The effects of long-term endurance training on the immune and endocrine systems of elderly men: the role of cytokines and anabolic hormones

BACKGROUND: a decline in immune and endocrine function occurs with aging. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of long-term endurance training on the immune and endocrine system of elderly men. The possible interaction between these systems was also analysed. RESULTS: elderly runners showed a significantly higher T cell proliferative response and IL-2 production than sedentary elderly controls. IL-2 production was similar to that in young adults. Their serum IL-6 levels were significantly lower than their sedentary peers. They also showed significantly lower IL-3 production in comparison to sedentary elderly subjects but similar to the youngs. Anabolic hormone levels did not differ between elderly groups and no clear correlation was found between hormones and cytokine levels. CONCLUSION: highly conditioned elderly men seem to have relatively better preserved immune system than the sedentary elderly men. Long-term endurance training has the potential to decelerate the age-related decline in immune function but not the deterioration in endocrine function

Social immunity of the family: parental contributions to a public good modulated by brood size.

Social immunity refers to any immune defence that benefits others, besides the individual that mounts the response. Since contributions to social immunity are known to be personally costly, they are contributions to a public good. However, individuals vary in their contributions to this public good and it is unclear why. Here we investigate whether they are responding to contributions made by others with experiments on burying beetle (Nicrophorus vespilloides) families. In this species, females, males and larvae each contribute to social immunity through the application of antimicrobial exudates upon the carrion breeding resource. We show experimentally that mothers reduce their contributions to social immunity when raising large broods, and test two contrasting hypotheses to explain why. Either mothers are treating social immunity as a public good, investing less in social immunity when their offspring collectively contribute more, or mothers are trading off investment in social immunity with investment in parental care. Overall, our experiments yield no evidence to support the existence of a trade-off between social immunity and other parental care traits: we found no evidence of a trade-off in terms of time allocated to each activity, nor did the relationship between social immunity and brood size change with female condition. Instead, and consistent with predictions from models of public goods games, we found that higher quality mothers contributed more to social immunity. Therefore our results suggest that mothers are playing a public goods game with their offspring to determine their personal contribution to the defence of the carrion breeding resource.AD was supported by NERC grant NE/H019731/1 to RMK. ODeG was supported by the Cambridge Trust and the Mexican Council for Science and Technology (CONACyT). RMK was supported in part by ERC Consolidators grant 310785 BALDWINIAN_BEETLES. SCC was supported by a NERC fellowship (NE/H014225/2), CER was supported by a Department for Employment and Learning PhD studentship. We thank A. Backhouse for help in maintaining the burying beetle population. We thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on the manuscript.This is the final version of the article. It was first available from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10682-015-9806-

Ginger Essential Oil Ameliorates Cisplatin-Induced Nephrotoxicity in Mice

Purpose: To investigate the effect of ginger essential oil (GEO) in an experimental model of cisplatininduced nephrotoxicity.Methods: Male mice were divided into treatment six groups (n = 7), namely: Groups I (saline), II and III (cisplatin, 10 mg/kg, i.p.) euthanized in 3th and 6th days, respectively, and IV, V and IV (GEO, 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg/day, respectively, by gavage 3, 4, 5 and 6 days after cisplatin injection). Creatinine levels and protein/creatinine ratio were determined in plasma and urine, respectively. Bone morphogenic protein (BMP-7) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) levels of kidney tissues were determined while mRNA expression levels were obtained using real-time polymerase chain reaction.Results: GEO treatment reduced significantly creatinine levels to 0.53 ± 0.02; 0.48 ± 0.008 and 0.46 ± 0.02 at 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg, respectively, compared with control (0.70 ± 0.01) [p<0.05] but increased protein : creatinine ratio to 0.21 ± 0.01, 0.22 ± 0.01, 0.24 ± 0.02 compared with control (0.06 ± 0.008) [p<0.05]. Pro-inflammatory TNF-α mRNA expression was decreased to 1.46 ± 0.21, 1.39 ± 0.19 and 1.36 ± 0.09, at GEO doses of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg, respectively, while anti-fibrotic BMP-7 mRNA expression increased to 2.05 ± 0.26 and 2.44 ± 0.42 at doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg, respectively, compared with control (0.59 ± 0.39, p < 0.05).Conclusion: GEO treatment attenuates cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity, in part, by modulating some inflammatory cytokines.Keywords: Zingiber officinale, Ginger, Roscoe, Essential oil, Nephrotoxicity, Cisplati

