Honeybees are an important pollinator around the world and is used in agriculture, the bees also make products like honey, royal jelly and wax these products make up a market worth 15 billion dollars in the US. Honeybees are on the decline and a problem might be damage to the microbiota in the gut. The MinION is a next generation sequencing tool created by nanopore technologies; it’s often compared to Illumina sequencing. MinION is believed to be relatively inaccurate compared to other sequencing tools, MinION utilizes nanopores to measure electrical signals from the different nucleotides. The aim of this study was to analyze the MinIONs accuracy in identifying bacteria, and analyzing if the MinION is a tool appropriate to use in understanding the gut microbiota of bees. Bacteria was grown on LB plates and the genetic DNA was isolated and amplified using PCR. The 16S gene was sequenced using MinION and analyzed using the Epi2me desktop agent. The large number of analyzing shows that there are about 40% of the materials that never get approved by Epi2me. When identifying bacteria the program showed to be accurate in most cases even the contaminated samples were identified with high accuracy. However, Epi2me had some difficulties correctly identifying specific closely related bacteria. In conclusion the identifying bacterial species using MinION together with the Epi2me software was concluded to be accurate in the majority of cases even though a few blind spots were experienced.

In recent decades, the study of the gut microbiota has gained attention as a crucial element in human health and the onset of diseases. Technological advancements, such as high-throughput sequencing, have enabled a deeper study of intestinal microbiota composition and functions. Among the environmental factors modulating the gut microbial configuration, the impact of nutrients is of particular significance. Nonetheless, research on dietary lipids, particularly omega-3 fatty acids, remains underexplored. This study aimed to contribute to the metagenomic analysis of the 16 subunit of the ribosomal RNA gene in faecal samples. A nutritional intervention was carried out focused on fish consumption rich in omega-3. Successful DNA extraction from faecal samples yielded notable, with defined genomic DNA bands in the gel electrophoresis and an adequate concentration. Polymerase chain reactions, essential for library preparation, revealed distinct products in the gel electrophoresis, confirming the successful amplification of the V3-V4 16 ribosomal RNA region with proper adapter addition for DNA sequencing. Comprehensive quality control assessment of sequenced samples confirmed the effectiveness of the refined laboratory procedures. The steps undertaken in this project were critical for subsequent bioinformatics and biostatistics analyses, providing insights into the impact of omega-3-rich fish consumption on the relative abundance and diversity of studied microbial taxa. Integrating metagenomics analysis with other omics and non-omics disciplines, alongside standardising methods across different laboratories, will pave the way for the future application and democratisation of precision nutrition to enhance overall wellbeing.

Iron plays a crucial role in various essential functions within the human body, participating in processes vital for overall health and well-being. To address iron deficiency, a wide array of iron supplements are commonly employed. However, it is important to recognize that certain types of iron supplements can have adverse effects on the body, including the induction of oxidative stress and inflammation. Therefore, extensive research is imperative to investigate the inflammatory potential of different sources of iron supplements in order to ensure their safety and effectiveness. In the pursuit of evaluating the inflammatory effects of various iron supplements, researchers frequently employ the Caco2 cell model. In this study, the focus was placed on examining the pro-inflammatory potential of different iron supplements by measuring the levels of a specific inflammatory biomarker, the cytokine IL-6, in the Caco2 cells. To mimic the physiological conditions, the supplements were subjected to a simulated gastrointestinal digestion protocol, ensuring that the Caco2 cells were exposed to digested forms of the supplement after which the levels of IL-6 were determined using ELISA. Surprisingly, the results of the study unveiled intriguing findings. Specifically, the two iron supplements derived from bovine sources exhibited no significant effect on IL-6 levels, indicating a lack of pro-inflammatory activity. However, it was the iron supplement derived from Spirulina, a marine-originated source that captured attention. This particular supplement showcased the ability to decrease the levels of IL-6, suggesting a potentially anti-inflammatory effect on intestinal cells. / <p>Utbytesstudent</p>

