Enhanced antiadhesive properties of chitosan/hyaluronic acid polyelectrolyte multilayers driven by thermal annealing: Low adherence for mammalian cells and selective decrease in adhesion for Gram-positive bacteria

The development of antifouling coatings with restricted cell and bacteria adherence is fundamental for many biomedical applications. A strategy for the fabrication of antifouling coatings based on the layer-by-layer assembly and thermal annealing is presented. Polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs) assembled from chitosan and hyaluronic acid were thermally annealed in an oven at 37 degrees C for 72 h. The effect of annealing on the PEM properties and topography was studied by atomic force microscopy, zeta-potential, circular dichroism and contact angle measurements. Cell adherence on PEMs before and after annealing was evaluated by measuring the cell spreading area and aspect ratio for the A549 epithelial, BHK kidney fibroblast, C2C12 myoblast and MC-3T3-E1 osteoblast cell lines. Chitosan/hyaluronic acid PEMs show a low cell adherence that decreases with the thermal annealing, as observed from the reduction in the average cell spreading area and more rounded cell morphology. The adhesion of S. aureus (Gram-positive) and E. coil Gram-negative) bacteria strains was quantified by optical microscopy,. counting the number of colony-forming units and measuring the light scattering of bacteria suspension after detachment from the PEM surface. A 20% decrease in bacteria adhesion was selectively observed in the S. aureus strain after annealing. The changes in mammalian cell and bacteria adhesion correlate with the changes in topography of the chitosan/hyaluronic PEMs from a rough fibrillar 3D structure to a smoother and planar surface after thermal annealing. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V

Intraocular pressure, glaucoma and dietary caffeine consumption: a gene-diet interaction study from the UK Biobank

Objective: We examined the association of habitual caffeine intake with intraocular pressure (IOP) and glaucoma and whether these associations were modified by genetic predisposition to higher IOP. We also assessed whether genetic predisposition to higher coffee consumption was related to IOP. Design: A cross-sectional study in the UK Biobank. Participants: We included 121,374 participants (baseline ages 39-73 years) with data on coffee and tea intake (collected 2006-2010) and corneal-compensated IOP measurements in 2009. In a subset of 77,906 participants with up to five web-based 24-hour-recall food frequency questionnaires (2009-2012) we evaluated total caffeine intake. We also assessed the same relations with any glaucoma (9,286 cases and 189,763 controls). Method: We evaluated multivariable-adjusted associations with IOP using linear regression, and with glaucoma using logistic regression. For both outcomes, we examined gene-diet interactions, using a polygenic risk score (PRS), which combined the effects of 111 genetic variants associated with IOP. We also performed two-sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) using 8 genetic variants associated with coffee intake, to assess potential causal effects of coffee consumption on IOP. Main Outcome and Measures: IOP; glaucoma. Results: Mean IOP was 16.0 mmHg (Standard Deviation=3.8). MR analysis did not support a causal effect of coffee drinking on IOP (P>0.1). Greater caffeine intake was weakly associated with lower IOP: the highest (≥232mg/day) vs. lowest (480mg/day versus <80 mg/day was associated with a 0.35 mmHg higher IOP (Pinteraction=0.01). The relation between caffeine intake and glaucoma was null (P≥0.1). However, this relation was also significantly modified by IOP PRS: compared to those in the lowest IOP PRS quartile consuming no caffeine, those in the highest IOP PRS quartile consuming ≥321mg/day had a 3.90-fold higher glaucoma prevalence (Pinteraction=0.0003). Conclusions: Habitual caffeine consumption was weakly associated with lower IOP and the association between caffeine consumption and glaucoma was null. However, among participants with the strongest genetic predisposition to elevated IOP, greater caffeine consumption was associated with higher IOP and higher glaucoma prevalence

Artery tertiary lymphoid organs control aorta immunity and protect against atherosclerosis via vascular smooth muscle cell lymphotoxin β receptors

