•l-arginine minimized immunosuppression caused by 5-fluorouracil.•l-arginine potentiated DNA damage generated by 5-fluorouracil.•l-arginine reduced prothrombin time.
The aim of this study was to ...evaluate the effect of low doses of l-arginine supplementation on hemogram, integrity of DNA and spleen, inflammatory infiltrate in the jejunum, and in the coagulogram of rats submitted to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) chemotherapy.
Thirty-two Wistar rats were fed commercial feed and water ad libitum and grouped into four (eight rats per group): The control group was given a 0.9% physiologic solution to simulate the application of 5-FU in the other groups; the G5-FU group was given a dose of 5-FU; the GArg50 and GArg100 groups were given a dose of 5-FU and supplemented with 50 and 100 mg l-arginine/d added in the drinking water ad libitum.
The rats in the GArg50 group did not lose weight after chemotherapy. GArg50 rats presented polycythemia owing to dehydration caused by diarrhea generated by 5-FU. GArg100 rats had increased total leukocyte count, eosinophils, lymphocytes, and index in the total index of DNA damage, yet showed a reduction in prothrombin time and in the spleen depletion index. Rats in the G5-FU, GArg50, and GArg100 groups had similar moderate inflammatory infiltrate in the jejunum.
Supplementation with 100 mg/d of l-arginine minimized immunosuppression, spleen depletion, and prothrombin time and contributed to the breakdown of 5-FU–generated DNA in Wistar rats. Supplementation with 50 mg/d of l-arginine decreased the weight loss generated by 5-FU in Wistar rats. Supplements with 50 or 100 mg of l-arginine did not interfere with 5-FU–generated jejunal inflammatory infiltrate.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
fermentation strategies with fecal inocula are considered cost-effective methods to gain mechanistic insights into fecal microbiota community dynamics. However, all
approaches have their limitations ...due to inherent differences with respect to the
situation mimicked, introducing possible biases into the results obtained. Here, we aimed to systematically optimize
fermentation conditions to minimize drift from the initial inoculum, limit growth of opportunistic colonizers, and maximize the effect of added fiber products (here pectin) when compared to basal medium fermentations. We evaluated the impact of varying starting cell density and medium nutrient concentration on these three outcomes, as well as the effect of inoculation with fresh vs. stored fecal samples. By combining GC-MS metabolite profiling and 16 s rRNA gene-based amplicon sequencing, we established that starting cell densities below 10
cells/ml opened up growth opportunities for members the
family. This effect was exacerbated when using fecal samples that were stored frozen at -80°C. Overgrowth of
resulted in lowered alpha-diversity and larger community drift, possibly confounding results obtained from fermentations in such conditions. Higher medium nutrient concentrations were identified as an additional factor contributing to inoculum community preservation, although the use of a less nutrient dense medium increased the impact of fiber product addition on the obtained metabolite profiles. Overall, our microbiome observations indicated that starting cell densities of 10
cells/ml limited opportunities for exponential growth, suppressing
community biases, whilst metabolome incubations should preferably be carried out in a diluted medium to maximize the impact of fermentable substrates.
The transcription factor NF-κB is indispensable for intestinal immune homeostasis, but contributes to chronic inflammation and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). A20, an inhibitor of both NF-κB and ...apoptotic signalling, was identified as a susceptibility gene for multiple inflammatory diseases, including IBD. Despite absence of spontaneous intestinal inflammation in intestinal epithelial cell (IEC) specific A20 knockout mice, we found additional myeloid-specific A20 deletion to synergistically drive intestinal pathology through cell-specific mechanisms. A20 ensures intestinal barrier stability by preventing cytokine-induced IEC apoptosis, while A20 prevents excessive cytokine production in myeloid cells. Combining IEC and myeloid A20 deletion induces ileitis and severe colitis, characterized by IEC apoptosis, Paneth and goblet cell loss, epithelial hyperproliferation and intestinal microbiota dysbiosis. Continuous epithelial cell death and regeneration in an inflammatory environment sensitizes cells for neoplastic transformation and the development of colorectal tumours in aged mice.
Protected areas (PA) play an important role in minimizing the effects of soil erosion in watersheds. This study evaluated the performance of machine learning models, specifically support vector ...machine with linear kernel (SVMLinear), support vector machine with polynomial kernel (SVMPoly), and random forest (RF), on identifying indicators of soil erosion in 761 sub-watersheds and PA in northern Portugal, by using soil erosion by water in Europe, according to the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE2015), as target variable. The parameters analyzed were: soil erosion by water in Europe according to the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE2015), total burned area of the sub-watershed in the period of 1975-2020, fire recurrence, topographic wetness index (TWI), and the morphometric factors, namely area (A), perimeter (P), length (L), width (W), orientation (O), elongation ratio (Re), circularity ratio (Rc), compactness coefficient (Cc), form factor (Ff), shape factor (Sf), DEM, slope, and curvature. The median coefficient of determination (R2) for each model was RF (0.61), SVMpoly (0.68), and SVMLinear (0.54). Regarding the analyzed parameters, those that registered the greatest importance were A, P, L, W, curvature, and burned area, indicating that an analysis which considers morphometric factors, together with soil erosion data affected by water and soil moisture, is an important indicator in the analysis of soil erosion in watersheds.
