Baldwinwinther3863

2% from someone else. Coffee source locations also varied by age, education, income, and race/ethnicity. Coffee consumers had significantly higher Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2015) and higher Nutrient-Rich Foods (NRF9.3) scores in energy-adjusted models and significantly higher HEI 2015 scores in multivariable models. In multivariable models, coffee consumers had diets with less added sugar (p less then 0.001) but slightly more fat (of all types, including monounsaturated (MUFA), polyunsaturated (PUFA), saturated and solid fats), cholesterol, and alcohol. Their diets had more potassium and magnesium (p less then 0.001) but less vitamin C (p less then 0.001). Mean caffeine consumption was 233 mg/day for consumers and 72.3 mg/day for non-consumers. Coffee consumption patterns in the US vary across socio-demographic groups.Endothelial-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) is a crucial phenomenon in regulating the development of diseases, including cancer metastasis and fibrotic disorders. The primary regulators of disease development are zinc-finger transcription factors belonging to the Snail family. In this study, we characterized the myocardin-related transcription factor (MRTF)-dependent mechanisms of a human snail promoter regulation in TGF-β-stimulated human endothelial cells. Although in silico analysis revealed that the snail promoter's regulatory fragment contains one GCCG and two SP1 motifs that could be occupied by MRTFs, the genetic study confirmed that MRTF binds only to SP1 sites to promote snail expression. The more accurate studies revealed that MRTF-A binds to both SP1 elements, whereas MRTF-B to only one (SP1near). Although we found that each MRTF alone is capable of inducing snail expression, the direct cooperation of these proteins is required to reinforce snail expression and promote the late stages of EndMT within 48 hours. Furthermore, genetic and biochemical analysis revealed that MRTF-B alone could induce the late stage of EndMT. However, it requires a prolonged time. Therefore, we concluded that MRTFs might cause EndMT in a fast- and slow-dependent manner. Based on MRTF-dependent Snail upregulation, we recognized that TGF-β1, as an MRTF-B regulator, is involved in slow EndMT induction, whereas TGF-β2, which altered both MRTF-A and MRTF-B expression, promotes a fast EndMT process.Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) signaling is known to play key roles in the initiation and maintenance of various chronic pain models. Here we examined whether LPA signaling is also involved in diabetes-induced abnormal pain behaviors. The high-fat diet (HFD) showing elevation of blood glucose levels and body weight caused thermal, mechanical hyperalgesia, hypersensitivity to 2000 or 250 Hz electrical-stimulation and hyposensitivity to 5 Hz stimulation to the paw in wild-type (WT) mice. These HFD-induced abnormal pain behaviors and body weight increase, but not elevated glucose levels were abolished in LPA1-/- and LPA3-/- mice. Repeated daily intrathecal (i.t.) treatments with LPA1/3 antagonist AM966 reversed these abnormal pain behaviors. Similar abnormal pain behaviors and their blockade by daily AM966 (i.t.) or twice daily Ki16425, another LPA1/3 antagonist was also observed in db/db mice which show high glucose levels and body weight. Furthermore, streptozotocin-induced similar abnormal pain behaviors, but not elevated glucose levels or body weight loss were abolished in LPA1-/- and LPA3-/- mice. These results suggest that LPA1 and LPA3 play key roles in the development of both type I and type II diabetic neuropathic pain.Mitochondria are energy-producing intracellular organelles containing their own genetic material in the form of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which codes for proteins and RNAs essential for mitochondrial function. Some mtDNA mutations can cause mitochondria-related diseases. Mitochondrial diseases are a heterogeneous group of inherited disorders with no cure, in which mutated mtDNA is passed from mothers to offspring via maternal egg cytoplasm. Mitochondrial replacement (MR) is a genome transfer technology in which mtDNA carrying disease-related mutations is replaced by presumably disease-free mtDNA. This therapy aims at preventing the transmission of known disease-causing mitochondria to the next generation. Here, a proof of concept for the specific removal or editing of mtDNA disease-related mutations by genome editing is introduced. Although the amount of mtDNA carryover introduced into human oocytes during nuclear transfer is low, the safety of mtDNA heteroplasmy remains a concern. This is particularly true regarding donor-recipient mtDNA mismatch (mtDNA-mtDNA), mtDNA-nuclear DNA (nDNA) mismatch caused by mixing recipient nDNA with donor mtDNA, and mtDNA replicative segregation. These conditions can lead to mtDNA genetic drift and reversion to the original genotype. In this review, we address the current state of knowledge regarding nuclear transplantation for preventing the inheritance of mitochondrial diseases.Annexins and S100 proteins form two large families of Ca2+-binding proteins. They are quite different both structurally and functionally, with S100 proteins being small (10-12 kDa) acidic regulatory proteins from the EF-hand superfamily of Ca2+-binding proteins, and with annexins being at least three-fold larger (329 ± 12 versus 98 ± 7 residues) and using non-EF-hand-based mechanism for calcium binding. Members of both families have multiple biological roles, being able to bind to a large cohort of partners and possessing a multitude of functions. Furthermore, annexins and S100 proteins can interact with each other in either a Ca2+-dependent or Ca2+-independent manner, forming functional annexin-S100 complexes. Such functional polymorphism and binding indiscrimination are rather unexpected, since structural information is available for many annexins and S100 proteins, which therefore are considered as ordered proteins that should follow the classical "one protein-one structure-one function" model. On the other hand, the ability to be engaged in a wide range of interactions with multiple, often unrelated, binding partners and possess multiple functions represent characteristic features of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and intrinsically disordered protein regions (IDPRs); i.e., functional proteins or protein regions lacking unique tertiary structures. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the functional roles of human annexins and S100 proteins, and to use the protein intrinsic disorder perspective to explain their exceptional multifunctionality and binding promiscuity.Background to elucidate the predictors of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in high-risk endometrial cancer patients. Methods the medical records of all consecutivewomen with high-risk endometrial cancer were reviewed. Results among 92 high-risk endometrial cancer patients, 30 women experienced recurrence, and 21 women died. The 5-year PFS and OS probabilities were 65.3% and 75.9%, respectively. Multivariable Cox regression revealed that body mass index (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.11), paraaortic lymph node metastasis (HR = 11.11), lymphovascular space invasion (HR = 5.61), and sandwich chemoradiotherapy (HR = 0.15) were independently predictors of PFS. Body mass index (HR = 1.31), paraaortic lymph node metastasis (HR = 32.74), non-endometrioid cell type (HR = 11.31), and sandwich chemoradiotherapy (HR = 0.07) were independently predictors of OS. Among 51 women who underwent sandwich (n = 35) or concurrent (n = 16) chemoradiotherapy, the use of sandwich chemoradiotherapy were associated with better PFS (adjusted HR = 0.26, 95% CI = 0.08-0.87, p = 0.03) and OS (adjusted HR = 0.11, 95% CI = 0.02-0.71, p = 0.02) compared with concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Conclusion compared with concurrent chemoradiotherapy, sandwich chemoradiotherapy was associated with better PFS and OS in high-risk endometrial cancer patients. In addition, high body mass index, paraaortic lymph node metastasis, and non-endometrioid cell type were also predictors of poor OS in high-risk endometrial cancer patients.Microalgae represent a promising resource for the production of beneficial natural compounds due to their richness in secondary metabolites and easy cultivation. Carotenoids feature among distinctive compounds of many microalgae, including diatoms, which owe their golden color to the xanthophyll fucoxanthin. Carotenoids have antioxidant, anti-obesity and anti-inflammatory properties, and there is a considerable market demand for these compounds. Here, with the aim to increase the carotenoid content in the model diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum, we exploited genetic transformation to overexpress genes involved in the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway. We produced transgenic lines over-expressing simultaneously one, two or three carotenoid biosynthetic genes, and evaluated changes in pigment content with high-performance liquid chromatography. Two triple transformants over-expressing the genes Violaxanthin de-epoxidase (Vde), Vde-related (Vdr) and Zeaxanthin epoxidase 3 (Zep3) showed an accumulation of carotenoids, with an increase in the fucoxanthin content up to four fold. Vde, Vdr and Zep3 mRNA and protein levels in the triple transformants were coherently increased. The exact role of these enzymes in the diatom carotenoid biosynthetic pathway is not completely elucidated nevertheless our strategy successfully modulated the carotenoid metabolism leading to an accumulation of valuable compounds, leading the way toward improved utilization of microalgae in the field of antioxidants.Paeonia qiui is a wild tree peony native to China. Its leaves show a clear purple-red color from the germination to the flowering stage, and it has high leaf-viewing value. A MYB transcription factor gene, designated as PqMYB4, was isolated from leaves of P. qiui based on transcriptome datas. The full-length cDNA of PqMYB4 was 693 bp, encoding 230 amino acids. Sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis revealed that PqMYB4 was a R2R3-MYB transcription factor clustered with AtMYB4 in Arabidopsis thaliana. Moreover, it contained a C1 motif, an EAR repression motif and a TLLLFR motif in the C-terminal domains, which were unique in transcription repression MYB. Subcellular location analysis showed that PqMYB4 was located in the cell nucleus. PqMYB4 was highly expressed in the late stage of leaf development, and was negatively correlated with the anthocyanin content. The petiole of wild-type Arabidopsis seedlings was deeper in color than the transgenic lines of PqMYB4 and showed a little purple-red color. The seed coat color of Arabidopsis seeds that overexpressed PqMYB4 gene was significantly lighter than that of wild-type seeds. In transgenic Arabidopsis, the expression level of AtCHS, AtCHI, AtDFR and AtANS were down-regulated significantly. These results showed that PqMYB4 was involved in the negative regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis in tree peony leaves, which can control the anthocyanin pathway genes. Together, these findings provide a valuable resource with which to further study the regulatory mechanism of anthocyanin biosynthesis in the leaf of P. qiui. They also benefit the molecular breeding of tree peony cultivars with colored leaf.We present a review on the natural infection by trypanosomatids of nonhuman vertebrates in Chile, aiming to synthesize and update the knowledge on the diversity of trypanosomatids infecting native and alien vertebrate species. To this end, we conducted a systematic review of literature records published from 1900 to April 2020 on four databases, focusing on the 21 genera of trypanosomatids and Chile. The methods and findings of our review have been based on the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (prisma) checklist. We found 29,756 records but only 71 presented relevant information for this review. Overall, there are only two reported trypanosomatid genera infecting vertebrate species in Chile, the genera Trypanosoma and Leishmania. The former is mostly represented by Trypanosoma cruzi (90% of the total records) and to a much lesser extent by Trypanosoma avium, Trypanosoma humboldti, Trypanosoma lewisi, and a couple of unidentified trypanosomatids. A total of 25 mammals have been reported as being infected by T. cruzi, including 14 native and 11 alien species from Orders Artiodactyla, Carnivora, Chiroptera, Didelphimorphia, Lagomorpha, Perissodactyla, and Rodentia. Extensive screening studies using new analytical tools are necessary to grasp the whole potential diversity of trypanosomatid species infecting vertebrates in Chile.To function as a metabolic hub, plant mitochondria have to exchange a wide variety of metabolic intermediates as well as inorganic ions with the cytosol. As identified by proteomic profiling or as predicted by MU-LOC, a newly developed