Elevated type-17 cytokines are present in Axial Spondyloarthritis stool

Axial Spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is characterized by type-17 immune-driven joint inflammation, and intestinal inflammation is present in around 70% of patients. In this study, we asked whether axSpA stool contained Th17-associated cytokines and whether this related to systemic Th17 activation. We measured stool cytokine and calprotectin levels by ELISA and found that patients with axSpA have increased stool IL-17A, IL-23, GM-CSF, and calprotectin. We further identified increased levels of circulating IL-17A+ and IL-17F+ T helper cell lymphocytes in patients with axSpA compared to healthy donors. We finally assessed stool metabolites by unbiased nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and found that multiple stool amino acids were negatively correlated with stool IL-23 concentrations. These data provide evidence of type-17 immunity in the intestinal lumen, and suggest its association with microbial metabolism in the intestine

MECME Digital Library - Mediterranean Coastal Marine Environment Digital Library -

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Biblioteca Centrale - P.le Aldo Moro, 7, Rome / CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle RichercheSIGLEITItal

Biological Invasions in Conservation Planning: A Global Systematic Review

Biological invasions threaten biodiversity in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems, requiring substantial conservation and management efforts. To examine how the conservation planning literature addresses biological invasions and if planning in the marine environment could benefit from experiences in the freshwater and terrestrial systems, we conducted a global systematic review. Out of 1,149 scientific articles mentioning both “conservation planning” and “alien” or any of its alternative terms, 70 articles met our selection criteria. Most of the studies were related to the terrestrial environment, while only 10% focused on the marine environment. The main conservation targets were species (mostly vertebrates) rather than habitats or ecosystems. Apart from being mentioned, alien species were considered of concern for conservation in only 46% of the cases, while mitigation measures were proposed in only 13% of the cases. The vast majority of the studies (73%) ignored alien species in conservation planning even if their negative impacts were recognized. In 20% of the studies, highly invaded areas were avoided in the planning, while in 6% of the cases such areas were prioritized for conservation. In the latter case, two opposing approaches led to the selection of invaded areas: either alien and native biodiversity were treated equally in setting conservation targets, i.e., alien species were also considered as ecological features requiring protection, or more commonly invaded sites were prioritized for the implementation of management actions to control or eradicate invasive alien species. When the “avoid” approach was followed, in most of the cases highly impacted areas were either excluded or invasive alien species were included in the estimation of a cost function to be minimized. Most of the studies that followed a “protect” or “avoid” approach dealt with terrestrial or freshwater features but in most cases the followed approach could be transferred to the marine environment. Gaps and needs for further research are discussed and we propose an 11-step framework to account for biological invasions into the systematic conservation planning design.© 2018 Mačić, Albano, Almpanidou, Claudet, Corrales, Essl, Evagelopoulos, Giovos, Jimenez, Kark, Marković, Mazaris, Ólafsdóttir, Panayotova, Petović, Rabitsch, Ramdani, Rilov, Tricarico, Vega Fernández, Sini, Trygonis and Katsanevaki