Tertiary lymphoid organs (TLOs) emerge during nonresolving peripheral inflammation, but their impact on disease progression remains unknown. We have found in aged Apoe−/− mice that artery TLOs (ATLOs) controlled highly territorialized aorta T cell responses. ATLOs promoted T cell recruitment, primed CD4+ T cells, generated CD4+, CD8+, T regulatory (Treg) effector and central memory cells, converted naive CD4+ T cells into induced Treg cells, and presented antigen by an unusual set of dendritic cells and B cells. Meanwhile, vascular smooth muscle cell lymphotoxin β receptors (VSMC-LTβRs) protected against atherosclerosis by maintaining structure, cellularity, and size of ATLOs though VSMC-LTβRs did not affect secondary lymphoid organs: Atherosclerosis was markedly exacerbated in Apoe−/−Ltbr−/− and to a similar extent in aged Apoe−/−Ltbrfl/flTagln-cre mice. These data support the conclusion that the immune system employs ATLOs to organize aorta T cell homeostasis during aging and that VSMC-LTβRs participate in atherosclerosis protection via ATLOs

Irritable bowel syndrome and risk of glaucoma: An analysis of two independent population-based cohort studies

Objective: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic disorder associated with an abnormal gastrointestinal microbiome. Microbiome–host interactions are known to influence organ function including in the central nervous system; thus, we sought to identify whether IBS may be a risk factor for the development of glaucoma. Design: Two prospective cohort studies. Subjects: The 1958 United Kingdom Birth Cohort (UKBC; 9091 individuals) and the Danish National Registry of Patients (DNRP; 62,541 individuals with IBS and 625,410 matched general population cohort members). Methods: In the UKBC, participants were surveyed throughout life (including at ages 42 and 50). The DNRP contains records of hospital-based contacts and prescription data from the national prescription database. Main Outcome Measure: The main outcome measure was incidence of glaucoma. In the UKBC, incident glaucoma at age 50 (n = 48) was determined through comparison of survey responses at ages 42 and 50 years. In the DNRP, glaucoma was assessed by hospital diagnosis (n = 1510), glaucoma surgery (n = 582) and initiation of glaucoma medications (n = 1674). Results: In the UKBC, the odds ratio (OR) of developing glaucoma between ages 42 and 50 in persons with a chronic IBS diagnosis was increased [OR: 5.84, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.26–15.13]. People with an IBS diagnosis in the DNRP had a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.35 for developing physician-diagnosed glaucoma (95% CI: 1.16–1.56), an HR of 1.35 for undergoing glaucoma surgery (95% CI: 1.06–1.70) and an HR of 1.19 for initiating glaucoma medication (95% CI: 1.03–1.38). Conclusions: In two large European cohort studies, IBS is a risk factor for glaucoma

Dynamical Properties of small Polarons

On the basis of the two-site polaron problem, which we solve by exact diagonalization, we analyse the spectral properties of polaronic systems in view of discerning localized from itinerant polarons and bound polaron pairs from an ensemble of single polarons. The corresponding experimental techniques for that concern photoemission and inverse photoemission spectroscopy. The evolution of the density of states as a function of concentration of charge carriers and strength of the electron-phonon interaction clearly shows the opening up of a gap between single polaronic and bi-polaronic states, in analogy to the Hubbard problem for strongly correlated electron systems. The crossover regime between adiabatic and anti-adiabatic small polarons is triggered by two characteristic time scales: the renormalized electron hopping rate and the renormalized vibrational frequency becoming equal. This crossover regime is then characterized by temporarily alternating self- localization and delocalization of the charge carriers which is accompanied by phase slips in the charge and molecular deformation oscillations and ultimately leads to a dephasing between these two dynamical components of the polaron problem. We visualize these features by a study of the temporal evolution of the charge redistribution and the change in molecular deformations. The spectral and dynamical properties of polarons discussed here are beyond the applicability of the standard Lang Firsov approach to the polaron problem.Comment: 31 pages and 23 figs.(eps), accepted in the Phys. Rev.

