OBJECTIVES: Intramuscular adipose tissue (IMAT) is recognized as a negative predictor of both muscle and mobility function in older adults, however the mechanism by which IMAT may negatively ...influence muscle and mobility function is currently unknown. The release of pro-inflammatory cytokines from IMAT provides a potential reason for these negative associations. To explore this hypothesis we compared IMAT and muscular inflammation in age-and BMI-matched older non-obese frail and non-frail adults. We also sought to examine the relationship between IMAT and inflammation, and muscle and mobility function in this group of older adults. DESIGN: A case-control sampling was used for this study. Age-and BMI-matched non-obese frail and non-frail individuals (<65 years) were recruited. MEASUREMENTS: MRI was used to quantify thigh IMAT and lean tissue. Unilateral muscle biopsies were used to quantify muscular inflammation as represented by interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor-necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α). Muscle and mobility function was also measured using a maximal voluntary isometric contraction, six-minute walk, and self-selected gait speed. PARTICIPANTS: 26 older (80.7 +/− 5.4 years) individuals (8 frail and 18 non-frail) were enrolled. RESULTS: The frail-group had increased IMAT (p<0.01) and decreased lean tissue (p<0.01), and elevated IL-6 muscle mRNA (p=0.02) and IL-6 protein content (p=0.02) compared to the non-frail group. IMAT was significantly associated with IL-6 mRNA (r=0.43, p=.04) and protein expression within the muscle (r=0.41, p= 0.045). IL-6 mRNA was significantly associated with six-minute walk (r=−0.63, p<0.01), and gait speed (r=−0.60, p <0.01) and IL-6 protein was significantly associated with muscle force (r=−0.54, p=0.01), six-minute walk (r=−0.66, p<0.01), and gait speed (r=−0.76, p<0.01). No significant relationships were found for any variables with TNF-α. CONCLUSION: Non-obese, older, frail individuals have increased IMAT and muscular inflammation when compared to their non-frail, age- and BMI-matched peers. A significant relationship exists between IMAT and muscle IL-6 expression as well as between IL-6 and muscle and mobility function of these older adults. This IMAT-inflammatory pathway provides a potential link between IMATs and decreased muscle and mobility function.
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite TESS has begun a new age of exoplanet discoveries around bright host stars. We present the discovery of HD 1397b (TOI-120.01), a giant planet in an 11.54-day ...eccentric orbit around a bright (V = 7.9) G-type subgiant. We estimate both host star and planetary parameters consistently using EXOFASTv2 based on TESS time-series photometry of transits and radial velocity measurements with CORALIE and MINERVA-Australis. We also present high angular resolution imaging with NaCo to rule out any nearby eclipsing binaries. We find that HD 1397b is a Jovian planet, with a mass of 0.415 ± 0.020 MJ and a radius of 1.026 ± 0.026 RJ. Characterising giant planets in short-period eccentric orbits, such as HD 1397b, is important for understanding and testing theories for the formation and migration of giant planets as well as planet-star interactions.
Reduced lean mass and physical function is a characteristic of frailty. However, it is currently unknown if proteolysis through the E3 ubiquitin ligases and the autophagic lysosomal pathway is ...dysregulated in inactive frail older women. The purpose of this study was to determine the expression of key markers of ubiquitin-mediated and autophagic lysosomal proteolysis in inactive (N = 7) compared with active (N = 7) older women.
Strength, mobility, leg lean mass, and physical activity assessment were used to characterize activity levels and frailty in older women. Vastus lateralis biopsies were collected after an overnight fast and were assessed for gene and protein targets related to E3 ubiquitin ligases and the autophagic lysosomal system.
We found that AMP-activated protein kinase alpha (Thr172) was increased (p = .045), and forkhead box O3A (FOXO3A) gene expression (p = .047) was lower in inactive frail older women. Foxo3a (Ser253), Beclin1 (Ser93/96), and class III phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (VPS34) protein expression were not different between the groups (p > .05). Neural precursor cell-expressed developmentally downregulated protein 4, muscle ring finger 1, muscle atrophy F-box, and the autophagy/mitophagy gene expression markers, Beclin1, autophagy-related-7, BCL2/adenovirus E1B 19 kDa interacting protein 3 (BNIP3), dynamin-related protein 1, and Parkinson protein 2 (PARKIN) were lower in inactive frail older women (p < .05). Autophagy/mitophagy markers were positively correlated with the 6-minute walk and leg lean mass (p < .05).
We conclude that physical inactivity in frail older women is associated with a downregulation of ubiquitin-mediated and autophagic lysosomal skeletal muscle gene expression, perhaps related to low muscle mass and poor physical function.
Ultra-hot Jupiters are defined as giant planets with equilibrium temperatures larger than 2000 K. Most of them are found orbiting bright A-F type stars, making them extremely suitable objects to ...study their atmospheres using high-resolution spectroscopy. Recent studies show a variety of atoms and molecules detected in the atmospheres of this type of planets. Here we present our analysis of the newly discovered ultra-hot Jupiter TOI-1431 b/MASCARA-5 b, using two transit observations with the HARPS-N spectrograph and one transit observation with the EXPRES spectrograph. Analysis of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect shows that the planet is in a polar orbit, with a projected obliquity λ = −155
−10
+20
degrees. Combining the nights and applying both cross-correlation methods and transmission spectroscopy, we find no evidences of Ca
I
, Fe
I
, Fe
II
, Mg
I
, Na
I
, V
I
, TiO, VO or H
α
in the atmosphere of the planet. Our most likely explanation for the lack of atmospheric features is the large surface gravity of the planet.
