Los alérgenos que respiramos

El incremento en el conocimiento acerca de las características moleculares y funcionales de los alérgenos que han sido purificados hasta el momento, está demostrando que los alérgenos del polen liberados a la atmósfera pertenecen a grupos de familias de proteínas poco numerosos, pero capaces de desencadenar respuestas alérgicas en personas sensibles. Muchos de los aeroalérgenos son proteínas estructurales de las plantas implicadas en funciones de crecimiento, desarrollo y defensa de las mismas frente a microorganismos, parásitos y condiciones ambientales extremas. Esto ha supuesto que en muchos núcleos urbanos de población exista una discordancia entre la cantidad de polen contenido en la atmósfera y la respuesta alérgica. Para tratar de dar una explicación a este fenómeno se han desarrollado métodos de cuantificación de alérgenos en el aire, como complemento a los recuentos polínicos tradicionales. En este trabajo hacemos un resumen sobre los tipos principales de aeroalérgenos y sobre su emisión y modificación en función de diversos procesos atmosféricos

Allergenic risk assessment of urban parks: Towards a standard index.

Allergenicity indices are a powerful tool to assess the health hazard posed by urban parks to pollen allergic subjects. Nonetheless, only few indices have been developed and applied to urban vegetation in the last decade, and they were never compared nor standardised over the same dataset. To address this issue, in this paper the two best-known allergenicity indices, the Urban Green Zones Allergenicity Index (IUGZA) and the Specific Allergenicity Index (SAI), have been calculated for the same park (the Botanical Garden of Bologna), collecting vegetation data through both systematic sampling and arboreal census. The results obtained with the two data collection methods were comparable for both indices, indicating systematic sampling as a reliable approximation of the total census. Besides, the allergenic risk resulted moderate to high according to SAI, and very low according to IUGZA. Since SAI does not consider the total volume of the vegetation, it was deemed less reliable than IUGZA in evaluating the allergenicity of an enclosed green space

Variación anual del polen en la atmósfera de Ponferrada: Años 1995-96

Variación anual del polen en la atmósfera de Ponferrrada. Años 1995-96. El objeto de este estudio es conocer la concentración de polen y la periodicidad anual del mismo, en la atmósfera de la ciudad de Ponferrada (León). El muestreo aerobiológico se ha realizado durante dos años consecutivos (1995-96), mediante un captador volumétrico tipo Hirst (modelo Lanzoni VPSS-2000), situado a unos 10 m del suelo. Durante este periodo se han identificado 66 tipos polínicos de ellos, 22 (96%) constituyen el espectro polínico principal, de esta estación de muestreo. Entre Enero y Julio, se produce la máxima emisión de polen al aire, y desde Septiembre a Diciembre la cantidad de polen atmósferico es muy escasa. Los tipos polínicos predominantes cuantitativamente han sido: Cupressaceae (21,3%), Poaceae (19,2%), Pinaceae (12,6%), Quercus (10%), Castanea sativa (6,2%), y Betula (3,6%), que junto con Alnus, Erica, Plantago, Populus, Rumex y Urticaceae, suponen el 91,9% del polen total de la atmósfera de Ponferrada. Se ha detectado un predominio anual de pólenes de especies leñosas frente a herbáceas. Desde el punto de vista clínico, los pólenes de Poaceae (60%) son, con mucho, los que ocasionan mayor patología polínica, seguidos de Plantago (27%) y Betula (12%)

Editorial: Regulation of pollen tube growth, volume II

The pollen tube is an extension produced by the pollen grain when conditions are favorable; thus, the pollen tube is important in seed plant reproduction because it transports male gametes. However, it is also an excellent system for studying various plant cell processes that are common to sink organs or tissues (Kroeger and Geitmann, 2012). The pollen tube has been used to study a variety of processes, including vesicular transport, cytoskeletal organization, cell wall deposition, ion gradients, intracellular signaling. Since the pollen tube grows by contacting and signaling to pistil cells, it is also a model for studying cell-cell communication (Broz and Bedinger, 2021). Moreover, the pollen tube is involved in self-incompatibility (SI) processes that regulate reproduction and thus promote hybridization and genetic variability (Mandrone et al., 2019). SI is regulated by several factors, and in some cases, such as citrus, it is an important tool for producing seedless mandarins (Gentile et al., 2012). Pollen tube and pollen can also be targets of environmental stresses (Ledesma and Sugiyama, 2019), which can impair plant reproductive success, resulting in lower productivity of agronomically important plants and increasing allergenicity (pollinosis) (Armentia et al., 2019; Singh and Mathur, 2021)

