Is Inflammation a Mitochondrial Dysfunction-Dependent Event in Fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a complex disorder that affects up to 5% of the general population worldwide. Both mitochondrial dysfunction and inflammation have been implicated in the pathophysiology of FM. We have investigated the possible relationship between mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and inflammation in FM. We studied 30 women diagnosed with FM and 20 healthy women. Blood mononuclear cells (BMCs) from FM patients showed reduced level of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) and mtDNA contents and high level of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) and serum tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and transcript levels. A significant negative correlation between CoQ10 and TNF-alpha levels (r= -0.588; p < 0.01), and a positive correlation between ROS and TNF-alpha levels (r = 0.791; p < 0.001) were observed accompanied by a significant correlation of visual analogical scale with serum TNF-alpha and transcript levels (r = 0.4507; p < 0.05 and r = 0.7089; p < 0.001, respectively). TNF-alpha release was observed in an in vitro (BMCs) and in vivo (mice) CoQ10 deficiency model. Oral CoQ10 supplementation restored biochemical parameters and induced a significant improvement in clinical symptoms ( p < 0.001). These results lead to the hypothesis that inflammation could be a mitochondrial dysfunction-dependent event implicated in the pathophysiology of FM in several patients indicating at mitochondria as a possible new therapeutic target.Unión Europea FIS PI10/00543Servicio Andaluz de Salud Junta de Andalucía SAS 111242Junta de Andalucía CTS-572

AMPK Phosphorylation Modulates Pain by Activation of NLRP3 Inflammasome

Impairment in adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activity and NOD-like receptor family, pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation are associated with several metabolic and inflammatory diseases. In this study, we investigated the role of AMPK/NLRP3 inflammasome axis in the molecular mechanism underlying pain perception. Results: Impairment in AMPK activation induced by compound C or sunitinib, two AMPK inhibitors, provoked hyperalgesia in mice ( p < 0.001) associated with marked NLRP3 inflammasome protein activation and increased serum levels of interleukin-1b (IL-1b) (24.56 – 0.82 pg/ml) and IL-18 (23.83 – 1.882 pg/ml) compared with vehicle groups (IL-1b: 8.15 – 0.44; IL-18:4.92 – 0.4). This effect was rescued by increasing AMPK phosphorylation via metformin treatment ( p < 0.001), caloric restriction diet ( p < 0.001), or NLRP3 inflammasome genetic inactivation using NLRP3 knockout (nlrp3-/ - ) mice ( p < 0.001). Deficient AMPK activation and overactivation of NLRP3 inflammasome axis were also observed in blood cells from patients with fibromyalgia (FM), a prevalent human chronic pain disease. In addition, metformin treatment (200 mg/daily), which increased AMPK activation, restored all biochemical alterations examined by us in blood cells and significantly improved clinical symptoms, such as, pain, fatigue, depression, disturbed sleep, and tender points, in patients with FM. Innovation and Conclusions: These data suggest that AMPK/NLRP3 inflammasome axis participates in chronic pain and that NLRP3 inflammasome inhibition by AMPK modulation may be a novel therapeutic target to fight against chronic pain and inflammatory diseases as FM. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 24, 157–170.Junta de Andalucía CTS11

Impact of transient down-regulation of DREAM in human embryonic stem cell pluripotency: The role of DREAM in the maintenance of hESCs

Little is knownabout the functions of downstreamregulatory element antagonist modulator (DREAM) inembryonic stem cells (ESCs). However, DREAM interacts with cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) in a Ca2+-dependent manner, preventing CREB binding protein (CBP) recruitment. Furthermore, CREB and CBP are involved in maintaining ESC self-renewal and pluripotency. However, a previous knockout study revealed the protective function of DREAMdepletion in brain aging degeneration and that aging is accompanied by a progressive decline in stem cells (SCs) function. Interestingly, we found that DREAM is expressed in different cell types, including human ESCs (hESCs), human adipose-derived stromal cells (hASCs), human bone marrow-derived stromal cells (hBMSCs), and human newborn foreskin fibroblasts (hFFs), and that transitory inhibition of DREAMin hESCs reduces their pluripotency, increasing differentiation.We stipulate that these changes are partly mediated by increased CREB transcriptional activity. Overall, our data indicates that DREAMacts in the regulation of hESC pluripotency and could be a target to promote or prevent differentiation in embryonic cells.Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Innovación Ciencia y Empresa, FEDER CTS-6505; INP-2011- 1615-900000; P10-CVI-6095Instituto de Salud Carlos III, FEDER RD12/0019/0028; PI10/00964; PI14/0101

