Modulation of the intestinal microbiota and expression of gene of senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis, Kaup 1858) after dietary administration of oxytetracycline.

Oxitetracycline and probiotics (Pdp11) administration to sole juveniles showed important changes in the species composition of intestinal microbiota that established a relationship between these species and gene expression

Changes in intestinal microbiota and gene expression of immune system parameters caused by dietary administration of alginate and Shewanella putrefaciens Pdp11 in Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis Kaup, 1858) specimens

Dietary administration of sodium alginate single or mixed with Pdp11 modulated the intestinal microbiota diversity of sole juveniles. Both treatments promoted a change in the species present in the gut in comparison with control group. In addition, oral administration of alginate promoted the appearance of an intestinal microbiota highly influenced by the prebiotic presence. Synbiotic administration of alginate with Pdp11 promoted a more pronounced decreasing in the similarity index and in the species richness. Both treatments modulated the expression of genes related with immune system functions

VIRMA-dependent N6-methyladenosine modifications regulate the expression of long non-coding RNAs CCAT1 and CCAT2 in prostate cancer

RNA methylation at position N6 in adenosine (m6A) and its associated methyltransferase complex (MTC) are involved in tumorigenesis. We aimed to explore m6A biological function for long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in prostate cancer (PCa) and its clinical significance. m6A and MTC levels in PCa cells were characterized by ELISA and western blot. Putative m6A-regulated lncRNAs were identified and validated by lncRNA profiler qPCR array and bioinformatics analysis, followed by m6A/RNA co-immunoprecipitation. Impact of m6A depletion on RNA stability was assessed by Actinomycin D assay. The association of m6A-levels with PCa prognosis was examined in clinical samples. Higher m6A-levels and VIRMA overexpression were detected in metastatic castration-resistant PCa (mCRPC) cells (p < 0.05). VIRMA knockdown in PC-3 cells significantly decreased m6A-levels (p = 0.0317), attenuated malignant phenotype and suppressed the expression of oncogenic lncRNAs CCAT1 and CCAT2 (p < 0.00001). VIRMA depletion and m6A reduction decreased the stability and abundance of CCAT1/2 transcripts. Higher expression of VIRMA, CCAT1, and CCAT2 as a group variable was an independent predictor of poor prognosis (HR = 9.083, CI95% 1.911–43.183, p = 0.006). VIRMA is a critical factor sustaining m6A-levels in PCa cells. VIRMA downregulation attenuates the aggressive phenotype of PCa by overall reduction of m6A-levels decreasing stability and abundance of oncogenic lncRNAs

Impact of footwear and foot deformities in patients with Parkinson?s disease: A case-series study

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common and complex neurological problem. Gait abnormalities are frequent in PD patients, and this increases the risk of falls. However, little is known about foot deformities and footwear in this vulnerable population. Here we investigate whether patients with PD use an appropriate shoe size and know if they have foot deformities or alterations. Methodology: A study of a series of observational descriptive cases in a convenience sample (n = 53 patients) diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. One trained investigator evaluated foot and ankle health. The footwear and foot measurements were obtained using a Brannock device. Results: The podiatric examination and footwear examination detected a high presence of podiatric pathologies and inappropriate footwear. This has a negative impact on the quality of life of these patients. Conclusions: This research detected an elevated number of people with foot deformities or alterations. Moreover, a high proportion of participants with PD wear inadequate footwear (in length, width, or both)

Efecto del pastoreo de cerdos sobre las fracciones de nitrógeno, carbono y fósforo del suelo