Abstract
Sensory deprivation can lead to cross-modal cortical changes, whereby sensory brain regions deprived of input may be recruited to perform atypical function. Enhanced cross-modal responses to ...visual stimuli observed in auditory cortex of postlingually deaf cochlear implant (CI) users are hypothesized to reflect increased activation of cortical language regions, but it is unclear if this cross-modal activity is “adaptive” or “mal-adaptive” for speech understanding. To determine if increased activation of language regions is correlated with better speech understanding in CI users, we assessed task-related activation and functional connectivity of auditory and visual cortices to auditory and visual speech and non-speech stimuli in CI users (n = 14) and normal-hearing listeners (n = 17) and used functional near-infrared spectroscopy to measure hemodynamic responses. We used visually presented speech and non-speech to investigate neural processes related to linguistic content and observed that CI users show beneficial cross-modal effects. Specifically, an increase in connectivity between the left auditory and visual cortices—presumed primary sites of cortical language processing—was positively correlated with CI users’ abilities to understand speech in background noise. Cross-modal activity in auditory cortex of postlingually deaf CI users may reflect adaptive activity of a distributed, multimodal speech network, recruited to enhance speech understanding.
ABSTRACT
We report the discovery of two mini-Neptunes in near 2:1 resonance orbits (P = 7.610303 d for HIP 113103 b and P = 14.245651 d for HIP 113103 c) around the adolescent K-star HIP 113103 (TIC ...121490076). The planet system was first identified from the TESS mission, and was confirmed via additional photometric and spectroscopic observations, including a ∼17.5 h observation for the transits of both planets using ESA CHEOPS. We place ≤4.5 min and ≤2.5 min limits on the absence of transit timing variations over the 3 yr photometric baseline, allowing further constraints on the orbital eccentricities of the system beyond that available from the photometric transit duration alone. With a planetary radius of Rp = $1.829_{-0.067}^{+0.096}$ R⊕, HIP 113103 b resides within the radius gap, and this might provide invaluable information on the formation disparities between super-Earths and mini-Neptunes. Given the larger radius Rp = $2.40_{-0.08}^{+0.10}$ R⊕ for HIP 113103 c, and close proximity of both planets to HIP 113103, it is likely that HIP 113103 b might have lost (or is still losing) its primordial atmosphere. We therefore present simulated atmospheric transmission spectra of both planets using JWST, HST, and Twinkle. It demonstrates a potential metallicity difference (due to differences in their evolution) would be a challenge to detect if the atmospheres are in chemical equilibrium. As one of the brightest multi sub-Neptune planet systems suitable for atmosphere follow up, HIP 113103 b and HIP 113103 c could provide insight on planetary evolution for the sub-Neptune K-star population.
eDNA metabarcoding is an emergent tool to inform aerobiome complexity, but few studies have applied this technology with real-world environmental pollen monitoring samples. Here we apply eDNA ...metabarcoding to assess seasonal and regional differences in the composition of airborne pollen from routine samples collected across successive years. Airborne pollen concentrations over two sampling periods were determined using a continuous flow volumetric impaction air sampler in sub-tropical (Mutdapilly and Rocklea) and temperate (Macquarie Park and Richmond), sites of Australia. eDNA metabarcoding was applied to daily pollen samples collected once per week using the rbcL amplicon. Composition and redundancy analysis of the sequence read counts were examined. The dominant pollen families were mostly consistent between consecutive years but there was some heterogeneity between sites and years for month of peak pollen release. Many more families were detected by eDNA than counted by light microscopy with 211 to 399 operational taxonomic units assigned to family per site from October to May. There were 216 unique and 119 taxa shared between subtropics (27°S) and temperate (33°S) latitudes, with, for example, Poaceae, Myrtaceae and Causurinaceae being shared, and Manihot, Vigna and Aristida being in subtropical, and Ceratodon and Cerastium being in temperate sites. Certain genera were observed within the same location and season over the two years; Chloris at Rocklea in autumn of 2017–18 (0.625, p ≤ 0.004) and 2018–19 (0.55, p ≤ 0.001), and Pinus and Plantago at Macquarie Park in summer of 2017–18 (0.58, p ≤ 0.001 and 0.53, p ≤ 0.003, respectively), and 2018–19 (0.8, p ≤ 0.003 and 0.8, p ≤ 0.003, respectively). eDNA metabarcoding is a powerful tool to survey the complexity of pollen aerobiology and distinguish spatial and temporal profiles of local pollen to a far deeper level than traditional counting methods. However, further research is required to optimise the metabarcode target to enable reliable detection of pollen to genus and species level.
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•eDNA metabarcoding is a powerful tool to survey aerobiome complexity.•Seven times more families were detected by eDNA analysis than light microscopy.•eDNA metabarcoding facilitated identification of pollen from 216 genera.•This first eDNA study over multiple Australian seasons and sites revealed complexity.•Our aerobiology results have significance for both ecology and human health.
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has infected more than 3.0 million people worldwide and killed more than 200,000 as of April 27, 2020. In this White Paper, we address the cardiovascular ...co-morbidities of COVID-19 infection; the diagnosis and treatment of standard cardiovascular conditions during the pandemic; and the diagnosis and treatment of the cardiovascular consequences of COVID-19 infection. In addition, we will also address various issues related to the safety of healthcare workers and the ethical issues related to patient care in this pandemic.
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