The Body Creates: A Panel

Papers presented: Correlation of Skeletal Muscles and Vitamin D by Hala M. Akhtar & Benjamin Ly There is More than Meets the Eye by Henry Nguyen, Anna Villarreal & Ryleigh Bryant The eyes are a very important organ so it is important that we take good care of them. The eye allows us to see and life as we know it could not be possible if we did not have eyesight. There is more than meets the eye as it can be threatened by disease that cannot be simply seen without the use of specially designed instruments or machines. Some of the diseases the eye can have are glaucoma, which causes a loss in eyesight overtime due to the increase in pressure within the eye. Retinopathy or also known as diabetic retinopathy which is caused by damage to the blood vessels of light sensitive tissue located in the back of the eye. Both of these diseases will take away one’s eyesight if not treated. Treatments for glaucoma can include medications and surgery such as laser eye surgery. It is very important to protect the eyes so that there is a reduced chance of complications of the eyes late in life

Dynamics of river plumes in the South Brazilian Bight and South Brazil

Research articleThe plumes from the rivers of the South Brazilian Bight (SBB) and South Brazil (SB) were studied using a realistic model configuration. River plume variability on continental shelves is driven by the input of river runoff into the shelf, by wind variability, and also by ambient currents and its seasonal variability, especially the Brazil Current, which are realistically modelled in this study. It is presented a simulation of 4 years using a nested configuration, which allows resolving the region around Florianópolis with very high resolution (∼150 m). The dispersion of river plumes was assessed not only with the hydrodynamical model results but also by using passive tracers whose dynamics was analyzed seasonally. Several dyes were released together with the river discharges. This approach allowed calculating the depths of the riverine freshwater, and the resulting regions affected by the plumes. Northward intrusions of waters from the southern region, under the potential influence of the distant La Plata river plume, were evaluated with a Lagrangian approach. The local river plumes are confined to the inner shelf, except south of 30°S where discharges from Lagoa dos Patos disperse over the shelf in the spring and summer. The Brazil Current flowing southward over the slope prevents the river plumes from interaction with oceanic mesoscale dynamics. The river plumes are, thus, mainly controlled by the wind forcing. The plumes from SBB are able to disperse until SB following the southward wind regime typical of the summer. And both the SB and La Plata river plumes are also able to reach SBB, forced by the northward wind typical of the winter season, until the latitude of 25.5°S. A low salinity belt (below 35) is present along the coastal region of SB and SBB year-round, supported by contributions from both the large and small rivers. The interaction between the different plumes influences the dispersion patterns, shielding the Florianṕolis coastal region from plumes of distant rivers, and dispersing the plume of SBB rivers away from Santa Catarina Island as it disperses southward during the summer months.Versión del edito

A multi-antigenic adenoviral-vectored vaccine improves BCG-induced protection of goats against pulmonary tuberculosis infection and prevents disease progression

The “One world, one health” initiative emphasizes the need for new strategies to control human and animal tuberculosis (TB) based on their shared interface. A good example would be the development of novel universal vaccines against Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) infection. This study uses the goat model, a natural TB host, to assess the protective effectiveness of a new vaccine candidate in combination with Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine. Thirty-three goat kids were divided in three groups: Group 1) vaccinated with BCG (week 0), Group 2) vaccinated with BCG and boosted 8 weeks later with a recombinant adenovirus expressing the MTBC antigens Ag85A, TB10.4, TB9.8 and Acr2 (AdTBF), and Group 3) unvaccinated controls. Later on, an endobronchial challenge with a low dose of M. caprae was performed (week 15). After necropsy (week 28), the pulmonary gross pathology was quantified using high resolution Computed Tomography. Small granulomatous pulmonary lesions (< 0.5 cm diameter) were also evaluated through a comprehensive qualitative histopathological analysis. M. caprae CFU were counted from pulmonary lymph nodes. The AdTBF improved the effects of BCG reducing gross lesion volume and bacterial load, as well as increasing weight gain. The number of Ag85A-specific gamma interferon-producing memory T-cells was identified as a predictor of vaccine efficacy. Specific cellular and humoral responses were measured throughout the 13-week post-challenge period, and correlated with the severity of lesions. Unvaccinated goats exhibited the typical pathological features of active TB in humans and domestic ruminants, while vaccinated goats showed only very small lesions. The data presented in this study indicate that multi-antigenic adenoviral vectored vaccines boosts protection conferred by vaccination with BCG

