Bacterial mechanosensitive channels : progress towards an understanding of their roles in cell physiology

Open Access funded by Wellcome Trust Under a Creative Commons license Thanks to all members of the Aberdeen group, collaborators and friends whose discussions have spurred the development of the MS channel field. Special thanks to Doug Rees, Diane Newman and Rob Phillips for their support and hospitality at Caltech. Unique insights have been provided by members of the Newman and Phillips research groups, particularly, Caj Neubauer, Gargi Kulkarni and Megan Bergkessel, Heun Jin Lee and Maja Bialecka-Fornal. The author's research on MS channels is supported by a grant from The Wellcome Trust (WT092552MA) and the BBSRC (BB/H017917/1). The author is a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow and this work was supported in part by a CEMI Visiting Faculty Fellowship from Caltech.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

O significado da vacina contra rubéola para as mulheres grávidas

Se trató de describir el significado de la vacuna contra la rubeola para las mujeres que se enteraron del embarazo después de recibir la vacuna dupla viral, debido a la campaña contra la rubeola-2001, en la DIR XX de São João da Boa Vista. Fue adoptada como referencia la Teoría de la Representaciones Sociales. La colección de datos fue realizada a través de la técnica de Discurso del Sujeto Colectivo con 18 gestantes y mujeres embarazadas hasta 30 días después de la aplicación de la vacuna, consideradas suceptibles a la rubeola, habitantes de 10 municipios de la región. Considerando los discursos de las mujeres, fue posible detectar los diferentes resultados de la vacuna contra la rubeola cuando es aplicada durante la gestación, representada como amenaza a su integridad, a la de su hijo y a su relación conyugal. Esos significados se constituyen en importante fuente de información que brinda a los profesionales de la salud y gestores una reflexión sobre desempeño de su papel como agentes promotores de la salud.Buscou-se descrever o significado da vacina contra rubéola para mulheres que se descobriram grávidas após receberem a vacina dupla viral, por ocasião da campanha contra rubéola-2001, na DIR XX de São João da Boa Vista, SP. Adotou-se como referencial a Teoria das Representações Sociais. A coleta de dados foi realizada através da técnica do Discurso do Sujeito Coletivo com 18 mulheres grávidas e que engravidaram até 30 dias após aplicação da vacina, consideradas suscetíveis à rubéola, residentes em 10 municípios da região. Através dos discursos das mesmas, foi possível desvelar a diversidade de significados da vacina contra a rubéola quando aplicada durante a gravidez, representada como ameaça à sua integridade, à de seu filho e ao seu relacionamento conjugal. Esses significados constituem-se em importante fonte de informação que propicia aos profissionais de saúde e gestores reflexão sobre o seu papel como agentes promotores de saúde.The research was aimed at describing the meaning of the rubella vaccine to women who were discovered pregnant after having received the measles-rubella vaccine during the 2001 campaign against rubella, and who lived in 10 cities within the region of DIR XX from São João da Boa Vista. The theory of Social Representation was used as a reference framework for the research, and data were collected through the Collective Subject Discourse technique, involving 18 women who either were pregnant or became pregnant within 30 days after having received the vaccine. Through their discourse, it was possible to unveil the diversity of meanings the rubella vaccine has when dispensed during pregnancy, characterized as a threat to their and their children's physical integrity and to their conjugal relationship. The meanings constitute an important source of information that allows health professionals and administrators to reflect, so they can reconsider their role as health promoters

Constraining Bosonic Supersymmetry from Higgs results and 8 TeV ATLAS multi-jets plus missing energy data

The collider phenomenology of models with Universal Extra Dimensions (UED) is surprisingly similar to that of supersymmetric (SUSY) scenarios. For each level-1 bosonic (fermionic) Kaluza-Klein (KK) state, there is a fermionic (bosonic) analog in SUSY and thus UED scenarios are often known as bosonic supersymmetry. The minimal version of UED (mUED) gives rise to a quasi-degenerate particle spectrum at each KK-level and thus, can not explain the enhanced Higgs to diphoton decay rate hinted by the ATLAS collaboration of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment. However, in the non-minimal version of the UED (nmUED) model, the enhanced Higgs to diphoton decay rate can be easily explained via the suitable choice of boundary localized kinetic (BLK) terms for higher dimensional fermions and gauge bosons. BLK terms remove the degeneracy in the KK mass spectrum and thus, pair production of level-1 quarks and gluons at the LHC gives rise to hard jets, leptons and large missing energy in the final state. These final states are studied in details by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations in the context of SUSY scenarios. We find that the absence of any significant deviation of the data from the Standard Model (SM) prediction puts a lower bound of about 2.1 TeV on equal mass excited quarks and gluons.Comment: 19 page

PACAP centrally mediates emotional stress-induced corticosterone responses in mice

Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) is a pleiotropic neuropeptide widely distributed in the nervous system. Recently, PACAP was shown to be involved in restraint stress-induced corticosterone release and concomitant expression of the genes involved in hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis activation. Therefore, in this study, we have addressed the types of stressors and the levels of the HPA axis in which PACAP signaling is involved using mice lacking PACAP (PACAP−/−). Among four different types of stressors, open-field exposure, cold exposure, ether inhalation, and restraint, the corticosterone response to open-field exposure and restraint, which are categorized as emotional stressors, but not the other two, was markedly attenuated in PACAP−/− mice. Peripheral administration of corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) or adrenocorticotropic hormone induced corticosterone increase similarly in PACAP and wild-type mice. In addition, the restraint stress-induced c-Fos expression was significantly decreased in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and medial amygdala (MeA), but not the medial prefrontal cortex, in PACAP−/− mice. In the PVN of PACAP−/− mice, the stress-induced c-Fos expression was blunted in the CRF neurons. These results suggest that PACAP is critically involved in activation of the MeA and PVN CRF neurons to centrally regulate the HPA axis response to emotional stressors

Tea drinking and cognitive function in oldest-old Chinese

10.1007/s12603-012-0077-1The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging169754-75

The Glucuronyltransferase GlcAT-P Is Required for Stretch Growth of Peripheral Nerves in Drosophila

During development, the growth of the animal body is accompanied by a concomitant elongation of the peripheral nerves, which requires the elongation of integrated nerve fibers and the axons projecting therein. Although this process is of fundamental importance to almost all organisms of the animal kingdom, very little is known about the mechanisms regulating this process. Here, we describe the identification and characterization of novel mutant alleles of GlcAT-P, the Drosophila ortholog of the mammalian glucuronyltransferase b3gat1. GlcAT-P mutants reveal shorter larval peripheral nerves and an elongated ventral nerve cord (VNC). We show that GlcAT-P is expressed in a subset of neurons in the central brain hemispheres, in some motoneurons of the ventral nerve cord as well as in central and peripheral nerve glia. We demonstrate that in GlcAT-P mutants the VNC is under tension of shorter peripheral nerves suggesting that the VNC elongates as a consequence of tension imparted by retarded peripheral nerve growth during larval development. We also provide evidence that for growth of peripheral nerve fibers GlcAT-P is critically required in hemocytes; however, glial cells are also important in this process. The glial specific repo gene acts as a modifier of GlcAT-P and loss or reduction of repo function in a GlcAT-P mutant background enhances VNC elongation. We propose a model in which hemocytes are required for aspects of glial cell biology which in turn affects the elongation of peripheral nerves during larval development. Our data also identifies GlcAT-P as a first candidate gene involved in growth of integrated peripheral nerves and therefore establishes Drosophila as an amenable in-vivo model system to study this process at the cellular and molecular level in more detail

Fast relapse and high drop out rate of 48 weeks daily interferon monotherapy in HIV-infected patients with chronic hepatitis C

BACKGROUND: The standard of care for HCV Hepatitis is the combination of interferon (IFN) plus Ribavirin. In HIV patients the use of this combination therapy may induce drug interactions, and reduces the adherence to HAART. The aim of this study is to evaluate safety and efficacy of a 48 weeks daily dose IFN schedule. METHODS: We evaluated 50 coinfected patients; alpha IFN 2a was administered at a dose of 3 MU daily. The baseline values were the following : CD4+ 515 cells/mmc (mean); HIV-RNA <50 copies/ml in all patients; HCV-RNA 28, 3 × 106 copies/ml. RESULTS: At 48 weeks, 10 patients (20%) achieved a biochemical and virological response according to an intention to treat analysis. Twenty four patients (48%) underwent a drop-out mainly by side effects related to overlapping toxicity of interferon and antiretroviral therapy. All the patients, who responded to the treatment, showed a fast relapse one month after the end of treatment. CONCLUSION: Although our results demonstrated a very poor outcome and a bad tolerance to interferon monotherapy, this approach should not be dropped out, mainly in patients at high risk for side effects and in those with cirrhosis who do not tolerate or are at increased risk for the use of ribavirin