Tree-Dwelling Ants: Contrasting Two Brazilian Cerrado Plant Species without Extrafloral Nectaries

Ants dominate vegetation stratum, exploiting resources like extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) and insect honeydew. These interactions are frequent in Brazilian cerrado and are well known, but few studies compare ant fauna and explored resources between plant species. We surveyed two cerrado plants without EFNs, Roupala montana (found on preserved environments of our study area) and Solanum lycocarpum (disturbed ones). Ants were collected and identified, and resources on each plant noted. Ant frequency and richness were higher on R. montana (67%; 35 spp) than S. lycocarpum (52%; 26), the occurrence of the common ant species varied between them, and similarity was low. Resources were explored mainly by Camponotus crassus and consisted of scale insects, aphids, and floral nectaries on R. montana and two treehopper species on S. lycocarpum. Ants have a high diversity on cerrado plants, exploring liquid and prey-based resources that vary in time and space and affect their presence on plants

Thermal stability of plasma-nitrided aluminum oxide films on Si

The effect of post-deposition rapid thermal annealing in vacuum and in dry O2 on the stability of remote plasma-assisted nitrided aluminum oxide films on silicon is investigated. The areal densities of Al, O, N, and Si were determined by nuclear reaction analysis and their concentration versus depth distributions by narrow nuclear reaction resonance profiling, with subnanometric depth resolution. Annealing in both vacuum and O2 atmospheres produced partial loss of N from the near-surface regions of the films and its transport into near-interface regions of the Si substrate. Oxygen from the gas phase was incorporated in the AlON films in exchange for O and N previously existing therein, as well as in the near-interface regions of the Si substrate, leading to oxynitridation of the substrate. Al and Si remained essentially immobile under rapid thermal processing, confirming that the presence of nitrogen improves the thermal stability characteristics of the AlON/ Si structures in comparison with non-nitrided Al2O3 /Si

Chitosan-magnetite nanocomposite as a sensing platform to bendiocarb determination

A novel platform for carbamate-based pesticide quantification using a chitosan/magnetic iron oxide (Chit-Fe3O4) nanocomposite as a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modifier is shown for an analytical methodology for determination of bendiocarb (BND). The BND oxidation signal using GCE/Chit-Fe3O4 compared with bare GCE was catalyzed, showing a 37.5% of current increase with the peak potential towards less positive values, showing method's increased sensitivity and selectivity. Using square-wave voltammetry (SWV), calibration curves for BND determination were obtained (n = 3), and calculated detection and quantification limits values were 2.09 × 10-6 mol L-1 (466.99 ppb) and 6.97 × 10-6 mol L-1 (1555.91 ppb), respectively. The proposed electroanalytical methodology was successfully applied for BND quantification in natural raw waters without any sample pretreatment, proving that the GCE/Chit-Fe3O4 modified electrode showed great potential for BND determination in complex samples. ᅟ Graphical abstract.The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding provided by the following Brazilian agencies: CNPq-INCT (proc. 573925/2008-9 and 573548/2008-0), CAPES/Funcap (2133/2012/proc. 23038.007973/2012-90 and PNE-0112-00048.01.00/16), CNPq (proc. 400223/2014-7, 303596/2014-7, 302801/2014-6 and 408790/2016-4), PRONEM/FUNCAP/CNPq (PNE-0112-00048.01.00/16) and PRONEX/Funcap (proc. PR2-0101-00030.01.00/15). The Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) and the FEDER, under Programme PT2020 (Project UID/QUI/50006/2013) and the project Qualidade e Segurança Alimentar- uma abordagem (nano) tecnológica (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000011) are also acknowledged for the financial funding. R.M.F. and J.C.D. acknowledge the financial support by Fondecyt 3170240 and Basal Program for Centers of Excellence, Grant FB0807 CEDENNA, CONICYT. C.P.S. thanks CAPES-PNPD for her grant.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Allosteric Antagonist Modulation of TRPV2 by Piperlongumine Impairs Glioblastoma Progression.

The use of computational tools to identify biological targets of natural products with anticancer properties and unknown modes of action is gaining momentum. We employed self-organizing maps to deconvolute the phenotypic effects of piperlongumine (PL) and establish a link to modulation of the human transient receptor potential vanilloid 2 (hTRPV2) channel. The structure of the PL-bound full-length rat TRPV2 channel was determined by cryo-EM. PL binds to a transient allosteric pocket responsible for a new mode of anticancer activity against glioblastoma (GBM) in which hTRPV2 is overexpressed. Calcium imaging experiments revealed the importance of Arg539 and Thr522 residues on the antagonistic effect of PL and calcium influx modulation of the TRPV2 channel. Downregulation of hTRPV2 reduces sensitivity to PL and decreases ROS production. Analysis of GBM patient samples associates hTRPV2 overexpression with tumor grade, disease progression, and poor prognosis. Extensive tumor abrogation and long term survival was achieved in two murine models of orthotopic GBM by formulating PL in an implantable scaffold/hydrogel for sustained local therapy. Furthermore, in primary tumor samples derived from GBM patients, we observed a selective reduction of malignant cells in response to PL ex vivo. Our results establish a broadly applicable strategy, leveraging data-motivated research hypotheses for the discovery of novel means tackling cancer

