Soapstone utensils may improve iron status in adult women. A preliminary study

Soapstone is among the first heat-resistant materials to have been used by man for the manufacture of culinary utensils, but its impact on human nutrition has merited little attention. Here, we present a preliminary evaluation of the impact of soapstone pans on the iron status in humans. Five nuns (37.6 +/- 6.31y) replaced the soapstone for their traditional aluminum cookware, without any alteration of the diet itself. Comparison of the hematological data, determined before and 10 weeks after switching the pans, revealed that hemoglobin rose from 13.26 to 14.0 mg.dL(-1) (p=0.0048), and hematocrit increased from 38.14 to 40.71% (p=0.0002), while the transferrin saturation index went from 28.04 to 28.96% (p=0.0147) and ferritin, from 31.5 to 34.74 mu g.L-1 (p=0.0681). By simply replacing the soapstone for the traditional aluminum cookware, substantially improved the iron status in all subjects in a relatively short period of time.614429432Bayer do BrasilBecton-DickinsonCremer S.A.In-Vitro DiagnosticaAlamo Centro Diagnostic

Lack of Galectin-3 Drives Response to Paracoccidioides brasiliensis toward a Th2-Biased Immunity

There is recent evidence that galectin-3 participates in immunity to infections, mostly by tuning cytokine production. We studied the balance of Th1/Th2 responses to P. brasiliensis experimental infection in the absence of galectin-3. The intermediate resistance to the fungal infection presented by C57BL/6 mice, associated with the development of a mixed type of immunity, was replaced with susceptibility to infection and a Th2-polarized immune response, in galectin-3-deficient (gal3−/−) mice. Such a response was associated with defective inflammatory and delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) reactions, high IL-4 and GATA-3 expression and low nitric oxide production in the organs of infected animals. Gal3−/− macrophages exhibited higher TLR2 transcript levels and IL-10 production compared to wild-type macrophages after stimulation with P. brasiliensis antigens. We hypothesize that, during an in vivo P. brasiliensis infection, galectin-3 exerts its tuning role on immunity by interfering with the generation of regulatory macrophages, thus hindering the consequent Th2-polarized type of response

Sh3pxd2b Mice Are a Model for Craniofacial Dysmorphology and Otitis Media

Craniofacial defects that occur through gene mutation during development increase vulnerability to eustachian tube dysfunction. These defects can lead to an increased incidence of otitis media. We examined the effects of a mutation in the Sh3pxd2b gene (Sh3pxd2bnee) on the progression of otitis media and hearing impairment at various developmental stages. We found that all mice that had the Sh3pxd2bnee mutation went on to develop craniofacial dysmorphologies and subsequently otitis media, by as early as 11 days of age. We found noteworthy changes in cilia and goblet cells of the middle ear mucosa in Sh3pxd2bnee mutant mice using scanning electronic microscopy. By measuring craniofacial dimensions, we determined for the first time in an animal model that this mouse has altered eustachian tube morphology consistent with a more horizontal position of the eustachian tube. All mutants were found to have hearing impairment. Expression of TNF-α and TLR2, which correlates with inflammation in otitis media, was up-regulated in the ears of mutant mice when examined by immunohistochemistry and semi-quantitative RT-PCR. The mouse model with a mutation in the Sh3pxd2b gene (Sh3pxd2bnee) mirrors craniofacial dysmorphology and otitis media in humans

Retention of progenitor cell phenotype in otospheres from guinea pig and mouse cochlea

