Aspergillus fumigatus calcineurin interacts with a nucleoside diphosphate kinase

The Ca2+-calcineurin pathway affects virulence and morphogenesis in filamentous fungi. Here, we identified 37 CalA-interacting proteins that interact with the catalytic subunit of calcineurin (CalA) in Aspergillus fumigatus, including the nucleoside diphosphate kinase (SwoH). The in vivo interaction between CalA and SwoH was validated by bimolecular fluorescence complementation. A. fumigatus swoH is an essential gene. Therefore, a temperature-sensitive conditional mutant strain with a point mutation in the active site, SwoH(V83F), was constructed, which demonstrated reduced growth and increased sensitivity to elevated temperatures. The SwoH(V83F) mutation did not cause a loss in virulence in the Galleria mellonella infection model. Taken together these results imply that CalA interacts with SwoH. (C) 2012 Institut Pasteur. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Transforming growth factor beta and apoptosis in leprosy skin lesions: possible relationship with the control of the tissue immune response in the Mycobacterium leprae infection

The course of leprosy depends of the host immune response which ranges from the lepromatous pole (LL) to the tuberculoid pole (TT). A comparative study was conducted in 60 patients with the LL and TT The results showed a mean expression of TGF-beta of 339 +/- 99.4 cells/field for TT and of 519.2 +/- 68.2 cells/field for LL. Frequency of apoptosis was 6.3 +/- 1.8 in TT and 14.0 +/- 6.1 in LL. A correlation (p = 0.0251) between TGF-beta and caspase-3 in the LL was found. This finding indicates a role of TGF-beta and apoptosis in the immune response in leprosy. (C) 2012 Institut Pasteur. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Naturally acquired antibodies to Plasmodium vivax blood-stage vaccine candidates (PvMSP-1(19) and PvMSP-3 alpha(359-798)) and their relationship with hematological features in malaria patients from the Brazilian Amazon

An important step when designing a vaccine is identifying the antigens that function as targets of naturally acquired antibodies. We investigated specific antibody responses against two Plasmodium vivax vaccine candidates, PvMSP-1(19) and PvMSP-3 alpha(359-798). Moreover, we assessed the relationship between these antibodies and morbidity parameters. PvMSP-1(19) was the most immunogenic antigen and the frequency of responders to this protein tended to increase in P. vivax patients with higher parasitemia. For both antigens, IgG antibody responses tended to be lower in patients who had experienced their first bout of malaria. Furthermore, anemic patients presented higher IgG antibody responses to PvMSP-3 alpha(359-798). Since the humoral response involves a number of antibodies acting simultaneously on different targets, we performed a Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Anemic patients had, on average, higher first principal component scores (IgG1/IgG2/IgG3/IgG4 anti-MSP3 alpha), which were negatively correlated with hemoglobin levels. Since antibodies against PfMSP-3 have been strongly associated with clinical protection, we cannot exclude the possibility of a dual role of PvMSP-3 specific antibodies in both immunity and pathogenesis of vivax malaria. Our results confirm the high immunogenicity of the conserved C terminus of PvMSP-1 and points to the considerable immunogenicity of polymorphic PvMSP-3 alpha(359-798) during natural infection. (C) 2012 Institut Pasteur. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Effective carrying capacity and analytical solution of a particular case of the Richards-like two-species population dynamics model

We consider a generalized two-species population dynamic model and analytically solve it for the amensalism and commensalism ecological interactions. These two-species models can be simplified to a one-species model with a time dependent extrinsic growth factor. With a one-species model with an effective carrying capacity one is able to retrieve the steady state solutions of the previous one-species model. The equivalence obtained between the effective carrying capacity and the extrinsic growth factor is complete only for a particular case, the Gompertz model. Here we unveil important aspects of sigmoid growth curves, which are relevant to growth processes and population dynamics. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Timing of Alveolar Bone Grafting Determines Different Outcomes in Patients With Unilateral Cleft Palate

