Gene deficiency in activating Fcγ receptors influences the macrophage phenotypic balance and reduces atherosclerosis in mice

Immunity contributes to arterial inflammation during atherosclerosis. Oxidized low-density lipoproteins induce an autoimmune response characterized by specific antibodies and immune complexes in atherosclerotic patients. We hypothesize that specific Fcγ receptors for IgG constant region participate in atherogenesis by regulating the inflammatory state of lesional macrophages. In vivo we examined the role of activating Fcγ receptors in atherosclerosis progression using bone marrow transplantation from mice deficient in γ-chain (the common signaling subunit of activating Fcγ receptors) to hyperlipidemic mice. Hematopoietic deficiency of Fcγ receptors significantly reduced atherosclerotic lesion size, which was associated with decreased number of macrophages and T lymphocytes, and increased T regulatory cell function. Lesions of Fcγ receptor deficient mice exhibited increased plaque stability, as evidenced by higher collagen and smooth muscle cell content and decreased apoptosis. These effects were independent of changes in serum lipids and antibody response to oxidized low-density lipoproteins. Activating Fcγ receptor deficiency reduced pro-inflammatory gene expression, nuclear factor-κB activity, and M1 macrophages at the lesion site, while increasing anti-inflammatory genes and M2 macrophages. The decreased inflammation in the lesions was mirrored by a reduced number of classical inflammatory monocytes in blood. In vitro, lack of activating Fcγ receptors attenuated foam cell formation, oxidative stress and pro-inflammatory gene expression, and increased M2-associated genes in murine macrophages. Our study demonstrates that activating Fcγ receptors influence the macrophage phenotypic balance in the artery wall of atherosclerotic mice and suggests that modulation of Fcγ receptor-mediated inflammatory responses could effectively suppress atherosclerosis

Configuration Mixing within the Energy Density Functional Formalism: Removing Spurious Contributions from Non-Diagonal Energy Kernels

Multi-reference calculations along the lines of the Generator Coordinate Method or the restoration of broken symmetries within the nuclear Energy Density Functional (EDF) framework are becoming a standard tool in nuclear structure physics. These calculations rely on the extension of a single-reference energy functional, of the Gogny or the Skyrme types, to non-diagonal energy kernels. There is no rigorous constructive framework for this extension so far. The commonly accepted way proceeds by formal analogy with the expressions obtained when applying the generalized Wick theorem to the non-diagonal matrix element of a Hamilton operator between two product states. It is pointed out that this procedure is ill-defined when extended to EDF calculations as the generalized Wick theorem is taken outside of its range of applicability. In particular, such a procedure is responsible for the appearance of spurious divergences and steps in multi-reference EDF energies, as was recently observed in calculations restoring particle number or angular momentum. In the present work, we give a formal analysis of the origin of this problem for calculations with and without pairing, i.e. constructing the density matrices from either Slater determinants or quasi-particle vacua. We propose a correction to energy kernels that removes the divergences and steps, and which is applicable to calculations based on any symmetry restoration or generator coordinate. The method is formally illustrated for particle number restoration and is specified to configuration mixing calculations based on Slater determinants.Comment: 27 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in PR

Predictive and diagnostic biomarkers for gestational diabetes and its associated metabolic and cardiovascular diseases

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is defined as the presence of high blood glucose levels with the onset, or detected for the first time during pregnancy, as a result of increased insulin resistance. GDM may be induced by dysregulation of pancreatic β-cell function and/or by alteration of secreted gestational hormones and peptides related with glucose homeostasis. It may affect one out of five pregnancies, leading to perinatal morbidity and adverse neonatal outcomes, and high risk of chronic metabolic and cardiovascular injuries in both mother and offspring. Currently, GDM diagnosis is based on evaluation of glucose homeostasis at late stages of pregnancy, but increased age and body-weight, and familiar or previous occurrence of GDM, may conditionate this criteria. In addition, an earlier and more specific detection of GDM with associated metabolic and cardiovascular risk could improve GDM development and outcomes. In this sense, 1st–2nd trimester-released biomarkers found in maternal plasma including adipose tissue-derived factors such as adiponectin, visfatin, omentin-1, fatty acid-binding protein-4 and retinol binding-protein-4 have shown correlations with GDM development. Moreover, placenta-related factors such as sex hormone-binding globulin, afamin, fetuin-A, fibroblast growth factors-21/23, ficolin-3 and follistatin, or specific micro- RNAs may participate in GDM progression and be useful for its recognition. Finally, urine-excreted metabolites such as those related with serotonin system, non-polar amino-acids and ketone bodies, may complete a predictive or earlydiagnostic panel of biomarkers for GDMThis work was supported by the grant PI17/01495, from the Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (ISC-III) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) (for EJ), and grant SAF2017-84776-R, from Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (for PC)

