Implications of cellular senescence in paediatric pituitary tumours

The long-standing view of senescent cells as passive and dysfunctional biological remnants has recently shifted into a new paradigm where they are main players in the development of many diseases, including cancer. The senescence programme represents a first line of defence that prevents tumour cell growth but also leads to the secretion of multiple pro-inflammatory and pro-tumourigenic factors that fuel tumour initiation, growth, and progression. Here, we review the main molecular features and biological functions of senescent cells in cancer, including the outcomes of inducing or targeting senescence. We discuss evidence on the role of cellular senescence in pituitary tumours, with an emphasis on adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma (ACP) and pituitary adenomas. Although senescence has been proposed to be a tumour-preventing mechanism in pituitary adenomas, research in ACP has shown that senescent cells are tumour-promoting in both murine models and human tumours. Future studies characterizing the impact of targeting senescent cells may result in novel therapies against pituitary tumours

The use of ecosystem-based adaptation practices by smallholder farmers in Central America

There is growing interest in promoting the use of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) practices to help smallholder farmers adapt to climate change, however there is limited information on how commonly these practices are used by smallholder farmers and what factors influence their use. Using participatory mapping and field surveys, we examined the prevalence and characteristics of EbA practices on 300 smallholder coffee and maize farmers in six landscapes in Central America and explored the socioeconomic and biophysical factors associated with their use. The prevalence of individual EbA practices varied across smallholder farms. Common EbA practices included live fences, home gardens, shade trees in coffee plantations, and dispersed trees in maize fields. We found a mean of 3.8 EbA practices per farm. Factors that were correlated with the total number of EbA practices on farms included the mean area of coffee plantations, farmer age, farmer experience, the farm type and the landscape in which farms were located. Factors associated with the presence or characteristics of individual EbA practices included the size of coffee plantations, farmer experience, farmer education, land tenure, landscape and farm type. Our analysis suggests that many smallholder farmers in Central America are already using certain EbA practices, but there is still scope for greater implementation. Policy makers, donors and technicians can encourage the broader use of EbA by smallholder farmers by facilitating farmer-to-farmer exchanges to share knowledge on EbA implementation, assessing the effectiveness of EbA practices in delivering adaptation benefits, and tailoring EbA policies and programs for smallholder farmers in different socioeconomic and biophysical contexts. (Résumé d'auteur

Exploring the Influence of Price and Convenience on Perceived Usefulness of On-line Banking within the TAM Framework: A Cross National (Canada and Spain) Decision Model

Nowadays, the Internet is a powerful mean to complement the traditional marketing channels used by banks. Based on the Technology Acceptance Model, this paper explores the importance of two external latent variables—‘Price’ and ‘Convenience’ —as antecedents of ‘Perceived Usefulness’ and consumer acceptance of on-line banking in a Canadian and Spanish environment; the results highlight the predictive power and accuracy of the model cross-nationally. In fact, the findings were quite similar in the Canadian and Spanish samples, and stress that ‘Perceived Usefulness’ and ‘Attitude’ are the key drivers of the consumers’ on-line banking acceptance. Conclusions and recommendations for future research are also provided

The Evolutionary Success of the Marine Bacterium SAR11 Analyzed through a Metagenomic Perspective

