P53 and cancer-associated sialylated glygans are surrogate markers of cancerization of the bladder associated with \u3ci\u3eSchistosoma haematobium\u3c/i\u3e infection

Background Bladder cancer is a significant health problem in rural areas of Africa and the Middle East where Schistosoma haematobium is prevalent, supporting an association between malignant transformation and infection by this blood fluke. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanisms linking these events are poorly understood. Bladder cancers in infected populations are generally diagnosed at a late stage since there is a lack of non-invasive diagnostic tools, hence enforcing the need for early carcinogenesis markers. Methodology/Principal Findings Forty-three formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded bladder biopsies of S. haematobium-infected patients, consisting of bladder tumours, tumour adjacent mucosa and pre-malignant/malignant urothelial lesions, were screened for bladder cancer biomarkers. These included the oncoprotein p53, the tumour proliferation rate (Ki-67\u3e17%), cell-surface cancer-associated glycan sialyl-Tn (sTn) and sialyl-Lewisa/x (sLea/sLex), involved in immune escape and metastasis. Bladder tumours of non-S. haematobium etiology and normal urothelium were used as controls. S. haematobium-associated benign/pre-malignant lesions present alterations in p53 and sLex that were also found in bladder tumors. Similar results were observed in non-S. haematobium associated tumours, irrespectively of their histological nature, denoting some common molecular pathways. In addition, most benign/pre-malignant lesions also expressed sLea. However, proliferative phenotypes were more prevalent in lesions adjacent to bladder tumors while sLea was characteristic of sole benign/pre-malignant lesions, suggesting it may be a biomarker of early carcionogenesis associated with the parasite. A correlation was observed between the frequency of the biomarkers in the tumor and adjacent mucosa, with the exception of Ki-67. Most S. haematobium eggs embedded in the urothelium were also positive for sLea and sLex. Reinforcing the pathologic nature of the studied biomarkers, none was observed in the healthy urothelium. Conclusion/Significance This preliminary study suggests that p53 and sialylated glycans are surrogate biomarkers of bladder cancerization associated with S. haematobium, highlighting a missing link between infection and cancer development. Eggs of S. haematobium express sLea and sLex antigens in mimicry of human leukocytes glycosylation, which may play a role in the colonization and disease dissemination. These observations may help the early identification of infected patients at a higher risk of developing bladder cancer and guide the future development of non-invasive diagnostic tests

Efectos de la salinidad sobre el crecimiento, la fluorescencia de clorofila y el drift de la microalga bentónica Cylindrotheca closterium

Trabajo presentado en el XVII Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies, celebrado en San Sebastián del 11 a 14 de septiembre de 2012.En el presente trabajo se evaluó el efecto de la salinidad sobre el crecimiento poblacional, la fluorescencia de clorofila y el drift (desplazamiento pasivo en la corriente de agua) de Cylindrotheca closterium. C. closterium es una microalga bentónica que habita zonas estuarinas formando parte del microfitobentos. Entre los factores de estrés que pueden afectar a la especie C. closterium se encuentran los cambios de salinidad. En una primera fase, estos efectos se evaluaron en base al crecimiento poblacional en ensayos de toxicidad estándar realizados en matraz. Las células de C. closterium fueron expuestas a diferentes salinidades, que variaron de 37 (control) hasta 5, durante 72 h, bajo condiciones controladas temperatura y luz constante. El drift y la fluorescencia de clorofila se midieron simultáneamente como marcadores de exposición al estrés. Para ello se diseñó y construyó un sistema de flujo continuo (Figura 1) que permitiera examinar la capacidad de C. closterium de evitar los efectos de la salinidad mediante el drift. El sistema estaba compuesto de 3 compartimentos interconectados de 35 mL cada uno. Los dos compartimentos iniciales fueron usados para reducir la turbulencia del agua y evitar el arrastre de las microalgas colocadas en el tercer compartimento. Un flujo de agua constante de 480±15 mL min-1 era generado mediante una bomba contenida en un recipiente donde era recogida el agua una vez salía del sistema, creando así un circuito cerrado y continuo. La entrada de agua de la bomba fue cubierta con un filtro de 5 µm de luz de malla para evitar que las microalgas que realizaban drift retornaran al sistema. El circuito contenía 500 mL de agua de mar filtrada a la que se añadió medio f/2 y silicatos. Seis horas antes del inicio del ensayo se colocaban las microalgas, con una concentración de 104 células mL-1, en el tercer compartimento del sistema para garantizar que estas decantaran en el fondo. A continuación el sistema era puesto en marcha durante 12 h y en oscuridad para evitar el crecimiento de la población de microalgas. Se realizaron ensayos a diferentes salinidades (37, 30, 24, 19, 15, 12 y 9) que fueron repetidos cuatro veces en el tiempo. El número de células que hizo drift fue determinado en función de la fluorescencia de clorofila de modo que ambas respuestas, drift y reducción en la fluorescencia de clorofila fueron integradas en una misma medida. Los datos de inhibición de crecimiento indican que la salinidad que causa una reducción en la población del 50% (ES50) fue de 19±4; por otro lado la ES50 calculada a partir del sistema de drift integrando la fuga y la fluorescencia de clorofila fue de 15±3. Los resultados del estudio mostraron que un descenso de la salinidad provoca una disminución en el crecimiento de C. closterium, además produce una disminución en la fluorescencia de clorofila y desencadena la respuesta de drift.Peer Reviewe

