63 research outputs found
Coronary Artery bypass grafting and/or valvular surgery in patients with previous pneumonectomy
Novel approaches for immune reconstitution and adaptive immune modeling with human pluripotent stem cells
Pluripotent stem cells have the capacity to generate all cell lineages, and substantial progress has been made in realizing this potential. One fascinating but as yet unrealized possibility is the differentiation of pluripotent stem cells into thymic epithelial cells. The thymus is a primary lymphoid organ essential for naïve T-cell generation. T cells play an important role in adaptive immunity, and their loss or dysfunction underlies in a wide range of autoimmune and infectious diseases. T cells are generated and selected through interaction with thymic epithelial cells, the functionally essential element of thymus. The ability to generate functional thymic epithelial cells from pluripotent stem cells would have applications in modeling human immune responses in mice, in tissue transplantation, and in modulating autoimmune and infectious disease
The mismeasure of ape social cognition
In his classic analysis, The Mismeasure of Man, Gould (1981) demolished the idea that intelligence was an inherent, genetic trait of different human groups by emphasizing, among other things, (a) its sensitivity to environmental input, (b) the incommensurate pre-test preparation of different human groups, and (c) the inadequacy of the testing contexts, in many cases. According to Gould, the root cause of these oversights was confirmation bias by psychometricians, an unwarranted commitment to the idea that intelligence was a fixed, immutable quality of people. By virtue of a similar, systemic interpretive bias, in the last two decades, numerous contemporary researchers in comparative psychology have claimed human superiority over apes in social intelligence, based on two-group comparisons between postindustrial, Western Europeans and captive apes, where the apes have been isolated from European styles of social interaction, and tested with radically different procedures. Moreover, direct comparisons of humans with apes suffer from pervasive lapses in argumentation: Research designs in wide contemporary use are inherently mute about the underlying psychological causes of overt behavior. Here we analyze these problems and offer a more fruitful approach to the comparative study of social intelligence, which focuses on specific individual learning histories in specific ecological circumstances
Functional Induction of the Cystine-Glutamate Exchanger System Xc- Activity in SH-SY5Y Cells by Unconjugated Bilirubin
We have previously reported that exposure of SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells to unconjugated bilirubin (UCB) resulted in a marked up-regulation of the mRNA encoding for the Na+ -independent cystine∶glutamate exchanger System Xc− (SLC7A11 and SLC3A2 genes). In this study we demonstrate that SH-SY5Y cells treated with UCB showed a higher cystine uptake due to a significant and specific increase in the activity of System Xc−, without the contribution of the others two cystine transporters (XAG− and GGT) reported in neurons. The total intracellular glutathione content was 2 folds higher in the cells exposed to bilirubin as compared to controls, suggesting that the internalized cystine is used for gluthathione synthesis. Interestingly, these cells were significantly less sensitive to an oxidative insult induced by hydrogen peroxide. If System Xc− is silenced the protection is lost. In conclusion, these results suggest that bilirubin can modulate the gluthathione levels in neuroblastoma cells through the induction of the System Xc−, and this renders the cell less prone to oxidative damage
Interactions of the Apolipoprotein A5 Gene Polymorphisms and Alcohol Consumption on Serum Lipid Levels
Little is known about the interactions of apolipoprotein (Apo) A5 gene polymorphisms and alcohol consumption on serum lipid profiles. The present study was undertaken to detect the interactions of ApoA5-1131T>C, c.553G>T and c.457G>A polymorphisms and alcohol consumption on serum lipid levels.A total of 516 nondrinkers and 514 drinkers were randomly selected from our previous stratified randomized cluster samples. Genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism. The levels of serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), ApoA1 and ApoB were higher in drinkers than in nondrinkers (P<0.05-0.001). The genotypic and allelic frequencies of three loci were not different between the two groups. The interactions between -1131T>C genotypes and alcohol consumption on ApoB levels (P<0.05) and the ApoA1/ApoB ratio (P<0.01), between c.553G>T genotypes and alcohol consumption on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels (P<0.05) and the ApoA1/ApoB ratio (P<0.05), and between c.457G>A genotypes and alcohol consumption on TG levels (P<0.001) were detected by factorial regression analysis after controlling for potential confounders. Four haplotypes (T-G-G, C-G-G, T-A-G and C-G-T) had frequencies ranging from 0.06 to 0.87. Three haplotypes (C-G-G, T-A-G, and C-G-T) were significantly associated with serum lipid parameters. The -1131T>C genotypes were correlated with TG, and c.553G>T and c.457G>A genotypes were associated with HDL-C levels in nondrinkers (P<0.05 for all). For drinkers, the -1131T>C genotypes were correlated with TC, TG, LDL-C, ApoB levels and the ApoA1/ApoB ratio (P<0.01 for all); c.553G>T genotypes were correlated with TC, TG, HDL-C and LDL-C levels (P<0.05-0.01); and c.457G>A genotypes were associated with TG, LDL-C, ApoA1 and ApoB levels (P<0.05-0.01).The differences in some serum lipid parameters between the drinkers and nondrinkers might partly result from different interactions of the ApoA5 gene polymorphisms and alcohol consumption
