Modulation of Host Immunity by Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus Virulence Factors: A Synergic Inhibition of Both Innate and Adaptive Immunity

Indexación: Web of Science; Scopus.The Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus (hRSV) is a major cause of acute lower respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) and high rates of hospitalizations in children and in the elderly worldwide. Symptoms of hRSV infection include bronchiolitis and pneumonia. The lung pathology observed during hRSV infection is due in part to an exacerbated host immune response, characterized by immune cell infiltration to the lungs. HRSV is an enveloped virus, a member of the Pneumoviridae family, with a non-segmented genome and negative polarity-single RNA that contains 10 genes encoding for 11 proteins. These include the Fusion protein (F), the Glycoprotein (G), and the Small Hydrophobic (SH) protein, which are located on the virus surface. In addition, the Nucleoprotein (N), Phosphoprotein (P) large polymerase protein (L) part of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase complex, the M2-1 protein as a transcription elongation factor, the M2-2 protein as a regulator of viral transcription and (M) protein all of which locate inside the virion. Apart from the structural proteins, the hRSV genome encodes for the non-structural 1 and 2 proteins (NS1 and NS2). HRSV has developed different strategies to evade the host immunity by means of the function of some of these proteins that work as virulence factors to improve the infection in the lung tissue. Also, hRSV NS-1 and NS-2 proteins have been shown to inhibit the activation of the type I interferon response. Furthermore, the hRSV nucleoprotein has been shown to inhibit the immunological synapsis between the dendritic cells and T cells during infection, resulting in an inefficient T cell activation. Here, we discuss the hRSV virulence factors and the host immunological features raised during infection with this virus.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2017.00367/ful

Loop dynamics and AdS/CFT correspondence

We consider the strong coupling limit of conformal gauge theories in 4 dimensions. The action of the loop operator on the minimal area in the AdS space is analyzed, and the Schwinger-Dyson equations of gauge theory are checked. The general approach to the loop dynamics developed here goes beyond the special case of conformal theories.Comment: 19 pages, LaTeX, minor corrections to bring the paper in agreement with the journal version to be published in Nucl.Phys.

Bose-Condensed Gases in a 1D Optical Lattice at Finite Temperatures

We study equilibrium properties of Bose-Condensed gases in a one-dimensional (1D) optical lattice at finite temperatures. We assume that an additional harmonic confinement is highly anisotropic, in which the confinement in the radial directions is much tighter than in the axial direction. We derive a quasi-1D model of the Gross-Pitaeavkill equation and the Bogoliubov equations, and numerically solve these equations to obtain the condensate fraction as a function of the temperature.Comment: Comments: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Quantum Fluids and Solids Conference (QFS 2006

Recursos minerales marinos en las rías gallegas y en la plataforma continental adyacente.

La riqueza natural de las rías gallegas y de su plataforma adyacente no se restringe exclusivamente a las pesquerías. Los recursos minerales marinos, entre los que se encuentran los áridos, placeres, sal marina, fosforitas, hidrocarburos e hidratos de gas poseen un interés económico intrínseco muy importante. Aunque las explotaciones de sal marina tuvieron importancia histórica en Galicia, en la actualidad el aprovechamiento económico de los recursos minerales marinos se limita a los áridos empleados en la regeneración de playas. Una compleja interacción de factores jurídicos, tecnológicos y económicos ha inhibido hasta ahora el desarrollo de otros recursos. Sin embargo, el nuevo orden político y económico internacional proporciona un escenario muy distinto que facilita su explotación. Sensibles a este cambio, las instituciones responsables han impulsado el desarrollo de programas de evaluación de algunos de estos recursos, cuyos resultados se exponen aquí. Este es el caso de los hidrocarburos, de interés energético estratégico, o de los placeres cuyo interés se basa en la presencia de ciertos metales y tierras raras empleados en los nuevos materiales. En este sentido es deseable que en los próximos años se considere también la evaluación de recursos energéticos alternativos como los hidratos de gas, o de otros que como las fosforitas, poseen un interés estratégico especial para la creciente demanda de fertilizantes que anticipa la racionalización del sector agropecuario en la región. Sólo una completa evaluación del potencial económico de 67 G. Méndez et al. Recursos minerales marinos en las rías gallegas... todos los recursos minerales marinos en Galicia permitirá planificar una política de desarrollo sostenido adecuada.The natural wealth of the Galician rias and adjoining platform is not constrained to their well know fisheries. Their marine mineral resources, such as aggregates, placers, marine salt, phosphorites, hydrocarbons and gas hydrates, also have very significant intrinsic economic value. Despite a number of marine salt exploitations of historical relevance, the economic importance of marine mineral mining in Galicia, at present day, is limited to aggregates for beach renourishment. A complex interaction of legal, technological and economical factors has inhibited the development of other resources. However, the new international political and economical order has provided a very different scenario that favours their exploitation. Sensitive to this change, the relevant institutions have put in place evaluation programs for some of these resources, whose results will be shown here. This is the case of hydrocarbons, of strategic energy interest, or placers a source of metals and rare-earth elements for the new materials industry. In this sense it is desirable that alternative energy resources like gas hydrates, or strategically interesting resources for agriculture like phosphorites will be adequately evaluated in the next few years. Only a complete evaluation of the true economical importance of all the marine mineral resources in Galicia will allow adequate long-term planning of successful sustained development policies