The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in many fields of expertise has increased over recent years. As such, UAVs used for monitoring coastline changes are also becoming more frequent, more ...practical, and more effective, whether for conducting academic work or for business and administrative activities. This study thus addresses the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for monitoring changing coastlines, in particular morphological coastal changes caused by rising sea levels, reductions in sediment load, or changes produced by engineering infrastructure. For this objective, a bibliometric analysis was conducted on the basis of 160 research articles published in the last 20 years, using the Web of Science database. The analysis shows that the countries leading the way in researching coastline changes with UAVs are the United States, France, South Korea, and Spain. In addition, this study provides data on the most influential publications and authors on this topic and on research trends. It further highlights the value addition made by UAVs to monitoring coastline changes.
Changes in land use and land cover (LULC) in protected areas can lead to an ecological imbalance in these territories. Temporal monitoring and predictive modeling are valuable tools for making ...decisions about conserving these areas and planning actions to reduce the pressure caused by activities such as agriculture. This study accordingly developed an LULC analysis framework based on open-source software (QGIS and R language) and predictive methodology using artificial neural networks in the Alvão Natural Park (PNA), a protected area in northern Portugal. The results show that in 2041, Agriculture and Open Space/Non-vegetation classes will evidence the greatest decrease, while Forest and Bushes will have expanded the most. Spatially, the areas to the west and northeast of the protected area will experience the most significant changes. The relationship of land use classes with data from the climate model HadGEM3-GC31-LL (CMIP6) utilizing scenarios RCP 4.5 and 8.5 demonstrates how through the period 2041–2060 there is a tendency for increased precipitation, which when combined with the dynamics of a retraction in classes such as agriculture, favors the advancement of natural classes such as bushes and forest; however, the subsequent climate data period (2061–2080) projects a decrease in precipitation volumes and an increase in the minimum and maximum temperatures, defining a new pattern with an extension of the period of drought and precipitation being concentrated in a short period of the year, which may result in a greater recurrence of extreme events, such as prolonged droughts that result in water shortages and fires.
Wheat bran fibers are considered beneficial to human health through their impact on gut microbiota composition and activity. Here, we assessed the prebiotic potential of selected bran fractions by ...performing a series of fecal slurry anaerobic fermentation experiments using aleurone as well as total, ultrafine, and soluble wheat bran (swb) as carbon sources. By combining amplicon-based community profiling with a fluorescent
hybridization (FISH) approach, we found that incubation conditions favor the growth of Proteobacteria such as
and
. These effects were countered in all but one total wheat bran (twb) fermentation experiments. Growth of
species was stimulated after fermentation using ultrafine, soluble, and twb, in the latter two as part of a general increase in bacterial load. Both ultrafine and swb fermentation resulted in a trade-off between
and
, as previously observed in human dietary supplementation studies looking at the effect of inulin-type fructans on the human gut microbiota. Aleurone selectively stimulated growth of
and butyrate-producing
. All fermentation experiments induced enhanced gas production; increased butyrate concentrations were only observed following soluble bran incubation. Our results open perspectives for the development of aleurone as a complementary prebiotic selectively targeting colon butyrate producers.
Introduction: Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) is a primary neuroendocrine tumor derived from parafollicular cells or C-cells of the thyroid gland. It accounts for 1% to 10% of all thyroid cancers and ...is the second most aggressive thyroid cancer after undifferentiated thyroid carcinoma. Serum calcitonin and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) concentrations are widely used as biomarkers to facilitate diagnosis and follow-up. However, in rare cases, serum levels of calcitonin or CEA can be normal.
Case presentation: We report the case of a 64-year-old male patient with MTC who presented brain metastasis and normal preoperative serum levels of calcitonin and CEA. The patient underwent total thyroidectomy with central compartment lymph-node dissection, resection of the single brain metastasis, and adjuvant holo-cranial radiotherapy. At 30 months’ follow-up, he maintained normal serum calcitonin and CEA levels with increased procalcitonin levels.
Conclusions: We describe a rare case of “calcitonin-negative” MTC with brain metastasis. The pathophysiology underlying normal serum levels of calcitonin in MTC is still not clearly understood. The lack of effective serum biomarkers for these patients makes diagnosis and treatment challenging.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Recent metagenomic studies have demonstrated that the overall functional potential of the intestinal microbiome is rather conserved between healthy individuals. Here we assessed the biological ...processes undertaken in-vivo by microbes and the host in the intestinal tract by conducting a metaproteome analysis from a total of 48 faecal samples of 16 healthy adults participating in a placebo-controlled probiotic intervention trial. Half of the subjects received placebo and the other half consumed Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG for three weeks (1010 cfu per day). Faecal samples were collected just before and at the end of the consumption phase as well as after a three-week follow-up period, and were processed for microbial composition and metaproteome analysis. A common core of shared microbial protein functions could be identified in all subjects. Furthermore, we observed marked differences in expressed proteins between subjects that resulted in the definition of a stable and personalized microbiome both at the mass-spectrometry-based proteome level and the functional level based on the KEGG pathway analysis. No significant changes in the metaproteome were attributable to the probiotic intervention. A detailed taxonomic assignment of peptides and comparison to phylogenetic microarray data made it possible to evaluate the activity of the main phyla as well as key species, including Faecalibacterium prausnitzii. Several correlations were identified between human and bacterial proteins. Proteins of the human host accounted for approximately 14% of the identified metaproteome and displayed variations both between and within individuals. The individually different human intestinal proteomes point to personalized host-microbiota interactions. Our findings indicate that analysis of the intestinal metaproteome can complement gene-based analysis and contributes to a thorough understanding of the activities of the microbiome and the relevant pathways in health and disease.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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