More than 65 species of the genus Microcotyle Van Beneden & Hesse, 1863, have been described to date, most of them infecting Perciformes. Among the scorpaenoids (Perciformes, formerly ...Scorpaeniformes) the species of the genus Microcotyle parasitize sebastids and scorpaenids worldwide. In this study, we provide new morphological and molecular data for Microcotyle spp. in sebastids and scorpaenids from the Western Mediterranean and north-east Atlantic. Specimens of Helicolenus dactylopterus (Delaroche, 1809) (n = 107) and Scorpaena spp. (n = 107) were examined and their microcotylid specimens morphologically and molecularly characterized. Microcotyle merche n. sp. ex H. dactylopterus and specimens of Microcotyle algeriensis Ayadi, Gey, Justine & Tazerouti, 2016 from a new host and locality (Scorpaena scrofa from the north-east Atlantic) are herein described. Both species are phylogenetically close, but their morphology is markedly different mostly because the anterior lobe of the haptor present in other Microcotyle species is almost absent in M. algeriensis. Findings of M. merche n. sp. in the Mediterranean also excludes the presence of Microcotyle sebastis in this sea, encouraging the review of the exceptionally large host range and geographical distribution of this species.
COVID‐19 in elderly kidney transplant recipients Crespo, Marta; Pérez‐Sáez, María J.; Redondo‐Pachón, Dolores ...
American journal of transplantation,
October 2020, Letnik:
20, Številka:
10
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The SARS‐Cov‐2 infection disease (COVID‐19) pandemic has posed at risk the kidney transplant (KT) population, particularly the elderly recipients. From March 12 until April 4, 2020, we diagnosed ...COVID‐19 in 16 of our 324 KT patients aged ≥65 years old (4.9%). Many of them had had contact with healthcare facilities in the month prior to infection. Median time of symptom onset to admission was 7 days. All presented with fever and all but one with pneumonia. Up to 33% showed renal graft dysfunction. At infection diagnosis, mTOR inhibitors or mycophenolate were withdrawn. Tacrolimus was withdrawn in 70%. The main treatment combination was hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin. A subset of patients was treated with anti‐retroviral and tocilizumab. Short‐term fatality rate was 50% at a median time since admission of 3 days. Those who died were more frequently obese, frail, and had underlying heart disease. Although a higher respiratory rate was observed at admission in nonsurvivors, symptoms at presentation were similar between both groups. Patients who died were more anemic, lymphopenic, and showed higher D‐dimer, C‐reactive protein, and IL‐6 at their first tests. COVID‐19 is frequent among the elderly KT population and associates a very early and high mortality rate.
The authors report early and high mortality rates for elderly kidney transplant recipients.
There is an increasing demand on alternatives methods to animal testing. Numerous health parameters have been already studied using in vitro devices able to mimic the essential functions of the ...organs, being the real-time monitoring and response to stimuli their main limitations. Regarding the health of the gut, the short chain fatty acids, and particularly acetate, have emerged as key biomarkers to evaluate gut healthiness and disease development, although the number of acetate biosensors is still very low. This article presents a microbial biosensor based on fully biocompatible materials which is able to detect acetate in aerobic conditions in the range between 11 and 50 mM, and without compromising the viability and function of either bacteria (>90% viability) or mammalian cells (>80% viability). The detection mechanism is based on the metabolism of acetate by Escherichia coli bacteria immobilized on the transducer surface. Ferricyanide is used as a redox mediator to transfer electrons from the acetate metabolism in the bacterial cells to the transducer. High bacterial concentrations are immobilized in the transducer surface (109 cfu mL−1) by electrodeposition of conductive alginate hydrogels doped with reduced graphene oxide. The results show successful outcomes to exploit bacteria as a biosensing tool, based on the use of inkjet printed transducers, biocompatible materials and cell entrapment technologies.
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•Escherichia coli uses acetate as carbon source in aerobic conditions.•Stable, biocompatible, conductive alginate hydrogel is electrodeposited on inkjet printed sensor's working electrode.•Immobilization of high bacterial concentrations of E. coli within alginate hydrogel.•Bacterial metabolism oxidizes acetate, enabling amperometric measurement of electron flow via ferricyanide reduction.•Successful proof-of-concept demonstration of bioelectrochemical acetate detection is performed.
We sought to identify the comorbidities associated with heart failure (HF) in a non-selected cohort of patients, and its influence on mortality and rehospitalization.
Data were obtained from the ...'Registro de Insuficiencia Cardiaca' (RICA) of the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine. The registry includes patients prospectively admitted in Internal Medicine units for acute HF. Variables included in Charlson Index (ChI) were collected and analysed according to age, gender, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and Barthel Index. The primary end point of study was the likelihood of rehospitalization and death for any cause during the year after discharge.
We included 2051 patients, mean age 78 and 53% females. LVEF was ⩾ 50% in 59.1% of the cohort. There was a high degree of dependency as measured by Barthel Index (14.8 % had an index ≤ 60). Mean ChI was 2.91 (SD ± 2.4). The most frequent comorbidities included in ChI were diabetes mellitus (44.3%), chronic renal impairment (30.8%) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (27.4%). Age, myocardial infarction, peripheral artery disease, dementia, COPD, chronic renal impairment and diabetes with target-organ damage were all identified as independent prognostic factors for the combined end point of rehospitalization and death at 1 year. However, if multivariate analysis was done including ChI, only this remained as an independent prognostic factor for the combined end point (P < 0.001).
HF is a comorbid condition. ChI is a simple and feasible tool for estimating the burden of comorbidities in such population. We believe that a holistic approach to HF would improve prognosis and the relief the pressure exerted on public health services.
