Activity

The present ERP study assessed whether grammatical aspect is used as a cue in online event comprehension, in particular when reading about events in which an object is visually changed. While perfective aspect cues holistic event representations, including an event’s endpoint, progressive aspect highlights intermediate phases of an event. In a 2 × 3 design, participants read SVO sentences describing a change-of-state event (e.g., to chop an onion), with grammatical Aspect manipulated (perfective “chopped” vs progressive “was chopping”). Thereafter, they saw a Picture of an object either having undergone substantial state-change (SC; a chopped onion), no state-change (NSC; an onion in its original state) or an unrelated object (U; a cactus, acting as control condition). Their task was to decide whether the object in the Picture was mentioned in the sentence. We focused on N400 modulation, with ERPs time-locked to picture onset. U pictures elicited an N400 response as expected, suggesting detection of categorical mismatches in object type. Selleckchem CAY10566 For SC and NSC pictures, a whole-head follow-up analysis revealed a P300, implying people were engaged in detailed evaluation of pictures of matching objects. SC pictures received most positive responses overall. Crucially, there was an interaction of Aspect and Picture SC pictures resulted in a higher amplitude P300 after sentences in the perfective compared to the progressive. Thus, while the perfective cued for a holistic event representation, including the resultant state of the affected object (i.e., the chopped onion) constraining object representations online, the progressive defocused event completion and object-state change. Grammatical aspect thus guided online event comprehension by cueing the visual representation(s) of an object’s state.Salmonids are a species of high commercial value in Chilean aquaculture, where muscle is the final product of the industry. Fish can be affected by stress during intensive cultures, increasing susceptibility to infections. Recently, we reported that muscle is an important focus of immune reactions. However, studies have shown the immunosuppressive effect of stress only in lymphoid organs, and few studies have been conducted on muscle and immunity. Hence, we determine the effects of cortisol on the immune-like response of fish myotubes challenged with Piscirickettsia salmonis by three trials. First, rainbow trout primary culture of muscle was cultured and treated with cortisol (100 ng/mL) for 3 and 4 h. Second, myotubes were challenged with P. salmonis (MOI 50) for 4, 6 and 8 h. And third, muscle cell cultures were pretreated with cortisol and then challenged with P. salmonis. The mRNA levels of glucocorticoid pathway and innate immunity were evaluated by qPCR. Cortisol increased the klf15 levels and downregulated the innate immune-related tlr5m gene and antimicrobial peptides. P. salmonis challenge upregulated several immune-related genes. Finally, cortisol pretreatment followed by P. salmonis challenge differentially modulated stress- and immune-related genes. These data suggest that fish muscle cells possess an intrinsic immune response and are differentially regulated by cortisol, which could lead to bacterial outbreaks in muscle under stress conditions.In the search for new anti-influenza virus (IV) compounds, we have identified the 1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine (TZP) as a very suitable scaffold to obtain compounds able to disrupt IV RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) PA-PB1 subunits heterodimerization. In this work, in order to acquire further SAR insights for this class of compounds and identify more potent derivatives, we designed and synthesized additional series of analogues to investigate the role of the substituents around the TZP core. To this aim, we developed four facile and efficient one-step procedures for the synthesis of 5-phenyl-, 6-phenyl- and 7-phenyl-2-amino-[1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines, and 2-amino-5-phenyl-[1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidin-7-ol. Two analogues having the ethyl carboxylate moiety at the C-2 position of the TZP were also prepared in good yields. Then, the scaffolds herein synthesized and two previous scaffolds were functionalized and evaluated for their anti-IAV activity, leading to the identification of compound 22 that showed both anti-PA-PB1 (IC50 = 19.5 μM) and anti-IAV activity (EC50 = 16 μM) at non-toxic concentrations, thus resulting among the most active TZP derivatives reported to date by us. A selection of the synthesized compounds, along with a set of in-house available analogues, was also tested against SARS-CoV-2. The most promising compound 49 from this series displayed an EC50 value of 34.47 μM, highlighting the potential of the TPZ scaffold in the search for anti-CoV agents.Chinese Traditional Medicines (CTMs) are very popular for therapeutic applications to cure several chronic diseases. Many researchers are trying to discover the potential application and actual mechanism of CTMs in order to scientifically prove their effects for commercial use. One of the main functions of CTMs is to aid stem cell regeneration. Since, this study was focused to fabricate CTMs incorporated fish collagen film, which has good biocompatibility in mammalian cell growth and thus investigated the effect on human Mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) proliferation and differentiation. In this study, three types of CTMs such as Genistein, Icariin, and Naringin were used for film fabrication. Mechanical properties of collagen films were improved by the addition of CTMs, especially in Collagen-Naringin films. Solubility and In-vitro biodegradation of collagen films were enhanced by the hydrophobicity and chemical interaction of CTMs with collagen. The proliferation rate was accelerated in hMSCs cultured on CTMs incorporated collagen films in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Proliferation biomarkers such as Ki-67 and BrdU levels were higher in hMSCs cultured on CTMs incorporated collagen films. The proliferative and differentiation effect of CTMs was further confirmed by higher gene expression of Collagen I, Runx2, c-Fos, SMAD3 and TGF-β1 in hMSCs. Overall, this study provides a new insight on novel biomaterial fabrication using CTMs and fish collagen for making a compatible platform for in-vitro stem cell culture.