Characterization of terrestrial hot particles from the Palomares accident using destructive and non-destructive analytical techniques

Several radioactive particles from the Palomares area have been analyzed with the nuclearmicroprobe of the National Accelerator Centre (CNA) in Seville exploring the advantages of combining -PIXE using a 5.5 MeV4He beam with conventional -PIXE analysis using 3 MeV protons. Themeasurements performed with the -particles are more sensitive to the sample surface, while the resultscollected with protons are indicative of the average composition of the hot particle. In this way, importantinformation about the depth distribution of Pu and U in the particles has been obtained. In addition, theparticles have been analyzed by SEM (EDX) and one of them has been sacrificed for the determinationof its U and Pu isotopic composition by ICP-MS and -spectrometry, being gained in this way importantinformation about the composition of the weapons involved in the Palomares accident.Junta de Andalucía Excellence Project TU-DRAMA (Ultra-sensitive techniques for radionuclides determination in environmental materials

The Dietary Intervention of Transgenic Low-Gliadin Wheat Bread in Patients with Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity (NCGS) Showed No Differences with Gluten Free Diet (GFD) but Provides Better Gut Microbiota Profile

The study evaluated the symptoms, acceptance, and digestibility of bread made from transgenic low-gliadin wheat, in comparison with gluten free bread, in Non-coeliac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) patients, considering clinical/sensory parameters and gut microbiota composition. This study was performed in two phases of seven days each, comprising a basal phase with gluten free bread and an E82 phase with low-gliadin bread. Gastrointestinal clinical symptoms were evaluated using the Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS) questionnaire, and stool samples were collected for gluten immunogenic peptides (GIP) determination and the extraction of gut microbial DNA. For the basal and E82 phases, seven and five patients, respectively, showed undetectable GIPs content. The bacterial 16S rRNA gene V1-V2 hypervariable regions were sequenced using the Illumina MiSeq platform and downstream analysis was done using a Quantitative Insights into Microbial Ecology (QIIME) pipeline. No significant differences in the GSRS questionnaires were observed between the two phases. However, we observed a significantly lower abundance of some gut genera Oscillospira, Dorea, Blautia, Bacteroides, Coprococcus, and Collinsella, and a significantly higher abundance of Roseburia and Faecalibacterium genera during the E82 phase compared with the basal phase. The consumption of low-gliadin bread E82 by NCGS subjects induced potentially positive changes in the gut microbiota composition, increasing the butyrate-producing bacteria and favoring a microbial profile that is suggested to have a key role in the maintenance or improvement of gut permeability.España, MINECO Projects AGL2013-48946-C3-1-R, AGL2013-48946-C and AGL2016-80566-

Obstáculos y dificultades de los maestros en formación inicial en el diseño de unidades didácticas de enfoque investigador: el inventario general de obstáculos

La planificación de la enseñanza constituye un momento de máxima relevancia entre las tareas profesionales del docente. Realizando el análisis de estos procesos y sus resultados con cierto detenimiento, se pueden poner de manifiesto muchas de las opciones didácticas del profesor y aquellos aspectos que actúan como obstáculos cuando reflexiona sobre los objetivos, contenidos, actividades y demás elementos curriculares que debe incluir en el diseño de una determinada unidad didáctica. Los estudios sobre los procesos de planificación de unidades didácticas por los profesores constituyen una línea investigación didáctica muy interesante, por ser próxima a la práctica profesional y proporciona contextos adecuados para el estudio de las barreras en el desarrollo profesional docente, que centra nuestra investigación

Neocosmospora keratoplastica, a relevant human fusarial pathogen is found to be associated with wilt and root rot of Muskmelon and Watermelon crops in Spain: epidemiological and molecular evidences

