Fine structure of the chromospheric activity in Solar-type stars - The Halpha Line

A calibration of H-alpha as both a chromospheric diagnostic and an age indicator is presented, complementing the works previously done on this subject (Herbig 1985, Pasquini & Pallavicini 1991. The chromospheric diagnostic was built with a statistically significant sample, covering nine years of observations, and including 175 solar neighborhood stars. Regarding the age indicator, the presence of stars for which very accurate ages are determined, such as those belonging to clusters and kinematic groups, lends confidence to our analysis. We also investigate the possibility that stars of the same age might have gone through different tracks of chromospheric decay, identifying - within the same age range - effects of metallicity and mass. These parameters, however, as well as age, seem to be significant only for dwarf stars, losing their meaning when we analyze stars in the subgiant branch. This result suggests that, in these evolved stars, the emission mechanism cannot be magnetohydrodynamical in nature, in agreement with recent models (Fawzy et al. 2002c, and references therein). The Sun is found to be a typical star in its H-alpha chromospheric flux, for its age, mass and metallicity. As a byproduct of this work, we developed an automatic method to determine temperatures from the wings of H-alpha, which means the suppression of the error inherent to the visual procedure used in the literature.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Nature of replacement: match astro-ph and ADS title (greek letter

Escaping the Phagocytic Oxidative Burst: The Role of SODB in the Survival of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Within Macrophages

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are small oxygen-derived molecules that are used to control infections by phagocytic cells. In macrophages, the oxidative burst produced by the NOX2 NADPH-oxidase is essential to eradicate engulfed pathogens by both oxidative and non-oxidative killing. Indeed, while the superoxide anion (O2-) produced by NOX2, and the other ROS derived from its transformation, can directly target pathogens, ROS also contribute to activation of non-oxidative microbicidal effectors. The response of pathogens to the phagocytic oxidative burst includes the expression of different enzymes that target ROS to reduce their toxicity. Superoxide dismutases (SODs) are the primary scavengers of O2-, which is transformed into H2O2. In the Gram-negative Salmonella typhimurium, periplasmic SODCI has a major role in bacterial resistance to NOX-mediated oxidative stress. In Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the two periplasmic SODs, SODB, and SODM, appear to contribute to bacterial virulence in small-animal models. Furthermore, NOX2 oxidative stress is essential to restrict P. aeruginosa survival in macrophages early after infection. Here, we focused on the role of P. aeruginosa SODs in the counteracting of the lethal effects of the macrophage oxidative burst. Through this study of the survival of sod mutants in macrophages and the measurement of ROS in infected macrophages, we have identified a dual, antagonistic, role for SODB in P. aeruginosa survival. Indeed, the survival of the sodB mutants, but not of the sodM mutants, was greater than that of the wild-type (WT) bacteria early after infection, and sodB-infected macrophages showed higher levels of O2- and lower levels of H2O2. This suggests that SODB contributes to the production of lethal doses of H2O2 within the phagosome. However, later on following infection, the sodB mutants survived less that the WT bacteria, which highlights the pro-survival role of SODB. We have explained this defensive role through an investigation of the activation of autophagy, which was greater in the sodB-infected macrophages

Recurrent COVID-19 pneumonia in the course of chemotherapy: consequence of a weakened immune system?

Letter to the Editor - We report a case of recurrent COVID‐19 pneumonia in a vulnerable patien

Human Papillomavirus infections in cervical samples from HIV-positive women: evaluation of the presence of the nonavalent HPV genotypes and genetic diversity

Non-nonavalent vaccine (9v) Human papillomavirus (HPV) types have been shown to have high prevalence among HIV-positive women. Here, 1444 cervical samples were tested for HPV DNA positivity. Co-infections of the 9v HPV types with other HPV types were evaluated. The HPV81 L1 and L2 genes were used to investigate the genetic variability of antigenic epitopes. HPV-positive samples were genotyped using the HPVCLART2 assay. The L1 and L2 protein sequences were analyzed using a self-optimized prediction method to predict their secondary structure. Co-occurrence probabilities of the 9v HPV types were calculated. Non9v types represented 49% of the HPV infections; 31.2% of the non9v HPV types were among the low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion samples, and 27.3% among the high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion samples, and several genotypes were low risk. The co-occurrence of 9v HPV types with the other genotypes was not correlated with the filogenetic distance. HPV81 showed an amino-acid substitution within the BC loop (N75Q) and the FGb loop (T315N). In the L2 protein, all of the mutations were located outside antigenic sites. The weak cross-protection of the 9v types suggests the relevance of a sustainable and effective screening program, which should be implemented by HPV DNA testing that does not include only high-risk types

