Osmolyte-related recovery of the opaque-6 lethal phenotype in Zea mays L

Endosperm growth and development is a complex phenomenon, driven by the coordinate expression of several genes. A series of endosperm mutants with altered timing and zein synthesis rate have been studied, allowing the partial unravelling of a multifarious system, integrating carbohydrate, amino acid, and storage protein me¬tabolisms, and operating during endosperm growth and development. The exact biological function of one of these loci, the Opaque-6 (O6) gene, remains to be acknowledged. The o6 locus determines a general reduction of 19- and 22 kDa zeins as well as a number of non-zein polypeptides present in the wild type endosperm. The o6 mutants present a collapsed, dull endosperm, leaf striations and early seedling death; however, o6 seedlings can survive when grown in the presence of exogenous proline. It has been suggested that, in mutant seeds and in con¬trast with the development of the normal seeds, proline does not reach the sites of protein synthesis in adequate amounts. Yet, it has been demonstrated that amino acids other than proline are also able to restore o6 seedling le¬thality, contradicting this hypothesis. In this paper, we explored the possibility that the observed proline-mediated rescue of o6 mutant seedling lethality regarded an osmolyte-mediated mitigation of aberrant protein folding rather than the restoration of a reduced proline flux needed for protein synthesis. This hypothesis was tested by means of in vitro cultivation of o6 seedlings in the presence of putative osmolytes including a series of amino acids, me¬thylamines, and polyols. Several osmolytes were identified, which were able to restore normal growth in o6 mutant seedlings. Root reestablishment required higher osmolyte concentrations than those necessary for the recovery of the aboveground plant parts. The results presented in this paper provide sufficient preliminary evidence to assume that proline-induced recovery of the o6 mutant phenotype depends on the osmolytic properties of this amino acid

Visible light 3D printing with epoxidized vegetable oils

Stereolithography is a 3D printing technique in which a liquid monomer is photopolymerized to produce a solid object. The most widely used materials usually belong to the family of acrylate monomers, and photopolymerization occurs through a radical pathway. Photoinitiators can absorb UV or (less often) visible light, producing radicals for direct decomposition or hydrogen abstraction. Due to the toxicity of acrylates, vegetable oil-derived monomers were used in this study. In fact, vegetable oils contain unsaturations, and thus, they can be exploited as monomers. In particular, linseed oil, tung oil or edible oils (soybean, sunflower or corn) could be good candidates as raw materials. Unfortunately, the photoinduced radical polymerization of these oils either does not occur or is too slow for 3D printing applications. For this reason, the oils were modified as epoxides. Epoxides are monomers that are more reactive than natural oils, and they can be polymerized via a cationic mechanism. The aim of this work was to exploit visible light generated by a common digital projector (like those used in classrooms) as a light source. Since the tested photoacid generators working under visible light are ineffective for the polymerization of epoxidized oils, a multi-component photo-initiating mixture was used

Water planning and management in the Cornia river plain by means of the gis-integrated freewat platform

Coastal aquifer, Cornia valley, Tuscany, Managed Aquifer Recharge, FREEWAT platform

Rituximab retention rate in systemic sclerosis: a long term real-life multicenter study

eywords: B-cells; real-life data; retention rate; rituximab; systemic sclerosis

Management of pregnancy in autoimmune rheumatic diseases: maternal disease course, gestational and neonatal outcomes and use of medications in the prospectiveItalian P-RHEUM.it study

Objectives To investigate pregnancy outcomes in women with autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARD) in the Italian prospective cohort study P-RHEUM.it. Methods Pregnant women with different ARD were enrolled for up to 20 gestational weeks in 29 Rheumatology Centres for 5 years (2018-2023). Maternal and infant information were collected in a web-based database. Results We analysed 866 pregnancies in 851 patients (systemic lupus erythematosus was the most represented disease, 19.6%). Maternal disease flares were observed in 135 (15.6%) pregnancies. 53 (6.1%) pregnancies were induced by assisted reproduction techniques, 61 (7%) ended in miscarriage and 11 (1.3%) underwent elective termination. Obstetrical complications occurred in 261 (30.1%) pregnancies, including 2.3% pre-eclampsia. Two cases of congenital heart block were observed out of 157 pregnancies (1.3%) with anti-Ro/SSA. Regarding treatments, 244 (28.2%) pregnancies were treated with glucocorticoids, 388 (44.8%) with hydroxychloroquine, 85 (9.8%) with conventional synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs and 122 (14.1%) with biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs. Live births were 794 (91.7%), mostly at term (84.9%); four perinatal deaths (0.5%) occurred. Among 790 newborns, 31 (3.9%) were small-for-gestational-age and 169 (21.4%) had perinatal complications. Exclusive maternal breast feeding was received by 404 (46.7%) neonates. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale was compiled by 414 women (52.4%); 89 (21.5%) scored positive for emotional distress. Conclusions Multiple factors including preconception counselling and treat-to-target with pregnancy-compatible medications may have contributed to mitigate disease-related risk factors, yielding limited disease flares, good pregnancy outcomes and frequency of complications which were similar to the Italian general obstetric population. Disease-specific issues need to be further addressed to plan preventative measures

