Scaling of Traction Forces with Size of Cohesive Cell Colonies

To understand how the mechanical properties of tissues emerge from interactions of multiple cells, we measure traction stresses of cohesive colonies of 1-27 cells adherent to soft substrates. We find that traction stresses are generally localized at the periphery of the colony and the total traction force scales with the colony radius. For large colony sizes, the scaling appears to approach linear, suggesting the emergence of an apparent surface tension of order 1E-3 N/m. A simple model of the cell colony as a contractile elastic medium coupled to the substrate captures the spatial distribution of traction forces and the scaling of traction forces with the colony size.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products

(Abridged) We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). A vast array of science will be enabled by a single wide-deep-fast sky survey, and LSST will have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a wide-field ground-based system sited at Cerro Pach\'{o}n in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg$^2$ field of view, and a 3.2 Gigapixel camera. The standard observing sequence will consist of pairs of 15-second exposures in a given field, with two such visits in each pointing in a given night. With these repeats, the LSST system is capable of imaging about 10,000 square degrees of sky in a single filter in three nights. The typical 5$\sigma$ point-source depth in a single visit in $r$ will be $\sim 24.5$ (AB). The project is in the construction phase and will begin regular survey operations by 2022. The survey area will be contained within 30,000 deg$^2$ with $\delta<+34.5^\circ$, and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, $ugrizy$, covering the wavelength range 320--1050 nm. About 90\% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode which will uniformly observe a 18,000 deg$^2$ region about 800 times (summed over all six bands) during the anticipated 10 years of operations, and yield a coadded map to $r\sim27.5$. The remaining 10\% of the observing time will be allocated to projects such as a Very Deep and Fast time domain survey. The goal is to make LSST data products, including a relational database of about 32 trillion observations of 40 billion objects, available to the public and scientists around the world.Comment: 57 pages, 32 color figures, version with high-resolution figures available from https://www.lsst.org/overvie

Mortality and pulmonary complications in patients undergoing surgery with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection: an international cohort study

Background: The impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on postoperative recovery needs to be understood to inform clinical decision making during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reports 30-day mortality and pulmonary complication rates in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: This international, multicentre, cohort study at 235 hospitals in 24 countries included all patients undergoing surgery who had SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed within 7 days before or 30 days after surgery. The primary outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality and was assessed in all enrolled patients. The main secondary outcome measure was pulmonary complications, defined as pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, or unexpected postoperative ventilation. Findings: This analysis includes 1128 patients who had surgery between Jan 1 and March 31, 2020, of whom 835 (74·0%) had emergency surgery and 280 (24·8%) had elective surgery. SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed preoperatively in 294 (26·1%) patients. 30-day mortality was 23·8% (268 of 1128). Pulmonary complications occurred in 577 (51·2%) of 1128 patients; 30-day mortality in these patients was 38·0% (219 of 577), accounting for 81·7% (219 of 268) of all deaths. In adjusted analyses, 30-day mortality was associated with male sex (odds ratio 1·75 [95% CI 1·28–2·40], p\textless0·0001), age 70 years or older versus younger than 70 years (2·30 [1·65–3·22], p\textless0·0001), American Society of Anesthesiologists grades 3–5 versus grades 1–2 (2·35 [1·57–3·53], p\textless0·0001), malignant versus benign or obstetric diagnosis (1·55 [1·01–2·39], p=0·046), emergency versus elective surgery (1·67 [1·06–2·63], p=0·026), and major versus minor surgery (1·52 [1·01–2·31], p=0·047). Interpretation: Postoperative pulmonary complications occur in half of patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection and are associated with high mortality. Thresholds for surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic should be higher than during normal practice, particularly in men aged 70 years and older. Consideration should be given for postponing non-urgent procedures and promoting non-operative treatment to delay or avoid the need for surgery. Funding: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, Bowel and Cancer Research, Bowel Disease Research Foundation, Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons, British Association of Surgical Oncology, British Gynaecological Cancer Society, European Society of Coloproctology, NIHR Academy, Sarcoma UK, Vascular Society for Great Britain and Ireland, and Yorkshire Cancer Research

