588 research outputs found
Disclosing proteins in the leaves of cork oak plants associated with the immune response to Phytophthora cinnamomi inoculation in the roots: a long-term proteomics approach
The pathological interaction between oak trees and Phytophthora cinnamomi has implications in the cork oak decline observed over the last decades in the Iberian Peninsula. During host colonization, the phytopathogen secretes effector molecules like elicitins to increase disease effectiveness. The objective of this study was to unravel the proteome changes associated with the cork oak immune response triggered by P. cinnamomi inoculation in a long-term assay, through SWATH-MS quantitative proteomics performed in the oak leaves. Using the Arabidopis proteome database as a reference, 424 proteins were confidently quantified in cork oak leaves, of which 80 proteins showed a p-value below 0.05 or a fold-change greater than 2 or less than 0.5 in their levels between inoculated and control samples being considered as altered. The inoculation of cork oak roots with P. cinnamomi increased the levels of proteins associated with protein-DNA complex assembly, lipid oxidation, response to endoplasmic reticulum stress, and pyridine-containing compound metabolic process in the leaves. In opposition, several proteins associated with cellular metabolic compound salvage and monosaccharide catabolic process had significantly decreased abundances. The most significant abundance variations were observed for the Ribulose 1,5-Bisphosphate Carboxylase small subunit (RBCS1A), Heat Shock protein 90-1 (Hsp90-1), Lipoxygenase 2 (LOX2) and Histone superfamily protein H3.3 (A8MRLO/At4G40030) revealing a pertinent role for these proteins in the host-pathogen interaction mechanism. This work represents the first SWATH-MS analysis performed in cork oak plants inoculated with P. cinnamomi and highlights host proteins that have a relevant action in the homeostatic states that emerge from the interaction between the oomycete and the host in the long term and in a distal organ.FCT:UID/Multi/00631/2019 and UIDB/00631/2020
CEOT BASE to CEOT and ACC, GS and RP; UIDB/
04326/2020 to CCMAR; Norma Transitoria-
DL57/2016/CP1361/CT0015 to PP; contract NIBAP
(ALG-01-0247-FEDER-037303) to RP; projects
POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007440 (Ref. UIDB/04539/
2020), POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016428
(Ref. SAICTPAC/0010/2015), POCI-01-0145-
FEDER-029311 (Ref. PTDC/BTM-TEC/29311/
2017), POCI-01-0145-FEDER-30943 (Ref. PTDC/
MECPSQ/30943/2017) and PTDC/MED-NEU/
27946/2017 to CNC, BM and CS. The work at CNC
was also funded by the National Mass
Spectrometry Network (RNEM) under contract
POCI-01-0145-FEDER-402-022125info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Early Secreted Antigen ESAT-6 of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Promotes Protective T Helper 17 Cell Responses in a Toll-Like Receptor-2-dependent Manner
Despite its relatively poor efficacy, Bacillus Calmette-GuĂ©rin (BCG) has been used as a tuberculosis (TB) vaccine since its development in 1921. BCG induces robust T helper 1 (Th1) immune responses but, for many individuals, this is not sufficient for host resistance against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) infection. Here we provide evidence that early secreted antigenic target protein 6 (ESAT-6), expressed by the virulent M. tb strain H37Rv but not by BCG, promotes vaccine-enhancing Th17 cell responses. These activities of ESAT-6 were dependent on TLR-2/MyD88 signalling and involved IL-6 and TGF-ÎČ production by dendritic cells. Thus, animals that were previously infected with H37Rv or recombinant BCG containing the RD1 region (BCG::RD1) exhibited improved protection upon re-challenge with virulent H37Rv compared with mice previously infected with BCG or RD1-deficient H37Rv (H37RvÎRD1). However, TLR-2 knockout (TLR-2-/-) animals neither showed Th17 responses nor exhibited improved protection in response to immunization with H37Rv. Furthermore, H37Rv and BCG::RD1 infection had little effect on the expression of the anti-inflammatory microRNA-146a (miR146a) in dendritic cells (DCs), whereas BCG and H37RvÎRD1 profoundly induced its expression in DCs. Consistent with these findings, ESAT-6 had no effect on miR146a expression in uninfected DCs, but dramatically inhibited its upregulation in BCG-infected or LPS-treated DCs. Collectively, our findings indicate that, in addition to Th1 immunity induced by BCG, RD1/ESAT-6-induced Th17 immune responses are essential for optimal vaccine efficacy
ELISA versus PCR for diagnosis of chronic Chagas disease: systematic review and meta-analysis