An extracellular steric seeding mechanism for Eph-ephrin signaling platform assembly

Erythropoetin-producing hepatoma (Eph) receptors are cell-surface protein tyrosine kinases mediating cell-cell communication. Upon activation, they form signaling clusters. We report crystal structures of the full ectodomain of human EphA2 (eEphA2) both alone and in complex with the receptor-binding domain of the ligand ephrinA5 (ephrinA5 RBD). Unliganded eEphA2 forms linear arrays of staggered parallel receptors involving two patches of residues conserved across A-class Ephs. eEphA2-ephrinA5 RBD forms a more elaborate assembly, whose interfaces include the same conserved regions on eEphA2, but rearranged to accommodate ephrinA5 RBD. Cell-surface expression of mutant EphA2s showed that these interfaces are critical for localization at cell-cell contacts and activation-dependent degradation. Our results suggest a 'nucleation' mechanism whereby a limited number of ligand-receptor interactions 'seed' an arrangement of receptors which can propagate into extended signaling arrays

Orientation dependence of the elastocaloric effect in Ni54Fe19Ga27 ferromagnetic shape memory alloy

The crystallographic anisotropy of elastocaloric effect (ECE) and relative cooling power (RCP) in Ni54Fe19Ga27 shape memory alloy single crystals are studied via compression tests. Single crystals are studied along the [001], [123], and [011] austenite directions and yield different ECE behaviors and maximum RCPs for various strain levels. A thermodynamic framework using the Helmholtz free energy is employed to analyze the total entropy change as a function of strain. Thermodynamic losses are computed from the mechanical hysteresis of superelasticity experiments to quantify the strain dependent RCP. It is found that the [001] orientation generates the highest maximal RCP of 738 J kg−1 when unloaded from 200 MPa. This is attributed mainly to the large superelastic temperature window of 45 K. However, loading the crystals to stresses higher than 200 MPa causes a multistep transformation in the [011] direction, thus reducing the alloy's overall RCP by 135 J kg−1. This is a consequence of the negative entropy change and large transformation hysteresis generated by the second‐stage transformation in the [011] direction. Interestingly, if only the first‐stage transformation in [011] is employed for the ECE, the [011] direction yields the highest RCP compared to [001] and [123] for any strain up to 3.5%

Congenital cystic eye with multiple dermal appendages: a case report

BACKGROUND: A partial or complete failure in the involution of the primary optic vesicle resulting in the formation of a cyst is an extremely rare anomaly known as congenital cystic eye. The primary optic vesicle is formed but instead of the anterior part of the vesicle involuting to lie in apposition with the posterior part, a cyst persists at birth and replaces the eye. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of congenital cystic eye associated with multiple dermal appendages in a 1-day-old female child. This condition presented at birth as a large orbital mass in the left orbit that bulged forwards and stretched the eyelids. No globe or any other ocular structures were identified in the orbit. Multiple dermal appendages were present in the adjacent part of the face below the left orbit and on the upper part of the neck. CONCLUSIONS: Congenital cystic eye is an extremely rare condition and with only 28 previous cases reported in the literature. We present the second case of congenital cystic eye with multiple dermal appendages of the face and neck

SOFIA/HAWC+ Detection of a Gravitationally Lensed Starburst Galaxy at z = 1.03

We present the detection at 89 μm (observed frame) of the Herschel-selected gravitationally lensed starburst galaxy HATLAS J1429-0028 (also known as G15v2.19) in 15 minutes with the High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera-plus (HAWC+) onboard the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). The spectacular lensing system consists of an edge-on foreground disk galaxy at z = 0.22 and a nearly complete Einstein ring of an intrinsic ultra-luminous infrared (IR) galaxy at z = 1.03. Is this high IR luminosity powered by pure star formation (SF) or also an active galactic nucleus (AGN)? Previous nebular line diagnostics indicate that it is star formation dominated. We perform a 27-band multiwavelength spectral energy distribution (SED) modeling including the new SOFIA/HAWC+ data to constrain the fractional AGN contribution to the total IR luminosity. The AGN fraction in the IR turns out to be negligible. In addition, J1429-0028 serves as a testbed for comparing SED results from different models/templates and SED codes (magphys, sed3fit, and cigale). We stress that star formation history is the dominant source of uncertainty in the derived stellar mass (as high as a factor of ~10) even in the case of extensive photometric coverage. Furthermore, the detection of a source at z ~ 1 with SOFIA/HAWC+ demonstrates the potential of utilizing this facility for distant galaxy studies including the decomposition of SF/AGN components, which cannot be accomplished with other current facilities

Unique Structure and Dynamics of the EphA5 Ligand Binding Domain Mediate Its Binding Specificity as Revealed by X-ray Crystallography, NMR and MD Simulations

10.1371/journal.pone.0074040PLoS ONE89-POLN