Gold-silver alloy nanoshells: a new candidate for nanotherapeutics and diagnostics

We have developed novel gold-silver alloy nanoshells as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) dual T1 (positive) and T2 (negative) contrast agents as an alternative to typical gadolinium (Gd)-based contrast agents. Specifically, we have doped iron oxide nanoparticles with Gd ions and sequestered the ions within the core by coating the nanoparticles with an alloy of gold and silver. Thus, these nanoparticles are very innovative and have the potential to overcome toxicities related to renal clearance of contrast agents such as nephrogenic systemic fibrosis. The morphology of the attained nanoparticles was characterized by XRD which demonstrated the successful incorporation of Gd(III) ions into the structure of the magnetite, with no major alterations of the spinel structure, as well as the growth of the gold-silver alloy shells. This was supported by TEM, ICP-AES, and SEM/EDS data. The nanoshells showed a saturation magnetization of 38 emu/g because of the presence of Gd ions within the crystalline structure with r1 and r2 values of 0.0119 and 0.9229 mL mg-1 s-1, respectively (Au:Ag alloy = 1:1). T1- and T2-weighted images of the nanoshells showed that these agents can both increase the surrounding water proton signals in the T1-weighted image and reduce the signal in T2-weighted images. The as-synthesized nanoparticles exhibited strong absorption in the range of 600-800 nm, their optical properties being strongly dependent upon the thickness of the gold-silver alloy shell. Thus, these nanoshells have the potential to be utilized for tumor cell ablation because of their absorption as well as an imaging agent

Black carbon in the Southern Andean snowpack

The Andean snowpack is an important source of water for many communities. As other snow-covered regions around the world, the Andes are sensitive to black carbon (BC) deposition from fossil fuel and biomass combustion. BC darkens the snow surface, reduces the albedo, and accelerates melting. Here, we report on measurements of the BC content conducted by using the meltwater filtration (MF) technique in snow samples collected across a transect of more than 2500 km from the mid-latitude Andes to the southern tip of South America. Addressing some of the key knowledge gaps regarding the effects of the BC deposition on the Andean snow, we identified BC-impacted areas, assessed the BC-related albedo reduction, and estimated the resulting snow losses. We found that BC concentrations in our samples generally ranged from 2 to 15 ng g-1, except for the nearly BC-free Patagonian Icefields and for the BC-impacted sites nearby Santiago (a metropolis of 6 million inhabitants). We estimate that the seasonal snowpack shrinking attributable to the BC deposition ranges from 4 mm water equivalent (w.e.) at relatively clean sites in Patagonia to 241 mm w.e. at heavily impacted sites close to Santiago. © 2022 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd

Black carbon in the Southern Andean snowpack

The Andean snowpack is an important source of water for many communities. As other snow-covered regions around the world, the Andes are sensitive to black carbon (BC) deposition from fossil fuel and biomass combustion. BC darkens the snow surface, reduces the albedo, and accelerates melting. Here, we report on measurements of the BC content conducted by using the meltwater filtration (MF) technique in snow samples collected across a transect of more than 2500 km from the mid-latitude Andes to the southern tip of South America. Addressing some of the key knowledge gaps regarding the effects of the BC deposition on the Andean snow, we identified BC-impacted areas, assessed the BC-related albedo reduction, and estimated the resulting snow losses. We found that BC concentrations in our samples generally ranged from 2 to 15 ng g-1, except for the nearly BC-free Patagonian Icefields and for the BC-impacted sites nearby Santiago (a metropolis of 6 million inhabitants). We estimate that the seasonal snowpack shrinking attributable to the BC deposition ranges from 4 mm water equivalent (w.e.) at relatively clean sites in Patagonia to 241 mm w.e. at heavily impacted sites close to Santiago. © 2022 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd

Comparative Analysis of the Global Transcriptome of Anopheles funestus from Mali, West Africa

Background: Anopheles funestus is a principal vector of malaria across much of tropical Africa and is considered one of the most efficient of its kind, yet studies of this species have lagged behind those of its broadly sympatric congener, An. gambiae. In aid of future genomic sequencing of An. funestus, we explored the whole body transcriptome, derived from mixed stage progeny of wild-caught females from Mali, West Africa. Principal Findings: Here we report the functional annotation and comparative genomics of 2,005 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from An. funestus, which were assembled with a previous EST set from adult female salivary glands from the same mosquito. The assembled ESTs provided for a nonredundant catalog of 1,035 transcripts excluding mitochondrial sequences. Conclusions/Significance: Comparison of the An. funestus and An. gambiae transcriptomes using computational and macroarray approaches revealed a high degree of sequence identity despite an estimated 20–80 MY divergence time between lineages. A phylogenetically broader comparative genomic analysis indicated that the most rapidly evolving proteins – those involved in immunity, hematophagy, formation of extracellular structures, and hypothetical conserved proteins – are those that probably play important roles in how mosquitoes adapt to their nutritional and externa

Black carbon footprint of human presence in Antarctica

Black carbon (BC) from fossil fuel and biomass combustion darkens the snow and makes it melt sooner. The BC footprint of research activities and tourism in Antarctica has likely increased as human presence in the continent has surged in recent decades. Here, we report on measurements of the BC concentration in snow samples from 28 sites across a transect of about 2,000 km from the northern tip of Antarctica (62°S) to the southern Ellsworth Mountains (79°S). Our surveys show that BC content in snow surrounding research facilities and popular shore tourist-landing sites is considerably above background levels measured elsewhere in the continent. The resulting radiative forcing is accelerating snow melting and shrinking the snowpack on BC-impacted areas on the Antarctic Peninsula and associated archipelagos by up to 23 mm water equivalent (w.e.) every summer

PDBe: towards reusable data delivery infrastructure at protein data bank in Europe

© 2017 The Authors. Published by OUP. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkx1070The Protein Data Bank in Europe (PDBe, pdbe.org) is actively engaged in the deposition, annotation, remediation, enrichment and dissemination of macromolecular structure data. This paper describes new developments and improvements at PDBe addressing three challenging areas: data enrichment, data dissemination and functional reusability. New features of the PDBe Web site are discussed, including a context dependent menu providing links to raw experimental data and improved presentation of structures solved by hybrid methods. The paper also summarizes the features of the LiteMol suite, which is a set of services enabling fast and interactive 3D visualization of structures, with associated experimental maps, annotations and quality assessment information. We introduce a library of Web components which can be easily reused to port data and functionality available at PDBe to other services. We also introduce updates to the SIFTS resource which maps PDB data to other bioinformatics resources, and the PDBe REST API.Wellcome Trust [104948]; UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/M011674/1, BB/N019172/1, BB/M020347/1]; European Union [284209]; European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). Funding for open access charge: EMBL.Published versio

PDBe: improved accessibility of macromolecular structure data from PDB and EMDB

© 2015 The Authors. Published by OUP. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkv1047The Protein Data Bank in Europe (http://pdbe.org) accepts and annotates depositions of macromolecular structure data in the PDB and EMDB archives and enriches, integrates and disseminates structural information in a variety of ways. The PDBe website has been redesigned based on an analysis of user requirements, and now offers intuitive access to improved and value-added macromolecular structure information. Unique value-added information includes lists of reviews and research articles that cite or mention PDB entries as well as access to figures and legends from full-text open-access publications that describe PDB entries. A powerful new query system not only shows all the PDB entries that match a given query, but also shows the 'best structures' for a given macromolecule, ligand complex or sequence family using data-quality information from the wwPDB validation reports. A PDBe RESTful API has been developed to provide unified access to macromolecular structure data available in the PDB and EMDB archives as well as value-added annotations, e.g. regarding structure quality and up-to-date cross-reference information from the SIFTS resource. Taken together, these new developments facilitate unified access to macromolecular structure data in an intuitive way for non-expert users and support expert users in analysing macromolecular structure data.The Wellcome Trust [88944, 104948]; UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/J007471/1, BB/K016970/1, BB/M013146/1, BB/M011674/1]; National Institutes of Health [GM079429]; UK Medical Research Council [MR/L007835/1]; European Union [284209]; CCP4; European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). Funding for open access charge: The Wellcome Trust.Published versio

TCF7L2 Polymorphism, Weight Loss and Proinsulin∶Insulin Ratio in the Diabetes Prevention Program

Aims: TCF7L2 variants have been associated with type 2 diabetes, body mass index (BMI), and deficits in proinsulin processing and insulin secretion. Here we sought to test whether these effects were apparent in high-risk individuals and modify treatment responses. Methods: We examined the potential role of the TCF7L2 rs7903146 variant in predicting resistance to weight loss or a lack of improvement of proinsulin processing during 2.5-years of follow-up participants (N = 2,994) from the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), a randomized controlled trial designed to prevent or delay diabetes in high-risk adults. Results: We observed no difference in the degree of weight loss by rs7903146 genotypes. However, the T allele (conferring higher risk of diabetes) at rs7903146 was associated with higher fasting proinsulin at baseline (P, 0.001), higher baseline proinsulin: insulin ratio (p<0.0001) and increased proinsulin: insulin ratio over a median of 2.5 years of follow-up (P = 0.003). Effects were comparable across treatment arms. Conclusions: The combination of a lack of impact of the TCF7L2 genotypes on the ability to lose weight, but the presence of a consistent effect on the proinsulin: insulin ratio over the course of DPP, suggests that high-risk genotype carriers at this locus can successfully lose weight to counter diabetes risk despite persistent deficits in insulin production