SEOM clinical guidelines for the treatment of head and neck cancer (2020)

Head and neck cancers (HNC) are defined as malignant tumours located in the upper aerodigestive tract and represents 5% of oncologic cases in adults in Spain. More than 90% of these tumours have squamous histology. In an effort to incorporate evidence obtained since 2017 publication, the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM) presents an update of the squamous cell HNC diagnosis and treatment guideline. Most relevant diagnostic and therapeutic changes from the last guideline have been updated: introduction of sentinel node biopsy in early oral/oropharyngeal cancer treated with surgery, concomitant radiotherapy with weekly cisplatin 40 mg/m2 in the adjuvant setting, new approaches for HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer and new treatments with immune-checkpoint inhibitors in recurrent/metastatic disease

Six-year follow-up of slaughterhouse surveillance (2008-2013): the Catalan Slaughterhouse Support Network (SESC)

Meat inspection has the ultimate objective of declaring the meat and offal obtained from carcasses of slaughtered animals fit or unfit for human consumption. This safeguards the health of consumers by ensuring that the food coming from these establishments poses no risk to public health. Concomitantly, it contributes to animal disease surveillance. The Catalan Public Health Protection Agency (Generalitat de Catalunya) identified the need to provide its meat inspectors with a support structure to improve diagnostic capacity: the Slaughterhouse Support Network (SESC). The main goal of the SESC was to offer continuing education to meat inspectors to improve the diagnostic capacity for lesions observed in slaughterhouses. With this aim, a web-based application was designed that allowed meat inspectors to submit their inquiries, images of the lesions, and samples for laboratory analysis. This commentary reviews the cases from the first 6 years of SESC operation (2008–2013). The program not only provides continuing education to inspectors but also contributes to the collection of useful information on animal health and welfare. Therefore, SESC complements animal disease surveillance programs, such as those for tuberculosis, bovine cysticercosis, and porcine trichinellosis, and is a powerful tool for early detection of emerging animal diseases and zoonoses

Avances en los estudios arqueológicos, geoarqueológicos y paleoambientales en las Sierras Orientales de Tandilia. Resultados preliminares de los sitios Alero El Mirador y Abrigo La Grieta

This paper presents the characteristics of the archaeological record of two sites recently taken up, called Alero El Mirador and Abrigo La Grieta. The study of different proxy data like lithic assemblages, zooarchaeological and paleoenvironmental record (obtained by diatoms, phytoliths and anthracology inferences) and their relationship to stratigraphic units, allows us to hypothesize anthropic management aspects of local natural resources and paleoclimatic events occurred in the eastern of Tandilia hill during different moments of the Pleistocene-Holocene archaeological sequence.Este trabajo presenta las características de los registros arqueológicos de dos sitios recientemente retomados, denominados Alero El Mirador y Abrigo La Grieta. Se dan a conocer los resultados del análisis de los conjuntos líticos, del registro zooarqueológico y paleoambiental (obtenidos a partir de la evidencias de diatomeas, antracología y fitolitos), y su relación con las unidades estratigráficas. Esta información proxy permite hipotetizar aspectos del manejo antrópico de recursos naturales locales y de eventos paleoclimáticos ocurridos en el sector serrano de Tandilia oriental durante distintos tramos de la secuencia Pleistoceno-Holoceno

Functional ectodomain of the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase protein is expressed in transgenic tobacco cells as a candidate vaccine against Newcastle disease virus.

Recently, the use of plants for the production of recombinant proteins has been well demonstrated with promising outcomes. In this study, an efficient Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. Bright Yellow 2 (BY-2) cells system expressing the ectodomain of hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (eHN) protein from Newcastle disease virus (NDV) strain AF2240 was established. Transgenic tobacco BY-2 cell cultures expressing the immunogenic eHN protein were generated and the translation efficiency of eHN protein was enhanced using the 5′-untranslated region of Nicotiana tabacum alcohol dehydrogenase gene (NtADH 5′-UTR) under the control of strong cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV 35S) promoter. Transgenic lines verified by real-time PCR showed high level of eHN mRNA transcripts and immunoblotting confirmed the presence of 66 kD eHN protein. The eHN protein was stably produced in an average of 0.2–0.4 % total soluble protein. Green fluorescent protein-tagged eHN protein was expressed and localized at the cytosol of BY-2 cell. All mice receiving purified eHN protein from transgenic tobacco BY-2 cells produced specific anti-NDV antibodies. We concluded that plant made eHN elicit immune response and can serve as candidate vaccine against NDV

From cheek swabs to consensus sequences : an A to Z protocol for high-throughput DNA sequencing of complete human mitochondrial genomes

Background: Next-generation DNA sequencing (NGS) technologies have made huge impacts in many fields of biological research, but especially in evolutionary biology. One area where NGS has shown potential is for high-throughput sequencing of complete mtDNA genomes (of humans and other animals). Despite the increasing use of NGS technologies and a better appreciation of their importance in answering biological questions, there remain significant obstacles to the successful implementation of NGS-based projects, especially for new users. Results: Here we present an ‘A to Z’ protocol for obtaining complete human mitochondrial (mtDNA) genomes – from DNA extraction to consensus sequence. Although designed for use on humans, this protocol could also be used to sequence small, organellar genomes from other species, and also nuclear loci. This protocol includes DNA extraction, PCR amplification, fragmentation of PCR products, barcoding of fragments, sequencing using the 454 GS FLX platform, and a complete bioinformatics pipeline (primer removal, reference-based mapping, output of coverage plots and SNP calling). Conclusions: All steps in this protocol are designed to be straightforward to implement, especially for researchers who are undertaking next-generation sequencing for the first time. The molecular steps are scalable to large numbers (hundreds) of individuals and all steps post-DNA extraction can be carried out in 96-well plate format. Also, the protocol has been assembled so that individual ‘modules’ can be swapped out to suit available resources

