Cultural effects on neurodevelopmental testing in children from six European countries: An analysis of NUTRIMENTHE Global Database

Cultural background is an important variable influencing neuropsychological performance. Multinational projects usually involve gathering data from participants from different countries and/or different cultures. Little is known about the influence of culture on neuropsychological testing results in children and especially in European children. The objectives of this study were to compare neuropsychological performance of children from six European countries (Belgium, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland and Spain) using a comprehensive neuropsychological battery and to apply a statistical procedure to reduce the influence of country/cultural differences in neuropsychological performance. As expected, the results demonstrated differences in neuropsychological performance among children of the six countries involved. Cultural differences remained after adjusting for other confounders related to neuropsychological execution, such as sex, type of delivery, maternal age, gestational age and maternal educational level. Differences between countries disappeared and influence of culture was considerably reduced when standardised scores by country and sex were used. These results highlight the need for developing specific procedures to compare neuropsychological performance among children from different cultures to be used in multicentre studies

Genetic changes that increase 5-hydroxymethyl furfural resistance in ethanol-producing Escherichia coli LY180

The ability of a biocatalyst to tolerate furan inhibitors present in hemicellulose hydrolysates is important for the production of renewable chemicals. This study shows EMFR9, a furfural-tolerant mutant of ethanologenic E. coli LY180, has also acquired tolerance to 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (5-HMF). The mechanism of action of 5-HMF and furfural appear similar. Furan tolerance results primarily from lower expression of yqhD and dkgA, two furan reductases with a low Km for NADPH. Furan tolerance was also increased by adding plasmids encoding a NADPH/NADH transhydrogenase (pntAB). Together, these results support the hypothesis that the NADPH-dependent reduction of furans by YqhD and DkgA inhibits growth by competing with biosynthesis for this limiting cofactor

Intravascular Large B-Cell Lymphoma Genomic Profile Is Characterized by Alterations in Genes Regulating NF-κB and Immune Checkpoints.

Intravascular large B-cell lymphoma (IVLBCL) is an uncommon lymphoma with an aggressive clinical course characterized by selective growth of tumor cells within the vessels. Its pathogenesis is still uncertain and there is little information on the underlying genomic alterations. In this study, we performed a clinicopathologic and next-generation sequencing analysis of 15 cases of IVLBCL using a custom panel for the detection of alterations in 68 recurrently mutated genes in B-cell lymphomagenesis. Six patients had evidence of hemophagocytic syndrome. Four patients presented concomitantly a solid malignancy. Tumor cells outside the vessels were observed in 7 cases, 2 with an overt diffuse large B-cell cell lymphoma. In 4 samples, tumor cells infiltrated lymphatic vessel in addition to blood capillaries. Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) was positive in tumor cells in 4 of 11 evaluable samples and in macrophages intermingled with tumor cells in 8. PD-L1 copy number gains were identified in a higher proportion of cases expressing PD-L1 than in negative tumors. The most frequently mutated gene was PIM1 (9/15, 60%), followed by MYD88L265P and CD79B (8/15, 53% each). In 6 cases, MYD88L265P and CD79B mutations were detected concomitantly. We also identified recurrent mutations in IRF4 , TMEM30A , BTG2 , and ETV6 loci (4/15, 27% each) and novel driver mutations in NOTCH2 , CCND3 , and GNA13 , and an IRF4 translocation in 1 case each. The mutational profile was similar in patients with and without evidence of hemophagocytic syndrome and in cases with or without dissemination of tumor cells outside the vessels. Our results confirm the relevance of mutations in B-cell receptor/nuclear factor-κB signaling and immune escape pathways in IVLBCL and identify novel driver alterations. The similar mutational profile in tumors with extravascular dissemination suggests that these cases may also be considered in the spectrum of IVLBCL

