The inaugural volume of Princeton Readings in Religions brings together the work of thirty scholars of the religions of India in a new anthology designed to reshape the ways in which the religious ...traditions of India are understood. The book contains translations of forty-five works, most of which have never before been available in a Western language. Many of these highlight types of discourse (especially ritual manuals, folktales, and oral narratives) and voices (vernacular, esoteric, domestic, and female) that have not been sufficiently represented in previous anthologies and standard accounts of Indian religions. The selections are drawn from ancient texts, medieval manuscripts, modern pamphlets, and contemporary fieldwork in rural and urban India. They represent every region in South Asia and include Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, and Muslim materials. Some are written texts reflecting elite concerns, while others are transcriptions of oral narratives told by nonliterate peasants. Some texts are addressed to a public and pan-Indian audience, others to a limited coterie of initiates in an esoteric sect, and still others are intended for a few women gathered in the courtyard for a household ceremony. The editor has reinforced this diversity by arranging the selections within several overarching themes and categories of discourse (hymns, rituals, narratives, and religious interactions), and encourages us to make our own connections.
DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are harmful lesions leading to genomic instability or diversity. Non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) is a prominent DSB repair pathway, which has long been considered to ...be error-prone. However, recent data have pointed to the intrinsic precision of NHEJ. Three reasons can account for the apparent fallibility of NHEJ: 1) the existence of a highly error-prone alternative end-joining process; 2) the adaptability of canonical C-NHEJ (Ku- and Xrcc4/ligase IV-dependent) to imperfect complementary ends; and 3) the requirement to first process chemically incompatible DNA ends that cannot be ligated directly. Thus, C-NHEJ is conservative but adaptable, and the accuracy of the repair is dictated by the structure of the DNA ends rather than by the C-NHEJ machinery. We present data from different organisms that describe the conservative/versatile properties of C-NHEJ. The advantages of the adaptability/versatility of C-NHEJ are discussed for the development of the immune repertoire and the resistance to ionizing radiation, especially at low doses, and for targeted genome manipulation.
•A review of properties for the most common molten salts is provided.•Representative values among the scattered data found in the review are suggested.•Properties are exposed in a comprehensive and ...cohesive way for reference.
The growing interest in energy applications of molten salts is justified by several of their properties. Their possibilities of usage as a coolant, heat transfer fluid or heat storage substrate, require thermo-hydrodynamic refined calculations. Many researchers are using simulation techniques, such as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for their projects or conceptual designs. The aim of this work is providing a review of basic properties (density, viscosity, thermal conductivity and heat capacity) of the most common and referred salt mixtures. After checking data, tabulated and graphical outputs are given in order to offer the most suitable available values to be used as input parameters for other calculations or simulations. The reviewed values show a general scattering in characterization, mainly in thermal properties. This disagreement suggests that, in several cases, new studies must be started (and even new measurement techniques should be developed) to obtain accurate values.
Abstract
In recent years, marine, freshwater and terrestrial pollution with microplastics has been discussed extensively, whereas atmospheric microplastic transport has been largely overlooked. Here, ...we present global simulations of atmospheric transport of microplastic particles produced by road traffic (TWPs – tire wear particles and BWPs – brake wear particles), a major source that can be quantified relatively well. We find a high transport efficiencies of these particles to remote regions. About 34% of the emitted coarse TWPs and 30% of the emitted coarse BWPs (100 kt yr
−1
and 40 kt yr
−1
respectively) were deposited in the World Ocean. These amounts are of similar magnitude as the total estimated direct and riverine transport of TWPs and fibres to the ocean (64 kt yr
−1
). We suggest that the Arctic may be a particularly sensitive receptor region, where the light-absorbing properties of TWPs and BWPs may also cause accelerated warming and melting of the cryosphere.
Summary
Background
There is increasing evidence of the key role that the gut microbiota plays in inflammatory diseases.
Objectives
To identify differences in the faecal microbial composition of ...patients with psoriasis compared with healthy individuals in order to unravel the microbiota profiling in this autoimmune disease.
