Leveraging 3D printing to enhance mass spectrometry:A review

The use of 3D printing in the chemical and analytical sciences has gained a lot of momentum in recent years. Some of the earliest publications detailed 3D-printed interfaces for mass spectrometry, which is an evolving family of powerful detection techniques. Since then, the application of 3D printing for enhancing mass spectrometry has significantly diversified, with important reasons for its application including flexible integration of different parts or devices, fast customization of setups, additional functionality, portability, cost-effectiveness, and user-friendliness. Moreover, computer-aided design (CAD) and 3D printing enables the rapid and wide distribution of scientific and engineering knowledge. 3D printers allow fast prototyping with constantly increasing resolution in a broad range of materials using different fabrication principles. Moreover, 3D printing has proven its value in the development of novel technologies for multiple analytical applications such as online and offline sample preparation, ionization, ion transport, and developing interfaces for the mass spectrometer. Additionally, 3D-printed devices are often used for the protection of more fragile elements of a sample preparation system in a customized fashion, and allow the embedding of external components into an integrated system for mass spectrometric analysis. This review comprehensively addresses these developments, since their introduction in 2013. Moreover, the challenges and choices with respect to the selection of the most appropriate printing process in combination with an appropriate material for a mass spectrometric application are addressed; special attention is paid to chemical compatibility, ease of production, and cost. In this review, we critically discuss these developments and assess their impact on mass spectrometry

'Leader, you first': The everyday production of hierarchical space in a Chinese bureaucracy

Recent studies highlight how organizational power relations are materialized in space. However, relatively little is known about how these spatialized power relations are reproduced on a day-to-day basis. Drawing on a ten-month ethnographic study of a large government office in China, we find that hierarchical space is produced through three intertwined processes. It proliferates as employees actively seek out signs of hierarchy in the organization’s space; it becomes familiarized as employees fabricate and circulate fanciful narratives about their spatial environs; and it is ritualized by employees acting out hierarchical relations across the organization’s space. These processes resulted in a hardening of the hierarchical relations of power. The study extends the existing literature by showing how hierarchical organizational space is not just something that is imposed on employees; it is also imposed by the employees themselves

Occupational Exposure to Mycotoxins in Swine Production: Environmental and Biological Monitoring Approaches

Free PMC article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/30717100/The authors are grateful to the swine farms employers and workers that collaborate in this research project. R.A. and C.M. are grateful to INSA and to CESAM (UID/AMB/50017/2013) through national funds (FCT), and the co-funding by the Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-00763), within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020.Swine production workers are exposed simultaneously to multiple contaminants. Occupational exposure to aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in Portuguese swine production farms has already been reported. However, besides AFB1, data regarding fungal contamination showed that exposure to other mycotoxins could be expected in this setting. The present study aimed to characterize the occupational exposure to multiple mycotoxins of swine production workers. To provide a broad view on the burden of contamination by mycotoxins and the workers’ exposure, biological (urine) samples from workers (n = 25) and 38 environmental samples (air samples, n = 23; litter samples, n = 5; feed samples, n = 10) were collected. The mycotoxins biomarkers detected in the urine samples of the workers group were the deoxynivalenol-glucuronic acid conjugate (60%), aflatoxin M1 (16%), enniatin B (4%), citrinin (8%), dihydrocitrinone (12%) and ochratoxin A (80%). Results of the control group followed the same pattern, but in general with a lower number of quantifiable results (<LOQ). Besides air samples, all the other environmental samples collected presented high and diverse contamination, and deoxynivalenol (DON), like in the biomonitoring results, was the most prominent mycotoxin. The results demonstrate that the occupational environment is adding and contributing to the workers’ total exposure to mycotoxins, particularly in the case of DON. This was confirmed by the biomonitoring data and the high contamination found in feed and litter samples. Furthermore, the followed multi-biomarker approach allowed to conclude that workers and general population are exposed to several mycotoxins simultaneously. Moreover, occupational exposure is probably described as being intermittent and with very high concentrations for short durations. This should be reflected in the risk assessment process.This research was funded by Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal: Project “Bacterial Bioburden assessment in the context of occupational exposure and animal health of swine productions (IPL/2016/BBIOR_ESTeSL)” and also by FCT—Fundação para Ciência e Tecnologia: Project “EXPOsE – Establishing protocols to assess occupational exposure to microbiota in clinical settings (02/SAICT/2016 – Project nº 23222)”.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

