Obturator hernia is rare, but it must be considered in elderly patients who present with small
bowel obstruction. The diagnosis is challenging unless there is a high index of suspicion as
the presenting symptoms and signs are usually non-specific. Presence of positive HowshipRomberg sign is considered pathognomonic. Early diagnosis and rapid surgical intervention
will reduce the high morbidity and mortality associated with undiagnosed obturator hernia. We
report a case of a 93-year-old female patient who was admitted to our surgical department with
symptoms of intestinal obstruction of 3-days duration. Howship-Romberg sign was negative.
Computed tomography (CT) demonstrated the presence of left obturator hernia with proximal
small bowel obstruction and no sign of strangulation. The patient had emergency laparotomy
post-CT where the incarcerated bowel loop was released and the obstructed bowel was
decompressed without any complication. The hernial defect was close with a mesh and the
patient had an uneventful recovery post-surgery. In this case, we highlight that diagnosis of
obturator hernia must always be considered in elderly patients who present with intestinal
obstruction. Urgent CT could establish a rapid pre-operative diagnosis and aids in appropriate
surgical intervention planning which is crucial in optimising the outcome.
Typhoid fever is a systemic infection caused by Salmonella typhi, which may be associated with extra-intestinal
complications. Neurological manifestations, particularly Parkinsonism, are rarely reported. We report a
17-year-old patient with relapsed culture-proven Salmonella typhi infection who developed septic shock and
subsequently Parkinsonism. Lumbar puncture revealed acellular cerebrospinal fluid with raised protein level.
Magnetic resonance imaging revealed cerebral petechial haemorrhages resulted from small vessels vasculitis.
His symptoms resolved spontaneously after 3 months.
Bovine gelatin is a biopolymer which has good potential to be used in encapsulating matrices for probiotic candidate Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum strain G4 (G4) because of its amphoteric nature characteristic. Beads were prepared by the extrusion method using genipin and sodium alginate as a cross-linking agent. The optimisation of bovine gelatin-genipin-sodium alginate combinations was carried out using face central composition design (FCCD) to investigate G4 beads' strength, before and after exposed to simulated gastric (SGF), intestinal fluids (SIF), and encapsulation yield. A result of ANOVA and the polynomial regression model revealed the combinations of all three factors have a significant effect (p < 0.05) on the bead strength. Meanwhile, for G4 encapsulation yield, only genipin showed less significant effect on the response. However, the use of this matrix remained due to the intermolecular cross-linking ability with bovine gelatin. Optimum compositions of bovine gelatin-genipin-sodium alginate were obtained at 11.21% (w/v), 1.96 mM, and 2.60% (w/v), respectively. A model was validated for accurate prediction of the response and showed no significant difference (p > 0.05) with experimental values.
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, has gradually emerged as a public health challenge worldwide. Carrageenan is a popular food additive that has been in use for decades. However, controversy exists regarding to the safety of carrageenan due to its exacerbation of colitis in experimental models. In this study, we studied the effects of vehicle and host intestinal microflora on carrageenan inflammatory properties in C57BL/6 J mice. We found that in high-fat diet model, native carrageenan in drinking water increased the disease activity index (DAI), myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity and the mRNA expression of TLR4 in colon, whereas carrageenan-supplemented diet has no visible effects. However, no signs of colitis were observed under low-fat diet regardless of the mode of vehicle used. Moreover, we discovered that carrageenan-induced colitis in high-fat diet model was robustly correlated with changes in the composition of gut microbiota, specifically Alistipes finegoldii and Bacteroides acidifaciens. Hence, we propose that the inflammatory property of carrageenan is influenced greatly by its intake form via modification of host intestinal microecology.
Amoebiasis is a parasitic infection caused by the
intestinal protozoan Entamoeba histolytica, most
prevalent in developing countries. It results in 40,000 to
100,000 deaths each year from amoebic colitis and extra
intestinal infections. Amoebic liver abscess (ALA)
is the most common extra intestinal site of infection
with an incidence of between 3% and 9% of all cases of
amoebiasis. Ultrasound which has a sensitivity of more
than 90% for detecting ALA is highly recommended
as an initial investigation followed by serological
demonstration of circulating antibodies specific to
Entamoeba histolytica.
