Analysis by RNA-seq of transcriptomic changes elicited by heat shock in Leishmania major

Besides their medical relevance, Leishmania is an adequate model for studying post-transcriptional mechanisms of gene expression. In this microorganism, mRNA degradation/stabilization mechanisms together with translational control and post-translational modifications of proteins are the major drivers of gene expression. Leishmania parasites develop as promastigotes in sandflies and as amastigotes in mammalians, and during host transmission, the parasite experiences a sudden temperature increase. Here, changes in the transcriptome of Leishmania major promastigotes after a moderate heat shock were analysed by RNA-seq. Several of the up-regulated transcripts code for heat shock proteins, other for proteins previously reported to be amastigote-specific and many for hypothetical proteins. Many of the transcripts experiencing a decrease in their steady-state levels code for transporters, proteins involved in RNA metabolism or translational factors. In addition, putative long noncoding RNAs were identified among the differentially expressed transcripts. Finally, temperature-dependent changes in the selection of the spliced leader addition sites were inferred from the RNA-seq data, and particular cases were further validated by RT-PCR and Northern blotting. This study provides new insights into the post-transcriptional mechanisms by which Leishmania modulate gene expressionThis work was supported by grants (to B.A. and J.M.R.) from Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, project number SAF2017-86965-R (co-funded with FEDER funds), and by the Network of Tropical Diseases Research RICET (RD16/0027/0008), co-funded with FEDER funds. The CBMSO receives institutional grants from the Fundación Ramón Areces and from the Fundación Banco de Santande

Optimisation of pyrolysis parameters for CF composites with respect to mechanical properties of recovered fibers

The aerospace/aeronautics, energy and automotive industries are the primary users of advanced polymer composites in structural components. Increasing number of those components are reaching End of Life and will be disposed in landfills, which is currently the most common option worldwide. However, environmental concerns and consequent demands from society drives industries to search for ways to repurpose decommissioned composite structures. The most beneficial would be to reuse composites and/or their constituents after the service life. Thermal recycling is a method to recover costly fibers and lower the environmental impact. The objective of this work is to optimize conditions of pyrolysis of carbon fiber (CF) composite aiming to recover reinforcement with highest mechanical properties. The specimens for this study were cut (15x30x3mm) from epoxy/CF laminate with randomly oriented fiber. To identify the best conditions, the pyrolysis is performed at different thermal cycles under various environments with mass loss monitored throughout the experiments. The conditions of the reference experiment are based on data from literature (550C for 30 min under nitrogen atmosphere, with oxidation in air for 60 min, see Fig. 1). Additionally, pyrolysis was performed under different temperatures and environments: variation of temperature on first stage, dipping specimens in hot furnace instead of gradual heating, changing conditions of oxidation. In order to select pyrolysis process with most optimal conditions the surface of the recovered fibres is investigated by means of optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The mechanical properties of fibers are evaluated and compared to virgin fibers

Development of Digital Health Gender and Sexual Health Literacy scale

Introduction Health literacy, as the ability to obtain, process and understand health information, including gender and sexuality awareness, appears to be underdeveloped in terms of measurement tools and thematic materials. The literature indicates the existence of serious deficits in gender and sexual health literacy at all levels, with implications for relationships with citizens and patients. Methods Delphi study agreement was conducted and a pool of potential scale items was generated, reflecting a range of skills and abilities within each domain. Items were carefully worded to ensure clarity, cultural sensitivity and relevance to different gender identities and sexual orientations. Expert review and cognitive pre-testing were employed to refine item wording, assess content validity, and ensure that the 10-item scale was comprehensible and relevant to the target population. Results The theoretical development of the 10-item Digital Health Gender and Sexual Health Literacy Scale was successfully completed. The scale items were designed to provide a comprehensive measure of an individual’s ability to navigate the digital landscape for gender and sexual health information. Conclusions The theoretical validation of the Digital Health Gender and Sexual Health Literacy Scale (DiGeSHeL) provides the community with a promising tool to assess individuals’ confidence and ability to use digital technologies for sexual health information and resources. However, further research is needed to validate the scale and test its reliability with a diverse group of participants. Once validated, this scale could be a valuable tool for sexual health promotion programmes to identify gaps and evaluate the impact of digital literacy interventions. Key messages • Gender and sexual literacy are crucial for health. • Health literacy as six vital sign

A proof-of-concept

Funding Information: C. Costa, T. Casimiro and A. Aguiar-Ricardo are grateful for the financial support of the Associate Laboratory for Green Chemistry-LAQV, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa , Portugal, which is financed by national funds from FCT/MCTES ( UIDB/50006/2020 and UIDP/50006/2020 ). C. Costa thanks FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) and ESF (European Social Fund) through POCH (Programa Operacional Capital Humano) for her PhD grant ref. PD/BD/142880/2018, COVID/BD/152744/2022 and Project PD/00184/2012-PDQS . C. Costa and A. Aguiar-Ricardo acknowledge also CA18224 GREENERING (“Green Chemical Engineering Network towards upscaling sustainable processes”). COST Actions are funded within the EU Horizon 2020 Programme . M.L. Corvo is grateful for the financial support of the Research Institute for Medicines (iMed.ULisboa), Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade de Lisboa , Lisbon, Portugal, which is supported in part by UID/DTP/04138/2020 and UIDP/04138/2020 from FCT/MCTES , Portugal. The authors are grateful to Prof. M. Dionísio for the DSC facility. Publisher Copyright: © 2023Enzyme-based inhalable therapeutics for lung inflammation are gaining interest as an alternative to long-term corticosteroids treatments. However, enzymes have poor pharmacokinetics. Encapsulating enzymes in liposomes can increase their half-live and modify their biodistribution. But both liposomes and enzymes are susceptible to destabilization during storage. This drawback can be surpassed, by converting liposomal suspension into solid dosage forms for different administration routes, including inhalation. In this study, Cu, Zn- superoxide dismutase (SOD) was encapsulated in liposomes, then dried using supercritical CO2-assisted spray-drying to make SOD-loaded liposomal dry powder formulations (SOD_Lip-DPFs). Upon resuspension in water, liposomes maintained structural integrity, with 99% SOD encapsulation efficiency and preserved enzymatic activity. Stability studies showed that SOD_Lip-DPFs maintained liposomal and enzyme stability for 50 days at 40% relative humidity. This offers a stable and efficient delivery system for enzyme-based inhalable therapeutics.publishersversionpublishe

Interactions of human galectins with Trypanosoma cruzi: binding profile correlate with genetic clustering of lineages

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Glycobiology following peer review. The version of record Pineda, M.A. et al. Interactions of human galectins with Trypanosoma cruzi: binding profile correlate with genetic clustering of lineages. Glycobiology 25.2 (2015): 197-210 is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/glycob/cwu103We report here the specific interaction between several members of the human galectin family with the three developmental stages of several genetic lineages of the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. We provide data of specific and differential binding of human galectins-1, 3, 4, 7 and 8 to 14 strains of T. cruzi that belong to the six genetic lineages representing the genetic diversity of the parasite. It is shown that galectins preferentially bind forms present in the host, trypomastigotes and amastigotes, compared to the non-infective epimastigote present on the intestinal tract of the vector, reflecting the changes on glycosylation that occur during the metacyclogenesis and amastigogenesis process. Also, it is evidenced that galectin binding to the parasites promotes binding to the host cells and higher infection rates. In addition evidence is provided indicating that the intracellular amastigotes may take over the cytosolic pool of some galectins when released to the extracellular medium. Finaly, by applying unweighted pair group method analysis to the galectin binding profile to either cell-derived trypomastigotes or amastigotes we show that the differential binding profile by the host galectins to the six lineages resembles the clustering based in genetic data. Therefore, the differential binding profile for the six lineages could have implications in the immunopathology of Chagas’ disease, affecting the complex network of immune responses on which galectins mediate, thus providing linkage clues to the notion that different lineages may be related to different clnical forms of the disease.This work was supported by grants from the Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias-Ministerio de Sanidad (FIS-PI11/00033) to PB and (FIS-PI11/0095) to MS, and grant ChagasEpiNet (European VII framework Program) to MF. The financial support Network RICET from the FIS, Ministerio de Sanidad and Fundacion Ramon Areces is acknowledge

Many-core applications to online track reconstruction in HEP experiments

Interest in parallel architectures applied to real time selections is growing in High Energy Physics (HEP) experiments. In this paper we describe performance measurements of Graphic Processing Units (GPUs) and Intel Many Integrated Core architecture (MIC) when applied to a typical HEP online task: the selection of events based on the trajectories of charged particles. We use as benchmark a scaled-up version of the algorithm used at CDF experiment at Tevatron for online track reconstruction - the SVT algorithm - as a realistic test-case for low-latency trigger systems using new computing architectures for LHC experiment. We examine the complexity/performance trade-off in porting existing serial algorithms to many-core devices. Measurements of both data processing and data transfer latency are shown, considering different I/O strategies to/from the parallel devices.Comment: Proceedings for the 20th International Conference on Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics (CHEP); missing acks adde

CMS Software Distribution on the LCG and OSG Grids

The efficient exploitation of worldwide distributed storage and computing resources available in the grids require a robust, transparent and fast deployment of experiment specific software. The approach followed by the CMS experiment at CERN in order to enable Monte-Carlo simulations, data analysis and software development in an international collaboration is presented. The current status and future improvement plans are described.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, latex with hyperref

Fine mapping of loci on BTA8 associated to antibody response to Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis in cattle

