Abstract
This paper analyses the conditions and factors influencing non-university researchers’ career transitions back into academia. Using affiliation data in publications of German researchers, ...their cross-sector career transitions from the public research organisation Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and industry to universities are analysed. Although the rate of transitions is small, there are distinctive windows of opportunity at a junior career stage, especially for Fraunhofer researchers. Researchers who publish more and in more acclaimed journals, Fraunhofer researchers who co-publish with universities, and women are more likely to gain a university affiliation over the course of their career. These results indicate the influence of institutional proximity for cross-domain career transitions. The quality and impact of academic knowledge could be improved if the higher education sector was more open to recruitment of researchers from other sectors. Policy needs to target the barriers that preclude applied researchers from pursuing university careers.
Background
Deregulation of immune response and oxidative stress contribute to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) pathogenesis. Resistin is a physiological modulator of inflammation and redox ...homeostasis of different cell types. Increased resistin serum concentration and the direct association between resistin hepatic expression and NAFLD severity suggest that resistin participates in NAFLD pathogenesis.
Aims
To evaluate resistin-induced regulation of redox homeostasis in mononuclear leukocytes from NAFLD patients and controls.
Methods
We evaluated basal and resistin-mediated modulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and glutathione content by flow cytometry, and antioxidant enzyme activities by spectrophotometry.
Results
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from NAFLD patients showed higher ROS content and glutathione peroxidase activity and lower glutathione content, superoxide dismutase and glutathione reductase activities than control PBMC. Resistin decreased ROS levels and superoxide dismutase activity and increased glutathione reductase and catalase activities in PBMC from controls but not from patients. Resistin decreased glutathione content in PBMC from control and NAFLD patients, with greater effect on patient cells. Basal and resistin-modulated ROS levels were directly associated with obesity-related risk factors for NAFLD. Hepatic myeloid cells and T-lymphocytes from NAFLD patients showed higher basal ROS content than cells from controls. Resistin decreased ROS levels in hepatic T-lymphocytes from controls but not from patients.
Conclusions
Resistin regulates redox homeostasis in mononuclear leukocytes. A decreased response to resistin in leukocytes from NAFLD patients is associated with an impaired redox homeostasis.
The current COVID‐19 pandemic highlights the need for zoonotic infectious disease surveillance. Avian influenza virus (AIV) poses a significant threat to animal and public health due to its pandemic ...potential. Virus‐contaminated water has been suggested as an important AIV spread mechanism among multiple species. Nevertheless, few studies have characterized the global AIV subtype diversity and distribution in environmental water. Therefore, this study aims to provide an updated descriptive and phylogenetic analysis of AIVs isolated in water samples from high risk‐sites for influenza outbreaks (i.e. live bird markets, poultry farms, and wild bird habitats) on a global scale. The descriptive analysis evidenced that 21 subtypes were reported from nine countries between 2003 and 2020. Fourteen AIV subtypes were solely reported from Asian countries. Most of the viral sequences were obtained in China and Bangladesh with 47.44% and 23.93%, respectively. Likewise, the greatest global AIV subtype diversity was observed in China with 12 subtypes. Live bird markets represented the main sampling site for AIV detection in water samples (64.1%), mostly from poultry cage water. Nevertheless, the highest subtype diversity was observed in water samples from wild bird habitats, especially from the Izumi plain and the Dongting Lake located in Japan and China, respectively. Water from drinking poultry troughs evidenced the greatest subtype diversity in live bird markets; meanwhile, environmental water used by ducks had the highest number of different subtypes in poultry farms. Maximum‐likelihood phylogenetic trees of hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) genes showed that some sequences were closely related among different poultry/wild bird‐related environments from different geographic origins. Therefore, the results suggest that even though the availability of gene sequences in public‐access databases varies greatly among countries, environmental AIV surveillance represents a useful tool to elucidate potential viral diversity in wild and domestic bird populations.
Here, we present a metric and morphological study of the molar remains from the Montmaurin-La Niche mandible by means of microcomputed tomography. According to the last analysis, based on the ...combination of geomorphological and paleontological data, the level bearing this human mandible probably corresponds to the marine isotope stages (MIS) 7. These data place the Montmaurin-La Niche in a chronologically intermediate position between the Neanderthals and the Middle Pleistocene fossils (e.g., Sima de los Huesos, la Caune de l’Arago). A recent study has revealed that while the mandible is more closely related to the Early and Middle Pleistocene African and Eurasian populations, the morphology of the outer enamel surfaces of its molars is typical of the Neanderthal linage. The data presented here are in line with this finding because the morphology of the enamel-dentine junction of the molars is similar to that of Neanderthals, whereas the absolute and relative enamel thickness values (2D and 3D) are closer to those exhibited by some Early Pleistocene hominins. Moreover, the pulp cavity morphology and proportions are in concordance with the Neanderthal populations. Our results strengthen the hypothesis that the settlement of Europe could be the result of several migrations, at different times, originated from a common source population. Thus, the variability in the European Middle Pleistocene populations (e.g., Montmaurin, Sima de los Huesos, Arago, Mala Balanica) could indicate different migrations at different times and/or population fragmentation, without excluding the possible hybridization between residents and new settlers.
Alcohol consumption is a modifiable risk factor for non-communicable diseases. This study aimed to characterize alcohol consumers at the nutritional, anthropometric, and sociodemographic levels. Data ...from 9218 participants from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela participating in "Latin American Health and Nutrition Study (ELANS)", a multi-country, population-based study, were used. Dietary intake was collected through two, 24 h recalls. Participants were classified into consumers (
= 1073) and non-alcohol consumers (
= 8145) using a cut-off criterium of ≥15 g/day of alcohol consumption calculated from the estimation of their usual daily intake. Among alcohol consumers, the mean alcohol consumption was 69.22 ± 2.18 grams (4.6. beverages/day), contributing to 484.62 kcal, which corresponded to 16.86% of the total energy intake. We found that the risk of alcohol consumption was higher in young and middle-aged men from low and middle socioeconomic status. Argentine, Brazil, and Chile had the highest percentage of consumers, while Ecuador showed the highest alcohol consumption. Alcohol drinkers were characterized by having higher body weight and wider neck, waist, hips circumferences. Alcohol drinkers had a higher energy intake, with macronutrients providing relatively less energy at the expense of the energy derived from alcohol. Alcohol drinkers showed lower and higher consumptions of healthy and unhealthy food groups, respectively. In addition, adequacy ratios for all micronutrients assessed were lower in alcohol consumers. All these deleterious effects of alcohol on nutritional and anthropometric parameters increased with the number of alcoholic beverages consumed daily. Altogether, these findings suggest that limiting alcohol consumption can contribute to reducing the risk of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diet-related diseases.
Emotional intelligence (EI) has been studied in relation to health and physical activity (PA) or in a sport-specific approach. EI is related to sports performance; however, combat sports seem to show ...characteristics of their own that involve better control of emotions than other sports. This study aimed to analyse whether there are differences in EI dimensions between those who do not achieve World Health Organization (WHO) PA recommendations, those who meet WHO PA recommendations, those who meet WHO PA recommendations practising sports, and judokas of different levels. A descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted. The sample comprised 2938 undergraduate students from Madrid and 487 active Spanish judokas. PA was measured by the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ). EI was assessed by the Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS-24). Three different one-way ANOVA and ANCOVA (controlling for gender and age) were conducted to compare the effect of type of group studied on the EI dimensions. Significant differences in EI dimensions were found between those who do not meet PA recommendations, those who meet PA recommendations, those who meet PA recommendations practising sports, and judo athletes of different levels. However, when controlling for gender and age, these differences remained specifically in emotional attention and in emotional repair. Judo athletes and high-performance judo athletes showed better EI than the rest of the studied groups.
The psychological aspect in patients with dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB) is poorly documented. We sought to determine the role of DEB in anxiety, depression and self‐esteem. We conducted a ...cross‐sectional study, collecting data from 27 DEB patients and 26 healthy individuals. DEB patients and healthy controls completed three different psychometric scales for anxiety and depression and one scale for self‐esteem. DEB patients and healthy controls were homogeneous for age and sex (P > 0.05), but not for employment, marital status and economic level (P < 0.05). Median values of all psychometric battery scales were not statistically significant between DEB patients and healthy controls, except for Goldberg scale for anxiety (P = 0.003) and depression (P = 0.037) and slightly significant for Zung Scale for anxiety (P = 0.048) with no difference between DEB patients with dominant versus recessive form in all scales (P > 0.05). Among DEB patients, only employment showed a significant difference in all scales (P < 0.05) but Hamilton for depression, whereas self‐esteem seemed to be affected by marriage (P = 0.04) and education (P = 0.016). DEB patients apparently are not more anxious and/or depressed and do not have less self‐esteem than healthy individuals.
