The interferon-stimulated gene IFITM3 restricts West Nile virus infection and pathogenesis

The interferon-induced transmembrane protein (IFITM) family of proteins inhibit infection of several different enveloped viruses in cell culture by virtue of their ability to restrict entry and fusion from late endosomes. As few studies have evaluated the importance of Ifitm3 in vivo in restricting viral pathogenesis, we investigated its significance as an antiviral gene against West Nile virus (WNV), an encephalitic flavivirus, in cells and mice. Ifitm3(−/−) mice were more vulnerable to lethal WNV infection, and this was associated with greater virus accumulation in peripheral organs and central nervous system tissues. As no difference in viral burden in the brain or spinal cord was observed after direct intracranial inoculation, Ifitm3 likely functions as an antiviral protein in nonneuronal cells. Consistent with this, Ifitm3(−/−) fibroblasts but not dendritic cells resulted in higher yields of WNV in multistep growth analyses. Moreover, transcomplementation experiments showed that Ifitm3 inhibited WNV infection independently of Ifitm1, Ifitm2, Ifitm5, and Ifitm6. Beyond a direct effect on viral infection in cells, analysis of the immune response in WNV-infected Ifitm3(−/−) mice showed decreases in the total number of B cells, CD4(+) T cells, and antigen-specific CD8(+) T cells. Finally, bone marrow chimera experiments demonstrated that Ifitm3 functioned in both radioresistant and radiosensitive cells, as higher levels of WNV were observed in the brain only when Ifitm3 was absent from both compartments. Our analyses suggest that Ifitm3 restricts WNV pathogenesis likely through multiple mechanisms, including the direct control of infection in subsets of cells. IMPORTANCE As part of the mammalian host response to viral infections, hundreds of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) are induced. The inhibitory activity of individual ISGs varies depending on the specific cell type and viral pathogen. Among ISGs, the genes encoding interferon-induced transmembrane protein (IFITM) have been reported to inhibit multiple families of viruses in cell culture. However, few reports have evaluated the impact of IFITM genes on viral pathogenesis in vivo. In this study, we characterized the antiviral activity of Ifitm3 against West Nile virus (WNV), an encephalitic flavivirus, using mice with a targeted gene deletion of Ifitm3. Based on extensive virological and immunological analyses, we determined that Ifitm3 protects mice from WNV-induced mortality by restricting virus accumulation in peripheral organs and, subsequently, in central nervous system tissues. Our data suggest that Ifitm3 restricts WNV pathogenesis by multiple mechanisms and functions in part by controlling infection in different cell types

Assessment of the impact of 10-day intermittent hypoxia on the autonomic control measured by heart rate variability

Purpose The purpose of this study is to establish the alterations in the activity of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) via heart rate variability (HRV) in subjects exposed to 1 h of exogenous hypoxia for 10 consecutive days. Methods Twelve healthy non-smoker males at mean age of 29.8 ± 7.4 (mean ± SD) breathed hypoxic air delivered through hypoxicator (FiО2 = 12.3% ± 1.5%) for 1 h in 10 consecutive days. Pulse oximetry and electrocardiography were monitored during the visit and HRV was calculated for the entire 1-h hypoxic period. Results Comparing the last hypoxic visit to the first, subjects had higher standard deviation of normal-to-normal interbeat intervals (SDNNs) (65.7 ± 32.5 vs. 81.1 ± 32.0 ms, p = 0.013) and root mean square of successive R–R interval difference (RMSSD) (58.1 ± 30.9 vs. 76.5 ± 34.6 ms, p = 0.029) as well as higher lnTotal power (8.1 ± 1.1 vs. 8.5 ± 0.9 ms2, p = 0.015) and high frequency (lnHF) (6.8 ± 1.3 vs. 7.5 ± 1.2 ms2, p = 0.05) and lower LF/HF (2.4 ± 1.4 vs. 1.5 ± 1.0, p = 0.026). Changes in saturation (87.0 ± 7.1 vs. 90.8 ± 5.0%, p = 0.039) and heart rate (67.1 ± 8.9 vs. 62.5 ± 6.0 beats/min, p = 0.040) were also observed. Conclusions Intermittent hypoxic training consisting of 1-h hypoxic exposure for 10 consecutive days could diminish the effects of acute exogenous hypoxia on the ANS characterized by an increased autonomic control (SDNN and total power) with augmentation of the parasympathetic nervous system activity (increased RMSSD and HF and decreased LF/HF). Therefore, it could be applied as a pre-acclimatization technique aiming at an increase in the autonomic control and oxygen saturation in subjects with upcoming sojourn to high altitude

