2015 recommendations for the management of polymyalgia rheumatica: a European League Against Rheumatism/American College of Rheumatology collaborative initiative

Therapy for polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) varies widely in clinical practice as international recommendations for PMR treatment are not currently available. In this paper, we report the 2015 European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR)/American College of Rheumatology (ACR) recommendations for the management of PMR. We used the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology as a framework for the project. Accordingly, the direction and strength of the recommendations are based on the quality of evidence, the balance between desirable and undesirable effects, patients'and clinicians'values and preferences, and resource use. Eight overarching principles and nine specific recommendations were developed covering several aspects of PMR, including basic and follow-up investigations of patients under treatment, risk factor assessment, medical access for patients and specialist referral, treatment strategies such as initial glucocorticoid (GC) doses and subsequent tapering regimens, use of intramuscular GCs and disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), as well as the roles of non-steroidal anti-rheumatic drugs and non-pharmacological interventions. These recommendations will inform primary, secondary and tertiary care physicians about an international consensus on the management of PMR. These recommendations should serve to inform clinicians about best practices in the care of patients with PMR

The Diploid Genome Sequence of an Individual Human

Presented here is a genome sequence of an individual human. It was produced from ∼32 million random DNA fragments, sequenced by Sanger dideoxy technology and assembled into 4,528 scaffolds, comprising 2,810 million bases (Mb) of contiguous sequence with approximately 7.5-fold coverage for any given region. We developed a modified version of the Celera assembler to facilitate the identification and comparison of alternate alleles within this individual diploid genome. Comparison of this genome and the National Center for Biotechnology Information human reference assembly revealed more than 4.1 million DNA variants, encompassing 12.3 Mb. These variants (of which 1,288,319 were novel) included 3,213,401 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), 53,823 block substitutions (2–206 bp), 292,102 heterozygous insertion/deletion events (indels)(1–571 bp), 559,473 homozygous indels (1–82,711 bp), 90 inversions, as well as numerous segmental duplications and copy number variation regions. Non-SNP DNA variation accounts for 22% of all events identified in the donor, however they involve 74% of all variant bases. This suggests an important role for non-SNP genetic alterations in defining the diploid genome structure. Moreover, 44% of genes were heterozygous for one or more variants. Using a novel haplotype assembly strategy, we were able to span 1.5 Gb of genome sequence in segments >200 kb, providing further precision to the diploid nature of the genome. These data depict a definitive molecular portrait of a diploid human genome that provides a starting point for future genome comparisons and enables an era of individualized genomic information

Train the Trainers: Recurso online para alinear capacidades y competencias transversales en el marco de la agenda europea de capital humano, empleabilidad y competitividad

El proyecto “Train the Trainers” continúa la labor de dos proyectos anteriores: 2019/20 No. 360 (La docencia en emprendimiento y emprendimiento social en los ecosistemas universitarios de referencia: Aplicación de las metodologías docentes de aprender a emprender en la Universidad Complutense de Madrid) y 2018/19 No. 218 (La docencia en emprendimiento y emprendimiento social en los ecosistemas universitarios de referencia). El proyecto ha supuesto la creación de un recurso online destinado a la formación en innovación social y emprendimiento dentro del marco de la Nueva Agenda de Capacidades de Europa empleando como prototipo la asignatura de “Crítica literaria e investigación contemporánea en lengua inglesa” del Grado de Estudios Ingleses. La propuesta se enmarca dentro de las líneas prioritarias del equipo rectoral y del Vicerrectorado de Emprendimiento y Empleabilidad, en línea con la normativa europea puesto que la universidad debe potenciar no solo la docencia y la investigación sino también la transferencia de conocimiento a la sociedad y el fortalecimiento de las salidas profesionales mediante la alineación de la docencia a las capacidades y competencias que se necesitan en el mercado laboral

Erratum: Corrigendum: Sequence and comparative analysis of the chicken genome provide unique perspectives on vertebrate evolution

International Chicken Genome Sequencing Consortium. The Original Article was published on 09 December 2004. Nature432, 695–716 (2004). In Table 5 of this Article, the last four values listed in the ‘Copy number’ column were incorrect. These should be: LTR elements, 30,000; DNA transposons, 20,000; simple repeats, 140,000; and satellites, 4,000. These errors do not affect any of the conclusions in our paper. Additional information. The online version of the original article can be found at 10.1038/nature0315

