Pregnant Women Infected with Zika Virus Show Higher Viral Load and Immunoregulatory Cytokines Profile with CXCL10 Increase

Background: Zika virus (ZIKV) infection during pregnancy usually shows only mild symptoms and is frequently subclinical. However, it can be vertically transmitted to the fetus, causing microcephaly and other congenital defects. During pregnancy, the immune environment modifications can alter the response to viruses in general and ZIKV in particular. Objective: To describe the role of pregnancy in the systemic pro- and anti-inflammatory response during symptomatic ZIKV infection. Materials and Methods: A multiplex assay was used to measure 25 cytokines, chemokines, and receptors in 110 serum samples from pregnant and nonpregnant women with and without ZIKV infection with and without symptoms. Samples were collected through an epidemiological surveillance system. Results: Samples from pregnant women with ZIKV infection showed a higher viral load but had similar profiles of inflammatory markers as compared with nonpregnant infected women, except for CXCL10 that was higher in infected pregnant women. Notably, the presence of ZIKV in pregnancy favored a regulatory profile by significantly increasing anti-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-10, receptors IL-1RA, and IL-2R, but only those pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6, interferon (IFN)-α, IFN-γ and IL-17 that are essential for the antiviral response. Interestingly, there were no differences between symptomatic and weakly symptomatic ZIKV-infected groups. Conclusion: Our results revealed a systemic anti-inflammatory cytokine and chemokine profile that could participate in the control of the virus. The anti-inflammatory response in pregnant women infected with ZIKA was characterized by high CXCL10, a cytokine that has been correlated with congenital malformations.     

Adsorption of methylene blue and tetracycline onto biomass-based material prepared by sulfuric acid reflux

The adsorptive removal of environmental pollutants is an effective method for the treatment of contaminated water. Thus, the preparation of adsorbents from low-cost, readily available, and renewable resources has garnered immense attention in recent years. In this study, a facile one-step method for the preparation of a high-capacity adsorbent is demonstrated by refluxing pine cones in concentrated sulfuric acid. With sulfuric acid reflux, the pine cones undergone carbonization as well as functionalization with sulfonic acid groups. The adsorbent demonstrated high adsorption capacity for two emerging organic pollutants, methylene blue (MB) and tetracycline (TC). Different variables such as pH, temperature, contact time, and initial concentration of the pollutants were analyzed and showed that the adsorption capacity for MB increased in a basic pH and vice versa for TC. Also, the elevated temperature favored the adsorption for both MB and TC. The maximum adsorption capacity was found to be 1666.66, and 357.14 mg g⁻¹ for MB and TC, respectively. In comparison to the pristine pine cone, the sulfuric acid treated pine cone demonstrated an extraordinary improvement in the adsorption capacity. The adsorption of MB and TC was performed from the tap water matrix and similar adsorption capacities were found. A packed glass column was also prepared to demonstrate the adsorption of MB from tap water under flow conditions.

Facile conversion of pine cones into a high-capacity adsorbent for the removal of methylene blue and tetracycline from water.     

Disappearance of abnormal Q waves after aortocoronary bypass surgery

Sixty-one patients were selected from 100 consecutive patients undergoing aortocoronary artery bypass. The number of vessels diseased as defined by coronary arteriography and the number of bypass grafts were recorded. Review of the preoperative electrocardiograms showed an infarct pattern in 26 of the 61 patients and analysis of the postoperative electrocardiograms revealed loss of abnormal Q waves in 3 of the 26. The pre- and postoperative clinical course of these three patients is analyzed and the extent of their coronary artery disease and number of bypass grafts compared with those of the 23 patients who had persistence of the infarction pattern and the 17 patients who manifested new Q waves. Possible explanations for the disappearance of abnormal Q waves are discussed.     

The role of DJ-1 in the oxidative stress cell death cascade after stroke

Oxidative stress is closely associated with secondary cell death in many disorders of the central nervous system including stroke,Parkinson’s disease,Alzheimer’s disease.Among many aberrant oxidative stress-associated proteins,DJ-1 has been associated with the oxidative stress cell death cascade primarily in Parkinson’s disease.Although principally expressed in the cytoplasm and nucleus,DJ-1 can be secreted into the serum under pathological condition.Recently,a close pathological association between DJ-1 and oxidative stress in stroke has been implicated.To this end,we and others have demonstrated the important role of mitochondria in neuroprotection for stroke by demonstrating that the translocation of DJ-1 in the mitochondria could potentially mitigate mitochondrial injury.Here,we discuss our recent findings testing the hypothesis that DJ-1 not only functions as a form of intracellular protection from oxidative stress,but that it also utilizes paracrine and/or autocrine cues in order to accomplish extracellular signaling between neighboring neuronal cells,resulting in neuroprotection.This article highlights recent evidence supporting the status of DJ-1 as key anti-oxidative stress therapeutic target for stroke.     

