Free and esterified carotenoids in ornaments of an avian species: the relationship to color expression and sources of variability

Many animal species show ornaments with yellow-orange-red colors produced by carotenoid pigments. Such traits have evolved as reliable signals of individual quality because of the costs inherent to their production or maintenance. In animal tissues, carotenoids are often found combined with free fatty acids, as carotenoid esters, which may confer more stability to coloration than free carotenoids. Surprisingly, the potential relevance of carotenoid esterification in the expression of animal sexual signals has been virtually ignored. Moreover, the sources of variability of esterified carotenoid levels are barely known, because most studies have not quantified their concentrations. Here, carotenoids in the ornaments (bill, eye rings, and legs) of red-legged partridges Alectoris rufa were quantified in their free and esterified forms. Carotenoid ester levels were the best predictors of leg color, whereas the redness of the other traits was better explained by free carotenoids. Nonetheless, total carotenoid levels (the sum of free and esterified forms) were always significantly correlated to redness. Young partridges had lower levels of free and esterified carotenids in the legs than did older individuals. Also, wild animals had higher ester levels and a higher proportion of carotenoids in esterified forms in all traits than did captive partridges. Probable physiological mechanisms explaining these patterns are discussed.Esther García-de Blas was supported by a predoctoral grant (JAE-PRE program) from the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas cofinanced by Fondo Socia Europeo. Lorenzo Pérez-Rodríguez was supported by a “Juan de la Cierva” postdoctoral contract from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (JCI-2008-2059). This study was funded by Consejería de Educación y Ciencia, Junta de Comunidades de Castilla la Mancha (PII1I09-0271-5037), and Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (CGL2009-10883-C02-02) from the Spanish government.Peer reviewe

The student as protagonists of their learning: the need to use the portfolio in nursing within the context of higher education

Las reformas promovidas por el proceso Bolonia han implicado cambios en las formas de enseñar y aprender dentro del marco del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior. Esta amplia remodelación trae consigo por un lado un cambio estructural y, por otro, una reconceptualización del proceso de aprendizaje apoyada en las teorías constructivistas, a través de estrategias metodológicas de construcción del conocimiento desarrolladas por los estudiantes. El objetivo del presente artículo es presentar una reflexión teórica acerca del uso del portafolio como recurso didáctico para la enseñanza y aprendizaje dentro de este contexto. Se ha observado que la implicación de los estudiantes en la identificación de los problemas a través del portafolio, facilita a los docentes una mayor comprensión de los procesos de aprendizaje de los estudiantes, así como una oportunidad para éstos de efectuar un aprendizaje más reflexivo, autónomo y participativo, tan importante en disciplinas eminentemente prácticas como la Enfermería.The reforms promoted by the Bologna process have led to changes in the forms of teaching and learning within the framework of European Higher Education. This brings extensive remodeling on the one hand a structural change and on the other, a re-conceptualization of the learning process supported by constructivist theories, through methodological strategies developed knowledge construction by students. The aim of this paper is to present a theoretical reflection on using the portfolio as a teaching resource for teaching and learning in this context. It has been observed that the involvement of students in identifying problems through the portfolio, provides teachers with a greater understanding of the learning processes of students as well as an opportunity for them to make a more reflective learning, independent and participatory practices eminently important in disciplines such as Nursing

Effectiveness of a cognitive behavioral intervention in patients with medically unexplained symptoms: cluster randomized trial

BACKGROUND: Medically unexplained symptoms are an important mental health problem in primary care and generate a high cost in health services.Cognitive behavioral therapy and psychodynamic therapy have proven effective in these patients. However, there are few studies on the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions by primary health care. The project aims to determine whether a cognitive-behavioral group intervention in patients with medically unexplained symptoms, is more effective than routine clinical practice to improve the quality of life measured by the SF-12 questionary at 12 month. METHODS/DESIGN: This study involves a community based cluster randomized trial in primary healthcare centres in Madrid (Spain). The number of patients required is 242 (121 in each arm), all between 18 and 65 of age with medically unexplained symptoms that had seeked medical attention in primary care at least 10 times during the previous year. The main outcome variable is the quality of life measured by the SF-12 questionnaire on Mental Healthcare. Secondary outcome variables include number of consultations, number of drug (prescriptions) and number of days of sick leave together with other prognosis and descriptive variables. Main effectiveness will be analyzed by comparing the percentage of patients that improve at least 4 points on the SF-12 questionnaire between intervention and control groups at 12 months. All statistical tests will be performed with intention to treat. Logistic regression with random effects will be used to adjust for prognostic factors. Confounding factors or factors that might alter the effect recorded will be taken into account in this analysis. DISCUSSION: This study aims to provide more insight to address medically unexplained symptoms, highly prevalent in primary care, from a quantitative methodology. It involves intervention group conducted by previously trained nursing staff to diminish the progression to the chronicity of the symptoms, improve quality of life, and reduce frequency of medical consultations. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01484223 [http://ClinicalTrials.gov].S

