Suchergebnisse

Microplastics are ubiquitous in aquatic ecosystems, but little information is currently available on the dangers and risks to living organisms. In order to assess the ecotoxicity of environmental microplastics (MPs), samples were collected from the beaches of two islands in the Guadeloupe archipelago, Petit-Bourg (PB) located on the main island of Guadeloupe and Marie-Galante (MG) on the second island of the archipelago. These samples have a similar polymer composition with mainly polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP). However, these two samples are very dissimilar with regard to their contamination profile and their toxicity. MPs from MG contain more lead, cadmium and organochlorine compounds while those from PB have higher levels of copper, zinc and hydrocarbons. The leachates of these two samples of MPs induced sublethal effects on the growth of sea urchins and on the pulsation frequency of jellyfish ephyrae but not on the development of zebrafish embryos. The toxic effects are much more marked for samples from the PB site than those from the MG site. This work demonstrates that MPs can contain high levels of potentially bioavailable toxic substances that may represent a significant ecotoxicological risk, particularly for the early life stages of aquatic animals. ; National Funding Agency | Ref. ANR-15-JOCE-0002-01 ; Italian Government | Ref. 2017WERYZP ; Ministerio de Economía | Ref. PCIN-2015-187-C03-03 ; Ministerio de Economía | Ref. CTM2016-77945-C3 ; Xunta de Galicia | Ref. ED431C 2017/46

The article continues the series of articles in memory of Aleksandr Petrovich Bychkov, honorary citizen of Tomsk, rector of Tomsk State University (TSU) (1967–1983) and head of the Department of Political Economy of TSU (1966–1991). The article focuses on the fundamental scientific works of Aleksandr Bychkov as the founder of the Property and Economic Relations scientific school at the TSU Department of Political Economy. During his life (1921–2009), Professor Bychkov undoubtedly managed to build a successful model for the organization and development of scientific knowledge, and a system of continuous professional development for political economy instructors. Holding the high post of the TSU rector for a long time, Professor Bychkov managed to gather his associates in the field of economic education around himself and raise a lot of students and followers, numerous candidates and doctors of economic sciences, faculty and heads of political economy departments of universities in Siberia and the Far East. Professor Bychkov formulated and implemented a highly controversial long-term research program in two sectors (collective farms and the state) and two forms of public ownership in agriculture (kolkhoz–cooperative and state), from which his scientific school developed. Professor Bychkov traced the evolution from the emergence of a collective form of ownership to collective farm forms of land management. The fact that this research program deserves the status of a major scientific problem in the USSR is proved by the scientific session of the USSR Academy of Sciences on the history of peasant and collective farm construction in the USSR, held in Moscow in the period between Bychkov's defenses of his candidate of science (1955) and doctor of science (1966) dissertations. According to Professor Bychkov, property relations in their economic essence should be separated from their legal expression and should include the entire set of production relations of people in the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of material goods.

In chronic kidney disease (CKD), hyperphosphatemia-induced inflammation aggravates vascular calcification (VC) by increasing vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) osteogenic differentiation, ADAM17-induced renal and vascular injury, and TNFα-induction of neutral-sphingomyelinase2 (nSMase2) to release pro-calcifying exosomes. This study examined anti-inflammatory β-glucans efficacy at attenuating systemic inflammation in health, and renal and vascular injury favoring VC in hyperphosphatemic CKD. In healthy adults, dietary barley β-glucans (Bβglucans) reduced leukocyte superoxide production, inflammatory ADAM17, TNFα, nSMase2, and pro-aging/pro-inflammatory STING (Stimulator of interferon genes) gene expression without decreasing circulating inflammatory cytokines, except for γ-interferon. In hyperphosphatemic rat CKD, dietary Bβglucans reduced renal and aortic ADAM17-driven inflammation attenuating CKD-progression (higher GFR and lower serum creatinine, proteinuria, kidney inflammatory infiltration and nSMase2), and TNFα-driven increases in aortic nSMase2 and calcium deposition without improving mineral homeostasis. In VSMC, Bβglucans prevented LPS- or uremic serum-induced rapid increases in ADAM17, TNFα and nSMase2, and reduced the 13-fold higher calcium deposition induced by prolonged calcifying conditions by inhibiting osteogenic differentiation and increases in nSMase2 through Dectin1-independent actions involving Bβglucans internalization. Thus, dietary Bβglucans inhibit leukocyte superoxide production and leukocyte, renal and aortic ADAM17- and nSMase2 gene expression attenuating systemic inflammation in health, and renal injury and aortic calcification despite hyperphosphatemia in CKD. ; A grant to A.S.D. and M.J.M. from IRBLleida and Agrotecnio Research collaborative projects from the Consell Social at Lleida University supported initial work, Instituto de Salud Carlos III and co-funded by European Union (ERDF/FEDER) (FIS PI11/00259, PI14/01452, PI17/02181), Plan de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación 2013–2017 y 2018–2022 del Principado de Asturias (GRUPIN14-028, IDI-2018-000152), RedInRen from ISCIII (ISCIII-RETIC REDINREN RD16/0009). Investigator support included: NC-L by GRUPIN14-028 and IDI-2018-000152, LM-A by GRUPIN14-028, SP by FICYT; MVA and PV by Educational Grant 2 A/2015 from ERA-EDTA CKD-MBD Working Group; PV and AC by ERA-EDTA fellowships 2011 and 2012; JR-C by MINECO ("Juan de la Cierva" program, FJCI-2015-23849); A.S.D. by Asociación Investigación de Fisiología Aplicada. A.S.D. and M.J.M. are members of the Campus Iberus (Ebro Valley Campus of International Excellence).

Background The Mediterranean mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis is an ecologically and economically relevant edible marine bivalve, highly invasive and resilient to biotic and abiotic stressors causing recurrent massive mortalities in other bivalves. Although these traits have been recently linked with the maintenance of a high genetic variation within natural populations, the factors underlying the evolutionary success of this species remain unclear. Results Here, after the assembly of a 1.28-Gb reference genome and the resequencing of 14 individuals from two independent populations, we reveal a complex pan-genomic architecture in M. galloprovincialis, with a core set of 45,000 genes plus a strikingly high number of dispensable genes (20,000) subject to presence-absence variation, which may be entirely missing in several individuals. We show that dispensable genes are associated with hemizygous genomic regions affected by structural variants, which overall account for nearly 580 Mb of DNA sequence not included in the reference genome assembly. As such, this is the first study to report the widespread occurrence of gene presence-absence variation at a whole-genome scale in the animal kingdom. Conclusions Dispensable genes usually belong to young and recently expanded gene families enriched in survival functions, which might be the key to explain the resilience and invasiveness of this species. This unique pan-genome architecture is characterized by dispensable genes in accessory genomic regions that exceed by orders of magnitude those observed in other metazoans, including humans, and closely mirror the open pan-genomes found in prokaryotes and in a few non-metazoan eukaryotes. ; This work was conducted with the support of the projects AGL2011-14507-E, AGL2015-65705-R, RTI2018-095997-B-I00 (Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Spain) and INCITE 10PXIB402096PR, IN607B 2016/12 (Consellería de Economía, Emprego e Industria - GAIN, Xunta de Galicia). Antonio Figueras, Beatriz Novoa, Rebeca Moreira, Alberto Pallavicini, Marco Gerdol, Paola Venier, and Umberto Rosani are supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 678589. David Posada is supported by the European Research Council, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, and Xunta de Galicia. We acknowledge the support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation to the EMBL partnership, the Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa, the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya, the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, the Generalitat de Catalunya through Departament de Salut and Departament d'Empresa i Coneixement, and the Co-financing by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation with funds from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) corresponding to the 2014-2020 Smart Growth Operating Program. ; Peer Reviewed ; Postprint (published version)

Brain CD11c+ cells share features with microglia and dendritic cells (DCs). Sterile inflammation increases brain CD11c+ cells, but their phenotype, origin, and functions remain largely unknown. We report that, after cerebral ischemia, microglia attract DCs to the inflamed brain, and astroglia produce Flt3 ligand, supporting development and expansion of CD11c+ cells. CD11c+ cells in the inflamed brain are a complex population derived from proliferating microglia and infiltrating DCs, including a major subset of OX40L+ conventional cDC2, and also cDC1, plasmacytoid, and monocyte-derived DCs. Despite sharing certain morphological features and markers, CD11c+ microglia and DCs display differential expression of pattern recognition receptors and chemokine receptors. DCs excel CD11c- and CD11c+ microglia in the capacity to present antigen through MHCI and MHCII. Of note, cDC1s protect from brain injury after ischemia. We thus reveal aspects of the dynamics and functions of brain DCs in the regulation of inflammation and immunity. ; This work was funded by Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades (MICINN) co-financed by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) (SAF2017-87459-R), the European Union (EU) (H2020-ITN-2018-813294-ENTRAIN), and Fundacio Marato TV3 (201723 to A.M.P. and D.S.). Work in the D.S. laboratory is funded by Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC), the European Research Council (ERC-2016-Consolidator Grant 725091), the EU (635122-PROCROP H2020), and MICINN-FEDER (SAF2016-79040-R). The EU (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-ITN-n 07962) supported M. Gallizioli. The PERIS program of Generalitat de Catalunya supported F.M.-M. A.O.-d.-A. had a fellowship from MICINN-FPI (BES-2015-074419). C.d.F. is supported by the AECC Foundation (INVES192DELF). ; Sí

Background: There are several standards which make explicit a consensus view on sound practice in systematic reviews (SRs) for the medical sciences. Until now, no equivalent standard has been published for SRs which focus on human health risks posed by exposure to environmental challenges, chemical or otherwise. Objectives: To develop an expert, cross-sector consensus view on a key set of recommended practices which can function as a standard for the planning and conduct of SRs in the environmental health sciences. Methods: A draft set of practices was derived from two existing standards for SRs in biomedicine and discussed at an international workshop of 33 participants from government, industry, non-government organisations, and academia. The guidance was revised over six follow-up webinars, multiple rounds of email feedback, and bilateral phone calls, until there was group consensus that a comprehensive framework for the planning and conduct of high-quality environmental health SRs had been articulated. Results: The Conduct of Systematic Reviews in Toxicology and Environmental Health Research (COSTER) standard is a code of practice consisting of 70 performance elements across eight performance domains, representing the consensus view of a diverse group of experts as to what constitutes "sound and good" practice in the conduct of environmental health SRs. Discussion: COSTER provides a set of practices which, if followed, should facilitate the production of credible, high-value SRs of environmental health evidence. COSTER clarifies sound and good practice in a number of controversial aspects of SR conduct, including the management of conflicts of interest, inclusion of grey literature, and protocol registration and publication. Not all of the practices are yet commonplace but environmental health SRs would benefit from their use.

DISCLAIMER: The information and views set out in this report are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Neither the European Union institutions and bodies nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein. CoAct proposes a new approach to face social global concerns with Research and Innovation Actions (R&I Actions) related to mental health care, youth employment, environmental justice and gender equality by engaging citizens as co-researchers. Our approach represents a new understanding of Citizen Social Science (CSS), understood here as participatory research co-designed and directly driven by citizen groups sharing a social concern. The overall objective of CoAct is to develop and demonstrate the scientific relevance and social impact of CSS, which is to date an underexplored area of Citizen Science (CS). This document constitutes Deliverable 2.1 'Report on State of the Art of Citizen Social Science' of Work Package 2 (WP2), which is dedicated to the CSS foundations. It provides a starting point towards a common framework and a common arena to better elaborate the various characteristics of CSS. CoAct wants to contribute to the debate by catalysing the discussion and enlarging the CSS community. This effort is unprecedented in the CS and the Social Science worlds and it is expected to later result into new open materials (for citizens, policy makers, NGOs and academics) and new transdisciplinary methodologies to widen the impact of CS. This report discusses CSS as a component of CS, with its main characteristics that citizens act as co-researchers conducting research on social issues with the aim of achieving transformative and sustainable impact with the research. CSS is however emerging from at three streams: from the broader spectrum of a CS community; from a participatory research background in the social sciences and humanities and moreover directly from Citizen ...

