Essential (Mg,Fe, Zn and Cu) and Non-Essential (Cd and Pb) Elements in Predatory Insects (Vespa crabro and Vespa velutina): A Molecular Perspective

The recent introduction of the Asian yellow-legged hornet, Vespa velutina, into Europe has raised concern regarding the threat to honeybees and the competition with the European hornet, Vespa crabro. The aim of this study was to investigated essential (Mg, Fe, Zn, Cu) and non-essential (Cd and Pb) elements in these two species. Element concentrations were determined in the whole body and separately in the head, thorax and abdomen using atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). The changes in essential element concentration and speciation during metamorphosis were also studied using size exclusion chromatography followed by AAS and proteomic analysis. In both species, the essential elements were more concentrated in the abdomen due to the presence of fat bodies. Magnesium, Fe and Zn concentrations were significantly higher in V. crabro than in V. velutina and could have been related to the higher aerobic energy demand of the former species required to sustain foraging flight. Low concentrations of Cd and Pb were indicative of low environmental exposure. The concentration and speciation of essential elements, particularly Fe, varied among the developmental stages, indicating a modification of ligand preferences during metamorphosis. Overall, the results in the present study provide a better understanding of the hornet metal metabolism and a foundation for additional studies.     

Milk from cows fed a diet with a high forage:concentrate ratio improves inflammatory state,oxidative stress,and mitochondrial function in rats

Excessive energy intake may evoke complex biochemical processes characterized by inflammation, oxidative stress, and impairment of mitochondrial function that represent the main factors underlying noncommunicable diseases. Because cow milk is widely used for human nutrition and in food industry processing, the nutritional quality of milk is of special interest with respect to human health. In our study, we analyzed milk produced by dairy cows fed a diet characterized by a high forage:concentrate ratio (high forage milk, HFM). In view of the low n-6:n-3 ratio and high content of conjugated linoleic acid of HFM, we studied the effects of this milk on lipid metabolism, inflammation, mitochondrial function, and oxidative stress in a rat model. To this end, we supplemented for 4 wk the diet of male Wistar rats with HFM and with an isocaloric amount (82 kJ, 22 mL/d) of milk obtained from cows fed a diet with low forage:concentrate ratio, and analyzed the metabolic parameters of the animals. Our results indicate that HFM may positively affect lipid metabolism, leptin:adiponectin ratio, inflammation, mitochondrial function, and oxidative stress, providing the first evidence of the beneficial effects of HFM on rat metabolism.     

Program schemes for multilevel flash memories

This paper presents a synthetic overview of multilevel (ML) flash memory program methods. The problem of increasing program time with the number of bits stored in each cell is discussed and methods based on both channel hot electrons (CHE) and Fowler-Nordheim tunneling (FNT) are discussed. In the case of CHE, the use of an increasing voltage rather than a constant one on the control gate (CG) leads to narrower threshold voltage distributions and smaller current absorption, with positive effects on the degree of parallelism and program throughput. As for FNT, much faster programming than that commonly used today can be done using high CG voltages without producing intolerable degradation of cell reliability.     

Localized dissection of the abdominal aorta. Diagnosis and surgical treatment

Abdominal aortic dissection is a rare pathology. As far as we are concerned, only 59 cases have been reported in the English literature. In the last two years, two cases were treated at our Institution. Both were males, over 70 years of age. They were evaluated with ultrasonography, angiography (1 case) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging which showed localised dissection of the abdominal aorta with aneurysmal dilatation. They underwent surgical treatment with good results. At 1 and 2 years from operation both patients are alive and well. A postoperative ultrasonography didn't show any residual dissection.     

Attempted suicide among adolescents: A stepwise discriminant analysis.

A sample of 40 adolescents (aged 13–17 yrs), some of whom had attempted suicide (n?=?20) and some who had not (n?=?20), were compared on a number of life history and psychological variables (affective and cognitive). Stepwise discriminant analyses produced 1 discriminant function (the lack of emotional significant other) that differentiated between the groups. This single discriminant function accounted for 77% of the variance in the data. These results are interpreted within the context of the early loss hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sympathetic blockade of isolated rat hindlimbs by intra-arterial guanethidine: the effect on blood flow and arterial-venous shunting

In order to improve the understanding of the role of sympathetic nerve degeneration in reimplantation failure, the hindlimbs of eight rats (Group I) underwent near-complete amputation. The soft tissues of the hindlimb were transected at the proximal thigh with the femoral artery, vein and femur left intact. The femoral vessels were clamped and guanethidine was infused into a branch of the femoral artery of the right leg of each animal, while saline was injected into the left leg. The clamps were removed after 15 minutes. A baseline preoperative injection of radiolabeled microspheres was made, and subsequent injections at 6, 12, 18, and 24 hours postoperation. Twelve rats (Group II) were then used to assess the amount of arterial-venous shunting preoperatively (n = 6) and at 18 hours postoperation (n = 6), by venous sampling. Blood flow to both limbs increased postoperation, but there was significantly more flow in the guanethidine treated limb at 18 and 24 hours postoperation. The amount of shunting was approximately 50% in both limbs at 18 hours, as compared to 10% preoperation. These results highlight the potential benefit of guanethidine and other sympathetic blocking agents in reimplantation to increase blood flow, decrease tissue ischemia and increase anastomotic patency rates. They also suggest that sympathetic nerve degeneration did not affect the volume of arterial-venous shunting in this model, but the difference in blood flow was likely due to arteriolar vasospasm. Further study is needed to elucidate the clinical significance of sympathetic nerve degeneration in reimplantation failure.     

