Licochalcone A, a flavonoid found in licorice root (Glycyrrhiza glabra), is known for its anti-microbial activity and its reported ability to inhibit cancer cell proliferation. In the present study, we investigated whether licochalcone A inhibits rat vascular smooth muscle cell (rVSMC) proliferation. Our data indicate that 5 microM licochalcone A inhibited platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-...

Proliferation and spatial development of colonic epithelial cells are highly regulated along the crypt vertical axis, which, when perturbed, can result in aberrant growth and carcinogenesis. In this study, two key factors were identified that have important and counterbalancing roles regulating these processes: pericrypt myofibroblast-derived Wnt-5a and the microbial metabolite butyrate. Cultur...

background and objective: microbial protein production can resolve one of the major world challenges, i.e. lack of protein sources. candida tropicalis growth was investigated to specify a medium to reach the highest cell proliferation and protein production. material and methods: fractional factorial design and the index of signal to noise ratio were applied for optimization of microbial protei...

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) from nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidases and their related dual oxidases are known to have significant roles in innate immunity and cell proliferation. In this study, the 5,545 bp cDNA of the silkworm Bombyx mori dual oxidase (BmDuox) gene containing a full-length open reading frame was cloned. It was shown to include an N-terminal signal p...

Immune cell Toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognize conserved microbial components, leading to immune and inflammatory responses. However, TLRs are also expressed in cancer cells, including melanoma cells, which express TLR2-4. TLR4 ligands have received attention as immunotherapies; therefore, we assessed the expression of TLR4 in human melanoma specimens (29 primary lesions and 28 metastatic les...

Carbon mineralization was examined in Lakehurst and Atsion sands collected from the New Jersey Pinelands and in Pahokee muck from the Everglades Agricultural Area. Objectives were (i) to estimate the carbon mineralization capacities of acidic, xeric Pinelands soils in the absence of exogenously supplied carbon substrate (nonamended carbon mineralization rate) and to compare these activities wit...

BACKGROUND Anaerobic digestion has been widely applied to treat the waste activated sludge from biological wastewater treatment and produce methane for biofuel, which has been one of the most efficient solutions to both energy crisis and environmental pollution challenges. Anaerobic digestion sludge contains highly complex microbial communities, which play crucial roles in sludge treatment. How...

Gut homeostasis plays an important role in maintaining the overall body health during aging. Rapamycin, a specific inhibitor of mTOR, exerts prolongevity effects in evolutionarily diverse species. However, its impact on the intestinal homeostasis remains poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that rapamycin can slow down the proliferation rate of intestinal stem cells (ISCs) in the aging guts ...

Neutrophil recruitment to the site of injury is an essential first step of an anti-bacterial response. However, little is known about the basis for and relevance of neutrophil migration from inflamed tissue into lymphoid organs. We established a photoconversion-based system to monitor the fate of neutrophils recruited to inflamed skin. While neutrophils are efficiently recruited to sites of bot...

Membrane bioreactors are advanced treatment technologies that, compared to conventional processes, expected reduce antibiotic resistance spread in the environment due their superior biomass retention. In this study, metagenomic sequencing was used assess response of microbial community and profile an aerobic membrane bioreactor (AeMBR) anaerobic (AnMBR) operated parallel, treating identical syn...