Atomic order and cluster energetics of a 17 w.t.% Si-based glass versus the liquid phase

Aerodynamic levitation of a multi component 17 w.t.% Si glass formed by rapid quenching of the melt phase was studied by high resolution X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) modeling. The main local atomic order features comprised of interactions between Si, Fe and Mg polyhedra, the stereochemistry of which was on a par with literature. Both the glass and the liquid state appeared to consist of the same fundamental Si-O, Fe-O and Mg-O clusters, with only the relative number of each varying between the two. Transition from liquid to the glass involved a 3-fold decrease in uncoordinated O (to within the first minimum of the total g(r)) and a marked increase of Fe-Si-Mg polyhedra bridging O. Octahedral Fe coordination was not suggested by the RMC data. All-electron open-shell Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations of the most prominent clusters suggested independence between the Fe oxidation state and its polyhedra O-coordination. Of secondary thermodynamic importance were indications of network-forming Fe2+ and Fe3+ distorted trigonal and tetrahedral polyhedra. In all occasions, the Fe ferrous and ferric states involved comparable binding energies within similar clusters which indicate a dynamic equilibrium between the two

A Novel Role of Peripheral Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone (CRH) on Dermal Fibroblasts

Corticotropin-releasing hormone, or factor, (CRH or CRF) exerts important biological effects in multiple peripheral tissues via paracrine/autocrine actions. The aim of our study was to assess the effects of endogenous CRH in the biology of mouse and human skin fibroblasts, the primary cell type involved in wound healing. We show expression of CRH and its receptors in primary fibroblasts, and we demonstrate the functionality of fibroblast CRH receptors by induction of cAMP. Fibroblasts genetically deficient in Crh (Crh−/−) had higher proliferation and migration rates and compromised production of IL-6 and TGF-β1 compared to the wildtype (Crh+/+) cells. Human primary cultures of foreskin fibroblasts exposed to the CRF1 antagonist antalarmin recapitulated the findings in the Crh−/− cells, exhibiting altered proliferative and migratory behavior and suppressed production of IL-6. In conclusion, our findings show an important role of fibroblast-expressed CRH in the proliferation, migration, and cytokine production of these cells, processes associated with the skin response to injury. Our data suggest that the immunomodulatory effects of CRH may include an important, albeit not explored yet, role in epidermal tissue remodeling and regeneration and maintenance of tissue homeostasis

Bio-psychosocial determinants of cardiovascular disease in a rural population on Crete, Greece: formulating a hypothesis and designing the SPILI-III study

Background: In 1988, the SPILI project was established in order to evaluate the cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk profile of the inhabitants of Spili, in rural Crete, Greece. The first reports from this project revealed that against the unfavourable risk factors’ profile observed, only a few men with a previous myocardial infarction were encountered. A follow-up study (SPILI II) was performed twelve years after the initial examination, and the unfavourable cardiovascular risk profile was re-confirmed. Presentation of the Hypothesis: This paper presents a hypothesis formulated on the basis of previous research to investigate if dynamic psycho-social determinants, including social coherence of the local community, religiosity and spirituality, are protective against the development of coronary heart disease in a well-defined population. Testing the Hypothesis: A follow-up examination of this Cretan cohort is currently being performed to assess the link between psychosocial factors and CVD. Psychosocial factors including sense of control, religiosity and spirituality are assessed in together with conventional CVD risk factors. Smoking and alcohol consumption, as well as dietary habits and activity levels are recorded. Oxidative stress and inflammatory markers, as well as ultrasound measurement of carotid intima media thickness, a preclinical marker of atherosclerosis, will also be measured. Implications of the hypothesis tested: The issue of the cardio-protective effect of psycho-social factors would be revisited based on the results of this Cretan cohort; nevertheless, further research is needed across different subpopulations in order to establish a definite relationship. A comprehensive approach based on the aspects of biosocial life may result in more accurate CVD risk management

