1,439 research outputs found
Elderly versus non-elderly patients with intra-abdominal candidiasis in the ICU
No full textIntra-abdominal candidiasis (IAC) has a considerable cost in terms of mortality and morbidity. We sought to study the epidemiology, characteristics and outcome of elderly (>75 years old) versus non-elderly patients with IAC and risk factors for mortality in elderly patients
The Anopheles FBN9 immune factor mediates Plasmodium species-specific defense through transgenic fat body expression
No full textMosquitoes have a multifaceted innate immune system that is actively engaged in warding off various pathogens, including the protozoan malaria parasite Plasmodium. Various immune signaling pathways and effectors have been shown to mediate a certain degree of defense specificity against different Plasmodium species. A key pattern recognition receptor of the Anopheles gambiae immune system is the fibrinogen domain-containing immunolectin FBN9, which has been shown to be transcriptonally induced by Plasmodium infection, and to mediate defense against both rodent and human malaria parasites and bacteria. Here we have further studied the defense specificity of FBN9 using a transgenic approach, in which FBN9 is overexpressed in the fat body tissue after a blood meal through a vitellogenin promoter. Interestingly, the Vg-FBN9 transgenic mosquitoes showed increased resistance only to the rodent parasite P. berghei, and not to the human parasite P. falciparum, pointing to differences in the mosquito's defense mechanisms against the two parasite species. The Vg-FBN9 transgenic mosquitoes were also more resistant to infection with both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and showed increased longevity when infected with P. berghei. Our study points to the importance of both experimentally depleting and enriching candidate anti-Plasmodium effectors in functional studies in order to ascertain their suitability for the development of transgenic mosquito-based malaria control strategies
Corrigendum to “Delta SARS-CoV-2 variant is entirely substituted by the omicron variant during the fifth COVID-19 wave in Attica region” [Sci. Total Environ., 856(Pt 1) (2023)/159062] (Science of the Total Environment (2023) 856(P1), (S0048969722061617), (10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159062))
No full textThe authors state that the printed version of the above article missed the contribution of an author, which was that the third author had contributed to the writing of the original draft in addition to methodology. The correct and final version follows. CRediT authorship contribution statement Aikaterini Galani: Methodology, Validation, Writing – original draft. Athina Markou: Supervision, Writing – review & editing, Project administration. Lampros Dimitrakopoulos: Methodology, Writing – original draft. Aikaterini Kontou: Validation. Marios Kostakis: Validation. Vasileios Kapes: Methodology. Marios A. Diamantopoulos: Formal analysis, Software. Panagiotis G. Adamopoulos: Formal analysis. Margaritis Avgeris: Formal analysis, Writing– review & editing. Evi Lianidou: Writing – review & editing. Andreas Scorilas: Formal analysis. Dimitrios Paraskevis: Writing – review & editing. Sotirios Tsiodras: Writing – review & editing. Meletios-Athanasios Dimopoulos: Funding acquisition, Writing – review & editing. Nikolaos Thomaidis: Conceptualization, Project administration, Visualization, Resources. © 2022 Elsevier B.V
Gene discovery in an invasive tephritid model pest species, the Mediterranean fruit fly, <it>Ceratitis capitata</it>
No full textAbstract Background The medfly, Ceratitis capitata, is a highly invasive agricultural pest that has become a model insect for the development of biological control programs. Despite research into the behavior and classical and population genetics of this organism, the quantity of sequence data available is limited. We have utilized an expressed sequence tag (EST) approach to obtain detailed information on transcriptome signatures that relate to a variety of physiological systems in the medfly; this information emphasizes on reproduction, sex determination, and chemosensory perception, since the study was based on normalized cDNA libraries from embryos and adult heads. Results A total of 21,253 high-quality ESTs were obtained from the embryo and head libraries. Clustering analyses performed separately for each library resulted in 5201 embryo and 6684 head transcripts. Considering an estimated 19% overlap in the transcriptomes of the two libraries, they represent about 9614 unique transcripts involved in a wide range of biological processes and molecular functions. Of particular interest are the sequences that share homology with Drosophila genes involved in sex determination, olfaction, and reproductive behavior. The medfly transformer2 (tra2) homolog was identified among the embryonic sequences, and its genomic organization and expression were characterized. Conclusion The sequences obtained in this study represent the first major dataset of expressed genes in a tephritid species of agricultural importance. This resource provides essential information to support the investigation of numerous questions regarding the biology of the medfly and other related species and also constitutes an invaluable tool for the annotation of complete genome sequences. Our study has revealed intriguing findings regarding the transcript regulation of tra2 and other sex determination genes, as well as insights into the comparative genomics of genes implicated in chemosensory reception and reproduction.</p
From static to dynamic visualization of the sea surface height on a web GIS application
