Adrenomedullin as a potential biomarker involved in patients with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia

Background: Adrenomedullin (AM) is a vasoactive peptide mostly secreted by endothelial cells with an important role in preserving endothelial integrity. The relationship between AM and hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is unknown. We aimed to compare the serum levels and tissue expression of AM between HHT patients and controls. Methods: Serum AM levels were measured by radioimmunoassay and compared between control and HHT groups. AM levels were also compared among HHT subgroups according to clinical characteristics. The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs4910118 was assessed by restriction analysis and sequencing. AM immunohistochemistry was performed on biopsies of cutaneous telangiectasia from eight HHT patients and on the healthy skin from five patients in the control group. Results: Forty-five HHT patients and 50 healthy controls were included, mean age (SD) was 50.7 (14.9) years and 46.4 (9.9) years (p = 0.102), respectively. HHT patients were mostly female (60% vs 38%, p = 0.032). Median [Q1-Q3] serum AM levels were 68.3 [58.1-80.6] pg/mL in the HHT group and 47.7 [43.2-53.8] pg/mL in controls (p<0.001), with an optimal AM cut-off according to Youden's J statistic of 55.32 pg/mL (J:0.729). Serum AM levels were similar in the HHT subgroups. No patient with HHT had the SNP rs4910118. AM immunoreactivity was found with high intensity in the abnormal blood vessels of HHT biopsies

Microeukaryote community in a partial nitritation reactor prior to anammox and an insight into the potential of ciliates as performance bioindicators

Special issue International Society of Environmental Biotechnology 2016.-- 10 pages, 3 figures, 5 tables, supplementary data https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbt.2017.05.003An in-depth, long-term, multidisciplinary study was conducted in order to study the microeukaryote community in a partial nitritation (PN) reactor prior to anammox. The PN reactor operated with moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) technology, using plastic supports (carriers) for biofilm development. The microeukaryote community from the biofilm (BF) and the surrounding media (mixed liquor or ML) were analysed separately. Despite the physicochemical conditions under which the PN-MBBR operated (an average of 305.9 ± 117 mg TAN l and 328.4 ± 131.9 mg N-NO l), up to 24 microeukaryotic taxa were observed by microscope. Microeukaryote species showed an uneven distribution in the PN-MBBR, thus suggesting the existence of two habitats: the BF, preferred by species with specific structures for adhering to a substrate, such as the stalked Peritrichia, and the ML, preferred by free-swimming or non-substrate dependent species. The results indicated that most ciliate population dynamics mainly responded to the nitrous acid and free ammonia concentrations and, to a lesser extent, to sCOD values. In the BF, variations in the population of Epistylis camprubii and Opercularia coarctata suggest the existence of competition between these species due to niche overlap. A V4 18S rDNA molecular survey (Illumina) was carried out for some samples with the aim of obtaining maximum coverage of the main eukaryote species that were microscopically detected throughout the study. The diversity and abundance data provided by both detection methods were compared. The study helped identify broader tolerance ranges of the microeukaryote taxa to the physicochemical parameters analysedThis work was financially supported by ACCIONA Agua ( 306393 FBG – UB) and partially funded by a grant of the Catalan Government as the Consolidated Research Group VirBaP (2014SRG914)Peer Reviewe

Seafloor litter sorting in different domains of Cap de Creus continental shelf and submarine canyon (NW Mediterranean Sea)

14 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, supplementary material https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111744We analyzed litter occurrence in 68 underwater video transects performed on the middle/outer continental shelf and submarine canyon off Cap de Creus (NW Mediterranean), an area recently declared Site of Community Importance (SCI). Low densities of urban litter were registered on the shelf (7.2 items ha−1), increasing in abundance towards the deepest part of the submarine canyon, with 188 items ha−1 below 1000 m depth. We hypothesize that the strong bottom currents that recurrently affect this area efficiently move litter objects from the shelf towards the deep. Of all litter items, approximately 50% had a fishing-related origin, mostly longlines entangled on rocks in the canyon head and discarded trawl nets in deeper areas. Over 10% of cold-water colonies observed had longlines entangled, indicating the harmful effects of such practices over benthic habitats. These results should be considered when designing mitigation measures to reduce litter pollution in Cap de Creus SCIThe European Project HERMES (Goce-CT-2005-511234-I), the Spanish Project DEEP CORAL (CTM2005-07756-C02-02/MAR) and the Acciones Complementarias (CTM2007-28758-E/MAR) supported the 2007 cruise on board R/V Garcia del Cid with the manned submersible JAGO. Fundació “la Caixa” sponsored the PROMARES ROV cruise of the University of Barcelona, for which IEO and CSIC provided the Liropus 2000 ROV and R/V Sarmiento de Gamboa, respectively. The EU project Life+ Indemares (LIFE07/NAT/E/000732) funded the 2009, 2010 & 2012 cruises on board R/V Garcia del Cid and the littoral surveys with Bleeper EVO in 2009 and 2013. Numerical simulations were performed using HPC resources from the CALMIP platform (French region Occitanie) under grant P09115. The SYMPHONIE model is distributed by the SIROCCO group (https://sirocco.obs-mip.fr). This work also is a contribution of project IDEM (Implementation of the MSFD to the DEep Mediterranean Sea, ref. 11.0661/2017/750680/SUB/ENV.C2) funded by DG Environment of the European Commission, and the research network Red Española sobre BAsuras MARinas (BAMAR, CGL2016-81854-REDT) coordinated by the University of Barcelona. CTM2005-07756-C02-02/MAR) and the CRG Marine Geosciences received funding from Generalitat de Catalunya autonomous government (Ref. 2017 SRG 315)With the funding support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S), of the Spanish Research Agency (AEI)Peer reviewe

Educating for innovation and standards in medical device design using novel online tools

status: accepte