Bacteria and bacterial DNA in atherosclerotic plaque and aneurysmal wall biopsies from patients with and without periodontitis

Background: Several studies have reported an association between chronic periodontitis (CP) and cardiovascular diseases. Detection of periodontopathogens, including red complex bacteria (RCB), in vascular lesions has suggested these bacteria to be involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and abdominal aortic aneurysms. Objective: In this study, we investigate bacteria and their DNA in vascular biopsies from patients with vascular diseases (VD; i.e. abdominal aortic aneurysms, atherosclerotic carotid, and common femoral arteries), with and without CP. Methods: DNA was extracted from vascular biopsies selected from 40 VD patients: 30 with CP and 10 without CP. The V3-V5 region of the 16S rDNA (V3-V5) was polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified, and the amplicons were cloned into Escherichia coli, sequenced, and classified (GenBank and the Human Oral Microbiome database). Species-specific primers were used for the detection of Porphyromonas gingivalis. In addition, 10 randomly selected vascular biopsies from the CP group were subjected to scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for visualization of bacteria. Checkerboard DNA–DNA hybridization was performed to assess the presence of RCB in 10 randomly selected subgingival plaque samples from CP patients. Results: A higher load and mean diversity of bacteria were detected in vascular biopsies from VD patients with CP compared to those without CP. Enterobacteriaceae were frequently detected in vascular biopsies together with cultivable, commensal oral, and not-yet-cultured bacterial species. While 70% of the subgingival plaque samples from CP patients showed presence of RCB, only P. gingivalis was detected in one vascular biopsy. Bacterial cells were seen in all 10 vascular biopsies examined by SEM. Conclusions: A higher bacterial load and more diverse colonization were detected in VD lesions of CP patients as compared to patients without CP. This indicated that a multitude of bacterial species both from the gut and the oral cavity, rather than exclusively periodontopathogens, may be involved as additional risk factors in the pathogenesis of VD

Macroalgal detritus and food-web subsidies along an Arctic fjord depth-gradient

Tight coupling between pelagic and benthic communities is accepted as a general principle on Arctic shelves. Whereas this paradigm has been useful for guiding ecological research, it has perhaps led to a disproportionate focus on POM and ice algae as the most likely sources of carbon for the benthic food web. Arctic shelves are complex systems, including banks, fjords, and trough systems up to 350 m or more in depth. In this stable-isotope study, 13 different potential carbon sources were analyzed for their contribution to the food-webs of Isfjorden, Svalbard. A mixing model with herbivorous copepods and grazing sea urchins as end-members was applied to determine the relative contributions of the most likely carbon sources to pelagic and benthic taxa. Most taxa from the benthos feed on a broad mixture of POM and macroalgal detritus, even at depths down to 410 m. Most suspension-feeding bivalves had isotopic signals consistent with more than a 50% contribution from kelps and rockweeds. In contrast, nearly all pelagic species had diets consistent with an overwhelming contribution of pelagic POM. These results indicate that macroalgal detritus can contribute significantly to near-shore Arctic food-webs, a trophic link that may increase if macroalgae increase in the Arctic as predicted. These weaker quantitative links between pelagic and benthic components of coastal systems highlight the need for thorough sampling of potential carbon-baselines in food-web studies. A large detrital-carbon component in diets of Arctic benthos may dampen the impacts of strong seasonality in polar primary producers, leading to higher ecosystem resilience, but may also result in lower secondary productivity

Improved PET imaging of uPAR expression using new (64)Cu-labeled cross-bridged peptide ligands:comparative in vitro and in vivo studies

