Bacterial Community Dynamics During the Application of a Myxococcus xanthus-Inoculated Culture Medium Used for Consolidation of Ornamental Limestone

In this study, we investigated under laboratory conditions the bacterial communities inhabiting quarry and decayed ornamental carbonate stones before and after the application of a Myxococcus xanthus-inoculated culture medium used for consolidation of the stones. The dynamics of the community structure and the prevalence of the inoculated bacterium, M. xanthus, were monitored during the time course of the consolidation treatment (30 days). For this purpose, we selected a molecular strategy combining fingerprinting by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) with the screening of eubacterial 16S rDNA clone libraries by DGGE and sequencing. Quantification of the inoculated strain was performed by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) using M. xanthus-specific primers designed in this work. Results derived from DGGE and sequencing analysis showed that, irrespective of the origin of the stone, the same carbonatogenic microorganisms were activated by the application of a M. xanthus culture. Those microorganisms were Pseudomonas sp., Bacillus sp., and Brevibacillus sp. The monitoring of M. xanthus in the culture media of treated stones during the time course experiment showed disparate results depending on the applied technique. By culture-dependent methods, the detection of this bacterium was only possible in the first day of the treatment, showing the limitation of these conventional techniques. By PCR-DGGE analysis, M. xanthus was detected during the first 3–6 days of the experiment. At this time, the population of this bacterium in the culture media varied between 108–106 cells ml−1, as showed by qPCR analyses. Thereafter, DGGE analyses showed to be not suitable for the detection of M. xanthus in a mixed culture. Nevertheless, qPCR analysis using specific primers for M. xanthus showed to be a more sensitive technique for the detection of this bacterium, revealing a population of 104 cells ml−1 in the culture media of both treated stones at the end of the consolidation treatment. The molecular strategy used in this study is proposed as an effective monitoring system to evaluate the impact of the application of a bacterially induced carbonate mineralization as restoration/conservation treatment for ornamental stones

Workshop on new strategies and tools for the eHealth library organized by the Andalusian eHealth Library

The Andalusian eHealth Library (Biblioteca Virtual del Sistema Sanitario Publico de Andalucia, BV-SSPA), was created in June 2006. The 42 librarians who already worked for the Health System were integrated within this new system. The annual library meeting has been held every year since then, and in 2013 the EAHIL workshop held in Stockholm was the model to follow

Effect of an Exogenous Phytase on Growth Performance in Growing Holstein Calves

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect on the productive performance, apparent digestibility of DM, serum phosphorus and phosphorus balance in Holstein calves which received a high concentrate diet with different doses of exogenous phytase for a period of 60d. The experiment was conducted with a completely randomized design with three treatments of eight calves each, the treatment included dietary supplementation of exogenous phytase at 0, 12 and 24 g/ton. Phytase inclusion increased (P0.05) on DM intake, feed conversion and DM digestibility. Adding phytase in the diet decreased phosphorus excretion in faeces (P<0.05) showing a significant linear increase with increasing level of supplementation (the values being 9.96, 9.14 and 8.13 g/d) which, in turn, increased the P retention (4.69, 5.37 and 6.45 g/d, resectively, for the three groups). In conclusion, supplementation of phytase could improve the growth performance of calves without any discernible effects on feed intake or digestibility of nutrients

A pan-cancer clinical platform to predict immunotherapy outcomes and prioritize immuno-oncology combinations in early-phase trials

