A chemical survey of exoplanets with ARIEL

Thousands of exoplanets have now been discovered with a huge range of masses, sizes and orbits: from rocky Earth-like planets to large gas giants grazing the surface of their host star. However, the essential nature of these exoplanets remains largely mysterious: there is no known, discernible pattern linking the presence, size, or orbital parameters of a planet to the nature of its parent star. We have little idea whether the chemistry of a planet is linked to its formation environment, or whether the type of host star drives the physics and chemistry of the planet’s birth, and evolution. ARIEL was conceived to observe a large number (~1000) of transiting planets for statistical understanding, including gas giants, Neptunes, super-Earths and Earth-size planets around a range of host star types using transit spectroscopy in the 1.25–7.8 μm spectral range and multiple narrow-band photometry in the optical. ARIEL will focus on warm and hot planets to take advantage of their well-mixed atmospheres which should show minimal condensation and sequestration of high-Z materials compared to their colder Solar System siblings. Said warm and hot atmospheres are expected to be more representative of the planetary bulk composition. Observations of these warm/hot exoplanets, and in particular of their elemental composition (especially C, O, N, S, Si), will allow the understanding of the early stages of planetary and atmospheric formation during the nebular phase and the following few million years. ARIEL will thus provide a representative picture of the chemical nature of the exoplanets and relate this directly to the type and chemical environment of the host star. ARIEL is designed as a dedicated survey mission for combined-light spectroscopy, capable of observing a large and well-defined planet sample within its 4-year mission lifetime. Transit, eclipse and phase-curve spectroscopy methods, whereby the signal from the star and planet are differentiated using knowledge of the planetary ephemerides, allow us to measure atmospheric signals from the planet at levels of 10–100 part per million (ppm) relative to the star and, given the bright nature of targets, also allows more sophisticated techniques, such as eclipse mapping, to give a deeper insight into the nature of the atmosphere. These types of observations require a stable payload and satellite platform with broad, instantaneous wavelength coverage to detect many molecular species, probe the thermal structure, identify clouds and monitor the stellar activity. The wavelength range proposed covers all the expected major atmospheric gases from e.g. H2O, CO2, CH4 NH3, HCN, H2S through to the more exotic metallic compounds, such as TiO, VO, and condensed species. Simulations of ARIEL performance in conducting exoplanet surveys have been performed – using conservative estimates of mission performance and a full model of all significant noise sources in the measurement – using a list of potential ARIEL targets that incorporates the latest available exoplanet statistics. The conclusion at the end of the Phase A study, is that ARIEL – in line with the stated mission objectives – will be able to observe about 1000 exoplanets depending on the details of the adopted survey strategy, thus confirming the feasibility of the main science objectives.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Current and emerging developments in subseasonal to decadal prediction

Weather and climate variations of subseasonal to decadal timescales can have enormous social, economic and environmental impacts, making skillful predictions on these timescales a valuable tool for decision makers. As such, there is a growing interest in the scientific, operational and applications communities in developing forecasts to improve our foreknowledge of extreme events. On subseasonal to seasonal (S2S) timescales, these include high-impact meteorological events such as tropical cyclones, extratropical storms, floods, droughts, and heat and cold waves. On seasonal to decadal (S2D) timescales, while the focus remains broadly similar (e.g., on precipitation, surface and upper ocean temperatures and their effects on the probabilities of high-impact meteorological events), understanding the roles of internal and externally-forced variability such as anthropogenic warming in forecasts also becomes important. The S2S and S2D communities share common