Fasciolosis is an important economic disease of livestock. There is a global interest in the development of protective vaccines since the current anthelmintic therapy is no longer sustainable. A ...better knowledge of the host–parasite interaction is needed to design effective vaccines. To date, few studies have evaluated host–parasite interaction by comparing infected and reinfected animals. The present study evaluates the microscopical hepatic lesions in sheep infected and reinfected with Fasciola hepatica during the acute and chronic stages of infection. The histopathological study revealed the presence of necrotizing foci (NF1) associated with larvae migration during the early stages of infection in the primoinfected (PI) and reinfected (RI) groups. In the late stages of infection of the PI group and at the early and late stages of infection in the RI groups, extensive necrotizing/hemorrhagic foci (NF2) were found in the vicinity of enlarged bile ducts, some containing adult flukes, suggesting parasites may have caused NF2 while feeding. The immunohistochemical study revealed an increase in Foxp3+ T cells in both PI and RI groups with respect to the UC group and in the infiltrates adjacent to NF1 in the RI groups with respect to the PI group, suggesting the F. hepatica induce Foxp3 T cell expansion to facilitate parasite survival. In addition, in both the PI and RI groups, and during acute and chronic stages of the infection, a poor expression of iNOS was found accompanied by a strong expression of CD163, suggesting a marked M2 activation of macrophages in the hepatic lesions, which may be related with healing processes, and it also may facilitate parasite survival. The main differences between PI and RI animals were the more severe infiltration of eosinophils and Foxp3+ T cells, whereas RI did not modify M2 activation of macrophages which occurs since the early stages of primoinfection.
The present study characterizes a population of Hydromedusa tectifera in a human-disturbed stream in Buenos Aires province, Argentina. We analyzed the variation of abundance, sex ratio, body ...condition index, and size class distribution across 3 sections of the Rodriguez stream with different degrees of urbanization regarding house density (null, low, and high) along the stream margins. Fieldwork was carried out from March 2017 to January 2018. Turtles were caught manually, and the following variables were recorded: site, transect and margin, sex, straight carapace length, and weight. We found 109 H. tectifera individuals (56 males, 46 females, and 7 hatchlings) with a balanced sex ratio and body condition index that did not vary among sites. Most turtles were caught at the site with greatest urbanization degree. However, our results showed no significant differences in the number of turtles caught among stream sites. Regarding size class distributions, the population consists largely of medium-sized to large adult turtles (150–250 mm). The present study demonstrates that the moderate urbanization degree occurring along the Rodriguez stream seems not to have negative impact on the studied population of H. tectifera. Some of the topics highlighted here constitute a first step to understanding how urbanization impacts this species. In any case, we suggest that a periodic monitoring program of the studied population is necessary in order to monitor the studied parameters and include new ones, such as habitat requirements, reproduction sites, and food quality, among others, that would probably be useful for population management to achieve better integration between the city and the turtles living there.
•VARSE is a free, portable application to perform HRV studies.•Useful for experiments on physical activities or psychological responses to stimuli.•Both usability and validity of VARSE were tested.
...nowadays, numerous mobile applications capable of measuring the Heart Rate (HR) are continuously being launched. However, these tools do not allow to record and label the acquired HR signals while users are doing activities such as practising sports or viewing images. They do not allow to perform simultaneous HR acquisition and real-time HRV analysis, either. VARSE is an app for Android mobile devices capable of acquiring and labelling HR signals and of performing real-time HRV analysis.
VARSE was developed for Android devices. It includes functionalities to acquire HR signals from any Bluetooth device that implements the Heart Rate Profile specification (such as a chest strap), while labelling segments of the HR data in different situations. Not only can these signals be stored, but also time and frequency HRV analyses can be carried out over them. The application is distributed under the MIT license 1, and it is also available to be installed via Google Play 2. Functionality, ease-of-use and friendliness of VARSE were evaluated employing an User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ). Its reliability was proven by comparative studies against other existing acquisition (gVARVI) or HRV analysis (RHRV) software.
high values were obtained for all the dimensions evaluated in the UEQ, proving the quality of the application, as well as its ease-of-use and efficiency. Both HR signal acquisition and HRV analysis yielded results similar to the ones obtained using other applications.
VARSE is a tool with complete functionality, that can be easily downloaded or installed on Android mobile devices. It can be used by anyone who wishes to record HR signals while performing different activities, and also by the medical scientific community to perform real-time HRV analyses easily. Future versions will improve its capabilities and allow its integration with other open source applications.
Fasciolosis is an important economic disease of livestock. There is a global interest in the development of protective vaccines since current anthelmintic therapy is no longer sustainable. A better ...knowledge of the host-parasite interaction is needed for the design of effective vaccines. The present study evaluates the microscopical hepatic lesions in sheep immunized with a partially protective vaccine (VAC1), a non-protective vaccine (VAC2), and an infected control group (IC). The nature of granulomatous inflammation associated with degeneration of adult flukes found in the VAC1 group was characterized by immunohistochemistry. Hepatic lesions (fibrous perihepatitis, chronic tracts, bile duct hyperplasia, infiltration of eosinophils and lymphocytes and plasma cells) were significantly less severe in the VAC1 group than in the IC group. Dead adult flukes within bile ducts were observed only in the VAC1 group and were surrounded by a severe granulomatous inflammation composed by macrophages and multinucleate giant cells with a high expression of lysozyme, CD163 and S100 markers, and a low expression of CD68. Numerous CD3+ T lymphocytes and scarce infiltrate of FoxP3+ Treg and CD208+ dendritic cells were present. This is the first report describing degenerated flukes associated to a severe granulomatous inflammation in bile ducts in a F. hepatica vaccine trial.
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•Evolving different defence strategies against parasites results in contrasting outcomes.•In our system, the main host tolerates the parasitic infection without ...resistance.•Alternative hosts resisted, but with different levels of effectiveness.•Different defence effeciency resulted in dissimilar virulence and parasite success.•Defence strategies can drive parasite dynamics and the evolution of virulence.
Hosts counteract infections using two distinct defence strategies, resistance (reduction in pathogen fitness) and tolerance (limitation of infection damage). These strategies have been minimally investigated in multi-host systems, where they may vary across host species, entailing consequences both for hosts (virulence) and parasites (transmission). Comprehending the interplay among resistance, tolerance, virulence and parasite success is highly relevant for our understanding of the ecology and evolution of infectious and parasitic diseases. Our work investigated the interaction between an insect parasite and its most common bird host species, focusing on two relevant questions: (i) are defence strategies different between main and alternative hosts and, (ii) what are the consequences (virulence and parasite success) of different defence strategies? We conducted a matched field experiment and longitudinal studies at the host and the parasite levels under natural conditions, using a system comprising Philornis torquans flies and three bird hosts – the main host and two of the most frequently used alternative hosts. We found that main and alternative hosts have contrasting defence strategies, which gave rise in turn to contrasting virulence and parasite success. In the main bird host, minor loss of fitness, no detectable immune response, and high parasite success suggest a strategy of high tolerance and negligible resistance. Alternative hosts, on the contrary, resisted by mounting inflammatory responses, although with very different efficiency, which resulted in highly dissimilar parasite success and virulence. These results show clearly distinct defence strategies between main and alternative hosts in a natural multi-host system. They also highlight the importance of defence strategies in determining virulence and infection dynamics, and hint that defence efficiency is a crucial intervening element in these processes.
Abstract Background/Aims CD19, a co-receptor of the B cell receptor, fine-tunes the threshold for B-cell activation with implications for cell metabolism and function. Activating receptors such as ...CD40, IFNγR and TLRs also influence B cell activation. B cell subpopulation, double negative (DN, IgD-CD27-) T-bet+ B cells, is considered pathogenic in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Here, we explored whether CD19hi B cells differed from CD19lo B cells with regards to proliferation, metabolism, and function. Methods Peripheral blood samples from nine healthy participants, 16 RA and 20 SLE patients were analysed. Subgroup analysis of rituximab-treated (RTX-T), n = 6 versus rituximab naïve (RTX-N), n = 6, was performed. B cells or peripheral blood mononuclear cells were stimulated with anti-IgG, anti-IgM and anti-human CD40 antibodies and a TLR9 agonist for 20 hours prior to flow cytometric analysis of B cell expression of phosphorylated AMPK (pAMPK, the master regulator of metabolism), intracellular expression of Ki67 (proliferation marker), and cytokines IL-6 and IL-10. Statistical analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism v10.0.1. Results Compared to CD19+CD20+ B cells, CD19+CD20- B cells: 1) were predominantly composed of DN (55% versus 19%, p < 0.01) and IgD-CD27+ memory subpopulations (37% versus 25%, p = 0.1094); 2) were detectable at a hierarchical frequency, RTX-T>RTX-N>HC cohorts; 3) had a greater frequency of Ki67+ cells (38% versus 5%, p < 0.01); 4) displayed higher CD38 MFI (41478.0 versus 10589.0, p < 0.01). Approximately 50% of CD19hi B cells were T-bet+, compared to 28% of CD19lo B cells (n = 33, p < 0.0001). Compared to CD19lo, CD19hi B cells 1) expressed (MFI) significantly greater TLR7, TLR9, IFNγR and pAMPK (n = 7 for all except pAMPK, n = 4), and 2) had greater frequency of IL6+ and IL10+ B cells (n = 7, p < 0.05) (Table). Conclusion CD20- B cell subpopulations with potent proliferative capacity express CD19. Further, CD19hi B cells: 1) upregulate the TLR-IFNγ-T-bet pathway; 2) have significantly greater expression of pAMPK; 3) have higher cytokine expression compared to CD19lo B cells. These data suggest the activation pathway, metabolic activity, and functional profile of CD19hi cells. Therefore, the potential of CD19hi cells to promote inflammation provides strong rationale for targeting CD19 in autoimmune disease with emerging therapies such as CAR-T cells and T cell engagers. Disclosure K. Shah: Grants/research support; KS has received funding for research from Roche. M.J. Leandro: Consultancies; MJL acted as a consultant for Roche and Genentech. Other; MJL received funds less than $10000 and support to attend educational conferences. M.S. Cragg: Consultancies; Consultant for BioInvent International, Boehringer Ingelheim, GSK, Radiant, iteos, Surrozen, Hanall and Mestag. Honoraria; He has received honoraria/speakers fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Amgen, Roche and Symphogen. Grants/research support; BioInvent International, GSK and UCB. F. Kollert: Corporate appointments; FK is employed by Roche. Shareholder/stock ownership; FK has stock ownership at Roche. F. Schuler: Corporate appointments; FS is employed by Roche. Shareholder/stock ownership; FS has patents and stock ownership at Roche. D.A. Isenberg: None. A. Akbar: None. C. Klein: Corporate appointments; CK is employed by Roche. Shareholder/stock ownership; CK has patents and stock ownership at Roche. V. Reddy: Grants/research support; VR has received a research grant from Roche.
Gluconic acid is produced in large quantities by the endophytic and diazotrophic bacterium Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus Pal5. This organic acid derives from direct oxidation of glucose by a ...pyrroloquinoline-quinone-linked glucose dehydrogenase in this plant growth-promoting bacterium. In the present article, evidence is presented showing that gluconic acid is also responsible for the antimicrobial activity of G. diazotrophicus Pal5. The broad antagonistic spectrum includes Gram-positive and -negative bacteria. Eukaryotic microorganisms are more resistant to growth inhibition by this acid. Inhibition by gluconic acid can be modified through the presence of other organic acids. In contrast to other microorganisms, the Quorum Sensing system of G. diazotrophicus Pal5, a regulatory mechanism that plays a key role in several microbe–microbe interactions, is not related to gluconic acid production and the concomitant antagonistic activity.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a serious disorder caused by intermittent airway obstruction which may have dangerous impact on daily living activities. Heart rate variability (HRV) analysis could ...be used for diagnosing OSA, since this disease affects HRV during sleep. In order to validate different algorithms developed for detecting OSA employing HRV analysis, several public or proprietary data collections have been employed for different research groups. However, for validation purposes, it is obvious and evident the lack of a common standard database, worldwide recognized and accepted by the scientific community. In this paper, different algorithms employing HRV analysis were applied over diverse public and proprietary databases for detecting OSA, and the outcomes were validated in terms of a statistical analysis. Results indicate that the use of a specific database may strongly affect the performance of the algorithms, due to differences in methodologies of processing. Our results suggest that researchers must strongly take into consideration the database used when quoting their results, since selected cases are highly database dependent and would bias conclusions.
Production of functional/bioactive components by whey protein hydrolysis using new plant proteases represents an innovative area in food processing and functional foods. The present study evaluated ...the potential use of plant crude extracts from Citrus aurantium flowers, trompillo (Solanum elaeagnifolium) berries (TE) and melon (Cucumis melo) fruit (ME) for production of whey protein hydrolysates. The hydrolytic patterns of whey proteins (i.e., β-lactoglobulin, α-lactalbumin, serum albumin, and immunoglobulins) at pH 3.5 and 6.5, at 0, 3, 6, 9, and 24 h, were monitored by HPLC and SDS-PAGE analysis. Maximum proteolytic action on the major whey proteins (i.e., β-lactoglobulin and α-lactalbumin) was obtained using ME and TE at pH 6.5. Whey hydrolysates that presented more hydrolysis of β-lactoglobulin showed the highest angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitory activities (75–90% inhibition). The use of these new plant proteases offers potential in the production of hydrolysates with bioactive properties for the development of functional foods.
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