Trichinella inflammatory myopathy: host or parasite strategy?

The parasitic nematode Trichinella has a special relation with muscle, because of its unique intracellular localization in the skeletal muscle cell, completely devoted in morphology and biochemistry to become the parasite protective niche, otherwise called the nurse cell. The long-lasting muscle infection of Trichinella exhibits a strong interplay with the host immune response, mainly characterized by a Th2 phenotype

Stimulation of TH1 response by Helicobacter pylori neutrophil activating protein decreases the protective role of IgE and eosinophils in experimental trichinellosis

Th2 responses seem to play an important role in defence against Trichinella spiralis (Ts). The Neutrophil Activating Protein of Helicobacter pylori (HP-NAP), that induces IL-12, and IL-23 expression and shifts to Th1 allergen-specific Th2 cells in vitro was used as an anti-Th2 agent in BALB/c mice infected with T. spiralis. The muscle larvae (ML) burden was lower (p < 0.02) in untreated infected animals than those infected treated with HP-NAP. In both groups there was an inverse relationship between ML burden of each animal and total IgE level (controls: r -0.617,p = 0.0013 and HP-NAP-treated: r -0.678,p = 0.0001) or eosinophil count, evaluated in the same mouse on day 42 (r -0.390,p = 0.0592 and r -0.803,p = 0.0001, respectively). Inflammatory response around the nurse cell-parasite complex was significantly higher in HP-NAP-treated infected animals than in those untreated infected, on the contrary the number of eosinophils, counted around each complex was significantly lower in the first animal group. This study provides evidence of a powerful anti-Th2 activity in vivo by HP-NAP and for the partial protective effect of Th2 responses in T. spiralis infection

The Torino Observatory Parallax Program: White Dwarf Candidates

We present parallax determinations for six white dwarf candidates in the Torino Observatory Parallax Program. The absolute parallaxes are found with precisions at the 2-3 milliarcsecond level. For WD 1126+185 we find a distance incompatible with being a white dwarf, implying an incorrect classification. For WD 2216+484 we find our distance is consistent with a simple DA white dwarf rather than a composite system as previously proposed in the literature. In general it is found that the published photometric distance is an overestimate of the distance found here.Comment: AA paper, 7 pages, 4 figure

Developmental Transcriptomic Features of the Carcinogenic Liver Fluke, Clonorchis sinensis

Clonorchis sinensis is the causative agent of the life-threatening disease endemic to China, Korea, and Vietnam. It is estimated that about 15 million people are infected with this fluke. C. sinensis provokes inflammation, epithelial hyperplasia, and periductal fibrosis in bile ducts, and may cause cholangiocarcinoma in chronically infected individuals. Accumulation of a large amount of biological information about the adult stage of this liver fluke in recent years has advanced our understanding of the pathological interplay between this parasite and its hosts. However, no developmental gene expression profiles of C. sinensis have been published. In this study, we generated gene expression profiles of three developmental stages of C. sinensis by analyzing expressed sequence tags (ESTs). Complementary DNA libraries were constructed from the adult, metacercaria, and egg developmental stages of C. sinensis. A total of 52,745 ESTs were generated and assembled into 12,830 C. sinensis assembled EST sequences, and then these assemblies were further categorized into groups according to biological functions and developmental stages. Most of the genes that were differentially expressed in the different stages were consistent with the biological and physical features of the particular developmental stage; high energy metabolism, motility and reproduction genes were differentially expressed in adults, minimal metabolism and final host adaptation genes were differentially expressed in metacercariae, and embryonic genes were differentially expressed in eggs. The higher expression of glucose transporters, proteases, and antioxidant enzymes in the adults accounts for active uptake of nutrients and defense against host immune attacks. The types of ion channels present in C. sinensis are consistent with its parasitic nature and phylogenetic placement in the tree of life. We anticipate that the transcriptomic information on essential regulators of development, bile chemotaxis, and physico-metabolic pathways in C. sinensis that presented in this study will guide further studies to identify novel drug targets and diagnostic antigens

Cardiopoietic cell therapy for advanced ischemic heart failure: results at 39 weeks of the prospective, randomized, double blind, sham-controlled CHART-1 clinical trial

Cardiopoietic cells, produced through cardiogenic conditioning of patients' mesenchymal stem cells, have shown preliminary efficacy. The Congestive Heart Failure Cardiopoietic Regenerative Therapy (CHART-1) trial aimed to validate cardiopoiesis-based biotherapy in a larger heart failure cohort

Experimentation on lime mortars reinforced with jute fibres: Mixture workability and mechanical strengths

Given the high number of masonry buildings on the Italian territory, which was scenario of numerous devastating earthquakes, it is clear the importance of restoration programs. Thanks to a renewed technique sensitivity towards sustainable interventions, it is evident that the recovery techniques to protect the historical heritage should be carried out with innovative green compound materials, such as mortars reinforced with natural fibres. In the current paper laboratory tests on lime mortars strengthened with raw jute fibres have been performed. Workability of the fibre-reinforced mixture has been assessed through shaking table tests and the mechanical resistances of standard specimens has been evaluated by bending and compression tests. Given the hygroscopic nature of jute, it has been identified the optimal water/lime ratio and the maximum water percentage absorbed by jute fibres. From analysis results it has been evaluated how the spreading of the mixture, which is indicative of the mortar consistency, changes with the water/lime ratio. From bending tests, it has been noticed an effective behaviour of fibres, which provide a cracks seam effect able to make more ductile the behaviour of investigated fibre-reinforced lime mortars. Finally, the results of compression tests have shown that the examined fibre-reinforced mortars can be effectively used as building products according to the actual Italian technical code NTC 2018

Comparative seismic evaluation between numerical analysis and Italian Guidelines on Cultural Heritage applied to the case study of a masonry building compound

The general objective of the work is to draw attention to the issue of seismic vulnerability analysis of masonry building compounds, which characterise most of the Italian historic towns. The study is, in particular, based on the analysis of an aggregated construction falling in the town of Arsita (Teramo, Italy) damaged after the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake. A comparison between the seismic verifications carried out by using the 3Muri commercial software and those deriving from the application of the Italian Guidelines on Cultural Heritage has been performed. The comparison has shown that Guidelines provide results on the safe side in predicting the seismic behaviour of the building compound under study. Further analyses should be performed aiming at suggesting some modifications of the simplified calculation method to better interpret the behaviour of building compounds under earthquake

Experimental shear tests on tuff blocks triplets with hemp fibres reinforced lime mortar

This paper deals with experimental shear tests carried out on triplet samples made of tuff masonry blocks joined by lime mortars without and with hemp fibres. The experimental campaign has been performed at the laboratory of the Architecture Faculty of the University of Naples "Federico II". Three samples manufactured with hemp fibres, having a percentage of 1% with respect to the mortar weight, have been tested and their behaviour has been compared to that of the triplet made of the simple lime mortars linking tuff blocks. The comparison has been done in terms of both force-displacement and shear stress-deformation angle curves. In addition, the failure modes of fibre-reinforced mortar specimens have been individuated. The performance increase deriving from the use of hemp fibres in lime mortar has been evaluated through the increment of shear stress (force), drift angle (displacement) and shear modulus. The achieved results have proved the effectiveness of hemp fibres in manufacturing reinforced lime mortars able to join together top sustainable features with high mechanical characteristi