Milk-derived bioactive peptides with a single activity (e.g., antioxidant, immunomodulatory, or antimicrobial) have been previously well documented; however, few studies describe multifunctional ...bioactive peptides, which may be preferred over single-activity peptides, as they can simultaneously trigger, modulate, or inhibit multiple physiological pathways. Hence, the aim of this study was to assess the anti-inflammatory, antihemolytic, antioxidant, antimutagenic, and antimicrobial activities of crude extracts (CE) and peptide fractions (<3 and 3–10 kDa) obtained from fermented milks with specific Lactobacillus plantarum strains. Overall, CE showed higher activity than both peptide fractions (<3 and 3–10 kDa) in most of the activities assessed. Furthermore, activity of <3 kDa was generally higher, or at least equal, to the 3 to 10 kDa peptide fractions. In particular, L. plantarum 55 crude extract or their fractions showed the higher anti-inflammatory (723.68–1,759.43μg/mL of diclofenac sodium equivalents), antihemolytic (36.65–74.45% of inhibition), and antioxidant activity 282.8–362.3µmol of Trolox (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) equivalents. These results provide valuable evidence of multifunctional role of peptides derived of fermented milk by the action of specific L. plantarum strains. Thus, they may be considered for the development of biotechnological products to be used to reduce the risk of disease or to enhance a certain physiological function.
Abstract
Background
The understanding of ovarian cancer pathogenesis has recently shifted to recognize distinct changes in how ovarian cancer histotypes are defined. Using the 2014 World Health ...Organization (WHO) diagnostic guidelines, we classified ovarian cancer histotypes in Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) cancer registry data and examined survival patterns by histotype and disease stage.
Methods
We extracted data on 28 118 incident epithelial ovarian cancer cases diagnosed in 2004–2014 from SEER and defined histotype using the 2014 WHO guidelines (high-grade serous, low-grade serous, endometrioid, clear cell, mucinous, carcinosarcoma, and malignant Brenner tumors). By histotype and disease stage, we estimated Kaplan-Meier survival curves and calculated age-adjusted overall and cause-specific survival estimates. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate histotype-specific hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) by disease stage while adjusting for age at diagnosis, region, race/ethnicity, and receipt of surgery.
Results
Within two years after diagnosis, localized/regional-stage carcinosarcoma and distant-stage mucinous, clear cell, and carcinosarcoma had a higher risk of mortality compared with high-grade serous, with the most pronounced association for localized/regional carcinosarcoma (>1–2-year time period: HR = 3.81, 95% CI = 2.74 to 5.30) and distant-stage mucinous (0–1-year time period: HR = 3.87, 95% CI = 3.45 to 4.34). In the time period more than four to 10 years after diagnosis, hazard ratios for all histotypes relative to high-grade serous, irrespective of disease stage, were less than 1.00. Cumulatively, both localized/regional and distant-stage low-grade serous and endometrioid carcinomas had the most favorable outcomes.
Conclusions
Our large study, which is representative of the United States population and incorporates the most current knowledge of ovarian cancer pathogenesis, highlights the need to recognize ovarian cancer as a set of distinct diseases and not a single entity. Only then will we be able to effectively target the unique features of each histotype to reduce ovarian cancer mortality.
Background: This cross‐sectional study aims to investigate the correlation between obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) risk with periodontal disease and anthropometric measures in Class III obese ...patients.
Methods: Anthropometric measurements were taken from 108 patients of both sexes, aged 30 to 60 years. The Berlin questionnaire (Bq) and the Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) were applied to determine the risk for OSAS. Full‐mouth periodontal status was determined by probing depth, clinical attachment level, gingival bleeding index, and the presence of calculus. Unpaired Student t, χ2, Fisher exact, and Mann–Whitney U tests were applied to analyze the differences between high and low risk for OSAS groups.
Results: Overall, 81.5% of the patients showed high risk for OSAS, 46.3% had excessive daytime sleepiness, 41.5% were positive for both the Bq and ESS, and 97.2% had periodontal disease (periodontitis = 85.2% and gingivitis = 60.2%). Patients with periodontal disease showed high risk for OSAS (82.9%) and ESS (45.7%). However, there was no influence of periodontal disease on OSAS risk. Periodontitis was not associated with the ESS (odds ratio OR = 1.84, 95% confidence interval CI = 0.54 to 6.26) or Bq (OR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.10 to 7.84), nor was gingivitis associated with the ESS (OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 0.48 to 3.25) or Bq (OR = 0.23, 95% CI = 0.03 to 1.84). Waist circumference (P = 0.03), neck circumference (NC, P <0.001), and the percentage of predicted NC (PPNC, P <0.001) were significantly larger in the patients at high risk for OSAS than in those at low risk for OSAS. Daytime sleepiness was also associated with NC (P = 0.02) and PPNC (P = 0.02).
Conclusion: There was no association between periodontal disease and OSAS risk in Class III obese patients, but OSAS risk was associated with both NC and PPNC.
The functional properties of the dominant adventitious yeast strains in Portuguese cultivars of brined olives were evaluated. Identification followed traditional taxonomic methods, complemented with ...molecular biology approaches. The yeast population ranged in 3–5
log
10 (cfu/mL), and included chiefly
Pichia membranaefaciens,
Pichia fermentans,
Saccharomyces cerevisiae and
Candida oleophila. A few strains exhibited desirable technological features, viz. absence of pectinolytic and lipolytic activities, positive catalase response, high osmotolerance, ability to uptake oleuropein and lactic acid, and capacity to produce B-complex vitamins. Furthermore, antimicrobial activity against selected food-borne bacterial pathogens was observed, as well as release of mycocin.
P. membranaefaciens and
C. oleophila appeared as the most promising candidates for eventual inclusion in tailor-made probiotic starter/adjunct cultures.
► Characterization of native yeasts in table olives from Portuguese cultivars. ► Unique fermentation protocol that enriches brine in useful metabolites. ► Probiotic strains found, able to withstand simulated gastrointestinal conditions. ► Probiotic strains found, possessing antimicrobial features against food-borne pathogens. ► Probiotic strains found, able to synthesize B-complex vitamins and breakdown oleuropein.
Biodiversity loss can precipitate extinction cascades and impair ecological processes. These 'downstream' effects will be exacerbated if functionally important taxa are tightly linked with species ...threatened by extinction or population decline. We review the current evidence that such a scenario is currently playing out in the linked declines of persistently hunted mammal populations and the dung beetles communities (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) that depend on them for adult and larval food resources. Through a close evolutionary association, mammal assemblages have played a fundamental role in structuring extant dung beetle communities. Today many game mammal species' populations are severely depleted by subsistence or commercial hunting, especially in tropical forest systems. Multiple lines of evidence from temperate and tropical systems indicate that the regional-scale decline or extirpation of medium and large bodied mammal faunas can severely disrupt the diversity and abundance of dung beetle communities through alterations in the composition and availability of dung resources. These observed community disassemblies have significant short- and long-term implications for the maintenance of key ecosystem processes including nutrient recycling and secondary seed dispersal. Identifying the species- and community-level traits that buffer or exacerbate these species and functional responses is essential if we are to develop a better understanding of the cascading ecological consequences of hunting in tropical forests.
Brazil’s environmental leadership at risk Ferreira, J.; Aragão, L. E. O. C.; Barlow, J. ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
11/2014, Letnik:
346, Številka:
6210
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Over the past two decades, Brazil has emerged as an environmental leader, playing a prominent role in international fora such as the United Nations (UN) Conferences on Sustainable Development. The ...country has earned praise for the expansion of its protected area (PA) network and reductions in Amazon deforestation. Yet these successes are being compromised by development pressures and shifts in legislation. We highlight concerns for the newly elected government regarding development of major infrastructure and natural resource extraction projects in PAs and indigenous lands (ILs).
Abstract
Recently, cat states have been used to heuristically improve the runtime of a classical simulator of quantum circuits based on the diagrammatic
ZX
-calculus. Here we investigate the use of ...cat-state injection within the quantum circuit model. We explore a family of cat states,
c
a
t
m
∗
, and describe circuit gadgets using them to concurrently inject non-stabilizerness (also known as magic) and entanglement into any quantum circuit. We provide numerical evidence that cat-state injection does not lead to speed-up in classical simulation. On the other hand, we show that our gadgets can be used to widen the scope of compelling applications of cat states. Specifically, we show how to leverage them to achieve savings in the number of injected qubits, and also to induce scrambling dynamics in otherwise non-entangling Clifford circuits in a controlled manner.
A
bstract
An important aspect of the study of Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) in ultrarelativistic collisions of heavy ions is the ability to identify, in experimental data, a subset of the jets that were ...strongly modified by the interaction with the QGP. In this work, we propose studying Deep Learning techniques for this purpose. Samples of
Z
+jet events were simulated in vacuum (pp collisions) and medium (PbPb collisions) and used to train Deep Neural Networks with the objective of discriminating between
medium
- and
vacuum-like
jets within the medium (PbPb) sample. Dedicated Convolutional Neural Networks, Dense Neural Networks and Recurrent Neural Networks were developed and trained, and their performance was studied. Our results show the potential of these techniques for the identification of jet quenching effects induced by the presence of the QGP.
Most patients with multiple myeloma experience disease relapse after treatment with a B-cell maturation antigen-targeted therapy (BCMA-TT), and data describing outcomes for patients treated with ...sequential BCMA-TT are limited. We analyzed clinical outcomes for patients infused with standard-of-care idecabtagene vicleucel, an anti-BCMA chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, at 11 US medical centers. A total of 50 patients with prior BCMA-TT exposure (38 antibody-drug conjugate, 7 bispecific, 5 CAR T) and 153 patients with no prior BCMA-TT were infused with ide-cel, with a median follow-up duration of 4.5 and 6.0 months, respectively. Safety outcomes between cohorts were comparable. The prior BCMA-TT cohort had a lower overall response rate (74% versus 88%; p = 0.021), median duration of response (7.4 versus 9.6 months; p = 0.03), and median progression-free survival (3.2 months versus 9.0 months; p = 0.0002) compared to the cohort without prior BCMA-TT. All five patients who received a prior anti-BCMA CAR T responded to ide-cel, and survival outcomes were best for this subgroup. In conclusion, treatment with ide-cel yielded meaningful clinical responses in real-world patients exposed to a prior BCMA-TT, though response rates and durability were suboptimal compared to those not treated with a prior BCMA-TT.
Subsistence hunting affects vast tracts of tropical wilderness that otherwise remain structurally unaltered, yet distinguishing hunted from nonhunted tropical forests presents a difficult problem ...because this diffuse form of resource extraction leaves few visible signs of its occurrence. I used a standardized series of line-transect censuses conducted over a 10-year period to examine the effects of subsistence game harvest on the structure of vertebrate communities in 25 Amazonian forest sites subjected to varying levels of hunting pressure. Crude vertebrate biomass, which was highly correlated with hunting pressure, gradually declined from nearly 1200 kg km-2at nonhunted sites to less than 200 kg km-2at heavily hunted sites. Hunting had a negative effect on the total biomass and relative abundance of vertebrate species in different size classes at these forest sites, but it did not affect their overall density. In particular, persistent hunting markedly reduced the density of large-bodied game species (>5 kg), which contributed a large proportion of the overall community biomass at nonhunted sites (65-78%) and lightly hunted sites (55-71%). Nutrient-rich floodplain forests contained a consistently greater game biomass than nutrient-poor unflooded forests, once I controlled for the effects of hunting pressure. Conservative estimates of game yields indicate that as many as 23.5 million game vertebrates, equivalent to 89,224 tons of bushmeat with a market value of US$190.7 million, are consumed each year by the rural population of Brazilian Amazonia, which illustrates the enormous socioeconomic value of game resources in the region. My cross-site comparison documents the staggering effect of subsistence hunters on tropical forest vertebrate communities and highlights the importance of considering forest types and forest productivity in game management programs.
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