Cell-cell communication between Mouse mammary epithelial cells and 3T3-L1 preadipocytes: effect on triglyceride accumulation and cell proliferation

Interaction between parenchyma and stroma is essential for organogenesis, morphogenesis, and differentiation. Mammary gland has being the chosen model for developmental biologist because the most striking changes in morphology and function take place after birth. We have demonstrated a regulation of triglyceride accumulation by protein factors synthesized by normal mouse mammary gland epithelial cells (NMMG), acting on a cell line, 3T3-L1, long used as a model for adipogenesis. In this paper, we demonstrate that this inhibitory effect seems to be shared by other cells of epithelial origin but not by other cell types. We found a regulation of cell proliferation when NMMG cells are cultured in the presence of conditioned media from Swiss 3T3 or 3T3-L1 cells. We found a possible point of regulation for the mammary factor on a key enzyme of the lipid metabolic pathway, the glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. The inhibitory factor seems to have an effect on this enzyme´s activity and reduces it. The results presented herein contribute to the understanding of cell-cell communication in a model of a normal mammary gland.Fil: Julianelli, Vanina Laura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Química Biológica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Guerra, Liliana Noemi. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Química Biológica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Calvo, Juan Carlos. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Química Biológica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; Argentin

Big Data for gender analysis

Treballs Finals de Grau de Física, Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona, Curs: 2022, Tutores: Sònia Estradé, Gemma ViscasillasThe objective of this work is to use python-based big data tools to perform a gender study of doctoral theses carried out at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Barcelona. The data used for the study is a total of 561 theses that have been obtained from the Dipòsit Digital of the University of Barcelona through Web Scraping and have been analyzed using Pytho

Aggressive Victims, Passive Victims, and Bullies: Developmental Continuity or Developmental Change?

We evaluated the extent to which aggressive victims show unique developmental pathways that are different from those of passive victims, bullies, and uninvolved children. A total of 1,722 children were followed from 4th grade to 6th grade, and the prevalence and stability of each group were assessed. Aggressive victims became less prevalent and passive victims and bullies became more prevalent with age. Although it was common for aggressive victims and bullies to move from one group to the other across time, there was little overlap with the passive victim group. Stability estimates were higher for the bully and aggressive victim groups than for the passive victim group, and patterns of stability were influenced by peer rejection and exposure to violence

Comparison Between Supervised and Unsupervised Classifications of Neuronal Cell Types: A Case Study

In the study of neural circuits, it becomes essential to discern the different neuronal cell types that build the circuit. Traditionally, neuronal cell types have been classified using qualitative descriptors. More recently, several attempts have been made to classify neurons quantitatively, using unsupervised clustering methods. While useful, these algorithms do not take advantage of previous information known to the investigator, which could improve the classification task. For neocortical GABAergic interneurons, the problem to discern among different cell types is particularly difficult and better methods are needed to perform objective classifications. Here we explore the use of supervised classification algorithms to classify neurons based on their morphological features, using a database of 128 pyramidal cells and 199 interneurons from mouse neocortex. To evaluate the performance of different algorithms we used, as a “benchmark,” the test to automatically distinguish between pyramidal cells and interneurons, defining “ground truth” by the presence or absence of an apical dendrite. We compared hierarchical clustering with a battery of different supervised classification algorithms, finding that supervised classifications outperformed hierarchical clustering. In addition, the selection of subsets of distinguishing features enhanced the classification accuracy for both sets of algorithms. The analysis of selected variables indicates that dendritic features were most useful to distinguish pyramidal cells from interneurons when compared with somatic and axonal morphological variables. We conclude that supervised classification algorithms are better matched to the general problem of distinguishing neuronal cell types when some information on these cell groups, in our case being pyramidal or interneuron, is known a priori. As a spin-off of this methodological study, we provide several methods to automatically distinguish neocortical pyramidal cells from interneurons, based on their morphologies

Caracterización de la comunidad de scolyiidae colectadas con diferentes tipos de trampa ubicadas en cinco sitios con predominio de pino en la república de Panamá

En Panamá el 24.88% del territorio reforestado corresponde a Pino (Pinus caribaea). Los Scolytidae se encuentran entre las plagas forestales más importantes provocando daño a 'tucas'y árboles vivos. Debido a ello, se efectuó el presente trabajo con la finalidad de identificar las especies encontradas en área de pinos, caracterizar los taxa de Scolytidae en base a estructuras de diagnosis, determinar la eficiencia de las trampas empleadas en seis localidades en la Provincia de Panamá (Río Congo, Las Zanguengas, Parque Nacional Altos de Campana y dos sitios en Parque Nacional Chagres) y una en la Provincia de Veraguas (La Reserva Forestal La Yeguada). Se utilizaron trampas de láminas de acrílico, trampas para broca (ChemTica) y trampas de "tul" durante el período de agosto de 2003 a mayo de 2004. Se calculo la abundancia y frecuencia de cada especie, así como la diversidad de los sitios de colecta con el índice de Shannon-Weaver, en tanto que para determinar la eficiencia de las trampas y sitios se utilizó Friedmann. Se capturaron 67 especies, pertenecientes a las tribus Bothrostermni, Corthylini, Cryphalini, Ctenophorini, Dryocoetini, Micracini y Xyleborini; 24 no pudieron ser identificadas a nivel de especie, cuatro fueron asociados a la especie más cercana y 39 a nivel de "morphospecie". Los xilomicetofagos representaron el 75% de los individuos colectados. Cuatro especies fueron reportadas por primera vez para Panamá y una especie no descrita. Varias especies demostraron un "pico" poblacional al finalizar la época lluviosa o al comienzo de la época seca. La reserva La Yeguada y Parque Nacional Campana tuvieron los indicies más altos de diversidad, los dos sitios de Parque Nacional Chagres y Río Congo tuvieron un índice muy similar y Las Zanguengas presentó el índice más bajo. Hubo diferencias estadísticas en la eficiencia de las trampas y sitios de colecta, siendo Las Zanguengas y las trampas de intercepción 'tul' los más eficientes