Gelatine obtained from fish skin has become a potential source of preparing nanoparticles and
encapsulation of bioactive compounds. Within these fish skin, gelatine nanoparticles show
potent benefits for application in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry. The encapsulated
bioactive ingredients within nanoparticles have improved bioavailability, delivery properties,
and solubility of the nutraceuticals within the human body and blood stream. Many of such
bioactive peptides (biopeptides) are potent antioxidants; and as oxidative stress is the main
cause of the onset of various chronic diseases, encapsulation of antioxidant biopeptides within
fish gelatine nanoparticles could be a potential remedy to prevent or delay the onset of such
diseases and for better health prospects. The purpose of the present work was to prepare a
simple, safe, and reproducible novel food delivery nanoparticle system encapsulating a desirable antioxidant biopeptide. An optimisation study was conducted to produce a desirable size
of gelatine nanoparticles which showed a higher encapsulation efficiency of an antioxidant
biopeptide. Sunflower biopeptide was chosen as the antioxidant biopeptide, as the activity of
this protein hydrolysate is quite high at DPPH of 89% and FRAP assay of 968 µm/L. Tilapia
fish was used as gelatine source at an average yield of the process at 10% wt/wt. Effects of
parameters such as pH, biopeptide concentration, and cross-linking agent ‘glutaraldehyde’ on
the size, stability, and encapsulation efficiency on the nanoparticles were studied. The average
diameter of the biopeptide loaded gelatine nanoparticle was between 228.3 and 1,305 nm.
Encapsulation efficiency was 76% at an optimal pH of 2, glutaraldehyde concentration of 2
mL, and biopeptide concentration of 0.1 mg/mL exhibited DPPH at 92% and FRAP assay of
978 µm/L. To understand the absorption of sunflower biopeptide in stomach, blood stream,
and biopeptide release of the gelatine nanoparticles, biopeptide loaded gelatine nanoparticles
were subjected to simulated gastrointestinal conditions mimicking human stomach and
intestine; and showed peptide release of 0.1464 and 0.277 mg/mL upon pepsin and pancreatin
digestion, respectively.
Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) have been widely used as an infection model for mammalian related pathogens with promising results. The bacterial factors required for virulence in non-mammalian host C. elegans play a role in mammalian systems. Previous reported that Salmonella found in vegetable and poultry meat could be potential health hazards to human. This study evaluated the pathogenicity of various serovars of Salmonella enterica (S. enterica) that recovered from local indigenous vegetables and poultry meat using C. elegans as a simple host model. Almost all S. enterica isolates were capable of colonizing the intestine of C. elegans, causing a significant reduction in the survival of nematodes. The colonization of Salmonella in C. elegans revealed that the ability of S. enterica in killing C. elegans correlates with its accumulation in the intestine to achieve full pathogenicity. Using this model, the virulence mechanisms of opportunistic pathogenic S. enterica were found to be not only relevant for the interactions of the bacteria with C. elegans but also with mammalian hosts including humans. Hence, C. elegans model could provide valuable insight into preliminary factors from the host that contributes to the environmental bacterial pathogenesis scenario.
The rising incidence of inflammatory bowel disease in Asia supports the importance of environmental risk factors in disease aetiology. This prospective population-based case-control study in Asia-Pacific examined risk factors prior to patients developing IBD.
