Serum interleukin-15 levels in cancer patients with cachexia

Interleukin-15 (IL-15) has important anabolic effects on muscle protein metabolism through a decrease in the ATP-ubiquitin-dependent proteolytic pathway. The role of IL-15 in human cancer cachexia is unknown. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between interleukin-15 (IL-15) in cancer patients with cachexia at diagnosis of malignancy and 8 weeks later. An observational study of 21 cancer patients (with and without cachexia) and 8 healthy subjects was conducted. Body composition was measured by leg-to-leg impedance. Serum IL-15 levels were assessed at baseline and after 4 and 8 weeks. Baseline IL-15 values were similar in cancer patients and in healthy subjects. Cancer patients with lower baseline levels of IL-15 (<2 pg/ml) had significantly higher fat mass (%) along the study. Eighteen patients completed the study: five patients showed an increase of 3.7 kg at the end of the study (5.4% of body weight) and showed a mean increase of IL-15 of 1.32 pg/ml (121%) at 4 weeks and 2.32 pg/ml (197%) at 8 weeks, as compared with mean decrease of -4.1 kg (-5.3%) and -0.09 pg/ml (-2.5%) and 0.6 pg/ml (40.8%) in the 13 patients who lost weight (P=0.001 and P=0.022, respectively). Changes of IL-15 at 4 and 8 weeks were directly associated with changes in body weight, body mass index (BMI), fat-free mass and muscle mass (P<0.05), and indirectly associated with percentage of weight loss (P<0.05). In summary, although the results indicate that IL-15 does not have a role in cancer cachexia pathogenesis, the association during evolution between serum IL-15 and changes in weight and muscle mass suggests a possible role of IL-15 as a marker of the body composition response in cancer patients who are losing weight at the time of diagnosisThis study was partially supported by a grant from the Fundación Mutua Madrileñ

BIOrienta2: orientación a futuros farmacéuticos. La Investigación en biomedicina como carrera profesional

El Grado de Farmacia ofrece una formación idónea para personas que enfoquen su carrera profesional como investigadores en el área de Biomedicina. Ninguna otra formación de Pregrado aúna conocimientos tan amplios en Microbiología, Parasitología, Química, Biología Molecular y Biotecnología así como en aspectos relacionados con el mecanismo de acción de fármacos y con alteracions fisio/patológicas a nivel molecular. Por ello, nos hemos planteado realizar un Plan de Acción Tutorial enfocado a formar alumnos desde sus etapas iniciales en la investigación en Biomedicina: elección de su trayectoria curricular, requisitos para realizar una carrera científica y oportunidades de formación en esta áre

Benchmarking plant diversity of Palaearctic grasslands and other open habitats

Aims: Understanding fine-grain diversity patterns across large spatial extents is fundamental for macroecological research and biodiversity conservation. Using the GrassPlot database, we provide benchmarks of fine-grain richness values of Palaearctic open habitats for vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens and complete vegetation (i.e., the sum of the former three groups). Location: Palaearctic biogeographic realm. Methods: We used 126,524 plots of eight standard grain sizes from the GrassPlot database: 0.0001, 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, 100 and 1,000 m(2) and calculated the mean richness and standard deviations, as well as maximum, minimum, median, and first and third quartiles for each combination of grain size, taxonomic group, biome, region, vegetation type and phytosociological class. Results: Patterns of plant diversity in vegetation types and biomes differ across grain sizes and taxonomic groups. Overall, secondary (mostly semi-natural) grasslands and natural grasslands are the richest vegetation type. The open-access file "GrassPlot Diversity Benchmarks" and the web tool "GrassPlot Diversity Explorer" are now available online () and provide more insights into species richness patterns in the Palaearctic open habitats. Conclusions: The GrassPlot Diversity Benchmarks provide high-quality data on species richness in open habitat types across the Palaearctic. These benchmark data can be used in vegetation ecology, macroecology, biodiversity conservation and data quality checking. While the amount of data in the underlying GrassPlot database and their spatial coverage are smaller than in other extensive vegetation-plot databases, species recordings in GrassPlot are on average more complete, making it a valuable complementary data source in macroecology

Benchmarking plant diversity of Palaearctic grasslands and other open habitats

Aims Understanding fine-grain diversity patterns across large spatial extents is fundamental for macroecological research and biodiversity conservation. Using the GrassPlot database, we provide benchmarks of fine-grain richness values of Palaearctic open habitats for vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens and complete vegetation (i.e., the sum of the former three groups). Location Palaearctic biogeographic realm. Methods We used 126,524 plots of eight standard grain sizes from the GrassPlot database: 0.0001, 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, 100 and 1,000 m2 and calculated the mean richness and standard deviations, as well as maximum, minimum, median, and first and third quartiles for each combination of grain size, taxonomic group, biome, region, vegetation type and phytosociological class. Results Patterns of plant diversity in vegetation types and biomes differ across grain sizes and taxonomic groups. Overall, secondary (mostly semi-natural) grasslands and natural grasslands are the richest vegetation type. The open-access file ”GrassPlot Diversity Benchmarks” and the web tool “GrassPlot Diversity Explorer” are now available online (https://edgg.org/databases/GrasslandDiversityExplorer) and provide more insights into species richness patterns in the Palaearctic open habitats. Conclusions The GrassPlot Diversity Benchmarks provide high-quality data on species richness in open habitat types across the Palaearctic. These benchmark data can be used in vegetation ecology, macroecology, biodiversity conservation and data quality checking. While the amount of data in the underlying GrassPlot database and their spatial coverage are smaller than in other extensive vegetation-plot databases, species recordings in GrassPlot are on average more complete, making it a valuable complementary data source in macroecology