The Greater Celandine: Identification and Characterization of an Antimicrobial Peptide from .

, known as Greater Celandine, is a latex-bearing plant that has been leveraged for its anticancer and antimicrobial properties. Herein, aerial tissue is mined for the presence of antimicrobial peptides. A highly abundant cysteine-rich peptide with a length of 25 amino acids, deemed CM-AMP1, is characterized through multiple mass spectrometric approaches.

Interferon Gamma Response in Human Saliva Following Exposure to the Oral Probiotic Streptococcus salivarius BLIS K12.

Streptococcus salivarius BLIS K12 is a probiotic strain developed for application to the oral cavity. The strain was originally characterised for its in vitro antibacterial activity against the prominent oral pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes. More recent research has expanded its applications to include reducing halitosis, preventing otitis media and protecting against virus infections of the respiratory tract.

An autologous colonic organoid-derived monolayer model to study immune: bacterial interactions in Crohn's disease patients.

Objectives: Crohn's disease (CD) initiation and pathogenesis are believed to involve an environmental trigger in a genetically susceptible person that results in an immune response against commensal gut bacteria, leading to a compromised intestinal epithelial barrier and a cycle of inflammation. However, it has been difficult to study the contribution of all factors together in a physiologically relevant model and in a heterogenous patient population.

Methods: We developed an autologous colonic monolayer model that incorporated the immune response from the same donor and a commensal bacteria, .

Human Systemic Immune Response to Ingestion of the Oral Probiotic Streptococcus salivarius BLIS K12.

Streptococcus salivarius K12 is an oral probiotic known to contribute to protection against oral pathogenic bacteria in humans. Studies of immune responses to S. salivarius K12 have focused on the oral cavity, and systemic immune responses have not yet been reported.

Probiotics and health: understanding probiotic trials.

Research into the health benefits of probiotics has growing interest. Reported benefits of probiotic consumption range from the improvement of intestinal function to immune support. However, trials of probiotics lack the standardisation required to judge efficacy.

Validation of hippocampal biomarkers of cumulative affective experience.

Progress in improving the welfare of captive animals has been hindered by a lack of objective indicators to assess the quality of lifetime experience, often called cumulative affective experience. Recent developments in stress biology and psychiatry have shed new light on the role of the mammalian hippocampus in affective processes. Here we review these findings and argue that structural hippocampal biomarkers demonstrate criterion, construct and content validity as indicators of cumulative affective experience in mammals.

Effects of Environmental Enrichment on Doublecortin and BDNF Expression along the Dorso-Ventral Axis of the Dentate Gyrus.

Adult hippocampal neurogenesis (AHN) in the dentate gyrus is known to respond to environmental enrichment, chronic stress, and many other factors. The function of AHN may vary across the septo-temporal axis of the hippocampus, as different subdivisions are responsible for different functions. The dorsal pole regulates cognitive-related behaviors, while the ventral pole mediates mood-related responses through the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.

Reading comprehension in children with Down syndrome.

Two studies aimed to investigate the reading comprehension abilities of 14 readers with Down syndrome aged 6 years 8 months to 13 years relative to those of typically developing children matched on word reading ability, and to investigate how these abilities were associated with reading accuracy, listening comprehension, phonological awareness and vocabulary knowledge. Study 1 confirmed significantly poorer passage-reading comprehension than the typically developing group. In an experimental task, readers with Down syndrome understood fewer written sentences than the typical group and, contrary to prediction, received no advantage from printed sentences compared to spoken sentences, despite the lower memory load.

Mechanism for the acute effects of organophosphate pesticides on the adult 5-HT system.

The neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT) is involved in mood disorder aetiology and it has been reported that (organophosphate) OP exposure affects 5-HT turnover. The aim of this study was to elucidate the mechanism underlying OP effects on the adult 5-HT system. First, acute in vivo administration of the OP diazinon (0, 1.

Change in Sexual Dysfunction Following Bariatric Surgery.

Obesity is associated with multiple comorbidities and psychosocial burdens, but often sexual dysfunction (SD) is overlooked. Bariatric surgery is the most effective treatment for morbid obesity, and its role in reversing SD is reviewed. A literature search of MEDLINE, PubMed Central, and Cochrane databases was conducted.

Conventional insulin vs insulin infusion therapy in acute coronary syndrome diabetic patients.

Aim: To evaluate the impact on glucose variability (GLUCV) of an nurse-implemented insulin infusion protocol when compared with a conventional insulin treatment during the day-to-day clinical activity.

Methods: We enrolled 44 type 2 diabetic patients (n = 32 males; n = 12 females) with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and randomy assigned to standard a subcutaneous insulin treatment (n = 23) or a nurse-implemented continuous intravenous insulin infusion protocol (n = 21). We utilized some parameters of GLUCV representing well-known surrogate markers of prognosis, i.

