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The antifungal activity of essential oils of Thymus daenensis, Thymus vulgaris, Satureja hortensis and Satureja khuzistanica as well as their major compounds were studied against mold decays of orange fruit. According to GC-MS analysis, the major compounds of T. danensis essential oil were thymol (65.5%) and alpha-terpinene (11.9%) whereas T. vulgaris was rich in thymol (59%) and p-cymene (15.6%). Carvacrol (88.4%) in S. khuzistanica oil and carvacrol (51%), gamma-terpinene (20.8%) and p-cymene (13.7%) in S. hortensis oil were charecterized as major compounds. The oil of S. khuzistanica and its major compound carvacrol exhibited the strongest fungicide activity against Penicillium digitatum, Rhizopus stolonifer and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides at 300 µL/L. The results on orange fruits exhibited that the use of S. khuzistanica and S. hortensis EOs as spraying and dipping treatments could considerably reduce spoilages decays in the fruit.

Background: Deleterious effects of lipid accumulation in non-adipose tissues are known as lipotoxicity. The prevalence of cardiovascular disease due to lipotoxicity has been dramatically increased worldwide. Based on available reports, palmitic acid induced lipotoxicity in several cell type like cardiomyocyte and hepatocytes while oleic acid could prevent the lipotoxicity in rat hepatocytes because Unsaturated fatty acids may counteract the lipotoxicity associated with saturated fatty acids. This study aimed to investigate the effects of combination of linoleic acid with linoleic acid on the induced lipotoxicity by palmitic acid in adult rat cardiomyocyte. Methods: Ventricular heart muscle cells were isolated and seeded into 24-well-plates. Cells were treated with palmitic (0.5 mM), linoleic acid (0.25 mM)+linolenic acid (0.5 mM), palmitic+ linoleic acid+linolenic acid (0.5 mM+0.25 mM+0.5 mM) or left as control. Triacylglycerol (TAG), diacylglycerol (DAG), DNA fragmentation and percent of viability were measured at 24, 48 hours. Findings: Result showed that linoleic acid+linolenic acid decreased DAG and DNA fragmentation and increased TAG and cell viability when co-administrated with palmitic in comparison with palmitic alone (p

In this study, the effect of carbon and nitrogen sources, on production of yeast biomass was determined as well as the efficacy of various formulations of Candida membranifaciens to decrease blue mold on apple. The media containing sugar cane molasses as carbon sources caused more yeast growth than the media supplemented with permeate powder. Yeast extract as nitrogen source produced higher biomass than urea and Corn steep liquor (CSL). The best growth was obtained in medium that composed of sugar cane molasses, yeast extract and CSL. Viability of C. membranifaciens differed in various carriers significantly (p < 0.01). The number of viable cells in Kaolin and Talc-based formulations was gradually reduced whereas the viability in wheat bran based formulations increased in 4 months and then gradually declined. In general, the formulations stored at 4 °C had longer shelf life than those stored at 24 °C. The antagonistic efficacy of prepared formulations of C. membranifaciens was evaluated against Penicillium expansum on apple at storage conditions. There were no significant differences among Talc-based, Kaolin-based and Wheat bran-based formulations of C. membranifaciens in reduction of blue mold.

We evaluated different diagnostic strategies for the early diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction, combining sensitivity and specificity of different markers evaluated singly and using combination testing in parallel and serial modes. Myoglobin, cardiac troponin I (TnI), creatine kinase (CK), and CK-MB mass were tested in blood samples from 26 patients with acute myocardial infarction collected at admission (T0; mean = 3.3 hours from the onset of chest pain) and 3 and 6 hours later. The comparison group was made up of 70 patients with renal failure, skeletal muscle diseases, stable angina, unstable angina, and chest pain of nonischemic origin. Single tests showed different sensitivities in relation to the different release kinetics; myoglobin was the most sensitive (69% at T0) although less specific (46%), and TnI showed the highest specificity (90%) and a sensitivity of 54%. Combination testing in a parallel mode using myoglobin and TnI or CK-MB had the same sensitivity and specificity as myoglobin tested singly. The best combination in a serial mode is myoglobin and TnI (at T0 sensitivity, 54%; specificity, 98%), as confirmed by the analysis of the positive predictive value, the negative predictive value, and the accuracy evaluated as a function of different disease prevalences.

