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Breaking down the endothelial barrier is a hallmark of systemic inflammatory response syndrome. Here the authors show that palmitoylation, a post-translational modification of proteins, plays a critical role in altering endothelial function during inflammation, and suggest the targeting of palmitoyl acyltransferase DHHC21 as potential disease therapy.

Abstract Venus, lacking an intrinsic global dipole magnetic field, serves as a textbook example of an induced magnetosphere, formed by interplanetary magnetic fields (IMF) enveloping the planet. Yet, various aspects of its magnetospheric dynamics and planetary ion outflows are complex and not well understood. Here we analyze plasma and magnetic field data acquired during the fourth Venus flyby of the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission and show evidence for closed topology in the nightside and downstream portion of the Venus magnetosphere (i.e., the magnetotail). The formation of the closed topology involves magnetic reconnection—a process rarely observed at non-magnetized planets. In addition, our study provides an evidence linking the cold Venusian ion flow in the magnetotail directly to magnetic connectivity to the ionosphere, akin to observations at Mars. These findings not only help the understanding of the complex ion flow patterns at Venus but also suggest that magnetic topology is one piece of key information for resolving ion escape mechanisms and thus the atmospheric evolution across various planetary environments and exoplanets.

Background:. Unlike in-house call, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) does not require a postcall day for “home call” shifts. Despite this, we hypothesize that on-call residents are still in the hospital for the majority of their shift despite having the luxury of home call and, thus, are not protected by ACGME postcall duty hour regulations. Methods:. A prospective single center survey study was conducted by surveying junior and senior residents who completed overnight call shifts from January 2023 to April 2023 at one of the busiest level 1 trauma centers in the United States. Data include number of trips into the hospital, hours spent in the hospital, and hours of sleep. Results:. Response rate was 195 of 200 (97.5%) total call shifts from 7 pm to 7 am the next morning. Junior residents reported an average of 3.25, 3.92, and 0.73 hours of sleep when on hand call, face call, and triple call (hand + face + general), respectively. Senior residents reported an average of 4.18 and 4.75 hours of sleep for hand and face call, respectively. Conclusions:. Hours of sleep when taking home call varies widely based on type of call. Junior residents reported significantly decreased sleep and more time in the hospital when taking hand, face, and triple call compared with general call alone. Senior residents reported that both hand and face call result in significantly decreased hours of sleep compared with general call alone. These results highlight the need to discuss ACGME protection for residents taking home call.

Protein palmitoylation refers to the posttranslational addition of a 16 carbon fatty acid to the side chain of cysteine, forming a thioester linkage. This acyl modification is readily reversible, providing a potential regulatory mechanism to mediate protein-membrane interactions and subcellular trafficking of proteins. The mechanism that underlies the transfer of palmitate or other long-chain fatty acids to protein was uncovered through genetic screens in yeast. Two related S-palmitoyltransferases were discovered. Erf2 palmitoylates yeast Ras proteins, whereas Akr1 modifies the yeast casein kinase, Yck2. Erf2 and Akr1 share a common sequence referred to as a DHHC (aspartate-histidine-histidine-cysteine) domain. Numerous genes encoding DHHC domain proteins are found in all eukaryotic genome databases. Mounting evidence is consistent with this signature motif playing a direct role in protein acyltransferase (PAT) reactions, although many questions remain. This review presents the genetic and biochemical evidence for the PAT activity of DHHC proteins and discusses the mechanism of protein-mediated palmitoylation.

A wild fungal strain isolated from soybean oil and identified as Penicillium aurantiogriseum initially presented a volumetric lipase activity of 0.4 U/mL in submerged culture in a medium containing 0.5 % yeast extract and 1 % olive oil. Studies were undertaken to improve lipase production. The effect of nitrogen source was studied by adding casein peptone, meat peptone, yeast extract or ammonium sulfate to a medium containing potassium nitrate and other mineral salts. The best yield, of 13 U/mL after 72 h, was obtained with the medium supplemented with ammonium sulfate. With the ammonium sulfate concentration increased to double the C/N ratio from 2.5 to 5, a lipolytic activity of 18 U/mL was obtained. Olive, corn, soy and sunflower oils were tested as carbon sources in this medium, with olive oil at 1 % giving a lipolytic activity of 25 U/mL after 48 h, the highest yield obtained in this study. Enzyme production was best at 29 °C, within a range tested from 26 to 32 °C. These results are promising because this strain produces lipase in an inexpensive inorganic medium and we succeeded in increasing the lipolytic activity 62-fold over the initial values obtained with the non-optimized medium.

