Elegia di Portland Road

Poema de Cristina Campo dedicado a la contemplación de la última estancia de Simone Weil en dicha calle londinense (Portland Road)

Sustainable sheep production and consumer preference trends: Compatibilities, contradictions, and unresolved dilemmas

There are increasing concerns of society towards the consumption of animal products which have been produced and transformed in a sustainable manner. This trend influences consumer purchasing decision making, particularly in developed countries. On the other hand, in the next years, the pressure to increase the volume and efficiency of meat production will be much higher to cope with the expected unsatisfied demand. At least in part, current and future technologies could contribute to solve this challenge. However, the use of some of these innovations could have a negative effect on consumer preferences. There is no consensus in our society about this dilemma. The objective of this paper is to review the scientific evidence related to these topics and to analyze and discuss the effect of some of the extrinsic and intrinsic factors linked with the sheep industry which could affect the acceptability of lamb meat by consumers.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Staphylococcus epidermidis strains isolated from breast milk of women suffering infectious mastitis: potential virulence traits and resistance to antibiotics

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although <it>Staphylococcus aureus </it>is considered the main etiological agent of infectious mastitis, recent studies have suggested that coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) may also play an important role in such infections. The aims of this work were to isolate staphylococci from milk of women with lactational mastitis, to select and characterize the CNS isolates, and to compare such properties with those displayed by CNS strains isolated from milk of healthy women.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The milk of 30 women was collected and bacterial growth was noted in 27 of them, of which <it>Staphylococcus epidermidis </it>was isolated from 26 patients and <it>S. aureus </it>from 8. Among the 270 staphylococcal isolates recovered from milk of women with mastitis, 200 were identified as <it>Staphylococcus epidermidis </it>by phenotypic assays, species-specific PCR and PCR sequencing. They were typified by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) genotyping. The PFGE profiles of the <it>S. epidermidis </it>strains were compared with those of 105 isolates from milk of healthy women. A representative of the 76 different PFGE profiles was selected to study the incidence of virulence factors and antibiotic resistance. The number of strains that contained the biofilm-related <it>ica</it>D gene and that showed resistance to oxacillin, erythromycin, clindamycin and mupirocin was significantly higher among the strains isolated from mastitic milk.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p><it>S. epidermidis </it>may be a frequent but largely underrated cause of infectious mastitis in lactating women. The resistance to diverse antibiotics and a higher ability to form biofilms found among the strains isolated from milk of women suffering mastitis may explain the chronic and/or recurrent nature of this infectious condition.</p

Quercetin elevates p27Kip1 and arrests both primary and HPV16 E6/E7 transformed human keratinocytes in G1

Our previous work with primary bovine fibroblasts demonstrated that quercetin, a potent mutagen found in high levels in bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum), arrested cells in G1 and G2/M, in correlation with p53 activation. The expression of bovine papillomavirus type 4 (BPV-4) E7 overcame this arrest and lead to the development of tumorigenic cells lines (Beniston et al., 2001). Given the possible link between papillomavirus infection, bracken fern in the diet and cancer of the upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract in humans, we investigated whether a similar situation would occur in human cells transformed by human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) oncoproteins. Quercetin arrested primary human foreskin keratinocytes in G1. Arrest was linked to an elevation of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor (cdki) p27Kip1. Expression of the HPV16 E6 and E7 oncoproteins in transformed cells failed to abrogate cell cycle arrest. G1 arrest in the transformed cells was also linked to an increase of p27Kip1 with a concomitant reduction of cyclin E-associated kinase activity. This elevation of p27Kip1 was due not only to increased protein half-life, but also to increased mRNA transcription

High-molecular weight hyaluronan reduced renal PKC activation in genetically diabetic mice

AbstractThe cluster determinant (CD44) seems to play a key role in tissues injured by diabetes type 2. CD44 stimulation activates the protein kinase C (PKC) family which in turn activates the transcriptional nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) responsible for the expression of the inflammation mediators such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-18 (IL-18), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Regulation of CD44 interaction with its ligands depends greatly upon PKC. We investigated the effect of the treatment with high-molecular weight hyaluronan (HA) on diabetic nephropathy in genetically diabetic mice.BKS.Cg-m+/+Leprdb mice had elevated plasma insulin from 15days of age and high blood sugar levels at 4weeks. The severe nephropathy that developed was characterized by a marked increased in CD44 receptors, protein kinase C betaI, betaII, and epsilon (PKCβI, PKCβII, and PKCε) mRNA expression and the related protein products in kidney tissue. High levels of mRNA and related protein levels were also detected in the damaged kidney for NF-κB, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-18, MMP-7, and iNOS.Chronic daily administration of high-molecular mass HA for 2weeks significantly reduced CD44, PKCβI, PKCβII, and PKCα gene expression and the related protein production in kidney tissue and TNF-α, IL-6, IL-18, MMP-7, and iNOS expression and levels also decreased. Histological analysis confirmed the biochemical data. However, blood parameters of diabetes were unchanged.These results suggest that the CD44 and PKC play an important role in diabetes and interaction of high-molecular weight HA with these proteins may reduce inflammation and secondary pathologies due to this disease

