This review presents an overview of the current knowledge regarding the techniques for the extraction of selected Rhodiola species, their bioactive compounds and their underlying mechanisms of action ...with particular emphasis on free radical scavenging properties. Rhodiola genus (Crassulaceae) is a perennial, which grows naturally in eastern Siberia, Scandinavia, Alaska and northern Europe that has been traditionally used in folk Asian medicine. In this review, we have done a critical evaluation of available literature on Rhodiola species roots and rhizomes, especially R. rosea (L.), R. imbricata (Edgew.), R. crenulata (Hook.f. & Thomson), R. kirilowii (Regel) and R. heterodonta (Hook.f. & Thomson), that have been most thoroughly investigated and described so far. Databases, including Scopus, PubMed and Google Scholar were applied to obtain relevant literature, based on reports mainly in the last 20 years. Here, we improved the list of the most important chemical compounds of Rhodiola spp. - mainly phenolic compounds and essential oils, taking into account their detection methods. In addition, we compared qualitatively and quantitatively different kind of extraction methods and analyzed the results regarding the antioxidant effects of Rhodiola species in vitro and in vivo on mouse and rat.
The 21st century has already brought us a plethora of new threats related to viruses that emerge in humans after zoonotic transmission or drastically change their geographic distribution or ...prevalence. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first spotted at the end of 2019 to rapidly spread in southwest Asia and later cause a global pandemic, which paralyzes the world since then. We have designed novel immunosensors targeting conserved protein sequences of the N protein of SARS-CoV-2 based on lab-produced and purified anti-SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibodies that are densely grafted onto various surfaces (diamond/gold/glassy carbon). Titration of antibodies shows very strong reactions up to 1:72 900 dilution. Next, we showed the mechanism of interactions of our immunoassay with nucleocapsid N protein revealing molecular recognition by impedimetric measurements supported by hybrid modeling results with both density functional theory and molecular dynamics methods. Biosensors allowed for a fast (in less than 10 min) detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus with a limit of detection from 0.227 ng/ml through 0.334 ng/ml to 0.362 ng/ml for glassy carbon, boron-doped diamond, and gold surfaces, respectively. For all tested surfaces, we obtained a wide linear range of concentrations from 4.4 ng/ml to 4.4 pg/ml. Furthermore, our sensor leads to a highly specific response to SARS-CoV-2 clinical samples versus other upper respiratory tract viruses such as influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, or Epstein-Barr virus. All clinical samples were tested simultaneously on biosensors and real-time polymerase chain reactions.
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Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune inflammatory disease that leads to joint destruction. Numerous pro-inflammatory mediators, including adipokines, play an important role in the pathogenesis ...of RA.
The aim of the study was to investigate the relationships between selected plasma cytokines and expression of adiponectin and its receptors in the synovium and the infrapatellar fat pad in patients with RA and osteoarthritis (OA).
Blood, synovium and fat pad samples from 18 patients with RA and 18 with OA were collected during joint replacement surgery. Spearman rank correlations between plasma concentrations of selected cytokines (IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-7, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12 p40, IL-13, IL-17, G-CSF and GM-CSF) and the expression of adiponectin and its receptors were determined. Plasma levels of cytokines were determined using a magnetic bead-based multiplex assay, mRNA expression of adiponectin and its receptors were determined by real-time PCR.
In OA patients, there were significant positive correlations between adiponectin expression in the synovial membrane and plasma levels of IL-1β, IL-4, G-CSF and GM-CSF, as well as a significant positive correlation between adiponectin expression in the fat pad and plasma levels of GM-CSF. In addition, OA patients showed significant negative correlations between AdipoR1 and AdipoR2 expression in the synovial membrane and plasma IL-6 levels, as well as between AdipoR2 expression in the synovial membrane and plasma MCP-1 and TNF-α levels. In patients with RA, there were no significant correlations between adiponectin expression in the synovial membrane and infrapatellar fat pad and plasma levels of the cytokines studied. In addition, RA patients showed a statistically significant negative correlation between AdipoR1 expression in the synovial membrane and plasma levels of TNF-α, IL-7, IL-12 and IL-13, and a significant negative correlation between AdipoR1 expression in the infrapatellar fat pad and plasma levels of IL-1β.
