Role of Cerebellar Interpositus Nucleus in the Genesis and Control of Reflex and Conditioned Eyelid Responses

The role of cerebellar circuits in the acquisition of new motor abilities is still a matter of intensive debate. To establish the contribution of posterior interpositus nucleus (PIN) to the performance and/or acquisition of reflex and classically conditioned responses (CRs) of the eyelid, the effects of microstimulation and/or pharmacological inhibition by muscimol of the nucleus were investigated in conscious cats. Microstimulation of the PIN in naive animals evoked ramp-like eyelid responses with a wavy appearance, without producing any noticeable plastic functional change in the cerebellar and brainstem circuits involved. Muscimol microinjections decreased the amplitude of reflex eyeblinks evoked by air puffs, both when presented alone or when paired with a tone as conditioned stimulus (CS). In half-conditioned animals, muscimol injections also decreased the amplitude and damped the typical wavy profile of CRs, whereas microstimulation of the same sites increased both parameters. However, neither muscimol injections nor microstimulation modified the expected percentage of CRs, suggesting a major role of the PIN in the performance of eyelid responses rather than in the learning process. Moreover, the simultaneous presentation of CS and microstimulation in well trained animals evoked CRs similar in amplitude to the added value of those evoked by the two stimuli presented separately. In contrast, muscimol-injected animals developed CRs to paired CS and microstimulation presentations, larger than those evoked by the two stimuli when presented alone. It is concluded that the PIN contributes to the enhancement of both reflex and conditioned eyelid responses and to the damping of resonant properties of neuromuscular elements controlling eyelid kinematics

Analysis of the Effects of Polymorphism on Pollen Profilin Structural Functionality and the Generation of Conformational, T- and B-Cell Epitopes

An extensive polymorphism analysis of pollen profilin, a fundamental regulator of the actin cytoskeleton dynamics, has been performed with a major focus in 3D-folding maintenance, changes in the 2-D structural elements, surface residues involved in ligands-profilin interactions and functionality, and the generation of conformational and lineal B- and T-cell epitopes variability. Our results revealed that while the general fold is conserved among profilins, substantial structural differences were found, particularly affecting the special distribution and length of different 2-D structural elements (i.e. cysteine residues), characteristic loops and coils, and numerous micro-heterogeneities present in fundamental residues directly involved in the interacting motifs, and to some extension these residues nearby to the ligand-interacting areas. Differential changes as result of polymorphism might contribute to generate functional variability among the plethora of profilin isoforms present in the olive pollen from different genetic background (olive cultivars), and between plant species, since biochemical interacting properties and binding affinities to natural ligands may be affected, particularly the interactions with different actin isoforms and phosphoinositides lipids species. Furthermore, conspicuous variability in lineal and conformational epitopes was found between profilins belonging to the same olive cultivar, and among different cultivars as direct implication of sequences polymorphism. The variability of the residues taking part of IgE-binding epitopes might be the final responsible of the differences in cross-reactivity among olive pollen cultivars, among pollen and plant-derived food allergens, as well as between distantly related pollen species, leading to a variable range of allergy reactions among atopic patients. Identification and analysis of commonly shared and specific epitopes in profilin isoforms is essential to gain knowledge about the interacting surface of these epitopes, and for a better understanding of immune responses, helping design and development of rational and effective immunotherapy strategies for the treatment of allergy diseases. [EN]This study was supported by the following European Regional Development Fund co-financed grants: MCINN BFU 2004-00601/BFI, BFU 2008-00629, BFU2011-22779, CICE (Junta de Andalucía) P2010-CVI15767, P2010-AGR6274 and P2011-CVI-7487, and by the coordinated project Spain/Germany MEC HA2004-0094. JCJ-L thanks Spanish CSIC and the European Marie Curie research program for his I3P-BPD-CSIC, and PIOF-GA-2011-301550 grants, respectively.Peer reviewe