DISCLAIMER: The present Project Deliverable has been submitted to the European Commission for review. The information and views set out in this report are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Neither the European Union institutions and bodies nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein. CoAct proposes a new approach to face social global concerns with Research and Innovation Actions (R&I Actions) related to mental health care, youth employment, environmental justice and gender equality by engaging citizens as co-researchers. Our approach represents a new understanding of Citizen Social Science (CSS), understood here as participatory research co-designed and directly driven by citizen groups sharing a social concern. The overall objective of CoAct is to develop and demonstrate the scientific relevance and social impact of CSS, which is to date an underexplored area of Citizen Science (CS). This document constitutes Deliverable 2.1 'Report on State of the Art of Citizen Social Science' of Work Package 2 (WP2), which is dedicated to the CSS foundations. It provides a starting point towards a common framework and a common arena to better elaborate the various characteristics of CSS. CoAct wants to contribute to the debate by catalysing the discussion and enlarging the CSS community. This effort is unprecedented in the CS and the Social Science worlds and it is expected to later result into new open materials (for citizens, policy makers, NGOs and academics) and new transdisciplinary methodologies to widen the impact of CS. This report discusses CSS as a component of CS, with its main characteristics that citizens act as co-researchers conducting research on social issues with the aim of achieving transformative and sustainable impact with the research. CSS is however emerging from at three streams: from the broader spectrum of a CS community; from a participatory ...

INTRODUCTION: High quality epidemic forecasting and prediction are critical to support response to local, regional and global infectious disease threats. Other fields of biomedical research use consensus reporting guidelines to ensure standardization and quality of research practice among researchers, and to provide a framework for end-users to interpret the validity of study results. The purpose of this study was to determine whether guidelines exist specifically for epidemic forecast and prediction publications. METHODS: We undertook a formal systematic review to identify and evaluate any published infectious disease epidemic forecasting and prediction reporting guidelines. This review leveraged a team of 18 investigators from US Government and academic sectors. RESULTS: A literature database search through May 26, 2019, identified 1467 publications (MEDLINE n = 584, EMBASE n = 883), and a grey-literature review identified a further 407 publications, yielding a total 1777 unique publications. A paired-reviewer system screened in 25 potentially eligible publications, of which two were ultimately deemed eligible. A qualitative review of these two published reporting guidelines indicated that neither were specific for epidemic forecasting and prediction, although they described reporting items which may be relevant to epidemic forecasting and prediction studies. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review confirms that no specific guidelines have been published to standardize the reporting of epidemic forecasting and prediction studies. These findings underscore the need to develop such reporting guidelines in order to improve the transparency, quality and implementation of epidemic forecasting and prediction research in operational public health.

INTRODUCTION: High quality epidemic forecasting and prediction are critical to support response to local, regional and global infectious disease threats. Other fields of biomedical research use consensus reporting guidelines to ensure standardization and quality of research practice among researchers, and to provide a framework for end-users to interpret the validity of study results. The purpose of this study was to determine whether guidelines exist specifically for epidemic forecast and prediction publications. METHODS: We undertook a formal systematic review to identify and evaluate any published infectious disease epidemic forecasting and prediction reporting guidelines. This review leveraged a team of 18 investigators from US Government and academic sectors. RESULTS: A literature database search through May 26, 2019, identified 1467 publications (MEDLINE n = 584, EMBASE n = 883), and a grey-literature review identified a further 407 publications, yielding a total 1777 unique publications. A paired-reviewer system screened in 25 potentially eligible publications, of which two were ultimately deemed eligible. A qualitative review of these two published reporting guidelines indicated that neither were specific for epidemic forecasting and prediction, although they described reporting items which may be relevant to epidemic forecasting and prediction studies. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review confirms that no specific guidelines have been published to standardize the reporting of epidemic forecasting and prediction studies. These findings underscore the need to develop such reporting guidelines in order to improve the transparency, quality and implementation of epidemic forecasting and prediction research in operational public health.