The JCMT Legacy Survey of the Gould Belt: Mapping 13CO and C 18O in Orion A

The Gould Belt Legacy Survey will map star-forming regions within 500 pc, using Heterodyne Array Receiver Programme (HARP), Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array 2 (SCUBA-2) and Polarimeter 2 (POL-2) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). This paper describes HARP observations of the J= 3 → 2 transitions of 13CO and C18O towards Orion A. The 15 arcsec resolution observations cover 5 pc of the Orion filament, including OMC 1 (including BN–KL and Orion bar), OMC 2/3 and OMC 4, and allow a comparative study of the molecular gas properties throughout the star-forming cloud. The filament shows a velocity gradient of ∼1 km s−1 pc−1 between OMC 1, 2 and 3, and high-velocity emission is detected in both isotopologues. The Orion Nebula and Bar have the largest masses and linewidths, and dominate the mass and energetics of the high-velocity material. Compact, spatially resolved emission from CH3CN, 13CH3OH, SO, HCOOCH3, CH3CHO and CH3OCHO is detected towards the Orion Hot Core. The cloud is warm, with a median excitation temperature of ∼24 K; the Orion Bar has the highest excitation temperature gas, at >80 K. The C18O excitation temperature correlates well with the dust temperature (to within 40 per cent). The C18O emission is optically thin, and the 13CO emission is marginally optically thick; despite its high mass, OMC 1 shows the lowest opacities. A virial analysis indicates that Orion A is too massive for thermal or turbulent support, but is consistent with a model of a filamentary cloud that is threaded by helical magnetic fields. The variation of physical conditions across the cloud is reflected in the physical characteristics of the dust cores. We find similar core properties between starless and protostellar cores, but variations in core properties with position in the filament. The OMC 1 cores have the highest velocity dispersions and masses, followed by OMC 2/3 and OMC 4. The differing fragmentation of these cores may explain why OMC 1 has formed clusters of high-mass stars, whereas OMC 4 produces fewer, predominantly low-mass stars

Momentum-resolved resonant inelastic soft X-ray scattering (qRIXS) endstation at the ALS

A momentum resolved resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (qRIXS) experimental station with continuously rotatable spectrometers and parallel detection is designed to operate at different beamlines at synchrotron and free electron laser (FEL) facilities. This endstation, currently located at the Advanced Light Source (ALS), has five emission ports on the experimental chamber for mounting the high-throughput modular soft X-ray spectrometers (MXS) [24]. Coupled to the rotation from the supporting hexapod, the scattered X-rays from 27.5° (forward scattering) to 152.5° (backward scattering) relative to the incident photon beam can be recorded, enabling the momentum-resolved RIXS spectroscopy. The components of this endstation are described in details, and the preliminary RIXS measurements on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) reveal the low energy vibronic excitations from the strong electron-phonon coupling at C K edge around σ* band. The grating upgrade option to enhance the performance at low photon energies is presented and the potential of this spectroscopy is discussed in summary

