How the impact of stress changes with simultaneous administration of cocaine in rats?

La exposición al estrés aumenta la adquisición, mantenimiento y recaída de la adicción a las drogas, pero los efectos de la exposición concomitante a drogas y a estímulos estresantes severos no ha sido explorada. Nuestros estudios han sido realizados en ratas macho adultas Sprague-Dawley, distribuidas en 4 grupos en función de la inyección de cocaína y de la exposición a inmovilización (IMO). Los animales fueron inyectados con salino o con cocaína (30 mg/kg, ip) inmediatamente antes de 1 h de IMO. Los resultados indicaron que la exposición a la IMO indujo un incremento prolongado en los niveles plasmáticos de las hormonas del eje hipotálamo-pituitario-adrenal (HPA), corticosterona y hormona adrenocorticotrópica (ACTH), mientras que la cocaína únicamente incrementó la corticosterona pero con menor magnitud. La administración de cocaína disminuyó los niveles de ACTH (pero no de corticosterona) únicamente al finalizar la IMO, indicando la presencia de una leve sinergia negativa. Los efectos anorexígenos a largo plazo de la IMO se bloquearon parcialmente con la inyección de cocaína (sinergia negativa) la cual por ella misma también disminuía la ingesta de comida en los animales no estresados. Tanto la IMO como la cocaína redujeron la ganancia de peso corporal, aunque la disminución de peso corporal producida por la cocaína se demoró más en el tiempo y no se explicaba por los cambios en la ingesta de comida. Los efectos anhedónicos a largo plazo (medidos por la ingesta de soluciones de sacarina) no se afectaron por la administración de cocaína la cual por sí misma no tenía efecto. La exposición a la IMO indujo, veinticuatro horas después, un efecto ansiogénico en el laberinto elevado, que se acompañó por una disminución en la actividad locomotora. Aquí de nuevo la cocaína administrada simultáneamente con la IMO no modificó esta conducta. La conducta activa en el test de natación forzada (escape) no se afectó ni por la cocaína ni por la IMO, pero la IMO incrementó de forma modesta la natación suave en los animales no inyectados con cocaína. La IMO indujo también una sensibilización del eje HPA en respuesta a dos estímulos estresantes heterotípicos diferentes, mientras que los efectos de la cocaína sobre dicha sensibilización no fueron consistentes. La exposición a la IMO produjo también un efecto ansiogénico en el test de la respuesta acústica de sobresalto, efecto que se desvaneció después de veinticuatro horas, y la inyección de cocaína no modificó dicha conducta. Los animales administrados con cocaína en la primera exposición a la IMO no mostraron adaptación homotípica al estrés, al contrario de los animales solo expuestos a la IMO. El resultado principal de los estudios que utilizaron el c-fos como marcador de activación neuronal (ISH) indicaron que la cocaína bloqueó la activación inducida por la IMO en el accumbens, en el núcleo del lecho de la estría terminal y el dorsal del Rafe. Por otra parte, los estudios con RT-PCR mostraron que el incremento del factor liberador de la corticotropina (CRF) en la amígdala inducido tanto por la exposición a la cocaína como a la IMO (por separado) se bloqueó por la exposición simultánea a ambos estímulos. En general, la cocaína parece proteger más que exacerbar los efectos neurales, neuroendocrinos y conductuales de la exposición a un estímulo estresante severo, sugiriendo una sinergia negativa entre los dos estímulos.Exposure to stress increases the acquisition, maintenance and relapse of drug addiction, but the effects of concomitant exposure of drugs and acute severe stressors have not been explored. Our studies were conducted in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats, distributed into four groups in function of cocaine injection and exposure to immobilization (IMO). Animals were injected with saline or cocaine (30 mg/kg, ip) immediately before 1 h of IMO. Results indicated that exposure to IMO induced a prolonged increase in plasma ACTH and corticosterone levels, whereas cocaine only increased corticosterone with a less potent magnitude. Cocaine administration decreased ACTH levels (but not corticosterone) only at the end of IMO, reflecting a mild negative synergism. The long-term anorectic effects of IMO were partially blocked by cocaine injection (negative synergism) which itself also decreased food intake but only transiently and in non-stressed animals. Both IMO and cocaine reduced body-weight gain, although the decrease in weight gain induced by cocaine was delayed more in time and not explained by changes in food intake. The long-term anhedonic-like effects of IMO (measured by the intake of saccharine solutions) were not affected by cocaine administration that itself had no effect. Exposure to IMO induced, twenty-four hours later, an anxiogenic-like effect in the EPM test, accompanied by a decrease in motor activity. Here again cocaine was not able to modify this behaviour alone or concomitantly with IMO. The active behavior in the FST (struggling) was not affected neither by cocaine nor by IMO, but IMO modestly increased mild swimming in non-cocaine injected animals. IMO was able to induce a sensitization of the HPA axis in response to two different heterotypic stressors, although the effects of cocaine in sensitization were not consistent. The exposure to IMO produced an anxiogenic-like effect in the ASR test, effect that vanished after twenty-four hours, and cocaine injection did not modify this behavior. The animals administered with cocaine in the first exposure to IMO, showed no homotypic adaptation to stress, contrary to the animals that were only exposed to IMO. The main finding of the studies using c-fos as marker of neuronal activation (ISH) indicated that cocaine blocked the activation induced by IMO in the accumbens, the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and the dorsal Rafe. On the other hand, the studies with RT-PCR showed that the increase in CRF in the amygdala induced by cocaine and by IMO was blocked by the simultaneous exposure to both stimuli. In general, cocaine does appear to protect more than exacerbate the neuroendocrine and behavioral effects of exposure to a severe stressor, suggesting a negative synergy between both stimuli

