The selectivity of electron acceptors for the removal of caffeine, gliclazide, and prazosin in an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor.

This study attempts to investigate the relationship between the dominance of reducing conditions and the biotransformation of pharmaceutical compounds, which has been scarcely reported in a continuous anaerobic treatment process. Previous batch experiments have discovered the possible implications of different reducing conditions on the biotransformation process, but have failed to reflect actual removal performance due to substrate limitations and other operational factors. Continuously operating reactors commonly receive wastewater stream containing a wide range of electron acceptors that diversify the growth of microorganisms in anaerobic treatment. The alteration of the dominance of reducing conditions in a continuous anaerobic reactor may result in the improvement of biotransformation performance compared to a single reducing condition in a substrate-limited batch experiment. The removal of psychostimulant caffeine (CAF), anti-diabetic drug gliclazide (GCZ), and anti-hypertensive drug prazosin (PRZ) were examined through the operation of an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor under predominant methanogenic condition (Phase I) and simultaneous reducing conditions provided by a nitrate supplement (Phase II). The results revealed high biotransformation performance for all three compounds (73-> 99%) in both Phase I and Phase II experiments and fitted the pseudo-first-order model. The biotransformation rate of CAF and PRZ were relatively lower by 25% and 29%, while the GCZ rate improvement doubled in Phase II compared to Phase I. The outcome from 16s rRNA sequencing suggested that the biotransformation of the compounds may be driven by Firmicutes and Bacteroidota in both phases, and Burkhorderiales and sulfate-reducing bacteria species in Phase II. This study proved preferential of reducing conditions does not negatively affect the biotransformation performance of each pharmaceutical compound in a continuous anaerobic reactor, but they led to varying biotransformation rate, hence shifting the microbial diversity.

Comparison of Iron alone and Zinc Plus Iron Supplementation Effect on the Clinical and Laboratory Features of Children with Iron Deficiency Anemia.

Background: Childhood Iron deficiency anemia is one of the main health problems around the world especially underdeveloped countries. Supplementation with micronutrients specifically iron supplementation can be considered as a therapeutic strategy to prevent and treatment of this type of anemia. The aim of the present study is to compare the therapeutic effects of zinc plus iron and iron alone supplementation on the clinical and laboratory features of children with iron deficiency anemia referred to our Hospital in 2016. Materials and Methods: 88 patients aged 6 months to 4 years old with iron deficiency anemia and after applying exclusion criteria were enrolled in the study. Patients were randomly divided into two groups to receive zinc plus iron sulfate or iron sulfate alone supplement for one month. After treatment, clinical symptoms and lab test data including CBC, TIBC and serum iron and ferritin levels were again evaluated. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS15. Results: After one month of treatment, the clinical symptoms relived significantly in both groups. Also, there was significant changes between the mean value of laboratory parameters before and after treatment within each group (P <0.05). However, after one month of treatment there was no significant difference between the two groups (P> 0.05). Conclusion: The study revealed both iron alone and zinc plus iron supplementation are effective on the treatment of iron deficiency anemia but there are no significant difference and preference between these two types of treatment.

Multi-constituent identification in Australian cane toad skin extracts using high-performance liquid chromatography high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry.

Toad skins and venom glandular secretions have been widely used for centuries in traditional Chinese and Japanese medicine for the treatment of various ailments such as cancer, sores, toothache, local inflammation and pain. The active chemical constituents from traditional oriental medicines have demonstrated potential in the development of effective therapeutic pharmaceuticals. Our primary focus in this research was to identify and characterise 'active' compounds or groups of compounds for their potential as neuropsychiatric disorder therapeutics. For this aim, we utilised a variety of solvents, i.e., the aqueous, 60% ethanol (aqueous) and acetic acid (aq) (at two different pHs) for extractions of Australian cane toad skins to identify chemical constituents. The identification of compounds was carried out using HPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS/MS based on the accurate mass measurement for molecular ions and MS/MS analysis, whereby accurate mass pseudo-molecular ions and characteristic fragment ions were compared to published reference data, including mass bank and NIST. As a result, we have to date identified 42 major constituents including alkaloids, amino acids, bufadienolides, fatty acids, nucleobases, nucleosides and vitamins mostly from the aqueous and 60% ethanol extracts. Of the 42 constituents identified, 29 were found in the aqueous extract, 35 were found in the ethanol (aq) extract and only 10 in the pH 1.78 acetic acid extract and 11 in the pH 2.17 acetic acid extract of the cane toad skins. Therefore, the aqueous and 60% ethanolic extracts present the greatest potential for ongoing development in our assays. There have been no previous reports on the identification of many of the constituents we have here identified in Australian cane toad skins. These findings, while somewhat consistent with findings in toad skins in other countries, identifies the presence of potential bioactive constituents. Our results showed that HPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS/MS is an effective method to characterise and identify components in Australian cane toad skin extracts. Chemical profiling is an essential initial step in the identification and therapeutic exploitation of bioactive agents present in Australian cane toad skin extracts.

The yield and quality of cellular and bacterial DNA extracts from human oral rinse samples are variably affected by the cell lysis methodology.

Recent culture-independent studies have enabled detailed mapping of human microbiome that has not been hitherto achievable by culture-based methods. DNA extraction is a key element of bacterial culture-independent studies that critically impacts on the outcome of the detected microbial profile. Despite the variations in DNA extraction methods described in the literature, no standardized technique is available for the purpose of microbiome profiling. Hence, standardization of DNA extraction methods is urgently needed to yield comparable data from different studies. We examined the effect of eight different cell lysis protocols on the yield and quality of the extracted DNA from oral rinse samples. These samples were exposed to cell lysis techniques based on enzymatic, mechanical, and a combination of enzymatic-mechanical methods. The outcome measures evaluated were total bacterial population, Firmicutes levels and human DNA contamination (in terms of surrogate GAPDH levels). We noted that all three parameters were significantly affected by the method of cell lysis employed. Although the highest yield of gDNA was obtained using lysozyme-achromopeptidase method, the lysozyme-zirconium beads method yielded the peak quantity of total bacterial DNA and Firmicutes with a lower degree of GAPDH contamination compared with the other methods. Taken together our data clearly points to an urgent need for a consensus, standardized DNA extraction technique to evaluate the oral microbiome using oral rinse samples. Further, if Firmicutes levels are the focus of investigation in oral rinse microbiome analyses then the lysozyme-zirconium bead method would be the method of choice in preference to others.