Phosphomannosylation and the functional analysis of the extended Candida albicans MNN4-like gene family

We thank Luz A. López-Ramírez (Universidad de Guanajuato) for technical assistance. This work was supported by Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (ref. CB2011/166860; PDCPN2014-247109, and FC 2015-02-834), Universidad de Guanajuato (ref. 000025/11; 0087/13; ref. 1025/2016; Convocatoria Institucional para Fortalecer la Excelencia Académica 2015; CIFOREA 89/2016), Programa de Mejoramiento de Profesorado (ref. UGTO-PTC-261), and Red Temática Glicociencia en Salud (CONACYT-México). NG acknowledges the Wellcome Trust (086827, 075470, 101873, and 200208) and MRC Centre for Medical Mycology for funding (N006364/1). KJ was supported by a research visitor grant to Aberdeen from China Scholarship Council (CSC No. 201406055024). The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2017.02156/full#supplementary-materialPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Detection of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis by a Direct In Situ PCR Method

In situ detection of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis is useful for diagnosis and research of paratuberculosis. The aim of this paper was to detect this agent in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue samples by a direct in situ PCR. The technique was performed on ileum or ileocaecal lymph node samples from 8 naturally infected cattle and 1 healthy calf, by using p89 and p92 primers for amplification of IS900 sequence. Moderate positive signal was detected in all positive samples and not in negative control, but tissues resulted were affected in many cases due to the enzymatic treatment and the high temperature exposition. Although the technique was useful for Map detection, the signal was lower than immunohistochemistry probably because of the fixation process. In one case, signal was higher, which might be due to the detection of spheroplasts. Thus, the described method should be recommended when others resulted negative or for spheroplasts detection

HER1 therapeutic cancer vaccine: An active immunotherapy treatment for patients with tumors expressing the receptor of epidermal growth factor (EGF-R)

Her1 vaccine: It consists of immunizing patients with positive tumors for the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R) with a preparation of EGF-R extracellular domain(HER1-ECD) adjuvanted in VSSP (very small size proteoliposomes) and Montanide ISA51. VSSP adyuvant confers to vaccine the capacity to activate dendritic cells and polarize the immune response towards a TH1 immune pattern, developing TCD8+ cells and antibodies with anti-metastatic effect. The extracellular domain of the epidermal growth factor receptor was obtained from HEK293 transfectome by using a productive process in a bioreactor in perfusion as mode of fermentation. The protein was purified by immune-affinity chromatography by using specific anti-EGF-R antibody. Phase I trial, uncontrolled, open and sequential, was conducted in 25 with hormone refractory prostate cancer patients. Five dose levels of HER1-ECD were scaled: 100, 200, 400, 600 and 800 µg in each immunization. The trial showed that the vaccine was safe, not causing severe or very severe related events. The vaccine preparation was shown to be immunogenic. There was a trend towards the survival benefit in some patients. At the present time another clinical trial is underway in three locations of advanced solid tumors that overexpress the EGF receptor: prostate, colon and head and neck cancer

Implementation of an e.r.p. Inventory module in a small colombian metalworking company

This paper aims to analyze the effect of implementing an inventory module of ERP Openbravo for the reduction of information flow time and customer response time, in a Colombian metalworking company. The processes structure and inventory management practices of the company were characterized and information flow time and customer response time were tested before and after implementing the inventory module. The main results were the reduction of 36% of information flow time and 41% of customer response time, so it can be concluded that obtained success is related to the active involvement of manager and workers’ willingness to change

Enseñanza-aprendizaje de insectos como temática a partir de una salida de campo con estudiantes de octavo grado de una institución educativa oficial de la ciudad de Neiva