A mathematical model is developed for converting between the two measurement bases commonly used in the construction of growth profiles in solid-state fermentation, namely absolute mass ratio m(dry biomass)/m(initial dry matter) and relative mass ratio m(dry biomass)/m(dry matter). These are not equivalent, due to the loss of dry matter as CO2 during the fermentation. The model is equally applicable to any biomass component used in indirect measurements of growth, such as protein. Use of the model to convert absolute mass ratio of the biomass profiles for the growth of Rhizopus oligosporus to a relative basis gave profiles that agreed well with the experimentally determined relative biomass profiles. This agreement was obtained for three different fermentations using the same set of parameter values in the model, namely a yield coefficient of m(protein)/m(dry substrate) = 0.2 g/g and a maintenance coefficient of zero, giving confidence in the reliability of the model. The model was then used to show that the measurement basis used can affect the form of the curve and therefore can also affect the conclusion drawn about the type of kinetics shown by the organism, with the extent of this effect depending on the length of time that growth occurs and the values of the yield and maintenance coefficients. This work shows that great care must be taken in drawing conclusions about growth kinetics in solid-state fermentation.

A mathematical model is developed for converting between the two measurement bases commonly used in the construction of growth profiles in solid-state fermentation, namely absolute mass ratio m(dry biomass)/m(initial dry matter) and relative mass ratio m(dry biomass)/m(dry matter). These are not equivalent, due to the loss of dry matter as CO2 during the fermentation. The model is equally applicable to any biomass component used in indirect measurements of growth, such as protein. Use of the model to convert absolute mass ratio of the biomass profiles for the growth of Rhizopus oligosporus to a relative basis gave profiles that agreed well with the experimentally determined relative biomass profiles. This agreement was obtained for three different fermentations using the same set of parameter values in the model, namely a yield coefficient of m(protein)/m(dry substrate) = 0.2 g/g and a maintenance coefficient of zero, giving confidence in the reliability of the model. The model was then used to show that the measurement basis used can affect the form of the curve and therefore can also affect the conclusion drawn about the type of kinetics shown by the organism, with the extent of this effect depending on the length of time that growth occurs and the values of the yield and maintenance coefficients. This work shows that great care must be taken in drawing conclusions about growth kinetics in solid-state fermentation.

In this work a method of analyzing the performance of solid-state fermentation bioreactors is described. The method is used to investigate the optimal value for the spacing between the cooling plates of the Zymotis bioreactor, using simulated fermentation data supplied by a mathematical model. The Zymotis bioreactor has good potential for those solid-state fermentation processes in which the substrate bed must remain static. The current work addresses two design parameters introduced by the presence of the internal heat transfer plates: the width of the heat transfer plate, which is governed by the amount of heat to be removed and the pressure drop of the cooling water, and the spacing between these heat transfer plates. In order to analyze the performance of the bioreactor a productivity term is introduced that takes into account the volume occupied within the bioreactor by the heat transfer plates. As part of this analysis, it is shown that, for logistic growth kinetics, the time at which the biomass reaches 90 % of its maximum possible value is a good estimate of the optimum harvesting time for maximizing productivity. Application of the productivity analysis to the simulated fermentation results suggests that, with typical fast growing fungi ( = 0.324 h–1), the optimal spacing between heat transfer plates is of the order of 6 cm. The general applicability of this approach to evaluate the productivity of solid-state bioreactors is demonstrated.

Schwannomas are benign encapsulated nerve sheath tumors composed of Schwann cells. Malignant change in head and neck schwannomas is rare, with the incidence varying between 8 and 13.9%. In this review, we discuss the presentation and the management of head and neck schwannomas. The issues and difficulties based on our own experience as well as the experience of published reports from the literature are presented.

Abstract The Martian bow shock stands as the first defense against the solar wind and shapes the Martian magnetosphere. Previous studies showed the correlation between the Martian bow shock location and solar wind parameters. Here we present direct evidence of solar wind effects on the Martian bow shock by analyzing Tianwen‐1 and MAVEN data. We examined three cases where Tianwen‐1 data show rapid oscillations of the bow shock, while MAVEN data record changes in solar wind plasma and magnetic field. The results indicate that the bow shock is rapidly compressed and then expanded during the dynamic pressure pulse in the solar wind, and is also oscillated during the IMF rotation. The superposition of variations in multiple solar wind parameters leads to more intensive bow shock oscillation. This study emphasizes the importance of joint observations by Tianwen‐1 and MAVEN for studying the real‐time response of the Martian magnetosphere to the solar wind.

Mars lacks a global intrinsic dipole field but possesses localized crustal fields, making it unique in the solar system. Recent observations revealed that electrons can be injected into the crustal fields, and exhibit drift-dispersed bursts due to the magnetic drift motion, which are characterized by increases or decreases in energy over time in the energy spectrum. However, the source of the drift-dispersed electrons and the mechanism of their injection into the crustal fields remains unclear. Here, by leveraging data from the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN mission, along with test-particle simulations, we reveal that the source of dispersed electrons is the precipitating electrons injected into the crustal fields via open field lines. These electrons display as dispersionless bursts near the source location, and as dispersed bursts as they drift away from the source. Thus, the dispersed electrons represent a later stage in the evolution of dispersionless electrons. This evolutionary process closely mirrors that observed within Earth’s dipole field, affirming that the crustal fields function similarly to a mini-magnetosphere.