Premières données sur la pêche crevettière du fleuve Bandama (Côte d’Ivoire) : Acteurs et Engins de pêche

La pêche crevettière sur le fleuve Bandama (Côte d’Ivoire, Afrique de l’Ouest) est de type artisanal. Dans la localité de Taabo, elle est dominée par les ivoiriens (64 %) majoritairement représentés par l’ethnie Souamlin (56 %). Par contre, à Pacobo, les pêcheurs Maliens (78 %) ont le monopole de cette pêche. Parmi eux, les Bozos (29%) sont les plus représentés. Au niveau des ivoiriens, la pêche est surtout pratiquée par les adultes (65 %) dont l’âge varie entre 30 et 45 ans et les vieux de plus de 45 ans (33 %). Ces acteurs sont des pêcheurs-agriculteurs. Au sein de la communauté étrangère, les jeunes de moins de 30 ans (25 %), les adultes (29 %) et les vieux (46 %) sont associés dans l’activité de pêche. Cette communauté est composée de pêcheurs professionnels. Cependant parmi eux, 17,86 % et 45,45 % des pêcheurs respectivement de Taabo et de Pacobo, s’adonnent à d’autres activités (agriculture, élevage et petits commerces) en plus de la pêche. Les mailles des nasses en dessous des normes règlementaires, l’analphabétisme des acteurs étrangers, ainsi que les flux migratoires incontrôlés vers les villages riverains, sont une entrave pour une gestion durable des ressources crevettières.Mots-clés : Pêche artisanale, crevettes, gestion durable, fleuve Bandama, Côte d’Ivoire

Continuous Hawking-Page transitions in Einstein-scalar gravity

We investigate continuous Hawking-Page transitions in Einstein's gravity coupled to a scalar field with an arbitrary potential in the weak gravity limit. We show that this is only possible in a singular limit where the black-hole horizon marginally traps a curvature singularity. Depending on the subleading terms in the potential, a rich variety of continuous phase transitions arise. Our examples include second and higher order, including the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless type. In the case when the scalar is dilaton, the condition for a continuous phase transition lead to (asymptotically) linear-dilaton background. We obtain the scaling laws of thermodynamic functions, as well as the viscosity coefficients near the transition. In the limit of weak gravitational interactions, the bulk viscosity asymptotes to a universal constant, independent of the details of the scalar potential. As a byproduct of our analysis we obtain a one-parameter family of kink solutions in arbitrary dimension d that interpolate between AdS near the boundary and linear-dilaton background in the deep interior. The continuous Hawking-Page transitions found here serve as holographic models for normal-to superfluid transitions.Comment: 35 pages + appendice

Stabilising touch interactions in cockpits, aerospace, and vibrating environments

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018. Incorporating touch screen interaction into cockpit flight systems is increasingly gaining traction given its several potential advantages to design as well as usability to pilots. However, perturbations to the user input are prevalent in such environments due to vibrations, turbulence and high accelerations. This poses particular challenges for interacting with displays in the cockpit, for example, accidental activation during turbulence or high levels of distraction from the primary task of airplane control to accomplish selection tasks. On the other hand, predictive displays have emerged as a solution to minimize the effort as well as cognitive, visual and physical workload associated with using in-vehicle displays under perturbations, induced by road and driving conditions. This technology employs gesture tracking in 3D and potentially eye-gaze as well as other sensory data to substantially facilitate the acquisition (pointing and selection) of an interface component by predicting the item the user intents to select on the display, early in the movements towards the screen. A key aspect is utilising principled Bayesian modelling to incorporate and treat the present perturbation, thus, it is a software-based solution that showed promising results when applied to automotive applications. This paper explores the potential of applying this technology to applications in aerospace and vibrating environments in general and presents design recommendations for such an approach to enhance interactions accuracy as well as safety

Photoemission "experiments" on holographic superconductors

We study the effects of a superconducting condensate on holographic Fermi surfaces. With a suitable coupling between the fermion and the condensate, there are stable quasiparticles with a gap. We find some similarities with the phenomenology of the cuprates: in systems whose normal state is a non-Fermi liquid with no stable quasiparticles, a stable quasiparticle peak appears in the condensed phase.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures; v2: typos corrected and some clarification adde

