VEGF Gene Expression in Adult Human Thymus Fat: A Correlative Study with Hypoxic Induced Factor and Cyclooxigenase-2

UNLABELLED:It is well known that the adult human thymus degenerates into fat tissue; however, it has never been considered as a potential source of angiogenic factors. Recently, we have described that this fat (TAT) produces angiogenic factors and induces human endothelial cell proliferation and migration, indicating its potential angiogenic properties. DESIGN:Adult thymus fat and subcutaneous adipose tissue specimens were obtained from 28 patients undergoing cardiac surgery, making this tissue readily available as a prime source of adipose tissue. We focused our investigation on determining VEGF gene expression and characterizing the different genes, mediators of inflammation and adipogenesis, and which are known to play a relevant role in angiogenesis regulation. RESULTS:We found that VEGF-A was the isoform most expressed in TAT. This expression was accompanied by an upregulation of HIF-1alpha, COX-2 and HO-1 proteins, and by increased HIF-1 DNA binding activity, compared to SAT. Furthermore, we observed that TAT contains a high percentage of mature adipocytes, 0.25% of macrophage cells, 15% of endothelial cells and a very low percentage of thymocyte cells, suggesting the cellular variability of TAT, which could explain the differences in gene expression observed in TAT. Subsequently, we showed that the expression of genes known as adipogenic mediators, including PPARgamma1/gamma2, FABP-4 and adiponectin was similar in both TAT and SAT. Moreover the expression of these latter genes presented a significantly positive correlation with VEGF, suggesting the potential association between VEGF and the generation of adipose tissue in adult thymus. CONCLUSION:Here we suggest that this fat has a potential angiogenic function related to ongoing adipogenesis, which substitutes immune functions within the adult thymus. The expression of VEGF seems to be associated with COX-2, HO-1 and adipogenesis related genes, suggesting the importance that this new fat has acquired in research in relation to adipogenesis and angiogenesis

Disturbed, diffuse, or just missing? A global study of the H I content of Hickson compact groups

Context. Hickson compact groups (HCGs) are dense configurations of four to ten galaxies, whose H I morphology appears to follow an evolutionary sequence of three phases, with gas initially confined to galaxies, then significant amounts spread throughout the intra-group medium, and finally with almost no gas remaining in the galaxies themselves. It has also been suggested that several groups may harbour a diffuse H I component that is resolved out by interferometric observations. Aims. The H I deficiency of HCGs is expected to increase as the H I morphological phase progresses along the evolutionary sequence. If this is the case, H I deficiency would be a rough proxy for the age and evolutionary state of a HCG. We aim to test this hypothesis for the first time using a large sample of HCGs and to investigate the evidence for diffuse H I in HCGs. Methods. We performed a uniform reduction of all publicly available VLA H I observations (38 HCGs) with a purpose-built pipeline that also maximises the reproducibility of this study. The resulting H I data cubes were then analysed with the latest software tools to perform a manual separation of emission features into those belonging to galaxies and those extending into the intra-group medium. We thereby classified the H I morphological phase of each group as well as quantified their H I deficiency compared to galaxies in isolation. Results. We find little evidence that H I deficiency can be used as a proxy for the evolutionary phase of a compact group in either of the first two phases, with the distribution of H I deficiency being consistent in both. However, for the final phase, the distribution clearly shifts to high H I deficiencies, with more than 90% of the expected H I content typically missing. Across all HCGs studied, we identify a few cases where there is strong evidence for a diffuse gas component in the intra-group medium, which might be detectable with improved observations. We also classify a new sub-phase where groups contain a lone H I-bearing galaxy, but are otherwise devoid of gas. Conclusions. The new morphological phase we have identified is likely the result of an evolved, gas-poor group acquiring a new, gas-rich member. The large spread of H I deficiencies in the first two morphological phases suggests that there is a broad range of initial H I content in HCGs, which is perhaps influenced by large-scale environment, and that the timescale for morphological changes is, in general, considerably shorter than the timescale for the destruction or consumption of neutral gas in these systems

