Relationships between the cell cycle and the differentiation programs associated to virulence in the phytopathogen fungus Ustilago maydis

[ES]Ustilago maydis es el agente responsable del carbón del maíz. El desarrollo patógeno en este hongo está íntimamente vinculado a la diferenciación sexual y se acompaña de numerosas transiciones morfológicas asociadas a un control preciso del ciclo celular. Esto hace que este hongo sea un excelente modelo para identificar dianas del ciclo celular que jueguen papeles esenciales en las enfermedades causadas por hongos. Dado que en la mayoría de las situaciones, los fungicidas no son efectivos en el control de la enfermedad si el patógeno ya ha penetrado en los tejidos de la planta, la enfermedad debe impedirse durante las primeras etapas de la infección. U. maydis debe tomar dos decisiones cruciales de desarrollo, que ocurren en la superficie de la planta, antes de penetrar el tejido vegetal. La primera tiene lugar cuando dos células haploides son capaces de reconocerse mediante un sistema feromona-receptor. Las células detienen su ciclo celular, forman cada una un tubo de conjugación que crece a favor de gradiente de feromona hasta aparearse. La segunda decisión es la formación de la hifa dicariótica, que implica tanto una detención específica del ciclo celular en G2 como una activación de un fuerte crecimiento polar (Perez-Martin and Castillo-Lluva, 2008). Por lo tanto, entender los mecanismos moleculares implicados en el apareamiento y en la formación del filamento infectivo es crucial en el diseño de antifúngicos. Nuestro objetivo ha sido dilucidar los mecanismos responsables de estas paradas de ciclo celular con el fin de desacoplar la detención del ciclo del resto de los procesos durante la formación de las hifas infectivas y de este modo averiguar sus consecuencias en el proceso infectiv

Coping styles in farmed fish: consequences for aquaculture

Individual differences in physiological and behavioural responses to stressors are increasingly recognised as adaptive variation and thus raw material for evolution and fish farming improvements including selective breeding. Such individual variation has been evolutionarily conserved and is present in all vertebrate taxa including fish. In farmed animals, the interest in consistent trait associations, that is coping styles, has increased dramatically over the last years because many studies have demonstrated links to performance traits, health and disease susceptibility and welfare. This study will review (i) the main behavioural, neuroendocrine, cognitive and emotional differences between reactive and proactive coping styles in farmed fish; (ii) the methodological approaches used to identify coping styles in farmed fish, including individual (group) mass-screening tests; and (iii) how knowledge on coping styles may contribute to improved sustainability of the aquaculture industry, including welfare and performance of farmed fish. Moreover, we will suggest areas for future research, where genetic basis (heritability/epigene tic) of coping styles, and the neuroendocrine mechanisms behind consistent as well as flexible behavioural patterns are pinpointed as central themes. In addition, the ontogeny of coping styles and the influence of age, social context and environmental change in coping styles will also be discussed.European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme FP7-KBBE [265957

Master of Pharmacy students’ knowledge and awareness of antibiotic use, resistance and stewardship

Background. Antibiotic resistance has become a global public health concern. In this study we investigated the knowledge and awareness of antibiotic use, resistance and stewardship, held by the pharmacy students currently studying at the University of Brighton.Study design. This was a cross-sectional, online survey, and email invitations to participate were sent to all students attending our Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) course (n = 583). Students’ knowledge was assessed with 29 items; responses for these were totaled before comparison among students.Comparison of scores between groups of students was performed using the Kruskal-Wallis or the MannWhitney test, as appropriate.Results. The response rate was 32%. The overall median knowledge score was 7.9. There was a statistically significant difference in knowledge scores between years of study (p = 0.02), particularly between year of study 1 (7.6) and 4 (8.3). A statistically significant difference was found between the knowledge scores of male (8.4) and female (7.9) students (p = 0.03). Most students believed a strong knowledge of antibiotics, and microbiology and infection control is important for their pharmacy careers and more than 90% agreed that antibiotic resistance will be a greater clinical problem in thefuture.Conclusions. Although the MPharm students studied achieved good overall knowledge scores, a significant proportion showed a lack of understanding with regards to some important aspects of antibiotic resistance mechanisms, factors promoting the emergence and spread of antibioticresistance, and antibiotic stewardship policies

Stressor controllability modulates the stress response in fish

Background In humans the stress response is known to be modulated to a great extent by psychological factors, particularly by the predictability and the perceived control that the subject has of the stressor. This psychological dimension of the stress response has also been demonstrated in animals phylogenetically closer to humans (i.e. mammals). However, its occurrence in fish, which represent a divergent vertebrate evolutionary lineage from that of mammals, has not been established yet, and, if present, would indicate a deep evolutionary origin of these mechanisms across vertebrates. Moreover, the fact that psychological modulation of stress is implemented in mammals by a brain cortical top-down inhibitory control over subcortical stress-responsive structures, and the absence of a brain cortex in fish, has been used as an argument against the possibility of psychological stress in fish, with implications for the assessment of fish sentience and welfare. Here, we have investigated the occurrence of psychological stress in fish by assessing how stressor controllability modulates the stress response in European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax). Results Fish were exposed to either a controllable or an uncontrollable stressor (i.e. possibility or impossibility to escape a signaled stressor). The effect of loss of control (possibility to escape followed by impossibility to escape) was also assessed. Both behavioral and circulating cortisol data indicates that the perception of control reduces the response to the stressor, when compared to the uncontrollable situation. Losing control had the most detrimental effect. The brain activity of the teleost homologues to the sensory cortex (Dld) and hippocampus (Dlv) parallels the uncontrolled and loss of control stressors, respectively, whereas the activity of the lateral septum (Vv) homologue responds in different ways depending on the gene marker of brain activity used. Conclusions These results suggest the psychological modulation of the stress response to be evolutionary conserved across vertebrates, despite being implemented by different brain circuits in mammals (pre-frontal cortex) and fish (Dld-Dlv)

