Zika Virus Growth in Human Kidney Cells Is Restricted by an Elevated Glucose Level

Mosquito-borne Zika virus (ZIKV) became a real threat to human health due to the lack of vaccine and effective antiviral treatment. The virus has recently been responsible for a global outbreak leading to millions of infected cases. ZIKV complications were highlighted in adults with Guillain–Barré syndrome and in newborns with increasing numbers of congenital disorders ranging from mild developmental delays to fatal conditions. The ability of ZIKV to establish a long-term infection in diverse organs including the kidneys has been recently documented but the consequences of such a viral infection are still debated. Our study aimed to determine whether the efficiency of ZIKV growth in kidney cells relates to glucose concentration. Human kidney HK-2 cells were infected with different ZIKV strains in presence of normal and high glucose concentrations. Virological assays showed a decrease in viral replication without modifying entry steps (viral binding, internalization, fusion) under high glucose conditions. This decrease replication was associated with a lower virus progeny and increased cell viability when compared to ZIKV-infected HK-2 cells in normal glucose concentration. In conclusion, we showed for the first time that an elevated glucose level influences ZIKV replication level with an effect on kidney cell survival.     

Unsupervised Segmentation of Stereoscopic Video Objects: Constrained Segmentation Fusion Versus Greedy Active Contours

In this paper, we present a novel memory access reduction scheme (MARS) for two-dimension fast cosine transform (2-D FCT). It targets programmable DSPs with high memory-access latency. It reduces the number of memory accesses by: 1) reducing the number of weighting factors and 2) combining butterflies in vector-radix 2-D FCT pruning diagram from two stages to one stage with an efficient structure. Hardware platform based on general purpose processor is used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method for vector-radix 2-D FCT pruning implementation. Experimental results validate the benefits of the proposed method with reduced memory access, less clock cycle and fewer memory space compared with the conventional implementation.     

Note of Caution for the Aqueous Behaviour of Metal-Based Drug Candidates

Poor aqueous solubility is one of the recurrent drawbacks of many compounds in medicinal chemistry. To overcome this limitation, the dilution of drug candidates from stock solutions of an organic solvent is common practice. However, the precise characterisation of these compounds in aqueous solutions is often neglected, leading to some uncertainties regarding the nature of the actual active species. In this communication, we demonstrate that two ruthenium complexes previously reported by our group for their chemotherapeutic potential against cancer, namely [Ru(DIP)₂(sq)](PF₆) and [Ru(DIP)₂(3-methoxysq)](PF₆), where DIP is 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline, sq=semiquinonate and 3-methoxysq=3-methoxysemiquinonate, form colloids in water-DMSO (1 % v/v) mixtures that are invisible to the naked eyes. [Ru(DIP)₂(3-methoxysq)](PF₆) was found to form a highly stable and monodispersed colloid with nanoaggregates of ∼25 nm. In contrast, [Ru(DIP)₂(sq)](PF₆) was found to form large reticulates of mostly spherical aggregates which size was found to increase over time. The difference in size and shape distribution of drug candidates is of tremendous significance as the study of their biological activity might be severely affected. Overall, we strongly believe that these observations should be taken into account by the scientific community working on the development of metal-based drugs with poor water solubility.     

Expression of RCAS1 Correlates with Urothelial Bladder Cancer Malignancy

RCAS1 is a protein that participates in regulation of the tumor microenvironment and its immune responses, all in order to evade the immune system. The aim of this study was to analyze RCAS1 expression in urothelial bladder cancer cells (and in fibroblasts and macrophages of the tumor stroma) and its relationship with the histological pattern of malignancy. Eighty-three postcystectomy patients were enrolled. We analyzed the histological maturity (grade), progress (pT stage), tissue invasion type (TIT), nonclassic differentiation number (NDN), and the ability to metastasize (pN). The expression of RCAS1 protein was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Indicators of histological malignancy were observed solely in association with the RCAS1 expression in cells in the border parts (BPs) of the tumor. Histological malignancy of the tumor, indicated by the pT and pN, and metastasis-free survival time, correlated significantly with RCAS1 expression in tumor neoplastic cells, whereas malignancy determined by grade, TIT, and NDN correlated with RCAS1 expression in fibroblasts and macrophages in the tumor microenvironment. These findings suggest that the increased RCAS1 expression depends on its cellular source and that RCAS1 expression itself is a component of various signaling pathways. The immune escape occurs within the tumor BPs, where the increase in the RCAS1 expression occurs within tumor cells and stromal cells in its microenvironment. We conclude that the histological pattern of tumor malignancy, indicated by grade, TIT, NDN, pT, and pN is a morphological indicator of immune escape.     

Sperm metabolism is altered during storage by female insects: evidence from two-photon autofluorescence lifetime measurements in bedbugs

We explore the possibility of characterizing sperm cells without the need to stain them using spectral and fluorescence lifetime analyses after multi-photon excitation in an insect model. The autofluorescence emission spectrum of sperm of the common bedbug, Cimex lectularius, was consistent with the presence of flavins and NAD(P)H. The mean fluorescence lifetimes showed smaller variation in sperm extracted from the male (tau m, τ_m = 1.54–1.84 ns) than in that extracted from the female sperm storage organ (tau m, τ_m = 1.26–2.00 ns). The fluorescence lifetime histograms revealed four peaks. These peaks (0.18, 0.92, 2.50 and 3.80 ns) suggest the presence of NAD(P)H and flavins and show that sperm metabolism can be characterized using fluorescence lifetime imaging. The difference in fluorescence lifetime variation between the sexes is consistent with the notion that female animals alter the metabolism of sperm cells during storage. It is not consistent, however, with the idea that sperm metabolism represents a sexually selected character that provides females with information about the male genotype.     

