Acute Cryptococcal Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome in a Patient on Natalizumab

Presented is the first case of acute immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS)-associated cryptococcal meningoencephalitis in a patient on natalizumab for multiple sclerosis. The patient developed acute cerebral edema after initiation of amphotericin B. We propose several mechanisms that explain the acuity of IRIS in this specific patient population and suggest possible therapies

Measurement of isolated photon production in pp and PbPb collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 2.76 TeV

Isolated photon production is measured in proton-proton and lead-lead collisions at nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energies of 2.76 TeV in the pseudorapidity range |eta|<1.44 and transverse energies ET between 20 and 80 GeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The measured ET spectra are found to be in good agreement with next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD predictions. The ratio of PbPb to pp isolated photon ET-differential yields, scaled by the number of incoherent nucleon-nucleon collisions, is consistent with unity for all PbPb reaction centralities.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Characterization of mercury bioremediation by transgenic bacteria expressing metallothionein and polyphosphate kinase

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The use of transgenic bacteria has been proposed as a suitable alternative for mercury remediation. Ideally, mercury would be sequestered by metal-scavenging agents inside transgenic bacteria for subsequent retrieval. So far, this approach has produced limited protection and accumulation. We report here the development of a transgenic system that effectively expresses metallothionein (<it>mt-1</it>) and polyphosphate kinase (<it>ppk</it>) genes in bacteria in order to provide high mercury resistance and accumulation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, bacterial transformation with transcriptional and translational enhanced vectors designed for the expression of metallothionein and polyphosphate kinase provided high transgene transcript levels independent of the gene being expressed. Expression of polyphosphate kinase and metallothionein in transgenic bacteria provided high resistance to mercury, up to 80 μM and 120 μM, respectively. Here we show for the first time that metallothionein can be efficiently expressed in bacteria without being fused to a carrier protein to enhance mercury bioremediation. Cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry analyzes revealed that the <it>mt-1 </it>transgenic bacteria accumulated up to 100.2 ± 17.6 μM of mercury from media containing 120 μM Hg. The extent of mercury remediation was such that the contaminated media remediated by the <it>mt-1 </it>transgenic bacteria supported the growth of untransformed bacteria. Cell aggregation, precipitation and color changes were visually observed in <it>mt-1 </it>and <it>ppk </it>transgenic bacteria when these cells were grown in high mercury concentrations.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The transgenic bacterial system described in this study presents a viable technology for mercury bioremediation from liquid matrices because it provides high mercury resistance and accumulation while inhibiting elemental mercury volatilization. This is the first report that shows that metallothionein expression provides mercury resistance and accumulation in recombinant bacteria. The high accumulation of mercury in the transgenic cells could present the possibility of retrieving the accumulated mercury for further industrial applications.</p

Evidence for bystander signalling between human trophoblast cells and human embryonic stem cells

Maternal exposure during pregnancy to toxins can occasionally lead to miscarriage and malformation. It is currently thought that toxins pass through the placental barrier, albeit bilayered in the first trimester, and damage the fetus directly, albeit at low concentration. Here we examined the responses of human embryonic stem (hES) cells in tissue culture to two metals at low concentration. We compared direct exposures with indirect exposures across a bi-layered model of the placenta cell barrier. Direct exposure caused increased DNA damage without apoptosis or a loss of cell number but with some evidence of altered differentiation. Indirect exposure caused increased DNA damage and apoptosis but without loss of pluripotency. This was not caused by metal ions passing through the barrier. Instead the hES cells responded to signalling molecules (including TNF-α) secreted by the barrier cells. This mechanism was dependent on connexin 43 mediated intercellular ‘bystander signalling’ both within and between the trophoblast barrier and the hES colonies. These results highlight key differences between direct and indirect exposure of hES cells across a trophoblast barrier to metal toxins. It offers a theoretical possibility that an indirectly mediated toxicity of hES cells might have biological relevance to fetal development

Observation of Charge-Dependent Azimuthal Correlations in p-Pb Collisions and Its Implication for the Search for the Chiral Magnetic Effect

Peer reviewe

Search for narrow resonances in dilepton mass spectra in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV and combination with 8 TeV data

Peer reviewe

Search for light bosons in decays of the 125 GeV Higgs boson in proton-proton collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe

Search for R-parity violating supersymmetry with displaced vertices in proton-proton collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe