High concentrations of HgS, MeHg and toxic gas emissions in thermally affected waste dumps from hard coal mining in Poland.

This study aims to provide numerous environmental research approaches to understand the formation of mineral and organic mercury compounds in self-heating coal waste dumps of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB). The results are combined with environmental and health risk assessments. The mineralogy comprised accessory minerals in the fine fraction of thermally affected waste, i.

Fungal Guttation, a Source of Bioactive Compounds, and Its Ecological Role-A Review.

Guttation is a common phenomenon in the fungal kingdom. Its occurrence and intensity depend largely on culture conditions, such as growth medium composition or incubation temperature. As filamentous fungi are a rich source of compounds, possessing various biological activities, guttation exudates could also contain bioactive substances.

Antifungal Activity and Biosynthetic Potential of New sp. MW-W600-10 Strain Isolated from Coal Mine Water.

Crop infections by fungi lead to severe losses in food production and pose risks for human health. The increasing resistance of pathogens to fungicides has led to the higher usage of these chemicals, which burdens the environment and highlights the need to find novel natural biocontrol agents. Members of the genus are known to produce a plethora of bioactive compounds.

Maternally contributed Nlrp9b expressed in human and mouse ovarian follicles contributes to early murine preimplantation development.

Purpose: The aim of the study is to investigate presence and role of the gene encoding the maternally contributed nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptors with a pyrin domain (PYD)-containing protein 9 (NLRP9) in human and mouse ovaries, respectively, and in preimplantation mouse embryo development by knocking down Nlrp9b.

Methods: Expression levels of NLRP9 mRNA in human follicles were extracted from RNA sequencing data from previous studies. In this study, we performed a qPCR analysis of Nlpr9b mRNA in mouse oocytes and found it present.

Genome Mining Revealed a High Biosynthetic Potential for Antifungal sp. S-2 Isolated from Black Soot.

The increasing resistance of fungal pathogens has heightened the necessity of searching for new organisms and compounds to combat their spread. are bacteria that are well-known for the production of many antibiotics. To find novel antibiotic agents, researchers have turned to previously neglected and extreme environments.

HSPA12A targets the cytoplasmic domain and affects the trafficking of the Amyloid Precursor Protein receptor SorLA.

SorLA and Sortilin are multifunctional receptors involved in endocytosis and intracellular sorting of different and unrelated ligands. SorLA has recently attracted much attention as a novel strong risk gene for Alzheimer's disease, and much effort is currently being put into understanding the underlying molecular mechanism. Trafficking of SorLA and Sortilin are mediated by interacting with AP-1, AP-2, GGA 1-3 and the retromer complex.

The Endo-Lysosomal System of Brain Endothelial Cells Is Influenced by Astrocytes In Vitro.

Receptor- and adsorptive-mediated transport through brain endothelial cells (BEC) of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) involves a complex array of subcellular vesicular structures, the endo-lysosomal system. It consists of several types of vesicles, such as early, recycling, and late endosomes, retromer-positive structures, and lysosomes. Since this system is important for receptor-mediated transcytosis of drugs across brain capillaries, our aim was to characterise the endo-lysosomal system in BEC with emphasis on their interactions with astrocytes.

Improved Method for the Establishment of an In Vitro Blood-Brain Barrier Model Based on Porcine Brain Endothelial Cells.

The aim of this protocol presents an optimized procedure for the purification and cultivation of pBECs and to establish in vitro blood-brain barrier (BBB) models based on pBECs in mono-culture (MC), MC with astrocyte-conditioned medium (ACM), and non-contact co-culture (NCC) with astrocytes of porcine or rat origin. pBECs were isolated and cultured from fragments of capillaries from the brain cortices of domestic pigs 5-6 months old. These fragments were purified by careful removal of meninges, isolation and homogenization of grey matter, filtration, enzymatic digestion, and centrifugation.

Targeting transferrin receptors at the blood-brain barrier improves the uptake of immunoliposomes and subsequent cargo transport into the brain parenchyma.