The AMIGA sample of isolated galaxies XIV. Disc breaks and interactions through ultra-deep optical imaging

Context. In the standard cosmological model of galaxy evolution, mergers and interactions play a fundamental role in shaping galaxies. Galaxies that are currently isolated are thus interesting because they allow us to distinguish between internal and external processes that affect the galactic structure. However, current observational limits may obscure crucial information in the low-mass or low-brightness regime. Aims. We use optical imaging of a subsample of the AMIGA catalogue of isolated galaxies to explore the impact of different factors on the structure of these galaxies. In particular, we study the type of disc break as a function of the degree of isolation and the presence of interaction indicators such as tidal streams or plumes, which are only detectable in the ultra-low surface brightness regime. Methods. We present ultra-deep optical imaging in the r band of a sample of 25 low-redshift (z< 0.035) isolated galaxies. Through careful data processing and analysis techniques, the nominal surface brightness limits achieved are comparable to those to be obtained on the ten-year LSST coadds (μr,lim ≳ 29.5 mag arcsec-2 [3σ; 10'' × 10'']). We place special emphasis on preserving the low surface brightness features throughout the processing. Results. The extreme depth of our imaging allows us to study the interaction signatures of 20 galaxies since Galactic cirrus is a strong limiting factor in the characterisation of interactions for the remaining 5 of them. We detect previously unreported interaction features in 8 (40% ± 14%) galaxies in our sample. We identify 9 galaxies (36% ± 10%) with an exponential disc (Type I), 14 galaxies (56% ± 10%) with a down-bending (Type II) profile, and only 2 galaxies (8% ± 5%) with up-bending (Type III) profiles. Isolated galaxies have considerably more purely exponential discs and fewer up-bending surface brightness profiles than field or cluster galaxies. We find clear minor merger activity in some of the galaxies with single exponential or down-bending profiles, and both of the galaxies with up-bending profiles show signatures of a past interaction. Conclusions. We show the importance of ultra-deep optical imaging in revealing faint external features in galaxies that indicate a probable history of interaction. We confirm that up-bending profiles are likely produced by major mergers, while down-bending profiles are probably formed by a threshold in star formation. Unperturbed galaxies that slowly evolve with a low star formation rate could induce the high rate of Type I discs in isolated galaxies. © The Authors 2023.We thank Ignacio Trujillo for helpful insights about this work and Aaron Watkins for providing us with the implementation of the automatic break detection method. PMSA, JHK, and JR acknowledge financial support from the State Research Agency (AEI-MCINN) of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under the grant "The structure and evolution of galaxies and their central regions" with reference PID2019-105602GBI00/10.13039/501100011033, from the ACIISI, Consejeria de Economia, Conocimiento y Empleo del Gobierno de Canarias and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under grant with reference PROID2021010044, and from IAC project P/300724, financed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, through the State Budget and by the Canary Islands Department of Economy, Knowledge and Employment, through the Regional Budget of the Autonomous Community. JR acknowledges funding from University of La Laguna through the Margarita Salas Program from the Spanish Ministry of Universities ref. UNI/551/2021-May 26, and under the EU Next Generation. LVM acknowledges financial support from grants CEX2021-001131-S funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033, RTI2018-096228-B-C31 and PID2021-123930OB-C21 by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033, by "ERDF A way of making Europe" and by the "European Union" and from IAA4SKA (R18-RT-3082) funded by the Economic Transformation, Industry, Knowledge and Universities Council of the Regional Government of Andalusia and the European Regional Development Fund from the European Union. SC acknowledges funding from the State Research Agency (AEI-MCINN) of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under the grant "Thick discs, relics of the infancy of galaxies" with reference PID2020-113213GA-I00. MAF acknowledges support from FONDECYT iniciacion project 11200107 and the Emergia program (EMERGIA20_38888) from Consejeria de Transformacion Economica, Industria, Conocimiento y Universidades and University of Granada. PMSA and LVM acknowledge the Spanish Prototype of an SRC (SPSRC) service and support funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, by the Regional Government of Andalusia, by the European Regional Development Funds and by the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR. The SPSRC acknowledges financial support from the State Agency for Research of the Spanish MCIU through the "Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa" award to the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia (SEV-2017-0709) and from the grant CEX2021-001131-S funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033. Based on observations made with the Isaac Newton Telescope operated on the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias. The WFC imaging was obtained as part of the programs C163/13A, C106/13B, and C106/14A. Based on observations collected at the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere under ESO programme(s) 098.B-0775(A), 093.B-0894(A). Based on data collected at the Subaru Telescope and retrieved from the HSC data archive system, which is operated by Subaru Telescope and Astronomy Data Center at National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

