The prevalence of Neospora caninum and co-infection with Toxoplasma gondii by PCR analysis in naturally occurring mammal populations

Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii are closely related intracellular protozoan parasites associated with bovine and ovine abortion respectively. Little is known about the extent of Neospora/Toxoplasma co-infection in naturally infected populations of animals. Using nested PCR techniques, based on primers from the Nc5 region of N. caninum and SAG1 for T. gondii, the prevalence of N. caninum and its co-infection with T. gondii were investigated in populations of Mus domesticus, Rattus norvegicus and aborted lambs (Ovis aries). A low frequency of infection with N. caninum was detected in the Mus domesticus (3%) and Rattus norvegicus (4·4%) populations. A relatively high frequency of infection with N. caninum was detected in the brains of aborted lambs (18·9%). There was no significant relationship between N. caninum and T. gondii co-infection. Investigation of the tissue distribution of Neospora, in aborted lambs, showed that Neospora could not be detected in tissues other than brain and this was in contrast to Toxoplasma where the parasite could be frequently detected in a range of tissues

Astrocyte Activation via Stat3 Signaling Determines the Balance of Oligodendrocyte versus Schwann Cell Remyelination.

Remyelination within the central nervous system (CNS) most often is the result of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells differentiating into myelin-forming oligodendrocytes. In some cases, however, Schwann cells, the peripheral nervous system myelinating glia, are found remyelinating demyelinated regions of the CNS. The reason for this peripheral type of remyelination in the CNS and what governs it is unknown. Here, we used a conditional astrocytic phosphorylated signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 knockout mouse model to investigate the effect of abrogating astrocyte activation on remyelination after lysolecithin-induced demyelination of spinal cord white matter. We show that oligodendrocyte-mediated remyelination decreases and Schwann cell remyelination increases in lesioned knockout mice in comparison with lesioned controls. Our study shows that astrocyte activation plays a crucial role in the balance between Schwann cell and oligodendrocyte remyelination in the CNS, and provides further insight into remyelination of CNS axons by Schwann cells.The work was funded by grants from the UK Multiple Sclerosis Society. GMdC received financial support from CNPq 200993/2010-0; Ciência Sem Fronteiras CNPq 201797/2011-9.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajpath.2015.05.01

A Universal Model of Global Civil Unrest

Civil unrest is a powerful form of collective human dynamics, which has led to major transitions of societies in modern history. The study of collective human dynamics, including collective aggression, has been the focus of much discussion in the context of modeling and identification of universal patterns of behavior. In contrast, the possibility that civil unrest activities, across countries and over long time periods, are governed by universal mechanisms has not been explored. Here, we analyze records of civil unrest of 170 countries during the period 1919-2008. We demonstrate that the distributions of the number of unrest events per year are robustly reproduced by a nonlinear, spatially extended dynamical model, which reflects the spread of civil disorder between geographic regions connected through social and communication networks. The results also expose the similarity between global social instability and the dynamics of natural hazards and epidemics.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Поиск патогенетической терапии диабетической дистальной симметричной полинейропатии

Диабетическая дистальная симметричная полинейропатия (ДДСП) встречается приблизительно у трети больных с диабетом и ассоциируется с выраженными болевыми синдромами и повышенной смертностью. Диагностика и клиническая оценка ДДСП остается непростой проблемой не только для врачей общей практики, но и для специалистов, принимающих участие в клинических испытаниях. Оптимальный контроль диабета является первоочередной задачей в профилактике развития и ведении пациентов с ДДСП. Однако одного гликемического контроля недостаточно для предотвращения развития и прогрессирования ДДСП, особенно при диабете 2-го типа. Кроме того, у значительной части больных не удается достичь нормогликемии. Значительные успехи достигнуты в контроле симптоматических нейропатических болей, но при этом остается проблема сенсорного дефицита и патогенеза ДДСП. Выбор терапевтических возможностей влияния на естественное течение болезни ограничен. Исследовано несколько патогенетических терапевтических подходов, но результаты клинических испытаний не далиожидаемых результатов, а в некоторых случаях даже оказались разочаровывающими. Несмотря на это, в ряде рандомизированных контролируемых исследований по использованию патогенетического лечения показано обнадеживающее клиническое улучшение относительно нейропатических нарушений в конечных точках, особенно при использовании α-липоевой кислоты и актовегина. Возможность влияния на течение ДДСП требует дальнейшего подтверждения в клинических исследованиях наряду с пониманием механизмов действия многообещающего лечения

Effect of nickel on the microstructure and mechanical property of die-cast Al–Mg–Si–Mn alloy