El presente artículo recoge los resultados obtenidos del diseño y desarrollo de unapráctica de campo, realizada como actividad formativa en el espacio académico delseminario de didáctica I al interior del Programa de Licenciatura en Ciencias Naturales:Física, Química y Biología de la Universidad Surcolombiana (Neiva-Colombia) conestudiantes del curso 803 de una institución pública de la ciudad de Neiva, enfocada en laenseñanza y aprendizaje de los insectos. Esta estrategia didáctica constó de tres fases detrabajo, la primera fue la aplicación de cuestionarios uno con el fin de indagar de lossaberes previos y otro sobre las características socioeconómicas; la segunda fase fue eldesarrollo de la práctica en la cual por medio de videos y una salida de campo al parquebosque los estudiantes construyeron su propia idea sobre los insectos; por último seevaluó por medio de la resolución de una guía de campo según lo que habían observadodurante la salida, además de esto realizaron maquetas exponiendo el insecto que más lehabía llamado la atención, enfocando en él sus partes y el ecosistema al que pertenecen.Con estas actividades se evidenció que los educandos lograron superar algunasdebilidades que habían presentado durante la presentación de conceptos previos, engeneral se logró aclarar la concepción de insecto así como el entorno y ecosistema en elque se desarrolla, llevándolos a formular propuestas para el cuidado del entorno en el quese encuentran inmersos

Caracterización nutricional de salsas a base de Xoconostle (Opuntia oligacantha C. F. Först)

Se elaboraron salsas a base de Xoconostle Ulapa, de la variedad Opuntia oligacantha C. F. Först, de un huerto comercial establecido en el municipio de Tezontepec de Aldama, Hidalgo, utilizando ingredientes como chile seco cascabel y, ajos, se obtuvieron en plantaciones establecidas en Zacatecas, Zac., México. Las salsas fueron elaboradas bajo la norma NMX-F-377-1986. Se obtuvieron cuatro tratamientos; con dos formulaciones (asada y cosida) y dos tratamientos térmicos (marmita: 80°C durante 20 min y autoclave: 121°C durante 15 min); T1: Xoconostle cocido y tratamiento térmico en autoclave, T2: Xoconostle asado y tratamiento térmico en autoclave, T3: Xoconostle cocido y tratamiento térmico en marmita, T4: Xoconostle asado y tratamiento térmico en marmita. Las variables evaluaron fueron: pH, acidez titulable, color, grasas, carbohidratos, valor energético, cenizas humedad, proteína y fibra cruda. Para el análisis de resultados se utilizó el programa estadístico SAS, el diseño completamente al azar. Se realizó el análisis de varianza y la prueba de comparaciones múltiples de Tukey con una p≤0.05. El mayor contenido de sólidos solubles totales o °Bx, se encontró en la salsa de Xoconostle asada (A/m) y con tratamiento térmico en marmita y tratamiento térmico en autoclave (A/a), cenizas: en salsa de Xoconostle cocido y tratamiento térmico en autoclave (C/a); el mayor contenido de humedad en salsa cocida y tratamiento térmico en autoclave C/a y cocida y con tratamiento térmico en marmita (C/m), proteína en A/m y C/a; y el mayor contenido de fibra cruda lo presento C/a

Relationship between alcoholism addiction and periodontitis. An in vivo study using drinking-in-darkness protocol in rats.

Periodontal disease (PD) has been considered a probable risk factor for several systemic diseases. Among them, PD is presumed to be one of the possible etiologies of chronic illness of the central nervous system. In this context, poor oral health and PD is associated with substance abuse in humans. However, if periodontal lesions can produce addiction is unknown. This paper aims to evaluate the possibility that chronic periodontal injury (CPL) can cause ethanol binge intake in drink-in-darkness (DID) protocol in rats. In CPL group (n=10) experimental damage was done to the periodontal tissue of the second maxillary molar, the control group (n=9) received sham injury. Forty-three days after CPL the intake of ethanol was assessed using several concentrations in DID experiment. During the DID experiment, we observed significant differences between the binge-type consumption of ethanol at the lowest concentration of 10% (p=0.01). Differences in consumption of 20% ethanol are observed during a few days (p=0.04), and there are no differences in consumption at 40% concentration of ethanol (p=0.2). It is concluded that chronic periodontal lesion leads to alcoholism in Wistar rats

