Preparo de antígenos (Leprolinas Souza-Araujo) de culturas de bacilos ácido-álcool resistentes isolados de leprosos: seu emprêgo intradérmico, comparativamente com o da Lepromina, e subcutâneo ou intravenoso como tentativa terapêutica

The A. prepared five antigens from his leprosy cultures which by analogy with ROST's product he called Leprolins. The methods of its preparation and use are given. After a few tests to prove its innocuity for man the A. in cooperation with Dr. JOSÉ MARIANO, injected all five antigens intracutaneously in 120 patients. Now the products are being tested in 17 Leper Colonies of Brazil, in Argentina by Dr. SALOMON SCHUJMAN and in two leprosaria of Colombia. As antigen for skin tests the first results obtained are more or less identical with the results with Lepromin. Its use in serology for leprosy diagnosis will be made by Dr. T. PINTO of Rio, and Prof. LUIZ PRADO BARRIENTOS, of La Paz, Bolivia. As curative means the Leprolins are being injected into resistent lesions of leprosy and also by intraven injections, whose results Dr. José Mariano will publish soon. The Leprolins Souza-Araujo are put at disposal of all leprologists interested in its use.

Contribuição ao estudo das Pasteurellas: pasteurella intermediária n. sp

Os autores decreveram uma nova bactéria - Pasteurella intermedia n. ap., obtida pela inoculação em cobaio de 2 cc. de sangue total de um indivíduo morto de bronco-pneumonia e suspeito de ter a forma grave de Tifo exantemático neotrópico. Têm a impressão que a Pasteurella marsupialis e a P. intermedia, constituem um grupo à parte, bem definido, dentro das Pasteurellas. Muito pequenas, de grande e persistente poder patogênico para os animais comuns de laboratório, mesmo quando as amostras das bactérias são conservadas pelos replantios em agar-comum, na temperatura e iluminação comum em laboratórios, durante anos. Estas duas Pasteurellas, ao contrário das demais, têm alto e inconfundível poder antígenico, para a formação de aglutininas e fixação do complemento e dão com constância uma "reação testicular" em cobaios machos, quando injetadas pela via intra-peritoneal, febre alta, esplenomegalia constante e às vezes notável, prestando-se à confusão para o diagnóstico diferencial e experimental com a raça VB do Tifo exantemático neotrófico no Brasil (Moléstia de Pisa, Gomes e Mayer).

Acerca del ciclo evolutivo del Trypanosoma (Schizotrypanum) cruzi Chagas 1909, en sus fases tisular y hematica

El autor pasa en revista los trabajos publicados sobre el ciclo evolutivo del Trypanosoma (S.) cruzi en el huésped vertebrado, desde el descubrimiento de la enfermedad hasta nuestros días. Luego analiza las ideas de los autores modernos, fundadas en gran parte en las observaciones que ya en 1914 realizaron MAYER y ROCHA LIMA de las cuales participan actualmente ROMAÑA y MEYER, ELKELES y WOOD. Finalmente expressa que a partir de los tripanosomas infectantes los parásitos que penetram en el protoplasma celular pueden seguir dos mecanismos en su evolución hacia cuerpos leishmanioides: 1.º) Por "regresión fusiforme" y 2.º) por "regresión orbicular"; llegados a la forma leishmanioide los parásitos se multiplican por división binaria, una vez lleno el protoplasma celular, siguen un processo inverso de transformación hacia tripanosoma que puede seguir igualmente dos mecanismos diversos: 1.) "progresión fusiforme" y 2.º) "progresión orbicular". Estos diversos mecanismos de transformación están esquematizados en la fig. N.º 1 del trabajo.

Secondary effects of catalytic diesel particulate filters: copper-induced formation of PCDD/Fs.

Potential risks of a secondary formation of polychlorinated dibenzodioxins/furans (PCDD/Fs) were assessed for two cordierite-based, wall-through diesel particulate filters (DPFs) for which soot combustion was either catalyzed with an iron- or a copper-based fuel additive. A heavy duty diesel engine was used as test platform, applying the eight-stage ISO 8178/4 C1 cycle. DPF applications neither affected the engine performance, nor did they increase NO, NO2, CO, and CO2 emissions. The latter is a metric for fuel consumption. THC emissions decreased by about 40% when deploying DPFs. PCDD/F emissions, with a focus on tetra- to octachlorinated congeners, were compared under standard and worst case conditions (enhanced chlorine uptake). The iron-catalyzed DPF neither increased PCDD/F emissions, nor did it change the congener pattern, even when traces of chlorine became available. In case of copper, PCDD/F emissions increased by up to 3 orders of magnitude from 22 to 200 to 12 700 pg I-TEQ/L with fuels of < 2, 14, and 110 microg/g chlorine, respectively. Mainly lower chlorinated DD/Fs were formed. Based on these substantial effects on PCDD/F emissions, the copper-catalyzed DPF system was not approved for workplace applications, whereas the iron system fulfilled all the specifications of the Swiss procedures for DPF approval (VERT).

