Editorial: immunomodulation of innate immune cells

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First report on Copepoda and Ostracoda (Crustacea) from northern Apenninic springs (N. Italy): a faunal and biogeographical account

The microcrustacean fauna of rheocrene and rheo-limnocrene springs in a protected area of the northern Apennines (Italy) was investigated for the first time. All springs are located in the catchments of the rivers Parma and Enza at altitudes between 800 and 1609 m a.s.l. Several of these springs are still in pristine condition while others are artificially modified or impacted to some degree. Surveys were carried out from April to June 2007. The sampling methods used for invertebrate fauna were: moss washing, artificial traps, and inserting drift tubes at the discharge point. A total of 14 harpacticoid, five cyclopoid, and 13 ostracod taxa were identified. Ostracods were mainly represented by crenophilic taxa; of particular interest was the collection of a specimen belonging to Pseudolimnocythere, a stygobiont genus with only two living species and a reduced distribution. Faunal affinities between northern Apenninic springs and those in other Italian mountain systems are discussed. The investigated ecosystems support a high microcrustacean diversity that must be adequately preserved due to the increasing direct and indirect impacts on mountain springs and groundwater resources

Petrology, Mineral and Isotope Geochemistry of the External Liguride Peridotites (Northern Apennines, Italy)

Mantle peridotites of the External Liguride (EL) units (Northern Apennines) represent slices of subcontinental lithospheric mantle emplaced at the surface during early stages of rifting of the Jurassic Ligurian Piemontese basin. Petrological, ion probe and isotopic investigations have been used to unravel the nature of their mantle protolith and to constrain the timing and mechanisms of their evolution. EL peridotites are dominantly fertile spinel Iherzolites partly recrystallizfd in the plagiodase Iherzplite stability field Clinopyroxenes stable in the spinel-facies assemblage have nearly fiat REE patterns (CeN/SmN=0·6-0·8) at (10-16)×C1 and high Na, Sr, Ti and Zr contents. Kaersutitic-Ti-pargasitic amphiboles also occur in the spinel-facies assemblage. Their LREE-depleted REE spectra and very low Sr, Zr and Ba contents indicate that they crystallized from hydrous fluids with low concentrations of incompatible elements. Thermometric estimates on the spinelfacies parageneses yield lithospheric equilibrium temperatures in the range 1000-1100°C, in agreement with the stability of amphibole, which implies T<1100°C. Sr and Nd isotopic compositions, determined on carefully handpicked clinopyroxene separates, plot within the depleted end of the MORB field (87Sr/86Sr=0·70222-0·70263; 143Nd/144Nd=0·513047-0·513205) similar to many subcontinental orogenic spinel Iherzolites from the western Mediterranean area (e.g. Ivrea Zpne and Lanzfl N). The interpretation of the EL Iherzolites as subcontinental lithospheric mantle is reinforced by the occurrence of one extremely depleted isotopic composition (87Sr/86Sr=0·701736; 143Nd/144Nd=0·513543). Sr and Nd model ages, calculated assuming both CHUR and DM mantle sources, range between 2·4 Ga and 780 Ma. In particular, the 1·2-Ga Sr age and the 780-Ma Nd age can be regarded as minimum ages of differentiation. The transition from spinel-to plagioclase-facies assemblage, accompanied by progressive deformation (from granular to tectonite-mylonite textures), indicate that the EL Iherzolites experienced a later, subsolidus decompressional evolution, starting from subcontinental lithospheric levels. Sm/Nd isochrons on plagioclase-clinopyroxene pairs furnish ages of ∽165 Ma. This early Jurassic subsolidus decompressional history is consistent with uplift by means of denudation in response to passive and asymmetric lithospheric extension. This is considered to be the most suitable geodynamic mechanism to account for the exposure of huge bodies of subcontinental lithospheric mantle during early stages of opening of an oceanic basi