The objective of the current study was to assess the outcome of the alveolar bone grafting (ABG) in patients with cleft palate. Thirty-one patients with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate were prospectively divided into 2 groups according to the timing of surgery: (1) secondary ABG (SABG), undertaken during mixed dentition (n = 16); and (2) tertiary ABG (TABG), undertaken during permanent dentition (n = 15). Septum height was assessed using cone beam computed tomography in 3 views (buccal, intermediate, palatal) and classified according to the modified Bergland Index, which scores the results into 5 types according to the height of the neoformed bone septum (excellent: septum with a normal height; good: septum with minor deficiency; regular: marginal defect of >25% of the root length; bad: bone deficiency on the nasal aspect; and failure). In the SABG group, 6 to 12 months postoperatively, 75% of the patients were classified as having excellent/good conditions and 25% as having regular/bad conditions. No patients were observed as having failure conditions. In the TABG group, 53% of the patients were classified as having excellent/good, 21% were classified as having regular/bad conditions, and 26% were classified as having failure conditions. Significantly better outcomes were observed for the SABG group when compared with the TABG group. In conclusion, the age at which ABG is performed is a factor that impacts on the surgical outcome. Specifically, increasing age is associated with worse outcomes.

Generation of second messengers in Plasmodium

Signalling in malaria parasites is a field of growing interest as its components may prove to be valuable drug targets, especially when one considers the burden of a disease that is responsible for up to 500 million infections annually. The scope of this review is to discuss external stimuli in the parasite life cycle and the upstream machinery responsible for translating them into intracellular responses, focussing particularly on the calcium signalling pathway. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS on behalf of Institut Pasteur.

MIF induces osteoclast differentiation and contributes to progression of periodontal disease in mice

Periodontal disease (PD) is a chronic inflammatory and alveolar bone destructive disease triggered by microorganisms from the oral biofilm. Oral inoculation of mice with the periodontopathogen Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (Aa) induces marked alveolar bone loss and local production of inflammatory mediators, including Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor (MW). The role of MW for alveolar bone resorption during PD is not known. In the present study, experimental PD was induced in BALB/c wild-type mice (WT) and MW knockout mice (MIF-/-) through oral inoculation of Aa. Despite enhanced number of bacteria, MIF-/- mice had reduced infiltration of TRAP-positive cells and reduced alveolar bone loss. This was associated with decreased neutrophil accumulation and increased levels of IL-10 in periodontal tissues. TNF-alpha production was similar in both groups. In vitro, LPS from Aa enhanced osteoclastic activity in a MIF-dependent manner. In conclusion, MIF has role in controlling bacterial growth in the context of PD but contributes more significantly to the progression of bone loss during PD by directly affecting differentiation and activity of osteoclasts. (C) 2011 Institut Pasteur. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Early dystrophin disruption in the pathogenesis of experimental chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy

Chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy evolves over a long period of time after initial infection by Trypanosoma cruzi. Similarly, a cardiomyopathy appears later in life in muscular dystrophies. This study tested the hypothesis that dystrophin levels are decreased in the early stage of T cruzi-infected mice that precedes the later development of a cardiomyopathy. CD1 mice were infected with T cruzi (Brazil strain), killed at 30 and 100 days post infection (dpi), and the intensity of inflammation, percentage of interstitial fibrosis, and dystrophin levels evaluated. Echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging data were evaluated from 15 to 100 dpi. At 30 dpi an intense acute myocarditis with ruptured or intact intracellular parasite nests was observed. At 100 dpi a mild chronic fibrosing myocarditis was detected without parasites in the myocardium. Dystrophin was focally reduced or completely lost in cardiomyocytes at 30 dpi, with the reduction maintained up to 100 dpi. Concurrently, ejection fraction was reduced and the right ventricle was dilated. These findings support the hypothesis that the initial parasitic infection-induced myocardial dystrophin reduction/loss, maintained over time, might be essential to the late development of a cardiomyopathy in mice. (C) 2011 Institut Pasteur. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Vesicles as carriers of virulence factors in parasitic protozoan diseases

