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The majority of people have a bitter taster phenotype, they perceive substances such as phenylthiocarbamide (PTC). This could be associated with a lower preference for bitter foods. The ability to detect bitter taste is due to TAS2R28 receptor. The aim of this study was to determine the preferences for basic flavours, taste combinations and bitter taste‐related foods in a sample of Chilean university students and to relate it to their PTC taster phenotype and genotype. A 5‐point Likert‐type online survey on taste and food preferences was applied to 149 Chilean university students (19.2 years; 69.8% women; 29.5% men and 0.7% prefer‐not‐to‐say). It classified students as strong taster (ST), intermediate taster (IT) or non‐taster (NT) through a PTC taste test. To assess the relationship between phenotype or genotype and students' preferences, we analysed frequency tables using Fisher's exact test. To genotype determination, it extracted DNA from buccal mucosal cells of 25 students (18.9 years; 72% female and 28% male). A fragment of TAS2R38 gene amplified (PCR) and digested (HaeIII). Our results show that 85.9% of students had a PTC taster phenotype (37.6% ST, 48.3% IT vs. 14.1% NT). Sweet taste was the most preferred, while bitter taste was the least. There was no association between taste and food preferences with student's phenotype or genotype. ST students presented homozygous taster genotype (55.6%); IT students, heterozygous taster genotype (75%); and NT students, homozygous non‐taster genotype (50%). Both the PTC taster phenotype and genotype associated are not related to a lower preference for bitter taste and foods studied. Our results will allow us to generate promotion and education strategies for healthy eating, through the inclusion of bitter foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cytotoxic T-cell response to the male-specific histocompatibility antigen (H-Y) is often used as an experimental model for studying the genetic control of the immune response. This anti-H-Y response is shown to be a complex one, with multicellular interactions involving genes of the H-2 complex, and also some genes unlinked to 1-1-2. For the analysis of the genetic control of the anti-H-Y immune response, different inbred strains have been used and classified accordingly as responders or non-responders. During the authors' studies of the genetic control of the immune response, some of the strains described as non-responders were found to behave as responders, namely strains B6.C-H-2bm/2 and B10.BR. This finding has added to the intricacy of current data on the genetic control of immune response to H-Y antigen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The influence of mesoscale flow on the elevated O3 concentrations recorded during 13-19 August 2000 in the coastal town of Rijeka (45.33°N, 14.45°E) has been examined. Although high levels of ozone concentration are often observed there, this episode was unique due to hourly afternoon concentrations persistently higher than 180 µg m−3 and nocturnal levels above 100 µg m−3. To study this episode, available meteorological and ozone measurements were analysed, along with supplemental numerical simulations and trajectories. The measurements revealed favourable atmospheric conditions for the production of ozone, i.e., high air temperatures associated with (1) the exchange of two dominant (although relatively weak) large-scale flows: southwesterly versus northeasterly bora winds, and (2) local thermal circulation. The bora wind was relatively weak and short lasting. Although the bora transported the polluted air mass away along the western Adriatic coast, the southwesterly flow returned ozone-rich air toward the Alps, thus contributing to the overall pollution over the northern Adriatic Sea. Models revealed the superposition of the southwesterly wind and local, thermally induced winds that caused the regional transport of ozone toward the Alps and the eastern Adriatic coast. However, while the regional transport of ozone from the northern Adriatic was found to enhance somewhat the ozone concentrations in Rijeka at the end of period studied, its surrounding local emission sources, uniform local thermal circulation systems, and recirculation of pollutants were crucial factors in the formation of the large daytime and night time ozone levels observed in Rijeka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Osteopontin (OPN) is non-collagenous extracellular matrix protein involved in various physiological and pathological events, including tumor progression. The aim of this study was to analyze the expression of OPN in normal oral mucosa and oral squamous cell carcinoma ( OSCC) and to assess its prognostic significance. Methods The expression of OPN was immunohistochemicaly analyzed in 86 OSCC and compared with clinicopathological variable such as tumor size, nodal stage, WHO clinical stage, Ki-67 proliferation index, and patients' outcome. OPN m RNA was analyzed using quantitative real-time PCR and compared with protein OPN expression and clinical outcome in 18 OSCC samples. Results The expression of OPN protein was found in OSCC tumor cells (t- OPN) and various stromal cells (s- OPN). High level of t- OPN expression was associated with higher nodal stage ( P = 0.045), higher WHO clinical stage ( P = 0.033), and poor clinical outcome ( P = 0.022). In multivariate analysis, t- OPN emerged as an adverse independent factor for survival ( P = 0.049). Although correlated with t- OPN ( P = 0.005), s- OPN was not significantly associated with clinical parameters, including patients' outcome. Also, there was no association between OPN and clinical parameters at the m RNA level. Conclusion OPN is upregulated in tumor and stromal OSCC cells. Tumor cell-derived OPN is involved in tumor progression and can independently predict the clinical outcome. Stromal-derived OPN probably has a different function