Possible splitting of deconfinement and chiral transitions in strong magnetic fields in QCD

We show that finite-temperature deconfinement and chiral transitions can split in a strong enough magnetic field. The splitting in critical temperatures of these transitions in a constant magnetic field of a typical LHC magnitude is of the order of 10 MeV. A new deconfined phase with broken chiral symmetry appears.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures; talk given by E. S. Fraga at 35th International Conference of High Energy Physics (ICHEP 2010), July 22-28, 2010, Paris, Franc

Anthocyanins protect the gastrointestinal tract from high fat diet-induced alterations in redox signaling, barrier integrity and dysbiosis.

The gastrointestinal (GI) tract can play a critical role in the development of pathologies associated with overeating, overweight and obesity. We previously observed that supplementation with anthocyanins (AC) (particularly glycosides of cyanidin and delphinidin) mitigated high fat diet (HFD)-induced development of obesity, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance and steatosis in C57BL/6J mice. This paper investigated whether these beneficial effects could be related to AC capacity to sustain intestinal monolayer integrity, prevent endotoxemia, and HFD-associated dysbiosis. The involvement of redox-related mechanisms were further investigated in Caco-2 cell monolayers. Consumption of a HFD for 14 weeks caused intestinal permeabilization and endotoxemia, which were associated with a decreased ileum expression of tight junction (TJ) proteins (occludin, ZO-1 and claudin-1), increased expression of NADPH oxidase (NOX1 and NOX4) and NOS2 and oxidative stress, and activation of redox sensitive signals (NF-κB and ERK1/2) that regulate TJ dynamics. AC supplementation mitigated all these events and increased GLP-2 levels, the intestinal hormone that upregulates TJ protein expression. AC also prevented, in vitro, tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced Caco-2 monolayer permeabilization, NOX1/4 upregulation, oxidative stress, and NF-κB and ERK activation. HFD-induced obesity in mice caused dysbiosis and affected the levels and secretion of MUC2, a mucin that participates in intestinal cell barrier protection and immune response. AC supplementation restored microbiota composition and MUC2 levels and distribution in HFD-fed mice. Thus, AC, particularly delphinidin and cyanidin, can preserve GI physiology in HFD-induced obesity in part through redox-regulated mechanisms. This can in part explain AC capacity to mitigate pathologies, i.e. insulin resistance and steatosis, associated with HFD-associated obesity

A single-phase current-source converter combined with a hybrid converter for interfacing an electric vehicle and a renewable energy source

This paper presents a single-phase current-source converter (CSC) combined with a hybrid converter on the dc-link, allowing to interface an electric vehicle (EV) and a renewable energy source (RES). Therefore, the interface with the power grid is only performed through the CSC, which also permits the operation as shunt active power filter (SAPF), allowing to compensate power quality problems related with current and low power factor in the electrical installation. The whole system is composed by two main power stages, namely, the CSC that is responsible for compensating the current harmonics and low power factor, as well as operating as a grid-tied inverter or as an active rectifier, and the hybrid converter that is responsible for interfacing the dc-link of the CSC with the converters for the EV and the RES interfaces. As demonstrated along the paper, the CSC, combined with the hybrid converter on the dc-link, allows the operation as SAPF, as well as the operation in bidirectional mode, specifically for the EV operation, and also for injecting power from the RES. In the paper, the power electronics structure is described and the principle of operation is introduced, supported by the description of the control algorithms. The validation results show the proper operation of the CSC, combined with the hybrid converter on the dc-link, for the main conditions of operation, namely exchanging power with the power grid in bidirectional mode and operating as a SAPF.This work has been supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia with-in the Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020. This work has been supported by the FCT Project newERA4GRIDs PTDC/EEI-EEE/30283/2017 and the FCT Project DAIPESEV PTDC/EEI-EEE/30382/2017

Role of human umbilical cord mesenchymal progenitors conditioned media in neuronal/glial cell densities, viability, and proliferation

It has been recently reported that mesenchymal progenitor/stem cells isolated from the Wharton’s Jelly (WJ) of umbilical cords (UC) ameliorate the condition of animals suffering from central nervous system (CNS)-related conditions. However, little is known on the mechanisms that regulate these actions. Therefore, the objective of the present work was to determine how the conditioned media (CM) of a population of mesenchymal progenitors present in the UC WJ, known as human umbilical cord perivascular cells (HUCPVCs), regulate processes such as cell viability, survival, and proliferation of postnatal hippocampal neurons and glial cells. For this purpose primary hippocampal and cortical cultures of neurons and glial cells, respectively, were incubated with CM from HUCPVCs. Results revealed that HUCPVCs CM increase glial cell viability and proliferation. Furthermore, it was observed that glial cell cultures exhibited higher numbers of GFAP-positive cells (astrocytes) and O4-positive cells (oligodendrocytes) when incubated with the CM. Additionally, it was also observed that the growth factors presents in the CM did not induce an increase on the microglial cells number. For hippocampal neurons similar results were obtained, as cultures exposed to HUCPVCs CM disclosed higher numbers of MAP-2–positive cells. Moreover it was also observed that the cell viability and proliferation in this primary hippocampal cell culture system was also higher, when compared to control cultures. From these results it was possible to conclude that HUCPVCs release neuroregulatory factors that have a direct impact on the densities, viability, and proliferation of glial cells and hippocampal primary cultures.Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology through funds from POCTI and/or FEDER programs (funding to ICVS, 3B's Research Group and post doctoral fellowship to A.J. Salgado-SFRH/BPD/17595/2004); funding from Funda ao Calouste de Gulbenkian. The authors would also like to acknowledge Prof. J.E. Davies from the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto, Canada, for kindly providing some of the HUCPVCs lots used in the present work. This work was performed following the terms of the cooperation agreement signed between the 3B's Research Group of the University of Minho and the Hospital de Sao Marcos in Braga and approved by its ethical committee

