Propolis has various pharmacological properties of clinical interest, and is also considered a functional food. In particular, hydroalcoholic extracts of red propolis (HERP), together with its ...isoflavonoid formononetin, have recognized antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, with known added value against dyslipidemia. In this study, we report the gastroprotective effects of HERP (50-500 mg/kg, p.o.) and formononetin (10 mg/kg, p.o.) in ethanol and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug-induced models of rat ulcer. The volume, pH, and total acidity were the evaluated gastric secretion parameters using the pylorus ligature model, together with the assessment of gastric mucus contents. The anti-
activities of HERP were evaluated using the agar-well diffusion method. In our experiments, HERP (250 and 500 mg/kg) and formononetin (10 mg/kg) reduced (
< 0.001) total lesion areas in the ethanol-induced rat ulcer model, and reduced (
< 0.05) ulcer indices in the indomethacin-induced rat ulcer model. Administration of HERP and formononetin to pylorus ligature models significantly decreased (
< 0.01) gastric secretion volumes and increased (
< 0.05) mucus production. We have also shown the antioxidant and anti-
activities of HERP. The obtained results indicate that HERP and formononetin are gastroprotective in acute ulcer models, suggesting a prominent role of formononetin in the effects of HERP.
Most consensus leukemia & lymphoma antibody panels consist of lists of markers based on expert opinions, but they have not been validated. Here we present the validated EuroFlow 8-color antibody ...panels for immunophenotyping of hematological malignancies. The single-tube screening panels and multi-tube classification panels fit into the EuroFlow diagnostic algorithm with entries defined by clinical and laboratory parameters. The panels were constructed in 2-7 sequential design-evaluation-redesign rounds, using novel Infinicyt software tools for multivariate data analysis. Two groups of markers are combined in each 8-color tube: (i) backbone markers to identify distinct cell populations in a sample, and (ii) markers for characterization of specific cell populations. In multi-tube panels, the backbone markers were optimally placed at the same fluorochrome position in every tube, to provide identical multidimensional localization of the target cell population(s). The characterization markers were positioned according to the diagnostic utility of the combined markers. Each proposed antibody combination was tested against reference databases of normal and malignant cells from healthy subjects and WHO-based disease entities, respectively. The EuroFlow studies resulted in validated and flexible 8-color antibody panels for multidimensional identification and characterization of normal and aberrant cells, optimally suited for immunophenotypic screening and classification of hematological malignancies.
The EU-supported EuroFlow Consortium aimed at innovation and standardization of immunophenotyping for diagnosis and classification of hematological malignancies by introducing 8-color flow cytometry ...with fully standardized laboratory procedures and antibody panels in order to achieve maximally comparable results among different laboratories. This required the selection of optimal combinations of compatible fluorochromes and the design and evaluation of adequate standard operating procedures (SOPs) for instrument setup, fluorescence compensation and sample preparation. Additionally, we developed software tools for the evaluation of individual antibody reagents and antibody panels. Each section describes what has been evaluated experimentally versus adopted based on existing data and experience. Multicentric evaluation demonstrated high levels of reproducibility based on strict implementation of the EuroFlow SOPs and antibody panels. Overall, the 6 years of extensive collaborative experiments and the analysis of hundreds of cell samples of patients and healthy controls in the EuroFlow centers have provided for the first time laboratory protocols and software tools for fully standardized 8-color flow cytometric immunophenotyping of normal and malignant leukocytes in bone marrow and blood; this has yielded highly comparable data sets, which can be integrated in a single database.
To examine the association between caffeine intake, cognitive decline, and incident dementia in a community-based sample of subjects aged 65 years and over.
Participants were 4,197 women and 2,820 ...men from a population-based cohort recruited from three French cities. Cognitive performance, clinical diagnosis of dementia, and caffeine consumption were evaluated at baseline and at 2 and 4 year follow-up.
Caffeine consumption is associated with a wide range of sociodemographic, lifestyle, and clinical variables which may also affect cognitive decline. Multivariate mixed models and multivariate adjusted logistic regression indicated that women with high rates of caffeine consumption (over three cups per day) showed less decline in verbal retrieval (OR = 0.67, CI = 0.53, 0.85), and to a lesser extent in visuospatial memory (OR = 0.82, CI = 0.65, 1.03) over 4 years than women consuming one cup or less. The protective effect of caffeine was observed to increase with age (OR = 0.73, CI = 0.53, 1.02 in the age range 65 to 74; OR = 0.3, CI = 0.14, 0.63 in the range 80+). No relation was found between caffeine intake and cognitive decline in men. Caffeine consumption did not reduce dementia risk over 4 years.
