Activities in planetary geology for the physical and earth sciences

A users guide for teaching activities in planetary geology, and for physical and earth sciences is presented. The following topics are discussed: cratering; aeolian processes; planetary atmospheres, in particular the Coriolis Effect and storm systems; photogeologic mapping of other planets, Moon provinces and stratigraphy, planets in stereo, land form mapping of Moon, Mercury and Mars, and geologic features of Mars

Reports of planetary geology program, 1979 - 1980

Abstracts of 145 reports are compiled addressing the morphology, geochemistry, and stratigraphy of planetary surfaces with some specific examinations of volcanic, aeolian, fluvial, and periglacial processes and landforms. In addition, reports on cartography and remote sensing of planet surfaces are included

Internalizing Islamic Values in Electrochemistry Learning

The purpose of this paper is to describe a potential way of integrating the knowledge of electrochemistry with a story in the Al-Quran particularly in the sura of Al-Kahfi, verse 83-96. The story tells about an implicit understanding of the concept of electro chemistry. Having the story in the learning of electrochemistry is aimed to internalizing the spirit of Islam in the learning of electro chemistry. Using a classroom action research, this study involved 95 students who are taking the course of Basic Chemistry 2. This study used three instruments, namely: observation sheet of students activity, observation sheet of students attitute, and self-assessment questionnaire. Based on the data, the study found that students were considerably active in each stage of the learning process with the average of activitiy is 78% (good). With regards to attitude, only aspect of responsibility that was not well appeared while the aspects of religious curiosity, cooperative, and communication relatively presente

Blood pro-resolving mediators are linked with synovial pathology and are predictive of DMARD responsiveness in rheumatoid arthritis.

Biomarkers are needed for predicting the effectiveness of disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). Here, using functional lipid mediator profiling and deeply phenotyped patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA), we observe that peripheral blood  specialized pro-resolving mediator (SPM) concentrations are linked with both DMARD responsiveness and disease pathotype. Machine learning analysis demonstrates that baseline plasma concentrations of resolvin D4, 10S, 17S-dihydroxy-docosapentaenoic acid, 15R-Lipoxin (LX)A4 and n-3 docosapentaenoic-derived Maresin 1 are predictive of DMARD responsiveness at 6 months. Assessment of circulating SPM concentrations 6-months after treatment initiation establishes that differences between responders and non-responders are maintained, with a decrease in SPM concentrations in patients resistant to DMARD therapy. These findings elucidate the potential utility of  plasma SPM concentrations as biomarkers of DMARD responsiveness in RA

Lipid mediators in platelet concentrate and extracellular vesicles: Molecular mechanisms from membrane glycerophospholipids to bioactive molecules

Platelets are collected for transfusion to patients with different hematological disorders, and for logistical reasons, platelets are stored as concentrates. Despite the carefully controlled conditions, platelets become activated during storage, and platelet concentrates (PLCs) may cause adverse inflammatory reactions in the recipients. We studied by mass spectrometry the lipidomic changes during storage of the clinical PLCs, the platelets isolated from PLCs, and the extracellular vesicles (EVs) thereof. The release of EVs from platelets increased with the prolonged storage time. The molar percentages of arachidonic acid -containing species were increased during storage especially in the phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, and phosphatidylserine classes of glycerophopholipids. The increase of these species in the membrane glycerophopholipid composition paralleled the production of both proinflammatory and proresolving lipid mediators (LMs) as the amount of the arachidonic acid-derived LMs such as thromboxane B2 and prostaglandin E2 also increased in time. Moreover, several monohydroxy pathway markers and functionally relevant proinflammatory and proresolving LMs were detected in the PLC and the EVs, and some of these clearly accumulated during storage. By Western blot, the key enzymes of these pathways were shown to be present in the platelets and in many cases also in the EVs. Since the EVs were enriched in the fatty acid precursors of LMs, harbored LM-producing enzymes, contained the related monohydroxy pathway markers, and also secreted the final LM products, the PLC-derived EVs appear to have the potential to regulate inflammation and healing, and may thereby aid the platelets in exerting their essential physiological functions.Peer reviewe

Novel n-3 Docosapentaneoic Acid-Derived Pro-resolving Mediators Are Vasculoprotective and Mediate the Actions of Statins in Controlling Inflammation

“This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of a chapter published in Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology book series (AEMB, volume 1161). The final publication is available athttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21735-8_7

Dysregulated plasma lipid mediator profiles in critically ill COVID-19 patients.

Coronavirus disease (COVID)-19, as a result of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, has been the direct cause of over 2.2 million deaths worldwide. A timely coordinated host-immune response represents the leading driver for restraining SARS-CoV-2 infection. Indeed, several studies have described dysregulated immunity as the crucial determinant for critical illness and the failure of viral control. Improved understanding and management of COVID-19 could greatly reduce the mortality and morbidity caused by SARS-CoV-2. One aspect of the immune response that has to date been understudied is whether lipid mediator production is dysregulated in critically ill patients. In the present study, plasma from COVID-19 patients with either severe disease and those that were critically ill was collected and lipid mediator profiles were determined using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Results from these studies indicated that plasma concentrations of both pro-inflammatory and pro-resolving lipid mediator were reduced in critically ill patients when compared with those with severe disease. Furthermore, plasma concentrations of a select group of mediators that included the specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPM) Resolvin (Rv) D1 and RvE4 were diagnostic of disease severity. Interestingly, peripheral blood SPM concentrations were also linked with outcome in critically ill patients, where we observed reduced overall concentrations of these mediators in those patients that did not survive. Together the present findings establish a link between plasma lipid mediators and disease severity in patients with COVID-19 and indicate that plasma SPM concentrations may be linked with survival in these patients

A combination of LCPUFA ameliorates airway inflammation in asthmatic mice by promoting pro-resolving effects and reducing adverse effects of EPA

Cusanuswerk, who supported D.F. with a stipend. J.D. is funded by European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant no: 677542) and the Barts Charity (grant no: MGU0343) to J.D. J.D. is also supported by a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship jointly funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society (grant 107613/Z/15/Z)