Genetic resistance to powdery mildew in common bean

Powdery mildew can cause severe yield losses in bean crops. Limited information about resistance sources, and nature and inheritance of resistance are available to bean breeders and plant pathologist. Sources of resistance were searched in seedling tests under controlled conditions in 44 well-known genotypes and in a Spanish germplasm core collection consisting on 201 accessions. A 0-4 scale was used to describe the infection types (IT) observed. Only six out of the 245 evaluated genotypes showed a complete resistance (IT0) without visible symptoms on the leaves: Amanda, Belneb, Cornell 49242, Negro San Luis, Porrillo Sintetico and the local accession BGE003161. Inheritance of resistance was studied in F and F segregating populations. Observed reactions in the five segregating populations fitted to Mendelian ratios with different modes of inheritance. Results revealed that cultivar Porrillo Sintetico carries two dominant and independent resistance genes: one gene conferring complete resistance (IT0), and another gene conferring IT3, characterized by a moderate mycelial development on the leaves. Both genes show a dominant epistatic relationship. Inheritance of response to powdery mildew in cv. Cornell 49242 was similar to cv. Porrillo Sintetico although the correspondence with the genes described in Porrillo Sintetico was not established. Line X2776 carries one dominant gene conferring IT3, and shares this gene with cv. Porrillo Sintetico. In cv. Amanda, two complementary genes appear to be involved in resistance to this fungus. This information will be relevant for the implementation of breeding programs focused on the development of cultivars carrying genetic resistance to powdery mildew

Multiplex SNaPshot for detection of BRCA1/2 common mutations in Spanish and Spanish related breast/ovarian cancer families

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>It is estimated that 5–10% of all breast cancer are hereditary and attributable to mutations in the highly penetrance susceptibility genes <it>BRCA1 </it>and <it>BRCA2</it>. The genetic analysis of these genes is complex and expensive essentially because their length. Nevertheless, the presence of recurrent and founder mutations allows a pre-screening for the identification of the most frequent mutations found in each geographical region. In Spain, five mutations in <it>BRCA1 </it>and other five in <it>BRCA2 </it>account for approximately 50% of the mutations detected in Spanish families.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We have developed a novel PCR multiplex SNaPshot reaction that targets all ten recurrent and founder mutations identified in <it>BRCA1 </it>and <it>BRCA2 </it>in Spain to date.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The SNaPshot reaction was performed on samples previously analyzed by direct sequencing and all mutations were concordant. This strategy permits the analysis of approximately 50% of all mutations observed to be responsible for breast/ovarian cancer in Spanish families using a single reaction per patient sample.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The SNaPshot assay developed is sensitive, rapid, with minimum cost per sample and additionally can be automated for high-throughput genotyping. The SNaPshot assay outlined here is not only useful for analysis of Spanish breast/ovarian cancer families, but also e.g. for populations with Spanish ancestry, such as those in Latin America.</p

Biodegradable PEG–dendritic block copolymers: synthesis and biofunctionality assessment as vectors of siRNA

One important drawback of most of the currently used dendrimers for biomedical applications is their high stability under physiological conditions that can result in cytotoxicity or complications induced by the accumulation of non-degradable synthetic materials in the organism. Particularly in the gene therapy field, vector stability can further hinder the intracellular release of the nucleic acid from the dendriplex, consequently leading to low transfection efficiencies. Therefore, biodegradable cationic dendritic structures have been eagerly awaited. However, the development of these dendritic nanocarriers is challenging because of the undesired and/or premature degradation observed during their synthesis and/or application. Here, we report new hybrid-biodegradable, biocompatible, non-toxic, and water-soluble azide-terminated PEG–GATGE dendritic block copolymers, based on a gallic acid (GA) core and triethylene glycol (TG) butanoate arms, incorporating ester bonds (E) at the dendritic arms/shell. Their successful functionalization by “click” chemistry with unprotected alkynated amines allowed complexation and delivery of siRNA. The hydrophobic character of the GATGE building unit confers to these hydrolyzable dendritic bionanomaterials a great ability to complex, protect and mediate the cellular internalization of siRNA. Moreover, the localization of the degradation points at the dendritic periphery, close to the complexed siRNA, was found to be important for nucleic acid release from the nanoparticles, rendering a significant improvement of the transfection efficiency compared to their hydrolytically stable PEG–GATG copolymer counterparts. The present study puts forward these biodegradable PEG–dendritic block copolymers not only as suitable vectors for nucleic acids, but also as new avenues for further developments exploring their use in theranosticsThe authors would like to acknowledge the FEDER funds through the Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade – COMPETE and the Portuguese funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (PTDC/CTM-NAN/112428/2009 and PTDC/CTM-NAN/3547/2014) that supported this work and the FCT / MEC through National Funds and, when applicable, co-financed by the FEDER via the PT2020 Partnership Agreement under the 4293 Unit I&D. V. Leiro acknowledges the support by FCT (SFRH/BPD/69110/2010) and by the project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000012, financed by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). P.M.D. Moreno acknowledges the support from the Marie Curie Actions of the European Community’s Seventh Framework Program (PIEF-GA-2011-300485) and FCT fellowship (SFRH/BPD/108738/2015). This work was also financially supported by the Spanish Government (MINECO: CTQ2012-34790, CTQ2012-33436) and the Xunta de Galicia (CN2011/037)S

