Murine model for Fusarium oxysporum invasive fusariosis reveals organ-specific structures for dissemination and long-term persistence

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Design and development of a prototype electrotherapy device

This article describes a complete prototype system that can be used in electrotherapy treatments, that is, in medical treatments involving electric currents. The system is composed of two main blocks: the master and the slave. The Master block, whose main component is a CPU, controls the user interface. The Slave block, which is composed of a microcontroller and a wave generator, produces the appropriated voltages and currents compatible with the desired treatment. The whole system is powered by a 12 V power supply and the output signal voltage ranges between -100 V and 100 V. Despite the prototype being able of performing all the electrotherapy treatments in the low-medium frequency ranges, it was tested in aesthetic mesotherapy, namely in anticellulite, located anticellulite, antistretch, and antiflaccidity. In these treatments, the output signal is composed of an overlap of two frequencies: the first one is selected in the range of 1.2 kHz - 1.8 kHz and the second in the range of 0.07 Hz - 2 Hz. The system was tested in a clinical environment with real patients. It showed good results both in effectiveness of treatments and in terms of pain suffered by the patients.(undefined

Base of the Toarcian Stage of the Lower Jurassic defined by the Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) at the Peniche section (Portugal)

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.The Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of Toarcian Stage, Lower Jurassic, is placed at the base of micritic limestone bed 15e at Ponta do Trovão (Peniche, Lusitanian Basin, Portugal; coordinates: 39°22'15''N, 9°23'07''W), 80km north of Lisbon, and coincides with the mass occurrence of the ammonite Dactylioceras (Eodactylites). The Pliensbachian/ Toarcian boundary (PLB/TOA) is contained in a continuous section forming over 450m of carbonate-rich sediments. Tectonics, syn-sedimentary disturbance, metamorphism or significant diagenesis do not significantly affect this area. At the PLB/TOA, no vertical facies changes, stratigraphical gaps or hiatuses have been recorded. The base of the Toarcian Stage is marked in the bed 15e by the first occurrence of D. (E.) simplex, co-occurring with D. (E.) pseudocommune and D. (E.) polymorphum. The ammonite association of D. (Eodactylites) ssp. and other species e.g. Protogrammoceras (Paltarpites) cf. paltum, Lioceratoides aff. ballinense and Tiltoniceras aff. capillatum is particularly significant for the boundary definition and correlation with sections in different basins. Ammonites of the PLB/ TOA are taxa characteristic of both the Mediterranean and Northwest European provinces that allow reliable, global correlations. The PLB/TOA is also characterized by other biostratigraphical markers (brachiopods, calcareous nannofossils, ostracods and benthic foraminifers) and by high-resolution stable carbon and oxygen isotopes, and 87Sr/86Sr ratios that show distinctive changes just above the PLB/TOA, thus providing additional, powerful tools for global correlations. The PBL-TOA lies at the end of a second (and third) order cycle of sea-level change, and the top of bed 15e is interpreted as a sequence boundary. Cyclostratigraphy analysis is available for the Lower Toarcian of Ponta do Trovão. Detailed correlations with the Almonacid de la Cuba section (Iberian Range, Spain) provide complementary data of the ammonite succession in the Northwest European Hawskerense and Paltum Subzones, and magnetostratigraphical data that allow supraregional correlations. The proposal was voted on by the Toarcian Working Group in June, 2012, and by the International Subcommission on Jurassic Stratigraphy in September, 2012, approved by the ICS in November, 2014, and ratified by the IUGS in December, 2014. With this Toarcian GSSP, all international stages of the Lower Jurassic have been officially defined.Several scientists have been members of the Toarcian Working Group. We would like to acknowledge all of them. We are also grateful to the ISJS and ICS members who have made valuable comments on a previous version of this manuscript. We warmly thank Marc Philippe for his help with the literature on Pliensbachian/Toarcian continental successions. We warmly thank Christian Meister and Jim Ogg for their helpful review. Constructive remarks by Jim Ogg on an early version of the paper were greatly appreciated. We also acknowledge the precious help of David Besson for providing the ammonite specimens from the Mouterde collection (Musée des Confluences, Lyon). Ammonite photographs were taken by Emmanuel Robert (Collections de Géologie de Lyon). This paper is dedicated to the memory of Abbé René Mouterde and Serge Elmi, who died in 2007 after having been for years the main supporters of the Peniche section as GSSP of Toarcian Stage. Calcareous nannofossil slides are curated at the Collections de Géologie de Lyon (No. FSL 766535-766617). This work has been supported by the BIOSCALES Project (POCTI/ 36438/PAL/2000), coordinated by the Universidade NOVA de Lisboa; R. B. Rocha thanks the support of A. F. Soares, J. C. Kullberg, P. S. Caetano and P. H. Verdial. Financial support was provided to L. V. Duarte, S. Pinto and M. C. Cabral by Projects PDCTE/CTA/44907/2002 and PTDC/CTE-GIX/098968/2008

