36 research outputs found
Disease Severity in Patients Infected with Leishmania mexicana Relates to IL-1β
Leishmania mexicana can cause both localized (LCL) and diffuse (DCL) cutaneous leishmaniasis, yet little is known about factors regulating disease severity in these patients. We analyzed if the disease was associated with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IL-1β (−511), CXCL8 (−251) and/or the inhibitor IL-1RA (+2018) in 58 Mexican mestizo patients with LCL, 6 with DCL and 123 control cases. Additionally, we analyzed the in vitro production of IL-1β by monocytes, the expression of this cytokine in sera of these patients, as well as the tissue distribution of IL-1β and the number of parasites in lesions of LCL and DCL patients. Our results show a significant difference in the distribution of IL-1β (−511 C/T) genotypes between patients and controls (heterozygous OR), with respect to the reference group CC, which was estimated with a value of 3.23, 95% CI = (1.2, 8.7) and p-value = 0.0167), indicating that IL-1β (−511 C/T) represents a variable influencing the risk to develop the disease in patients infected with Leishmania mexicana. Additionally, an increased in vitro production of IL-1β by monocytes and an increased serum expression of the cytokine correlated with the severity of the disease, since it was significantly higher in DCL patients heavily infected with Leishmania mexicana. The distribution of IL-1β in lesions also varied according to the number of parasites harbored in the tissues: in heavily infected LCL patients and in all DCL patients, the cytokine was scattered diffusely throughout the lesion. In contrast, in LCL patients with lower numbers of parasites in the lesions, IL-1β was confined to the cells. These data suggest that IL-1β possibly is a key player determining the severity of the disease in DCL patients. The analysis of polymorphisms in CXCL8 and IL-1RA showed no differences between patients with different disease severities or between patients and controls
An ultrahot Neptune in the Neptune desert
About one out of 200 Sun-like stars has a planet with an orbital period
shorter than one day: an ultra-short-period planet (Sanchis-ojeda et al. 2014;
Winn et al. 2018). All of the previously known ultra-short-period planets are
either hot Jupiters, with sizes above 10 Earth radii (Re), or apparently rocky
planets smaller than 2 Re. Such lack of planets of intermediate size (the "hot
Neptune desert") has been interpreted as the inability of low-mass planets to
retain any hydrogen/helium (H/He) envelope in the face of strong stellar
irradiation. Here, we report the discovery of an ultra-short-period planet with
a radius of 4.6 Re and a mass of 29 Me, firmly in the hot Neptune desert. Data
from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (Ricker et al. 2015) revealed
transits of the bright Sun-like star \starname\, every 0.79 days. The planet's
mean density is similar to that of Neptune, and according to thermal evolution
models, it has a H/He-rich envelope constituting 9.0^(+2.7)_(-2.9)% of the
total mass. With an equilibrium temperature around 2000 K, it is unclear how
this "ultra-hot Neptune" managed to retain such an envelope. Follow-up
observations of the planet's atmosphere to better understand its origin and
physical nature will be facilitated by the star's brightness (Vmag=9.8)
Phenotype profiling of Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii clover nodule isolates reveal their both versatile and specialized metabolic capabilities
The observed multiplicity properties of B-type stars in the Galactic young open cluster NGC 6231
status: publishe
The VLT-FLAMES survey of massive stars NGC 2004#115: A triple system hosting a possible short period B plus BH binary
status: publishe
The B-type binaries characterization programme I. Orbital solutions for the 30 Doradus population
status: publishe