Transcription factor activation following exposure of an intact lung preparation to metallic particulate matter.

Metallic constituents contained in ambient particulate matter have been associated with adverse effects in a number of epidemiologic, in vitro, and in vivo studies. Residual oil fly ash (ROFA) is a metallic by-product of the combustion of fossil fuel oil, which has been shown to induce a variety of proinflammatory responses in lung cells. We have examined signaling pathways activated in response to ROFA exposure and recently reported that ROFA treatment activates multiple mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases in the rat lung. In the present study we extended our investigations on the mechanism of toxicity of ROFA to include transcription factors whose activities are regulated by MAP kinases as well as possible effectors of transcriptional changes that mediate the effects of ROFA. We applied immunohistochemical methods to detect ROFA-induced activation of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF kappa B), activating transcription factor-2 (ATF-2), c-Jun, and cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) in intact lung tissue and confirmed and characterized their functional activation using DNA binding assays. We performed these studies using a perfused rabbit lung model that is devoid of blood elements in order to distinguish between intrinsic lung cell effects and effects that are secondary to inflammatory cell influx. We report here that exposure to ROFA results in a rapid activation of all of the transcription factors studied by exerting direct effects on lung cells. These findings validate the use of immunohistochemistry to detect transcription factor activation in vivo and demonstrate the utility of studying signaling changes in response to environmental exposures

Monitoring of tumor response to Cisplatin using optical spectroscopy

INTRODUCTION Anatomic imaging alone is often inadequate for tuning systemic treatment for individual tumor response. Optically based techniques could potentially contribute to fast and objective response monitoring in personalized cancer therapy. In the present study, we evaluated the feasibility of dual-modality diffuse reflectance spectroscopy-autofluorescence spectroscopy (DRS-AFS) to monitor the effects of systemic treatment in a mouse model for hereditary breast cancer. METHODS Brca1(-/-); p53(-/-) mammary tumors were grown in 36 mice, half of which were treated with a single dose of cisplatin. Changes in the tumor physiology and morphology were measured for a period of 1 week using dual-modality DRS-AFS. Liver and muscle tissues were also measured to distinguish tumor-specific alterations from systemic changes. Model-based analyses were used to derive different optical parameters like the scattering and absorption coefficients, as well as sources of intrinsic fluorescence. Histopathologic analysis was performed for cross-validation with trends in optically based parameters. RESULTS Treated tumors showed a significant decrease in Mie-scattering slope and Mie-to-total scattering fraction and an increase in both fat volume fraction and tissue oxygenation after 2 days of follow-up. Additionally, significant tumor-specific changes in the fluorescence spectra were seen. These longitudinal trends were consistent with changes observed in the histopathologic analysis, such as vital tumor content and formation of fibrosis. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates that dual-modality DRS-AFS provides quantitative functional information that corresponds well with the degree of pathologic response. DRS-AFS, in conjunction with other imaging modalities, could be used to optimize systemic cancer treatment on the basis of early individual tumor response

Schizophrenia and the progression of emotional expression in relation to others

Gaining an improved understanding of people diagnosed with schizophrenia has the potential to influence priorities for therapy. Psychosis is commonly understood through the perspective of the medical model. However, the experience of social context surrounding psychosis is not well understood. In this research project we used a phenomenological methodology with a longitudinal design to interview 7 participants across a 12-month period to understand the social experiences surrounding psychosis. Eleven themes were explicated and divided into two phases of the illness experience: (a) transition into emotional shutdown included the experiences of not being acknowledged, relational confusion, not being expressive, detachment, reliving the past, and having no sense of direction; and (b) recovery from emotional shutdown included the experiences of being acknowledged, expression, resolution, independence, and a sense of direction. The experiential themes provide clinicians with new insights to better assess vulnerability, and have the potential to inform goals for therapy

Methodological Considerations When Quantifying High-Intensity Efforts in Team Sport Using Global Positioning System Technology

Purpose Sprints and accelerations are popular performance indicators in applied sport. The methods used to define these efforts using athlete tracking technology could affect the number of efforts reported. The study aimed to determine the influence of different techniques and settings for detecting high-intensity efforts using Global Positioning System (GPS) data. Methods Velocity and acceleration data of a professional soccer match was recorded via 10-Hz GPS. Velocity data was filtered using either a median or exponential filter. Acceleration data was derived from velocity data over a 0.2 s time interval (with and without an exponential filter applied) and a 0.3 s time interval. High-speed running (≥4.17 m.s-1), sprint (≥7.00 m.s-1) and acceleration (≥2.78 m.s-2) efforts were then identified using minimum effort durations (0.1 to 0.9 s) to assess differences in the total number of efforts reported. Results Different velocity filtering methods resulted in small to moderate differences (Effect Size; 0.28 - 1.09) in the number of high-speed running and sprint efforts detected when minimum duration was <0.5 s and small to very large differences (ES; -5.69 - 0.26) in the number of accelerations when minimum duration was <0.7 s. There was an exponential decline in the number of all efforts as minimum duration increased, regardless of filtering method, with the largest declines in acceleration efforts. Conclusions Filtering techniques and minimum durations substantially affect the number of high-speed running, sprint and acceleration efforts detected with GPS. Changes to how high-intensity efforts are defined affect reported data. Therefore, consistency in data processing is advised

