HIV-1 Infection Induces Differentiation of Immature Neural Cells through Autocrine Tumor Necrosis Factor and Nitric Oxide Production

AbstractImmature neural cell lines could be productively infected by HIV-1. Interestingly, this infection was associated with a differentiation to a mature neuronal phenotype, characterized by the expression of mature neurofilaments and cell adhesion molecules, intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1, and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1. Infection also induced TNF-α and IL-1β mRNA expression, as well as the synthesis of inducible nitric oxide synthase by neuroblastoma cells. Exogenous addition of TNF-α, but not of IL-1β or many other cytokines, including nerve growth factor, mimicked those effects induced by infection. Moreover, blocking endogenous TNF-α or NO production in cultures of infected cells with a neutralizing anti-TNF-α antibody or inducible nitric oxide synthase inhibitors prevented the expression of the mature cell phenotype as well as expression of intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1. Addition of NO generators and TNF-α activated NF-κB- and intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1-dependent promoter transcription, whereas inducible nitric oxide synthase inhibitors prevented the transcriptional activation of intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 promoter that was induced by TNF-α. Those results suggest that HIV can infect immature neural cells and this infection induces their neural development via a TNF-α- and NO-mediated mechanism

Assessing The Students’ Prospective Perceptions Of The Final Master Project In Actuarial Science

The final master project plays a key role in the curriculum design of the Actuarial Science Master degree at the University of Málaga. Students have to fulfil their projects at the end of the two-years study program in order to get the master’s degree. The nature of the projects requires the combination of a wide range of skills, which includes analytical and technical ones, as well as professional and soft skills. From this point of view, completing a final master project in this study program can become an interesting opportunity to experiment with real tasks of the actuarial profession before entering the labour market. Furthermore, the Actuarial Science Master degree at the University of Málaga offers the possibility of including a working actuary as a second supervisor, besides the academic one. Simulating or working with real problems in the field of Actuarial Science in the final master project, which use to be complex in nature and often multidisciplinary, also constitutes a useful way to integrate the contents of the different courses of the study program and get them in context. However, the quick transition of our students to the professional market, mainly through the internships, sometimes becomes a hurdle to properly finish the final projects in the scheduled academic calendar. In an attempt to improve the satisfaction and success rates, a group of lecturers are conducting a broad study about the final master project in Actuarial Science, that includes subjective aspects.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

A new species from the temporary ponds of southwest Portugal: Helosciadium milfontinum

The genus Helosciadium has six species of which three have been identified in Portugal: H. nodiflorum, frequent and abundant in much of the territory, and H. inundatum and H. repens, with a scattered distribution in Portugal. In the present study, a new species, Helosciadium milfontinum, a seriously threatened plant endemic, rare and scarce that grows in the temporary ponds of the Vicentinan Coastal District is described and illustrated. Morphological characters and molecular analysis of nuclear internal transcribed spacers (ITS) and plastid regions (matK, rps16-trnK and trnL-F) confirm the existence of this new taxon. Conservation status and taxonomic relationships of the new species are examined

Analysis of Four Polymorphisms Located at the Promoter of the Estrogen Receptor Alpha ESR1 Gene in a Population With Gender Incongruence

[Abstract] Introduction: Gender incongruence defines a state in which individuals feel discrepancy between the sex assigned at birth and their gender. Some of these people make a social transition from male to female (transwomen) or from female to male (trans men). By contrast, the word cisgender describes a person whose gender identity is consistent with their sex assigned at birth. Aim: To analyze the implication of the estrogen receptor a gene (ESR1) in the genetic basis of gender incongruence. Main Outcome Measures: Polymorphisms rs9478245, rs3138774, rs2234693, rs9340799. Method: We carried out the analysis of 4 polymorphisms located at the promoter of the ESR1 gene (C1 ¼ rs9478245, C2 ¼ rs3138774, C3 ¼ rs2234693, and C4 ¼ rs9340799) in a population of 273 trans women, 226 trans men, and 537 cis gender controls. For SNP polymorphisms, the allele and genotype frequencies were analyzed by c2 test. The strength of the SNP associations with gender incongruence was measured by binary logistic regression. For the STR polymorphism, the mean number of repeats were analyzed by the ManneWhitney U test. Measurement of linkage disequilibrium and haplotype frequencies were also performed. Results: The C2 median repeats were shorter in the trans men population. Genotypes S/S and S/L for the C2 polymorphism were overrepresented in the trans men group (P ¼ .012 and P ¼ .003 respectively). We also found overtransmission of the A/A genotype (C4) in the trans men population (P ¼ .017), while the A/G genotype (C4) was subrepresented (P ¼ .009]. The analyzed polymorphisms were in linkage disequilibrium. In the trans men population, the T(C1)-L(C2)-C(C3)-A(C4) haplotype was overrepresented (P ¼ .019) while the T(C1)-L(C2)-C(C3)-G(C4) was subrepresented (P ¼ .005). Conclusion: The ESR1 is associated with gender incongruence in the trans men populationThis work was supported by grants: ED431B 019/02 (EP), PGC2018-094919-B-C21 (AG), PGC2018-094919-B-C22 (RF), and FPU 15/02558 (JCC)Xunta de Galicia; ED431B 019/0

A Proposal for a Modified Moller-Plesset Perturbation Theory

A modified version of the Moller-Plesset approach for obtaining the correlation energy associated to a Hartree-Fock ground state is proposed. The method is tested in a model of interacting fermions that allows for an exact solution. Using up to third order terms improved results are obtained, even more accurate in the limit of loosely bound particles. This result suggests the possible convenience of the scheme for the study of chemical bound problems.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figur

Evaluación de radiaciones no-ionizantes emitidas por sistemas de radiodifusión FM y televisión abierta en el municipio El Crucero.

Presenta la evaluación de radiaciones no-ionizantes emitidas por sistemas de radiodifusión FM y televisión abierta en el municipio el Crucero. El objetivo del trabajo es proporcionar una guía que permita evaluar los niveles de radiación no-ionizantes (RNI) emitidos por los sistemas de radiodifusión FM y televisión abierta instalados en el municipio El Crucero, empleando los equipos disponibles en las unidades móviles de monitoreo del ente regulador del Estado de Nicaragua para las telecomunicaciones