The TiO2/UV photocatalytic degradations of indigo and of indigo carmine have been investigated both in aqueous heterogeneous suspensions and in the solid state. In addition to prompt removal of the ...color, TiO2/UV-based photocatalysis was simultaneously able to oxidize the dye, with almost complete mineralization of carbon and of nitrogen and sulfur heteroatoms into CO2, NH+4, NO−3, and SO2−4, respectively. A detailed degradation pathway has been determined by careful identification of intermediate products, in particular, carboxylic acids, whose decarboxylation by photo-Kolbe reactions constitutes the main source of CO2 evolution. The only persistent organic compound was acetic acid, whose degradation required a longer period of time. These results suggest that TiO2/UV photocatalysis may be envisaged as a method for treatment of diluted wastewaters in textile industries. The irradiation of titania with visible light did produce a photoinduced decolorization of the dye, probably induced by the breaking of the double-bond conjugation system of the chromophoric group. However, this decolorization was not accompanied by any degradation of the molecule since no loss of total organic carbon (TOC) nor release of inorganic ions were observed. This corresponded to a stoichiometric reaction of an electron transfer from the dye molecule excited in visible irradiation to titania. Because indigo is very poorly soluble (≈2 ppm), it was tentatively degraded in its solid state, mixed with titania in a photocatalytic solid-solid-type reaction. Observation of the decolorization and of the degradation of solid indigo constitutes a surprising and encouraging result for the development of self-cleaning titania-coated objects (glasses, steel, aluminium, metals, walls, etc.) fouled by solid dirt particles.
The bat sarbecovirus RaTG13 is a close relative of SARS-CoV-2, the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this bat virus was most likely unable to directly infect humans since its Spike (S) protein ...does not interact efficiently with the human ACE2 receptor. Here, we show that a single T403R mutation increases binding of RaTG13 S to human ACE2 and allows VSV pseudoparticle infection of human lung cells and intestinal organoids. Conversely, mutation of R403T in the SARS-CoV-2 S reduces pseudoparticle infection and viral replication. The T403R RaTG13 S is neutralized by sera from individuals vaccinated against COVID-19 indicating that vaccination might protect against future zoonoses. Our data suggest that a positively charged amino acid at position 403 in the S protein is critical for efficient utilization of human ACE2 by S proteins of bat coronaviruses. This finding could help to better predict the zoonotic potential of animal coronaviruses.
Abstract Background In patients with aortic stenosis undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), studies have suggested that reduced left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (LVEF) and ...low aortic valve gradient (AVG) are associated with worse long-term outcomes. Because these conditions commonly coexist, the extent to which they are independently associated with outcomes after TAVR is unknown. Objectives The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of LVEF and AVG on clinical outcomes after TAVR and to determine whether the effect of AVG on outcomes is modified by LVEF. Methods Using data from 11,292 patients who underwent TAVR as part of the Transcatheter Valve Therapies Registry, we examined rates of 1-year mortality and recurrent heart failure in patients with varying levels of LV dysfunction (LVEF <30% vs. 30% to 50% vs. >50%) and AVG (<40 mm Hg vs. ≥40 mm Hg). Multivariable models were used to estimate the independent effect of AVG and LVEF on outcomes. Results During the first year of follow-up after TAVR, patients with LV dysfunction and low AVG had higher rates of death and recurrent heart failure. After adjustment for other clinical factors, only low AVG was associated with higher mortality (hazard ratio: 1.21; 95% confidence interval: 1.11 to 1.32; p < 0.001) and higher rates of heart failure (hazard ratio: 1.52; 95% confidence interval: 1.36 to 1.69; p <0.001), whereas the effect of LVEF was no longer significant. There was no evidence of effect modification between AVG and LVEF with respect to either endpoint. Conclusions In this series of real-world patients undergoing TAVR, low AVG, but not LV dysfunction, was associated with higher rates of mortality and recurrent heart failure. Although these findings suggest that AVG should be considered when evaluating the risks and benefits of TAVR for individual patients, neither severe LV dysfunction nor low AVG alone or in combination provide sufficient prognostic discrimination to preclude treatment with TAVR.
Amplicon-based next-generation sequencing (NGS) of immunoglobulin (IG) and T-cell receptor (TR) gene rearrangements for clonality assessment, marker identification and quantification of minimal ...residual disease (MRD) in lymphoid neoplasms has been the focus of intense research, development and application. However, standardization and validation in a scientifically controlled multicentre setting is still lacking. Therefore, IG/TR assay development and design, including bioinformatics, was performed within the EuroClonality-NGS working group and validated for MRD marker identification in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). Five EuroMRD ALL reference laboratories performed IG/TR NGS in 50 diagnostic ALL samples, and compared results with those generated through routine IG/TR Sanger sequencing. A central polytarget quality control (cPT-QC) was used to monitor primer performance, and a central in-tube quality control (cIT-QC) was spiked into each sample as a library-specific quality control and calibrator. NGS identified 259 (average 5.2/sample, range 0-14) clonal sequences vs. Sanger-sequencing 248 (average 5.0/sample, range 0-14). NGS primers covered possible IG/TR rearrangement types more completely compared with local multiplex PCR sets and enabled sequencing of bi-allelic rearrangements and weak PCR products. The cPT-QC showed high reproducibility across all laboratories. These validated and reproducible quality-controlled EuroClonality-NGS assays can be used for standardized NGS-based identification of IG/TR markers in lymphoid malignancies.
