DYRK1A: the double-edged kinase as a protagonist in cell growth and tumorigenesis

DYRK1A (dual-specificity tyrosine-regulated kinase 1A) is a kinase with multiple implications for embryonic development, especially in the nervous system where it regulates the balance between proliferation and differentiation of neural progenitors. The DYRK1A gene is located in the Down syndrome critical region and may play a significant role in the developmental brain defects, early neurodegeneration, and cancer susceptibility of individuals with this syndrome. DYRK1A is also expressed in adults, where it might participate in the regulation of cell cycle, survival, and tumorigenesis, thus representing a potential therapeutic target for certain types of cancer. However, the final readout of DYRK1A overexpression or inhibition depends strongly on the cellular context, as it has both tumor suppressor and oncogenic activities. Here, we will discuss the functions and substrates of DYRK1A associated with the control of cell growth and tumorigenesis with a focus on the potential use of DYRK1A inhibitors in cancer therapy.This study was supported by grants from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria, PI12/00775 and from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Red Temática de Investigación Cooperativa en Cancer (RD12/0036/0027) to PSG.S

Bibliometric Study of Technology and Occupational Health in Healthcare Sector: A Worldwide Trend to the Future

Since the eighties, technological tools have modified how people interact in their environment. At the same time, occupational safety and health measures have been widely applied. The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work considers that information and communication technologies are the main methods to achieve the goals proposed to improve working life and the dissemination of good practices. The principal objective was to determine the trends of publications focused on these technologies and occupational safety in the healthcare sector during the last 30 years. A bibliometric study was carried out. The 1021 documents showed an increased trend per country, especially for the United States (p < 0.001) and year (p < 0.001). The citations per year showed significant differences between citations of articles published before 2007 (p < 0.001). The year was also linked to the increase or decrease of articles (72.2%) and reviews (14.9%) (p < 0.001). The analysis of journal co-citations also showed that the main journals (such as Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology) were linked to other important journals and had a major part in the clusters formed. All these findings were discussed in the manuscript and conclusions were drawn

Tuberculosis and Other Airborne Microbes in Occupational Health and Safety

Airborne pathogens and non-malignant infectious diseases such as tuberculosis are highly contagious and can have severe effects on healthcare workers. The symptoms of these diseases take time to manifest, which can prevent workers from noticing that they have been exposed until symptoms appear. The current paper sought to assess the occupational safety and preventative measures taken in laboratories in Spain, and to compare these measures with those reported by other studies worldwide. A cross-sectional study of workers (35–50 years old) was conducted using a web survey (N = 30), and a bibliometric analysis was carried out in the Scopus database (92 documents were selected). The occupational safety and health measures were inadequate, according to the opinions of the workers. The training (p < 0.01), the amount of work (p < 0.05), and how the workers followed their protocols (p < 0.001) were linked to incidents and exposure to airborne pathogens. The most significant previous publication was a report (848 citations) stating that the previous variables linked to exposure are vital for prevention. Most works focused on countries like the U.S.A. (p = 0.009) were reviews, with a limited number of studies focused on occupational safety

Beneficial effects of karate on the proprioception and coordination of young people with Down syndrome: a two-year follow up

Resumen Objetivos: establecer el impacto de las artes marciales en el desarrollo de habilidades motoras, específicamente sobre la propiocepción, en jóvenes afectados por síndrome de Down. Diseño: en este estudio participan 7 adolescentes en los que se evalúa secuencialmente el control postural antes, durante y después de 2 años de entrenamiento de karate. Se adaptaron tres pruebas (prueba de sentadillas, del flamenco y de velocidad del movimiento del brazo) para realizar un análisis de la propiocepción. Resultados: concluimos que la incorporación del karate en la rutina deportiva de jóvenes afectados por síndrome de Down conlleva una mejora en su equilibrio y coordinación general

New insights into FoxE1 functions: identification of direct FoxE1 targets in thyroid cells

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.[Background]: FoxE1 is a thyroid-specific forkhead transcription factor essential for thyroid gland development, as well as for the maintenance of the thyroid differentiated state in adults. FoxE1 recognizes and binds to a short DNA sequence present in thyroglobulin (Tg) and thyroperoxidase (Tpo) promoters, but FoxE1 binding to regulatory regions other than Tg and Tpo promoters remains almost unexplored. Improving knowledge of the regulatory functions of FoxE1 is necessary to clarify its role in endocrine syndromes and cancer susceptibility. [Methodology/Principal Finding]:I n order to further investigate downstream FoxE1 targets, we performed a genome-wide expression screening after knocking-down FoxE1 and obtained new insights into FoxE1 transcriptional networks in thyroid follicular cells. After validation, we confirmed Adamts9, Cdh1, Duox2 and S100a4 as upregulated genes and Casp4, Creld2, Dusp5, Etv5, Hsp5a, Nr4a2 and Tm4sf1 as downregulated genes when FoxE1 was silenced. In promoter regions of putative FoxE1-regulated genes and also in the promoters of the classical thyroid genes Nis, Pax8 and Titf1, we performed an in silico search of the FoxE1 binding motif that was in close proximity to the NF1/CTF binding sequence, as previously described for other forkhead factors. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation we detected specific in vivo FoxE1 binding to novel regulatory regions in two relevant thyroid genes, Nis and Duox2. Moreover, we demonstrated simultaneous binding of FoxE1 and NF1/CTF to the Nis upstream enhancer region, as well as a clear functional activation of the Nis promoter by both transcription factors. [Conclusions/Significance]:In search for potential downstream mediators of FoxE1 function in thyroid cells, we identified two novel direct FoxE1 target genes. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence regarding the implication of Nis and Duox2 in executing the transcriptional program triggered by FoxE1. Furthermore, this study points out the important role of FoxE1 in the regulation of a large number of genes in thyroid cells. © 2013 Fernández et al.This work was supported by Grants BFU-2010-16025 from the Dirección General de Proyectos de Investigación; RD06/0020/0060 and RD12/0036/0030 from FIS, Instituto de Salud Carlos III; and S2011/BMD-2328 TIRONET project from the Comunidad de Madrid (Spain). LP Fernández holds a postdoctoral grant of the Juan de la Cierva programme of the Spanish Government.Peer Reviewe

