Diversification and recurrent adaptation of the synaptonemal complex in Drosophila.

The synaptonemal complex (SC) is a protein-rich structure essential for meiotic recombination and faithful chromosome segregation. Acting like a zipper to paired homologous chromosomes during early prophase I, the complex is a symmetrical structure where central elements are connected on two sides by the transverse filaments to the chromatin-anchoring lateral elements. Despite being found in most major eukaryotic taxa implying a deeply conserved evolutionary origin, several components of the complex exhibit unusually high rates of sequence turnover.

Phytochemical Profiling and Biological Activities of Nigella sativa Vinegar Extract: An Insight Into Hypoglycemic Potential Using In Vivo and In Silico Studies.

The current study was conducted to characterize the vinegar extract of Nigella sativa and evaluate its biological activities using in vitro and in vivo studies. The N. sativa extract (NSE) was prepared by macerating seeds in a mixture of water and synthetic vinegar (1:10).

Emerging Trends in Neuroblastoma Diagnosis, Therapeutics, and Research.

This review explores the current understanding and recent advancements in neuroblastoma, one of the most common extracranial solid pediatric cancers, accounting for ~ 15% of childhood cancer-related mortality. The hallmarks of NBL, including angiogenesis, metastasis, apoptosis resistance, cell cycle dysregulation, drug resistance, and responses to hypoxia and ROS, underscore its complex biology. The tumor microenvironment's significance in disease progression is acknowledged in this study, along with the pivotal role of cancer stem cells in sustaining tumor growth and heterogeneity.

Helminths infection of Schizothorax niger in Kashmir, India: morphological and molecular characterization.

Background: The identification of helminth parasites in Schizothorax spp. from Kashmir, including Schyzocotyle acheilognathi, Pomphorhynchus kashmirensis, and Adenoscolex oreini, is hindered by morphological limitations and high intraspecific variation. While previous studies have relied on morphological diagnosis, a comprehensive molecular characterization is lacking.

Half a Century's Quest for Seasonal Hyperacute Panuveitis (SHAPU): From Academic Curiosity to Public Health Concern.

For the past 50 years, significant progress has been made in understanding Seasonal Hyperacute Panuveitis (SHAPU), a mysterious blinding disease first reported in Nepal in 1975. Predominantly affecting Nepalese children, SHAPU occurs cyclically every odd year from September to December. While initially misclassified as endophthalmitis, SHAPU is set apart by its lack of trauma or surgery, failure to grow organisms in most intraocular fluid cultures, and its hallmark presentation of a "white pupil in red eye" with an association with moth exposure.

Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Impacts of Soft Tissue Crude Extract and Mucous of Snail Helix aspersa on an Excision Wound Model in Mice.

Wound healing is a complex natural process in which tissue requires recovering injured tissue cells. Helix aspersa has a high nutritional value and is considered a rich natural source of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents. So, this study aimed to assess the effect of soft tissue crude extract and mucous of H.

Evaluation of the impact of on the testis of cisplatin-treated albino rats: Biochemical, histopathological, and ultrastructural study.

Cisplatin is an antineoplastic drug that exhibits toxicity dependent on dosage and has adverse reproductive effects. (Bitter melon) is a natural vegetable plant; its active ingredients possess antioxidant, apoptotic, antiproliferative, hypoglycemic, and other therapeutic properties. This study evaluates the effect of the administration of bitter melon extract, cisplatin, and cisplatin/bitter melon cotreatment on liver and kidney functions, serum and testicular oxidative status, testis histology, and sperm parameters.

Complex species structure of (Digenea: Lecithasteridae), a fish parasite in the Arctic and Pacific Northwest.

Studying complexes of cryptic or pseudocryptic species opens new horizons for the understanding of speciation processes, an important yet vague issue for the digeneans. We investigated a hemiuroidean trematode across a wide geographic range including the northern European seas (White, Barents, and Pechora), East Siberian Sea, and the Pacific Northwest (Sea of Okhotsk and Sea of Japan). The goals were to explore the genetic diversity within through mitochondrial ( and genes) and ribosomal (ITS1, ITS2, 28S rDNA) marker sequences, to study morphometry of maritae, and to revise the life cycle data.

