Txikispora philomaios n. sp., n. g., a micro-eukaryotic pathogen of amphipods, reveals parasitism and hidden diversity in Class Filasterea

This study provides a morphological, ultrastructural, and phylogenetic characterization of a novel micro-eukaryotic parasite (2.3–2.6 µm) infecting amphipod genera Echinogammarus and Orchestia. Longitudinal studies across two years revealed that infection prevalence peaked in late April and May, reaching 64% in Echinogammarus sp. and 15% in Orchestia sp., but was seldom detected during the rest of the year. The parasite infected predominantly hemolymph, connective tissue, tegument, and gonad, although hepatopancreas and nervous tissue were affected in heavier infections, eliciting melanization and granuloma formation. Cell division occurred inside walled parasitic cysts, often within host hemocytes, resulting in hemolymph congestion. Small subunit (18S) rRNA gene phylogenies including related environmental sequences placed the novel parasite as a highly divergent lineage within Class Filasterea, which together with Choanoflagellatea represent the closest protistan relatives of Metazoa. We describe the new parasite as Txikispora philomaios n. sp. n. g., the first confirmed parasitic filasterean lineage, which otherwise comprises four free-living flagellates and a rarely observed endosymbiont of snails. Lineage-specific PCR probing of other hosts and surrounding environments only detected T. philomaios in the platyhelminth Procerodes sp. We expand the known diversity of Filasterea by targeted searches of metagenomic datasets, resulting in 13 previously unknown lineages from environmental samples.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Grant/Award Number: BFU2017- 90114- P; Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, Grant/Award Number: 747789; Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK Government, Grant/Award Number: FB002A and FC1214; Hezkuntza, Hizkuntza Politika Eta Kultura Saila, Eusko Jaurlaritza, Grant/Award Number: PRE_2016_2_0124; Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI); Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER); Ayuda Juan de la Cierva—Incorporación, Grant/Award Number: IJC2018- 036657-

Analysis of the expression of human tumor antigens in ovarian cancer tissues

Biomarkers for early detection of cancer have great clinical diagnostic potential. Numerous reports have documented the generation of humoral immune responses that are triggered in response to changes in protein expression patterns in tumor tissues and these biomarkers are referred to as tumor associated antigens (TAAs). Using a high-throughput technology, we previously identified 65 proteins as diagnostically useful TAAs by profiling the humoral immune responses in ovarian cancer (OVCA) patients. Here we determined the expression status of some of those TAAs in tissues from OVCA patients. The protein expression patterns of 4 of those 65 antigens, namely NASP, RCAS1, Nijmegen breakage syndrome1 (NBS1) and eIF5A, along with p53 and Her2 (known molecular prognosticators) and two proteins that interact with NBS1, MRE11 and RAD50, were assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC). NASP and RCAS1 proteins were more frequently expressed in ovarian cancer tissues than with normal ovarian tissue and serous cystadenomas and MRE11 was less frequently expressed. When evaluated simultaneously, only NASP and MRE11 remained statistically significant with sensitivity of 66% and specificity of 89%. None of these proteins’ expression levels were prognostic for survival. Together, our results indicate that occurrence of humoral immune responses against some of these TAAs in OVCA patients is triggered by antigen protein overexpression

The NORMAN Association and the European Partnership for Chemicals Risk Assessment (PARC): let’s cooperate! [Commentary]

The Partnership for Chemicals Risk Assessment (PARC) is currently under development as a joint research and innovation programme to strengthen the scientific basis for chemical risk assessment in the EU. The plan is to bring chemical risk assessors and managers together with scientists to accelerate method development and the production of necessary data and knowledge, and to facilitate the transition to next-generation evidence-based risk assessment, a non-toxic environment and the European Green Deal. The NORMAN Network is an independent, well-established and competent network of more than 80 organisations in the field of emerging substances and has enormous potential to contribute to the implementation of the PARC partnership. NORMAN stands ready to provide expert advice to PARC, drawing on its long experience in the development, harmonisation and testing of advanced tools in relation to chemicals of emerging concern and in support of a European Early Warning System to unravel the risks of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and close the gap between research and innovation and regulatory processes. In this commentary we highlight the tools developed by NORMAN that we consider most relevant to supporting the PARC initiative: (i) joint data space and cutting-edge research tools for risk assessment of contaminants of emerging concern; (ii) collaborative European framework to improve data quality and comparability; (iii) advanced data analysis tools for a European early warning system and (iv) support to national and European chemical risk assessment thanks to harnessing, combining and sharing evidence and expertise on CECs. By combining the extensive knowledge and experience of the NORMAN network with the financial and policy-related strengths of the PARC initiative, a large step towards the goal of a non-toxic environment can be taken

Changes in the mean square charge radii of neutron-deficient europium isotopes measured by the laser ion source resonance ionization spectroscopy

The laser ion source has been used for the study of the isotope shifts of neutron-deficient Eu isotopes. The extension of the region of applicability of the method by using the $\gamma$- and $\beta$-radiation detection is reported. We have measured the isotope shifts of the europium optical line 576.520 nm for ^{137\mbox{--}139,141,142m,143,144}{\rm Eu}. To increase the laser ion source efficiency an axial magnetic field (350 gauss) was applied. Nearly a twofold rise of the ionization efficiency for Eu was observed. By using the effect of optical ion bunching an increase of the selectivity was obtained. The isotope shift data for $^{139,141,142m,143,144}{\rm Eu}$ are in agreement with the previously measured isotope shifts for these nuclides. The new data for $^{137}{\rm Eu}$ and refined data for $^{138}{\rm Eu}$ point to a gradual increase of the deformation for these isotopes. Comparisons with microscopic-macroscopic calculations and calculations in the framework of the Hartree-Fock model were performed

Expert opinion on toxicity profiling--report from a NORMAN expert group meeting.

This article describes the outcome and follow-up discussions of an expert group meeting (Amsterdam, October 9, 2009) on the applicability of toxicity profiling for diagnostic environmental risk assessment. A toxicity profile was defined as a toxicological "fingerprint" of a sample, ranging from a pure compound to a complex mixture, obtained by testing the sample or its extract for its activity toward a battery of biological endpoints. The expert group concluded that toxicity profiling is an effective first tier tool for screening the integrated hazard of complex environmental mixtures with known and unknown toxicologically active constituents. In addition, toxicity profiles can be used for prioritization of sampling locations, for identification of hot spots, and--in combination with effect-directed analysis (EDA) or toxicity identification and evaluation (TIE) approaches--for establishing cause-effect relationships by identifying emerging pollutants responsible for the observed toxic potency. Small volume in vitro bioassays are especially applicable for these purposes, as they are relatively cheap and fast with costs comparable to chemical analyses, and the results are toxicologically more relevant and more suitable for realistic risk assessment. For regulatory acceptance in the European Union, toxicity profiling terminology should keep as close as possible to the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) terminology, and validation, standardization, statistical analyses, and other quality aspects of toxicity profiling should be further elaborated

Resonant laser ionization of polonium at rilis-isolde for the study of ground- and isomer-state properties

Three new ionization schemes for polonium have been tested with the resonant ionization laser ion source (rilis) during the on-line production of 196Po in a UCx target at isolde. The saturation of the atomic transitions has been observed and the yields of the isotope chain 193–198,200,202,204Po have been measured. This development provides the necessary groundwork for performing in-source resonant ionization spectroscopy on the neutron-deficient polonium isotopes (Z = 8