Abstract Objectives To evaluate whether (1) the absolute magnitude of liver function test values, (2) the percentage change in liver function test values over time, or (3) the rate of change in liver ...function test values over time predicts adverse maternal outcomes in women with preeclampsia. Methods We used data from the PIERS (Pre-eclampsia Integrated Estimate of RiSk) study, a prospective multicentre cohort study assessing predictors of adverse maternal outcomes in women with preeclampsia. Women with at least one liver function test performed at the time of hospital admission were included. Liver functions were tested by serum concentrations of aspartate amino transferase (AST), alanine amino transferase (ALT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), albumin, total bilirubin, and the international normalized prothrombin time ratio. Parameters investigated were absolute levels, change within 48 hours of hospital admission, change from admission to delivery or outcome, and rate of change from admission to delivery or outcome of each liver function test. The ability of these parameters to predict adverse outcomes was assessed using logistic regression analyses and by calculating the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) area under the curve (AUC). Results Of the 2008 women, 1056 (53%) had at least one abnormal liver function test result. The odds of having an adverse maternal outcome were higher in women with any abnormal liver function test than in women with normal results. When test results were stratified into quartiles, women with results in the highest quartile (lowest quartile for albumin) were at higher risk of adverse outcomes than women in the lowest quartile for all parameters (highest for albumin). The absolute magnitude of AST, ALT, and LDH predicted adverse maternal outcomes (AST: ROC AUC 0.73 95% CI 0.67 to 0.97; ALT: ROC AUC 0.73 95% CI 0.67 to 0.79; LDH: ROC AUC 0.74 95% CI 0.68 to 0.81). Neither change of liver function test results, within 48 hours of admission or from admission to delivery or outcome, nor rate of change were predictive. Conclusion We found abnormal liver function test results to be associated with an increased risk for adverse maternal outcomes. Levels of AST, ALT, and LDH were found to be modestly predictive of these outcomes.
Abstract Objective We sought to determine the role of respiratory assessment by cardiorespiratory symptoms and/or oxygen saturation by pulse oximetry (SpO2 ) in predicting adverse maternal outcomes ...in women admitted to hospital with preeclampsia. Methods These data derive from an international, prospective multicentre cohort study, PIERS (Pre-eclampsia Integrated Estimate of RiSk), which assesses predictors of adverse outcomes in women admitted to tertiary perinatal units with preeclampsia. Univariate and multivariate analyses of cardiorespiratory symptoms and pulse oximetry were performed to assess their ability to predict a combined adverse maternal outcome developed through international Delphi consensus. Results SpO2 successfully predicted adverse maternal outcomes; the area under the receiver-operator characteristic curve (AUC ROC) was 0.71 (95% CI 0.65 to 0.77). Combining the symptoms of chest pain and/or dyspnea with pulse oximetry improved this predictive ability (AUC ROC 0.73; 95% CI 0.67 to 0.78). When SpO2 was stratified into risk groups using inflection points on the ROC curve, the highest risk group (SpO2 90% to 93%) had an odds ratio of 18.1 (95% CI 8.2 to 40.2) for all outcomes within 48 hours when compared with the baseline group (SpO2 98% to 100%). Conclusion Assessing SpO2 aids in the assessment of maternal risk in women admitted to hospital with preeclampsia. An SpO2 value of ≤ 93% confers particular risk. The symptom complex of chest pain and/or dyspnea adds to the association.
Ascidians are marine invertebrates associated with diverse microbial communities, embedded in their tunic, conferring special ecological and biotechnological relevance to these model organisms used ...in evolutionary and developmental studies. Next-generation sequencing tools have increased the knowledge of ascidians' associated organisms and their products, but proteomic studies are still scarce. Hence, we explored the tunic of three ascidian species using a shotgun proteomics approach. Proteins extracted from the tunic of
sp.,
sp., and
sp. were processed using a nano LC-MS/MS system (Ultimate 3000 liquid chromatography system coupled to a Q-Exactive Hybrid Quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometer). Raw data was searched against UniProtKB - the Universal Protein Resource Knowledgebase (Bacteria and Metazoa section) using Proteome Discoverer software. The resulting proteins were merged with a non-redundant Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs) database and analysed with MaxQuant freeware. Overall, 337 metazoan and 106 bacterial proteins were identified being mainly involved in basal metabolism, cytoskeletal and catalytic functions. 37 AMPs were identified, most of them attributed to eukaryotic origin apart from bacteriocins. These results and the presence of "Biosynthesis of antibiotics" as one of the most highlighted pathways revealed the tunic as a very active tissue in terms of bioactive compounds production, giving insights on the interactions between host and associated organisms. Although the present work constitutes an exploratory study, the approach employed revealed high potential for high-throughput characterization and biodiscovery of the ascidians' tunic and its microbiome.
