La cuestión terminológica en torno a los fenómenos de adquisición y aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras (LE). Los ‘lingüismos’

Getting inside the many areas surrounding the phenomenon of acquisition and learning of foreign language (FL), which is already arduous, may be hindered by the large number of meanings that are attached to the relationship between languages, that is to say ‘lingualisms’. As the world has become interdependent, ethnolinguistic diversity has been reflected in human relations in general and, as a consequence, a multitude of linguistic situations, which previously did not exist or were very rare, need to be recognized and named with their particular specificities. This picture has spread to classrooms in virtually every country where the teaching of FL is a core subject in their education systems. Often, different authors tend to use the same term, but with different meanings, which means that in many cases there is no standard use of many of these terms. The interest in this subject, and all kinds of varieties of languages in contact with each other, has produced a real explosion of terminology, which causes some confusion when talking about the different languages. The aim of this work is to carry out a terminological review of these terms included in the specialized literature, highlighting, on the one hand, the terminological confusion on a linguistic level and, on the other hand, the ideological component as a psycho-sociolinguistic fact that these terms contain. It also considers to what extent it is possible to bring together the scientific community in this respect.

Molecular epidemiology of Kaposi sarcoma virus in Spain

Background: Since human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) infection may be underestimated and HHV-8 subtype circulation in Spain remains unknown, a molecular epidemiologic study is highly desirable. Objectives: This study aimed to analyse HHV-8 subtype diversity and their distribution in Spain. Study design: The study included 142 HHV-8 infected patients. A nested PCR was developed in order to permit Sanger sequencing of HHV-8 K1 ORF directly from clinical samples received at the CNM from 2013 to 2021. Phylogenetic characterization was performed. Results: Genotypes A and C comprised 55.6% and 42.3% of strains. Regarding subtypes, 25.4% of strains were C3, 19.7% were A3, 14.1% were A5, and C2, A1, A4, C1, A2, C7 were 11.3%, 11.3%, 8.5%, 4.2%, 2.1% and 1.4%, respectively. Subtype E1, E2 and B1 were found in only one patient each (0.7%). The Madrid region accounted for 52.1% of patients and showed a significantly different subtype distribution compared to the others (P = 0.018). Subtypes B1, E1, and E2 were observed to appear sporadically, although overall genotypes A and subtype C3 remained the most frequent and unwavering. Subtype A3 presented the highest diversity as displayed by the highest number of clusters in phylogenetic analysis. Non-significant differences in viral loads between genotypes were found, but significantly higher viral loads in subtype C2 compared to subtype C3 was found, while no significant subtype differences were observed between subtypes within genotype A. Infections with HHV-8 were detected in 94 (66.2%) patients without KS and compared to patients with KS non-significant differences in subtype distribution were found. Conclusions: Subtype prevalence and regional distribution followed a similar pattern compared to other western European countries. Our study is the first to report HHV-8 subtypes E1 and E2 circulating in Europe that might be reflective of migration of population from Caribbean countries. Our study suggests that infection by HHV-8 is underestimated, and wider screening should be recommended for risk groups.This work was supported by funds and a grant from Instituto de Salud Carlos III. Project code MPY 1372/2012 and MPY 434/2021. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.S

Shotgun metagenomics to investigate unknown viral etiologies of pediatric meningoencephalitis

Introduction: Meningoencephalitis in children poses a diagnostic challenge, as etiology remains unknown for most of patients. Viral metagenomics by shotgun sequencing represents a powerful tool for investigating unknown viral infections related to these cases. Patients and methods: In a two-year, reference-centre, retrospective study, we investigated the usefulness of viral metagenomics of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for the diagnosis of viral infectious meningoencephalitis in forty seven pediatric patients, forty of them previously tested negative with a routine neurologic panel of viral targets that included herpesvirus 1-3 and enterovirus. We enhanced the detection by targeting viral sequences by hybrid capture. Raw sequence data was analysed using three bioinformatics pipelines. Results: Out of forty remaining children with meningoencephalitis of unknown viral etiology, a significant detection of viral nucleic acid by shotgun sequencing was found in twenty one, which was confirmed in ten of them by specific PCR: seven human endogenous retrovirus K113 (HER K113), one parechovirus 3, one human herpesvirus 5 (HHV5); one enterovirus B (Echovirus 9). The remaining eleven CSF were not confirmed by PCR: three rotavirus, one human herpesvirus 7 (HHV7), one influenza A, one mastadenovirus C, one sindbis virus, one torque teno virus, one human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1), one human alphaherpesvirus 3 (HHV3), one human alphaherpesvirus 2 (HHV2). Conclusions: Underutilization of currently available meningitis-encephalitis diagnostic techniques such as BioFire® FilmArray® is the main cause of undiagnosed cases of meningoencephalitis. However, in this study we detected uncommon viruses that should be considered, including virus, rotavirus, sindbis virus, influenza A virus and HHV7. No other viral sequences that could be readily linked to CNS inflammation were detected. Some findings may stem from reagent or sample contamination, as seen with papillomavirus; for others, the clinical relevance of the virus remains uncertain and should be substantiated by further studies, as is the case with endogenous retrovirus K113 virus. Online bioinformatics pipeline CZID represents a valuable tool for analysing shotgun sequencing data in cases of neurological conditions with unknown etiology. Altogether, this study highlights the potential of shotgun sequencing in identifying previously unknown viral neuropathogens and sheds light on the interpretation issues related to its application in clinical microbiology.This work was supported by a grant from Instituto de Salud Carlos III. Project code MPY434/2021. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.S

