The COVID-19 pandemic now totaling 13,000,000 cases and over 571,000 deaths has continued to teach the medical, scientific and lay communities about viral infectious disease in the modern era. Among ...the many lessons learned for the medical community is the potential for transmissibility and host infectivity of the SARS–CoV-2 virus. Moreover, it has become clear that the virus can affect any organ including the circulatory system, directly via either tissue tropism or indirectly stemming from inflammatory responses in the form of innate immunity, leukocyte debris such as cell-free DNA and histones and RNA viral particles. The following review considers COVID-19-associated vasculitis and vasculopathy as a defining feature of a virus-induced systemic disease with acute, subacute and potential chronic health implications.
The PGC-1 family of regulated coactivators, consisting of PGC-1α, PGC-1β and PRC, plays a central role in a regulatory network governing the transcriptional control of mitochondrial biogenesis and ...respiratory function. These coactivators target multiple transcription factors including NRF-1, NRF-2 and the orphan nuclear hormone receptor, ERRα, among others. In addition, they themselves are the targets of coactivator and co-repressor complexes that regulate gene expression through chromatin remodeling. The expression of PGC-1 family members is modulated by extracellular signals controlling metabolism, differentiation or cell growth and in some cases their activities are known to be regulated by post-translational modification by the energy sensors, AMPK and SIRT1. Recent gene knockout and silencing studies of many members of the PGC-1 network have revealed phenotypes of wide ranging severity suggestive of complex compensatory interactions or broadly integrative functions that are not exclusive to mitochondrial biogenesis. The results point to a central role for the PGC-1 family in integrating mitochondrial biogenesis and energy production with many diverse cellular functions. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Mitochondria and Cardioprotection.
► Respiratory chain expression requires nuclear and mitochondrial regulatory factors. ► Essential and nonessential nuclear factors contribute to respiratory chain expression. ► PGC-1α and β are important regulators of tissue-specific metabolic function. ► PRC is a growth-regulated member of the PGC-1 coactivator family. ► PRC silencing leads to a respiratory chain defect and abundant, abnormal mitochondria.
Anthropogenic debris contaminates marine habitats globally, leading to several perceived ecological impacts. Here, we critically and systematically review the literature regarding impacts of debris ...from several scientific fields to understand the weight of evidence regarding the ecological impacts of marine debris. We quantified perceived and demonstrated impacts across several levels of biological organization that make up the ecosystem and found 366 perceived threats of debris across all levels. Two hundred and ninety‐six of these perceived threats were tested, 83% of which were demonstrated. The majority (82%) of demonstrated impacts were due to plastic, relative to other materials (e.g., metals, glass) and largely (89%) at suborganismal levels (e.g., molecular, cellular, tissue). The remaining impacts, demonstrated at higher levels of organization (i.e., death to individual organisms, changes in assemblages), were largely due to plastic marine debris (>1 mm; e.g., rope, straws, and fragments). Thus, we show evidence of ecological impacts from marine debris, but conclude that the quantity and quality of research requires improvement to allow the risk of ecological impacts of marine debris to be determined with precision. Still, our systematic review suggests that sufficient evidence exists for decision makers to begin to mitigate problematic plastic debris now, to avoid risk of irreversible harm.
Gastrulation is the fundamental process in all multicellular animals through which the basic body plan is first laid down
. It is pivotal in generating cellular diversity coordinated with spatial ...patterning. In humans, gastrulation occurs in the third week after fertilization. Our understanding of this process in humans is relatively limited and based primarily on historical specimens
, experimental models
or, more recently, in vitro cultured samples
. Here we characterize in a spatially resolved manner the single-cell transcriptional profile of an entire gastrulating human embryo, staged to be between 16 and 19 days after fertilization. We use these data to analyse the cell types present and to make comparisons with other model systems. In addition to pluripotent epiblast, we identified primordial germ cells, red blood cells and various mesodermal and endodermal cell types. This dataset offers a unique glimpse into a central but inaccessible stage of our development. This characterization provides new context for interpreting experiments in other model systems and represents a valuable resource for guiding directed differentiation of human cells in vitro.
Electrosynthesis has much to offer to the synthetic organic chemist. But in order to be widely accepted as a routine procedure in an organic synthesis laboratory, electrosynthesis needs to be ...presented in a much more user-friendly way. The literature is largely based on electrolysis in a glass beaker or H-cells that often give poor performance for synthesis with a very slow rate of conversion and, often, low selectivity and reproducibility. Flow cells can lead to much improved performance. Electrolysis is participating in the trend toward continuous flow synthesis, and this has led to a number of innovations in flow cell design that make possible selective syntheses with high conversion of reactant to product with a single passage of the reactant solution through the cell. In addition, the needs of the synthetic organic chemist can often be met by flow cells operating with recycle of the reactant solution. These cells give a high rate of product formation while the reactant concentration is high, but they perform best at low conversion. Both approaches are considered in this review and the important features of each cell design are discussed. Throughout, the application of the cell designs is illustrated with syntheses that have been reported.
Microplastics in the seas Law, Kara Lavender; Thompson, Richard C.
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
07/2014, Volume:
345, Issue:
6193
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Concern is rising about widespread contamination of the marine environment by microplastics.
Plastic debris in the marine environment is more than just an unsightly problem. Images of beach litter ...and large floating debris may first come to mind, but much recent concern about plastic pollution has focused on microplastic particles too small to be easily detected by eye (see the figure). Microplastics are likely the most numerically abundant items of plastic debris in the ocean today, and quantities will inevitably increase, in part because large, single plastic items ultimately degrade into millions of microplastic pieces. Microplastics are of environmental concern because their size (millimeters or smaller) renders them accessible to a wide range of organisms at least as small as zooplankton, with potential for physical and toxicological harm.
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