Macrophage migration inhibitory factor is required for NLRP3 inflammasome activation (2018)
Journal Article
(2018). Macrophage migration inhibitory factor is required for NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Nature communications, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04581-2

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) exerts multiple effects on immune cells, as well as having functions outside the immune system. MIF can promote inflammation through the induction of other cytokines, including TNF, IL-6, and IL-1 family c... Read More about Macrophage migration inhibitory factor is required for NLRP3 inflammasome activation.

Heparin Oligosaccharides Have Antiarrhythmic Effect by Accelerating the Sodium-Calcium Exchanger (2018)
Journal Article
de Godoy, C., Vasques, Ê., Caricati-Neto, A., Tavares, J., Alves, B., Duarte, J., …dos Santos Tersariol, I. (2018). Heparin Oligosaccharides Have Antiarrhythmic Effect by Accelerating the Sodium-Calcium Exchanger. Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine, 5, https://doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2018.00067

Background: Blockage of the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCX) is used to determine the role of NCX in arrhythmogenesis. Trisulfated heparin disaccharide (TD) and Low Molecular Weight Heparins (LMWHs) can directly interact with the NCX and accelerate its activ... Read More about Heparin Oligosaccharides Have Antiarrhythmic Effect by Accelerating the Sodium-Calcium Exchanger.

Photochemistry and Antioxidative Capacity of Female and Male Taxus baccata L. Acclimated to Different Nutritional Environments. (2018)
Journal Article
(2018). Photochemistry and Antioxidative Capacity of Female and Male Taxus baccata L. Acclimated to Different Nutritional Environments. Frontiers in Plant Science, 742 - ?. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2018.00742

In dioecious woody plants, females often make a greater reproductive effort than male individuals at the cost of lower growth rate. We hypothesized that a greater reproductive effort of female compared with male Taxus baccata individuals would be ass... Read More about Photochemistry and Antioxidative Capacity of Female and Male Taxus baccata L. Acclimated to Different Nutritional Environments..

A citizen science based survey method for estimating the density of urban carnivores. (2018)
Journal Article
(2018). A citizen science based survey method for estimating the density of urban carnivores. PloS one, e0197445 - ?. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197445

Globally there are many examples of synanthropic carnivores exploiting growth in urbanisation. As carnivores can come into conflict with humans and are potential vectors of zoonotic disease, assessing densities in suburban areas and identifying facto... Read More about A citizen science based survey method for estimating the density of urban carnivores..

Plasmodium falciparum dipeptidyl aminopeptidase 3 activity is important for efficient erythrocyte invasion by the malaria parasite (2018)
Journal Article
Russo. (2018). Plasmodium falciparum dipeptidyl aminopeptidase 3 activity is important for efficient erythrocyte invasion by the malaria parasite. PLoS Pathogens, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1007031

Parasite egress from infected erythrocytes and invasion of new red blood cells are essential processes for the exponential asexual replication of the malaria parasite. These two tightly coordinated events take place in less than a minute and are in p... Read More about Plasmodium falciparum dipeptidyl aminopeptidase 3 activity is important for efficient erythrocyte invasion by the malaria parasite.

Host colony integration: Megalomyrmex guest ant parasites maintain peace with their host using weaponry (2018)
Journal Article
Drijfhout. (2018). Host colony integration: Megalomyrmex guest ant parasites maintain peace with their host using weaponry. Animal Behaviour, 71 -79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2018.02.021

Social parasites exploit resources of other social species, to the detriment of their host. In order to enter and integrate in a host colony, social parasites must avoid being detected as a non-nestmate. The parasites, therefore, use one or a combina... Read More about Host colony integration: Megalomyrmex guest ant parasites maintain peace with their host using weaponry.

