Visualization of Protein Folding Funnels in Lattice Models

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Telenomus remus (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) parasitism on eggs of Anticarsia gemmatalis (Lepidoptera: Eribidae) compared with its natural host Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

The capacity of Telenomus remus to parasitize eggs of Anticarsia gemmatalis, compared with its natural host, Spodoptera frugiperda, was evaluated under different temperatures. The parasitoid T. remus was reared at 25 +/- 1 degrees C for a single generation on both hosts. After reaching the adult stage, they were allowed to parasitize both hosts to study parasitoid biology and parasitism capacity at temperatures between 19 degrees C and 37 +/- 1 degrees C. Egg-to-adult developmental time was similar on both hosts. The number of A. gemmatalis eggs parasitized was lower than that of S. frugiperda eggs at all temperatures. Parental female longevity of parasitoids was greater on A. gemmatalis eggs. This indicated a smaller metabolic expense during parasitism, a common feature observed on nonpreferable hosts. In general, sex ratio was little affected by temperature or hosts. When parental T. remus were reared on A. gemmatalis before the experiment, base temperature (Tb) and the thermal constant (K) were 9.53 degrees C and 209.57 DD on eggs of A. gemmatalis and 9.68 degrees C and 197.79 DD on eggs of S. frugiperda, respectively. When parental T. remus were reared on S. frugiperda eggs, Tb and K were 10.12 degrees C and 188.46 DD and 9.69 degrees C and 190.24 DD for the evaluated host eggs of A. gemmatalis and S. frugiperda, respectively. Therefore, T. remus develops in eggs of A. gemmatalis. This can be beneficial for its use in field crops where outbreaks of both Spodoptera spp. and A. gemmatalis occur. However, A. gemmatalis is a less favorable host for the parasitoid development.

Chronic graft-versus-host disease: clinical presentation of multiple lesions of lichenoid and atrophic pattern

Graft-versus-host disease is observed mainly in recipients of hematopoietic cell transplantation and is expressed by cutaneous or systemic signals and symptoms. Graft-versus-host disease is clinically classified as acute or chronic. Chronic Graft-versus-host disease occurs in up to 70% of hematopoietic cell transplanted patients and its clinical manifestations have important impact on morbidity and quality of life. The authors report an expressive cutaneous, oral and adnexal involvement in a patient with chronic Graft-versus-host disease with multiple lesions of lichenoid and atrophic pattern.

Evaluation of the Host Response in Various Models of Induced Periodontal Disease in Mice

Background: The aim of this study is to characterize and evaluate the host response caused by three different models of experimental periodontitis in mice.Methods: C57BL/6 wild-type female mice were distributed into six experimental groups and sacrificed at 7, 15, and 30 days after the induction of periodontal disease: 1) group C: no treatment control group; 2) group L: periodontal disease induced by ligature; 3) group G-Pg: oral gavage with Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg); 4) group G-PgFn: oral gavage with Fusobacterium nucleatum + Pg; 5) group I-Pg: heat-killed Pg injected into the palatal mucosa between the molars; and 6) group I-V: phosphatebuffered saline injected into the palatal mucosa. The samples were used to analyze the immune-inflammatory process in the gingival tissue via descriptive histologic and real-time polymerase chain reaction analyses. The alveolar bone loss was evaluated using microcomputed tomography. The data were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis test, followed by a post hoc Dunn test and analysis of variance, followed by a Tukey test using a 5% significance level.Results: Only the ligature model displayed significant alveolar bone loss in the initial period (7 days), which was maintained with time. The group injected with heat-killed Pg displayed significant alveolar bone loss starting from day 15, which continued to progress with time (P < 0.05). A significant increase (P < 0.05) in the gene expression of proinflammatory cytokines (interleukin-6 and -1b) and proteins involved in osteoclastogenesis (receptor activator of nuclear factor-kB ligand and osteoprotegerin) was observed in the ligature group on day 7.Conclusion: The ligature and injection of heat-killed Pg models were the most representative of periodontal disease in humans, whereas the oral gavage models were not effective at inducing the disease under the experimental conditions.

