Parasite excretory-secretory products and their effects on metabolic syndrome

Obesity, one of the main causes of metabolic syndrome (MetS), is an increasingly common health and economic problem worldwide, and one of the major risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Chronic, low-grade inflammation is associated with MetS and obesity. A dominant type 2/anti-inflammatory response is required for metabolic homeostasis within adipose tissue: during obesity, this response is replaced by infiltrating, inflammatory macrophages and T cells. Helminths and certain protozoan parasites are able to manipulate the host immune response towards a TH2 immune phenotype that is beneficial for their survival and there is emerging data that there is an inverse correlation between the incidence of MetS and helminth infections, suggesting that, as with autoimmune and allergic diseases, helminths may play a protective role against MetS disease. Within this review, we will focus primarily on the excretory-secretory products that the parasites produce to modulate the immune system and discuss their potential use as therapeutics against MetS and its associated pathologies

The X-ray nebula of the filled center supernova remnant 3C58 and its interaction with the environment

An \xmm observation of the plerionic supernova remnant 3C58 has allowed us to study the X-ray nebula with unprecedented detail. A spatially resolved spectral analysis with a resolution of 8\arcsec has yielded a precise determination of the relation between the spectral index and the distance from the center. We do not see any evidence for bright thermal emission from the central core. In contrast with previous ASCA and {\em Einstein} results, we derive an upper limit to the black-body 0.5-10 keV luminosity and emitting area of $1.8\times 10^{32}$ \ergsec and $1.3\times 10^{10}$ cm$^2$, respectively, ruling out emission from the hot surface of the putative neutron star and also excluding the "outer-gap" model for hot polar caps. We have performed for the first time a spectral analysis of the outer regions of the X-ray nebula, where most of the emission is still non-thermal, but where the addition of a soft (kT=0.2-0.3 keV) optically thin plasma component is required to fit the spectrum at $E<1$ keV. This component provides 6% of the whole remnant observed flux in the 0.5-10.0 keV band. We show that a Sedov interpretation is incompatible with the SN1181-3C58 association, unless there is a strong deviation from electron-ion energy equipartition, and that an origin of this thermal emission in terms of the expansion of the nebula into the ejecta core nicely fits all the radio and X-ray observations.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Dyslexia-related difficulties in the development of abilities in craft, design and technology: the design of a research strategy

Those specific learning difficulties in reading and writing commonly described under the general term "dyslexia" may have counterparts in non-verbal skills development in the Design and Technology subject area. To investigate this a spectrum of tests is being used alongside evidence of pupils' "statements": analysis of pupils' written work, standard and LEA psychometric tests, teacher evaluation of technology skills and specially designed practical technology tests. The paper describes the design of the research strategy and preliminary findings will be presented at the conference

Social Work and Police Partnership: A Summons To The Village Strategies and Effective Practices

This report addresses the social work/law enforcement relationship and the role of police and other human service agencies in dealing with community problems. Traditionally, law enforcement and human service agencies share the most difficult portion of the others’ client caseloads but there has been little interagency communication or cooperation. Effective intervention and prevention requires more than police action and goes beyond the capability of any single agency. Social service has always been a key part of policing while serving victims of crime and offenders has been a major emphasis of social work. Law enforcement and social work have served the same target groups but with varying success. The community now demands that both institutions combine resources and skills to reach those in crisis and victims of crime. Problem oriented community policing is still a work in progress but there is consensus on four elements: prevention, problem solving, partnerships and organizational change. Using these elements as a foundation, this document describes police/social work partnerships that serve as a community response to crisis situations signaled by calls for police service. Heretofore, community policing has focused on developing relationships with individual citizens through foot/bike patrols, dispersed “community policing” sub-stations and neighborhood improvement. Building partnerships with human service agencies has received far less attention. Social work/police partnerships are the next logical step in the development of community policing. They meet the mandate to work together for the benefit of the whole community and to deal with chronic repeat calls for service. These calls signal a serious problem usually involving multiple forms of abuse and indicate the need for summoning the entire village to provide effective intervention and preventive services. The study was conducted to learn about the development, operation and impact of social work/police partnerships on recurring domestic violence and associated deep-rooted police service delivery problems. This document describes effective practices of five successful social work/police partnership models. Chapters I and II give the background of the problem. Chapter III describes five successful partnership models and Chapter IV provides a composite of critical effective practices gleaned from the study sites. Chapter V outlines steps for assessing the problem. Chapter VI and VII are designed to serve as a project development checklist for program planning, implementation and assessment of effectiveness