Microstructural and magnetic characterization of Fe- and Ir-based multilayers

Nominal [Fe(t)/Ir(t'')](n) (M/Mtype), [FeOx(t)/IrOx(t'')](n) (O/O), and [Fe(t)/IrOx(t'')](n) (M/O) multilayers have been prepared by magnetron sputtering at room temperature. Composition, structure, and magnetic behavior have been analyzed. In the M/M samples, the Fe and Ir phases are identified as bcc and fcc, respectively. The magnetism evolves from bulklike iron to granular behavior as the thickness of the Fe layers decreases. An induced magnetic moment, ferromagnetically coupled to Fe, is observed on Ir by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). Besides, the presence of negative remanent magnetization is observed in the M/M samples. As for the M/O samples, the stronger affinity of iron for oxygen displaces the oxygen atoms giving rise to actual heterostructures that strongly differ from the nominal ones. For similar thickness of the two layers the Fe layer become oxidized while a mixture of metal and oxide phases is found in the Ir layer. The increase of the Fe thickness leads to a metallic Ir layer and a highly coercive (similar to 4.4 kOe) core-shell metal-oxide structure in the Fe layers

Caninos incluidos, tratamiento odontológico. Revisión de la literatura

El objetivo de este trabajo es realizar una revisión bibliográfica de los últimos 5 años (2006-2011), sobre la situación actual de los caninos incluidos y su tratamiento. Se ha analizado la incidencia, etiología, diagnóstico y factores pronósticos de su alineamiento, así como las terapéuticas de los mismos. Su manejo es de especial importancia, ya que estos dientes tienen un papel fundamental en la apariencia facial, estética dental, desarrollo del arco dental y la oclusión funcional. Se deben diagnosticar mediante una evaluación clínica y radiológica minuciosa además de un examen radiográfico; determinando las posibles complicaciones asociadas y las opciones de tratamiento individualizándolas en cada caso. Se han planteado diferentes formas de manejarlos que van desde los controles periódicos, la prevención de la inclusión con el tratamiento interceptivo, el tratamiento ortodóncico-quirúrgico o la extracción. Antes de iniciar cualquier procedimiento debemos valorar las características individuales de cada paciente, así como la situación y la inclinación del diente para lograr nuestro objetivo

Comparing Two Automated Techniques for the Primary Screening-Out of Urine Culture

Urinary tract infection is the most common human infection with a high morbidity. In primary care and hospital services, conventional urine culture is a key part of infection diagnosis but results take at least 24 h. Therefore, a rapid and reliable screening method is still needed to discard negative samples as quickly as possible and to reduce the laboratory workload. In this aspect, this study aims to compare the diagnostic performance between Sysmex OF-1000i and FUS200 systems in comparison to urine culture as the gold standard. From March to June 2016, 1, 220 urine samples collected at the clinical microbiology laboratory of the "Miguel Servet" hospital were studied in parallel with both analysers, and some technical features were evaluated to select the ideal equipment. The most balanced cut-off values taking into account bacteria or leukocyte counts were 138 bacteria/mu L or 119.8 leukocyte/pl for the OF-1000i (95.3% SE and 70.4% SP), and 5.7 bacteria/mu L or 4.3 leukocyte/mu L for the FUS200 (95.8% SE and 44.4% SP). The reduction of cultured plates was 37.4% with the FUS200 and 58.3% with the UF-1000i. This study shows that both techniques improve the workflow in the laboratory, but the OF-1000i has the highest specificity at any sensitivity and the FUS200 needs a shorter processing time

