Relationship between target organ damage and blood pressure, retinal vessel calibre, oxidative stress and polymorphisms in VAV-2 and VAV-3 genes in patients with hypertension: a case-control study protocol (LOD- Hipertensión)

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 3.0) license.[Introduction]: Target organ damage (TOD) is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. The study objectives were to analyse the relationship of TOD to blood pressure, size of retinal arteries and veins, oxidative stress and different polymorphisms in the VAV-2 and VAV-3 genes in participants with hypertension. [Methods and analysis]: A case-control study to analyse the relationship between clinical, biochemical and genetic parameters and presence of cardiac, vascular and renal TOD in 486 patients with hypertension. Participants with TOD will be considered as cases, and those without TOD will be enrolled as controls. This will be a collaborative study conducted by the groups of Primary Care, Cardiovascular and Metabolic and Degenerative Diseases of the Instituto de Investigación Biomédica of Salamanca (IBSAL). Assessment of cardiac, renal and vascular TOD. Measurement of peripheral and central blood pressure, size of eye fundus arteries and veins, and oxidative stress, and polymorphisms in the VAV-2 and VAV-3 genes. [Ethics and dissemination]: The study will be conducted after approval is obtained from the Ethics Committee of Hospital Clínico Universitario of Salamanca. All study participants will sign an informed consent to agree to participate in the study, and another consent to agree on the genetic study, in compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki and the WHO standards for observational studies. The results of this study will allow for an understanding of the relationship of the different TODs with blood pressure, retinal artery and vein diameters, oxidative stress and polymorphisms in VAV-2 and VAV-3 genes. [Trial registration number]: Clinical Trials. gov Identifier: NCT02022618.This project has been supported by the Castilla y León Health Service (BIO/SA05/13), Carlos III Institute of Health of the Spanish Ministry of Health (RETICS RD12/0005, RedIAPP, and RD12/0021, RedinRen), and Infosalud Foundation.Peer Reviewe

Dietary glycemic index and retinal microvasculature in adults: a cross-sectional study

[EN] Objective: To analyze the relationship between dietary glycemic index (GI) and retinal microvasculature in adults. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 300 subjects from the EVIDENT II study. Dietary GI was calculated using a validated, semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Retinal photographs were digitized, temporal vessels were measured in an area 0.5–1 disc diameter from the optic disc and arteriolar-venular index (AVI) was estimated with semi-automated software. Results: AVI showed a significant difference between the tertiles of GI, after adjusting for potential confounders. The lowest AVI values were observed among subjects in the highest tertile of GI, whereas the greatest were found among those in the lowest tertile (estimated marginal mean of 0.738 vs. 0.768, p = 0.014). Conclusions: In adults, high dietary GI implies lowering AVI values regardless of age, gender and other confounding variables. Trial registration: Clinical Trials.gov Identifier: NCT02016014. Registered 9 December 2013

Gut microbiota composition and arterial stiffness measured by pulse wave velocity: Case-control study protocol (MIVAS study)

[Introduction]: Intestinal microbiota is arising as a new element in the physiopathology of cardiovascular diseases. A healthy microbiota includes a balanced representation of bacteria with health promotion functions (symbiotes). The aim of this study is to analyse the relationship between intestinal microbiota composition and arterial stiffness. [Methods and analysis]: An observational case—control study will be developed. Cases will be defined by the presence of at least one of the following: carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV), Cardio-Ankle Vascular Index (CAVI), brachial ankle pulse wave velocity (ba or ba-PWV) above the 90th percentile, for age and sex, of the reference population. Controls will be selected from the same population as cases. The study will be developed in Primary Healthcare Centres. We will select 500 subjects (250 cases and 250 controls), between 45 and 74 years of age. Cases will be selected from a database that combines data from EVA study (Spain) and Guimarães/Vizela study (Portugal). Measurements: cf-PWV will be measured using the SphygmoCor system, CAVI, ba-PWV and Ankle-Brachial Index will be determined using VaSera device. Gut microbiome composition in faecal samples will be determined by 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing. Lifestyle will be assessed by food frequency questionnaire, adherence to the Mediterranean diet and IPAQ (International Physical Activity Questionnaire). Body composition will be evaluated by bioimpedance. [Ethics and dissemination]: The study has been approved by ‘Committee of ethics of research with medicines of the health area of Salamanca’ on 14 December 2018 (cod. 2018-11-136) and the ’Ethics committee for health of Guimaraes’ (Portugal) on 15 October 2019 (ref: 67/2019).All study participants will sign an informed consent form agreeing to participate in the study, in compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki and the WHO standards for observational studies. The results of this study will allow a better description of gut microbiota in patients with arterial stiffness.The project has been funded by the Carlos III Health Institute (Spain) through the Network of preventive activities and health promotion (redIAPP, RD16/0007), co-financed with European funds for regional development (FEDER) and the Autonomous Government of Castilla y León (GRS 1820/B/18; GRS 1944/B/19 and intensification programme)