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Most current guidelines recommend two serological tests to diagnose chronic Chagas disease. When serological tests are persistently inconclusive, some guidelines recommend molecular tests. The aim of this investigation was to review chronic Chagas disease diagnosis literature and to summarize results of ELISA and PCR performance.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A systematic review was conducted searching remote databases (MEDLINE, LILACS, EMBASE, SCOPUS and ISIWeb) and full texts bibliography for relevant abstracts. In addition, manufacturers of commercial tests were contacted. Original investigations were eligible if they estimated sensitivity and specificity, or reliability -or if their calculation was possible - of ELISA or PCR tests, for chronic Chagas disease.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Heterogeneity was high within each test (ELISA and PCR) and threshold effect was detected only in a particular subgroup. Reference standard blinding partially explained heterogeneity in ELISA studies, and pooled sensitivity and specificity were 97.7% [96.7%-98.5%] and 96.3% [94.6%-97.6%] respectively. Commercial ELISA with recombinant antigens studied in phase three investigations partially explained heterogeneity, and pooled sensitivity and specificity were 99.3% [97.9%-99.9%] and 97.5% [88.5%-99.5%] respectively. ELISA's reliability was seldom studied but was considered acceptable. PCR heterogeneity was not explained, but a threshold effect was detected in three groups created by using guanidine and boiling the sample before DNA extraction. PCR sensitivity is likely to be between 50% and 90%, while its specificity is close to 100%. PCR reliability was never studied.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Both conventional and recombinant based ELISA give useful information, however there are commercial tests without technical reports and therefore were not included in this review. Physicians need to have access to technical reports to understand if these serological tests are similar to those included in this review and therefore correctly order and interpret test results. Currently, PCR should not be used in clinical practice for chronic Chagas disease diagnosis and there is no PCR test commercially available for this purpose. Tests limitations and directions for future research are discussed.</p
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Luminosity determination using Z boson production at the CMS experiment
Data Availability Statement - This manuscript has no associated data or
the data will not be deposited. [Authorsâ comment: Release and preser
vation of data used by the CMS Collaboration as the basis for publi
cations is guidedbytheCMSpolicyasstatedinhttps://cms-docdb.cern.
ch/cgibin/PublicDocDB/RetrieveFile?docid=6032&filename=CMSD
ataPolicyV1.2.pdf&version=2. CMS data preservation,re-use and open
access policy.]The measurement of ZÂ boson production is presented as a method to determine the integrated luminosity of CMS data sets. The analysis uses protonâproton collision data, recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in 2017 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV . Events with ZÂ bosons decaying into a pair of muons are selected. The total number of ZÂ bosons produced in a fiducial volume is determined, together with the identification efficiencies and correlations from the same data set, in small intervals of 20 pb-1 of integrated luminosity, thus facilitating the efficiency and rate measurement as a function of time and instantaneous luminosity. Using the ratio of the efficiency-corrected numbers of ZÂ bosons, the precisely measured integrated luminosity of one data set is used to determine the luminosity of another. For the first time, a full quantitative uncertainty analysis of the use of Z bosons for the integrated luminosity measurement is performed. The uncertainty in the extrapolation between two data sets, recorded in 2017 at low and high instantaneous luminosity, is less than 0.5%. We show that the ZÂ boson rate measurement constitutes a precise method, complementary to traditional methods, with the potential to improve the measurement of the integrated luminosity.SCOAP
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Search for nonresonant Higgs boson pair production in the four leptons plus two b jets final state in proton-proton collisions at = 13 TeV
A preprint version of the article is available at arXiv:2206.10657v2 [hep-ex], https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.10657 . Comments: Replaced with the published version. Added the journal reference and the DOI. All the figures and tables can be found at this http URL (CMS Public Pages). Report number: CMS-HIG-20-004, CERN-EP-2022-114.The first search for nonresonant production of Higgs boson pairs (HH) with one H decaying into four leptons and the other into a pair of b quarks is presented, using proton-proton collisions recorded at a center-of-mass energy of s = 13 TeV by the CMS experiment. The analyzed data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 138 fbâ1. A 95% confidence level upper limit of 32.4 is set on the signal strength modifier ÎŒ, defined as the ratio of the observed HH production rate in the HHâ ZZâb b ÂŻ â 4 âb b ÂŻ decay channel to the standard model (SM) expectation. Possible modifications of the H trilinear coupling λ HHH with respect to the SM value are investigated. The coupling modifier Îșλ, defined as λ HHH divided by its SM prediction, is constrained to be within the observed (expected) range â8.8 (â9.8) < Îșλ < 13.4 (15.0) at 95% confidence level. [Figure not available: see fulltext.].SCOAP3