scientific and technical challenges. These include forecast initialization and ensemble generation; initialization shock and drift; understanding the onset of model systematic errors; bias correct, calibration and forecast quality assessment; model resolution; atmosphere-ocean coupling; sources and expectations for predictability; and linking research, operational forecasting, and end user needs. In September 2018 a coordinated pair of international conferences, framed by the above challenges, was organized jointly by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) and the World Weather Research Prograame (WWRP). These conferences surveyed the state of S2S and S2D prediction, ongoing research, and future needs, providing an ideal basis for synthesizing current and emerging developments in these areas that promise to enhance future operational services. This article provides such a synthesis

Extracellular Vesicles in Adipose Tissue Communication with the Healthy and Pathological Heart

Adipose tissue and its diverse cell types constitute one of the largest endocrine organs. With multiple depot locations, adipose tissue plays an important regulatory role through paracrine and endocrine communication, particularly through the secretion of a wide range of bioactive molecules, such as nucleic acids, proteins, lipids or adipocytokines. Over the past several years, research has uncovered a myriad of interorgan communication signals mediated by small lipid-derived nanovesicles known as extracellular vesicles (EVs), in which secreted bioactive molecules are stably transported as cargo molecules and delivered to adjacent cells or remote organs. EVs constitute an essential part of the human adipose secretome, and there is a growing body of evidence showing the crucial implications of adipose-derived EVs in the regulation of heart function and its adaptative capacity. The adipose tissue modifications and dysfunction observed in obesity and aging tremendously affect the adipose-EV secretome, with important consequences for the myocardium. The present review presents a comprehensive analysis of the findings in this novel area of research, reports the key roles played by adipose-derived EVs in interorgan cross-talk with the heart and discusses their implications in physiological and pathological conditions affecting adipose tissue and/or the heart (pressure overload, ischemia, diabetic cardiomyopathy, etc.)

Inhibition of aquaporin-1 prevents myocardial remodeling by blocking the transmembrane transport of hydrogen peroxide

Pathological remodeling of the myocardium has long been known to involve oxidant signaling, but strategies using systemic antioxidants have generally failed to prevent it. We sought to identify key regulators of oxidant-mediated cardiac hypertrophy amenable to targeted pharmacological therapy. Specific isoforms of the aquaporin water channels have been implicated in oxidant sensing, but their role in heart muscle is unknown. RNA sequencing from human cardiac myocytes revealed that the archetypal AQP1 is a major isoform. AQP1 expression correlates with the severity of hypertrophic remodeling in patients with aortic stenosis. The AQP1 channel was detected at the plasma membrane of human and mouse cardiac myocytes from hypertrophic hearts, where it colocalized with NADPH oxidase-2 and caveolin-3. We show that hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), produced extracellularly, is necessary for the hypertrophic response of isolated cardiac myocytes and that AQP1 facilitates the transmembrane transport of H2O2 through its water pore, resulting in activation of oxidant-sensitive kinases in cardiac myocytes. Structural analysis of the amino acid residues lining the water pore of AQP1 supports its permeation by H2O2 Deletion of Aqp1 or selective blockade of the AQP1 intrasubunit pore inhibited H2O2 transport in mouse and human cells and rescued the myocyte hypertrophy in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived engineered heart muscle. Treatment of mice with a clinically approved AQP1 inhibitor, Bacopaside, attenuated cardiac hypertrophy. We conclude that cardiac hypertrophy is mediated by the transmembrane transport of H2O2 by the water channel AQP1 and that inhibitors of AQP1 represent new possibilities for treating hypertrophic cardiomyopathies

Beta 3 adrenoreceptors protect from hypertrophic remodelling through AMP-activated protein kinase and autophagy.