Immunooncology; Predictive biomarkers; Tumor microenvironmentInmunooncología; Biomarcadores predictivos; Microambiente tumoralImmunooncologia; Biomarcadors predictius; Microambient tumoralBackground Immunotherapy is effective, but current biomarkers for patient selection have proven modest sensitivity. Here, we developed VIGex, an optimized gene signature based on the expression level of 12 genes involved in immune response with RNA sequencing. Methods We implemented VIGex using the nCounter platform (Nanostring) on a large clinical cohort encompassing 909 tumor samples across 45 tumor types. VIGex was developed as a continuous variable, with cutoffs selected to detect three main categories (hot, intermediate-cold and cold) based on the different inflammatory status of the tumor microenvironment. Findings Hot tumors had the highest VIGex scores and exhibited an increased abundance of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes as compared with the intermediate-cold and cold. VIGex scores varied depending on tumor origin and anatomic site of metastases, with liver metastases showing an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. The predictive power of VIGex-Hot was observed in a cohort of 98 refractory solid tumor from patients treated in early-phase immunotherapy trials and its clinical performance was confirmed through an extensive metanalysis across 13 clinically annotated gene expression datasets from 877 patients treated with immunotherapy agents. Last, we generated a pan-cancer biomarker platform that integrates VIGex categories with the expression levels of immunotherapy targets under development in early-phase clinical trials. Conclusions Our results support the clinical utility of VIGex as a tool to aid clinicians for patient selection and personalized immunotherapy interventions.A.H.C. would like to acknowledge fellowship funding from the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM), CRIS Contra el Cancer and Hold'em For Life Oncology Fellowship. This research has been funded by the Comprehensive Program of Cancer Immunotherapy & Immunology II (CAIMI-II) supported by the BBVA Foundation (grant 53/2021) and the 2020–2021 Division of Medical Oncology and Hematology (DMOH) Fellowship award at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. VHIO would like to acknowledge the Cellex Foundation for providing research facilities and equipment and the CERCA Programme from the Generalitat de Catalunya for their support of this research. Authors from VHIO acknowledge the State Agency for Research (Agencia Estatal de Investigación) for providing financial support as a Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa (CEX2020-001024-S/AEI/10.13039/501100011033). A.V. was the recipient of a project award from the FAECC (AVP/18/AECC/3219) and received funding from the Advanced Molecular Diagnostic (DIAMAV) program from the FERO Foundation. Graphical abstract was created with BioRender.com. Diagram in Figure 3B was created with SankeyMATIC (sankeymatic.com)

Cancer immunotherapy in special challenging populations: recommendations of the Advisory Committee of Spanish Melanoma Group (GEM)

Cancer immunotherapy based on the use of antibodies targeting the so-called checkpoint inhibitors, such as programmed cell death-1 receptor, its ligand, or CTLA-4, has shown durable clinical benefit and survival improvement in melanoma and other tumors. However, there are some special situations that could be a challenge for clinical management. Persons with chronic infections, such as HIV-1 or viral hepatitis, latent tuberculosis, or a history of solid organ transplantation, could be candidates for cancer immunotherapy, but their management requires a multidisciplinary approach. The Spanish Melanoma Group (GEM) panel in collaboration with experts in virology and immunology from different centers in Spain reviewed the literature and developed evidence-based guidelines for cancer immunotherapy management in patients with chronic infections and immunosuppression. These are the first clinical guidelines for cancer immunotherapy treatment in special challenging populations. Cancer immunotherapy in chronically infected or immunosuppressed patients is feasible but needs a multidisciplinary approach in order to decrease the risk of complications related to the coexistent comorbidities

Case-Control Analysis of the Impact of Anemia on Quality of Life in Patients with Cancer: A Qca Study Analysis

The impact of anemia on the quality of life (QoL) in cancer patients has been studied previously; however, the cut-off point used to define anemia differed among studies, thus providing inconsistent results. Therefore, we analysed the clinical impact of anemia on QoL using the same cut-off point for hemoglobin level to define anemia as that used in ESMO clinical practice guidelines. This post-hoc analysis aimed to determine the impact of anemia on QoL in cancer patients through the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of life questionnaire version 3.0 (EORTC QLQ-C30) and Euro QoL 5-dimension 3-level (EQ-5D-3L) questionnaire. We found that cancer patients with anemia had significantly worse QoL in clinical terms. In addition, anemic patients had more pronounced symptoms than those in non-anemic patients. Anemia is a common condition in cancer patients and is associated with a wide variety of symptoms that impair quality of life (QoL). However, exactly how anemia affects QoL in cancer patients is unclear because of the inconsistencies in its definition in previous reports. We aimed to examine the clinical impact of anemia on the QoL of cancer patients using specific questionnaires. We performed a post-hoc analysis of a multicenter, prospective, case-control study. We included patients with cancer with (cases) or without (controls) anemia. Participants completed the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life questionnaire version 3.0 (EORTC QLQ-C30) and Euro QoL 5-dimension 3-level (EQ-5D-3L) questionnaire. Statistically significant and clinically relevant differences in the global health status were examined. From 2015 to 2018, 365 patients were included (90 cases and 275 controls). We found minimally important differences in global health status according to the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire (case vs. controls: 45.6 vs. 58%, respectively; mean difference: -12.4, p < 0.001). Regarding symptoms, cancer patients with anemia had more pronounced symptoms in six out of nine scales in comparison with those without anemia. In conclusion, cancer patients with anemia had a worse QoL both clinically and statistically

