BIOTEX-biosensing textiles for personalised healthcare management.

Textile-based sensors offer an unobtrusive method of continually monitoring physiological parameters during daily activities. Chemical analysis of body fluids, noninvasively, is a novel and exciting area of personalized wearable healthcare systems. BIOTEX was an EU-funded project that aimed to develop textile sensors to measure physiological parameters and the chemical composition of body fluids, with a particular interest in sweat. A wearable sensing system has been developed that integrates a textile-based fluid handling system for sample collection and transport with a number of sensors including sodium, conductivity, and pH sensors. Sensors for sweat rate, ECG, respiration, and blood oxygenation were also developed. For the first time, it has been possible to monitor a number of physiological parameters together with sweat composition in real time. This has been carried out via a network of wearable sensors distributed around the body of a subject user. This has huge implications for the field of sports and human performance and opens a whole new field of research in the clinical setting

NK cell regulation of T cell-mediated responses

NK cells promote adaptive immune responses through their production of type I and type 2 cytokines or chemokines. Secretion of these factors by activated NK cells influences the differentiation of B and T lymphocytes. Increasing evidence indicates that NK cells are also directly involved in dendritic cell (DC) maturation. By contrast, a potential role for direct cell-cell interactions between NK and T lymphocytes, in particular CD4(+) T cells, has not been explored. We provide evidence that activated human NK cells are able of promoting TcR-dependent proliferation of resting autologous peripheral blood CD4(+) T cells by a process that involves costimulatory molecules of the immunoglobulin (Ig) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) superfamilies. These findings suggest a novel link between natural and adaptative immune responses. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Cross-talk between activated human NK cells and CD4+ T cells via OX40-OX40 ligand interactions.

It is important to understand which molecules are relevant for linking innate and adaptive immune cells. In this study, we show that OX40 ligand is selectively induced on IL-2, IL-12, or IL-15-activated human NK cells following stimulation through NKG2D, the low affinity receptor for IgG (CD16) or killer cell Ig-like receptor 2DS2. CD16-activated NK cells costimulate TCR-induced proliferation, and IFN-gamma produced by autologous CD4+ T cells and this process is dependent upon expression of OX40 ligand and B7 by the activated NK cells. These findings suggest a novel and unexpected link between the natural and specific immune responses, providing direct evidence for cross-talk between human CD4+ T cells and NK receptor-activated NK cells

Parentage of Merlot and related winegrape cultivars of southwestern France: discovery of the missing link

International audienceBackground and Aims: Based on parentage analysis of a large nuclear simple sequence repeat (SSR) marker database of grapevine genotypes, we propose the pedigree of several cultivars from southwestern France including Merlot, one of the world's major black winegrapes.Methods and Results: The putative mother of Merlot, deduced from inheritance at 55 nuclear and three chloroplast microsatellite loci, is a non-referenced and previously unknown cultivar, first sampled some years ago in northern Brittany where vines were cultivated at the end of the Middle Ages, and then identified in four places in Charentes. Considering both the name used by the growers of this grape and the literature, we have named it Magdeleine Noire des Charentes. The putative father of Merlot is Cabernet Franc, already involved in the parentage of Cabernet-Sauvignon. Further analysis of genetic relationships leads us to propose the kinship group of Merlot composed, among others, of Carmenere (Gros Cabernet x Cabernet Franc), Merlot Blanc (Merlot x Folle Blanche), Cot (Magdeleine Noire des Charentes Prunelard) and Mourtes (Magdeleine Noire des Charentes x Penouille).Conclusions: These results shed new light on the origin of Merlot and on the relationships among several cultivars from southwestern France.Significance of the Study: Our discovery of the key genetic role of a previously unknown cultivar in the origins of some significant cultivars reinforces the importance of deep exploration, before it is too late, to discover original genotypes which have not yet been collected or reference

