Management of infection by the Zika virus

A panel of national experts was convened by the Brazilian Infectious Diseases Society in order to organize the national recommendations for the management of zika virus infection. The focus of this document is the diagnosis, both clinical and laboratorial, and appropriate treatment of the diverse manifestations of this infection, ranging from acute mild disease to Guillain-Barré syndrome and also microcephaly and congenital malformations.     

Radiative decay engineering 7: Tamm state-coupled emission using a hybrid plasmonic–photonic structure

There is a continuing need to increase the brightness and photostability of fluorophores for use in biotechnology, medical diagnostics, and cell imaging. One approach developed during the past decade is to use metallic surfaces and nanostructures. It is now known that excited state fluorophores display interactions with surface plasmons, which can increase the radiative decay rates, modify the spatial distribution of emission, and result in directional emission. One important example is surface plasmon-coupled emission (SPCE). In this phenomenon, the fluorophores at close distances from a thin metal film, typically silver, display emission over a small range of angles into the substrate. A disadvantage of SPCE is that the emission occurs at large angles relative to the surface normal and at angles that are larger than the critical angle for the glass substrate. The large angles make it difficult to collect all of the coupled emission and have prevented the use of SPCE with high-throughput and/or array applications. In the current article, we describe a simple multilayer metal–dielectric structure that allows excitation with light that is perpendicular (normal) to the plane and provides emission within a narrow angular distribution that is normal to the plane. This structure consists of a thin silver film on top of a multilayer dielectric Bragg grating, with no nanoscale features except for the metal or dielectric layer thicknesses. Our structure is designed to support optical Tamm states, which are trapped electromagnetic modes between the metal film and the underlying Bragg grating. We used simulations with the transfer matrix method to understand the optical properties of Tamm states and localization of the modes or electric fields in the structure. Tamm states can exist with zero in-plane wavevector components and can be created without the use of a coupling prism. We show that fluorophores on top of the metal film can interact with the Tamm state under the metal film and display Tamm state-coupled emission (TSCE). In contrast to SPCE, the Tamm states can display either S or P polarization. The TSCE angle is highly sensitive to wavelength, which suggests the use of Tamm structures to provide both directional emission and wavelength dispersion. Metallic structures can modify fluorophore decay rates but also have high losses. Photonic crystals have low losses but may lack the enhanced light-induced fields near metals. The combination of plasmonic and photonic structures offers the opportunity for radiative decay engineering to design new formats for clinical testing and other fluorescence-based applications.     

Induced movements of giant vesicles by millimeter wave radiation

Our previous study of interaction between low intensity radiation at 53.37 GHz and cell-size system – such as giant vesicles – indicated that a vectorial movement of vesicles was induced. This effect among others, i.e. elongation, induced diffusion of fluorescent dye di-8-ANEPPS, and increased attractions between vesicles was attributed to the action of the field on charged and dipolar residues located at the membrane–water interface. In an attempt to improve the understanding on how millimeter wave radiation (MMW) can induce this movement we report here a real time evaluation of changes induced on the movement of giant vesicles. Direct optical observations of vesicles subjected to irradiation enabled the monitoring in real time of the response of vesicles. Changes of the direction of vesicle movement are demonstrated, which occur only during irradiation with a “switch on” of the effect. This MMW-induced effect was observed at a larger extent on giant vesicles prepared with negatively charged phospholipids. The monitoring of induced-by-irradiation temperature variation and numerical dosimetry indicate that the observed effects in vesicle movement cannot be attributed to local heating.     

