Eosinophil and T Cell Markers Predict Functional Decline in COPD Patients

BACKGROUND. The major marker utilized to monitor COPD patients is forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1). However, asingle measurement of FEV1 cannot reliably predict subsequent decline. Recent studies indicate that T lymphocytes and eosinophils are important determinants of disease stability in COPD. We therefore measured cytokine levels in the lung lavage fluid and plasma of COPD patients in order to determine if the levels of T cell or eosinophil related cytokines were predictive of the future course of the disease. METHODS. Baseline lung lavage and plasma samples were collected from COPD subjects with moderately severe airway obstruction and emphysematous changes on chest CT. The study participants were former smokers who had not had a disease exacerbation within the past six months or used steroids within the past two months. Those subjects who demonstrated stable disease over the following six months (ΔFEV1 % predicted = 4.7 ± 7.2; N = 34) were retrospectively compared with study participants who experienced a rapid decline in lung function (ΔFEV1 % predicted = -16.0 ± 6.0; N = 16) during the same time period and with normal controls (N = 11). Plasma and lung lavage cytokines were measured from clinical samples using the Luminex multiplex kit which enabled the simultaneous measurement of several T cell and eosinophil related cytokines. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. Stable COPD participants had significantly higher plasma IL-2 levels compared to participants with rapidly progressive COPD (p = 0.04). In contrast, plasma eotaxin-1 levels were significantly lower in stable COPD subjects compared to normal controls (p < 0.03). In addition, lung lavage eotaxin-1 levels were significantly higher in rapidly progressive COPD participants compared to both normal controls (p < 0.02) and stable COPD participants (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION. These findings indicate that IL-2 and eotaxin-1 levels may be important markers of disease stability in advanced emphysema patients. Prospective studies will need to confirm whether measuring IL-2 or eotaxin-1 can identify patients at risk for rapid disease progression.National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NO1-HR-96140, NO1-HR-96141-001, NO1-HR-96144, NO1-HR-96143; NO1-HR-96145; NO1-HR-96142, R01HL086936-03); The Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute; the Jo-Ann F. LeBuhn Center for Chest Diseas

The Human Touch: Skin Temperature During the Rubber Hand Illusion in Manual and Automated Stroking Procedures

Rohde M, Wold A, Karnath H-O, Ernst MO. The Human Touch: Skin Temperature During the Rubber Hand Illusion in Manual and Automated Stroking Procedures. PLoS ONE. 2013;8(11): e80688.A difference in skin temperature between the hands has been identified as a physiological correlate of the rubber hand illusion (RHI). The RHI is an illusion of body ownership, where participants perceive body ownership over a rubber hand if they see it being stroked in synchrony with their own occluded hand. The current study set out to replicate this result, i.e., psychologically induced cooling of the stimulated hand using an automated stroking paradigm, where stimulation was delivered by a robot arm (PHANToMTM force-feedback device). After we found no evidence for hand cooling in two experiments using this automated procedure, we reverted to a manual stroking paradigm, which is closer to the one employed in the study that first produced this effect. With this procedure, we observed a relative cooling of the stimulated hand in both the experimental and the control condition. The subjective experience of ownership, as rated by the participants, by contrast, was strictly linked to synchronous stroking in all three experiments. This implies that hand-cooling is not a strict correlate of the subjective feeling of hand ownership in the RHI. Factors associated with the differences between the two designs (differences in pressure of tactile stimulation, presence of another person) that were thus far considered irrelevant to the RHI appear to play a role in bringing about this temperature effect

A new integrated and homogenized global monthly land surface air temperature dataset for the period since 1900

A new dataset of integrated and homogenized monthly surface air temperature over global land for the period since 1900 [China Meteorological Administration global Land Surface Air Temperature (CMA-LSAT)] is developed. In total, 14 sources have been collected and integrated into the newly developed dataset, including three global (CRUTEM4, GHCN, and BEST), three regional and eight national sources. Duplicate stations are identified, and those with the higher priority are chosen or spliced. Then, a consistency test and a climate outlier test are conducted to ensure that each station series is quality controlled. Next, two steps are adopted to assure the homogeneity of the station series: (1) homogenized station series in existing national datasets (by National Meteorological Services) are directly integrated into the dataset without any changes (50% of all stations), and (2) the inhomogeneities are detected and adjusted for in the remaining data series using a penalized maximal t test (50% of all stations). Based on the dataset, we re-assess the temperature changes in global and regional areas compared with GHCN-V3 and CRUTEM4, as well as the temperature changes during the three periods of 1900–2014, 1979–2014 and 1998–2014. The best estimates of warming trends and there 95% confidence ranges for 1900–2014 are approximately 0.102 ± 0.006 °C/decade for the whole year, and 0.104 ± 0.009, 0.112 ± 0.007, 0.090 ± 0.006, and 0.092 ± 0.007 °C/decade for the DJF (December, January, February), MAM, JJA, and SON seasons, respectively. MAM saw the most significant warming trend in both 1900–2014 and 1979–2014. For an even shorter and more recent period (1998–2014), MAM, JJA and SON show similar warming trends, while DJF shows opposite trends. The results show that the ability of CMA-LAST for describing the global temperature changes is similar with other existing products, while there are some differences when describing regional temperature changes

Frequency, course and correlates of alcohol use from adolescence to young adulthood in a Swiss community survey