Author correction : a global database for metacommunity ecology, integrating species, traits, environment and space

Correction to: Scientific Data https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0344-7, published online 08 January 202

Author correction : a global database for metacommunity ecology, integrating species, traits, environment and space

Correction to: Scientific Data https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0344-7, published online 08 January 202

Parenteral nutrition support for patients with pancreatic cancer. Results of a phase II study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cachexia is a common problem in patients (pts) suffering from upper gastrointestinal cancer. In addition, most of these patients suffer from malabsorption and stenosis of the gastrointestinal tract due to their illness. Various methods of supplementary nutrition (enteral, parenteral) are practised. In patients with advanced pancreatic cancer (APC), phase angle, determined by bio-electrical impedance analysis (BIA), seems to be a survival predictor. The positive influence of BIA determinate predictors by additional nutrition is currently under discussion.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To examine the impact of additional parenteral nutrition (APN) we assessed outpatients suffering from APC and progressive cachexia. The assessment based on the BIA method. Assessment parameters were phase angle, ECM/BCM index (ratio of extracellular mass to body cell mass), and BMI (body mass index). Patients suffering from progressive weight loss in spite of additional enteral nutritional support were eligible for the study.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Median treatment duration in 32 pts was 18 [8-35] weeks. Response evaluation showed a benefit in 27 pts (84%) in at least one parameter. 14 pts (43.7%) improved or stabilised in all three parameters. The median ECM/BCM index was 1.7 [1.11-3.14] at start of APN and improved down to 1.5 [1.12-3.36] during therapy. The median BMI increased from 19.7 [14.4-25.9] to 20.5 [15.4-25.0]. The median phase angle improved by 10% from 3.6 [2.3-5.1] to 3.9 [2.2-5.1].</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We demonstrated the positive impact of APN on the assessed parameters, first of all the phase angle, and we observed at least a temporary benefit or stabilisation of the nutritional status in the majority of the investigated patients. Based on these findings we are currently investigating the impact of APN on survival in a larger patient cohort.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00919659</p

IFNAR1-Signalling Obstructs ICOS-mediated Humoral Immunity during Non-lethal Blood-Stage Plasmodium Infection

Funding: This work was funded by a Career Development Fellowship (1028634) and a project grant (GRNT1028641) awarded to AHa by the Australian National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC). IS was supported by The University of Queensland Centennial and IPRS Scholarships. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Horizontal DNA transfer mechanisms of bacteria as weapons of intragenomic conflict

