Natural and anthropogenic factors influence flowering synchrony and reproduction of a dominant plant in an inter-Andean scrub.

PREMISE: Agriculture expansion, livestock, and global change have transformed biological communities and altered, through aerosols and direct deposition, N:P balance in soils of inter-Andean valleys, potentially affecting flowering phenology of many species and thereby flowering synchrony and plant reproduction. METHODS: We evaluated the influence of variation in temperature and moisture along the local elevational gradient and treatments with the addition of N and P and grazing on flowering synchrony and reproduction of Croton, a dominant shrub of the inter-Andean dry scrub. Along the elevational gradient (300 m difference between the lowest and highest site), we set up plots with and without grazing nested with four nutrient treatments: control and addition of N or P alone or combined N + P. We recorded the number of female and male flowers in bloom monthly from September 2017 to August 2019 to calculate flowering synchrony. We assessed fruiting, seed mass, and pre-dispersal seed predation. RESULTS: Higher growing-season soil temperatures, which were negatively associated with local elevation and higher nitrogen availability promoted flowering synchrony of Croton, particularly among larger plants. Greater flowering synchrony, high soil temperatures, and addition of N + P resulted in production of more fruits of Croton, but also intensified pre-dispersal seed predation. CONCLUSIONS: Temperature, availability of moisture throughout the elevational gradient, and nutrient manipulation affected flowering synchrony, which subsequently affected production of fruits in Croton. These results emphasize the critical role of current anthropogenic changes in climate and nutrient availability on flowering synchrony and reproduction of Croton, a dominant plant of the inter-Andean scrub.

Achieving a High Thermally Conductive One Micron AlN Deposition by High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering plus Kick.

High-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) plus kick is a physical vapor deposition method that employs bipolar microsecond-scale voltage pulsing to precisely control the ion energy during sputter deposition. HiPIMS plus kick for AlN deposition is difficult since nitride deposition is challenged by low surface diffusion and high susceptibility to ion damage. In this current study, a systematic examination of the process parameters of HiPIMS plus kick was conducted. Under optimized main negative pulsing conditions, this study documented that a 25 V positive kick biasing for AlN deposition is ideal for optimizing a high quality film, as shown by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy as well as optimal thermal conductivity while increasing high speed deposition (25 nm/min) and obtaining ultrasmooth surfaces (rms roughness = 0.5 nm). HiPIMS plus kick was employed to deposit a single-texture 1 µm AlN film with a 7.4° rocking curve, indicating well oriented grains, which correlated with high thermal conductivity (121 W/m·K). The data are consistent with the optimal kick voltage enabling enhanced surface diffusion due to ion-substrate collisions without damaging the AlN grains.

Substitution of Asp29 with Asn29 in the metallochaperone UreE of Streptococcus thermophilus DSM 20617T increases the urease activity and anticipates urea hydrolysis during milk fermentation.

Urease operon is highly conserved within the species Streptococcus thermophilus and urease-negative strains are rare in nature. S. thermophilus MIMO1, isolated from commercial yogurt, was previously characterized as urease-positive Ni-dependent strain. Beside a mutation in ureQ, coding for a nickel ABC transporter permease, the strain MIMO1 showed a mutation in ureE gene which code for a metallochaperone involved in Ni delivery to the urease catalytic site. The single base mutation in ureE determined a substitution of Asp29 with Asn29 in the metallochaperone in a conserved protein region not involved in the catalytic activity. With the aim to investigate the role Asp29vs Asn29 substitution in UreE on the urease activity of S. thermophilus, ureE gene of the reference strain DSM 20617T (ureEDSM20617) was replaced by ureE gene of strain MIMO1 (ureEMIMO1) to obtain the recombinant ES3. In-gel detection of urease activity revealed that the substitution of Asp29 with Asn29 in UreE resulted in a higher stability of the enzyme complexes. Moreover, the recombinant ES3 showed higher level of urease activity compared to the wildtype without any detectable increase in the expression level of ureC gene, thus highlighting the role of UreE not only in Ni assembly but also on the level of urease activity. During the growth in milk, the recombinant ES3 showed an anticipated urease activity compared to the wildtype, and analogous milk fermentation performance. The overall data obtained by comparing urease-positive and urease-negative strains/mutants confirmed that urease activity strongly impacts on the milk fermentation process and specifically on the yield of the homolactic fermentation.

