CARMA1 is a novel regulator of T-ALL disease and leukemic cell migration to the CNS

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A geometric bound on F-term inflation

We discuss a general bound on the possibility to realise inflation in any minimal supergravity with F-terms. The derivation crucially depends on the sGoldstini, the scalar field directions that are singled out by spontaneous supersymmetry breaking. The resulting bound involves both slow-roll parameters and the geometry of the K\"ahler manifold of the chiral scalars. We analyse the inflationary implications of this bound, and in particular discuss to what extent the requirements of single field and slow-roll can both be met in F-term inflation.Comment: 14 pages, improved analysis, references added, matches published versio

Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists eplerenone and spironolactone modify adrenal cortex morphology and physiology

Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs) are a class of anti-hypertensive drugs that act by blocking aldosterone action. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the MRAs spironolactone and eplerenone influence adrenal cortical physiology and morphology. Spontaneous hypertensive rats (SHR, n = 18) and normotensive rats (WKY, n = 18) were randomly exposed to a daily dose of spironolactone (n = 6), eplerenone (n = 6), or no drug (n = 6) over 28 days. After that, aldosterone, corticosterone, and 11-deoxycorticosterone plasma concentrations were quantified. Adrenal glands were subjected to morphological analysis to assess lipid droplets content, capsular width, cell proliferation, and steroidogenic proteins expression. The adrenal cortex in untreated SHR showed higher lipid droplet content as than in WKY. In SHR, MRA treatment was associated with higher circulating aldosterone levels and Ki-67 expression in aldosterone-secreting cells. In WKY, the only difference observed after MRA spironolactone treatment was a narrower capsule. There was no difference in abundance of steroidogenic enzyme between groups. In conclusion, MRAs modify adrenal gland function and morphology in SHR. The effects observed within the adrenal glomerulosa with aldosterone-secreting cell proliferation and higher circulating aldosterone levels suggests that MRA treatment provokes activation of the renin angiotensin system. The prognostic value of hyperaldosteronism secondary to MRAs blockade requires further investigation.Funding: This research was funded by the Associação dos Amigos do Serviço de Endocrinologia do Hospital de São João (2020–2021). Unit for Multidisciplinary Research in Biomedicine (UMIB) is funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)-Portugal (UIDB/00215/2020 and UIDP/00215/2020—approval date: 2019)

Use of resuscitation promoting factors to screen for tuberculosis infection in household-exposed children in The Gambia.

BACKGROUND: Interferon-γ release assays (IGRA) with Resuscitation promoting factor (Rpf) proteins enhanced tuberculosis (TB) screening and diagnosis in adults but have not been evaluated in children. Children often develop paucibacillary TB and their immune response differs from that of adults, which together affect TB disease diagnostics and immunodiagnostics. We assessed the ability of Rpf to identify infection among household TB-exposed children in The Gambia and investigated their ability to discriminate Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) infection from active TB disease in children. METHODS: Detailed clinical investigations were done on 93 household TB-exposed Gambian children and a tuberculin skin test (TST) was administered to asymptomatic children. Venous blood was collected for overnight stimulation with ESAT-6/CFP-10-fusion protein (EC), purified protein derivative and RpfA, B, C, D and E. Interferon gamma (IFN-γ) production was measured by ELISA in supernatants and corrected for the background level. Infection status was defined by IGRA with EC and TB disease by mycobacterial confirmation and/or clinical diagnosis. We compared IFN-γ levels between infected and uninfected children and between infected and TB diseased children using a binomial logistic regression model while correcting for age and sex. A Receiver Operating Characteristics analysis was done to find the best cut-off for IFN-γ level and calculate sensitivity and specificity. RESULTS: Interferon gamma production was significantly higher in infected (IGRA+, n = 45) than in uninfected (IGRA-, n = 20) children after stimulation with RpfA, B, C, and D (P = 0.03; 0.007; 0.03 and 0.003, respectively). Using RpfB and D-specific IFN-γ cut-offs (33.9 pg/mL and 67.0 pg/mL), infection was classified with a sensitivity-specificity combination of 73-92% and 77-72% respectively, which was similar to and better than 65-75% for TST. Moreover, IFN-γ production was higher in infected than in TB diseased children (n = 28, 5 bacteriologically confirmed, 23 clinically diagnosed), following RpfB and D stimulation (P = 0.02 and 0.03, respectively). CONCLUSION: RpfB and RpfD show promising results for childhood MTBC infection screening, and both performed similar to and better than the TST in our study population. Additionally, both antigens appear to discriminate between infection and disease in children and thus warrant further investigation as screening and diagnostic antigens for childhood TB