Structural basis for chain release from the enacyloxin polyketide synthase

Modular polyketide synthases and nonribosomal peptide synthetases are molecular assembly lines consisting of several multienzyme subunits that undergo dynamic self-assembly to form a functional mega-complex. N- and C-terminal docking domains are usually responsible for mediating interactions between subunits. Here we show that communication between two nonribosomal peptide synthetase subunits responsible for chain release from the enacyloxin polyketide synthase, which assembles an antibiotic with promising activity against Acinetobacter baumannii, is mediated by an intrinsically disordered short linear motif and a ß-hairpin docking domain. The structures, interactions and dynamics of these subunits are characterised using several complementary biophysical techniques, providing extensive insights into binding and catalysis. Bioinformatics analyses reveal that short linear motif/ß-hairpin docking domain pairs mediate subunit interactions in numerous nonribosomal peptide and hybrid polyketide-nonribosomal peptide synthetases, including those responsible for assembling several important drugs. Short linear motifs and ß-hairpin docking domains from heterologous systems are shown to interact productively, highlighting the potential of such interfaces as tools for biosynthetic engineering

Winter cover crops grown in low altitude condition

The purpose of the study was to evaluate dry matter phytomass production, percentage of soil cover, and dry matter phytomass decomposition curve of cover crops in single and mix cultivation, in a low-altitude subtropical environment. The study was conducted in Santa Maria - RS, in agricultural years 2019/2020 and 2021/2022. The experimental design used was randomized blocks, with ten treatments and four replications. The experiments were conducted with four winter cover crops: White oat (WO), black oat (BO), forage turnip (FT), and common vetch (CV), in single cultivation and as a mix of cover plants. For the total production of dry matter phytomass, the FT and BO+CV+FT treatments stand out which present the highest averages between the experimental years, with values ​​4365.32 and 4109.87 kg ha-1. FT in single cultivation has a high potential for soil coverage in periods of 45 DAS, and the common vetch crop showed greater soil coverage in the late period, with 84% coverage at 90 days after sowing. The BO and WO treatments showed greater maintenance of dry phytomass in soil cover at the end of the 150-day period, presenting values greater than 40% of the initial volume of dry phytomass present in the production system. Recommending the exclusive cultivation of the species that meets the rural producer's objective

Actividades corporales de aventura en la escuela: la carrera de orientación como propuesta en el desarrollo de habilidades socioemocionales

