Seasonally dry tropical forests are distributed across Latin America and the Caribbean and are highly threatened, with less than 10% of their original extent remaining in many countries. Using 835 ...inventories covering 4660 species of woody plants, we show marked floristic turnover among inventories and regions, which may be higher than in other neotropical biomes, such as savanna. Such high floristic turnover indicates that numerous conservation areas across many countries will be needed to protect the full diversity of tropical dry forests. Our results provide a scientific framework within which national decision-makers can contextuaiize the floristic significance of their dry forest at a regional and continental scale.
Summary
Human Serum Albumin (HSA) accounts for 60% of the total protein in blood serum and it is the most widely used intravenous protein in a number of human therapies. HSA, however, is currently ...extracted only from blood because of a lack of commercially feasible recombinant expression systems. HSA is highly susceptible to proteolytic degradation in recombinant systems and is expensive to purify. Expression of HSA in transgenic chloroplasts using Shine‐Dalgarno sequence (SD), which usually facilitates hyper‐expression of transgenes, resulted only in 0.02% HSA in total protein (tp). Modification of HSA regulatory sequences using chloroplast untranslated regions (UTRs) resulted in hyper‐expression of HSA (up to 11.1% tp), compensating for excessive proteolytic degradation. This is the highest expression of a pharmaceutical protein in transgenic plants and 500‐fold greater than previous reports on HSA expression in transgenic leaves. Electron micrographs of immunogold labelled transgenic chloroplasts revealed HSA inclusion bodies, which provided a simple method for purification from other cellular proteins. HSA inclusion bodies could be readily solubilized to obtain a monomeric form using appropriate reagents. The regulatory elements used in this study should serve as a model system for enhancing expression of foreign proteins that are highly susceptible to proteolytic degradation and provide advantages in purification, when inclusion bodies are formed.
Genomic sequencing has driven precision-based oncology therapy; however, the genetic drivers of many malignancies remain unknown or non-targetable, so alternative approaches to the identification of ...therapeutic leads are necessary. Ependymomas are chemotherapy-resistant brain tumours, which, despite genomic sequencing, lack effective molecular targets. Intracranial ependymomas are segregated on the basis of anatomical location (supratentorial region or posterior fossa) and further divided into distinct molecular subgroups that reflect differences in the age of onset, gender predominance and response to therapy. The most common and aggressive subgroup, posterior fossa ependymoma group A (PF-EPN-A), occurs in young children and appears to lack recurrent somatic mutations. Conversely, posterior fossa ependymoma group B (PF-EPN-B) tumours display frequent large-scale copy number gains and losses but have favourable clinical outcomes. More than 70% of supratentorial ependymomas are defined by highly recurrent gene fusions in the NF-κB subunit gene RELA (ST-EPN-RELA), and a smaller number involve fusion of the gene encoding the transcriptional activator YAP1 (ST-EPN-YAP1). Subependymomas, a distinct histologic variant, can also be found within the supratetorial and posterior fossa compartments, and account for the majority of tumours in the molecular subgroups ST-EPN-SE and PF-EPN-SE. Here we describe mapping of active chromatin landscapes in 42 primary ependymomas in two non-overlapping primary ependymoma cohorts, with the goal of identifying essential super-enhancer-associated genes on which tumour cells depend. Enhancer regions revealed putative oncogenes, molecular targets and pathways; inhibition of these targets with small molecule inhibitors or short hairpin RNA diminished the proliferation of patient-derived neurospheres and increased survival in mouse models of ependymomas. Through profiling of transcriptional enhancers, our study provides a framework for target and drug discovery in other cancers that lack known genetic drivers and are therefore difficult to treat.
Reseñas de libros Daniel Migueláñez; Pablo Pesado Rodríguez; Christophe Herzog ...
Revista de literatura,
06/2021, Letnik:
83, Številka:
165
Journal Article
In April and May of 2016, Norway confirmed two cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in a wild reindeer and a wild moose, respectively. In the light of this emerging issue, the European Commission ...requested EFSA to recommend surveillance activities and, if necessary, additional animal health risk‐based measures to prevent the introduction of the disease and the spread into/within the EU, specifically Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Sweden, and considering seven wild, semidomesticated and farmed cervid species (Eurasian tundra reindeer, Finnish (Eurasian) forest reindeer, moose, roe deer, white‐tailed deer, red deer and fallow deer). It was also asked to assess any new evidence on possible public health risks related to CWD. A 3‐year surveillance system is proposed, differing for farmed and wild or semidomesticated cervids, with a two‐stage sampling programme at the farm/geographically based population unit level (random sampling) and individual level (convenience sampling targeting high‐risk animals). The current derogations of Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/1918 present a risk of introduction of CWD into the EU. Measures to prevent the spread of CWD within the EU are dependent upon the assumption that the disease is already present; this is currently unknown. The measures listed are intended to contain (limit the geographic extent of a focus) and/or to control (actively stabilise/reduce infection rates in an affected herd or population) the disease where it occurs. With regard to the zoonotic potential, the human species barrier for CWD prions does not appear to be absolute. These prions are present in the skeletal muscle and other edible tissues, so humans may consume infected material in enzootic areas. Epidemiological investigations carried out to date make no association between the occurrence of sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease in humans and exposure to CWD prions.
Immunotherapy and chemotherapy combinations have shown activity in endometrial cancer, with greater benefit in mismatch repair (MMR)-deficient (dMMR) than MMR-proficient (pMMR) disease. Adding a ...poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor may improve outcomes, especially in pMMR disease.
This phase III, global, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial randomly assigned eligible patients with newly diagnosed advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer 1:1:1 to: carboplatin/paclitaxel plus durvalumab placebo followed by placebo maintenance (control arm); carboplatin/paclitaxel plus durvalumab followed by maintenance durvalumab plus olaparib placebo (durvalumab arm); or carboplatin/paclitaxel plus durvalumab followed by maintenance durvalumab plus olaparib (durvalumab + olaparib arm). The primary end points were progression-free survival (PFS) in the durvalumab arm versus control and the durvalumab + olaparib arm versus control.
Seven hundred eighteen patients were randomly assigned. In the intention-to-treat population, statistically significant PFS benefit was observed in the durvalumab (hazard ratio HR, 0.71 95% CI, 0.57 to 0.89;
= .003) and durvalumab + olaparib arms (HR, 0.55 95% CI, 0.43 to 0.69;
< .0001) versus control. Prespecified, exploratory subgroup analyses showed PFS benefit in dMMR (HR durvalumab
control, 0.42 95% CI, 0.22 to 0.80; HR durvalumab + olaparib
control, 0.41 95% CI, 0.21 to 0.75) and pMMR subgroups (HR durvalumab
control, 0.77 95% CI, 0.60 to 0.97; HR durvalumab + olaparib
control 0.57; 95% CI, 0.44 to 0.73); and in PD-L1-positive subgroups (HR durvalumab
control, 0.63 95% CI, 0.48 to 0.83; HR durvalumab + olaparib
control, 0.42 95% CI, 0.31 to 0.57). Interim overall survival results (maturity approximately 28%) were supportive of the primary outcomes (durvalumab
control: HR, 0.77 95% CI, 0.56 to 1.07;
= .120; durvalumab + olaparib
control: HR, 0.59 95% CI, 0.42 to 0.83;
= .003). The safety profiles of the experimental arms were generally consistent with individual agents.
Carboplatin/paclitaxel plus durvalumab followed by maintenance durvalumab with or without olaparib demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful PFS benefit in patients with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer.
The thermal spring of Fetida Cave, a still active sulfuric acid cave opening at sea level and located in Santa Cesarea Terme, southeastern Salento (Apulia region, Southern Italy) hosts abundant ...floating white filaments. The white filaments were mainly composed of sulfur crystals surrounded by microbial mass of the phyla Epsilonbacteraeota, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Patescibacteria. The most abundant genus in the white filaments collected from the waters in the innermost part of the cave dominated by sulfidic exhalations was Arcobacter. This abundance can be related to the higher concentration of sulfide dissolved in water, and low oxygen and pH values. Conversely, lower Arcobacter abundances were obtained in the filaments collected in the entrance and middle part of the cave, where sulfidic water mixes with seawater, as the cave is subjected to tides and the mixing of fresh (continental) with marine water. The geochemical analysis of water and atmospheric gases confirmed these environmental constraints. In fact, the highest concentrations of H2S in the air and water were recorded closest to the spring upwelling in the innermost part of the cave, and the lowest ones near the cave entrance. The metabolic versatility of Arcobacter might provide a competitive advantage in the colonization of water bodies characterized by high sulfide, low oxygen, and dynamic fluid movement.
