Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

Mycoses 2022 May 22. Epub 2022 May 22.

School of Medicine and Centre for Interventions in Infection, Inflammation, and Immunity (4i), University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.

Background: Fungal skin infections are recognised as one of the most common health disorders globally, and dermatophyte infections of the skin, hair and nails are the most common fungal infections. Dermatophytes can be classified as anthropophilic, zoophilic or geophilic species based on their primary habitat association, and this classification makes epidemiological analysis useful for prevention and control of these infections. The Irish contribution to the epidemiology of these infections has been scant, with just two papers (both reporting paediatric tinea capitis only) published in the last 20 years, and none in the last seven. Read More

J Fish Biol 2022 May 22. Epub 2022 May 22.

University of Hamburg, Department of Biology, Biodiversity Research, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, Hamburg, Germany.

We describe the first application of eDNA-Metabarcoding for the assessment of fish species diversity in two Marine Protected Areas of the North Sea: the Doggerbank and the Sylt Outer Reef. We collected 64 water samples and detected a total of 24 fish species. We discuss qualitative differences between MPAs, and we compare our results with those obtained from bottom-trawl surveys in the same areas. Read More

Ecol Lett 2022 May 22. Epub 2022 May 22.

Zhejiang Tiantong Forest Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, Research Center of Global Change and Complex Ecosystems, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, P. R. China.

Demographic compensation-the opposing responses of vital rates along environmental gradients-potentially delays anticipated species' range contraction under climate change, but no consensus exists on its actual contribution. We calculated population growth rate (λ) and demographic compensation across the distributional ranges of 81 North American tree species and examined their responses to simulated warming and tree competition. We found that 43% of species showed stable population size at both northern and southern edges. Read More

J Neurochem 2022 May 21. Epub 2022 May 21.

Department of Neurology, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains a leading cause of dementia and no therapy that reverses underlying neurodegeneration is available. Recent studies suggest the protective role of artemisinin, an antimalarial drug, in neurological disorders. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic potential of artesunate, a water-soluble derivative of artemisinin, on amyloid-beta (Aβ)-treated challenged microglial BV-2, neuronal N2a cells, and the amyloid precursor protein/presenilin (APP/PS1) mice model. Read More

Cell Biol Int 2022 May 21. Epub 2022 May 21.

Department of Structural and Functional Biology, Institute of Biology, State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), São Paulo, Brazil.

The prostate is not an organ exclusive to the male. It is also found in females of several species, including humans, in which part of the Skene gland is homologous to the male prostate. Evidence is accumulating that changes in the stroma are central to tumorigenesis. Read More

J Fish Dis 2022 May 21. Epub 2022 May 21.

Center of Excellence in Fish Infectious Diseases Research Unit (CE FID), Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.

Motile Aeromonas septicemia (MAS), a disease caused by Aeromonas spp., is recognized as a major disease in freshwater aquaculture. This study aimed to investigate the distribution and diversity of Aeromonas spp. Read More

Parasit Vectors 2022 May 21;15(1):174. Epub 2022 May 21.

Department of Parasitology and Zoology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Budapest, Hungary.

Background: Among live wild mammals adapted to urban and peri-urban habitats in Europe, members of the families Felidae, Mustelidae and Sciuridae deserve special attention as pathogen reservoirs because all of these families include members that are kept as pets. We report here the results of our study on two important groups of tick-borne protozoan parasites in ticks and tissues of wild cats, mustelids and red squirrels.

Methods: DNA was extracted from the tissues of carnivores (wild cats, mustelids; n = 16) and red squirrels (n = 4), as well as from ixodid ticks (n = 89) collected from these hosts. Read More

Genome Biol 2022 May 21;23(1):120. Epub 2022 May 21.

Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EA, UK.

Background: Hybridization is associated with the activation of transposable elements and changes in the patterns of gene expression leading to phenotypic changes. However, the underlying mechanisms are not well understood.