The abundance of beta 3-adrenergic receptors (β3-ARs) is upregulated in diseased human myocardium. We previously showed that cardiac-specific expression of β3-AR inhibits the hypertrophic response to neurohormonal stimulation. Here, we further analysed signalling pathways involved in the anti-hypertrophic effect of β3-AR. In vitro hypertrophic responses to phenylephrine (PE) were analysed in neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVM) infected with a recombinant adenovirus expressing the human β3-AR (AdVhβ3). We confirmed results in mice with cardiomyocyte-specific moderate expression of human β3-AR (β3-TG) and wild-type (WT) littermates submitted to thoracic transverse aortic constriction (TAC) for 9 weeks. We observed a colocalization of β3-AR with the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) both in neonatal rat and in adult mouse cardiomyocytes. Treatment of NRVM with PE induced hypertrophy and a decrease in phosphorylation of Thr172-AMPK (/2, P = 0.0487) and phosphorylation of Ser79-acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) (/2.6, P = 0.0317), inducing an increase in phosphorylated Ser235/236 S6 protein (×2.5, P = 0.0367) known to be involved in protein synthesis. These effects were reproduced by TAC in WT mice but restored to basal levels in β3-AR expressing cells/mice. siRNA targeting of AMPK partly abrogated the anti-hypertrophic effect of β3-AR in response to PE in NRVM. Concomitant with hypertrophy, autophagy was decreased by PE, as measured by microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3)-II/LC3-I ratio (/2.6, P = 0.0010) and p62 abundance (×3, P = 0.0016) in NRVM or by TAC in WT mice (LC3-II/LC3-I ratio: /5.4, P = 0.0159), but preserved in human β3-AR expressing cells and mice, together with reduced hypertrophy. Cardiac-specific moderate expression of β3-AR inhibits the hypertrophic response in part through AMPK activation followed by inhibition of protein synthesis and preservation of autophagy. Activation of the cardiac β3-AR pathway may provide future therapeutic avenues for the modulation of hypertrophic remodelling

Daratumumab-based treatment for immunoglobulin light-chain amyloidosis

none269siBACKGROUND Systemic immunoglobulin light-chain (AL) amyloidosis is characterized by deposition of amyloid fibrils of light chains produced by clonal CD38+ plasma cells. Daratumumab, a human CD38-targeting antibody, may improve outcomes for this disease. METHODS We randomly assigned patients with newly diagnosed AL amyloidosis to receive six cycles of bortezomib, cyclophosphamide, and dexamethasone either alone (control group) or with subcutaneous daratumumab followed by single-agent daratumumab every 4 weeks for up to 24 cycles (daratumumab group). The primary end point was a hematologic complete response. RESULTS A total of 388 patients underwent randomization. The median follow-up was 11.4 months. The percentage of patients who had a hematologic complete response was significantly higher in the daratumumab group than in the control group (53.3% vs. 18.1%) (relative risk ratio, 2.