Metabolomic Reprogramming Detected by H-NMR Spectroscopy in Human Thyroid Cancer Tissues.

Thyroid cancer cells demonstrate an increase in oxidative stress and decreased antioxidant action, but the effects of this increased oxidative stress on cell function remain unknown. We aimed to identify changes in the metabolism of thyroid cancer cells caused by oxidative stress, using proton nuclear magnetic resonance (H-NMR) spectroscopy. Samples of thyroid cancer and healthy thyroid tissue were collected from patients undergoing thyroidectomy and analyzed with H-NMR spectroscopy for a wide array of metabolites.

The Various Roles of Fatty Acids.

Lipids comprise a large group of chemically heterogeneous compounds. The majority have fatty acids (FA) as part of their structure, making these compounds suitable tools to examine processes raging from cellular to macroscopic levels of organization. Among the multiple roles of FA, they have structural functions as constituents of phospholipids which are the "building blocks" of cell membranes; as part of neutral lipids FA serve as storage materials in cells; and FA derivatives are involved in cell signalling.

Key Players in Choline Metabolic Reprograming in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), defined as lack of estrogen and progesterone receptors in the absence of protein overexpression/gene amplification of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, is still a clinical challenge despite progress in breast cancer care. H magnetic resonance spectroscopy allows identification and non-invasive monitoring of TNBC metabolic aberrations and elucidation of some key mechanisms underlying tumor progression. Thus, it has the potential to improve diagnosis and follow-up and also to identify new targets for treatment.

Fatty acids as a tool to understand microbial diversity and their role in food webs of Mediterranean temporary ponds.

Temporary Mediterranean ponds are complex ecosystems which support a high diversity of organisms that include heterotrophic microorganisms, algae, crustaceans, amphibians and higher plants, and have the potential to supply food and a resting place to migratory birds. The role of heterotrophs at the base of the food web in providing energy to the higher trophic levels was studied in temporary ponds in Central and Southern Portugal. The relative quantification of the hetero and autotrophic biomass at the base of the food web in each pond was derived from the polar fatty acid (PLFA) composition of seston through the application of the matrix factorization program CHEMTAX that used specific PLFA and their relative proportion as markers for e.

Bacterial diversity assessed by cultivation-based techniques shows predominance of Staphylococccus species on coins collected in Lisbon and Casablanca.

Money is usually considered a source of infections, yet survival of bacteria on dry metal surfaces is limited. The aim of this work was to assess the bacterial numbers and diversity on coins collected in Casablanca and Lisbon as these two cities, on different continents and only 585 km apart, have diverse cultural habitats, but have similar climate. A cultivation-based characterisation of the bacterial community showed that a relatively low number of cells per area of coin were found on both Moroccan Dirhams and Euros (0.

Lipids of prokaryotic origin at the base of marine food webs.

In particular niches of the marine environment, such as abyssal trenches, icy waters and hot vents, the base of the food web is composed of bacteria and archaea that have developed strategies to survive and thrive under the most extreme conditions. Some of these organisms are considered "extremophiles" and modulate the fatty acid composition of their phospholipids to maintain the adequate fluidity of the cellular membrane under cold/hot temperatures, elevated pressure, high/low salinity and pH. Bacterial cells are even able to produce polyunsaturated fatty acids, contrarily to what was considered until the 1990s, helping the regulation of the membrane fluidity triggered by temperature and pressure and providing protection from oxidative stress.

Dietary carotenoids regulate astaxanthin content of copepods and modulate their susceptibility to UV light and copper toxicity.

High irradiation and the presence of xenobiotics favor the formation of reactive oxygen species in marine environments. Organisms have developed antioxidant defenses, including the accumulation of carotenoids that must be obtained from the diet. Astaxanthin is the main carotenoid in marine crustaceans where, among other functions, it scavenges free radicals thus protecting cell compounds against oxidation.

Tumour metastasis as an adaptation of tumour cells to fulfil their phosphorus requirements.

Inorganic phosphate (Pi) is a vital component of nucleotides, membrane phospholipids, and phosphorylated intermediates in cellular signalling. The Growth Rate Hypothesis (GRH) states that fast growing organisms should be richer in phosphorus (relatively low C:P and N:P cell content) than slow developing organisms as a result of high ribosome biogenesis. Cells that proliferate rapidly, such as cancer cells, require a high amount of ribosomes and other P-rich RNA components that are necessary to manufacture proteins.