A small survey of the magnetic fields of planet-host stars

Using spectropolarimetry, we investigate the large-scale magnetic topologies of stars hosting close-in exoplanets. A small survey of ten stars has been done with the twin instruments TBL/NARVAL and CFHT/ESPaDOnS between 2006 and 2011. Each target consists of circular-polarization observations covering 7 to 22 days. For each of the 7 targets in which a magnetic field was detected, we reconstructed the magnetic field topology using Zeeman-Doppler imaging. Otherwise, a detection limit has been estimated. Three new epochs of observations of Tau Boo are presented, which confirm magnetic polarity reversal. We estimate that the cycle period is 2 years, but recall that a shorter period of 240 days can not still be ruled out. The result of our survey is compared to the global picture of stellar magnetic field properties in the mass-rotation diagram. The comparison shows that these giant planet-host stars tend to have similar magnetic field topologies to stars without detected hot-Jupiters. This needs to be confirmed with a larger sample of stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of The Royal Astronomical Societ

Impacts of traditional food consumption advisories: Compliance, changes in diet and loss of confidence in traditional foods

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Food consumption advisories are often posted when industrial activities are expected to affect the quality and availability of traditional foods used by First Nations. We were recently involved in a project and asked to summarize details regarding the impacts of traditional food consumption advisories with respect to compliance, broader changes in diet and loss of confidence in traditional foods by people.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Our review was not conducted as a formal systematic comprehensive review; rather, we focused on primary and grey literature presenting academic, health practitioner and First Nations viewpoints on the topic available from literature databases (i.e., PubMed, Web of Knowledge^SM) as well as the internet search engine Google. Some information came from personal communications.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our overview suggests that when communicated effectively and clearly, and when community members are involved in the process, consumption advisories can result in a decrease in contaminant load in people. On the other hand, consumption advisories can lead to cultural loss and have been linked to a certain amount of social, psychological, nutritional, economic and lifestyle disruption. In some cases, communities have decided to ignore consumption advisories opting to continue with traditional lifestyles believing that the benefits of doing so outweigh the risk of following advisories.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We identified that there are both positive and negative aspects to the issuance of traditional food consumption advisories. A number of variables need to be recognized during the development and implementation of advisories in order to ensure a balance between human health, maintenance of cultures and industrial activity.</p

Strengthening a One Health approach to emerging zoonoses

Given the enormous global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Canada, and manifold other zoonotic pathogen activity, there is a pressing need for a deeper understanding of the human-animal-environment interface and the intersecting biological, ecological, and societal factors contributing to the emergence, spread, and impact of zoonotic diseases. We aim to apply a One Health approach to pressing issues related to emerging zoonoses, and propose a functional framework of interconnected but distinct groups of recommendations around strategy and governance, technical leadership (operations), equity, education and research for a One Health approach and Action Plan for Canada. Change is desperately needed, beginning by reorienting our approach to health and recalibrating our perspectives to restore balance with the natural world in a rapid and sustainable fashion. In Canada, a major paradigm shift in how we think about health is required. All of society must recognize the intrinsic value of all living species and the importance of the health of humans, other animals, and ecosystems to health for all

The potential of using E. coli as an indicator for the surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the environment

To understand the dynamics of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), in a One-Health perspective, surveillance play an important role. Monitoring systems already exist in the human health and livestock sectors, but there are no environmental monitoring programs. Therefore there is an urgent need to initiate environmental AMR monitoring programs nationally and globally, which will complement existing systems in different sectors. However, environmental programs should not only identify anthropogenic influences and levels of AMR, but they should also allow for identification of transmissions to and from human and animal populations. In the current review we therefore propose using antimicrobial resistant Escherichia coli as indicators for monitoring occurrence and levels of AMR in the environment, including wildlife.publishedVersio

Diversity and Complexity of the Large Surface Protein Family in the Compacted Genomes of Multiple Pneumocystis Species

Pneumocystis, a major opportunistic pathogen in patients with a broad range of immunodeficiencies, contains abundant surface proteins encoded by a multicopy gene family, termed the major surface glycoprotein (Msg) gene superfamily. This superfamily has been identified in all Pneumocystis species characterized to date, highlighting its important role in Pneumocystis biology. In this report, through a comprehensive and in-depth characterization of 459 msg genes from 7 Pneurnocystis species, we demonstrate, for the first time, the phylogeny and evolution of conserved domains in Msg proteins and provide a detailed description of the classification, unique characteristics, and phylogenetic relatedness of five Msg families. We further describe, for the first time, the relative expression levels of individual msg families in two rodent Pneumocystis species, the substantial variability of the msg repertoires in P. coda from laboratory and wild rats, and the distinct features of the expression site for the classic msg genes in Pneumocystis from 8 mammalian host species. Our analysis suggests multiple functions for this superfamily rather than just conferring antigenic variation to allow immune evasion as previously believed. This study provides a rich source of information that lays the foundation for the continued experimental exploration of the functions of the Msg superfamily in Pneumocystis biology. IMPORTANCE Pneumocystis continues to be a major cause of disease in humans with immunodeficiency, especially those with HIV/AIDS and organ transplants, and is being seen with increasing frequency worldwide in patients treated with immunode-pleting monoclonal antibodies. Annual health care associated with Pneumocystis pneumonia costs similar to$475 million dollars in the United States alone. In addition to causing overt disease in immunodeficient individuals, Pneumocystis can cause subclinical infection or colonization in healthy individuals, which may play an important role in species preservation and disease transmission. Our work sheds new light on the diversity and complexity of the msg superfamily and strongly suggests that the versatility of this superfamily reflects multiple functions, including antigenic variation to allow immune evasion and optimal adaptation to host environmental conditions to promote efficient infection and transmission. These findings are essential to consider in developing new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.Peer reviewe

