Floating Drugs: A Roundtable

Paper presented: Floating Drug Delivery in the Stomach by Thien Nguyen and Noelia Vall

Can the life-history strategy explain the success of the exotic trees Ailanthus altissima and Robinia pseudoacacia in Iberian floodplain forests?

Ailanthus altissima and Robina pseudoacacia are two successful invasive species of floodplains in central Spain. We aim to explain their success as invaders in this habitat by exploring their phenological pattern, vegetative and sexual reproductive growth, and allometric relations, comparing them with those of the dominant native tree Populus alba. During a full annual cycle we follow the timing of vegetative growth, flowering, fruit set, leaf abscission and fruit dispersal. Growth was assessed by harvesting two-year old branches at the peaks of vegetative, flower and fruit production and expressing the mass of\ud current-year leaves, stems, inflorescences and infrutescences per unit of previous-year stem mass. Secondary growth was\ud assessed as the increment of trunk basal area per previous-year basal area. A. altissima and R. pseudoacacia showed\ud reproductive traits (late flowering phenology, insect pollination, late and long fruit set period, larger seeds) different from P. alba and other native trees, which may help them to occupy an empty reproductive niche and benefit from a reduced competition for the resources required by reproductive growth. The larger seeds of the invaders may make them less dependent on gaps for seedling establishment. If so, these invaders may benefit from the reduced gap formation rate of flood-regulated rivers of the study region. The two invasive species showed higher gross production than the native, due to the higher size of pre-existing stems rather than to a faster relative growth rate. The latter was only higher in A. altissima for stems, and in R. pseudoacacia for reproductive organs. A. altissima and R. pseudoacacia showed the lowest and highest reproductive/vegetative mass ratio, respectively. Therefore, A. altissima may outcompete native P. alba trees thanks to a high potential to overtop coexisting plants whereas R. pseudoacacia may do so by means of a higher investment in sexual reproduction

Viral oncolysis that targets raf-1 signaling control of nuclear transport

The central role of Raf protein kinase isoforms in human cancer demands specific anti-Raf therapeutic inhibitors. Parvoviruses are currently used in experimental cancer therapy due to their natural oncotropism and lytic life cycle. In searching for mechanisms underlying parvovirus oncolysis, we found that trimers of the major structural protein (VP) of the parvovirus minute virus of mice (MVM), which have to be imported into the nucleus for capsid assembly, undergo phosphorylation by the Raf-1 kinase. Purified Raf-1 phosphorylated the capsid subunits in vitro to the two-dimensional pattern found in natural MVM infections. VP trimers isolated from mammalian cells translocated into the nucleus of digitonin-permeabilized human cells. In contrast, VP trimers isolated from insect cells, which are devoid of Raf-1, were neither phosphorylated nor imported into the mammalian nucleus. However, the coexpression of a constitutively active Raf-1 kinase in insect cells restored VP trimer phosphorylation and nuclear transport competence. In MVM-infected normal and transformed cells, Raf-1 inhibition resulted in cytoplasmic retention of capsid proteins, preventing their nuclear assembly and progeny virus maturation. The level of Raf-1 activity in cancer cells was consistent with the extent of VP specific phosphorylation and with the permissiveness to MVM infection. Thus, Raf-1 control of nuclear translocation of MVM capsid assembly intermediates provides a novel target for viral oncolysis. MVM may reinforce specific therapies against frequent human cancers with deregulated Raf signaling. © 2010, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.This study was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (SAF2008-03238) and Comunidad de Madrid (S-SAL/0185/2006) to the laboratory of J.M.A. and by an institutional grant from Fundación Ramón Areces to the Centro de Biología Molecular “Severo Ochoa.” L.R. was supported in part by a short-term EMBO fellowship.Peer Reviewe

Ecosistema de políticas públicas centrado en las personas para garantizar el acceso a la justicia a las víctimas de violencia de género en situación de vulnerabilidad. Distrito judicial Tartagal ; People-centered public policy ecosystem to guarantee access to justice for victims of gender violence in vulnerable situations. Tartagal Judicial District

