Profilin is a marker of severity in allergic respiratory diseases.

Background The capacity of profilin to induce allergic symptoms in patients with respiratory allergy has been questioned. In this sense, the aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between profilin exposure and induction of symptoms in a prospective case‐control study. Methods The concentration of profilin as well as pollen levels in the air was measured. A diary score of symptoms was collected from allergic patients. Seventy‐nine individuals were included in the study; fifty cases and 28 controls were positive or negative to profilin, respectively. Conjunctival and bronchial provocation tests were performed with purified profilin (Pho d 2) in a subgroup of cases and controls. Results Profilin was detected in the environment on 133 days (maximum peak of 0.56 ng/m3). A positive correlation between profilin and pollen count of Olea and Poaceae was observed (ρ = 0.24; P < .001). Intensity of total, nasal and ocular symptoms was statistically higher in cases than in controls (P < .001). The risk of suffering symptoms, measured by the percentage of patients who presented any of the symptoms each day, was also higher in cases than in controls. The provocation test was positive in 95% of bronchial and 90% of conjunctival challenges in cases, and negative in all controls. Conclusions Profilin was detected in the environment and had the ability to induce a specific allergen response. Patients sensitized to this panallergen showed more symptoms and were more likely to have symptoms. Therefore, sensitization to profilin seems to be a marker of severity in patients with rhinoconjunctivitis and asthma mediated by pollen.pre-print271 K

Usefulness of manufactured tomato extracts in the diagnosis of tomato sensitization: Comparison with the prick-prick method

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Commercial available skin prick test with fruits can be negative in sensitized or allergic patients due to a reduction in biological activity during the manufacturing process. Prick-prick tests with fresh foods are often preferred, but they are a non-standardized procedure. The usefulness of freeze-dried extracts of Canary Islands tomatoes, comparing the wheal sizes induced by prick test with the prick-prick method in the diagnosis of tomato sensitization has been analyzed.</p> <p>The objective of the study was to assess the potential diagnostic of freeze-dried extracts of Canary Islands tomatoes, comparing the wheal sizes induced by prick test with the prick-prick method.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Two groups of patients were analyzed: Group I: 26 individuals reporting clinical symptoms induced by tomato contact or ingestion. Group II: 71 control individuals with no symptoms induced by tomato: 12 of them were previously skin prick test positive to a tomato extract, 39 were atopic and 20 were non-atopic. All individuals underwent prick-prick with fresh ripe peel Canary tomatoes and skin prick tested with freeze-dried peel and pulp extracts obtained from peel and pulp of Canary tomatoes at 10 mg/ml. Wheal sizes and prick test positivity (≥ 7 mm²) were compared between groups.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In group I, 21 (81%) out of 26 patients were prick-prick positive. Twenty patients (77%) had positive skin prick test to peel extracts and 12 (46%) to pulp extracts. Prick-prick induced a mean wheal size of 43.81 ± 40.19 mm²compared with 44.25 ± 36.68 mm²induced by the peel extract (Not significant), and 17.79 ± 9.39 mm²induced by the pulp extract (p < 0.01).</p> <p>In group II, 13 (18%) out of 71 control patients were prick-prick positive. Twelve patients (all of them previously positive to peel extract) had positive skin prick test to peel and 3 to pulp. Prick-prick induced a mean wheal size of 28.88 ± 13.12 mm²compared with 33.17 ± 17.55 mm²induced by peel extract (Not significant), and 13.33 ± 4.80 mm²induced by pulp extract (p < 0.05 with peel extract and prick-prick).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Canary peel tomato extract seems to be as efficient as prick-prick tests with ripe tomatoes to diagnose patients sensitized to tomato. The wheal sizes induced by prick-prick and peel extracts were very similar and showed a high correlation coefficient.</p

El Perfil sísmico ALCUDIA: una imagen de la Zona Centroibérica (Varisco Ibérico meridional, España)

The 250 km long, vertical incidence seismic reflection profile ALCUDIA was acquired in spring 2007. It samples the Variscan Central Iberian Zone from Toledo to Fuenteovejuna. Its main goal was to continue the structure obtained for the crust and mantle from the IBERSEIS transect towards the N and NE. The acquisition parameters, similar to those used in the IBERSEIS profile have proven to be adequate to show a detailed image of the whole crust and upper mantle. After preliminary processing, the upper crust shows a moderate reflectivity that can be easily correlated with identifiable surface geologic features. The middle and lower part of the crust seems to be very reflective, laminated and afected by deformation, although to a different extent. The Moho is placed at approximately 10 s TWT and appears to be flat in the time section. The section can be divided into four domains of reflectivity that can be key to stablish different domains of crustal evolution. This new transect, together with the previous IBERSEIS profile, complete an almost 600 km long lithospheric section that crosses the southern half of the Iberian Variscides.El perfil sísmico de reflexión ALCUDIA , de 250 km de longitud, fue adquirido en la primavera del año 2007. Este perfil ha muestreado la Zona Centroibérica entre Toledo y Fuenteovejuna, y su objetivo principal ha sido continuar hacia el NE la estructura de corteza y manto ya obtenida mediante el perfil IBERSEIS. Los parámetros de adquisición, similares a los de IBERSEIS, han sido adecuados para mostrar una imagen detallada de toda la corteza y el manto superior. Una vez efectuado el procesado preliminar, la corteza superior presenta una reflectividad moderada que puede correlacionarse fácilmente con rasgos geológicos de superficie. Las partes media e inferior de la corteza son muy reflectivas, laminadas y afectadas por una deformación que varía a lo largo del perfil. La Moho se localiza a unos 10 s TWT y tiene geometría plana en la sección de tiempo. La variación en los patrones generales de reflectividad permite dividir el pefil sísmico en cuatro dominios, que corresponden a diferentes evoluciones corticales. Este nuevo perfil sísmico, unido al anterior perfil IBERSEIS, constituye una sección litosférica de casi 600 km de longitud, que atraviesa la parte meridional del Varisco Ibérico.Depto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y PaleontologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUEMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN)Generalitat de CatalunyaJunta de Comunidades de Castilla La Mancha.pu

