Geographical clines in genetic polymorphisms are widely used as evidence of climatic selection and are expected to shift with climate change. We show that the classic latitudinal cline in the alcohol ...dehydrogenase polymorphism of Drosophila melanogaster has shifted over 20 years in eastern coastal Australia. Southern high-latitude populations now have the genetic constitution of more northerly populations, equivalent to a shift of 4° in latitude. A similar shift was detected for a genetically independent inversion polymorphism, whereas two other linked polymorphisms exhibiting weaker clinal patterns have remained relatively stable. These genetic changes are likely to reflect increasingly warmer and drier conditions and may serve as sensitive biomarkers for climate change.
The search for alternative preservatives is on the rise due to safety issues linked with the application of synthetic antioxidants and the extensive increase in bacterial resistance to several ...conventional antibiotics. Therefore, the quest for finding suitable alternatives including bioactive peptides has received attention. This article reports a comprehensive insight concerning antioxidative and antibacterial peptides derived from milk proteins, a prolific source of peptides having various bioactivities. Caseins and whey proteins have also been evaluated for antioxidative and antibacterial potential using the BIOPEP database. A notable number of potentially active peptides are present in milk proteins. Technological approaches are here reported for the production of these peptides. The findings of this review show potentiality of utilizing dairy derived antioxidative and antibacterial peptides in the development of a superior alternative to the current generation of preservatives and therapeutic agents, as well as a functional ingredient in dietetic or pharmaceutical applications.
Summary
Allogeneic red cell transfusion is a commonly used treatment to improve the oxygen carrying capacity of blood during the peri‐operative period. Increasing arterial oxygen content by ...increasing haemoglobin does not necessarily increase tissue oxygen delivery or uptake. Although the evidence‐base for red cell transfusion practice is incomplete, randomised studies across a range of clinical settings, including surgery, consistently support the restrictive use of red cells, with no evidence of benefit for maintaining patients at higher haemoglobin thresholds (liberal strategy). A recent meta‐analysis of 7593 patients concluded that a restrictive transfusion strategy was associated with a reduced risk of healthcare‐associated infections (pneumonia, mediastinitis, wound infection, sepsis) when compared with a liberal transfusion strategy. The degree to which the optimal haemoglobin concentration or transfusion trigger should be modified for patients with additional specific risk factors (e.g. ischaemic heart disease), remains less clear and requires further research. Although most clinical practice guidelines recommend restrictive use of red cells, and many blood transfusion services have seen marked falls in overall usage of red cells, the use of other blood components such as fresh frozen plasma, platelets, and cryoprecipitate has risen. In clinical practice, administration of fresh frozen plasma is usually guided by laboratory tests of coagulation, mainly prothrombin time, international normalised ratio and activated partial thromboplastin time, but the predictive value of these tests to predict bleeding is poor.
•Degree of hydrolysis of milk proteins varied with probiotic strains.•Probiotic yogurt produced peptides of high antioxidative and antimutagenic potential.•Degree of hydrolysis correlated with ...antioxidative activity of peptide extract.•Degree of hydrolysis correlated with antimutagenic activity of peptide extract.
Search for bioactive peptides is intensifying because of the risks associated with the use of synthetic therapeutics, thus peptide liberation by lactic acid bacteria and probiotics has received a great focus. However, proteolytic capacity of these bacteria is strain specific. The study was conducted to establish proteolytic activity of Lactobacillus acidophilus (ATCC® 4356™), Lactobacillus casei (ATCC® 393™) and Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. paracasei (ATCC® BAA52™) in yogurt. Crude peptides were separated by high-speed centrifugation and tested for antioxidant and antimutagenic activities. The degree of proteolysis highly correlated with these bioactivities, and its value (11.91%) for samples containing all the cultures was double that of the control. Liberated peptides showed high radical scavenging activities with 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl and 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid), IC50 1.51 and 1.63mg/ml, respectively and strong antimutagenicity (26.35%). These probiotics enhanced the generation of bioactive peptides and could possibly be commercially applied in new products, or production of novel anticancer peptides.