Ignition latitude and the shape of Type I X-ray bursts

The shape of the lightcurve during the rising phase of Type I X-ray bursts is determined by many factors including the ignition latitude, the accretion rate, and the rotation rate of the star. We develop a phenomenological model of the burst rise process and show that simple measures of the burst morphology can be robust diagnostics of ignition latitude and burning regime. We apply our results to the large sample of bursts from the Low Mass X-ray Binary 4U 1636-536, and find evidence for off-equatorial ignition for many of the bursts. We argue that such behaviour may be associated with the transition from hydrogen to helium ignition at accretion rates a few percent of Eddington. We show that this model can also explain variations in the detectability of burst oscillations, and discuss the implications for other burst sources.Comment: Some additions and clarifications, MNRAS accepte

Congenital cytomegalovirus awareness and knowledge among health professionals and pregnant women: an action towards prevention

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a major cause of childhood disabilities, and consensus recommendations emphasize the importance of hygienic measures to reduce perinatal infection. Our study aimed to evaluate the level of awareness about CMV among health professionals and pregnant women. Conclusion: Health care professionals have limited knowledge about CMV and may fail to enforce preventive measures. Health campaigns should be promoted to enhance awareness about this perinatal infection

Publisher Correction : Pancreatic duct ligation reduces premalignant pancreatic lesions in a Kras model of pancreatic adenocarcinoma in mice

Correction to: Scientific Reports, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-74947-4, published online 27 October 2020 The original version of this Article contained a typographical error in the spelling of the author Patricia Sánchez- Velázquez, which was incorrectly given as Patricia Sánchez Velazquez. Additionally, the author Patricia Sánchez- Velázquez was incorrectly indexed. These errors have now been corrected in the PDF and HTML versions of the ArticleS

Genomic diversity of human papillomavirus-16, 18, 31, and 35 isolates in a Mexican population and relationship to European, African, and Native American variants

AbstractCervical cancer, mainly caused by infection with human papillomaviruses (HPVs), is a major public health problem in Mexico. During a study of the prevalence of HPV types in northeastern Mexico, we identified, as expected from worldwide comparisons, HPV-16, 18, 31, and 35 as highly prevalent. It is well known that the genomes of HPV types differ geographically because of evolution linked to ethnic groups separated in prehistoric times. As HPV intra-type variation results in pathogenic differences, we analyzed genomic sequences of Mexican variants of these four HPV types. Among 112 HPV-16 samples, 14 contained European and 98 American Indian (AA) variants. This ratio is unexpected as people of European ethnicity predominate in this part of Mexico. Among 15 HPV-18 samples, 13 contained European and 2 African variants, the latter possibly due to migration of Africans to the Caribbean coast of Mexico. We constructed phylogenetic trees of HPV-31 and 35 variants, which have never been studied. Forty-six HPV-31 isolates from Mexico, Europe, Africa, and the United States (US) contained a total of 35 nucleotide exchanges in a 428-bp segment, with maximal distances between any two variants of 16 bp (3.7%), similar to those between HPV-16 variants. The HPV-31 variants formed two branches, one apparently the European, the other one an African branch. The European branch contained 13 of 29 Mexican isolates, the African branch 16 Mexican isolates. These may represent the HPV-31 variants of American Indians, as a 55% prevalence of African variants in Mexico seems incomprehensible. Twenty-seven HPV-35 samples from Mexico, Europe, Africa, and the US contained 11 mutations in a 893-bp segment with maximal distances between any two variants of only 5 mutations (0.6%), including a characteristic 16-bp insertion/deletion. These HPV-35 variants formed several phylogenetic clusters rather than two- or three-branched trees as HPV-16, 18, and 31. An HPV-35 variant typical for American Indians was not identifiable. Our research suggests type specific patterns of evolution and spread of HPV-16, 18, 31, and 35 both before and after the worldwide migrations of the last four centuries. The high prevalence of highly carcinogenic HPV-16 AA variants, and the extensive diversity of HPV-18, 31, and 35 variants with unknown pathogenic properties raise the possibility that HPV intra-type variation contributes to the high cervical cancer burden in Mexico

