Effect of Poor Access to Water and Sanitation As Risk Factors for Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infection: Selectiveness by the Infective Route

BackgroundSoil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections are a public health problem in resource-limited settings worldwide. Chronic STH infection impairs optimum learning and productivity, contributing to the perpetuation of the poverty-disease cycle. Regular massive drug administration (MDA) is the cardinal recommendation for its control; along with water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions. The impact of joint WASH interventions on STH infections has been reported; studies on the independent effect of WASH components are needed to contribute with the improvement of current recommendations for the control of STH. The aim of this study is to assess the association of lacking access to water and sanitation with STH infections, taking into account the differences in route of infection among species and the availability of adequate water and sanitation at home.ConclusionsLack of safe water and proper sanitation pose a risk of STH infections that is distinct according to the route of entry to the human host used by each of the STH species. Interventions aimed to improve water and sanitation access should be highlighted in the recommendations for the control of STH.     

The Contribution of Agriculture,Forestry and other Land Use activities to Global Warming, 1990–2012

We refine the information available through the IPCC AR5 with regard to recent trends in global GHG emissions from agriculture, forestry and other land uses (AFOLU), including global emission updates to 2012. Using all three available AFOLU datasets employed for analysis in the IPCC AR5, rather than just one as done in the IPCC AR5 WGIII Summary for Policy Makers, our analyses point to a down‐revision of global AFOLU shares of total anthropogenic emissions, while providing important additional information on subsectoral trends. Our findings confirm that the share of AFOLU emissions to the anthropogenic total declined over time. They indicate a decadal average of 28.7 ± 1.5% in the 1990s and 23.6 ± 2.1% in the 2000s and an annual value of 21.2 ± 1.5% in 2010. The IPCC AR5 had indicated a 24% share in 2010. In contrast to previous decades, when emissions from land use (land use, land use change and forestry, including deforestation) were significantly larger than those from agriculture (crop and livestock production), in 2010 agriculture was the larger component, contributing 11.2 ± 0.4% of total GHG emissions, compared to 10.0 ± 1.2% of the land use sector. Deforestation was responsible for only 8% of total anthropogenic emissions in 2010, compared to 12% in the 1990s. Since 2010, the last year assessed by the IPCC AR5, new FAO estimates indicate that land use emissions have remained stable, at about 4.8 Gt CO₂ eq yr^?1 in 2012. Emissions minus removals have also remained stable, at 3.2 Gt CO₂ eq yr^?1 in 2012. By contrast, agriculture emissions have continued to grow, at roughly 1% annually, and remained larger than the land use sector, reaching 5.4 Gt CO₂ eq yr^?1 in 2012. These results are useful to further inform the current climate policy debate on land use, suggesting that more efforts and resources should be directed to further explore options for mitigation in agriculture, much in line with the large efforts devoted to REDD+ in the past decade.     

Bone marrow microenvironment: The guardian of leukemia stem cells

Bone marrow microenvironment(BMM) is the main sanctuary of leukemic stem cells(LSCs) and protects these cells against conventional therapies. However, it may open up an opportunity to target LSCs by breaking the close connection between LSCs and the BMM. The elimination of LSCs is of high importance, since they follow cancer stem cell theory as a part of this population. Based on cancer stem cell theory, a cell with stem cell-like features stands at the apex of the hierarchy and produces a heterogeneous population and governs the disease.Secretion of cytokines, chemokines, and extracellular vesicles, whether through autocrine or paracrine mechanisms by activation of downstream signaling pathways in LSCs, favors their persistence and makes the BMM less hospitable for normal stem cells. While all details about the interactions of the BMM and LSCs remain to be elucidated, some clinical trials have been designed to limit these reciprocal interactions to cure leukemia more effectively. In this review, we focus on chronic myeloid leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia LSCs and their milieu in the bone marrow, how to segregate them from the normal compartment, and finally the possible ways to eliminate these cells.     

Mechanisms transducing the aldosterone secretagogue signal of endothelins in the human adrenal cortex

Evidence has been provided that the 21-amino acid hypertensive peptide endothelin (ET)-1 exerts a potent secretagogue effect on human adrenocortical zona glomerulosa (ZG), acting through two receptor subtypes, called ET(A) and ET(B), the signaling mechanism(s) of which has (have) not yet been investigated. Collagenase dispersed human ZG cells were obtained from normal adrenals of patients undergoing nephrectomy/adrenalectomy for renal cancer. The selective ET(A)- and ET(B)-receptor activation was obtained by exposing dispersed cells to ET-1 plus the ET(B)-receptor antagonist BQ-788 and to the ET(B)-receptor agonist BQ-3020, respectively. The phospholipase (PL) C inhibitor U-73122 abolished ET(A) receptor-mediated secretory response, but only partially prevented the ET(B) receptor-mediated one. The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitor wortmannin, the calmodulin inhibitor W-7 and the protein kinase (PK) C inhibitor calphostin-C significantly blunted the secretory responses ensuing from the activation of both receptor subtypes. When added together, calphostin-C and wortmannin or W-7 abolished ET(A)-mediated secretory response, but only decreased ET(B)-mediated one. The ET(B) receptor-, but not the ET(A) receptor-mediated aldosterone response was partially reversed by the cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitor indomethacin, which when added together with U-73122 abolished it. ET(A)-receptor activation raised inositol triphosphate (IP(3)) production from dispersed ZG cells, while ET(B)-receptor stimulation enhanced both IP(3) and prostaglandin-E(2) production. Collectively, our findings indicate that ETs stimulate aldosterone secretion from human ZG cells, acting through ET(A) receptors exclusively coupled to PLC/PKC-dependent pathway and ET(B) receptors coupled to both PLC/PKC- and COX-dependent cascades.     

