An Iron Transporter Is Involved in Iron Homeostasis, Energy Metabolism, Oxidative Stress, and Metacyclogenesis in Trypanosoma cruzi

The parasite Trypanosoma cruzi causes Chagas’ disease; both heme and ionic Fe are required for its optimal growth, differentiation, and invasion. Fe is an essential cofactor in many metabolic pathways. Fe is also harmful due to catalyzing the formation of reactive O2 species; for this reason, all living systems develop mechanisms to control the uptake, metabolism, and storage of Fe. However, there is limited information available on Fe uptake by T. cruzi. Here, we identified a putative 39-kDa Fe transporter in T. cruzi genome, TcIT, homologous to the Fe transporter in Leishmania amazonensis and Arabidopsis thaliana. Epimastigotes grown in Fe-depleted medium have increased TcIT transcription compared with controls grown in regular medium. Intracellular Fe concentration in cells maintained in Fe-depleted medium is lower than in controls, and there is a lower O2 consumption. Epimastigotes overexpressing TcIT, which was encountered in the parasite plasma membrane, have high intracellular Fe content, high O2 consumption—especially in phosphorylating conditions, high intracellular ATP, very high H2O2 production, and stimulated transition to trypomastigotes. The investigation of the mechanisms of Fe transport at the cellular and molecular levels will assist in elucidating Fe metabolism in T. cruzi and the involvement of its transport in the differentiation from epimastigotes to trypomastigotes, virulence, and maintenance/progression of the infection.

Supramolecular Polymorphism of (G4C2)n Repeats Associated with ALS and FTD

Guanine-rich DNA sequences self-assemble into highly stable fourfold structures known as DNA-quadruplexes (or G-quadruplexes). G-quadruplexes have furthermore the tendency to associate into one-dimensional supramolecular aggregates termed G-wires. We studied the formation of G-wires in solutions of the sequences d(G4C2)n with n = 1, 2, and 4. The d(G4C2)n repeats, which are associated with some fatal neurological disorders, especially amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), represent a challenging research topic due to their extensive structural polymorphism. We used dynamic light scattering (DLS) to measure translational diffusion coefficients and consequently resolve the length of the larger aggregates formed in solution. We found that all three sequences assemble into longer structures than previously reported. The d(G4C2) formed extremely long G-wires with lengths beyond 80 nm. The d(G4C2)2 formed a relatively short stacked dimeric quadruplex, while d(G4C2)4 formed multimers corresponding to seven stacked intramolecular quadruplexes. Profound differences between the multimerization properties of the investigated sequences were also confirmed by the AFM imaging of surface films. We propose that π-π stacking of the basic G-quadruplex units plays a vital role in the multimerization mechanism, which might be relevant for transformation from the regular medium-length to disease-related long d(G4C2)n repeats.

Foam-Cell Signified Blood Vessel Endhotel Repair and Histopatology of Abdominal Aorta through Stem Cell Allogenous Therapy to Rats (Rattus norvegicus) with Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammation process of endothel cell layer of blood vessels which is initiated by the disfunction of the endothel. This research aimed at understanding the repairment mechanism of the function of endothel in cardiac blood vessels with ateroskleroris case after being given medium-intenity physical exercises, mesenchymal stem cell and combination of the medium-intensity physical exercises and mesenchymal stem cell by lookin into the foam cell of abdominal aorta. This research employed true experimental research design with post test only control group design. The sample of this reseach were 24 male Wistar rats (Rattus norvegicus) furrow that were controlled its homogeneity using inclusive criteria; confirming ateroclerosis, 20 week age, weight ranged from 180-200 gram, inhybrid, and healthy that were indicated by good desire for food and behaved normally. The Rattus norvegicus which fulfilled the inclusive criteria were divided into three groups which first group was the control group (atheroscleoris rats). The second group was ateroclerosis rats and received regular medium-intensity physical exercises. The third group atherosclerosis which received combination of regular medium-intensity physical exercises and received mesenchymal stem cell. The result of manova test showed value p less than 0.001 which indicated the existence of different foam cell found in the control group, exercise group, stem cell group and combined exercise and stem cell group. It can be concluded that attempt to decrease the risk factor of aterosclerosis is one of the ways to protect the endothel of the blood vessels. Deep understanding on this mechanism is expected to give new insights to do preventive action and treatments toward ateroclerosis by combination theraphy of regular medium-intensity physical exercises and received mesenchymal stem cell.

Adolescent Text Messaging

Cell phones provide multiple mediums for communication (e.g., voice, text, video) and have become the defining technology of the 21st century. Text messaging (SMS; texting) has become a popular and regular medium for communication among adolescents. When compared to other age groups, adolescents are the most frequent users of text messaging. Adolescents are motivated to use this technology because it allows them to maintain constant communication with their social network in a convenient and private manner. Given the popularity of this technology among adolescents, research has begun to focus on the frequency of use and concerns (e.g., cyberbullying) associated with text messaging. The motivations for the use of text messaging, the influence of text messaging on relationships, and the culture surrounding adolescent text messaging have also motivated researchers and developmental scholars.