The use of probiotic as dietary approach to prevent exposure to food contaminant, aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) has greatly increased. Several studies found that AFB1 binding to the bacterial cell wall is strain-specific. Moreover, the interaction between AFB1 and bacterial cell wall is not well-understood, thus warrants further investigation. This research was conducted to assess the ability of Lactobacillus casei Shirota (Lcs) to bind AFB1 at different concentrations and to determine AFB1 binding efficiency of different Lcs cell components including live cell, heat-treated, and cell wall. In addition, the interaction between AFB1 and Lcs was also evaluated via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and through an animal study. The binding of AFB1 by all Lcs cell components depends on the concentration of available AFB1. Among all Lcs cell components, the live Lcs cells exhibited the highest binding efficiency (98%) toward AFB1. Besides, the SEM micrographs showed that AFB1 induced structural changes on the bacterial cell surface and morphology including rough and irregular surface along with a curve rod-shaped. In vivo experiment revealed that Lcs is capable to neutralize the toxicity of AFB1 on body weight and intestine through the binding process. The animal's growth was stunted due to AFB1 exposure, however, such effect was significantly (p < 0.05) alleviated by Lcs. This phenomenon can be explained by a significant (p < 0.05) decreased level of blood serum AFB1 by Lcs (49.6 ± 8.05 ng/mL) compared to AFB1-exposed rats without treatment (88.12 ± 10.65 ng/mL). Taken together, this study highlights the potential use of Lcs as a preventive agent against aflatoxicosis via its strong binding capability.
The secondary metabolites produced by fungi known as mycotoxins, are capable of causing mycotoxicosis (diseases and death) in human and animals. Contamination of feedstuffs as well as food commodities by fungi occurs frequently in a natural manner and is accompanied by the presence of mycotoxins. The occurrence of mycotoxins' contamination is further stimulated by the on-going global warming as reflected in some findings. This review comprehensively discussed the role of mycotoxins (trichothecenes, zearalenone, fumonisins, ochratoxins, and aflatoxins) toward gut health and gut microbiota. Certainly, mycotoxins cause perturbation in the gut, particularly in the intestinal epithelial. Recent insights have generated an entirely new perspective where there is a bi-directional relationship exists between mycotoxins and gut microbiota, thus suggesting that our gut microbiota might be involved in the development of mycotoxicosis. The bacteria-xenobiotic interplay for the host is highlighted in this review article. It is now well established that a healthy gut microbiota is largely responsible for the overall health of the host. Findings revealed that the gut microbiota is capable of eliminating mycotoxin from the host naturally, provided that the host is healthy with a balance gut microbiota. Moreover, mycotoxins have been demonstrated for modulation of gut microbiota composition, and such alteration in gut microbiota can be observed up to species level in some of the studies. Most, if not all, of the reported effects of mycotoxins, are negative in terms of intestinal health, where beneficial bacteria are eliminated accompanied by an increase of the gut pathogen. The interactions between gut microbiota and mycotoxins have a significant role in the development of mycotoxicosis, particularly hepatocellular carcinoma. Such knowledge potentially drives the development of novel and innovative strategies for the prevention and therapy of mycotoxin contamination and mycotoxicosis.
The human gut is densely populated with diverse microbial communities that are essential to health. Prebiotics and fiber have been shown to possess the ability to modulate the gut microbiota. One of the plants being considered as a potential source of prebiotic is yacon. Yacon is an underutilized plant consumed as a traditional root-based fruit in South America. Yacon mainly contains fructooligosaccharides (FOS) and inulin. Therefore, it has bifidogenic benefits for gut health, because FOS are not easily broken down by digestive enzymes. Bioactive chemical compounds and extracts isolated from yacon have been studied for their various nutrigenomic properties, including as a prebiotic for intestinal health and their antimicrobial and antioxidant effects. This article reviewed scientific studies regarding the bioactive chemical compounds and nutrigenomic properties of extracts and isolated compounds from yacon. These findings may help in further research to investigate yacon-based nutritional products. Yacon can be considered a potential prebiotic source and a novel functional food. However, more detailed epidemiological, animal, and human clinical studies, particularly mechanism-based and phytopharmacological studies, are lacking for the development of evidence-based functional food products.