Insulin in Combination with N-Acetylcysteine Protects Hypoxia-Induced Toxicity in 661W Cells

Background: Proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) is the leading cause of blindness among working-age adults. Photoreceptors are the most numerous and metabolically demanding cells in the retina thus oxygen is essential for retinal function. It has been reported that photoreceptors found in rat retina are specifically vulnerable to hypoxia. Hypoxia-induced metabolic stress leads to photoreceptor atrophy and retinopathy. Furthermore, photoreceptor cell death is known to occur mainly through apoptosis. However, the protection of hypoxia-induced-cytotoxicity in cone photoreceptor cells has not been investigated extensively. The aim of this study was to determine whether co-treatment of insulin and the N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine (NAC) (a free radical scavenger) efficiently protects against hypoxia-induced cytotoxicity in 661W cells. Methods: 661W, an immortalized mouse cone photoreceptor cells, were cultured at 5% CO2 at 37˚C in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium (DMEM) supplemented with 10% FBS, penicillin (100 units/mL), and streptomycin (100μg/mL). Cobalt (II) Chloride hexahydrate (CoCl2) was used to induce hypoxia. Insulin was suspended in sterile water, and NAC was diluted in the culture medium. For recovery experiment, cells were pretreated with CoCl2 for 24hrs, and then followed by replacing of medium with insulin (100nM) and NAC (3mM) alone, or with a combination of the two reagents for another 24hrs. Cell viability was determined by MTT assay in a 96 well culture plate. Morphological changes of the cells were observed and photographed under phase-contrast microscope and protein expression was measured by Western blot analysis. Statistical analysis was undertaken using independent two-tailed Students’ t-test and determined with SPSS Statistics software. Results: Treatment with CoCl2 significantly inhibited cell proliferation, reduced the number of viability cells, and induced apoptosis, initiated (poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) cleavage, and increased caspase 3 activation. In addition, CoCl2 treatment led to oxidative stress, autophagy, and ubiquitination in the 661W cells. All of these effects, including cell proliferations were significantly reversed by the combination treatment of Insulin and NAC. In contrast, treatment with Insulin alone did not result in a similar protective effect and NAC partially protects against hypoxia induced toxicity. Conclusion: Hypoxia induces significant apoptosis, oxidative stress, and protein ubiquitination in 661W cone photoreceptors. A combination treatment of Insulin and NAC completely reversed such hypoxia-induced cytotoxicity. Additional research on a combination therapy employing insulin and NAC may provide a novel and promising therapeutic strategy for hypoxia-mediated cone photoreceptor cell damage

The use of sciences journals for the university Community in the biosanitary area: improvement actions

Trabajo de Fin de Grado de Información y Documentación, curso 2016-2017[ES] El presente trabajo presenta los resultados de una encuesta sobre el uso del servicio de artículos y revistas de la Universidad de Salamanca realizada a profesores y alumnos del área de Ciencias Biosanitaria cogiendo como muestra 3 facultades: Biología, Ciencias Agrarias y Ambientales y Ciencias. La encuesta intenta recabar datos sobre conocimiento y utilización de las revistas y recursos, cuáles son los hábitos de consumo por parte de los docentes y alumnos, la valoración del servicio o cuales son aquellas revistas que consultan con más asiduidad. El estudio tiene en cuenta variables como el tiempo de docencia y la facultad donde se imparte clase en el caso de los docentes y el nivel de estudios y el grado, máster o programa de doctorado en el que estén inscritos los alumnos. Los resultados revelan un elevado grado y utilización de los recursos, además de la preferencia de los encuestados por la lectura en formato electrónico. Asimismo, se expresa la valoración los citados recursos por parte de los usuarios y una propuesta de mejoras teniendo en cuenta la opinión de los encuestados además de otros factores. [EN] The current paper contains the results of a survey about the use of the service of articles and journals of the University of Salamanca carried out to teachers and students of the area of Biosanitary Sciences taking as a sample 3 faculties: Biology, Agrarian Sciences and Environmental Sciences. The survey tries to collect data on knowledge and use of journals and resources, which are the habits of consumption by teachers and students, the assessment of the service or which journals are consulted more assiduously. The study takes into account variables such as the teaching time and the faculty where teachers are taught in the case of teachers and the level of studies and the degree, masters or doctoral program in which the students are enrolled. The results reveal a high degree and use of the resources, besides the preference of the respondents for the reading in electronic format. Likewise, the appraisal is expressed the aforementioned resources by the users and a proposal of improvements taking into account the opinion of the respondents in addition to other factors