Determination of steroid estrogens in wastewater by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

This paper discusses the requirement for, and presents an analytical procedure for, the determination of four unconjugated steroid hormones and a conjugated steroid (estrone-3-sulfate) in wastewaters. The method quantifies the steroids by LC/MS/MS following solid phase extraction and a two stage clean-up procedure. Samples were extracted using C18 cartridges and eluates were then purified by gel permeation chromatography, followed by a further clean-up step on an aminopropyl cartridge. The limits of detection achieved were 0.2 ng l-1 for estriol, 17β-estradiol and 17α-ethinylestradiol, and 0.1 ng l-1 for estrone and the conjugate. The robustness of the method was demonstrated by achieving recoveries of >83% for all steroids in settled sewage and final effluent samples with relative standard deviations of 0.5 - 12%. The method was used to analyse a range of samples from a wastewater treatment works in south east England which demonstrated a >80% removal for estrone, estradiol and estriol with little impact on concentrations of ethinylestradiol or the conjugate

Planetary Dynamics and Habitable Planet Formation In Binary Star Systems

Whether binaries can harbor potentially habitable planets depends on several factors including the physical properties and the orbital characteristics of the binary system. While the former determines the location of the habitable zone (HZ), the latter affects the dynamics of the material from which terrestrial planets are formed (i.e., planetesimals and planetary embryos), and drives the final architecture of the planets assembly. In order for a habitable planet to form in a binary star system, these two factors have to work in harmony. That is, the orbital dynamics of the two stars and their interactions with the planet-forming material have to allow terrestrial planet formation in the habitable zone, and ensure that the orbit of a potentially habitable planet will be stable for long times. We have organized this chapter with the same order in mind. We begin by presenting a general discussion on the motion of planets in binary stars and their stability. We then discuss the stability of terrestrial planets, and the formation of potentially habitable planets in a binary-planetary system.Comment: 56 pages, 29 figures, chapter to appear in the book: Planets in Binary Star Systems (Ed. N. Haghighipour, Springer publishing company

Effects of Systolic Blood Pressure on Brain Integrity in Multiple Sclerosis

Background: In MS patients, hypertension is associated with a delayed diagnosis and an increased risk of progression. Understanding the mechanisms of this association could potentially lead to improved prevention of disease progression. We aimed to establish whether high blood pressure contributes to white-matter injury and brain atrophy in MS.Methods: Cross-sectional study of 95 patients with RRMS. Estimates of fractional anisotropy, gray-matter volume and lesion load were obtained from 3T MRI. We used fractional anisotropy voxel-based statistics to establish the effect of blood pressure on white matter tracts. Additionally, we used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to study the effect on gray matter integrity.Results: Only 29.5% had normal blood pressure levels, with 52.6% suffering from prehypertension and 17.9% with hypertension. Increasing systolic blood pressure was associated with damage to posterior white-matter tracts as well as greater levels of gray matter atrophy, in particular in the frontal cortex. Age-adjusted linear regression indicated that neither lesion volume (β = 0.002, 95%CI: 0.02–0.02; p = 0.85) or lesion number (β = −0.004, 95%CI: 0.03–0.02; p = 0.74) were associated with systolic blood pressure.Conclusions: Prehypertension and hypertension are frequent in MS. Increased blood pressure is related to white- and gray-matter integrity, both related to MS disability outcomes. These findings suggest attention to the control of blood pressure in MS patients

Fossil Groups Origins: I. RX J105453.3+552102 a very massive and relaxed system at z~0.5