Solubility and matrix play an important role in the gut lumen in delivering bioactive compounds to the absorptive surface of enterocytes. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of certain commonly consumed lipids, soybean, olive and corn oil, on the transport and conjugation of flavonols (myricetin, quercetin, kaempferol and galangin) using the conjugation-competent co-cultured Caco-2/HT29-MTX intestinal cell monolayer model. To enable identification and quantification of conjugates, each flavonol was enzymatically glucuronidated or sulphated, then analysed by HPLC with triple quadrupole mass spectrometric detection. Quantification showed large differences in mass spectrometric peak area response factors between the aglycones and many of the conjugates, with galangin-sulphate for example ionising ∼15-fold better than galangin. Flavonol aglycones and conjugates were transported to the basolateral side of Caco-2/HT29-MTX co-cultures. The total amount of methyl, sulphate and glucuronide conjugates was in the order: galangin > quercetin > kaempferol > myricetin. All oils inhibited the transport and conjugation of galangin, the most hydrophobic flavonol, whereas they increased the sulphation, and to some extent glucuronidation, of quercetin and kaempferol. The results show that the lipid matrix has the potential to modify both transport and conjugation of dietary flavonols, but that the effect depends upon the structure and hydrophobicity.
Faecal samples of 56 common house crows (Corvus splendens Vieillot) were collected from the Petaling Jaya and Kelang districts of Selangor, peninsular Malaysia, and examined for coccidia. Intestinal tracts of 8 of the above crows wee histologically examined under light microscopy to determine the site of coccidial infection and the endogenous stages present. Fifty three (94.6%) crows had coccidial oocysts morphologically conforming to only one species of Isospora in their faeces at the time they were examined. The sporulated oocysts were found to be Isospora corviae (Ray et al. 1952) which has been emended to I. corvi. These oocysts are redescribed in greater detail. Corvus splendens is a new host record for I. corvi. Coccidial infection was observed in all the intestinal tracts and generally confined to the anterior two thirds of the intestine. The parasites occurred within intestinal epithelial cells, located usually above the host cell nucleus. Developmental stages of both the asexual and sexual phases were found in the epithelium, and are deemed to be the endogenous stages of I. corvi on the basis of the oocysts recovered from the same crows used for histological study. These stages are described here for the first time. The prevalence of I. corvi, its relationship with the host C. splendens, and its probable transmission from C. macrorhynchus are discussed.
The study investigated the alleviated effects of Alpha-ketoglutaric acid (AKG) on the intestinal health of mirror carp (Cyprinus carpio Songpu) caused by soy antigenic protein. The diets were formulated from fishmeal (CON), 50% soybean meal (SBM), the mixture of glycinin and β-conglycinin (11 + 7S) and adding 1% AKG in the 11 + 7S (AKG). Carp (~ 4 g) in triplicate (30 fish per tank) was fed to apparent satiation thrice a day for six weeks. Compared with CON, SBM treatment resulted in significantly poor growth performance (P 0.05). Gene expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) and interleukin-1 β (IL-1β) in proximal intestines (PI) and distal intestines (DI) were increased (P
To better understand gene expression in the intestine after Shewanella algae infection and provide insights into its immune roles in the tongue sole, Cynoglossus semilaevis, sequencing-based high-throughput RNA analysis (RNA-Seq) for the intestines between the control group and 12 h post-injection group was performed. After assembly, there was an average of 23,957,159 raw sequencing reads, and 23,943,491 clean reads were obtained after filtering out low-quality reads. Then, 383 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the intestines in response to S. algae infection were identified. Subsequently, gene ontology (GO) enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses of the DEGs were conducted to further explore their functions. Among all of the pathways involved, sixteen pathways were related to the immune system, among which the complement and coagulation cascades pathway was the most prominent for immunity-related DEGs, followed by the leukocyte transendothelial migration pathway. Furthermore, the expression levels of twelve selected DEGs in the immune-related pathways were identified by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, substantiating the reliability and reproducibility of the RNA-Seq results. In summary, this study represents an important genomic resource for understanding the potential immune role of the tongue sole intestine from the perspective of gene expression.
