Characterization of a novel peptide mined from the Red Sea brine pools and modified to enhance its anticancer activity

Drug resistance is a major cause of the inefficacy of conventional cancer therapies, and often accompanied by severe side effects. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop novel drugs with low cytotoxicity, high selectivity and minimal acquired chemical resistance. Peptide-based drugs (less than 0.5 kDa) have emerged as a potential approach to address these issues due to their high specificity and potent anticancer activity. In this study, we developed a support vector machine model (SVM) to detect the potential anticancer properties of novel peptides by scanning the American University in Cairo (AUC) Red Sea metagenomics library. We identified a novel 37-mer antimicrobial peptide through SVM pipeline analysis and characterized its anticancer potential through in silico cross-examination. The peptide sequence was further modified to enhance its anticancer activity, analyzed for gene ontology, and subsequently synthesized. To evaluate the anticancer properties of the modified 37-mer peptide, we assessed its effect on the viability and morphology of SNU449, HepG2, SKOV3, and HeLa cells, using an MTT assay. Additionally, we evaluated the migration capabilities of SNU449 and SKOV3 cells using a scratch-wound healing assay. The targeted selectivity of the modified peptide was examined by evaluating its hemolytic activity on human erythrocytes. Treatment with the peptide significantly reduced cell viability and had a critical impact on the morphology of hepatocellular carcinoma (SNU449 and HepG2), and ovarian cancer (SKOV3) cells, with a marginal effect on cervical cancer cell lines (HeLa). The viability of a human fibroblast cell line (1Br-hTERT) was also significantly reduced by peptide treatment, as were the proliferation and migration abilities of SNU449 and SKOV3 cells. The annexin V assay revealed programmed cell death (apoptosis) as one of the potential cellular death pathways in SNU449 cells upon peptide treatment. Finally, the peptide exhibited antimicrobial effects on both gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial strains. The findings presented here suggest the potential of our novel peptide as a potent anticancer and antimicrobial agent.

Blink-To-Live eye-based communication system for users with speech impairments

Eye-based communication languages such as Blink-To-Speak play a key role in expressing the needs and emotions of patients with motor neuron disorders. Most invented eye-based tracking systems are complex and not affordable in low-income countries. Blink-To-Live is an eye-tracking system based on a modified Blink-To-Speak language and computer vision for patients with speech impairments. A mobile phone camera tracks the patient's eyes by sending real-time video frames to computer vision modules for facial landmarks detection, eye identification and tracking. There are four defined key alphabets in the Blink-To-Live eye-based communication language: Left, Right, Up, and Blink. These eye gestures encode more than 60 daily life commands expressed by a sequence of three eye movement states. Once the eye gestures encoded sentences are generated, the translation module will display the phrases in the patient's native speech on the phone screen, and the synthesized voice can be heard. A prototype of the Blink-To-Live system is evaluated using normal cases with different demographic characteristics. Unlike the other sensor-based eye-tracking systems, Blink-To-Live is simple, flexible, and cost-efficient, with no dependency on specific software or hardware requirements. The software and its source are available from the GitHub repository ( https://github.com/ZW01f/Blink-To-Live ).

Role of perforator flaps in leg and foot reconstruction

INTRODUCTION

Lower extremity wounds have always been a challenge for the reconstructive surgeons. Free perforator flaps are considered to be the best option for this problem but require the complexity of microsurgery. So, pedicled perforator flaps have emerged as an alternative option.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Prospective study was conducted in 40 patients with traumatic soft tissue defects in the leg and foot. The free flaps included the anterolateral thigh flap (ALT) and medial sural artery perforator flap (MSAP). In pedicled perforator flaps group, 10 cases were designed as propeller flaps while the other 10 flaps were designed as perforator plus flaps.