The psychostimulant properties of caffeine appear to reduce cognitive decline in women without dementia, especially at higher ages. Although no impact is observed on dementia incidence, further studies are required to ascertain whether caffeine may nonetheless be of potential use in prolonging the period of mild cognitive impairment in women prior to a diagnosis of dementia.
In Latin America, the so-called informal sector associated with family farming and the agroecology movements were instrumental at coping with and adapting to the COVID-19 challenges.
To assess the ...nature and extent of the early initiatives (first three months) deployed by this informal sector to cope with and adapt to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food production and consumption in several countries of the region.
We used key used informant consultation (n = 168), an online survey (n = 125) and the detailed characterisation of regional case studies (n = 4). Textual data was analysed and categorised using Reinert’s method, combined with similarity analysis.
65% of the initiatives were ‘local’ in terms of geographic reach, 30% of them started within the first month after the pandemic and most of them were urban or urban-rural, whereas only 29% of them were exclusively rural. The analysis of the textual information captured through the survey revealed four major types of initiatives that were deployed or adapted in response to COVID-19:1.Direct producer-to-consumer food sales, generally existing before the COVID-19 crisis but adapted/strengthened to cope with it;2.Short value chains that linked rural and urban organisations and individuals supported by national or local governments, readapted through new health and safety protocols;3.Newly developed support and training programs on sustainable food production for self-consumption or local commerce, in rural, urban or peri-urban settings;4.Food assistance and aid initiatives focusing on vulnerable populations, relying on solidarity networks associated with the agroecological movement.
The pandemic highlighted the key role played by local food systems and value chains and the need to strengthening them through public policies, as a way to build food resilience in times of crisis.
Responses to the COVID-19 crisis from family farming in Latin America. Photos from the initiatives were provided by the survey respondents with the corresponding consent for their use. Display omitted
•The alternative, informal sectors of the food system reacted early than at the onset of COVID-19 pandemic.•The family agriculture sector deployed new ways of producing and marketing food to cope with COVID-19.•The agroecology movement contributed organizational and capacity development among producers and consumers.•New producer-consumer partnerships and short food chains emerged that bring benefits beyond COVID-19 adaptation.•The COVID-19 pandemic connected people with food, people with farming, and people with people.
•High values of entropy change (ΔS) under relatively low magnetic fields.•Large magnetic-field-induced ΔS between ferromagnetic structures.•A magnetostructural transformation with ΔS = −12.6 Jkg−1K−1 ...at 300 K for 0–1 T.
Polycrystalline Heusler compounds Ni2Mn0.75Cu0.25Ga0.84Al0.16, with a martensitic transition between ferromagnetic phases, and Ni2Mn0.70Cu0.30Ga0.84Al0.16, with a magnetostructural transformation, were investigated by magnetization and heat capacity measurements, both as a function of temperature and magnetic field. The compound Ni2Mn0.75Cu0.25Ga0.84Al0.16 presents a large magnetocaloric effect at a transition between magnetically aligned structures. In addition, Ni2Mn0.70Cu0.30Ga0.84Al0.16 shows very high entropy change at room temperature, although irreversible, under a magnetic field change 0–1 T. The magnetocaloric properties of the studied samples are compared with selected compounds in the literature.
The exposure of bees to agrochemicals during foraging and feeding has been associated with their population decline. Sublethal exposure to agrochemicals can affect behavior and the microbiota. Gut ...microbiota is associated with insect nutritional health, immunocompetence, and is essential for neutralizing the damage caused by pathogens and xenobiotics. Research on the effect of the bioinsecticides and fertilizers on the microbiota of bees remains neglected. In this study, we assessed the sublethal effect of both bioinsecticide spinosad and the fertilizer copper sulfate (CuSO4) on the behavior and gut microbiota in forager adults of the stingless bee Partamona helleri (Friese), which is an important pollinator in the Neotropical region. Behavioral assays and gut microbiota profiles were assessed on bees orally exposed to estimated LC5 values for spinosad and CuSO4. The microbiota were characterized through 16S rRNA gene target sequencing. Acute and oral sublethal exposure to spinosad and CuSO4 did not affect the overall activity, flight take-off, and food consumption. However, CuSO4 decreased bee respiration rate and copper accumulated in exposed bees. Exposure to spinosad increased the proportional abundance of the genus Gilliamella, but CuSO4 did not alter the composition of the gut microbiota. In conclusion, sublethal exposure to CuSO4 induces changes in respiration, and spinosad changes the abundance of gut microorganisms of P. helleri.
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•Partamona helleri survival was affected by exposures to spinosad and copper sulfate.•The overall behavior was not affected by the exposures.•The respiration rate of bees changed after exposure to copper sulfate.•The richness of the gut bacteria was not affected by the exposures.•Abundance of bacteria of the genus Gilliamella increased after spinosad exposure.
