25Phylogenetic diversity of cultivable actinobacteria isolated from sponges and associated 26 environments of intertidal zones, along the northern parts of west coast of India, were studied 27 using 16S rRNA gene sequences. A subset of actinobacteria were screened for three activities, 28 namely predatory behavior, antibacterial activity and enzyme inhibition. We recovered 207 29 isolates of actinobacteria belonging to 16 families and 25 genera, which could be attributed to 30 55 putative species using Poisson Tree Processes and 60 putative species based on Bayesian 31Poisson Tree Processes. Although the trends in the discovery of actinobacterial genera isolated 32 from sponges was consistent with previous studies from different study areas, we provide first 33 report of six actinobacterial species from sponges. We observed widespread non-obligate 34 epibiotic predatory behavior in eight actinobacterial genera and we provide first report of 35 predatory activity in Brevibacterium, Glutamicibacter, Micromonospora, Nocardiopsis, 36Rhodococcus and Rothia. Sponge associated actinobacteria showed significantly more 37 predatory behavior than environmental isolates. While antibacterial activity by actinobacterial 38 isolates mainly affected Gram-positive target bacteria with little to no effect on Gram-negative 39 bacteria, predation targeted both Gram-positive and Gram-negative prey with equal propensity. 40 Actinobacterial isolates from both sponge and associated environment produced inhibitors of 41 serine proteases and angiotensin converting enzyme. Predatory behavior was strongly 42 associated with inhibition of trypsin and chymotrypsin. Our study suggests that sponge and 43 associated environment of western coast of India are rich in actinobacterial diversity with 44 widespread predatory activity, antibacterial activity and production of enzyme inhibitors. 45
Background: Obesity is believed to be the major cause of insulin resistance, although many other obesity-independent signals are shown to affect insulin sensitivity.Aim: We address the degree to which variation in insulin resistance is explained by morphometric and biochemical measures of obesity.Methods: PubMed and Google Scholar were searched for epidemiological studies published between 1994 and 2015 that report correlations between at least one measure of obesity and that of insulin resistance.Results: A total of 63 studies satisfied inclusion criteria. Frequency distribution of coefficients of determination between morphometric measures of obesity and insulin resistance was skewed with the mode being less than 10%, class and median being 17.3%. Plasma leptin concentration, but not plasma non-esterified fatty acid level, was better correlated with insulin resistance, the median variance explained being 33.29%. Morphometric measures alone had a median variance explained of 16%. Ethnicity explained part of the variance across studies with the correlation being significantly poorer in Asians.Conclusion: The extremely limited predictive power of morphometric and biochemical measures of obesity suggests that more research needs to focus on the obesity-independent signals that affect insulin sensitivity as well as leptin expression.
The phylogenetic diversity of cultivable actinobacteria isolated from sponges (Haliclona spp.) and associated intertidal zone environments along the northern parts of the western coast of India were studied using 16S rRNA gene sequences. A subset of randomly selected actinobacterial cultures were screened for three activities, namely predatory behaviour, antibacterial activity and enzyme inhibition. We recovered 237 isolates from the phylum Actinobacteria belonging to 19 families and 28 genera, which could be attributed to 95 putative species using maximum-likelihood partition and 100 putative species using Bayesian partition in Poisson tree processes. Although the trends in the discovery of actinobacterial genera isolated from sponges were consistent with previous studies from different study areas, we provide the first report of nine actinobacterial species from sponges. We observed widespread non-obligate epibiotic predatory behaviour in eight actinobacterial genera and we provide the first report of predatory activity in Brevibacterium , Glutamicibacter , Micromonospora , Nocardiopsis , Rhodococcus and Rothia . Sponge-associated actinobacteria showed significantly more predatory behaviour than environmental isolates. While antibacterial activity by actinobacterial isolates mainly affected Gram-positive target bacteria with little or no effect on Gram-negative bacteria, predation targeted both Gram-positive and Gram-negative prey with equal propensity. Actinobacterial isolates from both sponges and associated environments produced inhibitors of serine proteases and angiotensin-converting enzyme. Predatory behaviour was strongly associated with inhibition of trypsin and chymotrypsin. Our study suggests that the sponges and associated environments of the western coast of India are rich in actinobacterial diversity, with widespread predatory activity, antibacterial activity and production of enzyme inhibitors. Understanding the diversity and associations among various actinobacterial activities – with each other and the source of isolation – can provide new insights into marine microbial ecology and provide opportunities to isolate novel therapeutic agents.
In contrast with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), in type 2 (T2DM) the success of intensive glucose normalization in arresting diabetic complications is marginal and inconsistent across multiple clinical trials. However, glucose regulation still largely remains the main target of treatment for T2DM in clinical practice. We examine the scientific rigor behind the design, conduct and inferences of 6 major clinical trials targeting glucose normalization and following up for diabetic complications and mortality. We find and discuss multiple flaws in reporting the results, their statistical treatment and clinically useful recommendations. The most serious flaw is the inability to recognize the limitations of statistical inferences when multiple comparisons are involved. Further we show using simulations that when different outcomes are not independent of each other, significance gets overestimated. We also suggested alternative ways to assess the effect of antihyperglycemic treatment, if any. Using more sound and elaborate statistical methods and inferential logic we find no support to the prevalent belief that intensive glucose normalization has any benefit in terms of reducing the frequency of any of the complications. Furthermore, alternative interpretations of the results have not been considered and evaluated in any of the clinical trials or their meta-analysis so far. Because of failure to show consistent significant benefit across multiple trials, we should now treat the hypothesis that glucose normalization prevents complications in T2DM as decisively falsified. This necessitates rethinking about some of the fundamental beliefs about the pathophysiology of diabetic complications and facilitate novel alternative lines of research.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.