El artículo es la síntesis de una investigación realizada para la Escuela de la Magistratura del Poder Judicial de Salta, en el año 2022. En particular nos interesaba indagar en las problemáticas de acceso a la justicia con las que se encuentran las víctimas de violencia de género en el Distrito Judicial Tartagal al momento de efectivizar sus derechos. Fue así que tomamos como horizonte de observación la Oficina de Violencia Familiar y de Género que funciona en el distrito mencionado. Un distrito que geográficamente es complejo porque abarca desde la ciudad de Embarcación hasta la frontera de Salvador Mazza y hasta localidad de los Blancos en el departamento Rivadavia Banda Norte y por consiguiente presta servicios para una multiplicidad de identidades culturales y condiciones sociales. A los efectos de dar cuenta de este objetivo la investigación asumió un enfoque cualitativo valiéndose de entrevistas a distintos actores que intervienen en el acceso a la justicia y la observación de una jornada de atención al público de la Oficina de Violencia Familiar y de Género para relevar los tipos de obstáculos (procedimentales, estructurales y/o sociodemográficos) y de violencia con los que se enfrentan las víctimas. The article is part of the results of a research project for the School of the Magistracy of the Judiciary, on the obstacles to access to justice faced by victims of gender violence in the Northern Judicial District, Tartagal circumscription. This district covers from the city of Embarcación to the northern border of Salvador Mazza, and from the town of Los Blancos in Rivadavia Banda Norte to the western highlands. In order to account for this, we worked from a qualitative approach and made use of information gathering techniques such as interviews with different actors from the local judicial, legislative and executive powers, public institutions and nonprofit civil society organizations. We also applied situated observation in the Office of Family and Gender Violence in order to detect its operating logics.Fil: Lizondo, Estela del Valle. Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina; Argentina.Fil: Navarrete, Noelia Macarena. Poder Judicial de Salta; Argentina

Can the life-history strategy explain the success of the exotic trees Ailanthus altissima and Robinia pseudoacacia in Iberian floodplain forests?

Ailanthus altissima and Robina pseudoacacia are two successful invasive species of floodplains in central Spain. We aim to explain their success as invaders in this habitat by exploring their phenological pattern, vegetative and sexual reproductive growth, and allometric relations, comparing them with those of the dominant native tree Populus alba. During a full annual cycle we follow the timing of vegetative growth, flowering, fruit set, leaf abscission and fruit dispersal. Growth was assessed by harvesting two-year old branches at the peaks of vegetative, flower and fruit production and expressing the mass of current-year leaves, stems, inflorescences and infrutescences per unit of previous-year stem mass. Secondary growth was assessed as the increment of trunk basal area per previous-year basal area. A. altissima and R. pseudoacacia showed reproductive traits (late flowering phenology, insect pollination, late and long fruit set period, larger seeds) different from P. alba and other native trees, which may help them to occupy an empty reproductive niche and benefit from a reduced competition for the resources required by reproductive growth. The larger seeds of the invaders may make them less dependent on gaps for seedling establishment. If so, these invaders may benefit from the reduced gap formation rate of flood-regulated rivers of the study region. The two invasive species showed higher gross production than the native, due to the higher size of pre-existing stems rather than to a faster relative growth rate. The latter was only higher in A. altissima for stems, and in R. pseudoacacia for reproductive organs. A. altissima and R. pseudoacacia showed the lowest and highest reproductive/vegetative mass ratio, respectively. Therefore, A. altissima may outcompete native P. alba trees thanks to a high potential to overtop coexisting plants whereas R. pseudoacacia may do so by means of a higher investment in sexual reproduction

Exomer complex regulates protein traffic at the TGN through differential interactions with cargos and clathrin adaptor complexes

[EN] Protein sorting at the trans-Golgi network (TGN) usually requires the assistance of cargo adaptors. However, it remains to be examined how the same complex can mediate both the export and retention of different proteins or how sorting complexes interact among themselves. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the exomer complex is involved in the polarized transport of some proteins from the TGN to the plasma membrane (PM). Intriguingly, exomer and its cargos also show a sort of functional relationship with TGN clathrin adaptors that is still unsolved. Here, using a wide range of techniques, including time-lapse and BIFC microscopy, we describe new molecular implications of the exomer complex in protein sorting and address its different layers of functional interaction with clathrin adaptor complexes. Exomer mutants show impaired amino acid uptake because it facilitates not only the polarized delivery of amino acid permeases to the PM but also participates in their endosomal traffic. We propose a model for exomer where it modulates the recruitment of TGN clathrin adaptors directly or indirectly through the Arf1 function. Moreover, we describe an in vivo competitive relationship between the exomer and AP-1 complexes for the model cargo Chs3. These results highlight a broad role for exomer in regulating protein sorting at the TGN that is complementary to its role as cargo adaptor and present a model to understand the complexity of TGN protein sorting.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Gobierno de España (Ministeri d'Economia, Indústria i Competitivitat), Grant/Award Number: CICYT/FEDER BFU2017-84508-P; Consejería de Educación, Junta de Castilla y León (Ministry of Education, Government of Castile-Leon), Grant/Award Number: SA116G19; Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Gobierno de España (Ministeri d'Economia, Indústria i Competitivitat), Grant/Award Number: RTC-2017-6468-2-AR; Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Gobierno de España (Ministeri d'Economia, Indústria i Competitivitat), Grant/Award Number: BIO2016-77776-P; Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), Grant/Award Number: R01 GM092741Anton-Plagaro, C.; Sánchez, N.; Valle, R.; Mulet, JM.; Duncan, MC.; Roncero, C. (2021). Exomer complex regulates protein traffic at the TGN through differential interactions with cargos and clathrin adaptor complexes. The FASEB Journal. 35(6):1-26. https://doi.org/10.1096/fj.202002610R12635