Towards a Conceptualization of Sociomaterial Entanglement

In knowledge representation, socio-technical systems can be modeled as multiagent systems in which the local knowledge of each individual agent can be seen as a context. In this paper we propose formal ontologies as a means to describe the assumptions driving the construction of contexts as local theories and to enable interoperability among them. In particular, we present two alternative conceptualizations of the notion of sociomateriality (and entanglement), which is central in the recent debates on socio-technical systems in the social sciences, namely critical and agential realism. We thus start by providing a model of entanglement according to the critical realist view, representing it as a property of objects that are essentially dependent on different modules of an already given ontology. We refine then our treatment by proposing a taxonomy of sociomaterial entanglements that distinguishes between ontological and epistemological entanglement. In the final section, we discuss the second perspective, which is more challenging form the point of view of knowledge representation, and we show that the very distinction of information into modules can be at least in principle built out of the assumption of an entangled reality

Non-linear evolution in CCFM: The interplay between coherence and saturation

We solve the CCFM equation numerically in the presence of a boundary condition which effectively incorporates the non-linear dynamics. We retain the full dependence of the unintegrated gluon distribution on the coherence scale, and extract the saturation momentum. The resulting saturation scale is a function of both rapidity and the coherence momentum. In Deep Inelastic Scattering this will lead to a dependence of the saturation scale on the photon virtuality in addition to the usual x-Bjorken dependence. At asymptotic energies the interplay between the perturbative non-linear physics, and that of the QCD coherence, leads to an interesting and novel dynamics where the saturation momentum itself eventually saturates. We also investigate various implementations of the "non-Sudakov" form factor. It is shown that the non-linear dynamics leads to almost identical results for different form factors. Finally, different choices of the scale of the running coupling are analyzed and implications for the phenomenology are discussed.Comment: 37 pages, 21 figure

Spatial and seasonal distribution of invertebrates in Northern Apennine rheocrene springs

Four perennial rheocrene springs located between 919 and 1252 m a.s.l. on substrata characterized by different lithologies were studied. Water samples and invertebrates were collected seasonally for one year. The crenic fauna was collected using three sampling techniques: moss washing, drift tubes and benthic traps. Each sampling technique was particularly efficient for collecting specific taxa typical of the different habitats (crenophilous crustaceans and crenoxenic benthic insects were dominant in benthic traps and moss; crenophilic, stygophilic and stygobiotic crustaceans in drift tubes). A total of 3,284 invertebrates belonging to 54 taxa were collected. Ostracoda, Harpacticoida, and Diptera were the most abundant taxa. Species assemblages collected at each spring, in each season, in traps and mosses, differed among springs, and, based on invertebrate assemblages, the ordination of the investigated springs did not correspond to that based on environmental parameters. Of the environmental variables only pH and temperature explained the diversity pattern. Assemblages collected from different habitats also differed: benthic traps collected mainly Chironomidae, Ostracoda, other Diptera, crenophilous Harpacticoida, and Gastropoda; in moss assemblages, the fauna was mostly represented by crenophilic Harpacticoida, Ostracoda, Plecoptera, Chironomidae. Finally, the groundwater assemblages, collected with drift tubes, were dominated by crenophilous Harpacticoida, Chironomidae and Plecoptera. Variation in number of taxa over time was observed in traps and moss samples, whereas drift tubes showed no seasonality. Meiofauna (i.e., permanent meiofauna, represented by Nematoda, Copepoda, Ostracoda, and Hydrachnidia, and temporary meiofauna, represented by early instars of insect larvae) dominated all habitats, probably because of constant flow and favourable habitats such as moss. The presence of mosses was a factor that increased the species diversity of the investigated springs; drift tubes allowed most of the stygobiotic taxa to be collected, although this technique did not necessarily increase the total number of taxa collected. In addition to the array of habitats, other factors, such as geology, might influence the structure of invertebrate communities. The diversity of the investigated springs was strictly dependent on the presence of different microhabitats and local environmental conditions

Heavy Quark production at the TEVATRON and HERA using k_t-factorization with CCFM evolution

The application of k_t-factorization supplemented with the CCFM small-x evolution equation to heavy quark production at the TEVATRON and at HERA is discussed. The bb_bar production cross sections at the TEVATRON can be consistently described using the k_t-factorization formalism together with the unintegrated gluon density obtained within the CCFM evolution approach from a fit to HERA F_2 data. Special attention is drawn to the comparison with measured visible cross sections, which are compared to the hadron level Monte Carlo generator CASCADEComment: 13 pages, updated references and updated Fig. 9, Fig. 2 replace