Cadomian and Variscan sutures of Iberia: a comparison

p.11-12. -A meeting held as a tribute to Teodoro Palacios on his retirement as Professor of Palaeontology at the University of Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain, 26th & 27th January, 2022, University of Extremadura, Badajoz. Edited by Sören Jensen[EN] The Iberian Massif holds evidence of two pre-Mesozoic orogenies, namely the Cadomian and Variscan. The Cadomian Orogeny resulted from long-lived subduction under the periphery of Gondwana during the Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic. The Variscan Orogen resulted from the progressive collision of Gondwana, Laurussia and their pericontinental terranes during the Devonian and Carboniferous, after the closure of the Rheic Ocean and other marginal basins located along their mainlands. Despite these two orogens differ from one another in the global context from which they emerged, in Iberia they share some characteristics that make them intriguingly alike. The Variscan Orogen contains two major sutures zones. One that separates mainland Gondwana from peri-Gondwanan terranes (intra-Gondwana suture), and another one separating Laurussia from the latter terranes (Rheic suture). The Variscan intra-Gondwana suture is Tectonically dismembered and separates a collection of terranes with continental crust affinity that were transported inland from the periphery of Gondwana during the closure of a (Devonian) marginal basin opened during ongoing convergence between Gondwana and Laurussia (e.g., Careón Ophiolite), ⁓15 million years after the onset of the Variscan Orogen. This process was the result of subduction polarity towards Laurussia, i.e. away from mainland Gondwana. The exhumation of the ophiolites and high-P rocks in this suture was largely controlled by syn-convergence extensional tectonics. The current structure of the Rheic suture, on the other hand, is the result of reworking after the opening of an ephemeral oceanic basin (Beja-Acebuches Ophiolite). Subduction polarity during both the closure of the primary suture zone and the closure of the ephemeral basin were beneath mainland Gondwana. However, the closure of the ephemeral basin developed flake tectonics and obduction of pieces of the ocean basin onto the upper plate. Suture zones in the Cadomian Orogen went unnoticed until few years ago. Despite being intensely reworked by Variscan deformation, the ongoing structural, tectonometamorphic, geochemical and geochronological studies provide first-order constrains on their primary (Cadomian) geometry as well as insight on the paleogeographic location of subduction zones that led to their formation. A collective, yet preliminary analysis of these sutures, pictures a major architecture of the Cadomian Orogen that contain, at least, two sutures zones. One Cadomian suture is identified in the Mérida Ophiolite, which separates an upper and lower plate, both with continental crust affinity and likely Gondwanan derivation (intra-Gondwana suture). This intra-Gondwana suture was formed after the closure by subduction away from mainland Gondwana of a marginal basin that opened during ongoing convergence between Gondwana and an oceanic plate, millions of years after the onset of the Cadomian Orogen. The exhumation of the ophiolite and mid-P rocks that make this suture was largely controlled by syn-convergence extensional tectonics. Another Cadomian suture is represented by the Calzadilla Ophiolite, whose protoliths formed in a fore-arc basin to the most external part of Gondwana. The location of this suture zone is explained by flake tectonics, which contributed to the obduction of the ophiolite onto the upper plate while ongoing subduction was beneath mainland Gondwana. Cadomian and Variscan sutures share fundamental characteristics regarding the paleolocation of the ocean basins they derive from and the overall resulting geometry and tectonic processes involved in their formation. The suture zones that represent the closure of basins located at the outermost section of peri-Gondwana, and closely facing subduction underneath Gondwana (Calzadilla and Beja-Acebuches ophiolites), were obducted inwards onto mainland Gondwana (upper plate). The intra-Gondwana suture zones (Careón and Mérida ophiolites) formed after subduction of a marginal basin beneath the periphery of Gondwana, and the exhumation of rock units of the subduction system was largely assisted by syn-convergence extensional tectonics following subduction-accretion. The Variscan and Cadomian orogens, despite being formed in different contexts (oceanic subduction vs. continental collision), share two major features. Both are (i) mostly built by Gondwanan lithosphere, and (ii) occupy the upper plate of a subduction zone that consumed a large ocean. These two orogens alternate phases of contraction and extension (mostly concentrated in the upper plate). In both cases, extension was intense enough as to create marginal ocean basins and to favor exhumation of deep-seated rocks (quite common in upper plates). Perhaps, these major features they share may explain the resemblance of the final global architecture of these two orogens, and provide additional arguments to consider Gondwana as resistant to subduction and recycling in the mantle and prone to crustal growth, being the upper plate to the orogenic systems it was involved in during at least 300 m.y.Peer reviewe

Mapa Geológico de España E 1:200000, hoja 69, Pozoblanco

Peer reviewe

Depigmented Allergoids Reveal New Epitopes with Capacity to Induce IgG Blocking Antibodies

Background. The synthesis of allergen-specific blocking IgGs that interact with IgE after allergen immunotherapy (SIT) has been related to clinical efficacy. The objectives were to investigate the epitope specificity of IgG-antibodies induced by depigmented-polymerized (Dpg-Pol) allergoids and unmodified allergen extracts, and examine IgE-blocking activity of induced IgG-antibodies. Methods. Rabbits were immunized with native and Dpg-Pol extracts of birch pollen, and serum samples were obtained. Recognition of linear IgG-epitopes of Bet v 1 and Bet v 2 and the capacity of these IgG-antibodies to block binding of human-IgE was determined. Results. Serum from rabbits immunized with native extracts recognised 11 linear epitopes from Bet v 1, while that from Dpg-Pol-immunized animals recognised 8. For Bet v 2, 8 epitopes were recognized by IgG from native immunized animals, and 9 from Dpg-Pol immunized one. Dpg-Pol and native immunized serum did not always recognise the same epitopes, but specific-IgG from both could block human-IgE binding sites for native extract. Conclusions. Depigmented-polymerized birch extract stimulates the synthesis of specific IgG-antibodies which recognize common but also novel epitopes compared with native extracts. IgG-antibodies induced by Dpg-Pol effectively inhibit human-IgE binding to allergens which may be part of the mechanism of action of SIT

