1,442 research outputs found

    Erratum to: Leishmania infantum-specific production of IFN-γ and IL-10 in stimulated blood from dogs with clinical leishmaniosis

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    BACKGROUND: There is limited information available on cytokine profiles in dogs with different degrees of disease severity due to natural infection of Leishmania infantum. The aim of this study was to investigate L. infantum-specific IFN-γ and IL-10 production in blood from dogs with leishmaniosis at diagnosis and correlate these findings with disease severity, humoral immune response and blood parasitemia. METHODS: Sixty dogs were diagnosed based on physical examination, routine laboratory tests, L. infantum-specific antibody levels measured by quantitative ELISA and blood parasitemia by real-time PCR. Heparin whole blood was stimulated with L. infantum soluble antigen (LSA) and concanavalin A (ConA) and incubated for 5 days. IFN-γ and IL-10 concentrations were measured in supernatants with sandwich ELISAs. RESULTS: The majority of dogs (n = 36) were classified as LeishVet stage II (moderate disease). The rest of the dogs were classified as stage I (n = 10), III (n = 10) and IV (n = 4). Dogs classified with stage I and IIa presented significantly higher (P = 0.02) LSA IFN-γ concentrations, lower (P <0.0001) antibody levels and a tendency for lower blood parasitemia (P = 0.1) than dogs classified with stages IIb, III or IV while no differences in ConA IFN-γ or IL-10 concentrations were observed among groups. Thirty-five dogs produced significantly higher LSA IFN-γ (mean ± SD: 2320 ± 3960 pg/ml) and ConA IFN-γ (mean ± SD: 7887 ± 7273 pg/ml) when compared with 25 dogs that did not produce detectable LSA IFN-γ but produced ConA IFN-γ (mean ± SD: 4917 ± 5233 pg/ml). IFN-γ producer dogs presented lower (mean ± SD: 5750 ± 14,082 ELISA units (EU), P = 0.001) antibody levels and blood parasitemia (mean ± SD:   5 ± 10 parasites/ml, P = 0.001) when compared with IFN-γ non-producers (mean ± SD: 19,638 ± 28,596 EU and 1100 ± 5112 parasites/ml), respectively. LSA IL-10 was not detectable in 34 dogs while 49 dogs secreted ConA IL-10 (mean ± SD of 90 ± 103 pg/ml). LSA IFN-γ concentration was negatively correlated with blood parasitemia and antibody levels and positively correlated with ConA IFN-γ and LSA IL-10 concentrations. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study demonstrate that sick dogs lacking L. infantum specific IFN-γ production in stimulated whole blood produce a strong humoral response, have a high blood parasitemia and severe clinical disease. IL-10 does not appear to be a marker of disease severity

    Social interaction diagrams analysis in virtual contexts for a reinterpretation of relationships at the school

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    Las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) se han convertido en recursos comunicativos que permiten múltiples formas de relaciones interpersonales. En la Sociedad del Conocimiento, donde las TIC juegan un papel fundamental, las interacciones sociales no sólo afectan a los contextos presenciales, sino también a los virtuales. Diversos estudios han analizado las frecuencias de interacción virtual y su relación con las relaciones interpersonales presenciales. Sin embargo, hay una falta de información sobre la manera de los jóvenes interactúan en el contexto virtual, sus objetivos y la influencia de otros actores. Un estudio reciente analiza el papel de las TIC y las redes sociales en los hábitos de comunicación social en las relaciones sociales de estudiantes españoles de Secundaria, con especial énfasis en la influencia de los amigos y la red de contactos. ¿Interaccionamos realmente con todos estos contactos? ¿Dónde están los límites de la calidad de la interacción social de los jóvenes? Estas y otras preguntas son respondidas en este trabajo, mediante el uso de mapas de interacción social en la presencialidad y la virtualidad, a partir de las relaciones identificadas por los alumnos de Educación Secundaria. Para concluir, a partir del análisis e interpretación de estos mapas de interacción se realiza una reinterpretación de las relaciones en la escuela y las implicaciones educativas que estas pueden poner de manifiesto.The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have emerged as communicative resources which allow multiple ways of interpersonal relations. In the Society of Knowlegdge, where ICTs play a fundamental role, social interactions are not only subjected to present contexts but also to virtual ones. Several works have analyzed the frequencies of virtual interaction and their relation with the present interpersonal relations. However, there is a lack of information about the way young people interact in the virtual context, their objectives and the influence of other actors. A recent study analyzes the role of ICT's and social networks in the communication habits ans social relations in spanish students of Secondary School, with special emphasis on their influence of the friends and contacts network. Do we actually interact with all our contacts? Where are the limits of the social interaction quality in young people? These and other questions are answered in this work, using social interaction maps in the presence and technological spheres, using the information obtained from students of Secondary School level. This study allows re-interprete the relationships at school and their educative implications