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Search for new Higgs bosons via same-sign top quark pair production in association with a jet in proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV
A search is presented for new Higgs bosons in proton-proton (pp) collision events in which a same-sign top quark pair is produced in association with a jet, via the ppâtH/Aâttc⟠and ppâtH/Aâttu⟠processes. Here, H and A represent the extra scalar and pseudoscalar boson, respectively, of the second Higgs doublet in the generalized two-Higgs-doublet model (g2HDM). The search is based on pp collision data collected at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fbâ1. Final states with a same-sign lepton pair in association with jets and missing transverse momentum are considered. New Higgs bosons in the 200â1000 GeV mass range and new Yukawa couplings between 0.1 and 1.0 are targeted in the search, for scenarios in which either H or A appear alone, or in which they coexist and interfere. No significant excess above the standard model prediction is observed. Exclusion limits are derived in the context of the g2HDM
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Search for long-lived particles decaying to a pair of muons in proton-proton collisions at âs = 13 TeV
A preprint version of the article is available at arXiv:2205.08582v2 [hep-ex], https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.08582 . Comments: Replaced with the published version. Added the journal reference and the DOI. All the figures and tables, including additional supplementary figures and tables, can be found at https://cms-results.web.cern.ch/cms-results/public-results/publications/EXO-21-006 (CMS Public Pages).An inclusive search for long-lived exotic particles decaying to a pair of muons is presented. The search uses data collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV in 2016 and 2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 97.6 fbâ1. The experimental signature is a pair of oppositely charged muons originating from a common secondary vertex spatially separated from the pp interaction point by distances ranging from several hundred ÎŒm to several meters. The results are interpreted in the frameworks of the hidden Abelian Higgs model, in which the Higgs boson decays to a pair of long-lived dark photons ZD, and of a simplified model, in which long-lived particles are produced in decays of an exotic heavy neutral scalar boson. For the hidden Abelian Higgs model with m(ZD) greater than 20 GeV and less than half the mass of the Higgs boson, they provide the best limits to date on the branching fraction of the Higgs boson to dark photons for cÏ(ZD) (varying with m(ZD)) between 0.03 and â0.5 mm, and above â0.5 m. Our results also yield the best constraints on long-lived particles with masses larger than 10 GeV produced in decays of an exotic scalar boson heavier than the Higgs boson and decaying to a pair of muons. [Figure not available: see fulltext.].SCOAP3
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Search for top squarks in the four-body decay mode with single lepton final states in proton-proton collisions at âs = 13 TeV
A preprint version of the article is available at arXiv:2301.08096v2 [hep-ex], https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.08096 . Comments: Replaced with the published version. Added the journal reference and the DOI. All the figures and tables can be found at https://cms-results.web.cern.ch/cms-results/public-results/publications/SUS-21-003 (CMS Public Pages).A search for the pair production of the lightest supersymmetric partner of the top quark, the top squark (t ~1), is presented. The search targets the four-body decay of the t ~1 , which is preferred when the mass difference between the top squark and the lightest supersymmetric particle is smaller than the mass of the W boson. This decay mode consists of a bottom quark, two other fermions, and the lightest neutralino (Ï~10), which is assumed to be the lightest supersymmetric particle. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 138 fbâ1 of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC. Events are selected using the presence of a high-momentum jet, an electron or muon with low transverse momentum, and a significant missing transverse momentum. The signal is selected based on a multivariate approach that is optimized for the difference between m(t ~1) and m(Ï~10). The contribution from leading background processes is estimated from data. No significant excess is observed above the expectation from standard model processes. The results of this search exclude top squarks at 95% confidence level for masses up to 480 and 700 GeV for m(t ~1) â m(Ï~10) = 10 and 80 GeV, respectively. [Figure not available: see fulltext.].SCOAP3
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