Effectiveness of an intervention for improving drug prescription in primary care patients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy:Study protocol of a cluster randomized clinical trial (Multi-PAP project)

This study was funded by the Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias ISCIII (Grant Numbers PI15/00276, PI15/00572, PI15/00996), REDISSEC (Project Numbers RD12/0001/0012, RD16/0001/0005), and the European Regional Development Fund ("A way to build Europe").Background: Multimorbidity is associated with negative effects both on people's health and on healthcare systems. A key problem linked to multimorbidity is polypharmacy, which in turn is associated with increased risk of partly preventable adverse effects, including mortality. The Ariadne principles describe a model of care based on a thorough assessment of diseases, treatments (and potential interactions), clinical status, context and preferences of patients with multimorbidity, with the aim of prioritizing and sharing realistic treatment goals that guide an individualized management. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a complex intervention that implements the Ariadne principles in a population of young-old patients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy. The intervention seeks to improve the appropriateness of prescribing in primary care (PC), as measured by the medication appropriateness index (MAI) score at 6 and 12months, as compared with usual care. Methods/Design: Design:pragmatic cluster randomized clinical trial. Unit of randomization: family physician (FP). Unit of analysis: patient. Scope: PC health centres in three autonomous communities: Aragon, Madrid, and Andalusia (Spain). Population: patients aged 65-74years with multimorbidity (≥3 chronic diseases) and polypharmacy (≥5 drugs prescribed in ≥3months). Sample size: n=400 (200 per study arm). Intervention: complex intervention based on the implementation of the Ariadne principles with two components: (1) FP training and (2) FP-patient interview. Outcomes: MAI score, health services use, quality of life (Euroqol 5D-5L), pharmacotherapy and adherence to treatment (Morisky-Green, Haynes-Sackett), and clinical and socio-demographic variables. Statistical analysis: primary outcome is the difference in MAI score between T0 and T1 and corresponding 95% confidence interval. Adjustment for confounding factors will be performed by multilevel analysis. All analyses will be carried out in accordance with the intention-to-treat principle. Discussion: It is essential to provide evidence concerning interventions on PC patients with polypharmacy and multimorbidity, conducted in the context of routine clinical practice, and involving young-old patients with significant potential for preventing negative health outcomes. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT02866799Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Variables psicológicas implicadas en la actitud e iniciativa emprendedora (II): personalidad, cognición y emoción

El proyecto titulado: Variables implicadas en la actitud e iniciativa emprendedora (II): personalidad, cognición y emoción, es la continuidad de otro presentado en la convocatoria anterior (2016-2017) cuyo objetivo era evaluar variables psicológicas en la actitud emprendedora de los estudiantes universitarios de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM). Este segundo proyecto ha tenido por objetivo principal ampliar la evaluación a otras facultades y áreas de conocimiento de nuestra universidad a fin de obtener el mapa y perfil de la iniciativa emprendedora del universitario UCM

Identification of genetic variants associated with Huntington's disease progression: a genome-wide association study