    Análisis de las empresas gacela de la Región de Murcia : 2017-2020

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    Las empresas gacela han experimentado un importante crecimiento en España en los últimos años, siendo el país de Europa donde su presencia es mayor. A nivel nacional, destaca asimismo la Región de Murcia, por ser la región donde el porcentaje de estas empresas sobre el total es mayor desde 2016 a 2020. Ante la presencia que está ganando este tipo de empresas en el tejido industrial de la región resulta de gran interés analizar las mismas con el objetivo de ayudarlas en su actividad, así como definir su perfil para poder trasladarlo a otras empresas. En este contexto, se realiza el presente trabajo con los siguientes objetivos generales: Analizar las características de las empresas gacela de la Región de Murcia. Conocer los recursos utilizados, así como los factores que han ayudado en su crecimiento. Identificar las estrategias desarrolladas por parte de las mismas. Determinar el perfil del directivo que lidera las empresas gacela. Lograr los anteriores objetivos generales nos permitirá, asimismo, alcanzar los siguientes objetivos específicos: Definir el perfil de las empresas gacela de la Región de Murcia. Elaborar un plan de acción para el desarrollo de las empresas gacela. Para obtener la información necesaria para conseguir los objetivos marcados se ha realizado una investigación en la que, a través de un cuestionario -en el que han participado 72 empresas- y un panel de expertos, se ha recogido información del CEO o director/gerente de empresas gacela de la Región de Murcia. El trabajo se estructura en un primer apartado en el que se define la empresa gacela y se exponen las principales variables asociadas a las mismas a nivel europeo, nacional y regional. A continuación, se presenta la metodología de investigación y los resultados. Finalmente se exponen las conclusiones, donde se presenta el perfil de las empresas gacela de la Región de Murcia y las principales acciones a desarrollar en torno a las mismas. Las entidades que han participado en la elaboración de este informe son la Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena y el Colegio de Economistas de la Región de Murcia

    Reducing Flood Risk in Changing Environments: Optimal Location and Sizing of Stormwater Tanks Considering Climate Change

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    [EN] In recent years, there has been an increase in the frequency of urban floods as a result of three determinant factors: the reduction in systems' capacity due to aging, a changing environment that has resulted in alterations in the hydrological cycle, and the reduction of the permeability of watersheds due to urban growth. Due to this, a question that every urban area must answer is: Are we ready to face these new challenges? The renovation of all the pipes that compose the drainage system is not a feasible solution, and, therefore, the use of new solutions is an increasing trend, leading to a new operational paradigm where water is stored in the system and released at a controlled rate. Hence, technologies, such as stormwater tanks, are being implemented in different cities. This research sought to understand how Climate Change would affect future precipitation, and based on the results, applied two different approaches to determine the optimal location and sizing of storage units, through the application of the Simulated Annealing and Pseudo-Genetic Algorithms. In this process, a strong component of computational modeling was applied in order to allow the optimization algorithms to efficiently reach near-optimal solutions. These approaches were tested in two stormwater networks at Bogota, Colombia, considering three different rainfall scenarios.This research was funded by MEXICHEM-PAVCO and COLCIENCIAS, grant number 565263339028Saldarriaga, J.; Salcedo, C.; Solarte, L.; Pulgarín, L.; Rivera, ML.; Camacho, M.; Iglesias Rey, PL.... (2020). Reducing Flood Risk in Changing Environments: Optimal Location and Sizing of Stormwater Tanks Considering Climate Change. 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Journal of Climate, 25(19), 6646-6665. doi:10.1175/jcli-d-11-00560.1Voldoire, A., Sanchez-Gomez, E., Salas y Mélia, D., Decharme, B., Cassou, C., Sénési, S., … Chauvin, F. (2012). The CNRM-CM5.1 global climate model: description and basic evaluation. Climate Dynamics, 40(9-10), 2091-2121. doi:10.1007/s00382-011-1259-yAckerley, D., & Dommenget, D. (2016). Atmosphere-only GCM (ACCESS1.0) simulations with prescribed land surface temperatures. Geoscientific Model Development, 9(6), 2077-2098. doi:10.5194/gmd-9-2077-2016Yazdi, J., Lee, E. H., & Kim, J. H. (2015). Stochastic Multiobjective Optimization Model for Urban Drainage Network Rehabilitation. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 141(8), 04014091. doi:10.1061/(asce)wr.1943-5452.0000491Javier Martínez-Solano, F., Iglesias-Rey, P. L., Mora Meliá, D., & Ribelles-Aguilar, J. V. (2018). 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    Leishmania infantum-specific IFN-γ production in stimulated blood from dogs with clinical leishmaniosis at diagnosis and during treatment