Evaluation of analogues of furan-amidines as inhibitors of NQO2 (2018)
Journal Article
Russo. (2018). Evaluation of analogues of furan-amidines as inhibitors of NQO2. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 1292 - 1297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bmcl.2018.03.025

Inhibitors of the enzyme NQO2 (NRH: quinone oxidoreductase 2) are of potential use in cancer chemotherapy and malaria. We have previously reported that non-symmetrical furan amidines are potent inhibitors of NQO2 and here novel analogues are evaluate... Read More about Evaluation of analogues of furan-amidines as inhibitors of NQO2.

Rough and tough. How does silicic acid protect horsetail from fungal infection? (2018)
Journal Article
(2018). Rough and tough. How does silicic acid protect horsetail from fungal infection?. Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology, 45 - 52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtemb.2018.01.015

Abstract Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) plants grew healthily for 10 weeks under both Si-deficient and Si-replete conditions. After 10 weeks, plants grown under Si-deficient conditions succumbed to fungal infection. We have used NanoSIMS and fluoresce... Read More about Rough and tough. How does silicic acid protect horsetail from fungal infection?.

The Colours of Pollen Available to Honey Bees through the Year (2018)
Journal Article
Kirk. (2018). The Colours of Pollen Available to Honey Bees through the Year. Bee World, https://doi.org/10.1080/0005772X.2018.1449280

ATAC-ing transcriptional mysteries in malaria parasites (2018)
Journal Article
(2018). ATAC-ing transcriptional mysteries in malaria parasites. Cell Host and Microbe, 425-426. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chom.2018.03.016

Critical analysis of reference studies on the toxikinetics of aluminium-based adjuvants (2018)
Journal Article
(2018). Critical analysis of reference studies on the toxikinetics of aluminium-based adjuvants. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, 87-95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2017.12.015

We reviewed the three toxicokinetic reference studies commonly used to suggest that aluminum (Al)-based adjuvants are innocuous. A single experimental study was carried out using isotopic 26Al (Flarend et al., Vaccine, 1997). This study used aluminum... Read More about Critical analysis of reference studies on the toxikinetics of aluminium-based adjuvants.

Checks and Balances?: DNA replication and the cell cycle in Plasmodium (2018)
Journal Article
(2018). Checks and Balances?: DNA replication and the cell cycle in Plasmodium. Parasites and Vectors, https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-018-2800-1

It is over 100 years since the life-cycle of the malaria parasite Plasmodium was discovered, yet its intricacies remain incompletely understood - a knowledge gap that may prove crucial for our efforts to control the disease. Phenotypic screens have p... Read More about Checks and Balances?: DNA replication and the cell cycle in Plasmodium.

Variations in the Peritrophic Matrix Composition of Heparan Sulphate from the Tsetse Fly, Glossina morsitans morsitans (2018)
Journal Article
Rogerson, E., Pelletier, J., Acosta-Serrano, A., Rose, C., Taylor, S., Guimond, S., …Yates, E. (2018). Variations in the Peritrophic Matrix Composition of Heparan Sulphate from the Tsetse Fly, Glossina morsitans morsitans. Pathogens an international, open access journal of pathogens and pathogen-host interactions, 7, https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens7010032

Tsetse flies are the principal insect vectors of African trypanosomes-sleeping sickness in humans and Nagana in cattle. One of the tsetse fly species, Glossina morsitans morsitans, is host to the parasite, Trypanosoma brucei, a major cause of African... Read More about Variations in the Peritrophic Matrix Composition of Heparan Sulphate from the Tsetse Fly, Glossina morsitans morsitans.

Anti-inflammatory effects of epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) and their corresponding diols against pro-inflammatory cytokine-toxicity in BRIN-BD11 cells. (2018)
Presentation / Conference
Watson. (2018, March). Anti-inflammatory effects of epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) and their corresponding diols against pro-inflammatory cytokine-toxicity in BRIN-BD11 cells. Poster presented at Diabetes UK Professional Conference 2018, London ExCeL, London

Introduction: CYP450-derived EETs display anti-inflammatory activity in cardiac models of inflammation, in part through activation of Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) and inhibition of Nuclear Factor kappa B (NF-kB) activation... Read More about Anti-inflammatory effects of epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) and their corresponding diols against pro-inflammatory cytokine-toxicity in BRIN-BD11 cells..

