Interaction of HLA Class II rs9272219 and TMPO rs17028450 (Arg690Cys) Variants Affects Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder Susceptibility in an Admixed Mexican Population

Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder (NMOSD) is a demyelinating autoimmune disease of the central nervous system, more prevalent in individuals of non-European ancestry. Few studies have analyzed genetic risk factors in NMOSD, and HLA class II gene variation has been associated NMOSD risk in various populations including Mexicans. Thymopoietin (TMPO) has not been tested as a candidate gene for NMOSD or other autoimmune disease, however, experimental evidence suggests this gene may be involved in negative selection of autoreactive T cells and autoimmunity. We thus investigated whether the missense TMPO variant rs17028450 (Arg630Cys, frequent in Latin America) is associated with NMOSD, and whether this variant shows an interaction with HLA-class II rs9272219, previously associated with NMOSD risk. A total of 119 Mexican NMOSD patients, 1208 controls and 357 Native Mexican individuals were included. The HLA rs9272219 "T" risk allele frequency ranged from 21 to 68%, while the rs17028450 "T" minor allele frequency was as high as 18% in Native Mexican groups. Both rs9272219 and rs17028450 were significantly associated with NMOSD risk under additive models (OR = 2.48; p = 8 × 10(-10) and OR = 1.59; p = 0.0075, respectively), and a significant interaction between both variants was identified with logistic regression models (p = 0.048). Individuals bearing both risk alleles had an estimated 3.9-fold increased risk of NMOSD. To our knowledge, this is the first study reporting an association of TMPO gene variation with an autoimmune disorder and the interaction of specific susceptibility gene variants, that may contribute to the genetic architecture of NMOSD in admixed Latin American populations

Biogeochemical indicators of elevated nitrogen deposition in semiarid Mediterranean ecosystems

Nitrogen (N) deposition has doubled the natural N inputs received by ecosystems through biological N fixation and is currently a global problem that is affecting the Mediterranean regions. We evaluated the existing relationships between increased atmospheric N deposition and biogeochemical indicators related to soil chemical factors and cryptogam species across semiarid central, southern, and eastern Spain. The cryptogam species studied were the biocrust-forming species Pleurochaete squarrosa (moss) and Cladonia foliacea (lichen). Sampling sites were chosen in Quercus coccifera (kermes oak) shrublands and Pinus halepensis (Aleppo pine) forests to cover a range of inorganic N deposition representative of the levels found in the Iberian Peninsula (between 4.4 and 8.1 kg N ha(-1) year(-1)). We extended the ambient N deposition gradient by including experimental plots to which N had been added for 3 years at rates of 10, 20, and 50 kg N ha(-1) year(-1). Overall, N deposition (extant plus simulated) increased soil inorganic N availability and caused soil acidification. Nitrogen deposition increased phosphomonoesterase (PME) enzyme activity and PME/nitrate reductase (NR) ratio in both species, whereas the NR activity was reduced only in the moss. Responses of PME and NR activities were attributed to an induced N to phosphorus imbalance and to N saturation, respectively. When only considering the ambient N deposition, soil organic C and N contents were positively related to N deposition, a response driven by pine forests. The PME/NR ratios of the moss were better predictors of N deposition rates than PME or NR activities alone in shrublands, whereas no correlation between N deposition and the lichen physiology was observed. We conclude that integrative physiological measurements, such as PME/NR ratios, measured on sensitive species such as P. squarrosa, can provide useful data for national-scale biomonitoring programs, whereas soil acidification and soil C and N storage could be useful as additional corroborating ecosystem indicators of chronic N pollution

