AuNPs-DNA non-covalent interactions: improve of some studies and new avenues of research from negative results

Due to their chemical stability, high biocompatibility, excellent structural, optical, magnetic and catalytic properties, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been widely used as therapeutics, delivery agents and transfection vectors. Since successful therapy for curing cancer, and other genetic diseases, requires the transport of DNA into the cell by delivery vehicles, the effective complexation of the DNA is a subject of great interest. In this sense, increasing concerns have been raised in regards to the thermodynamics and kinetics of non-covalent interactions of AuNPs with DNA. Although insights have been gained into the effects of AuNPs on DNA systems, there is still much ground to be covered, particularly in respect to our knowledge of the binding modes, conformational changes, the salt effects and the aggregation properties of these systems. This review highlights recent progress in the study of the interactive effects of AuNPs with DNA and the factors that influence the kinetics and thermodynamic of this interaction.Oficina de Transferencia de los Resultados de la Investigación 2010/00000762Dirección General de Investigación Científica y Técnica CTQ2008- 00008/BQ

Diseño de un prototipo inicial para el reciclaje de residuos de cableado eléctrico

Se trata de una Investigación realizada a partir de la necesidad de una empresa del sector eléctrico, la cual requiere hacer el aprovechamiento de los residuos del cableado proveniente de las instalaciones eléctricas donde principalmente se obtienen dos tipos de materiales como son el plástico y el metal de cobre.   Comúnmente a estos residuos no se les realiza el correcto proceso de destinación final, por lo que se esta afectando negativamente en cuanto a contaminación se refiere, además se pierde la oportunidad de aprovechamiento de un material como el cobre, el cual es altamente comercializable y reciclable. Con esto se busca diseñar y construir un prototipo inicial de una máquina que permita que los empleados de la empresa del sector eléctrico apliquen buenas costumbres en sus labores, realicen la correcta disposición final de los materiales residuales y tomen conciencia de la importancia del reciclaje en su trabajo diario.   Con el prototipo, se abre una posibilidad de otros proyectos a futuro que no solo instruyan al trabajador del sector eléctrico, sino que se puedan separar automáticamente dichos residuos para una mayor facilidad en el reciclaje, construir un prototipo mayor que pueda instalarse en cualquier empresa del sector eléctrico e incluso llegar a un proyecto de investigación que permita realizar otras funciones adicionales que hagan del equipo un dispositivo más completo y versátil en cuanto al aprovechamiento de residuos eléctricos se refiere

Widening the analysis of Energy Return on Investment (EROI) in agro-ecosystems: Socio-ecological transitions to industrialized farm systems (the Vallès County, Catalonia, c.1860 and 1999)

Energy balances of farm systems have overlooked the role of energy flows that remain within agro-ecosystems. Yet, such internal flows fulfil important socio-ecological functions, including maintenance of farmers themselves and agro-ecosystem structures. Farming can either give rise to complex landscapes that favour associated biodiversity, or the opposite. This variability can be understood by assessing several types of Energy Returns on Investment (EROI). Applying these measures to a farm system in Catalonia, Spain in 1860 and in 1999, reveals the expected decrease in the ratio of final energy output to total and external inputs. The transition from solar-based to a fossil fuel based agro-ecosystem was further accompanied by an increase in the ratio of final energy output to biomass reused, as well as an absolute increase of Unharvested Phytomass grown in derelict forestland. The study reveals an apparent link between reuse of biomass and the decrease of landscape heterogeneity along with its associated biodiversity

Opening the black box of energy throughputs in farm systems: A decomposition analysis between the energy returns to external inputs, internal biomass reuses and total inputs consumed (the Vallès County, Catalonia, c.1860 and 1999)

We present an energy analysis of past and present farm systems aimed to contribute to their sustainability assessment. Looking at agroecosystems as a set of energy loops between nature and society, and adopting a farm-operator standpoint at landscape level to set the system boundaries, enthalpy values of energy carriers are accounted for net Final Produce going outside as well as for Biomass Reused cycling inside, and External Inputs are accounted using embodied values. Human Labour is accounted for the fraction of the energy intake of labouring people devoted to perform farm work, considering the local or external origin of their food basket. In this approach the proportion of internal Biomass Reused becomes a hallmark of organic farm systems that tend to save External Inputs, whereas industrial farming and livestock breeding in feedlots tend to get rid of reuses replacing them with inputs coming from outside. Hence, decomposing the internal or external energy throughputs may bring to light their contrasting sociometabolic profiles. A Catalan case study in 1860 and 1990 is used as a test bench to show how revealing this decomposing analysis may be to plot the energy profiles of farm systems and their possible improvement pathways

Structure of p15PAF–PCNA complex and implications for clamp sliding during DNA replication and repair

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COVID-19 mRNA Based Vaccine Immune-Response Assessment in Nursing Home Residents for Public Health Decision

Nursing home residents (NHR) have been targeted as a vaccination priority due to their higher risk of worse outcome after COVID-19 infection. The mRNA-based vaccine BTN2b2 was first approved in Europe for NHRs. The assessment of the specific vaccine immune response (both humoral and cellular) at long term in NHRs has not been addressed yet. A representative sample of 624 NHR subjects in Northern region of Spain was studied to assess immune response against full vaccination with BTN2b2. The anti-S1 antibody levels and specific T cells were measured at two and six months after vaccination. 24.4% of NHR had a previous infection prior to vaccination. The remaining NHR were included in the full vaccination assessment group (FVA). After two months, a 94.9% of the FVA presented anti-S1 antibodies, whereas those seronegative without specific cellular response were 2.54%. At long-term, the frequency of NHR within the FVA group with anti-S1 antibodies at six months were 88.12% and the seronegative subjects without specific cellular response was 8.07%. The cellular immune assays complement the humoral test in the immune vaccine response assessment. Therefore, the cellular immune assessment in NHRs allows for the fine tuning of those seronegative subjects with potential competent immune responses against the vaccine

Calidad e inocuidad del agua de bebida de sistemas de producción animal: experiencia en municipios del departamento del Meta, Colombia

Safe drinking water is essential for our livestock in order for them to live a prosperous life. The objective of this research was to determine the quality and safety of drinking water for animals in farms to identify the sanitary conditions of some farms in the villages of the municipalities of El Dorado and Granada (province of Meta, Colombia). A total of 60 animal production systems were selected, and water samples were taken from the extraction and supply points for both animals and humans. The samples were analyzed for their physical and chemical characteristics (pH, Ammonia-Ammonium, Nitrates, and Nitrites) and the microbiological quality (count of aerobic mesophilic organisms and determination of fecal coliforms). The pH values of the drinking water of the animal production systems ranged between 6.0 - 7.2 in Granada and 7.2 - 7.6 in El Dorado. Regarding Nitrates and Nitrites, all the farms' values were considered normal. Ammonia-Ammonium values varied between 0 - 1 ppm in the Granada production system and 0 - 0.5 in the El Dorado production system. The presence of fecal coliform bacteria was found in 100 % of the samples. Fifty-eight percent (58 %) of the farms in El Dorado presented values ≥ 48,000 CFU/100 ml of aerobic mesophilic microorganisms. In the municipality of Granada, the highest percentage of aerobic mesophilic microorganisms was between 100 - 1000 CFU/100 ml. All animal production systems had their water with poor microbiological quality as fecal coliforms contaminate it. These results expose the risk that this water represents to human and animal health as it is a source of waterborne infectious diseases.La calidad e inocuidad del agua de bebida de los animales de abasto es esencial para garantizar la salud y bienestar animal. El objetivo de esta investigación fue determinar la calidad e inocuidad del agua de consumo de animales de abasto para identificación de condiciones sanitarias de predios en los municipios de El Dorado y Granada (Meta, Colombia). Se seleccionaron 60 sistemas de producción animal donde se tomaron muestras de agua desde puntos de extracción y abastecimiento tanto para animales como para humanos. Se analizaron sus características fisicoquímicas (pH, Amoniaco-amonio, nitratos y nitritos) y microbiológicas (recuento de organismos mesófilos aerobios y facultativos, así como determinación de coliformes totales y fecales). El pH del agua de los sistemas de producción varió entre 6,0-7,2 en Granada y 7,2-7,6 en El Dorado. Respecto a nitratos y nitritos, todos los valores fueron considerados normales. Los valores de amoniaco-amonio variaron entre 0-1 ppm en los sistemas de producción de Granada y entre 0-0,5 en los sistemas de producción de El Dorado. En relación con la presencia de bacterias coliformes totales y fecales, se encontró en el 100 % de las muestras. El 58 % de los predios del municipio de El Dorado presentaron valores ≥ 48.000 ufc/100 mL de microorganismos mesófilos aerobios, mientras que en el municipio de Granada el porcentaje más alto de microorganismos mesófilos aerobios se encontró entre 100-1.000 ufc/100 mL. Todos los sistemas de producción animal presentaron en su agua de bebida contaminación por coliformes fecales, siendo un riesgo para la salud humana y animal al ser fuente de enfermedades trasmitidas por el agua

Th1 and Th17 hypercytokinemia as early host response signature in severe pandemic influenza

