Unusual Genomic and Biochemical Features of sp. nov-A Novel Bacterial Species Isolated from Anthill Soil.

The black garden ant () is a widely distributed species across Europe, North America, and North Africa, playing a pivotal role in ecological processes within its diverse habitats. However, the microbiome associated with remains poorly investigated. In the present study, we isolated a novel species, , from the soil of the anthill.

Proteins Associated with Neurodegenerative Diseases: Link to DNA Repair.

The nervous system is susceptible to DNA damage and DNA repair defects, and if DNA damage is not repaired, neuronal cells can die, causing neurodegenerative diseases in humans. The overall picture of what is known about DNA repair mechanisms in the nervous system is still unclear. The current challenge is to use the accumulated knowledge of basic science on DNA repair to improve the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders.

Ultrastructural Remodeling of Cardiomyocytes in Postinfarction Myocardium of Rats in the Late Stages of the Disease.

Identifying factors that contribute to the transition to the dilated phase in cardiac ischemia is a critical challenge in heart failure treatment. Currently, no effective therapies exist for this ischemic complication, and the mechanisms driving left ventricular dilatation during chronic post-infarction remodeling remain poorly understood. One potential pathological process leading to ventricular dilatation involves specific compensatory rearrangements in the border zone adjacent to the infarct, which isolates the intact myocardium from inflammation at the scar edge.

Evaluation of Reference Gene Stability for Investigations of Intracellular Signalling in Human Cancer and Non-Malignant Mesenchymal Stromal Cells.

Background: Real-time reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is a powerful tool for analysing target gene expression in biological samples. To achieve reliable results by RT-qPCR, the most stable reference genes must be selected for proper data normalisation, particularly when comparing cells of different types. We aimed to choose the least variable candidate reference genes among eight housekeeping genes tested within a set of human cancer cell lines (HeLa, MCF-7, SK-UT-1B, A549, A431, SK-BR-3), as well as four lines of normal, non-malignant mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) of different origins.

Abnormal Astrocyte Heterogeneity in the Dentate Gyrus of Rats Prone to Audiogenic Seizures Can Be Corrected by the Nootropic Drug Piracetam.

Accumulating evidence indicates that inherited astrocyte dysfunction can be a primary trigger for epilepsy development; however, the available data are rather limited. In addition, astrocytes are considered as a perspective target for the design of novel and improvement of the existing antiepileptic therapy. Piracetam and related nootropic drugs are widely used in the therapy of various epileptic disorders, but detailed mechanisms of racetams action and, in particular, their effects on glial functions are poorly understood.

Can interventions targeting MDSCs improve the outcome of vaccination in vulnerable populations?

Preventive vaccination is a crucial strategy for controlling and preventing infectious diseases, offering both effectiveness and cost-efficiency. However, despite the widespread success of vaccination programs, there are still certain population groups who struggle to mount adequate responses to immunization. These at-risk groups include but are not restricted to the elderly, overweight individuals, individuals with chronic infections and cancer patients.

Tactile imagery affects cortical responses to vibrotactile stimulation of the fingertip.

Mental imagery is a crucial cognitive process, yet its underlying neural mechanisms remain less understood compared to perception. Furthermore, within the realm of mental imagery, the somatosensory domain is particularly underexplored compared to other sensory modalities. This study aims to investigate the influence of tactile imagery (TI) on cortical somatosensory processing.

3D-aligned tetrameric ion channels with universal residue labels for comparative structural analysis.

Despite their large functional diversity and poor sequence similarity, tetrameric and pseudotetrameric potassium, sodium, calcium, and cyclic-nucleotide gated channels, as well as two-pore channels, transient receptor potential channels, and ionotropic glutamate receptor channels, share a common folding pattern of the transmembrane (TM) helices in the pore domain. In each subunit or repeat, two TM helices connected by a membrane-reentering P-loop contribute a quarter to the pore domain. The P-loop includes a membrane-descending helix, P1, which is structurally the most conserved element of these channels, and residues that contribute to the selectivity-filter region at the constriction of the ion-permeating pathway.

Albumin Is an Integrative Protein of Blood Plasma and Beyond.

Albumin is a major protein in mammalian blood plasma or serum, where its concentration in healthy organisms is about 600 μM [...

Olfactory neurofeedback: current state and possibilities for further development.

This perspective considers the novel concept of olfactory neurofeedback (O-NFB) within the framework of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), where olfactory stimuli are integrated in various BCI control loops. In particular, electroencephalography (EEG)-based O-NFB systems are capable of incorporating different components of complex olfactory processing - from simple discrimination tasks to using olfactory stimuli for rehabilitation of neurological disorders. In our own work, EEG theta and alpha rhythms were probed as control variables for O-NFB.

Restoration of natural somatic sensations to the amputees: finding the right combination of neurostimulation methods.

Unlabelled: Limb amputation results in such devastating consequences as loss of motor and sensory functions and phantom limb pain (PLP). Neurostimulation-based approaches have been developed to treat this condition, which provide artificial somatosensory feedback such as peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS), spinal cord stimulation (SCS), and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). Yet, the effectiveness of different neurostimulation methods has been rarely tested in the same participants.

Ancient evolutionary origins of hepatitis E virus in rodents.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV; family ) infections cause >40,000 human deaths annually. Zoonotic infections predominantly originate from ungulates and occasionally from rats, highlighting the zoonotic potential of rodent-associated hepeviruses. We conducted host genomic data mining and uncovered two genetically divergent rodent-associated hepeviruses, and two bat-associated hepeviruses genetically related to known bat-associated strains.