Subarachnoid hemorrhage and COVID-19: Association or coincidence?

Some evidences suggest the involvement of the central nervous system in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. We aim to analyze possible associations between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), in a comprehensive neurological center.We conducted a retrospective case series of 4 patients infected by COVID-19, who developed spontaneous SAH. Clinical data were extracted from electronic medical records.Between March 24, 2020, and May 22, 2020, 4 cases (3 females; 1 male) of SAH were identified in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, in a comprehensive neurological center in Brazil. The median age was 55.25 years (range 36 -71). COVID-19-related pneumonia was severe in 3 out of 4 cases, and all patients required critical care support during hospitalization. The patients developed Fisher grade III and IV SAH. Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) was performed in 3 of the 4 patients. However, in only 1 case, an aneurysm was identified. Inflammatory blood tests were elevated in all cases, with an average D-dimer of 2336 μg/L and mean C-reactive protein (CRP) of 3835 mg/dl The outcome was poor in the majority of the patients, with 1 death (25%); 2 (50%) remained severely neurologically affected (mRS:4); and 1 (25%) had slight disability (mRS:2).This study shows a series of 4 rare cases of SHA associated with COVID-19. The possible mechanisms underlying the involvement of SARSCoV-2 and SHA is yet to be fully understood. Therefore, SHA should be included in severe neurological manifestations in patients infected by this virus.     

Revealing an unusual transparent phase of superhard iron tetraboride under high pressure

First principles–based electronic structure calculations of superhard iron tetraboride (FeB₄) under high pressure have been undertaken in this study. Starting with a “conventional” superconducting phase of this material under high pressure leads to an unexpected phase transition toward a semiconducting one. This transition occurred at 53.7 GPa, and this pressure acts as a demarcation between two distinct crystal symmetries, metallic orthorhombic and semiconducting tetragonal phases, with Pnnm and I4₁/acd space groups, respectively. In this work, the electron–phonon coupling-derived superconducting T_c has been determined up to 60 GPa and along with optical band gap variation with increasing pressure up to 300 GPa. The dynamic stability has been confirmed by phonon dispersion calculations throughout this study.The shorter interatomic distances of metal under external pressure consequently increase the valence and conduction band widths, which leads to the enhancement of free electron-like behavior. The development of creating immensely substantial pressure at laboratories enables us to observe the core electrons overlapping under enormous compression and dramatically influences the electronic properties of normally free electron metals such as Li and Na (1–3). The metal-to-insulating phase transformation has been contrived both experimentally and theoretically for both the normal metals while exerting pressure on them. This observation propelled us to investigate the electronic and structural phase transformation of the experimentally synthesized superhard material iron tetraboride (FeB₄) under high pressure (4–8). The intriguing factor of choosing FeB₄ is that the material was proposed as a “conventional” Fe-based superconductor, in contradiction to the discovery of an “unconventional” Fe-based superconductor because of its large electron–phonon coupling. Here we report the exotic phase transition of FeB₄ from metal to semiconductor at 53.7 GPa, even though we started with the metallic orthorhombic phase Pnnm of FeB₄, which shows the superconducting temperature T_c up to 60 GPa. The new phase after 53.7 GPa has I4₁/acd space group symmetry with a finite fundamental band gap, which increases along with pressure monotonically. All of the considered structures have been tested to have a thermodynamic stability from phonon dispersion calculations. The reason behind the phenomena could be the overlap of atomic cores at higher pressure ranges, which increases the hybridization of valence electrons and their repulsive interactions with core electrons. The immediate technological outcome of this scenario of metal-to-semiconducting phase transition could be to search for a transparent state of a material that is a metal under ambient conditions. This drastic change of electronic and structural properties can be observed in other materials as well, and hence this can open a field of studying them from a high-pressure perspective.