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Epstein Wong opublikował 5 miesięcy, 2 tygodnie temu
Diversity in the NS2B gene, however, showed to be constrained, irrespective of clinical outcome and infection time. Finally, 385 non-synonymous intrahost single-nucleotide variants located along the viral polyprotein, plus variants located in the untranslated regions, were consistently identified among the samples. Of them, 124 were exclusively or highly detected among cases with warning signs and among severe cases. However, there was no variant that by itself appeared to characterize the cases of greater severity, either due to its low intrahost frequency or the conservative effect on amino acid substitution. Although further studies are necessary to determine their real effect on viral proteins, this heightens the possibility of epistatic interactions. The present analysis represents an initial effort to correlate DENV-2 genetic diversity to its pathogenic potential and thus contribute to understanding the virus’s dynamics within its human host.Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and multiple sclerosis are neurodegenerative diseases related by neuronal degeneration and death in specific areas of the central nervous system. These pathologies are associated with neuroinflammation, which is involved in disease progression, and halting this process represents a potential therapeutic strategy. Evidence suggests that microglia function is regulated by A1 and A2A adenosine receptors (AR), which are considered as neuroprotective and neurodegenerative receptors, respectively. The manuscript’s aim is to elucidate the role of these receptors in neuroinflammation modulation through potent and selective A1AR agonists (N6-cyclopentyl-2′- or 3′-deoxyadenosine substituted or unsubstituted in 2 position) and A2AAR antagonists (9-ethyl-adenine substituted in 8 and/or in 2 position), synthesized in house, using N13 microglial cells. In addition, the combined therapy of A1AR agonists and A2AAR antagonists to modulate neuroinflammation was evaluated. Results showed that A1AR agonists were able, to varying degrees, to prevent the inflammatory effect induced by cytokine cocktail (tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, and interferon (IFN)-γ), while A2AAR antagonists showed a good ability to counteract neuroinflammation. Moreover, the effect achieved by combining the two most effective compounds (1 and 6) in doses previously found to be non-effective was greater than the treatment effect of each of the two compounds used separately at maximal dose.Fungal mycoses have become an important health and environmental concern due to the numerous deleterious side effects on the well-being of plants and humans. Antifungal therapy is limited, expensive, and unspecific (causes toxic effects), thus, more efficient alternatives need to be developed. In this work, Copper (I) Iodide (CuI) nanomaterials (NMs) were synthesized and fully characterized, aiming to develop efficient antifungal agents. The bioactivity of CuI NMs was evaluated using Sporothrix schenckii and Candida albicans as model organisms. CuI NMs were prepared as powders and as colloidal suspensions by a two-step reaction first, the CuI2 controlled precipitation, followed by hydrazine reduction. Biopolymers (Arabic gum and chitosan) were used as surfactants to control the size of the CuI materials and to enhance its antifungal activity. The materials (powders and colloids) were characterized by SEM-EDX and AFM. The materials exhibit a hierarchical 3D shell morphology composed of ordered nanostructures. Excellent antifungal activity is shown by the NMs against pathogenic fungal strains, due to the simultaneous and multiple mechanisms of the composites to combat fungi. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) of CuI-AG and CuI-Chitosan are below 50 μg/mL (with 5 h of exposition). Optical and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) analyses demonstrate the capability of the materials to disrupt biofilm formation. AFM also demonstrates the ability of the materials to adhere and penetrate fungal cells, followed by their lysis and death. Following the concept of safe by design, the biocompatibility of the materials was tested. The hemolytic activity of the materials was evaluated using red blood cells. Our results indicate that the materials show an excellent antifungal activity at lower doses of hemolytic disruption.Rare hereditary anemias (RHA) represent a group of disorders characterized by either impaired production of erythrocytes or decreased survival (i.e., hemolysis). In RHA, the regulation of iron metabolism and erythropoiesis is often disturbed, leading to iron overload or worsening of chronic anemia due to unavailability of iron for erythropoiesis. Whereas iron overload generally is a well-recognized complication in patients requiring regular blood transfusions, it is also a significant problem in a large proportion of patients with RHA that are not transfusion dependent. This indicates that RHA share disease-specific defects in erythroid development that are linked to intrinsic defects in iron metabolism. In this review, we discuss the key regulators involved in the interplay between iron and erythropoiesis and their importance in the spectrum of RHA.This paper aims to investigate failures induced by vibrations on machines, focusing on agricultural ones. The research on literature has brought to light a considerable amount of data on the driven vehicles and not much on the operating machines, including the ones that we looked for. For this reason, it was decided to direct a survey with the people who work with agricultural machinery every day operators, sub-contractors, and producers. They were asked about the most frequent breakage, particularly in relation to the rotary harrow, the topic of this