Fruit by-products are good resources of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, and minerals, which may function as growth nutrients for probiotic bacteria. This research aimed at evaluating effects of ...pineapple peel powder addition on the viability and activity of Lactobacillus acidophilus (ATCC 4356), Lactobacillus casei (ATCC393), and Lactobacillus paracasei ssp. paracasei (ATCC BAA52) in yogurts throughout storage at 4°C for 28d. Plain and probiotic yogurts supplemented with or without pineapple peel powder or inulin were prepared. The probiotic counts in supplemented yogurts at 28d of storage ranged from 7.68 and 8.03 log cfu/g, one log cycle higher compared with nonsupplemented control yogurt. Degree of proteolysis in synbiotic yogurts was significantly higher than plain yogurts and increased substantially during storage. Crude water-soluble peptide extract of the probiotic yogurt with peel possessed stronger antimutagenic and antioxidant activities evaluated measuring reducing power and scavenging capacity of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl; 2,2’-azino-bis(3-ethyl benzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid), and hydroxyl radicals than control and maintained during storage. Pineapple peel, a by-product of juice production, could be proposed as a prebiotic ingredient in the manufacture of yogurts with enhanced nutrition, and functionality.
Summary
Septic shock is a leading cause of death and morbidity worldwide. The cornerstones of management include prompt identification of sepsis, early initiation of antibiotic therapy, adequate ...fluid resuscitation and organ support. Over the past two decades, there have been considerable improvements in our understanding of the pathophysiology of sepsis and the host response, including regulation of inflammation, endothelial disruption and impaired immunity. This has offered opportunities for innovative adjunctive treatments such as vitamin C, corticosteroids and beta‐blockers. Some of these approaches have shown promising results in early phase trials in humans, while others, such as corticosteroids, have been tested in large, international, multicentre randomised controlled trials. Contemporary guidelines make a weak recommendation for the use of corticosteroids to reduce mortality in sepsis and septic shock. Vitamin C, despite showing initial promise in observational studies, has so far not been shown to be clinically effective in randomised trials. Beta‐blocker therapy may have beneficial cardiac and non‐cardiac effects in septic shock, but there is currently insufficient evidence to recommend their use for this condition. The results of ongoing randomised trials are awaited. Crucial to reducing heterogeneity in the trials of new sepsis treatments will be the concept of enrichment, which refers to the purposive selection of patients with clinical and biological characteristics that are likely to be responsive to the intervention being tested.
Protein concentration is a critical product quality attribute and required for any therapeutic protein. Many commercial and investigational new biologics are now formulated at high concentrations ...(>100 mg/ml) to achieve successful subcutaneous administration. Assaying protein concentration in high concentration formulations poses a challenge, as traditional absorption spectroscopy and UPLC/HPLC (ultra/high performance liquid chromatography) assays cannot accurately measure such high concentrations without further solution manipulation. However, recent advances in UV/vis technology have led to the creation of instruments that measure samples at relatively short (<1 cm) path lengths, which would allow them to accurately measure high concentration protein samples in accordance with Beer Lambert Law principles. In this research, samples of five different proteins at concentrations ranging from 0.15 to 242 mg/ml (corresponding to OD280 vales of 0.15–315 AU) were measured on two different instruments employing different techniques of low path length UV/vis measurements. In order for the techniques to meet MSD's acceptance criteria for release assays, measurements were required to be accurate to within 10% of a reference measurement (performed on a traditional UV/vis spectrophotometer) and to be precise within 5% CV. The results show that using a technique known as slope spectroscopy, it is possible to measure OD280 from 0.5 to 315 AU with <7% error relative to the reference measurement. If instead measurements are taken using an instrument utilizing a single, small path length, it is possible to measure absorbances from 0.2 to ~75 AU with <7% error. This article concludes that the slope spectroscopy technique performed within the acceptance criteria across the full range of measured absorbances and that the single, short path length measurement performed within the acceptance criteria up to 75 AU.
