Altered Redox State in Whole Blood Cells from Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease

Oxidative stress plays an essential and early role in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Alterations in the redox state in AD and in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients appear in the brain and at peripheral level. Given that it is easier to study the latter, most of the research has been focused on plasma. However, the analysis of redox parameters in whole blood cells (including erythrocytes and leukocytes) has not really been investigated. Moreover, the association of these parameters with Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) clinical scores, has scarcely been studied. Therefore, the aim of the present work was to analyze several redox markers in whole blood cells from male and female MCI and AD patients. Antioxidant (superoxide dismutase, catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and reductase (GR) activities, and reduced glutathione (GSH) concentration) together with oxidant parameters (oxidized glutathione (GSSG) and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS)) were investigated using MCI and AD (10 women and 10 men in each group) and their age-matched control groups (15 women and 15 men). The results show an altered redox state in whole blood cells from AD patients (higher CAT, GSSG/GSH, TBARS and lower GPx, GR, GSH). Some of these redox parameters are already affected in MCI patients (higher TBARS and lower GPx and GR activities) in both sexes and, consequently, they could be used as markers of prodromal AD. Since GR, GSH, GSSG, and GSSG/GSH were found to be associated with MMSE scores, they seem to be useful clinically to monitor cognitive decline in AD progression

Long-term follow-up of certolizumab pegol in uveitis due to immune-mediated inflammatory diseases : multicentre study of 80 patients

Objectives To evaluate effectiveness and safety of certolizumab pegol (CZP) in uveitis due to immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID). Methods Multicentre study of CZP-treated patients with IMID uveitis refractory to conventional immunosuppressant. Effectiveness was assessed through the following ocular parameters: best-corrected visual acuity, anterior chamber cells, vitritis, macular thickness and retinal vasculitis. These variables were compared between the baseline, and first week, first, third, sixth months, first and second year. Results We studied 80 (33 men/47 women) patients (111 affected eyes) with a mean age of 41.6±11.7 years. The IMID included were: spondyloarthritis (n=43), Behçet's disease (n=10), psoriatic arthritis (n=8), Crohn's disease (n=4), sarcoidosis (n=2), juvenile idiopathic arthritis (n=1), reactive arthritis (n=1), rheumatoid arthritis (n=1), relapsing polychondritis (n=1), Conclusions CZP seems to be effective and safe in uveitis related to different IMID, even in patients refractory to previous biological drugs

High perceived stress in women is linked to oxidation, inflammation and immunosenescence

Chronic stress situations lead to an impairment of immune response and higher oxidative and inflammatory stress, which are important underlying mechanisms of the ageing process. However, given that the physiological stress response depends on the subjective appraisal of a given stressor, the aim of the study was to investigate the effect that different degrees of perceived stress have, regardless of their type, on immune functions, oxidative and inflammatory stress and ageing rate of women (30–50 years old). For that purpose, a group of 49 women was classified, according to their scores obtained in the perceived stress scale (PSS), into low (n = 23), moderate (n = 14) and high (n = 12) degree of perceived stress. The immune functions studied were: neutrophil and lymphocyte chemotaxis, neutrophil phagocytic capacity, natural killer activity, lymphoproliferation and LPS-stimulated cytokine release. Basal cytokine release was studied as an inflammatory stress marker. Antioxidant (superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and reductase activities, and reduced glutathione) and oxidant compounds (oxidized glutathione and malondialdehyde) were also investigated in whole blood as markers of oxidative stress. The results show that, in general, women with a moderate or high degree of perceived stress have a worse immune functionality and higher oxidative and inflammatory stress compared to women with low stress perception. In addition, a positive correlation was found between PSS scores and the biological age of each woman (P B 0.001). In conclusion, high levels of perceived stress in women are associated with a higher oxidative and inflammatory stress and immunosenescence, which seem to accelerate their ageing rate

3Cat-4: combined GNSS-R, L-Band radiometer with RFI mitigation, and AIS receiver for a I-Unit Cubesat based on software defined radio

The 3 Cat-4 mission aims to demonstrate the capabilities of nano-satellites plus the versatility of a Software Defined Radio for passive Earth Observation. Three different microwave payloads are integrated into a single unit CubeSat platform: a multi-constellation (GPS and Galileo) and a dual-band (L1 and L2) Global Navigation Satellite System - Reflectometer receiver, a total power radiometer including a novel Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) detection and mitigation technique, and an Automatic Identification System receiver for vessels tracking. Being able to validate these technologies in a CubeSat enables their fast adoption as hosted payloads or in more performing dedicated platforms in the future. This paper shows a novel approach for embedding multiple passive microwave payloads in a single platform.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Method to estimate the medullar rays angle in pieces of wood based on tree-ring structure: application to planks of Quercus petraea

Producción CientíficaEstimating wood parameters employing non-destructive methods has been widely studied in recent years. The choice of wood used to build wine ageing barrels (cooperage) is strongly influenced by wood anatomy and specifically by the orientation of medullar rays among other aspects. In this article, a method based on the regularities of the tree-ring structure to estimate the medullar ray angle of the cross section of a piece of wood is proposed. This angle shows the direction of the best linear path to evaluate several tree-ring features and could be employed to automate tasks, such as introducing an analysis path or rotating the image prior to the analysis, which some dendro analysis methods require. A dataset of 26,992 synthetic images and 110 real oak wood images was used to validate the approach. The medullar ray angle of each image considered was measured manually and estimated using the method proposed here, which employs the fast Fourier transform (FFT) to take advantage of the tree-ring structure regularities and find the direction angle of the best linear path to evaluate several tree-ring features. The results obtained demonstrate a mean squared error of 0.29° and 8.19° and a mean absolute error of 0.19° and a 5.91° for the synthetic and oak wood images, respectively. These data suggest the suitability of the proposed method as part of an automated system to inspect and analyse the growth rings in oak wood planks