Clinical, epidemiological and molecular features of the HIV-1 subtype C and recombinant forms that are circulating in the city of São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract\ud \ud \ud \ud Background\ud \ud The city of Sao Paulo has the highest AIDS case rate, with nearly 60% in Brazil. Despite, several studies involving molecular epidemiology, lack of data regarding a large cohort study has not been published from this city.\ud \ud \ud \ud Objectives\ud \ud This study aimed to describe the HIV-1 subtypes, recombinant forms and drug resistance mutations, according to subtype, with emphasis on subtype C and BC recombinants in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.\ud \ud \ud \ud Study design\ud \ud RNA was extracted from the plasma samples of 302 HIV-1-seropositive subjects, of which 211 were drug-naive and 82 were exposed to ART. HIV-1 partial pol region sequences were used in phylogenetic analyses for subtyping and identification of drug resistance mutations. The envelope gene of subtype C and BC samples was also sequenced.\ud \ud \ud \ud Results\ud \ud From partial pol gene analyses, 239 samples (79.1%) were assigned as subtype B, 23 (7.6%) were F1, 16 (5.3%) were subtype C and 24 (8%) were mosaics (3 CRF28/CRF29-like). The subtype C and BC recombinants were mainly identified in drug-naïve patients (72.7%) and the heterosexual risk exposure category (86.3%), whereas for subtype B, these values were 69.9% and 57.3%, respectively (p = 0.97 and p = 0.015, respectively). An increasing trend of subtype C and BC recombinants was observed (p < 0.01).\ud \ud \ud \ud Conclusion\ud \ud The HIV-1 subtype C and CRFs seem to have emerged over the last few years in the city of São Paulo, principally among the heterosexual population. These findings may have an impact on preventive measures and vaccine development in Brazil.The authors would like to thank all the patients who participated in this study, ADEE3002 Group (Ambulatory Service of the Secondary Immunodeficiency Clinic of Clinical Hospital-HC/FMUSP), particularly Claudio R. Gonsalez, Lucas A. Medeiros, Ana Paula R. Veiga, Marcelo Mendonça and Eduardo R. Lagonegro. They would also like to thank Rosangela M. Araujo and Noemia Orii for the flow cytometry experiments, Jose Eduardo Martins for his assistance in determining HIV-1 viral loads, Dr Shirley Komninakis for kindly providing the envelope region primers, Fernando L. Melo and Anna Nishiya for their technical assistance. Lucio Martins, Andre Seiji Goto and Demetrius Vignati Alves da Silva for IT assistance. Fapesp, CNPq, LIM56/HC/FMUSP and FFM for support

Effects of riparian plant diversity loss on aquatic microbial decomposers become more pronounced at longer times

We examined the potential long-term impacts of riparian plant diversity loss on diversity and activity of aquatic microbial decomposers. Microbial assemblages were obtained in a mixed-forest stream by immersion of mesh bags contain-ing three leaf species (alder, oak and eucalyptus), commonly found in riparian corridors of Iberian streams. Simulation of species loss was done in microcosms by including a set of all leaf species, retrieved from the stream, and non-colonized leaves of three, two or one leaf species. Leaves were renewed every month throughout six months, and microbial inoculum was ensured by a set of colonized leaves from the previous month. Microbial diversity, leaf mass loss and fungal biomass were assessed at the second and sixth months after plant species loss. Molecular diversity of fungi and bacteria, as the total number of operational taxonomic units per leaf diversity treatment, decreased with leaf diversity loss. Fungal biomass tended to decrease linearly with leaf species loss on oak and eucalyptus, suggesting more pronounced effects of leaf diver-sity on lower quality leaves. Decomposition of alder and eucalyptus leaves was affected by leaf species identity, mainly after longer times following diversity loss. Leaf decomposi-tion of alder decreased when mixed with eucalyptus, while decomposition of eucalyptus decreased in mixtures with oak. Results suggest that the effects of leaf diversity on microbial decomposers depended on leaf species number and also on which species were lost from the system, especially after longer times. This may have implications for the management of riparian forests to maintain stream ecosystem functioning.FEDER-POFC-COMPETE and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology supported this study (PEst-C/ BIA/UI4050/2011, PTDC/AAC-AMB/113746/2009 and PTDC/AAC-AMB/117068/2010), S. Duarte (SFRH/BPD/47574/2008) and I. Fernandes (SFRH/BD/42215/2007)