Trichomonas vaginalis induces cellular damage to the host cells (cytotoxicity) through the proteolytic activity of multiple proteinases of the cysteine type (CPs). Some CPs are modulated by environmental factors such as iron, zinc, polyamines, etc. Thus, the goal of this study was to assess the effect of glucose on T. vaginalis cytotoxicity, proteolytic activity and the particular role of TvCP2 (TVAG_057000) during cellular damage. Cytotoxicity assays showed that glucose-restriction (GR) promotes the highest HeLa cell monolayers destruction (~95%) by trichomonads compared to those grown under high glucose (~44%) condition. Zymography and Western blot using different primary antibodies showed that GR increased the proteolytic activity, amount and secretion of certain CPs, including TvCP2. We further characterized the effect of glucose on TvCP2. TvCP2 increases in GR, localized in vesicles close to the plasma membrane and on the surface of T. vaginalis. Furthermore, pretreatment of GR-trichomonads with an anti-TvCP2r polyclonal antibody specifically reduced the levels of cytotoxicity and apoptosis induction to HeLa cells in a concentration-dependent manner. In conclusion, our data show that GR, as a nutritional stress condition, promotes trichomonal cytotoxicity to the host cells, increases trichomonad proteolytic activity and amount of CPs, such as TvCP2 involved in cellular damage.

The purpose of this work was to study the relationship between self-focused attention and mindfulness in participants prone to hallucinations and others who were not. A sample of 318 healthy participants, students at the universities of Sevilla and Almería, was given the Launay-Slade Hallucinations Scale-revised (LSHS-R, Bentall & Slade, 1985). Based on this sample, two groups were formed: participants with high (n = 55) and low proneness (n = 28) to hallucinations. Participants with a score higher than a standard deviation from the mean in the LSHS-R were included in the high proneness group, participants with a score lower than a standard deviation from the mean in the LSHR-R were included in the second one. All participants were also given the Self-Absorption Scale (SAS, McKenzie & Hoyle, 2008) and the Southampton Mindfulness Questionnaire (SMQ, Chadwick et al., 2008). The results showed that participants with high hallucination proneness had significantly higher levels of public (t(80) = 6.81, p < .001) and private (t(77) = 7.39, p < .001) self-focused attention and lower levels of mindfulness (t(81) = -4.56, p < .001) than participants in the group with low hallucination proneness. A correlational analysis showed a negative association between self-focused attention (private and public) and mindfulness (r = -0.23, p < .001; r = -0.38, p < .001 respectively). Finally, mindfulness was found to partly mediate between self-focused attention and hallucination proneness. The importance of self-focused attention and mindfulness in understanding the etiology of hallucinations discussed and suggest some approaches to their treatment.

In this work we report a study of the chemical and structural order of the double perovskite compound Sr2-xGdxMnTiO6 for compositions x=0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1. A noticeable disorder at the B-site in the Mn and Ti sublattice is detected at the atomic scale by electron energy-loss spectroscopy for all x values, resulting in Mn-rich and Ti-rich regions. For x≥0.75, the cubic unit cell doubles and lowers its symmetry because of structural rearrangements associated with a giant ferroelectric displacement of the perovskite B-site cation. We discuss this finding in the light of the large electroresistance observed in Sr2-xGdxMnTiO6, x≥0.75.

Polycrystalline HoGaMnO5, ErGaMnO5, and TmGaMnO5 oxides have been first prepared by soft chemistry procedures followed by high oxygen pressure treatments, to stabilize Mn4+ cations. Their crystal structures and magnetic behavior have been studied at room temperature and 5 K by neutron powder diffraction (NPD) data in complement with magnetization measurements. RGaMnO5 are orthorhombic, Pbam space group, and their crystal structures contain infinite chains of edge-sharing Mn4+O6 octahedra, interconnected by pyramidal Ga3+O5 and RO8 units. For R = Ho, a = 7.2810(4), b = 8.4526(4), and c = 5.6668(3) Å; for R = Er, a = 7.2575(3), b = 8.4357(3), and c = 5.6613(2) Å; and for R = Tm, a = 7.2438(3), b = 8.4124(3), and c = 5.6509(2) Å, at room temperature. Above 300 K the reciprocal magnetic susceptibility follows a Curie-Weiss law. In the paramagnetic region, a positive Weiss constant suggests the presence of ferromagnetic interactions, which have been investigated by low-temperature NPD for R = Er, Tm. The 5 K patterns show a detectable long-range magnetic ordering over the Mn and R positions, ferromagnetically aligned along the x-direction.

We propose a wavelength-dependent figure of merit for transparent conducting nanotube networks, composed of the sheet resistance and the optical density. We argue that this would be more useful than previous suggestions, because it relies on more realistic assumptions regarding the optical parameters of real nanotubes.