Horizontal DNA transfer (HDT) is a pervasive mechanism of diversification in many microbial species, but its primary evolutionary role remains controversial. Much recent research has emphasised the adaptive benefit of acquiring novel DNA, but here we argue instead that intragenomic conflict provides a coherent framework for understanding the evolutionary origins of HDT. To test this hypothesis, we developed a mathematical model of a clonally descended bacterial population undergoing HDT through transmission of mobile genetic elements (MGEs) and genetic transformation. Including the known bias of transformation toward the acquisition of shorter alleles into the model suggested it could be an effective means of counteracting the spread of MGEs. Both constitutive and transient competence for transformation were found to provide an effective defence against parasitic MGEs; transient competence could also be effective at permitting the selective spread of MGEs conferring a benefit on their host bacterium. The coordination of transient competence with cell-cell killing, observed in multiple species, was found to result in synergistic blocking of MGE transmission through releasing genomic DNA for homologous recombination while simultaneously reducing horizontal MGE spread by lowering the local cell density. To evaluate the feasibility of the functions suggested by the modelling analysis, we analysed genomic data from longitudinal sampling of individuals carrying Streptococcus pneumoniae. This revealed the frequent within-host coexistence of clonally descended cells that differed in their MGE infection status, a necessary condition for the proposed mechanism to operate. Additionally, we found multiple examples of MGEs inhibiting transformation through integrative disruption of genes encoding the competence machinery across many species, providing evidence of an ongoing "arms race." Reduced rates of transformation have also been observed in cells infected by MGEs that reduce the concentration of extracellular DNA through secretion of DNases. Simulations predicted that either mechanism of limiting transformation would benefit individual MGEs, but also that this tactic's effectiveness was limited by competition with other MGEs coinfecting the same cell. A further observed behaviour we hypothesised to reduce elimination by transformation was MGE activation when cells become competent. Our model predicted that this response was effective at counteracting transformation independently of competing MGEs. Therefore, this framework is able to explain both common properties of MGEs, and the seemingly paradoxical bacterial behaviours of transformation and cell-cell killing within clonally related populations, as the consequences of intragenomic conflict between self-replicating chromosomes and parasitic MGEs. The antagonistic nature of the different mechanisms of HDT over short timescales means their contribution to bacterial evolution is likely to be substantially greater than previously appreciated

Planck intermediate results. XLI. A map of lensing-induced B-modes

The secondary cosmic microwave background (CMB) $B$-modes stem from the post-decoupling distortion of the polarization $E$-modes due to the gravitational lensing effect of large-scale structures. These lensing-induced $B$-modes constitute both a valuable probe of the dark matter distribution and an important contaminant for the extraction of the primary CMB $B$-modes from inflation. Planck provides accurate nearly all-sky measurements of both the polarization $E$-modes and the integrated mass distribution via the reconstruction of the CMB lensing potential. By combining these two data products, we have produced an all-sky template map of the lensing-induced $B$-modes using a real-space algorithm that minimizes the impact of sky masks. The cross-correlation of this template with an observed (primordial and secondary) $B$-mode map can be used to measure the lensing $B$-mode power spectrum at multipoles up to $2000$. In particular, when cross-correlating with the $B$-mode contribution directly derived from the Planck polarization maps, we obtain lensing-induced $B$-mode power spectrum measurement at a significance level of $12\,\sigma$, which agrees with the theoretical expectation derived from the Planck best-fit $\Lambda$CDM model. This unique nearly all-sky secondary $B$-mode template, which includes the lensing-induced information from intermediate to small ($10\lesssim \ell\lesssim 1000$) angular scales, is delivered as part of the Planck 2015 public data release. It will be particularly useful for experiments searching for primordial $B$-modes, such as BICEP2/Keck Array or LiteBIRD, since it will enable an estimate to be made of the lensing-induced contribution to the measured total CMB $B$-modes.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures; Accepted for publication in A&A; The B-mode map is part of the PR2-2015 Cosmology Products; available as Lensing Products in the Planck Legacy Archive http://pla.esac.esa.int/pla/#cosmology; and described in the 'Explanatory Supplement' https://wiki.cosmos.esa.int/planckpla2015/index.php/Specially_processed_maps#2015_Lensing-induced_B-mode_ma