Alpha-lactalbumin (α-LA) and β-lactoglobulin (β-LG) are contained in bovine milk whey. Chemical and physical treatments are known to alter the conformation of these proteins and we have previously reported that α-LA denatured with trifluoroethanol (TFE) and isolated from sterilized market milk inhibited the growth of rat crypt IEC-6 cells. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the effects of TFE-treated α-LA and β-LG on cell growth using cultured intestinal cells and on their safety using a suckling mouse model. First, we investigated the effect of the TFE-treated whey proteins on human colonic Caco-2 cells at various differentiation stages. In the undifferentiated stage, we assessed cell growth by a water-soluble tetrazolium-1 method. The native whey proteins enhanced cell proliferation, whereas the TFE-treated whey proteins strongly inhibited cell growth. We investigated cell barrier function in the post-differentiated stage by measuring transepithelial electrical resistance (TER). Not only native but also the TFE-treated whey proteins increased TER. Next, we evaluated whether the TFE-treated α-LA and β-LG have adverse effects on healthy suckling mice. No mice given by the TFE-treated samples showed any adverse symptoms. We also performed a safety test using a human rotavirus infected gastrointestinal disease suckling mice model. Even the TFE-treated whey proteins appeared to prevent the development of diarrheal symptoms without any adverse effects. Although we cannot know the effect of long-term ingestion of denatured whey proteins, these results suggest that they have no adverse effects on differentiated intestinal cells and digestive tract, at least in short-term ingestion.

Entamoeba histolytica infection causes amoebiasis, which is a global public health problem. The major route of infection is oral ingestion of E. histolytica cysts, cysts being the sole form responsible for host-to-host transmission. Cysts are produced by cell differentiation from proliferative trophozoites in a process termed ‘encystation’. Therefore, encystation is an important process from a medical as well as a biological perspective. Previous electron microscopy studies have shown the ultrastructure of precysts and mature cysts; however, the dynamics of ultrastructural changes during encystation were ambiguous. Here, we analysed a series of Entamoeba invadens encysting cells by transmission electron microscopy. Entamoeba invadens is a model for encystation and the cells were prepared by short interval time course sampling from in vitro encystation-inducing cultures. We related sampled cells to stage conversion, which was monitored in the overall population by flow cytometry. The present approach revealed the dynamics of ultrastructure changes during E. invadens encystation. Importantly, the results indicate a functional linkage of processes that are crucial in encystation, such as glycogen accumulation and cyst wall formation. Hence, this study provides a reference for studying sequential molecular events during Entamoeba encystation.

Ti6Al4V alloys usually need to undergo some kind of surface treatment to enable good bone growth and implant integration. In this work, three treatments that modify the titanium alloy surface were studied with the aim of promoting osteogenic differentiation of human-embryonic-stem-cell-derived mesenchymal progenitors (hESC-MPs). The surface treatments used were mechanical polishing and electropolishing for 4 or 12 min in an H2SO4/HF/glycerine solution. The samples were characterised by atomic force microscopy, profilometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and wettability. Samples were seeded with hESC-MPs in osteogenic media, and the cell number and alkaline phosphatase activity were measured. The electropolishing surface treatments influenced the nanometric morphology and wettability. However, the electropolished surfaces contributed in the same way as the mechanically polished surface to osteogenic differentiation, indicating that differentiation was strongly influenced by microroughness, which did not differ among the treatments used in the present work.

The maintenance of a stable stem cellpopulation in the epidermis is important for robust regenerationof the stratified epithelium. The population size is usuallyregulated by cell secreted extracellular signalling molecules aswell as intracellular molecules. In this paper, a simple modelincorporating both levels of regulation is developed to examinethe balance between growth and differentiation for the stem cellpopulation. In particular, the dynamics of a known differentiationregulator c-Myc, its threshold dependent differentiation, andfeedback regulation on maintaining a stable stem cell populationare investigated.

We analysed whether markers of cell differentiation and infectivity differed when compared to the parental sensitive strain [NR(Gs)] in an in vitro selected Leishmania strain [NR(Gr)] resistant to Glibenclamide®, an ATP-binding-cassette (ABC)-transporter blocker. The data show that the cell body area was larger in NR(Gr) compared to NR(Gs) and that functional characters associated with an infective metacyclic phenotype, such as resistance to the lytic effect of the alternative complement pathway and expression of the Meta-1 protein, were reduced. The infectivity of NR(Gr) to J774.1 macrophages was also significantly reduced. These results suggest that resistance in Leishmania against Glibenclamide®, a general blocker of P-glycoproteins, could produce functional modifications that may be relevant for Leishmania differentiation, infectivity and survival.

In 773 three-generation families of twins, individual probability of nonrighthandedness (NRH) depends significantly on the handedness of that individual's parents. The parents of twins are much more often NRH than are their nontwinbearing siblings. The twins and their siblings apparently inherit the excess liability for NRH shown by their parents. Monozygotic (MZ) pairs are significantly about twice as often concordant (casewise) for handedness as dizygotic (DZ) pairs. Overall, the best-fitting mode of transmission is autosomal, NRH dominant to RH with penetrance of about 50% in the heterozygote, or multifactorial, with heritability of 60–70%. Under the major-gene approach, heterogeneity seems likely, with about one-third of the families showing no NRH outside of the twin sibships. MZ/DZ concordance ratio is about four in those families, suggestive of recessive inheritance. A 1.16-fold excess of NRH in twins compared to their siblings, and a 1.8-fold excess in the second-born members of same-sex discordant pairs, leaves open the possibility that a minor portion of NRH in twins may be secondary to transient hypoxia and/or acidosis.