Investigating the Protective Role of IRBP against Oxidative Stress in Diabetic Retinopathy

Introduction: Diabetic retinopathy is an ocular condition caused by a multitude of factors as a result of elevated blood glucose. One of the primary mechanisms of damage is a result of oxidative stress. It has been found that levels of IRBP in the vitreous are decreased in the setting of diabetic retinopathy, which could be associated with damage from resulting oxidative stress. Purpose: This article will address the protective role of IRBP in diabetic retinopathy by discussing the overexpression and under expression of IRBP and its resulting effect on the retina. Increased levels of IRBP in rats with diabetic retinopathy has been shown to prevent, and even reverse, vascular permeability as well as increase neuroretinal responses. Conversely, decreased levels of IRBP are found in patients with diabetes at all stages of ocular disease, which suggests IRBP plays a role in the pathogenesis of diabetic eye disease. IRBP is produced by photoreceptors which decreases expression of IRBP in diabetic retinopathy due to damage and dysfunction. IRBP provides protection by removing retinoid byproducts, which cause oxidative damage upon accumulation. Conclusion: Judging from studies we have on human retinal cells and rats, IRBP may play a protective role against oxidative stress in the retina as well as a critical role in preservation of photoreceptors via metabolism and transport of retinoids. It is important to continue research on IRBP to further clarify this protective role in order to contribute to possible prevention and treatment of diabetic eye disease

A near-infrared study of the multi-phase outflow in the type-2 quasar J1509+0434

Based on new near-infrared spectroscopic data from the instrument EMIR on the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) we report the presence of an ionized and warm molecular outflow in the luminous type-2 quasar J150904.22+043441.8 (z = 0.1118). The ionized outflow is faster than its molecular counterpart, although the outflow sizes that we derive for them are consistent within the errors (1.34±0.18 kpc and 1.46±0.20 kpc respectively). We use these radii, the broad emission-line luminosities and in the case of the ionized outflow, the density calculated from the trans-auroral [OII] and [SII] lines, to derive mass outflow rates and kinetic coupling efficiencies. Whilst the ionized and warm molecular outflows represent a small fraction of the AGN power (≤0.033% and 0.0001% of Lbol respectively), the total molecular outflow, whose mass is estimated from an assumed warm-to-cold gas mass ratio of 6× 10−5, has a kinetic coupling efficiency of ∼1.7%Lbol. Despite the large uncertainty, this molecular outflow represents a significant fraction of Lbol and it could potentially have a significant impact on the host galaxy. In addition, the quasar spectrum reveals bright and patchy narrow Paα emission extending out to 4″ (8 kpc) South-East and North-West from the active nucleus.Includes Horizon 202

Caveolin-1 is a risk factor for postsurgery metastasis in preclinical melanoma models

Melanomas are highly lethal skin tumours that are frequently treated by surgical resection. However, the efficacy of such procedures is often limited by tumour recurrence and metastasis. Caveolin-1 (CAV1) has been attributed roles as a tumour suppressor, although in late-stage tumours, its presence is associated with enhanced metastasis. The expression of this protein in human melanoma development and particularly how the presence of CAV1 affects metastasis after surgery has not been defined. CAV1 expression in human melanocytes and melanomas increases with disease progression and is highest in metastatic melanomas. The effect of increased CAV1 expression can then be evaluated using B16F10 murine melanoma cells injected into syngenic immunocompetent C57BL/6 mice or human A375 melanoma cells injected into immunodeficient B6Rag1−/− mice. Augmented CAV1 expression suppresses tumour formation upon a subcutaneous injection, but enhances lung metastasis of cells injected into the tail vein in both models. A procedure was initially developed using B16F10 melanoma cells in C57BL/6 mice to mimic better the situation in patients undergoing surgery. Subcutaneous tumours of a defined size were removed surgically and local tumour recurrence and lung metastasis were evaluated after another 14 days. In this postsurgery setting, CAV1 presence in B16F10 melanomas favoured metastasis to the lung, although tumour suppression at the initial site was still evident. Similar results were obtained when evaluating A375 cells in B6Rag1−/− mice. These results implicate CAV1 expression in melanomas as a marker of poor prognosis for patients undergoing surgery as CAV1 expression promotes experimental lung metastasis in two different preclinical models

New records of recently described chemosymbiotic bivalves for mud volcanoes within the European waters (Gulf of Cádiz)

Chemosymbiotic bivalves are important members of cold seep communities and information on their distribution in theEuropean waters is still quite scarce. This study reports the presence of living populations and shell remains of some recently described bivalves such as Lucinoma asapheus, Solemya elarraichensis and Acharax gadirae as well as Bathymodiolus sp. in the mud volcanoes of the Spanish Atlantic waters. Living populations of these species were thus far only found in Anastasya, Aveiro and Almazán mud volcanoes, together with other chemosymbiotic metazoa (Siboglinum spp.), suggesting the presence of moderate seepage activity. In other mud volcanoes (Albolote, Gazul), the benthic communities are dominated by sessile filter feeders on authigenic carbonates (chimneys, slabs) and only the shell remains of some chemosymbiotic bivalves were found, indicating earlier or very low seepage conditions. The present study elaborates on the known distribution of L. asapheus and S. elarraichensis to the European waters of the Gulf of Cádiz