RESULTS

Free flaps were mainly used for large-sized defects; we had one case of partial flap loss and one case of complete flap necrosis.  MSAP flap was the first option for coverage of large-sized defects on foot and ankle as it is a thin and pliable flap, while ALT flap was used for coverage of larger defects on the leg. Pedicled perforator flaps were used mainly for small to medium-sized defects, especially in the lower third of the leg; we had three cases of flap loss in propeller flap design while we had no cases of flap loss in perforator plus flap.

CONCLUSION

Perforator flaps have become a reasonable solution for soft tissue defects of the lower extremity. Careful assessment of the dimensions, location, patient comorbidities, availability of surrounding soft tissue and presence of adequate perforators are mandatory for proper perforator flap selection.

Cohort profile: the ESC EURObservational Research Programme Non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infraction (NSTEMI) Registry

AIMS

The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) EURObservational Research Programme (EORP) Non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) Registry aims to identify international patterns in NSTEMI management in clinical practice and outcomes against the 2015 ESC Guidelines for the management of acute coronary syndromes in patients presenting without ST-segment-elevation.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Consecutively hospitalised adult NSTEMI patients (n = 3620) were enrolled between 11 March 2019 and 6 March 2021, and individual patient data prospectively collected at 287 centres in 59 participating countries during a two-week enrolment period per centre. The registry collected data relating to baseline characteristics, major outcomes (in-hospital death, acute heart failure, cardiogenic shock, bleeding, stroke/transient ischaemic attack, and 30-day mortality) and guideline-recommended NSTEMI care interventions: electrocardiogram pre- or in-hospital, pre-hospitalization receipt of aspirin, echocardiography, coronary angiography, referral to cardiac rehabilitation, smoking cessation advice, dietary advice, and prescription on discharge of aspirin, P2Y12 inhibition, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEi)/angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB), beta-blocker, and statin.

CONCLUSION

The EORP NSTEMI Registry is an international, prospective registry of care and outcomes of patients treated for NSTEMI, which will provide unique insights into the contemporary management of hospitalised NSTEMI patients, compliance with ESC 2015 NSTEMI Guidelines, and identify potential barriers to optimal management of this common clinical presentation associated with significant morbidity and mortality.

Insights into Red Sea Brine Pool Specialized Metabolism Gene Clusters Encoding Potential Metabolites for Biotechnological Applications and Extremophile Survival

The recent rise in antibiotic and chemotherapeutic resistance necessitates the search for novel drugs. Potential therapeutics can be produced by specialized metabolism gene clusters (SMGCs). We mined for SMGCs in metagenomic samples from Atlantis II Deep, Discovery Deep and Kebrit Deep Red Sea brine pools. Shotgun sequence assembly and secondary metabolite analysis shell (antiSMASH) screening unraveled 2751 Red Sea brine SMGCs, pertaining to 28 classes. Predicted categorization of the SMGC products included those (1) commonly abundant in microbes (saccharides, fatty acids, aryl polyenes, acyl-homoserine lactones), (2) with antibacterial and/or anticancer effects (terpenes, ribosomal peptides, non-ribosomal peptides, polyketides, phosphonates) and (3) with miscellaneous roles conferring adaptation to the environment/special structure/unknown function (polyunsaturated fatty acids, ectoine, ladderane, others). Saccharide (80.49%) and putative (7.46%) SMGCs were the most abundant. Selected Red Sea brine pool sites had distinct SMGC profiles, e.g., for bacteriocins and ectoine. Top promising candidates, SMs with pharmaceutical applications, were addressed. Prolific SM-producing phyla (Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Cyanobacteria), were ubiquitously detected. Sites harboring the largest numbers of bacterial and archaeal phyla, had the most SMGCs. Our results suggest that the Red Sea brine niche constitutes a rich biological mine, with the predicted SMs aiding extremophile survival and adaptation.