Effect of Media Conductivity on High Frequency Dielectrophoretic Response

A method was developed for analyzing the high frequency dielectrophoresis (>20 MHz) response of microalgal cells with different lipid content on the basis of media conductivities. At these frequencies, the DEP response is expected to depend primarily on the dielectric properties of the cytoplasm. The medium used to perform DEP experiments has an important influence on their outcome since all properties are measured in relation to the medium, therefore its properties must be tightly controlled. This method is label free and only uses electric fields, and thus it is suitable for many other applications in the medical field. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cells were cultured in regular medium and then the same cells were cultured under nitrogen-free conditions to accumulate neutral (non-polar) lipids. To measure the upper crossover frequency, two thin, needle shaped electrodes (100 nm thick) were patterned onto a glass slide using standard micro-technology processes and the motion of the cells was observed as an AC signal was swept from 20–80 MHz at ∼30Vpp (Volt peak to peak). Cells were injected to the microelectrode array in different medium conductivities that were adjusted by sodium chloride. The upper crossover frequencies of N-free cells in different media conductivities were measured. It was found that when the solution conductivity was between 4 ± 2 μs/cm and 106 ± 1 μS/cm and the operating frequency was between 20 and 80 MHz, the upper crossover frequency of the microalgae increased as the medium conductivity increased. The lipid content was verified via fluorescence microscopy and MATLAB image processing.

Cell death pattern of a varicose vein organ culture model

The study aimed to investigate the viability of a varicose vein (VV) organ culture model by assessing cell death pattern. To assess pattern of cell death with time, VV organ cultures were incubated for up to 14 days with regular medium changed. To assess viability, cell death of VV organ cultures treated with sodium azide and their untreated counterparts was assayed. Increased cell death was measured in VV organ cultures from day 0 to 2. Cell death decreased gradually after day 2 and plateaued from day 8 to 14. VV organ cultures treated with sodium azide demonstrated significantly more cell death in tissue ( P = 0.001). Cell death measured in cultures treated with sodium azide continued to increase until day 7. In conclusion, this study demonstrated the viability of a VV organ culture model with most cell death occurred within the first two days and then declined to a relatively low level.

Atrial fibrillation and physical activity

Atrial fibrillation is the most frequent arrhythmia. Its „lone” form (when underlying pathology is not discovered) can be detected in a few percent of endurance sports participants, and in growing occurrence among the veterans, probably on the basis of some cardiac or other irregularities. Enhanced vagal tone and sudden sympathetic impulse, repetitive oxidative stress, inflammatory processes, enlarged atria, electric instabilization can explain the higher occurrence. Treatment of atrial fibrillation enables the affected persons to participate in regular medium-intensity exercise, 3–5 hours a week, which offers a protective role against cardiovascular, metabolic and mental illnesses. Orv. Hetil., 2013, 154, 503–509.

PlotGoogleMaps: The R-Based Web-Mapping Tool for Thematic Spatial Data

Google Maps are increasingly used for communication throughout many map-based services and maps, embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API. The main objective of this paper is to present a solution for an easy creation of an interactive web map, with a base map supplied by Google, where all map elements and additional functionalities are handled by just one line of code. The present solution for the automatic creation of a complete web map, based on the Google Maps API, is the R package plotGoogleMaps. This tool provides a new interactive plot device for handling the geographic data for web browsers. It also offers a complete map in the HTML format, which has become a regular medium for cartographic communication. The tool plotGoogleMaps is developed in the R software language and it is designed for the automatic creation of web maps, as a combination of users’ data and Google Maps layers.

Ano1 as a regulator of proliferation

Ano1 is a recently discovered Ca2+-activated Cl− channel expressed on interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) that has been implicated in slow-wave activity in the gut. However, Ano1 is expressed on all classes of ICC, even those that do not contribute to generation of the slow wave, suggesting that Ano1 may have an alternate function in these cells. Ano1 is also highly expressed in gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Mice lacking Ano1 had fewer proliferating ICC in whole mount preparations and in culture, raising the possibility that Ano1 is involved in proliferation. Cl− channel blockers decreased proliferation in cells expressing Ano1, including primary cultures of ICC and in the pancreatic cancer-derived cell line, CFPAC-1. Cl− channel blockers had a reduced effect on Ano1(−/−) cultures, confirming that the blockers are acting on Ano1. Ki67 immunoreactivity, 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine incorporation, and cell-cycle analysis of cells grown in low-Cl− media showed fewer proliferating cells than in cultures grown in regular medium. We confirmed that mice lacking Ano1 had less phosphorylated retinoblastoma protein compared with controls. These data led us to conclude that Ano1 regulates proliferation at the G1/S transition of the cell cycle and may play a role in tumorigenesis.