Arginine Alters miRNA Expression Involved in Development and Proliferation of Rat Mammary Tissue

This study was designed to determine the effects of dietary arginine on development and proliferation in rat mammary tissue through changes in miRNA profiles. Twelve pregnant Wistar rats were allocated randomly to two groups. A basal diet containing arginine or the control diet containing glutamate on an equal nitrogen basis as the arginine supplemented diet were used. The experiment included a pre-experimental period of four days before parturition and an experimental period of 17 days after parturition. Mammary tissue was collected for histology, RNA extraction and high-throughput sequencing analysis. The greater mammary acinar area indicated that arginine supplementation enhanced mammary tissue development (p < 0.01). MicroRNA profiling indicated that seven miRNA (miR-206-3p, miR-133a-5p, miR-133b-3p, miR-1-3p, miR-133a-3p, miR-1b and miR-486) were differentially expressed in response to Arginine when compared with the glutamate-based control group. In silico gene ontology enrichment and KEGG pathway analysis revealed between 240 and 535 putative target genes among the miRNA. Further verification by qPCR revealed concordance with the differential expression from the sequencing results: 17 of 28 target genes were differentially expressed (15 were highly expressed in arginine and 2 in control) and 11 target genes did not have significant difference in expression. In conclusion, our study suggests that arginine may potentially regulate the development of rat mammary glands through regulating miRNAs

Avian Influenza (H5N1) Virus in Waterfowl and Chickens, Central China

In 2004, 3 and 4 strains of avian influenza virus (subtype H5N1) were isolated from waterfowl and chickens, respectively, in central People’s Republic of China. Viral replication and pathogenicity were evaluated in chickens, quails, pigeons, and mice. We analyzed the sequences of the hemagglutinin and neuraminidase genes of the isolates and found broad diversity among them

Hemophilia a patients with inhibitors: Mechanistic insights and novel therapeutic implications

The development of coagulation factor VIII (FVIII) inhibitory antibodies is a serious complication in hemophilia A (HA) patients after FVIII replacement therapy. Inhibitors render regular prophylaxis ineffective and increase the risk of morbidity and mortality. Immune tolerance induction (ITI) regimens have become the only clinically proven therapy for eradicating these inhibitors. However, this is a lengthy and costly strategy. For HA patients with high titer inhibitors, bypassing or new hemostatic agents must be used in clinical prophylaxis due to the ineffective ITI regimens. Since multiple genetic and environmental factors are involved in the pathogenesis of inhibitor generation, understanding the mechanisms by which inhibitors develop could help identify critical targets that can be exploited to prevent or eradicate inhibitors. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the recent advances related to mechanistic insights into anti-FVIII antibody development and discuss novel therapeutic approaches for HA patients with inhibitors

Characterization of Smoke/Dust Episode over West Africa: Comparison of MERRA-2 Modeling with Multiwavelength Mie-Raman Lidar Observations

Observations of multiwavelength Mie-Raman lidar taken during the SHADOW field campaign are used to analyze a smoke/dust episode over West Africa on 24-27 December 2015. For the case considered, the dust layer extended from the ground up to approximately 2000 m while the elevated smoke layer occurred in the 2500 m - 4000 m range. The profiles of lidar measured backscattering, extinction coefficients and depolarization ratios are compared with the vertical distribution of aerosol parameters provided by the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2). The MERRA-2 model simulated the correct location of the near-surface dust and elevated smoke layers. The value of modeled and observed aerosol extinction coefficients at both 355 nm and 532 nm are also rather close. In particular, for the episode reported, the mean value of difference between the measured and modeled extinction coefficients at 355 nm is 0.01 km(exp -1) with standard deviation of 0.042 km(exp -1). The model predicts significant concentration of dust particles inside the elevated smoke layer, which is supported by an increased depolarization ratio of 15% observed in the center of this layer. The modeled at 355 nm the lidar ratio of 65 sr in the near-surface dust layer is close to the observed value (70+/-10) sr. At 532 nm however, the simulated lidar ratio (about 40 sr) is lower than measurements (55+/-8 sr). The results presented demonstrate that the lidar and model data are complimentary and the synergy of observations and models is a key to improve the aerosols characterization

