Worms and submersed macrophytes reduce methane release and increase nutrient removal in organic sediments

AbstractOrganic sediments are greenhouse gas and nutrient hotspots. They may display lower methane (CH4) emissions and increase nutrient retention when macrophytes and macrofauna are present, due to oxygen leakage from roots and bioirrigation. We tested this hypothesis via incubations of microcosms reproducing four treatments: bare sediment, sediment with oligochaetes, sediment with macrophytes, and sediment with both organisms. Along a 12‐d experiment, CH4 ebullition in bare sediment (470 ± 13 mmol m−2) decreased by 67%, 88%, and 97% in the presence of plants, oligochaetes, and both organisms, respectively. Oligochaetes increased N2 production by ~ 200 mmol N m−2 and nitrate consumption by a factor of 4, whereas macrophytes reduced nitrogen losses by ~ 65 mmol N m−2. All treatments acted as phosphate sink. Results suggest that the maintenance of vegetation and associated macrofauna in organic sediments promotes their combined ecosystem services, resulting in significant reduction of greenhouse gas emission and nutrient release to the water column

Psicoterapia no Centro de Atenção Psicossocial: O Tratamento de Sujeitos com Neuroses Graves

Neste ensaio visamos apresentar a psicoterapia orientada pela psicanálise para o tratamento de sujeitos do recalcamento com graves impasses de subjetivação, conhecidos como sujeitos neuróticos, em um Centro de Atenção Psicossocial. Para tal intento, subsidiados pela psicanálise do campo de Freud e Lacan, explicitamos brevemente o processo de constituição nessa modalidade subjetiva, pontuamos as funções das entrevistas preliminares, discorremos sobre a direção do tratamento recorrendo a uma vinheta clínica e abordamos a dimensão temporal implicada nesse tipo de processo analítico. O psicólogo com orientação psicanalítica posicionado no Discurso do Analista (DA) convoca os sujeitos a, por meio da associação livre, fazer um trabalho de decifração e cifração dos sintomas que fazem sofrer. Essa modalidade terapêutica, sustentada pela ética do bem dizer e balizada pela transferência, possibilita aos sujeitos separar-se dos significantes que o alienam e reposicionarem-se na relação com o desejo

BRCA2 Germline Mutations Identify Gastric Cancers Responsive to PARP Inhibitors

Mutations; Gastric cancers; PARP inhibitorsMutacions; Càncers gàstrics; Inhibidors de PARPMutaciones; Cánceres gástricos; Inhibidores de PARPDespite negative results of clinical trials conducted on the overall population of patients with gastric cancer, PARP inhibitor (PARPi) therapeutic strategy still might represent a window of opportunity for a subpopulation of patients with gastric cancer. An estimated 7% to 12% of gastric cancers exhibit a mutational signature associated with homologous recombination (HR) failure, suggesting that these patients could potentially benefit from PARPis. To analyze responsiveness of gastric cancer to PARPi, we exploited a gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma (GEA) platform of patient-derived xenografts (PDX) and PDX-derived primary cells and selected 10 PDXs with loss-of-function mutations in HR pathway genes. Cell viability assays and preclinical trials showed that olaparib treatment was effective in PDXs harboring BRCA2 germline mutations and somatic inactivation of the second allele. Olaparib responsive tumors were sensitive to oxaliplatin as well. Evaluation of HR deficiency (HRD) and mutational signatures efficiently stratified responder and nonresponder PDXs. A retrospective analysis on 57 patients with GEA showed that BRCA2 inactivating variants were associated with longer progression-free survival upon platinum-based regimens. Five of 7 patients with BRCA2 germline mutations carried the p.K3326* variant, classified as “benign.” However, familial history of cancer, the absence of RAD51 foci in tumor cells, and a high HRD score suggest a deleterious effect of this mutation in gastric cancer. In conclusion, PARPis could represent an effective therapeutic option for BRCA2-mutated and/or high HRD score patients with GEA, including patients with familial intestinal gastric cancer.This work was funded by the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC), IG 20210 and IG 27531 to S. Giordano; IG 23624 to F. Pietrantonio; IG 21770 to S. Corso. FPRC 5×1000 2015 Min. Salute “Strategy” to SG; Fondazione Piemontese per la Ricerca sul Cancro (FPRC) 5×1000 MS2017 PTCRC-intra 2020 to S. Giordano; Ricerca Locale Dept. Oncology 2021 to S. Corso; Italian Ministry of Health-Ricerca Corrente 2022–23. B. Pellegrino was supported by ESMO with a Clinical Translational Fellowship aid supported by Roche and received research grants from GOIRC. Fondazione CR Firenze to M. Benelli

Frequency-dependent reduction of cybersickness in virtual reality by transcranial oscillatory stimulation of the vestibular cortex

Virtual reality (VR) applications are pervasive of everyday life, as in working, medical, and entertainment scenarios. There is yet no solution to cybersickness (CS), a disabling vestibular syndrome with nausea, dizziness, and general discomfort that most of VR users undergo, which results from an integration mismatch among visual, proprioceptive, and vestibular information. In a double-blind, controlled trial, we propose an innovative treatment for CS, consisting of online oscillatory imperceptible neuromodulation with transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) at 10 Hz, biophysically modelled to reach the vestibular cortex bilaterally. tACS significantly reduced CS nausea in 37 healthy subjects during a VR rollercoaster experience. The effect was frequency-dependent and placebo-insensitive. Subjective benefits were paralleled by galvanic skin response modulation in 25 subjects, addressing neurovegetative activity. Besides confirming the role of transcranially delivered oscillations in physiologically tuning the vestibular system function (and dysfunction), results open a new way to facilitate the use of VR in different scenarios and possibly to help treating also other vestibular dysfunctions

