Inhibition of Sodium/Hydrogen Exchanger-1 in the Right Ventricle and Lung Dysfunction Induced by Experimental Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Rats.

Background: Life-threatening pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) still lacks a direct therapeutic approach targeted to the molecular defects associated with the disease. Here, we focus on the impaired regulation of intracellular acidity and sodium/calcium overload by testing the hypothesis that inhibiting NHE-1 (sodium/hydrogen exchanger isoform 1) with rimeporide enables the recovery of pulmonary and right ventricular dysfunctions in the Sugen5416/hypoxia PAH model in rats.

Methods And Results: Adult Sprague-Dawley male rats (n=44) rats were divided into 2 broad groups: control and Sugen5416/hypoxia.

Clinical Outcomes in High-Gradient, Classical Low-Flow, Low-Gradient, and Paradoxical Low-Flow, Low-Gradient Aortic Stenosis After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation: A Report From the SwissTAVI Registry.

Background In view of the rising global burden of severe symptomatic aortic stenosis, its early recognition and treatment is key. Although patients with classical low-flow, low-gradient (C-LFLG) aortic stenosis have higher rates of death after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) when compared with patients with high-gradient (HG) aortic stenosis, there is conflicting evidence on the death rate in patients with severe paradoxical low-flow, low-gradient (P-LFLG) aortic stenosis. Therefore, we aimed to compare outcomes in real-world patients with severe HG, C-LFLG, and P-LFLG aortic stenosis undergoing TAVI.

Voter preferences as a source of descriptive (mis)representation by social class.

This paper presents the results of a conjoint survey experiment in which Swiss citizens were asked to choose among parliamentary candidates with different class profiles determined by occupation, education and income. Existing survey-experimental literature on this topic suggests that respondents are indifferent to the class profiles of candidates or biased against candidates with high-status occupations and high incomes. We find that respondents are biased against upper middle-class candidates as well as routine working-class candidates.

Machine learning designs non-hemolytic antimicrobial peptides.

Machine learning (ML) consists of the recognition of patterns from training data and offers the opportunity to exploit large structure-activity databases for drug design. In the area of peptide drugs, ML is mostly being tested to design antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), a class of biomolecules potentially useful to fight multidrug-resistant bacteria. ML models have successfully identified membrane disruptive amphiphilic AMPs, however mostly without addressing the associated toxicity to human red blood cells.

A minimal hybridization chain reaction (HCR) system using peptide nucleic acids.

The HCR represents a powerful tool for amplification in DNA-based circuitry and sensing applications, yet requires the use of long DNA sequences to grant hairpin metastability. Here we describe a minimal HCR system based on peptide nucleic acids (PNAs). A system comprising a 5-mer stem and 5-mer loop/toehold hairpins was found to be suitable to achieve rapid amplification.

Authors, peer reviewers, and readers: What is expected from each player in collaborative publishing?

Scholarly publishing is in a crisis, with the many stakeholders complaining about different aspects of the system. Authors want fast publication times, high visibility and publications in high-impact journals. Readers want freely accessible, high-quality articles.

Pregnancy Outcomes in Women After Arterial Switch Operation for Transposition of the Great Arteries: Results From ROPAC (Registry of Pregnancy and Cardiac Disease) of the European Society of Cardiology EURObservational Research Programme.

Background In the past 3 decades, the arterial switch procedure has replaced the atrial switch procedure as treatment of choice for transposition of the great arteries. Although survival is superior after the arterial switch procedure, data on pregnancy outcomes are scarce and transposition of the great arteries after arterial switch is not yet included in the modified World Health Organization classification of maternal cardiovascular risk. Methods and Results The ROPAC (Registry of Pregnancy and Cardiac disease) is an international prospective registry of pregnant women with cardiac disease, part of the European Society of Cardiology EURObservational Research Programme.

Magma Degassing as a Source of Long-Term Seismicity at Volcanoes: The Ischia Island (Italy) Case.

Transient seismicity at active volcanoes poses a significant risk in addition to eruptive activity. This risk is powered by the common belief that volcanic seismicity cannot be forecast, even on a long term. Here we investigate the nature of volcanic seismicity to try to improve our forecasting capacity.

Connexin37-Dependent Mechanisms Selectively Contribute to Modulate Angiotensin II -Mediated Hypertension.

Background Gap junction channels made of Connexin37 (Cx37) are expressed by aortic endothelial and smooth muscle cells of hypertensive mice, as well as by the renin-secreting cells of kidneys. Methods and Results To decipher whether Cx37 has any role in hypertension, angiotensin II (Ang II ) was infused in normotensive wild-type and Cx37-deficient mice (Cx37-/-). After 2 to 4 weeks, the resulting increase in blood pressure was lower in Cx37-/- than in wild-type mice, suggesting an alteration in the Ang II response.

The Neuropsychiatric Fluctuations Scale for Parkinson's Disease: A Pilot Study.

Background: Non-motor fluctuations represent a main source of disability in Parkinson's disease (PD). Among them, neuropsychiatric fluctuations are the most frequent and are often under-recognized by patients and physicians, partly because specific tools for assessment of neuropsychiatric fluctuations are lacking.

Objective: To develop a scale for detecting and evaluating the presence and the severity of neuropsychological symptoms during the ON and OFF phases of non-motor fluctuations.

Clinical performance of LOCATOR® attachments: A retrospective study with 1-8 years of follow-up.

The use of LOCATOR® attachments in implant-supported removable dental prostheses (ISRDPs) has been evidenced with conflicting clinical behavior in literature. This retrospective study aimed to investigate the long-term clinical performance of LOCATOR® attachments by evaluating the frequency of the encountered mechanical complication events (MCEs) and the factors that play a role in attachment wear (AW). The study recruited participants with ISRDPs on LOCATOR® attachments.

Egalitarianism and Sexual Prejudice: the Role of Ingroup Distinctiveness Motives.

The present research examined the hypothesis that heterosexual men's motivation to differentiate their ingroup from gay men moderates the link between egalitarianism and sexual prejudice. In two experiments conducted in Switzerland (N = 74) and Ecuador (N = 104), we assessed heterosexual men's endorsement of egalitarian values and experimentally manipulated scientific evidence supporting or refuting the existence of biological differences between heterosexual and gay men (the biological theory). The main dependent variable was attitude towards homosexuality.

A Bioorthogonal Chemical Reporter of Viral Infection.

Pathogen-selective labeling was achieved by using the novel gemcitabine metabolite analogue 2'-deoxy-2',2'-difluoro-5-ethynyluridine (dF-EdU) and click chemistry. Cells infected with Herpes Simplex Virus-1 (HSV-1), but not uninfected cells, exhibit nuclear staining upon the addition of dF-EdU and a fluorescent azide. The incorporation of the dF-EdU into DNA depends on its phosphorylation by a herpes virus thymidine kinase (TK).

Anxiety Assessment: Psychometric Properties of the Spanish Version of the Burns Anxiety Inventory.

The main purpose of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Burns Anxiety Inventory (Burns-A: Burns, 1993). The sample consisted of 417 participants, 387 (29.71% male) healthy participants (control group: M = 35.

A Bioorthogonal Chemical Reporter of Viral Infection.

Pathogen-selective labeling was achieved by using the novel gemcitabine metabolite analogue 2'-deoxy-2',2'-difluoro-5-ethynyluridine (dF-EdU) and click chemistry. Cells infected with Herpes Simplex Virus-1 (HSV-1), but not uninfected cells, exhibit nuclear staining upon the addition of dF-EdU and a fluorescent azide. The incorporation of the dF-EdU into DNA depends on its phosphorylation by a herpes virus thymidine kinase (TK).

Undressing of Waddlia chondrophila to enrich its outer membrane proteins to develop a new species-specific ELISA.

Waddlia chondrophila, an obligate intracellular bacterium of the Chlamydiales order, is considered as an agent of bovine abortion and a likely cause of miscarriage in humans. Its role in respiratory diseases was questioned after the detection of its DNA in clinical samples taken from patients suffering from pneumonia or bronchiolitis. To better define the role of Waddlia in both miscarriage and pneumonia, a tool allowing large-scale serological investigations of Waddlia seropositivity is needed.

Biases in facial and vocal emotion recognition in chronic schizophrenia.

There has been extensive research on impaired emotion recognition in schizophrenia in the facial and vocal modalities. The literature points to biases toward non-relevant emotions for emotional faces but few studies have examined biases in emotional recognition across different modalities (facial and vocal). In order to test emotion recognition biases, we exposed 23 patients with stabilized chronic schizophrenia and 23 healthy controls (HCs) to emotional facial and vocal tasks asking them to rate emotional intensity on visual analog scales.

A LecA ligand identified from a galactoside-conjugate array inhibits host cell invasion by Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Lectin LecA is a virulence factor of Pseudomonas aeruginosa involved in lung injury, mortality, and cellular invasion. Ligands competing with human glycoconjugates for LecA binding are thus promising candidates to counteract P. aeruginosa infections.

Interdisciplinary perspectives on the development, integration, and application of cognitive ontologies.

We discuss recent progress in the development of cognitive ontologies and summarize three challenges in the coordinated development and application of these resources. Challenge 1 is to adopt a standardized definition for cognitive processes. We describe three possibilities and recommend one that is consistent with the standard view in cognitive and biomedical sciences.

NOX1 is responsible for cell death through STAT3 activation in hyperoxia and is associated with the pathogenesis of acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) contribute to alveolar cell death in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and we previously demonstrated that NOX1-derived ROS contributed to hyperoxia-induced alveolar cell death in mice. The study investigates whether NOX1 expression is modulated in epithelial cells concomitantly to cell death and associated to STAT3 signaling in the exudative phase of ARDS. In addition, the role of STAT3 activation in NOX1-dependent epithelial cell death was confirmed by using a lung epithelial cell line and in mice exposed to hyperoxia.

Glutamatergic receptors at developing synapses: the role of GluN3A-containing NMDA receptors and GluA2-lacking AMPA receptors.

During brain development excitatory synapses exhibit significant changes in their postsynaptic receptors and activated signaling pathways. Calcium represents the most crucial signaling factor in synaptic transmission and plasticity. Therefore developmental changes in calcium-permeable channels on the membrane contribute significantly to the modulation of neurotransmission at excitatory synapses.