Immune response of healthy horses to DNA constructs formulated with a cationic lipid transfection reagent
Background Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) vaccines are used for experimental
immunotherapy of equine melanoma. The injection of complexed linear DNA
encoding interleukin (IL)-12/IL-18 induced partial tumour remission in a
clinical study including 27 grey horses. To date, the detailed mechanism of
the anti-tumour effect of this treatment is unknown. Results In the present
study, the clinical and cellular responses of 24 healthy horses were monitored
over 72 h after simultaneous intradermal and intramuscular application of
equine IL-12/IL-18 DNA (complexed with a transfection reagent) or comparative
substances (transfection reagent only, nonsense DNA, nonsense DNA depleted of
CG). Although the strongest effect was observed in horses treated with
expressing DNA, horses in all groups treated with DNA showed systemic
responses. In these horses treated with DNA, rectal temperatures were elevated
after treatment and serum amyloid A increased. Total leukocyte and neutrophil
counts increased, while lymphocyte numbers decreased. The secretion of tumour
necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) and interferon gamma (IFNγ) from peripheral
mononuclear blood cells ex vivo increased after treatments with DNA, while
IL-10 secretion decreased. Horses treated with DNA had significantly higher
myeloid cell numbers and chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand (CXCL)-10 expression
in skin samples at the intradermal injection sites compared to horses treated
with transfection reagent only, suggesting an inflammatory response to DNA
treatment. In horses treated with expressing DNA, however, local CXCL-10
expression was highest and immunohistochemistry revealed more intradermal
IL-12-positive cells when compared to the other treatment groups. In contrast
to non-grey horses, grey horses showed fewer effects of DNA treatments on
blood lymphocyte counts, TNFα secretion and myeloid cell infiltration in the
dermis. Conclusion Treatment with complexed linear DNA constructs induced an
inflammatory response independent of the coding sequence and of CG motif
content. Expressing IL-12/IL-18 DNA locally induces expression of the
downstream mediator CXCL-10. The grey horses included appeared to display an
attenuated immune response to DNA treatment, although grey horses bearing
melanoma responded to this treatment with moderate tumour remission in a
preceding study. Whether the different immunological reactivity compared to
other horses may contributes to the melanoma susceptibility of grey horses
remains to be elucidated
Immune response of healthy horses to DNA constructs formulated with a cationic lipid transfection reagent
Are we working towards global research priorities for management and conservation of sea turtles?
This is the final version. Available from Inter Research via the DOI in this recordThere is another ORE record for this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/10871/24817In 2010, an international group of 35 sea turtle researchers refined an initial list of more than 200 research questions into 20 metaquestions that were considered key for management and conservation of sea turtles. These were classified under 5 categories: reproductive biology, biogeography, population ecology, threats and conservation strategies. To obtain a picture of how research is being focused towards these key questions, we undertook a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature (2014 and 2015) attributing papers to the original 20 questions. In total, we reviewed 605 articles in full and from these 355 (59%) were judged to substantively address the 20 key questions, with others focusing on basic science and monitoring that may lead to innovations or inform subsequent interpretation of effectiveness of conservation interventions and/or severity of threats. Progress to answering the 20 questions was not uniform and there were biases regarding focal turtle species, geographic scope and publication outlet. Whilst it offers some meaningful indications as to effort, quantifying peer-reviewed literature output is obviously not the only, and possibly not the best, metric for understanding research progress towards informing key conservation and management goals. Along with the literature review, an international group based on the original project consortium, with additional members, were assigned in groups of two or three (based on core expertise) to critically summarise recent progress towards answering each of the 20 questions. We found that significant research is being expended towards global priorities for management and conservation of sea turtles. Although highly variable, there has been significant progress in all the key questions identified in 2010. Undertaking this critical review has highlighted that it may be timely to undertake one or more new prioritizing exercises. For this to have maximal benefit we make a range of recommendations for its execution. These include a far greater engagement with social sciences, widening the pool of contributors and focussing the questions, perhaps disaggregating ecology and conservation.K.R.W-S is supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
under Grant No. DGE-125252
Assessment of subsurface temperature distribution from the gauged wells of Puga Valley, Ladakh
- …