Passing through the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to treat neurological conditions is one of the main hurdles in modern medicine. Many drugs with promising in vitro profiles become ineffective in vivo ...due to BBB restrictive permeability. In particular, this includes drugs such as antiviral porphyrins, with the ability to fight brain-resident viruses causing diseases such as HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). In the last two decades, BBB shuttles, particularly peptide-based ones, have shown promise in carrying various payloads across the BBB. Thus, peptide–drug conjugates (PDCs) formed by covalent attachment of a BBB peptide shuttle and an antiviral drug may become key therapeutic tools in treating neurological disorders of viral origin. In this study, we have used various approaches (guanidinium, phosphonium, and carbodiimide-based couplings) for on-resin synthesis of new peptide–porphyrin conjugates (PPCs) with BBB-crossing and potential antiviral activity. After careful fine-tuning of the synthetic chemistry, DIC/oxyma has emerged as a preferred method, by which 14 different PPCs have been made and satisfactorily characterized. The PPCs are prepared by coupling a porphyrin carboxyl group to an amino group (either N-terminal or a Lys side chain) of the peptide shuttle and show effective in vitro BBB translocation ability, low cytotoxicity toward mouse brain endothelial cells, and low hemolytic activity. Three of the PPCs, MP-P5, P4-MP, and P4-L-MP, effectively inhibiting HIV infectivity in vitro, stand out as most promising. Their efficacy against other brain-targeting viruses (Dengue, Zika, and SARS-CoV-2) is currently under evaluation, with preliminary results confirming that PPCs are a promising strategy to treat viral brain infections.
Given their copy number differences and unique modes of inheritance, the evolved gene content and expression of sex chromosomes is unusual. In many organisms the X and Y chromosomes are inactivated ...in spermatocytes, possibly as a defense mechanism against insertions into unpaired chromatin. In addition to current sex chromosomes, Drosophila has a small gene-poor X-chromosome relic (4
) that re-acquired autosomal status. Here we use single cell RNA-Seq on fly larvae to demonstrate that the single X and pair of 4
chromosomes are specifically inactivated in primary spermatocytes, based on measuring all genes or a set of broadly expressed genes in testis we identified. In contrast, genes on the single Y chromosome become maximally active in primary spermatocytes. Reduced X transcript levels are due to failed activation of RNA-Polymerase-II by phosphorylation of Serine 2 and 5.
Brain enlargement is an adaptation in animals that use the space in three dimensions and need to integrate information of complex environments. As consequence, this adaptation can result in ...differences in skull shape among species with different types of locomotion and level of arboreality. We directly tested for the relation between the cranial shape and arboreality (based on field data) of 11 Sigmodontinae rodent species from a Neotropical savanna (Cerrado). For that, we used geometric morphometrics considering both dorsal and lateral views of the cranium. We also accounted for any possible allometric effects (i.e. the relationship between size and shape) and evolutionary constraints (i.e. phylogenetic signal) on the cranial shape. The dorsal view presented strong allometric effects but no phylogenetic signal. On the other hand, the lateral view showed a weak allometric effect and a significant phylogenetic signal. After controlling for size and evolutionary constraints, we found significant relationships between rodent arboreality and cranial shape for both lateral (r2 = 0.74) and dorsal cranium views (r2 = 0.40). Patterns for both views showed that arboreal rodents present more expanded crania, suggesting larger brains. The dorsal view showed a general cranial expansion in arboreal rodents, whereas the lateral view showed a more rounded and posteriorly expanded cranium. This later suggests a larger cerebellum, an important brain portion responsible for orientation and sense of balance. Our study provides evidence that the cranial shape can be used as a proxy to infer arboreal activity of sigmodontine rodents. Moreover, the observed differences in cranial shape between arboreal and terrestrial species are probably related to brain enlargement in the former driven by the need to cope with a three‐dimensional environment.
Brain enlargement is an adaptation in animals that use space in three dimensions and need to integrate information of complex environments. We directly tested for the relation between cranial shape and arboreality of 11 neotropical Sigmodontinae rodents. Geometric morphometrics analysis considering both dorsal and lateral views of the cranium showed that arboreal rodents present more expanded crania, suggesting larger brains. The dorsal view showed a general cranial expansion in arboreal rodents, whereas the lateral view showed a more rounded and posteriorly expanded cranium. This latter finding suggests a larger cerebellum, which is responsible for orientation and sense of balance. Our study provides evidence that cranial shape can be used as a proxy to infer arboreal activity of sigmodontine rodents. Moreover, the observed differences in cranial shape between arboreal and terrestrial species are probably related to brain enlargement, in the former driven by the need to cope with a three‐dimensional environment.
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