Viral Loads in Clinical Specimens and SARS Manifestations

The number of anatomical sites with detectable viral loads by RT-qPCR appeared to correlate with death risk

Astronomical Distance Determination in the Space Age: Secondary Distance Indicators

The formal division of the distance indicators into primary and secondary leads to difficulties in description of methods which can actually be used in two ways: with, and without the support of the other methods for scaling. Thus instead of concentrating on the scaling requirement we concentrate on all methods of distance determination to extragalactic sources which are designated, at least formally, to use for individual sources. Among those, the Supernovae Ia is clearly the leader due to its enormous success in determination of the expansion rate of the Universe. However, new methods are rapidly developing, and there is also a progress in more traditional methods. We give a general overview of the methods but we mostly concentrate on the most recent developments in each field, and future expectations. © 2018, The Author(s)

Early-life adversity programs emotional functions and the neuroendocrine stress system: the contribution of nutrition, metabolic hormones and epigenetic mechanisms

Clinical and pre-clinical studies have shown that early-life adversities, such as abuse or neglect, can increase the vulnerability to develop psychopathologies and cognitive decline later in life. Remarkably, the lasting consequences of stress during this sensitive period on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and emotional function closely resemble the long-term effects of early malnutrition and suggest a possible common pathway mediating these effects. During early-life, brain development is affected by both exogenous factors, like nutrition and maternal care as well as by endogenous modulators including stress hormones. These elements, while mostly considered for their independent actions, clearly do not act alone but rather in a synergistic manner. In order to better understand how the programming by early-life stress takes place, it is important to gain further insight into the exact interplay of these key elements, the possible common pathways as well as the underlying molecular mechanisms that mediate their effects. We here review evidence that exposure to both early-life stress and early-life under-/malnutrition similarly lead to life-long alterations on the neuroendocrine stress system and modify emotional functions. We further discuss how the different key elements of the early-life environment interact and affect one another and next suggest a possible role for the early-life adversity induced alterations in metabolic hormones and nutrient availability in shaping later stress responses and emotional function throughout life, possibly via epigenetic mechanisms. Such knowledge will help to develop intervention strategies, which gives the advantage of viewing the synergistic action of a more complete set of changes induced by early-life adversity

Ghrelin and hypothalamic NPY/AgRP expression in mice are affected by chronic early-life stress exposure in a sex-specific manner

Early-life stress (ES) is a risk factor for metabolic disorders (e.g. obesity) with a notoriously higher prevalence in women compared to men. However, mechanisms underlying these effects remain elusive. The development of the hypothalamic feeding and metabolic regulatory circuits occurs mostly in the early sensitive postnatal phase in rodents and is tightly regulated by the metabolic hormones leptin and ghrelin. We have previously demonstrated that chronic ES reduces circulating leptin and alters adipose tissue metabolism early and later in life similarly in both sexes. However, it is unknown whether chronic ES might also affect developmental ghrelin and insulin levels, and if it induces changes in hypothalamic feeding circuits, possibly in a sex-dependent manner. We here show that chronic ES, in the form of exposure to limited nesting and bedding material from postnatal day (P)2 to P9 in mice, affects ghrelin levels differently, depending on the form of ghrelin (acylated vs desacylated), on age (P9 vs P14) and on sex, while insulin levels were similarly increased in both sexes after ES at P9. Even though ghrelin levels were more strongly affected in ES-exposed females, hypothalamic neuropeptide Y (NPY) and agouti-related peptide (AgRP) fiber density at P14 were similarly altered in both sexes by ES. In the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, both NPY and AgRP fiber density were increased, while in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, NPY was increased and AgRP unaltered. Additionally, the hypothalamic mRNA expression of ghrelin's receptor (i.e. growth hormone secretagogue receptor) was not affected by ES. Taken together, the specific alterations found in these important regulatory circuits after ES might contribute to an altered energy balance and feeding behavior in adulthood and thereby to an increased vulnerability to develop metabolic disorders