Synbiotic therapy decreases microbial translocation and inflammation and improves immunological status in HIV-infected patients: a double-blind randomized controlled pilot trial

BACKGROUND: HIV-infection results in damage and dysfunction of the gastrointestinal system. HIV enteropathy includes pronounced CD4+ T-cell loss, increased intestinal permeability, and microbial translocation that promotes systemic immune activation, which is implicated in disease progression. A synbiotic is the combination of probiotics and prebiotics that could improve gut barrier function. Our study goal was to determine whether the use of a synbiotic, probiotics or a prebiotic can recover immunological parameters in HIV-infected subjects through of a reduction of microbial translocation and pro-inflammatory cytokine production. METHODS: A randomized, double-blind controlled study was performed; twenty Antiretroviral treatment-naïve HIV-infected subjects were subgrouped and assigned to receive a synbiotic, probiotics, a prebiotic, or a placebo throughout 16 weeks. RESULTS: We had no reports of serious adverse-events. From baseline to week 16, the synbiotic group showed a reduction in bacterial DNA concentrations in plasma (p = 0.048). Moreover, the probiotic and synbiotic groups demonstrated a decrease in total bacterial load in feces (p = 0.05). The probiotic group exhibited a significant increment of beneficial bacteria load (such as Bifidobacterium; p = 0.05) and a decrease in harmful bacteria load (such as Clostridium; p = 0.063). In the synbiotic group, the CD4+ T-cells count increased (median: +102 cells/μL; p = 0.05) and the level of Interleukin 6 cytokine decreased significantly (p = 0.016). CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed a significant increase in CD4+ T lymphocyte levels in the synbiotic group, which could delay the initiation of antiretroviral therapy and decrease costs in countries with limited resources

In vitro characterization of solute transport in the spinal canal

This paper presents results of an experimental investigation of solute transport in a simplified model of the spinal canal. The work aims to provide increased understanding of the mechanisms responsible for drug dispersion in intrathecal drug delivery (ITDD) procedures. The model consists of an annular channel bounded externally by a rigid transparent tube of circular section, representing the dura mater, and internally by an eccentric cylindrical compliant insert, representing the spinal cord. The tube, closed at one end, is connected to a rigid acrylic reservoir, representing the cranial cavity. The system is filled with water, whose properties are almost identical to those of the cerebrospinal fluid. A programmable peristaltic pump is employed to generate oscillatory motion at frequencies that are representative of those induced by the cardiac and respiratory cycles. Laser induced fluorescence is used to characterize the dispersion of fluorescent dye along the canal and into the cranial cavity for different values of the relevant Womersley number and different eccentricities of the annular section. The present work corroborates experimentally, for the first time, the existence of a steady bulk flow, associated with the mean Lagrangian motion, which plays a key role in the transport of the solute along the spinal canal. The measurements of solute dispersion are found to be in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions obtained using a simplified transport equation derived earlier on the basis of a two-timescale asymptotic analysis. The experimental results underscore the importance of the eccentricity and its variations along the canal and identifies changes in the flow topology associated with differences in the Womersley number, with potential implications in guiding future designs of ITDD protocols.This work was supported by the coordinated project, PID2020-115961RB-C31, PID2020-115961RB-C32, and PID2020-115961RA-C33, financed by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, and by the Junta de Andalucia and European Funds, Project No. P18-FR-4619. F. Moral-Pulido wants to thank the Spanish Ministry of Universities for the financial support provided by the Fellowship FPU18/05694. The work of A. L. Sánchez was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation through Grant No. 1853954

Morphological studies of the Spitzer Wide-Area Infrared Extragalactic survey galaxy population in the UGC 10214 Hubble space telescope/advanced camera for surveys field