No full textDuring the last three decades, the Earth’s climate is changing rapidly, with higher average temperatures every year that leads not only to the melting of the ice sheet in the arctic and on most of the glaciers all over the world but also to extreme weather phenomena. The rise of the temperature can affect the Sea Surface Height (SSH) in more than one way, and since 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by the oceans, if the oceans are being affected then the whole Earth also is. The monitoring of the SSH can help the scientist predict the changes that will take place in the future. The SSH is a dynamic phenomenon that constantly changes not only within different decades but also from year to year, month to month even within the same day. These changes are the result of various phenomena and are called anomalies. When the SSH is monitored different phenomena are represented in different time scales and it is important to be taken into consideration if there is the need for a proper understanding of the SSH phenomenon. Many spatial data vendors are providing a large number of data-sets related to the monitoring of SSH and its anomalies and as a result, there is the need to find the most effective way to extract information from the data. Over the years has been established that one of the most effective ways to extract information from data is through the various visualization techniques and since the data of SSH is mainly spatial the main visualization technique is cartography. The advancements of the technology over the last couple of decades have led to a reality that the ”online” application is the norm and consequently the web mapping and web geographical information system (GIS).The goal of this thesis is to propose an architecture for a web GIS application that will be able to visualize dynamic data while adding elements of interactivity to improve the chances of the Sea Surface Height Anomaly (SSHA). IN order to achieve the goal of this thesis three main research questions need to be answered: What type of animation should be used (in order to visualize the passing of time), what interactivity elements should be added (e.g. zooming/panning in space and time) and what system’s architecture is optimal for such application (server-side/client-side etc.). This document is providing guidelines on how to create such an application and is resulting in the production of a prototype. The first part of this thesis is the review of the main ideas that are introduced in this project and how they were implemented by other researchers. Then, a comparison between the different implementation techniques (for every research question) is taking place to determine the main characteristics of the application. The final part is related to the implementation of the chosen techniques that lead to the development of the prototype application. The resulted prototype even though it is not perfect, due to technical limitations that were a consequence of implementing some of the most recent concepts in web development, is functional and paves the way for the development of new improved dynamic/interactive web GIS applications (https://giorgosdimo.github.io/MSc-Thesis/).Geomatic
Shaft inflation
No full textA new family of inflation models is introduced and studied. The models are characterised by a scalar potential which, far from the origin, approximates an inflationary plateau, while near the origin becomes monomial, as in chaotic inflation. The models are obtained in the context of global supersymmetry starting with a superpotential, which interpolates from a generalised monomial to an O'Raifearteagh form for small to large values of the inflaton field respectively. It is demonstrated that the observables obtained, such as the scalar spectral index and the tensor to scalar ratio, are in excellent agreement with the latest observations. Some discussion of initial conditions and eternal inflation is included
The genomic profile of pregnancy-associated breast Cancer: a systematic review
No full textBreast cancer is the most common malignancy diagnosed during pregnancy. Strong data on the genomic profile of pregnancy-associated breast cancer are lacking. This systematic review aims to integrate and analyze all existing data from the literature regarding the genomic background and the gene mutational patterns of pregnancy-associated breast cancer. Using various genomic analysis methods, multiple differentially expressed genes and numerous non-silent mutations have been detected. More particularly, our review demonstrates the aberrant expression of several oncogenes (e.g., MYC, SRC, FOS), tumor suppressor genes (e.g., TP53, PTEN, CAV1), apoptosis regulators (e.g., PDCD4, BCL2, BIRC5), transcription regulators (e.g., JUN, KLF1, SP110), genes involved in DNA repair mechanisms (e.g., Sig20, BRCA1, BRCA2, FEN1), in cell proliferation (e.g., AURKA, MKI67), in the immune response (e.g., PD1, PDL1), and in other significant biological processes (e.g., protein modification, internal cell motility). Further research on the genomic profile of pregnancy-associated breast cancer is urgently required in order to identify potential biomarkers facilitating early-stage diagnosis and individualized therapy. © Copyright © 2020 Korakiti, Moutafi, Zografos, Dimopoulos and Zagouri
Isatuximab as monotherapy and combined with dexamethasone in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma
No full textThey are grateful to Kathryn Corzo and Ai-Min Hui for contributing to the development of the study design. Medical writing support (including development of a draft outline and subsequent drafts in consultation with the authors, assembling tables and figures, collating author comments, copyediting, fact checking, and referencing) was provided by Julianna Solomons at Aspire Scientific, and funded by Sanofi Genzyme
A matching-adjusted indirect treatment comparison (MAIC) of daratumumab-bortezomib-melphalan-prednisone (D-VMP) versus lenalidomide-dexamethasone continuous (Rd continuous), lenalidomide-dexamethasone 18 months (Rd 18), and melphalan-prednisone-thalidomide (MPT)
No full textD-VMP is a novel treatment for transplant-ineligible newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (TIE NDMM). D-VMP significantly prolonged PFS versus VMP in the ALCYONE trial. The FIRST trial investigated Rd given in 28-day cycles until disease progression, Rd for 18 cycles, and MPT for 12 cycles for TIE NDMM. As no randomized controlled trials comparing D-VMP to standard-of-care regimens such as those in FIRST are available, an MAIC was performed to assess relative OS and PFS for D-VMP from ALYCONE and Rd continuous, Rd 18, and MPT from FIRST. Individual patient data for D-VMP in ALCYONE were weighted to match aggregated baseline patient characteristics for each arm of FIRST. D-VMP significantly improved OS versus MPT and Rd 18, with a trend favoring D-VMP versus Rd continuous. D-VMP performed significantly better than all FIRST comparators for PFS. This MAIC demonstrates OS and PFS benefits for D-VMP versus Rd continuous, Rd 18, and MPT
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