The antimicrobial activity of honey, bee pollen loads and beeswax from Slovakia

The aim of this study was to test the antimicrobial activity of propolis, bee pollen loads and beeswax samples collected in the year 2009 from two locations in Slovakia to pathogenic bacteria, microscopic fungi and yeasts. The antimicrobial effect of the bee product samples were tested using the agar well diffusion method. For extraction, 99.9% and 70% methanol (aqueous, v/v) and 96% and 70% ethanol (aqueous, v/v) were used. Five different strains of bacteria, i.e. Listeria monocytogenes CC M 4699, Pseudomonas aeruginosa CC M 1960; Staphylococcus aureus CC M 3953; Salmonella enterica CC M 4420, Escherichia coli CC M 3988, three different strains of microscopic fungi, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, and seven different strains of yeasts Candida krusei, Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, Candida parapsilosis, Candida tropicalis, Geotrichum candidum, Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, were tested. After 48 hours S. aureus was the bacterium most sensitive to the 70% ethanol extract of pollen, A. fumigatus was the most sensitive microscopic fungus (70% ethanol) and C. glabrata the most sensitive yeast (70% methanol). Microorganisms most sensitive to propolis extracts were L. monocytogenes, A. fumigatus (70% ethanol) and G. candidum (70% methanol). Most sensitive to beeswax extracts were E. coli, A. niger and C. tropicalis

Assessment, identification, and classification of cortical abnormalities in autistic adults using diffusion tensor imaging of underlying white matter

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by communication deficits, abnormal social interactions, and restrictive or repetitive interests and behaviors. Although autism research is an emerging field, the cause and cure remain unknown. Previous studies suggest an abnormal brain growth pattern in autism with near normal brain volume at birth, enlargement during early childhood, slowed growth during adolescence, and again, near normal brain volume during adulthood. Early brain growth abnormalities may negatively affect maturing brain areas. This leads to microscopic differences in white matter tract structure and organization which is undetectable by traditional MRI methods. By focusing on the less studied adult autistic population, the current diffusion tensor imaging study uses brain water diffusion to probe tissue organization and assess structural alterations resulting from an abnormal brain growth pattern. Typical diffusion imaging studies focus on central white matter regions to evaluate damage. The current study maps damage throughout the entire cerebral cortex using a post-processing method. In this method, subcortical diffusivity measures from white matter directly underlying the cortex are mapped to the overlying cortex. These interface maps were thoroughly investigated through a region of interest (ROI) and a voxelwise approach. Both analyses provide complementary results, finding similar areas of increased diffusivity in autistic individuals, such as middle temporal and inferior frontal areas. However, each analysis also reports several unique results. In the ROI case, autistic individuals additionally display significantly increased diffusivity in the left inferior temporal region and bilateral occipital cortex. In the voxelwise case, autistic individuals additionally display significantly increased diffusivity in the left inferior parietal lobule, bilateral precuneus, and bilateral insula. A subsequent surface-based analysis allowed visualization of these differences on the entire three dimensional cortical surface. The apparent differences between analyses are due to their inherent methodology. ROI analysis identifies larger diffusivity changes and is capable of detecting areas that may vary among subjects in their anatomical location within a region, while the voxelwise analysis finds smaller areas of change. Importantly, all identified areas are implicated in autism. Interestingly, the analyses collectively report more mean diffusivity (MD), parallel diffusivity (λ||), and perpendicular diffusivity (λ⊥) differences compared to fractional anisotropy (FA) for autistic individuals, suggesting greater MD sensitivity to diffusivity differences at the gray/white matter interface. A simple diffusion simulation was carried out to investigate relative FA and MD changes for slight modifications of parallel axonal tract organization. Due to greater FA variability and similar relative FA and MD changes, results indicate that MD is a more sensitive measure, further supporting the previous ROI, voxelwise, and surface analyses’ findings. Interface maps are potential tools for clinically diagnosing autism. Autistic and control interface diffusion data was classified using two different automated techniques, the Earth Mover’s Distance Metric and the Center of Mass. Initial investigation on the small sample size yields promising results with 13 out of 16 individuals classified correctly. This suggests the use of interface maps as biomarkers in the automated diagnosis and classification of autism

VPLYV NOVYCH TRENDOV VO VYZIVE HYDINY NA EKONOMIKU VROBY HYDINOVEHO MASA

The accession of the Slovak Republic to the European Union and the permanent pressure of competitive environment in which the companies of the Slovak poultry industry are also involved have a significant influence on the decisions made by the top management. If the companies want to keep up with new marketing conditions, they are forced permanently to improve production economy. One of the possibilities of improving the economy of poultry meat production is the introduction of new trends in poultry nutrition. Probiotics and their application through drinking water seem to be a good and thrifty option to improve performance, decrease mortality as well as feed consumption, and at the same time to keep high quality of poultry products. These facts were also confirmed by the results from our testing the Lactobacillus fermentum-based probiotic preparation in broiler chick fattening. According to these results, the tested probiotic preparation can be recommended for a wide range of applications in poultry nutrition. Its use has led to the productivity improvement from the aspect of an increase in produced meat and a decrease both in mortality and feed consumption, thus increasing the profit of poultry meat production