Biophysical and Stabilization Studies of the Chlamydia trachomatis Mouse Pneumonitis Major Outer Membrane Protein

Native Chlamydia trachomatis mouse pneumonitis major outer membrane protein (nMOMP) induces effective protection against genital infection in a mouse challenge model. The conformation of nMOMP is crucial to confer this protective immunity. To achieve a better understanding of the conformational behavior and stability of nMOMP, a number of spectroscopic techniques are employed to characterize the secondary structure (circular dichroism), tertiary structure (intrinsic fluorescence) and aggregation properties (static light scattering and optical density) as a function of pH (3-8) and temperature (10-87.5°C). The data are summarized in an empirical phase diagram (EPD) which demonstrates that the thermal stability of nMOMP is strongly pH-dependent. Three distinctive regions are seen in the EPD. Below the major thermal transition regions, nMOMP remains in its native conformation over the pH range of 3-8. Above the thermal transitions, nMOMP appears in two different structurally altered states; one at pH 3-5 and the other at pH 6-8. The EPD shows that the highest thermal transition point (~ 65°C) of nMOMP is near pH 6. Several potential excipients such as arginine, sodium citrate, Brij 35, sucrose and guanidine are also selected to evaluate their effects on the stability of nMOMP. These particular compounds increase the aggregation onset temperature of nMOMP by more than 10°C, without affecting its secondary and tertiary structure. These results should help formulate a vaccine using a recombinant MOMP

Risk Factors for Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infections during the First 3 Years of Life in the Tropics; Findings from a Birth Cohort.

Background: Soil-transmitted helminths (STH) infect more than 2 billion humans worldwide, causing significant morbidity in children. There are few data on the epidemiology and risk factors for infection in pre-school children. To investigate risk factors for infection in early childhood, we analysed data prospectively collected in the ECUAVIDA birth cohort in Ecuador. Methods and Findings: Children were recruited at birth and followed up to 3 years of age with periodic collection of stool samples that were examined microscopically for STH parasites. Data on social, demographic, and environmental risk factors were collected from the mother at time of enrolment. Associations between exposures and detection of STH infections were analysed by multivariable logistic regression. Data were analysed from 1,697 children for whom a stool sample was obtained at 3 years. 42.3% had at least one STH infection in the first 3 years of life and the most common infections were caused by A. lumbricoides (33.2% of children) and T. trichiura (21.2%). Hookworm infection was detected in 0.9% of children. Risk of STH infection was associated with factors indicative of poverty in our study population such as Afro-Ecuadorian ethnicity and low maternal educational level. Maternal STH infections during pregnancy were strong risk factors for any childhood STH infection, infections with either A. lumbricoides or T. trichiura, and early age of first STH infection. Children of mothers with moderate to high infections intensities with A. lumbricoides were most at risk. Conclusions: Our data show high rates of infection with STH parasites during the first 3 years of life in an Ecuadorian birth cohort, an observation that was strongly associated with maternal STH infections during pregnancy. The targeted treatment of women of childbearing age, in particular before pregnancy, with anthelmintic drugs could offer a novel approach to the prevention of STH infections in pre-school children

Pentraxin 3 deficiency protects from the metabolic inflammation associated to diet-induced obesity

Aims: Low-grade chronic inflammation characterizes obesity and metabolic syndrome. Here, we aim at investigating the impact of the acute-phase protein long pentraxin 3 (PTX3) on the immune-inflammatory response occurring during diet-induced obesity. Methods and results: PTX3 deficiency in mice fed a high-fat diet for 20 weeks protects from weight gain and adipose tissue deposition in visceral and subcutaneous depots. This effect is not related to changes in glucose homeostasis and lipid metabolism but is associated with an improved immune cell phenotype in the adipose tissue of Ptx3 deficient animals, which is characterized by M2-macrophages polarization and increased angiogenesis. These findings are recapitulated in humans where carriers of a PTX3 haplotype (PTX3 h2/h2 haplotype), resulting in lower PTX3 plasma levels, presented with a reduced prevalence of obesity and decreased abdominal adiposity compared with non-carriers. Conclusion: Our results support a critical role for PTX3 in the onset of obesity by promoting inflammation and limiting adipose tissue vascularization and delineate PTX3 targeting as a valuable strategy for the treatment of adipose tissue-associated inflammatory response