Senescent CD4+CD28− T Lymphocytes as a Potential Driver of Th17/Treg Imbalance and Alveolar Bone Resorption during Periodontitis

Senescent cells express a senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) with a pro-inflammatory bias, which contributes to the chronicity of inflammation. During chronic inflammatory diseases, infiltrating CD4⁺ T lymphocytes can undergo cellular senescence and arrest the surface expression of CD28, have a response biased towards T-helper type-17 (Th17) of immunity, and show a remarkable ability to induce osteoclastogenesis. As a cellular counterpart, T regulatory lymphocytes (Tregs) can also undergo cellular senescence, and CD28⁻ Tregs are able to express an SASP secretome, thus severely altering their immunosuppressive capacities. During periodontitis, the persistent microbial challenge and chronic inflammation favor the induction of cellular senescence. Therefore, senescence of Th17 and Treg lymphocytes could contribute to Th17/Treg imbalance and favor the tooth-supporting alveolar bone loss characteristic of the disease. In the present review, we describe the concept of cellular senescence; particularly, the one produced during chronic inflammation and persistent microbial antigen challenge. In addition, we detail the different markers used to identify senescent cells, proposing those specific to senescent T lymphocytes that can be used for periodontal research purposes. Finally, we discuss the existing literature that allows us to suggest the potential pathogenic role of senescent CD4⁺CD28⁻ T lymphocytes in periodontitis.     

Overexpression of microRNAs miR-25-3p,miR-185-5p and miR-132-3p in Late Onset Fetal Growth Restriction,Validation of Results and Study of the Biochemical Pathways Involved

In a prospective study, 48 fetuses were evaluated with Doppler ultrasound after 34 weeks and classified, according to the cerebroplacental ratio (CPR) and estimated fetal weight (EFW), into fetuses with normal growth and fetuses with late-onset fetal growth restriction (LO-FGR). Overexpression of miRNAs from neonatal cord blood belonging to LO-FGR fetuses, was validated by real-time PCR. In addition, functional characterization of overexpressed miRNAs was performed by analyzing overrepresented pathways, gene ontologies, and prioritization of synergistically working miRNAs. Three miRNAs: miR-25-3p, miR-185-5p and miR-132-3p, were significantly overexpressed in cord blood of LO-FGR fetuses. Pathway and gene ontology analysis revealed over-representation of certain molecular pathways associated with cardiac development and neuron death. In addition, prioritization of synergistically working miRNAs highlighted the importance of miR-185-5p and miR-25-3p in cholesterol efflux and starvation responses associated with LO-FGR phenotypes. Evaluation of miR-25-3p; miR-132-3p and miR-185-5p might serve as molecular biomarkers for the diagnosis and management of LO-FGR; improving the understanding of its influence on adult disease.     

Amylose is not Strictly Linear

Amyloses from selected corn starches were used to measure the glucoses involved in the branching points. The number of glucose α 1,6 glycosidically linked were determined by two different methods: 1) The enzymatic one measures directly quantiatively and specifically the glucoses α, 1,6 linked. 2) The other, a chemical one that measures the different n-methylated glucoses involved in the terminal, α 1,4 linked and α1,6 linked positions. The results obtained through both methodologies clearly indicate a good correlation. Amylose is not linear. It has very small proportion of branches and they are α1,6 glycosidically linked.     

Assessment of a Cylindrical and a Rectangular Plate Differential Mobility Analyzer for Size Fractionation of Nanoparticles at High-Aerosol Flow Rates

An existing differential mobility analyzer (DMA) of cylindrical electrodes and a novel DMA of rectangular plate electrodes are demonstrated for size fractionation of nanoparticles at high-aerosol flow rates in this work. The two DMAs are capable of delivering monodisperse size selected nanoparticles (SMPS σ_g < 1.1) at gas flow rates ranging from 200 slm to 500 slm. At an aerosol flow rate of 200 slm, the maximum attainable particle mean size is of about 20 nm for the cylindrical DMA and of nearly 50 nm for the rectangular plate DMA. The number concentration of the monodisperse nanoparticles delivered by the high-flow DMAs spans from 10⁴ cm^?3 to 10⁶ cm^?3 depending upon the particle mean size and particle size dispersion.

Copyright 2014 American Association for Aerosol Research     

Evaluation of vitamin E by HPLC in a variety of olive-based foodstuffs

A survey of vitamin E levels in a wide variety of olive-based foodstuffs was conducted. Vitamin E was determined by normal-phase HPLC. The only form of vitamin E found in all commercial presentations of table olives was α-tocopherol, with an average content of 3.1 mg/100 g edible portion. A very low content (<0.4 mg/100 g edible portion) of γ-tocopherol was found in most of the samples analyzed. The main sources of variation of vitamin E were olive cultivars and commercial presentations. Processing type (Spanish style green olives, directly brined olives, ripe olives) had a limited influence. Irrespective of the elaboration style, the Gordal cultivar was the poorest with respect to the vitamin E content. On the other hand, all commercial presentations based on the Hojiblanca cultivar had high contents of vitamin E. The results of this study may be used by the industry for requirements of nutritional labeling or by nutritionists to estimate vitamin E intakes in diets that include table olives.     