Os esportes de aventura quando tematizados nas aulas de Educação Física têm o potencial de despertar fortes emoções, principalmente pelas experiências de risco e aventura, no contexto escolar, a Base Nacional Comum Curricular-BNCC, existe há necessidade de se trabalhar a educação emocional. O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar o comportamento socioemocional dos alunos diante de uma intervenção de corrida de orientação. 39 escolares do ensino médio participaram do estudo. Foi aplicado o questionário Big Five Inventory (BFI) após uma intervenção de corrida de orientação para a avaliação do perfil socioemocional. Foi constado que as maiores médias entre os perfis foram: Abertura (34,59), amabilidade (30,44), conscienciosidade (28,23) (tabela 1). A corrida de orientação, se mostra eficaz no desempenho emocional dos escolares pois os perfis de maior as maiores medias foram para os perfis de: Abertura, amabilidade e conscienciosidade. Está intervenção também atende aos requisitos presentes no BNCC sobre o desenvolvimento emocional como também sobre a necessidade de práticas de aventura para a Educação Física.Adventure sports when thematized in Physical Education classes have the potential to arouse strong emotions, mainly through risk and adventure experiences, in the school context, the National Common Curricular Base-BNCC, there is a need to work on emotional education. The objective of this study was to analyze the socio-emotional behavior of students in the face of an orienteering race intervention. 39 high school students participated in the study. The Big Five Inventory (BFI) questionnaire was applied after an orienteering race intervention to assess the socio-emotional profile. It was found that the highest averages among the profiles were: Openness (34.59), kindness (30.44), conscientiousness (28.23) (Table 1). The orienteering race proves to be effective in the emotional performance of the students because the profiles of the highest the highest averages were for the profiles of: Openness, kindness and conscientiousness. This intervention also meets the requirements present in the BNCC on emotional development as well as on the need for adventure practices for Physical Education.Los deportes de aventura cuando son tematizados en las clases de Educación Física tienen el potencial de despertar emociones fuertes, principalmente a través de experiencias de riesgo y aventura, en el contexto escolar, Base Curricular Común NacionalBNCC, existe la necesidad de trabajar la educación emocional. El objetivo de este estudio fue analizar el comportamiento socioemocional de los estudiantes ante una intervención de carrera de orientación. 39 estudiantes de secundaria participaron en el estudio. Se aplicó el cuestionario Big Five Inventory (BFI) después de una intervención de carrera de orientación para evaluar el perfil socioemocional. Se encontró que los promedios más altos entre los perfiles fueron: Apertura (34,59), amabilidad (30,44), escrupulosidad (28,23) (Tabla 1). La carrera de orientación demuestra ser efectiva en el desempeño emocional de los estudiantes debido a que los perfiles de los más altos los promedios más altos fueron para los perfiles de: Apertura, amabilidad y escrupulosidad. Esta intervención también cumple con los requisitos presentes en el BNCC sobre el desarrollo emocional, así como sobre la necesidad de prácticas de aventura para la Educación Física.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Molecular characterisation of protist parasites in human-habituated mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei), humans and livestock, from Bwindi impenetrable National Park, Uganda

Over 60 % of human emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic, and there is growing evidence of the zooanthroponotic transmission of diseases from humans to livestock and wildlife species, with major implications for public health, economics, and conservation. Zooanthroponoses are of relevance to critically endangered species; amongst these is the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) of Uganda. Here, we assess the occurrence of Cryptosporidium, Cyclospora, Giardia, and Entamoeba infecting mountain gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (BINP), Uganda, using molecular methods. We also assess the occurrence of these parasites in humans and livestock species living in overlapping/adjacent geographical regions

Description of two cultivated and two uncultivated new Salinibacter species, one named following the rules of the bacteriological code: Salinibacter grassmerensis sp. nov.; and three named following the rules of the SeqCode: Salinibacter pepae sp. nov., Salinibacter abyssi sp. nov., and Salinibacter pampae sp. nov.

