Binding of DNA by a dinitro-diester calix[4]arene: denaturation and condensation of DNA

A study of a dinitro-diester calix[4]arene (5,17-(3-nitrobenzylideneamino)-11,23-di-tert-butyl- 25,27-diethoxycarbonyl methyleneoxy-26,28-dihydroxycalix[4]arene) interaction with calf-thymus DNA was carried out using several techniques. The measurements were done at various molar ratios X=[calixarene]/[DNA]. Results show diverse changes in the DNA conformation depending on the X value. Thus, at low macrocycle concentration, the calixarene binds to the polynucleotide. This interaction, mainly in groove mode, weakens the hydrogen bonds between the base pairs of the helix inducing the denaturation of the double strands, as well as the condensation of the macromolecule, from an extended coil state to a globular state. An opposite effect is observed at X molar ratios higher than 0.07. The de-condensation of DNA happens, that is, the transition from a compact state to a more extended conformation, probably due to the stacking of calixarene molecules in the solution. Results also show the importance of making a proper choice of the system under consideration

Concerted Transport and Phosphorylation of Diacylglycerol at ER-PM Contacts Sites Regulates Phospholipid Dynamics During Stress

A universal response of plants to environmental stresses is the activation of plasma membrane (PM) phospholipase C (PLC) that hydrolyzes phosphatidylinositol phosphate (PIP) to produce soluble inositol phosphate (IP) and diacylglycerol (DAG). DAG produced in this way can be either phosphorylated by PM diacylglycerol kinases (DGKs) to produce the second messenger phosphatidic acid (PA) or transferred to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) by the Synaptotagmin 1 (SYT1) protein at ER-PM Contact Sites (CS). In Arabidopsis, the clearance of DAG at the PM (avoiding deleterious accumulation) by the transfer activity of SYT is essential to maintain PM stability after stress. In this study we identify that DGK1 and DGK2 form a module with SYT1 at ER-PM CS through interaction of their C1 and C2 domains respectively. Global transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses confirms that SYT1 and DGK1/DGK2 are functionally related and lipidomic analysis supports the hypothesis that DGK1 and DGK2 function at the ER by phosphorylating DAG transferred by SYT1 from the PM. DGK1 and DGK2 show structural similarity to human DGKε, the DGK isoform that function at ER-PM CS in the phosphoinositide (PI) cycle. Our data indicate that components of the PI cycle are conserved between animals and plants and provide a novel mechanism leading to an increase in the efficiency of the PI cycle by channeling the transport and hydrolysis of DAG at the ER-PM CS

A Novel Communication Platform to Enable the Collaboration of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Abstract -A novel communication platform is introduced to enable the collaboration of a set of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV´

Beyond Prejudice as Simple Antipathy: Hostile and Benevolent Sexism Across Cultures

The authors argue that complementary hostile and benevolent componen:s of sexism exist ac ro.ss cultures. Male dominance creates hostile sexism (HS). but men's dependence on women fosters benevolent sexism (BS)-subjectively positive attitudes that put women on a pedestal but reinforce their subordination. Research with 15,000 men and women in 19 nations showed that (a) HS and BS are coherenl constructs th at correlate positively across nations, but (b) HS predicts the ascription of negative and BS the ascription of positive traits to women, (c) relative to men, women are more likely to reject HS than BS. especially when overall levels of sexism in a culture are high, and (d) national averages on BS and HS predict gender inequal ity across nations. These results challenge prevailing notions of prejudice as an antipathy in that BS (an affectionate, patronizing ideology) reflects inequality and is a cross-culturally pervasive complement to HS

Epidemiological characteristics and diagnostic approach in patients admitted to the emergency room for transient loos of consciousness: Group for Syncope Study in the Emergency Room (GESINUR) study

Aims: To assess the clinical presentation and acute management of patients with transient loss of consciousness (T-LOC) in the emergency department (ED). Methods and results: A multi-centre prospective observational study was carried out in 19 Spanish hospitals over 1 month. The patients included were 14 years old and were admitted to the ED because of an episode of T-LOC. Questionnaires and corresponding electrocardiograms (ECGs) were reviewed by a Steering Committee (SC) to unify diagnostic criteria, evaluate adherence to guidelines, and diagnose correctly the ECGs. We included 1419 patients (prevalence, 1.14%).ECG was performed in 1335 patients (94%) in the ED: 498 (37.3%) ECGs were classified as abnormal. The positive diagnostic yield ranged from 0% for the chest X-ray to 12% for the orthostatic test. In the ED, 1217 (86%) patients received a final diagnosis of syncope, whereas the remaining 202 (14%) were diagnosed of non-syncopal transient lossof consciousness (NST-LOC). After final review by the SC, 1080 patients (76%) were diagnosed of syncope, whereas 339 (24%) were diagnosed of NST-LOC (P , 0.001). Syncope was diagnosed correctly in 84% of patients. Only 25% of patients with T-LOC were admitted to hospitals. Conclusion Adherence to clinical guidelines for syncope management was low; many diagnostic tests were performed with low diagnostic yield. Important differences were observed between syncope diagnoses at the ED and by SC decision

