Diversidad genética de las razas porcinas ibérica y alentejana mediante el genotipado de variantes genéticas en genes mayores y genes candidatos

Las razas porcinas ibérica y alentejana se encuentran biogeográficamente localizadas en el suroeste de la península Ibérica. Estas razas comparten un conjunto de características comunes. Ambas son fenotípicamente muy similares; muestran un bajo índice de crecimiento y una elevada deposición grasa y tienen un sistema común de producción al aire libre en el que se explotan los recursos de la Dehesa. El objetivo del presente trabajo, dentro del marco del proyecto TREASURE, consistió en caracterizar la diversidad genética de ambas razas usando los datos de genotipado de 39 polimorfismos localizados en 34 genes previamente asociados a distintos caracteres de interés económico. Estos polimorfismos fueron genotipados en 950 cerdos pertenecientes a las razas ibérica y alentejana y a 18 razas europeas autóctonas adicionales. Los bajos valores para heterozigosidad observada y esperada indican una baja diversidad genética en ibéricos y alentejanos. Las distancias genéticas estimadas usando DS y FST fueron cercanas a 0 (0.007 y 0.039, respectivamente), sugieren que estas razas son genéticamente muy similares. Asimismo, las técnicas de análisis multivariante utilizadas como análisis de componentes principales y asignación a grupos mostraron que los individuos de estas razas están muy próximos formando clusters diferenciados del resto de razas. Estos resultados concuerdan con los de otros autores que ya mostraron distancias genéticas cortas entre ambas razas usando secuencias de ADN mitocondrial

Estrogen Receptor-Alpha (ESR1) Governs the Lower Female Reproductive Tract Vulnerability to Candida albicans

Estradiol-based therapies predispose women to vaginal infections. Moreover, it has long been known that neutrophils are absent from the vaginal lumen during the ovulatory phase (high estradiol). However, the mechanisms that regulate neutrophil influx to the vagina remain unknown. We investigated the neutrophil transepithelial migration (TEM) into the vaginal lumen. We revealed that estradiol reduces the CD44 and CD47 epithelial expression in the vaginal ectocervix and fornix, which retain neutrophils at the apical epithelium through the estradiol receptor-alpha. In contrast, luteal progesterone increases epithelial expression of CD44 and CD47 to promote neutrophil migration into the vaginal lumen and Candida albicans destruction. Distinctive to vaginal mucosa, neutrophil infiltration is contingent to sex hormones to prevent sperm from neutrophil attack; although it may compromise immunity during ovulation. Thus, sex hormones orchestrate tolerance and immunity in the vaginal lumen by regulating neutrophil TEM.The authors thank the units of flow cytometry, cell culture and statistical analysis. We are grateful to J. Villarejo, M. Fernandez-Garcia, and F. Sanchez-Cobos, for expert help and support. This work was partially supported by Fundacion Mutua Madrilena and the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness ISCIII-FIS grants PI13/00269, PI16/00050, and PI17/01324, co-financed by ERDF (FEDER) Funds from the European Commission, ``A way of making Europe.´´ MR holds a Miguel Servet II contract (CPII14/00009). LS-M holds a IiSGM intramural contract.S

Effects of coupling to breakup in the 6,7 Li + 64 Zn systems at near-barrier energies

Elastic scattering angular distributions for the weakly bound nucleus Li7 on Zn64 have been measured in a wide angular range at energies around the Coulomb barrier. The present experimental data and our previously measured elastic scattering data for the system Li6+Zn64 have been analyzed within the continuum-discretized coupled-channels method, where the resonant and nonresonant states of the projectile are taken into account. In this theoretical framework, we have also analyzed our previously measured excitation functions of elastic scattering at backward angles and the corresponding barrier distributions for the same systems. A good agreement between the experimental data and the calculations has been observed. The obtained results, besides confirming the importance of the coupling to the breakup channels in collisions with weakly bound nuclei, show that, in the case of Li6, the inclusion of the resonant states of the projectile produces non-negligible effects.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España) FIS2013-41994-PJunta de Andalucía FQM160 P07-FQM-02894Programa Consolider-Ingenio 2010 (España) CSD2007-0004

Coupling to continuum effects in the 6,7Li +64Zn reactions at energies around the Coulomb barrier