bioinformatics tool, Arabidopsis thaliana mitochondria contain 128 or 143 different transporters, respectively. The largest group is the mitochondrial carrier family, which consists of symporters and antiporters catalyzing secondary active transport of organic acids, amino acids, and nucleotides across the inner mitochondrial membrane. An impressive 97% (58 out of 60) of all the known mitochondrial carrier family members in Arabidopsis have been experimentally identified in isolated mitochondria. In addition to many other secondary transporters, Arabidopsis mitochondria contain the ATP synthase transporters, the mitochondria protein translocase complexes (responsible for protein uptake across the outer and inner membrane), ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, and a number of transporters and channels responsible for allowing water and inorganic ions to move across the inner membrane driven by their transmembrane electrochemical gradient. A few mitochondrial transporters are tissue-specific, development-specific, or stress-response specific, but this is a relatively unexplored area in proteomics that merits much more attention.The container-based cloud is used in various service infrastructures as it is lighter and more portable than a virtual machine (VM)-based infrastructure and is configurable in both bare-metal and VM environments. The Internet-of-Things (IoT) cloud-computing infrastructure is also evolving from a VM-based to a container-based infrastructure. In IoT clouds, the service availability of the cloud infrastructure is more important for mission-critical IoT services, such as real-time health monitoring, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, and industrial IoT, than for general computing services. However, in the container environment that runs on a VM, the current fault detection method only considers the container's infra, thus limiting the level of availability necessary for the performance of mission-critical IoT cloud services. Therefore, in a container environment running on a VM, fault detection and recovery methods that consider both the VM and container levels are necessary. In this study, we analyze the fault-detection architecture in a container environment and designed and implemented a Fast Fault Detection Manager (FFDM) architecture using OpenStack and Kubernetes for realizing fast fault detection. Through performance measurements, we verified that the FFDM can improve the fault detection time by more than three times over the existing method.Telocytes (TCs), commonly referred to as TCs/CD34+ stromal cells, are a peculiar type of interstitial cells with distinctive morphologic traits that are supposed to exert several biological functions, including tissue homeostasis regulation, cell-to-cell signaling, immune surveillance, and reparative/regenerative effects. At present, the majority of studies investigating these cells are mainly descriptive and focus only on their morphology, with a consequent paucity of functional data. To gain relevant insight into the possible functions of TCs, in vitro analyses are clearly required, but currently, the protocols for TC isolation are only at the early stages and not fully standardized. In the present in vitro study, we describe a novel methodology for the purification of human primary skin TCs through a two-step immunomagnetic microbead-based cell separation (i.e., negative selection for CD31 followed by positive selection for CD34) capable of discriminating these cells from other connective tissue-resident cells on the basis of their different immunophenotypic features. Our experiments clearly demonstrated that the proposed method allows a selective purification of cells exhibiting the peculiar TC morphology. Isolated TCs displayed very long cytoplasmic extensions with a moniliform silhouette (telopodes) and presented an immunophenotypic profile (CD31-/CD34+/PDGFRα+/vimentin+) that unequivocally differentiates them from endothelial cells (CD31+/CD34+/PDGFRα-/vimentin+) and fibroblasts (CD31-/CD34-/PDGFRα+/vimentin+). This novel methodology for the isolation of TCs lays the groundwork for further research aimed at elucidating their functional properties and possible translational applications, especially in the field of regenerative medicine.Cell death can be broadly characterized as either necrosis or apoptosis, depending on the morphological and biochemical features of the cell itself. We have previously reported that the treatment of mouse mammary carcinoma FM3A cells with the anticancer drug floxuridine (FUdR) induces necrosis in the original clone F28-7 but apoptosis in the variant F28-7-A. We have identified regulators, including heat shock protein 90, lamin-B1, cytokeratin-19, and activating transcription factor 3, of cell death mechanisms by using comprehensive gene and protein expression analyses and a phenotype-screening approach. We also observed that the individual inhibition or knockdown of the identified regulators in F28-7 results in a shift from necrotic to apoptotic morphology. Furthermore, we investigated microRNA (miRNA, miR) expression profiles in sister cell strains F28-7 and F28-7-A using miRNA microarray analyses. We found that several unique miRNAs, miR-351-5p and miR-743a-3p, were expressed at higher levels in F28-7-A than in F28-7. Higher expression of these miRNAs in F28-7 induced by transfecting miR mimics resulted in a switch in the mode of cell death from necrosis to apoptosis. Our findings suggest that the identified cell death regulators may play key roles in the decision of cell death mechanism necrosis or apoptosis.We proposed a two-step poling technique to fabricate nanoscale domains based on the anti-parallel polarization reversal effect in lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI). The anti-parallel polarization reversal is observed when lithium niobate thin film in LNOI is poled by applying a high voltage pulse through the conductive probe tip of atomic force microscope, which generates a donut-shaped domain structure with its domain polarization at the center being anti-parallel to the poling field. The donut-shaped domain is unstable and decays with a time scale of hours. With the two-step poling technique, the polarization of the donut-shaped domain can be reversed entirely, producing a stable dot domain with a size of tens of nanometers. Dot domains with diameter of the order of ∼30 nm were fabricated through the two-step poling technique. The results may be beneficial to domain-based applications such as ferroelectric domain memory.