Uropathogenic Escherichia coli is a leading cause of urinary tract infections and bacterial prostatitis, the most common UTI complication in men. The initial stages of a successful infection involve bacterial adhesion to host cells through specialized adhesins. FimH, a protein located at the tip of type 1 pili, plays a crucial role as the main mediator for UPEC binding to bladder cells. While the host partners of FimH in the bladder are well-established, the interactions between FimH and prostate cells remain elusive. Consequently, the overarching goal is to enhance comprehension of the initial steps in prostate infection by investigating the interaction of FimH with prostate proteins. To achieve this, a recombinant FimH was constructed and expressed in an inducible expression vector, and an immunofluorescence staining assay was performed which demonstrated distinctive binding patterns in prostate cells compared to the bladder cell line. A Far Western overlay assay, revealed six distinct protein bands in human prostate cells and two in mouse prostate cells, indicating different potential protein partners. These interactions were examined under native conditions by establishing and optimizing a co-immunoprecipitation assay with cell proteins derived from both human and mouse prostates, with the 5637 cell line serving as a positive control. In summary, this study reveals striking differences between FimH binding to prostate and bladder cells, emphasizing the importance of FimH in adhesion and the need for further exploration of FimH interaction with prostate cells.

Chronic kidney disease greatly raises cardiovascular disease risk. Heart disease and death risk grow proportionately with renal disease progression. Investigate the link between cardiovascular disease prevalence and chronic renal disease severity and mortality using meta-analysis. In this study, 155 publications were found after searching several databases (including PubMed and Google Scholar). 48 studies that matched the inclusion criteria were included in the literature review, however, only 20 were included in the meta-analysis. 17101 people had CKD, while 8883 had CVD or non-CVD. Using the R programming language, a meta-analysis was performed to get a pooled impact of the influence of CVD on the severity of CKD (odds ratio OR), and a funnel plot was also generated to check for publication bias. The outcomes of the meta-analysis indicate that cardiovascular disease has a moderate impact on the severity of chronic kidney disease (OR=2.28, 95% CI, 1.90-2.73). All data will give essential insights into the epidemiology of the cardiovascular disease in chronic kidney disease (CKD), disclose the influence of individual risk variables on bad outcomes, and serve as the platform for future interventional research. Further investigation of the particular (non-traditional) risk factors associated with the renal illness that contribute to accelerated atherosclerosis in this population is necessary to improve the efficacy of cardiovascular treatments for patients with CKD. The purpose of this research is to determine whether and how these variables affect the development of CKD. / <p>Utbytesstudent.</p>

Pharmaceuticals are an important class of pollutants in aquatic ecosystems. Detected concentration are typically in the range 1 ng/L – 1 μg/L. Traditional wastewater treatment does not provide a complete removal of these contaminants; hence, they may have a negative impact on the environment. In addition, microalgae are an ecologically-meaningful target group of species for bioindication purposes as well as primary production and oxygen supply. The present work aimed to investigate the effect of Ibuprofen on the green alga Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata. Algal cultures were exposed to five different concentrations of the drug (5, 15, 45, 135, 405 mg/L) for four days. Absorbance measured at 680 nm was determined every day and obtained data were transformed into cell concentration (cells/mL) by a previously prepared calibration curve. Specific growth rate, generation time, percent inhibition and effective concentration were calculated. Moreover, one way ANOVA with Tukey’s test were applied to observe differences between groups and time periods. Based on this study, all the cultures treated with Ibuprofen had a growth inhibition as well as presenting a lag phase. Increasing the Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory drug (NSAID) concentration reduced the growth rate and consequently, increased the percent inhibition in a concentration-dependent manner. According to this report, new research should be focused on the development of hybrid systems for degradation and removal of pharmaceuticals. NSAID pollution may lead to a reduction in the diversity and number of functional groups of eukaryotic algae. Finally, more research should be devoted to the toxicity of drugs in a variety of test organisms and development of reliable methods for toxicity test at low and chronic exposures to achieve more realistic conclusions.

