Human neutrophils phagocytose and kill Acinetobacter baumanii and A. pittii

Acinetobacter baumannii is a common cause of health care associated infections worldwide. A. pittii is an opportunistic pathogen also frequently isolated from Acinetobacter infections other than those from A. baumannii. Knowledge of Acinetobacter virulence factors and their role in pathogenesis is scarce. Also, there are no detailed published reports on the interactions between A. pittii and human phagocytic cells. Using confocal laser and scanning electron microscopy, immunofluorescence, and live-cell imaging, our study shows that immediately after bacteria-cell contact, neutrophils rapidly and continuously engulf and kill bacteria during at least 4 hours of infection in vitro. After 3 h of infection, neutrophils start to release neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) against Acinetobacter. DNA in NETs colocalizes well with human histone H3 and with the specific neutrophil elastase. We have observed that human neutrophils use large filopodia as cellular tentacles to sense local environment but also to detect and retain bacteria during phagocytosis. Furthermore, co-cultivation of neutrophils with human differentiated macrophages before infections shows that human neutrophils, but not macrophages, are key immune cells to control Acinetobacter. Although macrophages were largely activated by both bacterial species, they lack the phagocytic activity demonstrated by neutrophils

Binary and Millisecond Pulsars at the New Millennium

We review the properties and applications of binary and millisecond pulsars. Our knowledge of these exciting objects has greatly increased in recent years, mainly due to successful surveys which have brought the known pulsar population to over 1300. There are now 56 binary and millisecond pulsars in the Galactic disk and a further 47 in globular clusters. This review is concerned primarily with the results and spin-offs from these surveys which are of particular interest to the relativity community.Comment: 59 pages, 26 figures, 5 tables. Accepted for publication in Living Reviews in Relativity (http://www.livingreviews.org

Binary and Millisecond Pulsars

We review the main properties, demographics and applications of binary and millisecond radio pulsars. Our knowledge of these exciting objects has greatly increased in recent years, mainly due to successful surveys which have brought the known pulsar population to over 1700. There are now 80 binary and millisecond pulsars associated with the disk of our Galaxy, and a further 103 pulsars in 24 of the Galactic globular clusters. Recent highlights have been the discovery of the first ever double pulsar system and a recent flurry of discoveries in globular clusters, in particular Terzan 5.Comment: 77 pages, 30 figures, available on-line at http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2005-

Visual software analytics for the build optimization of large-scale software systems

Software visualization, Visual analytics, Static analysis,

Head Group Influence on Lipid Interactions With a Polyhydroxyalkanoate Biopolymer

Poly([R]-3-hydroxy-10-undecenoate) (PHUE) is a biodegradable/biocompatible polyester from polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) family, used in biomedical applications. PHA's introduction to the body may have implications on cell membrane stabilitythis motivates studies of interactions between PHAs and phospholipids, main membrane constituents. Interaction analysis in PHUE monolayers with two phospholipids (different hydrophilic groups), phosphatidylserine (DOPS), and phosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE), shows that repulsive interactions between PHUE and DOPS and attractive between PHUE and DOPE resulted from different lipid headgroup size and orientation at the airwater interface (PE, parallel to the interface, attracted PHUE via hydrogen bonds, iondipole, and dipoledipole interactions)

Long-term unemployment and suicide: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Long-term breastfeeding, including exclusive breastfeeding for six months and continuation of breastfeeding with complementary food until two years of age, has been recommended by the World Health Organization. However, despite the clear benefits of long-term breastfeeding (six months and beyond), the rates of breastfeeding still continue to remain low. Although there are some individual interventional studies that aimed to increase prolonged breastfeeding rates among both multiparous and primiparous women, there is no systematic review or meta-analysis to examine the effectiveness of those interventions among primiparous women who had no previous breastfeeding experience