Relationship between alcoholism addiction and periodontitis. An in vivo study using drinking-in-darkness protocol in rats.

Periodontal disease (PD) has been considered a probable risk factor for several systemic diseases. Among them, PD is presumed to be one of the possible etiologies of chronic illness of the central nervous system. In this context, poor oral health and PD is associated with substance abuse in humans. However, if periodontal lesions can produce addiction is unknown. This paper aims to evaluate the possibility that chronic periodontal injury (CPL) can cause ethanol binge intake in drink-in-darkness (DID) protocol in rats. In CPL group (n=10) experimental damage was done to the periodontal tissue of the secondmaxillary molar, the control group (n=9) received sham injury. Forty-three days after CPL the intake of ethanol was assessed using several concentrations in DID experiment. During the DID experiment, we observed significant differences between the binge-type consumption of ethanol at the lowest concentration of 10% (p=0.01). Differences in consumption of 20% ethanol are observed during a few days (p=0.04), and there are no differences in consumption at 40% concentration of ethanol (p=0.2). It is concluded that chronic periodontal lesion leads to alcoholism in Wistar rats

Population, activity and unemployment in the second half of the 20th century in Extremadura.

A lo largo de la segunda mitad del siglo XX se han producido las más profundas transformaciones de la historia regional, impulsadas tanto por factores exógenos como endógenos de toda índole. Se ha pasado de una economía agraria de subsistencia a una economía competitiva de los servicios y del conocimiento, lo que ha supuesto enormes excedentes de mano de obra agraria hasta el final de siglo. Excedentes que fueron engrosando la intensa sangría emigratoria de los sesenta y setenta, que arrastró al 40% de la población regional. Sin embargo, desde comienzos de los ochenta, la población ha tendido a estabilizarse. Pero la emigración ya había provocado un estrangulamiento irreparable en las edades activas y de procreación, un fuerte descenso de la natalidad acentuado por la caída de la fecundidad posteriormente y un profundo envejecimiento. Por otra parte, la retención de los efectivos jóvenes y adultos en sus lugares de origen, junto a otros factores, incrementaron el paro hasta niveles desconocidos, si bien es un fenómeno que se ha conseguido paliar en buena medida en los últimos años del siglo. El futuro se presenta incierto, pues aunque no existe ningún núcleo abandonado, el envejecimiento, la baja natalidad y el paro están hipotecando el desarrollo endógeno de los núcleos rurales de la región.Along the second half of the 20th century the deepest transformations of the regional history have been produced so much by factors exogenous as endogenous of every kind. It has passed of an agrarian economy of subsistence to a competitive economy of the services and of the knowledge, what has supposed enormous excesses of agrarian unemployment to the end of century. Surplus that enlarged the great volume of emigrant population of the sixties and seventy that supposed the 40% of the regional population. Nevertheless, from beginnings of the eighty, the population is being stabilized. But the emigration already had caused an irreparable strangulation in the active ages and of procreation and a strong descent of the birthrate accentuated by the fall of the fertility and a deep aging. On the other hand, the retention of the young and adult population in its places of origin, next to other factors, it has increased the unemployment to unknown levels, though is a phenomenon that has managed to alleviate itself in good measure in recent years of the century. The future is presented uncertain, therefore although no nucleus abandoned exists, the aging, the low birthrate and the unemployment are mortgaging the endogenous development of the rural nuclei of the region.peerReviewe

Analysis of Moon impact flashes detected during the 2012 and 2013 Perseids

We present the results of our Moon impact flashes detection campaigns performed around the maximum activity period of the Perseid meteor shower in 2012 and 2013. Just one flash produced by a Perseid meteoroid was detected in 2012 because of very unfavourable geometric conditions, but 12 of these were confirmed in 2013. The visual magnitude of the flashes ranged between 6.6 and 9.3. A luminous efficiency of 1.8 $\times$ 10$^{-3}$ has been estimated for meteoroids from this stream. According to this value, impactor masses would range between 1.9 and 190 g. In addition, we propose a criterion to establish, from a statistical point of view, the likely origin of impact flashes recorded on the lunar surface.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics on March 11, 201

Posición financiera de las entidades de Economía Social canarias

The objective of this study is to deepen in the knowledge of financial reality of the canaries social economy sector, trying to determining the factors that they can be conditioning their growth and survival. For this, we have made a comparative financial analysis of the cooperative and worker-owned firms respect to the joint of mercantile societies, trying to determining the variables that more contribute to differentiate the behavior of both types of firm, so that we could detect the principal advantages and weaknesses that characterize to non profit sector, contributing to the direction and efficiency of the political of promotion to this sector.Social economy, cooperative, worker-owned firms, financial analysis.