Adipose tissue glycogen accumulation is associated with obesity-linked inflammation in humans

Objective: glycogen metabolism has emerged as a mediator in the control of energy homeostasis and studies in murine models reveal that adipose tissue might contain glycogen stores. Here we investigated the physio(patho)logical role of glycogen in human adipose tissue in the context of obesity and insulin resistance. Methods: we studied glucose metabolic flux of hypoxic human adipoctyes by nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry-based metabolic approaches. Glycogen synthesis and glycogen content in response to hypoxia was analyzed in human adipocytes and macrophages. To explore the metabolic effects of enforced glycogen deposition in adipocytes and macrophages, we overexpressed PTG, the only glycogen-associated regulatory subunit (PP1-GTS) reported in murine adipocytes. Adipose tissue gene expression analysis was performed on wild type and homozygous PTG KO male mice. Finally, glycogen metabolism gene expression and glycogen accumulation was analyzed in adipose tissue, mature adipocytes and resident macrophages from lean and obese subjects with different degrees of insulin resistance in 2 independent cohorts. Results: we show that hypoxia modulates glucose metabolic flux in human adipocytes and macrophages and promotes glycogenesis. Enforced glycogen deposition by overexpression of PTG re-orients adipocyte secretion to a pro-inflammatory response linked to insulin resistance and monocyte/lymphocyte migration. Furthermore, glycogen accumulation is associated with inhibition of mTORC1 signaling and increased basal autophagy flux, correlating with greater leptin release in glycogen-loaded adipocytes. PTG-KO mice have reduced expression of key inflammatory genes in adipose tissue and PTG overexpression in M0 macrophages induces a pro-inflammatory and glycolytic M1 phenotype. Increased glycogen synthase expression correlates with glycogen deposition in subcutaneous adipose tissue of obese patients. Glycogen content in subcutaneous mature adipocytes is associated with BMI and leptin expression. Conclusion: our data establish glycogen mishandling in adipose tissue as a potential key feature of inflammatory-related metabolic stress in human obesity

Evolution of compact groups from intermediate to final stages: A case study of the HI content of HCG 16

Hickson Compact Group (HCG) 16 is a prototypical compact group of galaxies, apparently in an intermediate stage of evolution, where its galaxies are losing gas to the intra-group medium (IGrM). The wide variety of ongoing process in HCG 16 make it an ideal case study for exploring which processes are likely to dominate the late stages of evolution in compact groups. In order to build a coherent picture of the evolution of this group we make use of the multi-wavelength data available, but focus particularly on HI as a tracer of interactions and evolutionary phase. We reprocess archival VLA L-band data of HCG 16 using the multi-scale CLEAN algorithm to accurately recover diffuse features. Despite the clear disruption of the HI component of HCG 16 we find that it is not globally HI deficient, even though HCG 16a and b have lost the majority of their HI and almost 50% of the group's HI is in the IGrM, including a 160 kpc long tail extending towards the SE. This study indicates that in the recent past (~1 Gyr) galaxies HCG 16a and b likely underwent major interactions that unbound gas without triggering significant star formation. This gas was then swept away by a high speed, close encounter with NGC 848. The starburst events HCG 16c and d have triggered galactic winds which, in the case of HCG 16d, appears to have disrupted its HI reservoir. The tidal features still connected to these galaxies indicate that more HI will soon be lost to the IGrM, while that which remains in the discs will likely be consumed by star formation episodes. This is expected to result in a collection of gas-poor galaxies embedded in a diffuse HI structure, which will gradually be evaporated by the UV background, resembling the final stage of the evolutionary model of compact groups. This work is accompanied by a complete workflow to reproduce the final data products, intended to improve reproducibility. (Abridged)Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 35 pages, 18 figure