Validation of the MC-GPU Monte Carlo code against the PENELOPE/penEasy code system and benchmarking against experimental conditions for typical radiation qualities and setups in interventional radiology and cardiology

Introduction: Interventional procedures are associated with potentially high radiation doses to the skin. The 2013/59/EURATOM Directive establishes that the equipment used for interventional radiology must have a device or a feature informing the practitioner of relevant parameters for assessing patient dose at the end of the procedure. Monte Carlo codes of radiation transport are considered to be one of the most reliable tools available to assess doses. However, they are usually too time consuming for use in clinical practice. This work presents the validation of the fast Monte Carlo code MC-GPU for application in interventional radiology. Methodologies: MC-GPU calculations were compared against the well-validated Monte Carlo simulation code PENELOPE/penEasy by simulating the organ dose distribution in a voxelized anthropomorphic phantom. In a second phase, the code was compared against thermoluminescent measurements performed on slab phantoms, both in a calibration laboratory and at a hospital. Results: The results obtained from the two simulation codes show very good agreement, differences in the output were within 1%, whereas the calculation time on the MC-GPU was 2500 times shorter. Comparison with measurements is of the order of 10%, within the associated uncertainty. Conclusions: It has been verified that MC-GPU provides good estimates of the dose when compared to PENELOPE program. It is also shown that it presents very good performance when assessing organ doses in very short times, less than one minute, in real clinical set-ups. Future steps would be to simulate complex procedures with several projections.Peer ReviewedObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::3 - Salut i BenestarPostprint (published version

Microstructural and magnetic characterization of Fe- and Ir-based multilayers

Nominal [Fe(t)/Ir(t′)]n (M/M type), [FeOx(t)/IrOx(t′)]n (O/O), and [Fe(t)/IrOx(t′)]n (M/O) multilayers have been prepared by magnetron sputtering at room temperature. Composition, structure, and magnetic behavior have been analyzed. In the M/M samples, the Fe and Ir phases are identified as bcc and fcc, respectively. The magnetism evolves from bulklike iron to granular behavior as the thickness of the Fe layers decreases. An induced magnetic moment, ferromagnetically coupled to Fe, is observed on Ir by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). Besides, the presence of negative remanent magnetization is observed in the M/M samples. As for the M/O samples, the stronger affinity of iron for oxygen displaces the oxygen atoms giving rise to actual heterostructures that strongly differ from the nominal ones. For similar thickness of the two layers the Fe layer become oxidized while a mixture of metal and oxide phases is found in the Ir layer. The increase of the Fe thickness leads to a metallic Ir layer and a highly coercive (∼4.4 kOe) core-shell metal-oxide structure in the Fe layers.Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), MAT2014-54425-R, MAT2017-83468-RAragón DGA NETOSHIM

Determinantes de la satisfacción con un programa no competitivo de actividades físico-deportivas

La participación en actividades físico-deportivas no competitivasdirigidas a los más jóvenes se ha convertido en un medio de formaciónexcelente, pero solo en la medida en que se adquieran compromisosde permanencia, un cierto grado de adherencia a dichos programas y bajosíndices de abandonos. Determinar los factores que explican la satisfaccióny la fidelización se convierte entonces en un objetivo de cualquier programaformativo. Con una muestra de 1.112 estudiantes de Primaria, y utilizandoel Cuestionario de Satisfacción y Percepción de Calidad de Programas deActividades-físico-deportivas No-competitivas (CSCAN) del que se compruebasu validez y fiabilidad, se ha elaborado un modelo explicativo de lasatisfacción mediante técnicas de Regresión por Mínimos Cuadrados Parciales(PLS), en el que las actitudes hacia el deporte no competitivo, juntocon la valoración de los monitores y la incidencia del programa en la prácticadeportiva externa se presentan como los elementos más determinantes enla satisfacción percibida. Por último, se analizan las consecuencias que paraestos programas formativos tienen dichos resultados