Contribution of inflorescences to seed filling have attracted great attention given the resilience of this photosynthetic organ to stressful conditions. However, studies have been almost exclusively ...focused to small grain cereals. In this study, we aimed to explore these responses in quinoa, as a climate resilient seed crop of elevated economic and nutritious potential. We compared the physiological and metabolic performance of panicles and leaves of two quinoa cultivars growing under contrasting salinity levels. Plant growth, photosynthetic and transpiratory gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence were monitored in inflorescences and leaves throughout the experiment. At flowering stage, young and mature leaves and panicles were sampled for key metabolic markers related to carbon, nitrogen and secondary metabolisms. When subjected to salt stress, panicles showed attenuated declines on photosynthesis, water use, pigments, amino acids, and protein levels as compared to leaves. In fact, the assimilation rates, together with a high hexose content evidenced an active photosynthetic role of the panicle under optimal and salt stress conditions. Moreover, we also found significant genotypic variability for physiological and metabolic traits of panicles and leaves, which emphasizes the study of genotype-dependent stress responses at the whole plant level. We conclude that quinoa panicles are less affected by salt stress than leaves, which encourages further research and exploitation of this organ for crop improvement and stress resilience considering the high natural diversity.
•Quinoa panicles are net sources of photosynthetic C assimilation at flowering stage.•Panicles show stable physiological and metabolic responses to salt stress.•Sugar dynamics are cultivar- and organ-dependent under salt stress conditions.•High levels of hexoses might be associated with salt stress tolerance.
Civil war experience in the Syrian home country, insecurity and critical life events during migration, or adverse events in the receiving country might affect refugees' mental health. This paper ...addresses the effects of psychological distress and mental disorders on refugees' labor market integration in Germany between 2016 and 2021. We employ survey data from about 2700 young Syrians, delivering information on individuals' experience of migration and arrival in Germany in 2016. The survey data were successfully merged with register data, delivering detailed information regarding individuals' process of labor market integration and employment status from 2016 to 2021. Overall, the labor market integration of young refugees improved remarkably over time. In 2021, about 69% of the study population was integrated in a wider sense, and 30% was employed in fulltime contracts in 2021. However, the results indicate long-lasting effects of PTSD and mental disorders on individuals' labor market integration, whilst individuals' characteristics related to migration and arrival lose relevance over time and hardly affect labor market integration around five years after arrival. High PTSD scores in 2016 indicate a significantly reduced full-time employment probability in 2021. Anxiety and depression show significant negative effects on individuals' labor market integration, but with a less severe impact compared to a PTSD diagnosis.
Introducción y Objetivo. El principal objetivo de este artículo es reconstruir el estudio de las emociones en el desarrollismo español (1957-1975) a través de la historia oral de alumnas procedentes ...de una escuela rural que, posteriormente, se convirtieron en maestras. Metodología. El estudio, de carácter local, se sitúa en el pueblo de Madrigueras (Albacete). Hemos optado por el enfoque cualitativo, concretamente por el método histórico-educativo, enmarcado en el paradigma de la nueva Historia Cultural y Social. A partir del análisis de contenido, hemos realizado entrevistas en profundidad y complementado esa información con el análisis de los manuales y los libros de lectura usados por las alumnas en esta época, así como con documentación del archivo local del Ayuntamiento de Madrigueras. Con esta investigación pretendemos, además, indagar en las características de aquella escuela rural; analizar las figuras de la maestra y de la alumna; asimilar el tratamiento emocional que se vivió en las aulas; y comprender la motivación que impulsó a estas alumnas a cambiar la manera de educar cuando se hicieron maestras. Resultados y Conclusiones. El tratamiento emocional experimentado en las aulas determinó el modo en que buscaron renovarse, seguir formándose y crear afectos con su alumnado cuando pusieron en marcha sus propias prácticas docentes.
The majority of patients diagnosed with idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder (iRBD) progress over time to a Lewy-type α-synucleinopathy such as Parkinson's disease or dementia with ...Lewy bodies. This in vivo molecular imaging study aimed to investigate if extrastriatal monoaminergic systems are affected in iRBD patients and if this coincides with neuroinflammation.
We studied twenty-one polysomnography-confirmed iRBD patients with 18F-DOPA and 11C-PK11195 positron emission tomography (PET) to investigate extrastriatal monoaminergic function and microglial activation. Twenty-nine healthy controls (n = 9 18F-DOPA and n = 20 11C-PK11195) were also investigated. Analyses were performed within predefined regions of interest and at voxel-level with Statistical Parametric Mapping.
Regions of interest analysis detected monoaminergic dysfunction in iRBD thalamus with a 15% mean reduction of 18F-DOPA Ki values compared to controls (mean difference = −0.00026, 95% confidence interval −0.00050 to −0.00002, p-value = 0.03). No associated thalamic changes in 11C-PK11195 binding were observed. Other regions sampled showed no 18F-DOPA or 11C-PK11195 PET differences between groups. Voxel-level interrogation of 11C-PK11195 binding identified areas with significantly increased binding within the occipital lobe of iRBD patients.
Thalamic monoaminergic dysfunction in iRBD patients may reflect terminal dysfunction of projecting neurons from the locus coeruleus and dorsal raphe nucleus, two structures that regulate REM sleep and are known to be involved in the early phase of PD. The observation of significantly raised microglial activation in the occipital lobe of these patients might suggest early local Lewy-type α-synuclein pathology and possibly an increased risk for later cognitive dysfunction.
•In vivo assessments of extrastriatal monoaminergic innervation in patients with iRBD•In vivo assessments of extrastriatal microglial activation in patients with iRBD•Thalamic monoaminergic dysfunction in patients with iRBD•Raised microglial activation in the occipital lobe of patients with iRBD
Background
Leucine‐rich kinase 2 (LRRK2)‐linked Parkinson's disease (PD) is clinically indistinguishable from idiopathic PD (IPD). A pleiotropic neuropathology has been recognized but the majority of ...studies in LRRK2 p.G2019S patients reveal Lewy‐type synucleinopathy as its principal histological substrate. To date no in vivo biomarkers of synucleinopathy have been found in LRRK2 mutation carriers.
Objectives
We used real‐time quaking‐induced conversion (RT‐QuIC) technique to assess the presence of alpha‐synuclein (a‐syn) aggregates in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of LRRK2 p.G2019S carriers.
Methods
CSF samples of 51 subjects were analyzed: 15 LRRK2 p.G2019S PD, 10 IPD, 16 LRRK2 p.G2019S nonmanifesting carriers (NMC) and 10 healthy controls. The presence of parkinsonism and prodromal symptoms was assessed in all study subjects.
Results
Forty percent (n = 6) LRRK2‐PD, and 18.8% (n = 3) LRRK2‐NMC had a positive a‐syn RT‐QuIC response. RT‐QuIC detected IPD with 90% sensitivity and 80% specificity. No clinical differences were detected between LRRK2‐PD patients with positive and negative RT‐QuIC. A positive RT‐QuIC result in LRRK2‐NMC occurred in a higher proportion of subjects meeting the Movement Disorder Society research criteria for prodromal PD.
Interpretation
RT‐QuIC detects a‐syn aggregation in CSF in a significant number of patients with LRRK2‐PD, but less frequently than in IPD. A small percentage of LRRK2‐NMC tested also positive. If appropriately validated in long‐term studies with large number of mutation carriers, and hopefully, postmortem or in vivo confirmation of histopathology, RT‐QuIC could contribute to the selection of candidates to receive disease modifying drugs, in particular treatments targeting a‐syn deposition.
Este artículo presenta los resultados de una investigación que pertenece al grupo de estudios sobre el conocimiento del profesorado. Tiene como objetivos explorar las concepciones de planificación ...del profesorado y del personal gestor de la formación profesional para el empleo y analizar similitudes y divergencias entre las mismas, puesto que ambos son agentes que participan en los procesos de planificación en esta formación. La metodología es de orientación cuantitativa basada en un método descriptivo. Se han analizado las concepciones de planificación a través de un cuestionario adaptado de Marrero (1988) y validado por personas expertas. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que no hay apenas diferencias entre las concepciones asumidas por el profesorado y las identificadas por el personal gestor. Las conclusiones apuntan los aspectos siguientes: los objetivos y el alumnado son la referencia en la planificación de la enseñanza de la formación profesional para el empleo, por encima de la experiencia o los contenidos; los cuatro aspectos deben incorporarse a la formación del profesorado como elementos de reflexión y aprendizaje básicos en el desarrollo profesional docente, y será necesario compaginar la docencia con la actividad profesional (OCDE, 2011; Barrientos y Navío, 2015) para favorecer la finalidad de esta política activa de empleo.
Central pattern generators (CPG) are neural circuits that generate robust sequences of coordinated neural activity to control motor rhythms. We have recently revealed the presence of dynamical ...invariants in the relationships between specific intervals that build the CPG sequence and the instantaneous period of the rhythm in the pyloric CPG of crustacean. In this paper, we analyze the variability of the intervals comprising the rhythm in a model of a mollusk feeding CPG. We measured the cycle-by-cycle time intervals of the CPG rhythm under distinct single neuron stimulation. We characterized interval variability and report dynamical invariants found only for specific time intervals building the sequence of the feeding CPG. Together with our previous findings, the results reported in this paper indicate that dynamical invariants can be a universal feature of any sequence generating circuit.
Both leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) and glucocerebrosidase (GCase) are promising targets for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Evidence suggests that both proteins are involved in ...biological pathways involving the lysosome. However, studies to date have largely investigated the enzymes in isolation and any relationship between LRRK2 and GCase remains unclear. Both enzymes are highly expressed in peripheral blood monocytes and have been implicated in immune function and inflammation. To facilitate the standardized measurement of these readouts in large cohorts of samples collected from persons with PD across the globe, we developed and optimized a sample collection and processing protocol with parallel flow cytometry assays. Assay parameters were first optimized using healthy control peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), and then LRRK2 and GCase activities were measured in immune cells from persons with idiopathic PD (iPD). We tested the ability of this protocol to deliver similar results across institutes across the globe, and named this protocol the Wallings-Hughes Optimized Protocol for PBMC Assessment (WHOPPA). In the application of this protocol, we found increased LRRK2 levels and stimulation-dependent enzymatic activity, and decreased GBA index in classical iPD monocytes, as well as increased cytokine release in PD PBMCs. WHOPPA also demonstrated a strong positive correlation between LRRK2 levels, pRab10 and HLA-DR in classical monocytes from subjects with iPD. These data support a role for the global use of WHOPPA and expression levels of these two PD-associated proteins in immune responses, and provide a robust assay to determine if LRRK2 and GCase activities in monocytes have potential utility as reliable and reproducible biomarkers of disease in larger cohorts of subjects with PD.
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