Can Adipokine FAM19A5 Be a Biomarker of Metabolic Disorders?

Agnieszka Wesołek-Leszczyńska,1,2 Katarzyna Pastusiak,1 Paweł Bogdański,1,* Monika Szulińska1,* 1Department of Treatment of Obesity, Metabolic Disorders and Clinical Dietetics, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland; 2Doctoral School, Poznan University Of Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Agnieszka Wesołek-Leszczyńska, Department of Treatment of Obesity, Metabolic Disorders and Clinical Dietetics, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 82/84 Szamarzewskiego Street, Poznań, 60-569, Poland, Tel +48  721  947 738, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: One of the most critical functions of adipose tissue is the production of adipokines, ie, numerous active substances that regulate metabolism. One is the newly discovered FAM19A5, whose older name is TAFA-5.Purpose: The study aimed to review the literature on the FAM19A5 protein.Methods: The review was conducted in December 2023 using the PubMed (Medline) search engine. Sixty-four papers were included in the review.Results: This protein exhibits the characteristics of an adipokine with positive features for maintaining homeostasis. The results showed that FAM19A5 was highly expressed in adipose tissue, with mild to moderate expression in the brain and ovary. FAM19A5 may also inhibit vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and migration through the perivascular adipose tissue paracrine pathway. Serum levels of FAM19A5 were decreased in obese children compared with healthy controls. There are negative correlations between FAM19A5, body mass index, and fasting insulin. Serum FAM19A5 level is correlated with type 2 diabetes, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, glutamic pyruvic transferase, fasting plasma glucose, HbA1c, and mean shoulder pulse wave velocity. FAM19A5 expression was reduced in mice with obesity. However, the data available needs to be clarified or contradictory.Conclusion: Considering today’s knowledge about FAM19A5, we cannot consider this protein as a biomarker of the metabolic syndrome. According to current knowledge, FAM19A5 cannot be considered a marker of metabolic disorders because the results of studies conducted in this area are unclear.Keywords: fat tissue, metabolic syndrome, adipokines, adipocytes, obesit

One Solar Cycle of Heliosphere Observations with the Interstellar Boundary Explorer: Energetic Neutral Hydrogen Atoms Observed with IBEX-Lo from 10 eV to 2 keV

The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) is a NASA satellite in Earth orbit, dedicated to observing both interstellar neutral atoms entering the heliosphere and energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) from the interstellar boundaries from roughly 10 eV to 6 keV. This work presents the averaged maps, energy spectra, and temporal variability of heliospheric ENA intensities measured with the IBEX-Lo instrument at 1 au at energies between 10 eV and 2 keV, covering one entire solar cycle from 2009 through 2019. These results expand the range in time and energy for studying the globally distributed ENA flux and the IBEX Ribbon. The observed ENA intensities exceed model predictions, in particular below 500 eV. Moreover, the ENA intensities between 50–200 eV energy show an unexpected rise and fall around the year 2015 in most sky regions

Differential Cathelicidin Expression in Duodenal and Gastric Biopsies from Tanzanian and German Patients

Epithelial surfaces such as the gastrointestinal mucosa depend on expression of antimicrobial peptides like cathelicidin for immune defence against pathogens. The mechanisms behind mucosal cathelicidin regulation are incompletely understood. Cathelicidin expression was analysed in duodenal, antral and corpus/fundic mucosal biopsies from African and German patients. Additionally, cathelicidin expression was correlated with Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection and the inflammatory status of the mucosa. High cathelicidin transcript abundance was detected in duodenal biopsies from African subjects. On the contrary, cathelicidin mRNA expression was either undetectable or very low in tissue specimens from German patients. Also, in the antrum and corpus/fundus regions of the stomach significantly higher cathelicidin transcript levels were measured in Tanzanian compared to German patients. In gastric biopsies from African patients cathelicidin expression was increased in HP positive compared to HP negative subjects. Additionally, the inflammatory status measured by IL-8 expression correlated well with the HP infection status. A higher duodenal and gastric cathelicidin expression in African (compared with European) individuals may be due to upregulation by antigenic stimulation and may confer a higher resistance against enteric infections

A combination of three surface modifiers for the optimal generation and application of natural hybrid nanopigments in a biodegradable resin

Our purpose was to improve the thermal, mechanical and optimal properties of an epoxy bioresin using optimum hybrid natural pigments previously synthesised in our lab. Next, we searched for the best combinations of factors in the synthesis of natural hybrid nanopigments and then incorporated them into the bioresin. We combined three structural modifiers in the nanopigment synthesis, surfactant, coupling agent (silane) and a mordant salt (alum), selected to replicate mordant textile dyeing with natural dyes. We used Taguchi s design L8 to seek final performance optimisation. We selected three natural dyes, chlorophyll, beta-carotene and beetroot extract, and used two laminar nanoclay types, montmorillonite and hydrotalcite. The thermal, mechanical and colorimetric characterisation of the composite obtained by mixing natural hybrid nanopigments (bionanocomposite) was made. The natural dye interactions with both nanoclays improved the thermal stabilities, colour performance and UV VIS light exposure stability of natural dyes and bioresins. The best bionanocomposite materials were found in an acidic pH [3, 4] environment and by modifying nanoclays with mordant and surfactant during the nanopigment synthesis processWe thank the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for funding Projects DPI2011-30090-C02-02 and DPI2015-68514-R.Micó Vicent, B.; Jordán Núñez, J.; Martinez Verdu, FM.; Balart Gimeno, RA. (2017). A combination of three surface modifiers for the optimal generation and application of natural hybrid nanopigments in a biodegradable resin. Journal of Materials Science. 52(2):889-898. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-016-0384-8S889898522Majdzadeh-Ardakani K, Nazari B (2010) Improving the mechanical properties of thermoplastic starch/poly(vinyl alcohol)/clay nanocomposites. 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Searches for Neutrinos from Gamma-Ray Bursts Using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are considered as promising sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) due to their large power output. Observing a neutrino flux from GRBs would offer evidence that GRBs are hadronic accelerators of UHECRs. Previous IceCube analyses, which primarily focused on neutrinos arriving in temporal coincidence with the prompt gamma-rays, found no significant neutrino excess. The four analyses presented in this paper extend the region of interest to 14 days before and after the prompt phase, including generic extended time windows and targeted precursor searches. GRBs were selected between 2011 May and 2018 October to align with the data set of candidate muon-neutrino events observed by IceCube. No evidence of correlation between neutrino events and GRBs was found in these analyses. Limits are set to constrain the contribution of the cosmic GRB population to the diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux observed by IceCube. Prompt neutrino emission from GRBs is limited to ≲1% of the observed diffuse neutrino flux, and emission on timescales up to 104 s is constrained to 24% of the total diffuse flux.Peer Reviewe

IceCube Search for Neutrinos Coincident with Compact Binary Mergers from LIGO-Virgo's First Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog

Using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, we search for high-energy neutrino emission coincident with compact binary mergers observed by the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave (GW) detectors during their first and second observing runs. We present results from two searches targeting emission coincident with the sky localization of each gravitational wave event within a 1000 second time window centered around the reported merger time. One search uses a model-independent unbinned maximum likelihood analysis, which uses neutrino data from IceCube to search for point-like neutrino sources consistent with the sky localization of GW events. The other uses the Low-Latency Algorithm for Multi-messenger Astrophysics, which incorporates astrophysical priors through a Bayesian framework and includes LIGO-Virgo detector characteristics to determine the association between the GW source and the neutrinos. No significant neutrino coincidence is seen by either search during the first two observing runs of the LIGO-Virgo detectors. We set upper limits on the time-integrated neutrino emission within the 1000 second window for each of the 11 GW events. These limits range from 0.02-0.7 $\mathrm{GeV~cm^{-2}}$. We also set limits on the total isotropic equivalent energy, $E_{\mathrm{iso}}$, emitted in high-energy neutrinos by each GW event. These limits range from 1.7 $\times$ 10$^{51}$ - 1.8 $\times$ 10$^{55}$ erg. We conclude with an outlook for LIGO-Virgo observing run O3, during which both analyses are running in real time