In vivo activity of plant-based interleukin-12 in the lung of Balb/c mouse

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In the last years, plants are being used for the production of a wide variety of biopharmaceuticals, including cytokines, and have the potential to serve as vehicles for mucosal administration of these molecules. We had previously reported the expression of a cytokine, interleukin-12 (IL-12), in transgenic tomato plants and had demonstrated that it retained its biologic activity <it>in vitro</it>.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>In this work, we administered crude extracts of IL-12-containing tomato fruits to mice through the intratracheal route, measuring endogenous IL-12 and determining biologic activity by quantification of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) in lungs and by histological analysis. IFN-γ expression in lungs, as well as histological analysis, indicate that tomato-expressed IL-12 retains its biologic activity and, most importantly, its effects are restricted to the site of administration.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results indicate that the functional activity of tomato-expressed IL-12 is comparable to that of commercial recombinant IL-12 when given via the mucosal route. This opens the possibility of using crude extracts prepared from tomatoes expressing IL-12 for certain immunotherapies.</p

The European Eel NCCβ Gene Encodes a Thiazide-Resistant Na-Cl Cotransporter

The thiazide-sensitive Na-Cl cotransporter (NCC) is the major pathway for salt reabsorption in the mammalian distal convoluted tubule. NCC plays a key role in the regulation of blood pressure. Its inhibition with thiazides constitutes the primary baseline therapy for arterial hypertension. However, the thiazide-binding site in NCC is unknown. Mammals have only one gene encoding for NCC. The eel, however, contains a duplicate gene. NCCα is an ortholog of mammalian NCC and is expressed in the kidney. NCCβ is present in the apical membrane of the rectum. Here we cloned and functionally characterized NCCβ from the European eel. The cRNA encodes a 1043-amino acid membrane protein that, when expressed in Xenopus oocytes, functions as an Na-Cl cotransporter with two major characteristics, making it different from other known NCCs. First, eel NCCβ is resistant to thiazides. Single-point mutagenesis supports that the absence of thiazide inhibition is, at least in part, due to the substitution of a conserved serine for a cysteine at position 379. Second, NCCβ is not activated by low-chloride hypotonic stress, although the unique Ste20-related proline alanine-rich kinase (SPAK) binding site in the amino-terminal domain is conserved. Thus, NCCβ exhibits significant functional differences from NCCs that could be helpful in defining several aspects of the structure-function relationship of this important cotransporter

Kalibracija Kinect V2 sustava s više kamera

In this paper, we propose a method to easily calibrate multiple Kinect V2 sensors. It requires the cameras to simultaneously observe a 1D object shown at different orientations (three at least) or a 2D object for at least one acquisition. This is possible due to the built-in coordinate mapping capabilities of the Kinect. Our method follows five steps: image acquisition, pre-calibration, point cloud matching, intrinsic parameters initialization, and final calibration. We modeled radial and distortion parameters of all the cameras, obtaining a root mean square re-projection error of 0.2 pixels on the depth cameras and 0.4 pixels on the color cameras. To validate the calibration results we performed point cloud fusion with color and 3D reconstruction using the depth and color information from four Kinect sensors.U ovom je radu predložena metoda za jednostavnu kalibraciju proizvoljnog broja senzora Kinect V2. Izvodi se istovremenim snimanjem objekta s više kamera. Jednodimenzionalan objekt potrebno je snimiti s najmanje 3 različite orijentacije, a dvodimenzionalan s najmanje jedne orijentacije. Istovremeno snimanje s više kamera moguće je zahvaljujući integriranom mapiranju koordinata u Kinect sustavu. Predložena metoda izvodi se u pet koraka: akvizicija slike, pred-kalibracija, usklađivanje oblaka točaka, inicijalizacija intrinzičnih parametara i konačna kalibracija. U radu su modelirani radijalni i distorzijski parametri svih kamera, pri čemu se ostvaruje korijen srednje kvadratične pogreške ponovne projekcije iznosa 0:2 piksela na kamerama dubine i 0:4 piksela na kamerama u boji. Za validaciju rezultata kalibracije provedena je fuzija oblaka točaka s rekonstrukcijom trodimenzionalnog objekta i boje korištenjem informacije o dubini i boji s četiri Kinect senzora