Construction status and prospects of the Hyper-Kamiokande project

The Hyper-Kamiokande project is a 258-kton Water Cherenkov together with a 1.3-MW high-intensity neutrino beam from the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). The inner detector with 186-kton fiducial volume is viewed by 20-inch photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) and multi-PMT modules, and thereby provides state-of-the-art of Cherenkov ring reconstruction with thresholds in the range of few MeVs. The project is expected to lead to precision neutrino oscillation studies, especially neutrino CP violation, nucleon decay searches, and low energy neutrino astronomy. In 2020, the project was officially approved and construction of the far detector was started at Kamioka. In 2021, the excavation of the access tunnel and initial mass production of the newly developed 20-inch PMTs was also started. In this paper, we present a basic overview of the project and the latest updates on the construction status of the project, which is expected to commence operation in 2027

Prospects for neutrino astrophysics with Hyper-Kamiokande

Hyper-Kamiokande is a multi-purpose next generation neutrino experiment. The detector is a two-layered cylindrical shape ultra-pure water tank, with its height of 64 m and diameter of 71 m. The inner detector will be surrounded by tens of thousands of twenty-inch photosensors and multi-PMT modules to detect water Cherenkov radiation due to the charged particles and provide our fiducial volume of 188 kt. This detection technique is established by Kamiokande and Super-Kamiokande. As the successor of these experiments, Hyper-K will be located deep underground, 600 m below Mt. Tochibora at Kamioka in Japan to reduce cosmic-ray backgrounds. Besides our physics program with accelerator neutrino, atmospheric neutrino and proton decay, neutrino astrophysics is an important research topic for Hyper-K. With its fruitful physics research programs, Hyper-K will play a critical role in the next neutrino physics frontier. It will also provide important information via astrophysical neutrino measurements, i.e., solar neutrino, supernova burst neutrinos and supernova relic neutrino. Here, we will discuss the physics potential of Hyper-K neutrino astrophysics

COMPARISON OF THE ANALYTICAL PERFORMANCE OF DIFFERENT LC-MS METHODOLOGIES TO EVALUATE LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF DHA AND 5-MTHF SUPPLEMENTATION IN PREGNANT WOMEN ON THEIR OFFSPRING METABOLOMIC BIOMARKERS

Proteomic

LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF PRENATAL DHA AND 5-MTHF SUPPLEMENTATION ON THE OFFSPRING LC-MS METABOLOMICS BIOMARKERS UP TO 9.5 YEARS OLD, IN RELATION TO FATTY ACID CHECK CELL COMPOSITION, DIET AND FADS POLYMORPHISMS

Proteomic

Quaternary volcanism in Deception Island (Antarctica): South Shetland Trench subduction-related signature in the Bransfield Basin backarc domain

Deception Island shows a volcanism related to the Phoenix Plate subduction and roll-back under South Shetland Block in the present times. The development of the island is related to the evolution and collapse of a volcanic caldera, and this study is focused on the petrology, mineralogy and geochemistry of the post-caldera rocks. We have made a study of the lava flows, dikes and the youngest historic eruption in 1970. These rocks range from dacite to rhyolite and have a microporphyritic texture with olivine and minor clinopyroxene. A pre-caldera basaltic andesite has also been studied. It has a microporphyritic texture with clinopyroxene. The intermediate and acid compositions alternating in the volcanostratigraphic sequence suggest either mafic recharge events or melt extraction from different levels in the deep magmatic system. All the studied compositions share a subduction-related signature similar to other magmatics from the Bransfield Basin. However, compositional differences between pre-caldera and post-caldera rocks indicate a different magma source and depth of crystallisation. According to the geothermobarometric calculations the pre-caldera magmas started to crystallise at deeper levels (13.5-15 km) than the post-caldera magmas (6.2-7.8 km). Specifically, the postcaldera magmas indicate a smaller influence of the subducting slab in the southwestern part of the Bransfield Basin in respect to the available data from other sectors as well as the involvement of crustal contamination in the genesis of the magmas