Epigenetic and Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a complex psychiatric disorder characterised by the presence of positive, negative and cognitive symptoms that lack a unifying neuropathology. The absence of consistently replicated genetic effects, together with evidence for lasting changes in gene expression after environmental exposures, suggests a role of epigenetic mechanisms. In this chapter, we will focus on these mechanisms, such as DNA methylation, hydroxymethylation, histone modifications or non-coding RNA, as key mechanisms through which environmental factors interact with individual’s genetic constitution which affect the risk of psychotic conditions throughout life. Due to the advances experienced in recent years, it is to be expected that in the next decades, an increasing amount of data will provide us with a more complete landscape of the contribution of epigenetics to the development of mental disorders such as schizophrenia

Tumoral Prostate Shows Different Expression Pattern of Somatostatin Receptor 2 (SSTR2) and Phosphotyrosine Phosphatase SHP-1 (PTPN6) According to Tumor Progression

Prostate proliferation is dependent of androgens and many peptide hormones. Recent reports suggest that SSTR2 and SHP-1 were two fundamental components on antiproliferative effect of somatostatin. Many studies on SHP-1 revealed that the expression of this protein was diminished or abolished in several of the cancer cell lines and tissues examined. However, it is necessary to confront the cell lines data with real situation in cancer cases. Our studies have shown that epithelial expressions of both proteins, SHP-1 and SSTR2, in normal and benign hyperplasia are localized in the luminal side of duct and acinar cells. Also, SSTR2 is expressed in stromal cells. In malignant prostate tissue, SHP-1 was diminished in 28/45 cases or absent in 12/45 cases, whereas SSTR2 epithelial was diminished in 38/45 cases or lost in only 2/45 cases. The intensity of immunostained was highly negative correlated with Gleason grade for two proteins

Estandarización de marcadores moleculares microsatélites para su uso en la industria forestal de misiones, argentina

Título en ingles: Standarization of microsatellite molecular markers for Misiones (Argentina) forest industry Resumen: Provincia de Misiones posee actualmente una actividad forestal en pujante crecimiento ubicándose entre las primeras del país. Este marco de desarrollo productivo permite predecir un ámbito de crecimiento favorecido por las nuevas condiciones del mercado internacional. Por otro lado a pesar del avance de la tecnología industrial, no se ha alcanzado el nivel de desarrollo biotecnológico óptimo que conjugue la calidad genética con características fenotípicas de excelencia en las especies maderables de mayor demanda en la Provincia basándose la selección en criterios netamente fenotípicos y en la experiencia del productor, sin contarse con métodos moleculares desarrollados en la región. Este trabajo presenta los resultados del Proyecto Federal de Innovación Productiva (PFIP Mi09) cuyo objetivo principal fue estandarizar y transferir al sector productivo un conjunto de marcadores moleculares microsatélites para ser aplicado al análisis de poblaciones y forestaciones de Araucaria angustifolia y Pinus taeda provenientes de la Provincia de Misiones (Argentina). Esto permitirá conocer el perfil genético de plantaciones y poblaciones de estas especies forestales, pudiendo aplicarse a la certificación de calidad en la producción forestal o a la selección de ejemplares de especies nativas. Palabras clave: biotecnología; forestaciones; Araucaria angustifolia; Pinus taeda; microsatélites. Abstract: Misiones Province currently has the first intensive forestry activity of Argentine. This framework of productive development allows predict an area of growth favored by the new conditions of the international market. On the other side despite the progress of industrial technology, has not been reached the optimal level of biotechnological development that combining quality with genomic and phenotypic characteristics of forest species. This work presents the results of Federal Project of Productive Innovation (PFIP Mi09) whose main objective was standardize and transfer to the productive sector a set of microsatellites molecular markers to be applied to the populations analysis of Araucaria angustifolia and Pinus taeda forestation from the Misiones (Argentine). This will reveal the plantations and forest genetic profile and may be applied to genetic certification of forest production quality. Key words: technology; forestry; Araucaria angustifolia; Pinus taeda; microsatellit

Deep-Sequencing Analysis of the Mouse Transcriptome Response to Infection with Brucella melitensis Strains of Differing Virulence