The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of grazing pigs on some soil chemical variables in a Mollisol in Maracay – Venezuela, under isohyperthermic conditions. Soil samples were taken from grazed (6 kg / m2) and non-grazed plots. Tat (0-5 or 5-10 cm depth), using a 2x2 factorial design. Total nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen and organic nitrogen were assessed. The extraction and fractionation of soil organic matter (SOM) and total oxidable organic carbon, total extractable carbon (CET), the carbon bonded to humic acids (CAH), fulvic acids (CAF), and non-humic substances (CSNH) were determinated. In addition, the phosphorous in the soil was fractionated by using the method of Hedley; extracting the fractions: resin exchangeable phosphorus (P-membrane), phosphorus extracted with sodium bicarbonate, NaOH extractable inorganic phosphorus, inorganic phosphorus and inorganic phosphorus extractable by HCl and inorganic phosphorus extractable in hot HCl. The treatments did not affect nitrogen, CAH and CAF, but the CET and CSNH were affected. . An increase on the fractions of phosphorus was observed, with higher increases in exchangeable phosphorus in grazed plotsEl objetivo del presente trabajo fue evaluar el efecto del pastoreo de cerdos, en algunas variables químicas en un Molisol en Maracay – Venezuela, bajo condiciones isohipertérmicas. Se tomaron muestras de suelos de dos lotes, uno sin cerdos y el otro con cerdos (6 kg de peso vivo por m2). Se consideraron dos profundidades de muestreo (0-5 y 5-10 cm) bajo un diseño factorial 2x2. Se determinó nitrógeno total, nitrógeno amoniacal, nitrógeno nítrico y nitrógeno orgánico. Se realizó la extracción y el fraccionamiento de la materia orgánica del suelo (MOS) y se determinó el carbono orgánico total oxidable, carbono extraíble total (CET), carbono unido a los ácidos húmicos (CAH), los ácidos fúlvicos (CAF) y sustancias no húmicas (CSNH). Además, se realizó el fraccionamiento del fósforo del suelo usando el método de Hedley, extrayéndose las fracciones de fósforo intercambiable en resina (P-membrana), fósforo extraído con bicarbonato de sodio, fósforo inorgánico extraíble en NaOH, fósforo inorgánico extraíble en HCl y fósforo inorgánico extraíble en HCl caliente. Los tratamientos aplicados no afectaron el nitrógeno, el CAH y el CAF, pero si el CET y CSNH en las parcelas con cerdos. Se observó incremento en las fracciones de fósforo evaluadas, especialmente el fósforo disponible, que fue mayor en el lote con cerdos

Advanced polymeric membranes as biomaterials based on marine sources envisaging the regeneration of human tissues

The self-repair capacity of human tissue is limited, motivating the arising of tissue engineering (TE) in building temporary scaffolds that envisage the regeneration of human tissues, including articular cartilage. However, despite the large number of preclinical data available, current therapies are not yet capable of fully restoring the entire healthy structure and function on this tissue when significantly damaged. For this reason, new biomaterial approaches are needed, and the present work proposes the development and characterization of innovative polymeric membranes formed by blending marine origin polymers, in a chemical free cross-linking approach, as biomaterials for tissue regeneration. The results confirmed the production of polyelectrolyte complexes molded as membranes, with structural stability resulting from natural intermolecular interactions between the marine biopolymers collagen, chitosan and fucoidan. Furthermore, the polymeric membranes presented adequate swelling ability without compromising cohesiveness (between 300 and 600%), appropriate surface properties, revealing mechanical properties similar to native articular cartilage. From the different formulations studied, the ones performing better were the ones produced with 3 % shark collagen, 3% chitosan and 10% fucoidan, as well as with 5% jellyfish collagen, 3% shark collagen, 3% chitosan and 10% fucoidan. Overall, the novel marine polymeric membranes demonstrated to have promising chemical, and physical properties for tissue engineering approaches, namely as thin biomaterial that can be applied over the damaged articular cartilage aiming its regeneration.The authors would like to acknowledge the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology (FCT) for Ph.D. fellowship (D. N. Carvalho, under the scope of doctoral program TERM&SC, ref. PD/BD/143044/2018), post-doctoral fellowship (L.C. Rodrigues, ref. SFRH/BPD/93697/2013) and research project with ref. PTDC/CTM-CTM/29813/2017-(POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029813). The authors also thank Jellagen Ltd. (UK) for the provision of purified jellyfish collagen and Julio Maroto (Fundación CETMAR, Vigo, Spain) for the kind offer of the squid pens for chitosan production.This work has been partially funded by ERDF under the scope of the Atlantic Area Program through project EAPA_151/2016 (BLUEHUMAN)