Hypoglycemic Effect of Kalanchoe pinnata (Lam) Pers. Leaf Extract

Introduction: Kalanchoe pinnata (Lam) Pers (Crasulaceae) is a succulent ornamental plant. In Costa Rica, the leaves are used as a coadjuvant treatment for Diabetes Mellitus based on traditional knowledge of natural remedies. Moreover, there are some studies mentioning its use for Diabetes Mellitus as medicinal plant in several countries. This research aimed to demonstrate the antidiabetic properties of hydroalcoholic extracts of K. pinnata leaves through phytochemical screening, alpha amylase inhibition and rodent models. Methods: Crude extracts of K. pinnata leaves were prepared by infusion and decoction using water:ethanol (70:30) as a solvent. The extracts prepared by decoction (LAED, lyophilized-water:ethanol decoction) and by infusion (LAEI, lyophilized-water:ethanol-infusion) were analyzed by Folin Ciocalteu, HPLC and capacity of inhibition of α-amylase activity. To determine hypoglycemic activity in rats, extracts were administered orally at doses of 250, 500 and 750 mg/Kg and blood sugar levels were monitored over a four hours period using a glucometer. Results: A significant reduction (p < 0.05) in blood glucose was observed after one hour in rats treated with 500 mg/Kg of LAED extract. Treatment with 750 mg/Kg LAEI induced a statistically significant reduction in blood sugar at 90, 180 and 240 min, showing that the glucose-lowering effect of this extract was greater at a higher concentration. Conclusions: This study confirmed the hypoglycemic effect of K. pinnata extracts in the acute phase in rats and supports the use of this Crassulaceae as a home remedyInstituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica/[1510035]/TEC/Costa RicaUCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias de la Salud::Instituto de Investigaciones Farmacéuticas (INIFAR

The cyanobacterial ribosomal-associated protein LrtA from Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 is an oligomeric protein in solution with chameleonic sequence properties

The LrtA protein of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 intervenes in cyanobacterial post-stress survival and in stabilizing 70S ribosomal particles. It belongs to the hibernating promoting factor (HPF) family of proteins, involved in protein synthesis. In this work, we studied the conformational preferences and stability of isolated LrtA in solution. At physiological conditions, as shown by hydrodynamic techniques, LrtA was involved in a self-association equilibrium. As indicated by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), circular dichroism (CD) and fluorescence, the protein acquired a folded, native-like conformation between pH 6.0 and 9.0. However, that conformation was not very stable, as suggested by thermal and chemical denaturations followed by CD and fluorescence. Theoretical studies of its highly-charged sequence suggest that LrtA had a Janus sequence, with a context-dependent fold. Our modelling and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations indicate that the protein adopted the same fold observed in other members of the HPF family ( - - - - - ) at its N-terminal region (residues 1–100), whereas the C terminus (residues 100–197) appeared disordered and collapsed, supporting the overall percentage of overall secondary structure obtained by CD deconvolution. Then, LrtA has a chameleonic sequence and it is the first member of the HPF family involved in a self-association equilibrium, when isolated in solution.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CTQ2015-64445-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad BIO2016-78020-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad FIS2014-52212-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad BIO2016-75634-PFundación Séneca 19353/PI/1

Directed Irradiation Synthesis as an Advanced Plasma Technology for Surface Modification to Activate Porous and “as-received” Titanium Surfaces

For the design of smart titanium implants, it is essential to balance the surface properties without any detrimental effect on the bulk properties of the material. Therefore, in this study, an irradiation-driven surface modification called directed irradiation synthesis (DIS) has been developed to nanopattern porousand“as-received”c.p. Tisur faces with the aim of improving cellular viability. Nano features were developed using singly-charged argon ions at 0.5 and 1.0 keV energies, incident angles from 0◦ to 75◦ degrees, and fluences up to 5.0×1017 cm−2. Irradiated surfaces were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and contact angle, observing an increased hydrophilicity (a contact angle reduction of 73.4% and 49.3%) and a higher roughness on both surfaces except for higher incident angles, which showed the smoothest surface. In-vitro studies demonstrated the biocompatibility of directed irradiation synthesis (DIS) reaching 84% and 87% cell viability levels at 1 and 7 days respectively, and a lower percentage of damaged DNA in tail compared to the control c.p. Ti. All these results confirm the potential of the DIS technique to modify complex surfaces at the nanoscale level promoting their biological performance.Department of Defense (Spain) contract W81XWH-11-2-0067Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain grant MAT2015-71284-

Response of obesity-resistant BALB/c mice to a ketogenic diet

Introduction. The ketogenic diet (KD) is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet in which the body undergoes metabolic adjustments that stimulate ketogenesis, thereby increasing circulating ketone bodies. Loss of body weight is attributed to these adjustments, as well as neuroprotective properties. However, the mechanisms involved are still not fully elucidated. That aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of a ketogenic diet on body composition, feeding behavior and glucose metabolism in mice of the BALB/c strain, a mouse model resistant to obesity. Materials and methods. BALB/c mice of both sexes, 12 weeks old, were divided into KD and control groups, which received a ketogenic diet (Research Diets) or standard chow (LabDiet 5001), respectively, for 23 days. Throughout the experiment, body weight gain, water and food intake were measured, whereas body mass index (BMI), the percentage of interscapular, inguinal, and visceral adipose tissue and blood b-hidroxybutyrate levels were measured at the end of the protocol. In addition, glucose tolerance tests were carried out at the beginning and at the end of the experiment. Results. Similar body weight gain (10%) was observed in males and females on KD compared to the control group (p\u3c0.05). However, a higher BMI was observed only in males. The KD group consumed 50% less food in both sexes, whereas water consumption was diminished 25% in males and 50% in females, compared to the control (p= 0.0001). The estimated energy intake was lower (12 Kcal) in males on ketogenic diet, but not in females. Regarding the metabolic state at day 23, in KD mice levels of b-hidroxybutyrate increased to 0.4 mmol/L in males and 0.7 mmol/L in females. Mice of both sexes on KD showed increased inguinal and visceral fat, when compared to the control group on standard chow. At day 23, the glucose tolerance test showed an increase in the area under the curve, indicating impaired glucose tolerance, in both males and females on KD. Conclusions. In obesity-resistant BALB/c mice, the consumption of a ketogenic diet for a short period induces a state of nutritional ketosis accompanied by weight gain, increased fat tissue, and impaired glucose intolerance