Targeting neonatal ischemic brain injury with a pentapeptide-based irreversible caspase inhibitor

Brain protection of the newborn remains a challenging priority and represents a totally unmet medical need. Pharmacological inhibition of caspases appears as a promising strategy for neuroprotection. In a translational perspective, we have developed a pentapeptide-based group II caspase inhibitor, TRP601/ORPHA133563, which reaches the brain, and inhibits caspases activation, mitochondrial release of cytochrome c, and apoptosis in vivo. Single administration of TRP601 protects newborn rodent brain against excitotoxicity, hypoxia–ischemia, and perinatal arterial stroke with a 6-h therapeutic time window, and has no adverse effects on physiological parameters. Safety pharmacology investigations, and toxicology studies in rodent and canine neonates, suggest that TRP601 is a lead compound for further drug development to treat ischemic brain damage in human newborns

Notes on the pygmy killer whale Feresa attenuata Gray, 1874 (Cetacea: Delphinidae) in Venezuela, southeastern Caribbean

The pygmy killer whale Feresa attenuata Gray, 1874 is one of the species usually known as 'black fish', which is easily mistaken for the false killer whale, Pseudorca crassidens (Owen 1846) and the melon-head whale, Peponocephala electra (Gray, 1846), especially in the field. Prior to 2002, there were very few data on this species in Venezuela and the only reports were based on craneometric studies of stranded animals in the western region. Five new reports on this species have been recorded since in the northeastern zone of the country, based on sightings or assistance of live-stranded animals. Detailed comparisons were made on specimens observed in the field for their corrected identification. These sightings and strandings of F. attenuata are the first reported for the Venezuelan northeast basin, thus increasing the number of reports of pygmy killer whales to seven in the country and extending their known distribution through the southern Caribbean Sea

A sustainable connectivity model of the Internet access technologies in rural and low-income areas

Gordon, SD ORCiD: 0000-0003-4090-1199The Internet has evolved as a critical booster for the economic, social and technical development of human society. Almost half of the world’s population is unfortunately missing out due to the lack of access to the Internet. Such users are mainly those living in rural and low-income areas. Various strategies and approaches for improving the Internet’s accessibility are available, each with a different set of benefits, costs, and risks. It is important to choose solutions from these feasible options that promise to promote the efficiency as well as the sustainability of the ‘Internet Ecosystem’. In this paper, we propose a new model of sustainable connectivity that integrates three factors (affordability, social shareability, and geographical network coverage) that must be considered in the selection and design of Internet access solutions. In addition, we develop a hypergraph-based network graph solution that illustrates the relationship among the three factors. Then, we use Coloured Petri Nets (CPNs) to model and simulate the possible Internet access solutions and also interplay those three factors to study how they impact the overall network connectivity performance. Our initial results have revealed how sustainable Internet connectivity behaves as a function of the affordability, social interaction, and geographical network coverage and investigates how these factors could be leveraged to provide different network connectivity and Internet access solutions. © ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering 2018

A sustainable connectivity model of the internet access technologies in rural and low-income areas

The Internet has evolved as a critical booster for the economic, social and technical development of human society. Almost half of the world’s population is unfortunately missing out due to the lack of access to the Internet. Such users are mainly those living in rural and low-income areas. Various strategies and approaches for improving the Internet’s accessibility are available, each with a different set of benefits, costs, and risks. It is important to choose solutions from these feasible options that promise to promote the efficiency as well as the sustainability of the ‘Internet Ecosystem’. In this paper, we propose a new model of sustainable connectivity that integrates three factors (affordability, social shareability, and geographical network coverage) that must be considered in the selection and design of Internet access solutions. In addition, we develop a hypergraph-based network graph solution that illustrates the relationship among the three factors. Then, we use Coloured Petri Nets (CPNs) to model and simulate the possible Internet access solutions and also interplay those three factors to study how they impact the overall network connectivity performance. Our initial results have revealed how sustainable Internet connectivity behaves as a function of the affordability, social interaction, and geographical network coverage and investigates how these factors could be leveraged to provide different network connectivity and Internet access solutions

Melatonin promotes myelination by decreasing white matter inflammation after neonatal stroke.

International audienceMelatonin demonstrates neuroprotective properties in adult models of cerebral ischemia, acting as a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent. We investigated the effect of melatonin in a 7-d-old rat model of ischemia-reperfusion, leading to both cortical infarct and injury in the underlying white matter observed using MRI and immunohistochemistry. Melatonin was given i.p. as either a single dose before ischemia or a double-dose regimen, combining one before ischemia and one 24 h after reperfusion. At 48 h after injury, neither a significant reduction in cortical infarct volume nor a variation in the number of TUNEL- and nitrotyrosine-positive cells within the ipsilateral lesion was observed in melatonin-treated animals compared with controls. However, a decrease in the density of tomato lectin-positive cells after melatonin treatment was found in the white matter underlying cortical lesion. Furthermore, we showed a marked increase in the myelin basic protein-immunoreactivity in the cingulum and in the density of mature oligodendrocytes (APC-immunoreactive) in both the ipsilateral cingulum and external capsule. These results suggest that melatonin is not able to reduce cortical infarct volume in a neonatal stroke model but strongly reduces inflammation and promotes subsequent myelination in the white matter