Las Opiniones sacadas de los más auténticos y antigos philósofos que sobre la alma escrivieron i sus definiciones, de Daniel Arón Afia.

Included in a volume published in 1568 in Venice alongside the first Spanish translation of Leon Hebreo’s Diálogos de amor, the Opiniones sacadas de los más auténticos y antigos philósofos que sobre la alma escrivieron y sus difiniciones, were written by Aron Daniel Afia, an important Latin and Philosophy scholar in the Salonika of the second half of the 16th c. Descendant of a Converso family returned to Judaism after settlement in Ottoman lands, his short twelve folio work is a compendium of definitions of the soul proposed by thinkers from Antiquity to Renaissance, being a precious example of the intellectual activity (in Latin, Spanish and Hebrew) of the Conversos who chose exile in the Levant. The volume, dedicated to Philip II, shows the attachment of former Conversos to Spanish culture.Las Opiniones sacadas de los más auténticos y antigos philósofos que sobre la alma escrivieron y sus definiciones fueron publicadas en 1568 en Venecia, junto con la primera traducción española de los Diálogos de amor de León Hebreo. Escritas por Daniel Arón Afia, profesor de latín y filosofía establecido en la Salónica de la segunda mitad del siglo XVI, este autor de familia conversa vuelta al judaísmo tras su establecimiento en tierras otomanas. El opúsculo de apenas doce folios es un compendio de definiciones del alma propuestas por pensadores, desde la Antigüedad hasta el Renacimiento, muestra de la actividad intelectual desarrollada en hebreo, latín y castellano de los conversos que escogieron la vía del exilio en el Levante mediterráneo. El volumen fue dedicado a Felipe II y muestra el apego de su promotor a la cultura hispánica

Host Antimicrobial Peptides: the promise of new treatment strategies against Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) continues to be a devastating infectious disease and remerges as a global health emergency due to an alarming rise of antimicrobial resistance to its treatment. Despite of the serious effort that has been applied to develop effective antitubercular chemotherapies, the potential of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) remains underexploited. A large amount of literature is now accessible on the AMP mechanisms of action against a diversity of pathogens; nevertheless, research on their activity on mycobacteria is still scarce. In particular, there is an urgent need to integrate all available interdisciplinary strategies to eradicate extensively drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains. In this context, we should not underestimate our endogenous antimicrobial proteins and peptides as ancient players of the human host defense system. We are confident that novel antibiotics based on human AMPs displaying a rapid and multifaceted mechanism, with reduced toxicity, should significantly contribute to reverse the tide of antimycobacterial drug resistance. In this review, we have provided an up to date perspective of the current research on AMPs to be applied in the fight against TB. A better understanding on the mechanisms of action of human endogenous peptides should ensure the basis for the best guided design of novel antitubercular chemotherapeutics

Early Production of IL-22 but Not IL-17 by Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Exposed to live Borrelia burgdorferi: The Role of Monocytes and Interleukin-1

If insufficiently treated, Lyme borreliosis can evolve into an inflammatory disorder affecting skin, joints, and the CNS. Early innate immunity may determine host responses targeting infection. Thus, we sought to characterize the immediate cytokine storm associated with exposure of PBMC to moderate levels of live Borrelia burgdorferi. Since Th17 cytokines are connected to host defense against extracellular bacteria, we focused on interleukin (IL)-17 and IL-22. Here, we report that, despite induction of inflammatory cytokines including IL-23, IL-17 remained barely detectable in response to B. burgdorferi. In contrast, T cell-dependent expression of IL-22 became evident within 10 h of exposure to the spirochetes. This dichotomy was unrelated to interferon-γ but to a large part dependent on caspase-1 and IL-1 bioactivity derived from monocytes. In fact, IL-1β as a single stimulus induced IL-22 but not IL-17. Neutrophils display antibacterial activity against B. burgdorferi, particularly when opsonized by antibodies. Since neutrophilic inflammation, indicative of IL-17 bioactivity, is scarcely observed in Erythema migrans, a manifestation of skin inflammation after infection, protective and antibacterial properties of IL-22 may close this gap and serve essential functions in the initial phase of spirochete infection

