Features of non-kinship foster care children with birth family contact in Andalusia

The aim of the presentation is to describe the personal features of non-kinship foster care children who have visits with their birth family in Málaga, Granada and Jaén (provinces of Andalusia, Spain). This study was funded by the research project Application of a psychoeducational intervention program to improve visits between foster children and their biological families (Reference EDU2016 77094-P). SPSS v.21.0 was used to carry out the descriptive and frequency analysis of socio-demographic information collected by the Child File Summary Form designed for this study. There are 212 non-kinship foster care children who have visits with their birth family. Their mean age is 8.09 years old (SD= 4.73). The more frequent types of foster care are both long-term and short-term placement (30.7%, respectively), followed by specialized long-term foster care (20.3%), urgency placement (10.8%) and specialized short-term foster care (7.5%). The period of time they have been into the Child Protection System is on average 4.08 years (SD= 3.88) and into the current placement is on average 2.53 (SD= 2.95). Thus, 44.8% of foster children were in residential care and 30.2% were in previous foster care. The latter could have been with the current foster care family. Also, 41.0% of foster children were placed at least with one sibling. It is important to know the features of foster children in order to apply the main principle of “the best interests of the child” to the whole decision-making process about the child’s protection and welfare. In our project, these decisions concern foster care placement and birth family contact to maintain and strengthen family affective bonds and child’s identity formation. Our findings contribute to develop: (a) initiatives to improve children’s well-being; (b) support and social resources required by families; and (c) socio-educative tools for the social workers.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Features of birth families with foster children in Andalusia

The aim of the presentation is to describe the personal features of biological families whose children are in non-kinship foster care and with whom they have face-to-face contact in Málaga, Granada and Jaén (provinces of Andalusia, Spain). This study was funded by the research project Application of a psychoeducational intervention program to improve visits between foster children and their biological families (Reference EDU2016 77094-P). SPSS v.21.0 was used to carry out the descriptive and frequency analysis of socio-demographic information collected by the Child File Summary Form designed for this study. The results show the difficulties experienced by birth families to deal with the responsibility of parenthood. There is a high percentage of unemployment (54.5% mothers, 46.4% fathers), and a low level of education (61.7% uneducated mothers, 68.8% uneducated fathers). Furthermore, it is necessary to consider their diverse personal problems which undermine their competences to bring up and educate their children: substance abuse, mental health issues, mental disability and prison. Finally, the lack of relation between Social Services and birth families is highlighted. Knowing the circumstances of families at psychosocial risk permits to develop social policies that match with their specific necessities, by providing them the support and resources required, in line with Recommendation Rec(2006)19 of the Committee of Ministers to member states. Moreover, children and families’ rights have to be respected, such as their right to have contact to maintain and strengthen their affective bonds as part of their identity. These findings will contribute to design: (a) family intervention programs which allow parents to acquire the necessary parental skills; (b) support and educational tools for the social workers; and (c) projects to contribute to children’s well-being.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Prevention of Herpesviridae Infections by Cationic PEGylated Carbosilane Dendrimers

Infections caused by viruses from the Herpesviridae family produce some of the most prevalent transmitted diseases in the world, constituting a serious global public health issue. Some of the virus properties such as latency and the appearance of resistance to antiviral treatments complicate the development of effective therapies capable of facing the infection. In this context, dendrimers present themselves as promising alternatives to current treatments. In this study, we propose the use of PEGylated cationic carbosilane dendrimers as inhibitors of herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) and human cytomegalovirus (HCMV)infections. Studies of mitochondrial toxicity, membrane integrity, internalization and viral infection inhibition indicated that G2-SN15-PEG, G3-SN31-PEG, G2-SN15-PEG fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) labeled and G3-SN31-PEG-FITC dendrimers are valid candidates to target HSV-2 and HCMV infections since they are biocompatible, can be effectively internalized and are able to significantly inhibit both infections. Later studies (including viral inactivation, binding inhibition, heparan sulphate proteoglycans (HSPG)binding and surface plasmon resonance assays) confirmed that inhibition takes place at first infection stages. More precisely, these studies established that their attachment to cell membrane heparan sulphate proteoglycans impede the interaction between viral glycoproteins and these cell receptors, thus preventing infection. Altogether, our research confirmed the high capacity of these PEGylated carbosilane dendrimers to prevent HSV-2 and HCMV infections, making them valid candidates as antiviral agents against Herpesviridae infections