Latest discrete symmetries and Quantum Mechanics studies with KLOE-2

This work develops a methodology for estimating risk of wind-borne introduction of flying insects into a country, identifying areas and periods of high risk of vector-borne diseases incursion. This risk can be characterized by the role of suitable temperatures and wind currents in small insects' survival and movements, respectively. The model predicts the number density of introduced insects over space and time based on three processes: the advection due to wind currents, the deposition on the ground and the survival due to climatic conditions. Spanish livestock has suffered many bluetongue outbreaks since 2004 and numerous experts point to Culicoides transported by wind from affected areas in North Africa as a possible cause. This work implements numerical experiments simulating the introduction of Culicoides in 2004. The model identified southern and eastern Spain, particularly between June and November, as being at greatest risk of wind-borne Culicoides introduction, which matches field data on bluetongue outbreaks in Spain this year. This validation suggests that this model may be useful for predicting introduction of airborne pathogens of significance to animal productivity

Modyfing an attribute control chart: Daudin's methodology

Copyright (2012) American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in Pérez Bernabeu, E.; Sellés Cantó, MÁ.; Carrión García, A.; Jabaloyes Vivas, JM. (2012). Modyfing an attribute control chart: Daudin's methodology. AIP Conference Proceedings. 1431:920-924 and may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4707651There are many methods that can be applied to each one of the control charts, for instance, Daudin´s methodology, which proposal is to set two stages of decision, and a rule to go on with the second stage. It is always taken two samples and, at first, it is only analyzed the first sample. Then, depending on the rule, it is analyzed the second sample or not, so that a good decision can be made. It is stated that in the existing bibliography there are several studies about variable control charts, concretely, average control charts. On the other hand there are fewer contributions for the attribute control chart.Pérez Bernabeu, E.; Sellés Cantó, MÁ.; Carrión García, A.; Jabaloyes Vivas, JM. (2012). Modyfing an attribute control chart: Daudin's methodology. AIP Conference Proceedings. 1431:920-924. doi:10.1063/1.4707651S920924143

Gut microbial composition in patients with psoriasis

Since the last 5–10 years the relevance of the gut microbiome on different intestinal illnesses has been revealed. Recent findings indicate the effect of gut microbiome on certain dermatological diseases such as atopic dermatitis. However, data on other skin diseases such as psoriasis are limited. This is the first time attempting to reveal the gut microbiome composition of psoriatic patients with a prospective study including a group of patients with plaque psoriasis, analyzing their gut microbiome and the relationship between the microbiome composition and bacterial translocation. The microbiome of a cohort of 52 psoriatic patients (PASI score ≥6) was obtained by 16s rRNA massive sequencing with MiSeq platform (Illumina inc, San Diego) with an average of 85,000 sequences per sample. The study of the gut microbiome and enterotype shows from the first time a specific “psoriatic core intestinal microbiome” that clearly differs from the one present in healthy population. In addition, those psoriatic patients classified as belonging to enterotype 2 tended to experience more frequent bacterial translocation and higher inflammatory status (71%) than patients with other enterotypes (16% for enterotype 1; and 21% for enterotype 3).Medicin

Using Daudin's methodology for attribute control charts

There are many methods that can be applied to each one of the control charts, for instance, Daudin's methodology, which proposal is to set two stages of decision, and a rule to go on with the second stage. It is always taken two samples and, at first, it is only analyzed the first sample. Then, depending on the rule, it is analyzed the second sample or not, so that a good decision can be made. It is stated that in the existing bibliography there are several studies about variable control charts, concretely, average control charts. On the other hand there are fewer contributions for the attribute control chart.Pérez Bernabeu, E.; Sellés Cantó, MÁ.; Carrión García, A.; Jabaloyes Vivas, JM.; Sanchez-Caballero, S. (2011). Using Daudin's methodology for attribute control charts. Annals of the University of Oradea. 10(20):241-244. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/35898S241244102

2D copper-imidazolate framework without thermal treatment as an efficient ORR electrocatalyst for Zn–air batteries

To face unmet energy demands, the search for more stable, low-cost, and scalable electrocatalyst materials is imperative. Within this context, single-atom catalysts (SACs) have drawn considerable attention due to their maximum atom utilization. With this idea in mind, we have synthesized a new ultrathin and water-stable 2D Cu-based metal-organic framework (2DCIFs), which presents a notable electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline media without the need of calcination, which makes the difference when compared to most MOF-based electrocatalysts. The designed MOF-based SAC consists of single-atom sites (isolated and accessible Cu) coordinated to imidazole carboxylic ligands, giving rise to Cu-N4O actives sites confined into a 2D-nanostructured network. This unique structure, along with the ultrathin nature of nanosheets that favors mass transport and electrical conductivity, and the high chemical stability of these 2DCIFs are the key features of the excellent ORR performance, which occurs by a direct four-electron transfer pathway, an onset potential of 0.86 V vs RHE and a maximum current density of 6.4 mA·cm-2. These good catalytic properties of 2DCIFs have allowed their use as efficient air electrodes in alkaline flooded and all-solid-state Zn-air batteries. In the former case, 2DCIFsbased air electrodes presented a specific power density of 91.2 kW·cm-2·kg-1 and a specific capacity of 296.2 A·h·g-1, significantly exceeding the specific capacity values reported previously for other Cu-based catalysts. Besides, the specific capacity increased to 389.1 A·h·g-1 when 2DCIFs were tested in an all-solid-state Zn-air battery

Efecto del número de cuartones en el comportamiento productivo y el control de nematodos gastrointestinales y pulmonares en bovinos en crecimiento

A completely randomized design with a factorial arrangement was applied to 960 growing bovines in order to evaluate the ef- fect of two stable systems (rotation areas of 12 and 14 stables) on calves and yearlings during dry and rainy seasons, as well as on some productive traits behavior (initial weight, final weight, and daily gain) and gastrointestinal and pulmonary nematodes con- trol in animals and grasslands (“jiribilla” grass being dominant). Data were processed by a multiple classification variance analy- sis. Nematode main genera found in animals and grassland were Haemonchus, Oesophagostomum, Bunostomum, Trichostrongy- lus, and Dictyocaulus. Larval survival in grazing showed the highest values at 28 and 21 days during dry and rainy seasons, re- spectively, and a sudden decrease was detected from that date on. Parasitic infestation in animals and grassland was mainly influ- enced by management and handling system and season. The grazing system with 14 stables showed a better parasite control and productive traits behavior than the system with 12 stables. Therefore, 14 stables with a three-day occupation and resting periods should be established for growing bovine rearing.Se utilizaron 960 bovinos en crecimiento en un diseño completamente aleatorizado con arreglo factorial, para analizar el efecto de dos sistemas de acuartonamiento (rotación en áreas de 12 y 14 cuartones) en dos categorías de animales (terneros y añojas ) y durante las dos épocas del año (período lluvioso y poco lluvioso) en el comportamiento de algunos rasgos productivos (peso inicial, peso final y ganancia diaria) y en el control de nematodos gastrointestinales y pulmonares en el animal y en el pasto, don- de predominó la jiribilla. Los datos fueron procesados mediante un análisis de varianza clasificación múltiple. Los principales géneros de nematodos encontrados en el animal y el pasto fueron: Haemonchus, Oesophagostomum, Bunostomum, Trichostrongy- lus y Dictyocaulus. La supervivencia larvaria en el pasto presentó los valores más altos a los 28 y 21 días en la época de seca y de lluvia respectivamente, con descenso rápido a partir de estos momentos. En el animal y el pasto se observó que la infestación parasitaria está influenciada fundamentalmente por el sistema de manejo y la época del año. El sistema de pastoreo con 14 cuarto- nes presentó mejor control parasitario y comportamiento de los rasgos productivos que el sistema de 12. Se concluye que en la crianza de bovinos en crecimiento se debe establecer como mínimo 14 cuartones, con 3 días máximos de ocupación y reposo mínimo de 42 días en la época de seca y de 35 días en la época de lluvia

La Tutoría Estratégica como método de la Gestión del talento y el desarrollo de competencias en la enseñanza presencial

A través de una dinámica grupal los alumnos aportan nuevas áreas de estudio sobre la asignatura. Los temas de mayor interés serán objeto de una tutoría grupal para participar en el congreso de pregrado o en la creación contenidos multimedia