Wissen um Stimmung : zu einem vagen Begriff in Robert Musils Frühwerk

Diese Studie untersucht die Poetik und Wirkungsästhetik von Robert Musils Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß (1906) und Die Vereinigungen (1911) anhand des Schlüsselbegriffs >Stimmung<. Wegen der Vagheit des Begriffs und seiner Relevanz in Psychologie, Philosophie und Ästhetik um 1900 wird das Wissen um >Stimmung< im ersten Teil der Studie diskursgeschichtlich beschrieben. Es kann dabei anhand von Robert Mayer, Gustav Theodor Fechner, Hermann von Helmholtz und Wilhelm Wundt gezeigt werden, dass >Stimmungen< als psychologische Zustände wie ästhetische Phänomene in einem engen Verhältnis mit der thermodynamischen Theorie und der Denkfigur des psychophysischen Parallelismus standen. >Stimmungen< galten zum Ende des 19. Jh. einerseits als gleichermaßen experimentell unzugängliche wie grundlegende psychologische Dispositionen, die Körper, Emotion und Intellekt umfassen können, und andererseits als energetisch konzipiertes Verhältnis des Einzelnen zur Außenwelt, das sich in Schwingungen und Strahlen äußert. Im zweiten und dritten Teil wurden die Wissensübertragungen und die genuin literarischen Ausdifferenzierungen von >Stimmungen< in einer dezidiert textnahen Lektüre von Musils Frühwerk entwickelt. Die Textanalyse zeigte, dass in Musils Frühwerk auf thematischer, metaphorologischer, poetologischer und wirkungsästhetischer Ebene von Stimmungen konstituiert wird. Von herausragender Bedeutung sind dabei immaterielle Phänomene. In Auseinandersetzung mit der Ästhetik des Fin de Siècle und dem >Psychophysischen< formuliert der Roman Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß eine Poetik des Duftes, mit der das dichtungstheoretische Ideal einer gleichsam emotional wie rational wirksamen Literatur umgesetzt werden soll. Die Novellen Die Vollendung der Liebe und Die Versuchung der stillen Veronika übertragen psychologisches Stimmungswissen in den literarischen Text und differenzieren es zu ästhetischen Strukturen aus. Zwei verschiedene Leitkonzepte konnten in Die Vereinigungen identifiziert werden: Während Die Versuchung der stillen Veronika eine Poetik bzw. eine Wirkungsästhetik der Wellen entwirft, formuliert Die Vollendung der Liebe eine literarische Anthropologie anhand musikalischen Metaphern und Texturen aus.

DQB1 locus alone explains most of the risk and protection in narcolepsy with cataplexy in Europe.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Prior research has identified five common genetic variants associated with narcolepsy with cataplexy in Caucasian patients. To replicate and/or extend these findings, we have tested HLA-DQB1, the previously identified 5 variants, and 10 other potential variants in a large European sample of narcolepsy with cataplexy subjects. DESIGN: Retrospective case-control study. SETTING: A recent study showed that over 76% of significant genome-wide association variants lie within DNase I hypersensitive sites (DHSs). From our previous GWAS, we identified 30 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with P < 10(-4) mapping to DHSs. Ten SNPs tagging these sites, HLADQB1, and all previously reported SNPs significantly associated with narcolepsy were tested for replication. PATIENTS AND PARTICIPANTS: For GWAS, 1,261 narcolepsy patients and 1,422 HLA-DQB1*06:02-matched controls were included. For HLA study, 1,218 patients and 3,541 controls were included. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: None of the top variants within DHSs were replicated. Out of the five previously reported SNPs, only rs2858884 within the HLA region (P < 2x10(-9)) and rs1154155 within the TRA locus (P < 2x10(-8)) replicated. DQB1 typing confirmed that DQB1*06:02 confers an extraordinary risk (odds ratio 251). Four protective alleles (DQB1*06:03, odds ratio 0.17, DQB1*05:01, odds ratio 0.56, DQB1*06:09 odds ratio 0.21, DQB1*02 odds ratio 0.76) were also identified. CONCLUSION: An overwhelming portion of genetic risk for narcolepsy with cataplexy is found at DQB1 locus. Since DQB1*06:02 positive subjects are at 251-fold increase in risk for narcolepsy, and all recent cases of narcolepsy after H1N1 vaccination are positive for this allele, DQB1 genotyping may be relevant to public health policy.

Dynamin-SNARE interactions control trans-SNARE formation in intracellular membrane fusion.

The fundamental processes of membrane fission and fusion determine size and copy numbers of intracellular organelles. Although SNARE proteins and tethering complexes mediate intracellular membrane fusion, fission requires the presence of dynamin or dynamin-related proteins. Here we study these reactions in native yeast vacuoles and find that the yeast dynamin homologue Vps1 is not only an essential part of the fission machinery, but also controls membrane fusion by generating an active Qa SNARE-tethering complex pool, which is essential for trans-SNARE formation. Our findings provide new insight into the role of dynamins in membrane fusion by directly acting on SNARE proteins.