DBP rs16846876 and rs12512631 polymorphisms are associated with progression to AIDS naïve HIV-infected patients: a retrospective study

BACKGROUND: Most of the circulating Vitamin D (VitD) is transported bound to vitamin D-binding protein (DBP), and several DBP single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been related to circulating VitD concentration and disease. In this study, we evaluated the association among DBP SNPs and AIDS progression in antiretroviral treatment (ART)-naïve-HIV-infected patients. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study in 667 patients who were classified according to their pattern of AIDS progression (183 long-term non-progressors (LTNPs), 334 moderate progressors (MPs), and 150 rapid progressors (RPs)) and 113 healthy blood donors (HIV, HCV, and HBV negative subjects). We genotyped seven DBP SNPs (rs16846876, rs12512631, rs2070741, rs2282679, rs7041, rs1155563, rs2298849) using Agena Bioscience's MassARRAY platform. The genetic association was evaluated by Generalized Linear Models adjusted by age at the moment of HIV diagnosis, gender, risk group, and VDR rs2228570 SNP. Multiple testing correction was performed by the false discovery rate (Benjamini and Hochberg procedure; q-value). RESULTS: All SNPs were in HWE (p > 0.05) and had similar genotypic frequencies for DBP SNPs in healthy-controls and HIV-infected patients. In unadjusted GLMs, we only found significant association with AIDS progression in rs16846876 and rs12512631 SNPs. In adjusted GLMs, DBP rs16846876 SNP showed significant association under the recessive inheritance model [LTNPs vs. RPs (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 3.53; q-value = 0.044) and LTNPs vs. MPs (aOR = 3.28; q-value = 0.030)] and codominant [LTNPs vs. RPs (aOR = 4.92; q-value = 0.030) and LTNPs vs. MPs (aOR = 3.15; q-value = 0.030)]. Also, we found DBP rs12512631 SNP showed significant association in the inheritance model dominant [LTNPs vs. RPs (aOR = 0.49; q-value = 0.031) and LTNPs vs. MPs (aOR = 0.6; q-value = 0.047)], additive [LTNPs vs. RPs (aOR = 0.61; q-value = 0.031)], overdominant [LTNPs vs. MPs (aOR = 0.55; q-value = 0.032)], and codominant [LTNPs vs. RPs (aOR = 0.52; q-value = 0.036) and LTNPs vs. MPs (aOR = 0.55; q-value = 0.032)]. Additionally, we found a significant association between DBP haplotypes (composed by rs16846876 and rs12512631) and AIDS progression (LTNPs vs RPs): DBP haplotype AC (aOR = 0.63; q-value = 0.028) and the DBP haplotype TT (aOR = 1.64; q-value = 0.028). CONCLUSIONS: DBP rs16846876 and rs12512631 SNPs are related to the patterns of clinical AIDS progression (LTNP, MP, and RP) in ART-naïve HIV-infected patients. Our findings provide new knowledge about AIDS progression that may be relevant to understanding the pathogenesis of HIV infection.This work has been (partially) funded by the RD16/0025/0019 and RD16CIII/0002/0002, projects as part of Acción Estratégica en Salud, Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica, Desarrollo e Innovación Tecnológica (2013–2016) and cofinanced by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII-Subdirección General de Evaluación) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER), RETIC PT17/0015/0042, Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (FIS) (grant number PI16/01863, PI17/01115, PI17CIII/00003), EPIICAL Project and Comunidad de Madrid B2017/BMD-3703. Programa de Investigación de la Consejería de Sanidad de la Comunidad de Madrid to JLJ. CIBER-BBN is an initiative funded by the VI National R&D&i Plan 2008–2011, Iniciativa Ingenio 2010, the Consolider Program, and CIBER Actions and financed by ISCIII with assistance from the European Regional Development Fund. This work has been supported partially by a EUROPARTNER: Strengthening and spreading international partnership activities of the Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection for interdisciplinary research and innovation of the University of Lodz Programme: NAWA International Academic Partnership Programme. This article/publication is based upon work from COST Action CA 17140 “Cancer Nanomedicine from the Bench to the Bedside” supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology). AFR and MAJS are supported by “Instituto de Salud Carlos III” [grant number CP14/0010 and CP17CIII/00007, respectivelly]

Programa de preparación de las familias biológicas y acogedoras para mejorar la calidad de las visitas