Effects of stocking density on growth performance, digestive enzyme activity, biochemical composition, and economic efficiency of a new strain of reared in cage culture system at Sindh Pakistan.

The latest strain of is an altered ecological adaptation for sustainable aquaculture and is necessary to sustain stocking density and reduce physiological stress of the new strain. The present study aimed to determine the optimum stocking density, biological performance, and economic efficiency of the Nile tilapia. The 14,000 healthy seeds and uniform weight (40 ± 2.

Dietary Shifts Among the Developmental Stages of the Ectoparasite, (Crustacea; Branchiura), Mirror Ontogeny as Shown Through Differences in Stable Isotope Ratios of Carbon (δC) and Nitrogen (δN).

Food web architecture and trophic interactions between organisms can be studied using ratios of naturally occurring stable isotopes of carbon (C/C) and nitrogen (N/N). Most studies, however, focused on free-living organisms, but recently, there has been growing interest in understanding trophic interactions of parasites. The crustacean ectoparasite is a well-studied parasite of freshwater teleost fish, which has low host specificity and a cosmopolitan distribution.

Diversity and cross-species transmission of viruses in a remote island ecosystem: implications for wildlife conservation.

The ability of viruses to emerge in new species is influenced by aspects of host biology and ecology, with some taxa harbouring a high diversity and abundance of viruses. However, how these factors shape virus diversity at the ecosystem scale is often unclear. To better understand the pattern and determinants of viral diversity within an ecosystem, and to describe the novel avian viruses infecting an individual avian community, we performed a metagenomic snapshot of the virome from the entire avian community on remote Pukenui/Anchor Island in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Microplastics bioaccumulation in fish: Its potential toxic effects on hematology, immune response, neurotoxicity, oxidative stress, growth, and reproductive dysfunction.

After being exposed, microplastics mostly bioaccumulated in guts and gills of fish, then, through circulation, spread and bioaccumulated in other tissues. Circulatory system of fish is impacted by the microplastic bioaccumulation in their tissues, influencing a number of hematological indices that are connected with immunity, osmotic pressure, blood clotting, molecular transport and fat metabolism. Variables like size, dose, duration, food consumption and species, all affect the bioaccumulation and toxicity of the microplastic, rather than the exposure routes.

A morpho-histological analysis of the exoskeleton of (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) reveals insights into the taxonomy of Clathrozoellidae and Hydroidolina.

The taxonomic complexity of the families Clathrozoidae and Clathrozoellidae, rooted in early 20th-century hydroid descriptions, highlights the need for comprehensive and detailed morphological analyses. This study aimed to elucidate the histology of the polypoid stage of Peña Cantero, Vervoort & Watson, 2003, with a particular emphasis on its exoskeletal structure. Specimens from the National Museum of Natural History were examined histologically using different staining techniques.

Mitigating lead acetate-induced histopathologic and physiologic disorders in rats receiving vitamin C and glutathione supplement.

The present work examines the extreme impact of lead acetate and the preventive function of co-supplementation with vitamin C and glutathione. It hypothesizes that these supplements can alleviate the poisonous effects of lead exposure. Eighty male albino rats, weighing 100 ± 15 g, were categorized into four groups: the control group, the second group receiving daily supplements of 100 mg/kg of body weight glutathione and 1 mg/100 g of body weight vitamin C orally, the third group receiving 100 mg/kg body weight of lead acetate orally daily, and the fourth group receiving similar oral dosages of lead acetate along with glutathione and vitamin C.

Post-testicular spermatozoa of a marine teleost can conduct cytoplasmic and mitochondrial translation.

Translational silence of spermatozoa has long been considered the norm in animals. However, studies in mammals have shown that the mitochondrial ribosomal machinery is selectively activated during capacitation in the female reproductive tract, while cytosolic ribosomes remain inactive. Here, using quantitative proteomics in a piscine model species, we show that proteins involved in mRNA processing and cytoplasmic translation are predominantly accumulated in immature spermatozoa within the extratesticular excurrent ducts, while those related to flagellar motility are enriched in ejaculated (mature) sperm.

