Milk somatic cell count, lactate dehydrogenase activity, and immunoglobulin G concentration associated with mastitis caused by different pathogens: a field study

The aim of this study is to analyze how somatic cell counts (SCC), immunoglobulin G (IgG), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) interact dependent on the mastitis causing pathogen. Milk samples from 152 quarters were collected on 2 Swiss dairy farms equipped with automatic milking systems. Bacteriological culturing was performed and SCC, LDH activity and IgG concentrations were measured in each sample. Correlations and regressions among SCC, LHD, and IgG were calculated after grouping by the pathogen type (control, S. aureus, C. bovis, coagulase-negative Staphylococcus and S. uberis). All the mastitis causing pathogens were gram-positive bacteria (except for 3 cases with E. coli). In this study, the SCC and LDH were affected by the pathogen group. However, only in the S. uberis group the IgG concentration was higher than in the controls. All studied variables were positively correlated among each other. SCC and LDH were the highest correlated parameters in the control, S. aureus, C. bovis and coagulase- negative Staphylococcus groups. Only in the S. uberis group the correlation between LDH and IgG was higher than the correlation between SCC and LDH. The regression coefficients for SCC and LDH differed between groups whereas regression coefficients for SCC and IgG, and for LDH and IgG were similar in all groups. Because cases with E. coli infection were so rare, we could not include these cases in the statistical evaluation. Based on these few cases E. coli (n=3) seemed to cause a much higher increase of IgG and LDH than the infection with gram-positive bacteria. This study shows that the suitability of LDH as a marker for IgG transfer is dependent on the pathogen. The use of LDH in combination with SCC may be used as a marker to differentiate between gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, but does not allow differentiating the immune response between different gram-positive bacteria

Study of the influence of genotype and rearing method on muscle fibre characteristics in suckling goat kids

Single born male goat kids (n = 160) from eight breeds, Florida (FL), del Guadarrama (GU), Majorera (MA), Palmera (PA), Payoya (PY), Retinta (RE), Tinerfeña (TF) and Verata (VE) were involved in the present study. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of genotype and rearing method on muscle fibre populations and morphology. Two different rearing methods were used: natural suckling (NS) and milk replacer (MR). At least 300 fibres from the Semimembranosus muscle of each experimental animal were labelled as Type I or Type II using immunohistochemistry. In this study, the Type II fibres were bigger than Type I. In addition, the VE breed displayed the highest percentage of Type I fibres, and the MA, PA and TF breeds the lowest. On the contrary, the VE breed displayed the lowest percentage of Type II fibres, while the MA breed showed the highest. Goat kids from the VE, RE, GU and PY breeds displayed bigger fibres (i.e. Types I and II) than the other studied breeds. Regarding the rearing method, animals fed MR displayed more presence of Type II fibres than Type I fibres. Natural suckling animals presented bigger fibres (i.e. Types I and II) than MR goat kids

TRPM8, a Versatile Channel in Human Sperm

BACKGROUND:The transient receptor potential channel (TRP) family includes more than 30 proteins; they participate in various Ca(2+) dependent processes. TRPs are functionally diverse involving thermal, chemical and mechanical transducers which modulate the concentration of intracellular Ca(2+) ([Ca(2+)]i). Ca(2+) triggers and/or regulates principal sperm functions during fertilization such as motility, capacitation and the acrosome reaction. Nevertheless, the presence of the TRPM subfamily in sperm has not been explored. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:Here we document with RT-PCR, western blot and immunocitochemistry analysis the presence of TRPM8 in human sperm. We also examined the participation of this channel in sperm function using specific agonists (menthol and temperature) and antagonists (BCTC and capsazepine). Computer-aided sperm analysis revealed that menthol did not significantly alter human sperm motility. In contrast, menthol induced the acrosome reaction in human sperm. This induction was inhibited about 70% by capsazepine (20 microM) and 80% by BCTC (1.6 microM). Activation of TRPM8 either by temperature or menthol induced [Ca(2+)]i increases in human sperm measured by fluorescence in populations or individual sperm cells, effect that was also inhibited by capsazepine (20 microM) and BCTC (1.6 microM). However, the progesterone and ZP3-induced acrosome reaction was not inhibited by capsazepine or BCTC, suggesting that TRPM8 activation triggers this process by a different signaling pathway. CONCLUSIONS:This is the first report dealing with the presence of a thermo sensitive channel (TRPM8) in human sperm. This channel could be involved in cell signaling events such as thermotaxis or chemotaxis

Expression and differential cell distribution of low-threshold Ca2+ channels in mammalian male germ cells and sperm

AbstractNumerous sperm functions including the acrosome reaction (AR) are associated with Ca2+ influx through voltage-gated Ca2+ (CaV) channels. Although the electrophysiological characterization of Ca2+ currents in mature sperm has proven difficult, functional studies have revealed the presence of low-threshold (CaV3) channels in spermatogenic cells. However, the molecular identity of these proteins remains undefined. Here, we identified by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction the expression of CaV3.3 mRNA in mouse male germ cells, an isoform not previously described in these cells. Immunoconfocal microscopy revealed the presence of the three CaV3 channel isoforms in mouse spermatogenic cells. In mature mouse sperm only CaV3.1 and CaV3.2 were detected in the head, suggesting its participation in the AR. CaV3.1 and CaV3.3 were found in the principal and the midpiece of the flagella. All CaV3 channels are also present in human sperm, but only to a minor extent in the head. These findings were corroborated by immunogold transmission electron microscopy. Tail localization of CaV3 channels suggested they may participate in motility, however, mibefradil and gossypol concentrations that inhibit CaV3 channels did not significantly affect human sperm motility. Only higher mibefradil doses that can block high-threshold (HVA) CaV channels caused small but significant motility alterations. Antibodies to HVA channels detected CaV1.3 and CaV2.3 in human sperm flagella

Euclid preparation. XXVI. The Euclid Morphology Challenge: Towards structural parameters for billions of galaxies

The various Euclid imaging surveys will become a reference for studies of galaxy morphology by delivering imaging over an unprecedented area of 15 000 square degrees with high spatial resolution. In order to understand the capabilities of measuring morphologies from Euclid-detected galaxies and to help implement measurements in the pipeline of the Organisational Unit MER of the Euclid Science Ground Segment, we have conducted the Euclid Morphology Challenge, which we present in two papers. While the companion paper focusses on the analysis of photometry, this paper assesses the accuracy of the parametric galaxy morphology measurements in imaging predicted from within the Euclid Wide Survey. We evaluate the performance of five state-of-the-art surface-brightness-fitting codes, , , , and , on a sample of about 1.5 million simulated galaxies (350 000 above 5σ) resembling reduced observations with the Euclid VIS and NIR instruments. The simulations include analytic Sérsic profiles with one and two components, as well as more realistic galaxies generated with neural networks. We find that, despite some code-specific differences, all methods tend to achieve reliable structural measurements (< 10% scatter on ideal Sérsic simulations) down to an apparent magnitude of about I$_{E}$ = 23 in one component and I$_{E}$ = 21 in two components, which correspond to a signal-to-noise ratio of approximately 1 and 5, respectively. We also show that when tested on non-analytic profiles, the results are typically degraded by a factor of 3, driven by systematics. We conclude that the official Euclid Data Releases will deliver robust structural parameters for at least 400 million galaxies in the Euclid Wide Survey by the end of the mission. We find that a key factor for explaining the different behaviour of the codes at the faint end is the set of adopted priors for the various structural parameters

Immune thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura in older patients: Results from the Spanish TTP Registry (REPTT)