Obesity related methylation changes in DNA of peripheral blood leukocytes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite evidence linking obesity to impaired immune function, little is known about the specific mechanisms. Because of emerging evidence that immune responses are epigenetically regulated, we hypothesized that DNA methylation changes are involved in obesity induced immune dysfunction and aimed to identify these changes.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>We conducted a genome wide methylation analysis on seven obese cases and seven lean controls aged 14 to 18 years from extreme ends of the obesity distribution and performed further validation of six CpG sites from six genes in 46 obese cases and 46 lean controls aged 14 to 30 years.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In comparison with the lean controls, we observed one CpG site in the UBASH3A gene showing higher methylation levels and one CpG site in the TRIM3 gene showing lower methylation levels in the obese cases in both the genome wide step (<it>P </it>= 5 × 10^-6and <it>P </it>= 2 × 10^-5for the UBASH3A and the TRIM3 gene respectively) and the validation step (<it>P </it>= 0.008 and <it>P </it>= 0.001 for the UBASH3A and the TRIM3 gene respectively).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results provide evidence that obesity is associated with methylation changes in blood leukocyte DNA. Further studies are warranted to determine the causal direction of this relationship as well as whether such methylation changes can lead to immune dysfunction.</p> <p>See commentary: <url>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/8/88/abstract</url></p

STAMINA: Bioinformatics Platform for Monitoring and Mitigating Pandemic Outbreaks

Data Availability Statement: All data driven applications used the our world in data COVID-19 datasets, complimented by proprietary datasets share by the STAMINA consortium.Copyright © 2022 by the authors. This paper presents the components and integrated outcome of a system that aims to achieve early detection, monitoring and mitigation of pandemic outbreaks. The architecture of the platform aims at providing a number of pandemic-response-related services, on a modular basis, that allows for the easy customization of the platform to address user’s needs per case. This customization is achieved through its ability to deploy only the necessary, loosely coupled services and tools for each case, and by providing a common authentication, data storage and data exchange infrastructure. This way, the platform can provide the necessary services without the burden of additional services that are not of use in the current deployment (e.g., predictive models for pathogens that are not endemic to the deployment area). All the decisions taken for the communication and integration of the tools that compose the platform adhere to this basic principle. The tools presented here as well as their integration is part of the project STAMINA.The paper presented is based on research undertaken as part of the European Commission-funded project STAMINA (Grant Agreement 883441)

Loss of Cannabinoid Receptor CB1 Induces Preterm Birth

Preterm birth accounting approximate 10% of pregnancies in women is a tremendous social, clinical and economic burden. However, its underlying causes remain largely unknown. Emerging evidence suggests that endocannabinoid signaling via cannabinoid receptor CB1 play critical roles in multiple early pregnancy events in both animals and humans. Since our previous studies demonstrated that loss of CB1 defers the normal implantation window in mice, we surmised that CB1 deficiency would influence parturition events.Exploiting mouse models with targeted deletion of Cnr1, Cnr2 and Ptgs1 encoding CB1, CB2 and cyclooxygenase-1, respectively, we examined consequences of CB1 or CB2 silencing on the onset of parturition. We observed that genetic or pharmacological inactivation of CB1, but not CB2, induced preterm labor in mice. Radioimmunoassay analysis of circulating levels of ovarian steroid hormones revealed that premature birth resulting from CB1 inactivation is correlated with altered progesterone/estrogen ratios prior to parturition. More strikingly, the phenotypic defects of prolonged pregnancy length and parturition failure in mice missing Ptgs1 were corrected by introducing CB1 deficiency into Ptgs1 null mice. In addition, loss of CB1 resulted in aberrant secretions of corticotrophin-releasing hormone and corticosterone during late gestation. The pathophysiological significance of this altered corticotrophin-releasing hormone-driven endocrine activity in the absence of CB1 was evident from our subsequent findings that a selective corticotrophin-releasing hormone antagonist was able to restore the normal parturition timing in Cnr1 deficient mice. In contrast, wild-type females receiving excessive levels of corticosterone induced preterm birth.CB1 deficiency altering normal progesterone and estrogen levels induces preterm birth in mice. This defect is independent of prostaglandins produced by cyclooxygenase-1. Moreover, CB1 inactivation resulted in aberrant corticotrophin-releasing hormone and corticosterone activities prior to parturition, suggesting that CB1 regulates labor by interacting with the corticotrophin-releasing hormone-driven endocrine axis