Receptive vocabulary and semantic knowledge in children with SLI and children with Down syndrome.

Receptive vocabulary and associated semantic knowledge were compared within and between groups of children with specific language impairment (SLI), children with Down syndrome (DS), and typically developing children. To overcome the potential confounding effects of speech or language difficulties on verbal tests of semantic knowledge, a novel task was devised based on picture-based semantic association tests used to assess adult patients with semantic dementia. Receptive vocabulary, measured by word-picture matching, of children with SLI was weak relative to chronological age and to nonverbal mental age but their semantic knowledge, probed across the same lexical items, did not differ significantly from that of vocabulary-matched typically developing children.

Surgical smartphone applications across different platforms: their evolution, uses, and users.

Introduction: There are a vast array of smartphone applications that could benefit both surgeons and their patients. To review and identify all relevant surgical smartphone applications available for the Apple iPhone iOS and Google Android platform based on their user group and subspecialty for which they were designed.

Method: Both the literature using PubMed and Google Scholar were searched using the following terms: application$, smartphone$, app$, app*, surgery, surgical, surg*, general surgery, general surg*, bariatric$, urology and plastic surgery, ortho*, orthop(a)edic, cardiac surgery, cardiothoracic, neurosurgery, and ophthalmology.

Early hearing loss and language abilities in children with Down syndrome.

Background: Although many children with Down syndrome experience hearing loss, there has been little research to investigate its impact on speech and language development. Studies that have investigated the association give inconsistent results. These have often been based on samples where children with the most severe hearing impairments have been excluded and so results do not generalize to the wider population with Down syndrome.

Design of a novel pyrrolidine scaffold utilized in the discovery of potent and selective human β3 adrenergic receptor agonists.

A novel class of human β(3)-adrenergic receptor agonists was designed in effort to improve selectivity and metabolic stability versus previous disclosed β(3)-AR agonists. As observed, many of the β(3)-AR agonists seem to need the acyclic ethanolamine core for agonist activity. We have synthesized derivatives that constrained this moiety by introduction of a pyrrolidine.

Weak hand preference in children with down syndrome is associated with language deficits.

This study explores associations between language ability and hand preference in children with Down syndrome. Compared to typically developing children of the same age, children with Down syndrome showed weaker hand preference, were less consistent in the hand they used and also less willing to reach to extreme positions in contralateral space. Within the group of children with Down syndrome, those who showed a stronger or more consistent hand preference had better language and memory skills.

Electrical detection of amine ligation to a metalloporphyrin via a hybrid SOI-MOSFET.

A close-packed monolayer of zinc 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(3-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin has been prepared and deposited on the thin native oxide covering the surface of an SOI-MOSFET (silicon-on-insulator metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor) using Langmuir-Blodgett techniques. When the device is exposed to amine vapors in a nitrogen atmosphere, the amine coordinates to the zinc atom. The resulting change in electron distribution within the porphyrin leads to a large change in the drain current of the transistor, biased via a back gate.

Do children with Williams syndrome really have good vocabulary knowledge? Methods for comparing cognitive and linguistic abilities in developmental disorders.

The comparison of cognitive and linguistic skills in individuals with developmental disorders is fraught with methodological and psychometric difficulties. In this paper, we illustrate some of these issues by comparing the receptive vocabulary knowledge and non-verbal reasoning abilities of 41 children with Williams syndrome, a genetic disorder in which language abilities are often claimed to be relatively strong. Data from this group were compared with data from typically developing children, children with Down syndrome, and children with non-specific learning difficulties using a number of approaches including comparison of age-equivalent scores, matching, analysis of covariance, and regression-based standardization.

A case of exceptional reading accuracy in a child with Down syndrome: Underlying skills and the relation to reading comprehension.

We report on a case of a girl with Down syndrome (DS), K.S., whose reading accuracy is exceptional.

Verbal deficits in Down's syndrome and specific language impairment: a comparison.

Background: Down's syndrome is a chromosome disorder characterized by a range of physical and psychological conditions, including language impairment. The severity of impairment is variable, and some components of the language system appear to be more affected than others. This description could also be applied to typically developing children diagnosed with specific language impairment.

Contributions of phonological memory, language comprehension and hearing to the expressive language of adolescents and young adults with Down syndrome.

Background: Expressive language constitutes a major challenge to the development of individuals with Down syndrome. This paper investigates the relationships between expressive language abilities, language comprehension and the deficits in verbal short-term memory and hearing which are also associated with the syndrome.

Methods: Tests of nonverbal ability, expressive language, verbal short-term memory, visuo-spatial memory, language comprehension and hearing were administered.