Migrant families and Children's inclusion in culturally diverse educational contexts in Spain

This paper builds on the European project MiCREATE, which aimed to explore and stimulate migrant children and youth reception and inclusion in educational and social systems by adopting a child-centred approach at educational practice and policy levels. We focus on the role of the students' local and immigrant families in this often-challenging process. We have evidence of the vital role of families in children and youth education. However, research mainly focuses on teachers when discussing issues related to the reception and inclusion of migrant students in schools, often forgetting that families and children/youth are also critical elements in these processes. In this project, we have explored the roles expected and developed by local and foreign families in facilitating and accompanying schools and students on these not-always-easy paths using various methods and activities. This paper focuses on aspects of the MiCREATE project related to the crucial role of families in their children's social and educational experiences in the host country. It is based on fieldwork carried out in 16 schools in Spain, including teachers, families, students, educational community members and policymakers. Art-based research methods, open-ended interviews and focus groups provided a broad picture of the different views and expectations of all those involved in formal education. From the thematic analysis of the participants' contributions, results emerge around two main focuses: (1) difficulties migrant families face in getting involved in school life, such as cultural clashes, school segregation, migrant families' environment and the difference between primary school and secondary schools; (2) more general and specific initiatives that facilitate migrant family involvement in school life

Melanogenesis and Melasma Treatment

Melanocytes are highly specialised dendritic cells that transfer melanin to keratinocytes in subcellular lysosome-like organelles called melanosomes, where melanin is synthesised and stored. Melanin is a complex pigment that provides colour and photoprotection to the skin, hair, and eyes of mammals. The regulation of melanogenesis includes various mechanisms and factors including genetic, environmental, and endocrine factors. Knowledge of the pigmentation process is important not only to understand hyperpigmentation but also to design treatments and therapies to treat them. Whitening cosmetics with anti-melanogenesis activity are very popular. In the present manuscript, we review the mechanisms and the signalling pathways involved in skin pigmentation and we specifically focus on the alteration of melanogenesis that leads to melasma and results in hyperpigmentation. Finally, current therapies and treatments including topical, oral, and phototherapies are discussed and described, with a special emphasis on the cosmetics' action

Lyophilised legume sprouts as a functional ingredient for diamine oxidase enzyme supplementation in histamine intolerance

Diamine oxidase (DAO) is one of the key enzymes involved in the degradation of dietary histamine. An imbalance of histamine scavenging systems leads to histamine intolerance, a diet-related disorder that may be tackled by following a low-histamine diet. Recently, the supplementation with exogenous DAO enzyme of animal origin has received the green light as a novel food to enhance intestinal degradation of histamine. This work performed a screening for histamine-degrading capacity of Leguminosae species in order to explore its potential suitability as plant-derived active ingredient of enzymatic supplements. In vitro DAO activity was determined both in raw pulses and lyophilised sprouts by an enzymatic assay coupled to UHPLC-FLD and several germination and storage conditions were assessed. The sprouts of edible legumes showed an in vitro histamine-degrading capacity ranging from 36.0 to 408.3 mU g-1, much higher than that found for the non-germinated seeds (0.14 - 1.95 mU g-1). The germination of legume seeds for 6 days in darkness provided the maximum DAO activity. Only the freezing storage of the lyophilized sprouts kept the enzymatic activity intact for at least 12 months. These results demonstrate that certain edible legumes could be suitable for the formulation of DAO supplements for the treatment of histamine intolerance

Biogenic Amines in Plant-Origin Foods: Are they Frequently Underestimated in Low-Histamine Diets?

Abstract: Low-histamine diets are currently used to reduce symptoms of histamine intolerance, a disorder in histamine homeostasis that increases plasma levels, mainly due to reduced diamine-oxidase (DAO) activity. These diets exclude foods, many of them of plant origin, which patients associate with the onset of the symptomatology. This study aimed to review the existing data on histamine and other biogenic amine contents in nonfermented plant-origin foods, as well as on their origin and evolution during the storage or culinary process. The only plant-origin products with significant levels of histamine were eggplant, spinach, tomato, and avocado, each showing a great variability in content. Putrescine has been found in practically all plant-origin foods, probably due to its physiological origin. The high contents of putrescine in certain products could also be related to the triggering of the symptomatology by enzymatic competition with histamine. Additionally, high spermidine contents found in some foods should also be taken into account in these diets, because it can also be metabolized by DAO, albeit with a lower affinity. It is recommended to consume plant-origin foods that are boiled or are of maximum freshness to reduce biogenic amine intake

A Rapid Cellular FRET Assay of Polyglutamine Aggregation Identifies a Novel Inhibitor

AbstractMany neurodegenerative diseases, including tauopathies, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and the polyglutamine diseases, are characterized by intracellular aggregation of pathogenic proteins. It is difficult to study modifiers of this process in intact cells in a high-throughput and quantitative manner, although this could facilitate molecular insights into disease pathogenesis. Here we introduce a high-throughput assay to measure intracellular polyglutamine protein aggregation using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). We screened over 2800 biologically active small molecules for inhibitory activity and have characterized one lead compound in detail. Y-27632, an inhibitor of the Rho-associated kinase p160ROCK, diminished polyglutamine protein aggregation (EC50 ≅ 5 μM) and reduced neurodegeneration in a Drosophila model of polyglutamine disease. This establishes a novel high-throughput approach to study protein misfolding and aggregation associated with neurodegenerative diseases and implicates a signaling pathway of previously unrecognized importance in polyglutamine protein processing

Occurrence of Polyamines in Foods and the Influence of Cooking Processes

Dietary polyamines are involved in different aspects of human health and play an important role in the prevention of certain chronic conditions such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Different polyamines can be found in all foods in variable amounts. Moreover, several culinary practices have been reported to modify the content and profile of these bioactive compounds in food although experimental data are still scarce and even contradictory. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of polyamines in a large range of foods and to assess the effect of different cooking processes on the polyamine content of a few of them. The highest level of polyamines was found in wheat germ (440.6 mg/kg). Among foods of a plant origin, high levels of total polyamines over 90 mg/kg were determined in mushrooms, green peppers, peas, citrus fruit, broad beans and tempeh with spermidine being predominant (ranging from 54 to 109 mg/kg). In foods of an animal origin, the highest levels of polyamines, above all putrescine (42-130 mg/kg), were found in raw milk, hard and blue cheeses and in dry-fermented sausages. Regarding the influence of different domestic cooking processes, polyamine levels in food were reduced by up to 64% by boiling and grilling but remained practically unmodified by microwave and sous-vide cooking

Plan for promoting the demonstrated systems and technologies for further development – D6.4

This report is the output of the task 6.4 to approach a Plan for promoting the  demonstrated systems and technologies for further deployment. The goal of this task was divided into four specific objectives: 1. To assess the role of the demonstrated new or improved machinery for the sustainable and reliable supply of forest biomass to the facilities, with special focus on cost reduction and/or additional biomass supply that can be achieved by the demonstrated innovative technology; 2. To make proposals to promote the innovation and subsequent technology transfer and to present suggestions on how the inventions that have been developed in this project can overcome the obstacles encountered and reach commercialization; 3. To develop scenarios for the potential markets of lignocellulosic forestry residues for biorefineries and energy use; 4. To perform a risk assessment to estimate the side‐effects of not putting interesting inventions into practice. In the first part, there is a summary of the assessment of the machinery demonstrated in the framework of the INFRES project. Some of the main advantages of the innovations are the cost reduction in comparison with conventional systems, in addition to improved productivity and increased supply. Besides this, a couple of innovations showed fuel savings compared to previous supply chains. Moreover, other improvements have been observed, but without a quantitative assessment. Finally, as a conclusion, certain innovations are successful only when they are used in the conditions they were designed for. In the second part, a plan for overcoming the previously identified barriers was elaborated, and the plan was then submitted for assessment by several experts. The application of the most important measures to overcome the barriers that manufacturers face when developing an innovation is mainly in the hands of the manufacturers themselves, and partly in the hands of policy makers who may contribute through the development of appropriate financing instruments or compensations for high‐risk investments in SME’s. In the case of measures proposed to overcome the barriers that manufacturers face during the implementation or use phase, the application of the measures is in the hands of a balanced mix of the main stakeholders, including forest companies and manufacturers. It means that both have to work, sometimes together, to overcome the detected barriers. In the third part, any of the future scenarios anticipates an increase in woody biomass demand. The growth of the biorefinery sector will change the landscape of the forest biomass requirements by 2030. Indeed, feedstocks such as forest residues and stumps can be easily used by this sector. Besides this, the increase and improvement of the machinery used in the forest biomass supply chains, together with the optimization of the whole chains, take some time. As a consequence, it is a challenge for Europe to reach high enough competitiveness and innovation levels so as to cover the demand needs in the best way, with its own resources, seeking a positive impact on all EU regions and on European machinery manufacturers. Finally, the fourth part concludes that if technological and logistical innovations are not implemented in forest biomass supply chains, then energy and environmental targets in the EU will not be reached. Sustainability and cost efficiency gains in the biomass supply chains will not be achieved either. The introduction of innovative solutions as those presented by INFRES will be made possible by implementing the measures that were identified in the third part for overcoming the barriers in the development, implementation and use phases of the innovations.201

First epidemiological survey of Leishmania infantum in the domestic ferret (Mustela putorius furo) in a canine leishmaniosis endemic area using serology and PCR

Leishmaniosis, a vector-borne disease caused by Leishmania infantum, is one of the most important parasitic zoonoses in Europe. The transmission cycle of leishmaniosis is maintained by both domestic and wild animals. However, few data are available on the role of wild mammals in transmitting the parasite in the European Mediterranean basin. As feline leishmaniosis, diagnosis of the infection in ferrets can be a challenge, the use of different serological and molecular methods combined is a recommended approach. Our aim was to investigate the prevalence of infection of L. infantum in apparently healthy domestic ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) in an endemic region of Spain (Community of Valencia), using serological and molecular methods and to evaluate the results comparing the different techniques

Erythropoietin receptor expression is a potential prognostic factor in human lung adenocarcinoma

Recombinant human erythropoietins (rHuEPOs) are used to treat cancer-related anemia. Recent preclinical studies and clinical trials, however, have raised concerns about the potential tumor-promoting effects of these drugs. Because the clinical significance of erythropoietin receptor (EPOR) signaling in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) also remains controversial, our aim was to study whether EPO treatment modifies tumor growth and if EPOR expression has an impact on the clinical behavior of this malignancy. A total of 43 patients with stage III-IV adenocarcinoma (ADC) and complete clinicopathological data were included. EPOR expression in human ADC samples and cell lines was measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Effects of exogenous rHuEPOalpha were studied on human lung ADC cell lines in vitro. In vivo growth of human ADC xenografts treated with rHuEPOalpha with or without chemotherapy was also assessed. In vivo tumor and endothelial cell (EC) proliferation was determined by 5-bromo-2'-deoxy-uridine (BrdU) incorporation and immunofluorescent labeling. Although EPOR mRNA was expressed in all of the three investigated ADC cell lines, rHuEPOalpha treatment (either alone or in combination with gemcitabine) did not alter ADC cell proliferation in vitro. However, rHuEPOalpha significantly decreased tumor cell proliferation and growth of human H1975 lung ADC xenografts. At the same time, rHuEPOalpha treatment of H1975 tumors resulted in accelerated tumor endothelial cell proliferation. Moreover, in patients with advanced stage lung ADC, high intratumoral EPOR mRNA levels were associated with significantly increased overall survival. This study reveals high EPOR level as a potential novel positive prognostic marker in human lung ADC