Characterisation of a New Fungal Immunomodulatory Protein from Tiger Milk mushroom, Lignosus rhinocerotis.

Lignosus rhinocerotis (Tiger milk mushroom) is an important folk medicine for indigenous peoples in Southeast Asia. We previously reported its de novo assembled 34.3 Mb genome encoding a repertoire of proteins including a putative bioactive fungal immunomodulatory protein. Here we report the cDNA of this new member (FIP-Lrh) with a homology range of 54-64% to FIPs from other mushroom species, the closest is with FIP-glu (LZ-8) (64%) from Ganoderma lucidum. The FIP-Lrh of 112 amino acids (12.59 kDa) has a relatively hydrophobic N-terminal. Its predicted 3-dimensional model has identical folding patterns to FIP-fve and contains a partially conserved and more positively charged carbohydrates binding pocket. Docking predictions of FIP-Lrh on 14 glycans commonly found on cellular surfaces showed the best binding energy of -3.98 kcal/mol to N-acetylgalactosamine and N-acetylglucosamine. Overexpression of a 14.9 kDa soluble 6xHisFIP-Lrh was achieved in pET-28a(+)/BL21 and the purified recombinant protein was sequence verified by LC-MS/MS (QTOF) analysis. The ability to haemagglutinate both mouse and human blood at concentration ≥0.34 µM, further demonstrated its lectin nature. In addition, the cytotoxic effect of 6xHisFIP-Lrh on MCF-7, HeLa and A549 cancer cell lines was detected at IC50 of 0.34 µM, 0.58 µM and 0.60 µM, respectively.

Electrocardiographical case. Narrow complex tachycardia provoked by the Valsalva manoeuvre.

A 19-year-old Chinese man presented with tachyarrhythmia during a human centrifuge session while performing a Valsalva manoeuvre at near normal (+1.4 Gz) centripetal forces. It was likely that the hydrostatic effects of sustained centrifugal forces, the distortion of the heart's shape, as well as swings in the autonomic dominance pre- and post-Valsalva manoeuvre, contributed to the tachyarrhythmia. The 12-lead ECG showed a narrow complex tachycardia with visible P-waves after the QRS complexes consistent with a long R-P' tachycardia. The intracardiac electrogram demonstrated a concentric retrograde atrial activation during narrow complex tachycardia. The V-A interval was 150 ms which was much longer than in typical atrioventricular nodal reentry tachycardia, which is usually less than 70 ms. The A-H interval was short and the H-A interval was long, indicating that antegrade activation was over the fast pathway and retrograde activation was over the slow pathway. The diagnosis was atypical atrioventricular nodal reentry tachycardia, and radiofrequency ablation was successfully applied to the slow AV nodal pathway.

Hydrazine inhalation hepatotoxicity.

Abstract Hydrazine is a hazardous chemical commonly used as a reactant in rocket and jet fuel cells. Animal studies have demonstrated hepatic changes after hydrazine inhalation. Human case reports of hydrazine inhalation hepatotoxicity are rare. We report a case of mild hepatotoxicity following brief hydrazine vapour inhalation in a healthy young man, which resolved completely on expectant management.

Heterophil to lymphocyte ratio and tonic immobility reactions to preslaughter handling in broiler chickens treated with ascorbic acid.

Stress and fear responses were evaluated in broiler chicks that were pretreated for 24 h with 0 ppm (control) or 1,200 ppm of L-ascorbic acid (AA) in their drinking water. The birds were subsequently subjected to either upright handling (UH) or inverted (IH) handling for about 45 s. Heterophil (H) counts, lymphocyte (L) counts, and H/L ratios (H/L) ratios were determined immediately (T0) and at 20 h (T20) following the handling treatment. The H/L ratios were similar for both groups at T0, whereas 20 h after the handling treatment, AA-supplemented birds had lower ratios than controls, resulting in a significant water treatment x time of blood sampling interaction. Inverted handling had negligible effect on H/L ratios but augmented tonic immobility (TI) durations as compared with UH. Irrespective of handling procedure, supplemental AA reduced underlying fearfulness, as measured by TI reaction. Neither water treatment nor handling method had significant effect on number of attempts to induce TI.

Co-translational effects of temperature on membrane insertion and orientation of P-glycoprotein sequences.

P-glycoprotein (pgp) is a membrane transport protein that causes multidrug resistance (MDR) by actively extruding a wide variety of cytotoxic agents out of cells. It may also function as a peptide transporter, a volume-regulated chloride channel, and an ATP channel. Previously, it has been shown that hamster pgp 1 Pgp is expressed in more than one topological form and that the generation of these structures is modulated by charged amino acids flanking the predicted transmembrane (TM) segments 3 and 4 and by soluble cytoplasmic factors. Different topological structures of Pgp may be related to its different functions. In this study, we examined the effects of translation temperature on the membrane insertion process and the topologies of Pgp. Using the rabbit reticulocyte lysate expression system, we showed that translation at different temperatures affects the membrane insertion and orientation of the putative TM3 and TM4 of hamster pgp 1 Pgp in a co-translational manner. This observation suggests that the membrane insertion process of TM3 and TM4 of Pgp molecules may involve a protein conducting channel and/or the interaction between TM3 and TM4, which act in a temperature sensitive manner. We speculate that manipulating temperature may provide a way to understand the structure-function relationship of Pgp and help overcome Pgp-related multidrug resistance of cancer cells.

Pattern of acute pelvic inflammatory disease in abortion-related admissions.

We evaluated 3,066 consecutive women admitted during 1 year to two major hospitals of Kuala Lumpur and the adjacent urban area of Malaysia. Indicators of acute pelvic inflammatory disease were more common among patients with induced abortions. PID was thought to be a major contributor to the higher costs associated with management of patients with induced abortions.