Effects of prolonged cycle ergometer exercise on maximal muscle power and oxygen uptake in humans

The mechanical power (W_tot, W·kg^–1) developed during ten revolutions of all-out periods of cycle ergometer exercise (4–9 s) was measured every 5–6 min in six subjects from rest or from a baseline of constant aerobic exercise [50%–80% of maximal oxygen uptake (VO_2max)] of 20–40 min duration. The oxygen uptake [VO₂ (W·kg^–1, 1 ml O₂ = 20.9 J)] and venous blood lactate concentration ([la]_b, mM) were also measured every 15 s and 2 min, respectively. During the first all-out period, W_tot decreased linearly with the intensity of the priming exercise (W_tot = 11.9–0.25·VO₂). After the first all-out period (i greater than 5–6 min), and if the exercise intensity was less than 60% VO_2max, W_tot, VO₂ and [la]_b remained constant until the end of the exercise. For exercise intensities greater than 60% VO_2max, VO₂ and [la]_b showed continuous upward drifts and W_tot continued decreasing. Under these conditions, the rate of decrease of W_tot was linearly related to the rate of increase of V [(d W_tot/dt) (W·kg^–1·s^–1) = 5.0·10^–5 –0.20·(d VO₂/dt) (W·kg^–1·s^–1)] and this was linearly related to the rate of increase of [la]_b [(d VO₂/dt) (W·kg^–1·s^–1) = 2.310^–4 + 5.910^–5·(d [la]_b/dt) (mM·s^–1)]. These findings would suggest that the decrease of W_tot during the first all-out period was due to the decay of phosphocreatine concentration in the exercising muscles occurring at the onset of exercise and the slow drifts of VO₂ (upwards) and of W_tot (downwards) during intense exercise at constant W_tot could be attributed to the continuous accumulation of lactate in the blood (and in the working muscles).     

The importance of location and visual cues during foraging in the German wasp (Vespula germanica F.) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Abstract

The way in which foraging wasps use cues for prey location and choice appears to depend on both the context and on the type of prey. Vespula germanica is an opportunistic, generalist prey forager, and individual wasp foragers often return to hunt at sites of previous hunting success. In this paper, we studied which cues are used by this wasp when relocating a food source. Particularly we analysed the response to a displaced visual cue versus a foraging location at which either honey or cat food had been previously presented. We conclude that location is used over a displaced visual cue for directing wasp hovering, although the landing response is directed differently according to bait type. When wasps are exploiting cat food, location also elicits landing, but if they are exploiting honey, a displaced visual cue elicits landing more frequently than location.     

Rab17 Regulates Membrane Trafficking through Apical Recycling Endosomes in Polarized Epithelial Cells

A key feature of polarized epithelial cells is the ability to maintain the specific biochemical composition of the apical and basolateral plasma membrane domains while selectively allowing transport of proteins and lipids from one pole to the opposite by transcytosis. The small GTPase, rab17, a member of the rab family of regulators of intracellular transport, is specifically induced during cell polarization in the developing kidney. We here examined its intracellular distribution and function in both nonpolarized and polarized cells. By confocal immunofluorescence microscopy, rab17 colocalized with internalized transferrin in the perinuclear recycling endosome of BHK-21 cells. In polarized Eph4 cells, rab17 associated with the apical recycling endosome that has been implicated in recycling and transcytosis. The localization of rab17, therefore, strengthens the proposed homology between this compartment and the recycling endosome of nonpolarized cells. Basolateral to apical transport of two membrane-bound markers, the transferrin receptor and the FcLR 5-27 chimeric receptor, was specifically increased in Eph4 cells expressing rab17 mutants defective in either GTP binding or hydrolysis. Furthermore, the mutant proteins stimulated apical recycling of FcLR 5-27. These results support a role for rab17 in regulating traffic through the apical recycling endosome, suggesting a function in polarized sorting in epithelial cells.     

Pathological cardiac remodeling seen by the eyes of proteomics

Cardiac remodeling involves cellular and structural changes that occur as consequence of multifactorial events to maintain the homeostasis. The progression of pathological cardiac remodeling involves a transition from adaptive to maladaptive changes that eventually leads to impairment of ventricular function and heart failure. In this scenario, proteins are key elements that orchestrate molecular events as increased expression of fetal genes, neurohormonal and second messengers' activation, contractile dysfunction, rearrangement of the extracellular matrix and alterations in heart geometry. Mass spectrometry based-proteomics has emerged as a sound method to study protein dysregulation and identification of cardiac diseases biomarkers in plasma. In this review, we summarize the main findings related to large-scale proteome modulation of cardiac cells and extracellular matrix occurred during pathological cardiac remodeling. We describe the recent proteomic progresses in the selection of protein targets and introduce the renin-angiotensin system as an interesting target for the treatment of pathological cardiac remodeling.