High prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome in Spain’s Stroke Belt

[Objective] Spain’s so-called Stroke Belt is an area with high prevalence of vascular disease. We aimed to determine the prevalence of undetected obstructive sleep apnea–hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) among patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in southern Spain.[Methods] We conducted a cross-sectional study at the Virgen Macarena University Hospital Stroke Unit during 2018 to 2019. We included patients <72 hours after AIS with a neuroimaging lesion and performed sleep tests.[Results] Seventy-two patients were included. The median participant age was 72 years. Mean body mass index was 27.07 kg/m2, and 40.28% were daily alcohol drinkers. Hypertension, atrial fibrillation, ischemic cardiomyopathy, and previous stroke were detected in 63.9%, 11.1%, 15.3%, and 17.6% of patients, respectively. Polygraphy was feasible in 91.38% of patients. The prevalence of OSAHS was 84.72% (apnea–hypopnea index ≥5). Patients with moderate and severe OSAHS were more likely to be obese and to have a larger neck circumference and facial palsy. The diagnostic criteria of central sleep apnea syndrome were met in only 1.38% of patients.[Conclusions] The high prevalence of OSAHS found in the Spanish Stroke Belt justifies further investigation and development of a screening program as a strategy to identify patients with undetected OSAHS.The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Neurovascular Research Group, part of the Cooperative Cerebrovascular Disease Research Network (INVICTUS+) (RD16/0019/0015).Peer reviewe

Agrárpiaci Jelentések, Baromfi

Amerikai Egyesült Államok agrárminisztériumának (USDA) májusban megjelent jelentése szerint az USA csirkehústermelése 4,6 millió tonna körül alakult 2017 első negyedévében, ami 2 százalékkal haladta meg az előző év azonos időszakának kibocsátását. Az Európai Bizottság adatai alapján 2017 első 20 hetében 178 euró/100 kilogramm volt az egész csirke uniós átlagára, kismértékben csökkent az előző év hasonló időszakának átlagárához viszonyítva. Magyarországon a vágócsirke élősúlyos termelői ára (245,9 forint/kilogramm) 4,3 százalékkal volt alacsonyabb 2017 20. hetében az egy évvel korábbinál

Tissue engineered in-vitro vascular patch fabrication using hybrid 3D printing and electrospinning

Three-dimensional (3D) engineered cardiovascular tissues have shown great promise to replace damaged structures. Specifically, tissue engineering vascular grafts (TEVG) have the potential to replace biological and synthetic grafts. We aimed to design an in-vitro patient-specific patch based on a hybrid 3D print combined with vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) differentiation. Based on the medical images of a 2 months-old girl with aortic arch hypoplasia and using computational modelling, we evaluated the most hemodynamically efficient aortic patch surgical repair. Using the designed 3D patch geometry, the scaffold was printed using a hybrid fused deposition modelling (FDM) and electrospinning techniques. The scaffold was seeded with multipotent mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) for later maturation to derived VSMC (dVSMC). The graft showed adequate resistance to physiological aortic pressure (burst pressure 101 ​± ​15 ​mmHg) and a porosity gradient ranging from 80 to 10 ​μm allowing cells to infiltrate through the entire thickness of the patch. The bio-scaffolds showed good cell viability at days 4 and 12 and adequate functional vasoactive response to endothelin-1. In summary, we have shown that our method of generating patient-specific patch shows adequate hemodynamic profile, mechanical properties, dVSMC infiltration, viability and functionality. This innovative 3D biotechnology has the potential for broad application in regenerative medicine and potentially in heart disease prevention.This research was funded by ​Instituto de Salud Carlos III ​through the projects ​PI17/01409, PT20/00069 (Plataforma ISCIII de Biobancos y Biomodelos) and ​PI20/00467 ​(Co-funded by European Regional Development Fund/European Social Fund ​“A way to make Europe"/"Investing in your future”) ​and by the Foundation ​‘Menudos Corazones to help children with heart disease' and the Spanish Society of Paediatric Cardiology and Congenital Heart Disease (SECPCC), grant number ​‘Menudos Corazones 2020’. This work was also supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (PID2019-104084GB-C22) and ANID – Millennium Science Initiative Program – ICN2021_004 and ANID – Millennium Science Initiative Program – NCN17_129, ANID FONDECYT de Iniciación en Investigación #11200481, ANID FONDECYT #1181057