Quines són les llengües de prestigi en l'educació superior internacional?

La creixent mobilitat d'alumnat i professorat universitari ha comportat l'emergència de nous escenaris de contacte lingüístic, si bé l'anglès s'ha convertit en la llengua franca per a les activitats internacionals en l'educació superior. Diversos investigadors de la UAB han participat en un projecte europeu amb l'objectiu d'identificar escenaris i situacions en què la diversitat lingüística europea es considerés un avantatge, centrant-se en diferents espais universitaris catalans. Els resultats suggereixen que l'ús de qualsevol llengua es pot considerar com un actiu dins del procés d'internacionalització de les universitats.The increasing mobility of university students and teachers has led to the emergence of new scenarios of language contact, while English has become the lingua franca for international activities in higher education. Researchers from the UAB have participated in a European project aiming to identify scenarios and situations in which European linguistic diversity may be considered an advantage, focusing on different Catalan university spaces. The results suggest that all languages may be considered strategic assets for the internationalisation of universities

The Aspergillus fumigatus transcription factor RglT is important for gliotoxin biosynthesis and self-protection, and virulence

This is the final version (corrected proof). The final published version is available from Public Library of Science via the DOI in this recordData Availability: Short reads were submitted to the NCBI’s Sequence Read Archive under accession number SRP154617 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/?term=SRP154617). The ChIPseq data are available from NCBI SRA (sequence read archive) database under accession number PRJNA574873 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Traces/study/?acc=PRJNA574873&o=acc_s%3Aa).Aspergillus fumigatus is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that secretes an array of immune-modulatory molecules, including secondary metabolites (SMs), which contribute to enhancing fungal fitness and growth within the mammalian host. Gliotoxin (GT) is a SM that interferes with the function and recruitment of innate immune cells, which are essential for eliminating A. fumigatus during invasive infections. We identified a C6 Zn cluster-type transcription factor (TF), subsequently named RglT, important for A. fumigatus oxidative stress resistance, GT biosynthesis and self-protection. RglT regulates the expression of several gli genes of the GT biosynthetic gene cluster, including the oxidoreductase-encoding gene gliT, by directly binding to their respective promoter regions. Subsequently, RglT was shown to be important for virulence in a chemotherapeutic murine model of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA). Homologues of RglT and GliT are present in eurotiomycete and sordariomycete fungi, including the non-GT-producing fungus A. nidulans, where a conservation of function was described. Phylogenetically informed model testing led to an evolutionary scenario in which the GliT-based resistance mechanism is ancestral and RglT-mediated regulation of GliT occurred subsequently. In conclusion, this work describes the function of a previously uncharacterised TF in oxidative stress resistance, GT biosynthesis and self-protection in both GT-producing and non-producing Aspergillus species.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESPConselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES)Wellcome TrustUniversity of MacauNational Science Foundation (NSF)Vanderbilt UniversityHoward Hughes Medical Institut

