Una visión insurgente al statu quo de la industria biotecnológica y el establecimiento de biorrefinerías

El concepto de biorrefinería fue creado con la intención de promover el uso sustentable de los recursos naturales para su conversión en productos biotecnológicos con valor comercial. Sin embargo, la problemática mundial de contaminación ambiental y la falta de acceso a productos de origen biotecnológico tales como vacunas, medicamentos e inclusive alimentos en poblaciones vulnerables, ponen de manifiesto la insuficiente visión de beneficio social, justicia y equidad por parte de dicho gremio industrial. Bajo este contexto, es necesario desafiar el estado actual promoviendo una insurgencia multidisciplinaria que vea prioritariamente por el desarrollo socioeconómico de las comunidades rurales y la protección de los ecosistemas nativos. Es por ello, que el presente escrito enfatiza una serie de puntos críticos que deben ser abordados antes de la instalación de cualquier biorrefinería, teniendo como base un clúster académico, gubernamental y empresarial que opere de manera íntegra

Mezquite y agave: Potenciales sustratos en la industria biotecnológica de México.

El mezquite y el agave son especies vegetales ampliamente distribuidas en México los cuales han sido empleados por diversos pueblos de nuestro país y poseen el potencial para ser utilizadas en diferentes aspectos biotecnológicos. La importancia de estas especies vegetales recae en su rol ecológico, tradicional y económico. Asimismo, en la investigación enfocada en la producción de nuevos alimentos, el aislamiento de compuestos con acción farmacológica, la síntesis de nuevos materiales (biopolímeros) y la producción de biocombustibles. Dada la relevancia de estas plantas en México, la presente revisión se basa en presentar un acervo de las características, propiedades y empleos, así como el prometedor uso en biotecnología que presentan estas especies vegetales

Comunicar ciencia en México. Discursos y espacios sociales

La generación y divulgación de la ciencia y la tecnología es una tarea que implica contribuir al desarrollo de una cultura que vaya más allá del registro y difusión de los hechos y nombres científicos, al suponer la comprensión crítica de la labor propia como proceso socialmente contextualizado, enraizado en factores históricos, políticos, económicos y éticos. Los trabajos aquí presentados proponen asumir que la comunicación pública del conocimiento expresa también las controversias socio–científicas y la relación social de ciencia y tecnología en las condiciones imperantes de transición vertiginosa en la producción cultural, científica y tecnológica.ITESO, A.C.Consejo de Ciencia y Tecnología del Estado de Jalisc

Effectiveness of Fingolimod versus Natalizumab as Second-Line Therapy for Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis in Spain: Second-Line GATE Study

Background: There is a lack of head-to-head studies comparing the efficacy of fingolimod (FIN) and natalizumab (NTZ) as second-line therapy for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Methods: Multicenter, observational study, in which, information of 388 patients randomly selected and treated with FIN or NTZ in routine clinical practice was retrospectively collected with the main objective of comparing the annualized relapse rate (ARR) over the first year, after FIN or NTZ treatment initiation. Results: Mean ARR during the first year of treatment was 0.28 in FIN group and 0.12 in NTZ group (p = 0.0064); nevertheless, the difference between groups lost statistical significance when the propensity score analysis was performed. Time to disability -progression was similar in both treatment groups (12.3 +/- 6.7 months in FIN, and 12.8 +/- 0.1 months in NTZ; p = 0.4654). Treatment persistence after the first year of treatment was higher in patients treated with FIN (95%) than in those treated with NTZ (84%; p = 0.0014). Conclusions: After 12 months of treatment, both FIN and NTZ reduced the ARR, but ARR percent reduction was significantly higher with NTZ. Treatment persistence was higher in patients receiving FIN

LRP10, PGK1 and RPLP0: best reference genes in periprostatic adipose tissue under obesity and prostate cancer conditions

Obesity (OB) is a metabolic disorder characterized by adipose tissue dysfunction that has emerged as a health problem of epidemic proportions in recent decades. OB is associated with multiple comorbidities, including some types of cancers. Specifically, prostate cancer (PCa) has been postulated as one of the tumors that could have a causal relationship with OB. Particularly, a specialized adipose tissue (AT) depot known as periprostatic adipose tissue (PPAT) has gained increasing attention over the last few years as it could be a key player in the pathophysiological interaction between PCa and OB. However, to date, no studies have defined the most appropriate internal reference genes (IRGs) to be used in gene expression studies in this AT depot. In this work, two independent cohorts of PPAT samples (n = 20/n = 48) were used to assess the validity of a battery of 15 literature-selected IRGs using two widely used techniques (reverse transcription quantitative PCR [RT-qPCR] and microfluidic-based qPCR array). For this purpose, ΔCt method, GeNorm (v3.5), BestKeeper (v1.0), NormFinder (v.20.0), and RefFinder software were employed to assess the overall trends of our analyses. LRP10, PGK1, and RPLP0 were identified as the best IRGs to be used for gene expression studies in human PPATs, specifically when considering PCa and OB conditions

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

Measurement of t(t)over-bar normalised multi-differential cross sections in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV, and simultaneous determination of the strong coupling strength, top quark pole mass, and parton distribution functions

Peer reviewe

An embedding technique to determine ττ backgrounds in proton-proton collision data

An embedding technique is presented to estimate standard model tau tau backgrounds from data with minimal simulation input. In the data, the muons are removed from reconstructed mu mu events and replaced with simulated tau leptons with the same kinematic properties. In this way, a set of hybrid events is obtained that does not rely on simulation except for the decay of the tau leptons. The challenges in describing the underlying event or the production of associated jets in the simulation are avoided. The technique described in this paper was developed for CMS. Its validation and the inherent uncertainties are also discussed. The demonstration of the performance of the technique is based on a sample of proton-proton collisions collected by CMS in 2017 at root s = 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 41.5 fb(-1).Peer reviewe

Measurement of the Splitting Function in &ITpp &ITand Pb-Pb Collisions at root&ITsNN&IT=5.02 TeV

Data from heavy ion collisions suggest that the evolution of a parton shower is modified by interactions with the color charges in the dense partonic medium created in these collisions, but it is not known where in the shower evolution the modifications occur. The momentum ratio of the two leading partons, resolved as subjets, provides information about the parton shower evolution. This substructure observable, known as the splitting function, reflects the process of a parton splitting into two other partons and has been measured for jets with transverse momentum between 140 and 500 GeV, in pp and PbPb collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV per nucleon pair. In central PbPb collisions, the splitting function indicates a more unbalanced momentum ratio, compared to peripheral PbPb and pp collisions.. The measurements are compared to various predictions from event generators and analytical calculations.Peer reviewe