ALBERT

Description: Plastic waste management has become a global issue. Polyethylene (PE) is the most abundant synthetic plastic worldwide, and one of the most resistant to biodegradation. Indeed, few bacteria can degrade polyethylene. In this paper, the transcriptomic analysis unveiled for the first time Rhodococcus opacus R7 complex genetic system based on diverse oxidoreductases for polyethylene biodegradation. The RNA-seq allowed uncovering genes putatively involved in the first step of oxidation. In-depth investigations through preliminary bioinformatic analyses and enzymatic assays on the supernatant of R7 grown in the presence of PE confirmed the activation of genes encoding laccase-like enzymes. Moreover, the transcriptomic data allowed identifying candidate genes for the further steps of short aliphatic chain oxidation including alkB gene encoding an alkane monooxygenase, cyp450 gene encoding cytochrome P450 hydroxylase, and genes encoding membrane transporters. The PE biodegradative system was also validated by FTIR analysis on R7 cells grown on polyethylene.

Description: Pyrethroids are chemical insecticides that are widely used to control pests. Entomopathogenic fungi are considered environmentally safe alternatives to these compounds. Pyrethroids and entomopathogenic fungi not only co-exist in the environment but can also be applied together in pest control. They are often found in contact with each other, and thus, it seems important to understand their interactions at the cellular level. In this study, we analyzed whether pyrethroids could influence the phospholipid profile of Beauveria bassiana and whether membrane changes are one of the mechanisms by which these fungi adapt to unfavorable environmental conditions. The results of our study revealed that pyrethroids changed the phospholipid profile and increased the cell membrane permeability of B. bassiana, which enabled them to enter and accumulate within the fungal cells, resulting in oxidative stress. Pyrethroids influenced the amount of neutral lipids, caused a decrease in sodium content, and also temporarily lowered the level of the secondary metabolite oosporein in the studied fungi. These findings indicate that the effect of pyrethroids on entomopathogenic fungi may be more complex than originally thought and that lipidomic studies can aid in fully understanding the influence of these chemicals on the mentioned group of fungi.

Description: Left atrial (LA) features are altered when diastolic dysfunction (DD) is present. The relations of LA features to the DD severity and to adverse outcomes remain unclear using CMR images. We sought to compare LA features including volumes, emptying fraction, and strains as predictors of left ventricular (LV) DD and adverse outcomes. We compared four groups including normal controls (n = 32), grade I DD (n = 69), grade II DD (n = 42), and grade III DD (n = 21). DD was graded by echocardiography following the current ASE guidelines. Maximum LA volume (LAVmax), minimum LA volume (LAVmin), and LA emptying fraction (LAEF) were assessed using CMR cine images. Phasic LA strains including reservoir, conduit, and booster pump strain were assessed by feature tracking. The outcome was a composite of hospital admissions for heart failure and all-cause mortality analyzed using Cox proportional hazard models. LAVmax and LAVmin were progressively larger while LAEF and LA strain measures were lower with worsening degree of DD (all p 

Description: Rotating forms of suspension culture allow cells to aggregate into spheroids, prevent the de-differentiating influence of 2D culture, and, perhaps most importantly of all, provide physiologically relevant, in vivo levels of shear stress. Rotating suspension culture technology has not been widely implemented, in large part because the vessels are prohibitively expensive, labor-intensive to use, and are difficult to scale for industrial applications. Our solution addresses each of these challenges in a new vessel called a cell spinpod. These small 3.5 mL capacity vessels are constructed from injection-molded thermoplastic polymer components. They contain self-sealing axial silicone rubber ports, and fluoropolymer, breathable membranes. Here we report the two-fluid modeling of the flow and stresses in cell spinpods. Cell spinpods were used to demonstrate the effect of fluid shear stress on renal cell gene expression and cellular functions, particularly membrane and xenobiotic transporters, mitochondrial function, and myeloma light chain, cisplatin and doxorubicin, toxicity. During exposure to myeloma immunoglobulin light chains, rotation increased release of clinically validated nephrotoxicity cytokine markers in a toxin-specific pattern. Addition of cisplatin or doxorubicin nephrotoxins reversed the enhanced glucose and albumin uptake induced by fluid shear stress in rotating cell spinpod cultures. Cell spinpods are a simple, inexpensive, easily automated culture device that enhances cellular functions for in vitro studies of nephrotoxicity.