The unprecedented 2017-2018 stratospheric smoke event : Decay phase and aerosol properties observed with the EARLINET

© Author(s) 2019. This open access work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Six months of stratospheric aerosol observations with the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) from August 2017 to January 2018 are presented. The decay phase of an unprecedented, record-breaking stratospheric perturbation caused by wildfire smoke is reported and discussed in terms of geometrical, optical, and microphysical aerosol properties. Enormous amounts of smoke were injected into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere over fire areas in western Canada on 12 August 2017 during strong thunderstorm-pyrocumulonimbus activity. The stratospheric fire plumes spread over the entire Northern Hemisphere in the following weeks and months. Twenty-eight European lidar stations from northern Norway to southern Portugal and the eastern Mediterranean monitored the strong stratospheric perturbation on a continental scale. The main smoke layer (over central, western, southern, and eastern Europe) was found at heights between 15 and 20 km since September 2017 (about 2 weeks after entering the stratosphere). Thin layers of smoke were detected at heights of up to 22-23 km. The stratospheric aerosol optical thickness at 532 nm decreased from values > 0.25 on 21-23 August 2017 to 0.005-0.03 until 5-10 September and was mainly 0.003-0.004 from October to December 2017 and thus was still significantly above the stratospheric background (0.001-0.002). Stratospheric particle extinction coefficients (532 nm) were as high as 50-200 Mm-1 until the beginning of September and on the order of 1 Mm-1 (0.5- 5 Mm-1) from October 2017 until the end of January 2018. The corresponding layer mean particle mass concentration was on the order of 0.05-0.5 μg m-3 over these months. Soot particles (light-absorbing carbonaceous particles) are efficient ice-nucleating particles (INPs) at upper tropospheric (cirrus) temperatures and available to influence cirrus formation when entering the tropopause from above. We estimated INP concentrations of 50-500 L-1 until the first days in September and afterwards 5-50 L-1 until the end of the year 2017 in the lower stratosphere for typical cirrus formation temperatures of -55 ?C and an ice supersaturation level of 1.15. The measured profiles of the particle linear depolarization ratio indicated a predominance of nonspherical smoke particles. The 532 nm depolarization ratio decreased slowly with time in the main smoke layer from values of 0.15-0.25 (August-September) to values of 0.05-0.10 (October-November) and < 0.05 (December-January). The decrease of the depolarization ratio is consistent with aging of the smoke particles, growing of a coating around the solid black carbon core (aggregates), and thus change of the shape towards a spherical form. We found ascending aerosol layer features over the most southern European stations, especially over the eastern Mediterranean at 32-35? N, that ascended from heights of about 18-19 to 22-23 km from the beginning of October to the beginning of December 2017 (about 2 km per month). We discuss several transport and lifting mechanisms that may have had an impact on the found aerosol layering structures.Peer reviewe

The unprecedented 2017–2018 stratospheric smoke event: decay phase and aerosol properties observed with the EARLINET

Six months of stratospheric aerosol observations with the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) from August 2017 to January 2018 are presented. The decay phase of an unprecedented, record-breaking stratospheric perturbation caused by wildfire smoke is reported and discussed in terms of geometrical, optical, and microphysical aerosol properties. Enormous amounts of smoke were injected into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere over fire areas in western Canada on 12 August 2017 during strong thunderstorm–pyrocumulonimbus activity. The stratospheric fire plumes spread over the entire Northern Hemisphere in the following weeks and months. Twenty-eight European lidar stations from northern Norway to southern Portugal and the eastern Mediterranean monitored the strong stratospheric perturbation on a continental scale. The main smoke layer (over central, western, southern, and eastern Europe) was found at heights between 15 and 20 km since September 2017 (about 2 weeks after entering the stratosphere). Thin layers of smoke were detected at heights of up to 22–23 km. The stratospheric aerosol optical thickness at 532 nm decreased from values > 0.25 on 21–23 August 2017 to 0.005–0.03 until 5–10 September and was mainly 0.003–0.004 from October to December 2017 and thus was still significantly above the stratospheric background (0.001–0.002). Stratospheric particle extinction coefficients (532 nm) were as high as 50–200 Mm−1 until the beginning of September and on the order of 1 Mm−1 (0.5–5 Mm−1) from October 2017 until the end of January 2018. The corresponding layer mean particle mass concentration was on the order of 0.05–0.5 µg m−3 over these months. Soot particles (light-absorbing carbonaceous particles) are efficient ice-nucleating particles (INPs) at upper tropospheric (cirrus) temperatures and available to influence cirrus formation when entering the tropopause from above. We estimated INP concentrations of 50–500 L−1 until the first days in September and afterwards 5–50 L−1 until the end of the year 2017 in the lower stratosphere for typical cirrus formation temperatures of −55 ∘C and an ice supersaturation level of 1.15. The measured profiles of the particle linear depolarization ratio indicated a predominance of nonspherical smoke particles. The 532 nm depolarization ratio decreased slowly with time in the main smoke layer from values of 0.15–0.25 (August–September) to values of 0.05–0.10 (October–November) and < 0.05 (December–January). The decrease of the depolarization ratio is consistent with aging of the smoke particles, growing of a coating around the solid black carbon core (aggregates), and thus change of the shape towards a spherical form. We found ascending aerosol layer features over the most southern European stations, especially over the eastern Mediterranean at 32–35∘ N, that ascended from heights of about 18–19 to 22–23 km from the beginning of October to the beginning of December 2017 (about 2 km per month). We discuss several transport and lifting mechanisms that may have had an impact on the found aerosol layering structures

Tropospheric and stratospheric smoke over Europe as observed within EARLINET/ACTRIS in summer 2017

For several weeks in summer 2017, strong smoke layers were observed over Europe at numerous EARLINET stations. EARLINET is the European research lidar network and part of ACTRIS and comprises more than 30 ground-based lidars. The smoke layers were observed in the troposphere as well as in the stratosphere up to 25 km from Northern Scandinavia over whole western and central Europe to the Mediterranean regions. Backward trajectory analysis among other tools revealed that these smoke layers originated from strong wild fires in western Canada in combination with pyrocumulus convection. An extraordinary fire event in the mid of August caused intense smoke layers that were observed across Europe for several weeks starting on 18 August 2017. Maximum aerosol optical depths up to 1.0 at 532 nm were observed at Leipzig, Germany, on 22 August 2017 during the peak of this event. The stratospheric smoke layers reached extinction coefficient values of more than 600 Mm−1 at 532 nm, a factor of 10 higher than observed for volcanic ash after the Pinatubo eruption in the 1990s. First analyses of the intensive optical properties revealed low particle depolarization values at 532 nm for the tropospheric smoke (spherical particles) and rather high values (up to 20%) in the stratosphere. However, a strong wavelength dependence of the depolarization ratio was measured for the stratospheric smoke. This indicates irregularly shaped stratospheric smoke particles in the size range of the accumulation mode. This unique depolarization feature makes it possible to distinguish clearly smoke aerosol from cirrus clouds or other aerosol types by polarization lidar measurements. Particle extinction-to-backscatter ratios were rather low in the order of 40 to 50 sr at 355 nm, while values between 70-90 sr were measured at higher wavelengths. In the western and central Mediterranean, stratospheric smoke layers were most prominent in the end of August at heights between 16 and 20 km. In contrast, stratospheric smoke started to occur in the eastern Mediterranean (Cyprus and Israel) in the beginning of September between 18 and 23 km. Stratospheric smoke was still visible in the beginning of October at certain locations (e.g. Evora, Portugal), while tropospheric smoke was mainly observed until the end of August within Europe. An overview of the smoke layers measured at several EARLINET sites will be given. The temporal development of these layers as well as their geometrical and optical properties will be presented