The Antioxidant Potential of Tomato Plants (Solanum lycopersicum L.) under Nano-ZnO Treatment.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most valuable horticulture crops, consumed in both its raw and processed forms. To increase yield and efficiency, conventional and organic fertilizers are utilized in modern agriculture. Traditional fertilizers increase crop yield but are harmful to the environment. These circumstances motivate the pursuit of an alternate solution. The purpose of this research was to investigate how the application of nanoparticles (nano-ZnO) combined with conventional fertilizer influence tomato plants' development, including the antioxidant potential of cultivated plants. Three factors such as different types of cultivars, dosage of applied nano-ZnO solution and the method of nanoparticles application were implemented. Multiple analysis of selected antioxidants content and their activities such as malondialdehyde (MDA), flavonoids, polyphenols, ascorbic acid, peroxidase (POX), superoxide dismutase (SOD) or catalase (CAT) were analyzed. The obtained data exhibited that all examined parameters were strongly dependent on three implemented factors: concentration of nano-ZnO suspension, the type of cultivated tomato and the method of nanoparticles application. For instance, the accumulation of MDA in cultivated plants was different among plants under nanoparticles treatment, but in one specific case (Malinowy Bossman cultivar treated with 50 mg/L nano-ZnO suspension) the content of this marker was decreased by 34% in comparison to the corresponding control. Nevertheless, the results presented in this study showed that the usage of certain doses of nano-ZnO suspension may increase the antioxidant potential of tomato plants.

Translating phage therapy into the clinic: Recent accomplishments but continuing challenges.

Phage therapy is a medical form of biological control of bacterial infections, one that uses naturally occurring viruses, called bacteriophages or phages, as antibacterial agents. Pioneered over 100 years ago, phage therapy nonetheless is currently experiencing a resurgence in interest, with growing numbers of clinical case studies being published. This renewed enthusiasm is due in large part to phage therapy holding promise for providing safe and effective cures for bacterial infections that traditional antibiotics acting alone have been unable to clear. This Essay introduces basic phage biology, provides an outline of the long history of phage therapy, highlights some advantages of using phages as antibacterial agents, and provides an overview of recent phage therapy clinical successes. Although phage therapy has clear clinical potential, it faces biological, regulatory, and economic challenges to its further implementation and more mainstream acceptance.

Sustainable or Not? Insights on the Consumption of Animal Products in Poland.

Animal products are one of the main constituents of the human diet. They are the main source of energy, proteins, microelements, and bioactive substances. The most popular negative health impacts linked with the consumption of animal products are obesity, atherosclerosis, heart attacks, and cancer. Apart from human health, consuming animal products is also controversial lately, due to farm animals' well-being and environmental protection issues. Thus, within the context of sustainability, the consumption trends of animal products were investigated through our on-line questionnaire surveys. The following animal products were involved in the survey: unprocessed meat (pork, beef, lamb, veal, mutton, chicken, duck, goose, turkey), processed meat (cold-cuts, sausages, pates), fish products, and eggs. Our research concluded that consumption among respondents with higher education was unsustainable for both unprocessed and processed meat, as eating habits in terms of type and quantity of consumed meat indicated respondents' unawareness. The consumption of fish products was also revealed as unsustainable regarding the quantity of fish consumed in terms of its beneficial nutritional values. Egg consumption was revealed as the most sustainable among the investigated animal products. However, insignificant egg consumption among the respondents showed the actual need of social education in terms of the current knowledge regarding the beneficial aspects of eggs.

The Effect of Nano-ZnO on Seeds Germination Parameters of Different Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) Cultivars.

