Floral morphology and development in Aragoa (Plantaginaceae) and related members of the order Lamiales

Inflorescence and floral morphology and development were investigated in Aragoa (Plantaginaceae) and related genera. Each inflorescence of Aragoa is a reduced, axillary raceme, on which the actinomorphic floral apices generally arise successively. The inflorescences of Aragoa and Plantago are polytelic and lateral. The five sepals emerge from the abaxial to the adaxial side of the floral apex, but at maturity, the calyx is actinomorphic. The four stamens arise simultaneously and before emergence of the petals. The four petals emerge unidirectionally united, but the corolla becomes actinomorphic. Aestivation is cochlear ascendent. The two united carpels initiate simultaneously. The abaxial-adaxial inception of the calyx and corolla during early floral development in genera such as Aragoa, Digitalis, Plantago, and Veronica may indicate that the zygomorphic condition is ancestral in those genera. The tetramerous corolla, which is actinomorphic during middle and late development, and the presence of four stamens are possible synapomophies of the clade (Aragoa þ Plantago). Pentamery of the calyx and corolla appears to be plesiomorphic in the broader Aragoa- Angelonia clade. Characters related to development and morphology of inflorescences and flowers of Aragoa are essentially similar to those found in Plantago, which is consistent with the molecular-based sister group relationship between these genera.Peer reviewe

Novel Mutation Hotspots within Non-Coding Regulatory Regions of the Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Genome

Mutations in non-coding DNA regions are increasingly recognized as cancer drivers. These mutations can modify gene expression in cis or by inducing high-order chormatin structure modifications with long-range effects. Previous analysis reported the detection of recurrent and functional non-coding DNA mutations in the chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) genome, such as those in the 3' untranslated region of NOTCH1 and in the PAX5 super-enhancer. In this report, we used whole genome sequencing data produced by the International Cancer Genome Consortium in order to analyze regions with previously reported regulatory activity. This approach enabled the identification of numerous recurrently mutated regions that were frequently positioned in the proximity of genes involved in immune and oncogenic pathways. By correlating these mutations with expression of their nearest genes, we detected significant transcriptional changes in genes such as PHF2 and S1PR2. More research is needed to clarify the function of these mutations in CLL, particularly those found in intergenic regions

Near-infrared photometry and spectroscopy of the low Galactic latitude globular cluster 2MASS-GC03

We present deep near-infrared photometry and spectroscopy of the globular cluster 2MASS-GC03 projected in the Galactic disk using MMIRS on the Clay telescope (Las Campanas Observatory) and VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea survey (VVV) data. Most probable cluster member candidates were identified from near-infrared photometry. Out of ten candidates that were followed-up spectroscopically, five have properties of cluster members, from which we calculate = -0.9 +/- 0.2 and a radial velocity of v_r > = -78 +- 12km/s. A distance of 10.8kpc is estimated from 3 likely RRLyrae members. Given that the cluster is currently at a distance of 4.2kpc from the Galactic center, the cluster's long survival time of an estimated 11.3 +/- 1.2 Gyr strengthens the case for its globular-cluster nature. The cluster has a hint of elongation in the direction of the Galactic center.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Crambescin C1 Acts as A Possible Substrate of iNOS and eNOS Increasing Nitric Oxide Production and Inducing In Vivo Hypotensive Effect

Crambescins are guanidine alkaloids from the sponge Crambe crambe. Crambescin C1 (CC) induces metallothionein genes and nitric oxide (NO) is one of the triggers. We studied and compared the in vitro, in vivo, and in silico effects of some crambescine A and C analogs. HepG2 gene expression was analyzed using microarrays. Vasodilation was studied in rat aortic rings. In vivo hypotensive effect was directly measured in anesthetized rats. The targets of crambescines were studied in silico. CC and homo-crambescine C1 (HCC), but not crambescine A1 (CA), induced metallothioneins transcripts. CC increased NO production in HepG2 cells. In isolated rat aortic rings, CC and HCC induced an endothelium-dependent relaxation related to eNOS activation and an endothelium-independent relaxation related to iNOS activation, hence both compounds increase NO and reduce vascular tone. In silico analysis also points to eNOS and iNOS as targets of Crambescin C1 and source of NO increment. CC effect is mediated through crambescin binding to the active site of eNOS and iNOS. CC docking studies in iNOS and eNOS active site revealed hydrogen bonding of the hydroxylated chain with residues Glu377 and Glu361, involved in the substrate recognition, and explains its higher binding affinity than CA. The later interaction and the extra polar contacts with its pyrimidine moiety, absent in the endogenous substrate, explain its role as exogenous substrate of NOSs and NO production. Our results suggest that CC serve as a basis to develop new useful drugs when bioavailability of NO is perturbed.Fil: Rubiolo, Juan Andrés. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina. Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnologia E Innovacion Productiva (santa Fe). - Gobierno de la Provincia de Santa Fe. Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnologia E Innovacion Productiva (santa Fe).; Argentina. Universidad de Santiago de Compostela; España. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Lence, Emilio. Universidad de Santiago de Compostela; EspañaFil: González Bello, Concepción. Universidad de Santiago de Compostela; EspañaFil: Roel, María. Universidad de Santiago de Compostela; EspañaFil: Gil Longo, José. Universidad de Santiago de Compostela; EspañaFil: Campos Toimil, Manuel. Universidad de Santiago de Compostela; EspañaFil: Ternon, Eva. Université Nice Sophia Antipolis. Laboratoire Jean-alexandre Dieudonné.; FranciaFil: Thomas, Olivier P.. National University of Ireland Galway; IrlandaFil: González Cantalapiedra, Antonio. Universidad de Santiago de Compostela; EspañaFil: López Alonso, Henar. Universidad de Santiago de Compostela; EspañaFil: Vieytes, Mercedes R.. Universidad de Santiago de Compostela; EspañaFil: Botana, Luis M.. Universidad de Santiago de Compostela; Españ