[EN] Some taxa of the Fusarium solani species complex (FSSC) have been associated with clinical infections in humans and plant diseases. Among the several fusaria that cause relevant mycoses in cucurbits in Spain, Neocosmospora keratoplastica is described for the first time as responsible for wilt and root rot in both watermelon and melon crops in producing areas of Valencia and Alicante provinces. Due to the ecological and systematic complexity of the group, with described clinical forms and plant pathogens practically indistinguishable from each other, both pathological evidences (including artificial inoculation bioassays) and molecular methods (multilocus phylogeny based on ITS, TEF-1 alpha, and RPB2 regions) are provided to confirm this finding, since the presence of this soil-borne pathogen could have been probably underestimated in cucurbits-producing areas of Spain.This work was supported by the by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades grants AGL2017-85563-C2 (1-R and 2-R) (cofunded with FEDER funds) and by the PROMETEO project 2017/078 (to promote excellence groups) by the Conselleria d'Educacio, Investigacio, Cultura i Esports (Generalitat Valenciana).González, V.; García-Martínez, S.; Flores-León, A.; Ruiz, JJ.; Picó Sirvent, MB.; Garcés-Claver, A. (2020). Neocosmospora keratoplastica, a relevant human fusarial pathogen is found to be associated with wilt and root rot of Muskmelon and Watermelon crops in Spain: epidemiological and molecular evidences. European Journal of Plant Pathology. 156(4):1189-1196. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-020-01931-z118911961564Cabral, C. S., Melo, M. P., Fonseca, M. E. N., Boiteux, L. S., & Reis, A. (2016). A root rot of chickpea caused by isolates of the Fusarium solani species complex in Brazil. Plant Disease, 100, 2171. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-05-15-0571-PDN.Chehri, K., Salleh, B., & Zakaria, L. (2015). Morphological and phylogenetic analysis of Fusarium solani species complex in Malaysia. Microbial Ecology, 69, 457–471.Chitrampalan, P., & Nelson Jr., B. (2015). Multilocus phylogeny reveals an association of agriculturally important Fusarium solani species complex (FSSC) 11, and clinically important FSSC 5 and FSSC 3 + 4 with soybean roots in the north central United States. Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek, 109, 335–347. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-015-0636-7.Coleman, J. J. (2016). The Fusarium solani species complex: ubiquitous pathogens of agricultural inportance. Molecular Plant Pathology, 17, 146–158.Crespo, M., Lawrence, D. P., Nouri, M. T., Doll, D. A., & Trouillas, F. P. (2019). Characterization of Fusarium and Neocosmospora species associated with crown rot and stem canker of pistachio rootstocks in California. Plant Disease, 103, 1931–1939.González, V., Armengol, J., & Garcés-Claver, A. (2018). First report of Fusarium petroliphilum causing fruit root of Butternut Squash in Spain. Plant Disease, 102, 1662.Martyn, R. D. (1996). Fusarium wilts. In T. A. Zitter, D. L. Hopkins, & C. E. Thomas (Eds.), Compendium of cucurbit diseases (pp. 11–16). St. Paul: APS Press.Martyn, R. D. (2014). Fusarium wilt of watermelon: 120 years of research. Horticultural Reviews, 42, 349–442.Mehl, H. L., & Epstein, L. (2007). Fusarium solani species complex isolates conspecific with Fusarium solani f. sp. cucurbitae race 2 from naturally infected human and plant tissue and environmental sources are equally virulent on plants, grow at 37° C and are interfertile. Environmental Microbiology, 9, 2189–2199.O’Donnell, K. (2000). Molecular phylogeny of the Nectria haematococca–Fusarium solani species complex. Mycologia, 92, 919–938.O’Donnell, K., Kistler, H. C., Cigelnik, E., & Ploetz, R. C. (1998). Multiple evolutionary origins of the fungus causing Panama disease of banana: concordant evidence from nuclear and mitochondrial gene genealogies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 95, 2044–2049.O’Donnell, K., Sutton, D. A., Fothergill, A., McCarthy, D., Rinaldi, M. G., Brandt, M. E., et al. (2008). Molecular phylogenetic diversity, multilocus haplotype nomenclature, and in vitro antifungal resistance within the Fusarium solani species complex. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 46, 2477–2490.O’Donnell, K., Sutton, D. A., Wiederholt, N., Robert, V. A. R. G., Crous, P. W., & Geiser, D. M. (2016). Veterinary Fusarioses within the United States. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 54, 2813–2819.Reeb, V., Lutztoni, F., & Roux, C. (2004). Contribution of RPB2 to multilocus phylogenetic studies of the euascomycetes (Pezizomycotina, Fungi) with special emphasis on the lichen-forming Acarosporaceae and evolution of polyspory. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 32, 1036–1060.Rentería-Martínez, M. E., Guerra-Camacho, M. A., Ochoa-Meza, A., Moreno-Salazar, S. F., Varela-Romero, A., Gutiérrez-Millán, L. E., & Meza-Moller, A. C. (2018). Multilocus phylogenetic analysis of fungal complex associated with root rot watermelon in Sonora, Mexico. Mexican Journal of Phytopathology, 36, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.18781/R.MEX.FIT.1710-1.Sandoval-Denis, M., & Crous, P. W. (2018). Removing chaos from confusion: assigning names to common human and animal pathogens in Neocosmospora. Persoonia, 41, 109–129.Sandoval-Denis, M., Lombard, L., & Crous, P. W. (2019). Back to the roots: a reappraisal of Neocosmospora. Persoonia, 43, 90–185.Sarmiento-Ramírez, J. M., Abella-Pérez, E., Phillott, A. D., Sim, J., van West, P., Martín, M. P., Marco, A., & Diéguez-Uribeondo, J. (2014). Global distribution of two fungal pathogens threatening endangered sea turtles. PLoS ONE, 9, e85853. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085853.Shaffer, J. P., U’Ren, J. M., Gallery, R. E., Baltrus, D. A., & Arnold, A. E. (2017). An endohyphal bacterium (Chitinophaga, bacteroidetes) alters carbon source use by Fusarium keratoplasticum (F. solani species complex, Nectriaceae). Frontiers in Microbiology, 8, 350.Short, D. P. G., O'Donnell, K., Thrane, U., Nielsen, K. F., Zhang, N., Juba, J. H., & Geiser, D. M. (2013). Phylogenetic relationships among members of the Fusarium solani species complex in human infections and the descriptions of F. keratoplasticum sp. nov. and F. petroliphilum stat. nov. Fungal Genetics and Biology, 53, 59–70.Sousa, E. S., Melo, M. P., Mota, J. M., Sousa, E. M. J., Beserra, J. E. A., & Matos, K. S. (2017). First report of Fusarium falciforme (FSSC 3 + 4) causing root rot in lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus L.) in Brazil. Plant Disease, 101, 1954. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-05-17-0657-PDN.Sutton, D. A., & Brandt, M. B. (2011). Fusarium and other opportunistic hyaline fungi. In J. Versalovic, K. Carroll, G. Funke, et al. (Eds.), Manual of clinical microbiology (10th ed., pp. 1853–1879). Washington, USA: ASM Press.Tamura, K., Stecher, G., Peterson, D., Filipski, A., & Kumar, S. (2013). MEGA6: molecular evolutionary genetics analysis version 6.0. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 30, 2725–2729. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/mst197.Tirado-Ramirez, M. A., Lopez-Orona, C. A., de Velazquez-Alcaraz, T. J., Diaz-Valdes, T., Velarde-Felix, S., Martinez-Campos, A. R., & Retes-Manjarrez, J. E. (2018). First report of onion basal rot caused by Fusarium falciforme in Mexico. Plant Disease, 102, 2646–2647.White, T. J., Bruns, T., Lee, S., & Taylor, J. (1990). Amplification and direct sequencing of fungal ribosomal RNA genes for phylogenetics. In M. A. Innis, D. H. Gelfand, J. J. Sninsky, & T. J. White (Eds.), PCR Protocols: A Guide to Methods and Applications (345p). San Diego: Academic Press.Zhang, N., O’Donnell, K., Sutton, D. A., et al. (2006). Members of the Fusarium solani species complex that cause infections in both humans and plants are common in the environment. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 44, 2186–2190