The search for alternative therapeutics is on the rise due to the extensive increase in bacterial resistance to various conventional antibiotics and side effects of conventional cancer therapies. ...Bioactive peptides released from natural sources such as dairy foods by lactic acid bacteria have received attention as a potential source of biotherapeutic peptides. However, liberation of peptides in yogurt depends on proteolytic activities of the cultures used. Thus, this research was conducted to establish generation of inhibitory peptides in yogurt against pathogenic bacteria and cancer cells during storage at 4°C for 28d. Water-soluble crude peptide extracts were prepared by high-speed centrifugation of plain and probiotic yogurts supplemented with or without pineapple peel powder (PPP). The inhibition zones against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus by PPP-fortified probiotic yogurt at 28d of storage were, respectively, 25.89 and 11.72mm in diameter, significantly higher than that of nonsupplemented control yogurts. Antiproliferative activity against HT29 colon cancer cells was also significantly higher in probiotic yogurt with PPP than in nonsupplemented probiotic yogurt. Overall, crude water-soluble peptide extracts of the probiotic yogurt with PPP possessed stronger inhibitory activities against bacteria and cancer cells than controls, and these activities were maintained during storage. However, activities were lowered substantially during in vitro gastrointestinal digestion. These findings support the possibility of utilizing dairy-derived bioactive peptides in the development of a superior alternative to the current generation of antibacterial and anticancer agents, as well as a functional ingredient in foods, nutraceuticals, and pharmaceuticals.
The Burrunan dolphin, Tursiops australis, is a newly described species endemic to southern Australian coastal waters. The current distribution ranges from South Australia, east to Victoria and south ...to Tasmania. In the eastern region of their range, only two known resident populations of T. australis occur, Port Phillip Bay and the Gippsland Lakes. Little else is known about the population status and migration patterns of the species. Here we examine population genetics of T. australis using ten microsatellite loci and two sequences of mitochondrial DNA, the control region (~450 bp) and cytochrome b (~1,200 bp). A total of 163 T. australis samples were collected from various locations across the Victorian and Tasmanian coastlines. Genetic data showed the highest differentiation between the Port Phillip Bay and both Gippsland Lakes and Tasmanian samples. Network analysis, using concatenated mtDNA sequences, showed geographic segregation and Bayesian analysis, using microsatellite data, also supported the presence of two genetic clusters. Both microsatellite and mtDNA data indicated low genetic diversity when compared to levels reported for other dolphins. Maternal philopatry was suggested for Port Phillip Bay in particular. Our data suggest that T. australis from coastal waters of south-eastern Australia consists of two populations with little or no contemporary gene flow; one occurs in Port Phillip Bay; the second extends from the east coast of Tasmania across Bass Strait to Gippsland Lakes. Tursiops australis appears to be characterised by small, localised, genetically distinct populations and should thus be further assessed under local, national and international threatened species criteria.
Cancer is the most widely recognized reason for human deaths globally. Conventional anticancer therapies, including chemotherapy and radiation, are very costly and induce severe side effects on the ...individual. The discovery of natural anticancer compounds like peptides may thus be a better alternative for cancer prevention and management. The anticancer peptides also exist in the amino acid chain of milk proteins and can be generated during proteolytic activities such as gastrointestinal digestion or food processing including fermentation. This paper presents an exhaustive overview of the contemporary literature on antitumor activities of peptides released from milk proteins. In addition, caseins and whey proteins have been evaluated for anticancer potential using the AntiCP database, a web‐based prediction server. Proline and lysine, respectively, dominate at various positions in anticancer peptides obtained from caseins and whey proteins. The remarkable number of potential anticancer peptides revealed milk proteins as favorable candidates for the development of anticancer agents or milk and milk products for reduction of cancer risks. Moreover, anticancer peptides liberated from milk proteins can be identified from fermented dairy products. Although current findings of correlation between dairy food intakes and cancer risks lack consistency, dairy‐derived peptides show promise as candidates for cancer therapy. This critical review supports the notion that milk proteins are not only a nutritious part of a normal daily diet but also have potential for prevention and/or management of cancer.
PDF