The effect of nickel on the microstructure and mechanical properties of a die-cast Al–Mg–Si–Mn alloy has been investigated. The results show that the presence of Ni in the alloy promotes the formation of Ni-rich intermetallics. These occur consistently during solidification in the die-cast Al–Mg–Si–Mn alloy across different levels of Ni content. The Ni-rich intermetallics exhibit dendritic morphology during the primary solidification and lamellar morphology during the eutectic solidification stage. Ni was found to be always associated with iron forming AlFeMnSiNi intermetallics, and no Al3Ni intermetallic was observed when Ni concentrations were up to 2.06 wt% in the alloy. Although with different morphologies, the Ni-rich intermetallics were identified as the same AlFeMnSiNi phase bearing a typical composition of Al[100–140](Fe,Mn)[2–7]SiNi[4–9]. With increasing Ni content, the spacing of the α-Al–Mg2Si eutectic phase was enlarged in the Al–Mg–Si–Mn alloy. The addition of Ni to the alloy resulted in a slight increase in the yield strength, but a significant decrease in the elongation. The ultimate tensile strength (UTS) increased slightly from 300 to 320 MPa when a small amount (e.g. 0.16 wt%) of Ni was added to the alloy, but further increase of the Ni content resulted in a decrease of the UTS.The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) in the United Kingdom

Pelizaeus-Merzbacher-Like disease presentation of MCT8 mutated male subjects.

Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease is an X-linked hypomyelinatiing leukodystrophy. We report mutations in the thyroid hormone transporter gene MCT8 in 11% of 53 families affected by hypomyelinating leukodystrophies of unknown aetiology. The 12 MCT8 mutated patients express initially a Pelizaeus-Merzbacher-Like disease phenotype with a latter unusual improvement of magnetic resonance imaging white matter signal despite absence of clinical progression. This observation underlines the interest of determining both free T3 and free T4 serum concentrations to screen for MCT8 mutations in young patients (<3 y) with a severe Pelizaeus-Merzbacher-Like disease presentation or older severe mentally retarded male patients with "hypomyelinated" regions

String Theory on Warped AdS_3 and Virasoro Resonances

We investigate aspects of holographic duals to time-like warped AdS_3 space-times--which include G\"odel's universe--in string theory. Using worldsheet techniques similar to those that have been applied to AdS_3 backgrounds, we are able to identify space-time symmetry algebras that act on the dual boundary theory. In particular, we always find at least one Virasoro algebra with computable central charge. Interestingly, there exists a dense set of points in the moduli space of these models in which there is actually a second commuting Virasoro algebra, typically with different central charge than the first. We analyze the supersymmetry of the backgrounds, finding related enhancements, and comment on possible interpretations of these results. We also perform an asymptotic symmetry analysis at the level of supergravity, providing additional support for the worldsheet analysis.Comment: 24 pages + appendice

Gender-dependent differences in plasma matrix metalloproteinase-8 elevated in pulmonary tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a global health pandemic and greater understanding of underlying pathogenesis is required to develop novel therapeutic and diagnostic approaches. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are emerging as key effectors of tissue destruction in TB but have not been comprehensively studied in plasma, nor have gender differences been investigated. We measured the plasma concentrations of MMPs in a carefully characterised, prospectively recruited clinical cohort of 380 individuals. The collagenases, MMP-1 and MMP-8, were elevated in plasma of patients with pulmonary TB relative to healthy controls, and MMP-7 (matrilysin) and MMP-9 (gelatinase B) were also increased. MMP-8 was TB-specific (p<0.001), not being elevated in symptomatic controls (symptoms suspicious of TB but active disease excluded). Plasma MMP-8 concentrations inversely correlated with body mass index. Plasma MMP-8 concentration was 1.51-fold higher in males than females with TB (p<0.05) and this difference was not due to greater disease severity in men. Gender-specific analysis of MMPs demonstrated consistent increase in MMP-1 and -8 in TB, but MMP-8 was a better discriminator for TB in men. Plasma collagenases are elevated in pulmonary TB and differ between men and women. Gender must be considered in investigation of TB immunopathology and development of novel diagnostic markers

Maverick dark matter at colliders

Assuming that dark matter is a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) species X produced in the early Universe as a cold thermal relic, we study the collider signal of pp or ppbar -> XXbar + jets and its distinguishability from standard-model background processes associated with jets and missing energy. We assume that the WIMP is the sole particle related to dark matter within reach of the LHC--a "maverick" particle--and that it couples to quarks through a higher dimensional contact interaction. We simulate the WIMP final-state signal XXbar + jet and dominant standard-model (SM) background processes and find that the dark-matter production process results in higher energies for the colored final state partons than do the standard-model background processes, resulting in more QCD radiation and a higher jet multiplicity. As a consequence, the detectable signature of maverick dark matter is an excess over standard-model expectations of events consisting of large missing transverse energy, together with large leading jet transverse momentum and scalar sum of the transverse momenta of the jets. Existing Tevatron data and forthcoming LHC data can constrain (or discover!) maverick dark matter.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure