miR302a and 122 are deregulated in small extracellular vesicles from ARPE-19 cells cultured with H2O2

Age related macular degeneration (AMD) is a common retina-related disease leading to blindness. Little is known on the origin of the disease, but it is well documented that oxidative stress generated in the retinal pigment epithelium and choroid neovascularization are closely involved. The study of circulating miRNAs is opening new possibilities in terms of diagnosis and therapeutics. miRNAs can travel associated to lipoproteins or inside small Extracellular Vesicles (sEVs). A number of reports indicate a signifcant deregulation of circulating miRNAs in AMD and experimental approaches, but it is unclear whether sEVs present a signifcant miRNA cargo. The present work studies miRNA expression changes in sEVs released from ARPE-19 cells under oxidative conditions (i.e. hydrogen peroxide, H2O2). H2O2 increased sEVs release from ARPE-19 cells. Moreover, 218 miRNAs could be detected in control and H2O2 induced-sEVs. Interestingly, only two of them (hsa-miR-302a and hsa-miR-122) were signifcantly under-expressed in H2O2-induced sEVs. Results herein suggest that the down regulation of miRNAs 302a and 122 might be related with previous studies showing sEVs-induced neovascularization after oxidative challenge in ARPE-19 cells.Te present project was supported by internal funds from Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir (2018-128-001), Centro de Investigación Traslacional San Alberto Magno de la UCV (2019-128-001), and Conselleria de Educación, Investigación, Cultura y Deporte; Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO/2016/094). Oltra M and Vidal-Gil L, PhD training program fellowship UCV (EDUCV-PRE-2016-005 and EDUCVPRE-2015-006 Personal Investigador en Formación UCV, respectively).Medicin

Oxidative stress-induced angiogenesis is mediated by miR-205-5p

miR-205-5p is known to be involved in VEGF-related angiogenesis and seems to reg-ulate associated cell signalling pathways, such as cell migration, proliferation and ap-optosis. Therefore, several studies have focused on the potential role of miR-205-5p as an anti-angiogenic factor. Vascular proliferation is observed in diabetic retinopathy and the ‘wet’ form of age-related macular degeneration. Today, the most common treatments against these eye-related diseases are anti-VEGF therapies. In addition, both AMD and DR are typically associated with oxidative stress; hence, the use of antioxidant agents is accepted as a co-adjuvant therapy for these patients. According to previous data, ARPE-19 cells release pro-angiogenic factors when exposed to oxi-dative insult, leading to angiogenesis. Matching these data, results reported here, indicate that miR-205-5p is modulated by oxidative stress and regulates VEGFA-angiogenesis. Hence, miR-205-5p is proposed as a candidate against eye-related pro-liferative diseasesUniversidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir research Fund and Centro de Investigación Traslacional San Alberto Magno, Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir, Grant/Award Number: 2018-128-001, 2019-128-001; Escuela de Doctorado Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir, Grant/Award Number: EDUCV-PRE-2015-006 and EDUCV-PRE-2016-005Medicin

La crisis de la COVID-19: impacto en los hogares de familias gitanas

The aim of this study is to analyse the impact that COVID-19 has had on the Roma population in Spain, showing results of a telephone interview on a sample of 592 Roma households in the more restrictive phase of lockdown (phase 0 of the de-escalation period to gradually lift confinement). This study has been developed by means of an alliance in which researchers from the public universities of Alicante and Navarre and the Health Institute Carlos III have participated, as well as several Roma associations. The results reflect the significant impact that the pandemic has caused in households that were already affected by social exclusion and inequality. Thus, a worsening of self-perception of health and a high rate of anxiety or depression problems were detected, the impact of which goes beyond health and affects all dimensions of social inclusion. In education, half of the households refer to minors having difficulties continuing their studies from home. A similar percentage have had their jobs affected and have seen a significant reduction in income. In addition to the aforementioned problems, perceived discrimination is also added.El objetivo de este estudio es analizar el impacto que ha tenido el COVID-19 en la población gitana en España, mostrando los resultados de una entrevista telefónica a una muestra de 592 hogares gitanos en la fase más restrictiva del confinamiento (fase 0 del período de desescalada para levantar gradualmente el confinamiento). Este estudio se ha desarrollado mediante una colaboración en la que han participado investigadores de las universidades públicas de Alicante y Navarra y del Instituto de Salud Carlos III, así como varias asociaciones gitanas. Los resultados reflejan el impacto significativo que la pandemia ha causado en hogares que ya estaban afectados por la exclusión social y la desigualdad. Así, se detectó un empeoramiento de la autopercepción de la salud y una alta tasa de problemas de ansiedad o depresión, cuyo impacto va más allá de la salud y afecta a todas las dimensiones de la inclusión social. En educación, la mitad de los hogares se refieren a menores con dificultades para continuar sus estudios desde casa. Un porcentaje similar ha visto afectados sus trabajos y ha visto una reducción significativa en los ingresos. Además de los problemas antes mencionados, también se suma la discriminación percibida

COVID-19 Crisis: Impact on Households of the Roma Community

The aim of this study is to analyse the impact that COVID-19 has had on the Roma population, showing results of a telephone interview on a sample of 592 Roma households in phase 0 of confinement. This study has been developed by means of an alliance in which researchers from the public universities of Alicante and Navarre and the Health Institute Carlos III have participated, as well as several Roma associations. The results reflect the significant impact that the pandemic has caused in households that were already affected by social exclusion and inequality. This impact goes beyond health and affects all dimensions of social inclusion, from employment to education, including income, meeting basic needs and discrimination

Disrupted functional connectivity in PD with probable RBD and its cognitive correlates

Recent studies associated rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) in Parkinson's disease (PD) with severe cognitive impairment and brain atrophy. However, whole-brain functional connectivity has never been explored in this group of PD patients. In this study, whole-brain network-based statistics and graph-theoretical approaches were used to characterize resting-state interregional functional connectivity in PD with probable RBD (PD-pRBD) and its relationship with cognition. Our sample consisted of 30 healthy controls, 32 PD without probable RBD (PD-non pRBD), and 27 PD-pRBD. The PD-pRBD group showed reduced functional connectivity compared with controls mainly involving cingulate areas with temporal, frontal, insular, and thalamic regions (p < 0.001). Also, the PD-pRBD group showed reduced functional connectivity between right ventral posterior cingulate and left medial precuneus compared with PD-non pRBD (p < 0.05). We found increased normalized characteristic path length in PD-pRBD compared with PD-non pRBD. In the PD-pRBD group, mean connectivity strength from reduced connections correlated with visuoperceptual task and normalized characteristic path length correlated with processing speed and verbal memory tasks. This work demonstrates the existence of disrupted functional connectivity in PD-pRBD, together with abnormal network integrity, that supports its consideration as a severe PD subtype

Sex differences in brain and cognition in de novo Parkinson's disease

Background and objective: Brain atrophy and cognitive impairment in neurodegenerative diseases are influenced by sex. We aimed to investigate sex differences in brain atrophy and cognition in de novo Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Methods: Clinical, neuropsychological and T1-weighted MRI data from 205 PD patients (127 males:78 females) and 69 healthy controls (40 males:29 females) were obtained from the PPMI dataset. Results: PD males had a greater motor and rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder symptomatology than PD females. They also showed cortical thinning in postcentral and precentral regions, greater global cortical and subcortical atrophy and smaller volumes in thalamus, caudate, putamen, pallidum, hippocampus, and brainstem, compared with PD females. Healthy controls only showed reduced hippocampal volume in males compared to females. PD males performed worse than PD females in global cognition, immediate verbal recall, and mental processing speed. In both groups males performed worse than females in semantic verbal fluency and delayed verbal recall; as well as females performed worse than males in visuospatial function. Conclusions: Sex effect in brain and cognition is already evident in de novo PD not explained by age per se, being a relevant factor to consider in clinical and translational research in PD

Structural brain changes in post-acute COVID-19 patients with persistent olfactory dysfunction

Objective: This research aims to study structural brain changes in patients with persistent olfactory dysfunctions after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: COVID-19 patients were evaluated using T1-weighted and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) on a 3T MRI scanner, 9.94 ± 3.83 months after COVID-19 diagnosis. Gray matter (GM) voxel-based morphometry was performed using FSL-VBM. Voxelwise statistical analysis of the fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity (MD), radial diffusivity (RD), and axial diffusivity was carried out with the tract-based spatial statistics in the olfactory system. The smell identification test (UPSIT) was used to classify patients as normal olfaction or olfactory dysfunction groups. Intergroup comparisons between GM and DTI measures were computed, as well as correlations with the UPSIT scores. Results: Forty-eight COVID-19 patients were included in the study. Twenty-three were classified as olfactory dysfunction, and 25 as normal olfaction. The olfactory dysfunction group had lower GM volume in a cluster involving the left amygdala, insular cortex, parahippocampal gyrus, frontal superior and inferior orbital gyri, gyrus rectus, olfactory cortex, caudate, and putamen. This group also showed higher MD values in the genu of the corpus callosum, the orbitofrontal area, the anterior thalamic radiation, and the forceps minor; and higher RD values in the anterior corona radiata, the genu of the corpus callosum, and uncinate fasciculus compared with the normal olfaction group. The UPSIT scores for the whole sample were negatively associated with both MD and RD values (p-value ≤0.05 FWE-corrected). Interpretation: There is decreased GM volume and increased MD in olfactory-related regions explaining prolonged olfactory deficits in post-acute COVID-19 patients