Chemical Evolution of CoCrMo Wear Particles: An in Situ Characterization Study

The unexpected high failure rates of CoCrMo hip implants are associated with the release of a large number of inflammatory wear particles. CoCrMo is nominally a stable material; however, previous chemical speciation studies on CoCrMo wear particles obtained from periprosthetic tissue revealed only trace amounts of Co remaining despite Co being the major component of the alloy. The unexpected high levels of Co dissolution in vivo raised significant clinical concerns particularly related to the Cr speciation in the dissolution process. At high electrochemical potentials, the alloy's Cr-rich passive film breaks down (transpassive polarization), facilitating alloy dissolution. The potential release of the carcinogenic Cr(VI) species in vivo has been a subject of debate. While the large-scale Co dissolution observed on in vivo produced particles could indicate a highly oxidizing in vivo environment, Cr(VI) species were not previously detected in periprosthetic tissue samples (except in the specific case of post-mortem tissue of diabetic patients). However, Cr(VI) is likely to be an unstable (transient) species in biological environments, and studies on periprosthetic tissue do not provide information about intermediate reaction products or the exposure history of the wear particles. Here, an in situ spectromicroscopy approach was developed, utilizing the high chemical resolution of synchrotron radiation, to study CoCrMo reactivity as a function of time and oxidizing conditions. The results reveal limited Co dissolution from CoCrMo particles, which increases dramatically at a critical electrochemical potential. Furthermore, in situ XAS detected only Cr(III) dissolution, even at potentials where Cr(VI) is known to be produced, suggesting that Cr(VI) species are extremely transient in simulated biological environments where the oxidation zone is small

Determination of the atmospheric lifetime and global warming potential of sulfur hexafluoride using a three-dimensional model

We have used the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM), with an updated treatment of loss processes, to determine the atmospheric lifetime of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). The model includes the following SF6 removal processes: photolysis, electron attachment and reaction with mesospheric metal atoms. The Sodankylä Ion Chemistry (SIC) model is incorporated into the standard version of WACCM to produce a new version with a detailed D region ion chemistry with cluster ions and negative ions. This is used to determine a latitude- and altitude-dependent scaling factor for the electron density in the standard WACCM in order to carry out multi-year SF6 simulations. The model gives a mean SF6 lifetime over an 11-year solar cycle (τ) of 1278 years (with a range from 1120 to 1475 years), which is much shorter than the currently widely used value of 3200 years, due to the larger contribution (97.4 %) of the modelled electron density to the total atmospheric loss. The loss of SF6 by reaction with mesospheric metal atoms (Na and K) is far too slow to affect the lifetime. We investigate how this shorter atmospheric lifetime impacts the use of SF6 to derive stratospheric age of air. The age of air derived from this shorter lifetime SF6 tracer is longer by 9 % in polar latitudes at 20 km compared to a passive SF6 tracer. We also present laboratory measurements of the infrared spectrum of SF6 and find good agreement with previous studies. We calculate the resulting radiative forcings and efficiencies to be, on average, very similar to those reported previously. Our values for the 20-, 100- and 500-year global warming potentials are 18 000, 23 800 and 31 300, respectively

ZnO Nanomaterials and Ionic Zn Partition within Wastewater Sludge Investigated by Isotopic Labeling