Effect of prevailing winds and land use on Alternaria airborne spore load

[EN] Alternaria spores are a common component of the bioaerosol. Many Alternaria species are plant pathogens, and their conidia are catalogued as important aeroallergens. Several aerobiological studies showing a strong relationship between concentrations of airborne spore and meteorological parameters have consequently been developed. However, the Alternaria airborne load variation has not been thoroughly investigated because it is difficult to assess their sources, as they are a very common and widely established phytopathogen. The objective of this study is to estimate the impact of vegetation and land uses as potential sources on airborne spore load and to know their influence, particularly, in cases of long-medium distance transport. The daily airborne spore concentration was studied over a 5-year period in Le´on and Valladolid, two localities of Castilla y Le´on (Spain), with differences in their bioclimatic and land use aspects. Moreover, the land use analysis carried out within a 30 km radius of each monitoring station was combined with air mass data in order to search for potential emission sources. The results showed a great spatial variation between the two areas, which are relatively close to each other. The fact that the spore concentrations recorded in Valladolid were higher than those in Le´on was owing to prevailing winds originating from large areas covered by cereal crops, especially during the harvest period. However, the prevailing winds in Le´on came from areas dominated by forest and shrubland, which explains the low airborne spore load, since the main Alternaria sources were the grasslands located next to the trap. Furthermore, the risk days in this location presented an unusual wind direction. This study reveals the importance of land cover and wind speed and direction data for establishing potential airborne routes of spore transport in order to improve the Alternaria forecasting models. The importance of conducting Alternaria aerobiological studies at a local level is also highlighted.SIThe authors are grateful to the Castilla y Le´on Government’s Health Department for funding the RACYL. This study was partially supported by the AEROHEALTH project [Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Grant PID 2019-106164RB-I00, co-financed with European FEDER funds] and the Junta de Castilla y Le´on, co-financed with European FEDER funds [Grant LE025P20]. A. Rodríguez-Fern´andez acknowledges the Orden EDU/601/2020 grant from the Junta de Castilla y Le´on, co-financed with European FEDER fund

Specific Immunotherapy Can Be A Useful Treatment in Seasonal Pollen Induced Esophagitis

[EN] Although pollen allergy is very common in patients with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), it is doubtful that pollen is an etiological agent to consider. We selected 255 patients suffered from esophagitis with seasonal exacerbation, and performed a real life study on the efficacy of immunotherapy with the detected pollen and avoidance of food, if was also detected. Allergens involved in EoE were identified by prick, specific IgE and molecular analysis: component resolved diagnosis (CRD) by microarrays. Microscopic examination of esophageal biopsies of patients with EoE were made to verify the presence of callose (polysaccharide abundant in the polinic tubes during germination, but absent in animal tissues) in the esophagus. Endoscopy and biopsy were performed ever six months of treatment. Esophageal mucosal sections were analyzed by scanning electron microscope Immunotherapy guided by molecular analysis and biopsy study was useful to decide the treatment (avoidance or targeted immunotherapy). This treatment allowed us a more reasonable restriction of food in the diet and specific immunotherapy aimed at the suspected allergens responsible for the disease. After immunotherapy, 188 (74%) patients were discharged whit negative biopsy, no symptoms, no medication, without relapse. Specific molecular guided immunotherapy can be a useful treatment in seasonal pollen induced esophagitisS

Understanding image contrast formation in TiO 2 with force spectroscopy

Site-specific force measurements on a rutile TiO 2(110) surface are combined with first-principles calculations in order to clarify the origin of the force contrast and to characterize the tip structures responsible for the two most common imaging modes. Our force data, collected over a broad range of distances, are only consistent with a tip apex contaminated with clusters of surface material. A flexible model tip terminated with an oxygen explains the protrusion mode. For the hole mode we rule out previously proposed Ti-terminated tips, pointing instead to a chemically inert, OH-terminated apex. These two tips, just differing in the terminal H, provide a natural explanation for the frequent contrast changes found in the experiments. As tip-sample contact is difficult to avoid while imaging oxide surfaces, we expect our tip models to be relevant to interpret scanning probe studies of defects and adsorbates on TiO 2 and other technologically relevant metal oxidesWe thank the MEXT (19053006, 22221006, 21246010, 21656013, 20760024, and 22760028), JST, Handai FRC (Japan), and the spanish MICINN (MAT2008-1497, CSD2007-41, MAT2008-02929, MAT2008-02939-E, MAT2008-02953-E, PLE2009-0061, CSD2010-00024) for financial support. P.J. thanks ME10076. Y.S., C.G., and P.P. thank, respectively, Funding Program for Next Generation World-Leading Researchers, a CSIC JAE-Doc contract, and the Ramon y Cajal Program (MICINN