Soft X-ray excess emission in clusters of galaxies observed with XMM-Newton

We present results on the spectroscopic analysis of XMM-Newton EPIC data of the central 0.5/h_50 Mpc regions of the clusters of galaxies Coma, A1795 and A3112. The temperature of the hot intracluster gas as determined by modeling the 2 - 7 keV PN and MOS data is consistent with that inferred from the FeXXV-FeXXVI line ratio. A significant warm emission component at a level above the systematic uncertainties is evident in the data and confirmed by ROSAT PSPC data for Coma and A1795. The non-thermal origin of the phenomenon cannot be ruled out at the current level of calibration accuracy, but the thermal model fits the data significantly better, with temperatures in the range of 0.6 -- 1.3 keV and electron densities of the order of 10^{-4} -- 10^{-3} cm^{-3}. In the outer parts of the clusters the properties of the warm component are marginally consistent with the results of recent cosmological simulations, which predict a large fraction of the current epoch's bayons located in a warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM). However, the derived densities are too high in the cluster cores, compared to WHIM simulations, and thus more theoretical work is needed to fully understand the origin of the observed soft X-ray excess.Comment: ApJ in press, 14 pages, 4 color figures WHIM discussion modifie

X-ray Sources in the Hubble Deep Field Detected by Chandra

We present first results from an X-ray study of the Hubble Deep Field North (HDF-N) and its environs obtained using 166 ks of data collected by the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) on board the Chandra X-ray Observatory. This is the deepest X-ray observation ever reported, and in the HDF-N itself we detect six X-ray sources down to a 0.5--8 keV flux limit of 4E-16 erg cm^-2 s^-1. Comparing these sources with objects seen in multiwavelength HDF-N studies shows positional coincidences with the extremely red object NICMOS J123651.74 +621221.4, an active galactic nucleus (AGN), three elliptical galaxies, and one nearby spiral galaxy. The X-ray emission from the ellipticals is consistent with that expected from a hot interstellar medium, and the spiral galaxy emission may arise from a `super-Eddington' X-ray binary or ultraluminous supernova remnant. Four of the X-ray sources have been detected at radio wavelengths. We also place X-ray upper limits on AGN candidates found in the HDF-N, and we present the tightest constraints yet on X-ray emission from the SCUBA submillimeter source population. None of the 10 high-significance submillimeter sources reported in the HDF-N and its vicinity is detected with Chandra ACIS. These sources appear to be dominated by star formation or have AGN with Compton-thick tori and little circumnuclear X-ray scattering.Comment: 11 pages, ApJ, in press, also available from http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/niel/hdf/hdf-chandra.htm

Imaging Performance of the XMM-Newton X-ray telescopes

The in-orbit imaging performance of the three X-ray telescopes on board of the X-ray astronomy observatory XMM-Newton is presented and compared with the performance measured on ground at the MPE PANTER test facility. The comparison shows an excellent agreement between the on ground and in-orbit performance.Comment: 9 pages, 10 Postscript figures, for SPIE 4012, paper 8

XMM-Newton Witness of M86 X-ray Metamorphosis

The environmental influence of cluster media on its member galaxies, known as Butcher--Oemler effect, has recently been subject to revision due to numerous observations of strong morphological transformations occurring outside the cluster virial radii, caused by some unidentified gas removal processes. In this context we present new XMM-Newton observations of M86 group. The unique combination of high spatial and spectral resolution and large field of view of XMM-Newton allows an in-depth investigation of the processes involved in the spectacular disruption of this object. We identify a possible shock with Mach number of ~1.4 in the process of crushing the galaxy in the North-East direction. The latter is ascribed to the presence of a dense X-ray emitting filament, previously revealed in the RASS data. The shock is not associated with other previously identified features of M86 X-ray emission, such as the plume, the north-eastern arm and the southern extension, which are found to have low entropy, similar to the inner 2 kpc of M86. Finally, mere existence of the large scale gas halo around the M86 group, suggests that the disruptions of M86's X-ray halo may be caused by small-scale types of interactions such as galaxy-galaxy collisions.Comment: 11 pages, A&A in pres

Testing small molecule analogues of acanthocheilonema viteae immunomodulator ES-62 against clinically relevant allergens

ES-62 is a glycoprotein secreted by the filarial nematode Acanthocheilonema viteae that protects against ovalbumin (OVA)-induced airway hyper-responsiveness in mice by virtue of covalently attached anti-inflammatory phosphorylcholine (PC) residues. We have recently generated a library of Small Molecule Analogues (SMAs) of ES-62 based around its active PC moiety as a starting point in novel drug development for asthma, and isolated two compounds - termed 11a and 12b – that mirror ES-62’s protective effects. In the present study we have moved away from OVA, a model allergen, to test the two SMAs against two clinically relevant allergens – house dust mite (HDM) and cockroach allergen (CR) extract. We show that whereas both SMAs offer some protection against development of lung allergic responses to CR, in particular reducing eosinophil infiltration, only SMA 12b is effective in protecting against eosinophil-dependent HDM-induced allergy. These data therefore suggest that helminth molecule-induced protection against model antigens may not necessarily translate to clinically relevant antigens. Nevertheless, in the present study we have managed to demonstrate that it is possible to produce synthetic drug-like molecules based on a parasitic worm product that show therapeutic potential with respect to asthma resulting from known triggers in humans