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.1 to 4.1; P<0.001). Survival free from major organ deterioration or hematologic progression favored the daratumumab group (hazard ratio for major organ deterioration, hematologic progression, or death, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.36 to 0.93; P=0.02). At 6 months, more cardiac and renal responses occurred in the daratumumab group than in the control group (41.5% vs. 22.2% and 53.0% vs. 23.9%, respectively). The four most common grade 3 or 4 adverse events were lymphopenia (13.0% in the daratumumab group and 10.1% in the control group), pneumonia (7.8% and 4.3%, respectively), cardiac failure (6.2% and 4.8%), and diarrhea (5.7% and 3.7%). Systemic administration-related reactions to daratumumab occurred in 7.3% of the patients. A total of 56 patients died (27 in the daratumumab group and 29 in the control group), most due to amyloidosis-related cardiomyopathy. CONCLUSIONS Among patients with newly diagnosed AL amyloidosis, the addition of daratumumab to bortezomib, cyclophosphamide, and dexamethasone was associated with higher frequencies of hematologic complete response and survival free from major organ deterioration or hematologic progression.noneKastritis E.; Palladini G.; Minnema M.C.; Wechalekar A.D.; Jaccard A.; Lee H.C.; Sanchorawala V.; Gibbs S.; Mollee P.; Venner C.P.; Lu J.; Schonland S.; Gatt M.E.; Suzuki K.; Kim K.; Cibeira M.T.; Beksac M.; Libby E.; Valent J.; Hungria V.; Wong S.W.; Rosenzweig M.; Bumma N.; Huart A.; Dimopoulos M.A.; Bhutani D.; Waxman A.J.; Goodman S.A.; Zonder J.A.; Lam S.; Song K.; Hansen T.; Manier S.; Roeloffzen W.; Jamroziak K.; Kwok F.; Shimazaki C.; Kim J.-S.; Crusoe E.; Ahmadi T.; Tran N.; Qin X.; Vasey S.Y.; Tromp B.; Schecter J.M.; Weiss B.M.; Zhuang S.H.; Vermeulen J.; Merlini G.; Comenzo R.L., Bradley Augustson, Fiona Kwok, Peter Mollee, Simon Gibbs, Chantal Doyen, Greet Bries, Isabelle Vande Broek, Ka Lung Wu, Koen Theunissen, Koen Van Eygen, Michel Delforge, Nathalie Meuleman, Philip Vlummens, Angelo Maiolino, Breno Moreno de Gusmão, Carlos Eduardo Miguel, Edvan Crusoe, Fernanda Moura, Fernanda Seguro, Jandey Bigonha, Juliane Musacchio, Karla Zanella, Laura Garcia, Marcelo Eduardo Zanella Capra, Reijane Alves de Assis, Rosane Bittencourt, Vania Hungria, Walter Braga, Wolney Barreto, Christopher Venner, Donna Reece, Emilie Lemieux-Blanchard, Kevin Song, Michael Sebag, Selay Lam, Victor Zepeda, Haitao Zhang, Jianda Hu, Jin Lu, Juan Li, Songfu Jiang, Ting Niu, Wenming Chen, Xiaonong Chen, Zhen Cai, Zhou Fude, Maja Oelholm Vase, Morten Salomo, Niels Abildgaard, Alain Fuzibet, Anne-Marie Stoppa, Arnaud Jaccard, Bertrand Arnulf, Bruno Moulin, Bruno Royer, David Ghez, Denis Caillot, Dominique Chauveau, Franck Bridoux, Lauriane Clement-Filliatre, Lionel Karlin, Lotfi Benboubker, Mamoun Dib, Margaret Macro, Mohamad Mohty, Olivier Decaux, Olivier Hermine, Olivier Tournilhac, Philippe Moreau, Salomon Manier, Sylvain Choquet, Véronique Dorvaux, Alexander Carpinteiro, Axel Nogai, Britta Besemer, Christoph Roellig, Roland Fenk, Stefan Knop, Stefan Schönland, Timon Hansen, Argiris Symeonidis, Efstathios Kastritis, Gabor Mikala, Tamás Masszi, Zsolt Nagy, Celia Suriu, Hila Magen, Iuliana Vaxman, Lev Shvidel, Meir Preis, Moshe Gatt, Noa Lavi, Osnat Jarchowsky, Tamar Tadmor, Yael Cohen, Angelo Vacca, Giovanni