Polypharmacy (PP) and potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) cause problematic drug-related issues in elderly patients; however, little is known about the association between medication adherence and PP and PIMs. This study evaluated the association of self-reported medication adherence with PP and PIMs in elderly patients.

A cross-sectional pilot study was conducted using data collected from electronic medical records of 142 self-administering patients aged ≥65 years, excluding emergency hospitalization cases. Self-reported medication adherence was assessed using the visual analogue scale (VAS).

Of the 142 patients, 91 (64.1%) had PP and 80 (56.3%) used at least one PIM. In univariate analysis, patients with a VAS score of 100% had a significantly higher number of female patients and ≥1 PIM use compared to other patients. We found no association between the VAS score and PP. In multivariable analysis, the use of PIMs was significantly associated with a VAS score of 100% (odds ratio = 2.32; 95% confidence interval = 1.16-4.72;

= 0.017).

Use of PIMs by elderly patients is significantly associated with self-reported medication adherence. Pharmacists should pay more attention to prescribed medications of self-administering elderly patients in order to improve their prescribing quality.

Use of PIMs by elderly patients is significantly associated with self-reported medication adherence. Pharmacists should pay more attention to prescribed medications of self-administering elderly patients in order to improve their prescribing quality.Despite the increasing use of protoplasts in plant biotechnology research, shoot regeneration from protoplasts remains challenging. In this study, we investigated the factors involved in protoplast isolation, callus induction, and shoot regeneration in Petunia hybrida cv. Mirage Rose. The following conditions were found to be most optimal for protoplast yield and viability 0.6 M mannitol, 2.0% cellulase, and 6 h digestion time. A plating density of 10 × 104 protoplasts/mL under osmoticum condition (0.58 M mannitol) showed high microcolony viability in liquid culture. The Kao and Michayluk medium was found to be appropriate for callus proliferation from microcalli under a 16-h light photoperiod. Calli cultured in Murashige and Skoog medium containing 1.0 mg/L 6-benzylaminopurine and 0.2 mg/L 3-indole butyric acid showed the highest shoot regeneration frequency and number of shoots obtained per explant. Random amplification of polymorphic DNA analysis showed that the protoplast-derived shoots exhibited the same banding patterns as those of donor plants. Collectively, these findings can contribute to solving problems encountered in protoplast isolation and shoot regeneration in other petunia cultivars and related species. As the protocol developed by us is highly reproducible, it can be applied in biotechnology research on P. hybrida cv. Mirage Rose.Tomato composition and nutritional value are attracting increasing attention and interest from both consumers and producers. The interest in enhancing fruits' quality with respect to beneficious nutrients and flavor/aroma components is based not only in their economic added value but also in their implications involving organoleptic and healthy properties and has generated considerable research interest among nutraceutical and horticultural industries. The present article reviews up to March 2020 some of the most relevant studies based on the application of NMR coupled to multivariate statistical analysis that have addressed the investigation on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Specifically, the NMR untargeted technique in the agri-food sector can generate comprehensive data on metabolic networks and is paving the way towards the understanding of variables affecting tomato crops and composition such as origin, variety, salt-water irrigation, cultivation techniques, stage of development, among many others. Such knowledge is helpful to improve fruit quality through cultural practices that divert the metabolism towards the desired pathways and, probably more importantly, drives further efforts towards the differentiation of those crops developed under controlled and desired agronomical conditions.The development of nanocomposites has swiftly changed the horizon of drug delivery systems in defining a new platform. Major understanding of the interaction of nanocomposites with cells and how the interaction influences intracellular uptake is an important aspect to study in order to ensure successful utilisation of the nanocomposites. Studies have suggested that the nanocomposites' ability to permeate into biological cells is attributable to their well-defined physicochemical properties with nanoscale size, which is relevant to the nanoscale components of biology and cellular organelles. The functionalized graphene oxide coated with polyethylene glycol, loaded with protocatechuic acid and folic acid (GOP-PCA-FA) nanocomposite intracellular uptake was analysed using transmission electron microscope. The accumulation of fluorescent-labelled nanocomposites in the HepG2 cell was also analysed using a fluorescent microscope. In vitro cellular uptake showed that there was uptake of the drug from 24 h into the cells and the release study using fluorescently tagged nanocomposite demonstrated that release and accumulation were observed at 24 h and 48 h. Moreover, the migration ability of tumor cells is a key step in tumor progression which was observed 48 h after treatment. The GOP serves as a potential nanocarrier system which is capable of improving the therapeutic efficacy of drugs and biomolecules in medical as well as pharmaceutical applications through the enhanced intracellular release and accumulation of the encapsulated drugs. Nonetheless, it is essential to analyse the translocation of our newly developed GOP-PCA-FA, and its efficiency for drug delivery, effective cellular uptake, and abundant intracellular accumulation would be compromised by possible untoward side effects.Onopordum alexandrinum is a near-endemic to Egypt and neighboring countries. Its habitats are designated as priority sites for conservation in the south and east Mediterranean regions. We hypothesize that variation in morphological, reproductive, and molecular traits could provide a survival strategy that allows the species to occupy