The corona virus disease of 2019 (Covid-19) is a deadly viral infection rampaging the world since 2019. Health practitioners have identified co-morbidities as one of the factors contributing to the severity of the disease among patients, with diabetes being one of the leading co-morbid. A systematic search was performed on PubMed, Google Scholar and Science hub databases to obtain articles that have addressed the link between diabetes and severity in Covid-19 infection. A meta-analysis to obtain a pooled effect of the effect of diabetes on the severity of Covid-19 (odd ratio OR) was calculated using R programming language and a funnel plot to check for publication bias was also plotted. Twelve studies with 3,180,125 diabetic patients with confirmed cases of Covid-19 (out of 61,820,553 confirmed Covid-19 participants) were included for the meta-analysis. The obtained pooled effect of diabetes on the severity of Covid-19 infection was (OR=1.47; 95% CI 1.33-1.63). From the meta-analysis results; Age, diabetic complications and drugs for the treatment of diabetes were identified as possible co-factors to the diabetic effect on Covid-19 infection, as diabetes was seen to be significantly related to its severity but not mortality. It is therefore very important for diabetic patients to adhere strictly to every laid down regulation regarding Covid-19. More clinical research on alternative diabetic therapy is needed as this will reduce the negative effect of insulin usage.

The study explored the prevalence of biofilm formers and its association with multidrug resistance in Klebsiella Pneumonia, a gram-negative bacterium that has high propensity to form antibiotic resistant strains and forms biofilms. Biofilms are complex microbial community with attributes that vary from planktonic cells. Antibiotic resistance is a property that has shown evidence to be higher in biofilms as compared to planktonic cells. Multi-drug resistance, a higher form of antibiotic resistance, is defined as resistance to at least one agent in three or more antibiotic categories. A single-armed and a two-armed meta-analysis was done to assess prevalence of biofilm formers and to find association between biofilm formation capacity and multi drug resistance. The one-armed meta-analysis revealed 74% (95% CI: 64%-83%) prevalence of biofilm formers among clinical isolates of Klebsiella Pneumonia. The prevalence rate is comparable with that of prevalence rate attained by other bacterium by similar meta-analysis studies. This high prevalence of biofilm formers warrants for a paradigm shift in treatment strategies for treatment of infections. The two-armed meta-analysis showed that there was identical risk of multi drug resistance among the biofilm formers and non-biofilm formers. The result challenges the intrinsic capacity of planktonic cells to resist against antibiotics to achieve multi drug resistance. Further research to update the biofilm formation profiles and to understand the resistance mechanism in commonly occurring bacterial infections in of utmost importance.

The present thesis will provide an overview of how the four humor styles, affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-defeating humor, are connected to different brain areas. The thesis will also include an overview of how humor in general, and especially three factors of humor including, processing, appreciation, and comprehension is connected to different brain areas. The present study found a connection between these three factors of humor and activation in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). The four humor styles were all connected to activity in the midbrain and nucleus accumbens (NAc), though they were found to differ in other parts of the brain. Affiliative humor and self-enhancing humor are humor styles found to share activation of similar brain areas, whereas self-enhancing and aggressive humor was found to the least extent share activation of the same brain areas. No neural differences in relation to the four humor styles have been found between men and woman, or between cultures.

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphoma with very bad prognosis. The genetic hallmark of MCL, is the translocation t(11;14)(q13;q32) which leads to overexpression of cyclin D1, a D-type cyclin that is not usually expressed at high levels in normal B lymphocytes.   Previous studies indicate that cannabinoid receptors are expressed in lymphoma and have shown that lymphoma cell death is induced as a result of exposure to cannabinoids (ligands).   The aim of this diploma work was to combined cytostatics with the cannabinoid receptor ligand R (+)-Methanandmide (R-MA). Our data suggest that combination treatment with cytostatics and R-MA induces synergistic effects in most cases.