Molecular Characterization of the Lipid Genome-Wide Association Study Signal on Chromosome 18q11.2 Implicates HNF4A-Mediated Regulation of the TMEM241 GeneHighlights

We recently identified a locus on chromosome 18q11.2 for high serum triglycerides (TGs) in Mexicans. We hypothesize that the lead GWAS single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs9949617, or its linkage disequilibrium (LD) proxies, regulate one of the 5 genes in the TG-associated region

Bienestar y familia, una mirada desde la psicología positiva

Este libro está dirigido a estudiantes y profesionales en psicología y áreas afines, como enfermería, trabajo social o educación, y a los interesados en personalidad positiva. Cada capítulo se presenta de manera sencilla y con una estructura didáctica, pero sin perder rigor científico y calidad de la revisión, con el fin de facilitar el acceso a la información sobre bienestar individual, familiar y social de una forma accesible para adentrarnos al estudio de temas de psicología positiva. Dadas las temáticas, se consideró pertinente dividir este libro en dos secciones: I. Psicología positiva y bienestar. II. Bienestar individual y familiar.Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México y Ediciones y Gráficos Eón, S.A. de C.V

Molecular Tools for Monitoring the Ecological Sustainability of a Stone Bio-Consolidation Treatment at the Royal Chapel, Granada

Background: Biomineralization processes have recently been applied in situ to protect and consolidate decayed ornamental stone of the Royal Chapel in Granada (Spain). While this promising method has demonstrated its efficacy regarding strengthening of the stone, little is known about its ecological sustainability.Methodology/Principal Findings: Here, we report molecular monitoring of the stone-autochthonous microbiota before and at 5, 12 and 30 months after the bio-consolidation treatment (medium/long-term monitoring), employing the well-known molecular strategy of DGGE analyses. Before the bio-consolidation treatment, the bacterial diversity showed the exclusive dominance of Actinobacteria (100%), which decreased in the community (44.2%) after 5 months, and Gamma-proteobacteria (30.24%) and Chloroflexi (25.56%) appeared. After 12 months, Gamma-proteobacteria vanished from the community and Cyanobacteria (22.1%) appeared and remained dominant after thirty months, when the microbiota consisted of Actinobacteria (42.2%) and Cyanobacteria (57.8%) only. Fungal diversity showed that the Ascomycota phylum was dominant before treatment (100%), while, after five months, Basidiomycota (6.38%) appeared on the stone, and vanished again after twelve months. Thirty months after the treatment, the fungal population started to stabilize and Ascomycota dominated on the stone (83.33%) once again. Members of green algae (Chlorophyta, Viridiplantae) appeared on the stone at 5, 12 and 30 months after the treatment and accounted for 4.25%, 84.77% and 16.77%, respectively.Conclusions: The results clearly show that, although a temporary shift in the bacterial and fungal diversity was observed during the first five months, most probably promoted by the application of the bio-consolidation treatment, the microbiota tends to regain its initial stability in a few months. Thus, the treatment does not seem to have any negative side effects on the stone-autochthonous microbiota over that time. The molecular strategy employed here is suggested as an efficient monitoring tool to assess the impact on the stone-autochthonous microbiota of the application of biomineralization processes as a restoration/conservation procedure.This work was supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Junta de Andalucía (Spain) and the “Fortalecimiento de la I+D+i” program from the University of Granada, co-financed by grant RNM-3493 and Research Group BIO-103 from Junta de Andalucía, as well as by the Spanish Government through “José Castillejo” program from the “Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte” (I+D+i 2008-2011), and by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) under Grant “Elise-Richter V194-B20”