The correlation between uPAR expression, cancer cell invasion and metastases is now well-established and has prompted the development of a number of uPAR PET imaging agents, which could potentially identify cancer patients with invasive and metastatic lesions. In the present study, we synthesized and characterized two new cross-bridged (64)Cu-labeled peptide conjugates for PET imaging of uPAR and performed a head-to-head comparison with the corresponding and more conventionally used DOTA conjugate. Based on in-source laser-induced reduction of chelated Cu(II) to Cu(I), we now demonstrate the following ranking with respect to the chemical inertness of their complexed Cu ions: DOTA-AE105 << CB-TE2A-AE105 < CB-TE2A-PA-AE105, which is correlated to their corresponding demetallation rate. No penalty in the uPAR receptor binding affinity of the targeting peptide was encountered by conjugation to either of the macrobicyclic chelators (IC(50) ~ 5-10 nM) and high yields and radiochemical purities (>95%) were achieved in all cases by incubation at 95ºC. In vivo, they display identical tumor uptake after 1h, but differ significantly after 22 hrs, where the DOTA-AE105 uptake remains surprisingly high. Importantly, the more stable of the new uPAR PET tracers, (64)Cu-CB-TE2A-PA-AE105, exhibits a significantly reduced liver uptake compared to (64)Cu-DOTA-AE105 as well as (64)Cu-CB-TE2A-AE105, (p<0.0001), emphasizing that our new in vitro stability measurements by mass spectrometry predicts in vivo stability in mice. Specificity of the best performing ligand, (64)Cu-CB-TE2A-PA-AE105 was finally confirmed in vivo using a non-binding (64)Cu-labeled peptide as control ((64)Cu-CB-TE2A-PA-AE105(mut)). This control PET-tracer revealed significantly reduced tumor uptake (p<0.0001), but identical hepatic uptake compared to its active counterpart ((64)Cu-CB-TE2A-PA-AE105) after 1h. In conclusion, our new approach using in-source laser-induced reduction of Cu(II)-chelated PET-ligands provides useful information, which are predictive for the tracer stability in vivo in mice. Furthermore, the increased stability of our new macrobicyclic (64)Cu-CB-TE2A-PA-AE105 PET ligand is paralleled by an excellent imaging contrast during non-invasive PET scanning of uPAR expression in preclinical mouse cancer models. The translational promises displayed by this PET-tracer for future clinical cancer patient management remains, however, to be investigated

Asteroseismology of the Hyades red giant and planet host epsilon Tauri

Asteroseismic analysis of solar-like stars allows us to determine physical parameters such as stellar mass, with a higher precision compared to most other methods. Even in a well-studied cluster such as the Hyades, the masses of the red giant stars are not well known, and previous mass estimates are based on model calculations (isochrones). The four known red giants in the Hyades are assumed to be clump (core-helium-burning) stars based on their positions in colour-magnitude diagrams, however asteroseismology offers an opportunity to test this assumption. Using asteroseismic techniques combined with other methods, we aim to derive physical parameters and the evolutionary stage for the planet hosting star epsilon Tau, which is one of the four red giants located in the Hyades. We analysed time-series data from both ground and space to perform the asteroseismic analysis. By combining high signal-to-noise (S/N) radial-velocity data from the ground-based SONG network with continuous space-based data from the revised Kepler mission K2, we derive and characterize 27 individual oscillation modes for epsilon Tau, along with global oscillation parameters such as the large frequency separation and the ratio between the amplitude of the oscillations measured in radial velocity and intensity as a function of frequency. The latter has been measured previously for only two stars, the Sun and Procyon. Combining the seismic analysis with interferometric and spectroscopic measurements, we derive physical parameters for epsilon Tau, and discuss its evolutionary status.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Long‐term nitrogen loading alleviates phosphorus limitation in terrestrial ecosystems

Increased human‐derived nitrogen (N) deposition to terrestrial ecosystems has resulted in widespread phosphorus (P) limitation of net primary productivity. However, it remains unclear if and how N‐induced P limitation varies over time. Soil extracellular phosphatases catalyze the hydrolysis of P from soil organic matter, an important adaptive mechanism for ecosystems to cope with N‐induced P limitation. Here we show, using a meta‐analysis of 140 studies and 668 observations worldwide, that N stimulation of soil phosphatase activity diminishes over time. Whereas short‐term N loading (≤5 years) significantly increased soil phosphatase activity by 28%, long‐term N loading had no significant effect. Nitrogen loading did not affect soil available P and total P content in either short‐ or long‐term studies. Together, these results suggest that N‐induced P limitation in ecosystems is alleviated in the long‐term through the initial stimulation of soil phosphatase activity, thereby securing P supply to support plant growth. Our results suggest that increases in terrestrial carbon uptake due to ongoing anthropogenic N loading may be greater than previously thought.This study was funded by Aarhus University Centre for Circular Bioeconomy, Aarhus University Research Foundation AUFF Starting Grants (AUFF-E-2019-7-1), and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship H2020-MSCA-IF-2018 (no. 839806). Ji Chen acknowledges funding support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41701292) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017M610647, 2018T111091) when constructing the databases. César Terrer was supported by a Lawrence Fellow award through Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by LLNL under contract DEAC52-07NA27344 and was supported by the LLNL-LDRD Program under Project No. 20-ERD-055. Fernando T. Maestre was supported by the European Research Council (ERC Grant agreement 647038 [BIODESERT]) and Generalitat Valenciana (CIDEGENT/2018/041)

Can agricultural cultivation methods influence the healthfulness of crops for foods