Bicistronic DNA vaccines simultaneously encoding HIV, HSV and HPV antigens promote CD8⁺ T cell responses and protective immunity

Millions of people worldwide are currently infected with human papillomavirus (HPV), herpes simplex virus (HSV) or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). For this enormous contingent of people, the search for preventive and therapeutic immunological approaches represents a hope for the eradication of latent infection and/or virus-associated cancer. To date, attempts to develop vaccines against these viruses have been mainly based on a monovalent concept, in which one or more antigens of a virus are incorporated into a vaccine formulation. In the present report, we designed and tested an immunization strategy based on DNA vaccines that simultaneously encode antigens for HIV, HSV and HPV. With this purpose in mind, we tested two bicistronic DNA vaccines (pIRES I and pIRES II) that encode the HPV-16 oncoprotein E7 and the HIV protein p24 both genetically fused to the HSV-1 gD envelope protein. Mice i.m. immunized with the DNA vaccines mounted antigen-specific CD8⁺ T cell responses, including in vivo cytotoxic responses, against the three antigens. Under experimental conditions, the vaccines conferred protective immunity against challenges with a vaccinia virus expressing the HIV-derived protein Gag, an HSV-1 virus strain and implantation of tumor cells expressing the HPV-16 oncoproteins. Altogether, our results show that the concept of a trivalent HIV, HSV, and HPV vaccine capable to induce CD8⁺ T cell-dependent responses is feasible and may aid in the development of preventive and/or therapeutic approaches for the control of diseases associated with these viruses.CNPqINCTVFAPESPUS

Atherosclerosis severity in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia: the role of T and B lymphocytes

Background and aims Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is characterized by lifelong exposure to high LDL-c concentrations and premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease; nevertheless, disease severity can be heterogeneous. We aimed at evaluating if the immune-inflammatory system could modulate atherosclerosis burden in FH. Methods From a cohort of subjects with confirmed FH (Dutch Lipid Clinic Network and genotype), 92 patients receiving high-intensity lipid-lowering therapy (statin ± ezetimibe) were included. The extension and severity of coronary atherosclerosis was assessed by standardized reporting systems (CAD-RADS) for coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) and coronary artery calcium (CAC) scores. Lipids, apolipoproteins, anti-oxLDL and anti-apolipoprotein B-D peptide (anti-ApoB-D) autoantibodies (IgM and IgG), lymphocytes subtypes, platelet, monocyte and endothelial microparticles (MP), IgM levels (circulating or produced by B1 cells) and cytokines in the supernatant of cultured cells were determined. Multiple linear regression models evaluated associations of these biomarkers with CAC and CAD-RADS scores. Results In univariate analysis CAC correlated with age, systolic blood pressure, TCD4+ cells, and titers of IgM anti-ApoB-D. In multiple linear regression [ANOVA F = 2.976; p = 0.024; R2 = 0.082), CD4+T lymphocytes (B = 35.289; beta = 0.277; p = 0.010; 95%CI for B 8.727 to 61.851), was independently associated with CAC. CAD-RADS correlated with age, systolic blood pressure, titers of IgM anti-ApoB-D, and endothelial MP in univariate analysis. In multiple linear regression, [ANOVA F = 2.790; p = 0.032; R2 = 0.119), only age (B = 0.027; beta = 0.234; p = 0.049; 95% CI for B 0.000 to 0.053) was independent predictor. Conclusions In subjects with FH, under high-intensity lipid-lowering therapy, age and CD4+T cells were associated to atherosclerosis burden

Consistent trajectories of rhinitis control and treatment in 16,177 weeks : The MASK-air (R) longitudinal study

Introduction: Data from mHealth apps can provide valuable information on rhinitis control and treatment patterns. However, in MASK-air (R), these data have only been analyzed cross-sectionally, without considering the changes of symptoms over time. We analyzed data from MASK-air (R) longitudinally, clustering weeks according to reported rhinitis symptoms.Methods: We analyzed MASK-air (R) data, assessing the weeks for which patients had answered a rhinitis daily questionnaire on all 7days. We firstly used k-means clustering algorithms for longitudinal data to define clusters of weeks according to the trajectories of reported daily rhinitis symptoms. Clustering was applied separately for weeks when medication was reported or not. We compared obtained clusters on symptoms and rhinitis medication patterns. We then used the latent class mixture model to assess the robustness of results.Results: We analyzed 113,239 days (16,177 complete weeks) from 2590 patients (mean age +/- SD = 39.1 +/- 13.7 years). The first clustering algorithm identified ten clusters among weeks with medication use: seven with low variability in rhinitis control during the week and three with highly-variable control. Clusters with poorly-controlled rhinitis displayed a higher frequency of rhinitis co-medication, a more frequent change of medication schemes and more pronounced seasonal patterns. Six clusters were identified in weeks when no rhinitis medication was used, displaying similar control patterns. The second clustering method provided similar results. Moreover, patients displayed consistent levels of rhinitis control, reporting several weeks with similar levels of control.Conclusions: We identified 16 patterns of weekly rhinitis control. Co-medication and medication change schemes were common in uncontrolled weeks, reinforcing the hypothesis that patients treat themselves according to their symptoms.[GRAPHICS].Peer reviewe