Effect of indoxyl sulfate on the morphology and function of the thyroid gland - ex vivo studies in rabbits.

Indoxyl sulfates are uremic indolic toxins known to participate in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases during chronic kidney disease in humans and some animal species. However, nothing is known about the indoxyl sulfate effect on the thyroid gland which is especially responsible for the general organism metabolism. This study determines the morpho-functional status of the thyroid gland after exposure to indoxyl sulfate (10, 25, and 50 mM) with the use of an ex vivo system and rabbit (n=10) as an experimental model thyroid gland histology, immunoexpression of thyrotropin receptor (TSHR), and concentrations of thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) were evaluated. Statistical analyses were performed using one-way analysis of the variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey's post hoc comparison test. Minor alterations in thyroid tissue structure e.g. very rare exfoliated epithelial cells, condensed colloid fluid, or slight loosening of the epithelium were found. In addition, modulated dose dependent-expression of TSHR (p<0.01, p<0.001) together with a decreased level of T4 and T3 (p<0.001, p<0.01) exception of an increased level of T4 after the middle dose of indoxyl sulfate were revealed. We report here, for the first time, that indoxyl sulfate affects the thyroid gland mainly at the molecular level. The rabbit thyroid gland ex vivo system seems to be suitable for further studies on the thyroid gland in health and disease. However, the effect of TSH-TSHR signaling at ultrastructural, and epigenetic levels needs supplementary appraisal.

Next-Generation Sequencing analysis discloses genes implicated in equine endometrosis that may lead to tumorigenesis.

Endometrosis is a periglandular fibrosis associated with dysfunction of affected glandular epithelial cells that is the most common cause of reduced fertility in mares, although it is not fully understood. The etiology of the disease is still partially unknown. This study focuses on understanding the genetic mechanisms potentially underlying endometrosis in mares using the Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technique. Endometrial samples, used in the study, were obtained in the anestrus phase both from healthy mares and those diagnosed with endometrosis. The NGS data were analyzed for gene involvement in biological processes and pathways (e.g. STAR, KOBAS-I, STRING, and ClustVis software). Bioinformatic analysis revealed differential expression of 55 transcripts. In tissues with endometrosis, most genes displayed upregulated expression. The protein-protein interaction analysis disclosed a substantial transcript network including transcripts related to metabolism e.g. sulfur metabolism (SELENBP1), ovarian steroidogenesis, steroid hormone biosynthesis, and chemical carcinogenesis (CYP1B1), COXs (COX4I1, COX3, UQCRFS1) as well as transcripts related to immune response e.g. MMP7, JCHAIN, PIGR, CALR, B2M, FCGRT. Interestingly, the latter has been previously linked with various pathologies including cancers in the female reproductive system. In conclusion, this study evaluated genes that are not directly impacted by sex hormone feedback, but that create a metabolic and immune environment in tissues, thus influencing fertility and pregnancy in mares with endometrosis. Moreover, some of the identified genes may be implicated in tumorigenesis of endometrial lesions. These data may be useful as a starting point in further research, such as the development of targeted strategies for rapid diagnosis and/or prevention of this pathology based on gene and protein-protein interactions.

Health behaviour of students versus a sense of self-efficacy.

PURPOSE: A sense of self-efficacy has become such an important construct in recent years that it has been included in most behaviour theories. Self-efficacy turned out to be very strong conditioning for health in a lot of research. The general influence of self-efficacy on health behaviour exceeds the influence of any other single variable. The feeling of self-efficacy allows to predict the intentions of actions in different spheres of human activity, including health behaviour. A higher sense of self-efficacy increases motivation for action, it is related to greater achievements of an individual and his/her better health. The aim of the research was to diagnose health behaviour of college students, to evaluate their sense of self-efficacy and to specify the relation between health behaviour presented by the participants and their sense of self-efficacy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The research was conducted using the method of diagnostic questionnaire with the following instruments: Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale--GSES R. Schwarzer, M. Jerusalem, the Questionnaire of Health Behaviour designed by one of the authors, and the measurement of BMI. The results from a group of 164 students enrolled in year 1 of bachelor of nursing programme from Kraków and Bielsko-Biala were statistically analyzed by using the chi-square test. RESULTS: The conducted study confirmed the hypothesis about the relation between self-efficacy and health behaviour only partly. A statistically significant influence of the sense of self-efficacy on such health behaviour as the consumption of fat in daily diet and drinking alcohol was revealed. Most students participating in the study achieved a high indicator of the sense of self-efficacy and presented both right and wrong health behaviour. CONCLUSIONS: The sense of self-efficacy of the participants is a promising and positive indicator presaging the sustainability and change of health behaviour.

High concentrations of sodium chloride facilitate the use of immobilized chymotrypsin for separating virgin forms of specific trypsin inhibitors.

It has been shown that specific trypsin inhibitors exhibit also antichymotrypsin activity in the presence of high NaCl concentrations. Taking advantage of this phenomenon a simple procedure of separation of the virgin forms of trypsin inhibitors from squash seeds and porcine pancreas (Kazal) was elaborated. In a typical experiment the inhibitor sample was loaded onto immobilized chymotrypsin equilibrated with 5 M NaCl at pH 8. After washing out unadsorbed material the virgin forms of inhibitors could be eluted either with water, buffer pH 8.0 or 0.02 M citrate buffer pH 2.6 containing no NaCl.