Forensic Odontology and its applicability in processing crime scenes and other catastrophic events

En los últimos años la odontología forense alcanza a nivel mundial fundamental importancia, consiguiendo, mediante determinados procedimientos, estimar hora y fecha de muerte de una persona, facilitando la resolución de múltiples y complicados casos de muerte. Los procedimientos empleados también permiten el levantamiento de huellas aplicando técnicas para queiloscopía, mordidas, registro de rugas palatinas, brindando de esta forma un gran aporte en la investigación criminal en su primera fase indagatoria, dentro de la cual el procesamiento de la escena busca colectar indicios y evidencias vinculantes al hecho, que posteriormente a través de una cadena de custodia se trasladarán al laboratorio donde los indicios y evidencias serán estudiados, pasando a ser medios de prueba pericial para poder identificar el hecho y la autoria de un acto presuntamente criminal. Se presenta así una recopilacion de literatura concerniente al tema que busca informar al odontólogo de practica general sobre terminología, procedimientos y demás relacionados a las ciencias forenses, con el propósito de informar y actualizar sus conocimientos al respecto.In recent years, forensic dentistry reaches critical importance worldwide, getting through certain procedures to estimate, time and date of death of a person, facilitating the resolution of multiple and complicated cases of death. The procedures employed also allow the lifting of fingerprints by applying techniques; Queiloscopía, Biting, Registration Rugas Palatine, providing thus a great contribution in the Criminal Investigation in its first phase Inquest, within which the processing of the scene seeks to collect evidence and binding evidence the fact that subsequently through a chain of custody is transferred to the laboratory where the evidence and evidence will be studied, becoming media expert evidence to identify the fact and authorship of an allegedly criminal act, thus presents a collection of literature concerning the subject that seeks to inform the general practice dentist on terminology, procedures and other related forensic sciences in order to inform and update their knowledge about it

A case of inflammatory pseudotumour of the gallbladder presenting as a big mass of uncertain behavior

Background: Inflammatory pseudotumour has been used to describe an inflammatory or fibrosing tumoral process of an undetermined cause that may involve a variety of organ systems, including the lungs, spleen, liver, lymph nodes, pancreas and extrahepatic bile duct with potential for recurrence and persistent local growth. In this article, we report a patient with a big mass of uncertain nature and behavior.Case presentationA 60-year-old woman presented with a 1-week history of abdominal pain, fever and jaundice. Six months before she had had right upper quadrant pain that was interpreted as biliary colic. A contrast-enhanced CT scan showed a big mass of soft tissue with diffuse infiltration of the gallbladder, displacement of the transverse colon, hepatic flexure and duodenum. For diagnostic distinction between a chronic inflammatory disease or a neoplasm, exploratory laparotomy was required. Intraoperative exploration disclosed a big mass of hard texture involving the gallbladder, with multiple concrements, hepatoduodenal ligament, right and transverse mesocolon, stomach and duodenum.Cholecystectomy was performed, preserving adjacent organs with macroscopic desmoplastic reaction. Histopathologic examination of the gallbladder showed a spindle cell proliferation with diffuse chronic inflammatory infiltrate of lymphocytes, plasma cells and hyalinized fibrous stroma. No vascular invasion or cellular atypia were evident.ConclusionInflammatory pseudotumour is a rare condition and diagnostic distinction from a chronic inflammatory disease or other neoplasm is only possible by histopathologic examination. There is a limited number of case reports in the literature indicating tumor location in the gallbladder

