Mold infestations in buildings pose significant challenges to human health, affecting both private residences and hospitals. While molds commonly trigger asthma and allergies in the immunocompetent, they can cause life-threatening diseases in the immunocompromised. Currently, there is an unmet need for new strategies to reduce or prevent mold infestations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBehav Res Methods
January 2024
It is widely held that upright faces are processed more holistically than inverted faces and that this difference is reflected in the face inversion effect. It is not clear, however, how the inversion effect can best be measured, whether it is task specific, or even whether it specifically correlates with processing of upright faces. We examined these questions in a large sample (N = 420) who provided data on processing of upright and inverted stimuli in two different tasks with faces and one with objects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 (LRP1) is a cell-surface receptor ubiquitously expressed in various tissues. It plays tissue-specific roles by mediating endocytosis of a diverse range of extracellular molecules. Dysregulation of LRP1 is involved in multiple conditions including osteoarthritis (OA) but little information is available about the specific profile of direct binding partners of LRP1 (ligandome) for each tissue, which would lead to a better understanding of its role in disease states.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe human cornea is responsible for approximately 70% of the eye's optical power and, together with the lens, constitutes the only transparent tissue in the human body. Low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 (LRP1), a large, multitalented endocytic receptor, is expressed throughout the human cornea, yet its role in the cornea remains unknown. More than 30 years ago, LRP1 was purified by exploiting its affinity for the activated form of the protease inhibitor alpha-2-macroblulin (A2M), and the original purification protocol is generally referred to in studies involving full-length LRP1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe purpose of this observational study was to describe the collaboration between first-year nursing students using peer learning during their first clinical practice education. In earlier, predominantly interview studies, peer learning has been described as a model with several positive outcomes. However, no studies on how students act in collaboration in a real-life context have been found.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTransforming growth factor-β-induced protein (TGFBIp), an extracellular matrix protein, is the second most abundant protein in the corneal stroma. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge concerning the expression, molecular structure, binding partners, and functions of human TGFBIp. To date, 74 mutations in the transforming growth factor-β-induced gene (TGFBI) are associated with amyloid and amorphous protein deposition in TGFBI-linked corneal dystrophies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe serine protease high-temperature requirement protein A1 (HtrA1) is associated with protein-misfolding disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and transforming growth factor β-induced protein (TGFBIp)-linked corneal dystrophy. In this study, using several biochemical and biophysical approaches, including recombinant protein expression, LC-MS/MS and 2DE analyses, and thioflavin T (ThT) fluorescence assays for amyloid fibril detection, and FTIR assays, we investigated the role of HtrA1 both in normal TGFBIp turnover and in corneal amyloid formation. We show that HtrA1 can cleave WT TGFBIp but prefers amyloidogenic variants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe choroid plexus epithelial cells (CPECs) belong to a small group of polarized cells, where the Na-K-ATPase is expressed in the luminal membrane. The basic polarity of the cells is, therefore, still debated. We investigated the subcellular distribution of an array of proteins known to play fundamental roles either in establishing and maintaining basic cell polarity or in the polarized delivery and recycling of plasma membrane proteins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim And Objective: To describe patients' experiences throughout the first four months post-lung transplant.
Background: Health professionals are familiar with the fact that patients' average survival after a lung transplant is about seven years and that 74% of these patients reject new organs within the first two years. By contrast, knowledge of these patients' perspectives after lung transplantation is scant.