Palladini, Mario Boccadoro, Maurizio Martelli, Maurizio Musso, Michele Cavo, Chihiro Shimazaki, Hiroyuki Takamatsu, Kazutaka Sunami, Kenshi Suzuki, Nagaaki Katoh, Shinsuke Iida, Takayuki Ikezoe, Tomoaki Fujisaki, Yuta Katayama, Chang Ki Min, Ho-Jin Shin, Jin Seok Kim, Jung Yong Hong, Ki Hyun Kim, Sung-Soo Yoon, Aline Ramirez, Alvaro Cabrera, Christian Ramos, David Gomez Almaguer, Deborah Martinez, Guillermo Ruiz, Helen Dayani Caballero, Juan Antonio Flores Jimenez, Annemiek Broijl, Laurens Nieuwenhuizen, Monique Minnema, Paula Ypma, Wilfried Roeloffzen, Dominik Dytfeld, Grzegorz Charlinski, Grzegorz Helbig, Krzysztof Jamroziak, Sebastian Grosicki, Wieslaw Jedrzejczak, Albert Oriol Rocafiguera, Elham Askari, Fernando Escalante Barrigon, Isabel Krsnik Castello, Javier De la Rubia Comos, Jesus Martin Sanchez, Joaquin Martinez Lopez, Jose Angel Hernandez Rivas, Luis Felipe Casado Montero, Maria Jesus Blanchard Rodriguez, Maria Teresa Cibeira Lopez, Maria Victoria Mateos Manteca, Marta Sonia Gonzalez Perez, Mercedes Gironella Mesa, Rafael Rios Tamayo, Ramon Lecumberri Villamediana, Ricarda Garcia Sanchez, Sunil Lakhwani, Yolanda Gonzalez, Hareth Nahi, Kristina Carlsson, Markus Hansson, Ulf-Henrik Mellqvist, Ali Unal, Burhan Ferhanoglu, Hayri Ozsan, Levent Undar, Mehmet Turgut, Mehmet Yilmaz, Meral Beksac, Muhlis Cem Ar, Muzaffer Demir, Sevgi Besisik, Ashutosh Wechalekar, Jamie Cavenagh, Jim Cavet, Mark Cook, Rachel Hall, Adam Waxman, Anuj Mahindra, Cesar Rodriguez Valdes, Christine Ye, Craig Reeder, Daphne Friedman, David Siegel, Divaya Bhutani, Edward Libby, Eva Medvedova, Frank Passero, Giada Bianchi, Giampaolo Talamo, Guido Tricot, Hans Lee, Heather Landau, Jan Moreb, Jason Valent, Jeffrey Matous, Jeffrey A Zonder, Jesus Berdeja, Jonathan Kaufman, Keith Stockerl-Goldstein, Keren Osman, Ketan Doshi, Kevin Barton, Larry Anderson, Manisha Bhutani, Mehmet Kocoglu, Michael Rosenzweig, Michael Schuster, Michaela Liedtke, Morie Gertz, Naresh Bumma, Natalie Callander, Raymond Comenzo, Robert Vescio, Roger Pearse, Sandy W Wong, Stacey A Goodman, Stefano Tarantolo, Taimur Sher, Tibor Kovacsovics, Tomer Mark, Vaishali Sanchorawala, William BensingerKastritis E.; Palladini G.; Minnema M.C.; Wechalekar A.D.; Jaccard A.; Lee H.C.; Sanchorawala V.; Gibbs S.; Mollee P.; Venner C.P.; Lu J.; Schonland S.; Gatt M.E.; Suzuki K.; Kim K.; Cibeira M.T.; Beksac M.; Libby E.; Valent J.; Hungria V.; Wong S.W.; Rosenzweig M.; Bumma N.; Huart A.; Dimopoulos M.A.; Bhutani D.; Waxman A.J.; Goodman S.A.; Zonder J.A.; Lam S.; Song K.; Hansen T.; Manier S.; Roeloffzen W.; Jamroziak K.; Kwok F.; Shimazaki C.; Kim J.-S.; Crusoe E.; Ahmadi T.; Tran N.; Qin X.; Vasey S.Y.; Tromp B.; Schecter J.M.; Weiss B.M.; Zhuang S.H.; Vermeulen J.; Merlini G.; Comenzo R.L., Bradley Augustson, Fiona Kwok, Peter Mollee, Simon Gibbs, Chantal Doyen, Greet Bries, Isabelle Vande Broek, Ka Lung Wu, Koen Theunissen, Koen Van Eygen, Michel Delforge, Nathalie Meuleman, Philip Vlummens, Angelo Maiolino, Breno Moreno de Gusmão, Carlos Eduardo Miguel, Edvan Crusoe, Fernanda Moura, Fernanda Seguro, Jandey Bigonha, Juliane Musacchio, Karla Zanella, Laura Garcia, Marcelo Eduardo Zanella Capra, Reijane Alves de Assis, Rosane Bittencourt, Vania