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    There is limited data regarding Leishmania infantum specific T cell mediated immunity in naturally infected sick dogs at the time of diagnosis and during anti-Leishmania treatment. Our aim was to investigate the kinetics of L. infantum specific IFN-γ production in dogs with leishmaniosis at the time of diagnosis and during treatment and to correlate it with specific L. infantum antibodies, blood parasitemia and clinicopathological findings. Thirty-four dogs were diagnosed with leishmaniosis based on physical examination, routine laboratory tests and L. infantum-specific antibody levels by quantitative ELISA. Heparinized whole blood was stimulated with L. infantum soluble antigen (LSA) and concanavalin A (ConA) and incubated for 5 days. IFN-γ concentration was evaluated in supernatants of stimulated blood using a commercial sandwich ELISA. Leishmania real-time PCR was also performed for assessing blood parasitemia. Dogs were treated with meglumine antimoniate and allopurinol. Sixteen dogs were classified as IFN-γ non-producers after LSA stimulation (mean ± SD: 0 ± 0 pg/mL) and 18 dogs as IFN-γ producers (mean ± SD: 2885.3 ± 4436.1 pg/mL) at the time of diagnosis (P < 0.0001). IFN-γ non-producers were classified in a more severe clinical staging than IFN-γ producers that presented a mild to moderate clinical staging (P = 0.03). In the IFN-γ non-producer group, production of IFN-γ after LSA stimulation was significantly increased during treatment especially at day 365 (P = 0.018) together with clinical improvement when compared with day 0. In contrast, IFN-γ producers maintained their IFN-γ production after LSA stimulation and no statistically significant changes were found during treatment follow-up. At diagnosis, IFN-γ non-producers showed a significantly higher blood parasitemia versus IFN-γ -producers (P = 0.005). IFN-γ non-producers drastically reduced blood parasitemia to minimum values at day 365 when compared with day 0 (P = 0.017). No significant differences were found at day 365 in blood parasitemia of IFN-γ producers compared to pre-treatment. At diagnosis, L. infantum specific antibodies were higher in IFN-γ non-producers than IFN-γ producers (P = 0.014). A marked reduction of antibody levels was found at day 365 when compared with day 0 in IFN-γ non-producers (P = 0.005) and producers (P = 0.001). These results demonstrate that IFN-γ concentration increases with long-term anti-Leishmania treatment together with clinical improvement in dogs that do not produce IFN-γ at diagnosis. Together with clinical recovery, reduction in blood parasitemia and L. infantum specific antibodies, tracking IFN-γ concentration could constitute an important prognostic tool for immune monitoring in CanL

    Hypercalcemia of Malignancy in a Dog Diagnosed With Cholangiocellular Carcinoma

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    A 4-year-old, neutered male Golden Retriever was presented with a 1-week history of weight loss, polyuria, and polydipsia. The diagnostic workup showed an increased ionized calcium concentration, mild increase in serum creatinine and urea concentration, and severe hyperlipasemia. A complete abdominal ultrasound revealed multiple hepatic nodules. A cytological diagnosis of malignant epithelial neoplasia, highly suggestive of bile duct adenocarcinoma was made. In order to confirm the presumptive diagnosis of hypercalcemia of malignancy due to the presence of a hepatic neoplasia, serum parathormone-related peptide concentration was measured, and the result revealed an increased concentration. The dog was hospitalized and received supportive treatments consisting of intravenous furosemide and fluid therapy. After ruling out lymphoma and hypoadrenocorticism, oral prednisone was initiated and ionized calcium concentration decreased gradually down to normal concentration after 7 days of hospitalization. Chemotherapy with intravenous epirubicin was initiated based on the cytological diagnosis. One month after diagnosis and due to the worsening of its clinical condition, the dog was humanely euthanized. Postmortem examination confirmed a cholangiocellular carcinoma. To our knowledge, this is the first report of malignant hypercalcemia associated with cholangiocellular carcinoma in a dog.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

    Toll-like receptors 2, 4 and 7, interferon-gamma and interleukin 10, and programmed death ligand 1 transcripts in skin from dogs of different clinical stages of leishmaniosis

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    Background: Canine leishmaniosis (CanL) caused by Leishmania infantum can have several dermatological manifestations. The type of immune response elicited against the parasite appears to be at the basis for such clinical variability. Much of the work in CanL has focused on adaptive immune response and there are scarce data on the importance of the innate immune responses. Moreover, few studies have evaluated the immunological response in the cutaneous lesions in dogs naturally infected with L. infantum and with different degrees of disease severity, and no study has compared clinically-lesioned with normal-looking skin. Methods: We determined and compared the transcription of toll like receptors (TLRs) 2, 4 and 7, interferon gamma (IFN-γ), interleukin (IL) 10 and programmed cell death protein ligand (PD-L) 1 by real-time PCR in paired clinically-lesioned and normal-looking skin from 25 diseased dogs (mild disease-stage I (n = 11) and moderate to severe disease-stages II and III (n = 14) as well as in normal-looking skin from healthy dogs (n = 10) from a non-endemic area. We also assessed the association between the transcripts in clinically-lesioned and normal-looking skin of dogs with leishmaniosis with clinicopathological, immunological and parasitological findings. Results: Clinically-lesioned skin from mildly affected dogs was characterized by a significant upregulation of TLR2 (P < 0.0001) and IL-10 (P = 0.021) and downregulation of TLR7 (P = 0.004) when compared with more severely affected dogs. Normal-looking skin of mildly affected dogs was characterized by a significant lower expression of TLR7 (P = 0.003), IFN-γ(P < 0.0001) and PD-L1 (P = 0.001) when compared with more severely affected dogs. TLR2, TLR4, IL-10 and IFN-γupregulation in clinically-lesioned skin was correlated with lower disease severity while TLR7 upregulation was correlated with markers of disease severity. Upregulation of TLR7, IL-10, IFN-γand PD-L1 in normal-looking skin was correlated with disease severity. Conclusions: This study demonstrated different expression profiles of immune genes in clinically-lesioned and normal-looking skin among mildly and more severely affected dogs. These immunological conditions might favor the maintenance and replication of the parasite in the skin of more severely affected dogs

    THE RELATION BETWEEN DEPRESSION AND PERCEIVED SOCIAL SUPPORT IN NURSING STUDENTS IN THE CONTEXT OF SUICIDAL BEHAVIORS

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    Objective: to determine the relationship between depression and perceived social support in nursing students in the context of suicidal behaviors.Method: secondary analysis of data from a previous study. Sample from the census of nursing students in Costa Rica. Data collection performed by LimeSurveyduring 2020 by means of self-administered questionnaire composed of sociodemographic data section, Beck-II depression inventory and multidimensional scale of perceived social support. Descriptive analysis and Pearson correlation were used.Results: The majority were female (79.5%), with a mean age of 22.15 years; 85.8% reported mild to minimal depression; 92.2% reported high perceived social support. A significant inverse correlation was identified between level of depression and perceived social support (r=-0.44, p<0.01).Conclusion: The understanding about mental health conditions by nursing science is broadened to improve care practices in a specific group
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