Adventitial Tertiary Lymphoid Organs as Potential Source of MicroRNA Biomarkers for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is an inflammatory disease associated with marked changes in the cellular composition of the aortic wall. This study aims to identify microRNA (miRNA) expression in aneurysmal inflammatory cells isolated by laser microdissection from human tissue samples. The distribution of inflammatory cells (neutrophils, B and T lymphocytes, mast cells) was evaluated in human AAA biopsies. We observed in half of the samples that adventitial tertiary lymphoid organs (ATLOs) with a thickness from 0.5 to 2 mm were located exclusively in the adventitia. Out of the 850 miRNA that were screened by microarray in isolated ATLOs (n = 2), 164 miRNAs were detected in ATLOs. The three miRNAs (miR-15a-3p, miR-30a-5p and miR-489-3p) with the highest expression levels were chosen and their expression quantified by RT-PCR in isolated ATLOs (n = 4), M1 (n = 2) and M2 macrophages (n = 2) and entire aneurysmal biopsies (n = 3). Except for the miR-30a-5p, a similar modulation was found in ATLOs and the two subtypes of macrophages. The modulated miRNAs were then evaluated in the plasma of AAA patients for their potential as AAA biomarkers. Our data emphasize the potential of miR-15a-3p and miR-30a-5p as biomarkers of AAA but also as triggers of ATLO evolution. Further investigations will be required to evaluate their targets in order to better understand AAA pathophysiology.     

Histone Methylation Marks on Circulating Nucleosomes as Novel Blood-Based Biomarker in Colorectal Cancer

Circulating nucleic acids (CNAs) are under investigation as a liquid biopsy in cancer as potential non-invasive biomarkers, as stable structure in circulation nucleosomes could be valuable sources for detection of cancer-specific alterations in histone modifications. Our interest is in histone methylation marks with a focus on colorectal cancer, one of the leading cancers respective the incidence and mortality. Our previous work included the analysis of trimethylations of lysine 9 on histone 3 (H3K9me3) and of lysine 20 on histone 4 (H4K20me3) by chromatin immuno- precipitation-related PCR in circulating nucleosomes. Here we asked whether global immunologic measurement of histone marks in circulation could be a suitable approach to show their potential as biomarkers. In addition to H3K9me3 and H4K20me3 we also measured H3K27me3 in plasma samples from CRC patients (n = 63) and cancer free individuals (n = 40) by ELISA-based methylation assays. Our results show that of three marks, the amounts of H3K27me3 (p = 0.04) and H4K20me3 (p < 0.001) were significantly lower in CRC patients than in healthy controls. For H3K9me3 similar amounts were measured in both groups. Areas under the curve (AUC) in receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves indicating the power of CRC detection were 0.620 for H3K27me3, 0.715 for H4K20me3 and 0.769 for the combination of both markers. In conclusion, findings of this preliminary study reveal the potential of blood-based detection of CRC by quantification of histone methylation marks and the additive effect of the marker combination.     

Matrix Transformation in Boron Containing High-Temperature Co–Re–Cr Alloys

An addition of boron largely increases the ductility in polycrystalline high-temperature Co–Re alloys. Therefore, the effect of boron on the alloy structural characteristics is of high importance for the stability of the matrix at operational temperatures. Volume fractions of ε (hexagonal close-packed—hcp), γ (face-centered cubic—fcc) and σ (Cr₂Re₃ type) phases were measured at ambient and high temperatures (up to 1500 °C) for a boron-containing Co–17Re–23Cr alloy using neutron diffraction. The matrix phase undergoes an allotropic transformation from ε to γ structure at high temperatures, similar to pure cobalt and to the previously investigated, more complex Co–17Re–23Cr–1.2Ta–2.6C alloy. It was determined in this study that the transformation temperature depends on the boron content (0–1000 wt. ppm). Nevertheless, the transformation temperature did not change monotonically with the increase in the boron content but reached a minimum at approximately 200 ppm of boron. A probable reason is the interplay between the amount of boron in the matrix and the amount of σ phase, which binds hcp-stabilizing elements (Cr and Re). Moreover, borides were identified in alloys with high boron content.     

Tracking influent inorganic suspended solids through wastewater treatment plants.

From an experimental and theoretical investigation of the continuity of influent inorganic suspended solids (ISS) along the links connecting the primary settling tank (PST), fully aerobic or N removal activated sludge (AS) and anaerobic and aerobic sludge digestion unit operations, it was found that the influent wastewater (fixed) ISS concentration is conserved through primary sludge anaerobic digestion, activated sludge and aerobic digestion unit operations. However, the measured ISS flux at different stages through a series of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) unit operations is not equal to the influent ISS flux, because the ordinary heterotrophic organisms (OHO) biomass contributes to the ISS flux by differing amounts depending on the active fraction of the VSS solids at that stage.     

Prominent consequences of role stress: A meta-analytic review.

Role stress has received a lot of research attention in psychological, sociological, and organizational studies over the last several decades. Based on a literature review of about 300 journal articles, this article examines prominent consequences of role stress. Specific focus is on researching differences in relationships between facets of role stress (i.e., role ambiguity, role conflict, and role overload) and frequently cited consequences using techniques of meta-analysis. Findings indicate that each role stress facet has a different relationship with the eight consequences studied. Role stress research can benefit from looking at each facet individually in addition to role stress generally. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)