BARLEY VARIETIES DISCRIMINATION USING MALDI-TOF MASS SPECTROMETRY

Barley is a widely used foodstuff and it is the most important component in malting and brewing. Purity of barley grains in malting and brewing is important in relation to technological processing. Therefore, an effective analysis of barley purity has high priority. The aim of this study was the discrimination of barley varieties using Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Eight barley varieties, Kangoo, Laudis, Malz, Marthe, Odyssey, Overture, Sebastian and Wintmalt were investigated. Several protein extraction methods, barley samples preparation for MALDI-TOF MS, reproducibility, influence of time on the hordein quality spectrum and groups of hordeins mass spectrum suitable for barley discrimination were tested. The results showed that removal of albumins and globulins does not affect the resulting hordein spectrum, but time decreases the hordein spectrum intensity. Preparation of barley samples has the highest priority. The most important factor is the selection of the right matrix and its use. B hordeins should be used for the discrimination of Barley varieties. Local Barley database based on B hordeins can be created but the protein spectra must be obtained with the highest purity and the highest reproducibility. The right set up of MALDI Biotyper software can lead to local Barley database establishment. Also, Barley’s B hordeins were used for the creation of a relatedness dendrogram. These obtained results showed that MALDI-TOF MS is a very usefull and powefull method for Barley varieties discrimination with a high reproducibility.</jats:p

Persistent Differences in Patterns of Brain Activation After Sports-Related Concussion: A Longitudinal Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Avoiding recurrent injury in sports-related concussion (SRC) requires understanding the neural mechanisms involved during the time of recovery after injury. The decision for return-to-play is one of the most difficult responsibilities facing the physician, and so far this decision has been based primarily on neurological examination, symptom checklists, and neuropsychological (NP) testing. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) may be an additional, more objective tool to assess the severity and recovery of function after concussion. The purpose of this study was to define neural correlates of SRC during the 2 months after injury in varsity contact sport athletes who suffered a SRC. All athletes were scanned as they performed an n-back task, for n=1, 2, 3. Subjects were scanned within 72 hours (session one), at 2 weeks (session two), and 2 months (session three) post-injury. Compared with age and sex matched normal controls, concussed subjects demonstrated persistent, significantly increased activation for the 2 minus 1 n-back contrast in bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in all three sessions and in the inferior parietal lobe in session one and two (α≤0.01 corrected). Measures of task performance revealed no significant differences between concussed versus control groups at any of the three time points with respect to any of the three n-back tasks. These findings suggest that functional brain activation differences persist at 2 months after injury in concussed athletes, despite the fact that their performance on a standard working memory task is comparable to normal controls and normalization of clinical and NP test results. These results might indicate a delay between neural and behaviorally assessed recovery after SRC.</p

Use of MALDI-TOF MS to Discriminate between Aflatoxin B1-Producing and Non-Producing Strains of <i>Aspergillus flavus</i>

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is one of the most toxic mycotoxins. One of the producers of AFB1 is Aspergillus flavus. Therefore, its rapid identification plays a key role in various sectors of the food and feed industry. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry is one of the fastest and most accurate methods today. Therefore, the aim of this research was to develop the rapid identification of producing and non-producing strains of A. flavus based on the entire mass spectrum. To accomplish the main goal a different confirmatory MALDI-TOF MS and TLC procedures such as direct AFB1 identification by scraping from TLC plates, A. flavus mycelium, nutrient media around A. flavus growth, and finally direct AFB1 identification from infected wheat and barley grains had to be conducted. In this experiment, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry with various modifications was the main supporting technology. All confirmatory methods confirmed the presence of AFB1 in the samples of aflatoxin-producing strains of A. flavus and vice versa; AFB1 was not detected in the case of non-producing strains. Entire mass spectra (from 2 to 20 kDa) of aflatoxin-producing and non-producing A. flavus strains were collected, statistically analyzed and clustered. An in-depth analysis of the obtained entire mass spectra showed differences between AFB1-producing and non-producing strains of A. flavus. Statistical and cluster analysis divided AFB1-producing and non-producing strains of A. flavus into two monasteries. The results indicate that it is possible to distinguish between AFB1 producers and non-producers by comparing the entire mass spectra using MALDI-TOF MS. Finally, we demonstrated that if there are established local AFB1-producing and non-producing strains of A. flavus, the entire mass spectrum database identification of aflatoxigenic A. flavus strains can be even faster and cheaper, without the need to identify the toxin itself