High exposure of West Nile virus in equid and wild bird populations in Spain following the epidemic outbreak in 2020

A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the circulation and risk factors associated with West Nile virus (WNV) exposure in equine and wild bird populations following the largest epidemic outbreak ever reported in Spain. A total of 305 equids and 171 wild birds were sampled between November 2020 and June 2021. IgG antibodies against flaviviruses were detected by blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (bELISA) in 44.9% (109/243) and 87.1% (54/62) of unvaccinated and vaccinated equids, respectively. The individual seroprevalence in unvaccinated individuals (calculated on animals seropositive by both bELISA and virus microneutralization test [VNT]) was 38.3% (95%CI: 33.1–43.4). No IgM antibodies were detected in animals tested (0/243; 0.0%; 95%CI: 0.0–1.5) by capture-ELISA. The main risk factors associated with WNV exposure in equids were age (adult and geriatric), breed (crossbred) and the absence of a disinsection programme on the facilities. In wild birds, IgG antibodies against flaviviruses were found in 32.7% (56/171; 95%CI: 26.8–38.6) using bELISA, giving an individual WNV seroprevalence of 19.3% (95%CI: 14.3–24.3) after VNT. Seropositivity was found in 37.8% of the 37 species analysed. Species group (raptors), age (>1-year old) and size (large) were the main risk factors related to WNV seropositivity in wild birds. Our results indicate high exposure and widespread distribution of WNV in equid and wild bird populations in Spain after the epidemic outbreak in 2020. The present study highlights the need to continue and improve active surveillance programmes for the detection of WNV in Spain, particularly in those areas at greatest risk of virus circulation

Developmental regulation of apical endocytosis controls epithelial patterning in vertebrate tubular organs

© 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. Epithelial organs develop through tightly coordinated events of cell proliferation and differentiation in which endocytosis plays a major role. Despite recent advances, how endocytosis regulates the development of vertebrate organs is still unknown. Here we describe a mechanism that facilitates the apical availability of endosomal SNARE receptors for epithelial morphogenesis through the developmental upregulation of plasmolipin (pllp) in a highly endocytic segment of the zebrafish posterior midgut. The protein PLLP (Pllp in fish) recruits the clathrin adaptor EpsinR to sort the SNARE machinery of the endolysosomal pathway into the subapical compartment, which is a switch for polarized endocytosis. Furthermore, PLLP expression induces apical Crumbs internalization and the activation of the Notch signalling pathway, both crucial steps in the acquisition of cell polarity and differentiation of epithelial cells. We thus postulate that differential apical endosomal SNARE sorting is a mechanism that regulates epithelial patterning.MINECO (BFU2011-22622) and CONSOLIDER (CSD2009-00016); Fundación Obra Social `La Caixa' PhD fellowship. G.A. was supported by the Amarouto Program for senior researchers from the Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid.Peer Reviewe

Regulation of the transcriptional program by DNA methylation during human αβ T-cell development

