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This study characterized Bacillus globigii (BG) as a Bacillus anthracis Sterne (BAS) surrogate for wastewater treatment-related studies of UV inactivation, adsorption onto powdered activated carbon (PAC), and bioaerosol emission. The inactivation of BG was faster than that of BAS in DI water (pseudo first-order rate constants of 0.065 and 0.016 min -1 respectively) and in PBS solution (0.030 and 0.005 min -1 respectively). BG was also removed more quickly than BAS by PAC adsorption in DI (0.07 and 0.05 min -1 respectively) and in PBS (0.09 and 0.04 min -1 respectively). In DI, BG aggregated more ( P < 0.05) than BAS when the pH was 7 or greater but there were no statistically significant differences in NaCl solution. Spore aggregation was also studied with extended Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (XDLVO) models. Less than 1% of all spores were released as bioaerosols, and there was no significant difference ( P > 0.05) in emission between BG and BAS. To the author's knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate that BG is a suitable surrogate for BAS for bioaerosol emissions, but a poor surrogate for both UV inactivation and PAC adsorption. These results can be used to understand the ability of BAS to act as a surrogate for BA Ames because of its genetic and morphological similarities with BAS., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts to declare.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and the associated neurodegenerative dementia have become of increasing concern in healthcare. The tau protein has been considered a key hallmark of progressive neurodegeneration. In this paper, a large-scale analysis of five datasets (more than 2500 people) from the Global Alzheimer's Association Interactive Network (GAAIN) databases was performed to investigate the association between the level of tau protein, including total tau and phosphorylated tau (p-tau), in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and cognitive status. Statistically significant (or marginally significant) high total tau or p-tau concentrations in CSF were observed in dementia patients compared with healthy people in all datasets. There is also a statistically significant (or marginally significant) negative correlation between p-tau concentrations in CSF and Folstein Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores. In addition, transcriptomic data derived from mouse microglial cells showed multiple genes upregulated in Toll-like receptor signaling and Alzheimer's disease pathways, including TNF, TLR2, IL-1β, and COX subunits, suggesting that the mechanism of action that relates p-tau and MMSE scores may be through overactivation of pro-inflammatory microglial activity by Aβ peptides, TNF-mediated hyperphosphorylation of tau, and the infectious spread of pathological tau across healthy neurons. Our results not only confirmed the association between tau protein level and cognitive status in a large population but also provided useful information for the understanding of the role of tau in neurodegeneration and the development of dementia.

Background: Bradycardia is a physiological condition characterized by a decrease in heart rate and is a side effect of many drug classes. Bradycardia has been reported as an adverse event for patients receiving donepezil for Alzheimer's disease (AD) treatment., Objective: The purpose of the paper is to systematically investigate the association between the occurrence of bradycardia in adults and the usage of donepezil using clinical data derived from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) database., Methods: The risk of bradycardia in patients who only took donepezil was compared with those of patients who only took over-the-counter medications, multiple arrhythmia drugs, or other medications for AD treatment. In addition, this study sought to determine if this heightened bradycardia risk was influenced by sex, age, and dosage., Results: The results indicated that there was a significant greater likelihood of reporting bradycardia in patients administered donepezil than most of the drugs investigated. There was no significant association between age or the dosage of donepezil and the likelihood of reporting bradycardia. However, males were found to be more likely than females to report bradycardia as an adverse event. Tumor necrosis factor inhibition and the stimulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase were proposed to be the primary mechanism of actions which confer elevated bradycardia risk when using donepezil., Conclusion: These findings identified strong association between the usage of donepezil and bradycardia in adults as well as provided insight into the underlying molecular mechanisms that induce bradycardia by donepezil.

Background: Rectus sheath hematoma is a rare clinical diagnosis, particularly in pregnancy. Due to unspecific symptoms, misdiagnosis is likely and could potentially endanger a patient as well as her fetus., Case Presentation: A 26-year-old white woman presented with mild right-sided abdominal pain, which increased during palpation and movement, at 26 + 3 weeks' gestational age. Ultrasound imaging initially showed a round and well-demarcated structure, which appeared to be in contact with her uterine wall, leading to a suspected diagnosis of an infarcted leiomyoma. However, she reported increasing levels of pain and laboratory tests showed a significant drop in her initially normal hemoglobin level. A magnetic resonance imaging scan finally revealed a large type III rectus sheath hematoma on the right side. Because of progressive blood loss into her rectus sheath under conservative therapy, with a significant further decrease in her hemoglobin levels, surgical treatment via right-sided paramedian laparotomy was initiated. During the operation the arterial bleed could be ligated. She eventually achieved complete convalescence and delivered a healthy newborn spontaneously after 40 weeks of gestation., Conclusion: This case report highlights the clinical and diagnostic features of rectus sheath hematoma and shows the anatomical aspects of the rectus sheath, simplifying early and correct diagnosis.

Purpose: The Jun proteins (c-Jun, JunD and JunB) play an important role in the regulation of cell proliferation, apoptosis and angiogenesis. It is well established that these proteins participate in the carcinogenesis and progression in several tumour types. However, little is known about the prognostic significance of Jun proteins in patients with invasive epithelial ovarian carcinoma., Methods: We analysed fresh-frozen tissues of 161 ovarian cancer patients by using Western blot analysis to investigate protein levels of JunB, JunD, c-Jun and phosphorylated c-Jun (pc-Jun Ser63). The results were correlated with clinicopathologic prognostic parameters and survival data., Results: A high pc-Jun expression was significantly associated with shorter progression-free survival (14 vs. 16 months, p = 0.017) and overall survival (25 vs. 41 months, p = 0.038). In case of JunD, moderate protein levels were associated with a better prognosis, leading to longer progression-free and overall survival compared to weak or strong JunD expression (PFS in cases with weak/moderate/strong JunD expression: 14 vs. 19.5 vs. 16 months, p = 0.011; OAS: 32 vs. 42 vs. 35.5 months, p = 0.009). Multivariate Cox regression analysis confirmed an independent and significant impact of pc-Jun and JunD on the patient's prognosis., Conclusions: Our results show that Jun proteins (pc-Jun and JunD) influence carcinogenesis and tumour progression, suggesting a significant role as prognostic predictors in human ovarian carcinoma.

A method was developed for determination of total iodine content in different standard reference materials (SRMs) and seafood products by inductively coupled plasma/mass spectrometry (ICP/MS). If iodine is present as iodide and nitric acid is used in the wet digestion system, the observed signal is not stable when iodine is measured by ICP/MS at m/z 127. To stabilize the iodine signal, 3% ammonia solution (1 + 1, v/v) was added to the digest. The limit of quantitation of the method, defined as 6 times the standard deviation in the blank solution (n = 20) was estimated to be 15 mg/kg (using 0.2 g dry mass and a dilution factor of 50). The precision, expressed as repeatability of the iodine concentration, varied between 3.2 and 12% in SRMs, with concentrations of 4.70-0.17 mg/kg dry matter. The described method was compared with a method using tetramethylammonium hydroxide extraction. Both methods showed good precision and trueness by analyses of SRMs. The 2 methods were used to determine iodine in seafood from the Barents Sea, the Norwegian Sea, and the North Sea. The results showed great variation between different fish species as well as between individuals within a species. The lowest values of iodine were recorded in muscle of ling (Molva molva) with a mean of 0.07 mg/kg fresh weight and a variation between 0.03 and 0.11 mg/kg fresh weight. The highest values were found in cod (Gadus morhua) from the Barents Sea, with a mean of 2.5 mg/kg and a variation between 0.7 and 12.7 mg/kg fresh weight.

Salmon farmers are currently using high-energy feeds containing up to 35% fat; the fish's capability of fully utilizing these high-energy feeds has received little attention. Carnitine is an essential component in the process of mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation and, with the cooperation of two carnitine palmitoyltransferases (CPT-I and CPT-II) and a carnitine acylcarnitine transporter across the inner mitochondrial membrane, acts as a carrier for acyl groups into the mitochondrial matrix where beta-oxidation occurs. However, no reports are available differentiating between CPT-I and CPT-II activities in fish. In order to investigate the potential for fatty acid catabolism, the activities of key enzymes involved in fatty acid oxidation were determined in different tissues from farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), i.e., acyl-CoA oxidase (ACO) and CPT-I and CPT-II. Malonyl-CoA was a potent inhibitor of CPT-I activity not only in red muscle but also in liver, white muscle, and heart. By expressing the enzyme activities per wet tissue, the CPT-I activity of white muscle equaled that of the red muscle, both being >> liver. CPT-II dominated in red muscle whereas the liver and white muscle activities were comparable. ACO activity was high in the liver regardless of how the data were calculated. Based on the CPT-II activity and total palmitoyl-L-carnitine oxidation in white muscle, the white muscle might have a profound role in the overall fatty acid oxidation capacity in fish.