The Use of Plasmapheresis in Treatment of Patients with Infertility, Peritoneal Endometriosis and Nat2 Gene Polymorphism

It is known that 30–40 % of patients with peritoneal endometriosis suffer from infertility. Half of the patients with endometriosis are identified point mutation in NAT2 – gene, which plays an important role in the acetylation of aromatic and heterocyclic amines, in the accumulation of endotoxins, activation of free radical oxidation, impaired microcirculation. These factors involve the use of methods of gemapheresis which have detoxification, the blood rheology corrective and immune corrective effects. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of therapeutic plasma exchange in treatment of patients with peritoneal form of endometriosis, infertility and point mutations in the gene NAT2. The study included 140 patients with infertility, peritoneal form of endometriosis and point mutations in the gene NAT2. All patients are performed laparoscopy, coagulation foci of endometriosis. In the following 93 (66.4 %) patients were treated with a the course of therapeutic plasmapheresis using the apparatus «PCS-2» with the removal of 20–25 % the volume of circulating plasma with replacement plasma of crystalloid and colloid solutions. Before treatment were shown the signs of endotoxemia, activation of oxidative stress. After treatment with the use of plasmapheresis was revealed the significant reduction of endogenous intoxication parameters and oxidative stress. Also is noted the increase in the pregnancy rate, both independently and in IVF programs, especially during the first 3 months after treatment. The findings suggest that the efficiency of the proposed comprehensive treatment techniques (laparoscopy and subsequent course of therapeutic plasmapheresis) of patients with peritoneal endometriosis and infertility and with point mutations in the gene NAT2. The use of plasmapheresis is pathogenetically justified in patients of the studied group

The Eurasian Modern Pollen Database (EMPD), version 2

The Eurasian (née European) Modern Pollen Database (EMPD) was established in 2013 to provide a public database of high-quality modern pollen surface samples to help support studies of past climate, land cover, and land use using fossil pollen. The EMPD is part of, and complementary to, the European Pollen Database (EPD) which contains data on fossil pollen found in Late Quaternary sedimentary archives throughout the Eurasian region. The EPD is in turn part of the rapidly growing Neotoma database, which is now the primary home for global palaeoecological data. This paper describes version 2 of the EMPD in which the number of samples held in the database has been increased by 60 % from 4826 to 8134. Much of the improvement in data coverage has come from northern Asia, and the database has consequently been renamed the Eurasian Modern Pollen Database to reflect this geographical enlargement. The EMPD can be viewed online using a dedicated map-based viewer at https://empd2.github.io and downloaded in a variety of file formats at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.909130 (Chevalier et al., 2019)Swiss National Science Foundation | Ref. 200021_16959

The Eurasian Modern Pollen Database (EMPD), version 2

The Eurasian (nee European) Modern Pollen Database (EMPD) was established in 2013 to provide a public database of high-quality modern pollen surface samples to help support studies of past climate, land cover, and land use using fossil pollen. The EMPD is part of, and complementary to, the European Pollen Database (EPD) which contains data on fossil pollen found in Late Quaternary sedimentary archives throughout the Eurasian region. The EPD is in turn part of the rapidly growing Neotoma database, which is now the primary home for global palaeoecological data. This paper describes version 2 of the EMPD in which the number of samples held in the database has been increased by 60% from 4826 to 8134. Much of the improvement in data coverage has come from northern Asia, and the database has consequently been renamed the Eurasian Modern Pollen Database to reflect this geographical enlargement. The EMPD can be viewed online using a dedicated map-based viewer at https://empd2.github.io and downloaded in a variety of file formats at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.909130 (Chevalier et al., 2019).Peer reviewe

An approach for spatial analysis on the medieval Ust-Voikar settlement (subarctic Western Siberia) using macroremains and non-pollen palynomorphs

<p>The settlement of Ust-Voikar is one of the unique multilayered archaeological sites of north-west Siberia. The settlement was inhabited in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period by the Ob Ugrian or northern Khanty ethnographic group. Due to the presence of a frozen cultural layer ruins of wooden residential buildings and other organic materials are well preserved. Plant macroremain, pollen and non-pollen palynomorph (NPP) analyses were applied to samples of the cultural layer from different parts of buildings and from space between them to establish the vegetation cover, plants used by the population, and differences between functional zones in the buildings. For the first time, the NPP analysis combined with statistical methods were used to clarify the settlement planning and human economic activity. Plant communities around the Ust-Voikar settlement were typical for the northern taiga subzone, some settlement's areas were overgrown with weed vegetation. Residents did not engage in agriculture and used local plant resources for construction, medicinal and food purposes. According to macroremain and NPP data were reconstructed (i) the use of spruce branches and cereal bedding indoors and outdoors on wet sites; (ii) the careful use of fire indoors; (iii) the presence of animals indoors; and (iv) whipworm infection. The cluster analysis and principal component analysis of NPPs helped to clarify the planning affiliations of several samples with the unclear origin and to suggest ways in which archaeological objects were used by the inhabitants.</p&gt

Interleukin-15 Dendritic Cells Harness NK Cell Cytotoxic Effector Function in a Contact- and IL-15-Dependent Manner

<div><p>The contribution of natural killer (NK) cells to the treatment efficacy of dendritic cell (DC)-based cancer vaccines is being increasingly recognized. Much current efforts to optimize this form of immunotherapy are therefore geared towards harnessing the NK cell-stimulatory ability of DCs. In this study, we investigated whether generation of human monocyte-derived DCs with interleukin (IL)-15 followed by activation with a Toll-like receptor stimulus endows these DCs, commonly referred to as “IL-15 DCs”, with the capacity to stimulate NK cells. In a head-to-head comparison with “IL-4 DCs” used routinely for clinical studies, IL-15 DCs were found to induce a more activated, cytotoxic effector phenotype in NK cells, in particular in the CD56^bright NK cell subset. With the exception of GM-CSF, no significant enhancement of cytokine/chemokine secretion was observed following co-culture of NK cells with IL-15 DCs. IL-15 DCs, but not IL-4 DCs, promoted NK cell tumoricidal activity towards both NK-sensitive and NK-resistant targets. This effect was found to require cell-to-cell contact and to be mediated by DC surface-bound IL-15. This study shows that DCs can express a membrane-bound form of IL-15 through which they enhance NK cell cytotoxic function. The observed lack of membrane-bound IL-15 on “gold-standard” IL-4 DCs and their consequent inability to effectively promote NK cell cytotoxicity may have important implications for the future design of DC-based cancer vaccine studies.</p></div