Description: We examined the ability of the two hard coral species Agaricia tenuifolia and Porites furcata to store lipids under natural conditions, under experimental starvation (weekly vs. daily feeding) and under heat stress. P. furcata fed more and accumulated greater lipid quantities than A. tenuifolia. Overall, lipid levels in situ showed an inverse relationship to turbidity and eutrophication with highest values at the least anthropogenically impacted site. Although zooxanthellae, chlorophyll a concentrations and heterotrophy increased in low light, the adaptive response was insufficient to maintain high energy acquisition levels. In the feeding experiment, corals fed weekly contained higher lipid levels than corals fed daily, suggesting that intermittent periods of starvation induce lipid storage. When transplanted to low light conditions P. furcata profited from feeding and were able to restore zooxanthellae and chlorophyll a levels after an initial reduction. Generally, lipid accumulation in both species was higher when fed with phytoplankton (≤1 µm), suggesting phytoplankton could be a more efficient food source than zooplankton (〉180 µm). Temperature stress led to a reduction of lipids and a 100 % mortality of A. tenuifolia, while P. furcata exhibited the ability to rebuild lipid reserves through heterotrophy. This ability of P. furcata to rebuild energy for both host and symbiont resulted in lower mortality and strong fitness and resistance of this species, making it an important umbrella species to maintain reefs in areas strongly impacted by anthropogenic activities and increasing sea water temperatures.

Description: Background: The barriers to HIV testing and counselling that migrants encounter can jeopardize proactive HIV testing that relies on the fact that HIV testing must be linked to care. We analyse available evidence on HIV testing and counselling strategies targeting migrants and ethnic minorities in high-income countries. Methods: Systematic literature review of the five main databases of articles in English from Europe, North America and Australia between 2005 and 2009. Results: Of 1034 abstracts, 37 articles were selected. Migrants, mainly from HIV-endemic countries, are at risk of HIV infection and its consequences. The HIV prevalence among migrants is higher than the general population’s, and migrants have higher frequency of delayed HIV diagnosis. For migrants from countries with low HIV prevalence and for ethnic minorities, socio-economic vulnerability puts them at risk of acquiring HIV. Migrants have specific legal and administrative impediments to accessing HIV testing—in some countries, undocumented migrants are not entitled to health care—as well as cultural and linguistic barriers, racism and xenophobia. Migrants and ethnic minorities fear stigma from their communities, yet community acceptance is key for well-being. Conclusions: Migrants and ethnic minorities should be offered HIV testing, but the barriers highlighted in this review may deter programs from achieving the final goal, which is linking migrants and ethnic minorities to HIV clinical care under the public health perspective.

Description: The relationship between estrogen and some types of breast cancer has been clearly established. However, although several studies have demonstrated the relationship between estrogen and glucose uptake via phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt in other tissues, not too much is known about the possible cross talk between them for development and maintenance of breast cancer. This study was designed to test the rapid effects of 17β-estradiol (E2) or its membrane-impermeable form conjugated with BSA (E2BSA) on glucose uptake in a positive estrogen receptor (ER) breast cancer cell line, through the possible relationship between key components of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway and acute steroid treatment. MCF-7 human breast cancer cells were cultured in standard conditions. Then 10 nM E2 or E2BSA conjugated were administered before obtaining the cell lysates. To study the glucose uptake, the glucose fluorescent analog 2-[ N -(7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl)amino]-2-deoxy-d-glucose was used. We report an ER-dependent activation of some of the key steps of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway cascade that leads cells to improve some mechanisms that finally increase glucose uptake capacity. Our data suggest that both E2 and E2BSA enhance the entrance of the fluorescent glucose analog 2-[ N -(7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl)amino]-2-deoxy-d-glucose, and also activates PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, leading to translocation of glucose transporter 4 to the plasma membrane in an ERα-dependent manner. E2 enhances ER-dependent rapid signaling triggered, partially in the plasma membrane, allowing ERα-positive MCF-7 breast cancer cells to increase glucose uptake, which could be essential to meet the energy demands of the high rate of proliferation.

Description: CHGB is the major matrix protein in human catecholamine storage vesicles. CHGB genetic variation alters catecholamine secretion and blood pressure. Here effective Chgb protein under-expression was achieved by siRNA in PC12 cells, resulting in ~48% fewer secretory granules on EM, diminished capacity for catecholamine uptake (by ~79%), and a ~73% decline in stores available for nicotinic cholinergic-stimulated secretion. In vivo , loss of Chgb in knockout mice resulted in a ~35% decline in chromaffin granule abundance and ~44% decline in granule diameter, accompanied by unregulated catecholamine release into plasma. Over-expression of CHGB was achieved by transduction of a CHGB -expressing lentivirus, resulting in ~127% elevation in CHGB protein, with ~122% greater abundance of secretory granules, but only ~14% increased uptake of catecholamines, and no effect on nicotinic-triggered secretion. Human CHGB protein and its proteolytic fragments inhibited nicotinic-stimulated catecholamine release by ~72%. One conserved-region CHGB peptide inhibited nicotinic-triggered secretion by up to ~41%, with partial blockade of cationic signal transduction. We conclude that bi-directional quantitative derangements in CHGB abundance result in profound changes in vesicular storage and release of catecholamines. When processed and released extra-cellularly, CHGB proteolytic fragments exert a feedback effect to inhibit catecholamine secretion, especially during nicotinic cholinergic stimulation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Description: Although gravitational collapse is supposed to play an essential role in the star formation process, infall motions have been always elusive to detect. So far, only a few observational signatures have been commonly used to claim for the presence of infall. Often these features consist in either ‘blue asymmetries’ or absorption at redshifted velocities (e.g. inverse P Cygni profiles). Both signatures are based only on the shape of the line profile and they do not guarantee by themselves the presence of dominant infall motions. More robust ‘mapping signatures’ can be obtained from images that angularly resolve the infalling gas. Here we present Very Large Array observations of the ammonia inversion transitions (2,2), (3,3), (4,4), (5,5) and (6,6) towards the hot molecular core (HMC) near G31.41+0.31 that show the signatures of protostellar infall theoretically predicted by Anglada et al. The intensity of the ammonia emission is compact and sharply increases towards the centre in the blueshifted velocity channel maps, while it shows a more flattened distribution in the redshifted velocity channels. Additionally, the emission becomes more compact with increasing (relative) velocity for both red- and blueshifted channels. We introduce a new infall signature, the ‘central blue spot’, easily identifiable in the first-order moment maps. We show that rotation produces an additional, independent signature, making the distribution of the emission in the channel maps asymmetric with respect to the central position, but without masking the infall signatures. All these mapping signatures, which are identified here for the first time, are present in the observed ammonia transitions of G31 HMC.