Towards In-Vitro Point of Care devices for in-situ diagnosis

Electronic and optoelectronic systems and subsystems play an important role to develop In-Vitro Diagnostics (IVDs) systems for healthcare, clinical, agro-food, environmental, pharmaceutical research or drug control, among many other applications. Although significant advantages have been described for label-free biosensing technology, still a limitednumber of compact devices for monitoring IVD in-situ have been already developed. In this paper a discussion about the current trends for developing Point-of-Care devices will be analyzed, as well as the future challenges for in-situ In-vitro diagnostic systems

Nuevos datos cronoestratigráficos de la Fm. Marismas (Bajo Guadalquivir)

La Formación Marismas forma la parte superior del relleno sedimentario del sector SW de la cuenca del Guadalquivir. Los datos previos sobre el sondeo Lebrija, indicaban que la parte más alta de esta formación tenía edades de hasta 9.6 kyr BP y en la parte inferior eran cercanas o fuera del rango del radiocarbono, pero posterior a la reversión Brunhes-Matuyama. En este trabajo se aportan 17 nuevas dataciones realizadas mediante racemización de aminoácidos en valvas de ostrácodos en este mismo sondeo, con el fin de completar la cronología y el modelo de edad de la parte superior e inferior de la Fm Marismas. El resultado indica que el tramo situado por debajo del metro 56, arroja edades que oscilan entre 164685±14110 y 202830±30255, que se correlacionan con los estadios isotópicos marinos MIS 6-7 del Pleistoceno medio, edad sensiblemente más baja a las inferidas para esta formación en otros puntos de la Cuenca del bajo GuadalquivirEste trabajo se ha realizado dentro del proyecto Guadaltyc (Impacto del clima y la tectónica en el registro sedimentario de la Cuenca del Guadalquivir, (CGL2012-30875).Peer Reviewe

Quin pollastre mejareu aquest Nadal?

El pollastre forma part de la nostra gastronomia en les Festes de Nadal. Us deixem un petit resum sobre les races autòctones catalanes, per si en voleu gaudir durant les festes de Nadal

Late Holocene climate variability in the southwestern Mediterranean region: an integrated marine and terrestrial geochemical approach

10 páginas, 5 figuras, 1 tabla.A combination of marine (Alboran Sea cores, ODP 976 and TTR 300 G) and terrestrial (Zoñar Lake, Andalucia, Spain) geochemical proxies provides a high-resolution reconstruction of climate variability and human influence in the southwestern Mediterranean region for the last 4000 years at inter-centennial resolution. Proxies respond to changes in precipitation rather than temperature alone. Our combined terrestrial and marine archive documents a succession of dry and wet periods coherent with the North Atlantic climate signal. A dry period occurred prior to 2.7 cal ka BP – synchronously to the global aridity crisis of the third-millennium BC – and during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (1.4–0.7 cal ka BP). Wetter conditions prevailed from 2.7 to 1.4 cal ka BP. Hydrological signatures during the Little Ice Age are highly variable but consistent with more humidity than the Medieval Climate Anomaly. Additionally, Pb anomalies in sediments at the end of the Bronze Age suggest anthropogenic pollution earlier than the Roman Empire development in the Iberian Peninsula. The Late Holocene climate evolution of the in the study area confirms the see-saw pattern between the eastern and western Mediterranean regions and the higher influence of the North Atlantic dynamics in the western Mediterranean.Projects LIMNOCLIBER REN 2003-09130- C02-02, CALIBRE CGL 2006-13327-c04/CLI, CGL-2006-2956- BOS, CGL2009-07603 (MICINN), 200800050084447 (MARM) and RNM 05212 (Junta de Andalucía), we also thanks Projects GRACCIE (CSD2007- 00067) and CTM2009-07715 (MICINN), Research Group 0179 (Junta de Andalucía) and the Training- Through-Research Programme.Peer reviewe

Cationic supramolecular hydrogels for overcoming the skin barrier in drug delivery

A cationic bis‐imidazolium‐based amphiphile was used to form thermoreversible nanostructured supramolecular hydrogels incorporating neutral and cationic drugs for the topical treatment of rosacea. The concentration of the gelator and the type and concentration of the drug incorporated were found to be factors that strongly influenced the gelling temperature, gel‐formation period, and overall stability and morphology. The incorporation of brimonidine tartrate resulted in the formation of the most homogeneous material of the three drugs explored, whereas the incorporation of betamethasone resulted in a gel with a completely different morphology comprising linked particles. NMR spectroscopy studies proved that these gels kept the drug not only at the interstitial space but also within the fibers. Due to the design of the gelator, drug release was up to 10 times faster and retention of the drug within the skin was up to 20 times more effective than that observed for commercial products. Experiments in vivo demonstrated the rapid efficacy of these gels in reducing erythema, especially in the case of the gel with brimonidine. The lack of coulombic attraction between the gelator-host and the guest-drug seemed particularly important in highly effective release, and the intermolecular interactions operating between them were found to lie at the root of the excellent properties of the materials for topical delivery and treatment of rosacea