landscapes including anthropogenic habitats (barley and abandoned fields) and natural habitats (sand dunes and desert plateau) with different soil resources along the western Mediterranean coast of Egypt. The results indicated that plant functional traits associated with high rates of resource acquisition and growth (e.g., high values of vegetative height and specific leaf area, and low values of leaf dry matter content) occurred in populations located in abandoned fields with high soil resources. The genetic diversity analyses indicated similarity in genetic diversity of the present populations of O. alexandrinum in barley and abandoned fields with those of sand dunes. However, the genetic structures of these populations were different from those of natural desert plateau, which suggests reduced rates of gene flow. In this framework, it is essential to monitor and reduce the anthropogenic activity which will not only support the conservation of genetic diversity within populations but will also help ensure the resilience of O. alexandrinum in the face of environmental and climatic changes.N-(2'-hydroxyphenyl)-2-propylpentanamide (HO-AAVPA) is a VPA derivative designed to be a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor. HO-AAVPA has better antiproliferative effect than VPA in cancer cell lines. Therefore, in this work, the inhibitory effect of HO-AAVPA on HDAC1, HDAC6, and HDAC8 was determined by in silico and in vitro enzymatic assay. Furthermore, its antiproliferative effect on the cervical cancer cell line (SiHa) and the translocation of HMGB1 and ROS production were evaluated. The results showed that HO-AAVPA inhibits HDAC1, which could be related with HMGB1 translocation from the nucleus to the cytoplasm due to HDAC1 being involved in the deacetylation of HMGB1. Furthermore, an increase in ROS production was observed after the treatment with HO-AAVPA, which also could contribute to HMGB1 translocation. Therefore, the results suggest that one of the possible antiproliferative mechanisms of HO-AAVPA is by HDAC1 inhibition which entails HMGB1 translocation and ROS increased levels that could trigger the cell apoptosis.We previously observed an inverse correlation between stroke and urinary 3-hydroxypropyl mercapturic acid (3-HPMA), an acrolein-glutathione metabolite, through its measurement by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). However, the cost of equipment for LC-MS/MS and its maintenance fee is very expensive and a cost-efficient method is required. In this study, we have developed a sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system to measure 3-HPMA using a chicken antibody recognizing 3-HPMA-conjugated chicken albumin as antigen. Linearity to measure 3-HPMA was obtained from 0 to 10 μM, indicating that this ELISA system is useful for measurement of urine 3-HPMA. It was confirmed that 3-HPMA in urine of stroke patients decreased significantly compared with that of control subjects using the ELISA system. Using the ELISA kit, it became possible to evaluate the risk of brain stroke by not only plasma but also by urine. These results confirm that shortage of glutathione to detoxify acrolein is one of the major causes of stroke incidence. Our method contributes to maintenance of quality of life (QOL) of the elderly.In this study, we hypothesized that different strains of Lactobacillus can alleviate hyperlipidemia and liver steatosis via activation of 5' adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK), an enzyme that is involved in cellular energy homeostasis, in aged rats. Male rats were fed with a high-fat diet (HFD) and injected with D-galactose daily over 12 weeks to induce aging. Treatments included (n = 6) (i) normal diet (ND), (ii) HFD, (iii) HFD-statin (lovastatin 2 mg/kg/day), (iv) HFD-Lactobacillus fermentum DR9 (10 log CFU/day), (v) HFD-Lactobacillus plantarum DR7 (10 log CFU/day), and (vi) HFD-Lactobacillus reuteri 8513d (10 log CFU/day). Rats administered with statin, DR9, and 8513d reduced serum total cholesterol levels after eight weeks (p less then 0.05), while the administration of DR7 reduced serum triglycerides level after 12 weeks (p less then 0.05) as compared to the HFD control. A more prominent effect was observed from the administration of DR7, where positive effects were observed, ranging from hepatic gene expressions to liver histology as compared to the control (p less then 0.05); downregulation of hepatic lipid synthesis and β-oxidation gene stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1), upregulation of hepatic sterol excretion genes of ATP-binding cassette subfamily G member 5 and 8 (ABCG5 and ABCG8), lesser degree of liver steatosis, and upregulation of hepatic energy metabolisms genes AMPKα1 and AMPKα2. Taken altogether, this study illustrated that the administration of selected Lactobacillus strains led to improved lipid profiles via activation of energy and lipid metabolisms, suggesting the potentials of Lactobacillus as a promising natural intervention for alleviation of cardiovascular and liver diseases.Targeted inhibition of Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase (BTK) with ibrutinib and other agents has become important treatment options in chronic lymphocytic leukemia, Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia, Mantle cell lymphoma, and non-GCB DLBCL. Clinical trials combining small molecule inhibitors with monoclonal antibodies have been initiated at rapid pace, with the biological understanding between their synergistic interactions lagging behind. Here, we have evaluated the synergy between BTK inhibitors and monoclonal antibody therapy via macrophage mediated antibody dependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP). Initially, we observed increased ADCP with ibrutinib, whilst second generation BTK inhibitors failed to synergistically interact with monoclonal antibody treatment. Kinase activity profiling under BTK inhibition identified significant loss of Janus Kinase 2 (JAK2) only under ibrutinib treatment. We validated this potential off-target effect via JAK inhibition in vitro as well as with CRISPR/Cas9 JAK2-/- experiments in vivo, showing increased ADCP and prolonged survival, respectively. This data supports inhibition of the JAK-STAT (Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription) signaling pathway in B-cell malignancies in combination with