Phytotoxic and dissuasive activity of Chihuahua desert plants

With the purpose of finding plant compounds with the potential use as herbicides and insecticides, a research was realized with the objective of evaluate the phytotoxic and dissuasive activity of four Chihuahua desert plants. The phytotoxic activity evaluation was tested on Lactuca sativa and Lolium perenne, while the dissuasive activity was realized on three species of phytophagous insects: Myzus persicae, Rhopalosiphum padi and Spodoptera littoralis. Raw extracts were used, the solvents hexane, methanol and ethanol of different plants’ organs (root, steam, leaf and flower) of four species: Fouquieria splendens (ocotillo), Larrea tridentate (governor), Astragalus mollissimus (wild grass) and Pachycereus pecten-aboriginum (echo), by the establishment of in vitro bioassays at a concentration of 10 mg/ml extract/solvent. In the toxicity bioassay, the percentage of germination, root and leaf length were measured. The results showed that the leaf extract of L. tridentata had phytotoxic activity for L. sativa, while for L. perenne the phytotoxicity was observed within the ocotillo, governor and echo extracts. In the dissuasive bioassay, each treatment had 20 repetitions with 10 adult insects per repetition. The methanolic extracts of F. splendens leaf and root, ethanolic extract of A. mollisimus sheet and the ethanolic extract of P. pecten-aboriginum stems showed moderate dissuasive response of feeding against M. persicae, presenting a settlement inhibition index of 53.53, 54.35, 60.00 and 48.84% respectively. Nevertheless, the results indicated that none of the 10 extracts tested on S. littoralis showed significant dissuasive properties for this Lepidoptera, while for R. padi all the tested extracts presented dissuasive properties. The treatments of the four vegetable species evaluated showed defensive or dissuasive properties of moderate to strong feeding against the insects M. persicae and R. padi, presenting interesting potential for being used as insecticides, while the tested extracts that presented phytotoxicity for both lettuce and ryegrass present possibilities for the realization of herbicides

O Impacto do Acesso a Dados na Concorrência em Plataformas Digitais

The aim of this article is to present to what extent the broad access to data by dominant platforms affects competition in the market and if this access reinforces their positions as incumbents. For this purpose, economic theories will be reviewed with emphasis on three ways in which access to data affects competition, namely: (i) price customization, (ii) recommendations and (iii) product and service customization. The article concludes with a discussion on antitrust analysis from the perspective of access to data from two merger cases that involved horizontal and vertical overlaps: the international acquisition of FitBit by Google (2020) and the national merger case between Stone and Linx (2021).O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar em que medida o amplo acesso a dados por plataformas dominantes afeta a concorrência no mercado e, em particular, se este acesso reforça suas posições como incumbentes. Para tanto, serão revisadas as teorias econômicas com ênfase em três formas pelas quais o acesso a dados afeta a concorrência, quais sejam: (i) personalização de preços, (ii) recomendações e (iii) customização de produtos e serviços. O artigo conclui com uma discussão sobre a análise antitruste sob a ótica do acesso a dados de dois casos de fusão que envolveram sobreposições horizontais e verticais: o caso internacional ‘Google e FitBit’ (2020) e o caso nacional da fusão entre a Stone e a Linx (2021).&nbsp

Cervical cancer cell lines expressing NKG2D-ligands are able to down-modulate the NKG2D receptor on NKL cells with functional implications

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cervical cancer represents the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women worldwide. Natural killer (NK) cells play an important role in the defense against viruses, intracellular bacteria and tumors. NKG2D, an activating receptor on NK cells, recognizes MHC class I chain-related molecules, such as MICA/B and members of the ULBP/RAET1 family. Tumor-derived soluble NKG2D-ligands have been shown to down-modulate the expression of NKG2D on NK cells. In addition to the down-modulation induced by soluble NKG2D-ligands, it has recently been described that persistent cell-cell contact can also down-modulate NKG2D expression. The goal of this study was to determine whether the NKG2D receptor is down-modulated by cell-cell contact with cervical cancer cells and whether this down-modulation might be associated with changes in NK cell activity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We demonstrate that NKG2D expressed on NKL cells is down-modulated by direct cell contact with cervical cancer cell lines HeLa, SiHa, and C33A, but not with non-tumorigenic keratinocytes (HaCaT). Moreover, this down-modulation had functional implications. We found expression of NKG2D-ligands in all cervical cancer cell lines, but the patterns of ligand distribution were different in each cell line. Cervical cancer cell lines co-cultured with NKL cells or fresh NK cells induced a marked diminution of NKG2D expression on NKL cells. Additionally, the cytotoxic activity of NKL cells against K562 targets was compromised after co-culture with HeLa and SiHa cells, while co-culture with C33A increased the cytotoxic activity of the NKL cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results suggest that differential expression of NKG2D-ligands in cervical cancer cell lines might be associated with the down-modulation of NKG2D, as well as with changes in the cytotoxic activity of NKL cells after cell-cell contact with the tumor cells.</p

Project: Center for Diabetes and Metabolism [Centro de Diabetes y Metabolismo: CeDiMet], a collaborative dream comes true

Reynosa urban area has 690,000 inhabitants (384,000 adults \u3e20 years old), 35% moved from other states. The use of cell phones is in 81%, personal computer or laptop with 29%. The prevalence of overweight is 39%, obesity 36%, and T2D 13%. The expected adult population with T2D is 49,900 individuals. The are 5 clinics prepared to attend T2D, and few with specialized personnel. The CeDiMet is a collaborative clinic involving health personnel and researchers from the Universidad Mexico Americana del Norte, Universidad Autonoma de Tamaulipas, Hospital General de Mexico “Dr. Eduardo Liceaga”, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, and the Texas Diabetes Institute in San Antonio. The funding source comes from private companies in Reynosa. The clinical structure includes physicians, nurses, nutritionists, psychologists, and a section for telemedicine for consulting specialists from USA and Mexico City. Besides clinical attendance, the CeDiMet will conduct educational activities in offices, factories, churches, and schools for prevention of obesity complications (T2D and hypertension), early detection of diabetic foot, fatty liver, and endothelial damage. “Tree of Health in the Family” is a program to encourage youth to know and understand the metabolic problems in their families to focus on prevention. Recently, we obtained a grant from COTACyT to explore the effect of COVID-19 in a cohort of 200 students and their families. The analysis of post-traumatic stress due to confinement and antibodies concentration to detect contacts and its association with metabolic problems is an example of the research we can perform

MHC class I-related chain A and B ligands are differentially expressed in human cervical cancer cell lines

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Natural killer (NK) cells are an important resource of the innate immune system directly involved in the spontaneous recognition and lysis of virus-infected and tumor cells. An exquisite balance of inhibitory and activating receptors tightly controls the NK cell activity. At present, one of the best-characterized activating receptors is NKG2D, which promotes the NK-mediated lysis of target cells by binding to a family of cell surface ligands encoded by the MHC class I chain-related (MIC) genes, among others. The goal of this study was to describe the expression pattern of MICA and MICB at the molecular and cellular levels in human cervical cancer cell lines infected or not with human papillomavirus, as well as in a non-tumorigenic keratinocyte cell line.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here we show that MICA and MICB exhibit differential expression patterns among HPV-infected (SiHa and HeLa) and non-infected cell lines (C33-A, a tumor cell line, and HaCaT, an immortalized keratinocyte cell line). Cell surface expression of MICA was higher than cell surface expression of MICB in the HPV-positive cell lines; in contrast, HPV-negative cells expressed lower levels of MICA. Interestingly, the MICA levels observed in C33-A cells were overcome by significantly higher MICB expression. Also, all cell lines released higher amounts of soluble MICB than of soluble MICA into the cell culture supernatant, although this was most pronounced in C33-A cells. Additionally, Real-Time PCR analysis demonstrated that MICA was strongly upregulated after genotoxic stress.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study provides evidence that even when MICA and MICB share a high degree of homology at both genomic and protein levels, differential regulation of their expression and cell surface appearance might be occurring in cervical cancer-derived cells.</p

Fat Distribution and Differential Effects on Metabolic Liver Fat Infiltration in Young Mexicans in Reynosa, Mexico: A Collaborative Study across the U.S.-Mexico Border

Introduction: Metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is a descriptive term for NAFLD (Non-alcoholic) physiopathology associated with obesity. The age of onset linked to body fat distribution is poorly studied. Therefore, we aimed to assess the body fat effect on liver fat infiltration and stiffness (LSt) mediated by insulin resistance (IR). Methods: After obtaining informed consent, five hundred freshmen from two universities in Reynosa, Mexico (UMAN & UAT) were enrolled in the study. They completed a questionnaire focused on familial cardiometabolic risk and provided anthropometric measurements. In a subset of N=200, we obtained blood samples for biochemical measurements, body fat percentage (BF%) by bioimpedance, LSt (kPa), and fat infiltration (Continued Attenuation Parameter, CAP) by elastography. We used mediation analysis with structural equation models (Stata v16.1) to determine the relationship between BMI, BF%, and abdominal obesity with IR and liver stiffness and fat infiltration. The term “-\u3e” means ‘explain’ or ‘cause’. Results: We found that AO-\u3eIR (standardized values b=0.53, p=0.005), AO-\u3eCAP (b=0.69, pIR (b=0.23, p=0.007). BMI did not have an effect on CAP or IR. Also, BMI-\u3eLS (b=0.47, p=0.05) but AO-\u3eLS was absent. Finally, there was a bidirectional relationship between LS and IR [LS-\u3eIR (b=0.18, p=0.001), and IR-\u3eLS (b=0.27, p=0.001)]. Conclusion: Our findings suggest the adipose tissue measured as AO or BMI showed different phenotypic effects on liver fat infiltration or stiffness. Visceral fat had a direct effect on IR, meanwhile, subcutaneous adipose tissue was associated with liver stiffness. Our findings suggest that early age interventions should be focused on reducing visceral fat deposition