(En)gendering Basque Culture: Musical Notes from the Archives

Drawing on folksongs written since the 16th century, I show women and girls in Basque song exhibit more agency and a wider variety of emotional stances than the secondary, “traditional” roles usually ascribed them. They negotiate potential mates; drink instead of work; and seek the pleasure of men other than their husbands. While the meanings of these songs are multi-vocal and sometimes difficult to discern, I argue that deliberation over these songs’ meanings enriches our understanding of Basque culture and the role of song in producing and contesting it

Filling pressures and collagen metabolism in hypertensive patients with heart failure and normal ejection fraction

This study was designed to evaluate the association between circulating biomarkers of collagen metabolism and elevated left-sided filling pressures (FPs), as assessed from elevated estimated pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (ePCWP), in hypertensive patients with heart failure with normal ejection fraction. Echocardiography was performed and ePCWP was calculated from the formula ePCWP=1.90+1.24(maximum early transmitral flow velocity in diastole:tissue Doppler early mitral annulus velocity). The biomarkers of collagen synthesis (carboxy-terminal propeptide of procollagen type I) and degradation (matrix metalloproteinase [MMP] 1 and tissue inhibitor of MMP-1 [TIMP-1]) were analyzed by ELISA methods. Seventy-eight patients with normal FPs (ePCWP 15 mm Hg) were included. Compared with controls, the levels of the 3 biomarkers were increased in the 2 groups of patients. The MMP-1:TIMP-1 ratio, an index of MMP-1 activity, was increased in patients with normal FPs and unchanged in patients with elevated FPs. Patients with elevated FPs exhibited higher TIMP-1 levels and a lower MMP-1:TIMP-1 ratio than patients with normal FPs. ePCWP was independently associated with TIMP-1 (r=0.349; P<0.001) and the MMP-1:TIMP-1 ratio (r=-0.240; P<0.01) in all of the patients. Receiver operating characteristic curves showed that a cutoff value of TIMP-1 of 1557 ng/mL provided 64% sensitivity and 67% specificity for predicting elevated FPs with a relative risk of 3.71 (95% CI: 1.91 to 7.22). These findings suggest that, in hypertensive patients with heart failure with normal ejection fraction and elevated FPs, collagen synthesis predominates over degradation because of a relative excess of TIMP-1. This imbalance can facilitate myocardial fibrosis, which, in turn, may contribute to the elevation of FPs in these patients

Erythema Multiforme Major Associated with CMV Infection in an Immunocompetent Patient

Background: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection usually remains asymptomatic in immunocompetent adults, and few cases of complicated disease in nonimmunosuppressed patients have been reported. Erythema multiforme (EM), an acute and self-limiting skin eruption characterized by a typical targetoid lesion that may also affect the mucosa, is a hypersensitivity reaction that usually occurs after herpes simplex virus infection or use of certain drugs and resolves without complications in healthy individuals. To our knowledge, CMV infection has been associated with EM in only six patients. Objective: We present a case of an EM caused by CMV infection in a 35-year-old nonimmunosuppressed patient who was successfully treated with ganciclovir. Conclusion: Our report, like other similar reports found in the literature, suggests that CMV can trigger EM in apparently healthy individuals. Intravenous ganciclovir appears to be a good treatment option in these cases

Multiple eruptive keratoacanthomas arising in a tattoo

Keratoacanthomas are rapidly growing, keratinizing, epithelial neoplasms that tend to spontaneously involute and are rarely multiple or eruptive. There is still disagreement on whether or not this condition is a malignancy or a benign epidermal neoplasm; nevertheless, its appearance on tattoos has been reported in rare instances. When waiting for spontaneous involution is not an option, surgery is the preferred treatment. Other therapeutic modalities used for the treatment of this condition include radiotherapy; cryotherapy; laser therapy; and multiple intralesional, topical, and systemic agents. The authors report a patient who developed multiple, eruptive keratoacanthomas in the red ink portions of a tattoo and was successfully treated with acitretin

Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of N-glycan Positional Isomers and Evidence for Branch Selective Binding by Monoclonal Antibodies and Human C-type Lectin Receptors

