Interpersonal Violence and Psychotic-Like Experiences: The Mediation of Ideas of Reference, Childhood Memories, and Dissociation

Previous studies have demonstrated the relationship between the accumulation of situations involving interpersonal violence (IV) and psychotic-like experiences. This study explored whether IV is related to aberrant salience (AS), using a sequential mediation model that included memories of relationship with parents (submission, devaluation, and threat; Early Life Experiences Scale (ELES)), ideas of reference (IR), and dissociative symptoms (absorption and depersonalization), and whether the patient/nonpatient condition moderated this effect. The sample was made of 401 participants (including 43 patients with psychotic disorders) aged 18 to 71 years (Mage = 30.43;SD= 11.19). Analysis of a serial multiple mediator model revealed that IR, ELES, absorption, and depersonalization fully mediated the effect of IV on AS, explaining 39% of the variance, regardless of the patient/nonpatient condition. The indirect paths, which place IR and dissociation (especially absorption, the variable to which the IR and ELES lead) in a primordial position for being related to AS, are discussed. This continuum model could be useful for understanding processes related to the onset of psychosis unmoderated by the patient/nonpatient condition

Lactococcus garvieae: a small bacteria and a big data world

OBJECTIVE: To describe the importance of bioinformatics tools to analyze the big data yielded from new "omics" generation-methods, with the aim of unraveling the biology of the pathogen bacteria Lactococcus garvieae. METHODS: The paper provides the vision of the large volume of data generated from genome sequences, gene expression profiles by microarrays and other experimental methods that require biomedical informatics methods for management and analysis. RESULTS: The use of biomedical informatics methods improves the analysis of big data in order to obtain a comprehensive characterization and understanding of the biology of pathogenic organisms, such as L. garvieae. CONCLUSIONS: The "Big Data" concepts of high volume, veracity and variety are nowadays part of the research in microbiology associated with the use of multiple methods in the "omic" era. The use of biomedical informatics methods is a requisite necessary to improve the analysis of these data

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Chapter Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Methotrexate Resistance in Melanoma

Endocrinolog

SOCS3 deregulation contributes to aberrant activation of the JAK/STAT pathway in precursor T-cell neoplasms

Despite the Janus kinase/signal transducers and activators of transcription (JAK/STAT) pathway being frequently altered in T-ALL/LBL, no specific therapy has been approved for T-ALL/LBL patients with constitutive signalling by JAK/STAT, so there is an urgent need to identify pathway members that may be potential therapeutic targets. In the present study, we searched for JAK/STAT pathway members potentially modulated through aberrant methylation and identified SOCS3 hypermethylation as a recurrent event in T-ALL/LBL. Additionally, we explored the implications of SOCS3 deregulation in T-ALL/LBL and demonstrated that SOCS3 counteracts the constitutive activation of the JAK/STAT pathway through different molecular mechanisms. Therefore, SOCS3 emerges as a potential therapeutic target in T-ALL/LBLComunidad de Madrid, Grant/Award Number: B2017/BMD-3778; LINFOMAS-CM; Fundación Científica Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer, Grant/Award Number: PROYE18054PIRI; Fundación Ramón Areces, Grant/Award Number: CIVP19S7917; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Fundación Jiménez Díaz; Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Grant/ Award Number: RTI2018- 093330-B-I00 and MCIU/FEDER; Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Grant/Award Number: SAF2015-70561-R and MINECO/FEDE

Exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and association with thyroid hormones in adolescent males

Background: Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are found in a wide range of consumer products. Exposure to PFAS in children and adolescents may be associated with alterations in thyroid hormones, which have critical roles in brain function. Objective: This study investigated the association between plasma concentrations of PFAS and serum levels of total triiodothyronine (T3), free thyroxine (T4), and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) in adolescent males. Methods: In 2017–2019, 151 boys from the Environment and Childhood (INMA)-Granada birth cohort, Spain, participated in a clinical follow up visit at the age of 15–17 years. Plasma concentrations of ten PFAS (PFHxA, PFHpA, PFOA, PFNA, PFDA, PFUnDA, PFDoDA, PFTrDA, PFOS, and PFHxS) and serum thyroid hormones were measured in 129 of these boys. Linear regression analysis was performed to determine associations of individual PFAS with total T3, free T4, TSH, and free T4/TSH ratio, and quantile g-computation models were performed to assess the mixture effect. Additional models considered iodine status as effect modifier. Results: PFOS was the most abundant PFAS in plasma (median = 2.22 μg/L), followed by PFOA (median = 1.00 μg/L), PFNA (median = 0.41 μg/L), and PFHxS (median = 0.40 μg/L). When adjusted by confounders (including age, maternal schooling, and fish intake), PFOA and PFUnDA were associated with an increase in free T4 (β [95% CI] = 0.72 [0.06; 1.38] and 0.36 [0.04; 0.68] pmol/L, respectively, per two-fold increase in plasma concentrations), with no change in TSH. PFOS, the sum of PFOA, PFNA, PFOS, and PFHxS, and the sum of long-chain PFAS were marginally associated with increases in free T4. Associations with higher free T4 and/or total T3 were seen for several PFAS in boys with lower iodine intake (<108 μ/day) alone. Moreover, the PFAS mixture was association with an increase in free T4 levels in boys with lower iodine intake (% change [95% CI] = 6.47 [–0.69; 14.11] per each quartile increase in the mixture concentration). Conclusions: Exposure to PFAS, considered individually or as a mixture, was associated with an increase in free T4 levels in boys with lower iodine intake. However, given the small sample size, the extent of these alterations remains uncertainSpanish Consortium for Research on Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP)Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) (grant no. CP16/00085

