Enhanced reactivity to pain in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Introduction  

Maladaptive physiological responses to stress appear to play a role in chronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, relatively little stress research in RA patients has involved the study of pain, the most commonly reported and most impairing stressor in RA. In the present study, we compared psychophysical and physiological responses to standardized noxious stimulation in 19 RA patients and 21 healthy controls.     

Lytic transglycosylases: concinnity in concision of the bacterial cell wall

The lytic transglycosylases (LTs) are bacterial enzymes that catalyze the non-hydrolytic cleavage of the peptidoglycan structures of the bacterial cell wall. They are not catalysts of glycan synthesis as might be surmised from their name. Notwithstanding the seemingly mundane reaction catalyzed by the LTs, their lytic reactions serve bacteria for a series of astonishingly diverse purposes. These purposes include cell-wall synthesis, remodeling, and degradation; for the detection of cell-wall-acting antibiotics; for the expression of the mechanism of cell-wall-acting antibiotics; for the insertion of secretion systems and flagellar assemblies into the cell wall; as a virulence mechanism during infection by certain Gram-negative bacteria; and in the sporulation and germination of Gram-positive spores. Significant advances in the mechanistic understanding of each of these processes have coincided with the successive discovery of new LTs structures. In this review, we provide a systematic perspective on what is known on the structure–function correlations for the LTs, while simultaneously identifying numerous opportunities for the future study of these enigmatic enzymes.     

Thermal tolerance and recovery behaviour of Thorectes lusitanicus (Coleoptera,Geotrupidae)

1. Population differences in physiological responses are examined in Thorectes lusitanicus, an endemic Iberian dung beetle species, by submitting individuals of different populations to the same experimental and acclimation conditions. 2. An infrared thermography protocol was used, consisting of three assays: start of activity, cold response, and heat response. Individuals of 12 populations were studied and the comparative explanatory capacities of several environmental factors in relation to the observed inter‐population differences were examined. 3. The heating rate from chill coma to the beginning of activity was the variable with the highest discrimination power among the studied populations, accounting for 94% of the observed variance. Regarding the heat response, only six of the 16 thermal variables reached significance (inter‐population differences accounted for 52–74% in these six thermal parameters). 4. From the three considered environmental factors (Mediterranean climate, land cover, and trophic characteristics) only land cover characteristics remain statistically significant, affecting the cold response of individuals. 5. Thorectes lusitanicus is a species characterised by a high diversity of thermotolerance and recovery traits across populations with a low degree of association with broad environmental factors. Finally, it is suggested that the apterous character of this species could be a determinant factor explaining the high diversity of ecophysiological traits related to thermal stress tolerance and the recovery time.