Elevation of serum sphingosine-1-phosphate attenuates impaired cardiac function in experimental sepsis

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material.This study was supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, Germany, FKZ 01EO1502). This work was supported, in part, by the William Harvey Research Foundation and forms part of the research themes contributing to the translational research portfolio of Barts and the London Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit that is supported and funded by the National Institute of Health Research. This work also contributes to the Organ Protection research theme of the Barts Centre for Trauma Sciences supported by the Barts and The London Charity (Award 753/1722). JP was supported by the German Research Foundation SFB 1039. AH was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation

Influence of phenolic acids on growth and inactivation of Oenococcus oeni and Lactobacillus hilgardii

Aims: To determine the effect of several wine-associated, phenolic acids on the growth and viability of strains of Oenococcus oeni and Lactobacillus hilgardii. Methods and Results: Growth was monitored in ethanol-containing medium supplemented with varying concentrations of hydroxybenzoic acids (p-hydroxybenzoic, protocatechuic, gallic, vanillic and syringic acids) and hydroxycinnamic acids (p-coumaric, caffeic and ferulic acids). Progressive inactivation was monitored in ethanolcontaining phosphate buffer supplemented in a similar manner to the growth experiments. Hydroxycinnamic acids proved to be more inhibitory to the growth of O. oeni than hydroxybenzoic acids. On the other hand, some acids showed a beneficial effect on growth of Lact. hilgardii. p-Coumaric acid showed the strongest inhibitory effect on growth and survival of both bacteria. Conclusions: Most phenolic acids had a negative effect on growth of O. oeni, for Lact. hilgardii this effect was only noted for p-coumaric acid. Generally, O. oeni was more sensitive to phenolic acid inactivation than Lact. hilgardii. Significance and Impact of the Study: Eight wine-derived, phenolic acids were compared for their effects on wine lactic acid bacteria. Results indicate that phenolic acids have the capacity to influence growth and survival parameters. The differences found between phenolic compounds could be related to their different chemical structures

Search for composite and exotic fermions at LEP 2

A search for unstable heavy fermions with the DELPHI detector at LEP is reported. Sequential and non-canonical leptons, as well as excited leptons and quarks, are considered. The data analysed correspond to an integrated luminosity of about 48 pb^{-1} at an e^+e^- centre-of-mass energy of 183 GeV and about 20 pb^{-1} equally shared between the centre-of-mass energies of 172 GeV and 161 GeV. The search for pair-produced new leptons establishes 95% confidence level mass limits in the region between 70 GeV/c^2 and 90 GeV/c^2, depending on the channel. The search for singly produced excited leptons and quarks establishes upper limits on the ratio of the coupling of the excited fermio

Search for lightest neutralino and stau pair production in light gravitino scenarios with stau NLSP

Promptly decaying lightest neutralinos and long-lived staus are searched for in the context of light gravitino scenarios. It is assumed that the stau is the next to lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP) and that the lightest neutralino is the next to NLSP (NNLSP). Data collected with the Delphi detector at centre-of-mass energies from 161 to 183 \GeV are analysed. No evidence of the production of these particles is found. Hence, lower mass limits for both kinds of particles are set at 95% C.L.. The mass of gaugino-like neutralinos is found to be greater than 71.5 GeV/c^2. In the search for long-lived stau, masses less than 70.0 to 77.5 \GeVcc are excluded for gravitino masses from 10 to 150 \eVcc . Combining this search with the searches for stable heavy leptons and Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model staus a lower limit of 68.5 \GeVcc may be set for the stau mas

Genetic Factors of the Disease Course after Sepsis: A Genome-Wide Study for 28Day Mortality.