Tras la trayectoria del grupo de investigación en acogimiento familiar, se pone de manifiesto la necesidad de mejorar la calidad de las visitas entre los niños en acogimiento con familia ajena y su familia biológica. En concreto, se pretende diseñar y aplicar un programa de intervención psicoeducativa de preparación y apoyo dirigido a las familias biológicas y las familias acogedoras. Este trabajo forma parte de un Proyecto de Excelencia I+D (EDU2016 77094-P), financiado por el Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, titulado "Aplicación de un programa de intervención psicoeducativa para mejorar las visitas entre los niños acogidos y sus familias biológicas". Los participantes en el estudio son: a) las familias biológicas que mantienen contactos con los niños que se encuentran en acogimiento con familia ajena; b) las familias acogedoras de dichos menores, y c) los técnicos responsables de la supervisión de las visitas. Se realizará un diseño pretest-intervención-postest y la intervención se desarrollará en 7 sesiones de forma consecutiva, con la periodicidad que establezca el régimen de contactos de cada familia. Esta intervención consiste en una propuesta sistemática y organizada que establece de forma secuencial los principales contenidos a tratar en la preparación de las visitas. Algunas de las temáticas a abordar con las familias biológicas son aprender a transmitir mensajes adecuados a los niños, proponer los tipos de regalos y juguetes que pueden llevar a las visitas, entrenarles en habilidades específicas de comunicación, entre otras. En el caso de las familias acogedoras se pretende mostrar la importancia de preparar al niño acogido para las visitas con su familia biológica, comprender y ayudar a los niños acogidos a expresar las emociones que les producen los contactos con sus familiares, analizar las posibles dificultades que puedan provocar las visitas en el desarrollo de la vida familiar de los acogedores, etc

Brief Report: CYP27B1 rs10877012 T Allele Was Linked to Non-AIDS Progression in ART-Naïve HIV-Infected Patients: A Retrospective Study.

HIV/AIDS progression is linked to vitamin D, which is regulated by several key cytochromes P450 (CYP). Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in CYP genes influence vitamin D metabolism and serum levels. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between CYP SNPs and the clinical AIDS progression in antiretroviral treatment (ART)-naïve HIV-infected patients. We performed a retrospective study in 661 ART-naïve HIV-infected patients who were stratified by their AIDS progression pattern [181 long-term nonprogressors (LTNPs), 332 moderate progressors, and 148 rapid progressors (RPs)]. Four CYP SNPs (CYP2R1 rs10500804, CYP2R1 rs1993116, CYP27B1 rs10877012, and CYP24A1 rs6013897) were genotyped using Agena Bioscience's MassARRAY platform. Correction for multiple testing was performed using the false discovery rate (Benjamini-Hochberg procedure). The adjusted regression showed a significant association only for CYP27B1 rs10877012 SNP. When analyzing all HIV patients, the rs10877012 T allele was protective against AIDS progression (ordinal outcome) under the dominant [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 0.69; P = 0.021) and additive (aOR) = 0.75; P = 0.025] inheritance models. When analyzing LTNPs versus RPs, the rs10877012 T allele also showed a significant protective association under the dominant (aOR = 0.45; P = 0.004) and additive (aOR = 0.54; P = 0.008) inheritance models. P values remained significant after correcting by multiple comparisons only for the comparison of LTNPs versus RPs (extreme phenotypes). The CYP27B1 rs10877012 T allele was linked to non-AIDS progression in ART-naïve HIV-infected patients. The rs10877012 SNP seems to have an impact on the clinical AIDS progression, possibly modifying vitamin D levels, which could be relevant for the pathogenesis of HIV infection.This work has been (partially) funded by the RD16/0025/0019 and RD16CIII/0002/0002, projects as part of Acción Estratégica en Salud, Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica, Desarrollo e Innovación Tecnológica (2013-2016) and cofinanced by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII-Subdirección General de Evaluación) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER), RETIC PT17/0015/0042, Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (FIS) (grant number PI16/01863, PI17/01115, PI17CIII/00003), EPIICAL Project and Comunidad de Madrid (B2017/BMD-3703). CIBER-BBN is an initiative funded by the VINational R&D&i Plan 2008-2011, Iniciativa Ingenio 2010, the Consolider Program, and CIBER Actions and financed by ISCIII with assistance from the European Regional Development Fund. This work has been supported partially by a EUROPARTNER: Strengthening and spreading international partnership activities of the Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection for interdisciplinary research and innovation of the University of Lodz Programme: NAWA International Academic Partnership Programme. This article/publication is based upon work from COST Action CA 17140 "Cancer Nanomedicine from the Bench to the Bedside" supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology). AFR and MAJS are supported by “Instituto de Salud Carlos III” [grant number CP14/0010and CP17CIII/00007, respectivelly].Programa de Investigación de la Consejería de Sanidad de la Comunidad de Madrid to JLJ.S

Antiretroviral therapy duration and immunometabolic state determine efficacy of ex vivo dendritic cell-based treatment restoring functional HIV-specific CD8+ T cells in people living with HIV.