Search for PeV gamma-ray emission from the southern hemisphere with 5 Yr of data from the IceCube observatory

The measurement of diffuse PeV gamma-ray emission from the Galactic plane would provide information about the energy spectrum and propagation of Galactic cosmic rays, and the detection of a pointlike source of PeV gamma-rays would be strong evidence for a Galactic source capable of accelerating cosmic rays up to at least a few PeV. This paper presents several unbinned maximum-likelihood searches for PeV gamma-rays in the Southern Hemisphere using 5 yr of data from the IceTop air shower surface detector and the in-ice array of the IceCube Observatory. The combination of both detectors takes advantage of the low muon content and deep shower maximum of gamma-ray air showers and provides excellent sensitivity to gamma-rays between similar to 0.6 and 100 PeV. Our measurements of pointlike and diffuse Galactic emission of PeV gamma-rays are consistent with the background, so we constrain the angle-integrated diffuse gamma-ray flux from the Galactic plane at 2 PeV to 2.61 x 10(-19) cm(-2) s(-1) TeV-1 at 90% confidence, assuming an E-3 spectrum, and we estimate 90% upper limits on pointlike emission at 2 PeV between 10(-21) and 10(-20) cm(-2) s(-1) TeV-1 for an E-2 spectrum, depending on decl. Furthermore, we exclude unbroken power-law emission up to 2 PeV for several TeV gamma-ray sources observed by the High Energy Spectroscopic System and calculate upper limits on the energy cutoffs of these sources at 90% confidence. We also find no PeV gamma-rays correlated with neutrinos from IceCube's high-energy starting event sample. These are currently the strongest constraints on PeV gamma-ray emission

Characteristics of the diffuse astrophysical electron and tau neutrino flux with six years of IceCube high energy cascade data

We report on the first measurement of the astrophysical neutrino flux using particle showers (cascades) in IceCube data from 2010 -- 2015. Assuming standard oscillations, the astrophysical neutrinos in this dedicated cascade sample are dominated ($\sim 90 \%$) by electron and tau flavors. The flux, observed in the sensitive energy range from $16\,\mathrm{TeV}$ to $2.6\,\mathrm{PeV}$, is consistent with a single power-law model as expected from Fermi-type acceleration of high energy particles at astrophysical sources. We find the flux spectral index to be $\gamma=2.53\pm0.07$ and a flux normalization for each neutrino flavor of $\phi_{astro} = 1.66^{+0.25}_{-0.27}$ at $E_{0} = 100\, \mathrm{TeV}$, in agreement with IceCube's complementary muon neutrino results and with all-neutrino flavor fit results. In the measured energy range we reject spectral indices $\gamma\leq2.28$ at $\ge3\sigma$ significance level. Due to high neutrino energy resolution and low atmospheric neutrino backgrounds, this analysis provides the most detailed characterization of the neutrino flux at energies below $\sim100\,{\rm{TeV}}$ compared to previous IceCube results. Results from fits assuming more complex neutrino flux models suggest a flux softening at high energies and a flux hardening at low energies (p-value $\ge 0.06$). The sizable and smooth flux measured below $\sim 100\,{\rm{TeV}}$ remains a puzzle. In order to not violate the isotropic diffuse gamma-ray background as measured by the Fermi-LAT, it suggests the existence of astrophysical neutrino sources characterized by dense environments which are opaque to gamma-rays.Comment: 4 figures, 4 tables, includes supplementary materia