Direct Polyphenol Attachment on the Surfaces of Magnetite Nanoparticles, Using Vitis vinifera, Vaccinium corymbosum, or Punica granatum

This study presents an alternative approach to directly synthesizing magnetite nanoparticles (MNPs) in the presence of Vitis vinifera, Vaccinium corymbosum, and Punica granatum derived from natural sources (grapes, blueberries, and pomegranates, respectively). A modified co-precipitation method that combines phytochemical techniques was developed to produce semispherical MNPs that range in size from 7.7 to 8.8 nm and are coated with a ~1.5 nm thick layer of polyphenols. The observed structure, composition, and surface properties of the MNPs@polyphenols demonstrated the dual functionality of the phenolic groups as both reducing agents and capping molecules that are bonding with Fe ions on the surfaces of the MNPs via –OH groups. Magnetic force microscopy images revealed the uniaxial orientation of single magnetic domains (SMDs) associated with the inverse spinel structure of the magnetite (Fe3O4). The samples’ inductive heating (H0 = 28.9 kA/m, f = 764 kHz), measured via the specific loss power (SLP) of the samples, yielded values of up to 187.2 W/g and showed the influence of the average particle size. A cell viability assessment was conducted via the MTT and NRu tests to estimate the metabolic and lysosomal activities of the MNPs@polyphenols in K562 (chronic myelogenous leukemia, ATCC) cells

Coenzyme Q10 therapy

For a number of years, coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) was known for its key role in mitochondrial bioenergetics; later studies demonstrated its presence in other subcellular fractions and in blood plasma, and extensively investigated its antioxidant role. These 2 functions constitute the basis for supporting the clinical use of CoQ10. Also, at the inner mitochondrial membrane level, CoQ10 is recognized as an obligatory cofactor for the function of uncoupling proteins and a modulator of the mitochondrial transition pore. Furthermore, recent data indicate that CoQ 10 affects the expression of genes involved in human cell signaling, metabolism and transport, and some of the effects of CoQ10 supplementation may be due to this property. CoQ10 deficiencies are due to autosomal recessive mutations, mitochondrial diseases, aging-related oxidative stress and carcinogenesis processes, and also statin treatment. Many neurodegenerative disorders, diabetes, cancer, and muscular and cardiovascular diseases have been associated with low CoQ10 levels as well as different ataxias and encephalomyopathies. CoQ10 treatment does not cause serious adverse effects in humans and new formulations have been developed that increase CoQ10 absorption and tissue distribution. Oral administration of CoQ10 is a frequent antioxidant strategy in many diseases that may provide a significant symptomatic benefit.This work was supported by grants (FIS PI10/00543, FIS EC08/00076) from the Ministerio de Sanidad, Spain, and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER-Unión Europea); Servicio Andaluz de Salud-Junta de Andalucía (SAS 111242); Proyecto de Investigación de Excelencia de la Junta de Andalucía (CTS-5725); and by AEPMI (Asociación de Enfermos de Patología Mitocondrial), FEEL (Fundación Española de Enfermedades Lisosomales) and ALBA Andalucía (Federación Andaluza de Fibromialgia y Fatiga Crónica).Peer Reviewe

New GTC spectroscopic data and a statistical study to better constrain the redshift of the BL Lac RGB J2243 + 203

We present new spectroscopic data of the BL Lac RGB 2243 + 203, and its surroundings, obtained with the OSIRIS Multi Object Spectrograph (MOS) mounted in the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). The spectra of neither the BL Lac nor its host galaxy show any spectral feature, thus hindering direct determination of its redshift. The spectroscopic redshift distribution of objects in the MOS field of view shows four galaxies with redshift between 0.5258 and 0.5288. We make use of a statistical analysis to test the possibility that the targeted BL Lac may be a member of that group. By using the spectroscopic redshifts obtained with our GTC observations, we found that this probability is between 86 and 93 per cent.Fil: Rosa González, D. Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Optica y Electrónica; MéxicoFil: Muriel, Hernan. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Mayya, Y. D.. Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Optica y Electrónica; MéxicoFil: Aretxaga, I.. Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Optica y Electrónica; MéxicoFil: Becerra González, J.. Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias; EspañaFil: Carramiñana, Alberto. Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Optica y Electrónica; MéxicoFil: Méndez-Abreu, J.. Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Optica y Electrónica; MéxicoFil: Vega, O. Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Optica y Electrónica; MéxicoFil: Terlevich, E-. Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Optica y Electrónica; MéxicoFil: Coutiño de León, S.. Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Optica y Electrónica; MéxicoFil: Furniss, A.. Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Optica y Electrónica; MéxicoFil: Longinotti, A. L.. Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Optica y Electrónica; MéxicoFil: Terlevich, R. J.. Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Optica y Electrónica; MéxicoFil: Pichel, Ana Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio. - Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio; ArgentinaFil: Rovero, Adrian Carlos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio. - Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio; ArgentinaFil: Donzelli, Carlos Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental; Argentin

The Apoptotic Microtubule Network During the Execution Phase of Apoptosis

Apoptosis is a regulated energy-dependent process of cell death characterized by specific morphological and biochemical features in which caspase activation has a central role. During apoptosis, cells undergo characteristic morphological rearrangements in which the cytoskeleton participates actively. From a historical point of view, this reorganization has been assigned mainly to actinomyosin ring contraction with microtubule and intermediate filaments, both reported to be depolymerized at early stages of apoptosis. However, recent results have shown that the microtubule cytoskeleton is reformed during the execution phase of apoptosis, forming an apoptotic microtubule network (AMN). AMN is closely associated with the plasma membrane, forming a cortical ring or cellular “cocoon.” Apoptotic microtubules’ reorganization has been reported in many cell types and under many apoptotic inducers. Recently, it has been proposed that AMN is essential for preserving plasma membrane permeability and cell morphology during the execution phase of apoptosis. Apoptotic microtubules’ depolymerization leads cells to secondary necrosis and the release of toxic intracellular contents that can harm surrounding cells and initiate inflammation. Therefore, microtubules’ reorganization in physiological apoptosis during development and in the adult organism or in pathological apoptosis induced by anticancer treatments or chronic inflammation is essential for tissue homeostasis, preventing cell damage and inflammation

Graves' disease is associated with a defective expression of the immune regulatory molecule galectin-9 in antigen-presenting dendritic cells

Introduction Patients with autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) show defects in their immune-regulatory mechanisms. Herein we assessed the expression and function of galectin-1 and galectin-9 (Gal-1, Gal-9) in dendritic cells (DCs) from patients with AITD. Materials and Methods Peripheral blood samples from 25 patients with Graves’ disease (GD), 11 Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT), and 24 healthy subjects were studied. Thyroid tissue samples from 44 patients with AITD and 22 patients with goiter were also analyzed. Expression and function of Gal-1 and Gal-9 was assessed by quantitative RT-PCR, immunofluorescence and flow cytometry. Results A diminished expression of Gal-9, but not of Gal-1, by peripheral blood DCs was observed in GD patients, mainly in those with Graves´ ophthalmopathy, and a significant negative association between disease severity and Gal-9 expression was detected. In addition, the mRNA levels of Gal-9 and its ligand TIM-3 were increased in thyroid tissue from AITD patients and its expression was associated with the levels of Th1/Th12/Th17 cytokines. Immunofluorescence studies proved that intrathyroidal Gal-9 expression was confined to DCs and macrophages. Finally, in vitro functional assays showed that exogenous Gal-9 had a suppressive effect on the release of Th1/Th2/Th17 cytokines by DC/lymphocyte autologous co-cultures from both AITD patients and healthy controls. Conclusions The altered pattern of expression of Gal-9 in peripheral blood DCs from GD patients, its correlation with disease severity as well as its ability to suppress cytokine release suggest that Gal-9 could be involved in the pathogenesis of AITDThis work was supported by grants from the Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (FISS) PI10/ 02521 and S2010/BMD-2328 TIRONET (Comunidad de Madrid), Spain (to MM) and the Fondo de Cooperación Internacional en Ciencia y Tecnología (FONCICYT) 95395, European Union-México (to RGA