On the morphology of Anisakis pegreffii: a comparative analysis of three microscopic techniques used to build a new parasite atlas

BACKGROUND: Human anisakidosis is a parasitic anthropozoonosis caused by larval nematodes of the family Anisakidae. Here, we report a detailed description of the morphology of Anisakis pegreffii third-stage larva performed using a conventional light and confocal microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) that provide a basis for both phenotypic studies and genetic mutations. METHODS: The collected larvae from fish were morphologically identified as Anisakis larvae Type I, and they were characterized by PCR-RFLP to identify the Anisakis pegreffii specie. Using NC5/NC2 primers, ribosomal genomic regions ITS1, 5.8 SrRNA and ITS2 of DNA were amplified and PCR products were sequenced. Fifteen larvae belonging to Anisakis pegreffii were fixed, sectioned, and examined with a light and confocal microscope and by SEM. RESULTS: In our studies, have been acquired detailed ultrastructural images, which have been integrated with those derived from the dissection of the parasite, obtained with light and confocal microscopy. The structural and ultrastructural images concerning the third stage larvae of Anisakis pegreffii have been studied, analyzed and compared among them. The derived overall view has allowed detecting new interesting details of a well-known parasite and has been schematically showed. CONCLUSIONS: The aim of this study is to furnish an updated atlas of Anisakis pegreffii. Confocal microscopy, as well as the light and electron microscopy have played a pivotal role in the accumulation of new scientific data regarding the anatomical structures of this nematode. This work is the result of one year of engagement by the Authors and the outcome is a comprehensive atlas on Anisakis pegreffii microscopy

Researching the riots

This commentary sets out an agenda for researching the riots that swept through English cities in 2011, and for exploring the broader issues raised by these events. Drawing inspiration from groundbreaking social and cultural geographies of the 1981 riots, and also from mappings and quantitative studies of the more recent disturbances, this paper sets out a framework for researching the riots, and underlines the importance of doing so. It concludes that while riots are traumatic experiences for many, they can also be opportunities, which effective research can help to realise, recasting these events as catalysts for change

Structural and biochemical characterization of the wild type PCSK9-EGF(AB) complex and natural familial hypercholesterolemia mutants

PCSK9 regulates low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) levels and consequently is a target for the prevention of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease. Here we studied the interaction, of LDLR EGF(A/AB) repeats with PCSK9. We show that PCSK9 binds the EGF(AB) repeats in a pH-dependent manner. Although the PCSK9 C-terminal domain is not involved in LDLR binding, PCSK9 autocleavage is required. Moreover, we report the x-ray structure of the PCSK9 Delta C-EGF(AB) complex at neutral pH. Compared with the low pH PCSK9-EGF(A) structure, the new structure revealed rearrangement of the EGF( A) His-306 side chain and disruption of the salt bridge with PCSK9 Asp-374, thus suggesting the basis for enhanced interaction at low pH. In addition, the structure of PCSK9 Delta C bound to EGF(AB)(H306Y), a mutant associated with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), reveals that the Tyr-306 side chain forms a hydrogen bond with PCSK9 Asp-374, thus mimicking His-306 in the low pH conformation. Consistently, Tyr-306 confers increased affinity for PCSK9. Importantly, we found that although the EGF(AB)(H306Y)-PCSK9 interaction is pH-independent, LDLRH306Y binds PCSK9 50-fold better at low pH, suggesting that factors other than His-306 contribute to the pH dependence of PCSK9-LDLR binding. Further, we determined the structures of EGF(AB) bound to PCSK9 Delta C containing the FH-associated D374Y and D374H mutations, revealing additional interactions with EGF(A) mediated by Tyr-374/His-374 and providing a rationale for their disease phenotypes. Finally, we report the inhibitory properties of EGF repeats in a cellular assay measuring LDL uptake

Lecture notes of Relativistic Mechanics: Worldlines, times and velocities of a particle

&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; In these notes, we define and study some concepts from Special Relativistic Mechanics, in a differential geometric perspective. Our approach allows us to revisit and rethink some basic theoretical structures, in a way that reveals more feasible to developments in various directions, in particular in view of a better integration with Quantum Mechanics.&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; </jats:p

School de-segregation and the Politics of ‘Forced Integration’

Using the programme for creating the controversial school academies, local governments in the UK have attempted to force an integration of schools with majority white and ethnic minority pupil cohorts via new mergers. This has largely been as a response to analysts’ fears about self-segregation and insufficient community cohesion, following riots in northern towns in 2001 and the spectre of radicalisation among young Muslims following 9/11 and 7/7. An examination of school mergers in Burnley, Blackburn, Leeds and Oldham reveals how they have amplified racial attacks on Muslim pupils and their feelings of insecurity, while also fuelling a backlash against what is perceived by some members of the white working class as a form of social engineering that endangers white privilege

Financial Lie groups

In this paper we see the evolution of a capitalized financial event e, with respect to a capitalization factor f, as the exponential map of a suitably defined Lie group G(f,e), supported by the half-space of capitalized financial events having the same capital sign of e. The Lie group G(f,e) depends upon the capitalization factor f and on the event e itself. After the extension of the definition of exponential map of a Lie group, we shall eliminate the dependence on the financial event e, recognizing the presence of essentially one unique financial Lie semigroup, supported by the entire space of capitalized financial events, determined by the capitalization factor f.

Fibrations of financial events

In this paper we shall prove that the plane of financial events, introduced and applied to financial problems by the author himself (see [2], [3] and [4]) can be considered as a fibration in two different ways. The first one, the natural one, reveals itself to be isomorphic to the tangent- bundle of the real line, when the last one is considered as a differentiable manifold in the natural way; the second one is a fibration induced by the status of compound interest capitalization at a given rate i in the interval ] - 1, \rightarrow [. Moreover, in the paper we define on the first fibration an affine connection, also in this case induced by the status of compound interest at a given rate i. The final goal of this paper is the awareness that all the effects determined by the status of compound interest are nothing but the consequences of the fact that the space of financial events is a fibration endowed with a particular affine connection, so they are consequences of purely geometric properties, at last, depending upon the curvature determined by the connection upon the fibration. A natural preorder upon the set of fibers of the second fibration is considered. Some remarks about the applicability to economics and finance of the theories presented in the paper and about the possible developments are made in the directions followed in papers [1], [5], [6], [7], [8] of the author.

Advances in the development of new therapeutic agents targeting the NS3-4A serine protease or the NS5B RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of the hepatitis C virus

The HCV NS3 protease and NS5B polymerase play essential roles in the replication of the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Following the successful paradigm established for HIV protease and reverse transcriptase inhibitors, these enzymes have been elected as targets for the development of small molecule HCV inhibitors. By combining the power of high-throughput screening with rational, knowledge-based drug discovery, a number of competitive inhibitors of the NS3 protease as well as nucleoside and non-nucleoside inhibitors of the NS5B polymerase have been identified and some have now entered clinical trials. In this article we review recent progress in the discovery and development of small molecule inhibitors of these two essential viral enzymes as they are advancing in the clinic

Mathematical models for simulating Covid-19 contagion in Italy: first wave

&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; In this paper, we provide two approximating functions for some dynamics associated with the first wave of Covid-19 contagion in Italy. We consider also two particular cases of Sicily and Lombardy. We consider only the evolution of total infected cases and new daily cases. We show that the total infected cases need, in the time period considered, two different approximations. We approximate the daily infected curves by the first derivative of the above two functions. In the case of Lombardy, we consider a wider time interval to obtain an ultimate approximation.&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; </jats:p