Description: Background and objective About 9% of gastric carcinomas have Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) in the tumour cells, but it is unclear whether viral presence influences clinical progression. We therefore examined a large multicentre case series for the association of tumour EBV status with survival after gastric cancer diagnosis, accounting for surgical stage and other prognostic factors. Methods We combined individual-level data on 4599 gastric cancer patients diagnosed between 1976 and 2010 from 13 studies in Asia (n=8), Europe (n=3), and Latin America (n=2). EBV positivity of tumours was assessed by in situ hybridisation. Mortality HRs for EBV positivity were estimated by Cox regression models stratified by study, adjusted for distributions of sex (71% male), age (mean 58 years), stage (52% tumour-node-metastasis stages III or IV), tumour histology (49% poorly differentiated, 57% Lauren intestinal-type), anatomic subsite (70% non-cardia) and year of diagnosis. Variations by study and continent were assessed using study-specific HRs for EBV positivity. Results During median 3.0 years follow-up, 49% of patients died. Stage was strongly predictive of mortality, with unadjusted HRs (vs stage I) of 3.1 for stage II, 8.1 for stage III and 13.2 for stage IV. Tumour EBV positivity was 8.2% overall and inversely associated with stage (adjusted OR: 0.79 per unit change). Adjusted for stage and other confounders, EBV positivity was associated with lower mortality (HR, 0.72; 95% CI 0.61 to 0.86), with low heterogeneity among the study populations (p=0.2). The association did not significantly vary across patient or tumour characteristics. There was no significant variation among the three continent-specific HRs (p=0.4). Conclusions Our findings suggest that tumour EBV positivity is an additional prognostic indicator in gastric cancer. Further studies are warranted to identify the mechanisms underlying this protective association.

Description: Cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, and risk of glioma in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study British Journal of Cancer 110, 242 (7 January 2014). doi:10.1038/bjc.2013.611 Authors: M Z Braganza, P Rajaraman, Y Park, P D Inskip, N D Freedman, A R Hollenbeck, A Berrington de González & C M Kitahara

Description: Aerosols play a significant yet complex and central role in the Earth´s radiation budget, and knowledge of long-term changes in the atmospheric turbidity induced by aerosols is therefore fundamental for a better understanding of climate change. However, there is little available information on changes in aerosol concentration in the atmosphere, especially prior to the 1980s. The present paper reviews publications reporting the suitability of sunshine duration records with regard to detecting changes in atmospheric aerosols. Some of the studies reviewed propose methods for estimating aerosol-related magnitudes, such as turbidity, from sunshine deficit at approximately sunrise and sunset, when the impact of aerosols on the solar beam is more easily observed. In addition, there is abundant evidence that one cause of the decadal changes observed in sunshine duration records involves variations in atmospheric aerosol loading. Possible directions for future research are also suggested: in particular, detailed studies of the burn (not only its length but also its width) registered by means of Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorders may provide a way of creating time series of atmospheric aerosol loading metrics dating back to over 120 years from the present.

Description: We present multi-epoch Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) H 2 O maser observations towards the massive young stellar objects (YSOs) VLA 2 and VLA 3 in the star-forming region AFGL 2591. Through these observations, we have extended the study of the evolution of the masers towards these objects up to a time-span of ~10 yr, measuring their radial velocities and proper motions. The H 2 O masers in VLA 3, the most massive YSO in AFGL 2591 (~30–40 M ), are grouped within projected distances of 40 mas (130 au) from VLA 3. In contrast to other H 2 O masers in AFGL 2591, the masers associated with VLA 3 are significantly blueshifted (up to ~30 km s –1 ) with respect to the velocity of the ambient molecular cloud. We find that the H 2 O maser cluster as a whole has moved westwards of VLA 3 between the 2001 and 2009 observations, with a proper motion of ~1.2 mas yr –1 (~20 km s –1 ). We conclude that these masers are tracing blueshifted outflowing material, shock excited at the inner parts of a cavity seen previously in ammonia molecular lines and infrared images, and proposed to be evacuated by the outflow associated with the massive VLA 3 source. The masers in the region of VLA 2 are located at projected distances of ~0.7 arcsec (~2300 au) north from this source, with their kinematics suggesting that they are excited by a YSO other than VLA 2. This driving source has not yet been identified.