Effects of exposure to immersive computer-generated virtual nature and control environments on affect and cognition.

Previous research has shown that exposure to immersive virtual nature environments is able to induce positive affective and physiological effects. However, research on the effects on cognitive performance is scarce. Additionally, the effects of virtual nature exposure compared to a virtual control environment with a comparable amount of virtual objects have not been examined so far. Therefore, we conducted an experiment with 27 participants to study the psychological effects of such exposure. The virtual nature consisted of a 3D model of a typical forest environment, whereas the control environment was an abstract replication of the virtual forest environment. In both environments, a virtual wooden cart was used to transport the users from the start to the end of the virtual road. The typical background noise of moving such a cart was integrated into both environments as well. In addition, the virtual nature environment included typical forest sounds in the background, whereas the control condition did not have such background sounds. Both environments were compared with regard to their effects on cognitive performance (using trail making tests (TMTA, TMTB, and TMTB-A) as well as digit span forward and digit span backward tests), perceived restorativeness, mood, stress, sense of presence, and simulator sickness. The results showed that in comparison to the control environment, exposure to the virtual nature resulted in significantly higher cognitive performance, higher perceived restorativeness, higher positive affect, higher sense of presence, lower perceived stress, and lower simulator sickness.

Conserved metabolic enzymes as vaccine antigens for giardiasis.

Giardia lamblia is a leading protozoal cause of diarrheal disease worldwide. Infection is associated with abdominal pain, malabsorption and weight loss, and protracted post-infectious syndromes. A human vaccine is not available against G. lamblia. Prior studies with human and murine immune sera have identified several parasite antigens, including surface proteins and metabolic enzymes with intracellular functions. While surface proteins have demonstrated vaccine potential, they can exhibit significant variation between G. lamblia strains. By comparison, metabolic enzymes show greater conservation but their vaccine potential has not been established. To determine whether such proteins can serve as vaccine candidates, we focused on two enzymes, α-enolase (ENO) and ornithine carbamoyl transferase (OCT), which are involved in glycolysis and arginine metabolism, respectively. We show in a cohort of patients with confirmed giardiasis that both enzymes are immunogenic. Intranasal immunization with either enzyme antigen in mice induced strong systemic IgG1 and IgG2b responses and modest mucosal IgA responses, and a marked 100- to 1,000-fold reduction in peak trophozoite load upon oral G. lamblia challenge. ENO immunization also reduced the extent and duration of cyst excretion. Examination of 44 cytokines showed only minimal intestinal changes in immunized mice, although a modest increase of CCL22 was observed in ENO-immunized mice. Spectral flow cytometry revealed increased numbers and activation state of CD4 T cells in the small intestine and an increase in α4ß7-expressing CD4 T cells in mesenteric lymph nodes of ENO-immunized mice. Consistent with a key role of CD4 T cells, immunization of CD4-deficient and Rag-2 deficient mice failed to induce protection, whereas mice lacking IgA were fully protected by immunization, indicating that immunity was CD4 T cell-dependent but IgA-independent. These results demonstrate that conserved metabolic enzymes can be effective vaccine antigens for protection against G. lamblia infection, thereby expanding the repertoire of candidate antigens beyond primary surface proteins.

The burden of overweight: Higher body mass index, but not vital exhaustion, is associated with higher DNA damage and lower DNA repair capacity.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: DNA damage and the capacity to repair damaged DNA have been associated with the pathogenesis of several diseases such as cancer. While it is well known that external mutagenic agents can induce DNA damage, less is known about endogenous contributors to genomic instability. The aim of this study was to investigate whether excess body weight as a physiological factor and vital exhaustion as a psychological factor would be associated with basal levels of DNA damage as well as DNA repair capacity. SUBJECTS/METHODS: In a cross-sectional between-subject design we recruited 53 apparently healthy men within the normal to non-obese overweight range (mean BMI: 25.2 ± 0.5) who were either vitally exhausted (VE) (VE-score ≥ 10) or non-exhausted (VE-score ≤ 3). Vital exhaustion was assessed using the Maastricht Vital Exhaustion Questionnaire. We assessed DNA damage and repair in terms of strand breaks in PBMCs by means of the automated Fluorimetric Detection of Alkaline Unwinding (FADU) assay. DNA repair capacity was assessed by repeatedly measuring the amount of intact DNA up to 90 min after standardized X-irradiation of the cells. RESULTS: General linear models revealed that elevated levels of basal DNA damage (ß=-0.34, p=0.013, f=0.33) as well as impaired capacity to repair damaged DNA (F(1/50)=5.40, p=0.024, f=0.33) with increasing BMI, but not with vital exhaustion (p's ≥ 0.63). CONCLUSION: Our findings point to DNA integrity impairments with increasing BMI, already in the overweight range, and suggest impaired DNA repair as a potential underlying molecular mechanism. In contrast, the psychological factor vital exhaustion was not associated with DNA damage or DNA repair capacity.

Identification of Conserved Candidate Vaccine Antigens in the Surface Proteome of Giardia lamblia.

Giardia lamblia, one of the most common protozoal infections of the human intestine, is an important worldwide cause of diarrheal disease, malabsorption, malnutrition, delayed cognitive development in children, and protracted postinfectious syndromes. Despite its medical importance, no human vaccine is available against giardiasis. A crude veterinary vaccine has been developed, and experimental vaccines based on expression of multiple variant-specific surface proteins have been reported, but poorly defined vaccine components and excessive antigen variability are problematic for pharmaceutical vaccine production. To expand the repertoire of antigen candidates for vaccines, we reasoned that surface proteins may provide an enriched source of such antigens since key host effectors, such as secretory IgA, can directly bind to such antigens in the intestinal lumen and interfere with epithelial attachment. Here, we have applied a proteomics approach to identify 23 novel surface antigens of G. lamblia that show >90% amino acid sequence identity between the two human-pathogenic genetic assemblages (A and B) of the parasite. Surface localization of a representative subset of these proteins was confirmed by immunostaining. Four selected proteins, uridine phosphorylase-like protein-1, protein 21.1 (GL50803_27925), α1-giardin, and α11-giardin, were subsequently produced in recombinant form and shown to be immunogenic in mice and G. lamblia-infected humans and confer protection against G. lamblia infection upon intranasal immunization in rodent models of giardiasis. These results demonstrate that identification of conserved surface antigens provides a powerful approach for overcoming a key rate-limiting step in the design and construction of an effective vaccine against giardiasis.