Bacterial laccases: some recent advances and applications

Laccases belong to the large family of multi-copper oxidases (MCOs) that couple the one-electron oxidation of substrates with the four-electron reduction of molecular oxygen to water. Because of their high relative non-specific oxidation capacity particularly on phenols and aromatic amines as well as the lack of requirement for expensive organic cofactors, they have found application in a large number of biotechnological fields. The vast majority of studies and applications were performed using fungal laccases, but bacterial laccases show interesting properties such as optimal temperature above 50 °C, optimal pH at the neutral to alkaline range, thermal and chemical stability and increased salt tolerance. Additionally, bacterial systems benefit from a wide range of molecular biology tools that facilitates their engineering and achievement of high yields of protein production and set-up of cost-effective bioprocesses. In this review we will provide up-to-date information on the distribution and putative physiological role of bacterial laccases and highlight their distinctive structural and biochemical properties, discuss the key role of copper in the biochemical properties, discuss thermostability determinants and, finally, review biotechnological applications with a focus on catalytic mechanisms on phenolics and aromatic amines.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Search for an invisible Z′Z^\prime in a final state with two muons and missing energy at Belle II

The $L_{\mu}-L_{\tau}$ extension of the standard model predicts the existence of a lepton-flavor-universality-violating $Z^{\prime}$ boson that couples only to the heavier lepton families. We search for such a $Z^\prime$ through its invisible decay in the process $e^+ e^- \to \mu^+ \mu^- Z^{\prime}$. We use a sample of electron-positron collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 10.58GeV collected by the Belle II experiment in 2019-2020, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 79.7fb$^{-1}$. We find no excess over the expected standard-model background. We set 90$\%$-confidence-level upper limits on the cross section for this process as well as on the coupling of the model, which ranges from $3 \times 10^{-3}$ at low $Z^{\prime}$ masses to 1 at $Z^{\prime}$ masses of 8$GeV/c^{2}$

Measurement of the branching fraction and CP\it CP asymmetry of B0→π0π0B^{0} \rightarrow \pi^{0} \pi^{0} decays using 198×106198 \times 10^6 BB‾B\overline{B} pairs in Belle II data

We report measurements of the branching fraction and $\it CP$ asymmetry in $B^{0} \to \pi^{0} \pi^{0}$ decays reconstructed at Belle II in an electron-positron collision sample containing $198 \times 10^{6}$ $B\overline{B}$ pairs. We measure a branching fraction \mathcal{B}(\Bpipi) = (1.38 \pm 0.27 \pm 0.22) \times 10^{-6} and a $\it CP$ asymmetry \Acp(\Bpipi) = 0.14 \pm 0.46 \pm 0.07, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic

Measurements of the branching fractions for B→K∗γB \to K^{*}\gamma decays at Belle II

This paper reports a study of $B \to K^{*}\gamma$ decays using $62.8\pm 0.6$ fb$^{-1}$ of data collected during 2019--2020 by the Belle II experiment at the SuperKEKB $e^{+}e^{-}$ asymmetric-energy collider, corresponding to $(68.2 \pm 0.8) \times 10^6$ $B\overline{B}$ events. We find $454 \pm 28$, $50 \pm 10$, $169 \pm 18$, and $160 \pm 17$ signal events in the decay modes $B^{0} \to K^{*0}[K^{+}\pi^{-}]\gamma$, $B^{0} \to K^{*0}[K^0_{\rm S}\pi^{0}]\gamma$, $B^{+} \to K^{*+}[K^{+}\pi^{0}]\gamma$, and $B^{+} \to K^{*+}[K^{+}\pi^{0}]\gamma$, respectively. The uncertainties quoted for the signal yield are statistical only. We report the branching fractions of these decays: $$\mathcal{B} [B^{0} \to K^{*0}[K^{+}\pi^{-}]\gamma] = (4.5 \pm 0.3 \pm 0.2) \times 10^{-5},$$ $$\mathcal{B} [B^{0} \to K^{*0}[K^0_{\rm S}\pi^{0}]\gamma] = (4.4 \pm 0.9 \pm 0.6) \times 10^{-5},$$ $$\mathcal{B} [B^{+} \to K^{*+}[K^{+}\pi^{0}]\gamma] = (5.0 \pm 0.5 \pm 0.4)\times 10^{-5},\text{ and}$$ $$\mathcal{B} [B^{+} \to K^{*+}[K^0_{\rm S}\pi^{+}]\gamma] = (5.4 \pm 0.6 \pm 0.4) \times 10^{-5},$$ where the first uncertainty is statistical, and the second is systematic. The results are consistent with world-average values