Early-Time Energy Loss in a Strongly-Coupled SYM Plasma

We carry out an analytic study of the early-time motion of a quark in a strongly-coupled maximally-supersymmetric Yang-Mills plasma, using the AdS/CFT correspondence. Our approach extracts the first thermal effects as a small perturbation of the known quark dynamics in vacuum, using a double expansion that is valid for early times and for (moderately) ultrarelativistic quark velocities. The quark is found to lose energy at a rate that differs significantly from the previously derived stationary/late-time result: it scales like T^4 instead of T^2, and is associated with a friction coefficient that is not independent of the quark momentum. Under conditions representative of the quark-gluon plasma as obtained at RHIC, the early energy loss rate is a few times smaller than its late-time counterpart. Our analysis additionally leads to thermally-corrected expressions for the intrinsic energy and momentum of the quark, in which the previously discovered limiting velocity of the quark is found to appear naturally.Comment: 39 pages, no figures. v2: Minor corrections and clarifications. References added. Version to be published in JHE

Simulation of Light Antinucleus-Nucleus Interactions

Creations of light anti-nuclei (anti-deuterium, anti-tritium, anti-He3 and anti-He4) are observed by collaborations at the LHC and RHIC accelerators. Some cosmic ray experiments are aimed to find the anti-nuclei in cosmic rays. To support the experimental studies of the anti-nuclei a Monte Carlo simulation of anti-nuclei interactions with matter is implemented in the Geant4 toolkit. The implementation combines practically all known theoretical approaches to the problem of antinucleon-nucleon interactions.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Integrated transcriptional profiling and genomic analyses reveal RPN2 and HMGB1 as promising biomarkers in colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a heterogeneous disease that is associated with a gradual accumulation of genetic and epigenetic alterations. Among all CRC stages, stage II tumors are highly heterogeneous with a high relapse rate in about 20-25 % of stage II CRC patients following surgery. Thus, a comprehensive analysis of gene signatures to identify aggressive and metastatic phenotypes in stage II CRC is desired for a more accurate disease classification and outcome prediction. By utilizing a Cancer Array, containing 440 oncogenes and tumor suppressors to profile mRNA expression, we identified a larger number of differentially expressed genes in poorly differentiated stage II colorectal adenocarcinoma tissues, compared to their matched normal tissues. Ontology and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) indicated that these genes are involved in functional mechanisms associated with several transcription factors. Genomic alterations of these genes were also investigated through The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, utilizing 195 published CRC specimens. The percentage of genomic alterations in these genes was ranked based on their mRNA expression, copy number variations and mutations. This data was further combined with published microarray studies from a large set of CRC tumors classified based on prognostic features. This led to the identification of eight candidate genes including RPN2, HMGB1, AARS, IGFBP3, STAT1, HYOU1, NQO1 and PEA15 that were associated with the progressive phenotype. In particular, RPN2 and HMGB1 displayed a higher genomic alteration frequency in CRC, compared to eight other major solid cancers. Immunohistochemistry was performed on additional 78 stage I-IV CRC samples, where RPN2 protein immunostaining exhibited a significant association with stage III/IV tumors, distant metastasis, and poor differentiation, indicating that RPN2 expression is associated with poor prognosis. Further, our study revealed significant transcriptional regulatory mechanisms, networks and gene signatures, underlying CRC malignant progression and phenotype warranting future clinical investigations.published_or_final_versio

Colour-electric spectral function at next-to-leading order

The spectral function related to the correlator of two colour-electric fields along a Polyakov loop determines the momentum diffusion coefficient of a heavy quark near rest with respect to a heat bath. We compute this spectral function at next-to-leading order, O(alpha_s^2), in the weak-coupling expansion. The high-frequency part of our result (omega >> T), which is shown to be temperature-independent, is accurately determined thanks to asymptotic freedom; the low-frequency part of our result (omega << T), in which Hard Thermal Loop resummation is needed in order to cure infrared divergences, agrees with a previously determined expression. Our result may help to calibrate the overall normalization of a lattice-extracted spectral function in a perturbative frequency domain T << omega << 1/a, paving the way for a non-perturbative estimate of the momentum diffusion coefficient at omega -> 0. We also evaluate the colour-electric Euclidean correlator, which could be directly compared with lattice simulations. As an aside we determine the Euclidean correlator in the lattice strong-coupling expansion, showing that through a limiting procedure it can in principle be defined also in the confined phase of pure Yang-Mills theory, even if a practical measurement could be very noisy there.Comment: 38 page