Sphingosine kinase 1 regulates inflammation and contributes to acute lung injury in pneumococcal pneumonia via the sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 2

Objectives: Severe pneumonia may evoke acute lung injury, and sphingosine-1-phosphate is involved in the regulation of vascular permeability and immune responses. However, the role of sphingosine-1-phosphate and the sphingosine-1-phosphate producing sphingosine kinase 1 in pneumonia remains elusive. We examined the role of the sphingosine-1-phosphate system in regulating pulmonary vascular barrier function in bacterial pneumonia. Design: Controlled, in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo laboratory study. Subjects: Female wild-type and SphK1-deficient mice, 8-10 weeks old. Human postmortem lung tissue, human blood-derived macrophages, and pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells. Interventions: Wild-type and SphK1-deficient mice were infected with Streptococcus pneumoniae. Pulmonary sphingosine-1-phosphate levels, messenger RNA expression, and permeability as well as lung morphology were analyzed. Human blood-derived macrophages and human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells were infected with S. pneumoniae. Transcellular electrical resistance of human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cell monolayers was examined. Further, permeability of murine isolated perfused lungs was determined following exposition to sphingosine-1-phosphate and pneumolysin. Measurements and Main Results: Following S. pneumoniae infection, murine pulmonary sphingosine-1-phosphate levels and sphingosine kinase 1 and sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 2 expression were increased. Pneumonia-induced lung hyperpermeability was reduced in SphK1(-/-) mice compared with wild-type mice. Expression of sphingosine kinase 1 in macrophages recruited to inflamed lung areas in pneumonia was observed in murine and human lungs. S. pneumoniae induced the sphingosine kinase 1/sphingosine-1-phosphate system in blood-derived macrophages and enhanced sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 2 expression in human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cell in vitro. In isolated mouse lungs, pneumolysin-induced hyperpermeability was dose dependently and synergistically increased by sphingosine-1-phosphate. This sphingosine-1-phosphate-induced increase was reduced by inhibition of sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 2 or its downstream effector Rho-kinase. Conclusions: Our data suggest that targeting the sphingosine kinase 1-/sphingosine-1-phosphate-/sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 2-signaling pathway in the lung may provide a novel therapeutic perspective in pneumococcal pneumonia for prevention of acute lung injury

Common Definitions in Audio Branding Processes

To minimise internal and external misconceptions on any level, an internal terminology standard concerning music, business and advertising semantics for the ABC_DJ project was created in March 2016. According to their respective expertise all members of the consortium defined project relevant terms from their respective field of expertise resulting in this dictionary, built upon professional usage of a range of specific terms. For the project members this lexicon serves as the compulsory reference to • avoid misconceptions • avoid inappropriate usage of terms • ascertain a consistent vocabulary • eliminate uncertainties concerning project content and semantics. This collection is a growing document over the course of the ABC_DJ project. Whenever appropriate extended versions of the current v2.0 document will be generated to include additional terms and definitions. In February of 2017 it was decided by the ABC_DJ project consortium to transfer the comprehensive list into a public document. While a few of the terms are of project-specific relevance only, the vast majority of the content can be used as a possible reference for general interested audiences.EC/H2020/688122/EU/Artist-to-Business-to-Business-to-Consumer Audio Branding System/ABC D

Pre-GMBI-v2

The General Music Branding Inventory (GMBI) is a new psychometric instrument for assessing the music-induced association of attributes, which are frequently and reliably used in the field of music branding. The pre-GMBI version 2 consists of 36 attributes which have been used for music perception ratings during the second large scale online listening experiment in ABC_DJ. The aim of ABC_DJ project (http://abcdj.eu/) is to predict brand attributes and emotional expressions (such as ‘rebellious’, ‘reliable’, ‘sentimental’ or ‘confident’) based on a variety of lower and higher order acoustic features from musical content.EC/H2020/688122/EU/Artist-to-Business-to-Business-to-Consumer Audio Branding System/ABC D

Music Branding Expert Terminology

The Music Branding Expert Terminology (MBET) is a comprehensive terminology of verbal attributes used in music branding. It consists of 132 terms grouped into 19 dimensions. The MBET is a preliminary result of the project ABC_DJ (http://abcdj.eu/). The aim of ABC_DJ is to predict brand attributes and emotional expressions (such as ‘rebellious’, ‘reliable’, ‘sentimental’ or ‘confident’) based on a variety of lower and higher order acoustic features from musical content.EC/H2020/688122/EU/Artist-to-Business-to-Business-to-Consumer Audio Branding System/ABC D

Analysis of Single- and Double-Stranded DNA Damage in Osteoblastic Cells after Hyperbaric Oxygen Exposure

(1) Background: Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) exposure induces oxidative stress that may lead to DNA damage, which has been observed in human peripheral blood lymphocytes or non-human cells. Here, we investigated the impact of hyperbaric conditions on two human osteoblastic cell lines: primary human osteoblasts, HOBs, and the osteogenic tumor cell line SAOS-2. (2) Methods: Cells were exposed to HBO in an experimental hyperbaric chamber (4 ATA, 100% oxygen, 37 °C, and 4 h) or sham-exposed (1 ATA, air, 37 °C, and 4 h). DNA damage was examined before, directly after, and 24 h after exposure with an alkaline comet assay and detection of γH2AX+53BP1 colocalizing double-strand break (DSB) foci and apoptosis. The gene expression of TGFß-1, HO-1, and NQO1, involved in antioxidative functions, was measured with qRT-PCR. (3) Results: The alkaline comet assay showed significantly elevated levels of DNA damage in both cell lines after 4 h of HBO, while the DSB foci were similar to sham. γH2AX analysis indicated a slight increase in apoptosis in both cell lines. The increased expression of HO-1 in HOB and SAOS-2 directly after exposure suggested the induction of an antioxidative response in these cells. Additionally, the expression of TGF-ß1 was negatively affected in HOB cells 4 h after exposure. (4) Conclusions: in summary, this study indicates that osteoblastic cells are sensitive to the DNA-damaging effects of hyperbaric hyperoxia, with the HBO-induced DNA damage consisting largely of single-strand DNA breaks that are rapidly repaired