Methods
16S rRNA gene sequencing and bioinformatic analyses were performed with the total DNA extracted from the faecal microbiota of 19 patients with psoriasis and 20 healthy individuals from the same geographic location.
Results
Gut microbiota composition of patients with psoriasis displayed a lower diversity and different relative abundance of certain bacterial taxa compared with healthy individuals.
Conclusions
The gut microbiota profile of patients with psoriasis displayed a clear dysbiosis that can be targeted for microbiome‐based therapeutic approaches.
What's already known about this topic?
Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory immune‐mediated skin disease, the aetiology of which remains unclear.
The human microbiota is a complex microbial community that inhabits our body and has been related with the maintenance of a healthy status.
Several studies have focused on the skin microbiome and its connection with psoriasis although less attention has been focused on the potential role of the gut microbiota in psoriatic disease.
What does this study add?
This study unravels the gut microbiome dysbiosis present in a cohort of patients with psoriasis, compared with a healthy control group from the same geographical location.
This study shows a lower bacterial diversity and different relative abundance of certain bacterial taxa in patients with psoriasis.
We gain knowledge and insight into the microbiome alterations in psoriatic disease, opening new avenues for therapeutic approaches to reshape the human microbiome towards a healthy status.
Respond to this article
Linked Comment: Alexeyev. Br J Dermatol 2019; 181:1126.
Plain language summary available online
During carcinogenesis, advanced tumors are surrounded by both stromal and immune cells, which support tumor development. In addition, inflammation and angiogenesis are processes that play important ...roles in the development of cancer, from the initiation of carcinogenesis, tumor
and advanced stages of cancer. During acute inflammation, vascular hyperpermeability allows inflammatory mediators and immune response cells, including leukocytes and monocytes/macrophages, to infiltrate the site of damage. As a factor that regulates vascular permeability, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) also plays a vital role as a multifunctional molecule and growth factor. Furthermore, stromal and immune cells secrete soluble factors that activate endothelial cells and favor their transmigration to eliminate the aggressive agent. In this review, we present a comprehensive view of both the relationship between chronic inflammation and angiogenesis during carcinogenesis and the participation of endothelial cells in the inflammatory process. In addition, the regulatory mechanisms that contribute to the endothelium returning to its basal permeability state after acute inflammation are discussed. Moreover, the manner in which immune cells participate in pathological angiogenesis release pro-angiogenic factors that contribute to early tumor vascularization, even before the angiogenic switch occurs, is also examined. Also, we discuss the role of hypoxia as a mechanism that drives the acquisition of tumor hallmarks that make certain cancers more aggressive. Finally, some combinations of therapies that inhibit the angiogenesis process and that may be a successful strategy for cancer patients are indicated.
Stroke is the number one cause of neurological dysfunction in adults and has a heavy socioeconomic burden worldwide. The etiological origins of ischemic stroke and resulting pathological processes ...are mediated by a multifaceted cascade of molecular mechanisms that are in part modulated by posttranscriptional activity. Accumulating evidence has revealed a role for microRNAs (miRNAs) as essential mediators of posttranscriptional gene silencing in both the physiology of brain development and pathology of ischemic stroke. In this review, we compile miRNAs that have been reported to regulate various stroke risk factors and pre-disease mechanisms, including hypertension, atherosclerosis, and diabetes, followed by an in-depth analysis of miRNAs in ischemic stroke pathogenesis, such as excitotoxicity, oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis, angiogenesis and neurogenesis. Since promoting or suppressing expression of miRNAs by specific pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical therapies may be beneficial to post-stroke recovery, we also highlight the potential therapeutic value of miRNAs in clinical settings.
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are no longer considered pollution removal systems but rather resources (nutrients and energy) recovery plants. Legislation imposing more stringent effluent ...requirements and the need energy self-sufficient or even energy-positive plants are the main drivers for the research and development of new WWTP configurations. While a lot of effort has been focused on developing new processes for nutrient recovery, limited efforts have been allocated to maximizing energy recovery from the organic load. Within this context, high-rate activated sludge (HRAS) is the most promising alternative technology to redirect carbon (organic compounds) towards energy as biogas. This is a critical review of the last decade's development of new alternatives for carbon redirection to improve the energy balance of WWTPs on both the laboratory and the industrial scale.
Display omitted
•C redirection technologies challenges are reviewed.•Bio-sorption/HRAS processes demonstrated high organic matter removal efficiencies.•Bio-sorption/HRAS systems are beneficial in terms of a global energy balance.•60% of C is expected to be redirected to the sludge during the bio-sorption step.•The main challenge of Bio-sorption/HRAS is focused on sludge settling properties.
The PRISMA satellite mission launched on March 22nd, 2019 is one of the latest spaceborne imaging spectroscopy mission for Earth Observation. The PRISMA satellite comprises a high-spectral resolution ...VNIR-SWIR imaging spectrometer and a panchromatic camera. In summer 2019, first operations during the commissioning phase were mainly devoted to acquisitions in specific areas for evaluating instrument functioning, in-flight performance, and mission data product accuracy. A field and airborne campaign was carried out over an agriculture area in Italy to collect in-situ multi-source spectroscopy measurements at different scales simultaneously with PRISMA. The spectral, radiometric and spatial performance of PRISMA Level 1 Top-Of-Atmosphere radiance (LTOA) product were analyzed. The in-situ surface reflectance measurements over different landcovers were propagated to LTOA using MODTRAN5 radiative transfer simulations and compared with satellite observations. Overall, this work offers a first quantitative evaluation about the PRISMA mission performance and imaging spectroscopy LTOA data product consistency. Our results show that the spectral smile is less than 5 nm, the average spectral resolution is 13 nm and 11 nm (VNIR and SWIR respectively) and it varies ±2 nm across track. The radiometric comparison between PRISMA and field/airborne spectroscopy shows a difference lower than 5% for NIR and SWIR, whereas it is included in the 2–7% range in the VIS. The estimated instrument signal to noise ratio (SNR) is ≈400–500 in the NIR and part of the SWIR (<1300 nm), lower SNR values were found at shorter (<700 nm) and longer wavelengths (>1600 nm). The VNIR-to-SWIR spatial co-registration error is below 8 m and the spatial resolution is 37.11 m and 38.38 m for VNIR and SWIR respectively. The results are in-line with the expectations and mission requirements and indicate that acquired images are suitable for further scientific applications. However, this first assessment is based on data from a rural area and this cannot be fully exhaustive. Further studies are needed to confirm the performance for other land cover types like snow, inland and coastal waters, deserts or urban areas.
•The PRISMA mission is successfully operating and collecting data after the launch.•In-situ simultaneous field/airborne spectroscopy data were compared to PRISMA.•PRISMA spectral resolution is 13–11 nm (VNIR-SWIR), smile is lower of 5 nm.•A radiometric difference of 2–7% was observed between PRISMA and in-situ data.•VNIR-to-SWIR spatial co-registration error is lower of 8 m.
Princeton Readings in Religions is a new series of anthologies on the religions of the world, representing the significant advances that have been made in the study of religions in the last thirty ...years. This volume brings together the introductions to the first five volumes of this acclaimed series: Religions of India in Practice (1995), Buddhism in Practice (1995), Religions of China in Practice (1996), Religions of Tibet in Practice (1997), and Religions of Japan in Practice (1999). The introductions to these volumes have been widely praised for their accessible, clear and concise overviews of the religions of Asia, providing both historical context and insightful analysis of Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shinto, and Bon, as well as many local traditions. The authors of the chapters are leading scholars of Asian religions: Richard Davis (India), Stephen Teiser (China), George Tanabe (Japan), and Donald Lopez (Buddhism and Tibet). They bring together the best and most current research on their topics, while series editor Donald Lopez provides an introduction to the volume as a whole. In addition to providing a wealth of detail on the history, doctrine, and practice of the religions of Asia, the five chapters offer an opportunity for sustained discussions of the category of "religion."
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