An ammonia spectral map of the L1495-B218 filaments in the Taurus molecular cloud. I. Physical properties of filaments and dense cores

We present deep NH3 observations of the L1495-B218 filaments in the Taurus molecular cloud covering over a 3° angular range using the K-band focal plane array on the 100 m Green Bank Telescope. The L1495-B218 filaments form an interconnected, nearby, large complex extending over 8 pc. We observed NH3 (1, 1) and (2, 2) with a spectral resolution of 0.038 km s−1 and a spatial resolution of 31''. Most of the ammonia peaks coincide with intensity peaks in dust continuum maps at 350 and 500 μm. We deduced physical properties by fitting a model to the observed spectra. We find gas kinetic temperatures of 8–15 K, velocity dispersions of 0.05–0.25 km s−1, and NH3 column densities of 5 × 1012 to 1 × 1014 cm−2. The CSAR algorithm, which is a hybrid of seeded-watershed and binary dendrogram algorithms, identifies a total of 55 NH3 structures, including 39 leaves and 16 branches. The masses of the NH3 sources range from 0.05 to 9.5 ${{M}_{\odot }}$. The masses of NH3 leaves are mostly smaller than their corresponding virial mass estimated from their internal and gravitational energies, which suggests that these leaves are gravitationally unbound structures. Nine out of 39 NH3 leaves are gravitationally bound, and seven out of nine gravitationally bound NH3 leaves are associated with star formation. We also found that 12 out of 30 gravitationally unbound leaves are pressure confined. Our data suggest that a dense core may form as a pressure-confined structure, evolve to a gravitationally bound core, and undergo collapse to form a protostar

Spatiotemporal local and abscopal cell death and immune responses to histotripsy focused ultrasound tumor ablation

IntroductionHistotripsy is a novel focused ultrasound tumor ablation modality with potent immunostimulatory effects.MethodsTo measure the spatiotemporal kinetics of local andabscopal responses to histotripsy, C57BL/6 mice bearing bilateral flank B16 melanoma or Hepa1-6 hepatocellular carcinoma tumors were treated with unilateral sham or partial histotripsy. Treated and contralateral untreated (abscopal) tumors were analyzed using multicolor immunofluorescence, digital spatial profiling, RNA sequencing (RNASeq), and flow cytometry.ResultsUnilateral histotripsy triggered abscopal tumor growth inhibition. Within the ablation zone, early high mobility group box protein 1 (HMGB1) release and necroptosis were accompanied by immunogenic cell death transcriptional responses in tumor cells and innate immune activation transcriptional responses in infiltrating myeloid and natural killer (NK) cells. Delayed CD8+ T cell intratumoral infiltration was spatiotemporally aligned with cancer cell features of ferroptosis; this effect was enhanced by CTLA-4 blockade and recapitulated in vitro when tumor-draining lymph node CD8+ T cells were co-cultured with tumor cells. Inoculation with cell-free tumor fractions generated by histotripsy but not radiation or freeze/thaw conferred partial protection from tumor challenge.DiscussionWe propose that histotripsy may evoke local necroptotic immunogenic cell death, priming systemic adaptive immune responses and abscopal ferroptotic cancer cell death

The role of one-carbon metabolism in health and disease: A genetic epidemiology perspective

The overarching aim of this thesis is to provide mechanistic and aetiological insight into the existing evidence that links one-carbon metabolism (OCM) variability with healthy ageing and disease. There is increased urgency in the field of research to understand the distribution and determinants of human common diseases, as healthcare costs and the burden of complex diseases are on the rise. This thesis supports the view that understanding the inter-individual variability in levels of key OCM vitamins is a fundamental building block in redressing malnutrition/ nutrient deficiency in population groups, and in preventing disease.At the crossroads of genetics and epidemiology is genetic epidemiology, which examines the role of genetic factors in disease aetiology. Throughout the decades, the advancement of human health has been highlighted by the ability to move from a molecular perspective of understanding pathways of disease aetiology to extrapolating the implications of the latter to broader public health ventures. The thesis itself is a smaller-scale visual of how this works, as it builds up from a molecular-scale stance to a more public health viewpoint that may potentially lead to improved understanding of the genetic architecture of disease, improved diagnosis of specific markers, and targeted disease treatments.More specifically, the significance of this work is that it informs on (1) the genetic determinants of variability in key OCM metabolites and cofactors, which in turn informs on (2) the development of novel diagnostic and prognostic tools that predict vitamin B12 deficiency in healthy adults and in pregnancy; (3) a mechanism of gene-nutrient interaction leading to site-specific changes in DNA methylation patterns in humans – a molecular outcome of OCM-, that have also been associated with disease risk; (4) the effects of OCM- associated genetic variants on risk of ischaemic stroke, and finally; (5) how can we deploy/ translate findings from genetic research in the field of nutrition to aid in the development of public health recommendations

Intersection Types via Finite-Set declarations

The lambda-cube is a famous pure type system (PTS) cube of eight powerful explicit type systems that include the simple, polymorphic and dependent type theories. The lambda-cube only types Strongly Normalising (SN) terms but not all of them. It is well known that even the most powerful system of the lambda-cube can only type the same pure untyped lambda-terms that are typable by the higher-order polymorphic implicitly typed lambda-calculus Fomega, and that there is an untyped {\lambda}-term U' that is SN but is not typable in Fomega or the lambda-cube. Hence, neither system can type all the SN terms it expresses. In this paper, we present the f-cube, an extension of the lambda-cube with finite-set declarations (FSDs) like y\in{C1,...,Cn} : B which means that y is of type B and can only be one of C1,..., Cn. The novelty of our FSDs is that they allow to represent intersection types as Pi-types. We show how to translate and type the term U' in the f-cube using an encoding of intersection types based on FSDs. Notably, our translation works without needing anything like the usual troublesome intersection-introduction rule that proves a pure untyped lambda-term M has an intersection of k types using k independent sub-derivations. As such, our approach is useful for language implementers who want the power of intersection types without the pain of the intersection-introduction rule

Genetic heterogeneity in cardiovascular disease across ancestries: Insights for mechanisms and therapeutic intervention

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are complex in their aetiology, arising due to a combination of genetics, lifestyle and environmental factors. By nature of this complexity, different CVDs vary in their molecular mechanisms, clinical presentation and progression. Although extensive efforts are being made to develop novel therapeutics for CVDs, genetic heterogeneity is often overlooked in the development process. By considering molecular mechanisms at an individual and ancestral level, a richer understanding of the influence of environmental and lifestyle factors can be gained and more refined therapeutic interventions can be developed. It is therefore expedient to understand the molecular and clinical heterogeneity in CVDs that exists across different populations. In this review, we highlight how the mechanisms underlying CVDs vary across diverse population ancestry groups due to genetic heterogeneity. We then discuss how such genetic heterogeneity is being leveraged to inform therapeutic interventions and personalised medicine, highlighting examples across the CVD spectrum. Finally, we present an overview of how polygenic risk scores and Mendelian randomisation can foster more robust insight into disease mechanisms and therapeutic intervention in diverse populations. Fulfilment of the vision of precision medicine requires more exhaustive leveraging of the genetic variability across diverse ancestry populations to improve our understanding of disease onset, progression and response to therapeutic intervention

LDL-c Lowering, Ischemic Stroke, and Small Vessel Disease Brain Imaging Biomarkers: A Mendelian Randomization Study.

BACKGROUND: The effects of lipid-lowering drug targets on different ischemic stroke subtypes are not fully understood. We aimed to explore the mechanisms by which lipid-lowering drug targets differentially affect the risk of ischemic stroke subtypes and their underlying pathophysiology. METHODS: Using a 2-sample Mendelian randomization approach, we assessed the effects of genetically proxied low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) and 3 clinically approved LDL-lowering drugs (HMGCR [3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase], PCSK9 [proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9], and NPC1L1 [Niemann-Pick C1-Like 1]) on stroke subtypes and brain imaging biomarkers associated with small vessel stroke (SVS), including white matter hyperintensity volume and perivascular spaces. RESULTS: In genome-wide Mendelian randomization analyses, lower genetically predicted LDL-c was significantly associated with a reduced risk of any stroke, ischemic stroke, and large artery stroke, supporting previous findings. Significant associations between genetically predicted LDL-c and cardioembolic stroke, SVS, and biomarkers, perivascular space and white matter hyperintensity volume, were not identified in this study. In drug-target Mendelian randomization analysis, genetically proxied reduced LDL-c through NPC1L1 inhibition was associated with lower odds of perivascular space (odds ratio per 1-mg/dL decrease, 0.79 [95% CI, 0.67-0.93]) and with lower odds of SVS (odds ratio, 0.29 [95% CI, 0.10-0.85]). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides supporting evidence of a potentially protective effect of LDL-c lowering through NPC1L1 inhibition on perivascular space and SVS risk, highlighting novel therapeutic targets for SVS

Associations of Genetically Predicted Vitamin B12 Status across the Phenome

Variation in vitamin B12 levels has been associated with a range of diseases across the life-course, the causal nature of which remains elusive. We aimed to interrogate genetically predicted vitamin B12 status in relation to a plethora of clinical outcomes available in the UK Biobank. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary data obtained from a Danish and Icelandic cohort of 45,576 individuals were used to identify 8 genetic variants associated with vitamin B12 levels, serving as genetic instruments for vitamin B12 status in subsequent analyses. We conducted a Mendelian randomisation (MR)-phenome-wide association study (PheWAS) of vitamin B12 status with 945 distinct phenotypes in 439,738 individuals from the UK Biobank using these 8 genetic instruments to proxy alterations in vitamin B12 status. We used external GWAS summary statistics for replication of significant findings. Correction for multiple testing was taken into consideration using a 5% false discovery rate (FDR) threshold. MR analysis identified an association between higher genetically predicted vitamin B12 status and lower risk of vitamin B deficiency (including all B vitamin deficiencies), serving as a positive control outcome. We further identified associations between higher genetically predicted vitamin B12 status and a reduced risk of megaloblastic anaemia (OR = 0.35, 95% CI: 0.20–0.50) and pernicious anaemia (0.29, 0.19–0.45), which was supported in replication analyses. Our study highlights that higher genetically predicted vitamin B12 status is potentially protective of risk of vitamin B12 deficiency associated with pernicious anaemia diagnosis, and reduces risk of megaloblastic anaemia. The potential use of genetically predicted vitamin B12 status in disease diagnosis, progression and management remains to be investigated