Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, the two main forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), are immunologically mediated disorders. Several therapies are focused on activated T cells as key ...targets. Although
has shown anti-inflammatory effects in animal models, few studies were done using human mucosal T cells. The aim of this work was to investigate the immunomodulatory effects of this bacterium on intestinal T cells from patients with active IBD. Mucosal biopsies and surgical samples from IBD adult patients (
= 19) or healthy donors (HC;
= 5) were used. Lamina propria mononuclear cells were isolated by enzymatic tissue digestion, and entero-adhesive
-specific lamina propria T cells (LPTC) were expanded. The immunomodulatory properties of
CIDCA 8348 strain were evaluated on biopsies and on anti-CD3/CD28-activated LPTC. Secreted cytokines were quantified by ELISA, and cell proliferation and viability were assessed by flow cytometry. We found that
reduced spontaneous release of IL-6 and IL-8 from inflamed biopsies
Activated LPTC from IBD patients showed low proliferative rates and reduced secretion of TNF-α, IL-6, IFN-γ and IL-13 in the presence of
. In addition,
induced an increased frequency of CD4
FOXP3
LPTC along with high levels of IL-10. This is the first report showing an immunomodulatory effect of
CIDCA 8348 on human intestinal cells from IBD patients. Understanding the mechanisms of interaction between probiotics and immune mucosal cells may open new avenues for treatment and prevention of IBD.
High-intensity ultrasound is a technology used to improve the performance of processes in the chemical, pharmaceutical, biomass pretreatment, and food industries. However, few studies were described ...in the literature to comprehend the acoustic wave propagation in the material and their efficiency in the process. Thus, this study aims to determine the acoustic fields of aqueous biomass solutions from flower stalk banana using the calorimetric method and a determined sonotrode position. These tests were conducted at temperatures from 0 to 60 °C and ultrasound power from 120, 160, to 320 W. Also, the specific heat capacity and density of the solution were determined experimentally as a function of the solution concentration (0.040 to 0.100 g biomass mL
−1
), pH (3, 5, and 7), and temperature. The position of the thermocouple was maintained at 1 cm from the sonotrode, and the ultrasound frequency was 24 kHz. The methods and results presented in this study can be used to reproduce acoustic field calculations in aqueous biomass solutions, aiming the construction of acoustic processor systems.
Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of feed restriction on intake of
Moringa oleifera
(MO) or
Leucaena leucocephala
(LL) and growth of rabbits. In experiment one, 45 rabbits (male ...and female) weighing 1.18 ± 0.15 kg were used. They were randomly distributed to three feed restriction treatments (20, 30, and 40%) with 15 rabbits each (9 females and 6 males) and they were offered
M
.
oleifera
(MO) ad libitum
.
In experiment two, 45 growing male rabbits weighing 0.63 ± 0.113 kg were used. They were randomly assigned to 0, 20, and 30% feed restriction diets, and they have free access to
L
.
leucocephala
(LL). Intake of MO increased (
P
< 0.05) conforming feed restriction increased (40.6, 52.9, and 55.2 g/day of MO for 20, 30, and 40%, respectively). Daily liveweight gain and feed conversion did not differ (
P
> 0.05), and economic efficiency was similar among treatments. Consumption of LL increased (
P
< 0.05) in rabbits under the 30% restriction treatment in comparison to that of rabbits restricted 20% (46.0 and 44.4 g/day, respectively). Total feed intake (LL + feed) was highest in 20% restricted rabbits (108.0, 100.8, and 93.2 g/day for 20, 30, and 0%, respectively). Daily liveweight gain and feed conversion were not affected by feed restriction (
P
> 0.05). Economic efficiency improved twice in feed-restricted rabbits (2.0 and 2.3 for 20 and 30%, respectively) in contrast to that of the control 0% group (1.1). The results suggest that rabbits restricted up to 30% and supplemented with either MO or LL did not affect growth performance and reduced feed cost.