Abstract\ud \ud Background\ud Culturing otospheres from dissociated organ of Corti is an appropriate starting point aiming at the development of cell therapy for hair cell loss. Although guinea pigs have been widely used as an excellent experimental model for studying the biology of the inner ear, the mouse cochlea has been more suitable for yielding otospheres in vitro. The aim of this study was to compare conditions and outcomes of otosphere suspension cultures from dissociated organ of Corti of either mouse or guinea pig at postnatal day three (P3), and to evaluate the guinea pig as a potential cochlea donor for preclinical cell therapy.\ud \ud \ud Methods\ud Organs of Corti were surgically isolated from P3 guinea pig or mouse cochlea, dissociated and cultivated under non-adherent conditions. Cultures were maintained in serum-free DMEM:F12 medium, supplemented with epidermal growth factor (EGF) plus either basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) or transforming growth factor alpha (TGFα). Immunofluorescence assays were conducted for phenotype characterization.\ud \ud \ud Results\ud The TGFα group presented a number of spheres significantly higher than the bFGF group. Although mouse cultures yielded more cells per sphere than guinea pig cultures, sox2 and nestin distributed similarly in otosphere cells from both organisms. We present evidence that otospheres retain properties of inner ear progenitor cells such as self-renewal, proliferation, and differentiation into hair cells or supporting cells.\ud \ud \ud Conclusions\ud Dissociated guinea pig cochlea produced otospheres in vitro, expressing sox2 and nestin similarly to mouse otospheres. Our data is supporting evidence for the presence of inner ear progenitor cells in the postnatal guinea pig. However, there is limited viability for these cells in neonatal guinea pig cochlea when compared to the differentiation potential observed for the mouse organ of Corti at the same developmental stage

Immunological Basis for the Gender Differences in Murine Paracoccidioides brasiliensis Infection

This study aimed to investigate the immunological mechanisms involved in the gender distinct incidence of paracoccidioidomycosis (pcm), an endemic systemic mycosis in Latin America, which is at least 10 times more frequent in men than in women. Then, we compared the immune response of male and female mice to Paracoccidioides brasiliensis infection, as well as the influence in the gender differences exerted by paracoccin, a P. brasiliensis component with carbohydrate recognition property. High production of Th1 cytokines and T-bet expression have been detected in the paracoccin stimulated cultures of spleen cells from infected female mice. In contrast, in similar experimental conditions, cells from infected males produced higher levels of the Th2 cytokines and expressed GATA-3. Macrophages from male and female mice when stimulated with paracoccin displayed similar phagocytic capability, while fungicidal activity was two times more efficiently performed by macrophages from female mice, a fact that was associated with 50% higher levels of nitric oxide production. In order to evaluate the role of sexual hormones in the observed gender distinction, we have utilized mice that have been submitted to gonadectomy followed by inverse hormonal reconstitution. Spleen cells derived from castrated males reconstituted with estradiol have produced higher levels of IFN-γ (1291±15 pg/mL) and lower levels of IL-10 (494±38 pg/mL), than normal male in response to paracoccin stimulus. In contrast, spleen cells from castrated female mice that had been treated with testosterone produced more IL-10 (1284±36 pg/mL) and less IFN-γ (587±14 pg/mL) than cells from normal female. In conclusion, our results reveal that the sexual hormones had a profound effect on the biology of immune cells, and estradiol favours protective responses to P. brasiliensis infection. In addition, fungal components, such as paracoccin, may provide additional support to the gender dimorphic immunity that marks P. brasiliensis infection

HE-LHC: The High-Energy Large Hadron Collider: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 4

In response to the 2013 Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (EPPSU), the Future Circular Collider (FCC) study was launched as a world-wide international collaboration hosted by CERN. The FCC study covered an energy-frontier hadron collider (FCC-hh), a highest-luminosity high-energy lepton collider (FCC-ee), the corresponding 100 km tunnel infrastructure, as well as the physics opportunities of these two colliders, and a high-energy LHC, based on FCC-hh technology. This document constitutes the third volume of the FCC Conceptual Design Report, devoted to the hadron collider FCC-hh. It summarizes the FCC-hh physics discovery opportunities, presents the FCC-hh accelerator design, performance reach, and staged operation plan, discusses the underlying technologies, the civil engineering and technical infrastructure, and also sketches a possible implementation. Combining ingredients from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the high-luminosity LHC upgrade and adding novel technologies and approaches, the FCC-hh design aims at significantly extending the energy frontier to 100 TeV. Its unprecedented centre-of-mass collision energy will make the FCC-hh a unique instrument to explore physics beyond the Standard Model, offering great direct sensitivity to new physics and discoveries