Effect of a multi-strain probiotic mixture consumption on anxiety and depression symptoms induced in adult mice by postnatal maternal separation.

BACKGROUND: Intestinal microbial composition not only affects the health of the gut but also influences centrally mediated systems involved in mood, through the "gut-brain" axis, a bidirectional communication between gut microbiota and the brain. In this context, the modulation of intestinal microbiota and its metabolites through the administration of probiotics seems to represent a very promising approach in the treatment of the central nervous system alterations. Early postnatal life is a critical period during which the brain undergoes profound and essential modulations in terms of maturation and plasticity. Maternal separation (MS), i.e., the disruption of the mother-pup interaction, represents a pivotal paradigm in the study of stress-related mood disorders, by inducing persistent changes in the immune system, inflammatory processes, and emotional behavior in adult mammals. RESULTS: We conducted experiments to investigate whether sustained consumption of a multi-strain probiotic formulation by adult male mice could mitigate the effects of maternal separation. Our data demonstrated that the treatment with probiotics was able to totally reverse the anxiety- and depressive-like behavior; normalize the neuro-inflammatory state, by restoring the resting state of microglia; and finally induce a proneurogenic effect. Mice subjected to maternal separation showed changes in microbiota composition compared to the control group that resulted in permissive colonization by the administered multi-strain probiotic product. As a consequence, the probiotic treatment also significantly affected the production of SCFA and in particular the level of butyrate. CONCLUSION: Gut microbiota and its metabolites mediate the therapeutic action of the probiotic mix on MS-induced brain dysfunctions. Our findings extend the knowledge on the use of probiotics as a therapeutic tool in the presence of alterations of the emotional sphere that significantly impact on gut microbiota composition. Video Abstract.

Regression of Cardiac Lymphoma With Chemotherapy.

A patient was admitted for chest pain with electrocardiographic changes, and cardiac magnetic resonance showed focal myocardial hypertrophy secondary to edema. Combined positron emission tomography and computed tomography corroborated foci of myocardial hypermetabolism, as well as multiple adenopathies consistent with lymphoma in the biopsy. Hypertrophy and edema regressed with chemotherapy.

Brain activation by a VR-based motor imagery and observation task: An fMRI study.

Training motor imagery (MI) and motor observation (MO) tasks is being intensively exploited to promote brain plasticity in the context of post-stroke rehabilitation strategies. This may benefit from the use of closed-loop neurofeedback, embedded in brain-computer interfaces (BCI's) to provide an alternative non-muscular channel, which may be further augmented through embodied feedback delivered through virtual reality (VR). Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a group of healthy adults to map brain activation elicited by an ecologically-valid task based on a VR-BCI paradigm called NeuRow, whereby participants perform MI of rowing with the left or right arm (i.e., MI), while observing the corresponding movement of the virtual arm of an avatar (i.e., MO), on the same side, in a first-person perspective. We found that this MI-MO task elicited stronger brain activation when compared with a conventional MI-only task based on the Graz BCI paradigm, as well as to an overt motor execution task. It recruited large portions of the parietal and occipital cortices in addition to the somatomotor and premotor cortices, including the mirror neuron system (MNS), associated with action observation, as well as visual areas related with visual attention and motion processing. Overall, our findings suggest that the virtual representation of the arms in an ecologically-valid MI-MO task engage the brain beyond conventional MI tasks, which we propose could be explored for more effective neurorehabilitation protocols.

Characterization of Lactic Acid Bacteria Strains Isolated from Algerian Honeybee and Honey and Exploration of Their Potential Probiotic and Functional Features for Human Use.

Using culture enrichment methods, 100 strains of bacilli of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were isolated from honeybee Apis mellifera intermissa and fresh honey, collected from apiaries located in the north-east of Algeria. Amongst all of the isolated LAB, 19 selected strains were closely affiliated to four species-Fructobacillus fructosus (10), Apilactobacillus kunkeei (5), Lactobacillus kimbladii and/or Lactobacillus kullabergensis (4)-using phylogenetic and phenotypic approaches. The in vitro probiotic characteristics (simulated gastrointestinal fluids tolerance, autoaggregation and hydrophobicity abilities, antimicrobial activity and cholesterol reduction) and safety properties (hemolytic activity, antibiotic resistance and absence of biogenic amines) were evaluated. The results indicated that some strains showed promising potential probiotic properties. In addition, neither hemolytic activity nor biogenic amines were produced. The carbohydrate fermentation test (API 50 CHL) revealed that the strains could efficiently use a broad range of carbohydrates; additionally, four strains belonging to Apilactobacillus kunkeei and Fructobacillus fructosus were found to be exopolysaccharides (EPS) producers. This study demonstrates the honeybee Apis mellifera intermissa and one of her products as a reservoir for novel LAB with potential probiotic features, suggesting suitability for promoting host health.

Assessment of Cardiovascular Disease Among Predominantly Black Gout Patients.

INTRODUCTION: Although the association between gout and cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been extensively studied, scarce data are available for the Black population. We aimed to assess the association between gout and CVD in a predominantly Black urban population with gout. METHODS: A cross-sectional analysis was performed between a gout cohort and an age-/sex-matched control group. Clinical parameters and 2D echocardiograms were reviewed for the patients with gout and heart failure (HF). The primary outcome studied includes the prevalence and strength of association between gout and CVD. Secondary outcomes studied includes strength of association of gout and HF categorized by ejection fraction, mortality, and HF readmissions. RESULTS: Four hundred seventy-one patients with gout had a mean age of 63.7 ± 0.5 years; 89% were Black, 63% were men, and mean body mass index was 31.3 ± 0.4 kg/m 2 . Hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia were present in 89%, 46%, and 52%, respectively. Compared with controls, patients with gout had significantly higher rates of angina, arrhythmia, coronary artery disease/stents, myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, cerebrovascular accident, and peripheral vascular disease. The adjusted odds ratio for CVD was 2.9 (95% confidence interval, 1.9-4.5; p < 0.001). Gout patients had a higher prevalence of HF with 45% (n = 212) compared with controls with 9.4% (n = 44). Adjusted odds ratio for HF risk was 7.1 (95% confidence interval, 4.7-10.6; p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Gout in a predominantly Black population confers 3 times the CVD risk and 7 times HF-specific risk compared with age- and sex-matched cohort. Further research is needed to confirm our findings and to develop interventions to reduce morbidity associated with gout.

The Ability of Streptococcus thermophilus BT01 to Modulate Urease Activity in Healthy Subjects' Fecal Samples Depends on the Biomass Production Process.

SCOPE: This study evaluates how manufacturing conditions of probiotic biomass production, using two different cryoprotectants, Cryo-A and Cryo-B, can affect Streptococcus thermophilus BT01 in vivo gastrointestinal tract survival and its ability to modulate the level of urease activity in fecal samples of healthy subjects. METHODS AND RESULTS: A randomized controlled cross-over study is carried out on 20 adult healthy subjects to evaluate total and viable loads, persistence of S. thermophilus BT01, and urease activity in fecal samples. Strain-specific quantification by using developed culture-based method and molecular qPCR tool allows to quantify viable S. thermophilus BT01 strain in 90% of the subjects. The quantification of both total DNA and recovered viable S. thermophilus BT01 in fecal samples does not reveal significant differences between Cryo-A or Cryo-B treated biomass. However, the administration of S. thermophilus BT01 produced with Cryo-A results in a decreased urease activity in fecal samples compared to Cryo-B protected cells. CONCLUSION: This study i) highlights how the manufacturing conditions can play a role in influencing the probiotic functionality in vivo and ii) represents the first evidence that links S. thermophilus to a specific probiotic mechanism, the reduction of urease activity in fecal samples.