Early postpartum administration of equine chorionic gonadotropin to dairy cows calved during the hot season: Effects on fertility after first artificial insemination

Heat stress reduces fertility of high-producing dairy cows, and early administration of equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) may improve it. Here, 401 heat-stressed, high-producing dairy cows on a single commercial farm were given eCG (500 UI, n = 214) or saline (n = 187) on days 11–17 after calving, and the effects on fertility after the first artificial insemination (AI) were assessed. On post-partum day 96.34 ± 9.88, all cows were inseminated after a “double short Cosynch” synchronization protocol. Ovarian activity and uterine status were checked by ultrasound on the day of eCG administration and every 7 days thereafter for a total of 3 weeks; checks were also performed during synchronization, and 7 days after AI. On post-partum day 30, cytobrush uterine cytology was performed to check for subclinical endometritis. Pregnancy status was checked on days 30 and 60 after AI. The eCG and control groups did not differ significantly in terms of average lactations per cow (2.33 ± 1.34), days in milk at first AI (96.33 ± 9.88), average milk yield at AI (41.38 ± 7.74 L), or the particular inseminator or bull used for AI. The eCG and control groups showed increasing ovarian activity with time, with approximately 75% of cows in both groups showing a corpus luteum at the beginning of the synchronization protocol. On post-partum day 30, 17.4% of eCG cows and 22.9% of control cows showed subclinical endometritis. Cows treated with eCG showed a tendency toward lower hyperecogenic intraluminal content (16.8 vs. 21.4%, P = 0.15), but ovarian activity during the synchronization protocol was similar between eCG and control groups, with 91% of animals in both groups showing luteolysis after prostaglandin application and 88% showing ovulation after the last administration of gonadotropin-releasing hormone. Fertility was similar between the two groups at both time points after AI (30 days, 34.9 vs. 31.8%; 60 days, 30.6 vs. 28.5%; P > 0.2). These results suggest that early postpartum eCG administration does not improve fertility of heat-stressed dairy cows as long as 60 days after AI. Other strategies may be more effective at mitigating the ability of post-partum heat stress to reduce fertility of high-producing dairy cows

Magnetic properties of Ni nanoparticles dispersed in silica prepared by high-energy ball milling

We analyze the magnetic properties of mechanically ground nanosized Ni particles dispersed in a SiO_2 matrix. Our magnetic characterization of the as-milled samples show the occurrence of two blocking processes and that of non-monotonic milling time evolutions of the magnetic-order temperature, the high-field magnetization and the saturation coercivity. The measured coercivities exhibit giant values and a uniaxial- type temperature dependence. Thermal treatment carried out in the as-prepared samples result in a remarkable coercivity reduction and in an increase of the high-field magnetization. We conclude, on the basis of the consideration of a core (pure Ni) and shell (Ni-Si inhomogeneous alloy) particle structure, that the magnetoelastic anisotropy plays the dominant role in determining the magnetic properties of our particles

Land Cover Change in the Andes of Southern Ecuador — Patterns and Drivers

In the megadiverse tropical mountain forest in the Andes of southern Ecuador, a global biodiversity hotspot, the use of fire to clear land for cattle ranching is leading to the invasion of an aggressive weed, the bracken fern, which is threatening diversity and the provisioning of ecosystem services. To find sustainable land use options adapted to the local situation, a profound knowledge of the long-term spatiotemporal patterns of land cover change and its drivers is necessary, but hitherto lacking. The complex topography and the high cloud frequency make the use of remote sensing in this area a challenge. To deal with these conditions, we pursued specific pre-processing steps before classifying five Landsat scenes from 1975 to 2001. Then, we quantified land cover changes and habitat fragmentation, and we investigated landscape changes in relation to key spatial elements (altitude, slope, and distance from roads). Good classification results were obtained with overall accuracies ranging from 94.5% to 98.5% and Kappa statistics between 0.75 and 0.98. Forest was strongly fragmented due to the rapid expansion of the arable frontier and the even more rapid invasion by bracken. Unexpectedly, more bracken-infested areas were converted to pastures than vice versa, a practice that could alleviate pressure on forests if promoted. Road proximity was the most important spatial element determining forest loss, while for bracken the altitudinal range conditioned the degree of invasion in deforested areas. The annual deforestation rate changed notably between periods: ~1.5% from 1975 to 1987, ~0.8% from 1987 to 2000, and finally a very high rate of ~7.5% between 2000 and 2001. We explained these inconstant rates through some specific interrelated local and national political and socioeconomic drivers, namely land use policies, credit and tenure incentives, demography, and in particular, a severe national economic and bank crisis