Helicobacter pylori infection: Host immune response, implications on gene expression and microRNAs

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is the most common bacterial infection worldwide. Persistent infection of the gastric mucosa leads to inflammatory processes and may remain silent for decades or progress causing more severe diseases, such as gastric adenocarcinoma. The clinical consequences of H. pylori infection are determined by multiple factors, including host genetic predisposition, gene regulation, environmental factors and heterogeneity of H. pylori virulence factors. After decades of studies of this successful relationship between pathogen and human host, various mechanisms have been elucidated. In this review, we have made an introduction on H. pylori infection and its virulence factors, and focused mainly on modulation of host immune response triggered by bacteria, changes in the pattern of gene expression in H. pylori-infected gastric mucosa, with activation of gene transcription involved in defense mechanisms, inflammatory and immunological response, cell proliferation and apoptosis. We also highlighted the role of bacteria eradication on gene expression levels. In addition, we addressed the recent involvement of different microRNAs in precancerous lesions, gastric cancer, and inflammatory processes induced by bacteria. New discoveries in this field may allow a better understanding of the role of major factors involved in the pathogenic mechanisms of H. pylori. (C) 2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.

Selective photoinactivation of Candida albicans in the non-vertebrate host infection model Galleria mellonella

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Excitonic instabilities and spontaneous time-reversal symmetry breaking on the honeycomb lattice

We elucidate the close relationship between spontaneous time-reversal symmetry breaking and the physics of excitonic instabilities in strongly correlated multiband systems. The underlying mechanism responsible for the spontaneous breaking of time-reversal symmetry in a many-body system is closely related to the Cooper-like pairing instability of interband particle-hole pairs involving higher-order symmetries. Studies of such pairing instabilities have, however, mainly focused on the mean-field aspects of the virtual exciton condensate, which ignores the presence of the underlying collective Fermi-liquid excitations. We show that this relationship can be exploited to systematically derive the coupling of the condensate order parameter to the intraband Fermi-liquid particle-hole excitations. Surprisingly, we find that the static susceptibility is negative in the ordered phase when the coupling to the Fermi-liquid collective excitations are included, suggesting that a uniform condensate of virtual excitons, with or without time-reversal breaking, is an unstable phase at T = 0.

Localization of a spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensate in a bichromatic optical lattice

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Lattice effects in the quasi-two-dimensional valence-bond-solid Mott insulator EtMe3P[Pd(dmit)(2)](2)

The organic charge-transfer salt EtMe3P[Pd(dmit)(2)](2) is a quasi-two-dimensional Mott insulator with localized spins S = 1/2 residing on a distorted triangular lattice. Here we report measurements of the uniaxial thermal expansion coefficients alpha(i) along the in-plane i = a and c axis as well as along the out-of-plane b axis for temperatures 1.4 K <= T <= 200 K. Particular attention is paid to the lattice effects around the phase transition at T-VBS = 25 K into a low-temperature valence-bond-solid phase and the paramagnetic regime above where effects of short-range antiferromagnetic correlations can be expected. The salient results of our study include (i) the observation of strongly anisotropic lattice distortions accompanying the formation of the valence-bond-solid phase, and (ii) a distinct anomaly in the thermal expansion coefficients in the paramagnetic regime around 40 K. Our results demonstrate that upon cooling through T-VBS the in-plane c axis, along which the valence bonds form, contracts while the second in-plane a axis elongates by the same relative amount. Surprisingly, the dominant effect is observed for the out-of-plane b axis which shrinks significantly upon cooling through T-VBS. The pronounced anomaly in alpha(i) around 40 K is attributed to short-range magnetic correlations. It is argued that the position of this maximum, relative to that in the magnetic susceptibility around 70 K, speaks in favor of a more anisotropic triangular-lattice scenario for this compound than previously thought.

New host records and a checklist of fishes infected with Austrodiplostomum compactum (Digenea: Diplostomidae) in Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

From cuckoos to chickens: a caught-in-the-act case of host shift in feather mites (Arachnida: Acari: Psoroptoididae)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Determination of photoinduced and intrinsic birefringences in PMMA/DR13 guest-host film

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

A Social Parasite Evolved Reproductive Isolation from Its Fungus-Growing Ant Host in Sympatry

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Unusual broadening of the NIR luminescence of Er3+-doped Nb2O5 nanocrystals embedded in silica host: Preparation and their structural and spectroscopic study for photonics applications

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Trichodina heterodentata (Ciliophora) infestation on Prochilodus lineatus larvae: a host-parasite relationship study

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)