Association of candidate genetic variants and circulating levels of ApoE/ApoJ with common neuroimaging features of cerebral amyloid angiopathy

IntroductionCerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is characterized by the accumulation of amyloid-beta (A beta) in brain vessels and is a main cause of lobar intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in the elderly. CAA is associated with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) markers of small vessel disease (SVD). Since A beta is also accumulated in Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the brain parenchyma, we aimed to study if several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) previously associated with AD were also associated with CAA pathology. Furthermore, we also studied the influence of APOE and CLU genetic variants in apolipoprotein E (ApoE) and clusterin/apolipoprotein J (ApoJ) circulating levels and their distribution among lipoproteins. MethodsThe study was carried out in a multicentric cohort of 126 patients with lobar ICH and clinical suspicion of CAA. ResultsWe observed several SNPs associated with CAA neuroimaging MRI markers [cortical superficial siderosis (cSS), enlarged perivascular spaces in the centrum semiovale (CSO-EPVS), lobar cerebral microbleeds (CMB), white matter hyperintensities (WMH), corticosubcortical atrophy and CAA-SVD burden score]. Concretely, ABCA7 (rs3764650), CLU (rs9331896 and rs933188), EPHA1 (rs11767557), and TREML2 (rs3747742) were significantly associated with a CAA-SVD burden score. Regarding circulating levels of apolipoproteins, protective AD SNPs of CLU [rs11136000 (T) and rs9331896 (C)] were significantly associated with higher HDL ApoJ content in the lobar ICH cohort. APOE epsilon 2 carriers presented higher plasma and LDL-associated ApoE levels whereas APOE epsilon 4 carriers presented lower plasma ApoE levels. Additionally, we observed that lower circulating ApoJ and ApoE levels were significantly associated with CAA-related MRI markers. More specifically, lower LDL-associated ApoJ and plasma and HDL-associated ApoE levels were significantly associated with CSO-EPVS, lower ApoJ content in HDL with brain atrophy and lower ApoE content in LDL with the extent of cSS. DiscussionThis study reinforces the relevance of lipid metabolism in CAA and cerebrovascular functionality. We propose that ApoJ and ApoE distribution among lipoproteins may be associated with pathological features related to CAA with higher ApoE and ApoJ levels in HDL possibly enhancing atheroprotective, antioxidative, and anti-inflammatory responses in cerebral beta-amyloidosis

Urocortin-2 Prevents Dysregulation of Ca2+ Homeostasis and Improves Early Cardiac Remodeling After Ischemia and Reperfusion

Aims: Urocortin-2 (Ucn-2) is a potent cardioprotector against Ischemia and Reperfusion (I/R) injuries. However, little is known about its role in the regulation of intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) under I/R. Here, we examined whether the addition of Ucn-2 in reperfusion promotes cardioprotection focusing on ([Ca2+]i handling.Methods and Results: Cardiac Wistar rat model of I/R was induced by transient ligation of the left coronary artery and experiments were conducted 1 week after surgery in tissue and adult cardiomyocytes isolated from risk and remote zones. We observed that I/R promoted significant alteration in cardiac contractility as well as an increase in hypertrophy and fibrosis in both zones. The study of confocal [Ca2+]i imaging in adult cardiomyocytes revealed that I/R decreased the amplitude of [Ca2+]i transient and cardiomyocytes contraction in risk and remote zones. Interestingly, intravenous infusion of Ucn-2 before heart’s reperfusion recovered significantly cardiac contractility and prevented fibrosis, but it didn’t affect cardiac hypertrophy. Moreover, Ucn-2 recovered the amplitude of [Ca2+]i transient and modulated the expression of several proteins related to [Ca2+]i homeostasis, such as TRPC5 and Orai1 channels. Using Neonatal Rat Ventricular Myocytes (NRVM) we demonstrated that Ucn-2 blunted I/R-induced Store Operated Ca2+ Entry (SOCE), decreased the expression of TRPC5 and Orai1 as well as their interaction in reperfusion.Conclusion: Our study provides the first evidences demonstrating that Ucn-2 addition at the onset of reperfusion attenuates I/R-induced adverse cardiac remodeling, involving the [Ca2+]i handling and inhibiting the expression and interaction between TRPC5 and Orai1

Spatiotemporal Characteristics of the Largest HIV-1 CRF02_AG Outbreak in Spain: Evidence for Onward Transmissions

Background and Aim: The circulating recombinant form 02_AG (CRF02_AG) is the predominant clade among the human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) non-Bs with a prevalence of 5.97% (95% Confidence Interval-CI: 5.41–6.57%) across Spain. Our aim was to estimate the levels of regional clustering for CRF02_AG and the spatiotemporal characteristics of the largest CRF02_AG subepidemic in Spain.Methods: We studied 396 CRF02_AG sequences obtained from HIV-1 diagnosed patients during 2000–2014 from 10 autonomous communities of Spain. Phylogenetic analysis was performed on the 391 CRF02_AG sequences along with all globally sampled CRF02_AG sequences (N = 3,302) as references. Phylodynamic and phylogeographic analysis was performed to the largest CRF02_AG monophyletic cluster by a Bayesian method in BEAST v1.8.0 and by reconstructing ancestral states using the criterion of parsimony in Mesquite v3.4, respectively.Results: The HIV-1 CRF02_AG prevalence differed across Spanish autonomous communities we sampled from (p &lt; 0.001). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that 52.7% of the CRF02_AG sequences formed 56 monophyletic clusters, with a range of 2–79 sequences. The CRF02_AG regional dispersal differed across Spain (p = 0.003), as suggested by monophyletic clustering. For the largest monophyletic cluster (subepidemic) (N = 79), 49.4% of the clustered sequences originated from Madrid, while most sequences (51.9%) had been obtained from men having sex with men (MSM). Molecular clock analysis suggested that the origin (tMRCA) of the CRF02_AG subepidemic was in 2002 (median estimate; 95% Highest Posterior Density-HPD interval: 1999–2004). Additionally, we found significant clustering within the CRF02_AG subepidemic according to the ethnic origin.Conclusion: CRF02_AG has been introduced as a result of multiple introductions in Spain, following regional dispersal in several cases. We showed that CRF02_AG transmissions were mostly due to regional dispersal in Spain. The hot-spot for the largest CRF02_AG regional subepidemic in Spain was in Madrid associated with MSM transmission risk group. The existence of subepidemics suggest that several spillovers occurred from Madrid to other areas. CRF02_AG sequences from Hispanics were clustered in a separate subclade suggesting no linkage between the local and Hispanic subepidemics

Revisión sobre las mejoras en la comunicación de los pacientes afásicos gracias al uso de aplicaciones digitales

Background: Stroke is an abrupt interruption of brain circulation that constitutes a neurological emergency. Aphasia is a language disorder caused by stroke. It can affect patients’ reading, writing, comprehension and expression. The aim of the study is to find out if the use of the latest portable technologies such as tablets, computers and mobile phones can help to improve the rehabilitation of patients with aphasia. Methods: A literature review has been carried out on the main databases; Pubmed, Scopus and Cinahl, of articles in english and spanish published between june and december 2019 following the PRISMA methodology. Results: Sixty-two articles were included in which the use of technologies alongside traditional rehabilitation therapies showed that might improve the recovery of aphasic patients. Most studies have a sample size of less than fifty patients (21.7%), with only three publications having a sample size of more than 150 patients (1.86%). Conclusions: The review shows that the use of digital applications might improve aphasia rehabilitation in patients who have suffered a stroke, but more studies are needed due to the small sample size of those conducted so far and to explore whether that improvement hold up over time.Fundamentos: El ictus es una interrupción brusca de la circulación cerebral que constituye una urgencia neurológica. La afasia es un trastorno del lenguaje provocado por el ictus, el cual puede afectar a la lectura, la escritura, la comprensión y la expresión de los pacientes. El objetivo del estudio es saber si el uso de las aplicaciones digitales desarrolladas en las tecnologías más recientes como son tabletas, ordenadores y teléfonos móviles pueden ayudar a mejorar la rehabilitación de los pacientes con afasia. Métodos: Se realizó una revisión bibliográfica en las principales bases de datos (Pubmed, Scopus y Cinahl) de artículos en inglés y español publicados entre junio y diciembre de 2019 siguiendo la metodología PRISMA. Resultados: Se incluyeron 62 artículos, en los que se mostró que el uso de las aplicaciones digitales, junto a las terapias tradicionales de rehabilitación, podría mejorar la recuperación de los pacientes afásicos. La mayoría de los estudios tenían un tamaño muestral inferior a cincuenta pacientes, (21,7%) habiendo sólo tres publicaciones que tuvieran un tamaño muestral superior a 150 pacientes (1,86%). Conclusiones: La revisión muestra que el uso de aplicaciones digitales es una ayuda para la rehabilitación de la afasia en pacientes que han sufrido un ictus, pero son necesarios más estudios debido al bajo tamaño muestral de los que se han realizado, y para comprobar si esas mejorías se mantienen en el tiempo

Lessons learned from proteome analysis of perinatal neurovascular pathologies

[Introduction]: Perinatal and pediatric diseases related to neurovascular disorders cause significant problems during life, affecting a population with a long life expectancy. Early diagnosis and assessment of the severity of these diseases are crucial to establish an appropriate neuroprotective treatment. Currently, physical examination, neuroimaging and clinical judgment are the main tools for diagnosis, although these tests have certain limitations. There is growing interest in the potential value of noninvasive biomarkers that can be used to monitor child patients at risk of brain damage, allowing accurate, and reproducible measurements.[Areas covered]: This review describes potential biomarkers for the diagnosis of perinatal neurovascular diseases and discusses the possibilities they open for the classification and treatment of neonatal neurovascular diseases.[Expert opinion]: Although high rates of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke exist in pediatric populations, most studies have focused on biomarkers of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. Inflammatory and neuronal biomarkers such as S-100B and GFAP, in combination with others yet to be discovered, could be considered as part of multiplex panels to diagnose these diseases and potentially for monitoring response to treatments. Ideally, noninvasive biofluids would be the best source for evaluating these biomarkers in proteomic assays in perinatal patients.This work was supported by grants from Fundación Alicia Koplowitz “Ayudas a proyectos de investigación” 2018 to J.M.; the Andalusian Health Service, Junta de Andalucia (Servicio Andalúz de Salúd, Junta de Andalucía; C-0025-2018 to P.Y.-G.); Instituto de Salud Carlos III (contrato Río Hortega 2018; CM18/00106 to PMV). The Neurovascular Research Lab at IBIS is part of the Spanish StrokeResearch Network (INVICTUS+; RD16/0019/0015)

A first update on mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose a major public health threat, especially in countries with low vaccination rates. To better understand the biological underpinnings of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity, we formed the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative1 . Here we present a genome-wide association study meta-analysis of up to 125,584 cases and over 2.5 million control individuals across 60 studies from 25 countries, adding 11 genome-wide significant loci compared with those previously identified2 . Genes at new loci, including SFTPD, MUC5B and ACE2, reveal compelling insights regarding disease susceptibility and severit

Green synthesis of cavity-containing manganese oxides with superior catalytic performance in toluene oxidation

10 Figuras.- 2 Tablas.- Datos suplementarios disponibles en línea en la página web del editor.-- © 2019. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Manganese oxide prepared by a simple hydrothermal method is highly active and stable in both lab and quasi industrial conditions for the total oxidation of toluene, achieving total conversion at only 175 °C in the absence of water and at 150 °C in the presence of 4 mol % water. Moreover, this performance is stable for at least 6 cycles. The enhanced catalytic performance has been related to the presence of highly reactive oxygen surface species. This species are probably promoted by Mn3O4 nanoparticles with Mn3+ at the tetragonal distorted cationic sites, likely compensated by structural water at the anionic sites. The presence of structural water can be related to the formation of internal cavities/vesicles in the Mn3O4 crystalline structure.AM and YZ acknowledge The Centre for High-resolution Electron Microscopy (CħEM), supported by SPST of ShanghaiTech University under contract No. EM02161943. Electron microscopy analyses were performed at Centre for High-Resolution Electron Microscopy (CћEM), ShanghaiTech University. AM acknowledges the National Natural Science Foundation of China through the projects NSFC NFSC-21850410448 and NSFC- 21835002. Authors from UCM thank Santander-UCM institution (PR41/17-20951 project) and MINECO (MAT2017-84118-C2-2-R project) and UCM CAI centers (XRD and EM). TG and JML thank Regional Aragon Government (DGA) under the research groups support programme. Some of the STEM analyses were conducted at the Laboratorio de Microscopias Avanzadas, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain. R. A. acknowledges support from Spanish MINECO grant MAT2016-79776-P (AEI/FEDER, UE), from the Government of Aragon and the European Social Fund (E13_17R, FEDER) and from the European Union H2020 program “ESTEEM3” (grant 823717) Authors from UV thank MINECO (MAT2017-84118-C2-1-R project) for funding.Peer reviewe