Geographical heterogeneity of clinical and serological phenotypes of systemic sclerosis observed at tertiary referral centres. The experience of the Italian SIR-SPRING registry and review of the world literature

Introduction: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is characterized by a complex etiopathogenesis encompassing both host genetic and environmental -infectious/toxic- factors responsible for altered fibrogenesis and diffuse microangiopathy. A wide spectrum of clinical phenotypes may be observed in patients' populations from different geographical areas. We investigated the prevalence of specific clinical and serological phenotypes in patients with definite SSc enrolled at tertiary referral centres in different Italian geographical macro-areas. The observed findings were compared with those reported in the world literature.Materials and methods: The clinical features of 1538 patients (161 M, 10.5%; mean age 59.8 +/- 26.9 yrs.; mean disease duration 8.9 +/- 7.7 yrs) with definite SSc recruited in 38 tertiary referral centres of the SPRING (Systemic sclerosis Progression INvestiGation Group) registry promoted by Italian Society of Rheumatology (SIR) were obtained and clustered according to Italian geographical macroareas.Results: Patients living in Southern Italy were characterized by more severe clinical and/or serological SSc phenotypes compared to those in Northern and Central Italy; namely, they show increased percentages of diffuse cutaneous SSc, digital ulcers, sicca syndrome, muscle involvement, arthritis, cardiopulmonary symptoms, interstitial lung involvement at HRCT, as well increased prevalence of serum anti-Scl70 autoantibodies. In the same SSc population immunusppressive drugs were frequently employed. The review of the literature underlined the geographical heterogeneity of SSc phenotypes, even if the observed findings are scarcely comparable due to the variability of methodological approaches.Conclusion: The phenotypical differences among SSc patients' subgroups from Italian macro-areas might be correlated to genetic/environmental co-factors, and possibly to a not equally distributed national network of information and healthcare facilities

COVID-19 in rheumatic diseases in Italy: first results from the Italian registry of the Italian Society for Rheumatology (CONTROL-19)

OBJECTIVES: Italy was one of the first countries significantly affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic. The Italian Society for Rheumatology promptly launched a retrospective and anonymised data collection to monitor COVID-19 in patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs), the CONTROL-19 surveillance database, which is part of the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance. METHODS: CONTROL-19 includes patients with RMDs and proven severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) updated until May 3rd 2020. In this analysis, only molecular diagnoses were included. The data collection covered demographic data, medical history (general and RMD-related), treatments and COVID-19 related features, treatments, and outcome. In this paper, we report the first descriptive data from the CONTROL-19 registry. RESULTS: The population of the first 232 patients (36% males) consisted mainly of elderly patients (mean age 62.2 years), who used corticosteroids (51.7%), and suffered from multi-morbidity (median comorbidities 2). Rheumatoid arthritis was the most frequent disease (34.1%), followed by spondyloarthritis (26.3%), connective tissue disease (21.1%) and vasculitis (11.2%). Most cases had an active disease (69.4%). Clinical presentation of COVID-19 was typical, with systemic symptoms (fever and asthenia) and respiratory symptoms. The overall outcome was severe, with high frequencies of hospitalisation (69.8%), respiratory support oxygen (55.7%), non-invasive ventilation (20.9%) or mechanical ventilation (7.5%), and 19% of deaths. Male patients typically manifested a worse prognosis. Immunomodulatory treatments were not significantly associated with an increased risk of intensive care unit admission/mechanical ventilation/death. CONCLUSIONS: Although the report mainly includes the most severe cases, its temporal and spatial trend supports the validity of the national surveillance system. More complete data are being acquired in order to both test the hypothesis that RMD patients may have a different outcome from that of the general population and determine the safety of immunomodulatory treatments

Multidifferential study of identified charged hadron distributions in ZZ-tagged jets in proton-proton collisions at s=\sqrt{s}=13 TeV

Jet fragmentation functions are measured for the first time in proton-proton collisions for charged pions, kaons, and protons within jets recoiling against a $Z$ boson. The charged-hadron distributions are studied longitudinally and transversely to the jet direction for jets with transverse momentum 20 $< p_{\textrm{T}} < 100$ GeV and in the pseudorapidity range $2.5 < \eta < 4$. The data sample was collected with the LHCb experiment at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.64 fb$^{-1}$. Triple differential distributions as a function of the hadron longitudinal momentum fraction, hadron transverse momentum, and jet transverse momentum are also measured for the first time. This helps constrain transverse-momentum-dependent fragmentation functions. Differences in the shapes and magnitudes of the measured distributions for the different hadron species provide insights into the hadronization process for jets predominantly initiated by light quarks.Comment: All figures and tables, along with machine-readable versions and any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-013.html (LHCb public pages