© The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research. Thymocyte differentiation is a complex process involving well-defined sequential developmental stages that ultimately result in the generation of mature T-cells. In this study, we analyzed DNA methylation and gene expression profiles at successive human thymus developmental stages. Gain and loss of methylation occurred during thymocyte differentiation, but DNA demethylation was much more frequent than de novo methylation and more strongly correlated with gene expression. These changes took place in CpG-poor regions and were closely associated with T-cell differentiation and TCR function. Up to 88 genes that encode transcriptional regulators, some of whose functions in T-cell development are as yet unknown, were differentially methylated during differentiation. Interestingly, no reversion of accumulated DNA methylation changes was observed as differentiation progressed, except in a very small subset of key genes (RAG1, RAG2, CD8A, PTCRA, etc.), indicating that methylation changes are mostly unique and irreversible events. Our study explores the contribution of DNA methylation to T-cell lymphopoiesis and provides a fine-scale map of differentially methylated regions associated with gene expression changes. These can lay the molecular foundations for a better interpretation of the regulatory networks driving human thymopoiesis.Plan Nacional de [I+D+I 2008–2011]; Instituto de Salud Carlos III [grant number PI12/02587]; Red Española de Investigación Renal (REDinREN) [grant number RD12/0021/0018 and RD12/0021/0021]; Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation [grant number SAF2010- 15106 and PLE2009-0110]; European Union [Fondos FEDER]Peer Reviewe

Memory and Executive Dysfunction Predict Complex Activities of Daily Living Impairment in Amnestic Multi-Domain Mild Cognitive Impairment

[EN]Background: Specific cognitive alterations could be one of the predictors that lead to the complex activities of daily living (CADL) impairment in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and, hence, help to explain the continuum between MCI and dementia. Objective: We aimed to reevaluate the existing uncertainty regarding the impact of memory and executive functions on CADL in patients with MCI. Methods: Caregivers of 161 patients with amnestic multi-domain MCI and of 150 patients with incipient Alzheimer’s disease as well as 100 age-, sex-, and education-matched controls, completed the Interview for Deterioration in Daily Living Activities in Dementia, a suitable instrument for the description and discrimination of CADL. In addition, all patients and controls were assessed with a neuropsychological battery to measure explicit memory and executive functions performance. Results: Multiple regression analyses showed that in the group of patients with amnestic multi-domain MCI, 67.4% of the variability of the CADL impairment was explained by worse performance on executive functions tests (p < 0.0001) and 41.8% by different explicit memory components impairment (p < 0.0001). Further, in patients with incipient AD, 44.0% of the variability of CADL impairment was explained by worse performance on executive functions tests (p < 0.0001) and 39.9% by different explicit memory components worsening (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Memory and executive functions alterations impact similarly on the CADL in both amnestic multi-domain MCI and incipient Alzheimer’s disease. Given the continuum that exists between both conditions, we conclude that CADL impairment may be an important early step in the evolution towards Alzheimer’s disease from amnestic multi-domain MCI

Reacciones faciales aversivas a alimentos amargos en individuos sanos con distinto indice de masa corporal

ObjetivosLas preferencias y el consumo de alimentos amargos como verduras y frutas son importantes patrones dietéticos saludables para abordar la epidemia de obesidad. Con el fin de explorar este problema, examinamos la relación entre las reacciones faciales de disgusto a los alimentos amargos y el Índice de Masa Corporal (IMC) en personas adultas sanas

Déficit de atención e hiperactividad en adultos con adicción a sustancias: ¿TDAH o síndrome secundario al abuso de sustancias?

Existe un cuerpo de investigación, sometido a fuertes intereses comerciales, para considerar la existencia del trastorno por déficit de atención e hiperactividad (TDAH) en adultos, que informa de presuntas prevalencias muy elevadas en población adicta. Otros estudios sugieren cifras mucho menores y más acordes con las observadas en población infantil, utilizando todos, y no sólo algunos, de los criterios diagnósticos establecidos. Puesto que el diagnóstico en el momento actual debe ser meramente sindrómico, los síntomas manifestados por los afectados son de interés crucial. A partir de diversos autoinformes de síntomas de TDAH (ASRS de la OMS), de disfunción ejecutiva (DEX, FrSBe) y de condiciones asociadas (MCMI-II, DII-Short), los datos del presente estudio muestran que es más probable que los síntomas de inatención e hiperactividad observados en sujetos adictos en tratamiento se deban a efectos derivados de la adicción que a condiciones mórbidas previas al abuso de sustancias