Vitamin E was identified as a lipophilic compound essential to maintain rat pregnancy. Low vitamin E intake during early pregnancy associates with congenital malformations and embryonic loss in ...animals and with miscarriage and intrauterine growth restriction in humans. Vitamin E protects cell membranes from lipoperoxidation and exerts non-antioxidant activities. Its function can be restored by vitamin C; thus, intake and circulating levels of both micronutrients are frequently analyzed together. Although substantial vitamin E inadequacy was reported worldwide, its consumption in Latin America (LatAm) is mostly unknown. Using data from the Latin American Study of Nutrition and Health (Estudio Latinoamericano de Nutrición y Salud, ELANS), we evaluated vitamin E and C intake in women of reproductive age (WRA) from eight LatAm countries and identified their main food sources. Two non-consecutive 24-h dietary recalls in 3704 women aged from 15 to 49 years and living in urban locations showed low average intake of vitamin E (7.9 mg/day vs. estimated average requirement (EAR) of 12 mg/day) and adequate overall vitamin C consumption (95.5 mg/day vs. EAR of 60 mg/day). The mean regional inadequacy was 89.6% for vitamin E and 36.3% for vitamin C. The primary food sources of vitamin E were fats and oils, as well as vegetables. Vitamin C intake was explained mainly by the consumption of fruit juices, fruits, and vegetables. Combined deficient intake of both vitamins was observed in 33.7% of LatAm women. Although the implications of low antioxidant vitamins’ consumption in WRA are still unclear, the combined deficient intake of both vitamins observed in one-third of ELANS participants underscores the need for further research on this topic.
Presenilin 1 (PS1) is the catalytic subunit of the γ-secretase complex which is involved in the generation of amyloid-β peptides (Aβ). Single point mutations in PS1 alter the cleavage pattern of the ...amyloid precursor protein (APP) and lead to the formation of aberrant Aβ peptides. To date, more than two hundred mutations distributed among almost a third of PS1's amino acids have been associated to the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Nevertheless, the mechanism by which mutations far from the catalytic site alter the γ-secretase's cleavage pattern remains unclear. In this work we analyzed correlated motions between amino acids in the wild type (WT) enzyme and 13 γ-secretase mutant models employing a multi-scale molecular dynamics approach. The effect of the protonation state of key catalytic residue Asp385 on the correlation networks was also evaluated. We observed that the strength and number of correlations is highly influenced in all mutant models in both protonation state models. The biggest changes were observed in mutants I83T, W165G, H214Y and L435F; the latest has been proved to drastically reduce γ-secretase activity. Finally, we made a classification of the studied mutations according to their correlation networks with amino acids at: (1) the interfaces with the other γ-secretase components, (2) the catalytic site, (3) the substrate entry site and (4) the substrate recognition site. Overall, this work provides insight into the allosteric communication networks of PS1.
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•Correlated motions between amino acids in Presenilin 1 were analyzed.•Mutations affect dynamics regardless of the catalytic residues protonation state.•The biggest changes were observed in mutants I83T, W165G, H214Y and L435F.•Long-distance correlations alter Presenilin 1 dynamics.•The studied mutations were classified according to their correlation networks.
Oxidative stress has been proposed as a risk factor for cervical cancer development. However, few studies have evaluated the redox state associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. The aim ...of this work was to determine the role of the early expressed viral proteins E1, E2, E6 and E7 from HPV types 16 and 18 in the modulation of the redox state in an integral form. Therefore, generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), concentration of reduced glutathione (GSH), levels and activity of the antioxidant enzymes catalase and superoxide dismutase (SOD) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage, were analysed in epithelial cells ectopically expressing the viral proteins. Our research shows that E6 oncoproteins decreased GSH and catalase protein levels, as well as its enzymatic activity, which was associated with an increase in ROS production and DNA damage. In contrast, E7 oncoproteins increased GSH, as well as catalase protein levels and its activity, which correlated with a decrease in ROS without affecting DNA integrity. The co-expression of both E6 and E7 oncoproteins neutralized the effects that were independently observed for each of the viral proteins. Additionally, the combined expression of E1 and E2 proteins increased ROS levels with the subsequent increase in the marker for DNA damage phospho-histone 2AX (γH2AX). A decrease in GSH, as well as SOD2 levels and activity were also detected in the presence of E1 and E2, even though catalase activity increased. This study demonstrates that HPV early expressed proteins differentially modulate cellular redox state and DNA damage.
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