monoclonal antibody therapy to increase macrophage-mediated immune responses.Mechanical strength, thermal conductivity and electrical breakdown of polypropylene/lignin/kenaf core fiber (PP/L/KCF) composite were studied. PP/L, PP/KCF and PP/L/KCF composites with different fiber and lignin loading was prepared using a compounding process. Pure PP was served as control. The results revealed that tensile and flexural properties of the PP/L/KCF was retained after addition of lignin and kenaf core fibers. Thermal stability of the PP composites improved compared to pure PP polymer. As for thermal conductivity, no significant difference was observed between PP composites and pure PP. However, PP/L/KCF composite has higher thermal diffusivity. All the PP composites produced are good insulating materials that are suitable for building. All PP composites passed withstand voltage test in air and oil state as stipulated in IEC 60641-3 except PP/L in oil state. SEM micrograph showed that better interaction and adhesion between polymer matrix, lignin and kenaf core fibers was observed and reflected on the better tensile strength recorded in PP/L/KCF composite. This study has successfully filled the gap of knowledge on using lignin and kenaf fibers as PP insulator composite materials. Therefore, it can be concluded that PP/Lignin/KCF has high potential as an insulating material.Polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1) and PRC2 are the major complexes composed of polycomb-group (PcG) proteins in plants. PRC2 catalyzes trimethylation of lysine 27 on histone 3 to silence target genes. Like Heterochromatin Protein 1/Terminal Flower 2 (LHP1/TFL2) recognizes and binds to H3K27me3 generated by PRC2 activities and enrolls PRC1 complex to further silence the chromatin through depositing monoubiquitylation of lysine 119 on H2A. Mutations in PcG genes display diverse developmental defects during shoot apical meristem (SAM) maintenance and differentiation, seed development and germination, floral transition, and so on so forth. PcG proteins play essential roles in regulating plant development through repressing gene expression. In this review, we are focusing on recent discovery about the regulatory roles of PcG proteins in SAM maintenance, root development, embryo development to seedling phase transition, and vegetative to reproductive phase transition.Sinensetin (SIN) has been reported to exhibit anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activity. However, the cellular and molecular mechanism by which SIN promotes hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell death remains unclear. In the present study, we investigated the induction of cell death by SIN and its underlying mechanism in HepG2 cells, an HCC cell line. We found that SIN significantly induced cell death in HepG2 cells, whereas the proliferation rate of Thle2, human liver epithelial cells, was unaffected by SIN. SIN-treated HepG2 cells were not affected by apoptotic cell death; instead, autophagic cell death was induced through the p53-mediated AMPK/mTOR signaling pathway. Inhibition of p53 degradation led to both autophagy and apoptosis in HepG2 cells. p53 translocation led to SIN-induced autophagy, whereas p53 translocation inhibited SIN-induced apoptosis. However, SIN showed apoptosis in the p53-mutant Hep3B cell line. Molecular docking simulation of the p53 core domain showed effective binding with SIN, which was found significant compared with the known p53 activator, RITA. Collectively, these data suggest that SIN may be a potential anti-cancer agent targeting autophagic cell death in human liver cancer.Genome sequencing of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is increasingly important to monitor the transmission and adaptive evolution of the virus. The accessibility of high-throughput methods and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has facilitated a growing ecosystem of protocols. Two differing protocols are tiling multiplex PCR and bait capture enrichment. Each method has advantages and disadvantages but a direct comparison with different viral RNA concentrations has not been performed to assess the performance of these approaches. Here we compare Liverpool amplification, ARTIC amplification, and bait capture using clinical diagnostics samples. All libraries were sequenced using an Illumina MiniSeq with data analyzed using a standardized bioinformatics workflow (SARS-CoV-2 Illumina GeNome Assembly Line; SIGNAL). One sample showed poor SARS-CoV-2 genome coverage and consensus, reflective of low viral RNA concentration. In contrast, the second sample had a higher viral RNA concentration, which yielded good genome coverage and consensus. ARTIC amplification showed the highest depth of coverage results for both samples, suggesting this protocol is effective for low concentrations. Liverpool amplification provided a more even read coverage of the SARS-CoV-2 genome, but at a lower depth of coverage. Bait capture enrichment of SARS-CoV-2 cDNA provided results on par with amplification. While only two clinical samples were examined in this comparative analysis, both the Liverpool and ARTIC amplification methods showed differing efficacy for high and low concentration samples. In addition, amplification-free bait capture enriched sequencing of cDNA is a viable method for generating a SARS-CoV-2 genome sequence and for identification of amplification artifacts.Gynostemma pentaphyllum (thumb.) Makino is a functional herbal tea commonly used in Asian countries and regions to reduce blood lipid levels. G. pentaphyllum saponin is the main component, but there are still a large number of components with lipid-lowering activity that have not been found. In this study, 10 novel dammarane-type saponins, (1-10) and a known one (11) were isolated from G. pentaphyllum. Ten new compounds were identified and named as yunnangypenosides A-J (1-10), and another known one (11) was also obtained. Their chemical structures were determined by MS, NMR spectroscopic analyses. Moreover, the cytotoxicities on human HepG-2 hepatocellular carcinoma cells of these isolates were evaluated, and the results showed that compounds 1-11 had no obvious cytotoxicity. Finally, all these compounds were evaluated for their lipid-lowering effect by means of the oil red O staining method. Ten compounds could significantly reduce lipid levels