Metabonomics and Intensive Care

This article is one of ten reviews selected from the Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency medicine 2016. Other selected articles can be found online at http://www.biomedcentral.com/collections/annualupdate2016. Further information about the Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine is available from http://www.springer.com/series/8901

Direct Ethanol Fuel Cell for Clean Electric Energy: Unravelling the Role of Electrode Materials for a Sustainable Future

Direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs) are better than others in commercially used FCs due to easy availability, less toxicity, and C-2-type alcohol. Ethanol has a high theoretical efficiency of 97% and is a safe, plentiful, and renewable resource that can be stored and controlled using the infrastructure that is in place now. Nevertheless, low functional efficiencies and the release of carbon dioxide (CO2), acetaldehyde, and byproducts of acetic acid must be addressed if DEFCs are to grow and become more commercially viable. To overcome these problems, new anode and cathode catalysts are needed, so this review article discusses the introduction of FCs with their structure, working and mechanism. Further, the report covers various types of FC catalysts, and their application in FC technology is explained. The role of the catalyst (such as anode and cathode), similarities and differences between Pt/Pd-based catalysts, and the importance of supporting materials (such as carbon, transition metal dichalcogenides, MXene, and black phosphorus-based materials) in DEFCs are described. In addition, the applications, advantages, and disadvantages of the DEFCs are discussed. Finally, the proposed theme is concluded with the existing challenges in this field and the future prospect of DEFCs

Measurement of the inclusive and dijet cross-sections of b-jets in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive and dijet production cross-sections have been measured for jets containing b-hadrons (b-jets) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements use data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1. The b-jets are identified using either a lifetime-based method, where secondary decay vertices of b-hadrons in jets are reconstructed using information from the tracking detectors, or a muon-based method where the presence of a muon is used to identify semileptonic decays of b-hadrons inside jets. The inclusive b-jet cross-section is measured as a function of transverse momentum in the range 20 < pT < 400 GeV and rapidity in the range |y| < 2.1. The bbbar-dijet cross-section is measured as a function of the dijet invariant mass in the range 110 < m_jj < 760 GeV, the azimuthal angle difference between the two jets and the angular variable chi in two dijet mass regions. The results are compared with next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. Good agreement is observed between the measured cross-sections and the predictions obtained using POWHEG + Pythia. MC@NLO + Herwig shows good agreement with the measured bbbar-dijet cross-section. However, it does not reproduce the measured inclusive cross-section well, particularly for central b-jets with large transverse momenta.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (21 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version published in European Physical Journal

Epithelial damage and tissue γδ T cells promote a unique tumor-protective IgE response

IgE is an ancient and conserved immunoglobulin isotype with potent immunological function. Nevertheless, the regulation of IgE responses remains an enigma, and evidence of a role for IgE in host defense is limited. Here we report that topical exposure to a common environmental DNA-damaging xenobiotic initiated stress surveillance by γδTCR+ intraepithelial lymphocytes that resulted in class switching to IgE in B cells and the accumulation of autoreactive IgE. High-throughput antibody sequencing revealed that γδ T cells shaped the IgE repertoire by supporting specific variable-diversity-joining (VDJ) rearrangements with unique characteristics of the complementarity-determining region CDRH3. This endogenous IgE response, via the IgE receptor FcεRI, provided protection against epithelial carcinogenesis, and expression of the gene encoding FcεRI in human squamous-cell carcinoma correlated with good disease prognosis. These data indicate a joint role for immunosurveillance by T cells and by B cells in epithelial tissues and suggest that IgE is part of the host defense against epithelial damage and tumor development

EMT-Induced Stemness and Tumorigenicity Are Fueled by the EGFR/Ras Pathway

10.1371/journal.pone.0070427PLoS ONE88-POLN

The interaction of bacterial pathogens with platelets.

In recent years, the frequency of serious cardiovascular infections such as endocarditis has increased, particularly in association with nosocomially acquired antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Growing evidence suggests a crucial role for the interaction of bacteria with human platelets in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular infections. Here, we review the nature of the interactions between platelets and bacteria, and the role of these interactions in the pathogenesis of endocarditis and other cardiovascular diseases

Is the meiofauna a good indicator for climate change and anthropogenic impacts?