Evaluation of T-wave alternans activity under stress conditions after 5 d and 21 d of sedentary head-down bed rest

It is well known that prolonged microgravity leads to cardiovascular deconditioning, inducing significant changes in autonomic control of the cardiovascular system. This may adversely influence cardiac repolarization, and provoke cardiac rhythm disturbances. T-wave alternans (TWA), reflecting temporal and spatial repolarization heterogeneity, could be affected. The aim of this work was to test the hypothesis that 5 d and 21 d head-down (-6°) bed rest (HDBR) increases TWA, thus suggesting a higher underlying electrical instability and related arrhythmogenic risk.Forty-four healthy male volunteers were enrolled in the experiments as part of the European Space Agency's HDBR studies. High-fidelity ECG was recorded during orthostatic tolerance (OT) and aerobic power (AP) tests, before (PRE) and after HDBR (POST). A multilead scheme for TWA amplitude estimation was used, where non-normalized and T-wave amplitude normalized TWA indices were computed. In addition, spectral analysis of heart rate variability during OT was assessed.Both 5 d and 21 d HDBR induced a reduction in orthostatic tolerance time (OTT), as well as a decrease in maximal oxygen uptake and reserve capacity, thus suggesting cardiovascular deconditioning. However, TWA indices were found not to increase. Interestingly, subjects with lower OTT after 5 d HDBR also showed higher TWA during recovery after OT testing, associated with unbalanced sympathovagal response, even before the HDBR. In contrast with previous observations, augmented ventricular heterogeneity related to 5 d and 21 d HDBR was not sufficient to increase TWA under stress conditions

Ultrastructure and Glycoconjugate Pattern ofthe Foot Epithelium of the Abalone Haliotis tuberculata (Linnaeus, 1758) (Gastropoda, Haliotidae)

The foot epithelium of the gastropod Haliotis tuberculata is studied by light and electron microscopy in order to contribute to the understanding of the anatomy and functional morphology of the mollusks integument. Study of the external surface by scanning electron microscopy reveals that the side foot epithelium is characterized by a microvillus border with a very scant presence of small ciliary tufts, but the sole foot epithelium bears a dense field of long cilia. Ultrastructural examination by transmission electron microscopy of the side epithelial cells shows deeply pigmented cells with high electron-dense granular content which are not observed in the epithelial sole cells. Along the pedal epithelium, seven types of secretory cells are present; furthermore, two types of subepithelial glands are located just in the sole foot. The presence and composition of glycoconjugates in the secretory cells and subepithelial glands are analyzed by conventional and lectin histochemistry. Subepithelial glands contain mainly N-glycoproteins rich in fucose and mannose whereas secretory cells present mostly acidic sulphated glycoconjugates such as glycosaminoglycans and mucins, which are rich in galactose, N-acetyl-galactosamine, and N-acetyl-glucosamine. No sialic acid is present in the foot epithelium.Versión del edito

Candida albicans fibrinogen binding mannoprotein: expression in clinical strains and immunogenicity in patients with candidiasis

A 58 kDa cell wall-associated fibrinogen binding mannoprotein (mp58), previously characterized by our group in a Candida albicans laboratory strain (ATCC 26555), was found to be also present in the cell wall of clinical isolates of this fungus. Most strains examined appear to have functional mp58 species, as detected by their ability to bind fibrinogen. Western immunoblot analysis, with a monovalent polyclonal antibody generated against the mp58 species from strain ATCC 26555, revealed differences in recognition patterns depending on the strain tested and the culture conditions used. Serum samples from normal and Candida infected individuals were examined for the presence of antibodies against mp58 by Western immunoblotting. None of the sera from control individuals and patients suffering from superficial candidiasis contained antibodies against mp58. However, positive reactivity with this antigen and other cell wall constituents was detected for all sera from patients with confirmed systemic candidiasis. Together, these results suggest that mp58 could play an active role during infection and may be useful as a specific antigenic marker for candidiasis

Environmental conditions of dance rooms and its impact on dance conservatories teachers’ health (an Andalusian study)

Dance teachers have to be in long hours dancing. That entails repetitive movements, loud live music, and as well as forcing their voices. These demands can implicate severe health problems and other kind of illness as discomfort, stress, etc. However, the Spanish Ministry of Health only recognize as professional disease for this line of work, the vocal nodules. For this reason, this research studies the health problems in dance teachers in Andalusia, correlating the results of a survey carried out in different conservatories from Andalusia with measurement of noise emissions levels, assessment of noise exposure, and assessment of thermal environment in the classes measuring the thermal environment variables. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study where the influence of several sounds, such as tapping, castanets, and live music, on the health of dance teachers, musicians, and singers during flamenco classes has been researched. Results showed a correlation between some diseases, such as stress and the high level of sound in the classes. The sound levels were well above those established by European regulations reaching values higher than 85 dB(A) as equivalent continuous sound levels during the class time. This European regulation is stablished for an 8 h/day period, five days per week. The thermal environments are no adequate for this activity, mainly for high temperatures in Cordoba during summer. To improve the current working conditions, some recommendations were given to reduce the number of class hours and establish rest shifts, provide more information on health risks, or renovate the floor of some classrooms

L'educació a la Comunitat Valenciana

La educación en la Comunidad Valenciana</span