Viscoelastic properties of Pseudomonas aeruginosa variant biofilms

Pseudomonas aeruginosa evolves during chronic pulmonary infections of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, forming pathoadapted variants that are persistent. Mucoid and rugose small-colony variants (RSCVs) are typically isolated from sputum of CF patients. These variants overproduce exopolysaccharides in the biofilm extracellular polymeric substance (EPS). Currently, changes to the biophysical properties of RSCV and mucoid biofilms due to variations in EPS are not well understood. This knowledge may reveal how lung infections resist host clearance mechanisms. Here, we used mechanical indentation and shear rheometry to analyse the viscoelasticity of RSCV and mucoid colony-biofilms compared to their isogenic parent at 2-, 4-, and 6-d. While the viscoelasticity of parental colony-biofilms underwent fluctuating temporal changes, in contrast, RSCV and mucoid colony-biofilms showed a gradual progression to more elastic-solid behaviour. Theoretical indices of mucociliary and cough clearance predict that mature 6-d parental and RSCV biofilms may show reduced cough clearance from the lung, while early mucoid biofilms may show reduced clearance by both mechanisms. We propose that viscoelasticity be considered a virulence property of biofilms

Nanoparticle size-specific actin rearrangement and barrier dysfunction of endothelial cells

<p>In this work, we evaluated the impact of gold nanoparticles on endothelial cell behavior and function beyond the influence on cell viability. Five types of gold nanoparticles were studied: 5 nm and 20 nm bare gold nanoparticles, 5 nm and 20 nm gold nanoparticles with biocompatible polyethylene glycol (PEG) coating and 60 nm bare gold nanoparticles. We found that all tested gold nanoparticles did not affect cell viability significantly and reduced the reactive oxygen species (ROS) level in endothelial cells. Only 20 nm bare gold nanoparticles caused an over 50% increase in endothelial barrier permeability and slow recovery of barrier function was observed after the gold nanoparticles were removed. This impairment in endothelial barrier function was caused by unbalanced forces between intracellular tensions and paracellular forces, actin microfilament rearrangement, which occurred through a Rho/ROCK kinase-dependent pathway and broke the force balance between intracellular tensions and paracellular forces. The size-specific effect of gold nanoparticles on endothelial cells may have important implications regarding the behavior of nanoparticles in the biological system and provide valuable guidance in nanomaterial design and biomedical applications.</p

Spatial differences in East Scotia Ridge hydrothermal vent food webs: influences of chemistry, microbiology and predation on trophodynamics

The hydrothermal vents on the East Scotia Ridge are the first to be explored in the Antarctic and are dominated by large peltospiroid gastropods, stalked barnacles (Vulcanolepas sp.) and anomuran crabs (Kiwa sp.) but their food webs are unknown. Vent fluid and macroconsumer samples were collected at three vent sites (E2, E9N and E9S) at distances of tens of metres to hundreds of kilometres apart with contrasting vent fluid chemistries to describe trophic interactions and identify potential carbon fixation pathways using stable isotopes. δ13C of dissolved inorganic carbon from vent fluids ranged from −4.6‰ to 0.8‰ at E2 and from −4.4‰ to 1.5‰ at E9. The lowest macroconsumer δ13C was observed in peltospiroid gastropods (−30.0‰ to −31.1‰) and indicated carbon fixation via the Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) cycle by endosymbiotic gamma-Proteobacteria. Highest δ13C occurred in Kiwa sp. (−19.0‰ to −10.5‰), similar to that of the epibionts sampled from their ventral setae. Kiwa sp. δ13C differed among sites, which were attributed to spatial differences in the epibiont community and the relative contribution of carbon fixed via the reductive tricarboxylic acid (rTCA) and CBB cycles assimilated by Kiwa sp. Site differences in carbon fixation pathways were traced into higher trophic levels e.g. a stichasterid asteroid that predates on Kiwa sp. Sponges and anemones at the periphery of E2 assimilated a proportion of epipelagic photosynthetic primary production but this was not observed at E9N. Differences in the δ13C and δ34S values of vent macroconsumers between E2 and E9 sites suggest the relative contributions of photosynthetic and chemoautotrophic carbon fixation (rTCA v CBB) entering the hydrothermal vent food webs vary between the sites