Zika virus impairs the development of blood vessels in a mouse model of congenital infection

Zika virus (ZIKV) is associated with brain development abnormalities such as primary microcephaly, a severe reduction in brain growth. Here we demonstrated in vivo the impact of congenital ZIKV infection in blood vessel development, a crucial step in organogenesis. ZIKV was injected intravenously in the pregnant type 2 interferon (IFN)-deficient mouse at embryonic day (E) 12.5. The embryos were collected at E15.5 and postnatal day (P)2. Immunohistochemistry for cortical progenitors and neuronal markers at E15.5 showed the reduction of both populations as a result of ZIKV infection. Using confocal 3D imaging, we found that ZIKV infected brain sections displayed a reduction in the vasculature density and vessel branching compared to mocks at E15.5; altogether, cortical vessels presented a comparatively immature pattern in the infected tissue. These impaired vascular patterns were also apparent in the placenta and retina. Moreover, proteomic analysis has shown that angiogenesis proteins are deregulated in the infected brains compared to controls. At P2, the cortical size and brain weight were reduced in comparison to mock-infected animals. In sum, our results indicate that ZIKV impairs angiogenesis in addition to neurogenesis during development. The vasculature defects represent a limitation for general brain growth but also could regulate neurogenesis directly

Utilization of Renewable Biomass and Waste Materials for Production of Environmentally-Friendly, Bio-based Composites

The introduction of renewable biomass into a polymer matrix is an option competing with other possibilities, such as energy recovery and/or re-use in the carbonized state, or production of chemicals, such as, in the case of ligno-cellulosic waste, concentrates on the production of simple sugars, then possibly leading to the development of biopolymers. These competitive applications have also some interest and market, however with a considerable energy, water and materials consumption, due also to the not always high yielding. Other possibilities for renewable biomass are therefore being used as fillers to increase mechanical performance of polymers or to allow e.g., the absorption of toxic chemicals. This review concentrates on the use of biomass as close as possible to the “as received” state, therefore avoiding whenever suitable any thermal treatment. More specifically, it focuses on its introduction into the three categories of oil-based (or bio-based replacement) of engineered polymers, into industrial biopolymers, such as poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and self-developed biopolymers, such as thermoplastic starch (TPS)

Differential cell line susceptibility to the emerging Zika virus: implications for disease pathogenesis, non-vector-borne human transmission and animal reservoirs

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Bioinformatic analysis reveals the expression of unique transcriptomic signatures in Zika virus infected human neural stem cells

BACKGROUND: The single-stranded RNA Flavivirus, Zika virus (ZIKV), has recently re-emerged and spread rapidly across the western hemisphere’s equatorial countries, primarily through Aedes mosquito transmission. While symptoms in adult infections appear to be self-limiting and mild, severe birth defects, such as microcephaly, have been linked to infection during early pregnancy. Recently, Tang et al. (Cell Stem Cell 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2016.02.016) demonstrated that ZIKV efficiently infects induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derived human neural progenitor cells (hNPCs), resulting in cell cycle abnormalities and apoptosis. Consequently, hNPCs are a suggested ZIKV target. METHODS: We analyzed the transcriptomic sequencing (RNA-seq) data (GEO: GSE78711) of ZIKV (Strain: MR766) infected hNPCs. For comparison to the ZIKV-infected hNPCs, the expression data from hNPCs infected with human cytomegalovirus (CMV) (Strain: AD169) was used (GEO: GSE35295). Utilizing a combination of Gene Ontology, database of human diseases, and pathway analysis, we generated a putative systemic model of infection supported by known molecular pathways of other highly related viruses. RESULTS: We analyzed RNA-sequencing data for transcript expression alterations in ZIKV-infected hNPCs, and then compared them to expression patterns of iPSC-derived hNPCs infected with CMV, a virus that can also induce severe congenital neurological defects in developing fetuses. We demonstrate for the first time that many of cellular pathways correlate with clinical pathologies following ZIKV infection such as microcephaly, congenital nervous system disorders and epilepsy. Furthermore, ZIKV activates several inflammatory signals within infected hNPCs that are implicated in innate and acquired immune responses, while CMV-infected hNPCs showed limited representation of these pathways. Moreover, several genes related to pathogen responses are significantly upregulated upon ZIKV infection, but not perturbed in CMV-infected hNPCs. CONCLUSION: The presented study is the first to report enrichment of numerous pro-inflammatory pathways in ZIKV-infected hNPCs, indicating that hNPCs are capable of signaling through canonical pro-inflammatory pathways following viral infection. By defining gene expression profiles, new factors in the pathogenesis of ZIKV were identified which could help develop new therapeutic strategies

Linguagem metodológica: parte 2 Methodological language: part 2

A posição de nosso país no cenário mundial vem se destacando e a medicina brasileira acompanha este desenvolvimento. Para isso, cabe a todos nós profissionais de ciências humanas, a adoção dos princípios modernos que regem a elaboração e a publicação de trabalhos científicos e dentre estes princípios deverão ser seguidos, critérios metodológicos de qualidade. Com esse intuito esse grupo interdepartamental e interprofissional da Faculdade de Medicina da USP apresenta à Acta Ortopédica Brasileira um glossário de termos que são mais usados em metodologia científica e áreas afins como epidemiologia, estatística e biblioteconomia, acrescido de alguns nomes ou siglas de órgãos referidos nos programas de pesquisa. Esta mescla de palavras, títulos e siglas, deverão ser de muita ajuda a todos que, conhecendo-os, terão sua aproximação com a comunidade científica facilitada pelo convívio, pela participação, pela discussão e entrosamento, o que levará à maior compreensão e objetivará o aprimoramento de seus projetos e publicações.<br>The position of our country within international scenario has been increasing and Brazilian medicine follows this development. For this, it is our responsibility as human sciences professionals the adoption of modern principles ruling the preparation and publication of scientific papers and, among those principles, quality methodological criteria must be complied with. With this purpose, this inter-department and inter-disciplinary group of the Medical College of the University of S<o Paulo presents to Acta Ortopédica Brasileira a glossary of the terms that are frequently used in scientific methodology and related areas, such as epidemiology, statistics, and library sciences, added by some names and abbreviations of entities referred to on research programs. This combination of words, titles and abbreviations shall be of a great help to those who, by knowing them, shall be closer to the scientific community, enabled by the coliving, participation, discussion and engagement, which shall lead to a better understanding and shall target the improvement of their projects and publications