Salmonella Enteritidis ST183: emerging and endemic biotypes affecting western European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) and people in Great Britain

The impacts of hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) Salmonella infection on public health and on animal welfare and conservation are unknown. We isolated Salmonella Enteritidis multi-locus sequence-type (ST)183 from 46/170 (27%) hedgehog carcasses (27 S. Enteritidis phage type (PT)11, 18 of a novel PT66 biotype and one with co-infection of these PTs) and from 6/208 (3%) hedgehog faecal samples (4 PT11, 2 PT66) from across Great Britain, 2012–2015. Whole genome phylogenetic analysis of the hedgehog isolates and ST183 from people in England and Wales found that PT11 and PT66 form two divergent clades. Hedgehog and human isolates were interspersed throughout the phylogeny indicating that infections in both species originate from a common population. PT11 was recovered from hedgehogs across England and Scotland, consistent with endemic infection. PT66 was isolated from Scotland only, possibly indicating a recent emergence event. People infected with ST183 were four times more likely to be aged 0–4 years than people infected by the more common ST11 S. Enteritidis. Evidence for human ST183 infection being non-foodborne included stronger correlation between geographic and genetic distance, and significantly increased likelihood of infection in rural areas, than for ST11. These results are consistent with hedgehogs acting as a source of zoonotic infection

The Fornax3D project: Assembly histories of lenticular galaxies from a combined dynamical and population orbital analysis

In order to assess the impact of the environment on the formation and evolution of galaxies, accurate assembly histories of such galaxies are needed. However, these measurements are observationally difficult owing to the diversity of formation paths that lead to the same present-day state of a galaxy. In this work, we apply a powerful new technique in order to observationally derive accurate assembly histories through a self-consistent combined stellar dynamical and population galaxy model. We present this approach for three edge-on lenticular galaxies from the Fornax3D project - FCC 153, FCC 170, and FCC 177 - in order to infer their mass assembly histories individually and in the context of the Fornax cluster. The method was tested on mock data from simulations to quantify its reliability. We find that the galaxies studied here have all been able to form dynamically-cold (intrinsic vertical velocity dispersion σz 50 km s-1) stellar disks after cluster infall. Moreover, the pre-existing (old) high angular momentum components have retained their angular momentum (orbital circularity λz > 0.8) through to the present day. Comparing the derived assembly histories with a comparable galaxy in a low-density environment - NGC 3115 - we find evidence for cluster-driven suppression of stellar accretion and merging. We measured the intrinsic stellar age-velocity-dispersion relation and find that the shape of the relation is consistent with galaxies in the literature across redshift. There is tentative evidence for enhancement in the luminosity-weighted intrinsic vertical velocity dispersion due to the cluster environment. But importantly, there is an indication that metallicity may be a key driver of this relation. We finally speculate that the cluster environment is responsible for the S0 morphology of these galaxies via the gradual external perturbations, or 'harassment', generated within the cluster

miRNAs Expression Analysis in Paired Fresh/Frozen and Dissected Formalin Fixed and Paraffin Embedded Glioblastoma Using Real-Time PCR

miRNAs are small molecules involved in gene regulation. Each tissue shows a characteristic miRNAs epression profile that could be altered during neoplastic transformation. Glioblastoma is the most aggressive brain tumour of the adult with a high rate of mortality. Recognizing a specific pattern of miRNAs for GBM could provide further boost for target therapy. The availability of fresh tissue for brain specimens is often limited and for this reason the possibility of starting from formalin fixed and paraffin embedded tissue (FFPE) could very helpful even in miRNAs expression analysis. We analysed a panel of 19 miRNAs in 30 paired samples starting both from FFPE and Fresh/Frozen material. Our data revealed that there is a good correlation in results obtained from FFPE in comparison with those obtained analysing miRNAs extracted from Fresh/Frozen specimen. In the few cases with a not good correlation value we noticed that the discrepancy could be due to dissection performed in FFPE samples. To the best of our knowledge this is the first paper demonstrating that the results obtained in miRNAs analysis using Real-Time PCR starting from FFPE specimens of glioblastoma are comparable with those obtained in Fresh/Frozen samples

Pattern of care and effectiveness of treatment for glioblastoma patients in the real world: Results from a prospective population-based registry. Could survival differ in a high-volume center?

