Sincronía biológica entre cuatro especies de Anastrepha y sus hospederos Altos de Pacora - Panamá 1995-1996

En Altos de Pacora, ubicada al este de Panamá, se analizó la sincronía en la ocurrencia de Anastrepha en relación a tres especies de plantas hospederas. De Pouteria buenaventurensis cuya maduración coincide con el incremento en la precipitación, emergieron Anastrepha intermedia n, sp., de la semilla y Anastrepha serpentina, de la pulpa; de Pouteria sp. cuya fructificación coincide con la máxima precipitación, emergieron Anastrepha leptozona de semilla y de pulpa Anastrepha serpentina, de Duguetia panamensis donde la maduración se da al declinar la precipitación, emergió Anastrepha colombiana n. sp., que se alimenta de pulpa A. intermedia n. sp, presentó mayor infestación en junio y julio, variando de 30 a 54% con una intensidad de infestación promedio para 1995 de 3.73 larvas/fruto. La emergencia de adultos criados fue superior a finales de junio y las mayores capturas en trampas ocurrieron en julio, agosto y septiembre. El porcentaje de infestación en A. serpentina fue superior en agosto y la primera quincena de septiembre variando de 63 a 83%, la intensidad de infestación para esta especie varió de 5.3 a 11.2 larvas/fruto; la emergencia de adultos criados fue mayor en julio e inicios de septiembre y solo hubo capturas en trampa entre junio y julio. Para A. leptozona la infestación varió de 8 a 41% y la intensidad de infestación entre 1 y 8 larvas/fruto, la emergencia de adultos criados fue superior a finales de agosto y solo se capturó a principio de junio. La infestación de A. serpentina en Pouteria sp, varió de 11 a 73% y la intensidad de infestación de 3.6 a 14.6 el mayor número de adultos criados ocurrió a finales de agosto y los adultos se capturaron en trampas entre junio y julio. La infestación de A. colombiana varió de 8 al 100% en tanto que la intensidad de infestación fluctuó entre 3 y 11.4 larvas/fruto. La ocurrencia de adultos fue superior en junio y las capturas con trampas fueron más frecuentes en el período seco

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

Adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal cells for the treatment of patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia requiring mechanical ventilation. A proof of concept study

Background: Identification of effective treatments in severe cases of COVID-19 requiring mechanical ventilation represents an unmet medical need. Our aim was to determine whether the administration of adiposetissue derived mesenchymal stromal cells (AT-MSC) is safe and potentially useful in these patients. Methods: Thirteen COVID-19 adult patients under invasive mechanical ventilation who had received previous antiviral and/or anti-inflammatory treatments (including steroids, lopinavir/ritonavir, hydroxychloroquine and/or tocilizumab, among others) were treated with allogeneic AT-MSC. Ten patients received two doses, with the second dose administered a median of 3 days (interquartile range-IQR- 1 day) after the first one. Two patients received a single dose and another patient received 3 doses. Median number of cells per dose was 0.98 £ 106 (IQR 0.50 £ 106 ) AT-MSC/kg of recipient’s body weight. Potential adverse effects related to cell infusion and clinical outcome were assessed. Additional parameters analyzed included changes in imaging, analytical and inflammatory parameters

Sustainability of traditional ecological knowledge: importance, distribution, endemicity and conservation of Spanish medicinal plants

Trabajo presentado en la 58th Annual Meeting of the Society for Economic Botany (Living in a global world: local knowledge ans sustainability), celebrada en Braganza (Portugal) del 4 al 9 de junio de 2017.-- IECTB authors: L Aceituno, R Acosta, A Alvarez, E Barroso, J Blanco, MA Bonet, L Calvet, E Carrio, R Cavero, U DAmbrosio , L Delgado, J Fajardo, I Fernandez-Ordonez, J Garcia, T Garnatje, JA Gonzalez, R Gonzalez-Tejero, A Gras, E Hernandez-Bermejo, E Laguna, JA Latorre, C. Lopez, MJ Macia, E Marcos, V Martinez, G Menendez, M Molina, R Morales, LM Munoz, C Obon, R Ontillera, M Parada, A Perdomo, I Perez, MP Puchades, V Reyes-Garcia, M Rigat, S Rios, D Rivera, R Rodriguez, O Rodriguez, R Roldan, L San Joaquin, FJ Tardio, JR Vallejo, J Valles, H Velasco and A Verde.More than 17,000 of the plant species of the world have been used as medicines. The Mediterranean basin, and specifically Spain, has a great floristic and ethnobotanical richness, comprising its useful flora around 3,000 plant species. This paper studies medicinal plants traditionally used in Spain in order to analyze the sustainability of their exploitation. Given that sustainability is related to the amount of the resource and its gathering pressure, its availability and cultural importance were analysed based on: the number of papers cited from a selection of over 180 papers, the number of 10x10 km UTM grid cells in which the plants were represented, the number of phytosociological inventories in which the presence of the plant has been registered, and searched on their current conservation status in European, national and regional legislations. The total number of wild or naturalized medicinal species in Spain reaches 1,393, 15% of them being endemic. A positive correlation was found among cultural importance and abundance (ρ=0.48) and among cultural importance and distribution (ρ=0.502), showing that abundant widely distributed species are those more commonly used. Most of the medicinal plants (72%) do not appear on the consulted regulations and do not have any legal protection or known threat and only 11 species are registered in any of the annexes of the European Habitats directive. While this study confirms that people tend to select as medicinal abundant and widely distributed species, many other criteria are used for selecting them.Peer reviewe