Inner Core Translation and the Hemispheric Balance of the Geomagnetic Field

Bulk translation of the Earth’s inner core has been proposed as an explanation of observed quasi-hemispheric seismic structure. An important consequence of inner core translation would be the generation of a spherical harmonic degree one heat flow anomaly at the inner core boundary (ICB) that would provide an inhomogeneous forcing for outer core convection. We use geodynamo simulations to investigate the geomagnetic signature of such heterogeneity. Strong hemispheric heterogeneity at the ICB is found to produce a hemispheric signature in both the morphology of the magnetic field and its secular variation; in particular, we note the formation of high-intensity flux patches at high-latitudes and American longitudes in our model with strong ICB heterogeneity. In our simulations, this model provides the best match to the Earth’s field over the past 400 years according to previously proposed measures of field structure. However, these criteria do not include the hemispheric balance of the field. We propose new criteria to measure this balance and find that our model with strong ICB heterogeneity produces the poorest match to the hemispheric balance of the historical geomagnetic field. Resolution of the hemispheric balance of the magnetic field throughout the Holocene would provide a strong test of any proposal of rapid inner core translation

COVID-19 Vaccination Is Safe among Mast Cell Disorder Patients, under Adequate Premedication

Reported cases of anaphylaxis following COVID-19 vaccination raised concerns about the safety of these vaccines, namely in patients suffering from clonal mast cell (MC) disorders—a het-erogenous group of disorders in which patients may be prone to anaphylaxis caused by vaccination. This study aimed to assess the safety of COVID-19 vaccines in patients with clonal MC disorders. We performed an ambidirectional cohort study with 30 clonal MC disorder patients (n = 26 in the prospective arm and n = 4 in the retrospective arm), that were submitted to COVID-19 vaccination. Among these, 11 (37%) were males, and median age at vaccination date was 41 years (range: 5 y to 76 y). One patient had prior history of anaphylaxis following vaccination. Those in the prospective arm received a premedication protocol including H1-and H2-antihistamines and montelukast, while those in the retrospective arm did not premedicate. Overall, patients received a total of 81 doses, 73 under premedication and 8 without premedication. No MC activation symptoms were reported. COVID-19 vaccination seems to be safe in patients with clonal mast cell disorders, including those with prior anaphylaxis following vaccination. Robust premedication protocols may allow for vaccination in ambulatory settings. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.This research received no external funding. Article processing charges were paid by the IAPorto Research Center

Bilirubin is independently associated with oxidized LDL levels in young obese patients

BACKGROUND: Bilirubin can prevent lipid oxidation in vitro, but the association in vivo with oxidized low-density lipoprotein (Ox-LDL) levels has been poorly explored. Our aim is to the association of Ox-LDL with total bilirubin (TB) levels and with variables related with metabolic syndrome and inflammation, in young obese individuals. FINDINGS: 125 obese patients (13.4 years; 53.6% females) were studied. TB, lipid profile including Ox-LDL, markers of glucose metabolism, and levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and adiponectin were determined. Anthropometric data was also collected. In all patients, Ox-LDL correlated positively with BMI, total cholesterol, LDLc, triglycerides (TG), CRP, glucose, insulin and HOMAIR; while inversely with TB and HDLc/Total cholesterol ratio (P < 0.05 for all). In multiple linear regression analysis, LDLc, TG, HDLc and TB levels were significantly associated with Ox-LDL (standardized Beta: 0.656, 0.293, -0.283, -0.164, respectively; P < 0.01 for all). After removing TG and HDLc from the analysis, HOMAIR was included in the regression model. In this new model, LDLc remained the best predictor of Ox-LDL levels (β = 0.665, P < 0.001), followed by TB (β = -0.202, P = 0.002) and HOMAIR (β = 0.163, P = 0.010). CONCLUSIONS: Lower bilirubin levels may contribute to increased LDL oxidation in obese children and adolescents, predisposing to increased cardiovascular risk

Aging is associated with impaired renal function, INF-gamma induced inflammation and with alterations in iron regulatory proteins gene expression