Literature suggests that oxidative stress (OS) may be involved in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS), in which the immune system is known to play a key role. However, to date, the OS in peripheral lymphocytes and its contribution to the disease remain unknown. The aim of the present study was to explore the influence of OS in peripheral lymphocytes of MS patients. To that end, a cross-sectional, observational pilot study was conducted [n = 58: 34 MS and 24 healthy subjects (control group)]. We have measured superoxide production and protein mitochondrial complex levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from MS patients and control. Lactate levels and the antioxidant capacity were determined in plasma. We adjusted the comparisons between study groups by age, sex and cell count according to case. Results demonstrated that PBMCs, specifically T cells, from MS patients exhibited significantly increased superoxide anion production compared to control group (p = 0.027 and p = 0.041, respectively). Increased superoxide production in PBMCs was maintained after the adjustment (p = 0.044). Regarding mitochondrial proteins, we observe a significant decrease in the representative protein content of the mitochondrial respiratory chain complexes I-V in PBMCs of MS patients (p = 0.002, p = 0.037, p = 0.03, p = 0.044, and p = 0.051, respectively), which was maintained for complexes I, III, and V after the adjustment (p = 0.026; p = 0.033; p = 0.033, respectively). In MS patients, a trend toward increased plasma lactate concentration was detected [8.04 mg lactate/dL (5.25, 9.49) in the control group, 11.36 mg lactate/dL (5.41, 14.81) in MS patients] that was statistically significant after the adjustment (p = 0.013). This might be indicative of compromised mitochondrial function. Finally, antioxidant capacity was also decreased in plasma from MS patients, both before (p = 0.027) and after adjusting for sex and age (p = 0.006). Our findings demonstrate that PBMCs of MS patients show impaired mitochondrial redox status and deficient antioxidant capacity. These results demonstrate for the first time the existence of mitochondrial alterations in the cells immune cells of MS patients already at the peripheral level. ; We acknowledge funding from the Biogen Idec Laboratories (ES-TYS-13-10491), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (PI-1400328), the Autonomous Catalonia Government (ref. 20145GR1681), the Spanish Network of Multiple Sclerosis (REEM) managed by the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII) exp. RD16/0015/0008, and FEDER funds from the European Union ("a way to build Europe").

Rabies is a major neglected zoonotic disease and causes a substantial burden in the Asian region. Currently, Pacific Oceania is free of rabies but enzootic areas throughout southeast Asia represent a major risk of disease introduction to this region. On September 25–26, 2019, researchers, government officials and related stakeholders met at an IABS conference in Bangkok, Thailand to engage on the topic of human rabies mediated by dogs. The objective of the meeting was focused upon snowballing efforts towards achieving substantial progress in rabies prevention, control and elimination within Asia by 2030, and thereby to safeguard the Pacific region. Individual sessions focused upon domestic animal, wildlife and human vaccination; the production and evaluation of quality, safety and efficacy of existing rabies biologics; and the future development of new products. Participants reviewed the progress to date in eliminating canine rabies by mass vaccination, described supportive methods to parenteral administration by oral vaccine application, considered updated global and local approaches at human prophylaxis and discussed the considerable challenges ahead. Such opportunities provide continuous engagement on disease management among professionals at a trans-disciplinary level and promote new applied research collaborations in a modern One Health context.

Previous studies on the association between dietary habits and cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) in adolescents have generated conflicting results. The aim of this study was to describe dietary patterns (DP) in a large sample of Spanish adolescents and to assess their cross-sectional relationship with CVRF. In total, 1324 adolescents aged 12.5 ± 0.4 years (51.6% boys) from 24 secondary schools completed a self-reported food frequency questionnaire. DPs were derived by cluster analysis and principal component analysis (PCA). Anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, lipid profile, and glucose levels were assessed. Linear mixed models were applied to estimate the association between DPs and CVRF. Three DP-related clusters were obtained: Processed (29.2%); Traditional (39.1%); and Healthy (31.7%). Analogous patterns were obtained in the PCA. No overall differences in CVRF were observed between clusters except for z-BMI and z-FMI values, total cholesterol, and non-HDL cholesterol, with the Processed cluster showing the lowest mean values. However, differences were small. In conclusion, the overall association between DPs, as assessed by two different methods, and most analyzed CVRF was weak and not clinically relevant in a large sample of adolescents. Prospective analysis may help to disentangle the direction of these associations ; This research was funded by the SHE Foundation, the "la Caixa" Foundation (LCF/PR/CE16//10700001 and LCF/PR/MS19/12220001), and the Fundació la Marató de TV3 (369/C/2016). R.F-J. received funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant No 707642. Support was also provided by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (AGL2016–75329-R) and Generalitat de Catalunya. The CNIC is supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MCNU) and the Pro CNIC Foundation, and is a Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence (SEV-2015-0505)