Thirty snakehead fish, Channa micropeltes (Cuvier, 1831) were collected at Lake Kenyir, Malaysia. Muscle, liver, intestine and kidney tissues were removed from each fish and the intestine was opened to reveal cestodes. In order to assess the concentration of heavy metal in the environment, samples of water in the surface layer and sediment were also collected. Tissues were digested and the concentrations of manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) were analysed by using inductively-coupled plasma mass-spectrometry (ICP-MS) equipment. The results demonstrated that the cestode Senga parva (Fernando and Furtado, 1964) from fish hosts accumulated some heavy metals to a greater extent than the water and some fish tissues, but less than the sediment. In three (Pb, Zn and Mn) of the five elements measured, cestodes accumulated the highest metal concentrations, and in remaining two (Cu and Cd), the second highest metal accumulation was recorded in the cestodes when compared to host tissues. Therefore, the present study indicated that Senga parva accumulated metals and might have potential as a bioindicator of heavy-metal pollution.
Crocodiles exist in unsanitary environments, feed on rotten meat, are often exposed to heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, mercury, nickel, lead, selenium, tolerate high levels of radiation, and are amid the very few species to survive the catastrophic Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, nonetheless they can live for up to a 100 years. Moreover, as they live in unhygienic conditions, they regularly come across pathogens. Logically, we postulate that crocodiles possess mechanisms to defend themselves from noxious agents as well as protecting themselves from pathogens. To test this hypothesis, various organ lysates and serum of Crocodylus palustris were prepared. Amoebicidal assays were performed using Acanthamoeba castellanii belonging to the T4 genotype. Cytotoxicity assays were performed using Prostate cancer cells culture by measuring lactate dehydrogenase release as a marker for cell death. Growth inhibition assays were performed to determine the growth inhibitory effects of various organ lysates. Serum and heart lysates of Crocodylus palustris exhibited powerful anti-tumor activity exhibiting more than 70% Prostate cancer cell death (P
There are serious concerns over the adverse impacts of microplastics (MPs) on living organisms. The main objective of this study was to test the effects of MPs on the total length, weight, condition factor (CF), transcriptional level of antioxidant, anti and pro-apoptotic, and neurotransmitter genes, and the histopathology of the gill, liver, brain, kidney, and intestine in the larvae of zebrafish (Danio rerio). Fish were exposed to one of three levels of pristine low-density polyethylene (LDPE) fragments (5, 50, or 500 μg/L) for 10 or 20 days. No significant changes were observed in any of the selected biomarkers across MP concentrations at days 10 or 20. The expression of casp9 (caspase 9, apoptosis-related cysteine protease), casp3a (caspase 3, apoptosis-related cysteine protease a) and cat (catalase), however, were significantly lower in the larvae sampled at day 20 than day 10. We provide evidence that virgin short-term exposure to LDPE fragments has minimal impact on biomarker responses in D. rerio larvae.
Fish tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus were collected from a contaminated Seri Serdang (SS) pond potentially receiving domestic effluents and an uncontaminated pond from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). The fish were dissected into four parts namely gills, muscles, intestines, and liver. All the fish parts were pooled and analyzed for the concentrations of Cd, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, and Zn. Generally, the concentrations of all metals were low in the edible muscle in comparison to the other parts of the fish. It was found that the levels of all the heavy metals in the different parts of fish collected from the SS were significantly (P<0.05) higher than those from UPM, indicating greater metal bioavailabilities in the SS pond. The sediment data also showed a similar pattern with significantly (P<0.05) higher metal concentrations in SS than in UPM, indicating higher metal contamination in SS. Potential health risk assessments based on provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) and the amount of fish required to reach the PTWI values, estimated daily intake (EDI), and target hazard quotient (THQ) indicated that health risks associated with heavy metal exposure via consumption of the fish's muscles were insignificant to human. Therefore, the consumption of the edible muscles of tilapia from both ponds should pose no toxicological risk of heavy metals since their levels are also below the recommended safety guidelines. While it is advisable to discard the livers, gills, and intestines of the two tilapia fish populations before consumption, there were no potential human health risks of heavy metals to the consumers on the fish muscle part.