Nouveautés 2012 en médecine interne générale ambulatoire

Ten articles published in 2012 and of interest for the practice of ambulatory general internal medicine are reviewed in this paper. Topics of public health issues, such as the association between sleep disorders and prediabetes, the association between prediabetes and stroke, and the harmful effects of prolonged sitting are tackled. Other focuses include hepatitis C screening, abdominal aortic aneurysm screening and prostatic cancer screening. Therapeutic aspects are reviewed, such as the management of nongonococcal urethritis, the treatment of iron deficiency without anemia and the substitution of subclinical hypothyroidism. Finally a new study about aspirin and cancer prevention is discussed

Pharmacological analysis of G-protein activation mediated by guinea-pig recombinant 5-HT(1B) receptors in C6-glial cells: similarities with the human 5-HT(1B) receptor

1. The guinea-pig recombinant 5-hydroxytryptamine(1B) (gp 5-HT(1B)) receptor stably transfected in rat C6-glial cells was characterized by monitoring G-protein activation in a membrane preparation with agonist-stimulated [(35)S]-GTPγS binding. The intrinsic activity of 5-HT receptor ligands was compared with that determined previously at the human recombinant 5-HT(1B) (h 5-HT(1B)) receptor under similar experimental conditions. 2. Membrane preparations of C6-glial/gp 5-HT(1B) cells exhibited [(3)H]-5-carboxamidotryptamine (5-CT) and [(3)H] - N- [4-methoxy-3,4 - methylpiperazin-1-yl) phenyl] -3 - methyl - 4-(4 - pyridinyl)benzamide (GR 125743) binding sites with a pK(d) of 9.62 to 9.85 and a B(max) between 2.1 to 6.4 fmol mg(−1) protein. The binding affinities of a series of 5-HT receptor ligands determined with [(3)H]-5-CT and [(3)H]-GR 125743 were similar. Ligand affinities were comparable to and correlated (r(2): 0.74, P<0.001) with those determined at the recombinant h 5-HT(1B) receptor. 3. [(35)S]-GTPγS binding to membrane preparations of C6-glial/gp 5-HT(1B) cells was stimulated by the 5-HT receptor agonists that were being investigated. The maximal responses of naratriptan, zolmitriptan, sumatriptan, N-methyl-3-[pyrrolidin-2(R)-ylmethyl]-1H-indol-5-ylmethylsulphonamide (CP122638), rizatriptan and dihydroergotamine were between 0.76 and 0.85 compared to 5-HT. The potency of these agonists showed a positive correlation (r(2): 0.72, P=0.015) with their potency at the recombinant h 5-HT(1B) receptor. 1-naphthylpiperazine, (±)-cyanopindolol and (2′-methyl-4′-(5-methyl[1,2,4] oxadiazole-3-yl)biphenyl-4-carboxylic acid [4-methoxy-3-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)phenyl]amide (GR 127935) elicited an even smaller response (E(max): 0.32 to 0.63). 4. The ligands 1′-methyl-5-(2′-methyl-4′-(5-methyl-1,2,4-oxadiazole-3-yl) biphenyl-4-carbonyl)-2,3,6,7-tetrahydrospiro [furo[2,3-f]indole-3-spiro-4′-piperidine] (SB224289), methiothepin and ritanserin displayed inhibition of basal [(35)S]-GTPγS binding at concentrations relevant to their binding affinity for the gp 5-HT(1B) receptor. Methiothepin and SB224289 behaved as competitive antagonists at gp 5-HT(1B) receptors; pA(2) values were 9.74 and 8.73, respectively when 5-HT was used as an agonist. These estimates accorded with the potencies measured in antagonism of zolmitriptan-mediated inhibition of forskolin-stimulated cyclic AMP formation. Ketanserin acted as a weak antagonist (pK(B): 5.87) at gp 5-HT(1B) receptors. 5. In conclusion, the recombinant gp 5-HT(1B) receptor shares important pharmacological similarities with the recombinant h 5-HT(1B) receptor. The finding that negative activity occurs at these receptors further suggests that SB224289, methiothepin and ritanserin are likely to be inverse agonists

The influence of a muscle relaxant bolus on bispectral and Datex-Ohmeda Entropy values during propofol-remifentanil induced loss of consciousness

SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe