Dones pioneres en l’àmbit laboral a les Illes Balears

Imatges i situacions que avui són quotidianes pel que fa a la incorporació de la dona al món laboral, varen constituir autèntiques fites en un passat no gaire llunyà. En qualsevol societat, i en la nostra també, «trencar motlles, normes o estereotips» és tot un repte i un acte de valentia. Els estereotips tenen una funció vital en la socialització de la persona. Convé recordar que aquests són rígids i presenten una gran resistència al canvi. Trencarlos sempre ha comportat renúncies personals i, fins i tot, de vegades, pagar un cost massa elevat. Per això les dones pioneres són «petites grans heroïnes de la vida quotidiana», però també de l’esdevenir de la història. En aquest succint treball, presentam algunes de les moltes dones que varen ser pioneres a la nostra terra, entorn de la dècada dels vuitanta o els noranta del segle passat, o ja entrat el segle XXI.Imágenes y situaciones que hoy son cotidianas en lo que a la incorporación de la mujer se refiere, constituyeron auténticos hitos en un pasado no muy lejano. En cualquier sociedad, y en la nuestra también, «romper moldes, normas o estereotipos» es todo un reto y un acto de valentía. Los estereotipos tienen una función vital en la socialización de la persona. Conviene recordar que éstos son rígidos y presentan una gran resistencia al cambio. Romperlos siempre ha conllevado renuncias personales e, incluso, a veces, pagar un coste demasiado elevado. Por eso las mujeres pioneras son «pequeñas grandes heroínas de la vida cotidiana», pero también del devenir de la Historia. En este sucinto trabajo, presentamos algunas de las muchas mujeres que fueron pioneras en nuestra tierra, en torno a la década de los ochenta o los noventa del siglo pasado o ya entrado el siglo XXI

Colonization capacity and serum bactericidal activity of Haemophilus parasuis thy mutants

The bacterial thyA gene encodes the enzyme thymidylate synthase, which is essential for dTMP synthesis and, consequently, for DNA replication. In this work, a Haemophilus parasuis thyA mutant was constructed in order to analyze its colonization characteristics and its capacity to generate serum bactericidal activity in infected guinea pigs. The data showed that colonization by the H. parasuis thyA mutant was much less than that of the wild-type strain. Nevertheless, the mutant generated a strong immunogenic response in the host, as detected by measuring serum bactericidal activity. [Int Microbiol 2006; 9(4):297-301

Using pluripotent stem cells to understand normal and leukemic hematopoietic development

Several decades have passed since the generation of the first embryonic stem cell (ESC) lines both in mice and in humans. Since then, stem cell biologists have tried to understand their potential biological and clinical uses for their implementation in regenerative medicine. The hematopoietic field was a pioneer in establishing the potential use for the development of blood cell products and clinical applications; however, early expectations have been truncated by the difficulty in generating bonafide hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Despite some progress in understanding the origin of HSCs during embryonic development, the reproduction of this process in vitro is still not possible, but the knowledge acquired in the embryo is slowly being implemented for mouse and human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs). In contrast, ESC-derived hematopoietic cells may recapitulate some leukemic transformation processes when exposed to oncogenic drivers. This would be especially useful to model prenatal leukemia development or other leukemia-predisposing syndromes, which are difficult to study. In this review, we will review the state of the art of the use of PSCs as a model for hematopoietic and leukemia development

Heterologous protective immunization elicited in mice by Pasteurella multocida fur ompH

Different strategies have been developed to produce vaccines against Pasteurella multocida. The approach described herein involves overexpression on the bacterial cell surface of Fur-regulated IROMPs (iron-regulated outer-membrane proteins). Accordingly, the ability of fur mutants to promote heterologous protection was examined in a Swiss mouse animal model. Two fur mutants derived from P. multocida were isolated, one of which was also defective in the OmpH protein. In mice challenged with virulent P. multocida, outer-membrane protein (OMP) extracts of fur cells conferred the same protection as obtained with wild-type cells grown in iron-depleted medium. Total protection was achieved with 40 μg of OMP extract from the fur ompH mutant. Mice administered heat-inactivated fur ompH cells were 60% cross-protected. The presence of a galE mutation in these cells did not further increase the protection level. Additionally, cell disruption by sonication provoked a higher level of protection than conferred by heat-treated cells. Taken together, the results showed that P. multocida fur ompH cells offer a simple and suitable approach for cross-protecting animals against infection with P. multocida. [Int Microbiol 2008; 11(1):17-24

Co-Regulation of Histone-Modifying Enzymes in Cancer

Cancer is characterized by aberrant patterns of expression of multiple genes. These major shifts in gene expression are believed to be due to not only genetic but also epigenetic changes. The epigenetic changes are communicated through chemical modifications, including histone modifications. However, it is unclear whether the binding of histone-modifying proteins to genomic regions and the placing of histone modifications efficiently discriminates corresponding genes from the rest of the genes in the human genome. We performed gene expression analysis of histone demethylases (HDMs) and histone methyltransferases (HMTs), their target genes and genes with relevant histone modifications in normal and tumor tissues. Surprisingly, this analysis revealed the existence of correlations in the expression levels of different HDMs and HMTs. The observed HDM/HMT gene expression signature was specific to particular normal and cancer cell types and highly correlated with target gene expression and the expression of genes with histone modifications. Notably, we observed that trimethylation at lysine 4 and lysine 27 separated preferentially expressed and underexpressed genes, which was strikingly different in cancer cells compared to normal cells. We conclude that changes in coordinated regulation of enzymes executing histone modifications may underlie global epigenetic changes occurring in cancer