Cardiac troponin T (TnT) is a regulatory contractile protein whose detection in the circulation has been shown to be a specific and sensitive marker for ischemic myocardial cell injury both in adult and pediatric populations. We measured serum cardiac TnT in 15 consecutive full-term neonates presenting with bradycardia and electrocardiographic features of transient myocardial ischemia. Their median TnT concentrations (0.5 microg/l, range 0.01-0.37) were statistically comparable to our laboratory reference values for healthy term newborns (median 0.17 microg/l, range 0.01-0.42) (p = NS), but significantly higher with respect to our reference limits for healthy adults (median 0.01 micog/l, range 0.01-0.1) (p < 0.05). Our data demonstrate high TnT levels in neonates during the first days of life with respect to adults and similar TnT concentrations in term infants with and without TMI.

The aims of our study were to evaluate the plasma carboxypeptidase N activity in normal subjects and in patients with acute myocardial infarction and to delineate its relationship with creatine kinase-MB isoforms in monitoring of acute myocardial infarction, carboxypeptidase N being the major determinant of creatine kinase isoform conversion in plasma. The study was carried out in 34 healthy subjects and 19 patients with acute myocardial infarction diagnosed according to the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria in which the blood samples were collected immediately upon admission to the coronary care unit (median time 3.5 hours), every 4 to 6 hours for 24 hours, and every 12 hours until the third day post admission. Carboxypeptidase N activity, total creatine kinase, creatine kinase-MB mass concentration and creatine kinase-MB isoforms were determined in each sample from acute myocardial infarction patients, whereas only carboxypeptidase N and total creatine kinase activities were assayed in samples from healthy subjects. The results showed a high variability in carboxypeptidase N values among healthy subjects (median = 200 U/l; interquartile range = 190-247 U/l) and in the first available samples from acute myocardial infarction patients (median = 213 U/l; interquartile range = 234 U/l) without significant differences between groups and without a correlation between carboxypeptidase N and creatine activities either in healthy subjects or in acute myocardial infarction patients; in the latter group, however, a significant correlation (p < 0.01) with creatine kinase-MB calculated on all samples, was observed. In acute myocardial infarction patients carboxypeptidase N showed time-related variations, reaching the highest levels about 48 h after onset of chest pain. A statistically significant difference in carboxypeptidase N values (p = 0.0001) was found before and after creatine kinase-MB peak values as well as before and after MB2/MB1 normalization. Worthy of note is the finding that in two acute myocardial infarction patients presenting MB2/MB1 ratios lower than the cutoff value (1.5) throughout the period of observation, the baseline values for carboxypeptidase N were higher than in other patients studied. Our results suggest that the increase of carboxypeptidase N activity after infarction could be induced by an increase in endogenous substrate concentrations, in particular creatine kinase-MB released from damaged myocardium. Furthermore, high baseline levels of carboxypeptidase N will reduce the diagnosis efficiency of creatine kinase-MB isoforms in the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction.

Our aims were to ascertain the analytical performance and diagnostic efficiency of a new lectin-affinity electrophoresis and antibody-affinity blotting method for separating and identifying fucosylated AFP. We also compared the diagnostic efficiency of fucosylated AFP with that of total AFP in the early diagnosis of neoplastic liver diseases. In 32 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and in 19 subjects with benign liver diseases, total AFP was assayed using an enzyme immunoassay, while AFP fractions (L1, L2 and to cathode L3 fucosylated) were separated using lectin-affinity electrophoresis followed by antibody-affinity blotting. No significant difference was found between the total AFP values of patients with HCC and those of patients with benign liver disease (p > 0.05). In patients with HCC the fucosylation index of AFP (L3%) was significantly higher (p < 0.0001) than that in patients with benign liver disease. Our findings suggest that fucosylated AFP is of diagnostic value in differentiating between hepatocellular carcinoma and benign hepatic diseases, and that its measurement may be useful in the early detection of hepatocarcinoma in patients with chronic liver disease.