Fine-needle aspiration cytodiagnosis of liesegang rings in women presenting with a mammographic opacity

In this communication three women patients are described in which fine-needle aspiration cytology was undertaken as a first line of noninvasive investigation to determine the cause of a mammographic opacity. The cytologic findings in the three cases showed features of apocrine cysts with numerous spherical ring-like structures resembling Liesegang rings of various sizes, with double-layer outer wall, striations, and an amorphous central nidus. Although similar structures have been described by us very rarely in breast cysts, their presence in a mammographic opacity was noted for the first time. Furthermore, in the three cases fine-needle aspiration cytology not only resulted in a specific diagnosis but also obviated the need for any invasive surgery apart from relieving patient anxiety and clinical concern by excluding a serious lesion. Diagn. Cytopathol. 1997;17:213–215. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

In silico exploration of lignin peroxidase for unraveling the degradation mechanism employing lignin model compounds

Lignin peroxidase is a heme-containing biocatalyst, well-known for its diverse applications in the fields from environmental chemistry to biotechnology. LiP-mediated oxidative catalysis is H₂O₂-dependent, and can oxidize phenolic, and non-phenolic substrates by oxidative cleavage of the C–C and C–O bonds of lignin. In contrast to fungi-derived LiP, the binding affinity of bacterial-derived LiP to lignin at the molecular level is poorly known to date. Tremendous wet-lab studies have been unveiled that provide degradation and biotransformation information on kraft lignin, whilst studies on the completely transformed compounds and the degradation of each transformed compounds simultaneously during degradation are scarce. To gain an understanding of the degradation process using docking, and MDS based studies, we assessed the binding affinity of selected lignin model compounds with bacterial origin LiP and validated such docked complexes exploiting 30 ns molecular dynamics simulations. We selected and picked a total of 12 lignin model compounds for molecular modeling analysis, namely two chlorinated lignin model compounds (monomer) (2-chlorosyringaldehyde and 5-chlorovanillin), eight standard lignin model compounds (veratryl alcohol, syringyl alcohol, sinapyl alcohol, methyl hydroquinone, guaiacol, coniferyl alcohol, catechol, and 4-methoxy phenol), while, two 4-O-5, and β-O-4 linkage-based multimeric model compounds (dimer: 2-methoxy-6-(2-methoxy-4-methylphenoxy)-4-methylphenol; trimer: syringyl β-O-4 syringyl β-O-4 sinapyl alcohol). Far more specific binding residues were observed from XP-Glide docking, as TYR, HIP (protonated histidine), PHE, VAL, ASP, THR, LYS and GLN. The binding affinity was confirmed by the Gibbs free energy or binding energy (ΔG) score; furthermore, it is found that the maximum binding energy seems to be observed for 4-methoxyphenol with a Glide score of −3.438 with Pi–Pi stacking and H-bond type bonding interactions, whilst the lowest XP Gscore as −8.136 with Pi–Pi stacking and H-bond (side chain) type bonding interactions were found for the trimer model compound. The docked complexes were further evaluated for deep rigorous structural and functional fluctuation analyses through high-performance molecular dynamics simulations-DESMOND, after a post simulation run of 30 ns. The RMSD trajectory analyses of the protein-ligands were found to be in the equilibrium state at the end of simulation run for multimeric lignin model compounds. In addition, ionic ligand–protein interaction occurs among chlorinated compounds, while hydrophobic and H-bond contacts have frequently been observed in all lignin-model compounds. The findings herein demonstrate that bacterial LiP can effectively catalyze multiple lignin model compounds, and it might further be used as an effective tool for sustainable mitigation of diverse environmental contaminants.

The findings herein demonstrate that bacterial LiP can effectively catalyze multiple lignin model compounds, and it might further be used as an effective tool for sustainable mitigation of diverse environmental contaminants.     

Salt intake and salt‐reduction strategies in South Asia: From evidence to action

The World Health Organization recommends salt reduction as a cost‐effective intervention to prevent noncommunicable diseases. Salt‐reduction interventions are best tailored to the local context, taking into consideration the varying baseline salt‐intake levels, population''s knowledge, attitude, and behaviors. Fundamental to reduction programs is the source of dietary salt‐intake. In South Asian countries, there is a paucity of such baseline evidence around factors that contribute to community salt intake. Upon reviewing the electronic literature databases and government websites through March 31, 2021, we summarized dietary salt intake levels and aimed to identify major sources of sodium in the diet. Information on the current salt reduction strategies in eight South Asian countries were summarized, namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. One hundred twelve publications (out of identified 640) met our inclusion‐exclusion criteria for full text review. Twenty‐one studies were included in the review. Quality of the included studies was assessed using the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute assessment tool. The primary result revealed that mean salt intake of South Asian countries was approximately twice (10 g/day) compared to WHO recommended intake (< 5 g/day). The significant proportion of salt intake is derived from salt additions during cooking and/or discretionary use at table. In most South Asian countries, there is limited data on population sodium intake based on 24‐h urinary methods and sources of dietary salt in diet. While salt reduction initiatives have been proposed in these countries, they are yet to be fully implemented and evaluated. Proven salt reduction strategies in high‐income countries could possibly be replicated in South Asian countries; however, further community‐health promotion studies are necessary to test the effectiveness and scalability of those strategies in the local context.     

Composition of Eukaryotic Viruses and Bacteriophages in Individuals with Acute Gastroenteritis

Metagenomics based on the next-generation sequencing (NGS) technique is a target-independent assay that enables the simultaneous detection and genomic characterization of all viruses present in a sample. There is a limited amount of data about the virome of individuals with gastroenteritis (GI). In this study, the enteric virome of 250 individuals (92% were children under 5 years old) with GI living in the northeastern and northern regions of Brazil was characterized. Fecal samples were subjected to NGS, and the metagenomic analysis of virus-like particles (VLPs) identified 11 viral DNA families and 12 viral RNA families. As expected, the highest percentage of viral sequences detected were those commonly associated with GI, including rotavirus, adenovirus, norovirus (94.8%, 82% and 71.2%, respectively). The most common co-occurrences, in a single individual, were the combinations of rotavirus-adenovirus, rotavirus-norovirus, and norovirus-adenovirus (78%, 69%, and 62%, respectively). In the same way, common fecal-emerging human viruses were also detected, such as parechovirus, bocaporvirus, cosavirus, picobirnavirus, cardiovirus, salivirus, and Aichivirus. In addition, viruses that infect plants, nematodes, fungi, protists, animals, and arthropods could be identified. A large number of unclassified viral contigs were also identified. We show that the metagenomics approach is a powerful and promising tool for the detection and characterization of different viruses in clinical GI samples.     

Quantitation of change in the medullary compartment in renal allograft by ultrasound

Twenty-three renal allograft recipients with uncomplicated post-transplant courses were sonographically evaluated on the 3rd, 10th, 30th, and 90th postoperative day. The cortical thickness (CT), pyramidal length (PL), pyramidal width (PW), corticomedullary ratio (CMR), and medullary pyramidal index (MPI) were determined at each examination. The measurements obtained from the donor before implantation were used as the baseline. PW increased significantly in the absence of rejection and obstruction in renal allograft during the early post-transplant period. Although the MPI, and to a lesser extent the CMR, detected changes in dimensions of the medullary compartment, there was considerable intra- and inter-individual variation in their values during the post-operative period. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound 25:265–269, 1997