Psychiatry, subjectivity and emotion - deepening the medical model

Morale among psychiatrists continues to be seriously challenged in the face of recruitment difficulties, unfilled posts, diagnostic controversies, service reconfigurations and public criticism of psychiatric care, in addition to other difficulties. In this article, we argue that the positivist paradigm that continues to dominate British psychiatry has led to an undervaluing of subjectivity and of the role of emotions within psychiatric training and practice. Reintegrating the subjective perspective and promoting emotional awareness and reflection may go some way towards restoring faith in the psychiatric specialty

Reinforcement versus Fluidization in Cytoskeletal Mechanoresponsiveness

Every adherent eukaryotic cell exerts appreciable traction forces upon its substrate. Moreover, every resident cell within the heart, great vessels, bladder, gut or lung routinely experiences large periodic stretches. As an acute response to such stretches the cytoskeleton can stiffen, increase traction forces and reinforce, as reported by some, or can soften and fluidize, as reported more recently by our laboratory, but in any given circumstance it remains unknown which response might prevail or why. Using a novel nanotechnology, we show here that in loading conditions expected in most physiological circumstances the localized reinforcement response fails to scale up to the level of homogeneous cell stretch; fluidization trumps reinforcement. Whereas the reinforcement response is known to be mediated by upstream mechanosensing and downstream signaling, results presented here show the fluidization response to be altogether novel: it is a direct physical effect of mechanical force acting upon a structural lattice that is soft and fragile. Cytoskeletal softness and fragility, we argue, is consistent with early evolutionary adaptations of the eukaryotic cell to material properties of a soft inert microenvironment

GSTM1 modulation of IL-8 expression in human bronchial epithelial cells exposed to ozone

Exposure to the major air pollutant ozone can aggravate asthma and other lung diseases. Our recent study in human volunteers has shown that the glutathione S-transferase mu 1 (GSTM1) null genotype is associated with increased airway neutrophilic inflammation induced by inhaled ozone. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of GSTM1 modulation on interleukin 8 (IL-8) production in ozone-exposed human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) and the underlying mechanisms. Exposure of BEAS-2B cells to 0.4 ppm ozone for 4 h significantly increased IL-8 release with a modest reduction in intracellular reduced glutathione (GSH). Ozone exposure induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and NFκB activation. Pharmacological inhibition of NFκB activation or mutation of IL-8 promoter at κB-binding site significantly blocked ozone-induced IL-8 production or IL-8 transcriptional activity, respectively. Knockdown of GSTM1 in BEAS-2B cells enhanced ozone-induced NFκB activation and IL-8 production. Consistently, ozone-induced overt increase in IL-8 production was detected in GSTM1-null primary human bronchial epithelial cells. In addition, supplementation with reduced GSH inhibited ozone-induced ROS production, NFκB activation and IL-8 production. Taken together, GSTM1 deficiency enhances ozone-induced IL-8 production, which is mediated by generated ROS and subsequent NFκB activation in human bronchial epithelial cells

Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva: what have we achieved and where are we now? follow-up to the 2015 Lorentz Workshop

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP) is an ultra-rare progressive genetic disease effecting one in a million individuals. During their life, patients with FOP progressively develop bone in the soft tissues resulting in increasing immobility and early death. A mutation in the ACVR1 gene was identified as the causative mutation of FOP in 2006. After this, the pathophysiology of FOP has been further elucidated through the efforts of research groups worldwide. In 2015, a workshop was held to gather these groups and discuss the new challenges in FOP research. Here we present an overview and update on these topics

Reinforcement versus Fluidization in Cytoskeletal Mechanoresponsiveness

Every adherent eukaryotic cell exerts appreciable traction forces upon its substrate. Moreover, every resident cell within the heart, great vessels, bladder, gut or lung routinely experiences large periodic stretches. As an acute response to such stretches the cytoskeleton can stiffen, increase traction forces and reinforce, as reported by some, or can soften and fluidize, as reported more recently by our laboratory, but in any given circumstance it remains unknown which response might prevail or why. Using a novel nanotechnology, we show here that in loading conditions expected in most physiological circumstances the localized reinforcement response fails to scale up to the level of homogeneous cell stretch; fluidization trumps reinforcement. Whereas the reinforcement response is known to be mediated by upstream mechanosensing and downstream signaling, results presented here show the fluidization response to be altogether novel: it is a direct physical effect of mechanical force acting upon a structural lattice that is soft and fragile. Cytoskeletal softness and fragility, we argue, is consistent with early evolutionary adaptations of the eukaryotic cell to material properties of a soft inert microenvironment