XTHs from Fragaria vesca: Genomic structure and transcriptomic analysis in ripening fruit and other tissues

Indexación: Scopus.Background: Fragaria vesca or 'woodland strawberry' has emerged as an attractive model for the study of ripening of non-climacteric fruit. It has several advantages, such as its small genome and its diploidy. The recent availability of the complete sequence of its genome opens the possibility for further analysis and its use as a reference species. Fruit softening is a physiological event and involves many biochemical changes that take place at the final stages of fruit development; among them, the remodeling of cell walls by the action of a set of enzymes. Xyloglucan endotransglycosylase/hydrolase (XTH) is a cell wall-associated enzyme, which is encoded by a multigene family. Its action modifies the structure of xyloglucans, a diverse group of polysaccharides that crosslink with cellulose microfibrills, affecting therefore the functional structure of the cell wall. The aim of this work is to identify the XTH-encoding genes present in F. vesca and to determine its transcription level in ripening fruit. Results: The search resulted in identification of 26 XTH-encoding genes named as FvXTHs. Genetic structure and phylogenetic analyses were performed allowing the classification of FvXTH genes into three phylogenetic groups: 17 in group I/II, 2 in group IIIA and 4 in group IIIB. Two sequences were included into the ancestral group. Through a comparative analysis, characteristic structural protein domains were found in FvXTH protein sequences. In complement, expression analyses of FvXTHs by qPCR were performed in fruit at different developmental and ripening stages, as well as, in other tissues. The results showed a diverse expression pattern of FvXTHs in several tissues, although most of them are highly expressed in roots. Their expression patterns are not related to their respective phylogenetic groups. In addition, most FvXTHs are expressed in ripe fruit, and interestingly, some of them (FvXTH 18 and 20, belonging to phylogenic group I/II, and FvXTH 25 and 26 to group IIIB) display an increasing expression pattern as the fruit ripens. Conclusion: A discrete group of FvXTHs (18, 20, 25 and 26) increases their expression during softening of F. vesca fruit, and could take part in cell wall remodeling required for softening in collaboration with other cell wall degrading enzymes.https://bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12864-017-4255-

Consensus in a fuzzy environment: a bibliometric study

In today’s organizations, group decision making has become a part of everyday organizational life. It involves multiple individuals interacting to reach a decision. An important question here is the level of agreement or consensus achieved among the individuals before making the decision. Traditionally, consensus has been meant to be a full and unanimous agreement. However, it is often not reachable in practice. A more reasonable approach is the use of softer consensus measures, which assess the consensus in a more flexible way, reflecting the large spectrum of possible partial agreements and guiding the discussion process until widespread agreement is achieved. As soft consensus measures are more human-consistent in the sense that they better reflect a real human perception of the essence of consensus, consensus models based on these kind of measures have been widely proposed. The aim of this contribution is to present a bibliometric study performed on the consensus approaches that have been proposed in a fuzzy environment. It gives an overview about the research products gathered in this research field. To do so, several points have been studied, among others: countries, journals, top contributing authors, most cited keywords, papers and authors. This allows us to show a quick shot of the state of the art in this research area

Diagrama de manejo de densidad y su aplicación a raleo en bosques de segundo crecimiento de Drimys winteri en el sur de Chile

Stand density management (DMD) diagrams are graphical models of uniform stands at different ages that reflect the relationship among size, density, competition, site occupancy and self thinning. DMDs allow planning of thinnings through the definition of a target stand and the upper and lower limits of site occupancy. In this study we developed a DMD for Drimys winteri second-growth forests in southern Chile by using 300 sampling units with at least 70 % basal area of this species. The resulting DMD allowed the determination of the maximum density line, the volume and height isolines, and the evaluation of its use with information from permanent plots thinned 21 years ago. The results of the functions in the DMD present acceptable predictive power, and illustrate the usefulness and precision of this tool to plan silviculture activities. Results from applying the DMD suggest maintenance of site occupancy levels between the subutilization zone (30 % relative density index (RDI)) and the imminent mortality zone (45 % IDR), executing at least three thinnings to reach a target stand that will produce sawtimber and veneer at an age of at least 80 years for the study site. With this scheme the windfall risk is reduced and therefore so is the potential loss of production

Thermomechanical simulation of an industrial quenching process applied to a centrifugal pump impeller

En este trabajo se estudia el comportamiento termomecánico durante el tratamiento térmico de templado de un rodete de una bomba centrífuga fabricada en fundición blanca. El análisis se realiza mediante una formulación termomecánica acoplada discretizada mediante el método de elementos finitos. La respuesta del material se describe por medio de un modelo termoplástico que incorpora efectos de cambio de fase. En particular, se presenta el proceso de templado desde la austenización hasta el enfriamiento del rodete con la finalidad de evaluar la ocurrencia de falla en la pieza al final del proceso. Para la determinación del daño mecánico se comparan 3 criterios diferentes escritos en función de las tensiones y de las deformaciones plásticas desarrolladas durante el proceso. El estudio se enfoca en 2 tipos de configuración de rodetes, con 4 y 5 álabes, donde la primera de ellas experimenta fractura en el proceso industrial de producción. Los resultados numéricos obtenidos en este trabajo confirman que la metodología propuesta permite predecir de manera realista las posibilidades de falla para los 2 casos analizados.The thermomechanical behaviour during the quenching process of a centrifugal pump impeller made of white iron is studied in this work. The analysis is carried out using a coupled thermomechanical formulation that is discretized within the context of the finite element method. The material response is described by means of a thermoplastic model that includes phase-change effects. In particular, a heat treatment consisting in cooling from the austenizing temperature is presented with the aim of assessing the failure occurrence of the part at the end of the process. Three different criteria written in terms of the stresses and plastic deformations developed during the cooling stage are specifically compared to evaluate the final mechanical damage. The study is focused on two impeller configurations, with 4 and 5 blades, where fracture occurs in the former during its industrial production. The numerical results obtained in this work for these two cases confirm that the proposed methodology realistically predicts their failure possibilities.Peer Reviewe

The Role of Journey Purpose in Road Traffic Injuries: A Bayesian Network Approach

Road traffic injuries are now regarded as the eighth leading cause of death globally. For example, in 2016, 102,362 traffic injuries took place in Spain in which 174,679 drivers suffered injuries. These findings necessitated the development of the current study which focuses on the prime factors that cause this type of injuries. The aim of this study, therefore, is to explore the behavioral factors that entail a higher risk of suffering either a serious or a fatal injury for drivers. Methods. The findings are based on information and data provided by “Dirección General de Tráfico” (DGT) in Spain on traffic injuries that occurred in the year 2016. Reviewing a wide range of the literature, the authors identified the most influential variables and created a model using the Bayesian networks. The variables that define the model are grouped into four factors: vehicle factor, road factor, circumstantial factor and human factor. Results. The results suggest that the principal variables that determine a higher probability of serious or fatal injuries in traffic injuries are: lack of using appropriate safety accessories, high-speed violations, distractions as well as errors. Finally, the research shows the severity probability based on reason of displacement (“in itinere,” on business, or in leisure)

The Proteome of Biologically Active Membrane Vesicles from Piscirickettsia salmonis LF-89 Type Strain Identifies Plasmid-Encoded Putative Toxins

Indexación: Scopus.Piscirickettsia salmonis is the predominant bacterial pathogen affecting the Chilean salmonid industry. This bacterium is the etiological agent of piscirickettsiosis, a significant fish disease. Membrane vesicles (MVs) released by P. salmonis deliver several virulence factors to host cells. To improve on existing knowledge for the pathogenicity-associated functions of P. salmonis MVs, we studied the proteome of purified MVs from the P. salmonis LF-89 type strain using multidimensional protein identification technology. Initially, the cytotoxicity of different MV concentration purified from P. salmonis LF-89 was confirmed in an in vivo adult zebrafish infection model. The cumulative mortality of zebrafish injected with MVs showed a dose-dependent pattern. Analyses identified 452 proteins of different subcellular origins; most of them were associated with the cytoplasmic compartment and were mainly related to key functions for pathogen survival. Interestingly, previously unidentified putative virulence-related proteins were identified in P. salmonis MVs, such as outer membrane porin F and hemolysin. Additionally, five amino acid sequences corresponding to the Bordetella pertussis toxin subunit 1 and two amino acid sequences corresponding to the heat-labile enterotoxin alpha chain of Escherichia coli were located in the P. salmonis MV proteome. Curiously, these putative toxins were located in a plasmid region of P. salmonis LF-89. Based on the identified proteins, we propose that the protein composition of P. salmonis LF-89 MVs could reflect total protein characteristics of this P. salmonis type strain. © 2017 Oliver, Hernández, Tandberg, Valenzuela, Lagos, Haro, Sánchez, Ruiz, Sanhueza-Oyarzún, Cortés, Villar, Artigues, Winther-Larsen, Avendaño-Herrera and Yáñez.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2017.00420/ful

Effectiveness of a recent topical sialogogue in the management of drug-induced xerostomia