Metabolites, genomics, epigenomics, exposomics and health: Focus on serum bilirubin concentrations in subjects with metabolic syndrome from a Mediterranean population

Pòster presentat al congrés "Understanding Human Diseases Through Metabolomics: Interactions Among the Genome, Proteome, Gut Microbiome and Nutrition", Metabolomics and Human Health, Gordon Research Conference (February 3 - 8, 2019 Ventura, CA, United States)Although metabolomics aims at the measurement of small molecules (metabolites) in a biological sample, this knowledge requires additional information on the related genetic variants, epigenetic regulators and environmental factors (diet, smoking, physical activity, etc.) in order to translate the knowledge into actionable therapeutic or preventive evidence for complex disease outcomes. We focused on serum bilirubin, a metabolite generated when heme oxygenase catalyzes the degradation of heme (Figure 1). This produces biliverdin, which is converted into bilirubin by biliverdinreductase. Bilirubin is further processed in hepatocytes, where unconjugated bilirubin is conjugated by uridine diphosphate-glucuronosyltransferase (UDP-GT) to a water-soluble form for excretion. For decades, increased serum bilirubin concentrations were considered a threatening sign of underlying liver disease and had been associated with neonatal jaundice. However, data from recent years show that bilirubin is a powerful antioxidant and suggest that slightly increased serum bilirubin concentrations are protective against oxidative stress-related diseases

Untargeted metabolomics based on ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-ion mobility-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry for biomarker discovery of orange intake in a cross-over trial

Pòster presentat al congrés "Understanding Human Diseases Through Metabolomics: Interactions Among the Genome, Proteome, Gut Microbiome and Nutrition", Metabolomics and Human Health, Gordon Research Conference (February 3 - 8, 2019 Ventura, CA, United States)Diet is one of the most important lifestyle factors associated with health status. Currently, one of the main limitations of nutritional epidemiology and nutritional genomics is the difficulty in the measurements of dietary intake. In observational studies carried out in a large number of participants, the most commonly applied tools for estimating dietary intake are based on self-reporting, including food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) for the assessment of regular consumption (usually 1-year), or 24-h recalls for 1-day assessment. However, such instruments for data collection may contain several recall bias and other systematic or random errors that may have a great effect in the subsequent associations found. Although in recent years, it has been an improvement in increasing the validity and precision of food questionnaires due to the use of the new information technologies (Figure 1), these instruments are still biased and additional information based on objective biomarkers of food intake is needed

Crosstalk between smoking and the genome in older subjects with metabolic syndrome through genomics, epigenomics and transcriptomics

Pòster presentat a EMBO - EMBL Symposia Multiomics to Mechanisms - Challenges in Data Integration. September (11th – 13th 2019 European Molecular Biology Laboratory. Heidelberg, Germany)Tobacco smoking (Figure 1) is a major cause of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and appears to have a multiplicative interaction with the other major CVD risk factors (lipids, hypertension, diabetes and others present in the metabolic syndrome (MetS). Several omics have analyzed the separate effects of tobacco smoking on the genome, epigenome, transcriptome, metabolome, etc. However an integrated omics approach can help to better understand the crosstalk between tobacco smoking and the genome

Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Ion Mobility Separation-Quadruple Time-of-Flight MS (UHPLC-IMS-QTOF MS) Metabolomics for Short-Term Biomarker Discovery of Orange Intake: A Randomized, Controlled Crossover Study

