Insect Cecropins, Antimicrobial Peptides with Potential Therapeutic Applications

The alarming escalation of infectious diseases resistant to conventional antibiotics requires urgent global actions, including the development of new therapeutics. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) represent potential alternatives in the treatment of multi-drug resistant (MDR) infections. Here, we focus on Cecropins (Cecs), a group of naturally occurring AMPs in insects, and on synthetic Cec-analogs. We describe their action mechanisms and antimicrobial activity against MDR bacteria and other pathogens. We report several data suggesting that Cec and Cec-analog peptides are promising antibacterial therapeutic candidates, including their low toxicity against mammalian cells, and anti-inflammatory activity. We highlight limitations linked to the use of peptides as therapeutics and discuss methods overcoming these constraints, particularly regarding the introduction of nanotechnologies. New formulations based on natural Cecs would allow the development of drugs active against Gram-negative bacteria, and those based on Cec-analogs would give rise to therapeutics effective against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens. Cecs and Cec-analogs might be also employed to coat biomaterials for medical devices as an approach to prevent biomaterial-associated infections. The cost of large-scale production is discussed in comparison with the economic and social burden resulting from the progressive diffusion of MDR infectious diseases

A Comprehensive Study of the Initiation and Early Evolution of a Coronal Mass Ejection from Ultraviolet and White-Light Data

In this work we analyze simultaneous UV and white-light (WL) observations of a slow CME that occurred on 2000 January 31. Unlike most CMEs studied in the UV so far, this event was not associated with a flare or filament eruption. Based on vector magnetograph data and magnetic field models, we find that field disruption in an active region (AR) was driven by flux emergence and shearing motions, leading to the CME and to post-CME arcades seen in the EUV. WL images, acquired by the Mark IV coronagraph at the Mauna Loa Observatory, allowed us to identify the CME front, bubble, and core shortly (about 1 hr) after the CME ejection. From polarized brightness (pB) Mauna Loa data we estimated the mass and electron densities of the CME. The CME mass increases with time, indicating that about 2/3 of the mass originates above 1.6 R☉. Analysis of the UV spectra, acquired by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (SOHO UVCS) at 1.6 and 1.9 R☉, allowed us to derive the electron temperature distribution across the CME. The temperature maximizes at the CME core and increases between 1.6 and 1.9 R☉. This event was unusual, in that the leading edge and the CME core were hotter than the ambient corona. We discuss magnetic heating and adiabatic compression as explanations for the high temperatures in the core and leading edge, respectively

Direct 16S rRNA-seq from bacterial communities: a PCR-independent approach to simultaneously assess microbial diversity and functional activity potential of each taxon

The analysis of environmental microbial communities has largely relied on a PCR-dependent amplification of genes entailing species identity as 16S rRNA. This approach is susceptible to biases depending on the level of primer matching in different species. Moreover, possible yet-to-discover taxa whose rRNA could differ enough from known ones would not be revealed. DNA-based methods moreover do not provide information on the actual physiological relevance of each taxon within an environment and are affected by the variable number of rRNA operons in different genomes. To overcome these drawbacks we propose an approach of direct sequencing of 16S ribosomal RNA without any primer- or PCR-dependent step. The method was tested on a microbial community developing in an anammox bioreactor sampled at different time-points. A conventional PCR-based amplicon pyrosequencing was run in parallel. The community resulting from direct rRNA sequencing was highly consistent with the known biochemical processes operative in the reactor. As direct rRNA-seq is based not only on taxon abundance but also on physiological activity, no comparison between its results and those from PCR-based approaches can be applied. The novel principle is in this respect proposed not as an alternative but rather as a complementary methodology in microbial community studies

Podocyte Regeneration Driven by Renal Progenitors Determines Glomerular Disease Remission and Can Be Pharmacologically Enhanced

Podocyte loss is a general mechanism of glomerular dysfunction that initiates and drives the progression of chronic kidney disease, which affects 10% of the world population. Here, we evaluate whether the regenerative response to podocyte injury influences chronic kidney disease outcome. In models of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis performed in inducible transgenic mice where podocytes are tagged, remission or progression of disease was determined by the amount of regenerated podocytes. When the same model was established in inducible transgenic mice where renal progenitors are tagged, the disease remitted if renal progenitors successfully differentiated into podocytes, while it persisted if differentiation was ineffective, resulting in glomerulosclerosis. Treatment with BIO, a GSK3s inhibitor, significantly increased disease remission by enhancing renal progenitor sensitivity to the differentiation effect of endogenous retinoic acid. These results establish renal progenitors as critical determinants of glomerular disease outcome and a pharmacological enhancement of their differentiation as a possible therapeutic strategy

Metrology on-board PROBA-3: The Shadow Position Sensor (SPS) subsystem

PROBA-3 is an ESA Mission whose aim is to demonstrate the in-orbit Formation Flying and attitude control capabilities of its two satellites by means of closed-loop, on-board metrology. The two small spacecraft will form a giant externally occulted coronagraph that will observe in visible polarized light the inner part of the solar corona. The SPS subsystem is composed of eight sensors that will measure, with the required sensitivity and dynamic range, the penumbra light intensity around the coronagraph instrument entrance pupil

Metrology on-board PROBA-3: The shadow position sensors subsystem

PROBA-3 is an ESA mission aimed at the demonstration of formation flying performance of two satellites that will form a giant coronagraph in space. The first spacecraft will host a telescope imaging the solar corona in visible light, while the second, the external occulter, will produce an artificial eclipse. This instrument is named ASPIICS (Association of Spacecraft for Polarimetric and Imaging Investigation of the Corona of the Sun). To accomplish the payload's scientific tasks, PROBA-3 will ensure sub-millimeter reciprocal positioning of its two satellites using closed-loop on-board metrology. Several metrology systems will be used and the Shadow Position Sensor (SPS) subsystem senses the penumbra around the instrument aperture and returns the 3-D displacement of the coronagraph satellite, with respect to its nominal position, by running a dedicated algorithm. In this paper, we describe how the SPS works and the choices made to accomplish the mission objectives