Guillain-Barré syndrome: a century of progress

In 1916, Guillain, Barré and Strohl reported on two cases of acute flaccid paralysis with high cerebrospinal fluid protein levels and normal cell counts — novel findings that identified the disease we now know as Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS). 100 years on, we have made great progress with the clinical and pathological characterization of GBS. Early clinicopathological and animal studies indicated that GBS was an immune-mediated demyelinating disorder, and that severe GBS could result in secondary axonal injury; the current treatments of plasma exchange and intravenous immunoglobulin, which were developed in the 1980s, are based on this premise. Subsequent work has, however, shown that primary axonal injury can be the underlying disease. The association of Campylobacter jejuni strains has led to confirmation that anti-ganglioside antibodies are pathogenic and that axonal GBS involves an antibody and complement-mediated disruption of nodes of Ranvier, neuromuscular junctions and other neuronal and glial membranes. Now, ongoing clinical trials of the complement inhibitor eculizumab are the first targeted immunotherapy in GBS

Regulation of Epithelial Branching Morphogenesis and Cancer Cell Growth of the Prostate by Wnt Signaling

Although Wnt signaling has been shown to be important for embryonic morphogenesis and cancer pathogenesis of several tissues, its role in prostatic development and tumorigenesis is not well understood. Here we show that Wnt signaling regulated prostatic epithelial branching morphogenesis and luminal epithelial cell differentiation in developing rat prostate organ cultures. Specifically, Wnt signaling regulated the proliferation of prostate epithelial progenitor cells. Assessment of the expression levels of a Wnt pathway transcriptional target gene, Axin2, showed that the Wnt pathway was activated in the developing prostate, but was down-regulated in the adult. Castration resulted in an upregulation of Axin2 whereas androgen replacement resulted in a down regulation of Axin2. Such dynamic changes of Wnt activity was also confirmed in a BAT-gal transgenic mouse line in which β-galactosidase reporter is expressed under the control of β-catenin/T cell factor responsive elements. Furthermore, we evaluated the role of Wnt signaling in prostate tumorigenesis. Axin2 expression was found upregulated in the majority of human prostate cancer cell lines examined. Moreover, addition of a Wnt pathway inhibitor, Dickkopf 1 (DKK1), into the culture medium significantly inhibited prostate cancer cell growth and migration. These findings suggest that Wnt signaling regulates prostatic epithelial ductal branching morphogenesis by influencing cell proliferation, and highlights a role for Wnt pathway activation in prostatic cancer progression

Arabidopsis leucine-rich repeat receptor–like kinase NILR1 is required for induction of innate immunity to parasitic nematodes

Plant-parasitic nematodes are destructive pests causing losses of billions of dollars annually. An effective plant defence against pathogens relies on the recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) by surface-localised receptors leading to the activation of PAMP-triggered immunity (PTI). Extensive studies have been conducted to characterise the role of PTI in various models of plant-pathogen interactions. However, far less is known about the role of PTI in roots in general and in plant-nematode interactions in particular. Here we show that nematode-derived proteinaceous elicitor/s is/are capable of inducing PTI in Arabidopsis in a manner dependent on the common immune co-receptor BAK1. Consistent with the role played by BAK1, we identified a leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase, termed NILR1 that is specifically regulated upon infection by nematodes. We show that NILR1 is essential for PTI responses initiated by nematodes and nilr1 loss-of-function mutants are hypersusceptible to a broad category of nematodes. To our knowledge, NILR1 is the first example of an immune receptor that is involved in induction of basal immunity (PTI) in plants or in animals in response to nematodes. Manipulation of NILR1 will provide new options for nematode control in crop plants in future