Dynamics of interacting fermions under spin-orbit coupling in an optical lattice clock

Quantum statistics and symmetrization dictate that identical fermions do not interact via s-wave collisions. However, in the presence of spin-orbit coupling (SOC), fermions prepared in identical internal states with distinct momenta become distinguishable. The resulting strongly interacting system can exhibit exotic topological and pairing behaviours, many of which are yet to be observed in condensed matter systems. Ultracold atomic gases offer a promising pathway for simulating these rich phenomena, but until recently have been hindered by heating and losses. Here we enter a new regime of many-body interacting SOC in a fermionic optical lattice clock (OLC), where the long-lived electronic clock states mitigate unwanted dissipation. Using clock spectroscopy, we observe the precession of the collective magnetization and the emergence of spin-locking effects arising from an interplay between p-wave and SOC-induced exchange interactions. The many-body dynamics are well captured by a collective XXZ spin model, which describes a broad class of condensed matter systems ranging from superconductors to quantum magnets. Furthermore, our work will aid in the design of next-generation OLCs by offering a route for avoiding the observed large density shifts caused by SOC-induced exchange interactions

Static Potential in N=4 Supersymmetric Yang-Mills Theory

We compute the leading order perturbative correction to the static potential in ${\cal N}=4$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. We show that the perturbative expansion contains infrared logarithms which, when resummed, become logarithms of the coupling constant. The resulting correction goes in the right direction to match the strong coupling behavior obtained from the AdS/CFT correspondence. We find that the strong coupling extrapolation of the sum of ladder diagrams goes as $\sqrt{g^2N}$, as in the supergravity approach.Comment: 8 pages, four figures using feynm

A New Selective PPARγ Modulator Inhibits Triglycerides Accumulation during Murine Adipocytes’ and Human Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Differentiation

Understanding the molecular basis of adipogenesis is vital to identify new therapeutic targets to improve anti-obesity drugs. The adipogenic process could be a new target in the management of this disease. Our aim was to evaluate the effect of GMG-43AC, a selective peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor \u3b3 (PPAR\u3b3) modulator, during adipose differentiation of murine pre-adipocytes and human Adipose Derived Stem Cells (hADSCs). We differentiated 3T3-L1 cells and primary hADSCs in the presence of various doses of GMG-43AC and evaluated the differentiation efficiency measuring lipid accumulation, the expression of specific differentiation markers and the quantification of accumulated triglycerides. The treatment with GMG-43AC is not toxic as shown by cell viability assessments after the treatments. Our findings demonstrate the inhibition of lipid accumulation and the significant decrease in the expression of adipocyte-specific genes, such as PPAR\u3b3, FABP-4, and leptin. This effect was long lasting, as the removal of GMG-43AC from culture medium did not allow the restoration of adipogenic process. The above actions were confirmed in hADSCs exposed to adipogenic stimuli. Together, these results indicate that GMG-43AC efficiently inhibits adipocytes differentiation in murine and human cells, suggesting its possible function in the reversal of adipogenesis and modulation of lipolysis

Therapeutic effect of neural progenitor cells expanded in the 3D nano-engineered Nichoid substrate in a Parkinson’s disease preclinical model

3D microscaffoldsare becoming more and more relevant in regenerative medicine, as they lead to the creation of a structure similar to a physiologicalniche. An example is the nano-engineered Nichoid, a 3D structure in which the cells are able to proliferate. In this work,we investigated the proliferation and stemness properties of Er-NPCswhen grown inside the Nichoid, and their potential therapeutic application in the treatment of Parkinson\u2019s Disease.3D microscaffolds are becoming more and more relevant in regenerative medicine, as they lead to the creation of a structure similar to a physiological niche. An example is the nano-engineered Nichoid, a 3D structure in which the cells are able to proliferate. In this work, we investigated the proliferation and stemness properties of Er-NPCs when grown inside the Nichoid, and their potential therapeutic application in the treatment of Parkinson\u2019s Disease

A Theoretical Review of Rotating Detonation Engines

Rotating detonation engines are a novel device for generating thrust from combustion, in a highly efficient, yet mechanically simple form. This chapter presents a detailed literature review of rotating detonation engines. Particular focus is placed on the theoretical aspects and the fundamental operating principles of these engines. The review covers both experimental and computational studies, in order to identify gaps in current understanding. This will allow the identification of future work that is required to further develop rotating detonation engines

Collective atomic scattering and motional effects in a dense coherent medium

We investigate collective emission from coherently driven ultracold 88Sr atoms. We perform two sets of experiments using a strong and weak transition that are insensitive and sensitive, respectively, to atomic motion at 1 μK. We observe highly directional forward emission with a peak intensity that is enhanced, for the strong transition, by >103 compared with that in the transverse direction. This is accompanied by substantial broadening of spectral lines. For the weak transition, the forward enhancement is substantially reduced due to motion. Meanwhile, a density-dependent frequency shift of the weak transition (∼10% of the natural linewidth) is observed. In contrast, this shift is suppressed to <1% of the natural linewidth for the strong transition. Along the transverse direction, we observe strong polarization dependences of the fluorescence intensity and line broadening for both transitions. The measurements are reproduced with a theoretical model treating the atoms as coherent, interacting radiating dipoles