The agriculture sector faces numerous problems. One of the beforementioned problems relates to the proper crop plants' fertilization. The conventional bulk fertilizers are becoming less effective and have a negative impact on the environment. Nanomaterials such as zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) are widely used in various sectors such as medicine or electronics. Several studies indicate that nano-ZnO may likewise be considered as a potential nanofertilizer. In present research, an attempt was made to study the influence of two different sized ZnO NPs (<50 nm and <100 nm) on the seed germination of chosen tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) cultivars. The seeds of three cherry tomato cultivars were placed on a Petri dish with the NPs suspensions (0, 50, 150, and 250 mg/L) in order to examine the influence on germination parameters at a certain size of NPs and at a chosen concentration. In addition, within this study, we verified that the implicated conditions have the exact impact on all three cultivars. The obtained results indicate that all the factors affect the seed sprouting, however, this process mainly depends on the type of tomato cultivar and the size of the used nanoparticles. The parameter of the germination percentage (GP) was the only of the assumed factors that did not influence it significantly. Nevertheless, the values of other examined parameters such as the MGT, GRI, CVG, or VI depend strongly on all assumed features including the type of chosen cultivar. The obtained results vary significantly between all cultivars which indicates that the plants from the same family may require different conditions for optimal growth. In this research the <50 nm ZnO nanoparticles had more beneficial influence on sprouting parameters then parallelly used <100 nm ZnO nanoparticles.

Tomato Allergy: The Characterization of the Selected Allergens and Antioxidants of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)-A Review.

Tomatoes are one of the most broadly produced and consumed crop plants. They are the source of health-promoting nutrients such as antioxidants, including ascorbic acid, polyphenols, or carotenoids. Despite the beneficial role of tomatoes in the daily diet, they have been confirmed as one of the most prevalent allergenic vegetables. Food allergies can cause many clinical symptoms, e.g., in the gastrointestinal tract, skin, and lungs, as well as anaphylactic shock. A huge amount of clinical research has been carried out to improve the understanding of the immunological mechanisms that lead to the lack of tolerance of food antigens, which can result in either immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated reactions or non-IgE-mediated reactions. Lifestyle and diet play an important role in triggering food allergies. Allergy to tomatoes is also linked to other allergies, such as grass pollen and latex allergy. Numerous attempts have been made to identify and characterize tomato allergens; however, the data available on the subject are not sufficient.

Radical Scavenging Activity and Physicochemical Properties of Aquafaba-Based Mayonnaises and Their Functional Ingredients.

A plant-based diet has become more popular as a pathway to transition to more sustainable diets and personal health improvement in recent years. Hence, vegan mayonnaise can be proposed as an egg-free, allergy friendly vegan substitute for full-fat conventional mayonnaise. This study intends to evaluate the effect of aquafaba from chickpeas and blends of refined rapeseed oil (RRO) with different cold-pressed oils (10% of rapeseed oil-CPRO, sunflower oil-CPSO, linseed oil-CPLO or camelina oil-CPCO) on the radical scavenging, structural, emulsifying, and optical properties of novel vegan mayonnaise samples. Moreover, the functional properties and radical scavenging activity (RSA) of mayonnaise ingredients were evaluated. Aquafaba-based emulsions had a higher RSA than commercial vegan mayonnaise, determined by QUick, Easy, Novel, CHEap and Reproducible procedures using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (QUENCHER-DPPH) and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (QUENCHER-ABTS). Oxidative parameters such as peroxide values (PV), anisidine values (AnV), total oxidation (TOTOX) indexes and acid values (AV) of the proposed vegan mayonnaises were similar to those for commercial mayonnaises. Moreover, aquafaba-based samples had smaller oil droplet sizes than commercial vegan mayonnaise, which was observed using confocal laser scanning microscopy. The novel formulas developed in this study are promising alternatives to commercial vegan emulsions.

Conventional or Organic? Motives and Trends in Polish Vegetable Consumption.

Vegetables constitute a major component of human food security. They are the main sources of essential nutrients including antioxidants, natural dyes, minerals, and vitamins. Eating habit issues related to the consumption of vegetables are gaining importance within the context of a healthy lifestyle, longevity, and physical fitness. Additionally, food quality is of primary importance, and so-called eco-food (defined as food as natural as possible, without fertilizers, pesticides, or preservatives) seems to be the most popular world-trend in healthy nutrition. Keeping these ideas in focus, research on vegetable consumption in Poland in the context of conventional or organic production was performed using online questionnaire surveys. The results revealed that the rate of vegetable consumption depended primarily on economic status, except for the potato, which was a staple cutting across all economic strata. Among the 108 analyzed respondents, 74% bought vegetables from certified organic farms. However, 59% bought organic vegetables "rarely" or "sometimes", and only 15% "often". Next, respondents chose to buy vegetables from fresh food markets (45%) and in local shops (41%). About 20% of the respondents acquired vegetables from their own farms. Among the reasons for choosing vegetables from certified organic farms, respondents mentioned in decreasing order: "desire for proper nutrition" (30%), "thinking that organic vegetables are healthier" (28%), and "organic vegetables are generally better" (7%).

Treating Bacterial Infections with Bacteriophage-Based Enzybiotics: In Vitro, In Vivo and Clinical Application.

Over the past few decades, we have witnessed a surge around the world in the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This global health threat arose mainly due to the overuse and misuse of antibiotics as well as a relative lack of new drug classes in development pipelines. Innovative antibacterial therapeutics and strategies are, therefore, in grave need. For the last twenty years, antimicrobial enzymes encoded by bacteriophages, viruses that can lyse and kill bacteria, have gained tremendous interest. There are two classes of these phage-derived enzymes, referred to also as enzybiotics: peptidoglycan hydrolases (lysins), which degrade the bacterial peptidoglycan layer, and polysaccharide depolymerases, which target extracellular or surface polysaccharides, i.e., bacterial capsules, slime layers, biofilm matrix, or lipopolysaccharides. Their features include distinctive modes of action, high efficiency, pathogen specificity, diversity in structure and activity, low possibility of bacterial resistance development, and no observed cross-resistance with currently used antibiotics. Additionally, and unlike antibiotics, enzybiotics can target metabolically inactive persister cells. These phage-derived enzymes have been tested in various animal models to combat both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, and in recent years peptidoglycan hydrolases have entered clinical trials. Here, we review the testing and clinical use of these enzymes.

Phage Therapy in the 21st Century: Is There Modern, Clinical Evidence of Phage-Mediated Efficacy?

Many bacteriophages are obligate killers of bacteria. That this property could be medically useful was first recognized over one hundred years ago, with 2021 being the 100-year anniversary of the first clinical phage therapy publication. Here we consider modern use of phages in clinical settings. Our aim is to answer one question: do phages serve as effective anti-bacterial infection agents when used clinically? An important emphasis of our analyses is on whether phage therapy-associated anti-bacterial infection efficacy can be reasonably distinguished from that associated with often coadministered antibiotics. We find that about half of 70 human phage treatment reports-published in English thus far in the 2000s-are suggestive of phage-mediated anti-bacterial infection efficacy. Two of these are randomized, double-blinded, infection-treatment studies while 14 of those studies, in our opinion, provide superior evidence of a phage role in observed treatment successes. Roughly three-quarters of these potentially phage-mediated outcomes are based on microbiological as well as clinical results, with the rest based on clinical success. Since many of these phage treatments are of infections for which antibiotic therapy had not been successful, their collective effectiveness is suggestive of a valid utility in employing phages to treat otherwise difficult-to-cure bacterial infections.

Friends or Foes? Rapid Determination of Dissimilar Colistin and Ciprofloxacin Antagonism of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Phages.

Phage therapy is a century-old technique employing viruses (phages) to treat bacterial infections, and in the clinic it is often used in combination with antibiotics. Antibiotics, however, interfere with critical bacterial metabolic activities that can be required by phages. Explicit testing of antibiotic antagonism of phage infection activities, though, is not a common feature of phage therapy studies. Here we use optical density-based 'lysis-profile' assays to assess the impact of two antibiotics, colistin and ciprofloxacin, on the bactericidal, bacteriolytic, and new-virion-production activities of three Pseudomonas aeruginosa phages. Though phages and antibiotics in combination are more potent in killing P. aeruginosa than either acting alone, colistin nevertheless substantially interferes with phage bacteriolytic and virion-production activities even at its minimum inhibitory concentration (1× MIC). Ciprofloxacin, by contrast, has little anti-phage impact at 1× or 3× MIC. We corroborate these results with more traditional measures, particularly colony-forming units, plaque-forming units, and one-step growth experiments. Our results suggest that ciprofloxacin could be useful as a concurrent phage therapy co-treatment especially when phage replication is required for treatment success. Lysis-profile assays also appear to be useful, fast, and high-throughput means of assessing antibiotic antagonism of phage infection activities.