Harmonic mechanisms orchestrate neurogenesis in the healthy brain within specific neurogenic niches, which generate neurons from neural stem cells as a homeostatic mechanism. These newly generated ...neurons integrate into existing neuronal circuits to participate in different brain tasks. Despite the mechanisms that protect the mammalian brain, this organ is susceptible to many different types of damage that result in the loss of neuronal tissue and therefore in alterations in the functionality of the affected regions. Nevertheless, the mammalian brain has developed mechanisms to respond to these injuries, potentiating its capacity to generate new neurons from neural stem cells and altering the homeostatic processes that occur in neurogenic niches. These alterations may lead to the generation of new neurons within the damaged brain regions. Notwithstanding, the activation of these repair mechanisms, regeneration of neuronal tissue within brain injuries does not naturally occur. In this review, we discuss how the different neurogenic niches respond to different types of brain injuries, focusing on the capacity of the progenitors generated in these niches to migrate to the injured regions and activate repair mechanisms. We conclude that the search for pharmacological drugs that stimulate the migration of newly generated neurons to brain injuries may result in the development of therapies to repair the damaged brain tissue.
Perimeter detection systems detect intruders penetrating protected areas, but modern solutions require the combination of smart detectors, information networks and controlling software to reduce ...false alarms and extend detection range. The current solutions available to secure a perimeter (infrared and motion sensors, fiber optics, cameras, radar, among others) have several problems, such as sensitivity to weather conditions or the high failure alarm rate that forces the need for human supervision. The system exposed in this paper overcomes these problems by combining a perimeter security system based on CEMF (control of electromagnetic fields) sensing technology, a set of video cameras that remain powered off except when an event has been detected. An autonomous drone is also informed where the event has been initially detected. Then, it flies through computer vision to follow the intruder for as long as they remain within the perimeter. This paper covers a detailed view of how all three components cooperate in harmony to protect a perimeter effectively, without having to worry about false alarms, blinding due to weather conditions, clearance areas, or privacy issues. The system also provides extra information of where the intruder is or has been, at all times, no matter whether they have become mixed up with more people or not during the attack.
Abstract
The impact of phosphorus (P) nutrition on plant growth, symbiotic N2 fixation, and phosphorus and nitrogen use and their assimilation was investigated in four leguminous plants of the genus ...Cytisus. Plants inoculated with Rhizobium strains isolated from plants of the four species growing in the wild were crop under controlled conditions in soils with either low P (5 µM) or high P (500 µM). The experiment was replicated in the presence and absence of plant irrigation to test for the effects of drought stress of inoculated and non-inoculated plants under the two P levels of fertilization. P-low treatments increased nodule production while plant biomass and shoot and root P and N contents were maximum at sufficient P. The reduction of P in the soil clearly induced biological nitrogen fixation and greater phosphorus and nitrogen uptake efficiencies, as shown by the total N and P accumulated in plants. Similarly, distinct tolerances to drought support this idea. Cytisus balansae had the lowest tolerance to water scarcity. Cytisus multiflorus and Cytisus scoparius were the most resistant species to drought, with this resistance enhanced in the inoculated plants. In the four species, the inoculation treatment clearly enhanced N-use efficiency, whereas P-use efficiency was greater in the non-inoculated plants in the irrigated treatment. With a P-induced demand for N, the plants nodulated prolifically and increased N supply from biological fixation. The physiological basis for N2-fixing C. scoparius and C. striatus maintaining growth at low P supply and responding to greater P supply is through balanced acquisition of P and N for plant demand.
Native shrubby legumes are key species in natural ecosystems due to their capability to increase the net N budget in plants and soils and because they modulate the phosphorus availability. Four legumes in the genus Cytisus either native to or commonly represented in the Iberian Peninsula proved to be able shift their N use depending on the soil P availability and on the interactions established with their Bradyrhizobium symbionts. In the four species the inoculation treatment clearly enhanced N-use efficiency and drought tolerance, whereas P-use efficiency was greater in the non-inoculated plants in the irrigated treatment.
Neurogenesis is stimulated in the subventricular zone (SVZ) of mice with cortical brain injuries. In most of these injuries, newly generated neuroblasts attempt to migrate toward the injury, ...accumulating within the corpus callosum not reaching the perilesional area.
We use a murine model of mechanical cortical brain injury, in which we perform unilateral cortical injuries in the primary motor cortex of adult male mice. We study neurogenesis in the SVZ and perilesional area at 7 and 14 dpi as well as the expression and concentration of the signaling molecule transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-α) and its receptor the epidermal growth factor (EGFR). We use the EGFR inhibitor Afatinib to promote neurogenesis in brain injuries.
We show that microglial cells that emerge within the injured area and the SVZ in response to the injury express high levels of TGF-α leading to elevated concentrations of TGF-α in the cerebrospinal fluid. Thus, the number of neuroblasts in the SVZ increases in response to the injury, a large number of these neuroblasts remain immature and proliferate expressing the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and the proliferation marker Ki67. Restraining TGF-α release with a classical protein kinase C inhibitor reduces the number of these proliferative EGFR
immature neuroblasts in the SVZ. In accordance, the inhibition of the TGF-α receptor, EGFR promotes migration of neuroblasts toward the injury leading to an elevated number of neuroblasts within the perilesional area.
Our results indicate that in response to an injury, microglial cells activated within the injury and the SVZ release TGF-α, activating the EGFR present in the neuroblasts membrane inducing their proliferation, delaying maturation and negatively regulating migration. The inactivation of this signaling pathway stimulates neuroblast migration toward the injury and enhances the quantity of neuroblasts within the injured area. These results suggest that these proteins may be used as target molecules to regenerate brain injuries.
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