A classification of meteorite impact craters

Systematic classification of meteorite impact craters for lunar and planetary crater

Three-Dimensional Bioprinting for Cartilage Tissue Engineering: Insights into Naturally-Derived Bioinks from Land and Marine Sources

In regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, the possibility to: (I) customize the shape and size of scaffolds, (II) develop highly mimicked tissues with a precise digital control, (III) manufacture complex structures and (IV) reduce the wastes related to the production process, are the main advantages of additive manufacturing technologies such as three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting. Specifically, this technique, which uses suitable hydrogel-based bioinks, enriched with cells and/or growth factors, has received significant consideration, especially in cartilage tissue engineering (CTE). In this field of interest, it may allow mimicking the complex native zonal hyaline cartilage organization by further enhancing its biological cues. However, there are still some limitations that need to be overcome before 3D bioprinting may be globally used for scaffolds' development and their clinical translation. One of them is represented by the poor availability of appropriate, biocompatible and eco-friendly biomaterials, which should present a series of specific requirements to be used and transformed into a proper bioink for CTE. In this scenario, considering that, nowadays, the environmental decline is of the highest concerns worldwide, exploring naturally-derived hydrogels has attracted outstanding attention throughout the scientific community. For this reason, a comprehensive review of the naturally-derived hydrogels, commonly employed as bioinks in CTE, was carried out. In particular, the current state of art regarding eco-friendly and natural bioinks' development for CTE was explored. Overall, this paper gives an overview of 3D bioprinting for CTE to guide future research towards the development of more reliable, customized, eco-friendly and innovative strategies for this field of interest

Coupled Cluster Theory for Molecular Polaritons: Changing Ground and Excited States

We present an ab initio correlated approach to study molecules that interact strongly with quantum fields in an optical cavity. Quantum electrodynamics coupled cluster theory provides a non-perturbative description of cavity-induced effects in ground and excited states. Using this theory, we show how quantum fields can be used to manipulate charge transfer and photochemical properties of molecules. We propose a strategy to lift electronic degeneracies and induce modifications in the ground state potential energy surface close to a conical intersection.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figure

Full NLO QCD predictions for Higgs-pair production in the 2-Higgs-doublet model

After the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the study of its properties still leaves room for an extended Higgs sector with more than one Higgs boson. 2-Higgs doublet models (2HDMs) are well-motivated extensions of the Standard Model (SM) with five physical Higgs bosons: two CP-even states h and H, one CP-odd state A, and two charged states $H^{\pm}$. In this letter, we present the calculation of the full next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD corrections to hH and AA production at the LHC in the 2HDM at small values of the ratio of the vacuum expectation values, $tan\space\beta$, including the exact top-mass dependence everywhere in the calculation. Using techniques applied in the NLO QCD SM Higgs pair production calculation, we present results for the total cross section as well as for the Higgs-pair-mass distribution at the LHC. We also provide the top-quark scale and scheme uncertainties which are found to be sizeable

Effect of a PCSK9 Inhibitor and a Statin on Cholesterol Efflux Capacity: a Limitation of Current Cholesterol-Lowering Treatments?

Background: Cellular cholesterol efflux is a key step in reverse cholesterol transport that may impact on atherosclerotic cardiovascular risk. The process may be reliant on the availability of apolipoprotein (apo) B-100 containing lipoproteins to accept cholesterol from high-density lipoprotein. Evolocumab and atorvastatin are known to lower plasma apoB-100-containing lipoproteins which could impact on cholesterol efflux capacity (CEC). Methods: We conducted a 2-by-2 factorial trial of the effects of subcutaneous evolocumab (420mg every 2 weeks) and atorvastatin (80mg daily) for 8 weeks on CEC in 81 healthy, normolipidaemic men. The capacity of whole plasma and apoB-depleted plasma, including ATP binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1)-mediated and passive diffusion, to efflux cholesterol was measured. Results: Evolocumab and atorvastatin independently decreased whole plasma CEC (main effect P<0.01 for both). However, there were no significant effects of evolocumab and atorvastatin on apoB-depleted plasma, ABCA1-mediated and passive diffusion-mediated CEC (P>0.05 in all). In the three intervention groups combined, the reduction in whole plasma CEC was significantly correlated with the corresponding reduction in plasma apoB-100 concentration (r =0.339, P<0.01). In the evolocumab monotherapy group, the reduction in whole plasma CEC was also significantly correlated with the corresponding reduction in plasma lipoprotein(a) concentration (r =0.487, P<0.05). Conclusions: In normolipidaemic men, evolocumab and atorvastatin decrease the capacity of whole plasma to efflux cellular cholesterol. These effects may be chiefly owing to a fall in the availability of apoB-100 containing lipoproteins. Reduction in circulating lipoprotein(a) may also contribute to the decrease in whole plasma cholesterol efflux with evolocumab monotherapy