The increasing commercial use of engineered zinc oxide nanomaterials necessitates a thorough understanding of their behavior following their release into wastewater. Herein, the fates of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) and ionic Zn in a real primary sludge collected from a municipal wastewater system are studied via stable isotope tracing at an environmentally relevant spiking concentration of 15.2 µg g−1. Due to rapid dissolution, nanoparticulate ZnO does not impart particle-specific effects, and the Zn ions from NP dissolution and ionic Zn display indistinguishable behavior as they partition equally between the solid, liquid, and ultrafiltrate phases of the sludge over a 4-h incubation period. This work provides important constraints on the behavior of engineered ZnO nanomaterials in primary sludge—the first barrier in a wastewater treatment plant—at low, realistic concentrations. As the calculated solid–liquid partition coefficients are significantly lower than those reported in prior studies that employ unreasonably high spiking concentrations, this work highlights the importance of using low, environmentally relevant doses of engineered nanomaterials in experiments to obtain accurate risk assessments

Early astrocytic atrophy in the entorhinal cortex of a triple transgenic animal model of Alzheimer's disease

The EC (entorhinal cortex) is fundamental for cognitive and mnesic functions. Thus damage to this area appears as a key element in the progression of AD (Alzheimer's disease), resulting in memory deficits arising from neuronal and synaptic alterations as well as glial malfunction. In this paper, we have performed an in-depth analysis of astroglial morphology in the EC by measuring the surface and volume of the GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein) profiles in a triple transgenic mouse model of AD [3xTg-AD (triple transgenic mice of AD)]. We found significant reduction in both the surface and volume of GFAP-labelled profiles in 3xTg-AD animals from very early ages (1 month) when compared with non-Tg (non-transgenic) controls (48 and 54%, reduction respectively), which was sustained for up to 12 months (33 and 45% reduction respectively). The appearance of Aβ (amyloid β-peptide) depositions at 12 months of age did not trigger astroglial hypertrophy; nor did it result in the close association of astrocytes with senile plaques. Our results suggest that the AD progressive cognitive deterioration can be associated with an early reduction of astrocytic arborization and shrinkage of the astroglial domain, which may affect synaptic connectivity within the EC and between the EC and other brain regions. In addition, the EC seems to be particularly vulnerable to AD pathology because of the absence of evident astrogliosis in response to Aβ accumulation. Thus we can consider that targeting astroglial atrophy may represent a therapeutic strategy which might slow down the progression of AD

Prediction of Reverse Remodeling at Cardiac MR Imaging Soon after First ST-Segment-Elevation Myocardial Infarction: Results of a Large Prospective Registry

[EN] Conclusion: Assessment of infarct size and MVO with cardiac MR imaging soon after STEMI enables one to make a decision in the prediction of reverse remodeling. (C) RSNA, 2015Supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III and FEDER (grant PI1400271) and the Generalitat Valenciana (grant PROMETEO/2013/007).Bodi, V.; Monmeneu, J.; Ortiz-Perez, J.; López-Lereu, M.; Bonanad, C.; Husser, O.; Minana, G.... (2016). Prediction of Reverse Remodeling at Cardiac MR Imaging Soon after First ST-Segment-Elevation Myocardial Infarction: Results of a Large Prospective Registry. Radiology. 278(1):54-63. https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.2015142674S5463278

The Late Neandertal permanent lower left third premolar from Walou Cave (Trooz, Belgium) and its context

Objectives We describe a hominin permanent lower left third premolar unearthed in 1997 at Walou Cave (Belgium), found in direct association with a Mousterian lithic industry, in a layer directly dated to 40–38,000 years BP. Materials and methods The taxonomical attribution of the tooth is addressed through comparative morphometric analyses, and stable isotope analyses aimed at determining the diet of the individual. Results The Walou P3 plots within the Neandertal range of variation and is significantly different from recent modern humans in all morphometric assessments. The isotope data showed that like other Neandertals, the Walou individual acquired its dietary proteins primarily from terrestrial food sources. Discussion We discuss the implications of the existence of a clearly Neandertal premolar dating to the period of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in the Meuse river basin