Search results for "Quotation"
showing 10 items of 18815 documents
Impact of chronic endometritis in infertility: a SWOT analysis
2021
Chronic endometritis is a pathology often associated with reproductive failure, but there are still no clear recommendations on whether its inclusion in the initial study of infertile couples is necessary. In this discussion paper, based on a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis, the different aspects of the repercussions of chronic endometritis in fertility are evaluated. To avoid possible subjectivity in the analysis and results of this study, the researchers followed the Oxford criteria for the evaluation of evidence. The results from the evaluation of the reviewed literature seem to indicate that, pending new evidence, it would be advisable not to include chroni…
Considerations for an in vitro, cell-based testing platform for detection of adverse drug-induced inotropic effects in early drug development. Part 1…
2019
Drug-induced effects on cardiac contractility can be assessed through the measurement of the maximal rate of pressure increase in the left ventricle (LVdP/dtmax) in conscious animals, and such studies are often conducted at the late stage of preclinical drug development. Detection of such effects earlier in drug research using simpler, in vitro test systems would be a valuable addition to our strategies for identifying the best possible drug development candidates. Thus, testing platforms with reasonably high throughput, and affordable costs would be helpful for early screening purposes. There may also be utility for testing platforms that provide mechanistic information about how a given d…
The 40-Year Mystery of Insect Odorant-Binding Proteins
2021
International audience; The survival of insects depends on their ability to detect molecules present in their environment. Odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) form a family of proteins involved in chemoreception. While OBPs were initially found in olfactory appendages, recently these proteins were discovered in other chemosensory and non-chemosensory organs. OBPs can bind, solubilize and transport hydrophobic stimuli to chemoreceptors across the aqueous sensilla lymph. In addition to this broadly accepted “transporter role”, OBPs can also buffer sudden changes in odorant levels and are involved in hygro-reception. The physiological roles of OBPs expressed in other body tissues, such as mouthpar…
Back to the roots: the importance of using simple insect societies to understand the molecular basis of complex social life
2018
The evolutionary trajectories toward insect eusociality come in two broad forms. In species like wasps, bees, and ants, the first helpers remained at the nest primarily to help with brood care. In species like aphids and termites, on the other hand, nest defense was initially the primary ecological driving force. To better understand the molecular basis of these two alternative evolutionary trajectories, it is therefore important to study the mechanistic basis of brood care and nest defense behavior. So far, most studies have compared morphologically distinct castes in advanced eusocial species of ants, bees, wasps, and termites. However, the interpretation of such comparisons is limited by…
Increased survival of honeybees in the laboratory after simultaneous exposure to low doses of pesticides and bacteria
2018
Recent studies of honeybees and bumblebees have examined combinatory effects of different stressors, as insect pollinators are naturally exposed to multiple stressors. At the same time the potential influences of simultaneously occurring agricultural agents on insect pollinator health remain largely unknown. Due to different farming methods, and the drift of applied agents and manure, pollinators are most probably exposed to insecticides but also bacteria from organic fertilizers at the same time. We orally exposed honeybee workers to sub-lethal doses of the insecticide thiacloprid and two strains of the bacterium Enterococcus faecalis, which can occur in manure from farming animals. Our re…
Susceptibility, mechanisms of response and resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis toxins in Spodoptera spp.
2016
Bioinsecticides based on Bacillus thuringiensis have long been used as an alternative to synthetic insecticides to control insect pests. In this review, we focus on insects of the genus Spodoptera, including relevant polyphagous species that are primary and secondary pests of many crops, and how B. thuringiensis toxins can be used for Spodoptera spp. pest management. We summarize the main findings related to susceptibility, midgut binding specificity, mechanisms of response and resistance of this insect genus to B. thuringiensis toxins.
Interleukin-2 Functionalized Nanocapsules for T Cell-Based Immunotherapy.
2016
A major demand on immunotherapy is the direct interference with specific immune cells in vivo. In contrast to antibody-engineered nanoparticles to control dendritic cells function, targeting of T cells for biomedical applications still remains an obstacle as they disclose reduced endocytic activities. Here, by coupling the cytokine interleukin-2 (IL-2) to the surface of hydroxyethyl starch nanocapsules, we demonstrated a direct and specifc T cell targeting in vitro and in vivo by IL-2 receptor-mediated internalization. For this purpose, defined amounts of azide-functionalized IL-2 were linked to alkyne-functionalized hydroxyethyl starch nanocapsules via copper-free click reactions. In combi…
A multicenter study benchmarks software tools for label-free proteome quantification
2016
The consistent and accurate quantification of proteins by mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics depends on the performance of instruments, acquisition methods and data analysis software. In collaboration with the software developers, we evaluated OpenSWATH, SWATH2.0, Skyline, Spectronaut and DIA-Umpire, five of the most widely used software methods for processing data from SWATH-MS (sequential window acquisition of all theoretical fragment ion spectra), a method that uses data-independent acquisition (DIA) for label-free protein quantification. We analyzed high-complexity test datasets from hybrid proteome samples of defined quantitative composition acquired on two different MS instrument…
Competition between strains of Borrelia afzelii inside the rodent host and the tick vector
2018
Multiple-strain pathogens often establish mixed infections inside the host that result in competition between strains. In vector-borne pathogens, the competitive ability of strains must be measured in both the vertebrate host and the arthropod vector to understand the outcome of competition. Such studies could reveal the existence of trade-offs in competitive ability between different host types. We used the tick-borne bacteriumBorrelia afzeliito test for competition between strains in the rodent host and the tick vector, and to test for a trade-off in competitive ability between these two host types. Mice were infected via tick bite with either one or two strains, and these mice were subse…
Facilitation of Health Professionals Responsible Autonomy with Easy-to-Use Hospital Data Querying Language
2018
Support for the development of responsible autonomy as opposite to management that is based on direct control is found to be by far more effective approach in healthcare management, especially when it concerns physicians as the most influential group of health professionals. It is therefore important to obtain a process-oriented knowledge system where physicians would be able to autonomously answer questions which are outside the scope of pre-made direct control reports. However, the ad-hoc data querying process is slow and error-prone due to inability of health professionals to access data directly without involving IT experts. The problem lies in the complexity of means used to query data…