin-sensitive infection, viable parasites declined to <0.1% of baseline within 8h after artesunate administration, while the total number of circulating parasites measured by qPCR remained unchanged. In artemisinin-resistant infections over the same interval, viable parasites declined to 51.4% (SEM 4.6%) of baseline.

These results demonstrate that in vivo drug activity of artesunate is faster than is indicated by the PC half-life.

These results demonstrate that in vivo drug activity of artesunate is faster than is indicated by the PC half-life.Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) is a common sensorimotor disorder, which can disrupt sleep and is thought to be caused in part by low cellular iron stores. Thiamet G supplier Proton pump inhibitors (PPI) and histamine H2-receptor antagonists (H2A) are among the most commonly used drugs worldwide and show evidence of causing iron deficiency. We conducted a case/non-case observational study of blood donors in the U.S. (N=13,403; REDS-III) and Denmark (N=50,323; Danish Blood Donor Study, DBDS), both of which had complete blood count measures and a completed RLS assessment via the Cambridge Hopkins RLS questionnaire (CH-RLSq). After adjusting for age, sex, race, BMI, blood donation frequency, smoking, hormone use, and iron supplement use, PPI/H2A use was associated with RLS (Odds Ratio [OR] = 1.41; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.13-1.76; P=0.002) in REDS-III for both PPI (OR = 1.43; CI, 1.03 - 1.95; P = 0.03) and H2A (OR = 1.56; CI, 1.10 - 2.16; P = 0.01). DBDS exhibited a similar association with PPIs/H2As (OR = 1.29; CI, 1.20 - 1.40; P less then 0.