Fetal Liver Volume Assessment Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Fetuses With Cytomegalovirus Infection

Objective: To assess fetal liver volume (FLV) by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in cytomegalovirus (CMV)-infected fetuses compared to a group of healthy fetuses. Method: Most infected cases were diagnosed by the evidence of ultrasound abnormalities during routine scans and in some after maternal CMV screening. CMV-infected fetuses were considered severely or mildly affected according to prenatal brain lesions identified by ultrasound (US)/MRI. We assessed FLV, the FLV to abdominal circumference (AC) ratio (FLV/AC-ratio), and the FLV to fetal body volume (FBV) ratio (FLV/FBV-ratio). As controls, we included 33 healthy fetuses. Hepatomegaly was evaluated post-mortem in 11 cases of congenital CMV infection. Parametric trend and intraclass correlation analyses were performed. Results: There were no significant differences in FLV between infected (n = 32) and healthy fetuses. On correcting the FLV for AC and FBV, we observed a significantly higher FLV in CMV-infected fetuses. There were no significant differences in the FLV, or the FLV/AC or FLV/FBV-ratios according to the severity of brain abnormalities. There was excellent concordance between the fetal liver weight estimated by MRI and liver weight obtained post-mortem. Hepatomegaly was not detected in any CMV-infected fetus. Conclusion: In CMV-infected fetuses, FLV corrected for AC and FBV was higher compared to healthy controls, indicating relative hepatomegaly. These parameters could potentially be used as surrogate markers of liver enlargement. Keywords: fetal brain abnormalities; fetal cytomegalovirus infection; fetal liver; magnetic resonance imaging; pregnancy

Calibration method and performance of a time-of-flight detector to measure absolute beam energy in proton therapy

Background: The beam energy is one of the most significant parameters in particle therapy since it is directly correlated to the particles' penetration depth inside the patient. Nowadays, the range accuracy is guaranteed by offline routine quality control checks mainly performed with water phantoms, 2D detectors with PMMA wedges, or multi-layer ionization chambers. The latter feature low sensitivity, slow collection time, and response dependent on external parameters, which represent limiting factors for the quality controls of beams delivered with fast energy switching modalities, as foreseen in future treatments. In this context, a device based on solid-state detectors technology, able to perform a direct and absolute beam energy measurement, is proposed as a viable alternative for quality assurance measurements and beam commissioning, paving the way for online range monitoring and treatment verification. Purpose: This work follows the proof of concept of an energy monitoring system for clinical proton beams, based on Ultra Fast Silicon Detectors (featuring tenths of ps time resolution in 50&nbsp;μm active thickness, and single particle detection capability) and time-of-flight techniques. An upgrade of such a system is presented here, together with the description of a dedicated self-calibration method, proving that this second prototype is able to assess the mean particles energy of a monoenergetic beam without any constraint on the beam temporal structure, neither any a priori knowledge of the beam energy for the calibration of the system. Methods: A new detector geometry, consisting of sensors segmented in strips, has been designed and implemented in order to enhance the statistics of coincident protons, thus improving the accuracy of the measured time differences. The prototype was tested on the cyclotron proton beam of the Trento Protontherapy Center (TPC). In addition, a dedicated self-calibration method, exploiting the measurement of monoenergetic beams crossing the two telescope sensors for different flight distances, was introduced to remove the systematic uncertainties independently from any external reference. Results: The novel calibration strategy was applied to the experimental data collected at TPC (Trento) and CNAO (Pavia). Deviations between measured and reference beam energies in the order of a few hundreds of keV with a maximum uncertainty of 0.5 MeV were found, in compliance with the clinically required water range accuracy of 1&nbsp;mm. Conclusions: The presented version of the telescope system, minimally perturbative of the beam, relies on a few seconds of acquisition time to achieve the required clinical accuracy and therefore represents a feasible solution for beam commission, quality assurance checks, and online beam energy monitoring

AtlantOS fitness for HAB Bulletins

Assessment of the observing system fitness for HAB warning bulletin in the Atlanti