International audienceHere, we describe a strategy for the rapid preparation of pure positional isomers of complex N-glycans to complement an existing array comprising a larger number of N-glycans and smaller glycan structures. The expanded array was then employed to study context-dependent binding of structural glycan fragments by monoclonal antibodies and C-type lectins. A partial enzymatic elongation of semiprotected core structures was combined with the protecting-group-aided separation of positional isomers by preparative HPLC. This methodology, which avoids the laborious chemical differentiation of antennae, was employed for the preparation of eight biantennary N-glycans with Galβ1,4GlcNAc (LN), GalNAcβ1,4GlcNAc (LDN), and GalNAcβ1,4[Fucα1,3]GlcNAc (LDNF) motifs presented on either one or both antennae. Screening of the binding specificities of three anti-LeX monoclonal IgM antibodies raised against S. mansoni glycans and three C-type lectin receptors of the innate immune system, namely DC-SIGN, DC-SIGNR, and LSECtin, revealed a surprising context-dependent fine specificity for the recognition of the glycan motifs. Moreover, we observed a striking selection of one individual positional isomer over the other by the C-type lectins tested, underscoring the biological relevance of the structural context of glycan elements in molecular recognition

Filling pressures and collagen metabolism in hypertensive patients with heart failure and normal ejection fraction

This study was designed to evaluate the association between circulating biomarkers of collagen metabolism and elevated left-sided filling pressures (FPs), as assessed from elevated estimated pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (ePCWP), in hypertensive patients with heart failure with normal ejection fraction. Echocardiography was performed and ePCWP was calculated from the formula ePCWP=1.90+1.24(maximum early transmitral flow velocity in diastole:tissue Doppler early mitral annulus velocity). The biomarkers of collagen synthesis (carboxy-terminal propeptide of procollagen type I) and degradation (matrix metalloproteinase [MMP] 1 and tissue inhibitor of MMP-1 [TIMP-1]) were analyzed by ELISA methods. Seventy-eight patients with normal FPs (ePCWP 15 mm Hg) were included. Compared with controls, the levels of the 3 biomarkers were increased in the 2 groups of patients. The MMP-1:TIMP-1 ratio, an index of MMP-1 activity, was increased in patients with normal FPs and unchanged in patients with elevated FPs. Patients with elevated FPs exhibited higher TIMP-1 levels and a lower MMP-1:TIMP-1 ratio than patients with normal FPs. ePCWP was independently associated with TIMP-1 (r=0.349; P<0.001) and the MMP-1:TIMP-1 ratio (r=-0.240; P<0.01) in all of the patients. Receiver operating characteristic curves showed that a cutoff value of TIMP-1 of 1557 ng/mL provided 64% sensitivity and 67% specificity for predicting elevated FPs with a relative risk of 3.71 (95% CI: 1.91 to 7.22). These findings suggest that, in hypertensive patients with heart failure with normal ejection fraction and elevated FPs, collagen synthesis predominates over degradation because of a relative excess of TIMP-1. This imbalance can facilitate myocardial fibrosis, which, in turn, may contribute to the elevation of FPs in these patients

Fluoroacetamide Moieties as NMR Probes for molecular recognition of GlcNAc-containing sugars: Modulation of the CH-? Stacking Interactions by Different Fluorination Patterns

We herein propose the use of fluoroacetamide and difluoroacetamide moieties as sensitive tags for the detection of sugar-protein interactions by simple H-1 and/or (FNMR)-F-19 spectroscopy methods. In this process, we have chosen the binding of N,N-diacetyl chitobiose, a ubiquitous disaccharide fragment in glycoproteins, by wheat-germ agglutinin (WGA), a model lectin. By using saturation-transfer difference (STD)-NMR spectroscopy, we experimentally demonstrate that, under solution conditions, the molecule that contained the CHF2CONH- moiety is the stronger aromatic binder, followed by the analogue with the CH2FCONH- group and the natural molecule (with the CH3CONH- fragment). In contrast, the molecule with the CF3CONH- isoster displayed the weakest intermolecular interaction (one order of magnitude weaker). Because sugar-aromatic CH- interactions are at the origin of these observations, these results further contribute to the characterization and exploration of these forces and offer an opportunity to use them to unravel complex recognition processes