Peptidoglycan editing in non-proliferating intracellular Salmonella as source of interference with immune signaling

Salmonella enterica causes intracellular infections that can be limited to the intestine or spread to deeper tissues. In most cases, intracellular bacteria show moderate growth. How these bacteria face host defenses that recognize peptidoglycan, is poorly understood. Here, we report a high-resolution structural analysis of the minute amounts of peptidoglycan puri- fied from S. enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) infecting fibroblasts, a cell type in which this pathogen undergoes moderate growth and persists for days intracellularly. The peptidoglycan of these non-proliferating bacteria contains atypical crosslinked muropep- tides with stem peptides trimmed at the L-alanine-D-glutamic acid-(γ) or D-glutamic acid-(γ)- meso-diaminopimelic acid motifs, both sensed by intracellular immune receptors. This pepti- doglycan has a reduced glycan chain average length and ~30% increase in the L,D-cross- link, a type of bridge shared by all the atypical crosslinked muropeptides identified. The L,D- transpeptidases LdtD (YcbB) and LdtE (YnhG) are responsible for the formation of these L, D-bridges in the peptidoglycan of intracellular bacteria. We also identified in a fraction of muropeptides an unprecedented modification in the peptidoglycan of intracellular S. Typhi- murium consisting of the amino alcohol alaninol replacing the terminal (fourth) D-alanine. Alaninol was still detectable in the peptidoglycan of a double mutant lacking LdtD and LdtE, thereby ruling out the contribution of these enzymes to this chemical modification. Remark- ably, all multiple mutants tested lacking candidate enzymes that either trim stem peptides or form the L,D-bridges retain the capacity to modify the terminal D-alanine to alaninol and all attenuate NF-κB nuclear translocation. These data inferred a potential role of alaninol-con- taining muropeptides in attenuating pro-inflammatory signaling, which was confirmed with a synthetic tetrapeptide bearing such amino alcohol. We suggest that the modification of D- alanine to alaninol in the peptidoglycan of non-proliferating intracellular S. Typhimurium is an editing process exploited by this pathogen to evade immune recognition inside host cells.This work was funded by grants PID2020-112971GB-I00/10.13039/501100011033 (F.G-dP.) and PID2019-104070RB-C21 (S.V.) of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, VR2018-02823 of the Swedish Research Council (F.C.), KAW2012.0184 of the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (F.C.), and SMK2062 of the Kempe Foundation (F.C.). S.C. was recipient of an EMBO Short-Term Fellowship number 6426 for a stay in the lab of F.C. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscriptPeer reviewe

Addressing the welfare needs of farmed lumpfish: knowledge gaps, challenges and solutions

Lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus L.) are increasingly being used as cleaner fish to control parasitic sea lice, one of the most important threats to salmon farming. However, lumpfish cannot survive feeding solely on sea lice, and their mortality in salmon net pens can be high, which has welfare, ethical and economic implications. The industry is under increasing pressure to improve the welfare of lumpfish, but little guidance exists on how this can be achieved. We undertook a knowledge gap and prioritisa tion exercise using a Delphi approach with participants from the fish farming sector, animal welfare, academia and regulators to assess consensus on the main challenges and potential solutions for improving lumpfish welfare. Consensus among participants on the utility of 5 behavioural and 12 physical welfare indicators was high (87–89%), reliable (Cronbach's alpha = 0.79, 95CI = 0.69–0.92) and independent of participant background. Participants highlighted fin erosion and body damage as the most use ful and practical operational welfare indicators, and blood parameters and behav ioural indicators as the least practical. Species profiling revealed profound differences between Atlantic salmon and lumpfish in relation to behaviour, habitat preferences, nutritional needs and response to stress, suggesting that applying a common set of welfare standards to both species cohabiting in salmon net-pens may not work well for lumpfish. Our study offers 16 practical solutions for improving the welfare of lumpfish and illustrates the merits of the Delphi approach for achieving consensus among stakeholders on welfare needs, targeting research where is most needed and generating workable solutions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Famílies botàniques de plantes medicinals

Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona. Ensenyament: Grau de Farmàcia, Assignatura: Botànica Farmacèutica, Curs: 2013-2014, Coordinadors: Joan Simon, Cèsar Blanché i Maria Bosch.Els materials que aquí es presenten són els recull de 175 treballs d’una família botànica d’interès medicinal realitzats de manera individual. Els treballs han estat realitzat per la totalitat dels estudiants dels grups M-2 i M-3 de l’assignatura Botànica Farmacèutica durant els mesos d’abril i maig del curs 2013-14. Tots els treballs s’han dut a terme a través de la plataforma de GoogleDocs i han estat tutoritzats pel professor de l’assignatura i revisats i finalment co-avaluats entre els propis estudiants. L’objectiu principal de l’activitat ha estat fomentar l’aprenentatge autònom i col·laboratiu en Botànica farmacèutica

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries