The role of bacteria in pine wilt disease: insights from microbiome analysis.

Pine Wilt Disease (PWD) has a significant impact on Eurasia pine forests. The microbiome of the nematode (the primary cause of the disease), its insect vector, and the host tree may be relevant for the disease mechanism. The aim of this study was to characterize these microbiomes, from three PWD-affected areas in Portugal, using Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis, 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing, and a functional inference-based approach (PICRUSt). The bacterial community structure of the nematode was significantly different from the infected trees but closely related to the insect vector, supporting the hypothesis that the nematode microbiome might be in part inherited from the insect. Sampling location influenced mostly the tree microbiome (P < 0.05). Genes related both with plant growth promotion and phytopathogenicity were predicted for the tree microbiome. Xenobiotic degradation functions were predicted in the nematode and insect microbiomes. Phytotoxin biosynthesis was also predicted for the nematode microbiome, supporting the theory of a direct contribution of the microbiome to tree-wilting. This is the first study that simultaneously characterized the nematode, tree and insect-vector microbiomes from the same affected areas, and overall the results support the hypothesis that the PWD microbiome plays an important role in the disease's development

Photon-number-resolving segmented avalanche-photodiode detectors

We investigate the feasibility and performance of photon-number-resolved photodetection employing avalanche photodiodes (APDs) with low dark counts. The main idea is to split n photons over m modes such that every mode has no more than one photon, which is detected alongside propagation by an APD. We characterize performance by evaluating the purities of positive-operator-valued measurements (POVMs), in terms of APD number and photon loss.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures, submitted for publicatio

Neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia: two different neonatal manifestations of the same disease

Fetal and neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia is a rare disorder in which maternal alloantibodies cross the placenta and cause fetal thrombocytopenia. Most cases are mild but can be potentially fatal if there is an intracranial haemorrhage. Usually, the mother is asymptomatic during pregnancy and no screening is routinely recommended unless there is obstetric or family history. After birth, prompt identification is crucial so that the newborn is closely monitored and treatment is given, if needed, to prevent serious complications. In this article we present two clinical cases of fetal and neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia in first-born children, after uneventful pregnancies, with different outcomes and discuss the obstetric management and follow-up in future pregnancies

Diabetic and Elder Patients Experience Superior Cardiovascular Benefits After Gastric Bypass Induced Weight Loss

Background/Objetives: Obesity and obesity related co-morbidities are well-recognized risks for cardiovascular (CV) disease and mortality. Weight loss improves CV risk factors and the efficacy of bariatric surgery in decreasing CV mortality is now well-established. Our aim was to assess CV risk progression and occurrence of CV events in a cohort of patients that underwent Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) for obesity treatment in a single academic public center.Subjects and Methods: Ten year CV risk was estimated using the Framingham Equation at baseline and 2 years after RYGB surgery in our patients cohort (n = 260). In the subgroup with a follow-up time longer than 4 years after surgery (n = 185; mean 5.4 ± 0.1 years), CV risk adjusted for the time length after RYGB was similarly estimated and the occurrence of CV events for outcome adjudication was monitored during the same time period by reviewing the hospital patients' record, the electronic national health system patient register and our center outpatient clinic records.Results: Ten year CV risk was significantly reduced 2 years after surgery when compared to baseline, with reductions of 1.65 ± 0.25% in the risk of CV disease. Patients with prior type 2 diabetes and aged 50 years or older experienced a significantly superior CV risk reduction, with diabetic patients experiencing a reduction of their 10–year CV disease risk of 3.58 ± 1.11% vs. a reduction of 1.31 ± 0.20% in non-diabetic patients and with the 10–year risk of CV disease dropping 3.41 ± 0.75% in patients older than 50 vs. a reduction of 0.99 ± 0.18 in patients up to 50 years. For the subgroup of patients with a longer follow-up time, baseline CV risk estimation predicted the occurrence of 6.08 ± 0.56 cardiovascular disease (CVD) events, 3.87 ± 0.39 coronary heart disease (CHD) events, 1.49 ± 0.22 myocardial infarctions (MI), 0.71 ± 0.09 strokes, 0. 28 ± 0.05 deaths from CHD and 0.35 ± 0.05 deaths from CVD. No CV events were adjudicated in this subgroup during follow-up.Conclusions: RYGB significantly improves CV risk and prevents the occurrence of CV events. For similar weight loss, diabetic and elder patients experience a superior CV risk improvement and may have additional CV benefits after bariatric surgery

Assessment of heart rate in infants from 6 to 36 months old during aquatic activities

Some authors (e.g. Maclaren and Coulson, 1999; Dekerle, 2006) reported that aerobic training has a positive effect on critical velocity in swimming. However, it raises the question whereas this effect is similar among swimmers of different performance level. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the training responses in aerobic parameters (critical velocity and critical stroke rate) in young swimmers of different level during an in-season period of training

Vocal repertoire and consistency of call features in the meagre Argyrosomous regius (Asso, 1801)

Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) is a non-intrusive and cost-effective method capable of providing high-resolution, long-term information on the status and health of vocal populations and communities. To successfully monitor the same species over wide geographical and temporal scales, it is necessary to characterise the range of sound variability, as well as the consistency of sound features between populations. The meagre (Argyrosomus regius, Asso 1801) is an interesting case study because recent investigations suggest a wider vocal repertoire than previously described. In this study, meagre vocalizations were recorded and analysed from a variety of settings, ranging from rearing facilities to wild populations to provide a comprehensive characterisation of its vocal repertoire, while investigating the consistency of spawning sound features between populations. All sounds presented a similar acoustic structure in their basic unit (i.e. the pulse), while an important variability was found in the number of pulses; the meagre can emit sounds made of one single pulse or many pulses (up to more than 100). High level of overlap in the Principal Component Analysis made difficult to differentiate sound type clusters. Despite this, two sound types were identifiable: knocks (sounds from 1 to 3 pulses) and long grunts (sounds with more than 29 pulses). Discriminant Analysis carried out on PCA residuals showed that knock had the highest proportion of correct placement (92% of the observations correctly placed) followed by long grunts (80%). All other previously described sound types (intermediate grunt, short grunt and disturbance sounds) could not be separated and presented low levels of correct placement, suggesting that care should be taken when defining these as independent sound types. Finally, acoustic features consistency was found in meagre grunts emitted by different populations during spawning nights; statistical differences could be explained by recording settings and fish conditions. The results of this study provide important information for fostering PAM programs of wild meagre populations, while contributing to the discussion around the definition of fish sound types in vocal fish communities. Studies of this kind, which evaluate both variability and consistency of sound features, are of fundamental importance for maximising PAM efforts in the wild, at both the specific and the community level.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Exploratory study on the viscosity of Poly(ethyleneglycols) and their mixtures with CO2

Encontro realizado em Erlangen, a 31 de agosto de 2019.Project UID/QUI/00100/2013 and Project UID/QUI/00100/2019 funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal.N/

Deri yara kaplamalarindaki uygulamalar için elektrik alan lif çekim ile üretilmiş Tiger 17 peptit yüklü polikaprolakton/selüloz asetat nano lifli matlar

A skin wound if not properly treated can result in a chronic wound susceptible to widespread infections, which can result in the patient's death. Currently, tissue engineering is described as an interdisciplinary field that combines principles of engineering, chemistry and biology to generate solutions that allow to repair, restore and/or improve the functions of injured tissues. In the same sense, the textile area addresses solutions based on polymeric fibers, produced from a wide range of polymers, which allow the generation of structures with a large surface area, porosity and mechanical resistance that can be used as bioactive dressings that promote a healing and efficient antimicrobial activity. This research work focused on the synthesis of Tiger 17, through microwave-assisted solid-phase synthesis methodologies, and Tiger 17 commercially obtained, respective structural characterization and evaluation of the antimicrobial capacity. Simultaneously, nanofibrous polymer matrices were produced using the electrospinning technique with the aim of immobilizing the developed biomolecule and thus creating potential vehicles for a local and sustainable antimicrobial action (controlled release). In order to verify its physical and chemical properties, advanced characterization techniques were used: proton nuclear magnetic resonance, high performance liquid chromatography, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy–attenuated total reflectance, thermogravimetry, differential scanning calorimetry, contact angle and surface energy and determination of porosity and hydration.Düzgün tedavi edilmeyen bir cilt yarası, hastanın ölümüyle sonuçlanabilecek yaygın enfeksiyonlara duyarlı kronik bir yaraya neden olabilir. Günümüzde doku mühendisliği, hasarlı dokuların işlevlerini onarmaya, eski haline getirmeye ve/veya iyileştirmeye olanak tanıyan çözümler üretmek için mühendislik, kimya ve biyolojinin ilkelerini birleştiren disiplinler arası bir alan olarak tanımlanmaktadır. Bu kapsamda, tekstil, iyileşmeyi ve etkili antimikrobiyal aktiviteyi teşvik eden biyoaktif pansuman olarak kullanılabilecek, geniş yüzey alanlı, gözenekli ve mekanik dirençli yapıların oluşturulmasına izin veren, geniş bir polimer yelpazesinden üretilen liflere dayalı çözümler sunmaktadır. Bu araştırma çalışması, mikrodalga destekli katı faz sentez metodolojileri aracılığıyla Tiger 17'nin sentezine ve ticari olarak temin edilen Tiger 17 ile birlikte yapısal karakterizasyonunun ve antimikrobiyal kapasitenin değerlendirilmesine odaklanmıştır. Aynı zamanda, geliştirilen biyomolekülü hareketsiz hale getirmek ve böylece lokal ve sürdürülebilir bir antimikrobiyal etki (kontrollü salım) için potansiyel çözümler yaratmak amacıyla elektrik alan lif üretim tekniği kullanılarak nanolifli polimer matrisler üretildi. Yapının fiziksel ve kimyasal özelliklerini doğrulamak için, proton nükleer manyetik rezonans, yüksek performanslı sıvı kromatografisi, optik mikroskopi, taramalı elektron mikroskobu, fourier dönüşümü kızılötesi spektroskopisi-zayıflatılmış toplam yansıma, termogravimetri, diferansiyel taramalı kalorimetri, temas açısı, yüzey enerjisi, gözeneklilik ve su tutma ölçümleri gibi ileri karakterizasyon teknikleri kullanıldı

In vivo inhibition of the mitochondrial H+-ATP synthase in neurons promotes metabolic preconditioning

A key transducer in energy conservation and signaling cell death is the mitochondrial H+-ATP synthase. The expression of the ATPase inhibitory factor 1 (IF1) is a strategy used by cancer cells to inhibit the activity of the H+-ATP synthase to generate a ROS signal that switches on cellular programs of survival. We have generated a mouse model expressing a mutant of human IF1 in brain neurons to assess the role of the H+-ATP synthase in cell death in vivo. The expression of hIF1 inhibits the activity of oxidative phosphorylation and mediates the shift of neurons to an enhanced aerobic glycolysis. Metabolic reprogramming induces brain preconditioning affording protection against quinolinic acid-induced excitotoxicity. Mechanistically, preconditioning involves the activation of the Akt/p70S6K and PARP repair pathways and Bcl-xL protection from cell death. Overall, our findings provide the first in vivo evidence highlighting the H +-ATP synthase as a target to prevent neuronal cell deathThis work was supported by grants from the MEC (BFU2010-18903), CIBERER and by Comunidad de Madrid (S2011/BMD-2402) to JMC; MINECO (PLE2009-0101 and SAF2010-17167), TerCel (RD12/0019/0013), and Neurostem-CM (S2010-BMD-2336) to AMS and ISCIII Grant PI 10/02628 to CN, Spai