Latitudinal Patterns in European Seagrass Carbon Reserves: Influence of Seasonal Fluctuations versus Short-Term Stress and Disturbance Events

Seagrass meadows form highly productive and valuable ecosystems in the marine environment. Throughout the year, seagrass meadows are exposed to abiotic and biotic variations linked to (i) seasonal fluctuations, (ii) short-term stress events such as, e.g., local nutrient enrichment, and (iii) small-scale disturbances such as, e.g., biomass removal by grazing. We hypothesized that short-term stress events and smallscale disturbances may affect seagrass chance for survival in temperate latitudes. To test this hypothesis we focused on seagrass carbon reserves in the form of starch stored seasonally in rhizomes, as these have been defined as a good indicator for winter survival. Twelve Zostera noltei meadows were monitored along a latitudinal gradient in Western Europe to firstly assess the seasonal change of their rhizomal starch content. Secondly, we tested the effects of nutrient enrichment and/or biomass removal on the corresponding starch content by using a short-term manipulative field experiment at a single latitude in the Netherlands. At the end of the growing season, we observed a weak but significant linear increase of starch content along the latitudinal gradient from south to north. This agrees with the contention that such reserves are essential for regrowth after winter, which is more severe in the north. In addition, we also observed a weak but significant positive relationship between starch content at the beginning of the growing season and past winter temperatures. This implies a lower regrowth potential after severe winters, due to diminished starch content at the beginning of the growing season. Short-term stress and disturbances may intensify these patterns, because our manipulative experiments show that when nutrient enrichment and biomass loss co-occurred at the end of the growing season, Z. noltei starch content declined. In temperate zones, the capacity of seagrasses to accumulate carbon reserves is expected to determine carbon-based regrowth after winter. Therefore, processes affecting those reserves might affect seagrass resilience. With increasing human pressure on coastal systems, short- and small-scale stress events are expected to become more frequent, threatening the resilience of seagrass ecosystems, particularly at higher latitudes, where populations tend to have an annual cycle highly dependent on their storage capacity

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Search for chargino-neutralino production with mass splittings near the electroweak scale in three-lepton final states in √s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for supersymmetry through the pair production of electroweakinos with mass splittings near the electroweak scale and decaying via on-shell W and Z bosons is presented for a three-lepton final state. The analyzed proton-proton collision data taken at a center-of-mass energy of √s=13  TeV were collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139  fb−1. A search, emulating the recursive jigsaw reconstruction technique with easily reproducible laboratory-frame variables, is performed. The two excesses observed in the 2015–2016 data recursive jigsaw analysis in the low-mass three-lepton phase space are reproduced. Results with the full data set are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. They are interpreted to set exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on simplified models of chargino-neutralino pair production for masses up to 345 GeV

Search for direct stau production in events with two hadronic tau-leptons in root s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of the supersymmetric partners ofτ-leptons (staus) in final stateswith two hadronically decayingτ-leptons is presented. The analysis uses a dataset of pp collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of139fb−1, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LargeHadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. No significant deviation from the expected StandardModel background is observed. Limits are derived in scenarios of direct production of stau pairs with eachstau decaying into the stable lightest neutralino and oneτ-lepton in simplified models where the two staumass eigenstates are degenerate. Stau masses from 120 GeV to 390 GeV are excluded at 95% confidencelevel for a massless lightest neutralino

The impact of deep-sea fisheries and implementation of the UNGA Resolutions 61/105 and 64/72. Report of an international scientific workshop, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton

The scientific workshop to review fisheries management, held in Lisbon in May 2011, brought together 22 scientists and fisheries experts from around the world to consider the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions on high seas bottom fisheries: what progress has been made and what the outstanding issues are. This report summarises the workshop conclusions, identifying examples of good practice and making recommendations in areas where it was agreed that the current management measures fall short of their target.Peer reviewe