The state of ambient air quality in Pakistan—a review

Background and purpose: Pakistan, during the last decade, has seen an extensive escalation in population growth, urbanization, and industrialization, together with a great increase in motorization and energy use. As a result, a substantial rise has taken place in the types and number of emission sources of various air pollutants. However, due to the lack of air quality management capabilities, the country is suffering from deterioration of air quality. Evidence from various governmental organizations and international bodies has indicated that air pollution is a significant risk to the environment, quality of life, and health of the population. The Government has taken positive steps toward air quality management in the form of the Pakistan Clean Air Program and has recently established a small number of continuous monitoring stations. However, ambient air quality standards have not yet been established. This paper reviews the data being available on the criteria air pollutants: particulate matter (PM), sulfur dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and lead. Methods: Air pollution studies in Pakistan published in both scientific journals and by the Government have been reviewed and the reported concentrations of PM, SO2, O3, CO, NO2, and Pb collated. A comparison of the levels of these air pollutants with the World Health Organization air quality guidelines was carried out. Results: Particulate matter was the most serious air pollutant in the country. NO2 has emerged as the second high-risk pollutant. The reported levels of PM, SO2, CO, NO2, and Pb were many times higher than the World Health Organization air quality guidelines. Only O3 concentrations were below the guidelines. Conclusions: The current state of air quality calls for immediate action to tackle the poor air quality. The establishment of ambient air quality standards, an extension of the continuous monitoring sites, and the development of emission control strategies are essential. © Springer-Verlag 2009

How land use/land cover changes can affect water, flooding and sedimentation in a tropical watershed: a case study using distributed modeling in the Upper Citarum watershed, Indonesia

[EN] Human activity has produced severe LULC changes within the Upper Citarum watershed and these changes are predicted to continue in the future. With an increase in population parallel to a 141% increment in urban areas, a reduction of rice fields and the replacement of forests with cultivations have been found in the past. Accordingly, LCM model was used to forecast the LULC in 2029. A distributed model called TETIS was implemented in the Upper Citarum watershed to assess the impact of the different historical and future LULC scenarios on its water and sediment cycles. This model was calibrated and validated with different LULCs. For the implementation of the sediment sub-model, it was crucial to use the bathymetric information of the reservoir located at the catchment's outlet. Deforestation and urbanization have been shown to be the most influential factors affecting the alteration of the hydrological and sedimentological processes in the Upper Citarum watershed. The change of LULC decreases evapotranspiration and as a direct consequence, the water yield increased by 15% and 40% during the periods 1994-2014 and 2014-2029, respectively. These increments are caused by the rise of three components in the runoff: overland flow, interflow and base flow. Apart from that, these changes in LULC increased the area of non-tolerable erosion from 412 km(2) in 1994 to 499 km(2) in 2029. The mean sediment yield increased from 3.1 Mton -yr(-1) in the 1994 LULC scenario to 6.7 Mton-yr(-1) in the 2029 LULC scenario. An increment of this magnitude will be catastrophic for the operation of the Saguling Dam.This study was partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the research projects TETISMED (CGL2014-58,127-C3-3-R) and TETISCHANGE (RTI2018-093717-B-I00). The authors are also thankful to the Directorate General of Higher Education of Indonesia (DIKTI) for the Ph.D. funding of the first author.Siswanto, SY.; Francés, F. (2019). How land use/land cover changes can affect water, flooding and sedimentation in a tropical watershed: a case study using distributed modeling in the Upper Citarum watershed, Indonesia. Environmental Earth Sciences. 78(17):1-15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-019-8561-0S115781

First measurement of coherent ρ0 photoproduction in ultra-peripheral Xe–Xe collisions at √sNN = 5.44 TeV

The first measurement of the coherent photoproduction of ρ0 vector mesons in ultra-peripheral Xe–Xe collisions at sNN=5.44 TeV is presented. This result, together with previous HERA γp data and γ–Pb measurements from ALICE, describes the atomic number (A) dependence of this process, which is particularly sensitive to nuclear shadowing effects and to the approach to the black-disc limit of QCD at a semi-hard scale. The cross section of the Xe+Xe→ρ0+Xe+Xe process, measured at midrapidity through the decay channel ρ0→π+π−, is found to be dσ/dy=131.5±5.6(stat.)−16.9+17.5(syst.) mb. The ratio of the continuum to resonant contributions for the production of pion pairs is also measured. In addition, the fraction of events accompanied by electromagnetic dissociation of either one or both colliding nuclei is reported. The dependence on A of cross section for the coherent ρ0 photoproduction at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon of the γA system of WγA,n=65 GeV is found to be consistent with a power-law behaviour σ(γA→ρ0A)∝Aα with a slope α=0.96±0.02(syst.). This slope signals important shadowing effects, but it is still far from the behaviour expected in the black-disc limit.publishedVersio