Streptococcus pyogenes is a major bacterial pathogen in the human population and isolates of the clinically important M1 serotype secrete protein Streptococcal inhibitor of complement (SIC) known to interfere with human innate immunity. Here we find that SIC from M1 bacteria interacts with TLR2 and CD14 on monocytes leading to the activation of the NF-κB and p38 MAPK pathways and the release of se

Using different measures of how the Covid-19 pandemic progresses, the article confirms that the level of credit risk among US blue chip companies increases in tandem with the spread of the Covid-19 virus. The credit risk escalates dramatically during the pandemic but is still short of the levels seen during the 2008–09 Global Financial Crisis. In addition, the weekly ups and downs in credit risk a

Chromosomal inversions contribute substantially to genome evolution, yet the processes governing their evolutionary dynamics remain poorly understood. Theory suggests that a readily measurable property of inversions—their length—can potentially affect their evolutionary fates. Emerging data on the lengths of polymorphic and fixed inversions may therefore provide clues to the evolutionary processes

RelA-SpoT Homolog (RSH) enzymes control bacterial physiology through synthesis and degradation of the nucleotide alarmone (p)ppGpp. We recently discovered multiple families of small alarmone synthetase (SAS) RSH acting as toxins of toxin-antitoxin (TA) modules, with the FaRel subfamily of toxSAS abrogating bacterial growth by producing an analog of (p)ppGpp, (pp)pApp. Here we probe the mechanism o

In the cell, stalled ribosomes are rescued through ribosome-associated protein quality-control (RQC) pathways. After splitting of the stalled ribosome, a C-terminal polyalanine 'tail' is added to the unfinished polypeptide attached to the tRNA on the 50S ribosomal subunit. In Bacillus subtilis, polyalanine tailing is catalyzed by the NEMF family protein RqcH, in cooperation with RqcP. However, the

Bacteria have evolved sophisticated mechanisms to deliver potent toxins into bacterial competitors or into eukaryotic cells in order to destroy rivals and gain access to a specific niche or to hijack essential metabolic or signaling pathways in the host. Delivered effectors carry various activities such as nucleases, phospholipases, peptidoglycan hydrolases, enzymes that deplete the pools of NADH

The target of zero emissions sets a new standard for industry and industrial policy. Industrial policy in the twenty-first century must aim to achieve zero emissions in the energy and emissions intensive industries. Sectors such as steel, cement, and chemicals have so far largely been sheltered from the effects of climate policy. A major shift is needed, from contemporary industrial policy that ma

This thesis has investigated three different diagnoses where cardiac microvascular disease is suspected: hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), systemic sclerosis (SSc), and patients with suspected microvascular angina (MVA).Study I of this thesis investigated patients with HCM. We investigated the myocardial perfusion (MP) using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) in young patients with HCM or t

Methylation can occur on histidine, lysine and arginine residues in proteins and often serves a regulatory function. Histidine methylation has recently attracted attention through the discovery of the human histidine methyltransferase enzymes SETD3 and METTL9. There are currently no methods to enrich histidine methylated peptides for mass spectrometry analysis and large-scale studies of the modifi

This opinion piece takes Google’s response to the so-called COVID-19 infodemic, as a starting point to argue for the need to consider societal relevance as a complement to other types of relevance. The authors maintain that if information science wants to be a discipline at the forefront of research on relevance, search engines, and their use, then the information science research community needs This opinion piece takes Google's response to the so-called COVID-19 infodemic, as a starting point to argue for the need to consider societal relevance as a complement to other types of relevance. The authors maintain that if information science wants to be a discipline at the forefront of research on relevance, search engines, and their use, then the information science research community needs

We present a compilation and analysis of 1099 Holocene relative shore-level (RSL) indicators located around the Baltic Sea including 867 relative sea-level data points and 232 data points from the Ancylus Lake and the following transitional phase. The spatial distribution covers the Baltic Sea and near-coastalareas fairly well, but some gaps remain mainly in Sweden. RSL data follow the standardize

B Corp certification is considered a viable instrument to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in adopting sustainable practices. However, there is a lack of evidence to what extent this instrument can anchor sustainability at the core of SMEs. This study investigates the B Corp certification process of a SME, a craft brewery in southern Sweden, regarding the extent to which it helped

Settings in social work may be associated with spatial stigma. This study uses the case of a highly stigmatised setting to investigate ways of ascribing positive characteristics to tainted contexts. Guided by symbolic interactionism, the aim is to analyse how residents in ‘wet’ eldercare facilities manage to view these in a positive light. Wet eldercare facilities are designed for older people wit

This paper is Part I in a series of articles focused on a fundamental study on liquid jet disintegration. The main goal of this work is to provide an extensive open access database of high-speed images and videos for modelers and researchers in the field of fluid mechanics studying the dynamics of a liquid jet transiting from the Rayleigh to the atomization regimes. The injector under examination

Efficient control over the grain boundaries (GBs) is a vital aspect in optimizing the graphene growth conditions. A number of methods for visualization of GBs were developed for graphene grown on weakly interacting surfaces. Here, we utilize oxygen intercalation to reveal GBs and study their morphology for graphene strongly bound to the cobalt surface. We demonstrate that upon the intercalation of

A novel interferometric technique to measure small wedge angle of transparent windows is proposed. The technique is based on the measurement of the shift of the interference pattern generated by two sheared copies of a laser beam after crossing the optical wedge. A simple lens is used to combine the two beams in their focal plane and measurements are taken for different shears. It is not necessary