Bottom-up Synthesis of Novel Supported Thioureas and Their Use in Enantioselective Solvent-free Aza-Henry and Michael Additions

Producción CientíficaTwo sets of supported chiral thioureas, which differ in the length of the tether connecting the chiral appendage to the polymer structure and the effective functionalization, have been prepared by co-polymerization of styrene, novel styryl thioureas derived from (L)-valine, and divinylbenzene. The efficiency of these polymeric thioureas has been tested in two different enantioselective transformations such as aza-Henry and nitro-Michael reactions in neat reaction conditions. The obtained results show that it is possible to recycle, and they are able to promote the reactions with good enantioselectivity in low catalyst loading.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (CTQ2014-59870-P)Junta de Castilla y León (programa de apoyo a proyectos de investigación – Ref. VA064U13

Percepción de la salud y autocuidado en la población masculina : Estudio Fenomenológico que se realizará en la población masculina del Barrio Ampliación Cabildo de la ciudad de Córdoba, en el segundo semestre del año 2023

Timbó de Paiva Neto et. al (2020) sostienen que la participación de los hombres en las instituciones de salud es abismalmente menor al de las mujeres, y su mayor demanda de atención se da solo en el marco de enfermedades agudas, lo que provoca que muchas veces las enfermedades se detecten en estadios avanzados, y se fragilicen el proceso de recuperación y aumente la posibilidad de fallecimiento. En ese sentido, resulta fundamental que se haga hincapié en las percepciones que esta población tiene respecto a la salud y a las estrategias de autocuidado, en tanto que, según el Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos de la República Argentina (2020), la población nacional está compuesta por 40.117.096 habitantes, de los cuales 19.523.766 son varones cuya salud se encontraría en potencial peligro si no se comenzara a abordar las dificultades relacionadas al acceso a la salud. En razón de ello, el presente proyecto de investigación tiene como finalidad describir la percepción de la salud y las estrategias de autocuidado que presenta la población masculina entre 18 y 80 años de edad del Barrio Cabildo de la ciudad de Córdoba, en el segundo semestre del año 2023. La problemática a investigar será estudiada desde la concepción cualitativa y se utilizará un enfoque fenomenológico a partir del cual se estudiará las variables 1) Percepción de la salud y 2) Estrategias de autocuidado de la población masculina. Para ello, se remitirá a las fuentes del tipo primarias, ya que la información se obtendrá directamente de los hombres participantes de entre 18 y 80 años perteneciente al Barrio Cabildo de la ciudad de Córdoba y que asistan al Centro de Atención Primaria de Salud que funciona en la calle Congreso al 6100, como así también aquellos que asistan al IPEM 311 Pablo Gaitán, de la calle Ushuaia 2150 y cumplan con los criterios de inclusión. La técnica a aplicar será la entrevista en profundidad a través de una cedula de entrevista de modalidad mixta con preguntas abiertas y cerradas el fin de obtener la mayor información posible, facilitar la recolección de datos y profundizar en las opiniones de los entrevistados. El instrumento se aplicará en forma individual a cada entrevistado, y se utilizará un celular con calidad de audio para grabarla. Sobre la estructura de este trabajo ha de señalarse que consta de tres grandes secciones: por un lado, se encuentra el Capítulo 1 referido al tema de investigación, desde la construcción del área temática hasta la delimitación de la pregunta problema seguida por una justificación y un referencial conceptual que permite conceptualizar la variable y establecer los objetivos. En segundo lugar, se encuentra el capítulo 2 centrado en el encuadre metodológico, en el cual se establecen aspectos esenciales como el enfoque, el esquema de la variable, y lo referido a los sujetos de investigación, las estrategias de ingreso y trabajo de campo, la organización, procesamiento, análisis y presentación de datos como así también la delimitación del cronograma y del presupuesto a invertir para la realización de este proyecto. Por último, se encuentra una última parte que se posiciona al final de este archivo y adjunta 4 anexos: la Nota de Autorización de Ingreso al campo, el Consentimiento Informado, la Cédula de Entrevista y la Tabla Matriz para tabular los datos obtenidos.Fil: Medina, Noelia Andrea. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Escuela de Enfermería; Argentina.Fil: Heredia, Beatriz Del Valle. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Escuela de Enfermería; Argentina.Fil: González, Rafaela Noelia. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Escuela de Enfermería; Argentina.Fil: Guevara, Alejandra de Fátima. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Escuela de Enfermería; Argentina