Dysfunction of CD8+ T cells in people living with HIV-1 (PLWH) receiving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) has restricted the efficacy of dendritic cell (DC)-based immunotherapies against HIV-1. Heterogeneous immune exhaustion and metabolic states of CD8+ T cells might differentially associate with dysfunction. However, specific parameters associated to functional restoration of CD8+ T cells after DC treatment have not been investigated. We studied association of restoration of functional HIV-1-specific CD8+ T cell responses after stimulation with Gag-adjuvant-primed DC with ART duration, exhaustion, metabolic and memory cell subsets profiles. HIV-1-specific CD8+ T cell responses from a larger proportion of PLWH on long-term ART (more than 10 years; LT-ARTp) improved polyfunctionality and capacity to eliminate autologous p24+ infected CD4+ T cells in vitro. In contrast, functional improvement of CD8+ T cells from PLWH on short-term ART (less than a decade; ST-ARTp) after DC treatment was limited. This was associated with lower frequencies of central memory CD8+ T cells, increased co-expression of PD1 and TIGIT and reduced mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis induction upon TCR activation. In contrast, CD8+ T cells from LT-ARTp showed increased frequencies of TIM3+ PD1- cells and preserved induction of glycolysis. Treatment of dysfunctional CD8+ T cells from ST-ARTp with combined anti-PD1 and anti-TIGIT antibodies plus a glycolysis promoting drug restored their ability to eliminate infected CD4+ T cells. Together, our study identifies specific immunometabolic parameters for different PLWH subgroups potentially useful for future personalized DC-based HIV-1 vaccines. NIH (R21AI140930), MINECO/FEDER RETOS (RTI2018-097485-A-I00) and CIBERINF grants.NIH (R21AI140930), MINECO/FEDER RETOS (RTI2018-097485-A-I00) and CIBERINF grants. We would like to thank the NIH AIDS Reagent Pro- gram, Division of AIDS, NIAID, NIH for providing HIV-1 PTE Gag Peptide Pool from NIAID, DAIDS (cat #11057) for the study. We would also like to thank Alvaro Serrano Navarro, for his help on adapting the lin- ear mixed model previously described by Martin- C ofreces N. et al83 to our data. Graphical schematic rep- resentations were created with BioRender.com. EMG was supported by the NIH R21 program (R21AI140930), the Ramón y Cajal Program (RYC2018- 024374-I), the MINECO/FEDER RETOS program (RTI2018-097485-A-I00), by Comunidad de Madrid Talento Program (2017-T1/BMD-5396) and by Gilead becas de investigaci on (GLD19/00168). EMG and IDS are supported by Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red (CIBERINF) de Enfermedades Infecciosas (CB21/ 13/00107). MCM was supported by NIH R21 program (R21AI140930), “La Caixa Banking Foundation (H20- 00218) and Gilead becas de investigaci on (GLD19/ 00168). MJB is supported by the Miguel Servet program funded by the Spanish Health Institute Carlos III (CP17/00179), the MINECO/FEDER RETOS program (RTI2018-101082-B-100), and Fundació La Marat o TV3 (201805-10FMTV3). EMG and MJB are both funded by “La Caixa Banking Foundation (H20-00218) and by REDINCOV grant from Fundació La Marat o TV3. FSM was supported by SAF2017-82886-R and PDI-2020- 120412RB-I00 grants from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovaci on, and HR17-00016 grant from “La Caixa Banking Foundation. HF was funded by PI21/01583 grant from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Instituto de Salud Carlos III. MJC was supported by PID2019- 104406RB-I00 from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. ISC was funded by the CM21/00157 Rio- Hortega grant. IT was supported by grant for the pro- motion of research studies master-UAM 2021.S

Effect of a nutritional intervention on the intestinal microbiota of vertically HIV-infected children: The pediabiota study

