High Cell Diversity and Complex Peptidergic Signaling Underlie Placozoan Behavior.

Placozoans, together with sponges, are the only animals devoid of a nervous system and muscles, yet both respond to sensory stimulation in a coordinated manner. How behavioral control in these free-living animals is achieved in the absence of neurons and, more fundamentally, how the first neurons evolved from more primitive cells for communication during the rise of animals are not yet understood [1-5]. The placozoan Trichoplax adhaerens is a millimeter-wide, flat, free-living marine animal composed of six morphologically identified cell types distributed across a simple body plan [6-9]: a thin upper epithelium and a columnar lower epithelium interspersed with a loose layer of fiber cells in between. Its genome contains genes encoding several neuropeptide-precursor-like proteins and orthologs of proteins involved in neurosecretion in animals with a nervous system [10-12]. Here we investigate peptidergic signaling in T. adhaerens. We found specific expression of several neuropeptide-like molecules in non-overlapping cell populations distributed over the three cell layers, revealing an unsuspected cell-type diversity of T. adhaerens. Using live imaging, we discovered that treatments with 11 different peptides elicited striking and consistent effects on the animals' shape, patterns of movement, and velocity that we categorized under three main types: (1) crinkling, (2) turning, and (3) flattening and churning. Together, the data demonstrate a crucial role for peptidergic signaling in nerveless placozoans and suggest that peptidergic volume signaling may have pre-dated synaptic signaling in the evolution of nervous systems

Diabetic Kidney Disease and kidney function decline in type 2 diabetes mellitus: The Lausanne based SWIDINEP cohort study.

Introduction: As the main cause of chronic kidney disease and end stage renal disease, diabetic kidney disease is a very serious condition. It has now become clear that the rate of kidney function decline shows a strong interindividual variability. A better characterization of this variability and identification of parameters associated with an accelerated kidney function decline are then of primary importance. Methods: In this observational study, we evaluated the kidney function decline in a cohort of 138 T2DM outpatients followed at CHUV (SWIDINEP cohort). The eGFR calculated using the CKD-EPI forumla was used as an indicator of kidney function. The eGFR decline was calculated through linear regression using every creatinine values available in the patients’ medical records from year 2000 to 2019. The slope of the linear regression line was used to calculate the yearly eGFR decline. Patients were then separated in quartiles according to their yearly eGFR decline. Patients enlisted in this cohort also underwent a complete clinical examination as well as blood sampling. Kidney ultrasonography and arterial waveform analysis (sphygmocor) were also performed. Results: The average yearly kidney function decline in the cohort was of -1.86 ml/min/1.73m2/year. The respective average annual eGFR changes were of -6.73±3.6 ml/min/1.73m2/year, -2.03±0.60 ml/min/1.73m2/year, -0.7±0.39 ml/min/1.73m2/year for quartiles 1 to 3 and of +2.12±3.39 ml/min/1.73m2/year for quartile 4 (p-value < 0.001). We found that urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio as well as the presence of diabetic retinopathy was significantly higher in groups with a stronger decline. In addition, we found that peripheral and central systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure were higher in quartiles with a stronger decline. A faster eGFR decline correlated with carotid femoral pulse wave velocity especially among patients with an eGFR over 60ml/min/1.73m2/year (n=45) and was associated with higher renal resistance indexes. Discussion: This study confirms the strong variability in eGFR decline in our cohort. In addition, it indicates that several parameters associated with arterial stiffness were increased in groups showing the stronger decline

El mercado de los eBooks: perspectivas sociales y tecnologicas. The context of eBooks: social and technological perspectives.

Social environment is subject to the new technologies, ways of communicating change, the market continues on its investment on technology because everything is related to it, such as our customs are adapted to our applications, we have tools to know where we are going, like, how fast and where we can find our favorite coffee if we need to rest while you make a trip, it is a modification anthropological, as for the sense of Levi Strauss, who has written so McLuhan and followers

Supramolecular interactions of carbon nanotubes with biosourced polyurethanes from 2-(2,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrrol-1-yl)-1,3-propanediol

Biosourced polyurethanes (PU) were synthesized from a serinol deriv. contg. a pyrrole ring, 2-​(2,​5-​dimethyl-​1H-​pyrrol-​1-​yl)​-​1,​3-​propanediol (SP)​, and stable supramol. interaction with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) was established. Synthesis of SP was solvent free and with high atom efficiency: serinol was reacted with 2,​5-​hexandione, obtaining the tricyclic compd. 4a,​6a-​dimethyl-​hexahydro-​1,​4-​dioxa-​6b-​azacyclopenta[cd]​pentalene, whose aromatization led to SP. Solvent free polymn. of SP and 1,​6-​hexamethylene diisocyanate led to PU oligomers. High resoln. transmission electron microscopy of CNT adducts with PU oligomers revealed individual CNT, with intact skeleton and PU oligomers tightly adhered to their surface. Suspensions of MWCNT-​PU adducts in acetone were stable even after centrifugation. These results pave the way to composite material contg. carbon nanofillers tightly bound to the polymer matrix, reducing their dispersion in the environment