The most accepted scenario for the origin of fossil groups (FGs) is that they are galaxy associations in which the merging rate was fast and efficient. These systems have assembled half of their mass at early epoch of the Universe, subsequently growing by minor mergers. They could contain a fossil record of the galaxy structure formation. We have started a project in order to characterize a large sample of FGs. In this paper we present the analysis of the fossil system RX J105453.3+552102. Optical deep images were used for studying the properties of the brightest group galaxy and for computing the photometric luminosity function of the group. We have also performed a detail dynamical analysis of the system based on redshift data for 116 galaxies. This galaxy system is located at z=0.47, and shows a quite large line-of-sight velocity dispersion \sigma_{v}~1000 km/s. Assuming the dynamical equilibrium, we estimated a virial mass of M ~ 10^{15} h_{70} M_{\odot}. No evidence of substructure was found within 1.4 Mpc radius. We found a statistically significant departure from Gaussianity of the group members velocities in the most external regions of the group. This could indicate the presence of galaxies in radial orbits in the external region of the group. We also found that the photometrical luminosity function is bimodal, showing a lack of M_{r} ~ -19.5 galaxies. The brightest group galaxy shows low Sersic parameter (n~2) and a small peculiar velocity. Indeed, our accurate photometry shows that the difference between the brightest and the second brightest galaxies is 1.9 mag in the r-band, while the classical definition of FGs is based on a magnitude gap of 2. We conclude that this fossil system does not follow the empirical definition of FGs. Nevertheless, it is a massive, old and undisturbed galaxy system with little infall of L^{*} galaxies since its initial collapse.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication at A&

Generation of a High Number of Healthy Erythroid Cells from Gene-Edited Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency Patient-Specific Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Pyruvate kinase deficiency (PKD) is a rare erythroid metabolic disease caused by mutations in the PKLR gene. Erythrocytes from PKD patients show an energetic imbalance causing chronic non-spherocytic hemolytic anemia, as pyruvate kinase defects impair ATP production in erythrocytes. We generated PKD induced pluripotent stem cells (PKDiPSCs) from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PB-MNCs) of PKD patients by non-integrative Sendai viral vectors. PKDiPSCs were gene edited to integrate a partial codon-optimized R-type pyruvate kinase cDNA in the second intron of the PKLR gene by TALEN-mediated homologous recombination (HR). Notably, we found allele specificity of HR led by the presence of a single-nucleotide polymorphism. High numbers of erythroid cells derived from gene-edited PKDiPSCs showed correction of the energetic imbalance, providing an approach to correct metabolic erythroid diseases and demonstrating the practicality of this approach to generate the large cell numbers required for comprehensive biochemical and metabolic erythroid analyses.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Molecular signatures of maturing dendritic cells: implications for testing the quality of dendritic cell therapies

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Dendritic cells (DCs) are often produced by granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) stimulation of monocytes. To improve the effectiveness of DC adoptive immune cancer therapy, many different agents have been used to mature DCs. We analyzed the kinetics of DC maturation by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) induction in order to characterize the usefulness of mature DCs (mDCs) for immune therapy and to identify biomarkers for assessing the quality of mDCs.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were collected from 6 healthy subjects by apheresis, monocytes were isolated by elutriation, and immature DCs (iDCs) were produced by 3 days of culture with GM-CSF and IL-4. The iDCs were sampled after 4, 8 and 24 hours in culture with LPS and IFN-γ and were then assessed by flow cytometry, ELISA, and global gene and microRNA (miRNA) expression analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After 24 hours of LPS and IFN-γ stimulation, DC surface expression of CD80, CD83, CD86, and HLA Class II antigens were up-regulated. Th1 attractant genes such as CXCL9, CXCL10, CXCL11 and CCL5 were up-regulated during maturation but not Treg attractants such as CCL22 and CXCL12. The expression of classical mDC biomarker genes CD83, CCR7, CCL5, CCL8, SOD2, MT2A, OASL, GBP1 and HES4 were up-regulated throughout maturation while MTIB, MTIE, MTIG, MTIH, GADD45A and LAMP3 were only up-regulated late in maturation. The expression of miR-155 was up-regulated 8-fold in mDCs.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>DCs, matured with LPS and IFN-γ, were characterized by increased levels of Th1 attractants as opposed to Treg attractants and may be particularly effective for adoptive immune cancer therapy.</p

Bose-Einstein correlations of same-sign charged pions in the forward region in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV

Bose-Einstein correlations of same-sign charged pions, produced in protonproton collisions at a 7 TeV centre-of-mass energy, are studied using a data sample collected by the LHCb experiment. The signature for Bose-Einstein correlations is observed in the form of an enhancement of pairs of like-sign charged pions with small four-momentum difference squared. The charged-particle multiplicity dependence of the Bose-Einstein correlation parameters describing the correlation strength and the size of the emitting source is investigated, determining both the correlation radius and the chaoticity parameter. The measured correlation radius is found to increase as a function of increasing charged-particle multiplicity, while the chaoticity parameter is seen to decreas