Impact of colchicine on mortality and morbidity in COVID-19: a systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: Colchicine, because of its anti-inflammatory and possible anti-viral properties, has been proposed as potential therapeutic option for COVID-19. The role of colchicine to mitigate cytokine storm and to decrease the severity and mortality associated with COVID-19 has been evaluated in many studies. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the role of colchicine on morbidity and mortality in COVID-19 patients. METHODS: This systematic review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA recommendations. The literature search was conducted in 6 medical databases from inception to February 17, 2021 to identify studies evaluating colchicine as a therapeutic agent in COVID-19. All included studies were evaluated for risk of bias (ROB) using the Revised Cochrane ROB tool for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) for case-control and cohort studies. RESULTS: Four RCTs and four observational studies were included in the final analysis. One study evaluated colchicine in outpatients, while all others evaluated inpatient use of colchicine. There was significant variability in treatment protocols for colchicine and standard of care in all studies. A statistically significant decrease in all-cause mortality was observed in three observational studies. The risk of mechanical ventilation was significantly reduced only in one observational study. Length of hospitalisation was significantly reduced in two RCTs. Risk for hospitalisation was not significantly decreased in the study evaluating colchicine in outpatients. Very few studies had low risk of bias. CONCLUSION: Based on the available data, colchicine shall not be recommended to treat COVID-19. Further high-quality and multi-center RCTs are required to assess the meaningful impact of this drug in COVID-19.KEY MESSAGESColchicine, an anti-inflammatory agent has demonstrated anti-viral properties in in-vitro studies by degrading the microtubules, as well as by inhibiting the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines.Colchicine has been studied as a potential therapeutic option for COVID-19, with variable results.Until further research can establish the efficacy of colchicine in COVID-19, the use of colchicine in COVID-19 shall be restricted to clinical trials

Emprender en el sector de la edición y la gestión editorial. Recurso para estudiantes de posgrado

El objetivo general de la educación es equipar a las personas con las competencias y la experiencia necesarias para su éxito profesional, promoviendo así también la mejora de la sociedad. En el marco de la Agenda Europea 2030 y Horizonte Europa es necesario planificar modelos que permitan mejores sistemas de innovación y empleo sostenible. Hoy por hoy existe un enorme desajuste entre el desarrollo competencial y los requisitos laborales. En España, problemas fundamentales son la baja capacidad de innovación y pensamiento crítico, la ausencia de colaboración intersectorial, y la escasa alineación de las competencias educativas con perfiles profesionales. En áreas docentes como las Humanidades no existe una cultura suficiente de emprendimiento. Este proyecto ha planteado la creación de un recurso que refuerce aspectos del Marco Europeo de Competencias Emprendedoras e impulse la articulación de emprendimiento entre los estudiantes de posgrado en el área específica de Edición y Gestión Editorial. El proyecto continúa la labor de proyectos anteriores: 2020/21 No.190 “Train the trainers: recurso online para profesores de la Facultad de Filología con el fin de alinear capacidades y competencias transversales en el marco de la agenda europea de capital humano, empleabilidad y competitividad”, 2019/ 20. No. 360 “La docencia en emprendimiento y emprendimiento social en los ecosistemas universitarios de referencia: Aplicación de las metodologías docentes de aprender a emprender en la Universidad Complutense de Madrid” y 2018/19- No. 218 “La docencia en emprendimiento y emprendimiento social en los ecosistemas universitarios de referencia”, los dos últimos coordinados desde la Oficina Complutense de Emprendimiento

The Diploid Genome Sequence of an Individual Human

Presented here is a genome sequence of an individual human. It was produced from ~32 million random DNA fragments, sequenced by Sanger dideoxy technology and assembled into 4,528 scaffolds, comprising 2,810 million bases (Mb) of contiguous sequence with approximately 7.5-fold coverage for any given region. We developed a modified version of the Celera assembler to facilitate the identification and comparison of alternate alleles within this individual diploid genome. Comparison of this genome and the National Center for Biotechnology Information human reference assembly revealed more than 4.1 million DNA variants, encompassing 12.3 Mb. These variants (of which 1,288,319 were novel) included 3,213,401 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), 53,823 block substitutions (2-206 bp), 292,102 heterozygous insertion/deletion events (indels)(1-571 bp), 559,473 homozygous indels (1-82,711 bp), 90 inversions, as well as numerous segmental duplications and copy number variation regions. Non-SNP DNA variation accounts for 22% of all events identified in the donor, however they involve 74% of all variant bases. This suggests an important role for non-SNP genetic alterations in defining the diploid genome structure. Moreover, 44% of genes were heterozygous for one or more variants. Using a novel haplotype assembly strategy, we were able to span 1.5 Gb of genome sequence in segments >200 kb, providing further precision to the diploid nature of the genome. These data depict a definitive molecular portrait of a diploid human genome that provides a starting point for future genome comparisons and enables an era of individualized genomic information