Abstract Introduction Human host immune response following infection with the new variant of A/H1N1 pandemic influenza virus (nvH1N1) is poorly understood. We utilize here systemic cytokine and antibody levels in evaluating differences in early immune response in both mild and severe patients infected with nvH1N1. Methods We profiled 29 cytokines and chemokines and evaluated the haemagglutination inhibition activity as quantitative and qualitative measurements of host immune responses in serum obtained during the first five days after symptoms onset, in two cohorts of nvH1N1 infected patients. Severe patients required hospitalization (n = 20), due to respiratory insufficiency (10 of them were admitted to the intensive care unit), while mild patients had exclusively flu-like symptoms (n = 15). A group of healthy donors was included as control (n = 15). Differences in levels of mediators between groups were assessed by using the non parametric U-Mann Whitney test. Association between variables was determined by calculating the Spearman correlation coefficient. Viral load was performed in serum by using real-time PCR targeting the neuraminidase gene. Results Increased levels of innate-immunity mediators (IP-10, MCP-1, MIP-1β), and the absence of anti-nvH1N1 antibodies, characterized the early response to nvH1N1 infection in both hospitalized and mild patients. High systemic levels of type-II interferon (IFN-γ) and also of a group of mediators involved in the development of T-helper 17 (IL-8, IL-9, IL-17, IL-6) and T-helper 1 (TNF-α, IL-15, IL-12p70) responses were exclusively found in hospitalized patients. IL-15, IL-12p70, IL-6 constituted a hallmark of critical illness in our study. A significant inverse association was found between IL-6, IL-8 and PaO2 in critical patients. Conclusions While infection with the nvH1N1 induces a typical innate response in both mild and severe patients, severe disease with respiratory involvement is characterized by early secretion of Th17 and Th1 cytokines usually associated with cell mediated immunity but also commonly linked to the pathogenesis of autoimmune/inflammatory diseases. The exact role of Th1 and Th17 mediators in the evolution of nvH1N1 mild and severe disease merits further investigation as to the detrimental or beneficial role these cytokines play in severe illness

ADGRL3 (LPHN3) variants predict substance use disorder

Genetic factors are strongly implicated in the susceptibility to develop externalizing syndromes such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, and substance use disorder (SUD). Variants in the ADGRL3 (LPHN3) gene predispose to ADHD and predict ADHD severity, disruptive behaviors comorbidity, long-term outcome, and response to treatment. In this study, we investigated whether variants within ADGRL3 are associated with SUD, a disorder that is frequently co-morbid with ADHD. Using family-based, case-control, and longitudinal samples from disparate regions of the world (n = 2698), recruited either for clinical, genetic epidemiological or pharmacogenomic studies of ADHD, we assembled recursive-partitioning frameworks (classification tree analyses) with clinical, demographic, and ADGRL3 genetic information to predict SUD susceptibility. Our results indicate that SUD can be efficiently and robustly predicted in ADHD participants. The genetic models used remained highly efficient in predicting SUD in a large sample of individuals with severe SUD from a psychiatric institution that were not ascertained on the basis of ADHD diagnosis, thus identifying ADGRL3 as a risk gene for SUD. Recursive-partitioning analyses revealed that rs4860437 was the predominant predictive variant. This new methodological approach offers novel insights into higher order predictive interactions and offers a unique opportunity for translational application in the clinical assessment of patients at high risk for SUD

Behavioral immune landscapes of inflammation.

Transcriptional or proteomic profiling of individual cells have revolutionized interpretation of biological phenomena by providing cellular landscapes of healthy and diseased tissues. These approaches, however, fail to describe dynamic scenarios in which cells can change their biochemical properties and downstream “behavioral” outputs every few seconds or minutes. Here, we used 4D live imaging to record tens to hundreds of morpho-kinetic parameters describing the dynamism of individual leukocytes at sites of active inflammation. By analyzing over 100,000 reconstructions of cell shapes and tracks over time, we obtained behavioral descriptors of individual cells and used these high-dimensional datasets to build behavioral landscapes. These landscapes recognized leukocyte identities in the inflamed skin and trachea, and inside blood vessels uncovered a continuum of neutrophil states, including a large, sessile state that was embraced by the underlying endothelium and associated with pathogenic inflammation. Behavioral in vivo screening of thousands of cells from 24 different mouse mutants identified the kinase Fgr as a driver of this pathogenic state, and genetic or pharmacological interference of Fgr protected from inflammatory injury. Thus, behavioral landscapes report unique biological properties of dynamic environments at high cellular, spatial and temporal resolution.pre-print4302 K