Results: Here, we describe the changes to the gene expression in interspecific Solanum hybrids that are associated with small RNAs derived from endogenous (para)retroviruses (EPRV). Read More

BMC Complement Med Ther 2022 May 21;22(1):144. Epub 2022 May 21.

School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, South Xiangan Road, Xiang'an District, Xiamen, 361102, Fujian, China.

Background: Chronic exposure to ultraviolet B (UVB) causes a series of adverse skin reactions, such as erythema, sunburn, photoaging, and cancer, by altering signaling pathways related to inflammation, oxidative stress, and DNA damage. Marine algae have abundant amounts and varieties of bioactive compounds that possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate the photoprotective effects of an ethanol extract of Sargassum thunbergii. Read More

BMC Cancer 2022 May 21;22(1):570. Epub 2022 May 21.

EA4245 Transplantation, Immunologie, Inflammation, Université de Tours, France.

Background/aim: To develop and validate a nebulizer device for anti-cancer research on pressurized intraperitoneal aerosol supply in a preclinical peritoneal metastases (PM) rat model.

Material And Methods: For aerosol generation, an ultrasonic nebulizer (USN) was modified. Aerosol analyses were performed ex-vivo by laser diffraction spectrometry (LDS). Read More

BMC Plant Biol 2022 May 21;22(1):252. Epub 2022 May 21.

College of Life Sciences, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, 450002, Henan, China.

Background: Lycopene epsilon-cyclase (ε-LCY) is a key enzyme in the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway (CBP) of higher plants. In previous work, we cloned two Ntε-LCY genes from allotetraploid tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), Ntε-LCY2 and Ntε-LCY1, and demonstrated the overall effect of Ntε-LCY genes on carotenoid biosynthesis and stress resistance. However, their genetic and functional characteristics require further research in polyploid plants. Read More

Theor Appl Genet 2022 May 21. Epub 2022 May 21.

Department of Plant Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 1432, Ås, Norway.

Key Message: This study identified a significant number of QTL that are associated with FHB disease resistance in NMBU spring wheat panel by conducting genome-wide association study. Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a widely known devastating disease of wheat caused by Fusarium graminearum and other Fusarium species. FHB resistance is quantitative, highly complex and divided into several resistance types. Read More

Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek 2022 May 21. Epub 2022 May 21.

Department of Medical Biotechnology, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide 5042, Australia.

Two endophytic actinobacteria, strains SBTS01 and W18L9, were isolated from leaf sheath and leaf tissue, respectively, of Jasmine rice (Oryza sativa KDML 105) grown in a rice paddy field in Roi Et Province, Thailand. A polyphasic taxonomic study showed that both strains belong to the genus Streptomyces; they are aerobic, forming well-developed substrate mycelia and aerial mycelia with long chains of spores. Strain SBTS01 shares high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with Streptomyces rochei NRRL B-2410 (99. Read More

Oecologia 2022 May 21. Epub 2022 May 21.

Terrestrial Ecology Unit (TEREC), Department of Biology, Ghent University, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000, Ghent, Belgium.

The balance between costs and benefits is expected to drive associations between species. While these balances are well understood for strict associations, we have no insights to which extent they determine facultative associations between species. Here, we quantified the costs of living in a facultative association, by studying the effects of red wood ants on the facultatively associated isopod Porcellio scaber. Read More

Cell Death Dis 2022 May 21;13(5):484. Epub 2022 May 21.

Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, China.

Prophylactic antibiotics (Abx) are used before liver surgery, and the influence of antibiotic pretreatment on hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) remains unclear. Hence, we explored the impact of Abx pretreatment on hepatic IRI in the present work. The gut microbiota has an essential role in hepatic bile acid (BA) metabolism, and we assumed that depletion of the gut microbiota could affect the composition of hepatic BAs and affect liver IRI. Read More

Trends Ecol Evol 2022 May 13. Epub 2022 May 13.

Anthropologie Évolutive, Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution de Montpellier (ISEM), Montpellier, France. Electronic address:

In animal societies, control over resources and reproduction is often biased towards one sex. Yet, the ecological and evolutionary underpinnings of male-female power asymmetries remain poorly understood. We outline a comprehensive framework to quantify and predict the dynamics of male-female power relationships within and across mammalian species. Read More

Rev Argent Microbiol 2022 May 18. Epub 2022 May 18.

Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo, A.C. Coordinación Culiacán (CIAD), Culiacán, Sinaloa, México. Electronic address:

A potential alternative to the use of chemical products with oomyceticidal action for the control of Phytophthora capsici in vegetables is the use of antimicrobial metabolites, biosynthesized in Bacillus species. The objective of this study was to induce the biosynthesis of lipopeptides in Bacillus amyloliquefaciens KX953161.1 by using glutamic acid, iron, cellulose, chitin, or inactive Colletotrichum spp. Read More

Vet Parasitol 2022 May 14:109721. Epub 2022 May 14.

AgResearch, Grasslands Research Centre, Private Bag 11008, Tennent Drive, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand.

Farmed red deer face challenges from nematode parasites, primarily the pulmonary species Dictyocaulus eckerti and the complex of Ostertagiinae nematodes in the abomasum. Previous investigations on New Zealand deer farms identified limited seasonality in faecal egg and larval output in all stock classes, however, this does not indicate the key times of year those eggs develop into infective-stage larvae, and subsequently contribute to infection risk. A simple temperature-driven model was developed for the free-living stages of a representative deer-specific Ostertagiinae species; Ostertagia leptospicularis. Read More

J Chem Phys 2022 May;156(19):194902

Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria.

By varying the concentration of molecules in the cytoplasm or on the membrane, cells can induce the formation of condensates and liquid droplets, similar to phase separation. Their thermodynamics, much studied, depends on the mutual interactions between microscopic constituents. Here, we focus on the kinetics and size control of 2D clusters, forming on membranes. Read More

J Chem Phys 2022 May;156(19):194303

Departamento de Química, Módulo 13, Facultad de Ciencias and Institute for Advanced Research in Chemical Sciences (IAdChem), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid 28049, Spain.

Although triazoles and tetrazole are amphoteric and may behave as weak acids, the latter property can be hugely enhanced by beryllium bonds. To explain this phenomenon, the structure and bonding characteristics of the complexes between triazoles and tetrazoles with one and two molecules of BeF have been investigated through the use of high-level G4 ab initio calculations. The formation of the complexes between the N basic sites of the azoles and the Be center of the BeF molecule and the (BeF) dimer leads to a significant bonding perturbation of both interacting subunits. Read More

J Chem Phys 2022 May;156(19):191104

Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607, USA.

We present a mean-field theoretical model, along with molecular dynamics simulations, to show that the multiphase organization of multi-component condensates is a second phase transition. Whereas the first phase transition that leads to the separation of condensates from the bulk phase is driven by the overall attraction among the macromolecular components, the second phase transition can be driven by the disparity in the strength between the self- and cross-species attraction. At a fixed level of disparity in interaction strengths, both of the phase transitions can be observed by decreasing the temperature, leading first to the separation of condensates from the bulk phase and then to component demixing inside condensates. Read More

J Chem Phys 2022 May;156(19):194903

Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, 1 King's College Circle, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada.

Phase separation of several different overall neutral polyampholyte species (with zero net charge) is studied in solution with two oppositely charged ion species that can form ion pairs through an association reaction. Hereby, a field theory description of the system, which treats polyampholyte charge sequence dependent electrostatic interactions as well as excluded volume effects, is given. Interestingly, analysis of the model using random phase approximation and field theoretic simulation consistently shows evidence of a re-entrant polyampholyte phase separation at high ion concentrations when there is an overall decrease of volume upon ion association. Read More

J Mol Biol 2022 May 18:167640. Epub 2022 May 18.

School of Computational and Integrative Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi-110067, INDIA. Electronic address:

Sequence-based prediction of DNA-binding residues in a protein is a widely studied problem for which machine learning methods with continuously improving predictive power have been developed. Concatenated rows within a sliding window of a Position Specific Substitution Matrix (PSSM) of the protein concerned are currently used as the primary feature set in almost all the methods of predicting DNA-binding residues. Here we report that these evolutionary profiles are powerful, only for identifying conserved binding sites and fall short for the residue positions which undergo binding to non-binding transitions in closely related proteins. Read More

J Mol Biol 2022 May 18:167627. Epub 2022 May 18.

Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel. Electronic address:

Natural evolution is driven by random mutations that improve fitness. In vitro evolution mimics this process, however, on a short time-scale and is driven by the given bait. Here, we used directed in vitro evolution of a random mutant library of Uracil glycosylase (eUNG) displayed on yeast surface to select for binding to chaperones GroEL, DnaK+DnaJ+ATP (DnaKJ) or E. Read More

Life Sci 2022 May 18:120654. Epub 2022 May 18.

Department of Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, School of Pharmacy, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran; Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Electronic address:

Ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury is a leading cause of death worldwide. It arises from blood reflowing after tissue hypoxia induced by ischemia that causes severe damages due to the accumulation of reactive oxygen species and the activation of inflammatory responses. Exosomes are the smallest members of the extracellular vesicles' family, which originate from nearly all eukaryotic cells. Read More

Gene 2022 May 18:146591. Epub 2022 May 18.

Laboratory of Legumes, Centre of Biotechnology of Borj-Cedria, BP 901, 2050, Hammam-Lif, Tunisia.

Glutaredoxins (Grxs) are ubiquitous oxidoreductase proteins implicated in development and abiotic stress response mainly through maintaining redox homoeostasis. Here, we conducted the first systematic analysis of the Grx gene family (PvGrx) in the most popular legume Phaseolus vulgaris (common bean). A total of 50 PvGrx genes were identified, and divided into four classes (CC-type, CGFS-type, CPYC-type and Grl-type) based on the phylogenetic analysis. Read More

Clin Microbiol Infect 2022 May 18. Epub 2022 May 18.

Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Department, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain; CIBER Enfermedades Respiratorias-CIBERES (CB06/06/0058), Madrid, Spain. Electronic address:

Objectives: New antifungal drugs, such as olorofim, may overcome the problem of resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus. We here report the activity of olorofim against a set of A. fumigatus sensu lato recently collected in Spain. Read More

Biochim Biophys Acta Gen Subj 2022 May 18:130174. Epub 2022 May 18.

Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Kobe Women's University Graduate School of Life Sciences, 2-1 Higashisuma-aoyama, Suma-ku, Kobe 654-8585, Japan. Electronic address:

Background: Sestrin2 is a conserved protein in several species, and its expression is upregulated in cells under various environmental stresses. Sestrin2 content is involved in the function of mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) in mouse embryonic fibroblasts and C2C12 cells.

Methods: C2C12 cells were treated with amino acid-free DMEM (AF-DMEM) for 5 h. Read More

Toxicol Lett 2022 May 18. Epub 2022 May 18.

Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine, School of Chinese Materia Medica, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 301617, China. Electronic address:

The interaction between small-molecule compounds of traditional Chinese medicine and their direct targets is the molecular initiation event, which is the key factor for toxicity efficacy. Psoralen, an active component of Fructus Psoraleae, is toxic to the liver and has various pharmacological properties. Although the mechanism of psoralen-induced hepatotoxicity has been studied, the direct target of psoralen remains unclear. Read More

Chemosphere 2022 May 18:134992. Epub 2022 May 18.

College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, PR China. Electronic address:

Electrocatalysis is a promising and environmentally friendly technology for the removal of refractory organics. Diatomic catalysts with an increased number of active sites have emerged with further expansion of the field of atomic catalysts. Here, a metal diatomic FeNi supported graphene (FeNi/N-rGO) catalyst is successfully synthesized. Read More