Frequency-dependent tuning of the human vestibular "sixth sense" by transcranial oscillatory currents

Objective: The vestibular cortex is a multisensory associative region that, in neuroimaging investigations, is activated by slow-frequency (1-2 Hz) galvanic stimulation of peripheral receptors. We aimed to directly activate the vestibular cortex with biophysically modeled transcranial oscillatory current stimulation (tACS) in the same frequency range. Methods: Thirty healthy subjects and one rare patient with chronic bilateral vestibular deafferentation underwent, in a randomized, double-blind, controlled trial, to tACS at slow (1 or 2 Hz) or higher (10 Hz) frequency and sham stimulations, over the Parieto-Insular Vestibular Cortex (PIVC), while standing on a stabilometric platform. Subjective symptoms of motion sickness were scored by Simulator Sickness Questionnaire and subjects' postural sways were monitored on the platform. Results: tACS at 1 and 2 Hz induced symptoms of motion sickness, oscillopsia and postural instability, that were supported by posturographic sway recordings. Both 10 Hz-tACS and sham stimulation on the vestibular cortex did not affect vestibular function. As these effects persisted in a rare patient with bilateral peripheral vestibular areflexia documented by the absence of the Vestibular-Ocular Reflex, the possibility of a current spread toward peripheral afferents is unlikely. Conversely, the 10 Hz-tACS significantly reduced his chronic vestibular symptoms in this patient. Conclusions: Weak electrical oscillations in a frequency range corresponding to the physiological cortical activity of the vestibular system may generate motion sickness and postural sways, both in healthy subjects and in the case of bilateral vestibular deafferentation. Significance: This should be taken into account as a new side effect of tACS in future studies addressing cognitive functions. Higher frequencies of stimulation applied to the vestibular cortex may represent a new interventional option to reduce motion sickness in different scenarios

Castrum Novum (Santa Marinella, prov. de Rome)

Introduction(F. Enei, S. Nardi Combescure, G. Poccardi) Au cours du mois de septembre 2016, les recherches de terrain entreprises l’année précédente ont été poursuivies sur la colline du « Casale Alibrandi » (zone D) qui correspond au cœur de la colonie de Castrum Novum. Trois nouveaux sondages ont été ouverts : le sondage IV a permis de dégager une partie importante des remparts du IIIe siècle av. J. -C. ; le sondage V a intéressé des édifices relatifs à l’époque de fondation de la colonie ;..

Drivers of Cyanobacterial Blooms in a Hypertrophic Lagoon

The Curonian Lagoon is Europe's largest lagoon and one of the most seriously impacted by harmful blooms of cyanobacteria. Intensive studies over the past 20 years have allowed us to identify the major drivers determining the composition and spatial extent of hyperblooms in this system. We summarize and discuss the main outcomes of these studies and provide an updated, conceptual scheme of the multiple interactions between climatic and hydrologic factors, and their influence on internal and external processes that promote cyanobacterial blooms. Retrospective analysis of remote sensed images demonstrated the variability of blooms in terms of timing, extension and intensity, suggesting that they occur only under specific circumstances. Monthly analysis of nutrient loads and stoichiometry from the principal tributary (Nemunas River) revealed large interannual differences in the delivery of key elements, but summer months were always characterized by a strong dissolved inorganic N (and Si) limitation, that depresses diatoms and favors the dominance of cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria blooms occurred during high water temperatures, long water residence time and low-wind conditions. The blooms induce transient (night-time) hypoxia, which stimulates the release of iron-bound P, producing a positive feedback for blooms of N-fixing cyanobacteria. Consumer-mediated nutrient recycling by dreissenid mussels, chironomid larvae, cyprinids and large bird colonies, may also affect P availability, but their role as drivers of cyanobacteria blooms is understudied

Thrombocytopenia and platelet transfusions in ICU patients: an international inception cohort study (PLOT-ICU)

Purpose Thrombocytopenia (platelet count < 150 × 109/L) is common in intensive care unit (ICU) patients and is likely associated with worse outcomes. In this study we present international contemporary data on thrombocytopenia in ICU patients. Methods We conducted a prospective cohort study in adult ICU patients in 52 ICUs across 10 countries. We assessed frequencies of thrombocytopenia, use of platelet transfusions and clinical outcomes including mortality. We evaluated pre-selected potential risk factors for the development of thrombocytopenia during ICU stay and associations between thrombocytopenia at ICU admission and 90-day mortality using pre-specified logistic regression analyses. Results We analysed 1166 ICU patients; the median age was 63 years and 39.5% were female. Overall, 43.2% (95% confidence interval (CI) 40.4–46.1) had thrombocytopenia; 23.4% (20–26) had thrombocytopenia at ICU admission, and 19.8% (17.6–22.2) developed thrombocytopenia during their ICU stay. Non-AIDS-, non-cancer-related immune deficiency, liver failure, male sex, septic shock, and bleeding at ICU admission were associated with the development of thrombocytopenia during ICU stay. Among patients with thrombocytopenia, 22.6% received platelet transfusion(s), and 64.3% of in-ICU transfusions were prophylactic. Patients with thrombocytopenia had higher occurrences of bleeding and death, fewer days alive without the use of life-support, and fewer days alive and out of hospital. Thrombocytopenia at ICU admission was associated with 90-day mortality (adjusted odds ratio 1.7; 95% CI 1.19–2.42). Conclusion Thrombocytopenia occurred in 43% of critically ill patients and was associated with worse outcomes including increased mortality. Platelet transfusions were given to 23% of patients with thrombocytopenia and most were prophylactic.publishedVersio