Peritoneal fluid haptoglobin from women with endometriosis differentially regulates macrophage cytokine production [abstract]

Abstract only availableThe objective of this study was to define mechanisms by which haptoglobin from endometriotic lesions (eHp) which binds to macrophages modulates immune surveillance and inflammation in the peritoneal cavity by characterizing macrophage products regulated by eHp. To eliminate human macrophage variation, the established THP-1 monocyte cell line (1.0 x106 cells/mL/well, 24-well plates, RPMI 1640+L-glutamine, FBS, and antibiotics) was routinely differentiated into macrophage-like cells with low dose PMA (20 ng/mL) and concurrently treated with media only (M), serum haptoglobin (sHp) or haptoglobin purified from peritoneal fluid of women without (cHp) or with (eHp) endometriosis (10 μg/mL, 24 h). The RayBio Inflammatory Antibody Array III was used per instructions and chemiluminescene signal intensity was quantified by densitometry. Differences were evaluated by ANOVA and post hoc tests.Variation in 8 control spots per and between membranes was sHp, cHp, M. P=0.002), TNF-α (eHp>sHp, cHp, M. P=0.045), TNF-β (eHp>sHp, cHp, M. P=0.043), PDGF-BB (eHp>sHp, cHp, M. P=0.016), IL-6sR (eHp>cHp, M. PsHp>cHp, M. P=0.072), IP-10 (eHp, sHp> cHp, M. P=0.017), RANTES (eHp, sHp>cHp, M. P=0.004) and TGF-β (eHp, sHp>M, cHp. P=0.008). Unexpectedly, cHp differentially decreased IL-2 (cHp<eHp, sHp, M. P=0.001) and MCP-1 (cHp<eHp, sHp, M. P=0.023). Twenty substances were similar in all treatments; the _expression range was divided into quartiles: High: IL-8. Moderate: IL-1β, MIP-1β. Slight: IL-10, TNFsRII, TIMP-2. Minimal: ICAM, INF-gamma, I-309; IL-1α, IL-3, IL-6, IL-11, IL-12p40, IL-12p70, IL-15, M-CSF, MIP-1α, MIP-1δ and TNFsRI. Nine were not detected in any treatment: Eotaxin-1, GCSF, GM-CSF, IL-4, IL-7, IL-13, IL-17, MCP-2, MIG. Differential eHp up-regulation and cHp down-regulation of macrophage inflammatory substances indicates that the function of eHp, hence the function of macrophages in women with endometriosis is skewed compared to controls. We postulate that peritoneal macrophages interaction with eHp contributes to endometrioisis persistence and/or pathophysiologies.National Institutes of Healt

Neonatal pain detection in videos using the iCOPEvid dataset and an ensemble of descriptors extracted from Gaussian of Local Descriptors

Diagnosing pain in neonates is difficult but critical. Although approximately thirty manual pain instruments have been developed for neonatal pain diagnosis, most are complex, multifactorial, and geared toward research. The goals of this work are twofold: 1) to develop a new video dataset for automatic neonatal pain detection called iCOPEvid (infant Classification Of Pain Expressions videos), and 2) to present a classification system that sets a challenging comparison performance on this dataset. The iCOPEvid dataset contains 234 videos of 49 neonates experiencing a set of noxious stimuli, a period of rest, and an acute pain stimulus. From these videos 20 s segments are extracted and grouped into two classes: pain (49) and nopain (185), with the nopain video segments handpicked to produce a highly challenging dataset. An ensemble of twelve global and local descriptors with a Bag-of-Features approach is utilized to improve the performance of some new descriptors based on Gaussian of Local Descriptors (GOLD). The basic classifier used in the ensembles is the Support Vector Machine, and decisions are combined by sum rule. These results are compared with standard methods, some deep learning approaches, and 185 human assessments. Our best machine learning methods are shown to outperform the human judges

Sporopollenin exine capsules (SpECs) derived from Lycopodium clavatum provide practical antioxidant properties by retarding rancidification of an ω-3 oil

