AIMS Dysregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) plays a critical role in tumor growth and progression. In this study, we sought to explore the expression and biological roles of miR-539 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). MAIN METHODS The expression of miR-539 in human HCC tissues and cell lines was examined. The effects of miR-539 overexpression on cell growth, tumorigenicity, arsenic trioxide resis...

A significant 19th century public health problem was that the inhabitants of many houses containing wallpaper decorated with green arsenical pigments experienced illness and death. The problem was caused by certain fungi that grew in the presence of inorganic arsenic to form a toxic, garlic-odored gas. The garlic odor was actually put to use in a very delicate microbiological test for arsenic. ...

Previously, we reported an arsenic resistant bacterium Lysinibacillus sphaericus B1-CDA, isolated from an arsenic contaminated lands. Here, we have investigated its genetic composition and evolutionary history by using massively parallel sequencing and comparative analysis with other known Lysinibacillus genomes. Assembly of the sequencing reads revealed a genome of ~4.5 Mb in size encompassing...

In Bangladesh as many as 57 million people drink water with arsenic levels that exceed the 10-ppb limit set by the World Health Organization. Arsenic occurs naturally in high concentrations in groundwater in Bangladesh. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in Dhaka now report that ponds resulting from...

use of microorganisms for removing mercury is an effective technology for the treatment of industrial wastewaters and can become an effective tool for the remediation of man-impacted coastal ecosystems with this metal. in this study, seven types of mercury resistant bacteria were separated from industrial waste and minimum inhibitory concentration (mic), were determined for these bacteria. resu...

conclusions according to the results, six strains were resistant to six or seven antibiotics and all strains were at least resistant to two antibiotics. however, for each of these resistant bacteria one bacteriophage was isolated from environmental samples, which showed the effectiveness of bacteriophages to remove clinically resistant e. coli strains. effective phages in vitro showed effective...

the effects of dietary supplementation of garlic (allium sativum)extract on the growth and disease resistance of african catfish, clarias gariepinus was evaluated. also in-vitro evaluation of susceptibility of fish-borne multidrug resistant (mdr) pathogenic bacteria to aqueous extract of garlic was done. aqueous garlic extract exhibited inhibitory activity against mdr bacteria and the degree of...

sheep adapted to consume tannins rich feeds such as oak leaf (ol) appear to develop defensive mechanisms by their ruminal bacteria against these polyphenols. the capabilities of ruminal isolated tannins resistant bacteria from these animals to ferment a tanniniferous feed (i.e., pistachio hulls, (ph) which were incubated with rumen fluid from holstein dairy cows was assessed. six g positive coc...

BACKGROUND Arsenic has antimicrobial properties at high doses yet few studies have examined its effect on gut microbiota. This warrants investigation since arsenic exposure increases the risk of many diseases in which gut microbiota have been shown to play a role. We examined the association between arsenic exposure from drinking water and the composition of intestinal microbiota in children ex...

In Bangladesh as many as 57 million people drink water with arsenic levels that exceed the 10-ppb limit set by the World Health Organization. Arsenic occurs naturally in high concentrations in groundwater in Bangladesh. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in Dhaka now report that ponds resulting from...