Thermal Injury Causes DNA Damage and Lethality in Unheated Surrounding Cells: Active Thermal Bystander Effect

Direct heat exposure to cells causes protein degradation and DNA damage, which can lead to genetic alteration and cell death, but little is known about heat-induced effects on the surrounding tissue. After burns or laser surgery, loss of viability in the surrounding tissue has been explained by a temperature gradient due to heat diffusion. This study shows that, in the absence of any direct heating, heat diffusion, or cell-to-cell contact, “bystander” cells that share the medium with heat-exposed cells exhibit DNA damage, apoptosis, and loss of viability. We coin this phenomenon “active thermal bystander effect” (ATBE). Significant ATBE was induced by fibroblasts exposed for 10minutes to a temperature range of 44–50°C (all P<0.011). The ATBE was not induced by cells heated to lethality above 54°C and immediate medium exchange did not suppress the effect. Therefore, the thermal bystander effect appears to be an active process in which viable, heat-injured cells induce a signal cascade and/or mediator that damages or kills surrounding bystander cells. The ATBE may have clinical relevance for acute burn trauma, hyperthermic treatments, and distant tissue damage after localized heat stress

Schnëssen. Surveying language dynamics in Luxembourgish with a mobile research app

The mobile app Schnëssen is intended to establish a state-of-the-art digital platform to collect data on the present-day language situation of Luxembourgish by means of crowd-sourcing and to document and present results to a broader public. Users can participate in a large set of audio recordings tasks and in sociolinguistic surveys. By presenting all audio recordings via an interactive map, participants can explore the language variation of their language. In the first year of data collection, around 210.000 recordings could be collected for numerous variation phenomena from all linguistic levels and over 2800 sociolinguistic questionnaires have been filled out. The app allowed us to compile thus the largest systematic spoken language corpus of Luxembourgish

Tree species traits but not diversity mitigate stem breakage in a subtropical forest following a rare and extreme ice storm

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Biomarkers and Mechanisms of FANCD2 Function

Genetic or epigenetic inactivation of the pathway formed by the Fanconi anemia (FA) and BRCA1 proteins occurs in several cancer types, making the affected tumors potentially hypersensitive to DNA cross-linkers and other chemotherapeutic agents. It has been proposed that the inability of FA/BRCA-defective cells to form subnuclear foci of effector proteins, such as FANCD2, can be used as a biomarker to aid individualization of chemotherapy. We show that FANCD2 inactivation not only renders cells sensitive to cross-links, but also oxidative stress, a common effect of cancer therapeutics. Oxidative stress sensitivity does not correlate with FANCD2 or RAD51 foci formation, but associates with increased γH2AX foci levels and apoptosis. Therefore, FANCD2 may protect cells against cross-links and oxidative stress through distinct mechanisms, consistent with the growing notion that the pathway is not linear. Our data emphasize the need for multiple biomarkers, such as γH2AX, FANCD2, and RAD51, to capture all pathway activities

Fractional Skin Harvesting: Autologous Skin Grafting without Donor-site Morbidity

Background: Conventional autologous skin grafts are associated with significant donor-site morbidity. This study was conducted to determine feasibility, safety, and efficacy of a new strategy for skin grafting based on harvesting small columns of full-thickness skin with minimal donor-site morbidity. Methods: The swine model was used for this study. Hundreds of full-thickness columns of skin tissue (~700 µm diameter) were harvested using a custom-made harvesting device, and then applied directly to excisional skin wounds. Healing in donor and graft sites was evaluated over 3 months by digital photographic measurement of wound size and blinded, computer-aided evaluation of histological features and compared with control wounds that healed by secondary intention or with conventional split-thickness skin grafts (STSG). Results: After harvesting hundreds of skin columns, the donor sites healed rapidly without scarring. These sites reepithelialized within days and were grossly and histologically indistinguishable from normal skin within 7 weeks. By contrast, STSG donor sites required 2 weeks for reepithelialization and retained scar-like characteristics in epidermal and dermal architecture throughout the experiment. Wounds grafted with skin columns resulted in accelerated reepithelialization compared with ungrafted wounds while avoiding the “fish-net” patterning caused by STSG. Conclusion: Full-thickness columns of skin can be harvested in large quantities with negligible long-term donor-site morbidity, and these columns can be applied directly to skin wounds to enhance wound healing

Invertebrate neurophylogeny: suggested terms and definitions for a neuroanatomical glossary

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Invertebrate nervous systems are highly disparate between different taxa. This is reflected in the terminology used to describe them, which is very rich and often confusing. Even very general terms such as 'brain', 'nerve', and 'eye' have been used in various ways in the different animal groups, but no consensus on the exact meaning exists. This impedes our understanding of the architecture of the invertebrate nervous system in general and of evolutionary transformations of nervous system characters between different taxa.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We provide a glossary of invertebrate neuroanatomical terms with a precise and consistent terminology, taxon-independent and free of homology assumptions. This terminology is intended to form a basis for new morphological descriptions. A total of 47 terms are defined. Each entry consists of a definition, discouraged terms, and a background/comment section.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The use of our revised neuroanatomical terminology in any new descriptions of the anatomy of invertebrate nervous systems will improve the comparability of this organ system and its substructures between the various taxa, and finally even lead to better and more robust homology hypotheses.</p