Brucella melitensis is an important zoonotic pathogen that causes brucellosis, a disease that affects sheep, cattle and occasionally humans. B. melitensis strain M5-90, a live attenuated vaccine cultured from B. melitensis strain M28, has been used as an effective tool in the control of brucellosis in goats and sheep in China. However, the molecular changes leading to attenuated virulence and pathogenicity in B. melitensis remain poorly understood. In this study we employed the Illumina Genome Analyzer platform to perform genome-wide digital gene expression (DGE) analysis of mouse peritoneal macrophage responses to B. melitensis infection. Many parallel changes in gene expression profiles were observed in M28- and M5-90-infected macrophages, suggesting that they employ similar survival strategies, notably the induction of anti-inflammatory and antiapoptotic factors. Moreover, 1019 differentially expressed macrophage transcripts were identified 4 h after infection with the different B. melitensis strains, and these differential transcripts notably identified genes involved in the lysosome and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways. Further analysis employed gene ontology (GO) analysis: high-enrichment GOs identified endocytosis, inflammatory, apoptosis, and transport pathways. Path-Net and Signal-Net analysis highlighted the MAPK pathway as the key regulatory pathway. Moreover, the key differentially expressed genes of the significant pathways were apoptosis-related. These findings demonstrate previously unrecognized changes in gene transcription that are associated with B. melitensis infection of macrophages, and the central signaling pathways identified here merit further investigation. Our data provide new insights into the molecular attenuation mechanism of strain M5-90 and will facilitate the generation of new attenuated vaccine strains with enhanced efficacy

Rethinking the Epigenetic Framework to Unravel the Molecular Pathology of Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a complex mental disorder whose causes are still far from being known. Although researchers have focused on genetic or environmental contributions to the disease, we still lack a scientific framework that joins molecular and clinical findings. Epigenetic can explain how environmental variables may affect gene expression without modifying the DNA sequence. In fact, neuroepigenomics represents an effort to unify the research available on the molecular pathology of mental diseases, which has been carried out through several approaches ranging from interrogating single DNA methylation events and hydroxymethylation patterns, to epigenome-wide association studies, as well as studying post-translational modifications of histones, or nucleosomal positioning. The high dependence on tissues with epigenetic marks compels scientists to refine their sampling procedures, and in this review, we will focus on findings obtained from brain tissue. Despite our efforts, we still need to refine our hypothesis generation process to obtain real knowledge from a neuroepigenomic framework, to avoid the creation of more noise on this innovative point of view; this may help us to definitively unravel the molecular pathology of severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia

Estimation of hydraulic parameters under unsaturated flow conditions in heap leaching

The mathematical modeling of the unsaturated flow problem requires the simultaneous resolution of two problems: the Richards equation and the estimation of the hydraulic parameters involved in hydraulic conductivity and in the retention curve. Various techniques have been applied to both problems in a wide range of situations. In this article, a novel implementation of the processing techniques involved in copper heap leaching is presented. Specifically, the impact of the used numerical method and the selection of the parametric family are evaluated. From a methodological point of view, a global algorithm is proposed that integrates the solutions of both problems. Finally, our computational experiments are compared with previous experimental results from the Chilean copper mining industry and related works. (C) 2014 International Association for Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (IMACS). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Rethinking schizophrenia through the lens of evolution: shedding light on the enigma

Schizophrenia refers to a complex psychiatric illness characterized by the heterogenic presence of positive, negative and cognitive symptoms occurring in all human societies. The fact that the disorder lacks a unifying neuropathology, presents a decreased fecundity of the affected individuals and has a cross-culturally stable incidence rate, makes it necessary for an evolutionary explanation that fully accounts for the preservation of “schizophrenic genes” in the global human genepool, explaining the potential sex differences and the heterogeneous cognitive symptomatology of the disorder and is consistent with the neuropsychological, developmental and evolutionary findings regarding the human brain. Here we proposed a new evolutionary framework for schizophrenia that is consistent with findings presented in different dimensions, considering the disorder as a form of brain functioning that allows us to adapt to the environment and, ultimately, maintain the survival of the species. We focus on the epigenetic regulation of thalamic interneurons as a major player involved in the development of the clinical picture characteristic of schizophrenia

Standarization of a method for paraffin-embedded clinic samples DNA extraction

La epidemiología molecular estudia variaciones genotípicas relacionándolas con diversos procesos biológicos, entre ellos los patológicos como el cáncer. Por ello el análisis de muestras clínicas parafinadas es de gran importancia para el diagnóstico, la prevención y la terapia. Se ha informado con anterioridad muchos problemas relacionados con la amplificación de DNA obtenido a partir tejido embebido en parafina (TEP). En este trabajo se comparó la capacidad de 9 metodologías para obtener DNA a partir de TEP y amplificarlo por PCR para analizar fragmentos de menos de 250 pb correspondientes con polimorfismos presentes en enzimas pertenecientes a la vía del folato. El método modificado de Salting-out con NaCl de 0,5 M, CTAB 2 % como detergente y Proteinasa K fue el más adecuado para obtener DNA amplificable considerando los amplicones elegidos. Todos los métodos mostraron una mejor amplificación con ciclos más prolongados y temperaturas de annealing menores comparado con DNA más íntegro.Molecular Epidemiology includes genotypic studies of different biological processes, including pathological diseases such as cancer. Therefore, the paraffin-embedded clinical samples analysis is very important for diagnosis, prevention and therapy. Previously, many problems associated with amplification of DNA obtained from paraffin-embedded tissue samples were reported. This paper compares the capability of nine methodologies for DNA extraction from paraffin-embedded clinical samples, amplifying it by PCR to analyze under-250-bp fragments corresponding to folate pathway enzymes polymorphisms. Modification of "salting-out" method with concentrations of 0.5 M NaCl and 2 % CTAB detergent and Proteinase K was the most suitable for amplifiable DNA obtention of selected amplicons. All methods showed better amplification with longer cycles and lower annealing temperatures as compared to less fragmented DNA samples.Fil: Tiscornia, María Mercedes. Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Químicas y Naturales. Departamento de Bioquímica Clínica. Laboratorio de Biotecnología Molecular; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste; ArgentinaFil: Cubilla, Marisa Angélica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Químicas y Naturales. Departamento de Bioquímica Clínica. Laboratorio de Biotecnología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Lorenzati, María A.. Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Químicas y Naturales. Departamento de Bioquímica Clínica. Laboratorio de Biotecnología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Cariaga Martinez, Ariel Ernesto. Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Químicas y Naturales. Departamento de Bioquímica Clínica. Laboratorio de Biotecnología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Zapata, Pedro Dario. Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Químicas y Naturales. Departamento de Bioquímica Clínica. Laboratorio de Biotecnología Molecular; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste; Argentin

Estandarización de marcadores moleculares microsatélites para su uso en la industria forestal de Misiones, Argentina

Título en ingles: Standarization of microsatellite molecular markers for Misiones (Argentina) forest industry Resumen: Provincia de Misiones posee actualmente una actividad forestal en pujante crecimiento ubicándose entre las primeras del país. Este marco de desarrollo productivo permite predecir un ámbito de crecimiento favorecido por las nuevas condiciones del mercado internacional. Por otro lado a pesar del avance de la tecnología industrial, no se ha alcanzado el nivel de desarrollo biotecnológico óptimo que conjugue la calidad genética con características fenotípicas de excelencia en las especies maderables de mayor demanda en la Provincia basándose la selección en criterios netamente fenotípicos y en la experiencia del productor, sin contarse con métodos moleculares desarrollados en la región. Este trabajo presenta los resultados del Proyecto Federal de Innovación Productiva (PFIP Mi09) cuyo objetivo principal fue estandarizar y transferir al sector productivo un conjunto de marcadores moleculares microsatélites para ser aplicado al análisis de poblaciones y forestaciones de Araucaria angustifolia y Pinus taeda provenientes de la Provincia de Misiones (Argentina). Esto permitirá conocer el perfil genético de plantaciones y poblaciones de estas especies forestales, pudiendo aplicarse a la certificación de calidad en la producción forestal o a la selección de ejemplares de especies nativas. Palabras clave: biotecnología; forestaciones; Araucaria angustifolia; Pinus taeda; microsatélites. Abstract: Misiones Province currently has the first intensive forestry activity of Argentine. This framework of productive development allows predict an area of growth favored by the new conditions of the international market. On the other side despite the progress of industrial technology, has not been reached the optimal level of biotechnological development that combining quality with genomic and phenotypic characteristics of forest species. This work presents the results of Federal Project of Productive Innovation (PFIP Mi09) whose main objective was standardize and transfer to the productive sector a set of microsatellites molecular markers to be applied to the populations analysis of Araucaria angustifolia and Pinus taeda forestation from the Misiones (Argentine). This will reveal the plantations and forest genetic profile and may be applied to genetic certification of forest production quality. Key words: technology; forestry; Araucaria angustifolia; Pinus taeda; microsatellit