Metal exchanges in the fauna-sediment system. The case of Nereis diversicolor and Scrobicularia plana in the Bou Regreg estuary (Morocco)

This study identifies the types and quantities of metals retained by Nereis diversicolor and Scrobicularia plana in a predominantly arid estuary environment.Certain abiotic parameters and a number of physiological processes linked to metabolic and reproductive functions play a decisive role in the seasonal influence of metal levels on the tissues of these organisms.Given the deposivoric diet of the organisms, the sedimentary bed would appear to be the principal source of metal accumulation.The following classification illustrates the bioaccumulation of metals: 209-1The possibility that these metals may be carried into the estuary by sewage water from the cities of Rabat and Sále should certainly not be ignored.     

Purification of Ficaria saponins by Saccharomyces beticus,Penicillium rugulosum and Aspergillus niger

Summary Fermentation of Ficaria tubers extracts by fungal strains resulted in removal of free sugars and hydrolysis of the main saponin. The best conditions of culture were reported.     

First occurrence of early Homo in the Nachukui Formation (West Turkana, Kenya) at 2.3-2.4 Myr

Cognitive abilities and techno-economic behaviours of hominids in the time period between 2.6-2.3 Myr have become increasingly well-documented. This time period corresponds to the oldest evidence for stone tools at Gona (Kada Gona, West Gona, EG 10-12, OGS 6-7), Hadar (AL 666), lower Omo valley (Ftji1, 2 & 5, Omo 57, Omo 123) in Ethiopia, and West Turkana (Lokalalei sites -LA1 & LA2C-) in Kenya. In 2002 a new palaeoanthropological site (LA1alpha), 100 meters south of the LA1 archaeological site, produced a first right lower molar of a juvenile hominid (KNM-WT 42718). The relative small size of the crown, its marked MD elongation and BL reduction, the relative position of the cusps, the lack of a C6 and the mild expression of a protostylid, reinforced by metrical analyses, demonstrate the distinctiveness of this tooth compared with Australopithecus afarensis, A. anamensis, A. africanus and Paranthropus boisei, and its similarity to early Homo. The LA1alpha site lies 2.2 m above the Ekalalei Tuff which is slightly younger than Tuff F dated to 2.34+/-0.04 Myr. This juvenile specimen represents the oldest occurrence of the genus Homo in West Turkana.     

EnP1 and EnP2, two proteins associated with the Encephalitozoon cuniculi endospore, the chitin-rich inner layer of the microsporidian spore wall

Microsporidia are obligate intracellular parasites forming environmentally resistant spores that harbour a rigid cell wall. This wall comprises an outer layer or exospore and a chitin-rich inner layer or endospore. So far, only a chitin deacetylase-like protein has been shown to localize to the Encephalitozoon cuniculi endospore and either one or two proteins have been clearly assigned to the exospore in two Encephalitozoon species: SWP1 in E. cuniculi, SWP1 and SWP2 in Encephalitozoon intestinalis. Here, we report the identification of two new spore wall proteins in E. cuniculi, EnP1 and EnP2, the genes of which are both located on chromosome I (ECU01_0820 and ECU01_1270, respectively) and have no known homologue. Detected by immunoscreening of an E. cuniculi cDNA library, enp1 is characterized by small-sized 5' and 3' untranslated regions and is highly expressed throughout the whole intracellular cycle. The encoded basic 40 kDa antigen displays a high proportion of cysteine residues, arguing for a significant role of disulfide bridges in spore wall assembly. EnP2 is a 22 kDa serine-rich protein that is predicted to be O-glycosylated and glycosylated phosphatidyl inositol-anchored. Although having been identified by mass spectrometry of a dithiothreitol-soluble fraction, this protein contains only two cysteine residues. Mouse polyclonal antibodies were raised against EnP1 and EnP2 recombinant proteins produced in Escherichia coli Our immunolocalisation data indicate that EnP1 and EnP2 are targeted to the cell surface as early as the onset of sporogony and are finally associated with the chitin-rich layer of the wall in mature spores.     

Mechanisms of atrial fibrillation termination by rapidly unbinding Na+ channel blockers: insights from mathematical models and experimental correlates

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained clinical arrhythmia and is a problem of growing proportions. Recent studies have increased interest in fast-unbinding Na(+) channel blockers like vernakalant (RSD1235) and ranolazine for AF therapy, but the mechanism of efficacy is poorly understood. To study how fast-unbinding I(Na) blockers affect AF, we developed realistic mathematical models of state-dependent Na(+) channel block, using a lidocaine model as a prototype, and studied the effects on simulated cholinergic AF in two- and three-dimensional atrial substrates. We then compared the results with in vivo effects of lidocaine on vagotonic AF in dogs. Lidocaine action was modeled with the Hondeghem-Katzung modulated-receptor theory and maximum affinity for activated Na(+) channels. Lidocaine produced frequency-dependent Na(+) channel blocking and conduction slowing effects and terminated AF in both two- and three-dimensional models with concentration-dependent efficacy (maximum approximately 89% at 60 microM). AF termination was not related to increases in wavelength, which tended to decrease with the drug, but rather to decreased source Na(+) current in the face of large ACh-sensitive K(+) current-related sinks, leading to the destabilization of primary generator rotors and a great reduction in wavebreak, which caused primary rotor annihilations in the absence of secondary rotors to resume generator activity. Lidocaine also reduced the variability and maximum values of the dominant frequency distribution during AF. Qualitatively similar results were obtained in vivo for lidocaine effects on vagal AF in dogs, with an efficacy of 86% at 2 mg/kg iv, as well as with simulations using the guarded-receptor model of lidocaine action. These results provide new insights into the mechanisms by which rapidly unbinding class I antiarrhythmic agents, a class including several novel compounds of considerable promise, terminate AF.     

Structural and functional characterization of a putative polysaccharide deacetylase of the human parasite Encephalitozoon cuniculi

The microsporidian Encephalitozoon cuniculi is an intracellular eukaryotic parasite considered to be an emerging opportunistic human pathogen. The infectious stage of this parasite is a unicellular spore that is surrounded by a chitin containing endospore layer and an external proteinaceous exospore. A putative chitin deacetylase (ECU11_0510) localizes to the interface between the plasma membrane and the endospore. Chitin deacetylases are family 4 carbohydrate esterases in the CAZY classification, and several bacterial members of this family are involved in evading lysis by host glycosidases, through partial de‐N‐acetylation of cell wall peptidoglycan. Similarly, ECU11_0510 could be important for E. cuniculi survival in the host, by protecting the chitin layer from hydrolysis by human chitinases. Here, we describe the biochemical, structural, and glycan binding properties of the protein. Enzymatic analyses showed that the putative deacetylase is unable to deacetylate chitooligosaccharides or crystalline β‐chitin. Furthermore, carbohydrate microarray analysis revealed that the protein bound neither chitooligosaccharides nor any of a wide range of other glycans or chitin. The high resolution crystal structure revealed dramatic rearrangements in the positions of catalytic and substrate binding residues, which explain the loss of deacetylase activity, adding to the unusual structural plasticity observed in other members of this esterase family. Thus, it appears that the ECU11_0510 protein is not a carbohydrate deacetylase and may fulfill an as yet undiscovered role in the E. cuniculi parasite.     

Low Birth Weight in Perinatally HIV-Exposed Uninfected Infants: Observations in Urban Settings in Cameroon

Background

The consequences of maternal HIV infection for fetal growth are controversial. Here, we estimated the frequency of small for gestational age and gender (SGAG) among neonates born to HIV-infected or uninfected mothers and assessed the contribution, if any, of maternal HIV to the risk of SGAG.

Methods

The data used were obtained from the ANRS-Pediacam cohort in Cameroon. Pairs of newborns, one to a HIV-infected mother and the other to an uninfected mother, were identified during the first week of life, and matched on gender and recruitment site from 2007–2010. SGAG was defined in line with international recommendations as a birth weight Z-score adjusted for gestational age at delivery and gender more than two standard deviations below the mean (−2SD). Considering the matched design, logistic regression modeling was adjusted on site and gender to explore the effect of perinatal HIV exposure on SGAG.

Results

Among the 4104 mother-infant pairs originally enrolled, no data on birth weight and/or gestational age were available for 108; also, 259 were twins and were excluded. Of the remaining 3737 mother-infant pairs, the frequency of SGAG was 5.3% (95%CI: 4.6–6.0), and was significantly higher among HIV-infected infants (22.4% vs. 6.3%; p<.001) and lower among HIV-unexposed uninfected infants (3.5% vs. 6.3%; p<.001) than among HIV-exposed uninfected infants. Similarly, SGAG was significantly more frequent among HIV-infected infants (aOR: 4.1; 2.0–8.1) and less frequent among HIV-unexposed uninfected infants (aOR: 0.5; 0.4–0.8) than among HIV-exposed uninfected infants. Primiparity (aOR: 1.9; 1.3–2.7) and the presence of any disease during pregnancy (aOR: 1.4; 1.0–2.0) were identified as other contributors to SGAG.

Conclusion

Maternal HIV infection was independently associated with SGAG for HIV-exposed uninfected infants. This provides further evidence of the need for adapted monitoring of pregnancy in HIV-infected women, especially if they are symptomatic, to minimize additional risk factors for SGAG.     

Topography and Land Cover of Watersheds Predicts the Distribution of the Environmental Pathogen Mycobacterium ulcerans in Aquatic Insects

Background

An understanding of the factors driving the distribution of pathogens is useful in preventing disease. Often we achieve this understanding at a local microhabitat scale; however the larger scale processes are often neglected. This can result in misleading inferences about the distribution of the pathogen, inhibiting our ability to manage the disease. One such disease is Buruli ulcer, an emerging neglected tropical disease afflicting many thousands in Africa, caused by the environmental pathogen Mycobacterium ulcerans. Herein, we aim to describe the larger scale landscape process describing the distribution of M. ulcerans.

Methodology

Following extensive sampling of the community of aquatic macroinvertebrates in Cameroon, we select the 5 dominant insect Orders, and conduct an ecological niche model to describe how the distribution of M. ulcerans positive insects changes according to land cover and topography. We then explore the generalizability of the results by testing them against an independent dataset collected in a second endemic region, French Guiana.

Principal Findings

We find that the distribution of the bacterium in Cameroon is accurately described by the land cover and topography of the watershed, that there are notable seasonal differences in distribution, and that the Cameroon model does not predict the distribution of M. ulcerans in French Guiana.

Conclusions/Significance

Future studies of M. ulcerans would benefit from consideration of local structure of the local stream network in future sampling, and further work is needed on the reasons for notable differences in the distribution of this species from one region to another. This work represents a first step in the identification of large-scale environmental drivers of this species, for the purposes of disease risk mapping.