The perinatal health secondary to pandemic: association between women's delivery concerns and infant's behavioral problems.

Background: COVID-19 pandemic characterised a unique and vulnerable social, emotional, and health environment for pregnancy, with potential long-lasting risks to maternal and child health outcomes. In women who were pregnant at the peak of COVID-19 pandemic, we investigated the association between pandemic-related concerns about pregnancy and delivery and both the parent's (i.e.

Soil protist function varies with elevation in the Swiss Alps.

Protists are abundant and play key trophic functions in soil. Documenting how their trophic contributions vary across large environmental gradients is essential to understand and predict how biogeochemical cycles will be impacted by global changes. Here, using amplicon sequencing of environmental DNA in open habitat soil from 161 locations spanning 2600 m of elevation in the Swiss Alps (from 400 to 3000 m), we found that, over the whole study area, soils are dominated by consumers, followed by parasites and phototrophs.

Predicting spatial patterns of soil bacteria under current and future environmental conditions.

Soil bacteria are largely missing from future biodiversity assessments hindering comprehensive forecasts of ecosystem changes. Soil bacterial communities are expected to be more strongly driven by pH and less by other edaphic and climatic factors. Thus, alkalinisation or acidification along with climate change may influence soil bacteria, with subsequent influences for example on nutrient cycling and vegetation.

Greater topoclimatic control of above- versus below-ground communities.

Assessing the degree to which climate explains the spatial distributions of different taxonomic and functional groups is essential for anticipating the effects of climate change on ecosystems. Most effort so far has focused on above-ground organisms, which offer only a partial view on the response of biodiversity to environmental gradients. Here including both above- and below-ground organisms, we quantified the degree of topoclimatic control on the occurrence patterns of >1,500 taxa and phylotypes along a c.

Archaeorhizomycetes Spatial Distribution in Soils Along Wide Elevational and Environmental Gradients Reveal Co-abundance Patterns With Other Fungal Saprobes and Potential Weathering Capacities.

Archaeorhizomycetes, a widespread fungal class with a dominant presence in many soil environments, contains cryptic filamentous species forming plant-root associations whose role in terrestrial ecosystems remains unclear. Here, we apply a correlative approach to identify the abiotic and biotic environmental variables shaping the distribution of this fungal group. We used a DNA sequencing dataset containing Archaeorhizomycetes sequences and environmental variables from 103 sites, obtained through a random-stratified sampling in the Western Swiss Alps along a wide elevation gradient (>2,500 m).

Generalizing soil properties in geographic space: Approaches used and ways forward.

Soil is one of the most complex systems on Earth, functioning at the interface between the lithosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere and generating a multitude of functions. Moreover, soil constitutes the belowground environment from which plants capture water and nutrients. Despite their great importance, soil properties are often not sufficiently considered in other disciplines, especially in spatial studies of plant distributions.

The sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor 2 is shed in exosomes from breast cancer cells and is N-terminally processed to a short constitutively active form that promotes extracellular signal regulated kinase activation and DNA synthesis in fibroblasts.

We demonstrate here that the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR), sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor 2 (S1P, Mr = 40 kDa) is shed in hsp70 and CD63 containing exosomes from MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. The receptor is taken up by fibroblasts, where it is N-terminally processed to a shorter form (Mr = 36 kDa) that appears to be constitutively active and able to stimulate the extracellular signal regulated kinase-1/2 (ERK-1/2) pathway and DNA synthesis. An N-terminally truncated construct of S1P, which may correspond to the processed form of the receptor generated in fibroblasts, was found to be constitutively active when over-expressed in HEK293 cells.

Meta-scale mountain grassland observatories uncover commonalities as well as specific interactions among plant and non-rhizosphere soil bacterial communities.

Interactions between plants and bacteria in the non-rhizosphere soil are rarely assessed, because they are less direct and easily masked by confounding environmental factors. By studying plant vegetation alliances and soil bacterial community co-patterning in grassland soils in 100 sites across a heterogeneous mountain landscape in the western Swiss Alps, we obtained sufficient statistical power to disentangle common co-occurrences and weaker specific interactions. Plant alliances and soil bacterial communities tended to be synchronized in community turnover across the landscape, largely driven by common underlying environmental factors, such as soil pH or elevation.

Sphingosine 1-phosphate and cancer.

The bioactive lipid, sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) is produced by phosphorylation of sphingosine and this is catalysed by two sphingosine kinase isoforms (SK1 and SK2). Here we discuss structural functional aspects of SK1 (which is a dimeric quaternary enzyme) that relate to coordinated coupling of membrane association with phosphorylation of Ser225 in the 'so-called' R-loop, catalytic activity and protein-protein interactions (e.g.

Local Environmental Factors Drive Divergent Grassland Soil Bacterial Communities in the Western Swiss Alps.

