The main objective of present study was to evaluate inter-rater reliability and concurrent validity of Side Hop Test stopwatch vs. force plates timing, and to determine the number of sessions and ...trials required to minimize the effects of learning on Side Hop Test total time and limb symmetry index. Fifteen healthy male physical education students (mean ± SD: age, 23 ± 3 years; height, 181 ± 9 cm; and weight 72 ± 6 kg) participated. Side Hop Test total time (stopwatch and force plates) of left and right leg, and limb symmetry index (force plates) were obtained over seven sessions conducted 5–7 days apart. Time recordings of two raters were similar (
t
= −0.56,
p
> 0.05) with high reliability (all ICC >0.99 and CV% <0.1) and no systematic bias when compared to force plate data (
p
> 0.05; for rater 1 and 2, respectively). Total time improved across the Sessions (
F
= 25.87,
p
< 0.01,
ω
2
= 0.18) and Trials (
F
= 68.15,
p
< 0.01,
ω
2
= 0.10), with no significant interaction between factors. No between-leg differences were detected (
F
= 0.52,
p
> 0.05,
ω
2
= 0.001). Limb symmetry index ranged from 0.999 to 1.055 across all sessions and trials (all
p
> 0.05 and
ω
2
< 0.00). Due to low coefficient of correlation, high interclass correlation coefficient, and the lack in heteroscedasticity, stopwatch measurements are valid to measure total time in the Side Hop Test. Moreover, stopwatch measurements could be reliably used to measure total time in the Side Hop Test, while the test could be administrated with only one experienced rater. Unlike total times, findings on limb symmetry index suggest it could be reliably assessed after seven familiarization sessions.
Goal of this work is to establish technical feasibility and fundamentals of producing activated carbon from plane tree seeds biomass for porous materials derivation. Bio-chars produced via ...carbonization from plane tree seeds precursor were activated in CO2 at 750 and 850?C, during various residence times. Their surface area and porosity were characterized by N2 adsorption at 77 K. Surface areas of activated carbons can be correlated with kinetics mechanism and activation energy magnitudes of oxidation reaction by CO2, which are closely related to applied activation temperature. Result showed that high temperature activated carbon had higher gas adsorption as compared to activated carbon obtained from lower temperature during two-hour residence time. Breakthrough behavior was detected at 850?C where surface reactions dominate, and it is characterized by autocatalytic kinetic model under designed conditions. Both, temperature and CO2 concentration in vicinity of solid surface effect on breakthrough time of adsorbent. Derived bio-chars are converted into high quality activated carbons, with surface area of 776.55 m2/g, where micro-pores with pore diameters less than 2 nm prevail. Produced activated carbons have properties comparable with commercially available activated carbons, which can be successfully used for removal of harmful gaseous pollutants toward air purification.
The aim of this work was to analyze the multi-elemental composition of the extracts of
J. nigra
husk, with an assessment of the possible influence of their microelements on biochemical, toxicological ...and radioprotective effects of in rats exposed to radiation from
99m
Tc-radiopharmaceuticals. The elements in extract were quantified: microelements (Zn>Al>Se>Cu>Sr>Cr>Ni>Mn>Ba>I>V) and toxic-elements (Pb>Hg>Cd>As). The use of extract in rats showed no clinical evidence of toxicity in terms of biochemical parameters. The results showed significant alteration in the organs accumulation of
99m
Tc-radiopharmaceuticals. The results showed that extract of
J. nigra
husk may act as a potential radioprotector of organ system.