Diarrhetic shellfish toxins (DSTs) are among the most prevalent marine toxins in Europe's and in other temperate coastal regions. These toxins are produced by several dinoflagellate species; however, ...the contamination of the marine trophic chain is often attributed to species of the genus
. This group of toxins, constituted by okadaic acid (OA) and analogous molecules (dinophysistoxins, DTXs), are highly harmful to humans, causing severe poisoning symptoms caused by the ingestion of contaminated seafood. Knowledge on the mode of action and toxicology of OA and the chemical characterization and accumulation of DSTs in seafood species (bivalves, gastropods and crustaceans) has significantly contributed to understand the impacts of these toxins in humans. Considerable information is however missing, particularly at the molecular and metabolic levels involving toxin uptake, distribution, compartmentalization and biotransformation and the interaction of DSTs with aquatic organisms. Recent contributions to the knowledge of DSTs arise from transcriptomics and proteomics research. Indeed, OMICs constitute a research field dedicated to the systematic analysis on the organisms' metabolisms. The methodologies used in OMICs are also highly effective to identify critical metabolic pathways affecting the physiology of the organisms. In this review, we analyze the main contributions provided so far by OMICs to DSTs research and discuss the prospects of OMICs with regard to the DSTs toxicology and the significance of these toxins to public health, food safety and aquaculture.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a public health problem driven by myofibroblast accumulation, leading to interstitial fibrosis. Heterogeneity is a recently recognized characteristic in kidney ...fibroblasts in CKD, but the role of different populations is still unclear. Here, we characterize a proinflammatory fibroblast population (named CXCL-iFibro), which corresponds to an early state of myofibroblast differentiation in CKD. We demonstrate that CXCL-iFibro co-localize with macrophages in the kidney and participate in their attraction, accumulation, and switch into FOLR2+ macrophages from early CKD stages on. In vitro, macrophages promote the switch of CXCL-iFibro into ECM-secreting myofibroblasts through a WNT/β-catenin-dependent pathway, thereby suggesting a reciprocal crosstalk between these populations of fibroblasts and macrophages. Finally, the detection of CXCL-iFibro at early stages of CKD is predictive of poor patient prognosis, which shows that the CXCL-iFibro population is an early player in CKD progression and demonstrates the clinical relevance of our findings.
Leg ulcers are a major complication of sickle cell disease (SCD). They are particularly challenging to treat and innovative therapies are needed. We previously showed that the healing of SCD ulcers ...is delayed because of decreased angiogenesis. During pregnancy, fetal microchimeric cells (FMC) transferred to the mother are recruited to maternal wounds and improve angiogenesis. After delivery, FMC persist in maternal bone marrow for decades. Here, we investigated whether fetal cells could also improve SCD ulcers in the post-partum setting. We found that skin healing was similarly improved in post-partum mice and in pregnant mice, through increased proliferation and angiogenesis. In a SCD mouse model that recapitulates refractory SCD ulcers, we showed that the ulcers of post-partum SCD mice healed more quickly than those of virgin mice. This was associated with the recruitment of fetal cells in maternal wounds where they harbored markers of leukocytes and endothelial cells. In a retrospective cohort of SCD patients, using several parameters we found that SCD women who had ever had a baby had less of a burden related to leg ulcers compared to nulliparous women. Taken together, these results indicate that healing capacities of FMC are maintained long after delivery and may be exploited to promote wound healing in post-partum SCD patients.
El factor de atención emocional ha sido reportado con frecuencia negativamente asociado con indicadores de salud mental; al contrario de los resultados obtenidos con los factores de claridad y de ...reparación emocional. Los objetivos del estudio fueron examinar las relaciones entre atención, claridad y reparación emocional con los factores de respuestas rumiativas y determinar si la relación entre la atención emocional y rumiación varía de acuerdo con los niveles de atención, claridad y reparación emocional en estudiantes universitarios de Lima, Perú. Para ello, primero se realizó un estudio de la estructura factorial y la confiabilidad de la tmms-24 y de la Escala de Respuestas Rumiativas, en 320 estudiantes de una universidad pública de Lima, Perú. Segundo, se llevó a cabo un estudio correlacional mediante la aplicación de ambos instrumentos a 529 estudiantes de la misma universidad. En la muestra total se obtuvo que ambos factores de rumiación correlacionaron positivamente con atención emocional, pero solo reproche correlacionó con claridad y con reparación, siendo tal correlación negativa. Para determinar si la relación positiva entre atención y rumiación varía con los niveles de atención, claridad y reparación, se compararon las correlaciones entre atención y rumiación correspondientes a los grupos de baja, media y alta atención, claridad y reparación. Estas comparaciones mostraron que la relación entre atención y los factores de rumiación variaban solo en función del nivel de reparación. Los resultados indican diferencias importantes en la manera en que se relaciona cada factor de rumiación con la atención emocional, por un lado, y con la claridad y la reparación emocional, por el otro.
