Evaluación del comportamiento de dos especies forrajeras Marango (Moringa oleifera Lam.) y Leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala De Witt) en la fase de vivero en la Universidad Nacional Agraria, Managua

Con el objetivo de caracterizar el comportamiento inicial de Moringa oleifera y profundizar en las ventajas de esta especie, en comparación con otra forrajera de rápido crecimiento (Leucaena leucocephala); se llevo a cabo en el vivero de la Facultad de Recursos Naturales un ensayo con diseño completamente aleatorio con dos tratamientos, y 20 repeticiones. Se realizó un conteo diario de germinación por un periodo de tres semanas (21 días); mientras patrones de crecimiento fueron determinados a partir de evaluaciones semanales de diámetro basal y raíz, longitud de tallo y raíz, y numero de raíces secundarias; así como producción de biomasa expresada en peso seco y peso fresco de la parte área y radicular, de una muestra de 8 plantas destruidas semanalmente. Los resultados muestran ventajas de la especie M. oleifera para la mayoría de variables; solo superado en el número de raíces secundarias de L .leucocephala. Los valores relacionados a la calidad o potencial de establecimiento sugieren pocos problemas de establecimiento en campo para las especies M. oleifera y L. leucocephala como producto del rápido crecimiento, y aun con la desigual proporción en la relación tallo-raíz, y biomasa

Assessment of households’ perceptions of health co-benefits in relation to the willingness to undertake energy retrofits in Barcelona

Energy retrofits have, so far, been studied from the perspective of economic benefits that undertaking energy retrofit brings. They have also been of interest in the pursuit of reducing carbon emissions. However, few have studied the perception of health co-benefits of energy retrofits. Therefore, this paper seeks to shed light on how the residents’ perception of their health affects their decision to undertake an energetic retrofit. The focus of this article is to determine how residents perceive their health and their willingness to undertake energy retrofits to improve their health in the municipality of Barcelona. The methods used were in-depth interviews with experts and face-to-face and surveys conducted online. The results were analysed using descriptive, segmental, and unconditional logistic regression. We also analysed if awareness of the health co-benefits of retrofits corresponded with the respondent’s housing conditions, socio-demographics, and willingness to energy retrofit their homes. A total of 127 participants were included, of which 6.3% listed health co-benefit improvements as an influencing factor in undertaking an energy retrofit. The survey findings show that the less educated households are less aware of the health co-benefits of energy retrofits. These findings reveal the need to re-evaluate the current energy and housing policies.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Avances y tendencias de la seguridad y salud en el trabajo.

El texto es un trabajo de diferentes profesionales nacionales e internacionales, todos vinculados a la seguridad y salud en el trabajo, los cuales tienen una amplia experiencia en este campo de conocimiento y quienes nos brindan su sabiduría de forma clara y concisa, especialistas que llevan décadas dedicados a la promoción de la salud en los lugares de trabajo

Expedición Colombia BIO. Biodiversidad y conservación de los sistemas subterráneos y ambientes exocársticos asociados en El Peñón, Santander, Colombia

La primera Expedición de Biodiversidad Colombia BIO - Instituto Humboldt se llevó a cabo en el municipio del Peñón en Santander, con el objetivo de abordar la diversidad de fauna y flora en los ecosistemas subterráneos (endocársticos) y los ambientes superficiales (exocársticos) asociados a las cuevas.BogotáSubdirección de Investigacione

Recent updates and perspectives on approaches for the development of vaccines against visceral leishmaniasis

All rights reserved. Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is one of the most important tropical diseases worldwide. Although chemotherapy has been widely used to treat this disease, problems related to the development of parasite resistance and side effects associated with the compounds used have been noted. Hence, alternative approaches for VL control are desirable. Some methods, such as vector control and culling of infected dogs, are insufficiently effective, with the latter not ethically recommended. The development of vaccines to prevent VL is a feasible and desirable measure for disease control, for example, some vaccines designed to protect dogs against VL have recently been brought to market. These vaccines are based on the combination of parasite fractions or recombinant proteins with adjuvants that are able to induce cellular immune responses, however, their partial efficacy and the absence of a vaccine to protect against human leishmaniasis underline the need for characterization of new vaccine candidates. This review presents recent advances in control measures for VL based on vaccine development, describing extensively studied antigens, as well as new antigenic proteins recently identified using immuno-proteomic techniquesThis work was supported by grants from Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Nano-Biofarmacêutica, Rede Nanobiotec/Brasil-Universidade Federal de Uberlândia/CAPES, PRONEX-FAPEMIG (APQ-01019-09), FAPEMIG (CBB-APQ-00819-12 and CBB-APQ-01778-2014), and CNPq (APQ-482976/2012-8, APQ-488237/2013-0, and APQ-467640/2014-9). EAFC and LRG are recipients of the grant from CNPq. MACF is the recipient of grants from FAPEMIG/CAPE