work. The questionnaire results showed the types of failures the harrow is most vulnerable to, indicating the times of failure and reparation and the need to set up a potentially useful preventive maintenance supporting system on these machines. Part of the work was then focused on the proposition of a method to investigate bearing failures in the rotary harrow, considering that these have been analyzed in the technical literature and in the survey as the most at-risk components. The proposed method in this work serves as a beginning for the development of a future on board sent-shore-based maintenance system for continuous monitoring of the bearing.Using 642 forest plots from three regions in Germany, we analyzed the direct and indirect effects of forest management intensity and of environmental variables on lichen functional diversity (FDis). Environmental stand variables were affected by management intensity and acted as an environmental filter summing direct and indirect effects resulted in a negative total effect of conifer cover on FDis, and a positive total effect of deadwood cover and standing tree biomass. Management intensity had a direct positive effect on FDis, which was compensated by an indirect negative effect via reduced standing tree biomass and lichen species richness, resulting in a negative total effect on FDis and the FDis of adaptation-related traits (FDisAd). This indicates environmental filtering of management and stronger niche partitioning at a lower intensity. In contrast, management intensity had a positive total effect on the FDis of reproduction-, dispersal- and establishment-related traits (FDisRe), mainly because of the direct negative effect of species richness, indicating functional over-redundancy, i.e., most species cluster into a few over-represented functional entities. Our findings have important implications for forest management high lichen functional diversity can be conserved by promoting old, site-typical deciduous forests with a high richness of woody species and large deadwood quantity.Hanseniaspora vineae is a non-Saccharomyces yeast that has a powerful impact on the sensory profile of wines. Its effect on the aromatic profile of non-aromatic grape varieties, such as Albillo Mayor (Vitis vinifera, L), during vinification is a useful biotechnology to improve sensory complexity. Fermentation in steel barrels using Hanseniaspora vineae and sequential inoculation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been used to study the formation of terpenes and cell lysis in the production of Albillo white wines. The GC-MS analysis profile shows a significant effect of H. vineae fermentation on the contents of terpenes (≈×3), mainly in linalool (>×3), β-citronellol (>×4), geraniol (>×2) and α-terpineol (≈×2). The contents of several polyoxygenated terpenes and some volatile phenols with a spicy aroma were increased during fermentation. In summary, Hanseniaspora vineae releases a large number of cell wall polysaccharides during fermentation that affect wine palatability and structure. Hanseniaspora vineae is a powerful bio-tool to enhance the fruitiness, floral notes and freshness in non-aromatic white varieties.The ground motion of an earthquake or the ambient motion of a large engineered structure not only has translational motion, but it also includes rotation around all three axes. No current sensor can record all six components, while the fusion of individual instruments that could provide such recordings, such as accelerometers or Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers, and rotational sensors, is non-trivial. We propose achieving such a fusion via a six-component (6C) Kalman filter (KF) that is suitable for structural monitoring applications, as well as earthquake monitoring. In order to develop and validate this methodology, we have set up an experimental case study, relying on the use of an industrial six-axis robot arm, on which the instruments are mounted. The robot simulates the structural motion resulting atop a wind-excited wind turbine tower. The quality of the 6C KF reconstruction is assessed by comparing the estimated response to the feedback system of the robot, which performed the experiments. The fusion of rotational information yields significant improvement for both the acceleration recordings but also the GNSS positions, as evidenced via the substantial reduction of the RMSE, expressed as the difference between the KF predictions and robot feedback. This work puts forth, for the first time, a KF-based fusion for all six motion components, validated against a high-precision ground truth measurement. The proposed filter formulation is able to exploit the strengths of each instrument and recover more precise motion estimates that can be exploited for multiple purposes.Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a severe cardiovascular disease that is caused by the progressive occlusion of the distal pulmonary arteries, eventually leading to right heart failure and death. Almost 40% of patients with PAH are iron deficient. Although widely studied, the mechanisms linking between PAH and iron deficiency remain unclear. Here we review the mechanisms regulating iron homeostasis and the preclinical and clinical data available on iron deficiency in PAH. Then we discuss the potential implications of iron deficiency on the development and management of PAH.A challenging debate has arisen on the role of veterinary expertise in facing the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. It seems totally unreasonable that in most countries, veterinary diagnostic and tracing forces were not deployed at the start to perform strategic tasks, which could have mitigated the outcome of this dramatic health emergency. Erasing the invisible line between human and veterinary virology will empower the response to future pandemics.