Effect of Lactobacillus acidophilus supernatants on body weight and leptin expression in rats

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Lactobacillus </it>extracts and supernatants have been used as probiotics in human and veterinary medicine for their ability to enhance wound healing and immunity. Previous data from our laboratory demonstrated that <it>Lactobacillus </it>supernatant (LS) stimulated wound healing, angiogenesis and proliferation of embryonic cells after topical application. This current study shows that LS after its administration into the cerebral ventricles of male rats exerts systemic effects.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The right lateral cerebral ventricle of young male rats was accessed through intracerebroventricular cannulation (ICV) under anesthesia and aseptic conditions. One group of control rats received saline solution, a second control group received 0.8 M lactic acid solution (to control for acidity of LS), and a third group received LS. The animals were sacrificed 12, 24, 48, 96 and 120 hours after the injection. Selected tissues were collected, fixed in 10% buffered formalin and used for immunohistochemistry and <it>in situ </it>hybridization. Other tissues were frozen and extracted for immunoblotting</p> <p>Results</p> <p>LS-injected animals had a slight decrease in body weight when compared to their initial weight and to both control groups. Using immunohistochemistry and <it>in situ </it>hybridization leptin expression was studied in multiple brain sections and peripheral adipose tissue of control and LS-injected rats. Strong cytoplasmic stain was observed by both techniques in neurons of the cerebral cortex, thalamus, hypothalamus, hippocampus and, to lesser degree, in the cells of the choroid plexus in the LS-injected rats. Control animals demonstrated much less intense staining in neurons located in the same regions using immunohistochemistry and almost no staining with <it>in situ </it>hybridization technique. Adipose tissue exhibited slight presence of leptin in LS-treated animals. In contrast no immunohistochemical staining for GM-CSF and TNFα was observed in brains from control and treated rats. Western blotting showed mild increase in leptin and leptin receptors in intestines and retroperitoneal adipose tissues of LS-injected rats.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study demonstrates that direct administration of LS into rat CNS leads to a decrease in body weight of rats and an increase in the expression of leptin in specific areas of the brain and retroperitoneal adipose tissue.</p

A new anode material for oxygen evolution in molten oxide electrolysis

Molten oxide electrolysis (MOE) is an electrometallurgical technique that enables the direct production of metal in the liquid state from oxide feedstock and compared with traditional methods of extractive metallurgy offers both a substantial simplification of the process and a significant reduction in energy consumption. MOE is also considered a promising route for mitigation of CO[subscript 2] emissions in steelmaking, production of metals free of carbon, and generation of oxygen for extra-terrestrial exploration. Until now, MOE has been demonstrated using anode materials that are consumable (graphite for use with ferro-alloys and titanium) or unaffordable for terrestrial applications (iridium for use with iron). To enable metal production without process carbon, MOE requires an anode material that resists depletion while sustaining oxygen evolution. The challenges for iron production are threefold. First, the process temperature is in excess of 1,538 degrees Celsius. Second, under anodic polarization most metals inevitably corrode in such conditions. Third, iron oxide undergoes spontaneous reduction on contact with most refractory metals and even carbon. Here we show that anodes comprising chromium-based alloys exhibit limited consumption during iron extraction and oxygen evolution by MOE. The anode stability is due to the formation of an electronically conductive solid solution of chromium(iii) and aluminium oxides in the corundum structure. These findings make practicable larger-scale evaluation of MOE for the production of steel, and potentially provide a key material component enabling mitigation of greenhouse-gas emissions while producing metal of superior metallurgical quality.American Iron and Steel Institut

Restricting HIV-1 pathways for escape using rationally designed anti–HIV-1 antibodies

Recently identified broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) that potently neutralize most HIV-1 strains are key to potential antibody-based therapeutic approaches to combat HIV/AIDS in the absence of an effective vaccine. Increasing bNAb potencies and resistance to common routes of HIV-1 escape through mutation would facilitate their use as therapeutics. We previously used structure-based design to create the bNAb NIH45-46G54W, which exhibits superior potency and/or breadth compared with other bNAbs. We report new, more effective NIH45-46^(G54W) variants designed using analyses of the NIH45-46–gp120 complex structure and sequences of NIH45-46^(G54W)–resistant HIV-1 strains. One variant, 45-46m2, neutralizes 96% of HIV-1 strains in a cross-clade panel and viruses isolated from an HIV-infected individual that are resistant to all other known bNAbs, making it the single most broad and potent anti–HIV-1 antibody to date. A description of its mechanism is presented based on a 45-46m2–gp120 crystal structure. A second variant, 45-46m7, designed to thwart HIV-1 resistance to NIH45-46G54W arising from mutations in a gp120 consensus sequence, targets a common route of HIV-1 escape. In combination, 45-46m2 and 45-46m7 reduce the possible routes for the evolution of fit viral escape mutants in HIV-1_(YU-2)–infected humanized mice, with viremic control exhibited when a third antibody, 10–1074, was added to the combination

Complex-type N-glycan recognition by potent broadly neutralizing HIV antibodies

Broadly neutralizing HIV antibodies (bNAbs) can recognize carbohydrate-dependent epitopes on gp120. In contrast to previously characterized glycan-dependent bNAbs that recognize high-mannose N-glycans, PGT121 binds complex-type N-glycans in glycan microarrays. We isolated the B-cell clone encoding PGT121, which segregates into PGT121-like and 10-1074–like groups distinguished by sequence, binding affinity, carbohydrate recognition, and neutralizing activity. Group 10-1074 exhibits remarkable potency and breadth but no detectable binding to protein-free glycans. Crystal structures of unliganded PGT121, 10-1074, and their likely germ-line precursor reveal that differential carbohydrate recognition maps to a cleft between complementarity determining region (CDR)H2 and CDRH3. This cleft was occupied by a complex-type N-glycan in a “liganded” PGT121 structure. Swapping glycan contact residues between PGT121 and 10-1074 confirmed their importance for neutralization. Although PGT121 binds complex-type N-glycans, PGT121 recognized high-mannose-only HIV envelopes in isolation and on virions. As HIV envelopes exhibit varying proportions of high-mannose- and complex-type N-glycans, these results suggest promiscuous carbohydrate interactions, an advantageous adaptation ensuring neutralization of all viruses within a given strain

Leo Strauss and International Relations: The politics of modernity's abyss

This article argues that an engagement with the political philosophy of Leo Strauss is of considerable value in International Relations (IR), in relation to the study of both recent US foreign policy and contemporary IR theory. The question of Straussian activities within and close to the foreign policy-making establishment in the United States during the period leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq has been the focus of significant scholarly and popular attention in recent years. This article makes the case that several individuals influenced by Strauss exercised considerable influence in the fields of intelligence production, the media and think tanks, and traces the ways in which elements of Strauss’ thought are discernible in their interventions in these spheres. It further argues that Strauss’ political philosophy is of broader significance for IR insofar as it can be read as a securitising response to the dangers he associated with the foundationlessness of the modern condition. The article demonstrates that the politics of this response are of crucial importance for contemporary debates between traditional and critical IR theorists

‘New and important careers’: how women excelled at the BBC, 1923–1939

From its beginnings in 1923, the BBC employed a sizeable female workforce. The majority were in support roles as typists, secretaries and clerks but, during the 1920s and 1930s, a significant number held important posts. As a modern industry, the BBC took a largely progressive approach towards the ‘career women’ on its staff, many of whom were in jobs that were developed specifically for the new medium of broadcasting. Women worked as drama producers, advertising representatives and Children’s Hour Organisers. They were talent spotters, press officers and documentary makers. Three women attained Director status while others held significant administrative positions. This article considers in what ways it was the modernity and novelty of broadcasting, combined with changing employment possibilities and attitudes towards women evident after the First World War, that combined to create the conditions in which they could excel

The 'knowledge politics' of democratic peace theory

How do academic ideas influence US foreign policy, under what conditions and with what consequences? This article traces the rise, ‘securitisation’ and political consequences of democratic peace theory (DPT) in the United States by exploring the work of Doyle, Diamond and Fukuyama. Ideas influence US foreign policy under different circumstances, but are most likely to do either during and after crises when the policy environment permits ‘new thinking’, or when these ideas have been developed through state-connected elite knowledge networks, or when they are (or appear paradigmatically congenial to) foreign policymakers’ mindsets, or, finally, when they become institutionally-embedded. The appropriation of DPT by foreign policymakers has categorised the world into antagonistic blocs – democratic/non-democratic zones of peace/turmoil – as the corollary to a renewed American mission to make the world ‘safer’ through ‘democracy’ promotion. The roles of networked organic intellectuals – in universities and think tanks, for instance – were particularly important in elevating DPT from the academy to national security managers