Sex differences in brain atrophy and cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease patients with and without probable rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder

Background: The presence of rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) contributes to increase cognitive impairment and brain atrophy in Parkinson's disease (PD), but the impact of sex is unclear. We aimed to investigate sex differences in cognition and brain atrophy in PD patients with and without probable RBD (pRBD). Methods: Magnetic resonance imaging and cognition data were obtained for 274 participants from the Parkinson's Progression Marker Initiative database: 79 PD with pRBD (PD-pRBD; male/female, 54/25), 126 PD without pRBD (PD-non pRBD; male/female, 73/53), and 69 healthy controls (male/female, 40/29). FreeSurfer was used to obtain volumetric and cortical thickness data. Results: Males showed greater global cortical and subcortical gray matter atrophy than females in the PD-pRBD group. Significant group-by-sex interactions were found in the pallidum. Structures showing a within-group sex effect in the deep gray matter differed, with significant volume reductions for males in one structure in in PD-non pRBD (brainstem), and three in PD-pRBD (caudate, pallidum and brainstem). Significant group-by-sex interactions were found in Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Symbol Digits Modalities Test (SDMT). Males performed worse than females in MoCA, phonemic fluency and SDMT in the PD-pRBD group. Conclusion: Male sex is related to increased cognitive impairment and subcortical atrophy in de novo PD-pRBD. Accordingly, we suggest that sex differences are relevant and should be considered in future clinical and translational research

Prevalence and Clinical Characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 Confirmed and Negative Kawasaki Disease Patients During the Pandemic in Spain

Introduction: COVID-19 has a less severe course in children. In April 2020, some children presented with signs of multisystem inflammation with clinical signs overlapping with Kawasaki disease (KD), most of them requiring admission to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). This study aimed to describe the prevalence and clinical characteristics of KD SARS-CoV-2 confirmed and negative patients during the pandemic in Spain. Material and Methods: Medical data of KD patients from January 1, 2018 until May 30, 2020 was collected from the KAWA-RACE study group. We compared the KD cases diagnosed during the COVID-19 period (March 1-May 30, 2020) that were either SARS-CoV-2 confirmed (CoV+) or negative (CoV-) to those from the same period during 2018 and 2019 (PreCoV). Results: One hundred and twenty-four cases were collected. There was a significant increase in cases and PICU admissions in 2020 (P-trend = 0.001 and 0.0004, respectively). CoV+ patients were significantly older (7.5 vs. 2.5 yr) and mainly non-Caucasian (64 vs. 29%), had incomplete KD presentation (73 vs. 32%), lower leucocyte (9.5 vs. 15.5 × 109) and platelet count (174 vs. 423 × 109/L), higher inflammatory markers (C-Reactive Protein 18.5vs. 10.9 mg/dl) and terminal segment of the natriuretic atrial peptide (4,766 vs. 505 pg/ml), less aneurysm development (3.8 vs. 11.1%), and more myocardial dysfunction (30.8 vs. 1.6%) than PreCoV patients. Respiratory symptoms were not increased during the COVID-19 period. Conclusion: The KD CoV+ patients mostly meet pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with COVID-19/multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children criteria. Whether this is a novel entity or the same disease on different ends of the spectrum is yet to be clarified

Adiciones y correcciones a la orquidoflora valenciana, VII

Se aportan datos sobre algunos táxones de Orchidaceae que resultan escasos en la Comunidad Valenciana o en determinadas de sus comarcas; a destacar la presencia de Ophrys santonica y O. × pseudospeculum en Alicante.It is shown some data about rare taxa of Orchidaceae at the Valencian Community (E Spain) or expansions of area to new shires; to emphasize the presence of Ophrys santonica and O. × pseudospeculum in Alicante