Abstract
Estuaries are highly productive ecosystems, which are strongly affected by several anthropogenic pressures. Phytoplankton is a key element for assessing the ecological quality status in ...these transitional waters. Moreover, understanding physico-chemical and biological drivers is crucial to disentangle their effect on the structure of phytoplankton community. The present work aims to study the effect of the main physico-chemical drivers on the phytoplankton community structure and dynamics in a temperate well-mixed estuary (Sado Estuary). Four sampling stations were analyzed monthly in three regions of the estuary, from 2018 to 2019. Surface water samples were collected to analyze the phytoplankton community and several concomitant physico-chemical parameters. Temperature, turbidity, salinity, and nutrients availability were the drivers that best explained the spatio-temporal patterns observed in the phytoplankton community. The upper estuary was characterized by higher phytoplankton cell abundances and biomass. Three phytoplankton groups stood out in the characterization of the estuarine assemblages: diatoms, cryptophytes, and dinoflagellates. Diatoms were the dominant group most of the year, being dominated by small cell species (single and chain-forming) upstream, and by larger chain-forming species downstream. Cryptophytes had a high contribution to the community in the inner regions of the estuary, while dinoflagellates contributed more for the community composition downstream, where high abundances of harmful algal species were sporadically found. Previous studies on the phytoplankton community dynamics in this estuary are limited to the 1990s. Thus, the present study provides insight into changes in the dominant phytoplankton groups of the Sado Estuary in the last 25 years, namely an increase in cryptophytes over diatoms in the inner estuarine regions, and an increase in dinoflagellates near the estuary mouth.
We tested the hypothesis that creatine supplementation may potentiate exercise's protective effects against doxorubicin-induced hepatotoxicity. Thirty-eight Swiss mice were randomly allocated into ...five groups: control (C,
7), exercised (Ex,
7), treated with doxorubicin (Dox,
8), treated with doxorubicin and exercised (DoxEx,
8), and treated with doxorubicin, exercised, and supplemented with creatine (DoxExCr,
8). Doxorubicin was administered weekly (i.p.) for a total dose of 12 mg/kg. Creatine supplementation (2% added to the diet) and strength training (climbing stairs, 3 times a week) were performed for a total of 5 weeks. The results demonstrated that doxorubicin caused hepatotoxicity, which was evidenced by increased (
< 0.05) hepatic markers of inflammation (i.e., TNF-α and IL-6) and oxidative damage, while the redox status (GSH/GSSG) was reduced. The plasma concentrations of liver transaminases were also significantly (
< 0.05) elevated. Furthermore, doxorubicin-treated animals presented hepatic fibrosis and histopathological alterations such as cellular degeneration and the infiltration of interstitial inflammatory cells. Exercise alone partly prevented doxorubicin-induced hepatotoxicity; thus, when combined with creatine supplementation, exercise was able to attenuate inflammation and oxidative stress, morphological alterations, and fibrosis. In conclusion, creatine supplementation potentiates the protective effects of exercise against doxorubicin-induced hepatotoxicity in mice.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide and metastatic dissemination is the principal factor related to death by this disease. Breast cancer stem cells (bCSC) are thought to be ...responsible for metastasis and chemoresistance. In this study, based on whole transcriptome analysis from putative bCSC and reverse engineering of transcription control networks, we identified two networks associated with this phenotype. One controlled by SNAI2, TWIST1, BNC2, PRRX1 and TBX5 drives a mesenchymal or CSC-like phenotype. The second network is controlled by the SCML4, ZNF831, SP140 and IKZF3 transcription factors which correspond to immune response modulators. Immune response network expression is correlated with pathological response to chemotherapy, and in the Basal subtype is related to better recurrence-free survival. In patient-derived xenografts, the expression of these networks in patient tumours is predictive of engraftment success. Our findings point out a potential molecular mechanism underlying the balance between immune surveillance and EMT activation in breast cancer. This molecular mechanism may be useful to the development of new target therapies.
Helium and neon distributions are reported for a variety of Stardust comet 81P/Wild 2 samples, including particle tracks and terminal particles, cell surface and subsurface slices from the comet coma ...and interstellar particle collection trays, and numerous small aerogel blocks extracted from comet cells C2044 and C2086. Discussions and conclusions in several s published during the course of the investigation are included, along with the relevant data. Measured isotope ratios span a broad range, implying a similar range for noble gas carriers in the Wild 2 coma. The meteoritic phase Q‐20Ne/22Ne ratio was observed in several samples. Some of these, and others, exhibit 21Ne excesses too large for attribution to spallation by galactic cosmic ray irradiation, suggesting exposure to a solar proton flux greatly enhanced above current levels in an early near‐Sun environment. Still others display evidence for a solar wind component, particularly one C2086 block with large abundances of isotopically solar‐like helium and neon. Eighty‐nine small aerogel samples were cut from depths up to several millimeters below the cell C2044 surface and several millimeters away from the axis of major track T41. A fraction of these yielded measurable and variable helium and neon abundances and isotope ratios, although none contained visible tracks or carrier particle fragments and their locations were beyond estimated penetration ranges for small particles or ions incident on the cell surface, or for lateral ejecta from T41. Finding plausible emplacement mechanisms and sources for these gases is a significant challenge raised by this study.
Squamous cell cancers of the anal canal (ASCC) are increasing in frequency and lack effective therapies for advanced disease. Although an association with human papillomavirus (HPV) has been ...established, little is known about the molecular characterization of ASCC. A comprehensive genomic analysis of ASCC was undertaken to identify novel genomic alterations (GAs) that will inform therapeutic choices for patients with advanced disease.
Hybrid-capture-based next-generation sequencing of exons from 236 cancer-related genes and intronic regions from 19 genes commonly rearranged in cancer was performed on 70 patients with ASCC. HPV status was assessed by aligning tumor sequencing reads to HPV viral genomes. GAs were identified using an established algorithm and correlated with HPV status.
Sixty-one samples (87%) were HPV-positive. A mean of 3.5 GAs per sample was identified. Recurrent alterations in phosphoinositol-3-kinase pathway (PI3K/AKT/mTOR) genes including amplifications and homozygous deletions were present in 63% of cases. Clinically relevant GAs in genes involved in DNA repair, chromatin remodeling, or receptor tyrosine kinase signaling were observed in 30% of cases. Loss-of-function mutations in TP53 and CDKN2A were significantly enhanced in HPV-negative cases (P < 0.0001).
This is the first comprehensive genomic analysis of ASCC, and the results suggest new therapeutic approaches. Differing genomic profiles between HPV-associated and HPV-negative ASCC warrants further investigation and may require novel therapeutic and preventive strategies.
In this work, a finite element simulation of a commercial thermoelectric cell, working as a cooling heat pump, is presented. The specially developed finite element is three-dimensional, non-linear in ...its formulation (using quadratic temperature-dependence on material properties) and fully coupled, including the
Seebeck,
Peltier,
Thomson and
Joule effects. Another special interface finite element is developed to prescribe the electric intensity, taking advantage of repetitions and symmetries. A thorough study of the distributions of voltage, temperature and the corresponding fluxes is presented, and the performance of the cell is compared with that of the manufacturer and with simplified analytical formulations, showing a good agreement. Combining the finite element model with the Monte Carlo technique, a sensitivity analysis is presented to take into account the performance dependence on the material properties, geometrical parameters and prescribed values. This analysis, which can be considered a first step to optimize these devices, concludes that the temperature-dependence of the material properties of electric conductivity and
Seebeck coefficient is very relevant on cell performance.
Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) arthrocentesis is considered an effective and minimally invasive procedure for certain conditions related to temporomandibular disorders. The ideal irrigation volume for ...arthrocentesis lavage has not yet been defined. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of different saline solution volumes in removing methylene blue from the TMJ space of fresh human cadavers. Nineteen cadavers were selected and 1ml of 10μM methylene blue solution was injected into the upper joint space unilaterally. Conventional arthrocentesis was then conducted by infusion of 300ml of 0.9% saline solution, collecting a 1-ml sample from the drained quantity for every 25ml injected. Finally, the samples were assayed by measuring photo absorbance of the methylene blue solution. There was a statistically significant difference between the irrigation volumes regarding the removal of methylene blue solution from the joint space (P<0.001), specifically between the first 25 ml and 200 ml (P=0.014), 225 ml (P=0.001), 250 ml (P<0.001), and 275 ml (P=0.001). Based on this ex vivo study, a 25-ml perfusion volume appears to be sufficient for joint lavage in conventional arthrocentesis of the TMJ.
The magnetic properties of Ni80Fe20 antidot arrays with hole diameters of 18 and 70nm fabricated by a template-assisted method were investigated using the ferromagnetic resonance technique. Tuning ...the antidot arrays by changing the hole diameter enables control on the angular dependence of the ferromagnetic resonance field. The scanning electron microscope images reveal a quite regular hexagonal arrangement of the pores, however the angular dependence of the resonance field do not exhibit the six-fold symmetry expected for this symmetry. Micromagnetic simulations performed on a perfect hexagonal lattice, when compared with those made on our real system taken from the scanning microscope images, reveal that the presence of defects in the antidot lattice affects the ferromagnetic resonance field symmetry.
•We use the FMR technique to investigate the magnetic properties of Py antidots.•We studied the effect of pore diameter on FMR angular measurement.•FMR field does not exhibit the six-fold symmetry.•For all angular positions there are two resonance modes always present.•Micromagnetic simulations agree with the experimental results with defects.
The first direct gravitational‐wave detection was made by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory on September 14, 2015. The GW150914 signal was strong enough to be apparent, ...without using any waveform model, in the filtered detector strain data. Here, features of the signal visible in the data are analyzed using concepts from Newtonian physics and general relativity, accessible to anyone with a general physics background. The simple analysis presented here is consistent with the fully general‐relativistic analyses published elsewhere, in showing that the signal was produced by the inspiral and subsequent merger of two black holes. The black holes were each of approximately 35M⊙, still orbited each other as close as ∼350 km apart and subsequently merged to form a single black hole. Similar reasoning, directly from the data, is used to roughly estimate how far these black holes were from the Earth, and the energy that they radiated in gravitational waves.
Advanced LIGO made the first gravitational‐wave detection on September 14, 2015. The GW150914 signal was strong enough to be apparent in the cleaned detector strain data. Those features of the signal visible in these data are analyzed, using only such concepts from Newton and general relativity as are accessible to anyone with a general physics background. This simple analysis presented here is consistent with the full published analyses, in showing that the signal was produced by the inspiral and merger of two black holes, and in estimating the distance from the Earth and the energy radiated in gravitational waves.
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