Phage Cocktail Development for Bacteriophage Therapy: Toward Improving Spectrum of Activity Breadth and Depth.

Phage therapy is the use of bacterial viruses as antibacterial agents. A primary consideration for commercial development of phages for phage therapy is the number of different bacterial strains that are successfully targeted, as this defines the breadth of a phage cocktail's spectrum of activity. Alternatively, phage cocktails may be used to reduce the potential for bacteria to evolve phage resistance. This, as we consider here, is in part a function of a cocktail's 'depth' of activity. Improved cocktail depth is achieved through inclusion of at least two phages able to infect a single bacterial strain, especially two phages against which bacterial mutation to cross resistance is relatively rare. Here, we consider the breadth of activity of phage cocktails while taking both depth of activity and bacterial mutation to cross resistance into account. This is done by building on familiar algorithms normally used for determination solely of phage cocktail breadth of activity. We show in particular how phage cocktails for phage therapy may be rationally designed toward enhancing the number of bacteria impacted while also reducing the potential for a subset of those bacteria to evolve phage resistance, all as based on previously determined phage properties.

Susceptibility to Clotrimazole of Candida spp. Isolated from the Genitourinary System-A Single Center Study.

The aim of this study was to determine the susceptibility to clotrimazole of 125 isolates of Candida spp. originated from the genitourinary system of hospitalized patients as well as outpatients, tested in the mycological laboratory of Wroclaw Medical University in the years 1999-2018. The minimal inhibitory concentrations of clotrimazole and fluconazole were determined with the use of the microdilution method according to EUCAST, and the MFC was determined by subsequent subculture on Sabouraud agar. For the tested population of Candida yeasts, the MIC values of clotrimazole ranged from 0.008 to 8 mg/L, and MIC90 was 1 mg/L, whereas MIC50 was 0.008 mg/L. The minimal fungicidal concentration ranged between 1 and >8 mg/L. The great majority of the isolates (88%; 110/125) displayed MIC < 1 mg/L and were classified as WT (wild-type), whereas MIC ≥ 1 mg/L was determined for 2/61 (3.2%) isolates of C. albicans, 9/38 (23.6%) of C. glabrata, 1/2 of C. tropicalis, and 3/3 of C. guilliermondii. Six isolates (four of C. glabrata and two of C. albicans), defined as non-WT for clotrimazole, were classified as resistant to fluconazole, according to CBP from EUCAST. The isolates with elevated MIC to clotrimazole originated mostly from patients of the pediatric hematology unit, and their proportion in this population amounted to 17.8% (13 out of 73 isolates). In contrast, among strains from ambulatory patients, the highest observed MIC value was 1 mg/L (1 out of 37 isolates; 2.7%). The data obtained correlate well with those of most published studies on the in vitro susceptibility of Candida spp. to clotrimazole, which is usually very high. However, the existence of reports regarding the growing prevalence of resistant isolates has also to be noted. These results support the need for routinely checking the susceptibility of Candida clinical isolates to this imidazole derivative.

Improving Phage-Biofilm In Vitro Experimentation.

Bacteriophages or phages, the viruses of bacteria, are abundant components of most ecosystems, including those where bacteria predominantly occupy biofilm niches. Understanding the phage impact on bacterial biofilms therefore can be crucial toward understanding both phage and bacterial ecology. Here, we take a critical look at the study of bacteriophage interactions with bacterial biofilms as carried out in vitro, since these studies serve as bases of our ecological and therapeutic understanding of phage impacts on biofilms. We suggest that phage-biofilm in vitro experiments often may be improved in terms of both design and interpretation. Specific issues discussed include (a) not distinguishing control of new biofilm growth from removal of existing biofilm, (b) inadequate descriptions of phage titers, (c) artificially small overlying fluid volumes, (d) limited explorations of treatment dosing and duration, (e) only end-point rather than kinetic analyses, (f) importance of distinguishing phage enzymatic from phage bacteriolytic anti-biofilm activities, (g) limitations of biofilm biomass determinations, (h) free-phage interference with viable-count determinations, and (i) importance of experimental conditions. Toward bettering understanding of the ecology of bacteriophage-biofilm interactions, and of phage-mediated biofilm disruption, we discuss here these various issues as well as provide tips toward improving experiments and their reporting.

