Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is an attenuated Mycobacterium tuberculosis vaccine. We performed a series of co-infection experiments with BCG-Plasmodium chabaudi chabaudi Landau, 1965 AS using C57BL/6 mice to analyse whether BCG can affect the development of protective immunity to infection with Plasmodium spp. and the mechanism of this protection. We divided mice into four groups: BCG-inoculation 4 weeks prior to P. c. chabaudi AS infection (B-4w-Pc); simultaneous BCG-inoculation and P. c. chabaudi AS infection (Pc+B); BCG-inoculation 3 days post P. c. chabaudi AS (Pc-3-B) infection; and mono-P. c. chabaudi AS infection as control (Pc). The parasitemia level in the B-4w-Pc group was noticeably higher than control group at 6-19 days post infection (dpi). Compared with the control group, the proportion of CD4+CD69+ T cells was significantly reduced 5, 8 and 12 dpi, but the proportion of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Tregs was significantly increased in the B-4w-Pc group on 5 and 8 dpi. The B-4w-Pc group also demonstrated reduced levels of IFN-γ and TNF-α on 5 and 8 dpi and significantly elevated level of IL-10 on 12 dpi. There were significantly fewer mDCs (CD11c+CD11b+) and pDCs (CD11c+B220+) in the B-4w-Pc group than the control group at all the time points post infection and the expression of MHC II was noticeably reduced on day 8 pi. Our findings confirmed that BCG inoculation prior to Plasmodium infection resulted in excessive activation and proliferation of Tregs and upregulation of anti-inflammatory mediators, which inhibited establishment of a Th1-dominant immune response during the early stages of Plasmodium infection by inhibiting dendritive cells response. BCG inoculation prior to P. c. chabaudi AS infection may contribute to overgrowth of parasites as well as mortality in mice., Dong-Hua Cao, Ji-Chun Wang, Jun Liu, Yun-Ting Du, Li-Wang Cui, Ya-Ming Cao., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Each cell types or tissues contain certain “physiological” levels of R-2-hydroxyglutarate (2HG), as well as enzymes for its synthesis and degradation. 2HG accumulates in certain tumors, possessing heterozygous point mutations of isocitrate dehydrogenases IDH1 (cytosolic) or IDH2 (mitochondrial) and contributes to strengthening their malignancy by inhibiting 2-oxoglutaratedependent dioxygenases. By blocking histone de-methylation and 5-methyl-cytosine hydroxylation, 2HG maintains cancer cells de-differentiated and promotes their proliferation. However, physiological 2HG formation and formation by non-mutant IDH1/2 in cancer cells were neglected. Consequently, low levels of 2HG might play certain physiological roles. We aimed to elucidate this issue and found that compared to highest 2HG levels in hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells and moderate levels in neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells, rat primary fibroblast contained low basal 2HG levels at early passages. These levels increased at late passage and likewise 2HG/2OG ratios dropped without growth factors and enormously increased at hypoxia, reaching levels compared to cancer HepG2 cells. Responses in SH-SY5Y cells were opposite. Moreover, external 2HG supplementation enhanced fibroblast growth. Hence, we conclude that low 2HG levels facilitate cell proliferation in primary fibroblasts, acting via hypoxia-induced factor regulations and epigenetic changes., A. Dvořák, J. Zelenka, K. Smolková, L. Vítek, P. Ježek., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Bacteria isolated from the gut of different developmental stages of Phlebotomus duboscqi Neveu-Lemaire, 1906 belonged almost all to aerobic or facultatively anaerobic gram-negative rods. In females, the highest bacterial counts were observed two days after bloodfeeding; seven days after bloodfeeding the bacterial counts returned to pre-feeding levels. Most isolates were identified phenotypically as Ochrobactrum sp. The distinctiveness and homogeneity of the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of Ochrobactrum isolates indicated that they belonged to a single strain (designated AK). This strain was acquired by larvae from food and passaged transtadially: it was isolated from the guts of fourth-instar larvae shortly before pupation, from pupae as well from newly emerged females. Most other bacteria found in females were acquired from the sugar solution fed to adults. To determine if the midgut lectin activity may serve as antibacterial agent females were membrane-fed on blood with addition of inhibitory carbohydrates. No significant differences in bacterial infections were found between experimental and control groups and we suppose that the lectin activity has no effect on gram-negative bacteria present in sandfly gut.