In recent years the use of natural antioxidants in foodstuffs and personal care products has become increasingly important for consumers and therefore manufacturers. In this work, sporopollenin exine capsules (SpECs), extracted from spores of the common club moss Lycopodium clavatum L, have been shown to protect an ω-3 oil from oxidation caused by natural light or accelerated oxidation with UV irradiation. The mechanism of action has been shown to be principally by free radical quenching as opposed to light shielding, supported by evidence of similarity in levels of protection when the ratio of SpECs to oil was 0.2 % w/v compared with 50 % w/w. The antioxidant effect is not materially altered by the extraction process from the raw material and is clearly an inherent property of the sporopollenin contained in the spores of L. clavatum due to the accessible phenolic groups on the surface on the SpECs. These results provide promising evidence that SpECs could be useful as a bio-sourced antioxidant for protecting ω-3 oils and related oxidation-prone molecules

Views of new internal medicine faculty of their preparedness and competence in physician-patient communication

BACKGROUND: We sought to assess self-rated importance of the medical interview to clinical practice and competence in physician-patient communication among new internal medicine faculty at an academic medical center. METHODS: Since 2001, new internal medicine faculty at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine (Rochester, Minnesota) have completed a survey on physician-patient communication. The survey asks the new faculty to rate their overall competence in medical interviewing, the importance of the medical interview to their practice, their confidence and adequacy of previous training in handling eight frequently encountered challenging communication scenarios, and whether they would benefit from additional communication training. RESULTS: Between 2001 and 2004, 75 general internists and internal medicine subspecialists were appointed to the faculty, and of these, 58 (77%) completed the survey. The faculty rated (on a 10-point scale) the importance of the medical interview higher than their competence in interviewing; this difference was significant (average ± SD, 9.4 ± 1.0 vs 7.7 ± 1.2, P < .001). Similar results were obtained by sex, age, specialty, years since residency or fellowship training, and perceived benefit of training. Experienced faculty rated their competence in medical interviewing and the importance of the medical interview higher than recent graduates (ie, less than one year since training). For each challenging communication scenario, the new faculty rated the adequacy of their previous training in handling the scenario relatively low. A majority (57%) said they would benefit from additional communication training. CONCLUSION: Although new internal medicine faculty rate high the importance of the medical interview, they rate their competence and adequacy of previous training in medical interviewing relatively low, and many indicate that they would benefit from additional communication training. These results should encourage academic medical centers to make curricula in physician-patient communication available to their faculty members because many of them not only care for patients, but also teach clinical skills, including communication skills, to trainees

Uniform grain-size distribution in the active layer of a shallow, gravel-bedded, braided river (the Urumqi River, China) and implications for paleo-hydrology

The grain-size distribution of ancient alluvial systems is commonly determined from surface samples of vertically exposed sections of gravel deposits. This method relies on the hypothesis that the grain-size distribution obtained from a vertical cross section is equivalent to that of the riverbed. Such an hypothesis implies first that the sediments are uniform in size in the river bed, and second that the sampling method implemented on a vertical section leads to a grain-size distribution equivalent to the bulk one. Here, we report a field test of this hypothesis on granulometric samples collected in an active, gravel-bedded, braided stream: the Urumqi River in China. We compare data from volumetric samples of a trench excavated in an active thread and from surface counts performed on the trench vertical faces. Based on this data set, we show that the grain-size distributions obtained from all the samples are similar and that the deposit is uniform at the scale of the river active layer, a layer extending from the surface to a depth of approximately 10 times the size of the largest clasts. As a consequence, the grid-by-number method implemented vertically leads to a grain-size distribution equivalent to the one obtained by a bulk volumetric sampling. This study thus brings support to the hypothesis that vertical surface counts provide an accurate characterization of the grain-size distribution of paleo-braided rivers.</p

Going to the exclusive show : exhibition strategies and moviegoing memories of Disneys animated feature films in Ghent (1937-1982)

This is a case study of the exploitation and experience of Disney's animated feature films from the 1930s to the 1980s in Ghent (Belgium). It is a historical study of programming practices and financial strategies which constructed childhood memories on watching Disney. The study is a contribution to a historical understanding of the implications of global distribution of film as cultural products and the counter pull of localism. Using a multi-method approach, the argument is made that the scarce screenings were strategically programmed to uplift the moviegoing experience into something out of the ordinary in everyday life. Programming and revenue data characterize the screenings as exclusive and generating high intakes. Consequently, the remembered screenings did not exhale an easy accessible social status nor an image of pervasiveness of popular childhood film, contradictory to conventional accounts of Disney's ubiquity in popular culture

Next-generation ensemble projections reveal higher climate risks for marine ecosystems

Projections of climate change impacts on marine ecosystems have revealed long-term declines in global marine animal biomass and unevenly distributed impacts on fisheries. Here we apply an enhanced suite of global marine ecosystem models from the Fisheries and Marine Ecosystem Model Intercomparison Project (Fish-MIP), forced by new-generation Earth system model outputs from Phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6), to provide insights into how projected climate change will affect future ocean ecosystems. Compared with the previous generation CMIP5-forced Fish-MIP ensemble, the new ensemble ecosystem simulations show a greater decline in mean global ocean animal biomass under both strong-mitigation and high-emissions scenarios due to elevated warming, despite greater uncertainty in net primary production in the high-emissions scenario. Regional shifts in the direction of biomass changes highlight the continued and urgent need to reduce uncertainty in the projected responses of marine ecosystems to climate change to help support adaptation planning

Disentangling diverse responses to climate change among global marine ecosystem models

Climate change is warming the ocean and impacting lower trophic level (LTL) organisms. Marine ecosystem models can provide estimates of how these changes will propagate to larger animals and impact societal services such as fisheries, but at present these estimates vary widely. A better understanding of what drives this inter-model variation will improve our ability to project fisheries and other ecosystem services into the future, while also helping to identify uncertainties in process understanding. Here, we explore the mechanisms that underlie the diversity of responses to changes in temperature and LTLs in eight global marine ecosystem models from the Fisheries and Marine Ecosystem Model Intercomparison Project (FishMIP). Temperature and LTL impacts on total consumer biomass and ecosystem structure (defined as the relative change of small and large organism biomass) were isolated using a comparative experimental protocol. Total model biomass varied between −35% to +3% in response to warming, and -17% to +15% in response to LTL changes. There was little consensus about the spatial redistribution of biomass or changes in the balance between small and large organisms (ecosystem structure) in response to warming, an LTL impacts on total consumer biomass varied depending on the choice of LTL forcing terms. Overall, climate change impacts on consumer biomass and ecosystem structure are well approximated by the sum of temperature and LTL impacts, indicating an absence of nonlinear interaction between the models’ drivers. Our results highlight a lack of theoretical clarity about how to represent fundamental ecological mechanisms, most importantly how temperature impacts scale from individual to ecosystem level, and the need to better understand the two-way coupling between LTL organisms and consumers. We finish by identifying future research needs to strengthen global marine ecosystem modelling and improve projections of climate change impacts

Fault kinematics in northern Central America and coupling along the subduction interface of the Cocos Plate, from GPS data in Chiapas (Mexico), Guatemala and El Salvador

International audienceNew GPS measurements in Chiapas (Mexico), Guatemala and El Salvador are used to constrain the fault kinematics in the North America (NA), Caribbean (CA) and Cocos (CO) plates triple junction area. The regional GPS velocity field is first analysed in terms of strain partitioning across the major volcano-tectonic structures, using elastic half-space modelling, then inverted through a block model. We show the dominant role of the Motagua Fault with respect to the Polochic Fault in the accommodation of the present-day deformation associated with the NA and CA relative motion. The NA/CA motion decreases from 18-22 mm yr−1 in eastern Guatemala to 14-20 mm yr−1 in central Guatemala (assuming a uniform locking depth of 14-28 km), down to a few millimetres per year in western Guatemala. As a consequence, the western tip of the CA Plate deforms internally, with ≃9 mm yr−1 of east-west extension (≃5 mm yr−1 across the Guatemala city graben alone). Up to 15 mm yr−1 of dextral motion can be accommodated across the volcanic arc in El Salvador and southeastern Guatemala. The arc seems to mark the northern boundary of an independent forearc sliver (AR), pinned to the NA plate. The inversion of the velocity field shows that a four-block (NA, CA, CO and AR) model, that combines relative block rotations with elastic deformation at the block boundaries, can account for most of the GPS observations and constrain the overall kinematics of the active structures. This regional modelling also evidences lateral variations of coupling at the CO subduction interface, with a fairly high-coupling (≃0.6) offshore Chiapas and low-coupling (≃0.25) offshore Guatemala and El Salvador