This article brings a practical solution to the problem of spectral peak detection in nonuniform spectra. It applies a robust probabilistic approach that fits the histogram of trimmed spectral data ...with a truncated Gamma distribution. The estimated distribution parameters are used to derive a threshold through a hypothesis test in the presence of peaks. The proposed approach gains its robustness from the formulation of the no-peak distribution, while no knowledge is available about the amount of peaks in spectral data. The authors propose a preprocessing step to cope with a nonuniform spectrum. The proposed methodology is validated on both simulated and experimental vibration and acoustic signals.
Cnidarian constitutes a great source of bioactive compounds. However, research involving peptides from organisms belonging to the order Zoanthidea has received very little attention, contrasting to ...the numerous studies of the order Actiniaria, from which hundreds of toxic peptides and proteins have been reported. In this work, we performed a mass spectrometry analysis of a low molecular weight (LMW) fraction previously reported as lethal to mice. The low molecular weight (LMW) fraction was obtained by gel filtration of a Zoanthus sociatus (order Zoanthidea) crude extract with a Sephadex G-50, and then analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight/time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF/TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) in positive ion reflector mode from m/z 700 to m/z 4000. Afterwards, some of the most intense and representative MS ions were fragmented by MS/MS with no significant results obtained by Protein Pilot protein identification software and the Mascot algorithm search. However, microcystin masses were detected by mass-matching against libraries of non-ribosomal peptide database (NORINE). Subsequent reversed-phase C18 HPLC (in isocratic elution mode) and mass spectrometry analyses corroborated the presence of the cyanotoxin Microcystin-LR (MC-LR). To the best of our knowledge, this finding constitutes the first report of MC-LR in Z. sociatus, and one of the few evidences of such cyanotoxin in cnidarians.
Bedrock in arctic and subarctic regions is covered by glacial deposits making the discovery of new mineral deposits difficult. Indicator mineral methods using glacial sediment have thus been ...developed for mineral exploration in such drift-covered areas. However, sulfide indicator minerals have been under utilized because it was thought that they would not survive glacial transport and post-depositional oxidation during soil formation. In this contribution we show that the 0.25–1 mm non-ferromagnetic heavy mineral concentrates of Quaternary till and esker samples from the Churchill province in northern Quebec, Canada, contain thousands of pyrite and chalcopyrite grains and a few sulfarsenide grains. Accordingly, sulfide minerals do survive glacial and glaciofluvial transport, even in the relatively oxidizing environment of the eskers, and their presence indicates the potential presence of mineralized bedrock up ice. The study area is therefore ideal to test the use of sulfide mineral chemistry for mineral assessment and vectoring. The composition of the pyrite and chalcopyrite grains recovered from the glacial deposits have been determined by LA-ICP-MS and compared with known values for sulfides in magmatic and hydrothermal deposits. Although some elements (e.g. Ag, Cu, Zn, Pb, W, Ba, La, and Yb) are enriched in narrow rims on some sulfide grains, indicating their limited mobility during oxidation, most elements have not been mobilized and reflect initial sulfide compositions in bedrock sources. The binary diagram Co/Sb versus Se/As shows that most of the pyrite grains in surficial sediments are of magmatic origin although some are from hydrothermal sources. The hydrothermal pyrites are enriched in hydrothermal pathfinders (Au, Hg, Ag, Tl, Pb, Zn, Cu, and Mo). The ternary diagram Se-Cd-Ni shows that chalcopyrites from both magmatic and hydrothermal deposits are present in glacial sediments. The high Cd/Zn ratios of the hydrothermal chalcopyrites are indicative of a high crystallization temperature, typical of metamorphosed VMS or SEDEX deposits. Integrated maps combining bedrock geology, glacial transport directions, sample locations, and sulfide grain compositions and populations can be used to delineate target sectors for mineral exploration. Here sulfides have been transported over ~100 km roughly towards north, from sources in the Rachel-Laporte Zone and the Labrador Trough, where metasedimentary/metavolcanic rocks and mafic/ultramafic intrusive rocks are favorable hosts for hydrothermal and magmatic mineralization, respectively.
•Sulfides survive in glacial sediments and can be transported over important distances.•We use LA-ICP-MS to quantify and map the trace element content of the sulfides.•We develop new discrimination diagrams for pyrite and chalcopyrite.•Sulfides come from both magmatic Ni-Cu and metamorphosed VMS/SEDEX sources.•Integrated maps indicate sulfide sources in the Rachel-Laporte Zone/Labrador Trough.
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