We present the results of a morphological analysis of a small subset of the Spitzer Wide-Area Infrared Extragalactic survey (SWIRE) galaxy population. The analysis is based on public Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) data taken inside the SWIRE N1 field, which are the deepest optical high-resolution imaging available within the SWIRE fields as of today. Our reference sample includes 156 galaxies detected by both ACS and SWIRE. Among the various galaxy morphologies, we disentangle two main classes, spheroids (or bulge-dominated galaxies) and disc-dominated ones, for which we compute the number counts as a function of flux. We then limit our sample to objects with Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) fluxes brighter than 10 μJy, estimated ~90 per cent completeness limit of the SWIRE catalogues, and compare the observed counts to model predictions. We find that the observed counts of the spheroidal population agree with the expectations of a hierarchical model while a monolithic scenario predicts steeper counts. Both scenarios, however, underpredict the number of late-type galaxies. These observations show that the large majority (close to 80 per cent) of the 3.6- and 4.5-μm galaxy population, even at these moderately faint fluxes, is dominated by spiral and irregular galaxies or mergers

A 15 µm selected sample of hHigh-z starbursts and AGNs

We report results from our Spitzer GO-1 program on IRS spectroscopy of a large sample of Luminous Infrared Galaxies and quasars selected from the European Large Area ISO Survey (ELAIS). The selected ELAIS sources have a wide multi-wavelength coverage, including ISOCAM, ISOPHOT, IRAC and MIPS (from SWIRE), and optical photometry. Here we present the sample selection and results from the IRS spectroscopy

AMMO-Prot: amine system project 3D-model finder

BACKGROUND: Amines are biogenic amino acid derivatives, which play pleiotropic and very important yet complex roles in animal physiology. For many other relevant biomolecules, biochemical and molecular data are being accumulated, which need to be integrated in order to be effective in the advance of biological knowledge in the field. For this purpose, a multidisciplinary group has started an ontology-based system named the Amine System Project (ASP) for which amine-related information is the validation bench. RESULTS: In this paper, we describe the Ontology-Based Mediator developed in the Amine System Project (http://asp.uma.es) using the infrastructure of Semantic Directories, and how this system has been used to solve a case related to amine metabolism-related protein structures. CONCLUSIONS: This infrastructure is used to publish and manage not only ontologies and their relationships, but also metadata relating to the resources committed with the ontologies. The system developed is available at http://asp.uma.es/WebMediator

Dietary composition and feeding strategy of Leptodactylus fuscus (Anura: Leptodactylidae) from a suburban area of the Caribbean Region of Colombia

The use of trophic resources by anurans may be influenced by sexual dimorphism, ontogenetic variation and resources available in the environment. However, most studies on anuran feeding behavior lack of environmental prey availability data. In this study, the dietary composition and the feeding strategy of Leptodactylus fuscus were evaluated considering the availability of potential prey in a sub-urban area of the Colombian Caribbean Region. Additionally, differences in diet composition between adult and juvenile’ frogs were assessed. Prey items were obtained through forced regurgitation technique and prey availability was assessed using pitfall traps. The importance of each prey category and prey selectivity were evaluated through a relative importance index and a food selection index, respectively. Twenty-four stomachs were analyzed, being Hymenoptera the most important prey category and the most abundant resource in the environment. The population of L. fuscus showed a low prey selectivity and prey size was associated with frog’s body size. However, there was no variation in numeric and volumetric dietary composition related to ontogeny. Considering the relationship between the diet and prey availability, our results evidenced L. fuscus exhibits a generalist and opportunistic feeding behavior, which highlight the importance of including information on prey availability to better understand the anurans dietary behavior.Asociación Herpetológica Argentin

Purification and characterization of a variant of human prothrombin: prothrombin Segovia

A dysprothrombin designated prothrombin Segovia was isolated from the plasma of an individual with normal prothrombin antigen and prothrombin activity lesser than 25% of the control prothrombin activity. Activation by prothrombinase complex showed a lower amidolytic than clotting activity, which suggests a lesser generation of active intermediates than normal prothrombin. When prothrombin Segovia was activated by prothrombinase complex in the absence of factor Va, no thrombin formation was found by functional activities. SDS-PAGE analysis of the molecules derived by activation with prothrombinase complex, Taipan snake venom and Echis carinatus venom showed an accumulation of molecules not cleaved at bond Arg320-Ile321. This was more evident with Echis carinatus venom, which only acts on this bond. Our data suggest that the alteration of prothrombin Segovia impairs the scission of bond Arg320-Ile321