Trastuzumab Deruxtecan: Changing the Destiny of HER2 Expressing Solid Tumors

HER2 targeted therapies have significantly improved prognosis of HER2-positive breast and gastric cancer. HER2 overexpression and mutation is the pathogenic driver in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and colorectal cancer, however, to date, there are no approved HER2-targeted therapies with these indications. Trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) is a novel HER2-directed antibody drug conjugate showing significant anti-tumor activity in heavily pre-treated HER2-positive breast and gastric cancer patients. Preliminary data have shown promising objective response rates in patients with HER2-positive NSCLC and colorectal cancer. T-DXd has an acceptable safety profile, however with concerns regarding potentially serious treatment-emergent adverse events. In this review we focus on the pharmacologic characteristics and toxicity profile of T-Dxd, and provide an update on the most recent results of clinical trials of T-DXd in solid tumors. The referenced papers were selected through a PubMed search performed on 16 March 2021 with the following searching terms: T-DXd and breast cancer, or gastric cancer, or non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), or colorectal cancer. Oral presentation, abstracts, and posters presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO, Alexandria, VA, USA) 2020 and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO, Lugano, Switzerland) 2020 annual meetings were retrieved for data on T-DXd. We also overview ongoing research and data of combination therapies currently under investigation, which will impact on future therapeutic strategies. Clinicaltrials.gov was searched to identify ongoing clinical trials of T-DXd alone or in combination in solid tumors.     

Aspects of nucleosomal positional flexibility and fluidity

Nucleosomes have been considered until recently to be stable and uniquely localized particles. We focus here on two properties of nucleosomes that are emerging as central attributes of their functions: mobility and multiplicity of localization. The biological relevance of these phenomena is based on the fact that chromatin functions depend on the relative stability of nucleosomes, on their covalent or conformational modifications, their dynamics, their localization, and the density of their distribution. In order to understand these complex behaviors both the structure of the nucleosome core particles and the informational rules governing their interaction with defined DNA sequences are here taken into consideration. The fact that nucleosomes solve the problem of how to locate a specific interaction site on a potentially infinite combination of sequences, with interactions recurring to a controlled level of informational ambiguity and stochasticity, is discussed. Nucleosomes have been shown to slide along DNA. This novel facet of their behavior and its implications in chromatin remodeling are reviewed.     

Gingival recession and exposure of barrier membrane: effect on guided tissue regeneration of Class II furcation defects

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of barrier membrane exposure on the success of guided tissue regeneration in Class II furcation defects. Twenty-six subjects with mandibular Class II furcation defects received initial periodontal therapy followed by guided tissue regeneration surgery. The membrane was placed and the flaps were repositioned so that the membrane was totally submerged. Membranes were removed 4 to 6 weeks later, at which time the extent of their exposure was recorded. An overall improvement in all clinical parameters was observed for all subjects 1 year after surgery. Half of the patients had experienced no membrane exposure, while the other 13 subjects had experienced mild to pronounced exposure; both groups showed similar improvement in all clinical and surgical parameters. In light of the comparable results obtained in exposed sites, and the anatomic difficulties sometimes encountered in covering a membrane completely, in some of these cases the membrane may be left only partially submerged. This approach will allow for tighter occlusal "seal" of the tooth-membrane interface and preservation of the keratinized gingiva.     

On the Construction of Classes of Suffix Trees for Square Matrices: Algorithms and Applications

We provide a uniform framework for the study of index data structures for a two-dimensional matrixTEXT[1:n, 1:n] whose entries are drawn from an ordered alphabetΣ. An index forTEXTcan be informally seen as the two-dimensional analog of the suffix tree for a string. It allows on-line searches and statistics to be performed onTEXTby representing compactly theΘ(n³) square submatrices ofTEXTin optimalO(n²) space. We identify 4ⁿ⁻¹families of indices forTEXT, each containing ∏ⁿ_i=1 (2i−1)! isomorphic data structures. We also develop techniques leading to a single algorithm that efficiently builds any index in any family inO(n² log n) time andO(n²) space. Such an algorithm improves in various respects the algorithms for the construction of the PAT tree and the Lsuffix tree. The framework and the algorithm easily generalize tod>2 dimensions. Moreover, as part of our algorithm, we provide new algorithmic tools that yield a space-efficient implementation of the “naming scheme” of R. Karpet al.(in“Proceedings, Fourth Symposium on Theory of Computing,” pp. 125–136) for strings and matrices.