Relación entre la microbiota intestinal y la composición de ácidos grasos tras la administración del probiótico Shewanella putrefaciens Pdp11 bioencapsulado en Artemia en ejemplares larvarios de S. senegalensis

Estudios previos confirmaron que un pulso corto (10-30 dpe) del probiótico S. putrefaciens Pdp11 (2.5x10 7 cfu mL-1) bioencapsulado en Artemia y administrado a ejemplares larvarios de S. senegalensis incrementaron significativamente los niveles de lípidos totales y de ciertos ácidos grasos de los ejemplares. Dicha dieta suplementada produjo además cambios importantes en las especies microbianas intestinales de dichos organismos. La realización de un análisis de componentes principales (ACP) confirmó el efecto de la dieta probiótica en los ejemplares, sobre su microbiota y sobre a los niveles de ácidos grasos analizados

Expression of histone methyltransferases as novel biomarkers for renal cell tumor diagnosis and prognostication

Renal cell tumors (RCTs) are the most lethal of the common urological cancers. The widespread use of imaging entailed an increased detection of small renal masses, emphasizing the need for accurate distinction between benign and malignant RCTs, which is critical for adequate therapeutic management. Histone methylation has been implicated in renal tumorigenesis, but its potential clinical value as RCT biomarker remains mostly unexplored. Hence, the main goal of this study was to identify differentially expressed histone methyltransferases (HMTs) and histone demethylases (HDMs) that might prove useful for RCT diagnosis and prognostication, emphasizing the discrimination between oncocytoma (a benign tumor) and renal cell carcinoma (RCC), especially the chromophobe subtype (chRCC). We found that the expression levels of three genes-SMYD2, SETD3, and NO66-was significantly altered in a set of RCTs, which was further validated in a large independent cohort. Higher expression levels were found in RCTs compared to normal renal tissues (RNTs) and in chRCCs comparatively to oncocytomas. SMYD2 and SETD3 mRNA levels correlated with protein expression assessed by immunohistochemistry. SMYD2 transcript levels discriminated RCTs from RNT, with 82.1% sensitivity and 100% specificity (AUC=0.959), and distinguished chRCCs from oncocytomas, with 71.0% sensitivity and 73.3% specificity (AUC: 0.784). Low expression levels of SMYD2, SETD3, and NO66 were significantly associated with shorter disease-specific and disease-free survival, especially in patients with non-organ confined tumors. We conclude that expression of selected HMTs and HDMs might constitute novel biomarkers to assist in RCT diagnosis and assessment of tumor aggressiveness.This study was funded by research grants from Research Center of Portuguese Oncology Institute – Porto (CI-IPOP 4-2012) and European Community’s Seventh Framework Program – Grant number FP7-HEALTH-F5-2009-241783. ASP-L and FQV are and were supported by FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia grants (SFRH/SINTD/94217/2013 and SFRH/ BD/70564/2010, respectively)

Impact of the Reticular Stress and Unfolded Protein Response on the inflammatory response in endometrial stromal cells