The SAR11 clade of Alphaproteobacteria is the most abundant group of planktonic cells in the near-surface epipelagic waters of the ocean, but the mechanisms underlying its exceptional success have not been fully elucidated. Here, we applied a metagenomic approach to explore microdiversity patterns by measuring the accumulation of synonymous and nonsynonymous mutations as well as homologous recombination in populations of SAR11 from different aquatic habitats (marine epipelagic, bathypelagic, and surface freshwater). The patterns of mutation accumulation and recombination were compared to those of other groups of representative marine microbes with multiple ecological strategies that share the same marine habitat, namely, Cyanobacteria (Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus), Archaea (“Candidatus Nitrosopelagicus” and Marine Group II Thalassoarchaea), and some heterotrophic marine bacteria (Alteromonas and Erythrobacter). SAR11 populations showed widespread recombination among distantly related members, preventing divergence leading to a genetically stable population. Moreover, their high intrapopulation sequence diversity with an enrichment in synonymous replacements supports the idea of a very ancient divergence and the coexistence of multiple different clones. However, other microbes analyzed seem to follow different evolutionary dynamics where processes of diversification driven by geographic and ecological instability produce a higher number of nonsynonymous replacements and lower intrapopulation sequence diversity. Together, these data shed light on some of the evolutionary and ecological processes that lead to the large genomic diversity in SAR11. Furthermore, this approach can be applied to other similar microbes that are difficult to culture in the laboratory, but abundant in nature, to investigate the underlying dynamics of their genomic evolution.This work was supported by grants VIREVO CGL2016-76273-P (AEI/FEDER, EU) (cofunded with FEDER funds) from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria, y Competitividad and HIDRAS3 PROMETEU/2019/009 from the Generalitat Valenciana to F.R.-V. and by grants CGL2013-40564-R and SAF2013-49267-EXP from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria, y Competitividad; grant ACIF/2015/332 from the Generalitat Valenciana; and grant 5334 from the Betty Moore Foundation to M.M.-G. F.R.-V. was also a beneficiary of the 5top100-program of the Ministry for Science and Education of Russia. J.M.H.-M. was supported by a Ph.D. fellowship from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (BES-2014-067828). F.H.C. was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Generalitat Valenciana (APOSTD/2018/186). M.L.-P. was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria, y Competitividad (IJCI-2017-34002)

Estudio comparativo del tratamiento del aneurisma de aorta abdominal mediante cirugía abierta y cirugía endovascular

Contexto: El aneurisma de aorta abdominal consiste en la dilatación en más del 50% del diámetro arterial. De todos ellos, los más frecuentes son los localizados a nivel infrarrenal, con una prevalencia aproximada del 4% en los mayores de 50 años (predominantemente varones). La mayoría de ellos son asintomáticos, aunque su complicación más grave es la ruptura del mismo, con una mortalidad cercana al 80%. Problemas: El tratamiento precoz permite prevenir la rotura de la pared arterial y, por lo tanto, disminuir la mortalidad asociada a esta patología. La cirugía abierta ha constituido desde siempre el tratamiento de elección, sin embargo esta técnica también conlleva una morbi-mortalidad elevada. El desarrollo de técnicas endovasculares permite realizar la exclusión del aneurisma mediante la implantación de una endoprótesis de forma menos invasiva, y por lo tanto, con un menor riesgo quirúrgico. Sin embargo, esta técnica no está indicada en todos los pacientes, ya que dicho tratamiento dependerá de una serie de factores como la edad y las características anatómicas del aneurisma. Objetivos de la propuesta: Realizar un estudio comparativo entre los pacientes tratados mediante cirugía abierta o cirugía endovascular en los últimos 5 años. Realizaremos un análisis epidemiológico de los factores de riesgo asociados a esta patología y analizaremos las complicaciones asociadas a dichas técnicas quirúrgicas a corto y largo plazo

Association between chronic irritability and depressive symptoms in children and adolescents.

Association between chronic irritability and depressive symptoms in children and adolescents. Busto-Garrido, M.; Gutierrez-Castillo, D; Navas- Gonzalez, JR; Gutierrez-Bedmar, M; Gutierrez-Casares, JR; Martin-Lunar, MT; Rodríguez-Rosado, A; Pena-Andreu, JM. European Psychiatry 415(2017) 5221.Chronic irritability is the most frequently reported symptom in child and adolescent depression. The association of both has been linked with high rates of chronicity, comorbility and impairment. Objectives To study the association between chronic irritability and depressive symptoms in children and adolescents. Methods We have studied 857 participants recruited from the only Child and Adolescent Mental Health Clinic in a catchment area of 122968 people under 18 (2004-2010). A sample of 677 participants (57 controls and 620 patients) was included to carry out a cross-sectional study. Chronic irritability was measured by a Visual Analog Scale (VAS irritability) -scored from 0 to 10-, and depressive symptoms by the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). The participants were categorized into controls and patients, and according to their chronic irritability (≤4 [I],5 [II] and ≥6 [III]). The mean of CDI score was calculated for each of the groups, adjusted by sex and age, and analyzed by ANCOVA. Results The following means were obtained from the controls: 13,71 (group I), 9,82 (group II) and 17,45 (group III). Regarding to the patients: 13,92 (group I), 11,54 (group II) and 15,64 (group III). A quadratic association (p <0,0015) was found between VAS irritability score and CDI score. Conclussions There is not a lineal association between chronic irritability and depressive symptoms in children and adolescent. High rates of depressive symptoms were associated both with high and low rates of irritability. Several questions remain unexplained about the status of irritability in psychiatry as Stringaris group has been pointed out. Disclosure statement I have no potential conflict of interest to discloseUniversidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Comparative Analysis of Grapevine Whole-genome Gene Predictions, Functional Annotation, Categorization and Integration of the Predicted Gene Sequences

Background: The first draft assembly and gene prediction of the grapevine genome (8X base coverage) was made available to the scientific community in 2007, and functional annotation was developed on this gene prediction. Since then additional Sanger sequences were added to the 8X sequences pool and a new version of the genomic sequence with superior base coverage (12X) was produced. Results: In order to more efficiently annotate the function of the genes predicted in the new assembly, it is important to build on as much of the previous work as possible, by transferring 8X annotation of the genome to the 12X version. The 8X and 12X assemblies and gene predictions of the grapevine genome were compared to answer the question, “Can we uniquely map 8X predicted genes to 12X predicted genes?” The results show that while the assemblies and gene structure predictions are too different to make a complete mapping between them, most genes (18,725) showed a one-to-one relationship between 8X predicted genes and the last version of 12X predicted genes. In addition, reshuffled genomic sequence structures appeared. These highlight regions of the genome where the gene predictions need to be taken with caution. Based on the new grapevine gene functional annotation and in-depth functional categorization, twenty eight new molecular networks have been created for VitisNet while the existing networks were updated. Conclusions: The outcomes of this study provide a functional annotation of the 12X genes, an update of VitisNet, the system of the grapevine molecular networks, and a new functional categorization of genes

Estimation of Diagnosis and Recommendation Integrated System (DRIS), Compositional Nutrient Diagnosis (CND) and Range of Normality (RN) Norms for Mineral Diagnosis of Almonds Trees in Spain

To ensure good fertilization, it is necessary to know the optimum nutrient levels for each crop. The most common method for obtaining this information for almond trees is to perform a foliar analysis coupled with the use of interpretive tools such as the traditional range of normality. However, currently, there are other, more sophisticated methods such as the DRIS (Diagnosis and Recommendation Integrated System) and the CND (Compositional Nutrient Diagnosis) which take into account the relationship between nutrients. However, little information is available with respect to these methods in the case of almond trees. In the present work, 288 samples of three contrasting varieties of almond were analyzed—Ferraduel, Ferragnes, and Garrigues (Prunus dulcis, Mill.)— corresponding to bi-weekly sampling between the months of May and September. Leaf analysis data, run with different mathematical and statistical models, lead to knowledge of the optimum period for harvesting samples and the determination of the ranges of normality and norms of DRIS and CND for the Ferraduel, Ferragnes, and Garrigues varieties. Data gained from the leaf nutrient content reported that the best season to harvest and interpret leaf samples was July. In addition, Ferraduel and Ferragnes had higher N, P, and K (2.22, 0.14, and 1.04 mg Kg1 dw, respectively) than Garrigues (2.00, 0.09. 0.67 mg Kg1 dw). The norms obtained with the leaf mineral data showed similar values between the Ferraduel and Ferragnes varieties but different values for Garrigues variety. Therefore, Garriges had the highest N/P, N/K, P/K, and P Mg norms in the DRIS method and the highest VN and VCa norms in the CND method