Effect of Deposition Rate on the Stress Evolution of Plasma-Sprayed Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia

The deposition rate plays an important role in determining the thickness, stress state, and physical properties of plasma-sprayed coatings. In this article, the effect of the deposition rate on the stress evolution during the deposition (named evolving stress) of yttria-stabilized zirconia coatings was systematically studied by varying the powder feed rate and the robot-scanning speed. The evolving stress during the deposition tends to increase with the increased deposition rate, and this tendency was less significant at a longer spray distance. In some cases, the powder feed rate had more significant influence on the evolving stress than the robot speed. This tendency can be associated with a deviation of a local deposition temperature at a place where sprayed particles are deposited from an average substrate temperature. At a further higher deposition rate, the evolving stress was relieved by introduction of macroscopic vertical cracks as well as horizontal branching cracks.     

Polyvinyl alcohol associated with carbon nanotube scaffolds for osteogenic differentiation of rat bone mesenchymal stem cells

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVAl) hydrogel, alone and reinforced with two types of carbon nanoparticles, was studied in cultured cells to assess its potential use in treating osteochondral defects. The carbon nanoparticles were produced by hot-filament chemical vapour deposition. The carbon material was characterised with a Renishaw Invia Raman microscope system and the morphological particles were characterised with field emission scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Cytotoxicity was evaluated by measuring the Vero fibroblast-type cells’ metabolic activity and studying their morphology. The osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells obtained from rat bone marrow was evaluated by alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and alizarin red S (ARS) staining. Cell viability and morphology were assessed with thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. The materials did not interfere with the viability, metabolic activity, morphology and spreading of either of the cell types analysed. Nodules of mineralised organic matrix were identified with ARS and ALP, confirming osteogenic differentiation. These results indicated higher concentration of ALP and mineralised matrix for PVAl with carbon nanoparticles. The results of this study indicate the potential use of carbon nanoparticles with PVAl hydrogels as orthopaedic biomaterials to treat osteochondral defects, but further in vivo investigations are still necessary.     

Unsupervised neural models for country and political risk analysis

This interdisciplinary research project focuses on relevant applications of Knowledge Discovery and Artificial Neural Networks in order to identify and analyze levels of country, business and political risk. Its main goal is to help business decision-makers understand the dynamics within the emerging market countries in which they operate. Most of the neural models applied in this study are defined within the framework of unsupervised learning. They are based on Exploratory Projection Pursuit, Topology Preserving Maps and Curvilinear Component Analysis. Two interesting real data sets are analyzed to empirically probe the robustness of these models. The first case study describes information from a significant sample of Spanish multinational enterprises (MNEs). It analyses data pertaining to such aspects as decisions over the location of subsidiary enterprises in various regions across the world, the importance accorded to such decisions and the driving forces behind them. Through a projection-based analysis, this study reveals a range of different reasons underlying the internationalization strategies of Spanish MNEs and the different goals they pursue. It may be concluded that projection connectionist techniques are of immense assistance in the process of identifying the internationalization strategies of Spanish MNEs, their underlying motives and the goals they pursue. The second case study covers several risk categories that include task policy, security, and political stability among others, and it tracks the scores of different countries all over the world. Interesting conclusions are drawn from the application of several business intelligence solutions based on neural projection models, which support data analysis in the context of country and political risk analysis.     

A real time FFT-based impedance meter with bias compensation

A real time FFT-based impedance meter is here presented. It is realized simply by a standard PC in addition to a low cost two channels hardware device, and is based on a cost-effective algorithm to meaningfully reduce the known problem of the bias introduced by the relative phase and amplitude error between channels. The impedance meter exploits the implementation of an ad hoc cost-effective algorithm and a synchronous sampling allows eliminating the leakage error. The aliasing and the spectral interference are eliminated by means of an anti-aliasing filter and the use of very low distortion sinusoidal signals. Automatic measurements can be managed too, capturing different measures at different test frequencies and displaying them graphically on the PC screen. To validate the measured results comparative test were performed with respect to certified and calibrated commercially available multimeters known with good accuracies.Finally, this novel impedance meter integrates a home-made software, previously reported [1] capable to implement real time virtual instruments.     

Transformation Methods for the Numerical Integration of Three-Dimensional Singular Functions

The implementations of the eXtended Finite Element Method and the Boundary Element Method need to face the challenge of integrating singular functions. Since standard quadrature techniques usually produce inaccurate results, a number of specific algorithms have been developed to address this problem. We present a general framework for the systematic formulation of the three-dimensional case. The classical cubic transformation is also considered, including an analytical optimization of its parameters for improved practical efficiency.