We collected blood samples from 756 ≥2-year-old cattle in 54 herds in Yucatan, Mexico, and used all of those to determine the antibody seroprevalences (in an indirect enzyme-linked inmunosorbance ...assay) to bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) and risk factors for animal-level seropositivity. We used 728 of the same samples (from 52 of the same herds) to do the same for parainfluenza virus-3 (PIV3). Cattle were selected by two-stage cluster sampling. Herd-level and animal-level risk factors were obtained through a personal interview. We analyzed the data by using a random-effects multivariable logistic regression model for clustered observations. All herds had at least 3 (BRSV) or 5 (PIV3) seropositive animals. The animal-level true seroprevalences were: 90.8% (86.5, 95.2%) and 85.6% (80.9, 90.4%) for BRSV and PIV3, respectively. Animals in large herds and old animals had the highest odds of being seropositives to BRSV, and those risk factors plus animals born on the farm for PIV3 infection.
Considering that their distribution is limited to altitudinal gradients along mountains that are likely to become warmer and drier, climate change poses an increased threat to temperate forest ...species from tropical regions. We studied whether the understorey shrub Lupinus elegans, endemic to temperate forests of west-central Mexico, will be able to withstand the projected temperature increase under seven climate change scenarios. Seeds were collected along an altitudinal gradient and grown in a shade-house over 7 months before determining their temperature tolerance as electrolyte leakage. The plants from colder sites tolerated lower temperatures, i.e. the temperature at which half of the maximum electrolyte leakage occurred (LT sub(50)), ranged from -6.4 plus or minus 0.7 to -2.4 plus or minus 0.3 degree C. In contrast, no pattern was found for tolerance to high temperature (LT sub(50) average 42.8 plus or minus 0.3 degree C). The climate change scenarios considered here consistently estimated an increase in air temperature during the present century that was higher for the maximum air temperature than for the mean or minimum. In particular, the anomaly from the normal maximum air temperature at the study region ranged from 2.8 degree C by 2030 to 5.8 degree C by 2090. In this respect, the inability of L . elegans to adapt to increasingly higher temperatures found here, in addition to a possible inhibition of reproduction caused by warmer winters, may limit its future distribution.
In natural plant populations, the spatial genetic structure (SGS) is occasionally associated with evolutionary and ecological features such as the mating system, individual fitness, inbreeding ...depression and natural selection of the species of interest. The very rare Mexican P. chihuahuana tree community covers an area no more than 300 ha and has been the subject of several studies concerning its ecology and population genetics. The overall aim of most of these studies has been to obtain data to help design preservation and conservation strategies. However, analysis of the fine-scale SGS in this special forest tree community has not yet been conducted, which might help enrich the above mentioned conservation programs. In this study, we examined the SGS of this community, mostly formed by P. chihuahuana Martínez, Pinus strobiformis Ehrenberg ex Schlechtendah, Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco, and Populus tremuloides Michx, in 14 localities at both the fine and large scales, with the aim of obtaining a better understanding of evolutionary processes. We observed a non-significant autocorrelation in fine-scale SGS, suggesting that the genetic variants of all four tree species are randomly distributed in space within each sampled plot of 50 x 50 m. At the larger scale, the autocorrelation was highly significant for P. chihuahuana and P. menziesii, probably as a result of insufficient gene flow due to the extreme population isolation and small sizes. For these two species our results provided strong support for the theory of isolation by distance.
A recently discovered Mexican parasitoid species of Eurytomidae (Hymenoptera),
Eurytoma sivinskii Gates and Grissell, has the unique behavior, for its family, of attacking tephritid fruit fly pupae (
...Anastrepha spp.) on or in the soil. Adults burrowed but did so rarely, thus pupae on the soil surface were significantly more vulnerable than those underground. Females facultatively hyperparasitized other larval-prepupal and pupal parasitoids such as
Opius hirtus (Braconidae),
Coptera haywardi (Diapriidae) and
Pachycrepoideus vindemiae (Pteromalidae). While
E. sivinskii developed in the pupae of various other
Anastrepha, including,
A. serpentina and
A. striata, it also attacked cyclorraphous Diptera such as
Musca domestica and a tachinid species. The number of expected female offspring (
R
o
) was 44.3 when measured as eclosed eggs (i.e., that became larvae) and 34.3 when measured as the number of emerged adults, and the intrinsic rate of natural increase (
r
m
) was 0.34. This is high relative to other fruit fly parasitoids and suggests that
E. sivinskii could rapidly exploit a clumped resource. We conclude that the marginal ability of
E. sivinskii to attack buried pupae and the environmental risks it poses through its broad host range and capacity for hyperparasitism make it a poor candidate for tephritid biological control.
Abstract
Background
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the ‘silent pandemics’ associated with mental health became more visible; likewise, the confinement made us reflect on the importance of family ...environments for health promotion. On the other hand, child and adolescent suicide increases alarmingly; a context that highlights the need to consolidate health promotion actions from the emotional and social dimensions based on educational strategies with the community, be women, key to strengthen the community health system.
Objectives
To train 46 women as social and emotional health promoters in children and adolescents through the gamification methodology; 9 training sessions were held, developing the modules: a) Definition of social health and emotional health and play and gamification tools, b) Social health, c) Emotional health and d) Proposal for health promotion.
Results
Community mothers and women caregivers succeeded: a) Identification and application of the gamification methodology for the formulation of health promotion actions based on the projects implemented, such as: ‘I take care of myself to care for another', ‘Run with My Emotions', ‘Take Care of Myself and Be Happy', ‘Educational Mental Health', ‘Happy Explorers', ‘Active Squad'; b) Recognition of social and emotional health as well as personal and context risk factors; and c) Benefit your 46 families, an average of 5 persons per household, serving 230 persons in the community and 475 children and adolescents belonging to 36 community homes involved in the process.
Conclusions
Installed capacity was generated by certifying 46 women in the course: Gamification, play and playful, fundamental axes in the promotion of social and emotional health in children and adolescents; evidencing the strengthening of social and family ties based on the personal growth of trained women and the recognition of the role of participating women as multipliers and health promoters in their communities.
Key messages
• Gamification as a methodology for health education evidence significant learning in women and in their transfer of knowledge to children and adolescents.
• Training women as health promoters makes it possible to strengthen the community health system, recognizing the educational role they have in their families and communities to be multipliers.
Neutron capture cross section measurements in time-of-flight facilities are usually performed by detecting the prompt γ-rays emitted in the capture reactions. One of the difficulties to be addressed ...in these measurements is that the emitted γ-rays may change with the neutron energy, and therefore also the detection efficiency. To deal with this situation, many measurements use the so called Total Energy Detection (TED) technique, usually in combination with the Pulse Height Weighting Technique (PHWT). With it, it is sought that the detection efficiency depends only on the total energy of the γ-ray cascade, which does not vary much with the neutron energy. This technique was developed in the 1960s and has been used in many neutron capture experiments to date. One of the requirements of the technique is that γ-ray detectors have a low efficiency. This has meant that the PHWT has been used with experimental setups with low detection efficiencies. However, this condition does not have to be fulfilled by the experimental system as a whole. The main goal of this work is to show that it is possible to measure with a high efficiency detection system that uses the PHWT, and how to analyze the measured data.
The effect of substrate surface roughness on the synthesis of carbon nanotube (CNT) junctions is studied. CNTs were obtained by a pulsed liquid injection chemical vapour deposition system (PLICVD) ...and grown on quartz substrates with different roughnesses. Nickel particles were used as catalyst and acetone as the carbon precursor. Results shown that CNTs growth depend strongly on the substrate irregularity. When roughness is present, the presence of CNT junctions are increased. On the quartz surface, without any modification of roughness, CNTs are not obtained. Thus, a growth mechanism for CNT junctions, based on the substrate roughness is suggested. This method represents an important alternative to produce CNTs for applying them in nanoelectronic devices.
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