This article belongs to the Special Issue Role of Prebiotics and Probiotics in Health and Disease.[Aims]: The gut microbiota exerts a critical influence in the immune system. The gut microbiota of human virus immunodeficiency (HIV)-infected children remains barely explored. We aimed to characterize the fecal microbiota in vertically HIV-infected children and to explore the effects of its modulation with a symbiotic nutritional intervention.[Methods]: A pilot, double blind, randomized placebo-controlled study including HIV-infected children who were randomized to receive a nutritional supplementation including prebiotics and probiotics or placebo for four weeks. HIV-uninfected siblings were recruited as controls. The V3–V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was sequenced in fecal samples.[Results]: 22 HIV-infected children on antiretroviral therapy (ART) and with viral load (VL) <50/mL completed the follow-up period. Mean age was 11.4 ± 3.4 years, eight (32%) were male. Their microbiota showed reduced alpha diversity compared to controls and distinct beta diversity at the genus level (Adonis p = 0.042). Patients showed decreased abundance of commensals Faecalibacterium and an increase in Prevotella, Akkermansia and Escherichia. The nutritional intervention shaped the microbiota towards the control group, without a clear directionality.[Conclusions]: Vertical HIV infection is characterized by changes in gut microbiota structure, distinct at the compositional level from the findings reported in adults. A short nutritional intervention attenuated bacterial dysbiosis, without clear changes at the community level.[Summary]: In a group of 24 vertically HIV-infected children, in comparison to 11 uninfected controls, intestinal dysbiosis was observed despite effective ART. Although not fully effective to restore the microbiota, a short intervention with pre/probiotics attenuated bacterial dysbiosis.This work was funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Acción Estratégica en Salud (PI13/0422, ICI14/00207, PI17/01283, and PI18/00042) and by an agreement between the Instituto de Salud Carlos III and the Fundación Asociación Española contra el Cáncer within the ERANET TRANSCAN-2 program, grant number AC17/00022. CoRISpe is integrated in the Spanish AIDS Research Network (RIS), supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Grant nº RD06/0006/0034 and nº RD06/0006/0035). TS was funded by a 2014 Research Fellowship Award from the European Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID) and is now funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation- Instituto de Salud Carlos III and Fondos FEDER (Contratos Juan Rodés R16/00021). Nutricion Médica NM, SL, manufactured and packaged the nutritional product under investigation.Peer reviewe

Adaptación de las asignaturas básicas de primer curso de la ETSI Navales de la UPM: Actividades 2008-2009

En el marco de la reforma de las titulaciones con motivo del Espacio Europeo de Educación un grupo de profesores hemos coordinado, durante el curso 2008-2009, todas las asignaturas básicas de primer curso y una más de segundo curso en la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Navales. Las actividades realizadas son: a) Coordinación de todas las asignaturas básicas de primer curso, con reuniones periódicas de coordinación horizontal y el establecimiento de una página web de moodle para profesores como espacio para el trabajo cooperativo. Particularmente importante es el establecimiento de un calendario conjunto de pruebas de evaluación continua. b) Redacción de guías de aprendizaje, con un formato común para todas las asignaturas, incluyendo los objetivos formativos, los contenidos, las actividades formativas, los enlaces y la bibliografía. c) Establecimiento de una plataforma de teleeducación común para todas las asignaturas, uno de los objetivos fundamentales del proyecto, ya que coexistían dos plataformas distintas. Igualmente importante ha sido reforzar los contenidos y las actividades que se podían realizar en la plataforma. d) Seguimiento del tiempo dedicado por los alumnos, hemos ido siguiendo el tiempo dedicado por los alumnos a las distintas asignaturas, para detectar si el tiempo que se dedica está en los márgenes establecidos en los créditos ECTS. Igualmente, hemos hecho dos encuestas a la mitad de cada semestre, para recoger las opiniones de los alumnos sobre las asignaturas y sobre los aspectos relevantes del proyecto. e) Organización de actividades de nivelación, para los alumnos de nuevo ingreso, con la organización de cursos cero y la participación y coordinación en la Plataforma de Punto de inicio de la UPM. f) Organización de actividades formativas, para poder llevar a cabo estas tareas, hemos organizado, en colaboración con el Centro y el Gabinete de Tele-Educación (GATE) actividades formativas relacionadas con la plataforma moodle, métodos de evaluación y de formación en competencias.En la presentación haremos una descripción de las actividades realizadas, así como una primera evaluación de las mismas. Por último, describiremos las tareas a desarrollar en los próximos cursos