The impact of donor and recipient common clinical and genetic variation on estimated glomerular filtration rate in a European renal transplant population

Genetic variation across the HLA is known to influence renal‐transplant outcome. However, the impact of genetic variation beyond the HLA is less clear. We tested the association of common genetic variation and clinical characteristics, from both the donor and recipient, with post‐transplant eGFR at different time‐points, out to 5‐years post‐transplantation. We conducted GWAS meta‐analyses across 10,844 donors and recipients from five European ancestry cohorts. We also analysed the impact of polygenic risk scores (PRS), calculated using genetic variants associated with non‐transplant eGFR, on post‐transplant eGFR. PRS calculated using the recipient genotype alone, as well as combined donor and recipient genotypes were significantly associated with eGFR at 1‐year post‐transplant. 32% of the variability in eGFR at 1‐year post‐transplant was explained by our model containing clinical covariates (including weights for death/graft‐failure), principal components and combined donor‐recipient PRS, with 0.3% contributed by the PRS. No individual genetic variant was significantly associated with eGFR post‐transplant in the GWAS. This is the first study to examine PRS, composed of variants that impact kidney function in the general population, in a post‐transplant context. Despite PRS being a significant predictor of eGFR post‐transplant, the effect size of common genetic factors is limited compared to clinical variables

The habitability of Proxima Centauri b I. Irradiation, rotation and volatile inventory from formation to the present

International audienceProxima b is a planet with a minimum mass of 1.3 MEarth orbiting within the habitable zone (HZ) of Proxima Centauri, a very low-mass, active star and the Sun's closest neighbor. Here we investigate a number of factors related to the potential habitability of Proxima b and its ability to maintain liquid water on its surface. We set the stage by estimating the current high-energy irradiance of the planet and show that the planet currently receives 30 times more EUV radiation than Earth and 250 times more X-rays. We compute the time evolution of the star's spectrum, which is essential for modeling the flux received over Proxima b's lifetime. We also show that Proxima b's obliquity is likely null and its spin is either synchronous or in a 3:2 spin-orbit resonance, depending on the planet's eccentricity and level of triaxiality. Next we consider the evolution of Proxima b's water inventory. We use our spectral energy distribution to compute the hydrogen loss from the planet with an improved energy-limited escape formalism. Despite the high level of stellar activity we find that Proxima b is likely to have lost less than an Earth ocean's worth of hydrogen before it reached the HZ 100-200 Myr after its formation. The largest uncertainty in our work is the initial water budget, which is not constrained by planet formation models. We conclude that Proxima b is a viable candidate habitable planet

Single-cell multi-omics analysis of the immune response in COVID-19

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Single-cell multi-omics analysis of the immune response in COVID-19

Funder: Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine; doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001255Funder: University College London, Birkbeck MRC Doctoral Training ProgrammeFunder: The Jikei University School of MedicineFunder: Action Medical Research (GN2779)Funder: NIHR Clinical Lectureship (CL-2017-01-004)Funder: NIHR (ACF-2018-01-004) and the BMA FoundationFunder: Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (grant 2017-174169) and from Wellcome (WT211276/Z/18/Z and Sanger core grant WT206194)Funder: UKRI Innovation/Rutherford Fund Fellowship allocated by the MRC and the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform (MR/5005579/1 to M.Z.N.). M.Z.N. and K.B.M. have been funded by the Rosetrees Trust (M944)Funder: Barbour FoundationFunder: ERC Consolidator and EU MRG-Grammar awardsFunder: Versus Arthritis Cure Challenge Research Grant (21777), and an NIHR Research Professorship (RP-2017-08-ST2-002)Funder: European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)Abstract: Analysis of human blood immune cells provides insights into the coordinated response to viral infections such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We performed single-cell transcriptome, surface proteome and T and B lymphocyte antigen receptor analyses of over 780,000 peripheral blood mononuclear cells from a cross-sectional cohort of 130 patients with varying severities of COVID-19. We identified expansion of nonclassical monocytes expressing complement transcripts (CD16+C1QA/B/C+) that sequester platelets and were predicted to replenish the alveolar macrophage pool in COVID-19. Early, uncommitted CD34+ hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells were primed toward megakaryopoiesis, accompanied by expanded megakaryocyte-committed progenitors and increased platelet activation. Clonally expanded CD8+ T cells and an increased ratio of CD8+ effector T cells to effector memory T cells characterized severe disease, while circulating follicular helper T cells accompanied mild disease. We observed a relative loss of IgA2 in symptomatic disease despite an overall expansion of plasmablasts and plasma cells. Our study highlights the coordinated immune response that contributes to COVID-19 pathogenesis and reveals discrete cellular components that can be targeted for therapy