Activity

The aim of this study was to isolate and identify antibacterial peptides (ABPs) produced by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in Chinese pickles. The cell-free supernatant collected from the culture of LAB with antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus was used to purify ABPs. A total of 14 strains of LAB were found to have antibacterial activity. Among them, Lactobacillus fermentum (L. fermentum) SHY10 exhibited the most effective antibacterial activity. The antibacterial activity of cell-free supernatant reached the highest level after 20 h of L. fermentum SHY10 culture. Three novel ABPs were identified by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). In particular, the NQGPLGNAHR peptide showed antibacterial activity with an IC50 value of 0.957 mg/mL. In addition, molecular docking analysis revealed that this peptide interacted with DNA gyrase and dihydrofolate reductase by salt bridge formation, hydrogen bond interactions, and metal contact.Exogenous melatonin application at 0, 1, 10, 100, and 1000 µM retarded cap browning of button mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) by 78.35, 31.40, 30.91, 27.17, and 32.50 %, respectively.Mushrooms treated with 100 µM melatonin also had lower weight loss and higher firmness. During the first 5 days of storage at 4 °C, higher H2O2 accumulation may serve as a signal for promoting endogenous melatonin accumulation by triggering the expression of TDC, T5H, SNAT, and ASMT genes, beneficial for preserving membrane integrity. Besides, the higher accumulation of phenols in mushrooms treated with 100 µM melatonin may be ascribed to higher PAL and lower PPO gene expression and enzyme activity. Moreover, higher DPPH scavenging capacity in mushrooms treated with 100 µM melatonin may be ascribed to the higher accumulation of phenols and ascorbic acid.Oxidative depolymerization of alkali- and acid-extracted pomelo pectins was performed using 1% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) with a microwave power of 550 W for 10 min. Pectic-oligosaccharides (POS) produced from the acid-extracted methyl-esterified pectin contained higher amounts of DP1 and DP2 than that from the nearly ester-free alkali-extracted pectin, and the loss of these small-size products during recovery resulted in a lower POS yield (25.0%) compared to the alkali-extracted pectin (57.7%). Degradation of the alkali-extracted pectin with 3 and 5% H2O2 led to a decrease in precipitable POS yield. The relative amount of large-sized POS decreased as the H2O2 concentration increased. An increase in the microwave power to 1100 W had no significant effect on overall yield, but the average size shifted to be lower. The results of sugar composition and identification of the degraded products with ESI-MS confirmed the existence of several POS species with different sizes and structures.We present here a case of ALK-positive lung adenocarcinoma that has been started on Alectinib. Treatment has been initiated at the recommended initial dose, but it subsequently required a dose adjustment following adverse drug events. Alectinib is a second-generation, CNS-active, tyrosine kinase inhibitor used in the treatment of ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer. Clofarabine Its efficacy as a first-line treatment and as a second-line agent after Crizotinib has been proven across several trials both in terms of overall response rate and progression-free survival. The use of Alectinib is associated with side effects that occasionally lead to treatment discontinuation, interruption, or dose adjustment. Several studies have used two starting doses – 300 mg and 600 mg twice daily – across different populations and have consistently shown efficacy of Alectinib for both treatment doses. Results of these studies have also revealed that body weight, rather than race, affect the pharmacokinetics of Alectinib. Randomized trials have shown that the 600 mg dose is associated with more grade ≥3 adverse events and more changes in treatment in contrast to the 300 mg dose. A lower dose of Alectinib may limit treatment disruptions and dose reductions particularly for specific patient populations-particularly those with a lower body weight.

The study investigated the association of the relative dose-intensity (RDI) of cisplatin and timing of adjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy (APC) with survival for stage I-III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.

Real-life data of patients treated with APC (four cycles of cisplatin and vinorelbine) between 2007 and 2014 was included to analyse the association between disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) with RDI (ratio of received to planned dose-intensity). High RDI was defined as cisplatin RDI of > 75% and low RDI ≤ 75%.

Out of 198 patients, 166 were eligible. Low RDI was administered to 72 (43%) patients. In multivariate analysis, those patients had a significantly higher risk of recurrence (HR 1.87, 95%CI 1.13-3.09, p=0.01) and death (HR 1.91, 95%CI 1.32-3.23, p=0.01) versus patients in the high RDI group. The risk of death was significantly higher in patients with PS 1 treated with low versus high RDI (HR 2.72, 95%CI 1.22-6.09, p=0.014). The risk of recurrence was higher for patients with squamous cell carcinoma of low versus high RDI (HR 3.82, 95%CI 1.01-14.4, p=0.048). No impact of delayed APC beyond six weeks from surgery on neither DFS (HR 0.78, 95%CI 0.46-1.33, p=0.36) nor OS (HR 0.67, 95%CI 0.40-1.15, p=0.15) was observed.

Low cisplatin RDI ≤ 75% of APC, but not extended time from surgery to APC onset > six weeks, was associated with significantly shorter survival in NSCLC patients.

six weeks, was associated with significantly shorter survival in NSCLC patients.

Because of their high costs and low availability, sleep recordings cannot be used as routine procedures for sleep apnea screening. Therefore, it is important to have a performant screening tool allowing to select patients at higher risk for sleep apnea who need further investigations. The goal of the study is to compare the performances of the three commonly used sleep disordered breathing (SDB) screening questionnaires in a clinical sample.

Clinical data and sleep studies performed in consecutive adult patients referred to the Lausanne University sleep center for sleep recordings between November 2016 and February 2018 were analysed. Berlin, STOP-Bang and NoSAS screening scores were calculated and compared with the sleep studies’ results.

NoSAS score showed a NPV of 0.88, a PPV of 0.43 and a correctly classified rate of 71% for an AHI >15/h. STOP-Bang score had a slightly higher negative predictive value (0.92) but a very low positive predictive value (0.30) and a poor correctly classified rate (47%).