The aim of the current study was to investigate if there are any health effects of long-term consumption of organically grown crops using a rat model. Crops were retrieved over two years from along-term field trial at three different locations in Denmark, using three different cultivation systems(OA, organic based on livestock manure; OB, organic based on green manure; and C, conventional with mineral fertilizers and pesticides)with two field replicates. The cultivation system had an impact on the nutritional quality, affecting γ-tocopherol, some amino acids, and fatty acid composition. Additionally, the nutritional quality was affected by harvest year and location. However, harvest year and location rather than cultivation system affected the measured health biomarkers. In conclusion, the differences in dietary treatments composed of ingredients from different cultivation systems did not lead to significant differences in the measured health biomarkers, except for a significant difference in plasma IgGl evels

Quark Gluon Plasma an Color Glass Condensate at RHIC? The perspective from the BRAHMS experiment

We review the main results obtained by the BRAHMS collaboration on the properties of hot and dense hadronic and partonic matter produced in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions at RHIC. A particular focus of this paper is to discuss to what extent the results collected so far by BRAHMS, and by the other three experiments at RHIC, can be taken as evidence for the formation of a state of deconfined partonic matter, the so called quark-gluon-plasma (QGP). We also discuss evidence for a possible precursor state to the QGP, i.e. the proposed Color Glass Condensate.Comment: 32 pages, 18 figure

The relationship between low back pain and leisure time physical activity in a working population of cleaners - a study with weekly follow-ups for 1 year

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Low back pain (LBP) and leisure time physical activity (LTPA) are considered to be closely related, and clinical guidelines for the treatment of acute LBP recommend patients stay physically active. However, the documentation for this recommendation is sparse and based on studies involving patient populations. The purpose of the study was (1) to investigate the correlation between LBP and LTPA on a weekly basis over the course of a year in a high-risk group of cleaners; and (2) to investigate if maintaining LTPA during an episode of acute LBP has a positive effect on LBP intensity in the subsequent 4 weeks.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>188 cleaners consented to participate in a 52-week text message survey about hours of LTPA and intensity of LBP (from 0 to 9) over the previous 7 days. The correlation between LBP and LTPA was calculated by Pearson correlation coefficient. During an episode of acute LBP, a mixed effect logistic regression model was used to investigate whether cleaners who maintain LTPA have a lower pain intensity and higher probability of returning to initial pain intensity within the following four weeks compared with cleaners who decrease LTPA during acute LBP.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The correlation between weekly LTPA and LBP data was negative, but numerically low (r = -0.069) and statistically insignificant (<it>p </it>= 0.08). Among the 82 cleaners experiencing at least one episode of acute LBP, those maintaining LTPA during an episode of acute LBP did not have a lower pain intensity (average LBP intensity difference between groups of 0.06; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of -0.417 to 0.539) or higher probability of returning to initial pain level (Odds ratio 1,02; 95% CI of 0.50 to 2.09) in the following four weeks compared with cleaners decreasing LTPA during acute LBP.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Hours of LTPA and intensity of LBP measured on a weekly basis throughout a year showed no close correlation. Maintaining LTPA during an episode of acute LBP did not result in a positive effect on LBP in the following 4 weeks. Documentation of LTPA recommendations for acute LBP in working populations is still needed.</p

Long-term exposure to air pollution and stroke incidence:A Danish Nurse cohort study

Ambient air pollution has been linked to stroke, but few studies have examined in detail stroke subtypes and confounding by road traffic noise, which was recently associated with stroke. Here we examined the association between long-term exposure to air pollution and incidence of stroke (overall, ischemic, hemorrhagic), adjusting for road traffic noise. In a nationwide Danish Nurse Cohort consisting of 23,423 nurses, recruited in 1993 or 1999, we identified 1,078 incident cases of stroke (944 ischemic and 134 hemorrhagic) up to December 31, 2014, defined as first-ever hospital contact. The full residential address histories since 1970 were obtained for each participant and the annual means of air pollutants (particulate matter with diameter < 2.5 μm and < 10 μm (PM2.5 and PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx)) and road traffic noise were determined using validated models. Time-varying Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) (95% confidence intervals (CI)) for the associations of one-, three, and 23-year running mean of air pollutants with stroke adjusting for potential confounders and noise. In fully adjusted models, the HRs (95% CI) per interquartile range increase in one-year running mean of PM2.5 and overall, ischemic, and hemorrhagic stroke were 1.12 (1.01–1.25), 1.13 (1.01–1.26), and 1.07 (0.80–1.44), respectively, and remained unchanged after adjustment for noise. Long-term exposure to ambient PM2.5 was associated with the risk of stroke independent of road traffic noise