Chitosan Increases Tomato Root Colonization by Pochonia chlamydosporia and Their Combination Reduces Root-Knot Nematode Damage

The use of biological control agents could be a non-chemical alternative for management of Meloidogyne spp. [root-knot nematodes (RKN)], the most damaging plant-parasitic nematodes for horticultural crops worldwide. Pochonia chlamydosporia is a fungal parasite of RKN eggs that can colonize endophytically roots of several cultivated plant species, but in field applications the fungus shows a low persistence and efficiency in RKN management. The combined use of P. chlamydosporia with an enhancer could help its ability to develop in soil and colonize roots, thereby increasing its efficiency against nematodes. Previous work has shown that chitosan enhances P. chlamydosporia sporulation and production of extracellular enzymes, as well as nematode egg parasitism in laboratory bioassays. This work shows that chitosan at low concentrations (up to 0.1 mg ml-1) do not affect the viability and germination of P. chlamydosporia chlamydospores and improves mycelial growth respect to treatments without chitosan. Tomato plants irrigated with chitosan (same dose limit) increased root weight and length after 30 days. Chitosan irrigation increased dry shoot and fresh root weight of tomato plants inoculated with Meloidogyne javanica, root length when they were inoculated with P. chlamydosporia, and dry shoot weight of plants inoculated with both P. chlamydosporia and M. javanica. Chitosan irrigation significantly enhanced root colonization by P. chlamydosporia, but neither nematode infection per plant nor fungal egg parasitism was affected. Tomato plants cultivated in a mid-suppressive (29.3 ± 4.7% RKN egg infection) non-sterilized clay loam soil and irrigated with chitosan had enhanced shoot growth, reduced RKN multiplication, and disease severity. Chitosan irrigation in a highly suppressive (73.7 ± 2.6% RKN egg infection) sterilized-sandy loam soil reduced RKN multiplication in tomato. However, chitosan did not affect disease severity or plant growth irrespective of soil sterilization. Chitosan, at an adequate dose, can be a potential tool for sustainable management of RKN.This research was funded by two grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (AGL 2013-49040-C2-1-R and AGL2015-66833-R,) and by a Ph.D. fellowship from the University of Alicante to NE (UAFPU2011). Part of this work was filed for a patent (P201431399) by LL-L, FL-M, and NE as inventors

NG2 antigen is involved in leukemia invasiveness and central nervous system infiltration in MLL-rearranged infant B-ALL

Mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL)-rearranged (MLLr) infant B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (iMLLr-B-ALL) has a dismal prognosis and is associated with a pro-B/mixed phenotype, therapy refractoriness and frequent central nervous system (CNS) disease/relapse. Neuron-glial antigen 2 (NG2) is specifically expressed in MLLr leukemias and is used in leukemia immunophenotyping because of its predictive value for MLLr acute leukemias. NG2 is involved in melanoma metastasis and brain development; however, its role in MLL-mediated leukemogenesis remains elusive. Here we evaluated whether NG2 distinguishes leukemia-initiating/propagating cells (L-ICs) and/or CNS-infiltrating cells (CNS-ICs) in iMLLr-B-ALL. Clinical data from the Interfant cohort of iMLLr-B-ALL demonstrated that high NG2 expression associates with lower event-free survival, higher number of circulating blasts and more frequent CNS disease/relapse. Serial xenotransplantation of primary MLL-AF4 + leukemias indicated that NG2 is a malleable marker that does not enrich for L-IC or CNS-IC in iMLLr-B-All. However, NG2 expression was highly upregulated in blasts infiltrating extramedullar hematopoietic sites and CNS, and specific blockage of NG2 resulted in almost complete loss of engraftment. Indeed, gene expression profiling of primary blasts and primografts revealed a migratory signature of NG2 + blasts. This study provides new insights on the biology of NG2 in iMLLr-B-ALL and suggests NG2 as a potential therapeutic target to reduce the risk of CNS disease/relapse and to provide safer CNS-directed therapies for iMLLr-B-ALL

Single hadron response measurement and calorimeter jet energy scale uncertainty with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

The uncertainty on the calorimeter energy response to jets of particles is derived for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). First, the calorimeter response to single isolated charged hadrons is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo simulation using proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of sqrt(s) = 900 GeV and 7 TeV collected during 2009 and 2010. Then, using the decay of K_s and Lambda particles, the calorimeter response to specific types of particles (positively and negatively charged pions, protons, and anti-protons) is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo predictions. Finally, the jet energy scale uncertainty is determined by propagating the response uncertainty for single charged and neutral particles to jets. The response uncertainty is 2-5% for central isolated hadrons and 1-3% for the final calorimeter jet energy scale.Comment: 24 pages plus author list (36 pages total), 23 figures, 1 table, submitted to European Physical Journal

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13