The world’s population is ageing at an accelerated pace. Ageing is a natural, physiological but highly complex and multifactorial process that all species in the Tree of Life experience over time. Physical and mental disabilities, and age-related diseases, would increase along with the increasing life expectancy. Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is a plant that belongs to the Zingiberaceae family, native to Southeast Asia. For hundreds of years, ginger has been consumed in various ways by the natives of Asian countries, both as culinary and medicinal herb for the treatment of many diseases. Mounting evidence suggests that ginger can promote healthy ageing, reduce morbidity, and prolong healthy lifespan. Ginger, a well-known natural product, has been demonstrated to possess antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and antimicrobial properties, as well as an outstanding antiviral activity due to a high concentration of antiviral compounds. In this review, the current evidence on the potential role of ginger and its active compounds in the prevention of ageing is discussed.

Objective: microRNAs (miRNAs) have important potential as biomarkers in the diagnosis and prognosis of ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in coronary artery bypass grafting surgery (CABG). This study investigated the relationship between preoperative (preop) and postoperative (post-op) cardiac parameters and miRNA expressions in CABG. Methods: We analyzed a total of 94 individuals (CABG, n= 46 and healthy control, n=48). Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT) was performed to determine plasma miRNA expressions (miR-21, miR-181a, miR-199a, miR-199b, and miR-320a-5p) in triplicates: before surgery, 1 hour after surgery, and 24 hours after surgery. The target genes and pathways of miRNA were determined using bioinformatic analysis. The biomarker potentials of miRNAs were evaluated with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results: All miRNAs were significantly downregulated (p < 0.05). Troponin I, LVEF, CPK, and CK-MB were found to be statistically significant for operation groups (p < 0.05). miRNA expressions and cardiac markers were associated with troponin I and/or CK-MB. In ROC analyses, miR-199a was a good diagnostic marker. CREBRF and ZNF704 genes may be a target for these miRNAs. Conclusions: Downregulation of miR-199a has a regulatory role in ischemia/reperfusion. They may contribute to CABG pathology through these two genes involved in signaling cascades to turn on protein response and ion binding.

In the present study, collagen was obtained from the tissues of invasive sea urchin (Diadema setosum) rapidly spreading in the Mediterranean. As a result, the yield of collagen isolated from sea urchin was determined to be 23.78±1.33% (dry weight). According to the SDS-Page (Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate-Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis) analysis, it contains (α1)2α2, (Molecular Weight (MW) 124, 114 kDa) resembling the calfskin collagen and ß chains (MW 245 kDa), similar to the of the sea urchin collagen. In the amino acid analysis of collagen, it was determined that the imino acid (proline+hydroxyproline) content was 196.1 residues/1000 residues. Amide A (3301 cm-1), B (2924 cm-1), I (1643 cm-1), II (1550 cm-1), and III (1242 cm-1) functional bands were visualized in the FTIR spectrum. These results were similar to other collagen sources. For the first was used as a source of collagen in the present study. An alternative collagen source to mammalian collagen, which is used commercially in many industries such as biomedicine, food, and cosmetics, was isolated for the first time from D. setosum, and it was proposed that marine collagen can be used as an alternative collagen source and a functional component in areas including food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries.

Background This study investigated the diagnostic role of 75 levels measured in serum prostatitis and prostate carcinoma and in the differentiation of these two conditions. Methods The study was conducted with 75 patients histopathologically diagnosed with prostate carcinoma or prostatitis and followed up at the Departments of Urology and Medical Oncology and 21 healthy male subjects. Serum cathelicidin levels were investigated using the ELISA method. Statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS for Windows 22.0 package software. Compliance of the variables to normal distribution was examined using visual and analytic methods. In the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, cases with a p value of greater than 0.05 were accepted as normal distribution. Results A total of 75 patients including 45 diagnosed with prostate carcinoma and 30 diagnosed with prostatitis, as well as 21 healthy control subjects were included in the study. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) was detected as 23 (4–1200) ng/mL in the patients with prostate carcinoma and as 9.85 (3.9–405 ng/mL) in the patients with prostatitis. The cathelicidin levels were diagnostically significant when assessed by ROC analysis in the prostate cancer, prostatitis and control groups (p = 0.005). The cutoff values derived from the ROC curve analysis were 3.5151 ng/mL for distinguishing prostate cancer from prostatitis, 2.2620 ng/mL for prostate cancer versus control group and 1.2340 ng/mL for prostatitis versus control group. Conclusions In this study we showed that the serum cathelicidin levels were significantly higher in the patients diagnosed with prostate carcinoma. Measurement of serum cathelicidin levels could be used as a diagnostic marker in prostate carcinoma as well as facilitating differential diagnosis to strengthen the diagnostic suspicion before prostate biopsy and distinguish the diagnosis from prostatitis cases.

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