Isla de calor en Toluca, México

El clima de la ciudad de Toluca y del mundo ha sido modificado como consecuencia del crecimiento de su población y el aumento de las dimensiones de su distribución territorial. Las variaciones atmosféricas son más acusadas entre los espacios urbanos y rurales a medida que las ciudades son más grandes y su mancha urbana es más extensa,así como de la reducción de la vegetación, el aumento en la calefacción en casas y edificios y por la contaminación del aire. Para identificar los espacios con calor más intenso por la infraestructura urbana, se propone una metodología que consiste en la determinación de los valores de temperatura que se registraron en dos días típicos de invierno y verano, durante el día y la noche,mostrando la distribución de la isla de calor en la zona de estudio, a partir de los datos delas estaciones de la Red Automática de Monitoreo Ambiental (RAMA). Asimismo, se considera el comportamiento y variación de algunas variables atmosféricas como humedad relativa, precipitación y viento, para mostrar su comportamiento relativamente anómalo en la zona urbana

Origin and consequences of brain Toll-like receptor 4 pathway stimulation in an experimental model of depression

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is a pressing need to identify novel pathophysiological pathways relevant to depression that can help to reveal targets for the development of new medications. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) has a regulatory role in the brain's response to stress. Psychological stress may compromise the intestinal barrier, and increased gastrointestinal permeability with translocation of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Gram-negative bacteria may play a role in the pathophysiology of major depression.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to chronic mild stress (CMS) or CMS+intestinal antibiotic decontamination (CMS+ATB) protocols. Levels of components of the TLR-4 signaling pathway, of LPS and of different inflammatory, oxidative/nitrosative and anti-inflammatory mediators were measured by RT-PCR, western blot and/or ELISA in brain prefrontal cortex. Behavioral despair was studied using Porsolt's test.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>CMS increased levels of TLR-4 and its co-receptor MD-2 in brain as well as LPS and LPS-binding protein in plasma. In addition, CMS also increased interleukin (IL)-1β, COX-2, PGE₂and lipid peroxidation levels and reduced levels of the anti-inflammatory prostaglandin 15d-PGJ₂in brain tissue. Intestinal decontamination reduced brain levels of the pro-inflammatory parameters and increased 15d-PGJ₂, however this did not affect depressive-like behavior induced by CMS.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results suggest that LPS from bacterial translocation is responsible, at least in part, for the TLR-4 activation found in brain after CMS, which leads to release of inflammatory mediators in the CNS. The use of Gram-negative antibiotics offers a potential therapeutic approach for the adjuvant treatment of depression.</p

DISEÑO DE UN JUEGO SERIO PARA LA ESTIMULACIÓN DEL APRENDIZAJE MEDIANTE LA DISCRIMINACIÓN AUDITIVA Y VISUAL DE PALABRAS (DESIGN OF A SERIOUS GAME FOR THE STIMULATION OF LEARNING THROUGH AUDITORY AND VISUAL DISCRIMINATION OF WORDS)

Resumen El uso de juegos serios para reforzar los procesos cognitivos que favorecen el aprendizaje en niños y jóvenes es muy útil. El presente trabajo desarrolla un juego serio dirigido a adolescentes y jóvenes adultos con discapacidad intelectual, orientado a la estimulación de la habilidad visual y auditiva, importante en las habilidades perceptivas en el aprendizaje. El juego se desarrolló con una metodología de programación estructurada y modular. El juego serio presenta una interfaz de usuario amigable en un ambiente lúdico que permite la motivación del usuario. Además, refuerza el aprendizaje usando habilidades: visuales, auditivas y escritas. Con el fin de ubicar al jugador en un contexto o lugar, incluye un conjunto de palabras agrupadas en campos semánticos. Su funcionalidad permite incrementar el número de palabras o modificar los escenarios a necesidad del usuario para reforzar nuevos conceptos. Palabras clave: Discapacidad intelectual, habilidad visual y auditiva, juego serio. Abstract The use of serious games to reinforce the cognitive processes that favor learning in children and young people is very useful. This work develops a serious game aimed at adolescents and young adults with intellectual disabilities, aimed at stimulating visual and auditory ability, important in perceptual skills in learning. The game was developed with a structured and modular programming methodology. The serious game features a friendly user interface in a playful environment that enables user motivation. In addition, it reinforces learning using visual, auditory, and written skills. In order to place the player in a context or place, it includes a set of words grouped into semantic fields. Its functionality allows to increase the number of words or modify the scenarios as required by the user to reinforce new concepts. Keywords: Intellectual disability, serious play, visual and auditory ability

Distinct p21 requirements for regulating normal and self-reactive T cells through IFN-γ production.

Self/non-self discrimination characterizes immunity and allows responses against pathogens but not self-antigens. Understanding the principles that govern this process is essential for designing autoimmunity treatments. p21 is thought to attenuate autoreactivity by limiting T cell expansion. Here, we provide direct evidence for a p21 role in controlling autoimmune T cell autoreactivity without affecting normal T cellresponses. We studied C57BL/6, C57BL/6/lpr and MRL/lpr mice overexpressing p21 in T cells, and showed reduced autoreactivity and lymphadenopathy in C57BL/6/lpr, and reduced mortality in MRL/lpr mice. p21 inhibited effector/memory CD4(+) CD8(+) and CD4(-)CD8(-) lpr T cell accumulation without altering defective lpr apoptosis. This was mediated by a previously non-described p21 function in limiting T cell overactivation and overproduction of IFN-γ, a key lupus cytokine. p21 did not affect normal T cell responses, revealing differential p21 requirements for autoreactive and normal T cell activity regulation. The underlying concept of these findings suggests potential treatments for lupus and autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome, without compromising normal immunity.This work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (MINECO)/Instituto Carlos III (PI081835 PI11/00950) and the CAM (MITIC S2011/ BMD2502) to DB, and from the MINECO (SAF2010-21205 and PIB2010BZ-00564) and the CAM (MITIC S2011/BMD2502) to CMA.Peer reviewe

Evaluación de la actividad antiinflamatoria, inmunológica y antioxidante de beta-sitosterol en modelos murinos / Evaluation of the anti-inflammatory, immunological and antioxidant activity of beta-sitosterol in murine models

Antecedentes: el beta-sitosterol (BS) es un compuesto presente en numerosas plantas. Se le han atribuido varias propiedades biomédicas interesantes del BS, incluidas actividades inmunomoduladoras y antiinflamatorias. Por lo tanto, el objetivo de este informe fue evaluar su capacidad antiinflamatoria mediante la aplicación de varias pruebas experimentales en roedores.  Métodos: Para llevar a cabo el objetivo del estudio se aplicaron los siguientes métodos. Dos métodos basados en la reacción pasiva inversa de Arthus: el ensayo de edema de pata de rata y el ensayo de pleuresía de rata, así como dos métodos relacionados con la inflamación aguda inespecífica: el ensayo de edema de oreja de ratón y el ensayo de actividad de mieloperoxidasa de ratón. Resultados: Los resultados obtenidos en todas las pruebas establecieron un importante potencial antiinflamatorio de BS. En la prueba de edema de pata de rata encontramos un efecto inhibidor que va del 50-70%; en el ensayo de pleuresía de rata nuestros hallazgos con respecto al volumen de exudado pleural mostraron una reducción del 46%, así como una cantidad baja de neutrófilos del 20% con respecto al nivel del grupo control. En el ensayo de edema de oreja de ratón encontramos una inhibición inflamatoria media del 75%, y respecto a la actividad mieloproxidasa los resultados mostraron una inhibición dependiente de la dosis inducida por BS. Conclusiones: En el presente estudio determinamos una potente capacidad antiinflamatoria de BS en tipos específicos y no específicos de inflamación aguda en roedores

Both COVID-19 infection and vaccination induce high-affinity cross-clade responses to SARS-CoV-2 variants

The B.1.1.529 (omicron) variant has rapidly supplanted most other SARS-CoV-2 variants. Using microfluidics-based antibody affinity profiling (MAAP), we have characterized affinity and IgG concentration in the plasma of 39 individuals with multiple trajectories of SARS-CoV-2 infection and/or vaccination. Antibody affinity was similar against the wild-type, delta, and omicron variants (KA ranges: 122 ± 155, 159 ± 148, 211 ± 307 μM-1, respectively), indicating a surprisingly broad and mature cross-clade immune response. Postinfectious and vaccinated subjects showed different IgG profiles, with IgG3 (p-value = 0.002) against spike being more prominent in the former group. Lastly, we found that the ELISA titers correlated linearly with measured concentrations (R = 0.72) but not with affinity (R = 0.29). These findings suggest that the wild-type and delta spike induce a polyclonal immune response capable of binding the omicron spike with similar affinity. Changes in titers were primarily driven by antibody concentration, suggesting that B-cell expansion, rather than affinity maturation, dominated the response after infection or vaccination

Microfluidic characterisation reveals broad range of SARS-CoV-2 antibody affinity in human plasma.

Funder: Herchel Smith FundFunder: St John’s College CambridgeFunder: Centre for Misfolding Diseases, CambridgeFunder: Swiss FCS and the Forschungskredit of the University of ZurichFunder: Frances and Augustus Newman FoundationFunder: BBRSCFunder: NOMIS FoundationThe clinical outcome of SARS-CoV-2 infections, which can range from asymptomatic to lethal, is crucially shaped by the concentration of antiviral antibodies and by their affinity to their targets. However, the affinity of polyclonal antibody responses in plasma is difficult to measure. Here we used microfluidic antibody affinity profiling (MAAP) to determine the aggregate affinities and concentrations of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in plasma samples of 42 seropositive individuals, 19 of which were healthy donors, 20 displayed mild symptoms, and 3 were critically ill. We found that dissociation constants, K d, of anti-receptor-binding domain antibodies spanned 2.5 orders of magnitude from sub-nanomolar to 43 nM. Using MAAP we found that antibodies of seropositive individuals induced the dissociation of pre-formed spike-ACE2 receptor complexes, which indicates that MAAP can be adapted as a complementary receptor competition assay. By comparison with cytopathic effect-based neutralisation assays, we show that MAAP can reliably predict the cellular neutralisation ability of sera, which may be an important consideration when selecting the most effective samples for therapeutic plasmapheresis and tracking the success of vaccinations

Continuous population-level monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in a large European metropolitan region

Effective public health measures against SARS-CoV-2 require granular knowledge of population-level immune responses. We developed a Tripartite Automated Blood Immunoassay (TRABI) to assess the IgG response against three SARS-CoV-2 proteins. We used TRABI for continuous seromonitoring of hospital patients and blood donors (n = 72'250) in the canton of Zurich from December 2019 to December 2020 (pre-vaccine period). We found that antibodies waned with a half-life of 75 days, whereas the cumulative incidence rose from 2.3% in June 2020 to 12.2% in mid-December 2020. A follow-up health survey indicated that about 10% of patients infected with wildtype SARS-CoV-2 sustained some symptoms at least twelve months post COVID-19. Crucially, we found no evidence of a difference in long-term complications between those whose infection was symptomatic and those with asymptomatic acute infection. The cohort of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2-infected subjects represents a resource for the study of chronic and possibly unexpected sequelae

Adjuvant interferon gamma in patients with pulmonary atypical Mycobacteriosis: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>High antibiotic resistance is described in atypical Mycobacteriosis, mainly by <it>Mycobacterium avium </it>complex (MAC).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was carried out in two hospitals to evaluate the effect of interferon (IFN) gamma as immunoadjuvant to chemotherapy on patients with atypical mycobacteria lung disease. Patients received placebo or 1 × 10⁶IU recombinant human IFN gamma intramuscularly, daily for one month and then three times per week up to 6 months as adjuvant to daily oral azithromycin, ciprofloxacin, ethambutol and rifampin. Sputum samples collection for direct smear observation and culture as well as clinical and thorax radiography assessments were done during treatment and one year after. Cytokines and oxidative stress determinations were carried out in peripheral blood before and after treatment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Eighteen patients were included in the IFN group and 14 received placebo. Groups were homogeneous at entry; average age was 60 years, 75% men, 84% white; MAC infection prevailed (94%). At the end of treatment, 72% of patients treated with IFN gamma were evaluated as complete responders, but only 36% in the placebo group. The difference was maintained during follow-up. A more rapid complete response was obtained in the IFN group (5 months before), with a significantly earlier improvement in respiratory symptoms and pulmonary lesions reduction. Disease-related deaths were 35.7% of the patients in the placebo group and only 11.1% in the IFN group. Three patients in the IFN group normalized their globular sedimentation rate values. Although differences in bacteriology were not significant during the treatment period, some patients in the placebo group converted again to positive during follow-up. Significant increments in serum TGF-beta and advanced oxidation protein products were observed in the placebo group but not among IFN receiving patients. Treatments were well tolerated. Flu-like symptoms predominated in the IFN gamma group. No severe events were recorded.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These data suggest that IFN gamma is useful and well tolerated as adjuvant therapy in patients with pulmonary atypical Mycobacteriosis, predominantly MAC. Further wider clinical trials are encouraged.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN70900209.</p