Dynamics of the hydrocarbon-degrading Cycloclasticus bacteria during mesocosm-simulated oil spills

Original research articleWe used catalysed reported deposition – fluorescence in situ hybridization (CARD-FISH) to analyse changes in the abundance of the bacterial groups Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, and of hydrocarbon-degrading Cycloclasticus bacteria in mesocosms that had received polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) additions. The effects of PAHs were assessed under four contrasting hydrographic conditions in the coastal upwelling system of the Rías Baixas: winter mixing, spring bloom, summer stratification and autumn upwelling. We used realistic additions of water soluble PAHs (approximately 20–30 μg l−1 equivalent of chrysene), but during the winter period we also investigated the effect of higher PAHs concentrations (10–80 μg l−1 chrysene) on the bacterial community using microcosms. The most significant change observed was a significant reduction (68 ± 5%) in the relative abundance of Alphaproteobacteria. The magnitude of the response of Cycloclasticus bacteria (positive with probe CYPU829) to PAHs additions varied depending on the initial environmental conditions, and on the initial concentration of added PAHs. Our results clearly show that bacteria of the Cycloclasticus group play a major role in low molecular weight PAHs biodegradation in this planktonic ecosystem. Their response was stronger in colder waters, when their background abundance was also higher. During the warm periods, the response of Cycloclasticus was limited, possibly due to both, a lower bioavailability of PAHs caused by abiotic factors (solar radiation, temperature), and by inorganic nutrient limitation of bacterial growth.This research was supported by the MEC contract IMPRESION (VEM2003-20021); an European Community Marie Curie Reintegration Fellowship (MERG-CT-2004-511937) and a Juan de la Cierva-MEC contract.Versión del editor5,84

Measurement of Branching Fractions and Charge Asymmetries for Two-Body B Meson Decays with Charmonium

We report branching fractions and charge asymmetries for exclusive decays of charged and neutral B mesons to two-body final states containing a charmonium meson, J/psi or psi(2S). This result is based on a 29.4 fb^{-1} data sample collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric e+e- collider.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, revte

Para-infectious brain injury in COVID-19 persists at follow-up despite attenuated cytokine and autoantibody responses

To understand neurological complications of COVID-19 better both acutely and for recovery, we measured markers of brain injury, inflammatory mediators, and autoantibodies in 203 hospitalised participants; 111 with acute sera (1–11 days post-admission) and 92 convalescent sera (56 with COVID-19-associated neurological diagnoses). Here we show that compared to 60 uninfected controls, tTau, GFAP, NfL, and UCH-L1 are increased with COVID-19 infection at acute timepoints and NfL and GFAP are significantly higher in participants with neurological complications. Inflammatory mediators (IL-6, IL-12p40, HGF, M-CSF, CCL2, and IL-1RA) are associated with both altered consciousness and markers of brain injury. Autoantibodies are more common in COVID-19 than controls and some (including against MYL7, UCH-L1, and GRIN3B) are more frequent with altered consciousness. Additionally, convalescent participants with neurological complications show elevated GFAP and NfL, unrelated to attenuated systemic inflammatory mediators and to autoantibody responses. Overall, neurological complications of COVID-19 are associated with evidence of neuroglial injury in both acute and late disease and these correlate with dysregulated innate and adaptive immune responses acutely

SARS-CoV-2-specific nasal IgA wanes 9 months after hospitalisation with COVID-19 and is not induced by subsequent vaccination