Different types of shed vesicles as, for example, exosomes, plasma-membrane-derived vesicles or microparticles, are the focus of intense research in view of their potential role in cell cell communication and under the perspective that they might be good tools for immunotherapy, vaccination or diagnostic purposes. This review discusses ways employed by pathogenic trypanosomatids to interact with the host by shedding vesicles that contain molecules important for the establishment of infection, as opposed to previous beliefs considering them as a waste of cellular metabolism. Trypanosomatids are compared with Apicomplexa, which circulate parasite antigens bound to vesicles shed by host cells. The knowledge of the origin and chemical composition of these different vesicles might lead to the understanding of the mechanisms that determine their biological function. (C) 2012 Institut Pasteur. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Clinical correlates of social adjustment in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Background: Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) frequently show poor social adjustment, which has been associated with OCD severity. Little is known about the effects that age at symptom onset, specific OCD symptoms, and psychiatric comorbidities have on social adjustment. The objective of this study was to investigate the clinical correlates of social functioning in OCD patients. Methods: Cross-sectional study involving 815 adults with a primary DSM-IV diagnosis of OCD participating in the Brazilian Research Consortium on Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders. Patients were assessed with the Social Adjustment Scale, the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short-Form Health Survey, the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, the Dimensional Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders. Clinical correlates of social adjustment were assessed with generalized linear models with gamma distribution. Results: Poor overall social functioning was associated with greater OCD severity (p = 0.02); hoarding symptoms (p = 0.004); sexual/religious obsessions (p = 0.005); current major depressive disorder (p = 0.004); current post-traumatic stress disorder (p = 0.002); and current eating disorders (p = 0.02). Poor social adjustment was also associated with impaired quality of life. Conclusions: Patients with OCD have poor social functioning in domains related to personal relationships and professional performance. Hoarding symptoms and sexual/religious obsessions seem to have the strongest negative effects on social functioning. Early age at OCD symptom onset seems to be associated with professional and academic underachievement and impairment within the family unit, whereas current psychiatric comorbidity worsen overall social functioning. In comparison with quality of life, social adjustment measures seem to provide a more comprehensive overview of the OCD-related burden. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gaussian deconvolution: a useful method for a form-free modeling of scattering data from mono- and multilayered planar systems

A new method for analysis of scattering data from lamellar bilayer systems is presented. The method employs a form-free description of the cross-section structure of the bilayer and the fit is performed directly to the scattering data, introducing also a structure factor when required. The cross-section structure (electron density profile in the case of X-ray scattering) is described by a set of Gaussian functions and the technique is termed Gaussian deconvolution. The coefficients of the Gaussians are optimized using a constrained least-squares routine that induces smoothness of the electron density profile. The optimization is coupled with the point-of-inflection method for determining the optimal weight of the smoothness. With the new approach, it is possible to optimize simultaneously the form factor, structure factor and several other parameters in the model. The applicability of this method is demonstrated by using it in a study of a multilamellar system composed of lecithin bilayers, where the form factor and structure factor are obtained simultaneously, and the obtained results provided new insight into this very well known system.

Un percorso fra natura e storia. Il museo della citta' di Cesena lungo il fiume Savio

“Il museo sta cambiando. In passato, era un luogo di certezze assolute, fonte di definizioni, di valori e di dottrina in materia d'arte, a tutto campo; era il luogo in cui non ci si ponevano interrogativi ma si davano autorevoli risposte.[...]“ 1 Il collezionismo d'arte comincia con il Rinascimento italiano, che sviluppa un particolare senso della storia, un entusiasmo per i prodotti dell'Antichità classica e per tutti i generi dell'arte contemporanea, pensati per la residenza privata, e in realtà, per esse fabbricati: dipinti di soggetto mitologico, quadri di artisti fiamminghi, piccoli bronzi e, al nord arte grafica. Il collezionismo in senso stretto fu agli inizi del secolo connesso solo con le antichità. Verso la fine del Cinquecento, vanno manifestandosi parecchie innovazioni. Per la prima volta compare la parola museo, che era già stata adottata in Alessandria durante il periodo Ellenistico per designare tutto l'ambito degli edifici per la cultura in cui era compresa la biblioteca. Inizialmente tutte le collezioni erano private, ma potevano essere visitate dalle élite sociali. L‟istituzione del museo che noi oggi conosciamo, nasce dall‟ Europa illuminista del XVIII secolo: infatti in questo periodo fu deliberatamente progettato uno spazio architettonico appropriato che desse forma universalmente riconoscibile all‟idea di museo. Poniamo gli esempi del Museo di Villa Albani nel 1746 e il Museo Pio Clementino in Vaticano nel 1775, che per primi si pongono il problema della progettazione architettonica, dell‟allestimento e ordinamento adeguati a un museo aperto al pubblico. Mentre per Villa Albani si trattava pur sempre di una raccolta privata visitabile, il museo voluto dai papi Clemente XIV e Pio VI per le collezioni archeologiche era già pensato come un‟istituzione di interesse pubblico. Gli ultimi tre secoli del secondo millennio hanno visto la crescita dell‟istituzione del museo, diventata esponenziale negli ultimi decenni del XX secolo. I tempi hanno coinciso con la nascita, l‟affermazione rivoluzionaria, il trionfo e il consolidamento della cultura nell‟età della borghesia. 2 “Mentre prima il museo non era che un luogo pieno di oggetti, oggi è diventato un luogo pieno di idee, che vengono suggerite dalle indicazioni e dalle descrizioni accompagnanti gli oggetti esposti, dato che il museo è come un libro aperto che si offre allo studioso e a chi desidera formarsi una coltura.[...]3 1 Karsten Schubert, Museo. Storia di un'idea - dalla Rivoluzione francese ad oggi, il Saggiatore, Milano 2004, p.17. 2 Alessandra Mottola Molfino, Il libro dei musei, Umberto Alemandi & C., Torino 1991, pp. 11-22 3 Daniele Donghi, Manuale dell'architetto Volume II, Unione Tipografico Editrice Torinese, Torino 1935, p. 11. 8 Un museo non è definito solo in base all'importanza e alla qualità delle sue raccolte, ma soprattutto da come vengono recepite da chi le esamina, sia per motivi di studio che per interesse personale. Per questo motivo si deve mettere in grado le diverse categorie di fruitori, di accedere al museo con il minor spreco di tempo possibile e con il maggior profitto. L'effetto che si vuole ottenere deriva sia dal metodo di esposizione degli oggetti, sia da una buona soluzione tecnica relativa alle dimensioni, alla forma, alla distribuzione, riscaldamento e ventilazione dei locali, all'illuminazione degli oggetti e ai mezzi di loro conservazione e sicurezza. Il museo moderno dovrà coniugare al suo interno museografia e museologia. Dove“[...]per museografia si intende l'insieme delle azioni progettuali, scientifiche e tecniche, tendenti alla sistemazione organizzativa del museo (distributiva, impiantistica, tecnica, architettonica, allestitiva, informatica); appartiene in genere all'opera dell'architetto, con la collaborazione di strutturisti, impiantisti e informatici. Al contrario per museologia si intende l'insieme delle azioni di ricerca storica, filologica, di comparazione critica che presiede all'ordinamento dell'esposizione delle opere; generalmente appartiene allo storico dell'arte, allo storico della scienza, all'archeologo, all'antropologo [...].”4 Confrontando progetti museografici e museali dei primi musei con esempi moderni e contemporanei, si intendono ricavare i caratteri fondamentali che permettano di presentare un progetto per museo coerente all'area di studio, e che riesca a rivelare la vera natura degli oggetti che andrà a ospitare attraverso uno studio specifico dei percorsi e degli allestimenti.

Progetto di reti Sensori Wireless e tecniche di Fusione Sensoriale

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) envisions a world where smart, electronic environments are aware and responsive to their context. People moving into these settings engage many computational devices and systems simultaneously even if they are not aware of their presence. AmI stems from the convergence of three key technologies: ubiquitous computing, ubiquitous communication and natural interfaces. The dependence on a large amount of fixed and mobile sensors embedded into the environment makes of Wireless Sensor Networks one of the most relevant enabling technologies for AmI. WSN are complex systems made up of a number of sensor nodes, simple devices that typically embed a low power computational unit (microcontrollers, FPGAs etc.), a wireless communication unit, one or more sensors and a some form of energy supply (either batteries or energy scavenger modules). Low-cost, low-computational power, low energy consumption and small size are characteristics that must be taken into consideration when designing and dealing with WSNs. In order to handle the large amount of data generated by a WSN several multi sensor data fusion techniques have been developed. The aim of multisensor data fusion is to combine data to achieve better accuracy and inferences than could be achieved by the use of a single sensor alone. In this dissertation we present our results in building several AmI applications suitable for a WSN implementation. The work can be divided into two main areas: Multimodal Surveillance and Activity Recognition. Novel techniques to handle data from a network of low-cost, low-power Pyroelectric InfraRed (PIR) sensors are presented. Such techniques allow the detection of the number of people moving in the environment, their direction of movement and their position. We discuss how a mesh of PIR sensors can be integrated with a video surveillance system to increase its performance in people tracking. Furthermore we embed a PIR sensor within the design of a Wireless Video Sensor Node (WVSN) to extend its lifetime. Activity recognition is a fundamental block in natural interfaces. A challenging objective is to design an activity recognition system that is able to exploit a redundant but unreliable WSN. We present our activity in building a novel activity recognition architecture for such a dynamic system. The architecture has a hierarchical structure where simple nodes performs gesture classification and a high level meta classifiers fuses a changing number of classifier outputs. We demonstrate the benefit of such architecture in terms of increased recognition performance, and fault and noise robustness. Furthermore we show how we can extend network lifetime by performing a performance-power trade-off. Smart objects can enhance user experience within smart environments. We present our work in extending the capabilities of the Smart Micrel Cube (SMCube), a smart object used as tangible interface within a tangible computing framework, through the development of a gesture recognition algorithm suitable for this limited computational power device. Finally the development of activity recognition techniques can greatly benefit from the availability of shared dataset. We report our experience in building a dataset for activity recognition. Such dataset is freely available to the scientific community for research purposes and can be used as a testbench for developing, testing and comparing different activity recognition techniques.

Ornithophily in the genus Salvia L. (Lamiaceae)

This dissertation presents for the first time a survey of bird pollinated (ornithophilous) Salvia species. Within the approximately 1000 species of the worldwide distributed genus roughly 20% (186 spp.) are bird pollinated. Excepting four species in the Old World (South Africa and Madagascar), ornithophilous species are restricted to the New World where they represent about one third of the species. They occur mainly in higher altitudes (1500-3000m) and usually grow as shrubs or perennial herbs (97%). The bilabiate to tubular flowers are often red (at least 49%), averaging 35mm (7-130mm) in length and produce a large to medium volume of nectar with rather low sugar concentration. Pollination by sunbirds and white-eyes is documented in a South African species, and that by hummingbirds in 16 species of the New World (USA, Mexico, Guatemala and Bolivia). Beside pollinator observations, the functionality of the staminal levers, the process of pollen transfer and the fitting between flowers and birds are tested by inserting museum skins and metal rods into fresh flowers. The most surprising result is the finding of two different main pollen transfer mechanisms. In at least 54% of the species an active staminal lever mechanism enables pollen deposition on the birds body. This is illustrated in detail in the South African S. lanceolata at which birds were observed to release the lever mechanism and became dusted with pollen. In contrast, the lever mechanism in about 35% of the New World species is reduced in different ways. Pollen transfer by inactive ‘levers’ is demonstrated in detail in S. haenkei in Bolivia, at which four pollinating hummingbird species could be observed. The tubular corolla forced the birds in a specific position, thereby causing pollen transfer from the exserted pollen-sacs to the birds body. With respect to the floral diversity and systematic affiliation of the species, parallel evolution of ornithophily and lever reduction is likely. Considering that bird pollinated species might have derived from bee pollinated species and that the staminal levers have become secondarily inactive, it is concluded that the shift in pollinators induced phenotypic changes even disabling such a sophisticated structure as the staminal lever mechanism.