A wide-field view at single molecules and single particles

ABSTRACT: Optical microscopy is among the oldest techniques developed and implemented for modern science; the first microscope dating back to the end of the sixteenth century. Throughout 5 centuries, scientists have greatly benefitted from the remarkable possibilities offered by the observation of nature at small scales in a number of disciplines ranging from biology to medicine and from condensed matter physics to optics. The quest to increase sensitivity and resolution towards smaller and smaller scales, provoked by the demand to gain a much more detailed understanding of the microscopic world, has over the years led to a boost of the capabilities of microscopic techniques, which is continuing even today. Five centuries of theoretical understanding and technological improvements have provided modern scientist the possibility to study matter at the single molecule level. The single molecule and single particle microscopy techniques developed in the last 20 years and subject of this dissertation, has extended the applications of optical microscopies to new fields such as nanotechnology and material science. Modern single molecule microscopy has provided, and still does, scientists with a powerful tool in the quest of investigating matter at the smallest length scales. How to achieve single molecule sensitivity, how the light behaves when emitted by a single molecule, and how the imaging process occurs are largely discussed in this dissertation together with a number of examples where the technique is applied to the investigation of diverse systems and conditions. KORTE SAMENVATTING: Vijf eeuwen theoretische en technologische vooruitgang in microscopie hebben de moderne wetenschapper in staat gesteld om materie te bestuderen tot op het niveau van één enkel molecuul. Het proefschrift van Filippo Lusitani gaat over de ontwikkelingen in de laatste twintig jaar; de periode waarin de toepassingsmogelijkheden van optische microscopie zijn verbreed naar nieuwe onderzoeksvelden zoals nanotechnologie en materiaalwetenschap. Optische microscopie is van oudsher één van de meest toegepaste wetenschappelijke technieken. Sinds de uitvinding van de eerste microscoop (einde van de zestiende eeuw) is microscopie daardoor altijd verder ontwikkeld. Wetenschappers in allerlei disciplines - van biologie en geneeskunde tot natuurkunde en optica – hebben in die tijd enorm kunnen profiteren van het toenemend aantal mogelijkheden om de natuur op microscopisch kleine schaal te kunnen observeren. De moderne enkele-molecuul microscopie stelt wetenschappers in staat om materie te bestuderen tot op de kleinste lengteschalen. In zijn proefschrift behandelt Lustani kwesties als: hoe is enkele-molecuul gevoeligheid te bereiken in een microscoop, hoe gedraagt licht zich wanneer het wordt uitgezonden door één molecuul en hoe vindt het microscopische beeldvormingsproces dan plaats.

R. P. F. Philippi Diez Lusitani, Ord. Min. Regul.

Observance of the province of the Holy mother of James, Praedicantium, Out of all the places in common, locupletiff. Work is very useful and very necessary, as well as the word of God church, or anyone else other Christ '. With an ever watchful care to look after countless of late, quib. Flensburg, from defects, shaft, and the followers of the true lectionirestitutum. New York, With haeredes Io. Ant. Bertani.MDCI. 1601Observance of the province of the Holy mother of James, Praedicantium, Out of all the places in common, locupletiff. Work is very useful and very necessary, as well as the word of God church, or anyone else other Christ '. With an ever watchful care to look after countless of late, quib. Flensburg, from defects, shaft, and the followers of the true lectionirestitutum. New York, With haeredes Io. Ant. Bertani.MDCI. 160

Calprotectin, an Abundant Cytosolic Protein from Human Polymorphonuclear Leukocytes, Inhibits the Growth of Borrelia burgdorferi

We previously showed that numerous polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) granule components efficiently kill Borrelia burgdorferi, the agent of Lyme disease. In addition, motile, granule-poor cytoplasts (U-Cyt) from human blood PMN can exert anti-Borrelia activity against opsonized B. burgdorferi independently of oxidative mechanisms. Here we show that lysates of U-Cyt also possess anti-Borrelia activity, a portion of which comes from the abundant cytosolic protein calprotectin. The anti-Borrelia activity of U-Cyt lysates and recombinant calprotectin was partially or completely reversed by specific antibody to calprotectin and by Zn(2+), a cation essential for the growth of B. burgdorferi and known to inhibit the antimicrobial activity of calprotectin. Quantitative microscopic and regrowth assays revealed that calprotectin acted in a bacteriostatic fashion against B. burgdorferi. We conclude that calprotectin, a potent bacteriostatic agent from a cell primarily recognized for its oxidative and granular antibacterial mechanisms, may play a modulatory role in infection by the Lyme spirochete, particularly at sites of acute inflammation