Objectives: Use of certain drugs is the most common aetiology of xerostomia. Systemic sialogogues provide a longer effect than topic ones, but also induce relevant side effects. Topical sialogogues, as malic acid, allow a safe use as they induce no systemic side-effects or pharmacological interactions, being especially interesting in cases of mild hyposalivation and oral dryness, mainly the chronic use of xerostomizing drugs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical effect of 1% malic acid in patients affected by xerostomia due to antihypertensives or antidepressants. Study Design: 10 patients with drug-induced xerostomia were prospectively evaluated before and after using malic acid spray during three weeks. Xerostomia Inventory (XI) was used to evaluate subjective improvement. Unstimulated and stimulated salivary flow rates were determinated. Results: Severity significantly decreased, from 38.22 to 31.00 points (p = 0.011) after using the product. 77.8% of subjects did not complain about xerostomia at the end and 66.6% achieved an improvement > 6 points. Unstimulated flow rate singnificantly increased, from 0.163 to 0.226 mL/min (p = 0.021) at the third week. Conclusions: 1% malic acid spray induces some improvement in the management of mild and reversible xerostomia. Carrying out of randomized controlled trials is justified according to this study

Diseño de un modelo de datos de redes para el transporte multimodal

Esta comunicación tiene por objeto el análisis de las relaciones entre redes de transporte y paisaje. Se aborda el análisis de la estructura de la red y su caracterización, para dar soporte a la modelización de distintos escenarios, lo que implica un complejo modelo de datos en el que se trabaja con una red multimodal conformada por los siguientes modos: transporte por carretera, ferroviario, peatonal y náutico. Se hace hincapié en el transporte combinado que emplea los diferentes modos, como ocurre frecuentemente con el viaje turístico. El territorio en el que se construye el modelo, a partir de los mapas topográficos 1:5000 y 1.000, que se complementan con ortofotografía, es la isla de Tenerife.This paper explores the relationship between transport networks and landscape. The network structure and its characteristics are studied in order to support the modeling of different scenarios. This implies a complex data model which works with a multimodal network. It is composed by different features: roads, railroads, pedestrian paths and nautical tracks. A combined transport system (the touristic travel) employing different modalities is the focus of interest. Tenerife Island acts as a reference of this transport system. Base maps in 1:5000 and 1:1000 scales and a rectified photo are used

Risk factors for major adverse cardiovascular events after osteoporotic hip fracture repair surgery

Osteoporotic hip fracture (OHF) is an increasingly frequent age-related pathology, which results in high rates of functional loss and mortality within the first year after surgery. This study assessed whether preoperative levels of brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and troponin I were related to early occurrence (30d) of major adverse cardio-vascular events (MACE) after OHF repair surgery. During a 6-month period, perioperative clinical and analytical data from consecutive patients, without known history of cardiovascular disease and undergoing surgery for OHF repair at a single centre, were prospectively collected. MACE was defined as acute myocardial ischaemia or infarction, acute heart failure or cardiovascular death. amongst the 140 patients included, 23 (16.4%) developed postoperative MACE (MACE group) and 117 did not (Control group). Compared to those from control group, patients from MACE group were older, had poorer physical status (ASA III–IV), received preoperative red blood cell transfusion (RBCT) more frequently, presented with lower haemoglobin concentrations and higher NT-proBNP, creatinine and troponin I concentrations. Overall, RBCT requirements and 30d mortality rate were also higher in MACE group. However, in multivariate analysis, only preoperative RBCT, creatinine >1 mg/dL and NT-proBNP >450 pg/mL remained as independent preoperative risks factors for postoperative MACE, while 95% confidence intervals of odds ratios were wide. Though our findings require confirmation in a larger multicentre cohort, identifying risk factors for early postoperative MACE after OHF repair surgery, might facilitate assessing patients’ risk prior to and following surgery, and targeting them the appropriate preventive and/or therapeutic interventions

Transcriptomics and the mediterranean diet: A systematic review

The Mediterranean diet has been proven to be highly effective in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases and cancer and in decreasing overall mortality. Nowadays, transcriptomics is gaining particular relevance due to the existence of non-coding RNAs capable of regulating many biological processes. The present work describes a systematic review of current evidence supporting the influence of the Mediterranean diet on transcriptomes of different tissues in various experimental models. While information on regulatory RNA is very limited, they seem to contribute to the effect. Special attention has been given to the oily matrix of virgin olive oil. In this regard, monounsaturated fatty acid-rich diets prevented the expression of inflammatory genes in different tissues, an action also observed after the administration of olive oil phenolic compounds. Among these, tyrosol, hydroxytyrosol, and secoiridoids have been found to be particularly effective in cell cycle expression. Less explored terpenes, such as oleanolic acid, are important modulators of circadian clock genes. The wide range of studied tissues and organisms indicate that response to these compounds is universal and poses an important level of complexity considering the different genes expressed in each tissue and the number of different tissues in an organism