SUTURE VERSUS FIBRIN GLUE MICRONEURAL ANASTOMOSIS OF THE FEMORAL NERVE IN SPRAGUE DEWLY RAT MODEL. A COMPARATIVE EXPERIMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF THE CLINICAL, HISTOLOGICAL AND STATISTICAL FEATURES

INTRODUCTION

Peripheral nerve injury is a frequently encountered clinical problem that leads to functional losses at the long-term. Although microsurgical repair has been introduced to clinical practice in peripheral nerve injuries, unsatisfactory outcomes regarding functional recovery in target organ cause an increasing interest on studies about nerve injury and biology of the recovery in nerve injuries1.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Sciatic nerves of seventy adult Sprague Dewly rats were transected and primary anastomosis was performed. Rats were then divided into three groups: Control group, while 30 rats were repaired with sutures, and the remaining 30 were repaired with fibrin glue. After 30 days the rats were sacrified and the sciatic nerves were investigated histologically with morphometrical and statistical analyses.

RESULTS

In microsurgical nerve repair, suture placement has been thought to cause hindrance to the sprouting axons and compress the blood supply to the fascicles, thereby impairing the regeneration of the transected nerve ends after repair, with possible neuroma formation. On the other hand, fibrin glue is a simple, effective technique, less time consuming than suturing. Another advantage of this suture-free technique is that it avoids injuring the axon with needles, and the lack of foreign bodies minimizes the inflammatory reaction.

CONCLUSION

We recommend using fibrin glue as it demonstrates less inflammatory reaction, less scar tissue formation, it is less time consuming and provides better outcomes.

Viruses-to-mobile genetic elements skew in the deep Atlantis II brine pool sediments

The central rift of the Red Sea has 25 brine pools with different physical and geochemical characteristics. Atlantis II (ATIID), Discovery Deeps (DD) and Chain Deep (CD) are characterized by high salinity, temperature and metal content. Several studies reported microbial communities in these brine pools, but few studies addressed the brine pool sediments. Therefore, sediment cores were collected from ATIID, DD, CD brine pools and an adjacent brine-influenced site. Sixteen different lithologic sediment sections were subjected to shotgun DNA pyrosequencing to generate 1.47 billion base pairs (1.47 × 10⁹ bp). We generated sediment-specific reads and attempted to annotate all reads. We report the phylogenetic and biochemical uniqueness of the deepest ATIID sulfur-rich brine pool sediments. In contrary to all other sediment sections, bacteria dominate the deepest ATIID sulfur-rich brine pool sediments. This decrease in virus-to-bacteria ratio in selected sections and depth coincided with an overrepresentation of mobile genetic elements. Skewing in the composition of viruses-to-mobile genetic elements may uniquely contribute to the distinct microbial consortium in sediments in proximity to hydrothermally active vents of the Red Sea and possibly in their surroundings, through differential horizontal gene transfer.

Aerobic methanotrophic communities at the Red Sea brine-seawater interface

The central rift of the Red Sea contains 25 brine pools with different physicochemical conditions, dictating the diversity and abundance of the microbial community. Three of these pools, the Atlantis II, Kebrit and Discovery Deeps, are uniquely characterized by a high concentration of hydrocarbons. The brine-seawater interface, described as an anoxic-oxic (brine-seawater) boundary, is characterized by a high methane concentration, thus favoring aerobic methane oxidation. The current study analyzed the aerobic free–living methane-oxidizing bacterial communities that potentially contribute to methane oxidation at the brine-seawater interfaces of the three aforementioned brine pools, using metagenomic pyrosequencing, 16S rRNA pyrotags and pmoA library constructs. The sequencing of 16S rRNA pyrotags revealed that these interfaces are characterized by high microbial community diversity. Signatures of aerobic methane-oxidizing bacteria were detected in the Atlantis II Interface (ATII-I) and the Kebrit Deep Upper (KB-U) and Lower (KB-L) brine-seawater interfaces. Through phylogenetic analysis of pmoA, we further demonstrated that the ATII-I aerobic methanotroph community is highly diverse. We propose four ATII-I pmoA clusters. Most importantly, cluster 2 groups with marine methane seep methanotrophs, and cluster 4 represent a unique lineage of an uncultured bacterium with divergent alkane monooxygenases. Moreover, non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) based on the ordination of putative enzymes involved in methane metabolism showed that the Kebrit interface layers were distinct from the ATII-I and DD-I brine-seawater interfaces.