Myeloid ERK5 deficiency suppresses tumor growth by blocking protumor macrophage polarization via STAT3 inhibition (2018)
Journal Article
Russo. (2018). Myeloid ERK5 deficiency suppresses tumor growth by blocking protumor macrophage polarization via STAT3 inhibition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, E2801 - E2810. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1707929115

Owing to the prevalence of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) in cancer and their unique influence upon disease progression and malignancy, macrophage-targeted interventions have attracted notable attention in cancer immunotherapy. However, tractabl... Read More about Myeloid ERK5 deficiency suppresses tumor growth by blocking protumor macrophage polarization via STAT3 inhibition.

2, 3-Di-O-sulfo glucuronic acid: an unmodified and unusual residue in a highly sulfated chondroitin sulfate from Litopenaeus vannamei (2018)
Journal Article
Cavalcante, R., Brito, A., Palhares, L., Andrade De Lima, M., Cavalheiro, R., Nader, H., …Chavante, S. (2018). 2, 3-Di-O-sulfo glucuronic acid: an unmodified and unusual residue in a highly sulfated chondroitin sulfate from Litopenaeus vannamei. Carbohydrate Polymers, 183, 192--200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2017.12.018

The occurrence of a natural and unmodified highly sulfated chondroitin sulfate from Litopenaeus vannamei heads (sCS) is herein reported. Its partial digestion by Chondroitinases AC and ABC together with its electrophoretic migration profile revealed... Read More about 2, 3-Di-O-sulfo glucuronic acid: an unmodified and unusual residue in a highly sulfated chondroitin sulfate from Litopenaeus vannamei.

G-quadruplex DNA motifs in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum and their potential as novel antimalarial drug targets (2018)
Journal Article
Horrocks. (2018). G-quadruplex DNA motifs in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum and their potential as novel antimalarial drug targets. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, https://doi.org/10.1128/AAC.01828-17

G-quadruplexes are DNA or RNA secondary structures that can be formed from guanine-rich nucleic acids. These four-stranded structures, composed of stacked quartets of guanine bases, can be highly stable and have been demonstrated to occur in vivo in... Read More about G-quadruplex DNA motifs in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum and their potential as novel antimalarial drug targets.

Finding the right connection: what makes a successful decision support system? (2018)
Journal Article
Rose, D., & Bruce, T. (2018). Finding the right connection: what makes a successful decision support system?. Food and Energy Security, https://doi.org/10.1002/fes3.123

Farmers require evidence-based guidance to make optimal decisions, enabling them to reduce costs by increasing the efficiency of input use. We discuss how decision support systems could be improved and made more useful for the farmer.

Evaluation of the inactivation of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus by several common methods. (2018)
Journal Article
(2018). Evaluation of the inactivation of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus by several common methods. Journal of Virological Methods, 31 - 34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jviromet.2018.01.009

Working with virological samples requires validated inactivation protocols for safe handling and disposal. Although many techniques exist to inactivate samples containing viruses, not all procedures have been properly validated or are compatible with... Read More about Evaluation of the inactivation of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus by several common methods..

Reduced translucency and the addition of black patterns increase the catch of the greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum, on yellow sticky traps (2018)
Journal Article
(2018). Reduced translucency and the addition of black patterns increase the catch of the greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum, on yellow sticky traps. PloS one, 1 -16. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193064

The greenhouse whitefly Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is a pest of a wide range of vegetable and ornamental crops in greenhouses around the world. Yellow sticky traps are highly attractive to flying adults and so are f... Read More about Reduced translucency and the addition of black patterns increase the catch of the greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum, on yellow sticky traps.