Paratuberculosis (ParaTB) or Johne's disease, caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis commonly known as MAP in cattle, is a chronic gastroenteritis characterized by diarrhoea, decreased milk production and ultimately death. MAP is responsible for huge economic losses, particularly in dairy cattle herds. Susceptibility to MAP infection has been found to be heritable with heritability estimates ranging from 0.06 to 0.102. The definition of an infected animal can be based either on the presence of anti-MAP antibodies in the serum, or by direct demonstration of MAP in tissue or faeces by culture or PCR. Several studies have addressed the identification of genetic loci associated with MAP susceptibility. The objective of this study was to refine a locus associated with antibody response to Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosi (MAP). Using a genome- wide association analysis, a single nucleotide polymorphism on Bos taurus autosome BTA8 namely the SNP rs43161947 at posi- tion 35398490 with a p-value of 7.02 e-05, has previously been identified by the authors as associated with MAP infection. Fine mapping of the region was conducted with 100 single nucleotide polymorphisms spanning a region between BTA8: 34422912 and BTA8: 364553881 covering 2 Mega bases (Mb) designed in to cover 1 Mb ahead and after the SNP identified on BTA8. The 2 Mb region on BTA8 was evaluated within a group of 966 Holstein cows collected from routine ParaTB screening in the province of Lodi in Italy, in an area with a high prevalence of ParaTB. Animals were defined as ParaTB positive based on the detection of serum antibodies produced in response to MAP infection using the ID-screen\uae ELISA test (ID VET Montpellier, France). Of the 966 samples, 483 were MAP antibody positive (cases) and 483 MAP antibody negative (MAP negative controls). All animals were female, and cases and MAP negative controls were from the same farm tested on the same day.Using a single marker associ- ation analysis, conducted within the R statistical environment, we identified 3 different QTLs within the 2 Mega base region, under the main QTL on BTA8 associated with antibody response to MAP, in position 34.700.000, 35.800.000 and 36.400.000 bp. This reveals the complexity of the genetic architecture of thetrait and confirms the need to further explore the genome with fine mapping approaches, or by the use of whole genome sequencing to investigate complex traits, such as disease resistance

Upcycling Waste Biomass–Production of Porous Carbonaceous Supports from Paper Mill Sludge and Application to CO2 Conversion

M.Z. thanks the funding received from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (GA no. 101026335). M.C.C. thanks FCT for the researcher contract 2021.03255.CEECIND. The authors acknowledge the support of FCT- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., LA/P/0037/2020, UIDP/50025/2020 and UIDB/50025/2020 of the Associate Laboratory Institute of Nanostructures, Nanomodelling and Nanofabrication-i3N, also PTNMR/ROTEIRO/0031/2013 and PINFRA/22161/2016.The urgent need for sustainable waste management strategies has led to the exploration of innovative approaches for the valorization of waste. In this study, a method is proposed for carbonizing waste biomass materials, particularly paper mill waste sludges (primary and biological) and knots, to produce porous carbonaceous supports. Through an initial hydrothermal carbonization followed by carbonization with nitrogen flow, porous carbon materials are successfully generated. The findings of this investigation validate the successful generation of effective carbonaceous supports utilizing waste biomass materials. These materials are then evaluated for their effectiveness as porous supports in the ionic liquid-catalyzed cycloaddition reaction of CO2 to styrene oxide, achieving a remarkable conversion rate of up to 98% and an impressive selectivity exceeding 99%. Additionally, the results underscore the significant impact of the selected IL on the overall conversion process. Overall, this study presents a promising pathway for the valorization of paper mill waste sludge through the production of porous carbon materials with potential applications in catalysis and beyond.publishersversionpublishe

Expert system for the assessment of power transformer insulation condition based on type-2 fuzzy logic systems

An efficient expert system for the power transformer condition assessment is presented in this paper. Through the application of Duval's triangle and the method of the gas ratios a first assessment of the transformer condition is obtained in the form of a dissolved gas analysis (DGA) diagnosis according IEC 60599. As a second step, a knowledge mining procedure is performed, by conducting surveys whose results are fed into a first Type-2 Fuzzy Logic System (T2-FLS), in order to initially evaluate the condition of the equipment taking only the results of dissolved gas analysis into account. The output of this first T2-FLS is used as the input of a second T2-FLS, which additionally weighs up the condition of the paper-oil system. The output of this last T2-FLS is given in terms of words easily understandable by the maintenance personnel. The proposed assessing methodology has been validated for several cases of transformers in service. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Fil: Flores, Wilfredo C.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras; Honduras. Universidad Nacional de San Juan; ArgentinaFil: Mombello, Enrique Esteban. Universidad Nacional de San Juan; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan; ArgentinaFil: Jardini, José. A.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Rattá Gutiérrez, Giuseppe Aníbal. Universidad Nacional de San Juan; ArgentinaFil: Corvo, Antonio M.. Companhia de Transmissão de Energía Elétrica Paulista; Brasi