The biological impact of alternative splicing is poorly understood in fungi, although recent studies have shown that these microorganisms are usually intron-rich. In this study, we re-annotated the genome of C. neoformans var.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiofilm formation plays an important role in fungal pathogenesis. In this work, we used a genetic screen in order to identify and characterize genes involved in the formation of biofilms by the opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida glabrata. We identified the Cst6p transcription factor as a negative regulator of the EPA6 gene that encodes an adhesin central to C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCandida glabrata, like Candida albicans, is an opportunistic yeast pathogen that has adapted to colonize all segments of the human gastrointestinal tract and vagina. The C. albicans cell wall expresses β-1,2-linked mannosides (β-Mans), promoting its adherence to host cells and tissues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLeaching from municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash treated in a rotary kiln was quantified using a combination of lab-scale leaching experiments and geochemical modelling. Thermal treatment in the rotary kiln had no significant effect on the leaching of Al, Ba, Ca, Mg, Si, Sr, Zn, sulfate and inorganic carbon. Leaching of these elements from the treated residues remained unchanged and was, in general, controlled by solubility of the same minerals as in the untreated residues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlobal transcriptional analysis of Candida albicans exposed to elevated ambient CO(2) revealed a statistically significant differential regulation of 14 genes. Subsequent RNA hybridisation analysis of one gene, HSP12, confirmed CO(2)-regulation via a cAMP-dependent mechanism. Additionally, Northern analyses and gel mobility shift assays demonstrate the co-regulation of HSP12 by environmental pH via a Rim101-dependent mechanism.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAgrobacterium tumefaciens was used to transform Ascochyta rabiei, the causal agent of chickpea blight. Employing a T-DNA containing a hygromycin resistance gene (hph), 908 transformants were obtained from germinated pycnidiospores on a selective medium containing hygromycin. Transformants were confirmed using PCR and Southern analyses and of four of these that were tested, two had integrated multicopies of the hph gene, one had two copies and one had a single insertion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCryptococcus neoformans, a fungal pathogen of humans, causes fatal meningitis in immunocompromised patients. Its virulence is mainly determined by the elaboration of a polysaccharide capsule surrounding its cell wall. During its life, C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ascomycete Candida albicans is the most common fungal pathogen in immunocompromised patients . Its ability to change morphology, from yeast to filamentous forms, in response to host environmental cues is important for virulence . Filamentation is mediated by second messengers such as cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP) synthesized by adenylyl cyclase .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWith the perspective of generating only one solid residue from waste incineration, co-feeding of municipal solid waste and air pollution control residues stabilized by the Ferrox process was investigated in the TAMARA pilot plant incinerator as described in Bergfeldt et al. (Waste Management Research, 22, 49-57, 2004). This paper reports on leaching from the combined bottom ashes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAir pollution control (APC) residues from municipal solid waste incinerator plants that are treated by means of the Ferrox process can be more safely disposed of due to reduction of soluble salts and stabilization of heavy metals in an iron oxide matrix. Further stabilization can be obtained by thermal treatment inside a combustion chamber of a municipal solid waste incinerator. The influence of the Ferrox products on the combustion process, the quality of the residues, and the partitioning of heavy metals between the various solids and the gas have been investigated in the Karlsruhe TAM-ARA pilot plant for waste incineration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA new interdisciplinary concept of medical and health care education has been introduced at Karolinska Institute in collaboration with the County Council in Stockholm under the motto Learning together to be able to work together. Centres of Clinical Education are built up in four major hospitals to promote meeting places during clinical education for students from different categories. During a three-year project more than 5000 students from four educational programmes have been involved--medicine, nursing, occupational therapy and physiotherapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis paper describes a new concept for treatment of air pollution-control (APC) residues from waste incineration and characterises the wastewater and stabilised residues generated by the process. The process involves mixing of APC-residues with a ferrous sulphate solution and subsequent oxidation of the suspension (Ferrox-process 1996). The process results in a significant reduction in the leaching of salts and heavy metals from the residue, by washing out most of the salts and by binding the heavy metals in the iron oxides formed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBottom ashes from two Danish municipal solid waste incineration plants were heated at 900 degrees C with iron oxide stabilized air pollution control residues at actual mass flow ratios (9:1), simulating a treating method for the residues. The two residues were co-treated, producing one combined stream that may be utilized as a secondary road construction material. Scanning electron microscope analysis and grain size distribution analysis indicated that sintering of the particles did not occur.
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