Novel capsular depolymerases-based strategy to kill multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria

Multidrug resistant pathogens represent one of the greatest threats to human health of the new millennium. ESKAPE bacterial pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other Enterobacteriaceae species) are the leading group among these socalled superbugs, which rapidly acquire resistances to several (and sometimes all) available antibiotics and cause a variety of nosocomial infections (e.g. bacteraemia and wound infections). Our research has been leading an innovative approach based on bacteriophage-derived enzymes (called capsular depolymerases) against A. baumannii (see video at ref 1). Previously, we found that some bacteriophages (i.e. viruses that specifically infect bacteria) acquired the ability to infect different Acinetobacter hosts through acquisition of different capsular depolymerases (2). These enzymes located at the bacteriophage tails bind and degrade specific bacterial capsules types (2). Recently, recombinantly expressed capsular depolymerases showed to be active in several environment conditions, non-nontoxic to mammalian cells and able to make A. baumannii fully susceptible to host complement effect, namely in i) Galleria mellonella caterpillar, ii) murine and iii) human serum models (3, 4). A single intraperitoneal injection of depolymerase protect 60% of mice from dead, with significant reduction of proinflammatory cytokine profile (4). We show that capsular depolymerases fit the new trend of antimicrobials needed, as they are highly specific, stable and refractory to resistance as they do not kill bacteria per se, instead they remove bacterial surface polysaccharides, diminishing bacterial virulence and exposing them to the host immune system. This innovative antimicrobial approach can be applied to other pathogenic bacteria.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Comparaciones indirectas en los informes de evaluación de medicamentos en la web del grupo GENESIS de la SEFH

An active comparator was present in 95% of the 337 analysed reports; 50% included a direct comparative study vs comparator. In 114 reports (34%), an IC was used; 69% of the ICs were made by the report author. Most ICs were narrative and none were adjusted. An IC could have been made in an additional 16% of the cases and possibly in 24% more. Conclusions: Most evaluated drugs have an active comparator but studies comparing them directly are not as common. ICs could be included in more reports along with quality control criteria. © 2011 SEFH. Publishe

Generation of a human iPSC line from a patient with Leigh syndrome

Human iPSC line LND554SV.3 was generated from heteroplasmic fibroblasts of a patient with Leigh syndrome carrying a mutation in the MT-ND5 gene (m.13513G. >. A; p.D393N). Reprogramming factors Oct3/4, Sox2, Klf4, and cMyc were delivered using a non-integrative methodology that involves the use of Sendai virus.This work was supported by grants from the “Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Enfermedades Raras” (CIBERER) (grant 13-717/132.05 to RG), the “Instituto de Salud Carlos III” [Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria and Regional Development Fund (ERDF/FEDER) funds PI10/0703 and PI13/00556 to RG and PI15/00484 to MEG], “Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid” (grant number S2010/BMD-2402 to RG); TG receives grant support from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (FPI-UAM) and FZD from the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (FPU13/00544). MEG is a staff scientist at the “Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Enfermedades Raras” (CIBERER) at the “Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Enfermedades Raras” (CIBERER)

Generation of a human control iPSC line with a European mitochondrial haplogroup U background

Human iPSC line N44SV.5 was generated from primary normal human dermal fibroblasts belonging to the European mitochondrial haplogroup U. For this purpose, reprogramming factors Oct3/4, Sox2, Klf4, and cMyc were delivered using a non-integrative methodology that involves the use of Sendai virus.This work was supported by grants from the “Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en enfermedades raras” (CIBERER) (grant 13-717/132.05 to RG), the “Instituto de Salud Carlos III” [Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria and Regional Development Fund (ERDF/FEDER) funds PI10/0703 and PI13/00556 to RG and PI15/00484 to MEG], “Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid” (grant number S2010/BMD-2402 to R.G); T.G. receives grant support from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, FPI-UAM and F.Z.D. from the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, grant number FPU13/00544. M.E.G. is staff scientist at the “Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Enfermedades Raras” (CIBERER

Generation of a human iPSC line from a patient with a mitochondrial encephalopathy due to mutations in the GFM1 gene

Human iPSC line GFM1SV.25 was generated from fibroblasts of a child with a severe mitochondrial encephalopathy associated with mutations in the GFM1 gene, encoding the mitochondrial translation elongation factor G1. Reprogramming factors OCT3/4, SOX2, CMYC and KLF4 were delivered using a non integrative methodology that involves the use of Sendai virus.This work was supported by grants from the “Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en enfermedades raras” (CIBERER) (Grant 13-717/132.05 to RG), the “Instituto de Salud Carlos III” [Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria and Regional development fund (ERDF/FEDER) funds PI10/0703 and PI13/00556 to RG and PI15/00484 to MEG], “Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid” (Grant number S2010/BMD-2402 to RG); TG receives grant support from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (FPI-UAM) and FZD from the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (Grant FPU13/00544). MEG is staff scientist at the “Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Enfermedades Raras” (CIBERER