Dendritic Core-Shell Macromolecules Soluble in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide

International audienceSupercritical carbon dioxide has found strong interest as a reaction medium recently.1,2 As an alternative to organic solvents, compressed carbon dioxide is toxicologically harmless, nonflammable, inexpensive, and environmentally benign.3 Its accessible critical temperature and pressure (Tc ) 31 °C, Pc ) 7.38 MPa, Fc ) 0.468 g cm-3)4 and the possibility of tuning the solvent-specific properties between the ones of liquid and gas are very attractive

Cytokine and Chemokine Concentrations as Biomarkers of Feline Mycobacteriosis

Abstract Mycobacteriosis is an emerging zoonotic disease of domestic cats and timely, accurate diagnosis is currently challenging. To identify differential cytokine/chemokine concentrations in serum/plasma of cats, which could be diagnostic biomarkers of infection we analysed plasma/serum from 116 mycobacteria-infected cats, 16 healthy controls and six cats hospitalised for unrelated reasons was analysed using the Milliplex MAP Feline Cytokine Magnetic Bead multiplex assay. Three cytokines; sFAS, IL-13 and IL-4 were reduced while seven; GM-CSF, IL-2, PDGF-BB, IL-8, KC, RANTES and TNF-α were elevated in mycobacteria-infected cats compared to healthy controls. However, IL-8 and KC concentrations were not significantly different from cats hospitalised for other reasons. Elevations in TNF-α and PDGF-BB may have potential to identify M. bovis and M. microti infected cats specifically while GM-CSF, IL-2 and FLT3L were increased in MTBC infected cats. This study demonstrates potential use of feline tuberculosis as a spontaneously occurring model of this significant human disease. Cytokine profiling has clear diagnostic potential for mycobacteriosis of cats and could be used discriminate tuberculous from non-tuberculous disease to rapidly inform on zoonotic risk. Future work should focus on the in-field utility of these findings to establish diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of these markers

Improvement of the Ultrafiltration of Highly Viscous Liquids by Injection of Pressurized Carbon Dioxide

International audienc