Our planet is changing, and one of the most pressing challenges facing the scientific community revolves around understanding how ecological communities respond to global changes. From coastal to deep-sea ecosystems, ecologists are exploring new areas of research to find model organisms that help predict the future of life on our planet. Among the different categories of organisms, meiofauna offer several advantages for the study of marine benthic ecosystems. This paper reviews the advances in the study of meiofauna with regard to climate change and anthropogenic impacts. Four taxonomic groups are valuable for predicting global changes: foraminifers (especially calcareous forms), nematodes, copepods and ostracods. Environmental variables are fundamental in the interpretation of meiofaunal patterns and multistressor experiments are more informative than single stressor ones, revealing complex ecological and biological interactions. Global change has a general negative effect on meiofauna, with important consequences on benthic food webs. However, some meiofaunal species can be favoured by the extreme conditions induced by global change, as they can exhibit remarkable physiological adaptations. This review highlights the need to incorporate studies on taxonomy, genetics and function of meiofaunal taxa into global change impact research

Podoplanin expression in fibroblasts determines lymph node architecture and adaptive immune function

Lymph nodes are uniquely organised to form specialised niches for immune interactions. Fibroblastic reticular cells (FRCs) are an essential stromal component of lymph nodes – forming intricate 3-dimensional networks to facilitate communication between immune cells and depositing and ensheathing extracellular matrix on the conduit network. However, beyond these structural roles, FRCs regulate immune function through the production of growth factors, chemokines and inflammatory cues. Here we sought to determine how the immunoregulatory properties of FRCs are determined. Since PDPN has been implicated in lymph node development, we directly tested how the PDPN/CLEC-2 signalling axis impacted the immunoregulatory properties of FRCs in vitro and in vivo. We find that FRCs use the PDPN/CLEC-2 signalling axis to switch transcriptional states and alter the expression of immune related genes. In vivo, genetic deletion of PDPN from fibroblastic stroma in PDGFRαmGFPΔPDPN mice downregulated key immunoregulatory molecules CCL21, VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 and attenuated the activation, proliferation and differentiation of lymphocyte populations. Further, PDGFRαmGFPΔPDPN mice exhibited severe disruption of the FRC network structure, leading to a failure to separate B and T lymphocytes and misdistribution of myeloid cells through the tissue. We conclude that PDPN expression controls signalling pathways beyond cytoskeletal regulation and cell mechanics and that PDPN expression is required for FRC phenotype and function in lymph nodes

Global trends and correlates of covid-19 vaccination hesitancy: Findings from the icare study

The success of large-scale COVID-19 vaccination campaigns is contingent upon people being willing to receive the vaccine. Our study explored COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and its correlates in eight different countries around the globe. We analyzed convenience sample data collected between March 2020 and January 2021 as part of the iCARE cross-sectional study. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses were conducted to explore the correlates of vaccine hesitancy. We included 32,028 participants from eight countries, and observed that 27% of the participants exhibited vaccine hesitancy, with increases over time. France reported the highest level of hesitancy (47.3%) and Brazil reported the lowest (9.6%). Women, younger individuals (≤29 years), people living in rural areas, and those with a lower perceived income were more likely to be hesitant. People who previously received an influenza vaccine were 70% less likely to report COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. We observed that people reporting greater COVID-19 health concerns were less likely to be hesitant, whereas people with higher personal financial concerns were more likely to be hesitant. Our findings indicate that there is substantial vaccine hesitancy in several countries, with cross-national differences in the magnitude and direction of the trend. Vaccination communication initiatives should target hesitant individuals (women, younger adults, people with lower incomes and those living in rural areas), and should highlight the immediate health, social and economic benefits of vaccination across these settings. Country-level analyses are warranted to understand the complex psychological, socio-environmental, and cultural factors associated with vaccine hesitancy