Using INTERCheck® to Evaluate the Incidence of Adverse Events and Drug–Drug Interactions in Out- and Inpatients Exposed to Polypharmacy

Background: Polypharmacy exposes patients with comorbidities (particularly elderly patients) to an increased risk of drug-specific adverse events and drug–drug interactions. These adverse events could be avoided with the use of a computerized prescription support system in the primary care setting. The INTERCheck® software is a prescription support system developed with the aim of balancing the risks and benefits of polytherapy and examining drug–drug interactions. Objectives: This observational study used the INTERCheck® software to evaluate the incidence of adverse events and of drug–drug interactions in outpatients and inpatients receiving multiple medications. Methods: Patients were randomly enrolled from the outpatient department (n = 98) and internal medicine ward (n = 46) of S. Andrea Hospital of Rome. Polypharmacological treatment was analyzed using INTERCheck® software, and the prevalence of risk indicators and adverse events was compared between the two groups. Results: Polypharmacy (use of five or more drugs) applied to all except three cases among outpatients and one case among inpatients. A significant positive correlation was found between the number of medications and the INTERCheck® score (ρ = 0.67; p < 0.000001), and a significant negative correlation was found between the drug-related anticholinergic burden and cognitive impairment (r = − 0.30 p = 0.01). Based on the INTERCheck® analysis, inpatients had a higher score for class D (contraindicated drug combination should be avoided) than did outpatients (p = 0.01). The potential class D drug–drug interactions were associated with adverse events that caused hospitalization (χ2 = 7.428, p = 0.01). Conclusions: INTERCheck® analysis indicated that inpatients had a high risk of drug–drug interactions and a high percentage of related adverse drug events. Further prospective studies are necessary to evaluate whether the INTERCheck® software may help reduce polypharmacy-related adverse events when used in a primary care setting and thus potentially avoid related hospitalization and severe complications such as physical and cognitive decline

Abundances of Mn, Co and Eu in a sample of 20 F-G disk stars: the influence of hyperfine structure splitting

We present Mn, Co and Eu abundances for a sample of 20 disk F and G dwarfs and subgiants with metallicities in the range -0.8 <= [Fe/H] <= +0.3. We investigate the influence of hyperfine structure (HFS) on the derived abundances of Mn and Co by using HFS data from different sources in the literature, as well as calculated HFS from interaction factors A and B. Eu abundances were obtained from spectral synthesis of one Eu II line that takes into account HFS from a series of recent laboratory measurements. For the lines analyzed in this study, we find that for manganese, the differences between abundances obtained with different HFSs are no larger than 0.10 dex. Our cobalt abundances are even less sensitive to the choice of HFS than Mn, presenting a 0.07 dex maximum difference between determinations with different HFSs. However, the cobalt HFS data from different sources are significantly different. Our abundance results for Mn offer an independent confirmation of the results from Prochaska & McWilliam (2000), who favour type Ia supernovae as the main nucleosynthesis site of Mn production, in contrast to trends of Mn versus metallicity previously reported in the literature. For Co, we obtain [Co/Fe] ~ 0.0 in the range -0.3 < [Fe/H] < +0.3 and [Co/Fe] rising to a level of +0.2 when [Fe/H] decreases from -0.3 to -0.8, in disagreement with recent results in the literature. The observed discrepancies may be attributed to the lack of HFS in the works we used for comparison. Our results for Eu are in accordance with low-mass type II supernovae being the main site of the r-process nucleosynthesis.Comment: 8 pages, 6 Postscript figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Development and Evaluation of the Magnetic Properties of a New Manganese (II) Complex: A Potential MRI Contrast Agent

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive powerful modern clinical technique that is extensively used for the high-resolution imaging of soft tissues. To obtain high-definition pictures of tissues or of the whole organism this technique is enhanced by the use of contrast agents. Gadolinium-based contrast agents have an excellent safety profile. However, over the last two decades, some specific concerns have surfaced. Mn(II) has different favorable physicochemical characteristics and a good toxicity profile, which makes it a good alternative to the Gd(III)-based MRI contrast agents currently used in clinics. Mn(II)-disubstituted symmetrical complexes containing dithiocarbamates ligands were prepared under a nitrogen atmosphere. The magnetic measurements on Mn complexes were carried out with MRI phantom measurements at 1.5 T with a clinical magnetic resonance. Relaxivity values, contrast, and stability were evaluated by appropriate sequences. Studies conducted to evaluate the properties of paramagnetic imaging in water using a clinical magnetic resonance showed that the contrast, produced by the complex [Mn(II)(L’)2] × 2H2O (L’ = 1.4-dioxa-8-azaspiro[4.5]decane-8-carbodithioate), is comparable to that produced by gadolinium complexes currently used in medicine as a paramagnetic contrast agent