Animal Models of Febrile Seizures: Limitations and Recent Advances in the Field.

Febrile seizures (FSs) are defined as seizures occurring in children aged 6 months to 5 years with a background of elevated body temperature. It is one of the most common neurological disorders of childhood, emphasizing the importance of understanding the causes of FSs and their impact on the developing nervous system. However, there are significant limitations to the technologies currently available for studying the etiology and pathophysiology of seizures in humans.

A unique mechanism of transfluthrin action revealed by mapping its binding sites in the mosquito sodium channel.

Pyrethroid insecticides exert their toxic action by prolonging the opening of insect voltage-gated sodium channels, resulting in the characteristic tail current during membrane repolarization in voltage clamp experiments. Permethrin (PMT) and deltamethrin (DMT), representative type I and type II pyrethroids, respectively, are predicted to bind to two lipid-exposed pyrethroid receptor sites, PyR1 and PyR2, at the lipid-exposed interfaces of repeats II/III and I/II, respectively. Transfluthrin (TF), a volatile type I pyrethroid and mosquito repellent, has received increased attention in the global combat of vector-borne human diseases.

Placental Transport of Amino Acids in Rats with Methionine-Induced Hyperhomocysteinemia.

Maternal hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy) is a risk factor for intrauterine growth restriction presumably caused by a decrease in the placental transport of nutrients. We investigated the effect of experimental HHcy induced by daily methionine administration to pregnant rats on the free amino acid levels in the maternal and fetal blood, as well as on morphological and biochemical parameters associated with the amino acid transport through the placenta. HHcy caused an increase in the levels of most free amino acids in the maternal blood on gestational day 20, while the levels of some amino acids in the fetal blood were decreased.

AMPA and NMDA Receptors in Hippocampus of Rats with Fluoride-Induced Cognitive Decline.

This experimental study was performed to evaluate the alterations in the expression of a few subunits composing glutamate AMPA (a-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid) and NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptors in the hippocampal cells of Wistar rats in response to long-term fluoride (F) exposure. The animals were given water with background 0.4 (control), 5, 20, and 50 ppm F (as NaF) for 12 months.

Modulation of Albumin Esterase Activity by Warfarin and Diazepam.

Data are accumulating on the hydrolytic activity of serum albumin towards esters and organophosphates. Previously, with the help of the technology of proton nuclear magnetic resonance (H NMR) spectroscopy, we observed the yield of acetate in the solution of bovine serum albumin and -nitrophenyl acetate (NPA). Thus, we showed that albumin possesses true esterase activity towards NPA.

Aging of Krushinsky-Molodkina audiogenic rats is accompanied with pronounced neurodegeneration and dysfunction of the glutamatergic system in the hippocampus.

Advancing age strongly correlates with an increased risk of epilepsy development. On the other hand, epilepsy may exacerbate the negative effects of aging making it pathological. In turn, the possible link between aging and epileptogenesis is dysregulation of glutamatergic transmission.

Identification of Reliable Reference Genes for Use in Gene Expression Studies in Rat Febrile Seizure Model.

The study of the pathogenesis of febrile seizures and their consequences frequently necessitates gene expression analysis. The primary methodology employed for such analysis is reverse transcription with quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). To ensure the accuracy of data obtained by RT-qPCR, it is crucial to utilize stably expressed reference genes.

The diversity of AMPA receptor inhibition mechanisms among amidine-containing compounds.

Amidine-containing compounds are primarily known as antiprotozoal agents (pentamidine, diminazene, furamidine) or as serine protease inhibitors (nafamostat, sepimostat, camostat, gabexate). DAPI is widely recognized as a fluorescent DNA stain. Recently, it has been shown that these compounds also act as NMDA receptor inhibitors.

Competition during verbal creative processes influences on ERS/ERD.

Humans are social creatures, and many tasks in our daily lives are solved together. The two main forms of social interaction in problem solving could be defined as competition and cooperation. In our study, we compared the ERS/ERD when performing a creative task (Alternative Uses Test, AUT) and a control task ("naming the objects from the presented category") under competitive conditions in dyads (22 dyads, m-m, f-f, 18-23 years old) compared to the performance of tasks individually.

Assay variables and early clinical evaluation of low-angle light scattering for platelet function analysis.

Introduction: The recently developed platelet aggregation technique based on low-angle light scattering (LaSca) in diluted platelet-rich plasma (PRP) requires only a small sample volume and provides information about platelet aggregation and shape change. This study aimed to investigate the influence of preanalytical and analytical variables and to validate the method in a real-life pediatric hematology hospital setting.

Methods: Platelet aggregation was induced by ADP in diluted PRP in the presence of 2 mM calcium at 23 °C.

Light induces a rapid increase in cAMP and activates PKA in rod outer segments of the frog retina.

The phototransduction cascade enables the photoreceptor to detect light over a wide range of intensities without saturation. The main second messenger of the cascade is cGMP and the primary regulatory mechanism is calcium feedback. However, some experimental data suggest that cAMP may also play a role in regulating the phototransduction cascade, but this would require changes in cAMP on a time scale of seconds.

Computational Study of Molecular Mechanism for the Involvement of Human Serum Albumin in the Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System.

Human serum albumin (HSA) is an endogenous inhibitor of angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) and, thus, plays a key role in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS). However, little is known about the mechanism of interaction between these proteins, and the structure of the HSA-ACE complex has not yet been obtained experimentally. The purpose of the presented work is to apply computer modeling methods to study the interaction of HSA with ACE in order to obtain preliminary details about the mechanism of their interaction.