Gestational hypothyroxinemia affects its offspring with a reduced suppressive capacity impairing the outcome of the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

Indexación: Scopus.Hypothyroxinemia (Hpx) is a thyroid hormone deficiency (THD) condition highly frequent during pregnancy, which although asymptomatic for the mother, it can impair the cognitive function of the offspring. Previous studies have shown that maternal hypothyroidism increases the severity of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an autoimmune disease model for multiple sclerosis (MS). Here, we analyzed the immune response after EAE induction in the adult offspring gestated in Hpx. Mice gestated in Hpx showed an early appearance of EAE symptoms and the increase of all parameters of the disease such as: the pathological score, spinal cord demyelination, and immune cell infiltration in comparison to the adult offspring gestated in euthyroidism. Isolated CD4+CD25+ T cells from spleen of the offspring gestated in Hpx that suffer EAE showed reduced capacity to suppress proliferation of effector T cells (TEff) after being stimulated with anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 antibodies. Moreover, adoptive transfer experiments of CD4+CD25+ T cells from the offspring gestated in Hpx suffering EAE to mice that were induced with EAE showed that the receptor mice suffer more intense EAE pathological score. Even though, no significant differences were detected in the frequency of Treg cells and IL-10 content in the blood, spleen, and brain between mice gestated in Hpx or euthyroidism, T cells CD4+CD25+ from spleen have reduced capacity to differentiate in vitro to Treg and to produce IL-10. Thus, our data support the notion that maternal Hpx can imprint the immune response of the offspring suffering EAE probably due to a reduced capacity to trigger suppression. Such "imprints" on the immune system could contribute to explaining as to why adult offspring gestated in Hpx suffer earlier and more intense EAE. © 2018 Haensgen, Albornoz, Opazo, Bugueño, Jara Fernández, Binzberger, Rivero-Castillo, Venegas Salas, Simon, Cabello-Verrugio, Elorza, Kalergis, Bueno and Riedel.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2018.01257/ful

Constituents of Quercus eduardii leaf infusion: Their interaction with gut microbiota communities and therapeutic role in colorectal cancer.

The infusion of Q. eduardii leaves has been used ancestrally for medicinal purposes. We investigated the effect of Q. eduardii infusion intake on inflammatory and oncogenic biomarkers in animals induced to have colorectal cancer with DMH. We also investigated its influence on the microbiota, establishing the main microbial metabolites in the intestinal content of the experimental animals. The microbial metabolites associated with greater anti-inflammatory and anticarcinogenic activity were 3́-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (3HPA) and €-3-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl) prop-2-enoic acid (TMCA). Finally, the intake of the Q. eduardii infusion significantly increased the abundance of the Erysipelotrichaceae and Lachnospiraceae families, that seems to have a great influence on the antitumor responses detected in the study.post-print4648 K

Ontogenetic shifts in brain scaling reflect behavioral changes in the life cycle of the pouched lamprey Geotria australis

Very few studies have described brain scaling in vertebrates throughout ontogeny and none in lampreys, one of the two surviving groups of the early agnathan (jawless) stage in vertebrate evolution. The life cycle of anadromous parasitic lampreys comprises two divergent trophic phases, firstly filter-feeding as larvae in freshwater and secondly parasitism as adults in the sea, with the transition marked by a radical metamorphosis. We characterized the growth of the brain during the life cycle of the pouched lamprey Geotria australis, an anadromous parasitic lamprey, focusing on the scaling between brain and body during ontogeny and testing the hypothesis that the vast transitions in behavior and environment are reflected in differences in the scaling and relative size of the major brain subdivisions throughout life. The body and brain mass and the volume of six brain structures of G. australis, representing six points of the life cycle, were recorded, ranging from the early larval stage to the final stage of spawning and death. Brain mass does not increase linearly with body mass during the ontogeny of G. australis. During metamorphosis, brain mass increases markedly, even though the body mass does not increase, reflecting an overall growth of the brain, with particularly large increases in the volume of the optic tectum and other visual areas of the brain and, to a lesser extent, the olfactory bulbs. These results are consistent with the conclusions that ammocoetes rely predominantly on non-visual and chemosensory signals, while adults rely on both visual and olfactory cues

Neutrinos, DUNE and the world best bound on CPT invariance

CPT symmetry, the combination of Charge Conjugation, Parity and Time reversal, is a cornerstone of our model building strategy and therefore the repercussions of its potential violation will severely threaten the most extended tool we currently use to describe physics, i.e. local relativistic quantum fields. However, limits on its conservation from the Kaon system look indeed imposing. In this work we will show that neutrino oscillation experiments can improve this limit by several orders of magnitude and therefore are an ideal tool to explore the foundations of our approach to Nature. Strictly speaking testing CPT violation would require an explicit model for how CPT is broken and its effects on physics. Instead, what is presented in this paper is a test of one of the predictions of CPT conservation, i.e., the same mass and mixing parameters in neutrinos and antineutrinos. In order to do that we calculate the current CPT bound on all the neutrino mixing parameters and study the sensitivity of the DUNE experiment to such an observable. After deriving the most updated bound on CPT from neutrino oscillation data, we show that, if the recent T2K results turn out to be the true values of neutrino and antineutrino oscillations, DUNE would measure the fallout of CPT conservation at more than 3σ. Then, we study the sensitivity of the experiment to measure CPT invariance in general, finding that DUNE will be able to improve the current bounds on ∆(∆m2 31) by at least one order of magnitude. We also study the sensitivity to the other oscillation parameters. Finally we show that, if CPT is violated in nature, combining neutrino with antineutrino data in oscillation analysis will produce imposter solutions

Fusarium wilt incidence and common bean yield according to the preceding crop and the soil tillage system

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of preceding crops and tillage systems on the incidence of Fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. phaseoli) and common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) yield. The cultivar BRS Valente was cultivated under center‑pivot irrigation in the winter seasons of 2003, 2004 and 2005, after several preceding crops established in the summer seasons. Preceding crops included the legumes Cajanus cajan (pigeon pea), Stylosanthes guianensis, and Crotalaria spectabilis; the grasses Pennisetum glaucum (millet), Sorghum bicolor (forage sorghum), Panicum maximum, and Urochloa brizantha; and a consortium of maize (Zea mays) and U. brizantha (Santa Fé system). Experiments followed a strip‑plot design, with four replicates. Fusarium wilt incidence was higher in the no‑tillage system. Higher disease incidences corresponded to lower bean yields in 2003 and 2004. Previous summer cropping with U. brizantha, U. brizantha + maize consortium, and millet showed the lowest disease incidence. Therefore, the choice of preceding crops must be taken into account for managing Fusarium wilt on irrigated common bean crops in the Brazilian Cerrado

Natural clusters of tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC)-associated neuropsychiatric disorders (TAND): new findings from the TOSCA TAND research project.

BACKGROUND: Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC)-associated neuropsychiatric disorders (TAND) have unique, individual patterns that pose significant challenges for diagnosis, psycho-education, and intervention planning. A recent study suggested that it may be feasible to use TAND Checklist data and data-driven methods to generate natural TAND clusters. However, the study had a small sample size and data from only two countries. Here, we investigated the replicability of identifying natural TAND clusters from a larger and more diverse sample from the TOSCA study. METHODS: As part of the TOSCA international TSC registry study, this embedded research project collected TAND Checklist data from individuals with TSC. Correlation coefficients were calculated for TAND variables to generate a correlation matrix. Hierarchical cluster and factor analysis methods were used for data reduction and identification of natural TAND clusters. RESULTS: A total of 85 individuals with TSC (female:male, 40:45) from 7 countries were enrolled. Cluster analysis grouped the TAND variables into 6 clusters: a scholastic cluster (reading, writing, spelling, mathematics, visuo-spatial difficulties, disorientation), a hyperactive/impulsive cluster (hyperactivity, impulsivity, self-injurious behavior), a mood/anxiety cluster (anxiety, depressed mood, sleep difficulties, shyness), a neuropsychological cluster (attention/concentration difficulties, memory, attention, dual/multi-tasking, executive skills deficits), a dysregulated behavior cluster (mood swings, aggressive outbursts, temper tantrums), and an autism spectrum disorder (ASD)-like cluster (delayed language, poor eye contact, repetitive behaviors, unusual use of language, inflexibility, difficulties associated with eating). The natural clusters mapped reasonably well onto the six-factor solution generated. Comparison between cluster and factor solutions from this study and the earlier feasibility study showed significant similarity, particularly in cluster solutions. CONCLUSIONS: Results from this TOSCA research project in an independent international data set showed that the combination of cluster analysis and factor analysis may be able to identify clinically meaningful natural TAND clusters. Findings were remarkably similar to those identified in the earlier feasibility study, supporting the potential robustness of these natural TAND clusters. Further steps should include examination of larger samples, investigation of internal consistency, and evaluation of the robustness of the proposed natural clusters

Plasma lipid profiles discriminate bacterial from viral infection in febrile children

Fever is the most common reason that children present to Emergency Departments. Clinical signs and symptoms suggestive of bacterial infection are often non-specific, and there is no definitive test for the accurate diagnosis of infection. The 'omics' approaches to identifying biomarkers from the host-response to bacterial infection are promising. In this study, lipidomic analysis was carried out with plasma samples obtained from febrile children with confirmed bacterial infection (n = 20) and confirmed viral infection (n = 20). We show for the first time that bacterial and viral infection produces distinct profile in the host lipidome. Some species of glycerophosphoinositol, sphingomyelin, lysophosphatidylcholine and cholesterol sulfate were higher in the confirmed virus infected group, while some species of fatty acids, glycerophosphocholine, glycerophosphoserine, lactosylceramide and bilirubin were lower in the confirmed virus infected group when compared with confirmed bacterial infected group. A combination of three lipids achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.911 (95% CI 0.81 to 0.98). This pilot study demonstrates the potential of metabolic biomarkers to assist clinicians in distinguishing bacterial from viral infection in febrile children, to facilitate effective clinical management and to the limit inappropriate use of antibiotics

Desempenho de índices quantitativos de seca na estimativa da produtividade de arroz de terras altas

O objetivo deste trabalho foi caracterizar a intensidade e a ocorrência de seca pelo uso de índices quantitativos, e avaliar a relação entre esses índices e os dados da série histórica da produtividade ajustada do arroz de terras altas da microrregião de Goiânia, GO. O ajuste da série histórica foi realizado para minimizar os efeitos da variabilidade climática da região e dos avanços tecnológicos sobre a produtividade. Foram avaliados os seguintes índices: severidade de seca de Palmer (PDSI); Z de Palmer (Z-index); o de anomalia de chuva (RAI); e o padronizado de precipitação (SPI). Os índices de seca foram analisados com uso da correlação de Pearson, número e frequência de ocorrência da seca e percentual de acerto dos índices em relação à produtividade ajustada. O RAI quantificou o maior número de eventos extremos de seca, enquanto o PDSI não estimou nenhum caso. O Z-index apresentou o maior percentual de acerto, em relação às variações ocorridas na produtividade ajustada. Em períodos com variações da produtividade ajustada maior que 300 kg ha-1, Z-index, RAI e SPI apresentaram 78, 78 e 67% de percentuais de acerto, respectivamente. O Z-index teve o melhor desempenho na estimação da produtividade ajustada de arroz de terras altas