Hungria, Walter Braga, Wolney Barreto, Christopher Venner, Donna Reece, Emilie Lemieux-Blanchard, Kevin Song, Michael Sebag, Selay Lam, Victor Zepeda, Haitao Zhang, Jianda Hu, Jin Lu, Juan Li, Songfu Jiang, Ting Niu, Wenming Chen, Xiaonong Chen, Zhen Cai, Zhou Fude, Maja Oelholm Vase, Morten Salomo, Niels Abildgaard, Alain Fuzibet, Anne-Marie Stoppa, Arnaud Jaccard, Bertrand Arnulf, Bruno Moulin, Bruno Royer, David Ghez, Denis Caillot, Dominique Chauveau, Franck Bridoux, Lauriane Clement-Filliatre, Lionel Karlin, Lotfi Benboubker, Mamoun Dib, Margaret Macro, Mohamad Mohty, Olivier Decaux, Olivier Hermine, Olivier Tournilhac, Philippe Moreau, Salomon Manier, Sylvain Choquet, Véronique Dorvaux, Alexander Carpinteiro, Axel Nogai, Britta Besemer, Christoph Roellig, Roland Fenk, Stefan Knop, Stefan Schönland, Timon Hansen, Argiris Symeonidis, Efstathios Kastritis, Gabor Mikala, Tamás Masszi, Zsolt Nagy, Celia Suriu, Hila Magen, Iuliana Vaxman, Lev Shvidel, Meir Preis, Moshe Gatt, Noa Lavi, Osnat Jarchowsky, Tamar Tadmor, Yael Cohen, Angelo Vacca, Giovanni Palladini, Mario Boccadoro, Maurizio Martelli, Maurizio Musso, Michele Cavo, Chihiro Shimazaki, Hiroyuki Takamatsu, Kazutaka Sunami, Kenshi Suzuki, Nagaaki Katoh, Shinsuke Iida, Takayuki Ikezoe, Tomoaki Fujisaki, Yuta Katayama, Chang Ki Min, Ho-Jin Shin, Jin Seok Kim, Jung Yong Hong, Ki Hyun Kim, Sung-Soo Yoon, Aline Ramirez, Alvaro Cabrera, Christian Ramos, David Gomez Almaguer, Deborah Martinez, Guillermo Ruiz, Helen Dayani Caballero, Juan Antonio Flores Jimenez, Annemiek Broijl, Laurens Nieuwenhuizen, Monique Minnema, Paula Ypma, Wilfried Roeloffzen, Dominik Dytfeld, Grzegorz Charlinski, Grzegorz Helbig, Krzysztof Jamroziak, Sebastian Grosicki, Wieslaw Jedrzejczak, Albert Oriol Rocafiguera, Elham Askari, Fernando Escalante Barrigon, Isabel Krsnik Castello, Javier De la Rubia Comos, Jesus Martin Sanchez, Joaquin Martinez Lopez, Jose Angel Hernandez Rivas, Luis Felipe Casado Montero, Maria Jesus Blanchard Rodriguez, Maria Teresa Cibeira Lopez, Maria Victoria Mateos Manteca, Marta Sonia Gonzalez Perez, Mercedes Gironella Mesa, Rafael Rios Tamayo, Ramon Lecumberri Villamediana, Ricarda Garcia Sanchez, Sunil Lakhwani, Yolanda Gonzalez, Hareth Nahi, Kristina Carlsson, Markus Hansson, Ulf-Henrik Mellqvist, Ali Unal, Burhan Ferhanoglu, Hayri Ozsan, Levent Undar, Mehmet Turgut, Mehmet Yilmaz, Meral Beksac, Muhlis Cem Ar, Muzaffer Demir, Sevgi Besisik, Ashutosh Wechalekar, Jamie Cavenagh, Jim Cavet, Mark Cook, Rachel Hall, Adam Waxman, Anuj Mahindra, Cesar Rodriguez Valdes, Christine Ye, Craig Reeder, Daphne Friedman, David Siegel, Divaya Bhutani, Edward Libby, Eva Medvedova, Frank Passero, Giada Bianchi, Giampaolo Talamo, Guido Tricot, Hans Lee, Heather Landau, Jan Moreb, Jason Valent, Jeffrey Matous, Jeffrey A Zonder, Jesus Berdeja, Jonathan Kaufman, Keith Stockerl-Goldstein, Keren Osman, Ketan Doshi, Kevin Barton, Larry Anderson, Manisha Bhutani, Mehmet Kocoglu, Michael Rosenzweig, Michael Schuster, Michaela Liedtke, Morie Gertz, Naresh Bumma, Natalie Callander, Raymond Comenzo, Robert Vescio, Roger Pearse, Sandy W Wong, Stacey A Goodman, Stefano Tarantolo, Taimur Sher, Tibor Kovacsovics, Tomer Mark, Vaishali Sanchorawala, William Bensinge