Description: Lignocellulosic biomass is an important source of renewable energy and a potential replacement for fossil fuels. In this work, the X-ray fluorescence (XRF) method was used to analyze the elemental composition of raw and pretreated lignocellulosic biomass of cassava peels, corn cobs, rice husks, sugarcane bagasse, yam peels, and mixtures of cassava peels and yam peels, corn cobs and rice husks and all five biomass samples combined. The influence of particle size on elemental properties was investigated by screening the selected biomass into two size fractions, of an average of 300 and 435 µm, respectively. The total concentration of Mg, Al, Si, P, S, Cl, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Zn, Sn, Ni, Br, Mo, Ba, Hg, and Pb were determined for each of the biomass samples before and after the different pretreatments adopted in this study. From the results of the analysis, there was a significant reduction in the concentration of calcium in all the analyzed biomass after the alkaline pretreatment with rice husks biomass having the lowest concentration of 66 ppm after the alkaline pretreatment. The sulfur content of the acid pretreated biomass increased considerably which is likely due to the sulfuric acid used for the acid pretreatment. The fact that a mixture of biomass feedstock affects the properties of the biomass after pretreatment was validated in the mixed biomass of cassava peels and yam peels biomass as an example. The concentration of Mg in the mixed biomass was 1441 ppm but was 200 ppm and 353 ppm in individual cassava peels and yam peels respectively. The results of this study demonstrated that pretreated mixtures of biomass have varied elemental compositions, which could be an important factor affecting downstream processes, especially if a hybrid feedstock is used in a large-scale application.

Description: The release of Hsp70 chaperone from tumor cells is found to trigger the full-scale anti-cancer immune response. Such release and the proper immune reaction can be induced by the delivery of recombinant Hsp70 to a tumor and we sought to explore how the endogenous Hsp70 can be transported to extracellular space leading to the burst of anti-cancer activity. Hsp70 transport mechanisms were studied by analyzing its intracellular tracks with Rab proteins as well as by using specific inhibitors of membrane domains. To study Hsp70 forms released from cells we employed the assay consisting of two affinity chromatography methods. Hsp70 content in culture medium and extracellular vesicles (EVs) was measured with the aid of ELISA. The properties and composition of EVs were assessed using nanoparticle tracking analysis and immunoblotting. The activity of immune cells was studied using an assay of cytotoxic lymphocytes, and for in vivo studies we employed methods of affinity separation of lymphocyte fractions. Analyzing B16 melanoma cells treated with recombinant Hsp70 we found that the chaperone triggered extracellular transport of its endogenous analog in soluble and enclosed in EVs forms; both species efficiently penetrated adjacent cells and this secondary transport was corroborated with the strong increase of Natural Killer (NK) cell toxicity towards melanoma. When B16 and CT-26 colon cancer cells before their injection in animals were treated with Hsp70-enriched EVs, a powerful anti-cancer effect was observed as shown by a two-fold reduction in tumor growth rate and elevation of life span. We found that the immunomodulatory effect was due to the enhancement of the CD8-positive response and anti-tumor cytokine accumulation; supporting this there was no delay in CT-26 tumor growth when Hsp70-enriched EVs were grafted in nude mice. Importantly, pre-treatment of B16 cells with Hsp70-bearing EVs resulted in a decline of arginase-1-positive macrophages, showing no generation of tumor-associated macrophages. In conclusion, Hsp70-containing EVs generated by specifically treated cancer cells give a full-scale and effective pattern of anti-tumor immune responses.