Drug delivery to the brain is hampered by the presence of the blood-brain barrier, which excludes most molecules from freely diffusing into the brain, and tightly regulates the active transport mechanisms that ensure sufficient delivery of nutrients to the brain parenchyma. Harnessing the possibility of delivering neuroactive drugs by way of receptors already present on the brain endothelium has been of interest for many years. The transferrin receptor is of special interest since its expression is limited to the endothelium of the brain as opposed to peripheral endothelium.

Bidirectional apical-basal traffic of the cation-independent mannose-6-phosphate receptor in brain endothelial cells.

Brain capillary endothelium mediates the exchange of nutrients between blood and brain parenchyma. This barrier function of the brain capillaries also limits passage of pharmaceuticals from blood to brain, which hinders treatment of several neurological disorders. Receptor-mediated transport has been suggested as a potential pharmaceutical delivery route across the brain endothelium, e.

Hydraulic Extrusion of the Spinal Cord and Isolation of Dorsal Root Ganglia in Rodents.

Traditionally, the spinal cord is isolated by laminectomy, i.e. by breaking open the spinal vertebrae one at a time.

Unraveling the molecular mechanism governing the tissue specific expression of IFNλR1.

The functional receptor for type III interferons (IFNs) is a heterodimer of IFNLR1 and IL10R2. IFNLR1 is expressed in a highly tissue specific manner, with epithelial and liver tissue as the prime expressing tissues in humans. However, knowledge about the molecular pathways responsible for regulating the expression of IFNLR1 is yet unknown.

Expression of Iron-Related Proteins at the Neurovascular Unit Supports Reduction and Reoxidation of Iron for Transport Through the Blood-Brain Barrier.

The mechanisms for iron transport through the blood-brain barrier (BBB) remain a controversy. We analyzed for expression of mRNA and proteins involved in oxidation and transport of iron in isolated brain capillaries from dietary normal, iron-deficient, and iron-reverted rats. The expression was also investigated in isolated rat brain endothelial cells (RBECs) and in immortalized rat brain endothelial (RBE4) cells grown as monoculture or in hanging culture inserts with defined BBB properties.

Retromer-Mediated Trafficking of Transmembrane Receptors and Transporters.

Transport between the endoplasmatic reticulum, the Golgi-network, the endo-lysosomal system and the cell surface can be categorized as anterograde or retrograde, describing traffic that goes forward or backward, respectively. Traffic going from the plasma membrane to endosomes and lysosomes or the trans-Golgi network (TGN) constitutes the major retrograde transport routes. Several transmembrane proteins undergo retrograde transport as part of a recycling mechanism that contributes to reutilization and maintenance of a steady-state protein localization.

A conserved sugar bridge connected to the WSXWS motif has an important role for transport of IL-21R to the plasma membrane.

Interleukin-21 (IL-21) is a class I cytokine that belongs to the γc-subfamily of cytokines and regulates immune responses. It signals through a heterodimeric receptor complex composed of the IL-21R1 and γc-receptor chains. A characteristic feature of class I cytokine receptors is the presence of a consensus motif WSXWS (WS motif) in the membrane proximal fibronectin type III domain (FNIII) of these receptors.

The crystal structure of zebrafish IL-22 reveals an evolutionary, conserved structure highly similar to that of human IL-22.

The class II cytokine family consists of small α-helical signaling proteins including the interleukin-10 (IL-10)/IL-22 family, as well as interferons (IFNs). They regulate the innate immune response and in addition have an important role in protecting epithelial tissues. Teleost fish possess a class II cytokine system surprisingly similar to that of humans, and thus zebrafish offers an attractive model organism for investigating the role of class II cytokines in inflammation.

Interferon lambda 4 signals via the IFNλ receptor to regulate antiviral activity against HCV and coronaviruses.

The IFNL4 gene is a recently discovered type III interferon, which in a significant fraction of the human population harbours a frameshift mutation abolishing the IFNλ4 ORF. The expression of IFNλ4 is correlated with both poor spontaneous clearance of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and poor response to treatment with type I interferon. Here, we show that the IFNL4 gene encodes an active type III interferon, named IFNλ4, which signals through the IFNλR1 and IL-10R2 receptor chains.