except of 2, especially 8 exhibite the strongest hypolipidemia activity.The paper deals with the study of antioxidant properties of extracts from vine seeds (Vitis vinifera L.) using spectrometric and chromatographic techniques. Ten vine varieties (Cerason, Laurot, Kofranka, Gewürztraminer, Hibernal, Blaufrankisch, Zweigeltrebe, Erilon, Palava, and Welschriesling) obtained from the years 2015, 2016, and 2017 were selected for the study. The antioxidant activity was determined spectrophotometrically using four fundamentally different methods; the content of total polyphenolic compounds was determined using the Folin-Ciocalteu method. In 2015, the content of 14 antioxidants (gallic acid, caffeic acid, coumaric acid, coutaric acid, ferulic acid, fertaric acid, trans-piceid, trans-piceatannol, rutin, quercetin-3-β-d-glucoside, quercitrin, myricetin, catechin, and epicatechin) were studied. The results of the study show the high content of antioxidant components in grape seeds and the differences in content in individual varieties and in individual years.p-Cymene (p-C) and rosmarinic acid (RA) are secondary metabolites that are present in medicinal herbs and Mediterranean spices that have promising anti-inflammatory properties. This study aimed to evaluate their intestinal anti-inflammatory activity in the trinitrobenzene sulphonic acid (TNBS)-induced colitis model in rats. p-C and RA (25-200 mg/kg) oral administration reduced the macroscopic lesion score, ulcerative area, intestinal weight/length ratio, and diarrheal index in TNBS-treated animals. Both compounds (200 mg/kg) decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) and myeloperoxidase (MPO), restored glutathione (GSH) levels, and enhanced fluorescence intensity of superoxide dismutase (SOD). They also decreased interleukin (IL)-1β and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and maintained IL-10 basal levels. Furthermore, they modulated T cell populations (cluster of differentiation (CD)4+, CD8+, or CD3+CD4+CD25+) analyzed from the spleen, mesenteric lymph nodes, and colon samples, and also decreased cyclooxigenase 2 (COX-2), interferon (IFN)-γ, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and nuclear transcription factor kappa B subunit p65 (NFκB-p65) mRNA transcription, but only p-C interfered in the suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) expression in inflamed colons. An increase in gene expression and positive cells immunostained for mucin type 2 (MUC-2) and zonula occludens 1 (ZO-1) was observed. Altogether, these results indicate intestinal anti-inflammatory activity of p-C and RA involving the cytoprotection of the intestinal barrier, maintaining the mucus layer, and preserving communicating junctions, as well as through modulation of the antioxidant and immunomodulatory systems.The gut-liver axis is of upmost importance for the development of infections after surgery. Further bacterial translocation due to surgery-related dysbiosis is associated with limited detoxification function of the liver compromising outcome of surgical therapy. After liver surgery, about 30% of patients develop a bacterial infection, with the risk of bacteremia or even sepsis-associated liver failure and mortality in >40%. The potential benefit of pro-/synbiotics given before surgery is still under debate. Thus, a systematic literature search on trials comparing patients with or without supplementation and outcome after liver resection or transplantation was performed. Our search strategy revealed 12 relevant studies on perioperative administration of pro-/synbiotics in liver surgery. The pro-/synbiotic combinations and concentrations as well as administration timeframes differed between studies. Five studies were performed in liver transplantation and 7 in liver resection. All studies but one reported lower infection rates (pooled RR 0.46, 95% CI 0.31-0.67) with pro-/synbiotics. Liver function was assessed after LT/LR in 3 and 5 studies, respectively. Pro-/synbiotics improved function in 1/3 and 2/5 studies, respectively. Concluding, perioperative pro-/synbiotics clearly reduce infection after liver surgery. However, standard protocols with both well-defined probiotic strain preparations and administration timeframes are pending.Structural changes in the hippocampus and amygdala have been demonstrated in schizophrenia patients. However, whether morphological information from these subcortical regions could be used by machine learning algorithms for schizophrenia classification were unknown. The aim of this study was to use volume of the amygdaloid and hippocampal subregions for schizophrenia classification. The dataset consisted of 57 patients with schizophrenia and 69 healthy controls. The volume of 26 hippocampal and 20 amygdaloid subregions were extracted from T1 structural MRI images. Sequential backward elimination (SBE) algorithm was used for feature selection, and a linear support vector machine (SVM) classifier was configured to explore the feasibility of hippocampal and amygdaloid subregions in the classification of schizophrenia. The proposed SBE-SVM model achieved a classification accuracy of 81.75% on 57 patients and 69 healthy controls, with a sensitivity of 84.21% and a specificity of 81.16%. AUC was 0.8241 (p less then 0.001 tested with 1000-times permutation). The results demonstrated evidence of hippocampal and amygdaloid structural changes in schizophrenia patients, and also suggested that morphological features from the amygdaloid and hippocampal subregions could be used by machine learning algorithms for the classification of schizophrenia.Colon and rectal tumors, often referred to as colorectal cancer, show different gene expression patterns in studies that analyze whole tissue biopsies containing a mix of tumor and non-tumor cells. To better characterize colon and rectal tumors, we investigated the gene expression profile of organoids generated from endoscopic biopsies of rectal tumors and adjacent normal colon and rectum mucosa from therapy-naive rectal cancer patients. We also studied the effect of vitamin D on these organoid types. Gene profiling was performed by RNA-sequencing. Organoids from a normal colon and rectum had a shared gene expression profile that profoundly differed from that of rectal tumor organoids. We identified a group of genes of the biosynthetic machinery as rectal tumor