Total Pelvic Exenteration for Primary and Recurrent Malignancies

Contains fulltext : 81087.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)INTRODUCTION: Complete resection is the most important prognostic factor in surgery for pelvic tumors. In locally advanced and recurrent pelvic malignancies, radical margins are sometimes difficult to obtain because of close relation to or growth in adjacent organs/structures. Total pelvic exenteration (TPE) is an exenterative operation for these advanced tumors and involves en bloc resection of the rectum, bladder, and internal genital organs (prostate/seminal vesicles or uterus, ovaries and/or vagina). METHODS: Between 1994 and 2008, a TPE was performed in 69 patients with pelvic cancer; 48 with rectal cancer (32 primary and 16 recurrent), 14 with cervical cancer (1 primary and 13 recurrent), 5 with sarcoma (3 primary and 2 recurrent), 1 with primary vaginal, and 1 with recurrent endometrial carcinoma. Ten patients were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and 66 patients with preoperative radiotherapy to induce down-staging. Eighteen patients received IORT because of an incomplete or marginal complete resection. RESULTS: The median follow-up was 43 (range, 1-196) months. Median duration of surgery was 448 (range, 300-670) minutes, median blood loss was 6,300 (range, 750-21,000) ml, and hospitalization was 17 (range, 4-65) days. Overall major and minor complication rates were 34% and 57%, respectively. The in-hospital mortality rate was 1%. A complete resection was possible in 75% of all patients, a microscopically incomplete resection (R1) in 16%, and a macroscopically incomplete resection (R2) in 9%. Five-year local control for primary locally advanced rectal cancer, recurrent rectal cancer, and cervical cancer was 89%, 38%, and 64%, respectively. Overall survival after 5 years for primary locally advanced rectal cancer, recurrent rectal cancer, and cervical cancer was 66%, 8%, and 45%. CONCLUSIONS: Total pelvic exenteration is accompanied with considerable morbidity, but good local control and acceptable overall survival justifies the use of this extensive surgical technique in most patients, especially patients with primary locally advanced rectal cancer and recurrent cervical cancer

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”

Rate and duration of hospitalisation for acute pulmonary embolism in the real-world clinical practice of different countries : Analysis from the RIETE registry

publishersversionPeer reviewe

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Search for squarks and gluinos in events with isolated leptons, jets and missing transverse momentum at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for supersymmetry in final states containing at least one isolated lepton (electron or muon), jets and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy s√=8 TeV collected in 2012, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20 fb−1. No significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed. Limits are set on supersymmetric particle masses for various supersymmetric models. Depending on the model, the search excludes gluino masses up to 1.32 TeV and squark masses up to 840 GeV. Limits are also set on the parameters of a minimal universal extra dimension model, excluding a compactification radius of 1/R c = 950 GeV for a cut-off scale times radius (ΛR c) of approximately 30

Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in √sNN=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (Δϕ) and pseudorapidity (Δη) are measured in √sNN=5.02  TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1  μb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ΣETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Δη|<5) “near-side” (Δϕ∼0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ΣETPb. A long-range “away-side” (Δϕ∼π) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ΣETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Δη and Δϕ) and ΣETPb dependence. The resultant Δϕ correlation is approximately symmetric about π/2, and is consistent with a dominant cos⁡2Δϕ modulation for all ΣETPb ranges and particle pT

Search for the neutral Higgs bosons of the minimal supersymmetric standard model in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for neutral Higgs bosons of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) is reported. The analysis is based on a sample of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The data were recorded in 2011 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb-1 to 4.8 fb-1. Higgs boson decays into oppositely-charged muon or τ lepton pairs are considered for final states requiring either the presence or absence of b-jets. No statistically significant excess over the expected background is observed and exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level are derived. The exclusion limits are for the production cross-section of a generic neutral Higgs boson, φ, as a function of the Higgs boson mass and for h/A/H production in the MSSM as a function of the parameters mA and tan β in the mhmax scenario for mA in the range of 90GeV to 500 GeV. Copyright CERN