Social differences in avoidable mortality between small areas of 15 European cities : an ecological study

Peer reviewe

The spatiotemporal dynamics of exposure of wild ungulates to Flavivirus shapes the patterns of West Nile virus outbreaks in Spain

Resumen del póster presentado a la Joint Virtual Conference of the WDA and EWDA, celebrada del 31 de agosto al 2 de septiembre de 2021.West Nile virus (WNV) is a neuropathic virus for humans, horses and birds transmitted by mosquitoes. The recent increase of clinical cases in Spain shows the need to better understand the ecology of this Flavivirus, not only in urban areas, but also where birds, WNV and mosquitoes interact with wild ungulates, to better predict/prevent WNV outbreaks. We analysed the dynamics of exposure of wild ungulates to Flavivirus along 15 years (2005-2019) in a south-to-north gradient in 5 areas where WNV cases occur since 2007. Sera of 2,418 wild ungulates (Cervus elaphus &Sus scrofa) from Doñana National Park (A1), Western Sierra Morena (A2), Central Sierra Morena (A3), Guadiana river Valley (A4) and Toledo Mounts (A5) were analysed with a blocking ELISA highly specific for WNV. Weather conditions were gathered from two climatically and environmentally contrasting areas: i) A1, a thermo-Mediterranean wetland; and ii) A4, a Mediterranean continental forest/shrubland. The risk of Flavivirus exposure of ungulates was modelled with weather covariates (average winter/spring/summer temperatures and annual/winter-spring/spring/summer rainfall) by logistic binary regression. The proportion of exposed ungulates was higher in A1 (33.5%) and A2 (35.3%) than in A3 (18.7%), A4 (20.3%) and A5 (18.7%), shaping the contrasting reported incidence of WNV outbreaks in southern (n=189) and south-central (n=2) Spain. The annual patterns of exposure of ungulates also shaped the temporal emergence of WNV outbreaks. Higher winter temperature associated positively to the risk of exposure in A1 whereas in A4 the risk increased with annual rainfall whereas it decreased with increasing spring precipitation. These preliminary results point out that whereas in wetlands, where water is abundant, smoother winter temperatures better predict WNV circulation, annual rainfall seems to be a better predictor for WNV infection risk in dry continental Mediterranean areas. Wild ungulates additionally prove to be efficient predictors for Flavivirus spatiotemporal dynamics.Peer reviewe

The spatiotemporal dynamics of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus in enzootic Iberian scenarios

Resumen del trabajo presentado a la Joint Virtual Conference of the WDA and EWDA, celebrada del 31 de agosto al 2 de septiembre de 2021.Peer reviewe

Obtención de plantas de olivo tetraploides mediante tratamientos con colchicina

La mejora genética del olivo (Olea europaea) es crucial para satisfacer la creciente demanda de aceite de oliva a nivel mundial. El objetivo de esta investigación ha sido la inducción de poliploidía en callo embriogénico, para la obtención de plantas tetraploides con características agronómicas deseables, tales como mayor plasticidad frente a estrés y/o vigor reducido. Para ello se utilizaron embriones somáticos globulares con un tamaño de 1-2 mm procedentes de la línea P1, obtenidos de la radícula de un embrión zigótico maduro del cv. Picual. Se expusieron 0,5 g de material embriogénico a 0,1 % de colchicina durante 2, 3 y 6 días; posteriormente, los embriones somáticos se cultivaron en medio de embriogénesis cíclica de olivo (ECO) para inducir proliferación. Tras 5 meses de cultivo, se procedió al análisis de ploidía en el citómetro de flujo (PA-II Ploidy Analyzer; Partec), obteniéndose un 2,8 % (5 líneas) de tetraploides para las líneas expuestas durante 2 días, 9,3 % (11 líneas) para las de 3 días y 12,5 % (2 líneas) para las de 6 días. A los 3 meses se realizó otro análisis de ploidía en el material tetraploide obtenido para comprobar su estabilidad en el tiempo. Para ello se dividieron los callos embriogénicos en secciones, obteniéndose un total de 10 líneas tetraploides y 4 líneas mixtas (con secciones tetraploides y diploides en la misma línea), manteniéndose el número inicial de líneas tetraploides excepto para las de 3 días que fueron cuatro donde todas las secciones resultaron diploides. Posteriormente, se procedió a la maduración y germinación de las líneas embriogénicas obtenidas. El porcentaje de maduración fluctuó entre 8 y 22 % en las líneas tetraploides, mientras que en las mixtas fue entre 8 y 17 %, respecto a los valores de las líneas control diploides (18-27 %). La germinación para las líneas tetraploides fue del 8 %, mientras que en las mixtas fue superior al valor del control (13 %).P18-RT-1993 Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Socioeconomic Inequalities in Chronic Liver Diseases and Cirrhosis Mortality in European Urban Areas before and after the Onset of the 2008 Economic Recession