Blocked autophagy sensitizes resistant carcinoma cells to radiation therapy.

Autophagy or "self eating" is frequently activated in tumor cells treated with chemotherapy or irradiation. Whether autophagy represents a survival mechanism or rather contributes to cell death remains controversial. To address this issue, the role of autophagy in radiosensitive and radioresistant human cancer cell lines in response to gamma-irradiation was examined. We found irradiation-induced accumulation of autophagosomes accompanied by strong mRNA induction of the autophagy-related genes beclin 1, atg3, atg4b, atg4c, atg5, and atg12 in each cell line. Transduction of specific target-siRNAs led to down-regulation of these genes for up to 8 days as shown by reverse transcription-PCR and Western blot analysis. Blockade of each autophagy-related gene was associated with strongly diminished accumulation of autophagosomes after irradiation. As shown by clonogenic survival, the majority of inhibited autophagy-related genes, each alone or combined, resulted in sensitization of resistant carcinoma cells to radiation, whereas untreated resistant cells but not sensitive cells survived better when autophagy was inhibited. Similarly, radiosensitization or the opposite was observed in different sensitive carcinoma cells and upon inhibition of different autophagy genes. Mutant p53 had no effect on accumulation of autophagosomes but slightly increased clonogenic survival, as expected, because mutated p53 protects cells by conferring resistance to apoptosis. In our system, short-time inhibition of autophagy along with radiotherapy lead to enhanced cytotoxicity of radiotherapy in resistant cancer cells.

Emotional intelligence: On definitions, neuroscience, and marshmallows

In his timely article, Cherniss offers his vision for the future of "Emotional Intelligence" (EI). However, his goal of clarifying the concept by distinguishing definitions from models and his support for "Emotional and Social Competence" (ESC) models will, in our opinion, not make the field advance. To be upfront, we agree that emotions are important for effective decision-making, leadership, performance and the like; however, at this time, EI and ESC have not yet demonstrated incremental validity over and above IQ and personality tests in meta-analyses (Harms & Credé, 2009; Van Rooy & Viswesvaran, 2004). If there is a future for EI, we see it in the ability model of Mayer, Salovey and associates (e.g, Mayer, Caruso, & Salovey, 2000), which detractors and supporters agree holds the most promise (Antonakis, Ashkanasy, & Dasborough, 2009; Zeidner, Roberts, & Matthews, 2008). With their use of quasi-objective scoring measures, the ability model grounds EI in existing frameworks of intelligence, thus differentiating itself from ESC models and their self-rated trait inventories. In fact, we do not see the value of ESC models: They overlap too much with current personality models to offer anything new for science and practice (Zeidner, et al., 2008). In this commentary we raise three concerns we have with Cherniss's suggestions for ESC models: (1) there are important conceptual problems in both the definition of ESC and the distinction of ESC from EI; (2) Cherniss's interpretation of neuroscience findings as supporting the constructs of EI and ESC is outdated, and (3) his interpretation of the famous marshmallow experiment as indicating the existence of ESCs is flawed. Building on the promise of ability models, we conclude by providing suggestions to improve research in EI.

Gold nanoparticles functionalized with gadolinium chelates as high-relaxivity MRI contrast agents

Water-dispersible gold nanoparticles functionalized with paramagnetic gadolinium have been fully characterized, and the NMRD profiles show very high relaxivities up to 1.5 T. Characterization using TEM images and dynamic light scattering indicate a particle size distribution from 2 to 15 nm. The gold cores of the nanoparticles do not contribute significantly to the overall magnetic moment.

Traitement de l'ischémie critique chronique des membres inférieurs en 2014 [Treatment of critical lower limb ischemia].

Critical limb ischemia is a major public health problem in our western countries due to the epidemia of (diabesity). The outcome of patients suffering from critical limb ischemia reains poor with an amputation free survival rate at one year of about 50%. The treatment should be multidiciplinary and done in emergency in specialized centers to ensure the limb salvage: this management should be centered aroud 3 axis: the screening of the cardiovascular risk factors, the best medical treatment and the invasive approaches. Due to multiple endovascular technical innovations, more frail patients with com plex diseases can be treated with good results. Therefore, the endovascular treatment is essential in the management of such patients by vascular surgeons.

Plasmodium falciparum proteinases: cloning of the putative gene coding for the merozoite proteinase for erythrocyte invasion (MPEI) and determination of hydrolysis sites of spectrin by Pf37 proteinase

Numerous proteinase activities have been shown to be essential for the survival of Plasmodium falciparum. One approach to antimalarial chemotherapy, would be to block specifically one or several of these activities, by using compounds structurally analogous to the substrates of these proteinases. Such a strategy requires a detailed knowledge of the active site of the proteinase, in order to identify the best substrate for the proteinase. Aiming at developing such a strategy, two proteinases previously identified in our laboratory, were chosen for further characterization of their molecular structure and properties: the merozoite proteinase for erythrocytic invasion (MPEI), involved in the erythrocyte invasion by the merozoites, and the Pf37 proteinase, which hydrolyses human spectrin in vitro.