Insulin-like growth factor II prevents oxidative and neuronal damage in cellular and mice models of Parkinson's disease

Oxidative distress and mitochondrial dysfunction, are key factors involved in the pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease (PD). The pleiotropic hormone insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) has shown neuroprotective and antioxidant effects in some neurodegenerative diseases. In this work, we demonstrate the protective effect of IGF-II against the damage induced by 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+) in neuronal dopaminergic cell cultures and a mouse model of progressive PD. In the neuronal model, IGF-II counteracts the oxidative distress produced by MPP + protecting dopaminergic neurons. Improved mitochondrial function, increased nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like2 (NRF2) nuclear translocation along with NRF2-dependent upregulation of antioxidative enzymes, and modulation of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signalling pathway were identified as mechanisms leading to neuroprotection and the survival of dopaminergic cells. The neuroprotective effect of IGF-II against MPP + -neurotoxicity on dopaminergic neurons depends on the specific IGF-II receptor (IGF-IIr). In the mouse model, IGF-II prevents behavioural dysfunction and dopaminergic nigrostriatal pathway degeneration and mitigates neuroinflammation induced by MPP+. Our work demonstrates that hampering oxidative stress and normalising mitochondrial function through the interaction of IGF-II with its specific IGF-IIr are neuroprotective in both neuronal and mouse models. Thus, the modulation of the IGF-II/IGF-IIr signalling pathway may be a useful therapeutic approach for the prevention and treatment of PD

Importancia del agua en la hidratación de la población española: documento FESNAD 2010

For any healthy individual, thirst is an appropriate sign to drink water, except for babies, sportsmen, and most of ill and elderly people. In these instances, it is convenient to schedule appropriate times to drink water since great demands and the physiological mechanisms that determine thirst in these situations may condition water unbalances with important consequences for health and the physical and intellectual performance. The human body has a number of mechanisms that allow keeping constant the water content by adjusting intakes and wastes. Water balance is determined by intake (consumed water, beverages, and water contained in foods) and wastes (urine, stools, the skin, and expired air from the lungs). Failure of these mechanisms and subsequent impairments in water balance may produce severe disarrangements that may threaten somebody's life. In the present document, we analyze the evidences regarding the factors conditioning water needs in the different life stages and physiological situations, as well as the consequences of water unbalance under different situations. A proper hydration may be achieved by feeding and the use of water and other liquids. Although water is the beverage by excellence and represents the ideal way of restoring the losses and get hydrated, we should be aware that, from the very beginning, we have sought other liquid sources with hydration properties. In the last decades we have increased the consumption of different beverages, with a proliferation of sugar-containing beverages. Since excessive sugar consumption has been related to obesity and other chronic conditions, it is evident that the use of these caloric beverages should be rationalized, especially in children. In this document all the considerations regarding hydration are presented and different recommendations are expose

Association of tumor necrosis factor alpha-308 promoter polymorphism with spondyloarthritides patients in Colombia

Q3Q2Comunicación corta2195-2197The pathogenesis of SpA is considered to be a complex and multi-factorial process and, similar to other autoimmune diseases, includes the activity of proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF alpha. Our study compared the -308 promoter polymorphism of TNF alpha with TNF alpha levels, HLA-B27 status, age at the onset of symptoms, SpA subtype and the clinical degree of activity in Colombian SpA patients and healthy subjects (HS). Comparisons of the TNF alpha-308A genotype among HS and SpA patients (P = 0.004), uSpA patients (P = 0.040), ReA patients (P = 0.001), were significantly different and AS patients (P = 0.110), as were alleles for SpAs (P = 0.007) between patients with SpAs and controls. Initial exploratory analyses demonstrated that the TNF alpha-308 SNP genotype frequencies were different among SpA patients and HS in the Colombian population studied. Furthermore, there was no significant correlation with activity and functional clinical index, serum TNF alpha level or HLA B27 status. Allele frequencies, on the other hand, were correlated with the activity clinical index

Unemployment by Gender: Evidence from EU Countries

This paper applies panel unit-root tests that allow for structural breaks and cross-sectional dependence to examine the validity of hysteresis in gender unemployment rates and gender unemployment gap for a panel of 15 European countries. Addressing breaks, there is evidence to reject the null hypothesis of hysteresis for the unemployment rates and unemployment gap series. Allowing for both cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneous structural breaks this result is reverted and we fail to reject the null hypothesis of unit root

Combined search for the quarks of a sequential fourth generation

Results are presented from a search for a fourth generation of quarks produced singly or in pairs in a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2011. A novel strategy has been developed for a combined search for quarks of the up and down type in decay channels with at least one isolated muon or electron. Limits on the mass of the fourth-generation quarks and the relevant Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements are derived in the context of a simple extension of the standard model with a sequential fourth generation of fermions. The existence of mass-degenerate fourth-generation quarks with masses below 685 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level for minimal off-diagonal mixing between the third- and the fourth-generation quarks. With a mass difference of 25 GeV between the quark masses, the obtained limit on the masses of the fourth-generation quarks shifts by about +/- 20 GeV. These results significantly reduce the allowed parameter space for a fourth generation of fermions.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Search for anomalous t t-bar production in the highly-boosted all-hadronic final state

A search is presented for a massive particle, generically referred to as a Z', decaying into a t t-bar pair. The search focuses on Z' resonances that are sufficiently massive to produce highly Lorentz-boosted top quarks, which yield collimated decay products that are partially or fully merged into single jets. The analysis uses new methods to analyze jet substructure, providing suppression of the non-top multijet backgrounds. The analysis is based on a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns. Upper limits in the range of 1 pb are set on the product of the production cross section and branching fraction for a topcolor Z' modeled for several widths, as well as for a Randall--Sundrum Kaluza--Klein gluon. In addition, the results constrain any enhancement in t t-bar production beyond expectations of the standard model for t t-bar invariant masses larger than 1 TeV.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physics; this version includes a minor typo correction that will be submitted as an erratu

Measurement of the t t-bar production cross section in the dilepton channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The t t-bar production cross section (sigma[t t-bar]) is measured in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV in data collected by the CMS experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.3 inverse femtobarns. The measurement is performed in events with two leptons (electrons or muons) in the final state, at least two jets identified as jets originating from b quarks, and the presence of an imbalance in transverse momentum. The measured value of sigma[t t-bar] for a top-quark mass of 172.5 GeV is 161.9 +/- 2.5 (stat.) +5.1/-5.0 (syst.) +/- 3.6(lumi.) pb, consistent with the prediction of the standard model.Comment: Replaced with published version. Included journal reference and DO