Sepsis is the dysregulated host response to an infection which leads to life-threatening organ dysfunction that varies by host genomic factors. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in 740 adult septic patients and focused on 28day mortality as outcome. Variants with suggestive evidence for an association (p≤10-5) were validated in two additional GWA studies (n=3470) and gene coding regions related to the variants were assessed in an independent exome sequencing study (n=74). In the discovery GWAS, we identified 243 autosomal variants which clustered in 14 loci (p≤10-5). The best association signal (rs117983287; p=8.16×10-8) was observed for a missense variant located at chromosome 9q21.2 in the VPS13A gene. VPS13A was further supported by additional GWAS (p=0.03) and sequencing data (p=0.04). Furthermore, CRISPLD2 (p=5.99×10-6) and a region on chromosome 13q21.33 (p=3.34×10-7) were supported by both our data and external biological evidence. We found 14 loci with suggestive evidence for an association with 28day mortality and found supportive, converging evidence for three of them in independent data sets. Elucidating the underlying biological mechanisms of VPS13A, CRISPLD2, and the chromosome 13 locus should be a focus of future research activities.The project was supported by the Paul-Martini-Sepsis Research Group, funded by the Thuringian Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (ProExcellence; grant PE 108-2); the public funded Thuringian Foundation for Technology, Innovation and Research (STIFT) and the German Sepsis Society (GSS); the Jena Center of Sepsis Control and Care (CSCC), funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF; 01 EO 1002, 01 EO 1502). The VISEP and MAXSEP trials from the SepNet Study Group had been supported by a BMBF grant (01 KI 0106) and by unrestricted grants from B. Braun, HemoCue, Novo Nordisk, Astra Zeneca GmbH, Wedel, Germany and Bayer HealthCare, Leverkusen, Germany. The exome sequencing study was funded in part by the Hellenic Institute for the Study of Sepsis. The GenOSept study was supported by the European Union and benefits from the 6th framework programme of RTD funding. The PROGRESS study is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, grant numbers 01KI07110 (Giessen), 01KI07111 (Jena), 01KI07113 (Leipzig), 01KI07114 (Berlin), 01KI1010I (Leipzig), and 01KI1010D (Greifswald)

Procalcitonin for diagnosis of infection and guide to antibiotic decisions: past, present and future

There are a number of limitations to using conventional diagnostic markers for patients with clinical suspicion of infection. As a consequence, unnecessary and prolonged exposure to antimicrobial agents adversely affect patient outcomes, while inappropriate antibiotic therapy increases antibiotic resistance. A growing body of evidence supports the use of procalcitonin (PCT) to improve diagnosis of bacterial infections and to guide antibiotic therapy. For patients with upper and lower respiratory tract infection, post-operative infections and for severe sepsis patients in the intensive care unit, randomized-controlled trials have shown a benefit of using PCT algorithms to guide decisions about initiation and/or discontinuation of antibiotic therapy. For some other types of infections, observational studies have shown promising first results, but further intervention studies are needed before use of PCT in clinical routine can be recommended. The aim of this review is to summarize the current evidence for PCT in different infections and clinical settings, and discuss the reliability of this marker when used with validated diagnostic algorithms

Impact of volatile phenols and their precursors on wine quality and control measures of Brettanomyces/Dekkera yeasts

Volatile phenols are aromatic compounds and one of the key molecules responsible for olfactory defects in wine. The yeast genus Brettanomyces is the only major microorganism that has the ability to covert hydroxycinnamic acids into important levels of these compounds, especially 4-ethylphenol and 4-ethylguaiacol, in red wine. When 4-ethylphenols reach concentrations greater than the sensory threshold, all wine’s organoleptic characteristics might be influenced or damaged. The aim of this literature review is to provide a better understanding of the physicochemical, biochemical, and metabolic factors that are related to the levels of p-coumaric acid and volatile phenols in wine. Then, this work summarizes the different methods used for controlling the presence of Brettanomyces in wine and the production of ethylphenols

Metabolic constituents of grapevine and grape-derived products

The numerous uses of the grapevine fruit, especially for wine and beverages, have made it one of the most important plants worldwide. The phytochemistry of grapevine is rich in a wide range of compounds. Many of them are renowned for their numerous medicinal uses. The production of grapevine metabolites is highly conditioned by many factors like environment or pathogen attack. Some grapevine phytoalexins have gained a great deal of attention due to their antimicrobial activities, being also involved in the induction of resistance in grapevine against those pathogens. Meanwhile grapevine biotechnology is still evolving, thanks to the technological advance of modern science, and biotechnologists are making huge efforts to produce grapevine cultivars of desired characteristics. In this paper, important metabolites from grapevine and grape derived products like wine will be reviewed with their health promoting effects and their role against certain stress factors in grapevine physiology

Measurements of the leptonic branching fractions of the τ\tau

Data collected with the DELPHI detector from 1993 to 1995 combined with previous DELPHI results for data from 1991 and 1992 yield the branching fractions B({\tau \rightarrow \mbox{\rm e} \nu \bar{\nu}}) = (17.877 \pm 0.109_{stat} \pm 0.110_{sys} )\% and $B({\tau \rightarrow \mu \nu \bar{\nu}}) = (17.325 \pm 0.095_{stat} \pm 0.077_{sys} )\%$