Bacteria active against multi-drug resistant pathogens, isolated by direct selection of colonies from clover silage samples, produce zones of inhibition against two Gram-negative (Klebsiella ...pneumoniae Ni9 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa MMA83) and two Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus ATCC25923 and Listeria monocytogenes ATCC19111) pathogens. Isolates BGSP7, BGSP9, BGSP11 and BGSP12 produced the largest zones of inhibition against all four pathogens when grown in LB broth with aeration at 37°C. Isolates BGSP7, BGSP9, BGSP11 and BGSP12 were identified as Brevibacillus laterosporus and pulsed field gel electrophoresis and extracellular protein profiles showed that three different strains (BGSP7, BGSP9 and BGSP11) were isolated. A semi-native SDS-PAGE (sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis) gel overlay assay showed that BGSP7 and BGSP9 produce small antimicrobial molecules of about 1.5 kDa, while BGSP11 produces antimicrobial molecules of 1.5 and 6 kDa active against S. aureus ATCC25923. Amino acid analysis of two antimicrobial molecules (1583.73 Da; from BGSP7 and 1556.31 Da; from BGSP11) revealed that they have a similar composition and differ only by virtue of the presence of a methionine which is present only in BGSP11 molecule. Genome sequencing of the three isolates revealed the presence of gene clusters associated with the production of non-ribosomally synthesized peptides (brevibacillin, bogorol, gramicidin S, plipastatin and tyrocin) and bacteriocins (laterosporulin, a lactococcin 972-like bacteriocin, as well as putative linocin M18, sactipeptide, UviB and lantipeptide-like molecules). Ultimately, the purification of a number of antimicrobial molecules from each isolate suggests that they can be considered as potent biocontrol strains that produce an arsenal of antimicrobial molecules active against Gram-positive and Gram-negative multi-resistant pathogens, fungi and insects.
Considering the relevance of the research of pathogenesis of different liver diseases, we investigated the possible activity of the IL-23/IL-17 axis on the immunohepatotoxicity of two etiologically ...different chronic liver diseases. A total of 36 chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients, 16 with (CHC-SF) and 20 without significant fibrosis (CHC-NSF), 19 patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and 20 healthy controls (CG) were recruited. Anthropometric, biochemical, and immunological cytokines (IL-6, IL-10, IL-17 and IL-23) tests were performed in accordance with standard procedure. Our analysis revealed that a higher concentration of plasma IL-23 was associated with NASH (
= 0.005), and a higher concentration of plasma IL-17A but a lower concentration of plasma IL-10 was associated with CHC in comparison with CG. A lower concentration of plasma IL-10 was specific for CHC-NSF, while a higher concentration of plasma IL-17A was specific for CHC-SF in comparison with CG. CHC-NSF and CHC-SF groups were distinguished from NASH according to a lower concentration of plasma IL-17A. Liver tissue levels of IL-17A and IL-23 in CHC-NSF were significantly lower in comparison with NASH, regardless of the same stage of the liver fibrosis, whereas only IL-17A tissue levels showed a difference between the CHC-NSF and CHC-SF groups, namely, a lower concentration in CHC-NSF in comparison with CHC-SF. In CHC-SF and NASH liver tissue, IL17-A and IL-23 were significantly higher in comparison with plasma. Diagnostic accuracy analysis showed significance only in the concentration of plasma cytokines. Plasma IL-6, IL-17A and IL-23 could be possible markers that could differentiate CHC patients from controls. Plasma IL-23 could be considered a possible biomarker of CHC-NSF patients in comparison with controls, while plasma IL-6 and IL-17-A could be biomarkers of CHC-SF patients in comparison with controls. The most sophisticated difference was between the CHC-SF and CHC-NSF groups in the plasma levels of IL-10, which could make this cytokine a useful biomarker of liver fibrosis.
Screening for producers of potent antimicrobial peptides, resulted in the isolation of
Bacillus cereus
BGNM1 with strong antimicrobial activity against
Listeria monocytogenes
. Genome sequence ...analysis revealed that BGNM1 contains the gene cluster associated with the production of the lantibiotic, thusin, previously identified in
B. thuringiensis
. Purification of the antimicrobial activity confirmed that strain BGMN1 produces thusin. Both thusin sensitive and resistant strains were detected among clinical isolates of
Streptococcus agalactiae
. Random mutagenesis of a thusin sensitive strain,
S. agalactiae
B782, was performed in an attempt to identify the receptor protein for thusin. Three independent thusin resistant mutants were selected and their complete genomes sequenced. Comparative sequence analysis of these mutants with the WT strain revealed that duplication of a region encoding a 79 amino acids repeat in a C-protein α-antigen was a common difference, suggesting it to be responsible for increased resistance to thusin. Since induced thusin resistant mutants showed higher level of resistance than the naturally resistant B761 strain, complete genome sequencing of strain B761 was performed to check the integrity of the C-protein α-antigen-encoding gene. This analysis revealed that this gene is deleted in B761, providing further evidence that this protein promotes interaction of the thusin with receptor.
