Análises in situ de U e Pb em zircão por SHRIMP II por controle remoto e de Hf por LA-ICP-MS: um exemplo de datação e da evolução genética de zircão através da razão 176Hf/177Hf em amostra da pedreira Ita no Complexo Atuba, SE Brasil

Operar o espectrômetro de massa SHRIMP à distância, remotamente via Internet, é sem dúvida uma técnica alternativa de grande interesse para a datação de cristais de zircão. Embora não represente avanço no método geocronológico U-Pb em zircão, a técnica de operação remota traz, além de facilidade, grande economia nesse tipo de análise. Foi executada pela primeira vez em análises espectrométicas envolvendo dois laboratoratórios internacionais (São Paulo, Brasil - Beijing, China) possibilitando a obtenção de resultados em tempo real. O procedimento foi aplicado em três amostras de rochas gnáissico-migmatíticas da pedreira Ita (próxima à cidade de Curitiba - Paraná - Brasil) pertencentes ao Complexo Atuba. Tais rochas, quando analisadas através do método U-Pb (TIMS) demonstraram uma evolução complexa, com idades bastante imprecisas. A presença de importantes heranças arqueanas e paleoproterozoicas, neste complexo, foram confirmadas nas zonas internas de cristais de zircão obtidas em leucossomas neoproterozoicos. Análises adicionais realizadas em rochas dioríticas indicaram ser intrusivas, e não encaixantes, e apresentaram idades relacionadas às colisões continentais (0.6 Ga) envolvidas durante a assembléia de Gondwana, no Neoproterozoico. A determinação das razões de isótopos de Hf em cristais de zircão, por meio de LA-ICP-MS, representa uma nova opção para checar a importância relativa da contribuição de material do manto (&#949;Hf >; 0) e crosta (&#949;Hf ; 0) and crustal contributions (&#949;Hf < 0) during the growth of the zircon crystals. While the archean component in the complex was derived from the mantle (&#949;Hf +1.5 to +8.7) the paleoproterozoic component had a crustal contribution (&#949;Hf-9.1 to -10.1)

Structural aging of human neurons is the opposite of the changes in schizophrenia

Human mentality develops with age and is altered in psychiatric disorders, though their underlying mechanism is unknown. In this study, we analyzed nanometer-scale three-dimensional structures of brain tissues of the anterior cingulate cortex from eight schizophrenia and eight control cases. The distribution profiles of neurite curvature of the control cases showed a trend depending on their age, resulting in an age-correlated decrease in the standard deviation of neurite curvature (Pearson's r = -0.80, p = 0.018). In contrast to the control cases, the schizophrenia cases deviate upward from this correlation, exhibiting a 60% higher neurite curvature compared with the controls (p = 7.8 x 10^(-4)). The neurite curvature also showed a correlation with a hallucination score (Pearson's r = 0.80, p = 1.8 x 10^(-4)), indicating that neurite structure is relevant to brain function. We suggest that neurite curvature plays a pivotal role in brain aging and can be used as a hallmark to exploit a novel treatment of schizophrenia. This nano-CT paper is the result of our decade-long analysis and is unprecedented in terms of number of cases.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2007.0021

DOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19疾患感受性遺伝子DOCK2の重症化機序を解明 --アジア最大のバイオレポジトリーでCOVID-19の治療標的を発見--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-10.Identifying the host genetic factors underlying severe COVID-19 is an emerging challenge. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 2, 393 cases of COVID-19 in a cohort of Japanese individuals collected during the initial waves of the pandemic, with 3, 289 unaffected controls. We identified a variant on chromosome 5 at 5q35 (rs60200309-A), close to the dedicator of cytokinesis 2 gene (DOCK2), which was associated with severe COVID-19 in patients less than 65 years of age. This risk allele was prevalent in East Asian individuals but rare in Europeans, highlighting the value of genome-wide association studies in non-European populations. RNA-sequencing analysis of 473 bulk peripheral blood samples identified decreased expression of DOCK2 associated with the risk allele in these younger patients. DOCK2 expression was suppressed in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (n = 61 individuals) identified cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 and a COVID-19-specific decreasing effect of the risk allele on DOCK2 expression in non-classical monocytes. Immunohistochemistry of lung specimens from patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia showed suppressed DOCK2 expression. Moreover, inhibition of DOCK2 function with CPYPP increased the severity of pneumonia in a Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, characterized by weight loss, lung oedema, enhanced viral loads, impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. We conclude that DOCK2 has an important role in the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe COVID-19, and could be further explored as a potential biomarker and/or therapeutic target

Electrochemical CO2 Reduction Using Gas Diffusion Electrode Loading Ni-doped Covalent Triazine Frameworks in Acidic Electrolytes

Ni-doped covalent triazine frameworks (Ni-CTF) has been known as an efficient electrocatalysts that achieve conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) to carbon monoxide (CO) with the faradaic efficiency (FE) exceeding 90% in neutral electrolytes. Here we report that the FE can reach 60% even in acidic electrolytes, where the hydrogen evolution can proceed competitively, by loading Ni-CTF on gas diffusion electrode (GDE). In the presence of Zn(II) ions, zinc hydroxide analogues that can be formed only in alkaline conditions were deposited on the GDE during the CO2 reduction in an electrolyte with a bulk pH of 2. On the other hand, when a normal plate electrode (PE) was used, the FE was only 1.2% in an electrolyte with the same pH, and the zinc hydroxide analogues were not formed. These results indicate that the local pH around GDE increased during the cathodic process, which led to an increasing FE of CO2 reduction even in an acidic electrolyte