An Immunologically Privileged Retinal Antigen Elicits Tolerance: Major Role for Central Selection Mechanisms

Immunologically privileged retinal antigens can serve as targets of experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU), a model for human uveitis. The tolerance status of susceptible strains, whose target antigen is not expressed in the thymus at detectable levels, is unclear. Here, we address this issue directly by analyzing the consequences of genetic deficiency versus sufficiency of a uveitogenic retinal antigen, interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein (IRBP). IRBP-knockout (KO) and wild-type (WT) mice on a highly EAU-susceptible background were challenged with IRBP. The KO mice had greatly elevated responses to IRBP, an altered recognition of IRBP epitopes, and their primed T cells induced exacerbated disease in WT recipients. Ultrasensitive immunohistochemical staining visualized sparse IRBP-positive cells, undetectable by conventional assays, in thymi of WT (but not of KO) mice. IRBP message was PCR amplified from these cells after microdissection. Thymus transplantation between KO and WT hosts demonstrated that this level of expression is functionally relevant and sets the threshold of immune (and autoimmune) reactivity. Namely, KO recipients of WT thymi generated reduced IRBP-specific responses, and WT recipients of KO thymi developed enhanced responses and a highly exacerbated disease. Repertoire culling and thymus-dependent CD25+ T cells were implicated in this effect. Thus, uveitis-susceptible individuals display a detectable and functionally significant tolerance to their target antigen, in which central mechanisms play a prominent role

Research for AGRI Committee - Programmes implementing the 2015-2020 Rural Development Policy

Summary : This report examines the choices made by EU Member States in preparing their Rural Development Programmes for the 2015-2020 period. It finds much continuity compared to the previous period but some notable changes, including more funding for knowledge and co-operation and greater focus upon the goals of environmental management and investments for primary sector competitiveness, with less for rural diversification. There is weak evidence of targeting of relative needs at EU level, but some evidence of a more strategic approach, learning from past experience, within Programmes. Heavy administrative burdens appear as a negative influence upon effective programme design, but innovation is indicated in the diverse uses of the co-operation measure. Other new measures have not proven popular. An effort to identify simpler approaches that enable effective targeting is recommended

Erratum to: Changes in patterns of uveitis at a tertiary referral center in Northern Italy: analysis of 990 consecutive cases

Erratum to: Changes in patterns of uveitis at a tertiary referral center in Northern Italy: analysis of 990 consecutive case

Abnormal Changes in NKT Cells, the IGF-1 Axis, and Liver Pathology in an Animal Model of ALS

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rapidly progressing fatal neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the selective death of motor neurons (MN) in the spinal cord, and is associated with local neuroinflammation. Circulating CD4+ T cells are required for controlling the local detrimental inflammation in neurodegenerative diseases, and for supporting neuronal survival, including that of MN. T-cell deficiency increases neuronal loss, while boosting T cell levels reduces it. Here, we show that in the mutant superoxide dismutase 1 G93A (mSOD1) mouse model of ALS, the levels of natural killer T (NKT) cells increased dramatically, and T-cell distribution was altered both in lymphoid organs and in the spinal cord relative to wild-type mice. The most significant elevation of NKT cells was observed in the liver, concomitant with organ atrophy. Hepatic expression levels of insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 decreased, while the expression of IGF binding protein (IGFBP)-1 was augmented by more than 20-fold in mSOD1 mice relative to wild-type animals. Moreover, hepatic lymphocytes of pre-symptomatic mSOD1 mice were found to secrete significantly higher levels of cytokines when stimulated with an NKT ligand, ex-vivo. Immunomodulation of NKT cells using an analogue of α-galactosyl ceramide (α-GalCer), in a specific regimen, diminished the number of these cells in the periphery, and induced recruitment of T cells into the affected spinal cord, leading to a modest but significant prolongation of life span of mSOD1 mice. These results identify NKT cells as potential players in ALS, and the liver as an additional site of major pathology in this disease, thereby emphasizing that ALS is not only a non-cell autonomous, but a non-tissue autonomous disease, as well. Moreover, the results suggest potential new therapeutic targets such as the liver for immunomodulatory intervention for modifying the disease, in addition to MN-based neuroprotection and systemic treatments aimed at reducing oxidative stress