Human presence shifts the landscape of fear for a free-living mammal.

Humans may play a key role in providing small prey mammals spatial and temporal refuge from predators, but few studies have captured the heterogeneity of these effects across space and time. Global COVID-19 lockdown restrictions offered a unique opportunity to investigate how a sudden change in human presence in a semi-urban park impacted wildlife. Here, we quantify how changes in the spatial distributions of humans and natural predators influenced the landscape of fear for the California ground squirrel (Otospermophilus beecheyi) in a COVID-19 pandemic (2020) and non-COVID (2019) year.

Effect of Food Deprivation on Plasma Cortisol, Carbohydrate Metabolism, and Histomorphology in Clarias batrachus.

The nutritional status of fish is essential for its health, experimental studies, and aquaculture practices. The current study investigated the impact of food deprivation on biochemical parameters, histology of skin, gill, and kidney tissues, and ultrastructure of gills in Clarias batrachus. Fish were subjected to food deprivation for 2, 7, and 15 days resulting in (a) significant increase in plasma cortisol levels, (b) no significant changes in plasma osmolality and plasma glucose content, and (c) significant decrease in liver and muscle glycogen contents.

Fast, bioluminescent blinks attract group members of the nocturnal flashlight fish Anomalops katoptron (Bleeker, 1856).

Background: During their nighttime shoaling, the flashlight fish Anomalops katoptron produce fascinating, bioluminescent blink patterns, which have been related to the localization of food, determination of nearest neighbor distance, and initiation of the shoal's movement direction. Information transfer e.g.

Adaptive evolution of stress response genes in parasites aligns with host niche diversity.

Background: Stress responses are key the survival of parasites and, consequently, also the evolutionary success of these organisms. Despite this importance, our understanding of the evolution of molecular pathways dealing with environmental stressors in parasitic animals remains limited. Here, we tested the link between adaptive evolution of parasite stress response genes and their ecological diversity and species richness.

Tumor cell-derived N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate reshapes the tumor microenvironment to facilitate breast cancer metastasis.

Neurotransmitters are increasingly recognized to play important roles in limiting anti-tumor immunity. N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate (NAAG) has been extensively studied in neurological disorders; however, its potential role in restricting anti-tumor immunity has not been investigated. Here, we demonstrated that NAAG or its synthetase RimK-like family member B (RIMKLB) significantly disrupted anti-tumor immunity by rewiring the myeloid progenitor differentiation of polymorphonuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cells (PMN-MDSCs), which in turn promoted breast cancer growth and metastasis.

Dietary supplementation and the role of phytochemicals against the Alzheimer's disease: Focus on polyphenolic compounds.

Alzheimer's disease is a complicated, multifaceted, neurodegenerative illness that places an increasing strain on healthcare systems. Due to increasing malfunction and death of nerve cells, the person suffering from Alzheimer's disease (AD) slowly and steadily loses their memories, cognitive functions and even their personality. Although medications may temporarily enhance memory, there are currently no permanent therapies that can halt or cure this irreversible neurodegenerative process.

Protection induced by recombinant vaccinia virus targeting the ROP4 of Toxoplasma gondii in mice.

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease affecting a significant portion of the global population, whose etiology can be attributed to the protozoan organism Toxoplasma gondii. Despite its public health importance, an efficacious vaccine to prevent human toxoplasmosis remains unavailable. To this end, we designed an experimental toxoplasmosis vaccine using recombinant vaccinia virus vectors (rVacv) expressing the T.

Harnessing miRNAs: A Novel Approach to Diagnosis and Treatment of Tuberculosis.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) complex, responsible for tuberculosis (TB) infection, continues to be a predominant global cause of mortality due to intricate host-pathogen interactions that affect disease progression. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), essential posttranscriptional regulators, have become pivotal modulators of these relationships. Recent findings indicate that miRNAs actively regulate immunological responses to Mtb complex by modulating autophagy, apoptosis, and immune cell activities.