Impact of Sleep on Monocytes and Infection

Sleep has been linked to several vital body functions from memory and metabolism to immunity. The results in this work – showing that sleep in mice has a profound effect on innate immune cells and their ability to fight bacterial infection – support these findings. For the experiments two mice groups were used, sleep mice with 6 h of normal sleep were compared to mice with 6 h of enhanced wakefulness. 6 h of sleep increases the overall cellularity in the blood and spleen of WT mice, in particular the number and frequency of monocytes. This is described in this work as the sleep phenotype, a strong increase in frequency and count of monocytes due to sleep. This phenotype was found for classical monocytes and non-classical monocytes. The increase of monocytes is not due to stress or the progression into macrophages or DCs. Furthermore, no effect of sleep was found on monocytes precursors or their release from the BM. Interestingly, the increase of monocytes in blood and spleen did not lead to a reduction of monocytes in Lymph Nodes, the LP, or the lung. On the contrary, monocyte numbers as well increase in the lung after 6 h of sleep. Furthermore, the sleep phenotype is independent of the ICAM-1-LFA-1 axis and just partially dependent on CCR2. Both are very important factors for the migration of classical monocytes and their contribution to the marginal pool. However, it could be shown that for non-classical monocytes Cx3CR1 is involved in the sleep phenotype. Beyond this, it was demonstrated that the sleep phenotype for classical monocytes is dependent on the Clock gene Arntl, indicating a strong connection between the circadian system and sleep. With regards to immune cell function, sleep increases the ROS production of PMNs and classical monocytes. Consequential this leads to better bacterial clearance and improved survival time upon infection. Taken together sleep is imperative for immune functions and monocyte numbers are highly affected by sleep as well as their ability to fight a bacterial infection. Even though the exact mechanism is not yet fully understood there are strong indications for a connection to the circadian system

Responsible research and innovation: a global perspective

Based on the paper presented at the Doctorate Conference on Technologogy Assessment in July 2013 at the University Nova Lisboa, Caparica campusResponsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is a normative concept that has captured considerable attention on the Science and Technology (S&T) policy level, but also in academic discourses. It represents a new approach to how science, innovation and research can be shaped in accordance with societal values that builds directly on the concepts and methodologies of Technology Assessment (TA). The definition and operationalization aspects of RRI remain still unclear although key ingredients such as ethical acceptability are well-established in S&T debates and embrace a spectrum of standard methodological approaches. In this paper we review the conceptual debate on RRI with a focus on its constituent parts. We then present a functional comparison between RRI and TA that proves the considerable conceptual overlap in the two approaches. We argue that TA methodologies and precepts should be employed as key operationalisational features in RRI. Finally we argue for a global perspective on RRI by describing a case study on global ethics in S&T that introduces an analytical framework for ethics debates

Constructing a Global Technology Assessment : Insights from Australia, China, Europe, Germany, India and Russia

Worldwide simultaneous effects of technologies, international challenges such as climate change as well as shifting relationships between science and society call for approaches that can address these issues on a global level. This book examines the potential of Technology Assessment (TA), as an until now mainly national and Western concept, to take on this global level and provide answers to these pressing questions

How Targeted Are Federal Expenditures on Children? A Kids' Share Analysis of Expenditures by Income in 2009

Analyzes the distribution of government spending on children by family income; category, such as health, social services, and education; and program, such as Medicaid; and the extent to which it is targeted to low-income children. Considers implications

Technology Assessment in a Globalized World

The interaction between science and policy is affected by increasingly dissolving boundaries whereby a number of issues arise, such as, what should political advice for national parliaments consist of in the face of global socio-technical developments? The Internet of Things in relation to Big Data resulting in enormously fast analysis of huge amounts of data, accelerates the dissolution of boundaries between science, society and policy at global level. This type of “globalization” raises questions that concern very diverse and intimate areas of life, ranging from food to health to work automation. How can access to science and technology in very different societal settings can be enabled, while also accounting for global developments? The article deals with the assumption that global effects of science and technology as well as global challenges lead to an urgent need to develop methodologies for analyzing and also shaping these developments. Under the umbrella term “Global Technology Assessment” (Global TA) it is argued that the problem-oriented, interdisciplinary methodology of technology assessment offers a promising frame to deal with cultural and ethical questions in relation to emerging technologies. This framework is needed in order to be able to develop meaningful national comparisons, but also in order to be able to approach the analysis of common future challenges on equal footing

Small Open Reading Frames, Non-Coding RNAs and Repetitive Elements in Bradyrhizobium japonicum USDA 110

Small open reading frames (sORFs) and genes for non-coding RNAs are poorly investigated components of most genomes. Our analysis of 1391 ORFs recently annotated in the soybean symbiont Bradyrhizobium japonicum USDA 110 revealed that 78% of them contain less than 80 codons. Twenty-one of these sORFs are conserved in or outside Alphaproteobacteria and most of them are similar to genes found in transposable elements, in line with their broad distribution. Stabilizing selection was demonstrated for sORFs with proteomic evidence and bll1319_ISGA which is conserved at the nucleotide level in 16 alphaproteobacterial species, 79 species from other taxa and 49 other Proteobacteria. Further we used Northern blot hybridization to validate ten small RNAs (BjsR1 to BjsR10) belonging to new RNA families. We found that BjsR1 and BjsR3 have homologs outside the genus Bradyrhizobium, and BjsR5, BjsR6, BjsR7, and BjsR10 have up to four imperfect copies in Bradyrhizobium genomes. BjsR8, BjsR9, and BjsR10 are present exclusively in nodules, while the other sRNAs are also expressed in liquid cultures. We also found that the level of BjsR4 decreases after exposure to tellurite and iron, and this down-regulation contributes to survival under high iron conditions. Analysis of additional small RNAs overlapping with 3’-UTRs revealed two new repetitive elements named Br-REP1 and Br-REP2. These REP elements may play roles in the genomic plasticity and gene regulation and could be useful for strain identification by PCR-fingerprinting. Furthermore, we studied two potential toxin genes in the symbiotic island and confirmed toxicity of the yhaV homolog bll1687 but not of the newly annotated higB homolog blr0229_ISGA in E. coli. Finally, we revealed transcription interference resulting in an antisense RNA complementary to blr1853, a gene induced in symbiosis. The presented results expand our knowledge on sORFs, non-coding RNAs and repetitive elements in B. japonicum and related bacteria