organoid-specific, including those encoding the RNA polymerase II subunits POLR2H and POLR2J. The active vitamin D metabolite 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3/calcitriol upregulated stemness-related genes (LGR5, LRIG1, SMOC2, and MSI1) in normal rectum organoids, while it downregulated differentiation marker genes (TFF2 and MUC2). Normal colon and rectum organoids share similar gene expression patterns and respond similarly to calcitriol. Rectal tumor organoids display distinct and heterogeneous gene expression profiles, with differences with respect to those of colon tumor organoids, and respond differently to calcitriol than normal rectum organoids.Clofibric acid (CLF) is the main pharmacologically active metabolite in composition of the pharmaceutical products used for controlling blood lipid content. This xenobiotic compound is highly persistent in the aquatic environment and passes unchanged or poorly transformed in wastewater treatment plants. A white-rot fungal strain of Trametes pubescens was previously selected, for its ability for clofibric acid biodegradation (up to 30%) during cultivation in submerged system under aerobic conditions at an initial CLF concentration of 15 mg L-1. Plackett-Burman design (PBD) and response surface methodology (RSM) were used for experimental planning, mathematical modelling and statistical analysis of data of the biotechnological process of CLF biotransformation by Trametes pubescens fungal strain. After optimization, the capacity of the selected Trametes pubescens strain to degrade CLF was increased by cultivation in a liquid medium containing 3 g·L-1 yeast extract, 15 g·L-1 peptone, 5 g·L-1 glucose and mineral salts, inoculated at 2% (v/v) vegetative inoculum and cultivated at pH 5.5, during 14 days at 25 °C and 135 rpm. In these optimized biotechnological conditions, the CLF biotransformation yield was 60%.In the present study, a trans-contextual model was applied to examine the relations between students' perceptions of controlling behavior from teachers, frustration over their basic psychological needs, autonomous motivation toward physical activity in a physical education context, autonomous motivation toward physical activity in an out-of-school context, beliefs and intentions toward future physical activity, and actual participation in physical activity outside of school. We adopted a three-wave prospective study design in which 234 students aged 11-19 years first completed measures of perceived controlling behavior from teachers, frustration over their basic psychological needs, and autonomous motivation toward physical activity in physical education. One week later, their autonomous motivation, beliefs, and intentions toward physical activity outside of school were measured. Students' self-reported engagement in physical activity outside of school was assessed another five weeks later. Results of the path analysis revealed a significant and negative indirect effect of perceived controlling behavior from physical education teachers on students' intention toward physical activity outside of school via the proposed motivational sequence of the trans-contextual model. There was also a significant and negative indirect effect of perceived controlling behavior from physical education teachers on students' self-reported engagement in physical activity outside of school, mediated by the frustration over their need for competence in physical education. Findings emphasize the importance of decreasing controlling behaviors from teachers in a physical education context so as not to inhibit students' physical activity behavior in an out-of-school context.There are no systematic reviews that have identified the existing studies assessing active commuting physical activity (PA) to and from (to/from) school using objective measures, as well as the contribution of both walking and cycling to/from school to PA levels. To fill this gap in the literature, this systematic review will aim (a) to identify existing studies that assess active commuting PA to/from school with objective measures in young people and to examine the contribution of walking and cycling to/from school to PA levels, and (b) to propose an appropriate methodology and practical considerations to assess active commuting PA to/from school based on the studies identified. The review protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42020162004). We will conduct a systematic search up to 2020 in five databases PubMed, Web of Science, SPORTdiscuss, Cochrane Library, and National Transportation Library. Both the risk of bias and the quality of the identified studies will be evaluated through different instruments according to the design of each study. This systematic review will help to choose the most appropriate objective measures to assess active commuting PA to/from school and to promote walking and cycling to/from school to increase PA levels.Yeast taxonomy was introduced based on the idea that physiological properties would help discriminate species, thus assuming a strong link between physiology and taxonomy. However, the instability of physiological characteristics within species configured them as not ideal markers for species delimitation, shading the importance of physiology and paving the way to the DNA-based taxonomy. The hypothesis of reconnecting taxonomy with specific traits from phylogenies has been successfully explored for Bacteria and Archaea, suggesting that a similar route can be traveled for yeasts. In this framework, thirteen single copy loci were used to investigate the predictability of complex Fourier Transform InfaRed spectroscopy (FTIR) and High-performance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) profiles of the four historical species of the Saccharomyces sensu stricto group, both on resting cells and under short-term ethanol stress. Our data show a significant connection between the taxonomy and physiology of these strains. Eight markers out of the thirteen tested displayed high correlation values with LC-MS profiles of cells in resting condition, confirming the low efficacy of FTIR in the identification of strains of closely related species. Conversely, most genetic markers displayed increasing trends of correlation with FTIR profiles as the ethanol concentration increased, according to their role in the cellular response to different type of stress.