Ozone Eliminates SARS-CoV-2 from Difficult-to-Clean Office Supplies and Clinical Equipment.

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to cause profound health, economic, and social problems worldwide. The management and disinfection of materials used daily in health centers and common working environments have prompted concerns about the control of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection risk. Ozone is a powerful oxidizing agent that has been widely used in disinfection processes for decades. The aim of this study was to assess the optimal conditions of ozone treatment for the elimination of heat-inactivated SARS-CoV-2 from office supplies (personal computer monitors, keyboards, and computer mice) and clinical equipment (continuous positive airway pressure tubes and personal protective equipment) that are difficult to clean. (2) Methods: The office supplies and clinical equipment were contaminated in an area of 1 cm2 with 1 × 104 viral units of a heat-inactivated SARS-CoV-2 strain, then treated with ozone using two different ozone devices: a specifically designed ozonation chamber (for low–medium ozone concentrations over large volumes) and a clinical ozone generator (for high ozone concentrations over small volumes). SARS-CoV-2 gene detection was carried out using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). (3) Results: At high ozone concentrations over small surfaces, the ozone eliminated SARS-CoV-2 RNA in short time periods—i.e., 10 min (at 4000 ppm) or less. The optimum ozone concentration over large volumes was 90 ppm for 120 min in ambient conditions (24 °C and 60–75% relative humidity). (4) Conclusions: This study showed that the appropriate ozone concentration and exposure time eliminated heat-inactivated SARS-CoV-2 RNA from the surfaces of different widely used clinical and office supplies, decreasing their risk of transmission, and improving their reutilization. Ozone may provide an additional tool to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.TRUEInstituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain, and by the European Regional Development Funds (FEDER)Fundación Canaria del Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Canarias (FIISC), Las PalmasFundación Mapfre Guanarteme, Las PalmasGobierno de Canarias, Las Palmaspu

Gongolarones as antiamoeboid chemical scaffold

Free Living Amoeba (FLA) infections caused by Acanthamoeba genus include chronic nervous system diseases such as Granulomatous Amoebic Encephalitis (GAE), or a severe eye infection known as Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK). Current studies focused on therapy against these diseases are aiming to find novel compounds with amoebicidal activity and low toxicity to human tissues. Brown algae, such as Gongolaria abies-marina (previously known as Cystoseira abies-marina, S.G. Gmelin), presents bioactive molecules of interest, including some with antiprotozoal activity. In this study, six meroterpenoids were isolated and purified from the species Gongolaria abies-marina. Gongolarones A (1), B (2) and C (3) were identified as new compounds. Additionally, cystomexicone B (4), 1′-methoxyamentadione (5) and 6Z-1′-methoxyamentadione (6) were isolated. All compounds exhibited amoebicidal activity against Acanthamoeba castellanii Neff, A. polyphaga and A. griffini strains. Gongolarones A (1) and C (3) showed the lowest IC50 values against the two stages of these amoebae (trophozoite and cyst). Structure-activity relationship revealed that the cyclization by ether formation from C-12 to C-15 of 1, and the isomerization Δ2 t to Δ3 t of 3, increased the antiamoeboid activity of both compounds. Furthermore, gongolarones A (1) and C (3) triggered chromatin condensation, mitochondrial malfunction, oxidative stress, and disorganization of the tubulin-actin cytoskeleton in treated trophozoites. Moreover, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images analysis revealed that compounds 1 and 3 induced autophagy process and inhibited the encystation process. All those results suggest that both compounds could induce programmed cell death (PCD) in Acanthamoeba.This study was supported funded by projects PID2019-109476RB-C21 (BIOALGRI) (Spanish Ministry of Science), Madrid, Spain; Fundación CajaCanarias–Fundación Bancaria “La Caixa” (2019SP52). Red de Investigación Cooperativa en Enfermedades Tropicales (RICET), Spain (project no. RD16/0027/0001 of the programe of Redes Temáticas de Investigación Cooperativa, FIS). Consorcio Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red (CIBER), Área de Enfermedades Infecciosas (CIBERINFEC), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029, Madrid, Spain (CB21/13/00100). Project No. 21/0587 funded by the Cabildo de Tenerife, Tenerife innova, Marco Estratégico de Desarrollo Insular (MEDI) and Fondo de Desarrollo de Canarias (FDCAN). Project number ProID2021010118 funded by Agencia Canaria de Investigación, Innovación y Sociedad de la Información (ACIISI). RLRE was funded by a grant from ACIISI cofunded by Fondo Social Europeo (FSE) and FEDER, (TESIS2020010117). MOM was supported by the Programa de Apoyos para la Superación del Personal Académico de la UNAM (PASPA 2021) for carrying out the research stay between the Universidad de La Laguna and la Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala.Peer reviewe

Agenda de investigación: smart cities y seguridad en Andalucía = Research agenda: smart cities and security in Andalusia, Spain

Smart cities' security governance is a significant challenge that requires careful planning, design, and management. Unfortunately, the number of Andalusian researchers and research groups working on this topic is currently limited, which hinders scientific progress, international competitiveness, and knowledge transfer. To address this issue, this project aims to establish a research agenda to identify the most relevant topics, facilitate resource allocation, and encourage collaboration among researchers, industry, and the public sector. In the near future, effective security management in smart cities will require multidisciplinary approaches that bring together experts from various fields. By promoting coherent initiatives and establishing robust research programs, we can build a strong foundation for sustainable smart cities.P20-00941Security and Global Affair

Incidence, clinical characteristics and management of inflammatory bowel disease in Spain: large-scale epidemiological study

(1) Aims: To assess the incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Spain, to describe the main epidemiological and clinical characteristics at diagnosis and the evolution of the disease, and to explore the use of drug treatments. (2) Methods: Prospective, population-based nationwide registry. Adult patients diagnosed with IBD—Crohn’s disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC) or IBD unclassified (IBD-U)—during 2017 in Spain were included and were followed-up for 1 year. (3) Results: We identified 3611 incident cases of IBD diagnosed during 2017 in 108 hospitals covering over 22 million inhabitants. The overall incidence (cases/100, 000 person-years) was 16 for IBD, 7.5 for CD, 8 for UC, and 0.5 for IBD-U; 53% of patients were male and median age was 43 years (interquartile range = 31–56 years). During a median 12-month follow-up, 34% of patients were treated with systemic steroids, 25% with immunomodulators, 15% with biologics and 5.6% underwent surgery. The percentage of patients under these treatments was significantly higher in CD than UC and IBD-U. Use of systemic steroids and biologics was significantly higher in hospitals with high resources. In total, 28% of patients were hospitalized (35% CD and 22% UC patients, p < 0.01). (4) Conclusion: The incidence of IBD in Spain is rather high and similar to that reported in Northern Europe. IBD patients require substantial therapeutic resources, which are greater in CD and in hospitals with high resources, and much higher than previously reported. One third of patients are hospitalized in the first year after diagnosis and a relevant proportion undergo surgery. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Liberal governmentality in Spain: bodies, minds, and the medical construction of the “outsider,” 1870–1910

This paper traces the fragility of the subject in the period extending from the aftermath of the Sexenio through to the early twentieth century. In particular, two case studies are focused upon: the question of gender “deviance” and the figure of the genius, in order to understand how medicine participated in the construction of “outsider” identities within the context of the emerging liberal order. How did liberal rationales exclude or curtail certain wayward expressions of identity and subjectivity? What consequences did the marking of “excessive” figures or outsiders have for notions of inclusiveness and citizenship within the late-nineteenth-century liberal order? By concentrating primarily on medical texts and journals published during the period, this study builds on existing research to tease out answers to these questions

Impact of Human Management on the Genetic Variation of Wild Pepper, Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum

Management of wild peppers in Mexico has occurred for a long time without clear phenotypic signs of domestication. However, pre-domestication management could have implications for the population's genetic richness. To test this hypothesis we analysed 27 wild (W), let standing (LS) and cultivated (C) populations, plus 7 samples from local markets (LM), with nine polymorphic microsatellite markers. Two hundred and fifty two alleles were identified, averaging 28 per locus. Allele number was higher in W, and 15 and 40% less in LS and C populations, respectively. Genetic variation had a significant population structure. In W populations, structure was associated with ecological and geographic areas according to isolation by distance. When LM and C populations where included in the analysis, differentiation was no longer apparent. Most LM were related to distant populations from Sierra Madre Oriental, which represents their probable origin. Historical demography shows a recent decline in all W populations. Thus, pre-domestication human management is associated with a significant reduction of genetic diversity and with a loss of differentiation suggesting movement among regions by man. Measures to conserve wild and managed populations should be implemented to maintain the source and the architecture of genetic variation in this important crop relative

Co-regulation map of the human proteome enables identification of protein functions

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Nature Research via the DOI in this recordData availability: All mass spectrometry raw files generated in-house have been deposited in the ProteomeXchange Consortium (http://proteomecentral.proteomexchange.org) via the PRIDE partner repository36 with the dataset identifier PXD008888. The co-regulation map is hosted on our website at www.proteomeHD.net, and pair-wise co-regulation scores are available through STRING (https://string-db.org). A network of the top 0.5% co-regulated protein pairs can be explored interactively on NDEx (https://doi.org/10.18119/N9N30Q).Code availability: Data analysis was performed in R 3.5.1. R scripts and input files required to reproduce the results of this manuscript are available in the following GitHub repository: https://github.com/Rappsilber-Laboratory/ProteomeHD. R scripts related specifically to the benchmarking of the treeClust algorithm using synthetic data are available in the following GitHub repository: https://github.com/Rappsilber-Laboratory/treeClust-benchmarking. The R package data.table was used for fast data processing. Figures were prepared using ggplot2, gridExtra, cowplot and viridis.Note that the title of the AAM is different from the published versionThe annotation of protein function is a longstanding challenge of cell biology that suffers from the sheer magnitude of the task. Here we present ProteomeHD, which documents the response of 10,323 human proteins to 294 biological perturbations, measured by isotope-labelling mass spectrometry. We reveal functional associations between human proteins using the treeClust machine learning algorithm, which we show to improve protein co-regulation analysis due to robust selectivity for close linear relationships. Our co-regulation map identifies a functional context for many uncharacterized proteins, including microproteins that are difficult to study with traditional methods. Co-regulation also captures relationships between proteins which do not physically interact or co-localize. For example, co-regulation of the peroxisomal membrane protein PEX11β with mitochondrial respiration factors led us to discover a novel organelle interface between peroxisomes and mitochondria in mammalian cells. The co-regulation map can be explored at www.proteomeHD.net .Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)European Commissio