During decidualization, endometrial stromal cells undergo reticular stress (RS) and unfolded protein response (UPR), allowing the endoplasmic reticulum-expansion and immunomodulators production. Physiological RS generates the activation of sensing proteins, inflammasome activation and mature-IL-1β secretion, associated with pro-implantatory effects. We focus on the impact of RS and UPR on decidualized cells and whether they induce a physiological sterile inflammatory response through IL-1β production. Human endometrial stromal cell line (HESC) after decidualization treatment with MPA + dibutyryl-cAMP (Dec) increased the expression of RS-sensors (ATF6, PERK and IRE1α) and UPR markers (sXBP1 and CHOP) in comparison with Non-dec cells. Then we found increased NLRP3 expression in Dec cells compared with Non-dec cells. In fact STF-083010 (an IRE1α inhibitor) prevented this increase. Downstream, increased levels of active caspase-1 on Dec cells were detected by FAM-Flica Caspase-1 associated with an increase in IL-1β production. Moreover, the treatment with STF-083010 decreased the invasion index observed in Dec cells, evaluated by an in vitro model of implantation. In endometrial biopsies from recurrent spontaneous abortion patients an increased expression of IRE1α was found in comparison with fertile women; while recurrent implantation failure samples showed a lower expression of sXBP1, TXNIP and NLRP3 than fertile women, suggesting that RS/UPR tenors might condition endometrial receptivity.Fil: Grasso, Esteban Nicolas. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Gori, María Soledad. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Soczewski, Elizabeth Victoria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Fernández, Laura del Carmen. Universidad de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Gallino, Lucila. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Vota, Daiana Marina. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Martínez, G.. Universidad de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Irigoyen, M.. Fertilidad San Isidro; ArgentinaFil: Ruhlmann, C.. Fertilidad San Isidro; ArgentinaFil: Lobo, T.F.. Department of Obstetrics, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; BrasilFil: Salamone, Gabriela Veronica. Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo;Fil: Mattar, Rosana Cristina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Daher, S.. Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo; . Department of Obstetrics, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; BrasilFil: Perez Leiros, Claudia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Ramhorst, Rosanna Elizabeth. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentin

SETDB2 and RIOX2 are differentially expressed among renal cell tumor subtypes, associating with prognosis and metastization

Increasing detection of small renal masses by imaging techniques entails the need for accurate discrimination between benign and malignant renal cell tumors (RCTs) as well as among malignant RCTs, owing to differential risk of progression through metastization. Although histone methylation has been implicated in renal tumorigenesis, its potential as biomarker for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) progression remains largely unexplored. Thus, we aimed to characterize the differential expression of histone methyltransferases (HMTs) and histone demethylases (HDMs) in RCTs to assess their potential as metastasis biomarkers. We found that SETDB2 and RIOX2 (encoding for an HMT and an HDM, respectively) expression levels was significantly altered in RCTs; these genes were further selected for validation by quantitative RT-PCR in 160 RCTs. Moreover, SETDB2, RIOX2, and three genes encoding for enzymes involved in histone methylation (NO66, SETD3, and SMYD2), previously reported by our group, were quantified (RT-PCR) in an independent series of 62 clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) to assess its potential role in ccRCC metastasis development. Additional validation was performed using TCGA dataset. SETDB2 and RIOX2 transcripts were overexpressed in RCTs compared to renal normal tissues (RNTs) and in oncocytomas vs. RCCs, with ccRCC and papillary renal cell carcinoma (pRCC) displaying the lowest levels. Low SETDB2 expression levels and higher stage independently predicted shorter disease-free survival. In our 62 ccRCC cohort, significantly higher RIOX2, but not SETDB2, expression levels were depicted in cases that developed metastasis during follow-up. These findings were not apparent in TCGA dataset. We concluded that SETDB2 and RIOX2 might be involved in renal tumorigenesis and RCC progression, especially in metastatic spread. Moreover, SETDB2 expression levels might independently discriminate among RCC subgroups with distinct outcome, whereas higher RIOX2 transcript levels might identify ccRCC cases with more propensity to endure metastatic dissemination.This study was funded by research grants from Research Center of Portuguese Oncology Institute - Porto (CI-IPOP 4-2012 and CI-IPOP 27) and from Associacao Portuguesa de Urologia (APU-2010). ASP-L was supported by FCT-Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia fellowship (SFRH/SINTD/94217/2013). CSG is supported by FCT- Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia PhD fellowships (SFRH/BD/92786/2013) and BMC is funded by FCT-Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (IF/00601/2012).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio