El cuento Hispánico. Nuevas miradas críticas y aplicaciones didácticas

Producción CientíficaEl monográfico recoge las comunicaciones presentadas al Primer Congreso Internacional Virtual El cuento hispánico: Nuevas miradas críticas y aplicaciones didácticas, celebrado durante los días 2, 3 y 4 de noviembre de 2016.Departamento de Didáctica de la Lengua y la LiteraturaDepartamento de Literatura española, Teoría de la Literatura y Literatura comparad

Peripheral B-cell subset distribution in primary antiphospholipid syndrome

Background: B-cell differentiation and B-cell tolerance checkpoints may be different in antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and can help to understand differences between them. Our aim was to define alterations of B-cell subsets in patients with primary APS (pAPS) and to compare them with SLE patients and healthy controls (HC). Methods: Cross-sectional study including three study groups: 37 patients with pAPS, 11 SLE patients, and 21 age- and gender-matched HC. We determined the frequencies of different B-cell subsets in peripheral blood naïve and memory compartments. In addition, we measured serum B cell-activating factor (BAFF) levels and circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-6, by commercial ELISA and CBA, respectively. Results: Patients with pAPS showed a lower percentage of immature and naïve B cells than patients with SLE (p = 0.013 and p = 0.010, respectively) and a higher percentage of non-switched memory B cells than patients with SLE (p = 0.001). No differences either in the percentage of switched memory cells or plasma cells were found among the different groups. Serum BAFF levels were higher in SLE patients than in healthy controls and pAPS patients (p = 0.001 and p = 0.017, respectively). A significant increase in the serum BAFF levels was also observed in pAPS patients compared to HC (p = 0.047). Circulating IL-6 levels were higher in SLE and pAPS patients than HC (p = 0.036 and p = 0.048, respectively). A positive correlation was found between serum BAFF and IL-6 levels in patients with SLE but not in pAPS (p = 0.011). Conclusions: Our characterization of peripheral blood B-cell phenotypes in pAPS demonstrates different frequencies of circulating B cells at different stages of differentiation. These differences in the naïve B-cell repertoire could explain the higher number and variety of autoantibodies in SLE patients in comparison to pAPS patients, especially in those with obstetric complications

Endocarditis mitroaórtica complicada con aneurisma y perforación en velo anterior mitral

We present an 81-year-old male admitted for the study of fever associated with weight loss, asthenia, and decrease of appetite. The transoesophageal echocardiogram confirmed the existence of a complicated mitroaortic endocarditis with an aneurysm and perforation of the mitral anterior leaflet.Varón de 81 años que ingresa para estudio de un síndrome general y fiebre. En el ecocardiograma transesofágico se confirma la existencia de una endocarditis mitroaaortica complicada con un aneurisma y perforación del velo anterior mitral

Synthesis and Characterization of Covalently Crosslinked pH-Responsive Hyaluronic Acid Nanogels: Effect of Synthesis Parameters

Stable hyaluronic acid nanogels were obtained following the water-in-oil microemulsion method by covalent crosslinking with three biocompatible crosslinking agents: Divinyl sulfone, 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether (BDDE), and poly(ethylene glycol) bis(amine). All nanoparticles showed a pH-sensitive swelling behavior, according to the pKa value of hyaluronic acid, as a consequence of the ionization of the carboxylic moieties, as it was corroborated by zeta potential measurements. QELS studies were carried out to study the influence of the chemical structure of the crosslinking agents on the particle size of the obtained nanogels. In addition, the effect of the molecular weight of the biopolymer and the degree of crosslinking on the nanogels dimensions was also evaluated for BDDE crosslinked nanoparticles, which showed the highest pH-responsive response.This research was funded by the Government of the Basque Country (Grupos de Investigación, IT718-13, Frontiers, Programas Hazitek 2017–2018)

Drug Delivery from Hyaluronic Acid-BDDE Injectable Hydrogels for Antibacterial and Anti-Inflammatory Applications

Hyaluronic acid (HA) injectable biomaterials are currently applied in numerous biomedical areas, beyond their use as dermal fillers. However, bacterial infections and painful inflammations are associated with healthcare complications that can appear after injection, restricting their applicability. Fortunately, HA injectable hydrogels can also serve as drug delivery platforms for the controlled release of bioactive agents with a critical role in the control of certain diseases. Accordingly, herein, HA hydrogels were crosslinked with 1 4-butanediol diglycidyl ether (BDDE) loaded with cefuroxime (CFX), tetracycline (TCN), and amoxicillin (AMX) antibiotics and acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) anti-inflammatory agent in order to promote antibacterial and anti-inflammatory responses. The hydrogels were thoroughly characterized and a clear correlation between the crosslinking grade and the hydrogels’ physicochemical properties was found after rheology, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetry (TGA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analyses. The biological safety of the hydrogels, expected due to the lack of BDDE residues observed in 1H-NMR spectroscopy, was also corroborated by an exhaustive biocompatibility test. As expected, the in vitro antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activity of the drug-loaded HA-BDDE hydrogels was confirmed against Staphylococcus aureus by significantly decreasing the pro-inflammatory cytokine levels.This research was funded by the i+Med S. Coop., Basque Government (FRONTIERS project, ELKARTEK program, HAZITEK program: IMABI exp number ZE-2019/00012), and the Department of Development and Infrastructures of the Basque Country. Jon Andrade del Olmo thanks the Basque Government for the “Program of Industrial Doctorates. Bikaintek 2018” (exp. number 01-AF-W2-2018-00002)

Spontaneous Gelation of Adhesive Catechol Modified Hyaluronic Acid and Chitosan

Spontaneously formed hydrogels are attracting increasing interest as injectable or wound dressing materials because they do not require additional reactions or toxic crosslinking reagents. Highly valuable properties such as low viscosity before external application, adequate filmogenic capacity, rapid gelation and tissue adhesion are required in order to use them for those therapeutic applications. In addition, biocompatibility and biodegradability are also mandatory. Accordingly, biopolymers, such as hyaluronic acid (HA) and chitosan (CHI), that have shown great potential for wound healing applications are excellent candidates due to their unique physiochemical and biological properties, such as moisturizing and antimicrobial ability, respectively. In this study, both biopolymers were modified by covalent anchoring of catechol groups, and the obtained hydrogels were characterized by studying, in particular, their tissue adhesiveness and film forming capacity for potential skin wound healing applications. Tissue adhesiveness was related to o-quinone formation over time and monitored by visible spectroscopy. Consequently, an opposite effect was observed for both polysaccharides. As gelation advances for HA-CA, it becomes more adhesive, while competitive reactions of quinone in CHI-CA slow down tissue adhesiveness and induce a detriment of the filmogenic properties.This research was funding by Basque Government (ELKARTEK program, Department of Development and Infrastructures of the Basque Country, KK-2021-00040), University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU (GIU 207075), Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (grant MAT2017-89553-P), CDTI of the Ministry of Science and Innovation (Spain) (GAMMAREGEN INNO-20182003) and i+Med S. Coop

Manejo intervencionista de una insuficiencia mitral por pseudocleft en paciente pluripatológico

We report a case of heart failure with poor response to conventional medical treatment in a multi-pathological patient with severe mitral valve insufficiency secondary to pseudocleft in which an interventional approach was decided with a MitraClip implant. This clinical case describes the importance of a multidisciplinary approach in the treatment of heart failure patients by integrating multiples areas of cardiology such as clinical, advanced imaging and percutaneous interventions.Se presenta un caso de insuficiencia cardíaca refractaria a tratamiento médico en paciente pluripatológico con insuficiencia mitral grave por pseudocleft en el que se decide un manejo intervencionista con implante de MitraClip. Este caso destaca la importancia del manejo multidisciplinar de la insuficiencia cardíaca integrando distintas áreas de la cardiología como la clínica, la imagen avanzada y el intervencionismo percutáneo

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The Lipopolysaccharide Core of Brucella abortus Acts as a Shield Against Innate Immunity Recognition

Innate immunity recognizes bacterial molecules bearing pathogen-associated molecular patterns to launch inflammatory responses leading to the activation of adaptive immunity. However, the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of the gram-negative bacterium Brucella lacks a marked pathogen-associated molecular pattern, and it has been postulated that this delays the development of immunity, creating a gap that is critical for the bacterium to reach the intracellular replicative niche. We found that a B. abortus mutant in the wadC gene displayed a disrupted LPS core while keeping both the LPS O-polysaccharide and lipid A. In mice, the wadC mutant induced proinflammatory responses and was attenuated. In addition, it was sensitive to killing by non-immune serum and bactericidal peptides and did not multiply in dendritic cells being targeted to lysosomal compartments. In contrast to wild type B. abortus, the wadC mutant induced dendritic cell maturation and secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines. All these properties were reproduced by the wadC mutant purified LPS in a TLR4-dependent manner. Moreover, the core-mutated LPS displayed an increased binding to MD-2, the TLR4 co-receptor leading to subsequent increase in intracellular signaling. Here we show that Brucella escapes recognition in early stages of infection by expressing a shield against recognition by innate immunity in its LPS core and identify a novel virulence mechanism in intracellular pathogenic gram-negative bacteria. These results also encourage for an improvement in the generation of novel bacterial vaccines