Design and evaluation of a treatment programme for Spanish adolescents with overweight and obesity. The EVASYON Study

Background The prevalence of overweight and obesity (OW/OB) among adolescents worldwide has increased since the 60 s. Spain has reached one of the highest OW/OB prevalence rates among adolescents from European countries. The aim of this methodological paper is to describe the design and evaluation in the EVASYON study (Development, implementation and evaluation of the efficacy of a therapeutic programme for adolescents with OW/OB: integral education on nutrition and physical activity). Methods/Design The EVASYON was planned by a multidisciplinary team to treat OW/OB in Spanish adolescents. The EVASYON is a multi-centre study conducted in 5 hospitals in 5 Spanish cities (Granada, Madrid, Pamplona, Santander and Zaragoza) and two hundred and four OW/OB Spanish adolescents were recruited for this intervention. The treatment was implemented for approximately one-year follow-up. The adolescents were treated in groups of a maximum of 10 subjects; each group had 20 visits during the treatment period in two phases: intensive during the first 2 months (1st to 9th visits), and extensive during the last 11 months (10th to 20th visits). In order to assess the efficacy of the treatment, 8 dimensions were measured: diet; physical activity and fitness; eating behaviour; body composition; haematological profile; metabolic profile; minerals and vitamins; immuno-inflammatory markers. Moreover, genetic polymorphisms were also determined. Discussion The treatment programme developed in the EVASYON study was designed as a national pilot study to be implemented as an effective treatment for adolescents with OW/OB into the Spanish Health Care Service

CMEMS downscaled circulation operational forecast system

This document describes the numerical modelling work done in task 5.2 needed to implement OSPA

The biota of the Upper Cretaceous site of Lo Hueco (Cuenca, Spain)

The Late Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) fossil site of Lo Hueco was recently discovered close to the village of Fuentes (Cuenca, Spain) during the cutting of a little hill for installation of the railway of the Madrid-Levante high-speed train. To date, it has yielded a rich collection of well-preserved Cretaceous macrofossils, including plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates. The recovered fossil assemblage is mainly composed of plants, molluscs (bivalves and gastropods), actinopterygians and teleosteans fishes, amphibians, panpleurodiran (bothremydids) and pancryptodiran turtles, squamate lizards, eusuchian crocodyliforms, rhabdodontid ornithopods, theropods (mainly dromaeosaurids), and titanosaur sauropods. This assemblage was deposited in a near-coast continental muddy floodplain crossed by distributary sandy channels, exposed intermittently to brackish or marine and freshwater flooding as well as to partial or total desiccation events.The Konzentrat-Lagerstatt of Lo Hueco constitutes a singular accumulation of fossils representing individuals of some particular lineages of continental tetrapods, especially titanosaurs, eusuchians and bothremydid turtles. In the case of the titanosaurs, the site has yielded multiple partial skeletons in anatomical connection or with a low dispersion of their skeletal elements. A combination of new taxa, new records of taxa previously known in the Iberian Peninsula, and relatively common taxa in the European record compose the Lo Hueco biota. The particular conditions of the fossil site of Lo Hueco and the preliminary results indicate that the analysis of the geological context, the floral and faunal content, and the taphonomical features of the site provide elements that will be especially useful for reassess the evolutionary history of some lineages of European Late Cretaceous reptiles.Peer reviewe