The age of the Galactic thin disk from Th/Eu nucleocosmochronology III. Extended sample

The first determination of the age of the Galactic thin disk from Th/Eu nucleocosmochronology was accomplished by us in Papers I and II. The present work aimed at reducing the age uncertainty by expanding the stellar sample with the inclusion of seven new objects - an increase by 37%. A set of [Th/Eu] abundance ratios was determined from spectral synthesis and merged with the results from Paper I. Abundances for the new, extended sample were analyzed with the aid of a Galactic disk chemical evolution (GDCE) model developed by us is Paper II. The result was averaged with an estimate obtained in Paper II from a conjunction of literature data and our GDCE model, providing our final, adopted disk age T_G = (8.8 +/- 1.7) Gyr with a reduction of 0.1 Gyr (6%) in the uncertainty. This value is compatible with the most up-to-date white dwarf age determinations (<~ 10 Gyr). Considering that the halo is currently presumed to be (13.5 +/- 0.7) Gyr old, our result prompts groups developing Galactic formation models to include an hiatus of (4.7 +/- 1.8) Gyr between the formation of halo and disk.Comment: 7 pages, 5 Postscript figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Computer-Aided Structure-Based Design of Multitarget Leads for Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative pathology with unmet clinical needs. A highly desirable approach to this syndrome would be to find a single lead that could bind to some or all of the selected biomolecules that participate in the amyloid cascade, the most accepted route for Alzheimer disease genesis. In order to circumvent the challenge posed by the sizable differences in the binding sites of the molecular targets, we propose a computer-assisted protocol based on a pharmacophore and a set of required interactions with the targets that allows for the automated screening of candidates. We used a combination of docking and molecular dynamics protocols in order to discard nonbinders, optimize the best candidates, and provide a rationale for their potential as inhibitors. To provide a proof of concept, we proceeded to screen the literature and databases, a task that allowed us to identify a set of carbazole-containing compounds that initially showed affinity only for the cholinergic targets in our experimental assays. Two cycles of design based on our protocol led to a new set of analogues that were synthesized and assayed. The assay results revealed that the designed inhibitors had improved affinities for BACE-1 by more than 3 orders of magnitude and also displayed amyloid aggregation inhibition and affinity for AChE and BuChE, a result that led us to a group of multitarget amyloid cascade inhibitors that also could have a positive effect at the cholinergic levelFinancial support from the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad of Spain (Project CTQ2011-22436) and the Xunta de Galicia (CN2011/047 and 10CSA209063PR) is gratefully acknowledgedS

Diagnóstico das políticas públicas da Sesan no estado de São Paulo.

A Secretaria Nacional de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional (Sesan), ligada ao Ministério do Desenvolvimento Social (MDS), é responsável por programas, projetos e ações que buscam incentivar, entre outros objetivos, a produção e a comercialização de alimentos pela agricultura familiar e o seu consumo por toda a sociedade. Em acordo firmado em 2016 com a Sesan, o Grupo de Inteligência Territorial Estratégica (Gite) da Embrapa ficou responsável por espacializar um grande volume de dados dos programas dessa Secretaria e do Cadastro Único para Programas Sociais do governo federal. Segundo dados de 2016, no Estado de São Paulo, 48% das famílias paulistas autodeclaradas agricultores no Cadastro Único residem em municípios da região administrativa (RA) de Itapeva, totalizando 1.777 famílias. O Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos (PAA) já movimentou, junto às organizações fornecedoras do estado, mais de 22 milhões de reais, e 23% desse total teve origem nos municípios da RA de Bauru, com destaque para o Município de Promissão. Na RA de Araçatuba, 389 famílias já foram atendidas pelo Programa de Fomento às Atividades Produtivas Rurais (52% do estado) em 10 municípios espacialmente agrupados. Esta mesma RA recebeu, em 2015, 3.245 cestas de alimentos, 21% do total do Estado de São Paulo, que ainda tem 104.708 famílias vivendo em situação de insegurança alimentar e nutricional, embora apenas 5% estejam no nível alto ou muito alto de vulnerabilidade. Com isso, o intuito deste trabalho é o de analisar o panorama geral do atendimento da Sesan no Estado de São Paulo