Microplásticos, un problema de salud pública emergente

Introducción: Los productos plásticos han transformado la era moderna de tal manera que la vida sin plásticos sería irreconocible, a la par de este desarrollo la contaminación plástica es omnipresente convirtiéndose en uno de los problemas ambientales modernos más importantes. Objetivo: Compilar la información publicada en los últimos cinco años sobre la contaminación ambiental por microplásticos en Ecuador para reforzar el interés local sobre estos contaminantes. Desarrollo: Se realizó una revisión no estructurada de la literatura. Se utilizaron como bases de datos PubMed y Google Scholar. Los criterios de inclusión fueron: artículos publicados en los últimos 5 años, en idiomas inglés y español, se excluyeron otros idiomas; la selección de estudios fue de tipo a conveniencia. Se organizó y analizó cronológicamente la evidencia publicada en PubMed y Google Scholar en los últimos 5 años sobre microplásticos en Ecuador. Consideraciones finales: La información recopilada muestra cronológicamente el avance de la contaminación por microplásticos tanto a nivel mundial como en Ecuador, además, se evidencia la presencia de microplásticos en océanos, agua dulce, ecosistemas terrestres, aire, alimentos y dentro del cuerpo humano. Por lo cual la contaminación por microplásticos es un tema de gran relevancia actual, que requiere acciones de control inmediatas.

Introduction: Commercial plastic products has transformed the modern era in such a way that current life without plastic would not be possible, so at the same time with this development, plastics contamination is present, becoming one of the most urgent environmental problems nowadays. Objective: To gather available information published on the last five years concerning the microplastics as a source of environmental contamination in Ecuador and in order to reinforce the local interest on plastic pollution. Development: An unstructured review of the literature was performed. Databases used, PubMed and Google Scholar. The inclusion criteria used were as follow: articles in English and Spanish published on the last 5 years, no other language; study selections have been done by convenience. It was chronologically organized and analyzed the evidence published in PubMed and Google Scholar on the last five years concerning the microplastics behavior in Ecuador. Final considerations: The information collected chronologically shows the advancing pollution caused by microplastics both globally and in Ecuador, in addition, the presence of microplastics in oceans, fresh water, terrestrial ecosystems, air, foods and even in the human body is evident. Therefore, contamination caused by microplastics is a topic of a great importance today, which requires a speedy control action.

Introdução: Os produtos plásticos transformaram a era moderna de tal forma que a vida sem plásticos seria irreconhecível, junto com esse desenvolvimento, a poluição plástica é onipresente, tornando-se um dos mais importantes problemas ambientais modernos. Objetivo: Compilar as informações publicadas nos últimos 5 anos sobre a contaminação ambiental por microplásticos no Equador para reforçar o interesse local por esses contaminantes. Desenvolvimento: Foi realizada uma revisão não estruturada da literatura. Foram utilizadas as bases de dados PubMed e Google Scholar. Os critérios de inclusão foram: artigos publicados nos últimos 5 anos, nos idiomas inglês e espanhol, foram excluídos outros idiomas; a seleção dos estudos foi do tipo conveniência. As evidências publicadas no PubMed e Google Scholar nos últimos 5 anos sobre microplásticos no Equador foram organizadas e analisadas cronologicamente. Considerações finais: As informações coletadas cronologicamente mostram o progresso da contaminação por microplásticos tanto no mundo quanto no Equador, além disso, é evidente a presença de microplásticos nos oceanos, água doce, ecossistemas terrestres, ar, alimentos e dentro do corpo humano. Portanto, a contaminação por microplásticos é um tema de grande relevância atual, que requer ações imediatas de controle.

Cities and neuroscience research: A systematic literature review.

Background: Cities are becoming the socio-economic hubs for most of the world's population. Understanding how our surroundings can mentally affect everyday life has become crucial to integrate environmental sustainability into urban development. The present review aims to explore the empirical studies investigating neural mechanisms underlying cognitive and emotional processes elicited by the exposure to different urban built and natural spaces. It also tries to identify new research questions and to leverage neurourbanism as a framework to achieve healthier and sustainable cities. Methods: By following the PRISMA framework, we conducted a structured search on PubMed, ProQuest, Web of Science, and Scopus databases. Only articles related to how urban environment-built or natural-affects brain activity through objective measurement (with either imaging or electrophysiological techniques) were considered. Further inclusion criteria were studies on human adult populations, peer-reviewed, and in English language. Results: Sixty-two articles met the inclusion criteria. They were qualitatively assessed and analyzed to determine the main findings and emerging concepts. Overall, the results suggest that urban built exposure (when compared to natural spaces) elicit activations in brain regions or networks strongly related to perceptual, attentional, and (spatial) cognitive demands. The city's-built environment also triggers neural circuits linked to stress and negative affect. Convergence of these findings was observed across neuroscience techniques, and for both laboratory and real-life settings. Additionally, evidence also showed associations between neural social stress processing with urban upbringing or current city living-suggesting a mechanistic link to certain mood and anxiety disorders. Finally, environmental diversity was found to be critical for positive affect and individual well-being. Conclusion: Contemporary human-environment interactions and planetary challenges imply greater understanding of the neurological underpinnings on how the urban space affects cognition and emotion. This review provides scientific evidence that could be applied for policy making on improved urban mental health. Several studies showed that high-quality green or blue spaces, and bio-diverse urban areas, are important allies for positive neural, cognitive, and emotional processes. Nonetheless, the spatial perception in social contexts (e.g., city overcrowding) deserves further attention by urban planners and scientists. The implications of these observations for some theories in environmental psychology and research are discussed. Future work should take advantage of technological advancements to better characterize behavior, brain physiology, and environmental factors and apply them to the remaining complexity of contemporary cities.

Aging and Complexity Effects on Hemisphere-Dependent Movement-Related Beta Desynchronization during Bimanual Motor Planning and Execution.

With aging comes degradation of bimanual movement performance. A hallmark feature of bimanual movements is movement-related beta desynchronization (MRBD), an attenuation in the amplitude of beta oscillations associated with sensorimotor activation. Here, we investigated MRBD in 39 healthy adults (20 younger and 19 older adults) in frontal, central, and parietal regions across both hemispheres, during the planning and execution of a bimanual tracking task. Task accuracy decreased with age and during more difficult conditions when both hands had to move at different relative speeds. MRBD was mostly situated in the central region, and increased in older versus younger adults during movement execution but not planning. Irrespective of age, motor planning and execution were associated with increased MRBD in the left and right hemispheres, respectively. Notably, right central MRBD during motor planning was associated with bimanual task performance, particularly in older adults. Specifically, persons who demonstrated high MRBD during motor planning performed better on the bimanual tracking task. Our results highlight the importance of lateralized MRBD during motor planning, thereby shining new light on previous research and providing a promising avenue for future interventions.

Characterization of antibiotic-resistance traits in Akkermansia muciniphila strains of human origin.

Akkermansia muciniphila, a commensal bacterium commonly found in healthy gut microbiota, is widely considered a next-generation beneficial bacterium candidate to improve metabolic and inflammatory disorders. Recently the EFSA's Panel on Nutrition, Novel food, and Food Allergens has declared that pasteurized A. muciniphila DSM 22959T (also MucT, ATCC BAA-835) can be considered safe as a novel food, opening the door to its commercialization as a food supplement. Despite its recognized health benefits, there is still little information regarding the antimicrobial susceptibility of this species and reference cut-off values to distinguish strains with intrinsic or acquired resistance from susceptible strains. In this study, we combined a genomic approach with the evaluation of the antibiotic susceptibility in five human A. muciniphila isolates. Genomic mining for antimicrobial resistance genes and MICs determinations revealed that only one strain harboring tetW gene showed resistance to tetracycline, whereas all A. muciniphila strains showed low sensitivity to ciprofloxacin and aminoglycosides with no genotypic correlation. Although all strains harbor the gene adeF, encoding for a subunit of the resistance-nodulation-cell division efflux pump system, potentially involved in ciprofloxacin resistance, the susceptibility towards ciprofloxacin determined in presence of efflux pump inhibitors was not affected. Overall, our outcomes revealed the importance to extend the antibiotic susceptibility test to a larger number of new isolates of A. muciniphila to better assess the safety aspects of this species.

Evaluation of the Characteristics and Infectivity of the Secondary Inoculum Produced by Plasmopara viticola on Grapevine Leaves by Means of Flow Cytometry and Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting.