Adiponectin and its receptors showed the correlations with several plasma cytokines, however, a thorough understanding of the role of adiponectin in RA and OA requires further investigation.
•Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune inflammatory disease that leads to joint destruction.•Adiponectin and its receptors show correlations with some plasma cytokines.•Adiponectin may be involved in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.
In silico modelling of cascade enzymatic proteolysis is an exceedingly complex and challenging task. Here, we study partial proteolysis of insulin by pepsin: a process leading to the release of a ...highly amyloidogenic two chain ‘H-fragment’. The H-fragment retains several cleavage sites for pepsin. However, under favorable conditions H-monomers rapidly self-assemble into proteolysis-resistant amyloid fibrils whose composition provides snapshots of early and intermediate stages of the proteolysis. In this work, we report a remarkable agreement of experimentally determined and simulation-predicted cleavage sites on different stages of the proteolysis. Prediction of cleavage sites was based on the comprehensive analysis of the docking interactions from direct simulation of coupled folding and binding of insulin (or its cleaved derivatives) to pepsin. The most frequent interactions were found to be between the pepsin's active site, or its direct vicinity, and the experimentally determined insulin cleavage sites, which suggest that the docking interactions govern the proteolytic process.
•Cascade enzymatic proteolysis is an exceedingly complex and multistage process.•Transient release of amyloidogenic insulin fragments reveals proteolysis pathways.•Multiscale modelling of insulin proteolysis by pepsin captures key docking events.•Outcome of insulin processing by pepsin is dominated by deterministic factors.
Currently, a major challenge in material engineering is to develop a cell-safe biomaterial with significant utility in processing technology such as 3D bioprinting. The main goal of this work was to ...optimize the composition of a new graphene oxide (GO)-based bioink containing additional extracellular matrix (ECM) with unique properties that may find application in 3D bioprinting of biomimetic scaffolds. The experimental work evaluated functional properties such as viscosity and complex modulus, printability, mechanical strength, elasticity, degradation and absorbability, as well as biological properties such as cytotoxicity and cell response after exposure to a biomaterial. The findings demonstrated that the inclusion of GO had no substantial impact on the rheological properties and printability, but it did enhance the mechanical properties. This enhancement is crucial for the advancement of 3D scaffolds that are resilient to deformation and promote their utilization in tissue engineering investigations. Furthermore, GO-based hydrogels exhibited much greater swelling, absorbability and degradation compared to non-GO-based bioink. Additionally, these biomaterials showed lower cytotoxicity. Due to its properties, it is recommended to use bioink containing GO for bioprinting functional tissue models with the vascular system, e.g., for testing drugs or hard tissue models.
The study describes three clinical cases of infection with Avibacterium spp.. In case no. 1, respiratory clinical signs and high mortality (0.7-4.2% daily; total 21.2%) in Ross 308 broiler chickens ...were shown to be caused by coinfection with sequence type 9 of O. rhinotracheale presumptive serotype A and A. paragallinarum presumptive serotype B. The identical (pulsed-field gel electrophoresis) restriction pattern (pulsotype) of seven A. paragallinarum isolates indicated that infectious coryza in broilers was caused by the same clone. In cases 2 and 3, sudden increased deaths in Ross 308 broiler breeders (especially males) with lesions in the endocardium (valvular or mural endocarditis) were shown to be caused by A. endocarditis. Among nine antibiotics tested, florfenicol was the only antibiotic to which all A. paragallinarum and O. rhinotracheale isolates were susceptible. Out of the eight antibiotics tested, 11 A. endocarditis isolates from both clinical cases of infective endocarditis were susceptible to penicillin, amoxicillin, doxycycline and florfenicol. The A. endocarditis isolates tested in both clinical cases had different PFGE patterns (pulsotypes), but identical within a case. The causes of infectious coryza and infective endocarditis in the cases presented have not been determined. In the prevention of infectious diseases in large-scale livestock farming, it is very important to follow the rules of biosecurity.
Laparoscopic liver resections offer potential benefits but may require advanced laparoscopic skills and are volume dependent.
This retrospective study included 12 patients who underwent major ...laparoscopic resection and 24 patients after open major liver resection for liver malignancy in the time period between September 2020 and May 2021. The primary outcomes were complications according to Clavien-Dindo classification and duration of hospital stay.
Median duration of hospital stay in laparoscopic resection group (6 days) was significantly shorter than in open resection group (8 days) (p = 0.046). Complications classified as grade II or higher were significantly less frequent in the laparoscopic resection group (2 patients) versus open resection group (13 patients) (p = 0.031).
Although laparoscopic major liver resections should be limited to expert hepatobiliary centers and are characterized by long learning curve, this approach may offer favorable short-term outcomes even during launching a new program.
Background: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a method of noninvasive and painless stimulation of the nervous system, which is based on Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction. Over the ...past twenty years, the TMS technique has been deployed as a tool for the diagnosis and therapy of neurodegenerative diseases, as well as in the treatment of mental disorders (e.g., depression). Methods: We tested the inhibitory effects of repetitive TMS (rTMS) on reaction times to militarily relevant visual stimuli amidst distractors and on accompanying blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 20 healthy people. rTMS was applied over the visual cortices, V1, on both hemispheres with the inhibitory theta burst paradigm with the intensity of 70% of the active motor threshold fMRI in 20 healthy people. Results: Analysis of the reaction time to visual stimuli after using TMS to the V1 visual cortex revealed an increase in the number of incorrect recognitions, and the reaction time was from 843 to 910 ms. In the subgroup of participants (n = 15), after the stimulation, there were significant reductions of BOLD signal in blood flow within V1 cortices. Conclusions: The studies of reaction times after the rTMS revealed the inhibitory effect of rTMS on the reaction times and recognition performance of significant (military) objects in the visual field.
Results on D. desulfuricans biofilm formation on austenitic-ferritic duplex (2205 DSS) and superaustenitic (904L) stainless steels are presented. Surface characterization including the structure, ...configuration and chemical composition of biofilms were carried out using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements were used to monitor the attachment activity of bacteria on the steels' surface and to determine the effect of bacteria on passivity. It was proved that investigated steels are rapidly colonized by bacteria. The presence of biofilm caused significant ennoblement of 904L steel surface, while retarded the attainment of high passive state of 2205 DSS. XPS analysis revealed significant sulphidation of the biofilm and its layered structure. Accumulation of sulphides and hydroxides was proved in the outermost layer, while the increasing contents of disulphides, organometallic and CN bonds were detected in the internal part of the biofilm. Irreversible bondings between steel matrix and biofilm had also been observed.
•High-alloyed steels are rapidly colonized by sulphate-reducing bacteria.•Higher Ni content stimulates more intensive biofilm growth.•Extracellular polymeric substances indelibly bind to the high-alloyed steels.•Sulphate-reducing bacteria caused irreversible sulphidation of passive films.
The main subject of this study are molecular structures and optical properties of boron-doped diamond films with B/C
ratio between 1000 and 10 000, fabricated in two molar ratios of CH
-H
mixture (1 ...% and 4 %). Boron-doped diamond (BDD) film on the fused silica was presented as a conductive coating for optical and electronic purposes. The scanning electron microscopy images showed homogenous and polycrystalline surface morphology. The Raman spectroscopy confirmed the growth of sp
diamond phase and sp
carbon phase, both regular and amorphous, on the grain boundaries, as well as the efficiency of boron doping. The sp
/sp
ratio was calculated using the Raman spectra deconvolution method. A high refractive index (in a range of 2.0 to 2.4 at λ= 550 nm) was achieved for BDD films deposited at 700 °C. The values of extinction coefficient were below 1.4 at λ= 550 nm, indicating low absorption of the film
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