Comparative analysis of the human hepatic and adipose tissue transcriptomes during LPS-induced inflammation leads to the identification of differential biological pathways and candidate biomarkers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Insulin resistance (IR) is accompanied by chronic low grade systemic inflammation, obesity, and deregulation of total body energy homeostasis. We induced inflammation in adipose and liver tissues <it>in vitro </it>in order to mimic inflammation <it>in vivo </it>with the aim to identify tissue-specific processes implicated in IR and to find biomarkers indicative for tissue-specific IR.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Human adipose and liver tissues were cultured in the absence or presence of LPS and DNA Microarray Technology was applied for their transcriptome analysis. Gene Ontology (GO), gene functional analysis, and prediction of genes encoding for secretome were performed using publicly available bioinformatics tools (DAVID, STRING, SecretomeP). The transcriptome data were validated by proteomics analysis of the inflamed adipose tissue secretome.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>LPS treatment significantly affected 667 and 483 genes in adipose and liver tissues respectively. The GO analysis revealed that during inflammation adipose tissue, compared to liver tissue, had more significantly upregulated genes, GO terms, and functional clusters related to inflammation and angiogenesis. The secretome prediction led to identification of 399 and 236 genes in adipose and liver tissue respectively. The secretomes of both tissues shared 66 genes and the remaining genes were the differential candidate biomarkers indicative for inflamed adipose or liver tissue. The transcriptome data of the inflamed adipose tissue secretome showed excellent correlation with the proteomics data.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The higher number of altered proinflammatory genes, GO processes, and genes encoding for secretome during inflammation in adipose tissue compared to liver tissue, suggests that adipose tissue is the major organ contributing to the development of systemic inflammation observed in IR. The identified tissue-specific functional clusters and biomarkers might be used in a strategy for the development of tissue-targeted treatment of insulin resistance in patients.</p

Neuroendocrine–immune disequilibrium and endometriosis: an interdisciplinary approach

Endometriosis, a chronic disease characterized by endometrial tissue located outside the uterine cavity, affects one fourth of young women and is associated with chronic pelvic pain and infertility. However, an in-depth understanding of the pathophysiology and effective treatment strategies of endometriosis is still largely elusive. Inadequate immune and neuroendocrine responses are significantly involved in the pathophysiology of endometriosis, and key findings are summarized in the present review. We discuss here the role of different immune mechanisms particularly adhesion molecules, protein–glycan interactions, and pro-angiogenic mediators in the development and progression of the disease. Finally, we introduce the concept of endometrial dissemination as result of a neuroendocrine-immune disequilibrium in response to high levels of perceived stress caused by cardinal clinical symptoms of endometriosis

Amygdala inputs to prefrontal cortex guide behavior amid conflicting cues of reward and punishment

Orchestrating appropriate behavioral responses in the face of competing signals that predict either rewards or threats in the environment is crucial for survival. The basolateral nucleus of the amygdala (BLA) and prelimbic (PL) medial prefrontal cortex have been implicated in reward-seeking and fear-related responses, but how information flows between these reciprocally connected structures to coordinate behavior is unknown. We recorded neuronal activity from the BLA and PL while rats performed a task wherein competing shock- and sucrose-predictive cues were simultaneously presented. The correlated firing primarily displayed a BLA→PL directionality during the shock-associated cue. Furthermore, BLA neurons optogenetically identified as projecting to PL more accurately predicted behavioral responses during competition than unidentified BLA neurons. Finally photostimulation of the BLA→PL projection increased freezing, whereas both chemogenetic and optogenetic inhibition reduced freezing. Therefore, the BLA→PL circuit is critical in governing the selection of behavioral responses in the face of competing signals.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Award 1R25-MH092912-01)National Institute of Mental Health (U.S.) (Grant R01- MH102441-01)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Award DP2- DK-102256-01