compared with OPN secreted from tumor cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of multidrug resistance requires the efficient and accurate identification of new classes of antimicrobial agents. Endogenous antimicrobial peptides produced by most organisms are a promising source of such molecules. We have exploited the high conservation of signal sequences in teleost and anuran antimicrobial peptides to search cDNA (expressed sequence tag) databases for likely candidates. Subject sequences were then analysed for the presence of potential antimicrobial peptides based on physicochemical properties (amphipathic helical structure, cationicity) and use of the D-descriptor model to predict the therapeutic index (relation between the minimum inhibitory concentration and the concentration giving 50% haemolysis). This analysis also suggested mutations to probe the role of the primary structure in determining potency and selectivity. Selected sequences were chemically synthesized and the antimicrobial activity of the peptides was confirmed. In particular, a short (21-residue) sequence, likely of sticklefish origin, showed potent activity and it was possible to tune the spectrum of action and/or selectivity by combining three directed mutations. Membrane permeabilization studies on both bacterial and host cells indicate that the mode of action was prevalently membranolytic. This method opens up the possibility for more effective searching of the vast and continuously growing expressed sequence tag databases for novel antimicrobial peptides, which are likely abundant, and the efficient identification of the most promising candidates among them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During July 2009 an outbreak in neonates represented with gastrointestinal and respiratory symptoms was observed at the Neonatal Postintensive Care Unit, Clinical Hospital Center, Zagreb. Human parechovirus type 1 (HPeV1) was isolated from seven patients, one of whom was asymptomatic. All but one were premature neonates with serious underlying conditions, and all recovered fully after several days. In order to characterize the HPeV1s, sequencing of the VP1/2A region was conducted on six isolates from the outbreak and four isolates detected in Croatia in 2008 and 2007. The analysis of sequence similarity showed that the nucleotide identity between the prototype strain (Harris) and HPeV1 isolated in Croatia was 76.5-77.5%. Croatian strains from 2007 and 2009 clustered together with strains from the Netherlands and Germany detected in 2003 and 2006, respectively, while strains from 2008 clustered with the strain from Finland detected in 2000. Change of the dominant strains each year may suggest antigenic variation as a result of viral response to specific immunity of the target population. J. Med. Virol. 83:137-141, 2011. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) receptors (IP3Rs) drive calcium signals involved in skeletal muscle excitation-transcription coupling and plasticity IP3R subtype distribution and downstream events evoked by their activation have not been studied in human muscle nor has their possible alteration in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). We studied the expression and localization of IP3R subtypes in normal and DMD human muscle and in normal (RCMH) and dystrophic (RCDMD) human muscle cell lines. In normal muscle, both type 1 IP3Rs (IP3R1) and type 2 IP3Rs (IP3R2) show a higher expression in type II fibers whereas type 3 IP3Rs (IP3R3) show uniform distribution. In DMD biopsies, all fibers display a homoge neous IP3R2 label, whereas 24 7% of type II fibers have lost the IP3R1 label. RCDMD cells show 5-fold overexpression of IP3R2 and down-regulation of IP3R3 compared with RCMH cells. A tetanic stimulus induces IP3-dependent slow Ca2+ transients significantly large and faster in RCDMD cells than in RCMH cells as well as significant ERK1/2 phosphorylation in normal but not in dystrophic cells. Excitation-driven gene expression was different among cell lines; 44 common genes were repressed in RCMH cells and expressed in RCDMD cells or vice versa. IP3-dependent Ca release may play a significant role in DMD pathophysiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skeletal muscle is a highly plastic tissue with a remarkable capacity to adapt itself to challenges imposed by contractile activity. Adaptive response, that include hypertrophy and activation of oxidative mechanisms have been associated with transient changes in transcriptional activity of specific genes. To define the set of genes regulated by a depolarizing stimulus, we used 22 K mouse oligonucleotide microarrays. Total RNA from C2C12 myotubes was obtained at 2, 4, 18, and 24 h after high K+ stimulation. cDNA from control and depolarized samples was labeled with cyanine 3 or 5 dyes prior to microarray hybridization. Loess normalization followed by statistical analysis resulted in 423 differentially expressed genes using an unadjusted P-value ≤ 0.01 as cut off. Depolarization affects transcriptional activity of a limited number of genes, mainly associated with metabolism, cell communication and response to stress. A number of genes related to Ca2+ signaling pathways are induced at 4 h, reinforcing the potential role of Ca2+ in early steps of signal transduction that leads to gene expression. Significant changes in the expression of molecules involved in muscle cell structure were observed; K+-depolarization increased Tnni1 and Acta1 mRNA levels in both differentiated C2C12 and rat skeletal muscle cells in primary culture. Of these two, depolarization induced slow Ca2+ transients appear to have a role only in the regulation of Tnni1 transcriptional activity. We suggest that depolarization induced expression of a small set of genes may underlie Ca2+ dependent plasticity of skeletal muscle cells. J. Cell. Physiol. 210: 819–830, 2007. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary The purpose of this study was to examine the short-term effects of 75, 100 and 150 mg of acarbose mixed in 100 g standard laboratory chow on specific intestinal disaccharidase activities and on hyperglycaemia in diabetic CBA strain mice on standard diet. The small intestine was excised and divided into three segments, from pylorus to duodenum, and two equal lengths of the jejunum and ileum of control and diabetic mice with or without added acarbose. Specific maltase and sucrase activities were determined using maltose and sucrose as substrates respectively. Increased specific activities of maltase and sucrase were detected in the intestines of CBA mice on standard laboratory diet seven days after alloxan-induced diabetes. Feeding for 7 days with 75, 100 or 150 mg acarbose uniformly mixed in 100 g standard laboratory chow, induced a decrease in the specific maltase and sucrase activities, compared with diabetic mice on standard laboratory diet. Feeding with 75 mg acarbose mixed in 100 g standard laboratory chow caused a statistically significant decrease of maltase in the duodenum and of sucrase in duodenum and jejunum, without a antihyperglycaemic effect. Feeding with 100 or 150 mg caused statistically significant decreases in specific maltase and sucrase activities in duodenum, jejunum and ileum. An antihyperglycaemic effect was observed only in the group of diabetic mice fed with 100 mg acarbose. This indicates that the antihyperglycaemic effect of acarbose involves factors other than these, related only to its inhibitory effect on disaccharidase activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Summary Leaf and branch samples were collected from 10 Populus nigra L. ‘Italica’ trees found in the Zagreb urban area. One of the P. nigra L. ‘Italica’ trees exhibited leaf yellowing, overall sparse foliage, stunting and decline. Two methods for the nucleic acid extraction in the phytoplasma detection from P. nigra were compared. A phytoplasma from the aster yellows group (16SrI) was detected by PCR in the symptomatic as well as in four apparently asymptomatic plants. The pathogens are classified, by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the 16S rRNA gene plus the spacer region, as members of a newly described subgroup 16SrI-P. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S ribosomal and spacer region sequence confirmed their close relationship with the other members of the aster yellows group. However, RFLP analyses of other conserved genes such as tuf, BB88 and ribosomal protein rp L22 gene, clearly confirmed that this is a molecularly distinguishable phytoplasma belonging to a new ribosomal protein subgroup designated rp-O. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

summary The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of signs and symptoms of temporomandibular disorders in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occurring as a consequence of exposure to war stress. The examined group consisted of 100 male subjects, aged from 25 to 50 years, who had taken part in the War in Croatia, and in whom PTSD had previously been diagnosed. The control group comprised 100 subjects, without PTSD, of the same sex and age group, who had not taken part in the War. A functional evaluation of the stomatognathic system was performed using the Helkimo Anamnestic and Clinical Dysfunction Index. Eighty-two per cent of the group with PTSD had at least one symptom, and 98% at least one sign of dysfunction. Eight per cent reported mild symptoms and 74% severe symptoms. Twenty-eight per cent showed mild clinical signs, 22% had signs of moderate, and 48% of severe dysfunction. Twenty-four per cent of the control group of subjects had at least one symptom, and 52% at least one clinical sign of dysfunction. Twenty-two per cent reported mild and 2% severe symptoms. Mild clinical signs of dysfunction were found in 50% of subjects in the control group, moderate in 2% and none exhibited severe clinical signs. It is concluded that correlation exists between war stress and temporomandibular disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the following work the influence of the combination of intraperitoneal (i.p.) and footpad (f.p.) immunization on anti-H-Y immunological responsiveness in female CBA mice is described. Immunological responsiveness was determined on the basis of rejection or non-rejection of syngeneic male skin grafts from previously immunized CBA females. It was determined that the rejection of grafts is influenced by the nature of the first contact with the antigen. For instance, if the first immunization is by i.p. injection and the remainder by f.p. injections, then there is no rejection of grafts, and vice versa, rejection of grafts occurs if the first immunization is by f.p. injection regardless of whether the remainder are given i.p. The results are discussed in the context of existing theories in order to explain specific immunological (non-)responsiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After being primed in vivo and restimulated in vitro, cytolytic T lymphocytes (CTL) were produced in the strain combinations B 10, AM anti-B10.A(1R) and B10.A(1R) anti-B10.AM. Although the two strains differ in the chromosomal interval between the Eα and the D loci, the CTL are not directed against antigens controlled by loci in this interval. Instead, the CTL detect minor histocompatibility (H) antigens controlled by loci that are not linked to H-2. The recognition of the antigens detected by the B10.AM anti-B10.A(1R) CTL is restricted by the Kk and Db molecules, but the CTL also cross react with the Dd molecule (or a molecule controlled by a locus closely linked to Dd). The recognition of the antigens detected by these two CTL behave as if controlled by alleles at the same minor H focus or foci. This focus is distinct from H-2, and the B10.AM congenic line apparently retained a C3H-derived allele at this locus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]