The gastrointestinal nematode Trichostrongylus colubriformis down-regulates immune gene expression in migratory cells in afferent lymph

Background: Gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) infections are the predominant cause of economic losses in sheep. Infections are controlled almost exclusively by the use of anthelmintics which has lead to the selection of drug resistant nematode strains. An alternative control approach would be the induction of protective immunity to these parasites. This study exploits an ovine microarray biased towards immune genes, an artificially induced immunity model and the use of pseudo-afferent lymphatic cannulation to sample immune cells draining from the intestine, to investigate possible mechanisms involved in the development of immunity.\ud \ud Results: During the development of immunity to, and a subsequent challenge infection with Trichostrongylus colubriformis, the transcript levels of 2603 genes of cells trafficking in afferent intestinal lymph were significantly modulated (P < 0.05). Of these, 188 genes were modulated more than 1.3-fold and involved in immune function. Overall, there was a clear trend for down-regulation of many genes involved in immune functions including antigen presentation, caveolar-mediated endocytosis and protein ubiquitination. The transcript levels of TNF receptor associated factor 5 (TRAF5), hemopexin (HPX), cysteine dioxygenase (CDO1), the major histocompatability complex Class II protein (HLA-DMA), interleukin-18 binding protein (IL-18BP), ephrin A1 (EFNA1) and selenoprotein S (SELS) were modulated to the greatest degree.\ud \ud Conclusions: This report describes gene expression profiles of afferent lymph cells in sheep developing immunity to nematode infection. Results presented show a global down-regulation of the expression of immune genes which may be reflective of the natural temporal response to nematode infections in livestock

Non-motor symptom burden in patients with Parkinson's disease with impulse control disorders and compulsive behaviours : results from the COPPADIS cohort

The study was aimed at analysing the frequency of impulse control disorders (ICDs) and compulsive behaviours (CBs) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and in control subjects (CS) as well as the relationship between ICDs/CBs and motor, nonmotor features and dopaminergic treatment in PD patients. Data came from COPPADIS-2015, an observational, descriptive, nationwide (Spain) study. We used the validated Questionnaire for Impulsive-Compulsive Disorders in Parkinson's Disease-Rating Scale (QUIP-RS) for ICD/CB screening. The association between demographic data and ICDs/CBs was analyzed in both groups. In PD, this relationship was evaluated using clinical features and treatment-related data. As result, 613 PD patients (mean age 62.47 ± 9.09 years, 59.87% men) and 179 CS (mean age 60.84 ± 8.33 years, 47.48% men) were included. ICDs and CBs were more frequent in PD (ICDs 12.7% vs. 1.6%, p < 0.001; CBs 7.18% vs. 1.67%, p = 0.01). PD patients had more frequent previous ICDs history, premorbid impulsive personality and antidepressant treatment (p < 0.05) compared with CS. In PD, patients with ICDs/CBs presented younger age at disease onset, more frequent history of previous ICDs and premorbid personality (p < 0.05), as well as higher comorbidity with nonmotor symptoms, including depression and poor quality of life. Treatment with dopamine agonists increased the risk of ICDs/CBs, being dose dependent (p < 0.05). As conclusions, ICDs and CBs were more frequent in patients with PD than in CS. More nonmotor symptoms were present in patients with PD who had ICDs/CBs compared with those without. Dopamine agonists have a prominent effect on ICDs/CBs, which could be influenced by dose

Poor sleep quality may trigger cognitive deficits after recovery from COVID-19

ObjectiveIn the present study, we aimed to assess the cognition of post-COVID-19 condition (PCC) participants in relation to their subjective sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, PSQI) and to analyse possible moderators of this effect, such as quality of life (European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions, EQ-5D), fatigue (Chadler Fatigue Questionnaire, CFQ), cognitive reserve (Cognitive Reserve Questionnaire, CRC), and subjective cognitive complaints (Memory Failures of Everyday Questionnaire, MFE-30).MethodsWe included 373 individuals with PCC and 126 healthy controls (HCs) from the NAUTILUS Project (NCT05307549 and NCT05307575) who were assessed with a comprehensive neuropsychological battery and various questionnaires.ResultsWe found that PCC participants with poor sleep quality had a 4.3% greater risk of immediate verbal memory deficits than those with good sleep quality, as indicated by the greater odds ratio (OR) of 1.043 and confidence interval (CI) of 1.023–1.063. Additionally, their risk of immediate verbal memory disorders was multiplied by 2.4 when their EQ-5D score was low (OR 0.33; CI 0.145–0.748), and they had a lower risk of delayed visual memory deficits with a greater CRC (OR 0.963; CI 0.929–0.999). With respect to processing speed, PCC participants with poor sleep quality had a 6.7% greater risk of deficits as the MFE increased (OR 1.059; CI 1.024–1.096), and the risk of slowed processing speed tripled with a lower EQ-5D (OR 0.021; CI 0.003–0.141).ConclusionThese results indicate that poor subjective sleep quality is a potential trigger for cognitive deficits. Therapeutic strategies to maximize sleep quality could include reducing sleep disturbances and perhaps cognitive impairment in PCC individuals

Ethyl cellulose, cellulose acetate and carboxymethyl cellulose microstructures prepared using electrohydrodynamics and green solvents

