Background
Chronic venous disease (CVD) is secondary to venous hypertension, leading to vascular inflammation and tissue changes. The impact of CVD on skin structure and barrier function is not well ...characterized.
Objective
We aimed to assess the characteristics of skin alterations in mild-to-moderate CVD by non-invasive techniques based on a prospective exploratory study.
Material & Methods
Female subjects (30–75 years) with CVD (Stage C2 to C4, CEAP classification) were eligible. Stage C0–C1 CVD subjects were used as controls. Women with leg surgery or a medical history that could impact the results were excluded. The skin changes on lesional (LS) and non-lesional (NLS) areas were assessed by biometric analysis including skin echography, viscoelasticity evaluation, confocal microscopy and trans epidermal water loss (TEWL) measurements.
Results
Thirty-four subjects were enrolled. Based on computation of 26 biometric parameters using Principal Component Analysis, a significant difference between LS and NLS zones, regardless of the CEAP class, was evidenced. C2–C4 subjects presented with dermal thickening suggesting oedema associated with decreased cell density, while no difference in skin viscoelasticity was observed compared to the C0–C1 control group. Epidermal structural modifications were associated with increased TEWL correlating with CVD severity.
Conclusion
Skin alterations in CVD patients are detectable by non-invasive methods. These findings may help to better assess new therapeutic strategies.
The application of faecal DNA in genetic studies of wild populations minimises disturbances to their normal behaviours and body integrity. Here, I present an analysis of a metagenomic dataset ...generated from the faecal DNA of several specimens of the estuarine pipefish, Syngnathus watermeyeri, to simultaneously assemble the mitogenomes of the predator and its main prey species, the copepod Pseudodiaptomus hessei. The mitogenomes of the pipefish and the copepod were successfully reconstructed using a combination of short seed extension and denovo metagenomic assembly. Nucleotide blast searches of the circular contigs, mitogenome annotations, and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses confirm the completeness and correct taxonomic placements of the two mitogenomes. In addition, heteroplasmy detection and Pool-Seq variant calling quantified the level of genetic diversity in the sequences that formed these assemblies. These can be used as a first step to non-invasively survey genetic diversity in these populations.
Highlights • We found differences between steroids and sexes in their metabolism and excretion. •3 H-corticosterone was excreted faster than3 H-testosterone. • A diurnal variation in fecal ...corticosterone and testosterone metabolites was found. • EIAs were suited for noninvasive measurement of adrenocortical activity and androgens.
Everyday responsibilities and lifestyle issues are the main cause of physical and psychological stress, which deteriorates the individual's health. Prolonged exposure to stress triggers the ...adrenocorticotrophic hormonal (ACTH) system and causes the release of cortisol hormones from the adrenal cortex. Many other biomarkers are affected by stress, but cortisol is considered the most vital and potentially clinically useful biomarker for stress estimation and monitoring. Accurate and timely detection of increased cortisol levels might improve the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of stress-related diseases such as anxiety disorders, metabolic dysregulation, and cardiovascular diseases. Unfortunately, most of the cortisol assessments are currently performed only in laboratories and there is no point-of-care solution for ambulatory/real-time cortisol assessment. This review aims to provide an overview of the most promising techniques, currently used for cortisol detection and the challenges associated with them. The review also provides a feasibility report about measuring cortisol levels in different bio-fluids (for example, urine), a correlation of perceived stress with cortisol levels, and methods/devices used in the laboratory as well as in the ambulatory environment for cortisol detection. The overall conclusion suggests that significant research efforts and investments are required for the development of an accurate, rapid, and repeatable cortisol measuring device that can be used for connected health applications.
The quality of stored minced pork meat was monitored using a rapid multispectral imaging device to quantify the degree of spoilage. Bacterial counts of a total of 155 meat samples stored for up to ...580 h have been measured using conventional laboratory methods. Meat samples were maintained under two different storage conditions: aerobic and modified atmosphere packages as well as under different temperatures. Besides bacterial counts, a sensory panel has judged the spoilage degree of all meat samples into one of three classes. Results showed that the multispectral imaging device was able to classify 76.13 % of the meat samples correctly according to the defined sensory scale. Furthermore, the multispectral camera device was able to predict total viable counts with a standard error of prediction of 7.47 %. It is concluded that there is a good possibility that a setup like the one investigated will be successful for the detection of spoilage degree in minced pork meat.
•BAs are signaling molecules in important paracrine and endocrine networks.•The CMC value is implicated in cytotoxicity issues.•Invasive and non-invasive approaches for the CMC determination have ...been developed.•Few indirect chromatographic-based CMC estimation strategies have been proposed.•CMC depends on the selected determination method and applied experimental conditions.
With the discovery of the bile acid (BA)-activated nuclear and membrane receptors, the role of BAs as signalling molecules in important paracrine and endocrine networks has been fully documented in the last decade. Besides regulating their own synthesis and transport, BAs have been demonstrated being involved in triggering the adaptive response to cholestasis and other insults to liver. More to the point, their recognized ability to control the general energy-related metabolism and inflammation processes has contributed to justify the renewed interest towards this class of amphiphilic steroidal compounds.
All these evidences feed a continuing interest in the BA research aimed at designing and synthesizing new side chain- and body-modified derivatives endowed with improved biological and physico-chemical profiles, as well as with proper ADMET behaviour. In this context, the micellar aggregation of BAs, and the respective critical micellization concentration (CMC) value (determined on the BA sodium salt, BS), is considered a key parameter that needs to be determined in the preliminary phase of compound characterization, being implicated in cytotoxicity issues.
An extraordinary variety of different analytical techniques and methods have been proposed along the years with the aim of better identifying the start of the self-aggregation process of BS monomers. The unicity of the physico-chemical nature of such class of compounds can be invoked to explain this unusual interest. Accordingly, a number of both invasive and non-invasive approaches have been developed along with a limited number of indirect chromatographic-based estimation strategies. Worth to be mentioned among the non-invasive determination methods are those based on potentiometry, freezing point depression, surface tension, nuclear magnetic resonance, viscosimetry, turbidimetry, microcalorimetry, refractometry, conductimetry, spectrophotometry, cholesterol solubilization, and monoglucuronide solubilization. Dye solubilization- and fluorescence-based methods deserve instead credit among the invasive methodological approaches. Indirect chromatographic methods based on capillary electrophoresis and high performance liquid chromatography analysis also demonstrated to be profitably exploited for the CMC estimation, especially when a small amount of sample is available. The collection of literature data reveals that the CMC value of a given BS is markedly related to the method selected for determining it as well as to the experimental conditions applied during the analysis.
•Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) has variable ties to glucocorticoids.•No Bd-related differences in corticosterone in Rana catesbeiana or R. clamitans.•Baseline and stress-induced corticosterone ...were lower in Bd-infected R. sylvatica.•Bd-related differences in corticosterone were stronger in the field than in the lab.
It is often hypothesized that organisms exposed to environmental change may experience physiological stress, which could reduce individual quality and make them more susceptible to disease. Amphibians are amongst the most threatened taxa, particularly in the context of disease, but relatively few studies explore links between stress and disease in amphibian species. Here, we use the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) and amphibians as an example to explore relationships between disease and glucocorticoids (GCs), metabolic hormones that comprise one important component of the stress response. While previous work is limited, it has largely identified positive relationships between GCs and Bd-infection. However, the causality remains unclear and few studies have integrated both baseline (GC release that is related to standard, physiological functioning) and stress-induced (GC release in response to an acute stressor) measures of GCs. Here, we examine salivary corticosterone before and after exposure to a stressor, in both field and captive settings. We present results for Bd-infected and uninfected individuals of three amphibian species with differential susceptibilities to this pathogen (Rana catesbeiana, R. clamitans, and R. sylvatica). We hypothesized that prior to stress, baseline GCs would be higher in Bd-infected animals, particularly in more Bd-susceptible species. We also expected that after exposure to a stressor, stress-induced GCs would be lower in Bd-infected animals. These species exhibited significant interspecific differences in baseline and stress induced corticosterone, though other variables like sex, body size, and day of year were usually not predictive of corticosterone. In contrast to most previous work, we found no relationships between Bd and corticosterone for two species (R. catesbeiana and R. clamitans), and in the least Bd-tolerant species (R. sylvatica) animals exhibited context-dependent differences in relationships between Bd infection and corticosterone: Bd-positive R. sylvatica had significantly lower baseline and stress-induced corticosterone, with this pattern being stronger in the field than in captivity. These results were surprising, as past work in other species has more often found elevated GCs in Bd-positive animals, a pattern that aligns with well-documented relationships between chronically high GCs, reduced individual quality, and immunosuppression. This work highlights the potential relevance of GCs to disease susceptibility in the context of amphibian declines, while underscoring the importance of characterizing these relationships in diverse contexts.
Daily torpor is a means of saving energy by controlled lowering of the metabolic rate (MR) during resting, usually coupled with a decrease in body temperature. We studied nocturnal daily torpor under ...natural conditions in free-living common swifts
resting in their nests as a family using two non-invasive approaches. First, we monitored nest temperature (
) in up to 50 occupied nests per breeding season in 2010-2015. Drops in
were the first indication of torpor. Among 16 673 observations, we detected 423 events of substantial drops in
of on average 8.6°C. Second, we measured MR of the families inside nest-boxes prepared for calorimetric measurements during cold periods in the breeding seasons of 2017 and 2018. We measured oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production using a mobile indirect respirometer and calculated the percentage reduction in MR. During six torpor events observed, MR was gradually reduced by on average 56% from the reference value followed by a decrease in
of on average 7.6°C. By contrast, MR only decreased by about 33% on nights without torpor. Our field data gave an indication of daily torpor, which is used as a strategy for energy saving in free-living common swifts.
Lichens survive harsh weather of Antarctica as well as of other hostile environments worldwide. Therefore, this investigation is important to understand the evolution of life on Earth in relation to ...their stress tolerance strategy. We have used chlorophyll a fluorescence (ChlF) and Raman spectroscopy, respectively, to monitor the activation/deactivation of photosynthesis and carotenoids in three diverse Antarctic lichens, Dermatocarpon polyphyllizum (DP), Umbilicaria antarctica (UA), and Leptogium puberulum (LP). These lichens, post 4 h or 24 h of hydration, showed differences in their ChlF transients and values of major ChlF parameters, e.g., in the maximum quantum efficiency of PSII photochemistry (Fv/Fm), and yields of fluorescence and heat dissipation (Φf,d), of effective quantum efficiency of PSII photochemistry (ΦPSII) and of non-photochemical quenching (Φnpq), which may be due to quantitative and/or qualitative differences in the composition of their photobionts. For understanding the kinetics of hydration-induced activation of photosynthesis, we screened ΦPSII of these lichens and reported its non-linear stimulation on a minute time scale; half of the activation time (t1/2) was fastest ~4.05 ± 0.29 min for DP, which was followed by 5.46 ± 0.18 min for UA, and 13.95 ± 1.24 min for LP. Upon drying of fully activated lichen thallus, there was a slow decay, in hours, of relative water content (RWC) as well as of Fv/Fm. Raman spectral signatures were different for lichens having algal (in DP and UA) and cyanobacteria (in LP) photobionts, and there was a significant shift in ν1(C=C) Raman band of carotenoids post 24 h hydration as compared to their value at a dry state or post 4 h of hydration; this shift was decreased, when drying, in DP and LP but not in UA. We conclude that hydration nonlinearly activated photosynthetic apparatus/reactions of these lichens in minute time range but there was a de-novo synthesis of chlorophylls as well as of carotenoids post 24 h. Their dehydration-induced deactivation, however, was comparatively slow, in hours range, and there seemed a degradation of synthesized chlorophylls and carotenoids post dryness. We conclude that in extremophilic lichens, their photosynthetic partners, in particular, possess a complex survival and photoprotective strategy to be successful in the extreme terrestrial environments in Antarctica.
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•Activation/deactivation of photosynthesis in Antarctic lichens revealed adaptive mechanisms of extremophiles.•The activation/deactivation of photosynthesis is reflected in changes in ΦPSII and a shift in ν1 (C=C) Raman band.•Hydration-activated photosynthesis non-linearly varies on a minute time scale but its deactivation takes hours.
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