A decision tree to assess short-term mortality after an emergency department visit for an exacerbation of COPD: A cohort study

Background: Creating an easy-to-use instrument to identify predictors of short-term (30/60-day) mortality after an exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (eCOPD) could help clinicians choose specific measures of medical care to decrease mortality in these patients. The objective of this study was to develop and validate a classification and regression tree (CART) to predict short term mortality among patients evaluated in an emergency department (ED) for an eCOPD. Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study including participants from 16 hospitals in Spain. COPD patients with an exacerbation attending the emergency department (ED) of any of the hospitals between June 2008 and September 2010 were recruited. Patients were randomly divided into derivation (50 %) and validation samples (50 %). A CART based on a recursive partitioning algorithm was created in the derivation sample and applied to the validation sample. Results: Two thousand four hundred eighty-seven patients, 1252 patients in the derivation sample and 1235 in the validation sample, were enrolled in the study. Based on the results of the univariate analysis, five variables (baseline dyspnea, cardiac disease, the presence of paradoxical breathing or use of accessory inspiratory muscles, age, and Glasgow Coma Scale score) were used to build the CART. Mortality rates 30 days after discharge ranged from 0 % to 55 % in the five CART classes. The lowest mortality rate was for the branch composed of low baseline dyspnea and lack of cardiac disease. The highest mortality rate was in the branch with the highest baseline dyspnea level, use of accessory inspiratory muscles or paradoxical breathing upon ED arrival, and Glasgow score <15. The area under the receiver-operating curve (AUC) in the derivation sample was 0.835 (95 % CI: 0.783, 0.888) and 0.794 (95 % CI: 0.723, 0.865) in the validation sample. CART was improved to predict 60-days mortality risk by adding the Charlson Comorbidity Index, reaching an AUC in the derivation sample of 0.817 (95 % CI: 0.776, 0.859) and 0.770 (95 % CI: 0.716, 0.823) in the validation sample. Conclusions: We identified several easy-to-determine variables that allow clinicians to classify eCOPD patients by short term mortality risk, which can provide useful information for establishing appropriate clinical care. Trial registration: NCT02434536

Electrical compatibility of transmission fluids in electric vehicles

The in electrical vehicles, where the electric motor is inside the transmissielectrical compatibility of the automatic transmission fluids (ATFs) is very important on and in contact with the ATF. This work studies the influence of factors like temperature, time, and air exposition on the oxidation of three ATFs and their changes in electrical conductivity. The results showed that the higher content of additive the lower variations of electrical conductivity with the oxidation; the measurements of electrical conductivity are better than FT-IR ones for monitoring oil thermo-oxidative degradation at initial periods; the conventional ATFs could maintain good electrical compatibility in electrified drivelines, although their materials compatibility and copper corrosion protection of electrical components should be also tested

Five-year follow-up mortality prognostic index for colorectal patients

Purpose: To identify 5-year survival prognostic variables in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) and to propose a survival prognostic score that also takes into account changes over time in the patient's health-related quality of life (HRQoL) status. Methods: Prospective observational cohort study of CRC patients. We collected data from their diagnosis, intervention, and at 1, 2, 3, and 5 years following the index intervention, also collecting HRQoL data using the EuroQol-5D-5L (EQ-5D-5L), European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer's Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 (EORTC-QLQ-C30), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) questionnaires. Multivariate Cox proportional models were used. Results: We found predictors of mortality over the 5-year follow-up to be being older; being male; having a higher TNM stage; having a higher lymph node ratio; having a result of CRC surgery classified as R1 or R2; invasion of neighboring organs; having a higher score on the Charlson comorbidity index; having an ASA IV; and having worse scores, worse quality of life, on the EORTC and EQ-5D questionnaires, as compared to those with higher scores in each of those questionnaires respectively. Conclusions: These results allow preventive and controlling measures to be established on long-term follow-up of these patients, based on a few easily measurable variables. Implications for cancer survivors: Patients with colorectal cancer should be monitored more closely depending on the severity of their disease and comorbidities as well as the perceived health-related quality of life, and preventive measures should be established to prevent adverse outcomes and therefore to ensure that better treatment is received. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02488161Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This work was supported in part by grants from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III and the European Regional Development Fund (PS09/00314, PS09/00910, PS09/00746, PS09/00805, PI09/90460, PI09/90490, PI09/90453, PI09/90441, PI09/90397); the Spanish Ministry of the Economy (PID2020-115738 GB-I00); the Departments of Health (2010111098) and Education, Language Policy and Culture (IT1456-22; IT1598-22; IT-1187–19) of the Basque Government; the Research Committee of Galdakao Hospital; the REDISSEC (Red de Investigación en Servicios de Salud en Enfermedades Crónicas) thematic network of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III; and the Department of Education of the Basque Government through the Consolidated Research Group MATHMODE (IT1456-22) and the Basque Government through BMTF “Mathematical Modeling Applied to Health” Project