A terapia antiplaquetária na alta hospitalar e prognóstico a longo prazo na síndrome de Takotsubo: dados do Registro Nacional Espanhol (RETAKO)

Síndrome de Takotsubo; Disfunción endotelial; Tratamiento antiplaquetarioSíndrome de Takotsubo; Disfunció endotelial; Tractament antiplaquetariTakotsubo syndrome; Endothelial dysfunction; Antiplatelet treatmentIntroduction Endothelial dysfunction and platelet activation have been highlighted as possible mediators in Takotsubo syndrome (TTS). Nevertheless, to date, evidence on the usefulness of antiplatelet therapy in TTS remains controversial. The aim of our study is to evaluate long-term prognosis in TTS patients treated with antiplatelet therapy (APT) at hospitalization discharge. Material and methods An ambispective cohort study from the Spanish National Takotsubo Registry database was performed (June 2002 to March 2017). Patients were divided into two groups: those who received APT at hospital discharge (APT cohort) and those who did not (non-APT cohort). Primary endpoint was all-cause death. Secondary endpoints included the composite of recurrence or readmission and a composite of death, recurrence or readmission. Results From a total of 741 patients, 728 patients were alive at discharge. Follow-up was performed in 544 patients, who were included in the final analysis: 321 patients (59.0%) in the APT cohort and 223 patients (41.0%) in the non-APT cohort. The APT cohort had a better clinical presentation and received more heart failure and acute coronary syndrome-like therapies (angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers: 75.1% vs. 51.1%; p<0.001, betablockers: 71.3% vs. 50.7%; p<0.001, statins: 67.9% vs. 33.2%; p<0.001). After adjusting for confounder factors, APT at discharge was a protective factor for all-cause death (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 0.315, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.106-0.943; p=0.039) and the composite endpoint of all-cause death, recurrence or readmission (adjusted HR 0.318, 95% CI: 0.164-0.619; p=0.001) at month 25 of follow-up. Conclusion Patients with TTS receiving APT at discharge presented better prognosis up to two-years of follow-up compared with their counterparts not receiving APT

Cambio climático, política, economía y derecho : desafíos para la comunidad internacional

El cambio climático y los desafíos que plantea a la Comunidad Internacional es objeto del presente libro. La monografía culmina un proceso de investigación iniciado en 2012 con la celebración de un Congreso con título “La lucha internacional contra el cambio climático: Nuevos desafíos para la Comunidad Internacional en el siglo XXI “, celebrado en el Aula Magna de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, los días 9 a 11 de octubre de 2012.Dirección de la colección, Carlos R. Fernández Liesa y Montserrat Huguet SantosPrólogo / Pablo Antonio Fernández Sánchez. -- Presentación / José Escribano Úbeda-Portugués (coord.). -- I. El marco para los diversos enforques: una nueva aproximación para la efectividad del régimen internacional sobre cambio climático / Rosa Giles Carnero. -- II. El protagonismo de la Unión Europea en la lucha internacional contra el cambio climático: ¿un liderazgo en declive? / Delia Contreras. -- III. El cambio climático. Un enemigo ausente en las agendas gubernamentales / José Miguel Calvillo Cisneros. -- IV. Cambio climático y desarrollo sostenible: el papel de Naciones Unidas y la Unión Europea / José Escribano Úbeda-Portugués. -- V. Hacia una regulación y supervisión de los mercados europeos de derechos de emisión de GEI. El autocontrol, buen gobierno y las buenas prácticas como mecanismos complementarios de control / Isabel Rodríguez Martínez y Javier Guillem Carrau. -- VI. El sistema comunitario de comercio de derechos de emisión en el origen de los mercados de negociación secundaria de emisiones / Sara Gonzále