Plasmopara viticola, the oomycete causing grapevine downy mildew, is one of the most important pathogens in viticulture. P. viticola is a polycyclic pathogen, able to carry out numerous secondary cycles of infection during a single vegetative grapevine season, by producing asexual spores (zoospores) within sporangia. The extent of these infections is strongly influenced by both the quantity (density) and quality (infectivity) of the inoculum produced by the pathogen. To date, the protocols for evaluating all these characteristics are quite limited and time-consuming and do not allow all the information to be obtained in a single run. In this study, a protocol combining flow cytometry (FCM) and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) was developed to investigate the composition, the infection efficiency and the dynamics of the inoculum produced by P. viticola for secondary infection cycles. In our analyses, we identified different structures within the inoculum, including degenerated and intact sporangia. The latter have been sorted, and single sporangia were directly inoculated on grapevine leaf discs, thus allowing a thorough investigation of the infection dynamics and efficiency. In detail, we determined that, in our conditions, 8% of sporangia were able to infect the leaves and that on a susceptible variety, the time required by the pathogen to reach 50% of total infection is about 10 days. The analytical approach developed in this study could open a new perspective to shed light on the biology and epidemiology of this important pathogen. IMPORTANCE P. viticola secondary infections contribute significantly to the epidemiology of this important plant pathogen. However, the infection dynamics of asexual spores produced by this organism are still poorly investigated. The main challenges in dissecting the grapevine-P. viticola interaction in vitro are attributable to the biotrophic adaptation of the pathogen. This work provides new insights into the infection efficiency and dynamics imputable to P. viticola sporangia, contributing useful information on grapevine downy mildew epidemiology. Moreover, future applications of the sorting protocol developed in this work could yield a significant and positive impact in the study of P. viticola, providing unmatched resolution, precision, and accuracy compared with the traditional techniques.

Audiovisual intervention alleviates anxiety of patients during PET/CT imaging.

AIM: to assess if the use of an audiovisual intervention in the uptake room and/or in the scanning room, could help to reduce anxiety during [18F]FDG PET/CT imaging. METHODS: We prospectively studied 120 patients referred for [18F]FDG PET/CT imaging. Patients were allocated in 4 groups of 30 patients depending on the use of the audiovisual intervention: (1) no audiovisual intervention; (2) audiovisual intervention only in the uptake room; (3) audiovisual intervention only in the scanning room; (4) audiovisual intervention in the uptake and the scanning rooms. In order to measure the anxiety levels of the patients before and after the scan, all patients answered the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). RESULTS: The anxiety status across typical situations on a daily basis (STAI-T) of the 4 groups of patients was comparable with no significant differences. The mean State Anxiety (STAI-S) sum-score at prescan and postscan among groups was: (1) 17.5±8.7 vs. 17.3±8.6, p=0.834; (2) 17.4±10.5 vs. 15.8±9.6, p=0.110; (3) 17.5±11.7 vs. 15.1±9.8, p= 0.013; (4) 17.4±9.7 vs. 14.9±8.1, p= 0.009. The percentage of patients with reduction of the STAI-S score among groups 1-4 was 17%, 47%, 50%, and 66%, respectively. The variation of the percentage of patients with lower scores after intervention among groups was statistically significant (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Audiovisual intervention decreases anxiety levels of patients referred for PET/CT imaging. The results of our study support a beneficial effect of the audiovisual intervention and its potential to alleviate the anxiety of oncological patients who undergo a PET/CT scan.

Breast carcinoma metastasis and Wolf's isotopic response

Abstract Wolf's isotopic phenomenon occurs when a new dermatosis appears on a site that has already healed from a previous dermatological disease of another etiology. This report describes the case of a 44-year-old female patient undergoing treatment for breast carcinoma who recently had brownish erythematous lesions appearing on the scar region of previous herpes zoster on the right hemithorax. Histopathology and immunohistochemistry examination confirmed skin metastasis of breast cancer. Herpes zoster scars require attention due to the possibility of an isotopic response as a facilitating factor in some dermatoses, sometimes severe ones, such as neoplasms.