BACKGROUND: Few studies have analyzed the frequency of alcohol use across time from adolescence to young adulthood and its outcome in young adulthood. A Swiss longitudinal multilevel assessment project using various measures of psychopathology and psychosocial variables allowed for the study of the frequency and correlates of alcohol use so that this developmental trajectory may be better understood. METHOD: Alcohol use was studied by a questionnaire in a cohort of N = 593 subjects who had been assessed at three times between adolescence and young adulthood within the Zurich Psychology and Psychopathology Study (ZAPPS). Other assessment included questionnaire data measuring emotional and behavioural problems, life events, coping style, self-related cognitions, perceived parenting style and school environment, and size and efficiency of the social network. RESULTS: The increase of alcohol use from early adolescence to young adulthood showed only a few sex-specific differences in terms of the amount of alcohol consumption and the motives to drink. In late adolescence and young adulthood, males had a higher amount of alcohol consumption and were more frequently looking for drunkenness and feeling high. Males also experienced more negative consequences of alcohol use. A subgroup of heavy or problem drinkers showed a large range of emotional and behavioural problems and further indicators of impaired psychosocial functioning both in late adolescence and young adulthood. CONCLUSION: This Swiss community survey documents that alcohol use is problematic in a sizeable proportion of youth and goes hand in hand with a large number of psychosocial problems

How and when plume zonation appeared during the 132 Myr evolution of the Tristan Hotspot

Increasingly, spatial geochemical zonation, present as geographically distinct, subparallel trends, is observed along hotspot tracks, such as Hawaii and the Galapagos. The origin of this zonation is currently unclear. Recently zonation was found along the last B70 Myr of the Tristan-Gough hotspot track. Here we present new Sr–Nd–Pb–Hf isotope data from the older parts of this hotspot track (Walvis Ridge and Rio Grande Rise) and re-evaluate published data from the Etendeka and Parana flood basalts erupted at the initiation of the hotspot track. We show that only the enriched Gough, but not the less-enriched Tristan, component is present in the earlier (70–132 Ma) history of the hotspot. Here we present a model that can explain the temporal evolution and origin of plume zonation for both the Tristan-Gough and Hawaiian hotspots, two end member types of zoned plumes, through processes taking place in the plume sources at the base of the lower mantle

Structural analysis of haemoglobin binding by HpuA from the Neisseriaceae family

The Neisseriaceae family of bacteria causes a range of diseases including meningitis, septicaemia, gonorrhoea and endocarditis, and extracts haem from haemoglobin as an important iron source within the iron-limited environment of its human host. Herein we report crystal structures of apo- and haemoglobin-bound HpuA, an essential component of this haem import system. The interface involves long loops on the bacterial receptor that present hydrophobic side chains for packing against the surface of haemoglobin. Interestingly, our structural and biochemical analyses of Kingella denitrificans and Neisseria gonorrhoeae HpuA mutants, although validating the interactions observed in the crystal structure, show how Neisseriaceae have the fascinating ability to diversify functional sequences and yet retain the haemoglobin binding function. Our results present the first description of HpuA’s role in direct binding of haemoglobin

Optimizing a qPCR Gene Expression Quantification Assay for S. epidermidis Biofilms: A Comparison between Commercial Kits and a Customized Protocol

Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilm-related infections are a current concern within the medical community due to their high incidence and prevalence, particularly in patients with indwelling medical devices. Biofilm gene expression analysis by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) has been increasingly used to understand the role of biofilm formation in the pathogenesis of S. epidermidis infections. However, depending on the RNA extraction procedure, and cDNA synthesis and qPCR master mixes used, gene expression quantification can be suboptimal. We recently showed that some RNA extraction kits are not suitable for S. epidermidis biofilms, due to sample composition, in particular the presence of the extracellular matrix. In this work, we describe a custom RNA extraction assay followed by the evaluation of gene expression using different commercial reverse transcriptase kits and qPCR master mixes. Our custom RNA extraction assay was able to produce good quality RNA with reproducible gene expression quantification, reducing the time and the costs associated. We also tested the effect of reducing cDNA and qPCR reaction volumes and, in most of the cases tested, no significant differences were found. Finally, we titered the SYBR Green I concentrations in standard PCR master mixes and compared the normalized expression of the genes icaA, bhp, aap, psmβ1 and agrB using 4 distinct biofilm forming S. epidermidis strains to the results obtained with commercially available kits. The overall results demonstrated that despite some statistically, but not biologically significant differences observed, the customized qPCR protocol resulted in the same gene expression trend presented by the commercially available kits used

DNA Barcode Detects High Genetic Structure within Neotropical Bird Species

BACKGROUND: Towards lower latitudes the number of recognized species is not only higher, but also phylogeographic subdivision within species is more pronounced. Moreover, new genetically isolated populations are often described in recent phylogenies of Neotropical birds suggesting that the number of species in the region is underestimated. Previous COI barcoding of Argentinean bird species showed more complex patterns of regional divergence in the Neotropical than in the North American avifauna. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Here we analyzed 1,431 samples from 561 different species to extend the Neotropical bird barcode survey to lower latitudes, and detected even higher geographic structure within species than reported previously. About 93% (520) of the species were identified correctly from their DNA barcodes. The remaining 41 species were not monophyletic in their COI sequences because they shared barcode sequences with closely related species (N = 21) or contained very divergent clusters suggestive of putative new species embedded within the gene tree (N = 20). Deep intraspecific divergences overlapping with among-species differences were detected in 48 species, often with samples from large geographic areas and several including multiple subspecies. This strong population genetic structure often coincided with breaks between different ecoregions or areas of endemism. CONCLUSIONS: The taxonomic uncertainty associated with the high incidence of non-monophyletic species and discovery of putative species obscures studies of historical patterns of species diversification in the Neotropical region. We showed that COI barcodes are a valuable tool to indicate which taxa would benefit from more extensive taxonomic revisions with multilocus approaches. Moreover, our results support hypotheses that the megadiversity of birds in the region is associated with multiple geographic processes starting well before the Quaternary and extending to more recent geological periods