Specific Phosphorylations Transmit Signals from Leukocyte β2 to β1 Integrins and Regulate Adhesion

The regulation of integrins expressed on leukocytes must be controlled precisely, and members of different integrin subfamilies have to act in concert to ensure the proper traffic of immune cells to sites of inflammation. The activation of β₂ family integrins through the T cell receptor or by chemokines leads to the inactivation of very late antigen 4. The mechanism(s) of this cross-talk has not been known. We have now elucidated in detail how the signals are transmitted from leukocyte function-associated antigen 1 and show that, after its activation, the signaling involves specific phosphorylations of β₂ integrin followed by interactions with cytoplasmic signaling proteins. This results in loss of β₁ phosphorylation and a decrease in very late antigen 4 binding to its ligand vascular cell adhesion molecule 1. Our results show how a member of one integrin family regulates the activity of another integrin. This is important for the understanding of integrin-mediated processes.     

Dual Role for the Tyrosine Decarboxylation Pathway in Enterococcus faecium E17: Response to an Acid Challenge and Generation of a Proton Motive Force

In this work we investigated the role of the tyrosine decarboxylation pathway in the response of Enterococcus faecium E17 cells to an acid challenge. It was found that 91% of the cells were able to remain viable in the presence of tyrosine when they were incubated for 3 h in a complex medium at pH 2.5. This effect was shown to be related to the tyrosine decarboxylation pathway. Therefore, the role of tyrosine decarboxylation in pH homeostasis was studied. The membrane potential and pH gradient, the parameters that compose the proton motive force (PMF), were measured at different pHs (pH 4.5 to 7). We obtained evidence showing that the tyrosine decarboxylation pathway generates a PMF composed of a pH gradient formed due to proton consumption in the decarboxylation reaction and by a membrane potential which results from electrogenic transport of tyrosine in exchange for the corresponding biogenic amine tyramine. The properties of the tyrosine transporter were also studied in this work by using whole cells and right-side-out vesicles. The results showed that the transporter catalyzes homologous tyrosine/tyrosine antiport, as well as electrogenic heterologous tyrosine-tyramine exchange. The tyrosine transporter had properties of a typical precursor-product exchanger operating in a proton motive decarboxylation pathway. Therefore, the tyrosine decarboxylation pathway contributes to an acid response mechanism in E. faecium E17. This decarboxylation pathway gives the strain a competitive advantage in nutrient-depleted conditions, as well as in harsh acidic environments, and a better chance of survival, which contributes to higher cell counts in food fermentation products.     

Time-place learning in individually reared angelfish, but not in pearl cichlid

Time-place learning based on food association was investigated in the cichlids angelfish (Pterophyllum scalare) and pearl cichlid (Geophagus brasiliensis) reared in isolation, therefore eliminating social influence on foraging. During a 30-day period, food was placed in one side of the aquarium (containing three compartments) in the morning and in the opposite side in the afternoon. Learning was inferred by the number of correct side choices of all fish in each day of test (15th and 30th). During the test day fish were not fed. The angelfish learned to switch sides at the correct day period in order to get food, suggesting this species has time-place learning ability when individually reared. On the other hand, the same was not observed for pearl cichlid.     

Hypotensive activity of terpenes found in essential oils

The cardiovascular activity of essential oils has been reported. Some studies showed that the main chemical components of these oils contribute to their pharmacological activity. Therefore, the cardiovascular activity of four monoterpenes and one sesquiterpene was evaluated in the present work. In non-anaesthetized normotensive rats, (+)-alpha-pinene, (-)-beta-pinene, (+/-)-citronellol and (+/-)-linalool (1, 5, 10, and 20 mg/kg, i.v.) induced hypotension [maximal effect: (-35 +/- 3)%, (-46 +/- 4)%, (-48 +/- 2)% and (-40 +/- 2)%, respectively; n=6] and tachycardia [maximal effect: (13 +/- 4)%, (16 +/- 7)%, (21 +/- 1)% and (19 +/- 3)%, respectively; n=6] while (-)-a-bisabolol (1, 5, 10, and 20 mg/kg, i.v.) induced hypotension [maximal effect: (-47 +/- 8)%, n=6] and bradycardia [maximal effect: (-57 +/- 3)%]. In conclusion, these results demonstrated that all terpenes tested had hypotensive activity in rats and that the pharmacological effect of the terpene alcohols was more effective than that of the terpene hydrocarbons.