Avances en los estudios arqueológicos, geoarqueológicos y paleoambientales en las Sierras Orientales de Tandilia: resultados preliminares de los sitios Alero El Mirador y Abrigo La Grieta

Este trabajo presenta las características de los registros arqueológicos de dos sitios recientemente retomados, denominados Alero El Mirador y Abrigo La Grieta. Se dan a conocer los resultados del análisis de los conjuntos líticos, del registro zooarqueológico y paleoambiental (obtenidos a partir de la evidencias de diatomeas, antracología y fitolitos), y su relación con las unidades estratigráficas. Esta información proxy permite hipotetizar aspectos del manejo antrópico de recursos naturales locales y de eventos paleoclimáticos ocurridos en el sector serrano de Tandilia oriental durante distintos tramos de la secuencia Pleistoceno-Holoceno.This paper presents the characteristics of the archaeological record of two sites recently taken up, called Alero El Mirador and Abrigo La Grieta. The study of different proxy data like lithic assemblages, zooarchaeological and paleoenvironmental record (obtained by diatoms, phytoliths and anthracology inferences) and their relationship to stratigraphic units, allows us to hypothesize anthropic management aspects of local natural resources and paleoclimatic events occurred in the eastern of Tandilia hill during different moments of the Pleistocene-Holocene archaeological sequence.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

Avances en los estudios arqueológicos, geoarqueológicos y paleoambientales en las Sierras Orientales de Tandilia: resultados preliminares de los sitios Alero El Mirador y Abrigo La Grieta

Este trabajo presenta las características de los registros arqueológicos de dos sitios recientemente retomados, denominados Alero El Mirador y Abrigo La Grieta. Se dan a conocer los resultados del análisis de los conjuntos líticos, del registro zooarqueológico y paleoambiental (obtenidos a partir de la evidencias de diatomeas, antracología y fitolitos), y su relación con las unidades estratigráficas. Esta información proxy permite hipotetizar aspectos del manejo antrópico de recursos naturales locales y de eventos paleoclimáticos ocurridos en el sector serrano de Tandilia oriental durante distintos tramos de la secuencia Pleistoceno-Holoceno.This paper presents the characteristics of the archaeological record of two sites recently taken up, called Alero El Mirador and Abrigo La Grieta. The study of different proxy data like lithic assemblages, zooarchaeological and paleoenvironmental record (obtained by diatoms, phytoliths and anthracology inferences) and their relationship to stratigraphic units, allows us to hypothesize anthropic management aspects of local natural resources and paleoclimatic events occurred in the eastern of Tandilia hill during different moments of the Pleistocene-Holocene archaeological sequence.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

Prognostic significance of FLT3-ITD length in AML patients treated with intensive regimens

FLT3-ITD mutations are detected in approximately 25% of newly diagnosed adult acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients and confer an adverse prognosis. The FLT3-ITD allelic ratio has clear prognostic value. Nevertheless, there are numerous manuscripts with contradictory results regarding the prognostic relevance of the length and insertion site (IS) of the FLT3-ITD fragment. We aimed to assess the prognostic impact of these variables on the complete remission (CR) rates, overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS) of AML patients with FLT3-ITDmutations. We studied the FLT3-ITD length of 362 adult AML patients included in the PETHEMA AML registry. We tried to validate the thresholds of ITD length previously published (i.e., 39 bp and 70 bp) in intensively treated AML patients (n = 161). We also analyzed the mutational profile of 118 FLT3-ITD AML patients with an NGS panel of 39 genes and correlated mutational status with the length and IS of ITD. The AUC of the ROC curve of the ITD length for OS prediction was 0.504, and no differences were found when applying any of the thresholds for OS, RFS or CR rate. Only four out of 106 patients had ITD IS in the TKD1 domain. Our results, alongside previous publications, confirm that FLT3-ITD length lacks prognostic value and clinical applicability. © 2021, The Author(s)

Geographic population structure analysis of worldwide human populations infers their biogeographical origins

The search for a method that utilizes biological information to predict humans’ place of origin has occupied scientists for millennia. Over the past four decades, scientists have employed genetic data in an effort to achieve this goal but with limited success. While biogeographical algorithms using next-generation sequencing data have achieved an accuracy of 700 km in Europe, they were inaccurate elsewhere. Here we describe the Geographic Population Structure (GPS) algorithm and demonstrate its accuracy with three data sets using 40,000–130,000 SNPs. GPS placed 83% of worldwide individuals in their country of origin. Applied to over 200 Sardinians villagers, GPS placed a quarter of them in their villages and most of the rest within 50 km of their villages. GPS’s accuracy and power to infer the biogeography of worldwide individuals down to their country or, in some cases, village, of origin, underscores the promise of admixture-based methods for biogeography and has ramifications for genetic ancestry testing