Educate to transform: An innovative experience for faculty training.

Learning-focussed educational models require the development of pedagogical, methodological, assessment and technological competences among the faculty community. The COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated the need for this training. This study evaluates the impact of the training project “Educate to Transform” on teacher attitudes, knowledge and on the implementation of innovative teaching methodologies. There were 695 faculty participants in the program conducted at the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria (UFV). Participants included full-time professors (FULLPROF) and part-time professors (PART-PROF). The measurement instrument was validated using the entire sample and a subsample of 357 participants was used to analyse the impact of the program (pre and post measurement). Professor attitudes and knowledge of or familiarity with innovative methodologies and their application in the classroom were evaluated. The findings show that the program improved the attitudes of teachers towards innovation, raised the level of awareness and number of methodologies implemented in the classroom. The methodology towards more experiential and collaborative learning is effective in transforming teaching practice. Furthermore, the implementation of the program through the CANVAS platform, making teachers live the experience as learners, seems to have contributed to improve the teachers’ attitude towards the LMS. The only difference found among the participants was a worse attitude towards innovation on the part of medical teachers, with a clearly differentiated profile of teachers and students, as well as a greater implementation of active methodologies by teachers with a lower teaching load. Overall, it may be concluded that the program achieved its proposed objectives.post-print830 K

Characteristics of Whale Muller Glia in Primary and Immortalized Cultures

[EN] Muller cells are the principal glial cells in the retina and they assume many of the functions carried out by astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and ependymal cells in other regions of the central nervous system. Muller cells express growth factors, neurotransmitter transporters and antioxidant agents that could fulfill important roles in preventing excitotoxic damage to retinal neurons. Vertebrate Muller cells are well-defined cells, characterized by a common set of features throughout the phylum. Nevertheless, several major differences have been observed among the Muller cells in distinct vertebrates, such as neurogenesis, the capacity to reprogram fish Muller glia to neurons. Here, the Muller glia of the largest adult mammal in the world, the whale, have been analyzed, and given the difficulties in obtaining cetacean cells for study, these whale glia were analyzed both in primary cultures and as immortalized whale Muller cells. After isolating the retina from the eye of a beached sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis), primary Muller cell cultures were established and once the cultures reached confluence, half of the cultures were immortalized with the simian virus 40 (SV40) large T-antigen commonly used to immortalize human cell lines. The primary cell cultures were grown until cells reached senescence. Expression of the principal molecular markers of Muller cells (GFAP, Vimentin and Glutamine synthetase) was studied in both primary and immortalized cells at each culture passage. Proliferation kinetics of the cells were analyzed by time-lapse microscopy: the time between divisions, the time that cells take to divide, and the proportion of dividing cells in the same field. The karyotypes of the primary and immortalized whale Muller cells were also characterized. Our results shown that W21M proliferate more rapidly and they have a stable karyotype. W21M cells display a heterogeneous cell morphology, less motility and a distinctive expression of some typical molecular markers of Muller cells, with an increase in dedifferentiation markers like alpha-SMA and beta-III tubulin, while they preserve their GS expression depending on the culture passage. Here we also discuss the possible influence of the animal's age and size on these cells, and on their senescence.This study was supported by ELKARTEK (KK-2019/00086), MINECO-Retos (PID2019-111139RB-I00), Grupos UPV/EHU (GIU 2018/150), and Proyectos de Investigación Básica y/o Aplicada (PIBA_2020_1_0026) to EV, Basque Government postdoctoral grant (POS_2020_2_0031) to XP, UPV/EHU- Bordeaux predoctoral grant (PIFBUR20/10) to SB, and UPV/EHU postdoctoral grant (ESPDOC20/058) to NR