BACKGROUND: As yet, no population-based prospective studies have been conducted to investigate the incidence and clinical outcome of glioblastoma (GBM) or the diffusion and impact of the current standard therapeutic approach in newly diagnosed patients younger than aged 70 years. METHODS: Data on all new cases of primary brain tumors observed from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2010, in adults residing within the Emilia-Romagna region were recorded in a prospective registry in the Project of Emilia Romagna on Neuro-Oncology (PERNO). Based on the data from this registry, a prospective evaluation was made of the treatment efficacy and outcome in GBM patients. RESULTS: Two hundred sixty-seven GBM patients (median age, 64 y; range, 29-84 y) were enrolled. The median overall survival (OS) was 10.7 months (95% CI, 9.2-12.4). The 139 patients 64aged 70 years who were given standard temozolomide treatment concomitant with and adjuvant to radiotherapy had a median OS of 16.4 months (95% CI, 14.0-18.5). With multivariate analysis, OS correlated significantly with KPS (HR = 0.458; 95% CI, 0.248-0.847; P = .0127), MGMT methylation status (HR = 0.612; 95% CI, 0.388-0.966; P = .0350), and treatment received in a high versus low-volume center (HR = 0.56; 95% CI, 0.328-0.986; P = .0446). CONCLUSIONS: The median OS following standard temozolomide treatment concurrent with and adjuvant to radiotherapy given to (72.8% of) patients aged 6470 years is consistent with findings reported from randomized phase III trials. The volume and expertise of the treatment center should be further investigated as a prognostic factor

The alpha-kinase family: an exceptional branch on the protein kinase tree

The alpha-kinase family represents a class of atypical protein kinases that display little sequence similarity to conventional protein kinases. Early studies on myosin heavy chain kinases in Dictyostelium discoideum revealed their unusual propensity to phosphorylate serine and threonine residues in the context of an alpha-helix. Although recent studies show that some members of this family can also phosphorylate residues in non-helical regions, the name alpha-kinase has remained. During evolution, the alpha-kinase domains combined with many different functional subdomains such as von Willebrand factor-like motifs (vWKa) and even cation channels (TRPM6 and TRPM7). As a result, these kinases are implicated in a large variety of cellular processes such as protein translation, Mg2+ homeostasis, intracellular transport, cell migration, adhesion, and proliferation. Here, we review the current state of knowledge on different members of this kinase family and discuss the potential use of alpha-kinases as drug targets in diseases such as cancer

Expression of 19 microRNAs in glioblastoma and comparison with other brain neoplasia of grades I-III

Several biomarkers have been proposed as useful parameters to better specify the prognosis or to delineate new target therapy strategies for glioblastoma patients. MicroRNAs could represent putative target molecules, considering their role in tumorigenesis, cancer progression and their specific tissue expression. Although several studies have tried to identify microRNA signature for glioblastoma, a microRNA profile is still far from being well-defined. In this work the expression of 19 microRNAs (miR-7, miR-9, miR-9 17, miR-10a, miR-10b, miR-17, miR-20a, miR-21, miR-26a, miR-27a, miR-31, miR-34a, miR-101, miR-137, miR-182, miR-221, miR-222, miR-330, miR-519d) was evaluated in sixty formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded glioblastoma samples using a locked nucleic acid real-time PCR. Moreover, a comparison of miRNA expressions was performed between primary brain neoplasias of different grades (grades IV-I). The analysis of 14 validated miRNA expression in the 60 glioblastomas, using three different non-neoplastic references as controls, revealed a putative miRNA signature: mir-10b and miR-21 were up-regulated, while miR-7, miR-31, miR-101, miR-137, miR-222 and miR-330 were down-regulated in glioblastomas. Comparing miRNA expression between glioblastoma group and gliomas of grades I-III, 3 miRNAs (miR-10b, mir-34a and miR-101) showed different regulation statuses between high-grade and low-grade tumors. miR-10b was up-regulated in high grade and significantly down-regulated in low-grade gliomas, suggesting that could be a candidate for a GBM target therapy. This study provides further data for the identification of a miRNA profile for glioblastoma and suggests that different-grade neoplasia could be characterized by different expression of specific miRNA

Thermal transformations of Cu–Mg (Zn)–Al(Fe) hydrotalcite-like materials into metal oxide systems and their catalytic activity in selective oxidation of ammonia to dinitrogen

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) containing $Mg^{2+}$, $Cu^{2+}$ or $Zn^{2+}$ cations in the $Me^{II}$ positions and $Al^{3+}$ and $Fe^{3+}$ in the $Me^{III}$ positions were synthesized by co- precipitation method. Detailed studies of thermal trans- formation of obtained LDHs into metal oxide systems were performed using high temperature X-ray diffraction in oxidising and reducing atmosphere, thermogravimetry coupled with mass spectrometry and temperature-pro- grammed reduction. The LDH samples calcined at 600 and 900 $^{o}\textrm{C}$ were tested in the role of catalysts for selective oxidation of ammonia into nitrogen and water vapour. It was shown that all copper congaing samples presented high catalytic activity and additionally, for the Cu–Mg–Al and Cu–Mg–Fe hydrotalcite samples calcined at 600 $^{o}\textrm{C}$ rela- tively high stability and selectivity to dinitrogen was obtained. An increase in calcination temperature to 900 $^{o}\textrm{C}$ resulted in a decrease of their catalytic activity, possibly due to formation of well-crystallised metal oxide phase which are less catalytically active in the process of selective oxidation of ammonia

Search for neutral MSSM Higgs bosons decaying to a pair of tau leptons in pp collisions

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Measurement of prompt J/ψ pair production in pp collisions at √s = 7 Tev

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Measurement of top quark–antiquark pair production in association with a W or Z boson in pp collisions at √s=8 TeV

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