Our aim was to contribute to a better understanding of the pathophysiology of anemia in elderly, by studying how aging affects renal function, ironmetabolism, erythropoiesis and the inflammatory response, using an experimental animal model. The study was performed in male Wistar, a group of young rats with 2 months age and an old one with 18 months age. Old rats presented a significant higher urea, creatinine, interferon (INF)-gamma, ferritin and soluble transferrin receptor serum levels, as well as increased counts of reticulocytes and RDW. In addition, these rats showed significant lower erythropoietin (EPO) and iron serum levels. Concerning gene expression of iron regulatory proteins, old rats presented significantly higher mRNA levels of hepcidin (Hamp), transferrin (TF), transferrin receptor 2 (TfR2) and hemojuvelin (HJV); divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1) mRNA levels were significantly higher in duodenal tissue; EPO gene expression was significantly higher in liver and lower in kidney, and the expression of the EPOR was significantly higher in both liver and kidney. Our results showed that aging is associated with impaired renal function, which could be in turn related with the inflammatory process and with a decline in EPO renal production. Moreover, we also propose that aging may be associatedwith INF-gamma-induced inflammation and with alterations upon iron regulatory proteins gene expression

In vitro digestibility and fermentability of fructo-oligosaccharides produced by Aspergillus ibericus

The bifidogenic potential of fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) produced by a newly isolated strain Aspergillus ibericus was studied. Their activity was compared to FOS produced by Aureobasidium pullulans and to a non-microbial commercial FOS sample (Raftilose® P95). FOS fermentability by a number of probiotic bacteria and their hydrolytic resistance to the simulated harsh conditions of the digestive system was evaluated. Aspergillus ibericus FOS sample effectively promoted probiotic bacteria growth. Overall, microbial-derived FOS promoted greater cellular growth compared to the commercial sample. FOS fermentation was both substrate and strain specific. The FOS structural differences identified may explain their distinct assimilation by the probiotics. [Fru(26)Glc] (possibly blastose) and a reducing trisaccharide (possibly [Fru(26)Glc(12)Fru], neokestose) were only found in microbial-derived FOS samples, while Raftilose® P95 was richer in inulobiose/inulotriose. 1-Kestose and nystose were only slightly hydrolyzed in the presence of gastric and intestinal fluid. FOS synthesized by Aspergillus exhibited great potential as food ingredients with likely prebiotic features.Clarisse Nobre, Sérgio Sousa, Elisabete Coelho and Ana Pinheiro acknowledge the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for their Post-Doc and Doc Grants (SFRH/BPD/87498/2012, SFRH/BD/105304/2014, SFRH/BPD/70589/2010, and SFRH/BPD/101181/2014, respectively). This study was supported by the FCT under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 – Programa Operacional Regional do Norte, also QOPNA research Unit (FCT UID/QUI/00062/2013) through national funds and where applicable co-financed by the FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement, project Essence (POCI-01-0247-FEDER-010887) for financial support of Post-Doc grant of Elisabete Coelho and, multi‐purpose strategies for broadband agro‐forest and fisheries by‐products valorisation: a step forward for a truly integrated biorefinery SAICTPAC/0040/2015 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016403), Biomass and Bioenergy Research Infrastructure (01/SAICT/2016), also CBQF research centre by National Funds from FCT through project UID/Multi/50016/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Guarana (Paullinia cupana var. sorbilis), an anciently consumed stimulant from the Amazon rain forest: the seeded-fruit transcriptome.

Guarana (Paullinia cupana var. sorbilis) is a plant native to the central Amazon basin. Roasted seed extracts have been used as medicinal beverages since pre-Colombian times, due to their reputation as stimulants, aphrodisiacs, tonics, as well as protectors of the gastrointestinal tract. Guarana plants are commercially cultivated exclusively in Brazil to supply the national carbonated soft-drink industry and natural product stores around the world. In this report, we describe and discuss the annotation of 15,387 ESTs from guarana seeded-fruits, highlighting sequences from the flavonoid and purine alkaloid pathways, and those related to biotic stress avoidance. This is the largest set of sequences registered for the Sapindaceae family

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13