La recuperación mutua en personas con trastornos psicológicos o diversidad funcional a través de la práctica creativa

In this paper we introduce the concept of “mutual recovery” and we propose creative practices as efficient recovery tools people with both mental health problems as some sort of functional diversity. Compared with the traditional concept of “art therapy” we propose the concept of “creative practice” as more consistent with the model of “mutual recovery.” To do this, we first make a brief critical review of the relationship between art and madness. Next, we present the related concepts of “recovery” and “mutual recovery” in the context of what has become known as the “health humanities”. Finally, we describe two creative practices currently being tested in Spain in the context of the a international research project about mutual recovery:Creative workshops with people with serious mental illness at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Seville and the theater group of people with diverse functionality with the Down Syndrome Association of Seville.En el presente artículo introducimos el concepto de “recuperación mutua” y proponemos las prácticas creativas como herramientas eficientesde recuperación de personas tanto con problemas de salud mental como con algún tipo de diversidad funcional. Frente al concepto clásico de “arte-terapia” nosotros proponemos el concepto de “práctica creativa” como más compatible con el modelo de “recuperación mutua”. Para ello, en primer lugar realizamos un breve repaso crítico a la relación del arte con la locura. Seguidamente, presentamos los conceptos hermanos de “recuperación” y “recuperación mutua” en el marco de lo que se ha venido a denominar las “health humanities”. Para finalizar, describimos dos prácticas creativas que en la actualidad están siendo evaluadas en España en el contexto de un proyecto de investigacióninternacional en recuperación mutua: Los seminarios creativos con personas con trastorno mental grave en el Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Sevilla y el grupo de teatro con personas con diversidad funcional de la Asociación Síndrome de Down-Sevill

Influence of BMI, Cigarette Smoking and Cryopreservation on Tyrosine Phosphorylation during Sperm Capacitation

Capacitation involves tyrosine phosphorylation (TP) as a key marker. Lifestyle-related factors, such as obesity and smoking, are recognized for their adverse effects on semen quality and male fertility, yet the underlying mechanisms, including their potential impact on TP, remain unclear. Moreover, the effect of sperm cryopreservation on TP at the human sperm population level is unexplored. Flow cytometry analysis of global TP was performed on pre-capacitated, post-capacitated and 1- and 3-hours’ incubated fresh and frozen–thawed samples from sperm donors (n = 40). Neither being overweight nor smoking (or both) significantly affected the percentage of sperm showing TP. However, elevated BMI and smoking intensity correlated with heightened basal TP levels (r = 0.226, p = 0.003) and heightened increase in TP after 3 h of incubation (r = 0.185, p = 0.017), respectively. Cryopreservation resulted in increased global TP levels after capacitation but not immediately after thawing. Nonetheless, most donors’ thawed samples showed increased TP levels before and after capacitation as well as after incubation. Additionally, phosphorylation patterns in fresh and frozen–thawed samples were similar, indicating consistent sample response to capacitation stimuli despite differences in TP levels. Overall, this study sheds light on the potential impacts of lifestyle factors and cryopreservation on the dynamics of global TP levels during capacitation

Complete genome sequence of the Microbacterium foliorum bacteriophage Garey24

In this work, we report the discovery and characterization of Garey24, a bacteriophage that forms medium-size plaques with halo rings isolated from a soil sample in Funes, Argentina. Its 41,522 bp circularly permuted genome contains 63 putative protein-coding genes. Based on gene content similarity, Garey24 was assigned to subcluster EA1.Fil: Migueletti, Matías R. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: García Rey, Julieta. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: Micheloni, Josefina. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: Lomanto, Camila. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: Martelli, Elisa. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: Sánchez, Gastón. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: Colombo, Julián M. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: Vallecillo, Luciano M. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: Lamagni, Francisco. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: Giusti, Tomás. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: Acosta, Fabrina. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: Villagrán, Franco. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: Gvozdenovich, Martín. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: Pricco Frakich, Abril. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: Pianesi, Tulio. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: Tulin, Gonzalo. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: Mascali, Florencia Carla. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: Petitti, Tomás D. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: Torres Manno, Mariano A. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: Fusari, Corina M. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: Buttigliero, Laura. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Física Rosario (CONICET-IFIR); Argentina.Fil: Giordana, María Florencia. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Física Rosario (CONICET-IFIR); Argentina.Fil: Gramajo, Hugo Cesar. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: Diacovich, Lautaro. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: Espariz, Martín. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina.Fil: Mussi, María Alejandra. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina

Phase Behavior of Ascorbyl Palmitate Coagels Loaded with Oligonucleotides as a New Carrier for Vaccine Adjuvants

In this work, the phase behavior variations of an ascorbyl palmitate (Asc16) system in aqueous solution were analyzed when immunologically active hydrophilic compounds (CpG and OVA) were introduced. This study was carried out through optical polarizing microscopy (OPM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) at different temperatures and over a broad range of concentrations. The combination of both techniques allowed the determination of a complete phase diagram which was compared with those built for Asc16-water system and it was demonstrated that fixed concentrations of hydrophilic compounds (300 and 24 µg/g for CpG-ODN and OVA respectively) generate two lamellar liquid crystals, a cubic liquid crystal phase, and also other aggregates. However, no changes were observed in the phase diagram in terms of formation of new mesophases. The aqueous phase behavior was also studied as a function of surfactant and temperature. DSC and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) measurements show differences in the free water and mainly in the secondary hydration layer, which confirm that the studied compounds are situated in the aqueous domain. The construction and analysis of Asc16 phase diagrams with a fixed concentration of CpG-ODN/OVA allows the comprehension of Asc16 phase behavior and could be easily adapted to other concentrations. Moreover, these findings could be extrapolated to other hydrophilic substances in aqueous solution introduced in liquid crystal phases since they follow a similar behavior as those reported in the literature.Fil: Ullio Gamboa, Gabriela Veronica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo en Tecnología Farmacéutica. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo en Tecnología Farmacéutica; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Departamento de Farmacia; ArgentinaFil: Benedini, Luciano Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Química del Sur. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Química. Instituto de Química del Sur; ArgentinaFil: Schulz, Pablo Carlos. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Química; ArgentinaFil: Allemandi, Daniel Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo en Tecnología Farmacéutica. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo en Tecnología Farmacéutica; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Departamento de Farmacia; Argentin

Alum: an old dog with new tricks

Aluminum compounds (alum) are the most widely used adjuvants in veterinary and human vaccines. Alum was initially thought to be a simple depot for antigen retention; however, our understanding of the mechanism by which it works has progressed substantially in recent decades. Nonetheless, consensus regarding its roles in different aspects of immune regulation has not been reached, and it remains a long-standing research subject in the field of vaccinology. This review, in chronological order, discusses the various hypotheses proposed in mostly inadequate attempts to illuminate the mechanism by which alum works, from the depot theory to the involvement of the NLRP3 inflammasome and from cell death-associated danger factors to crystalline structure-mediated plasma membrane alteration. In addition, novel findings of unexpected beneficial effects of decreased HBV (Hepatitis B virus) viral load and HBeAg seroconversion in chronically infected patients, as well as significant tumor suppression in experimental mice following multiple alum-only injections are examined, revealing alum's potential clinical applications beyond its use as a simple tool in antigen preparation. With increasing threats of emerging microbes, originating from natural or man-made sources, that pose significant health concerns at the population scale, the potential use of alum as a ‘first-aid' vaccine is also discussed