Zika: An Ancient Virus Incipient into New Spaces
Jagriti Narang, Manika Khanuja in Small Bite, Big Threat, 2020
Structural proteins are mainly for interacting with the surrounding environment and are present on the outer membrane of ZIKV Various functions of structural proteins are membrane fusion, recognition by the host immune system, and involvement in the binding of receptors (Modis et al., 2003; Rey et al., 1995; Zhang, Y et al., 2004). The outermost membrane that contains structural proteins is of icosahedral shape as confirmed through cryo-electron microscopy. The outermost shell is mainly composed of two proteins: (i) envelope protein (having 505 amino acids) and (ii) membrane protein (75 amino acids). The envelope protein is glycoprotein, and it forms association with the lipid membrane by transmembrane domains comprising three regions D1, DII, and DIII, and there is another region, that is, transmembrane, which helps in providing support to the whole framework. The D1, DII, and DIII regions are arranged in a manner that half of three E protein dimers results in the formation of a triangle, and ultimately 180 copies of the E protein dimer end produce the icosahedral shape of the outermost shell of ZIKV particles (Kostyuchenko et al., 2013, 2014). The tip of the DII domain contains a fusion loop that helps to interact with the DIII of the other monomer. Thus, it forms the dimer structure leaving a gap of hydrophobic residue of 98–109 m (Cruz-Oliveira et al., 2015). This fusion loop that joins the DII with the DIII of other dimer is highly conserved among all flavivirus family and also helps in interaction with the host cell membrane and viral membrane.
Vessel Wall Imaging
George C. Kagadis, Nancy L. Ford, Dimitrios N. Karnabatidis, George K. Loudos in Handbook of Small Animal Imaging, 2018
Real-time confocal wide-field microscopy imaging was recently employed to visualize thrombus formation in the microcirculation of an in vivo mouse model of laser-induced vascular injury. Using high-speed, near-simultaneous acquisition of images of multiple fluorescent probes and of a bright-field channel, the investigators managed to visualize platelet deposition, tissue factor accumulation, and fibrin generation following endothelial injury (Falati et al. 2002). Quantitative fluorescence microscopy has been used for the visualization and quantification of very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) molecules within the arterial wall of rats. As the primary event in atherogenesis is lipid accumulation within the vessel wall, Rutledge et al. sought to visualize the interactions of VLDL surface and core lipids with the artery wall. In this study, the surface lipid in VLDL was traced using the phospholipid-like fluorescent probe 1,1′-dioctadecyl-3,3,3′,3′-tetramethyl-indocarbocyanine (DiI) and the core of VLDL particles was traced by fluorescently labeling apolipoprotein B with TRITC (tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate). Subsequently, the fluorescently labeled VLDLs were perfused through the carotid arteries of rats, and their arterial wall accumulation was evaluated by quantitative fluorescence microscopy. Interestingly, both DiI and TRITC were primarily visualized in the endothelial layer, while DiI also depicted deeper in a subendothelial position (Rutledge et al. 2000).
Molecular Biology
John C Watkinson, Raymond W Clarke, Louise Jayne Clark, Adam J Donne, R James A England, Hisham M Mehanna, Gerald William McGarry, Sean Carrie in Basic Sciences Endocrine Surgery Rhinology, 2018
Unlike RNA, DNA is extremely stable, which is understandable from the function that each has in the cell. For purposes of studying the DNA and in order to clone specific DNA, the DNA molecule needs to be divided into manageable fragments. Although the ability to cut (and also to join up) DNA molecules now appears to be a very straightforward process, it was only 1970 when the first restriction endonuclease was identified in a strain of Haemophilus influenzae, hence its name HindII (pronounced Hin-dee-two). It is believed that this restriction endonuclease acts in vivo in bacteria as an immune or host-defence system, recognizing non-self DNA in bacteriophages and cleaving them. By surveying many different bacteria, a wide range of restriction endonucleases is now available, each of which recognizes specific target sites based on sequences of four to eight nucleotides. As a specific, a seven nucleotide sequence (heptanucleotide) will occur less frequently than a four nucleotide sequence (tetranucleotide), statistically, endonucleases recognizing heptanucleotide targets will cut less frequently thereby yielding larger fragments than those recognizing tetranucleotides. As the DNA is double-stranded, the resultant fragments may have blunt ends or cohesive (‘sticky’) ends (Figure 1.1). The nature of the ends of DNA fragments thus generated impact upon the way in which they can be ligated (joined) into recombinant molecules. Ligation of DNA fragments with cohesive ends is more efficient than joining of blunt-ended fragments.
