Effects of cystic fibrosis serum on the rat parotid gland

Summary Injections of serum from human patients with cystic fibrosis into adult rats caused pronounced structural modifications and increased mitotic rate in the parotid gland. Mitotic rate was increased from a low level of 0.02/1,000 acinar cells in parotid glands of adult rats to 6.5/1,000 acinar cells after 2 or 3 days of serum injection. At the light and electron microscopic levels, significant acinar cell atrophy and degranulation were observed. Cellular necrosis, and increases in quantity of lysosome-like dense bodies, mast cells, and macrophages were also detected. These changes are suggestive of tissue response to injurious foreign protein. Furthermore, the fact that normal sera pronounced the same kind of effects (but greatly reduced in extent) strengthens the view that these effects result from the immunologic response of the host organ to foreign antigen. Since, however, the responses of the rat parotid to cystic fibrosis serum were considerably more marked than those elicited by normal serum, the rat parotid may thus have potential usefulness in assaying for the presence of human cystic fibrosis factor.This work was supported in part by U.S.P.H.S. Grant DE 02110The authors wish to thank Dr. Alexander Spock, Cystic Fibrosis Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, and Dr. Ralph Tiller, Children's Hospital, University of Alabama Medical Center, for generously supplying blood from patients with cystic fibrosis. The authors also want to thank Dr. A. Siegel, Department of Pathology, University of Alabama Medical Center, and Mr. R. Siegel, for determinations of serum catecholamine levels     

Projected impacts of climate change on snow leopard habitat in Qinghai Province,China

Assessing species’ vulnerability to climate change is a prerequisite for developing effective strategies to reduce emerging climate‐related threats. We used the maximum entropy algorithm (MaxEnt model) to assess potential changes in suitable snow leopard (Panthera uncia) habitat in Qinghai Province, China, under a mild climate change scenario. Our results showed that the area of suitable snow leopard habitat in Qinghai Province was 302,821 km² under current conditions and 228,997 km² under the 2050s climatic scenario, with a mean upward shift in elevation of 90 m. At present, nature reserves protect 38.78% of currently suitable habitat and will protect 42.56% of future suitable habitat. Current areas of climate refugia amounted to 212,341 km² and are mainly distributed in the Sanjiangyuan region, Qilian mountains, and surrounding areas. Our results provide valuable information for formulating strategies to meet future conservation challenges brought on by climate stress. We suggest that conservation efforts in Qinghai Province should focus on protecting areas of climate refugia and on maintaining or building corridors when planning for future species management.     

Brief communication: When Adam delved. An activity-related lesion in three human skeletal populations

A rare, activity-related lesion, the clay-shoveller's fracture, was identified during osteological analysis in three human populations dating from the Roman to the later Medieval period in England, circa fourth to 14th centuries A.D. The prevalence of this fracture in these populations suggests an osteological indicator for several possible manual activities, but also one that may be the result of a long-standing human subsistence adaptation requiring digging in the soil. Since males as opposed to females appear to be preferentially affected, the occurrence of such injuries has the potential to provide an insight into the sexual division of labor in earlier human populations. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Occurrence of Shewanella algae in Danish Coastal Water and Effects of Water Temperature and Culture Conditions on Its Survival

The marine bacterium Shewanella algae, which was identified as the cause of human cases of bacteremia and ear infections in Denmark in the summers of 1994 and 1995, was detected in seawater only during the months (July, August, September, and October) when the water temperature was above 13°C. The bacterium is a typical mesophilic organism, and model experiments were conducted to elucidate the fate of the organism under cold and nutrient-limited conditions. The culturable count of S. algae decreased rapidly from 10⁷ CFU/ml to 10¹ CFU/ml in approximately 1 month when cells grown at 20 to 37°C were exposed to cold (2°C) seawater. In contrast, the culturable count of cells exposed to warmer seawater (10 to 25°C) remained constant. Allowing the bacterium a transition period in seawater at 20°C before exposure to the 2°C seawater resulted in 100% survival over a period of 1 to 2 months. The cold protection offered by this transition (starvation) probably explains the ability of the organism to persist in Danish seawater despite very low (0 to 1°C) winter water temperatures. The culturable counts of samples kept at 2°C increased to 10⁵ to 10⁷ CFU/ml at room temperature. Most probable number analysis showed this result to be due to regrowth rather than resuscitation. It was hypothesized that S. algae would survive cold exposure better if in the biofilm state; however, culturable counts from S. algae biofilms decreased as rapidly as did counts of planktonic cells.     

Observed Antibody Space: A diverse database of cleaned,annotated, and translated unpaired and paired antibody sequences

The antibody repertoires of individuals and groups have been used to explore disease states, understand vaccine responses, and drive therapeutic development. The arrival of B‐cell receptor repertoire sequencing has enabled researchers to get a snapshot of these antibody repertoires, and as more data are generated, increasingly in‐depth studies are possible. However, most publicly available data only exist as raw FASTQ files, making the data hard to access, process, and compare. The Observed Antibody Space (OAS) database was created in 2018 to offer clean, annotated, and translated repertoire data. In this paper, we describe an update to OAS that has been driven by the increasing volume of data and the appearance of paired (VH/VL) sequence data. OAS is now accessible via a new web server, with standardized search parameters and a new sequence‐based search option. The new database provides both nucleotides and amino acids for every sequence, with additional sequence annotations to make the data Minimal Information about Adaptive Immune Receptor Repertoire compliant, and comments on potential problems with the sequence. OAS now contains 25 new studies, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 data and paired sequencing data. The new database is accessible at http://opig.stats.ox.ac.uk/webapps/oas/, and all data are freely available for download.     

C-ferroptosis is an iron-dependent form of regulated cell death in cyanobacteria

Ferroptosis is an oxidative and iron-dependent form of regulated cell death (RCD) recently described in eukaryotic organisms like animals, plants, and parasites. Here, we report that a similar process takes place in the photosynthetic prokaryote Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 in response to heat stress. After a heat shock, Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 cells undergo a cell death pathway that can be suppressed by the canonical ferroptosis inhibitors, CPX, vitamin E, Fer-1, liproxstatin-1, glutathione (GSH), or ascorbic acid (AsA). Moreover, as described for eukaryotic ferroptosis, this pathway is characterized by an early depletion of the antioxidants GSH and AsA, and by lipid peroxidation. These results indicate that all of the hallmarks described for eukaryotic ferroptosis are conserved in photosynthetic prokaryotes and suggest that ferroptosis might be an ancient cell death program.     

Fracture patterns at the Medieval Leper Hospital in Chichester

Humans are constantly at risk of bone fractures, not only when threatened by personal violence, but also by the challenge of daily living. Because fractures are a cross-cultural phenomenon and are one of the more commonly observed skeletal lesions in archaeological collections, their presence provides a unique opportunity to compare living conditions, and thereby assess fracture risk in coexisting cultures. This study analyzed long bone fracture patterns of 212 sexed adults from the medieval leper hospital of St. James and St. Mary Magdalene in Chichester, England. The comparison of this hospital sample to other British medieval skeletal samples examined the level of health manifest in fracture etiology. The fracture frequency for this sample was 15.1%, with males accounting for 85.4% of the fractures. The fracture frequencies from the samples not affiliated with hospitals ranged from 3.3 to 5.6%. Because medieval urban lifestyle was notoriously difficult due to inadequate sanitation and living conditions, the overall health of the population at large was inferior, placing all at similar fracture risk. Therefore, more specific complications associated with the fractures were examined. Osseous modifications of the skeletons due to lepromatous leprosy were associated with 28% of individuals sustaining fractures. However, persons with the milder tuberculoid leprosy do not exhibit skeletal lesions, but are more prone to accident due to the earlier loss of sensory perception and visual impairment. It is argued that the presence of leprosy is underestimated in archaeological populations and may be a major contributing factor to the prevalence of fracture resulting from accidental falls. Am J Phys Anthropol 105:43–55, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.