We studied the diet of the badger through scat analysis and used seven previously described methods to assess their comparability. Methods compared included those based on frequencies of occurrence of different food items and volumetric methods. Our results showed that, depending on the basic methodological procedure, we could classify methods in two groups: frequencies of appearance and volumetric methods. The depiction of the diet obtained is quite similar within these groups but differs between them, as each group depicts different aspects of the trophic ecology of the badger. In conclusion, we advise the use of more than one method when assessing the diets of badgers or other carnivores. The best option is the use of a frequency-based method combined with one or two volumetric methods.
Bagrichthys majusculus, a new species of bagrid catfish from Indochina, is very similar to B. macracanthus and B. vaillantii, and has been previously identified as the former species. It differs from congeners in having a unique combination of the following characters: relatively large and broad mouth, well-developed oral dentition with homodont teeth, 10–13 gill rakers, moderately-long dorsal spine with 15–27 serrations, 9 pectoral-fin rays, inner and outer mandibular barbels with straight margins, pectoral-spine length 15.8–20.7 % SL (standard length), dorsal-spine length 24.4–32.5 % SL, length of adipose-fin base 46.0–50.7 % SL, adipose maximum height 9.9–10.5 % SL, depth of caudal peduncle 7.1–7.5 % SL, and head depth 14.0–16.1 % SL.
Let X be a complex L1-predual, non-separable in general. We investigate extendability of complex-valued bounded homogeneous Baire-α functions on the set ext B_{X*} of the extreme points of the dual unit ball B_{X*} to the whole unit ball B_{X*}. As a corollary we show that, given α \in [1, ω1), the intrinsic α-th Baire class of X can be identified with the space of bounded homogeneous Baire-α functions on the set ext B_{X*} when ext B_{X*} satisfies certain topological assumptions. The paper is intended to be a complex counterpart to the same authors’ paper: Baire classes of non-separable L1-preduals (2015). As such it generalizes former work of Lindenstrauss and Wulbert (1969), Jellett (1985), and ourselves (2014), (2015)., Pavel Ludvík, Jiří Spurný., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
A characterization of functions in the first Baire class in terms of their sets of discontinuity is given. More precisely, a function f : R → R is of the first Baire class if and only if for each ε > 0 there is a sequence of closed sets {Cn}∞ n=1 such that Df = ∞S n=1 Cn and ωf (Cn) < ε for each n where ωf (Cn) = sup{|f(x) − f(y)|: x, y ∈ Cn} and Df denotes the set of points of discontinuity of f. The proof of the main theorem is based on a recent ε-δ characterization of Baire class one functions as well as on a wellknown theorem due to Lebesgue. Some direct applications of the theorem are discussed in the paper.
Insights can be gained by analysing the feeding decisions of animals in terms of nutrient demands at a species or community level. Using carbohydrate and protein food baits, resource use and food preferences of Formica (Serviformica) lemani were determined at nine locations situated at different altitudes (1875 to 2400 m a.s.l.) in the alpine grassland belt above the tree line in Austria and northern Italy. F. lemani is the most common species of ant in this habitat. Sucrose baits placed around ant colonies were visited by significantly (3.9 times) more workers than protein baits. This indicates that sources of sugar (carbohydrate) are in short supply in the alpine zone, whereas availability of prey items appears to be less constraining. Overall, we recorded a decrease in the incidence of visits to baits from low (31.9% baits attracting ants at least once) to high altitudes (16.7%). Foraging ants never visited 51.5% of the baits exposed for periods of 75 min. This indicates that with increasing altitude competition for food among ant colonies becomes less intense in alpine grassland ant communities., Elia Guariento, Jan Martini, Konrad Fiedler., and Obsahuje bibliografii