A major problem with dietary assessments is their subjective nature. Untargeted metabolomics and new technologies can shed light on this issue and provide a more complete picture of dietary intake by measuring the profile of metabolites in biological samples. Oranges are one of the most consumed fruits in the world, and therefore one of the most studied for their properties. The aim of this work was the application of untargeted metabolomics approach with the novel combination of ion mobility separation coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry (IMS-HRMS) and study the advantages that this technique can bring to the area of dietary biomarker discovery, with the specific case of biomarkers associated with orange consumption (Citrus reticulata) in plasma samples taken during an acute intervention study (consisting of a randomized, controlled crossover trial in healthy individuals). A total of six markers of acute orange consumption, including betonicines and conjugated flavonoids, were identified with the experimental data and previous literature, demonstrating the advantages of ion mobility in the identification of dietary biomarkers and the benefits that an additional structural descriptor, as the collision cross section value (CCS), can provide in this area

Circulating adiponectin and Its association with metabolic traits and Type 2 Diabetes: gene-diet interactions focusing on selected gene variants and at the genome-wide level in high-cardiovascular risk mediterranean subjects

Adiponectin is gaining renewed interest since, in addition to its possible protective role against insulin resistance and arteriosclerosis, recent studies suggest other additional favorable effects. However, the influence of gene-diet interactions on plasma adiponectin levels is still little understood. We analyzed the association between plasma adiponectin levels and various metabolic traits in a high-cardiovascular risk Mediterranean population, as well as the genetic effect of four candidate single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the adiponectin gene (ADIPOQ) and their interactions with the Mediterranean dietary pattern. Additionally, we explored, at the genome-wide level, the SNPs most associated with plasma adiponectin levels, as well as gene–diet interactions with the Mediterranean diet. In the 954 participants studied (aged 55–80 years), plasma adiponectin levels were strongly associated with plasma HDL-C concentrations (p = 6.6 × 10−36) and inversely related to triglycerides (p = 4.7 × 10−18), fasting glucose (p = 3.5 × 10−16) and type 2 diabetes (p = 1.4 × 10−7). Of the four pre-selected ADIPOQ candidate SNPs, the one most associated with plasma adiponectin was the −11391G > A (rs17300539) promoter SNP (p = 7.2 × 10−5, in the multivariable adjusted model). No significant interactions with the Mediterranean diet pattern were observed for these SNPs. Additionally, in the exploratory genome-wide association study (GWAS), we found new SNPs associated with adiponectin concentrations at the suggestive genome-wide level (p < 1 × 10−5) for the whole population, including the lead SNP rs9738548 (intergenic) and rs11647294 in the VAT1L (Vesicle Amine Transport 1 Like) gene. We also found other promising SNPs on exploring different strata such as men, women, diabetics and non-diabetics (p = 3.5 × 10−8 for rs2850066). Similarly, we explored gene–Mediterranean diet interactions at the GWAS level and identified several SNPs with gene–diet interactions at p < 1 × 10−5. A remarkable gene–diet interaction was revealed for the rs2917570 SNP in the OPCML (Opioid Binding Protein/Cell Adhesion Molecule Like) gene, previously reported to be associated with adiponectin levels in some populations. Our results suggest that, in this high-cardiovascular risk Mediterranean population, and even though adiponectin is favorably associated with metabolic traits and lower type 2 diabetes, the gene variants more associated with adiponectin may be population-specific, and some suggestive gene–Mediterranean diet interactions were detected

Genome-wide association analyses of weight loss in a randomized controlled trial of lifestyle intervention, and combined transcriptome-wide associations in a Mediterranean population

Pòster presentat a EMBO - EMBL Symposia Multiomics to Mechanisms - Challenges in Data Integration. September (11th – 13th 2019 European Molecular Biology Laboratory. Heidelberg, Germany)Although large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for obesity traits have identified more than 400 associated loci from observational studies (Figure 1), we highlight the fact that currently the number of GWAS for intentional weight change in randomized controlled trials (RCT) of lifestyle interventions is very scarce. Only a few RCT on weight loss have been carried out and recently a GWAS including 2 populations (a Canadian RCT and the Diogenes RCT) was been published (Valsesia et al, Nat Communications, 2019). Likely, at the transcriptome level, there is a scarcity of transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) of weight loss in RCT. Moreover, this scarcity is higher for studies including subjects from the Mediterranean countries. Therefore, our first aim was to undertake a GWAS in overweight/obese subjects from a Mediterranean population (Spain) after 1-year lifestyle intervention (including an energy restricted Mediterranean diet plus physical activity) in a RCT to identify genetic variants associated with weight loss and related outcomes. In addition, as a second aim, we carried out a TWAS in a subsample of subjects for the same intervention to identify changes in gene expression and related pathways

The Gln241His polymorphism in the carbohydrate response element binding protein (MLXIPL) gene

Comunicació presentada com a pòster a European Association of Human Genetics Conference, May 23-26, 2009, Vien