Famílies botàniques de plantes medicinals

Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona. Ensenyament: Grau de Farmàcia, Assignatura: Botànica Farmacèutica, Curs: 2013-2014, Coordinadors: Joan Simon, Cèsar Blanché i Maria Bosch.Els materials que aquí es presenten són els recull de 175 treballs d’una família botànica d’interès medicinal realitzats de manera individual. Els treballs han estat realitzat per la totalitat dels estudiants dels grups M-2 i M-3 de l’assignatura Botànica Farmacèutica durant els mesos d’abril i maig del curs 2013-14. Tots els treballs s’han dut a terme a través de la plataforma de GoogleDocs i han estat tutoritzats pel professor de l’assignatura i revisats i finalment co-avaluats entre els propis estudiants. L’objectiu principal de l’activitat ha estat fomentar l’aprenentatge autònom i col·laboratiu en Botànica farmacèutica

Novel genes and sex differences in COVID-19 severity

[EN] Here, we describe the results of a genome-wide study conducted in 11 939 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) positive cases with an extensive clinical information that were recruited from 34 hospitals across Spain (SCOURGE consortium). In sex-disaggregated genome-wide association studies for COVID-19 hospitalization, genome-wide significance (P < 5 × 10−8) was crossed for variants in 3p21.31 and 21q22.11 loci only among males (P = 1.3 × 10−22 and P = 8.1 × 10−12, respectively), and for variants in 9q21.32 near TLE1 only among females (P = 4.4 × 10−8). In a second phase, results were combined with an independent Spanish cohort (1598 COVID-19 cases and 1068 population controls), revealing in the overall analysis two novel risk loci in 9p13.3 and 19q13.12, with fine-mapping prioritized variants functionally associated with AQP3 (P = 2.7 × 10−8) and ARHGAP33 (P = 1.3 × 10−8), respectively. The meta-analysis of both phases with four European studies stratified by sex from the Host Genetics Initiative (HGI) confirmed the association of the 3p21.31 and 21q22.11 loci predominantly in males and replicated a recently reported variant in 11p13 (ELF5, P = 4.1 × 10−8). Six of the COVID-19 HGI discovered loci were replicated and an HGI-based genetic risk score predicted the severity strata in SCOURGE. We also found more SNP-heritability and larger heritability differences by age (<60 or ≥60 years) among males than among females. Parallel genome-wide screening of inbreeding depression in SCOURGE also showed an effect of homozygosity in COVID-19 hospitalization and severity and this effect was stronger among older males. In summary, new candidate genes for COVID-19 severity and evidence supporting genetic disparities among sexes are provided.S

Search for new particles in events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A search is presented for new particles produced at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV, using events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb(-1), collected in 2017-2018 with the CMS detector. Machine learning techniques are used to define separate categories for events with narrow jets from initial-state radiation and events with large-radius jets consistent with a hadronic decay of a W or Z boson. A statistical combination is made with an earlier search based on a data sample of 36 fb(-1), collected in 2016. No significant excess of events is observed with respect to the standard model background expectation determined from control samples in data. The results are interpreted in terms of limits on the branching fraction of an invisible decay of the Higgs boson, as well as constraints on simplified models of dark matter, on first-generation scalar leptoquarks decaying to quarks and neutrinos, and on models with large extra dimensions. Several of the new limits, specifically for spin-1 dark matter mediators, pseudoscalar mediators, colored mediators, and leptoquarks, are the most restrictive to date.Peer reviewe