Immune thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (iTTP) is an ultra-rare disease that seldom occurs in the elderly. Few reports have studied the clinical course of iTTP in older patients. In this study, we have analysed the clinical characteristics at presentation and response to therapy in a series of 44 patients with iTTP ≥60 years at diagnosis from the Spanish TTP Registry and compared them with 209 patients with <60 years at diagnosis from the same Registry. Similar symptoms and laboratory results were described in both groups, except for a higher incidence of renal dysfunction among older patients (23% vs. 43.1%; p = 0.008). Front-line treatment in patients ≥60 years was like that administered in younger patients. Also, no evidence of a difference in clinical response and overall survival was seen in both groups. Of note, 14 and 25 patients ≥60 years received treatment with caplacizumab and rituximab, respectively, showing a favourable safety and efficacy profile, like that observed in patients <60 years.Peer reviewe

Euclid preparation. XXV. The Euclid Morphology Challenge -- Towards model-fitting photometry for billions of galaxies

The ESA Euclid mission will provide high-quality imaging for about 1.5 billion galaxies. A software pipeline to automatically process and analyse such a huge amount of data in real time is being developed by the Science Ground Segment of the Euclid Consortium; this pipeline will include a model-fitting algorithm, which will provide photometric and morphological estimates of paramount importance for the core science goals of the mission and for legacy science. The Euclid Morphology Challenge is a comparative investigation of the performance of five model-fitting software packages on simulated Euclid data, aimed at providing the baseline to identify the best suited algorithm to be implemented in the pipeline. In this paper we describe the simulated data set, and we discuss the photometry results. A companion paper (Euclid Collaboration: Bretonni\`ere et al. 2022) is focused on the structural and morphological estimates. We created mock Euclid images simulating five fields of view of 0.48 deg2 each in the $I_E$ band of the VIS instrument, each with three realisations of galaxy profiles (single and double S\'ersic, and 'realistic' profiles obtained with a neural network); for one of the fields in the double S\'ersic realisation, we also simulated images for the three near-infrared $Y_E$, $J_E$ and $H_E$ bands of the NISP-P instrument, and five Rubin/LSST optical complementary bands ($u$, $g$, $r$, $i$, and $z$). To analyse the results we created diagnostic plots and defined ad-hoc metrics. Five model-fitting software packages (DeepLeGATo, Galapagos-2, Morfometryka, ProFit, and SourceXtractor++) were compared, all typically providing good results. (cut)Comment: 29 pages, 33 figures. Euclid pre-launch key paper. Companion paper: Bretonniere et al. 202

Euclid preparation XXVI. The Euclid Morphology Challenge. Towards structural parameters for billions of galaxies

The various Euclid imaging surveys will become a reference for studies of galaxy morphology by delivering imaging over an unprecedented area of 15 000 square degrees with high spatial resolution. In order to understand the capabilities of measuring morphologies from Euclid-detected galaxies and to help implement measurements in the pipeline, we have conducted the Euclid Morphology Challenge, which we present in two papers. While the companion paper by Merlin et al. focuses on the analysis of photometry, this paper assesses the accuracy of the parametric galaxy morphology measurements in imaging predicted from within the Euclid Wide Survey. We evaluate the performance of five state-of-the-art surface-brightness-fitting codes DeepLeGATo, Galapagos-2, Morfometryka, Profit and SourceXtractor++ on a sample of about 1.5 million simulated galaxies resembling reduced observations with the Euclid VIS and NIR instruments. The simulations include analytic S\'ersic profiles with one and two components, as well as more realistic galaxies generated with neural networks. We find that, despite some code-specific differences, all methods tend to achieve reliable structural measurements (10% scatter on ideal S\'ersic simulations) down to an apparent magnitude of about 23 in one component and 21 in two components, which correspond to a signal-to-noise ratio of approximately 1 and 5 respectively. We also show that when tested on non-analytic profiles, the results are typically degraded by a factor of 3, driven by systematics. We conclude that the Euclid official Data Releases will deliver robust structural parameters for at least 400 million galaxies in the Euclid Wide Survey by the end of the mission. We find that a key factor for explaining the different behaviour of the codes at the faint end is the set of adopted priors for the various structural parameters.Comment: Accepted by A&A. 30 pages, 23+6 figures, Euclid pre-launch key paper. Companion paper: Euclid Collaboration XXV: Merlin et al. 2022 Minor corrections after journal revie