Current -omics methods allow the collection of a large amount of information that helps in describing the microbial diversity in nature. Here, and as a result of a culturomic approach that rendered the collection of thousands of isolates from 5 different hypersaline sites (in Spain, USA and New Zealand), we obtained 21 strains that represent two new Salinibacter species. For these species we propose the names Salinibacter pepae sp. nov. and Salinibacter grassmerensis sp. nov. (showing average nucleotide identity (ANI) values < 95.09% and 87.08% with Sal. ruber M31T, respectively). Metabolomics revealed species-specific discriminative profiles. Sal. ruber strains were distinguished by a higher percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acids and specific N-functionalized fatty acids; and Sal. altiplanensis was distinguished by an increased number of glycosylated molecules. Based on sequence characteristics and inferred phenotype of metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), we describe two new members of the genus Salinibacter. These species dominated in different sites and always coexisted with Sal. ruber and Sal. pepae. Based on the MAGs from three Argentinian lakes in the Pampa region of Argentina and the MAG of the Romanian lake Fără Fund, we describe the species Salinibacter pampae sp. nov. and Salinibacter abyssi sp. nov. respectively (showing ANI values 90.94% and 91.48% with Sal. ruber M31T, respectively). Sal. grassmerensis sp. nov. name was formed according to the rules of the International Code for Nomenclature of Prokaryotes (ICNP), and Sal. pepae, Sal. pampae sp. nov. and Sal. abyssi sp. nov. are proposed following the rules of the newly published Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes Described from Sequence Data (SeqCode). This work constitutes an example on how classification under ICNP and SeqCode can coexist, and how the official naming a cultivated organism for which the deposit in public repositories is difficult finds an intermediate solution.This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities projects PGC2018-096956-B-C41, RTC-2017-6405-1 and PID2021-126114NB-C42, which were also supported by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). RRM acknowledges the financial support of the sabbatical stay at Georgia Tech and HelmholzZentrum München by the grants PRX18/00048 and PRX21/00043 respectively also from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. This research was carried out within the framework of the activities of the Spanish Government through the “Maria de Maeztu Centre of Excellence” accreditation to IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB) (CEX2021-001198). KTK’s research was supported, in part, by the U.S. National Science Foundation (Award No. 1831582 and No. 2129823). IMG. AC and HLB were financially supported by a grant of the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization, CNCS/CCCDI – UEFISCDI, project number PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2020-1559, within PNCDI III. HLB acknowledges Ocna Sibiului City Hall (Sibiu County, Romania) for granting the access to Fără Fund Lake and A. Baricz and D.F. Bogdan for technical support during sampling and sample preparation. MBS thanks Dominion Salt for their assistance in sample Lake Grassmere. MELL acknowledges the financial support of the Argentinian National Scientific and Technical Research Council (Grant CONICET-NSFC 2017 N° IF-2018-10102222-APN-GDCT-CONICET) and the National Geographic Society (Grant # NGS 357R-18). BPH was supported by NASA (award 80NSSC18M0027). TV acknowledges the “Margarita Salas” postdoctoral grant, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Universities, within the framework of Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, and funded by the European Union (NextGenerationEU), with the participation of the University of Balearic Islands (UIB)

Measurement of the mass and lifetime of the Ωb−\Omega_b^- baryon

A proton-proton collision data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb$^{-1}$ collected by LHCb at $\sqrt{s}=7$ and 8 TeV, is used to reconstruct $63\pm9$ $\Omega_b^-\to\Omega_c^0\pi^-$, $\Omega_c^0\to pK^-K^-\pi^+$ decays. Using the $\Xi_b^-\to\Xi_c^0\pi^-$, $\Xi_c^0\to pK^-K^-\pi^+$ decay mode for calibration, the lifetime ratio and absolute lifetime of the $\Omega_b^-$ baryon are measured to be \begin{align*} \frac{\tau_{\Omega_b^-}}{\tau_{\Xi_b^-}} &= 1.11\pm0.16\pm0.03, \\ \tau_{\Omega_b^-} &= 1.78\pm0.26\pm0.05\pm0.06~{\rm ps}, \end{align*} where the uncertainties are statistical, systematic and from the calibration mode (for $\tau_{\Omega_b^-}$ only). A measurement is also made of the mass difference, $m_{\Omega_b^-}-m_{\Xi_b^-}$, and the corresponding $\Omega_b^-$ mass, which yields \begin{align*} m_{\Omega_b^-}-m_{\Xi_b^-} &= 247.4\pm3.2\pm0.5~{\rm MeV}/c^2, \\ m_{\Omega_b^-} &= 6045.1\pm3.2\pm 0.5\pm0.6~{\rm MeV}/c^2. \end{align*} These results are consistent with previous measurements.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2016-008.htm

Bose-Einstein correlations of same-sign charged pions in the forward region in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV

Bose-Einstein correlations of same-sign charged pions, produced in protonproton collisions at a 7 TeV centre-of-mass energy, are studied using a data sample collected by the LHCb experiment. The signature for Bose-Einstein correlations is observed in the form of an enhancement of pairs of like-sign charged pions with small four-momentum difference squared. The charged-particle multiplicity dependence of the Bose-Einstein correlation parameters describing the correlation strength and the size of the emitting source is investigated, determining both the correlation radius and the chaoticity parameter. The measured correlation radius is found to increase as a function of increasing charged-particle multiplicity, while the chaoticity parameter is seen to decreas