BACKGROUND: Most studies of immunity to SARS-CoV-2 focus on circulating antibody, giving limited insights into mucosal defences that prevent viral replication and onward transmission. We studied nasal and plasma antibody responses one year after hospitalisation for COVID-19, including a period when SARS-CoV-2 vaccination was introduced. METHODS: In this follow up study, plasma and nasosorption samples were prospectively collected from 446 adults hospitalised for COVID-19 between February 2020 and March 2021 via the ISARIC4C and PHOSP-COVID consortia. IgA and IgG responses to NP and S of ancestral SARS-CoV-2, Delta and Omicron (BA.1) variants were measured by electrochemiluminescence and compared with plasma neutralisation data. FINDINGS: Strong and consistent nasal anti-NP and anti-S IgA responses were demonstrated, which remained elevated for nine months (p < 0.0001). Nasal and plasma anti-S IgG remained elevated for at least 12 months (p < 0.0001) with plasma neutralising titres that were raised against all variants compared to controls (p < 0.0001). Of 323 with complete data, 307 were vaccinated between 6 and 12 months; coinciding with rises in nasal and plasma IgA and IgG anti-S titres for all SARS-CoV-2 variants, although the change in nasal IgA was minimal (1.46-fold change after 10 months, p = 0.011) and the median remained below the positive threshold determined by pre-pandemic controls. Samples 12 months after admission showed no association between nasal IgA and plasma IgG anti-S responses (R = 0.05, p = 0.18), indicating that nasal IgA responses are distinct from those in plasma and minimally boosted by vaccination. INTERPRETATION: The decline in nasal IgA responses 9 months after infection and minimal impact of subsequent vaccination may explain the lack of long-lasting nasal defence against reinfection and the limited effects of vaccination on transmission. These findings highlight the need to develop vaccines that enhance nasal immunity. FUNDING: This study has been supported by ISARIC4C and PHOSP-COVID consortia. ISARIC4C is supported by grants from the National Institute for Health and Care Research and the Medical Research Council. Liverpool Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre provided infrastructure support for this research. The PHOSP-COVD study is jointly funded by UK Research and Innovation and National Institute of Health and Care Research. The funders were not involved in the study design, interpretation of data or the writing of this manuscript

Environmental Applications of Supercritical Fluid Extraction Technology

Proceedings (senza ISBN) del Congresso \u201cIngegneria Chimica ed Elettrochimica per la Prevenzione dell\u2019Inquinamento\u201d, Laguna di Chia (CA), 18-21 settembre 199

Predictive and Experimental Methods for the Choice of Cosolvent in the Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Pesticides

The extraction of pesticides from oils and other solids using supercritical fluids can be significantly improved through the use of cosolvents. The difficulty in predicting which cosolvents will produce the largest solubility enhancement with individual pesticides is due in part to the lack of physical and chemical data available for most pesticides. Solubility data for lindane in supercritical fluid CO2-cosolvent mixtures are reported at 313.1 K. These data have beeen correlated directly with the Peng-Robinson equation of state. In order to predict the effect of cosolvents on the solubility of lindane in supercritical CO2 the interactions between lindane and each cosolvent must be known. One technique, that has been successfully used to predict the vapour liquid equilibria of many binary systems, utilises relevant Henry's constant data to calculate interaction parameters for equations of state. This technique has been extended to ternary soild-supercritical fluid-cosolvent systems. Appropriate Henry's constant data describing the equilibrium between the pure cosolvents and lindane have been measured and subsequently used to predict the ternary system solubility data. These predicted data have been directly compared with the measured solubilty data

Diffusion Coefficients of Terpenes in Supercritical CO2

Proceedings del Congresso "3rd International Symposium on Supercritical Fluids", Strasbourg (F), 17-19 ottobre 1994. - Nota: Impossibile inserire ISBN 2-905267-23-8 all'inserimento viene dato un messaggio di errore: Errore di validazione ISBN: 2905267238: Il checkSum, rappresentato dall'ultima cifra, non \ue8 corretto ABSTRACT; Supercritical fluid technology is an area of rapid development, but there is still a lack of fundamental data available. In the design of supercritical processes, thermodynamic and transport properties are both relevant. In order to evaluate the importance of external mass transfer in packed beds binary diffusion coefficients of solutes in the supercritical fluid are essential. In this paper experimental data for binary diffusion coefficients in supercritical carbon dioxide DAB are reported. Solutes were chosen for \u2022 Creating a large data base of diffusion coefficients data for the purpose of developing a semiempirical correlation on the basis of the chemical structure; \u2022 Their importance for some specific industry (in particular food and fragrance industries). As a consequence different aromatics and some terpenes (Linalool, Citronellol, Terpineol, Nerol, Geraniol) are considered. Peak broadening technique was used for the experimental determination. The effects of temperature and pressure were evaluated in the range 40-60 \ub0C and between 150-300 bar