Lactic acid bacterium Lactococcus lactis BGBU1-4 produces 43 amino acids (aa) long bacteriocin, lactolisterin BU (LBU), a 5.161 kDa peptide with potent antibacterial activity against many ...Gram-positive pathogens. In addition, BGBU1-4 produces an additional unknown product of 3.642 kDa with antibacterial activity. Here, we determined that the significant amount of naturally produced LBU breaks down to create a 3.642 kDa truncated form of LBU bacteriocin consisting of 31 N-terminal aa (LBU1-31) that exhibits 12.5% the antibacterial activity of the full-length LBU. We showed that chemically synthesized LBU is stable and 50% less active than native LBU, and so we used the synthetic peptides of LBU and its variants to further study their activities and antibacterial potential. Deletion analysis of LBU revealed that the 24 N-terminal aa of LBU (LBU1-24) are responsible for antibacterial activity, while downstream aa (25-43) determine the species-specific effectiveness of LBU. Although LBU1-31 contains aa 1-24, the truncation at position 31 is predicted to change the structure within aa 15-31 and might impact on antibacterial activity. Intriguingly, whole genome sequencing and genome mining established that BGBU1-4 is abundant in genes that encode potential antibacterials, but produces LBU and its breakdown product LBU1-31 exclusively.
subsp.
bv. diacetylactis BGBU1-4 produces a novel bacteriocin, lactolisterin BU, with strong antimicrobial activity against many species of Gram-positive bacteria, including important food spoilage ...and foodborne pathogens, such as
,
,
spp., and streptococci. Lactolisterin BU was extracted from the cell surface of BGBU1-4 by 2-propanol and purified to homogeneity by C
solid-phase extraction and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. The molecular mass of the purified lactolisterin BU was 5,160.94 Da, and an internal fragment, AVSWAWQH, as determined by N-terminal sequencing, showed low-level similarity to existing antimicrobial peptides. Curing and transformation experiments revealed the presence of a corresponding bacteriocin operon on the smallest plasmid, pBU6 (6.2 kb), of strain BGBU1-4. Analysis of the bacteriocin operon revealed a leaderless bacteriocin of 43 amino acids that exhibited similarity to bacteriocin BHT-B (63%) from
, a bacteriocin with analogy to aureocin A.
Lactolisterin BU, a broad-spectrum leaderless bacteriocin produced by
subsp.
bv. diacetylactis BGBU1-4, expresses strong antimicrobial activity against food spoilage and foodborne pathogens, such as
,
,
spp., and streptococci. Lactolisterin BU showed the highest similarity to aureocin-like bacteriocins produced by different bacteria. The operon for synthesis is located on the smallest plasmid, pBU6 (6.2 kb), of strain BGBU1-4, indicating possible horizontal transfer among producers.
The gene cluster responsible for the production of the aureocin A53-like bacteriocin, lactolisterin BU, is located on plasmid pBU6 in
subsp.
BGBU1-4. Heterologous expression of pBU6 confirmed that ...production and limited immunity to lactolisterin BU were provided by the plasmid. Comparative analysis of aureocin A53-like operons revealed that the structural genes shared a low level of identity, while other genes were without homology, indicating a different origin. Subcloning and expression of genes located downstream of the structural gene,
, revealed that the lactolisterin BU cluster consists of four genes: the structural gene
, the
gene encoding an ABC transporter, the
gene encoding an accessory protein and the
gene which provides limited immunity to lactolisterin BU. Reverse transcription analysis revealed that all genes were transcribed as one polycistronic mRNA. Attempts to split the lactolisterin BU operon, even when both parts were under control of the P
promoter, were unsuccessful indicating that expression of lactolisterin BU is probably precisely regulated at the translational level by translational coupling and is possible only when all genes of the operon are
constellation. Two ρ-independent transcription terminators were detected in the lactolisterin BU operon: the first in the intergenic region of the
and
genes and the second at the end of operon. Deletion of the second transcription terminator did not influence production of the bacteriocin in lactococci.
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