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

Association of Candidate Gene Polymorphisms With Chronic Kidney Disease: Results of a Case-Control Analysis in the Nefrona Cohort

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major risk factor for end-stage renal disease, cardiovascular disease and premature death. Despite classical clinical risk factors for CKD and some genetic risk factors have been identified, the residual risk observed in prediction models is still high. Therefore, new risk factors need to be identified in order to better predict the risk of CKD in the population. Here, we analyzed the genetic association of 79 SNPs of proteins associated with mineral metabolism disturbances with CKD in a cohort that includes 2, 445 CKD cases and 559 controls. Genotyping was performed with matrix assisted laser desorption ionizationtime of flight mass spectrometry. We used logistic regression models considering different genetic inheritance models to assess the association of the SNPs with the prevalence of CKD, adjusting for known risk factors. Eight SNPs (rs1126616, rs35068180, rs2238135, rs1800247, rs385564, rs4236, rs2248359, and rs1564858) were associated with CKD even after adjusting by sex, age and race. A model containing five of these SNPs (rs1126616, rs35068180, rs1800247, rs4236, and rs2248359), diabetes and hypertension showed better performance than models considering only clinical risk factors, significantly increasing the area under the curve of the model without polymorphisms. Furthermore, one of the SNPs (the rs2248359) showed an interaction with hypertension, being the risk genotype affecting only hypertensive patients. We conclude that 5 SNPs related to proteins implicated in mineral metabolism disturbances (Osteopontin, osteocalcin, matrix gla protein, matrix metalloprotease 3 and 24 hydroxylase) are associated to an increased risk of suffering CKD

Treatment with tocilizumab or corticosteroids for COVID-19 patients with hyperinflammatory state: a multicentre cohort study (SAM-COVID-19)

Objectives: The objective of this study was to estimate the association between tocilizumab or corticosteroids and the risk of intubation or death in patients with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) with a hyperinflammatory state according to clinical and laboratory parameters. Methods: A cohort study was performed in 60 Spanish hospitals including 778 patients with COVID-19 and clinical and laboratory data indicative of a hyperinflammatory state. Treatment was mainly with tocilizumab, an intermediate-high dose of corticosteroids (IHDC), a pulse dose of corticosteroids (PDC), combination therapy, or no treatment. Primary outcome was intubation or death; follow-up was 21 days. Propensity score-adjusted estimations using Cox regression (logistic regression if needed) were calculated. Propensity scores were used as confounders, matching variables and for the inverse probability of treatment weights (IPTWs). Results: In all, 88, 117, 78 and 151 patients treated with tocilizumab, IHDC, PDC, and combination therapy, respectively, were compared with 344 untreated patients. The primary endpoint occurred in 10 (11.4%), 27 (23.1%), 12 (15.4%), 40 (25.6%) and 69 (21.1%), respectively. The IPTW-based hazard ratios (odds ratio for combination therapy) for the primary endpoint were 0.32 (95%CI 0.22-0.47; p < 0.001) for tocilizumab, 0.82 (0.71-1.30; p 0.82) for IHDC, 0.61 (0.43-0.86; p 0.006) for PDC, and 1.17 (0.86-1.58; p 0.30) for combination therapy. Other applications of the propensity score provided similar results, but were not significant for PDC. Tocilizumab was also associated with lower hazard of death alone in IPTW analysis (0.07; 0.02-0.17; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Tocilizumab might be useful in COVID-19 patients with a hyperinflammatory state and should be prioritized for randomized trials in this situatio

Regulatory sites for splicing in human basal ganglia are enriched for disease-relevant information

Genome-wide association studies have generated an increasing number of common genetic variants associated with neurological and psychiatric disease risk. An improved understanding of the genetic control of gene expression in human brain is vital considering this is the likely modus operandum for many causal variants. However, human brain sampling complexities limit the explanatory power of brain-related expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) and allele-specific expression (ASE) signals. We address this, using paired genomic and transcriptomic data from putamen and substantia nigra from 117 human brains, interrogating regulation at different RNA processing stages and uncovering novel transcripts. We identify disease-relevant regulatory loci, find that splicing eQTLs are enriched for regulatory information of neuron-specific genes, that ASEs provide cell-specific regulatory information with evidence for cellular specificity, and that incomplete annotation of the brain transcriptome limits interpretation of risk loci for neuropsychiatric disease. This resource of regulatory data is accessible through our web server, http://braineacv2.inf.um.es/