Unlabelled: Mountain ecosystems are characterized by a diverse range of climatic and topographic conditions over short distances and are known to shelter a high biodiversity. Despite important progress, still little is known on bacterial diversity in mountain areas. Here, we investigated soil bacterial biogeography at more than 100 sampling sites randomly stratified across a 700-km area with 2,200-m elevation gradient in the western Swiss Alps.

Sol-gel synthesis, structure and bioactivity of polycaprolactone/CaO . SiO2 hybrid material.

A method has been developed to cast novel organic/inorganic polymer hybrids from multicomponent solutions containing tetramethyl orthosilicate, calcium nitrate tetrahydrate, polycaprolactone, water, and methylethyketone via sol-gel process. The existence of the hydrogen bonds between organic and inorganic components of the hybrid and hydroxyapatite formation on the surface was proved by Fourier transform infrared analysis. The morphology of the hybrid material was studied by scanning electron microscopy.

Effect of the substitution of Y2O3 for CaO on the bioactivity of 2.5CaO.2SiO2 glass.

Glasses were prepared whose composition is defined by the following general formula: (2.5-x)CaO.x/3Y2O3.

Bioactivity of 1.25CaO.SiO2 glass: an FTIR and X-ray study on powdered samples.

Powdered samples (170-230 mesh) of a glass of composition 1.25CaO.SiO2 were soaked in a simulated body fluid (SBF).

Effect of the substitution of La2O3 for CaO on the bioactivity of 2.5CaO.2SiO2 glass.

Glasses of the following composition were prepared: (2.5-x)CaO.x/3La2O3.

Apatite formation on (2-x)CaO.x/3 M2O3 x 2SiO2 glasses (M = La, Y; 0 < or = x < or = 0.6) in a simulated body fluid.

Glasses were prepared by substituting La2O3 or Y2O3 for CaO in glassy wollastonite composition (CaO.SiO2). Their behaviour when they are soaked in a simulated body fluid (SBF) was studied by means of an electron microscope equipped with an energy dispersive system for elemental analysis, and by means of IR spectroscopy.

The regulation of intracellular Mg2+ in guinea-pig heart, studied with Mg(2+)-selective microelectrodes and fluorochromes.

Because of the reported presence of a Na(+)-Mg2+ exchanger in guinea-pig but not in ferret myocardium, the Mg2+ extrusion mechanism in guinea-pig myocardium has been reinvestigated using Mg(2+)- and Na(+)- selective microelectrodes and the fluorochromes mag-fura-2 and -5. The mean [Mg2+]i measured with microelectrodes in trabeculae or papillary muscles was 0.72 mmol/l (n = 22, thirteen experiments; range 0.

Calcium buffer solutions and how to make them: a do it yourself guide.

In measurements of the intracellular free calcium concentration ([Ca2+]) using either microelectrodes or fluorescent probes, calibration is normally carried out in EGTA calcium buffer solutions. In the first part of the article the general properties of calcium buffer solutions are discussed, the equations used to calculate the apparent calcium binding constant (Kapp) are derived, and the difficulties in the calculation are discussed. The effects of the purity of EGTA as well as the influence of calcium contamination on the buffer solutions are explained.

Use of ion-sensitive microelectrodes to study intracellular free magnesium concentration and its regulation in mammalian cardiac muscle.

Ion-sensitive microelectrodes (ISEs) have been used to measure intracellular [Mg2+] ([Mg2+]i) in cardiac muscle, although most measurements have tended to overestimate the value due to the poor selectivity of the Mg2+ ionophore in the sarcoplasm and to inaccurate collation of individual ISE measurements. This paper highlights the correct method for analysis of data from multiple ISE experiments. Since [Mg2+]i is constrained at a lower concentration than would be expected by passive distribution of the ion, some of the possible mechanisms underlying Mg2+ extrusion from ferret ventricular myocardium were investigated.

Intracellular free magnesium and its regulation, studied in isolated ferret ventricular muscle with ion-selective microelectrodes.

Intracellular free magnesium ([Mg2+]i) was measured in isolated ferret papillary muscles using ion-selective microelectrodes filled with the new magnesium sensor ETH 5214. This new sensor, unlike its predecessor ETH 1117, does not react to marked changes in K+, Na+ or pH. Reducing Ca2+ from 20 microM to around 10 nM also did not affect the response so these electrodes are ideally suited to study intracellular Mg2+ and its regulation.

[Neurocysticercosis].

A report is presented on a 30-year-old Ecuadorian and a 40-year-old Sicilian with ventricular neurocysticercosis. The disease was manifested as occlusive hydrocephalus with signs of acute augmentation of intracranial pressure requiring emergency ventricular drainage. Subsequently several cysts were removed from the ventricles of both patients by craniotomy.