The elastic scattering angular distributions for the weakly bound nuclei 6Li and 7Li on 64Zn were measured in a wide angular range at energies around the Coulomb barrier. In addition, the excitation functions of quasi-elastic scattering at backward angles were measured and the corresponding barrier distributions were derived. The experimental data were analysed within the continuum-discretized-coupled-channel method. In this contribution, we will present a detailed study concerning the effects of the break-up channels in the 6,7Li +64 Zn reactions

A beam-beam monitoring detector for the MPD experiment at NICA

The Multi-Purpose Detector (MPD) is to be installed at the Nuclotron Ion Collider fAcility (NICA) of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR). Its main goal is to study the phase diagram of the strongly interacting matter produced in heavy-ion collisions. These studies, while providing insight into the physics of heavy-ion collisions, are relevant for improving our understanding of the evolution of the early Universe and the formation of neutron stars. In order to extend the MPD trigger capabilities, we propose to include a high granularity beam-beam monitoring detector (BE-BE) to provide a level-0 trigger signal with an expected time resolution of 30 ps. This new detector will improve the determination of the reaction plane by the MPD experiment, a key measurement for flow studies that provides physics insight into the early stages of the reaction. In this work, we use simulated Au+Au collisions at NICA energies to show the potential of such a detector to determine the event plane resolution, providing further redundancy to the detectors originally considered for this purpose namely, the Fast Forward Detector (FFD) and the Hadron Calorimeter (HCAL). We also show our results for the time resolution studies of two prototype cells carried out at the T10 beam line at the CERN PS complex.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures. Updated to published version with added comments and correction

COVID-19 after two years: trajectories of different components of mental health in the Spanish population

Aims: Our study aimed to (1) identify trajectories on different mental health components during a two-year follow-up of the COVID-19 pandemic and contextualise them according to pandemic periods; (2) investigate the associations between mental health trajectories and several exposures, and determine whether there were differences among the different mental health outcomes regarding these associations. Methods: We included 5535 healthy individuals, aged 40–65 years old, from the Barcelona Brain Health Initiative (BBHI). Growth mixture models (GMM) were fitted to classify individuals into different trajectories for three mental health-related outcomes (psychological distress, personal growth and loneliness). Moreover, we fitted a multinomial regression model for each outcome considering class membership as the independent variable to assess the association with the predictors. Results: For the outcomes studied we identified three latent trajectories, differentiating two major trends, a large proportion of participants was classified into ‘resilient’ trajectories, and a smaller proportion into ‘chronic-worsening’ trajectories. For the former, we observed a lower susceptibility to the changes, whereas, for the latter, we noticed greater heterogeneity and susceptibility to different periods of the pandemic. From the multinomial regression models, we found global and cognitive health, and coping strategies as common protective factors among the studied mental health components. Nevertheless, some differences were found regarding the risk factors. Living alone was only significant for those classified into ‘chronic’ trajectories of loneliness, but not for the other outcomes. Similarly, secondary or higher education was only a risk factor for the ‘worsening’ trajectory of personal growth. Finally, smoking and sleeping problems were risk factors which were associated with the ‘chronic’ trajectory of psychological distress. Conclusions: Our results support heterogeneity in reactions to the pandemic and the need to study different mental health-related components over a longer follow-up period, as each one evolves differently depending on the pandemic period. In addition, the understanding of modifiable protective and risk factors associated with these trajectories would allow the characterisation of these segments of the population to create targeted interventions"This work was supported by a grant from the Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR) ‘PANDÈMIES 2020’ (ref. 2020PANDE00043) and a grant from ‘La Marató de TV3’ MARATÓ 2020 COVID-19 (ref. 202129–31). Supported in part by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU/FEDER; grant number RTI2018-095181-B-C21) and an ICREA Academia 2019 grant award to D. B-F. Partially, this research has received funding from ‘La Caixa’ Foundation (grant number LCF/PR/PR16/11110004), and from Institut Guttmann and Fundació Abertis. I.B-M. was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship related to ‘PANDÈMIES 2020’ (AGAUR; 2020PANDE00043). D.F. has been supported by grant 2021 SGR 01421 (GRBIO) administrated by the Departament de Recerca I Universitats de la Generalitat de Catalunya (Spain) and by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain) [PID2019-104830RB-I00/ DOI (AEI): 10.13039/501100011033].. J.M.T. was partly supported by AGAUR (2018 PROD 00172), Fundació Joan Ribas Araquistain and ‘La Marató de TV3’ Fundation (201735.10). This research was furthermore supported by the Government of Catalonia (2017SGR748). We also acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and State Research Agency through the ‘Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2019-2023’ Program (CEX2018-000806-S), and support from the Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA Program"Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

High prevalence of strongyloidiasis in spain : A hospital-based study

Strongyloidiasis is a prevailing helminth infection ubiquitous in tropical and subtropical areas, however, seroprevalence data are scarce in migrant populations, particularly for those coming for Asia. This study aims at evaluating the prevalence of S. stercoralis at the hospital level in migrant populations or long term travellers being attended in out-patient and in-patient units as part of a systematic screening implemented in six Spanish hospitals. A cross-sectional study was conducted and systematic screening for S. stercoralis infection using serological tests was offered to all eligible participants. The overall seroprevalence of S. stercoralis was 9.04% (95%CI 7.76-10.31). The seroprevalence of people with a risk of infection acquired in Africa and Latin America was 9.35% (95%CI 7.01-11.69), 9.22% (7.5-10.93), respectively. The number of individuals coming from Asian countries was significantly smaller and the overall prevalence in these countries was 2.9% (95%CI −0.3-6.2). The seroprevalence in units attending potentially immunosuppressed patients was significantly lower (5.64%) compared with other units of the hospital (10.20%) or Tropical diseases units (13.33%) (p < 0.001). We report a hospital-based strongyloidiasis seroprevalence of almost 10% in a mobile population coming from endemic areas suggesting the need of implementing strongyloidiasis screening in hospitalized patients coming from endemic areas, particularly if they are at risk of immunosuppression

The Effect of a Physical Activity Program on the Total Number of Primary Care Visits in Inactive Patients: A 15-Month Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract Background: Effective promotion of exercise could result in substantial savings in healthcare cost expenses in terms of direct medical costs, such as the number of medical appointments. However, this is hampered by our limited knowledge of how to achieve sustained increases in physical activity. Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of a Primary Health Care (PHC) based physical activity program in reducing the total number of visits to the healthcare center among inactive patients, over a 15-month period. Research Design: Randomized controlled trial. Subjects: Three hundred and sixty-two (n = 362) inactive patients suffering from at least one chronic condition were included. One hundred and eighty-three patients (n = 183; mean (SD); 68.3 (8.8) years; 118 women) were randomly allocated to the physical activity program (IG). One hundred and seventy-nine patients (n = 179; 67.2 (9.1) years; 106 women) were allocated to the control group (CG). The IG went through a three-month standardized physical activity program led by physical activity specialists and linked to community resources. Measures: The total number of medical appointments to the PHC, during twelve months before and after the program, was registered. Self-reported health status (SF-12 version 2) was assessed at baseline (month 0), at the end of the intervention (month 3), and at 12 months follow-up after the end of the intervention (month 15). Results: The IG had a significantly reduced number of visits during the 12 months after the intervention: 14.8 (8.5). The CG remained about the same: 18.2 (11.1) (P = .002). Conclusions: Our findings indicate that a 3-month physical activity program linked to community resources is a shortduration, effective and sustainable intervention in inactive patients to decrease rates of PHC visits. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT0071483

Dietary intake of trans fatty acids in children aged 4–5 in Spain: The INMA cohort study

Trans fatty acid (TFA) intake has been identified as a health hazard in adults, but data on preschool children are scarce. We analyzed the data from the Spanish INMA Project to determine the intake of total, industrial and natural TFA, their main sources and the associated socio-demographic and lifestyle factors in children aged 4–5 (n = 1793). TFA intake was estimated using a validated Food Frequency Questionnaire, and multiple linear regression was used to explore associated factors. The mean daily intakes of total, industrial and natural TFA were 1.36, 0.60, and 0.71 g/day, respectively. Ten percent of the children obtained >1% of their energy intake from TFA. The main sources of industrial TFA were fast food, white bread and processed baked goods. Milk, red and processed meat and processed baked goods were the main sources of natural TFA. Having parents from countries other than Spain was significantly associated with higher natural TFA (in mg/day) intake (β 45.5) and television viewing was significantly associated with higher industrial TFA intake (β 18.3). Higher fruits and vegetables intake was significantly associated with lower intakes of all TFAs, whereas higher sweetened beverages intake was significantly associated with lower total and natural TFA intake. Thus, total and industrial TFA intake was associated with less healthy food patterns and lifestyles in Spanish preschool children