A novel mercuric reductase from the unique deep brine environment of Atlantis II in the Red Sea

A unique combination of physicochemical conditions prevails in the lower convective layer (LCL) of the brine pool at Atlantis II (ATII) Deep in the Red Sea. With a maximum depth of over 2000 m, the pool is characterized by acidic pH (5.3), high temperature (68 °C), salinity (26%), low light levels, anoxia, and high concentrations of heavy metals. We have established a metagenomic dataset derived from the microbial community in the LCL, and here we describe a gene for a novel mercuric reductase, a key component of the bacterial detoxification system for mercuric and organomercurial species. The metagenome-derived gene and an ortholog from an uncultured soil bacterium were synthesized and expressed in Escherichia coli. The properties of their products show that, in contrast to the soil enzyme, the ATII-LCL mercuric reductase is functional in high salt, stable at high temperatures, resistant to high concentrations of Hg(2+), and efficiently detoxifies Hg(2+) in vivo. Interestingly, despite the marked functional differences between the orthologs, their amino acid sequences differ by less than 10%. Site-directed mutagenesis and kinetic analysis of the mutant enzymes, in conjunction with three-dimensional modeling, have identified distinct structural features that contribute to extreme halophilicity, thermostability, and high detoxification capacity, suggesting that these were acquired independently during the evolution of this enzyme. Thus, our work provides fundamental structural insights into a novel protein that has undergone multiple biochemical and biophysical adaptations to promote the survival of microorganisms that reside in the extremely demanding environment of the ATII-LCL.

[Anthracycline-induced heart failure aggravated by pregnancy. Survival after cardiac assistance with artificial heart device and heart transplantation]

We report a case of a young woman suffering from a steady anthracycline-induced myocardiopathy with a decreased left ventricular function on echocardiography. A pregnancy was initiated, without worsening of the cardiopathy until 34 weeks. Nine days after delivery, an acute heart failure was observed leading to heart transplantation after cardiac assistance with heart cardiac device. As pregnancy is an extended stress test for a chronic failing heart, a multidisciplinary decision of pregnancy initiation and follow up should be preferred in pre and postpartum period, when such a cardiopathy exists.

Mathematical morphology in computerized analysis of angiograms in age-related macular degeneration

This paper deals with image processing of numerical retinal angiograms in order to facilitate diagnosis and follow-up in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) which is currently the main cause of blindness in industrialized countries. A computerized scheme using principally mathematical morphology operators is proposed for detecting and counting drusen, which are precursor lesions of the ocular fundus. In order to check the feasibility of this approach, results relative to 58 retinal images are compared with those given by three retinal specialists independently. From manual counting measures it is found that interobserver correlation coefficients lie in the range 0.71-0.78. On the other hand, a correlation coefficient of 0.89 is obtained when the average of the three expert countings is compared with the drusen number given by the computerized method. This coefficient is improved from 0.89 to 0.93 by processing only frames captured immediately after the appearance of a dye consecutive to intravenous sodium fluorescein injection. Compared to the manual analysis which is, among other things, tedious and time consuming, the computerized analysis is both quicker and more objective. Validation by the practitioner is however necessary, given possible detection errors. The proposed computerized scheme for detecting and counting drusen may be easily automated and so should prove useful in clinical studies which involve high volume analysis of retinal angiograms.

Fast algorithm for texture discrimination by use of a separable orthonormal decomposition of the co-occurrence matrix

We consider the problem of texture analysis with a fast algorithm. For that purpose we propose to use coefficients of the decomposition of co-occurrence matrices on an orthonormal and separable basis. We apply this method for texture discrimination, and we thus demonstrate with some examples its efficiency in terms of rapidity, discrimination performance, and robustness. We compare this method with classifiers that use a Fisher linear discrimination on features a priori defined in the co-occurrence matrices.