Biogenic calcium carbonate as evidence for life

The history of Earth is a story of co-evolution of minerals and microbes: not only numerous rocks arisen from life, but the life itself may have formed from rocks. To understand the strong association between microbes and inorganic substrates, we investigated the moonmilk, a speleothem of calcium carbonate of microbial origin, present in the Iron Age Etruscan Necropolis of Tarquinia, in Italy. These tombs present a unique environment where the hypogeal walls of the tombs are covered by this speleothem. To study moonmilk formation, we investigated the bacterial community in the rock in which the tombs are carved: calcarenite and hybrid sandstone. We present the first evidence that moonmilk precipitation is driven by microbes within the rocks and not only on the rock surfaces. We also describe how the moonmilk produced within the rocks contributes to rock formation and evolution. The microbial communities of the calcarenite and hybrid sandstone displayed, at phylum level, the same microbial pattern of the moonmilk sampled from the walls of the hypogeal tombs, pointing out that the moonmilk originates from the metabolism of endolytic bacterial community. The calcite speleothem moonmilk is the only known carbonate speleothem on Earth with undoubted biogenic origin, thus representing a robust and credible biosignature of life. Its presence in the inner parts of rocks adds to its characteristics as a biosignature.</p

Differential antibody response to the Anopheles gambiae gSG6 and cE5 salivary proteins in individuals naturally exposed to bites of malaria vectors.

Background Mosquito saliva plays crucial roles in blood feeding but also evokes in hosts an anti-saliva antibody response. The IgG response to the Anopheles gambiae salivary protein gSG6 was previously shown to be a reliable indicator of human exposure to Afrotropical malaria vectors. We analyzed here the humoral response to the salivary anti-thrombin cE5 in a group of individuals from a malaria hyperendemic area of Burkina Faso. Methods ELISA was used to measure the anti-cE5 IgG, IgG1 and IgG4 antibody levels in plasma samples collected in the village of Barkoumbilen (Burkina Faso) among individuals of the Rimaibé ethnic group. Anti-gSG6 IgG levels were also determined for comparison. Anopheles vector density in the study area was evaluated by indoor pyrethrum spray catches. Results The cE5 protein was highly immunogenic and triggered in exposed individuals a relatively long-lasting antibody response, as shown by its unchanged persistence after a few months of absent or very low exposure (dry season). In addition cE5 did not induce immune tolerance, as previously suggested for the gSG6 antigen. Finally, IgG subclass analysis suggested that exposed individuals may mount a Th1-type immune response against the cE5 protein. Conclusions The anti-cE5 IgG response is shown here to be a sensitive indicator of human exposure to anopheline vectors and to represent an additional tool for malaria epidemiological studies. It may be especially useful in conditions of low vector density, to monitor transiently exposed individuals (i.e. travellers/workers/soldiers spending a few months in tropical Africa) and to evaluate the impact of insecticide treated nets on vector control. Moreover, the gSG6 and cE5 salivary proteins were shown to trigger in exposed individuals a strikingly different immune response with (i) gSG6 evoking a short-lived IgG response, characterized by high IgG4 levels and most likely induction of immune tolerance, and (ii) cE5 eliciting a longer-living IgG response, dominated by anti-cE5 IgG1 antibodies and not inducing tolerance mechanisms. We believe that these two antigens may represent useful reagents to further investigate the so far overlooked role of Anopheles saliva and salivary proteins in host early immune response to Plasmodium parasites

PTX3 shapes profibrotic immune cells and epithelial/fibroblast repair and regeneration in a murine model of pulmonary fibrosis

The long pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is protective in different pathologies but was not analyzed in-depth in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). Here, we have explored the influence of PTX3 in the bleomycin (BLM)-induced murine model of IPF by looking at immune cells (macrophages, mast cells, T cells) and stemness/regenerative markers of lung epithelium (SOX2) and fibro-blasts/myofibroblasts (CD44) at different time points that retrace the progression of the disease from onset at day 14, to full-blown disease at day 21, to incomplete regression at day 28. We took advantage of transgenic PTX3 overexpressing mice (Tie2-PTX3) and Ptx3 null ones (PTX3-KO) in which pulmonary fibrosis was induced. Our data have shown that PTX3 overexpression in Tie2-PTX3 compared to WT or PTX3-KO: reduced CD68+ and CD163+ macrophages and the Tryptase+ mast cells during the whole experimental time; on the contrary, CD4+ T cells are consistently present on day 14 and dramatically decreased on day 21; CD8+ T cells do not show significant differences on day 14, but are significantly reduced on day 21; SOX2 is reduced on days 14 and 21; CD44 is reduced on day 21. Therefore, PTX3 could act on the proimmune and fibrogenic microenvironment to prevent fibrosis in BLM-treated mice