Obesity, Dietary inflammation, and Frailty among Older Adults: Evidence from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
Published in Journal of Nutrition in Gerontology and Geriatrics, 2019
Matthew C. Lohman, Nicholas V. Resciniti, Michael D. Wirth, Nitin Shivappa, James R. Hébert
The development and validation of the DII have been discussed in detail elsewhere.35 In short, nearly 2000 research articles, published between 1950 and 2010, examining the relationship between 45 different food parameters (mostly micro, macro nutrients and flavonoids plus some individual food items) and inflammation were reviewed. Articles showing a positive association between food parameters and pro-inflammatory cytokines (i.e., IL-1β, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-α, and CRP) or a negative association with anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-4 and IL-10) received a value of +1. If the food parameters were associated with reduced pro-inflammatory or increased anti-inflammatory cytokines, the article received a value of −1. Null values were set to 0. These scores were weighted based on study design (e.g., randomized control trials received the greatest weight and cell culture the lowest weight) rigor and used to create “inflammatory effect scores” for each food parameter.35
Associations of Novel Lifestyle- and Whole Foods-Based Inflammation Scores with Incident Colorectal Cancer Among Women
Published in Nutrition and Cancer, 2022
Yasheen Gao, Doratha A. Byrd, Anna Prizment, DeAnn Lazovich, Roberd M. Bostick
The contributions of dietary components and lifestyle characteristics to inflammation and CRC risk may be more substantial collectively than individually. To address this, several dietary inflammation scores, including the dietary inflammatory index (DII) (9) and the empirical dietary inflammatory index (EDII) (10), recently renamed the empirical dietary inflammatory pattern (EDIP) (11), were developed. In previous studies, a higher (more pro-inflammatory) DII was associated with higher CRC risk (12–21), although in one cohort, the estimated association among women was modest and not statistically significant (19). A higher (more pro-inflammatory) EDIP was also associated with higher CRC risk in men and women, separately and combined (11). However, the DII and EDIP have several limitations. The DII is heavily focused on classical nutrients, and so may not account for many other known/unknown dietary constituents that directly or indirectly affect inflammation. The EDIP was developed using a primarily data-driven (rather than hypothesis-driven) approach in a demographically, occupationally homogenous population, thus potentially limiting its generalizability to other populations. Neither score addresses lifestyle.
The association between dietary inflammatory index and psychological profile among men with spinal cord injury
Published in The Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine, 2022
Hamed Mohammadi, Karim Parastouei, Hosein Rostami, Abdulmnannan Fadel
In order to calculate the DII scores, we used dietary data derived from FFQs. The development and construct validation of the DII has been reported in previous studies.16 Briefly, an individual's exposure relative to the “standard global mean” was computed through subtracting standard means from the reported amounts and dividing by the corresponding “global standard deviation”. The derived values were then converted to a centered proportion score, to minimize the effect of “right skewing”. To compute individual food-specific DII scores, the centered proportion score was multiplied by the respective overall inflammatory scores. Finally, the derived values were then summed to create an overall DII. In the present study, the DII was computed based on 27 of the 45 components, because some items were not available and rest of them are not used in the Iranian diet (e.g. ethanol). The list of 27 food parameters included in the calculation of DII with overall inflammatory effect scores and intake values from the global daily mean intake were presented in supplementary Table 1.
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