Tectonic setting and isotopic sources (Sm-Nd) of the Ediacaran Black Series in the SW of the Iberian Massif (Obejo-Valsequillo Domain)

Journées Jeunes Chercheurs en Geosciences (2º. 2017. Bouznika, Marruecos)Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, EspañaPeer reviewe

Two-step obduction of the Porvenir serpentinites: A cryptic Devonian suture in SW Iberian Massif (Ossa-Morena Complex)

50 p.[EN] The Porvenir serpentinites are an ~600-m-thick body of meta-peridotites exposed in SW Iberia (Variscan Orogen). The serpentinites occur as a horse within a Carboniferous, out-of-sequence thrust system (Espiel thrust). This thrust juxtaposes the serpentinites and peri-Gondwanan strata onto younger peri-Gondwanan strata, with the serpentinites occupying an intermediate position. Reconstruction of the pre-Espiel thrust structure results in a vertical juxtaposition of terranes: Cambrian strata below, Porvenir serpentinites in the middle, and the strata at the footwall to the Espiel thrust culminating the tectonic pile. The reconstructed tectonic pile accounts for yet another major thrusting event, since a section of upper mantle (Porvenir serpentinites) was sandwiched between two tectonic slices of continental crust (a suture zone sensu lato). The primary lower plate to the suture is now overlying the upper plate due to the Espiel thrust. Lochkovian strata in the upper plate and the Devonian, NE-verging folds in the lower plate suggest SW-directed accretion of the lower plate during the Devonian, i.e., Laurussia-directed underthrusting for the closure of a Devonian intra-Gondwana basin. Obduction of the Porvenir serpentinites was a two-step process: one connected to the development of a Devonian suture zone, and another related to out-of-sequence thrusting that cut the suture zone and brought upward a tectonic slice of upper mantle rocks hosted in that suture. The primary Laurussia-dipping geometry inferred for this partially obducted suture zone fits the geometry, kinematics, and timing of the Late Devonian suture zone exposed in NW Iberia and may represent the continuation of such suture into SW Iberia.Research funded by Spanish project CGL2016-76438-P (Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad).Peer reviewe

The SW Iberian Serie Negra Group (Ossa-Morena Complex, Variscan Orogen): a key element in the dynamic evolution of the peri-Gondwanan arc-related basins

p.37-38. -A meeting held as a tribute to Teodoro Palacios on his retirement as Professor of Palaeontology at the University of Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain, 26th & 27th January, 2022, University of Extremadura, Badajoz. Edited by Sören Jensen[EN] The Ediacaran Serie Negra Group is an element of the basement of the SW Iberian Massif, where it is included in the recently defined Ossa-Morena Complex (OMC). The Serie Negra Group is constituted by two different members, from bottom to top, the Montemolín and Tentudía formations. The Montemolín Fm. (c. 600 Ma) is constituted by fine-grained metapelites and, to a lesser extent, by metagreywackes intercalated with metabasites derived from sills and volcanic rocks. The Tentudía Fm. (c. 565–540 Ma) consists of Metagreywackes, intercalations of black quartzites, black cherts, and scarce metabasites. On top of the Serie Negra Group, there is a sequence that rests discordant and crosses the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary, the Malcocinado Fm., which consists of andesitic breccias and flows with minor levels of metasedimentary rocks intruded by granitic bodies. Both the Serie Negra Group and the Malcocinado Fm. were deposited in a peri-Gondwanan volcanic arc setting.Peer reviewe