An analysis of the population of Cryptococcus neoformans strains isolated from animals in Poland, in the years 2015-2019.

Fungi belonging to the Cryptococcus neoformans/C. gattii species complex (CNGSC) are pathogens causing severe infections in humans and animals, that for humans may result in a mortality rate ranging up to 70%. The CNGSC is divided into eight major molecular types, that may differ in their virulence and susceptibility. In order to fully understand the epidemiology of cryptococcosis, it is important to study the world distribution and population structure of these pathogens. The present study is the first presenting a population of strains isolated in Poland and one of the few using a multi-species animal group as a source of the specimen. The pathogen was present in 2.375% of the tested animals. The URA5-RFLP and MALDI-TOF MS analyses have revealed that the population consisted exclusively of C. neoformans strains, with a predominance of major molecular type VNIV (C. neoformans var. neoformans). The MALDI-TOF MS was used to perform the CNGSC strains identification on both the species and sub-species level. Despite the fact that the animals providing the specimens were not treated with 5-fluorocytosine, around 10% of the tested population presented MIC values exceeding 64 mg/L, indicating the existence of the 5-fluorocytosine-resistant strains in the environment.

Prevalence, Genetic Structure, and Antifungal Susceptibility of the Cryptococcus neoformans/C. gattii Species Complex Strains Collected from the Arboreal Niche in Poland.

Fungi belonging to the Cryptococcus neoformans/C. gattii species complex (CNGSC) are etiological agents of serious and not infrequently fatal infections in both humans and animals. Trees are the main ecological niche and source of potential exposition concerning these pathogens. With regard to epidemiology of cryptococcosis, various surveys were performed worldwide, enabling the establishment of a map of distribution and genetic structure of the arboreal population of the CNGSC. However, there are regions, among them Central and Eastern Europe, in which the data are lacking. The present study shows the results of such an environmental study performed in Wroclaw, Poland. The CNGSC strains were detected in 2.2% of the tested trees belonging to four genera. The obtained pathogen population consisted exclusively of C. neoformans, represented by both the major molecular type VNI and VNIV. Within the tested group of isolates, resistance to commonly used antimycotics was not found, except for 5-fluorocytosine, in which about 5% of the strains were classified as a non-wild type.

Phage Therapy: The Pharmacology of Antibacterial Viruses.

Pharmacology can be differentiated into two key aspects, pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics. Pharmacodynamics describes a drug's impact on the body while pharmacokinetics describes the body's impact on a drug. Another way of understanding these terms is that pharmacodynamics is a description of both the positive and negative consequences of drugs attaining certain concentrations in the body while pharmacokinetics is concerned with our ability to reach and then sustain those concentrations. Unlike the drugs for which these concepts were developed, including antibiotics, the bacteriophages (or 'phages') that we consider here are not chemotherapeutics but instead are the viruses of bacteria. Here we review the pharmacology of these viruses, particularly as they can be employed to combat bacterial infections (phage therapy). Overall, an improved pharmacological understanding of phage therapy should allow for more informed development of phages as antibacterial 'drugs', allow for more rational post hoc debugging of phage therapy experiments, and encourage improved design of phage therapy protocols. Contrasting with antibiotics, however, phages as viruses impact individual bacterial cells as single virions rather than as swarms of molecules, and while they are killing bacteria, bacteriophages also can amplify phage numbers, in situ. Explorations of phage therapy pharmacology consequently can often be informed as well by basic principles of the ecological interactions between phages and bacteria as by study of the pharmacology of drugs. Bacteriophages in phage therapy thus can display somewhat unique as well as more traditional pharmacological aspects.

Physicochemical and Antifungal Properties of Clotrimazole in Combination with High-Molecular Weight Chitosan as a Multifunctional Excipient.

Chitosans represent a group of multifunctional drug excipients. Here, we aimed to estimate the impact of high-molecular weight chitosan on the physicochemical properties of clotrimazole-chitosan solid mixtures (CL-CH), prepared by grinding and kneading methods. We characterised these formulas by infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and powder X-ray diffractometry, and performed in vitro clotrimazole dissolution tests. Additionally, we examined the antifungal activity of clotrimazole-chitosan mixtures against clinical Candida isolates under neutral and acid conditions. The synergistic effect of clotrimazole and chitosan S combinations was observed in tests carried out at pH 4 on Candida glabrata strains. The inhibition of C. glabrata growth reached at least 90%, regardless of the drug/excipient weight ratio, and even at half of the minimal inhibitory concentrations of clotrimazole. Our results demonstrate that clotrimazole and high-molecular weight chitosan could be an effective combination in a topical antifungal formulation, as chitosan acts synergistically with clotrimazole against non-albicans candida strains.

Integrative omics analysis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa virus PA5oct highlights the molecular complexity of jumbo phages.

Pseudomonas virus vB_PaeM_PA5oct is proposed as a model jumbo bacteriophage to investigate phage-bacteria interactions and is a candidate for phage therapy applications. Combining hybrid sequencing, RNA-Seq and mass spectrometry allowed us to accurately annotate its 286,783 bp genome with 461 coding regions including four non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) and 93 virion-associated proteins. PA5oct relies on the host RNA polymerase for the infection cycle and RNA-Seq revealed a gradual take-over of the total cell transcriptome from 21% in early infection to 93% in late infection. PA5oct is not organized into strictly contiguous regions of temporal transcription, but some genomic regions transcribed in early, middle and late phases of infection can be discriminated. Interestingly, we observe regions showing limited transcription activity throughout the infection cycle. We show that PA5oct upregulates specific bacterial operons during infection including operons pncA-pncB1-nadE involved in NAD biosynthesis, psl for exopolysaccharide biosynthesis and nap for periplasmic nitrate reductase production. We also observe a downregulation of T4P gene products suggesting mechanisms of superinfection exclusion. We used the proteome of PA5oct to position our isolate amongst other phages using a gene-sharing network. This integrative omics study illustrates the molecular diversity of jumbo viruses and raises new questions towards cellular regulation and phage-encoded hijacking mechanisms.

[1,3]/[1,4]-Sulfur atom migration in ß-hydroxyalkylphosphine sulfides.

ß-Hydroxyalkylphosphine sulfides undergo [1,3]- or [1,4]-sulfur atom phosphorus-to-carbon migration in the presence of Lewis or Brønsted acids. The direction of sulfur atom migration depends on the type of acid used for the reaction. In the presence of a Brønsted acid, mainly [1,3]-rearrangement is observed, whereas a Lewis acid catalyzes the [1,4]-sulfur migration. To gain insight into the mechanism of these transformations, the stereochemistry of these rearrangements have been tested, along with the conduction of some control experiments and DFT calculations.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA5oct Jumbo Phage Impacts Planktonic and Biofilm Population and Reduces Its Host Virulence.

The emergence of phage-resistant mutants is a key aspect of lytic phages-bacteria interaction and the main driver for the co-evolution between both organisms. Here, we analyze the impact of PA5oct jumbo phage treatment on planktonic/cell line associated and sessile P. aeruginosa population. Besides its broad-spectrum activity and efficient bacteria reduction in both airway surface liquid (ASL) model, and biofilm matrix degradation, PA5oct appears to persist in most of phage-resistant clones. Indeed, a high percentage of resistance (20/30 clones) to PA5oct is accompanied by the presence of phage DNA within bacterial culture. Moreover, the maintenance of this phage in the bacterial population correlates with reduced P. aeruginosa virulence, coupled with a sensitization to innate immune mechanisms, and a significantly reduced growth rate. We observed rather unusual consequences of PA5oct infection causing an increased inflammatory response of monocytes to P. aeruginosa. This phenomenon, combined with the loss or modification of the phage receptor, makes most of the phage-resistant clones significantly less pathogenic in in vivo model. These findings provide new insights into the general knowledge of giant phages biology and the impact of their application in phage therapy.