Núcleo de microbiota en el cáncer de pulmón central con enriquecimiento estreptocócico como posible marcador de diagnóstico

Background: Dysbiosis in lung cancer has been underexplored. The aim of this study was to define the bacterial and fungal microbiota of the bronchi in central lung cancer and to compare it with that of the oral and intestinal compartments. Methods: Twenty-five patients with central lung cancer and sixteen controls without antimicrobial intake during the previous month were recruited. Bacterial and fungal distribution was determined by massive sequencing of bronchial biopsies and saliva and faecal samples. Complex computational analysis was performed to define the core lung microbiota. Results: Affected and contralateral bronchi of patients have almost identical microbiota dominated by Streptococcus, whereas Pseudomonas was the dominant genera in controls. Oral and pulmonary ecosystems were significantly more similar in patients, probably due to microaspirations. Streptococcal abundance in the bronchi differentiated patients from controls according to a ROC curve analysis (90.9% sensitivity, 83.3% specificity, AUC = 0.897). The saliva of patients characteristically showed a greater abundance of Streptococcus, Rothia, Gemella and Lactobacillus. The mycobiome of controls (Candida) was significantly different from that of patients (Malassezia). Cancer patients’ bronchial mycobiome was similar to their saliva, but different from their contralateral bronchi. Conclusions: The central lung cancer microbiome shows high levels of Streptococcus, and differs significantly in its composition from that of control subjects. Changes are not restricted to tumour tissue, and seem to be the consequence of microaspirations from the oral cavity. These findings could be useful in the screening and even diagnosis of this disease

Improved personalized survival prediction of patients with diffuse large B-cell Lymphoma using gene expression profiling

BACKGROUND: Thirty to forty percent of patients with Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) have an adverse clinical evolution. The increased understanding of DLBCL biology has shed light on the clinical evolution of this pathology, leading to the discovery of prognostic factors based on gene expression data, genomic rearrangements and mutational subgroups. Nevertheless, additional efforts are needed in order to enable survival predictions at the patient level. In this study we investigated new machine learning-based models of survival using transcriptomic and clinical data. METHODS: Gene expression profiling (GEP) of in 2 different publicly available retrospective DLBCL cohorts were analyzed. Cox regression and unsupervised clustering were performed in order to identify probes associated with overall survival on the largest cohort. Random forests were created to model survival using combinations of GEP data, COO classification and clinical information. Cross-validation was used to compare model results in the training set, and Harrel's concordance index (c-index) was used to assess model's predictability. Results were validated in an independent test set. RESULTS: Two hundred thirty-three and sixty-four patients were included in the training and test set, respectively. Initially we derived and validated a 4-gene expression clusterization that was independently associated with lower survival in 20% of patients. This pattern included the following genes: TNFRSF9, BIRC3, BCL2L1 and G3BP2. Thereafter, we applied machine-learning models to predict survival. A set of 102 genes was highly predictive of disease outcome, outperforming available clinical information and COO classification. The final best model integrated clinical information, COO classification, 4-gene-based clusterization and the expression levels of 50 individual genes (training set c-index, 0.8404, test set c-index, 0.7942). CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that DLBCL survival models based on the application of machine learning algorithms to gene expression and clinical data can largely outperform other important prognostic variables such as disease stage and COO. Head-to-head comparisons with other risk stratification models are needed to compare its usefulness

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13

Search for chargino-neutralino production with mass splittings near the electroweak scale in three-lepton final states in √s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for supersymmetry through the pair production of electroweakinos with mass splittings near the electroweak scale and decaying via on-shell W and Z bosons is presented for a three-lepton final state. The analyzed proton-proton collision data taken at a center-of-mass energy of √s=13  TeV were collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139  fb−1. A search, emulating the recursive jigsaw reconstruction technique with easily reproducible laboratory-frame variables, is performed. The two excesses observed in the 2015–2016 data recursive jigsaw analysis in the low-mass three-lepton phase space are reproduced. Results with the full data set are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. They are interpreted to set exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on simplified models of chargino-neutralino pair production for masses up to 345 GeV

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente