Pharmacologic or Genetic Targeting of Glutamine Synthetase Skews Macrophages toward an M1-like Phenotype and Inhibits Tumor Metastasis.

Glutamine-synthetase (GS), the glutamine-synthesizing enzyme from glutamate, controls important events, including the release of inflammatory mediators, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) activation, and autophagy. However, its role in macrophages remains elusive. We report that pharmacologic inhibition of GS skews M2-polarized macrophages toward the M1-like phenotype, characterized by reduced intracellular glutamine and increased succinate with enhanced glucose flux through glycolysis, which could be partly related to HIF1α activation. As a result of these metabolic changes and HIF1α accumulation, GS-inhibited macrophages display an increased capacity to induce T cell recruitment, reduced T cell suppressive potential, and an impaired ability to foster endothelial cell branching or cancer cell motility. Genetic deletion of macrophagic GS in tumor-bearing mice promotes tumor vessel pruning, vascular normalization, accumulation of cytotoxic T cells, and metastasis inhibition. These data identify GS activity as mediator of the proangiogenic, immunosuppressive, and pro-metastatic function of M2-like macrophages and highlight the possibility of targeting this enzyme in the treatment of cancer metastasis

Influencia de los nutrientes del suelo sobre el crecimiento arbóreo en bosques del Pacífico colombiano

Tree growth has great relevance in mitigating climate change. It has been suggested that, in tropical forests, growth is related to edaphic fertility. Given that the Colombian Pacific is a rainy region with nutrient-poor soils, the way in which edaphic conditions explain tree growth was evaluated. To this effect, the tree diameter growth (CDA) was determined at the level of plots, species, and ecological groups, and it was related to the physical and chemical variables of the soil. It was observed that the CDA in trees with low wood density was positively correlated with organic matter (MO), nitrogen, and sand, and it was negatively correlated with with P, silt, and clay. The Fabaceae family was positively correlated with pH, MO, nitrogen, magnesium, and sand, and negatively so with the effective cation exchange capacity (CICE), silt, clay, and aluminum. Consequently, a multiple nutritional limitation was corroborated, which highlights the fact that growth can be conditioned by abundant nutrients in the soil, not only by their limiting scarcity.El crecimiento arbóreo tiene gran relevancia en la mitigación del cambio climático. Se ha planteado que, en bosques tropicales, el crecimiento está relacionado con la fertilidad edáfica. Dado que el Pacífico colombiano es una región lluviosa y con suelos pobres en nutrientes, se evaluó cómo las condiciones edáficas explican el crecimiento arbóreo. Para ello se determinó el crecimiento diamétrico arbóreo (CDA) a nivel de parcelas, especies y grupos ecológicos, y se relacionó con las variables físicas y químicas del suelo. Se observó que el CDA en árboles con baja densidad de madera se correlacionó de manera positiva con la materia orgánica (MO), nitrógeno y arena, y de manera negativa con fósforo, limo y arcilla. La familia Fabaceae se correlacionó positivamente con pH, MO, nitrógeno, magnesio y arena, y negativamente con la capacidad de intercambio catiónica efectiva (CICE), limo, arcilla y aluminio. Por consiguiente, se corroboró una limitación nutricional múltiple, que resalta que el crecimiento puede ser condicionado por nutrientes abundantes del suelo, no solo por su escasez limitante

Non-pharmacological interventions for Lewy body dementia: a systematic review.

Lewy body dementia (consisting of dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson's disease dementia) is a common neurodegenerative disease characterised by visual hallucinations, fluctuating attention, motor disturbances, falls, and sensitivity to antipsychotics. This combination of features presents challenges for pharmacological management. Given this, we sought to review evidence for non-pharmacological interventions with patients with Lewy body dementia and their carers. Bibliographic databases were searched using a wide range of search terms and no restrictions were placed on study design, language, or clinical setting. Two reviewers independently assessed papers for inclusion, rated study quality, and extracted data. The search identified 21 studies including two randomised controlled trials with available subgroup data, seven case series, and 12 case studies. Most studies reported beneficial effects of the interventions used, though the only sizeable study was on dysphagia, showing a benefit of honey-thickened liquids. Given the heterogeneity of interventions and poor quality of the studies overall, no quantitative synthesis was possible. Overall, identified studies suggested possible benefits of non-pharmacological interventions in Lewy body dementia, but the small sample sizes and low quality of studies mean no definite recommendations can be offered. Our findings underscore the clear and urgent need for future research on this topic

Food safety through natural antimicrobials

Producción CientíficaMicrobial pathogens are the cause of many foodborne diseases after the ingestion of contaminated food. Several preservation methods have been developed to assure microbial food safety, as well as nutritional values and sensory characteristics of food. However, the demand for natural antimicrobial agents is increasing due to consumers’ concern on health issues. Moreover, the use of antibiotics is leading to multidrug resistant microorganisms reinforcing the focus of researchers and the food industry on natural antimicrobials. Natural antimicrobial compounds from plants, animals, bacteria, viruses, algae and mushrooms are covered. Finally, new perspectives from researchers in the field and the interest of the food industry in innovations are reviewed. These new approaches should be useful for controlling foodborne bacterial pathogens; furthermore, the shelf-life of food would be extended.Junta de Castilla y León (projects (SAN196/VA07/07, SAN673/VA05/08 and SAN126/09

Inverse problems with partial data for a magnetic Schr\"odinger operator in an infinite slab and on a bounded domain

In this paper we study inverse boundary value problems with partial data for the magnetic Schr\"odinger operator. In the case of an infinite slab in $R^n$, $n\ge 3$, we establish that the magnetic field and the electric potential can be determined uniquely, when the Dirichlet and Neumann data are given either on the different boundary hyperplanes of the slab or on the same hyperplane. This is a generalization of the results of [41], obtained for the Schr\"odinger operator without magnetic potentials. In the case of a bounded domain in $R^n$, $n\ge 3$, extending the results of [2], we show the unique determination of the magnetic field and electric potential from the Dirichlet and Neumann data, given on two arbitrary open subsets of the boundary, provided that the magnetic and electric potentials are known in a neighborhood of the boundary. Generalizing the results of [31], we also obtain uniqueness results for the magnetic Schr\"odinger operator, when the Dirichlet and Neumann data are known on the same part of the boundary, assuming that the inaccessible part of the boundary is a part of a hyperplane

Opto-mechanical measurement of micro-trap via nonlinear cavity enhanced Raman scattering spectrum

High-gain resonant nonlinear Raman scattering on trapped cold atoms within a high-fineness ring optical cavity is simply explained under a nonlinear opto-mechanical mechanism, and a proposal using it to detect frequency of micro-trap on atom chip is presented. The enhancement of scattering spectrum is due to a coherent Raman conversion between two different cavity modes mediated by collective vibrations of atoms through nonlinear opto-mechanical couplings. The physical conditions of this technique are roughly estimated on Rubidium atoms, and a simple quantum analysis as well as a multi-body semiclassical simulation on this nonlinear Raman process is conducted.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Upregulation of intrarenal angiotensinogen in diabetes

Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Med, Div Nephrol, BR-04023040 São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Med, Div Nephrol, BR-04023040 São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

First Results from the TOTEM Experiment

The first physics results from the TOTEM experiment are here reported, concerning the measurements of the total, differential elastic, elastic and inelastic pp cross-section at the LHC energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV, obtained using the luminosity measurement from CMS. A preliminary measurement of the forward charged particle $\eta$ distribution is also shown.Comment: Conference Proceeding. MPI@LHC 2010: 2nd International Workshop on Multiple Partonic Interactions at the LHC. Glasgow (UK), 29th of November to the 3rd of December 201

Vasospasm in children with traumatic brain injury

To determine the incidence of vasospasm in children who have suffered moderate to severe traumatic brain injury. A prospective observational pilot study in a 24-bed pediatric intensive care unit was performed. Twenty-two children aged 7 months to 14 years with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury as indicated by Glasgow Coma Score ≤12 and abnormal head imaging were enrolled. Transcranial Doppler ultrasound was performed to identify and follow vasospasm. Patients with a flow velocity in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) >120 cm/s were considered to have vasospasm by criterion A. If flow velocity in the MCA was >120 cm/s and the Lindegaard ratio was >3, vasospasm was considered to be present by criterion B. Patients with basilar artery (BA) flow velocity >90 cm/s met criteria for vasospasm in the posterior circulation (criterion C). In the MCA, 45.5% of patients developed vasospasm based on criterion A and 36.3% developed vasospasm based on criterion B. A total of 18.2% of patients developed vasospasm in the BA by criterion C. Typical day of onset of vasospasm was hospital day 2–3. Duration of vasospasm in the anterior circulation was 4 ± 2 days based on criteria A and 3 ± 1 days based on criteria B. Vasospasm in the posterior circulation persisted for 2 ± 1 days. Using the adult criteria outlined above to diagnose vasospasm, a significant proportion of pediatric patients who have suffered moderate to severe traumatic brain injury develop vasospasm during the course of their treatment

LHC Optics Measurement with Proton Tracks Detected by the Roman Pots of the TOTEM Experiment

Precise knowledge of the beam optics at the LHC is crucial to fulfil the physics goals of the TOTEM experiment, where the kinematics of the scattered protons is reconstructed with the near-beam telescopes -- so-called Roman Pots (RP). Before being detected, the protons' trajectories are influenced by the magnetic fields of the accelerator lattice. Thus precise understanding of the proton transport is of key importance for the experiment. A novel method of optics evaluation is proposed which exploits kinematical distributions of elastically scattered protons observed in the RPs. Theoretical predictions, as well as Monte Carlo studies, show that the residual uncertainty of this optics estimation method is smaller than 0.25 percent.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, 5 figures, to be submitted to New J. Phy