Description: Arsenotrophic bacteria play an essential role in lowering arsenic contamination by converting toxic arsenite [As (III)] to less toxic and less bio-accumulative arsenate [As (V)]. The current study focused on the qualitative and electrocatalytic detection of the arsenite oxidation potential of an arsenite-oxidizing bacteria A. xylosoxidans BHW-15 (retrieved from As-contaminated tube well water), which could significantly contribute to arsenic detoxification, accumulation, and immobilization while also providing a scientific foundation for future electrochemical sensor development. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value for the bacteria was 15 mM As (III). Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) investigation validated its intracellular As uptake capacity and demonstrated a substantial association with the MIC value. During the stationary phase, the strain’s As (III) transformation efficiency was 0.0224 mM/h. Molecular analysis by real-time qPCR showed arsenite oxidase (aioA) gene expression increased 1.6-fold in the presence of As (III) compared to the untreated cells. The immobilized whole-cell also showed As (III) conversion up to 18 days. To analyze the electrochemical oxidation in water, we developed a modified GCE/P-Arg/ErGO-AuNPs electrode, which successfully sensed and quantified conversion of As (III) into As (V) by accepting electrons; implying a functional As oxidase enzyme activity in the cells. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the electrochemical observation of the As-transformation mechanism with Achromobactersp. Furthermore, the current work highlighted that our isolate might be employed as a promising candidate for arsenic bioremediation, and information acquired from this study may be helpful to open a new window for the development of a cost-effective, eco-friendly biosensor for arsenic species detection in the future.

Description: Preeclampsia is a multi-organ system disorder of pregnancy and is responsible for a significant rate of maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide. In Bangladesh, a large number of obstetric deaths occur every year but the exact reasons are not well investigated. The data regarding preeclampsia and its associated risk factors are scarce or limited in pregnant women in Bangladesh. Therefore, we aimed to conduct a cross-sectional study to estimate the prevalence of preeclampsia and identify the possible risk factors in a pregnant women cohort in Bangladesh. In this cross-sectional study, a total of 111 participants were enrolled and asked to include their anthropometric, socio-demographic, and other related lifestyle information in a standard questionnaire form. Blood samples were also collected from each participant to analyze serum levels of lipid profile, liver enzymes, uric acid, and creatinine by using standard methods. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the factors associated with preeclampsia. The overall prevalence of preeclampsia was 14.4%. About 10% of the pregnancies were found to have preeclampsia after 20 weeks of gestation without a previous history of hypertension. On the other hand, the prevalence of preeclampsia that superimposed on chronic hypertension was found to be 5.4%. Serum levels of TC, LDL-C, ALT and uric acid were significantly higher and HDL-C was significantly lower in preeclamptic pregnancies than the non-preeclamptic pregnancies. Respondents who required to take antihypertensive medications (AOR 5.45, 95% CI [1.09, 27.31]) and who never took antenatal care (AOR 6.83, 95% CI [1.00, 46.48]) were more likely to be preeclamptic. In conclusion, the present study showed a comparatively high prevalence of preeclampsia among pregnant women in Bangladesh. Some programmatic interventions such as medication for hypertension, antenatal visits to doctors, delivery and postnatal care services should be considered to reduce and prevent the hypertensive pregnancy disorders in Bangladesh.

Description: The aim of this study was to present and evaluate novel oral vaccines, based on self-amplifying RNA lipid nanparticles (saRNA LNPs), saRNA transfected Lactobacillus plantarum LNPs, and saRNA transfected Lactobacillus plantarum, to neutralize severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) variants alpha and delta. After invitro evaluation of the oral vaccines on HEK293T/17 cells, we found that saRNA LNPs, saRNA transfected Lactobacillus plantarum LNPs, and saRNA transfected Lactobacillus plantarum could express S-protein at both mRNA and protein levels. In the next step, BALB/c mice were orally vaccinated with saRNA LNPs, saRNA transfected Lactobacillus plantarum LNPs, and saRNA transfected Lactobacillus plantarum at weeks 1 and 3. Importantly, a high titer of IgG and IgA was observed by all of them, sharply in week 6 (P 

Description: This study assessed the pupil responses in the sensory integration of various directional optic flows during the perception of gravitational vertical. A total of 30 healthy participants were enrolled with normal responses to conventional subjective visual vertical (SVV) which was determined by measuring the difference (error angles) between the luminous line adjusted by the participants and the true vertical. SVV was performed under various types of rotational (5°/s, 10°/s, and 50°/s) and straight (5°/s and 10°/s) optic flows presented via a head-mounted display. Error angles (°) of the SVV and changes in pupil diameters (mm) were measured to evaluate the changes in the visually assessed subjective verticality and related cognitive demands. Significantly larger error angles were measured under rotational optic flows than under straight flows (p