Replicating thought suppression effects with the Think/No-Think paradigm (TNT) has failed in some studies investigating the phenomenon of below-baseline recall of suppressed stimuli. Attempts have ...been made to isolate factors that might explain inter-individual differences in suppression performance. Certain personality traits, whether associated with a pathological state or investigated in a community sample, have been shown to interfere with successful thought suppression and might be responsible for some of the negative results obtained in TNT studies. In the present study we investigate the influence of psychometric measures of depression and anxiety in a fairly large sample of healthy volunteers. We show that high brooding and anxious tendencies predict worse suppression performance. While no suppression was shown when investigating the TNT not taking the psychometric measures into account, including these two traits in the analysis resulted in a pattern of below-baseline recall only for low brooders and low anxious participants. We argue that inclusion of variables measuring personality traits is warranted using the TNT and that these variables already exert their influence at minimal levels of variance, significantly improving the interpretability of the results. Future research should therefore cautiously investigate potential confounding personality characteristics before analysing their data.
Panic disorder (PD) patients are constantly concerned about future panic attacks and exhibit general hypersensitivity to unpredictable threat. We aimed to reveal phasic and sustained brain responses ...and functional connectivity of the amygdala and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) during threat anticipation in PD.
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated 17 PD patients and 19 healthy controls (HC) during anticipation of temporally unpredictable aversive and neutral sounds. We used a phasic and sustained analysis model to disentangle temporally dissociable brain activations.
PD patients compared with HC showed phasic amygdala and sustained BNST responses during anticipation of aversive v. neutral stimuli. Furthermore, increased phasic activation was observed in anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), insula and prefrontal cortex (PFC). Insula and PFC also showed sustained activation. Functional connectivity analyses revealed partly distinct phasic and sustained networks.
We demonstrate a role for the BNST during unpredictable threat anticipation in PD and provide first evidence for dissociation between phasic amygdala and sustained BNST activation and their functional connectivity. In line with a hypersensitivity to uncertainty in PD, our results suggest time-dependent involvement of brain regions related to fear and anxiety.
The fluorescent nature of aerosol at a high-altitude Alpine site was studied using a wide-band integrated bioaerosol (WIBS-4) single particle multi-channel ultraviolet – light-induced ...fluorescence (UV-LIF) spectrometer. This was supported by comprehensive cloud microphysics and meteorological measurements with the aims of cataloguing concentrations of bio-fluorescent aerosols at this high-altitude site and also investigating possible influences of UV–fluorescent particle types on cloud–aerosol processes. Analysis of background free tropospheric air masses, using a total aerosol inlet, showed there to be a minor increase in the fluorescent aerosol fraction during in-cloud cases compared to out-of-cloud cases. The size dependence of the fluorescent aerosol fraction showed the larger aerosol to be more likely to be fluorescent with 80 % of 10 μm particles being fluorescent. Whilst the fluorescent particles were in the minority (NFl∕NAll = 0.27 0.19), a new hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis approach, Crawford et al. (2015) revealed the majority of the fluorescent aerosols were likely to be representative of fluorescent mineral dust. A minor episodic contribution from a cluster likely to be representative of primary biological aerosol particles (PBAP) was also observed with a wintertime baseline concentration of 0.1 0.4 L−1. Given the low concentration of this cluster and the typically low ice-active fraction of studied PBAP (e.g. pseudomonas syringae), we suggest that the contribution to the observed ice crystal concentration at this location is not significant during the wintertime.
Vesicles coated with coat protein complex II (COPII) selectively transport molecules (cargo) and vesicle fusion proteins from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to the Golgi complex. We have investigated ...the role of coat proteins in cargo selection and recruitment. We isolated integral membrane and soluble cargo proteins destined for transport from the ER in complexes formed in the presence of Sar1 and Sec23/24, a subset of the COPII components, and GTP or GMP-PNP. Vesicle fusion proteins of the vSNARE family and Emp24, a member of a putative cargo carrier family, were also found in COPII complexes. The inclusion of amino-acid permease molecules into the complex depended on the presence of Shr3, a protein required for the permease to leave the ER,. Resident ER proteins Sec61, BiP (Kar2) and Shr3 were not included in the complexes, indicating that the COPII components bound specifically to vesicle cargo. COPII-cargo complexes and putative cargo adaptor-cargo complexes were also isolated from COPII vesicles. Our results indicate that cargo packaging signals and soluble cargo adaptors are recognized by a recruitment complex comprising Sar1-GTP and Sec23/24.
PDF