Cellulose derivatives are an attractive sustainable material used frequently in biomaterials, however their solubility in safe, green solvents is not widely exploited. In this work three cellulose derivatives; ethyl cellulose, cellulose acetate and carboxymethyl cellulose were subjected to electrohydrodynamic processing. All were processed with safe, environmentally friendly solvents; ethanol, acetone and water. Ethyl cellulose was electrospun and an interesting transitional region was identified. The morphological changes from particles with tails to thick fibres were charted from 17 to 25 wt% solutions. The concentration and solvent composition of cellulose acetate (CA) solutions were then changed; increasing the concentration also increased fibre size. At 10 wt% CA, with acetone only, fibres with heavy beading were produced. In an attempt to incorporate water in the binary solvent system to reduce the acetone content, 80:20 acetone/water solvent system was used. It was noted that for the same concentration of CA (10 wt%), the beading was reduced. Finally, carboxymethyl cellulose was electrospun with poly(ethylene oxide), with the molecular weight and polymer compositions changed and the morphology observed

International congress on ring theory. Proceedings

Centro de Informacion y Documentacion Cientifica (CINDOC). C/Joaquin Costa, 22. 28002 Madrid. SPAIN / CINDOC - Centro de Informaciòn y Documentaciòn CientìficaSIGLEESSpai

A hybrid reference-guided de novo assembly approach for generating Cyclospora mitochondrion genomes

Abstract Cyclospora cayetanensis is a coccidian parasite associated with large and complex foodborne outbreaks worldwide. Linking samples from cyclosporiasis patients during foodborne outbreaks with suspected contaminated food sources, using conventional epidemiological methods, has been a persistent challenge. To address this issue, development of new methods based on potential genomically-derived markers for strain-level identification has been a priority for the food safety research community. The absence of reference genomes to identify nucleotide and structural variants with a high degree of confidence has limited the application of using sequencing data for source tracking during outbreak investigations. In this work, we determined the quality of a high resolution, curated, public mitochondrial genome assembly to be used as a reference genome by applying bioinformatic analyses. Using this reference genome, three new mitochondrial genome assemblies were built starting with metagenomic reads generated by sequencing DNA extracted from oocysts present in stool samples from cyclosporiasis patients. Nucleotide variants were identified in the new and other publicly available genomes in comparison with the mitochondrial reference genome. A consolidated workflow, presented here, to generate new mitochondrion genomes using our reference-guided de novo assembly approach could be useful in facilitating the generation of other mitochondrion sequences, and in their application for subtyping C. cayetanensis strains during foodborne outbreak investigations

Gamma interferon production and plasma concentrations of pregnancy-associated glycoproteins 1 and 2 in gestating dairy cows naturally infected with Neospora caninum.

Gamma interferon (IFN-γ) production and cross-breed pregnancy have been attributed a role in protecting dairy cows infected with Neospora caninum against abortion. Plasma levels of pregnancy-associated glycoproteins-1 (PAG-1) are a marker of placental/foetal well-being and of PAG-2 is an abortion risk indicator in chronically N. caninum-infected animals. The present study examines, in cross-breed pregnancies, interactions between IFN-γ production and levels of PAG-1 and PAG-2 in non-aborting naturally Neospora-infected dairy cows. Data were obtained from 60 pregnant Holstein-Friesian cows: 44 Neospora-seropositive and 16 Neospora-seronegative; 12 became pregnant using Holstein-Friesian semen and 48 using Limousin semen. Blood samples were collected on Days 40, 90, 120, 150, 180 and 210 of gestation. Gamma interferon was only detected in the plasma of nine of the 44 Neospora-seropositive cows, all of them became pregnant using Limousin semen. Through GLM procedures, in cows inseminated with Limousin semen and Neospora-seropositive cows showing no IFN-γ production, PAG-1 concentrations were high and increased throughout gestation compared to the levels detected in cows inseminated with Holstein-Friesian semen and Neospora-seropositive cows producing IFN-γ, respectively. In Neospora-seronegative cows and in Neospora-seropositive cows showing no IFN-γ production, significantly increased PAG-2 concentrations were observed on gestation Day 120. Our findings indicate that IFN-γ production correlates negatively and the production of antibodies against N. caninum is uncorrelated with plasma PAG concentrations during gestation in Neospora-infected dairy cows. Accordingly, IFN-γ production could be linked to the transplacental migration of tachyzoites, which may cause a reduction in PAG levels

The inseminating bull and plasma pregnancy-associated glycoprotein levels were related to peripheral leukocyte counts during the late pregnancy/early postpartum period in high-producing dairy cows.

The interest in the immunology and endocrinology aspects of the peripartum in dairy cows has been increasing in the last years, since the animal status during the pre- and postpartum period determines the subsequent productive and reproductive performance of the animal. At parturition, a drop in the immune functions of the peripheral blood polymorph-nuclear cells (PMN) was observed after a peak of Pregnancy-Associated Glycoproteins (PAGs) and recently, the inseminating bull was found to affect the plasma levels of bovine Pregnancy-Associated Glycoproteins (bovine PAGs) in the pregnant Holstein-Friesian dairy cows. The present work was aimed to determine whether changes in leukocyte counts during the peripartum, indicative of the animal immune status, could be related to the inseminating bull and to the levels of plasma pregnancy-associated glycoproteins (PAGs). Ninety six clinically healthy, single pregnant cows were selected in a commercial dairy herd. Six blood samples (four prepartum and two postpartum) were obtained every two weeks, and total and differential blood cell counts were analyzed. Based on procedures of General Linear Model analysis of variance for repeated measures, the inseminating bull affected counts of total leukocytes and lymphocytes (P900 ρg/µL) on Day 262-268 of gestation had higher numbers of total leukocytes and neutrophils throughout the peripartum period (P<0.001; between-subject effects). Young animals (≤ 1 lactation) had higher total leukocyte and lymphocytes counts than older cows (two or more lactations) throughout the study period. These results showed a clear relationship between the inseminating bull and plasma PAG levels and peripheral leukocyte counts during the peripartum period of dairy cows