Mouse embryo model derived exclusively from embryonic stem cells undergoes neurulation and heart development.

Several in vitro models have been developed to recapitulate mouse embryogenesis solely from embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Despite mimicking many aspects of early development, they fail to capture the interactions between embryonic and extraembryonic tissues. To overcome this difficulty, we have developed a mouse ESC-based in vitro model that reconstitutes the pluripotent ESC lineage and the two extraembryonic lineages of the post-implantation embryo by transcription-factor-mediated induction.

The intrinsic and extrinsic effects of TET proteins during gastrulation.

Mice deficient for all ten-eleven translocation (TET) genes exhibit early gastrulation lethality. However, separating cause and effect in such embryonic failure is challenging. To isolate cell-autonomous effects of TET loss, we used temporal single-cell atlases from embryos with partial or complete mutant contributions.

Diazinon toxicity in hepatic and spleen mononuclear cells is associated to early induction of oxidative stress.

Diazinon is an organophosphorus pesticide, which may have potential toxic effects on the liver and immune system; however, the underlying mechanisms remain mostly unidentified. This work is aimed at evaluating the oxidative stress and cell cycle alterations elicited by low-dose diazinon in a rat liver cell line (BRL-3A) and spleen mononuclear cells (SMC) from Wistar rats. Diazinon (10-50 μM) caused early reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation (from 4 h) as well as increased O level (from 0.

The impact of childbirth education classes on delivery outcome.

Objective: To determine whether participating in childbirth classes is associated with pregnancy outcomes.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted to review the medical records of all nulliparous women who participated in childbirth classes during their pregnancy and delivered in the authors' institute, between January 2014 and December 2017 (CB class group). The control group comprised nulliparous women who delivered in the same time period, but who did not participate in any education classes (Not attended CB class group).

The aflatoxin B -fumonisin B toxicity in BRL-3A hepatocytes is associated to induction of cytochrome P450 activity and arachidonic acid metabolism.

Human oral exposure to aflatoxin B (AFB ) and fumonisin B (FB ) is associated with increased hepatocellular carcinoma. Although evidence suggested interactive AFB -FB hepatotoxicity, the underlying mechanisms remain mostly unidentified. This work was aimed at evaluating the possible AFB -FB interplay to induce genetic and cell cycle toxicities in BRL-3A rat hepatocytes, reactive oxygen species (ROS) involvement, and the AFB metabolizing pathways cytochrome P450 (CYP) and arachidonic acid (ArAc) metabolism as ROS contributors.

Toxin distribution and sphingoid base imbalances in Fusarium verticillioides-infected and fumonisin B1-watered maize seedlings.

Fusarium verticillioides is a major maize pathogen and there are susceptible and resistant cultivars to this fungal infection. Recent studies suggest that its main mycotoxin fumonisin B1 (FB1) may be involved in phytopathogenicity, but the underlying mechanisms are mostly still unknown. This work was aimed at assessing whether FB1 disseminates inside the plants, as well as identifying possible correlations between the maize resistant/susceptible phenotype and the unbalances of the FB1-structurally-related sphingoid base sphinganine (Sa) and phytosphingosine (Pso) due to toxin accumulation.

Effect of Selected Volatiles on Two Stored Pests: The Fungus Fusarium verticillioides and the Maize Weevil Sithophilus zeamais.

New agronomic practices and technology enabled Argentina a larger production of cereal grains, reaching a harvest yield of 26.5 million metric tons of maize, of which, about 40% was exported. However, much of the maize production is lost annually by the attack of fungi and insects (2.

Public preferences for vaccination and antiviral medicines under different pandemic flu outbreak scenarios.

Background: During the 2009-2010 A(H1N1) pandemic, many people did not seek care quickly enough, failed to take a full course of antivirals despite being authorised to receive them, and were not vaccinated. Understanding facilitators and barriers to the uptake of vaccination and antiviral medicines will help inform campaigns in future pandemic influenza outbreaks. Increasing uptake of vaccines and antiviral medicines may need to address a range of drivers of behaviour.

Accounting for personal and professional choices for pandemic influenza vaccination amongst English healthcare workers.

Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) are encouraged to get vaccinated during influenza pandemics to reduce their own, and patients', risk of infection, and to encourage their patients to get immunised. Despite extensive research on HCWs' receipt of vaccination, little is known about how HCWs articulate pandemic influenza vaccination advice to patients.

Aims: To explore HCWs' uptake of the A/H1N1 vaccine during the pandemic of 2009-2010, their recommendations to patients at the time, and their anticipated choices around influenza vaccination under different pandemic scenarios.

Effects of aflatoxin B₁, fumonisin B₁ and their mixture on the aryl hydrocarbon receptor and cytochrome P450 1A induction.

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and fumonisin B1 (FB1) are mycotoxins widely found as cereal contaminants and their co-occurrence in corn has been associated with a high incidence of liver cancer. Both toxins are immunotoxic, with AFB1 being a procarcinogen, and its bioactivation through specific cytochrome P450 (Cyp) enzymes, such as Cyp1A, being a requirement for hepatocarcinogenic and toxic activities. This study evaluated the effects of these mycotoxins, alone or combined, on activation and expression of Cyp1A and its transcription factor aryl hydrocarbon receptor (Ahr) in hepatoma cell line H4IIE and spleen mononuclear cells of rats.

Defining what is normal at menopause: how women's and clinician's different understandings may lead to a lack of provision for those in most need.

Many aspects of women's reproductive life have fallen under the medical gaze and the end of women's fertility has been no exception. For several years hormone therapy (HT) was considered the best solution for menopause symptoms and in some countries more than 50% of eligible women were prescribed oestrogen. Clinicians were accused of 'medicalising the normal' by applying the biomedical model to a natural lifestage and thus defining menopause as an illness which deviates from biological normality.

Absolute photo-destruction and photo-fragmentation cross section measurements using an electrostatic ion beam trap.

We describe a technique to measure absolute photo-induced cross sections for cluster anions stored in an electrostatic ion beam trap (EIBT) with a central deflector. The setup allows determination of total photo-destruction cross sections as well as partial cross sections for fragmentation and electron detachment. The unique properties of this special EIBT setup are investigated and illustrated using small Al(n)(-) clusters.

Effect of surface charge on the interfacial orientation and conformation of FB1 in model membranes.

The toxicity of FB1 is usually explained through the enzymatic disruption of lipidic metabolism. However, it may lie in the thermodynamics of the membrane and its cooperative phase behavior rather than in the activity of individual proteins. Here, we investigate the effects of FB1 at the molecular and mesoscopic levels in FB1-phospholipid mixed Langmuir films.

Reactive oxygen species sources and biomolecular oxidative damage induced by aflatoxin B1 and fumonisin B1 in rat spleen mononuclear cells.

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB(1)) and fumonisin B1 (FB(1)) are mycotoxins widely found as cereal contaminants. Their immunotoxicities predispose to infectious diseases and may alter the tumor immunosurveillance of human and animals, but the mechanisms underlying have not been fully elucidated, and the induction of oxidative stress has been proposed as a probable mechanism. This work was aimed at evaluating in spleen mononuclear cells (SMC) from Wistar rats the effects of the exposure, in vitro for up to 48 h, to 20 μM AFB(1), 10 μM FB(1) and AFB(1)-FB(1) mixture (MIX), over cellular oxidative status, as well as at elucidating the contribution of different reactive oxygen species (ROS) to biomolecular oxidative damage, the biochemical pathways involved, and the probable interaction of both toxins to induce oxidative stress.

'I don't know whether it is to do with age or to do with hormones and whether it is do with a stage in your life': making sense of menopause and the body.

This article discusses a mixed-methods study that explored women's views about menopause and any relationship between these and several measures of body consciousness. A total of 270 women in the United Kingdom completed surveys of menopausal attitudes, self-objectification, body surveillance and body shame. There was a positive association between rating highly on body dissatisfaction scales and holding negative attitudes towards menopause.

Fumonisins: probable role as effectors in the complex interaction of susceptible and resistant maize hybrids and Fusarium verticillioides.

Fusarium verticillioides is best known for its worldwide occurrence on maize resulting in highly variable disease symptoms, ranging from asymptomatic to severe rotting and wilting and fumonisin production. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of hybrid genotypes in the early stages of F. verticillioides infection, and the role of fumonisins as effectors in the outcome of this complex interaction.

Structure and stability of the negative hydrogen molecular ion.

We present the results of a Coulomb explosion experiment that allows for the imaging of the rovibrational wave function of the metastable H2- ion. Our measurements confirm the predicted large internuclear separation of 6 a.u.

Fingerprints for main varieties of argentinean wines: terroir differentiation by inorganic, organic, and stable isotopic analyses coupled to chemometrics.

Our main goal was to investigate if robust chemical fingerprints could be developed for three Argentinean red wines based on organic, inorganic, and isotopic patterns, in relation to the regional soil composition. Soils and wines from three regions (Mendoza, San Juan, and Córdoba) and three varieties (Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, and Syrah) were collected. The phenolic profile was determined by HPLC-MS/MS and multielemental composition by ICP-MS; (87)Sr/(86)Sr and δ(13)C were determined by TIMS and IRMS, respectively.

Antifumonisin activity of natural phenolic compounds A structure-property-activity relationship study.

Fumonisin B(1) (FB(1)) is a Fusarium mycotoxin that has received considerable attention from food regulatory agencies, since it shows immunotoxic, neurotoxic, hepatotoxic, nephrotoxic and carcinogenic properties in animals. Although several publications have reported that some natural phenolic compounds can cause a reduction in mycotoxin production, little is known about the molecular properties related to their antitoxigenic activities. The objective of this work was to evaluate which of these molecular properties are important in antifumonisin activity, with this being the first structure-activity relationship study concerning the antimyctoxigenic activity of natural phenolic compounds.

Subchronic mycotoxicoses in Wistar rats: assessment of the in vivo and in vitro genotoxicity induced by fumonisins and aflatoxin B(1), and oxidative stress biomarkers status.

Some evidence suggests that fumonisin B(1) (FB(1)), a worldwide toxic contaminant of grains produced by Fusarium verticillioides, exhibits an oxidative stress mediated genotoxicity. We studied the DNA damage (by the alkaline comet and the micronucleus tests) and biomarkers of cellular oxidative stress (malondialdehyde, MDA; catalase, CAT; and superoxide dismutase, SOD) in spleen mononuclear cells of male Wistar rats subchronically (90 days) fed on a control experimental diet (CED) or poisoned with experimental diets contaminated with a culture material containing 100 ppm of FB(1) (FED), with 40 ppb of aflatoxin B(1) (a common toxic co-contaminant in cereals, AFB(1)ED), and with a mixture of both toxins (MED). The DNA damage was found in 13.

Rotational cooling of HD+ molecular ions by superelastic collisions with electrons.

Merging an HD+ beam with velocity matched electrons in a heavy ion storage ring we observed rapid cooling of the rotational excitations of the HD+ ions by superelastic collisions (SEC) with the electrons. The cooling process is well described using theoretical SEC rate coefficients obtained by combining the molecular R-matrix approach with the adiabatic nuclei rotation approximation. We verify the DeltaJ=-2 SEC rate coefficients, which are predicted to be dominant as opposed to the DeltaJ=-1 rates and to amount to (1-2)x10;{-6} cm;{3} s;{-1} for initial angular momentum states with J< or =7, to within 30%.