Objective: To analyse the trends in chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis mortality, and the associated socioeconomic inequalities, in nine European cities and urban areas before and after the onset of the 2008 financial crisis. Methods: This is an ecological study of trends in three periods of time: two before (2000-2003 and 2004-2008), and one after (2009-2014) the onset of the economic crisis. The units of analysis were the geographical areas of nine cities or urban areas in Europe. We analysed chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis standardised mortality ratios, smoothing them with a hierarchical Bayesian model by each city, area, and sex. An ecological regression model was fitted to analyse the trends in socioeconomic inequalities, and included the socioeconomic deprivation index, the period, and their interaction. Results: In general, chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis mortality rates were higher in men than in women. These rates decreased in all cities during the financial crisis, except among men in Athens (rates increased from 8.50 per 100,000 inhabitants during the second period to 9.42 during the third). Socioeconomic inequalities in chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis mortality were found in six cities/metropolitan areas among men, and in four among women. Finally, in the periods studied, such inequalities did not significantly change. However, among men they increased in Turin and Barcelona and among women, several cities had lower inequalities in the third period. Conclusions: There are geographical socioeconomic inequalities in chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis mortality, mainly among men, that did not change during the 2008 financial crisis. These results should be monitored in the long term

Genetic Susceptibility to Distinct Bladder Cancer Subphenotypes

Background: Clinical, pathologic, and molecular evidence indicate that bladder cancer is heterogeneous with pathologic/molecular features that define distinct subphenotypes with different prognoses. It is conceivable that specific patterns of genetic susceptibility are associated with particular subphenotypes. Objective: To examine evidence for the contribution of germline genetic variation to bladder cancer heterogeneity. Design, setting, and participants: The Spanish Bladder Cancer/EPICURO Study is a case-control study based in 18 hospitals located in five areas in Spain. Cases were patients with a newly diagnosed, histologically confirmed, urothelial cell carcinoma of the bladder from 1998 to 2001. Case diagnoses were reviewed and uniformly classified by pathologists following the World Health Organisation/ International Society of Urological Pathology 1999 criteria. Controls were hospital- matched patients (n = 1149). Measurements: A total of 1526 candidate variants in 423 candidate genes were analysed. Three distinct subphenotypes were defined according to stage and grade: low-grade nonmuscle invasive (n = 586), high-grade nonmuscle invasive (n = 219), and muscle invasive (n = 246). The association between each variant and subphenotype was assessed by polytomous risk models adjusting for potential confounders. Heterogeneity in genetic susceptibility among subphenotypes was also tested. Results and limitations: Two established bladder cancer susceptibility genotypes, NAT2 slow-acetylation and GSTM1-null, exhibited similar associations among the subphenotypes, as did VEGF-rs25648, which was previously identified in our study. Other variants conferred risks for specific tumour subphenotypes such as PMS2-rs6463524 and CD4-rs3213427 (respective heterogeneity p values of 0.006 and 0.004), which were associated with muscle-invasive tumours (per-allele odds ratios [95% confidence interval] of 0.56 [0.41–0.77] and 0.71 [0.57–0.88], respectively) but not with non– muscle-invasive tumours. Heterogeneity p values were not robust in multiple testing according to their false-discovery rate. Conclusions: These exploratory analyses suggest that genetic susceptibility loci might be related to the molecular/pathologic diversity of bladder cancer. Validation through large-scale replication studies and the study of additional genes and single nucleotide polymorphisms are required