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•Fetida Cave, Italy, is an active sulfuric acid cave opening at sea level.•The innermost part of the cave is highly influenced by sulfide exhalations.•The cave hosts abundant floating white filaments.•The filaments are dominated by Arcobacter (Epsilonbacteraeota).•Sulfide dissolved in water, low oxygen and acidic pH promote Arcobacter growth.
The European Commission asked EFSA for a scientific opinion on chronic wasting disease in two parts. Part one, on surveillance, animal health risk‐based measures and public health risks, was ...published in January 2017. This opinion (part two) addresses the remaining Terms of Reference, namely, ‘are the conclusions and recommendations in the EFSA opinion of June 2004 on diagnostic methods for chronic wasting disease still valid? If not, an update should be provided’, and ‘update the conclusions of the 2010 EFSA opinion on the results of the European Union survey on chronic wasting disease in cervids, as regards its occurrence in the cervid population in the European Union’. Data on the performance of authorised rapid tests in North America are not comprehensive, and are more limited than those available for the tests approved for statutory transmissible spongiform encephalopathies surveillance applications in cattle and sheep. There are no data directly comparing available rapid test performances in cervids. The experience in Norway shows that the Bio‐Rad TeSeE™ SAP test, immunohistochemistry and western blotting have detected reindeer, moose and red deer cases. It was shown that testing both brainstem and lymphoid tissue from each animal increases the surveillance sensitivity. Shortcomings in the previous EU survey limited the reliability of inferences that could be made about the potential disease occurrence in Europe. Subsequently, testing activity in Europe was low, until the detection of the disease in Norway, triggering substantial testing efforts in that country. Available data neither support nor refute the conclusion that chronic wasting disease does not occur widely in the EU and do not preclude the possibility that the disease was present in Europe before the survey was conducted. It appears plausible that chronic wasting disease could have become established in Norway more than a decade ago.
Los procesos de flotación por aire disuelto (DAF) han sido probados con eficacia para remover hidrocarburos y materia suspendida en una gran variedad de aguas residuales, incluyendo las que originan ...las actividades de producción y refinación de petróleo. Los sistemas DAF utilizan los coagulantes normalmente empleados en los sedimentadores por gravedad. Se considera que las moléculas orgánicas con alto peso molecular (10 4 ) son removidas con hierro o aluminio, si se emplea el pH y dosis óptima. El tratamiento mediante flotación por aire disuelto para las aguas residuales provenientes de una refinería de petróleo se realizó c on el objetivo de disminuir la carga contaminante de las aguas oleosas originadas en el proceso de separación por gravedad. Los ensayos del proceso se efectuaron en equipo de flotación por aire disuelto (DAF) de fabricación japonesa, donde se evaluaron los productos comerciales policloruro de aluminio (PAC) y sulfato de aluminio con un floculantes comercial (CS 610). El proceso DAF se evaluó con los fluidos a tres temperaturas para conocer su sensibilidad a este parámetro, la presión de operación y el % de recirculación óptimos. Se logró disminuir la carga contaminante en las aguas residuales de la refinería con el tratamiento mediante flotación por aire disuelto aplicado, obteniendo una remoción de más de 93% para la materia suspendida, de 95% para hidrocarburos totales y 98% para turbidez para el par coagulante/floculante seleccionado.
The Circular Mausoleum tomb in the Roman Necropolis of Carmona was carved on a calcarenite sequence in an ancient quarry located in the town of Carmona, Southern Spain. This rock-cut tomb, ...representative of Roman burial practices, currently suffers from serious deterioration. A detailed survey over several years permitted the identification of the main tomb's pathologies and damaging processes, which include loss of material (scaling, flaking, granular disintegration), surface modifications (efflorescences, crusts and deposits) and extensive biological colonization. The results obtained in this study indicated that anthropogenic changes were largely responsible and enhanced the main alteration mechanisms observed in the Circular Mausoleum. Based on the deterioration diagnosis, effective corrective actions were proposed. This study shows that any conservative intervention in the interior of the tomb should be preceded by accurate in situ measurements and laboratory analyses to ascribe the source of the deterioration damages and thus designing effective treatments.
•The Circular Mausoleum, Carmona Necropolis, Spain, was carved on a calcarenite bed•This tomb, representative of Roman burial practices, suffered serious deterioration•A detailed survey permitted the identification of the tomb's damaging processes•Anthropogenic changes enhanced the deterioration mechanisms•Based on the deterioration diagnosis, effective corrective actions were proposed
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