Background Huntington's disease is caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the huntingtin gene, HTT. Age at onset has been used as a quantitative phenotype in genetic analysis looking for Huntington's disease modifiers, but is hard to define and not always available. Therefore, we aimed to generate a novel measure of disease progression and to identify genetic markers associated with this progression measure. Methods We generated a progression score on the basis of principal component analysis of prospectively acquired longitudinal changes in motor, cognitive, and imaging measures in the 218 indivduals in the TRACK-HD cohort of Huntington's disease gene mutation carriers (data collected 2008–11). We generated a parallel progression score using data from 1773 previously genotyped participants from the European Huntington's Disease Network REGISTRY study of Huntington's disease mutation carriers (data collected 2003–13). We did a genome-wide association analyses in terms of progression for 216 TRACK-HD participants and 1773 REGISTRY participants, then a meta-analysis of these results was undertaken. Findings Longitudinal motor, cognitive, and imaging scores were correlated with each other in TRACK-HD participants, justifying use of a single, cross-domain measure of disease progression in both studies. The TRACK-HD and REGISTRY progression measures were correlated with each other (r=0·674), and with age at onset (TRACK-HD, r=0·315; REGISTRY, r=0·234). The meta-analysis of progression in TRACK-HD and REGISTRY gave a genome-wide significant signal (p=1·12 × 10−10) on chromosome 5 spanning three genes: MSH3, DHFR, and MTRNR2L2. The genes in this locus were associated with progression in TRACK-HD (MSH3 p=2·94 × 10−8 DHFR p=8·37 × 10−7 MTRNR2L2 p=2·15 × 10−9) and to a lesser extent in REGISTRY (MSH3 p=9·36 × 10−4 DHFR p=8·45 × 10−4 MTRNR2L2 p=1·20 × 10−3). The lead single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in TRACK-HD (rs557874766) was genome-wide significant in the meta-analysis (p=1·58 × 10−8), and encodes an aminoacid change (Pro67Ala) in MSH3. In TRACK-HD, each copy of the minor allele at this SNP was associated with a 0·4 units per year (95% CI 0·16–0·66) reduction in the rate of change of the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS) Total Motor Score, and a reduction of 0·12 units per year (95% CI 0·06–0·18) in the rate of change of UHDRS Total Functional Capacity score. These associations remained significant after adjusting for age of onset. Interpretation The multidomain progression measure in TRACK-HD was associated with a functional variant that was genome-wide significant in our meta-analysis. The association in only 216 participants implies that the progression measure is a sensitive reflection of disease burden, that the effect size at this locus is large, or both. Knockout of Msh3 reduces somatic expansion in Huntington's disease mouse models, suggesting this mechanism as an area for future therapeutic investigation

Metabolismo de pigmentos carotenoides y expresión de caracteres coloreados asociados: el caso de la perdiz roja (Alectoris rufa)

[Introducción]: La coloración de las aves tiene un importante papel en la selección sexual. Algunas de estas coloraciones son debidas a pigmentos carotenoides. Los ornamentos coloreados por carotenoides se utilizan a menudo como señal de calidad individual en parte debido a que los animales no son capaces de sintetizar los carotenoides de novo. Estos compuestos son relativamente escasos en la naturaleza, y por ello su obtención con la dieta podría ser costosa. Además, se trata de compuestos orgánicos con importantes funciones fisiológicas. Así, la inversión de los mismos en coloración podría dañar el estado de salud de los animales, o al revés, verse afectada por éste. Todos estos potenciales costes conferirían fiabilidad a las señales producidas por carotenoides: sólo los mejores individuos podrían producir ornamentos de manera óptima, obteniendo un mayor éxito reproductor. A pesar de todas estas ideas, a día de hoy existen muchas incógnitas en cuanto a los mecanismos que intervienen en la expresión de estos caracteres sexuales. [Contenido de la investigación]: En esta tesis hemos querido avanzar en el estudio de los ornamentos basados en carotenoides, utilizando a la perdiz roja (Alectoris rufa) como modelo. Hemos identificado los carotenoides responsables de la coloración de sus tegumentos (anillos oculares, pico y patas), que han resultado ser los ceto-carotenoides astaxantina y papilioeritrinona, en orden de abundancia. Ambos son similares en estructura química y coloración, y están presentes en los ornamentos tanto en forma libre como esterificados con ácidos grasos, siendo los más abundantes aquellos formados con ácido palmítico, esteárico, oleico y linoleico. Se han comparado perdices criadas en cautividad con perdices silvestres, observando que las últimas son más rojas debido a una mayor cantidad de carotenoides, no detectándose ningún carotenoide específico de campo. Astaxantina y papilioeritrinona son el resultado de la transformación metabólica de los dos carotenoides probablemente más abundantes en la comida, zeaxantina y luteína (hidroxi-carotenoides), respectivamente, que además son los mismos que se han detectado en la sangre, el hígado y la grasa subcutánea de las perdices. La zeaxantina se transformaría en astaxantina mediante dos oxidaciones consecutivas, mientras que la luteína pasaría a papilioeritrinona tras una oxidación y una deshidrogenación. Puesto que no se han detectado astaxantina ni papilioeritrinona (o sus intermediarios) en tejidos internos, es muy probable que la transformación se realice en el propio tegumento. Junto a luteína y zeaxantina en los tejidos fueron detectadas vitaminas A y E, cuya función es probablemente proteger a los carotenoides de la oxidación. Se ha visto que las perdices que expresan ornamentos más rojos, presentan mayores niveles de dichos hidroxi-carotenoides precursores y de tocoferol en el hígado, pero también menores niveles de vitamina A en el mismo órgano. Por ello proponemos que los ornamentos basados en carotenoides podrían en parte indicar la capacidad que tiene el hígado para superar el coste derivado de almacenar grandes cantidades de pigmentos, y en particular de zeaxantina. Además, hemos comprobado experimentalmente que los ornamentosde la perdiz roja pueden intervenir en la selección sexual, ya que al intensificar de manera artificial la coloración de los ornamentos del macho durante la época de cría, la hembra aumenta su esfuerzo reproductor. Dichas hembras tardan menos tiempo en poner el primer huevo y ponen más huevos que las hembras emparejadas con machos control. Se ha demostrado también experimentalmente, que un aumento en la proporción de zeaxantina de la dieta aumenta la deposición de astaxantina en los tegumentos, y con ello, la intensidad de la coloración en mayor medida que un aumento en la proporción de luteína, a pesar de que la luteína es el carotenoide más abundante en tejidos internos. Por ello, se sugiere también que las señales rojas de la perdiz podrían indicar la capacidad individual para conseguir una mayor proporción de zeaxantina en la dieta. Por último, hemos comprobado que un cierto nivel de exposición a radicales libres favorece los mecanismos de absorción o biotransformación de los carotenoides sustrato, pero dependiendo de los niveles de otros antioxidantes, particularmente de vitamina E. De modo que sólo los individuos con un nivel de estrés oxidativo bien controlado podrían expresar una coloración con su intensidad más apropiada. [Conclusión]: Por todo lo descrito, la tesis constituye una aportación importante al estudio de los mecanismos próximos responsables de la coloración animal, formulando nuevas hipótesis y demostrando otras.Peer Reviewe

El color de la perdiz roja (Alectoris rufa): metabolismo de pigmentos carotenoides y expresión de caracteres coloreados

Resumen del trabajo presentado a las II Jornadas doctorales de la Universidad de Castilla la Mancha, celebradas en Toledo el 13 de noviembre de 2012.La coloración en las aves tiene un papel importante en la selección sexual, ya que se trata de una señal honesta de la calidad del individuo. Algunas de las coloraciones de las aves son debidas a carotenoides sensibles a procesos oxidativos, de forma que la coloración de las aves puede verse afectada por la exposición a contaminantes o por procesos fisiológicos que induzcan un estrés oxidativo. En este trabajo se ha llevado a cabo la identificación de los carotenoides presentes en la piel de los tegumentos de perdiz roja (Alectoris rufa). Además del interés que tiene la identificación de dichos pigmentos para el estudio de procesos biológicos en la perdiz, la identificación de estos carotenoides puede tener interés desde el punto de vista cinegético y comercial ya que la perdiz roja es una especie cinegética de gran importancia económica y sociocultural en España. Los animales no pueden sintetizar carotenoides de novo, sino que tienen que adquirirlos a partir de la dieta, pero sí pueden transformarlos metabólicamente para dar lugar a otros carotenoides diferentes o a vitamina A. Con los análisis realizados en este trabajo hemos determinado que los tegumentos de la perdiz presentan dos carotenoides principales, en forma libre y esterificados con ácidos grasos, éstos son Astaxantina y Papilioeritrinona. También se han analizado tejidos internos (hígado, sangre y grasa) y en ellos se ha detectado únicamente Luteína y Zeaxantina, que son los carotenoides presentes en los piensos comerciales con los que se alimentan estas aves, por lo que los carotenoides presentes en los tegumentos son el resultado de la transformación metabólica de los carotenoides sustrato presentes en su dieta.Peer reviewe

Oxidative stress biomarkers indicate sublethal health effects in a sentinel small mammal species, the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus), on reclaimed oil sands areas

Oxidative stress biomarkers can provide highly relevant insights into the physiological state of an organism. We compared endogenous oxidative stress biomarkers (lipid peroxidation and glutathione redox status) in the liver and testes as well as the hepatic antioxidant vitamins A and E in deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) collected from a reclaimed mine site on the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (northern Alberta, Canada), with those from a non-industrial reference site within the same natural macroregion. Both glutathione redox and Vitamin A status in the liver as well as glutathione redox status in the testes were disrupted in mice from the reclaimed site, indicating oxidative stress in these organs. Increased oxidative stress in the liver was associated with greater exposure to Co, Se, and Tl and contributed to poorer body condition and lowered testis size in animals from the reclaimed site (data from companion study). These results confirm health effects and biological costs in this native, sentinel small mammal from exposure to pollutants at the reclaimed mine site. This work provides compelling information and insight into the value of oxidative stress biomarkers as physiological tools that can indicate the health status and fitness of local wild animals. In particular, this approach can be used by risk assessors and other stakeholders from the oil sands region in future environmental risk assessments to improve wildlife management and conservation practices.This research was funded by the Alberta Conservation Association (ACA) and a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada) – Discovery Grant to JS. JRE was supported by an Eyes High Postdoctoral Fellowship from the University of Calgary.Peer Reviewe