Where We Live Matters for Our Health: Neighborhoods and Health

Details how a neighborhood's physical and socioeconomic environments, such as safety and access to fresh produce, exercise opportunities, and medical services, affect residents' health. Highlights local interventions to make neighborhoods healthier

Mycobacterium bovis detection in slaughtered pigs in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

The infection by the Mycobacterium genus is important in pig farming due to the economic losses caused by total or partial carcass condemnation in slaughterhouses. The present study investigated the occurrence of a tuberculosis outbreak in pigs, based on the identification of lesions at the slaughter line of a slaughterhouse. At the inspection line of the slaughterhouse, carcasses were identified with viscera containing macroscopic lesions that indicated tuberculosis (granulomatous lymphadenitis). Tracheobronchial, mesenteric, and submandibular lymph nodes were collected, as well as liver samples and their corresponding lymph nodes. The samples were sent to the Federal Agricultural Defense Laboratory (LFDA/RS) and processed for the diagnosis of tuberculosis and the molecular characterization of Mycobacterium bovis. Based on the results of post-mortem and laboratory inspections, the occurrence was characterized as a tuberculosis outbreak in pigs, which originated from a farm in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Over three months, three batches, adding up to 2884 animals, were sent to slaughter, of which 102 (3.5%) had tuberculosis-like lesions at the inspection line. Based on these results, the productive process was investigated, assessing the feeding, water supply, and milk whey offered in the diet of pigs. It was concluded that the outbreak was caused by feeding unpasteurized or inadequately pasteurized (insufficient time x temperature relation) whey to the pigs. The use of whey from cheese production is a frequent practice in the state of Rio Grande do Sul and one of the risk factors for granulomatous lymphadenitis in pigs

Growing and stabilizing metallic nanoparticles inside mesoporous oxide thin films

Metallic nanoparticles (NPs) have interesting size-dependent optical properties and a high surface to volume ratio that make them appealing for many different applications, such as sensing, catalysis, energy conversion and storage, biomedicine, etc. These applications require avoiding NPs degradation, coarsening and/or aggregation. The use of porous templates has become a promising strategy to attain this objective. In particular, ordered mesoporous oxides prepared by sol-gel reactions combined with supramolecular templates are highly appealing supports, due to their high specific surface and regular and accessible porosity. Moreover, if these oxides are prepared as thin films, the manipulation and integration in portable devices is straightforward.In this work, different alternatives to obtain metallic NPs stabilized within mesoporous oxide thin films are discussed. Firstly, the major effect of mesoporous TiO2 thin films pores ordering over the amount and distribution of Au NPs obtained within is presented, along with the discussion of the architecture effect over the materials sensing capabilities.Afterwards, the use of hybrid mesoporous thin films containing carboxylic and phosphonate groups as templates to form and stabilize Cu and Ag nanoparticles is presented. In all cases, the key effect of the surface chemistry over synthesis of the composites and their applications is highlighted.Fil: Zalduendo, María Mercedes. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia - Nodo Constituyentes | Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia - Nodo Constituyentes.; ArgentinaFil: Steinberg, Paula Yael. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia - Nodo Constituyentes | Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia - Nodo Constituyentes.; ArgentinaFil: Coneo Rodríguez, Rusbel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia - Nodo Constituyentes | Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia - Nodo Constituyentes.; ArgentinaFil: Bordoni, Andrea Veronica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia - Nodo Constituyentes | Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia - Nodo Constituyentes.; ArgentinaFil: Angelome, Paula Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia - Nodo Constituyentes | Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia - Nodo Constituyentes.; Argentin

A genomic island in Brucella involved in the adhesion to host cells: identification of a new adhesin and a translocation factor

Adhesion to host cells is the first step in the virulence cycle of any pathogen. In Gram-negative bacteria, adhesion is mediated, among other virulence factors such as the lipopolysaccharides, by specific outer-membrane proteins generally termed adhesins that belong to a wide variety of families and have different evolutionary origins. In Brucella, a widespread zoonotic pathogen of animal and human health concern, adhesion is central as it may determine the intracellular fate of the bacterium, an essential stage in its pathogenesis. In the present paper, we further characterised a genomic locus that we have previously reported encodes an adhesin (BigA) with a bacterial immunoglobulin-like domain (BIg-like). We found that this region encodes a second adhesin, which we have named BigB; and PalA, a periplasmic protein necessary for the proper display in the outer membrane of BigA and BigB. Deletion of bigB or palA diminishes the adhesion of the bacterium and overexpression of BigB dramatically increases it. Incubation of cells with the recombinant BIg-like domain of BigB induced important cytoskeletal rearrangements and affected the focal adhesion sites indicating that the adhesin targets cell–cell or cell–matrix proteins. We additionally show that PalA has a periplasmic localisation and is completely necessary for the proper display of BigA and BigB, probably avoiding their aggregation and facilitating their transport to the outer membrane. Our results indicate that this genomic island is entirely devoted to the adhesion of Brucella to host cells.Fil: Lopez, Paula Veronica. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Guaimas, Francisco Fernando. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Czibener, Cecilia. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Ugalde, Juan Esteban. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas; Argentin

Clinical inter-professional education activities: Students’ perceptions of their experiences

Background and purposeStudents from different health disciplines should learn together during certain periods of their education to acquire skills necessary for solving the health problems. The Faculty of Health Sciences of University of the Witwatersrand created inter-professional education (IPE) activities for students to assess clinical IPE groups’ perceptions of IPE experiences and to identify lessons learnt during IPE sessions.MethodsThis was a qualitative study with review of the students’ post IPE feedback forms. The students were granted ‘protected time’ of three full days over a period of two months to participate in IPE activities.ResultsStudents felt that knowledge about health team members was gained and that IPE groups should have more than one person from each field with the same level of clinical exposure. The students indicated the need to have regular IPE activities and if possible to incorporate this into clinical practice for them to experience it in daily clinical practice. ConclusionParticipating in the IPE activity made students gain appreciation and respect for other health professionals’ roles and scope. When student groups are big, patient observations can be done as this does not compromise IPE learning outcomes. Group composition should be kept in mind to cater for the learning needs of all students. If it is not possible to meet the needs of all professions, smaller groups with professions applicable to case can be created

Itinerarios artísticos en la historia cultural reciente de Córdoba: La experiencia con los archivos personales del compositor Oscar Bázan y el bailarín Marcelo Gradassi

El siguiente artículo retoma algunas de las reflexiones que iniciamos en un trabajo anterior acerca de las posibilidades y limitaciones que nos presentan los acervos personales para la producción de conocimiento en el campo de la historia cultural. Reconocemos, en el marco de una renovación historiográfica y acorde a un enfoque transdisciplinar, las potencialidades de estos fondos pudiendo hallar en ellos un acercamiento a la dimensión subjetiva, es decir a los sujetos y sus prácticas, y los significados en torno de ellas. No obstante, si bien se circunscriben a trayectorias individuales o particulares que remiten a un ámbito íntimo, no dejan de estar insertos en una trama o contexto social, del cual son a su vez constructores. En ese sentido, visibilizan la tensión subyacente entre lo privado y lo oficial, entre lo individual y colectivo, y las complejidades de ese entramado político socio- cultural. Entendiendo en líneas generales, son el resultado de la conservación de materiales y/o documentos de diferentes soportes que una persona ha ido generando, recibiendo, seleccionado en virtud de sus actividades, itinerario artístico o profesional, como así también producto de sus relaciones sociales, entre otras motivaciones de conservación, a lo largo de su vida o durante un período en particular. Así el investigador es interpelado por el archivo no sólo desde la tensión dialéctica presente-pasado, sino también desde el plano de una segunda tensión: el de la memoria individual y la memoria colectiva.Fil: Basile, Maria Veronica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Humanidades. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Humanidades; ArgentinaFil: Bazán, Paula. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades. Centro de Investigaciones María Saleme Burnichón; Argentin

Gene expression profile and signaling pathways in MCF-7 breast cancer cells mediated by acyl-CoA synthetase 4 overexpression

Aim: Breast cancer comprises a heterogeneous group of diseases that vary in morphology, biology, behavior and response to therapy. Previous studies have identified an acyl-CoA synthetase 4 (ACSL4) gene-expression pattern correlated with very aggressive tumors. In particular, we have used the tetracycline Tet-Off system to stably transfect non-aggressive breast cancer MCF-7 cells and developed a stable line overexpressing ACSL4 (MCF-7 Tet-Off/ACSL4). As a result, we have proven that cell transfection solely with ACSL4 cDNA renders a highly aggressive phenotype in vitro and results in the development of growing tumors when injected into nude mice. Nevertheless, and in spite of widespread consensus on the role of ACSL4 in mediating an aggressive phenotype in breast cancer, the early steps through which ACSL4 increases tumor growth and progression have been scarcely described and need further elucidation. For this reason, the goal of this work was to study the gene expression profile and the signaling pathways triggered by ACSL4 overexpression in the mechanism that leads to an aggressive phenotype in breast cancer. Methods: We have performed a massive in-depth mRNA sequencing approach and a reverse-phase protein array using MCF-7 Tet-Off/ACSL4 cells as a model to identify gene expression and functional proteomic signatures specific to ACSL4 overexpression. Results and Conclusion: The sole expression of ACSL4 displays a distinctive transcriptome and functional proteomic profile. Furthermore, gene networks most significantly upregulated in breast cancer cells overexpressing ACSL4 are associated to the regulation of embryonic and tissue development, cellular movement and DNA replication and repair. In conclusion, ACSL4 is an upstream regulator of tumorigenic pathways. Because an aggressive tumor phenotype appears in the early stages of metastatic progression, the previously unknown mediators of ACSL4 might.Fil: Castillo, Ana Fernanda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Departamento de Bioquimica; ArgentinaFil: Orlando, Ulises Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Departamento de Bioquimica; ArgentinaFil: Lopez, Paula Veronica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Departamento de Bioquimica; ArgentinaFil: Solano, Angela Rosario. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Departamento de Bioquimica; ArgentinaFil: Maloberti, Paula Mariana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Departamento de Bioquimica; ArgentinaFil: Podesta, Ernesto Jorge. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Departamento de Bioquimica; Argentin

Stand development stages and recruitment patterns influence fine-scale spatial genetic structure in two Patagonian Nothofagus species

Key message: Nothofagus alpina (Poepp. et Endl.) Oerst. and Nothofagus obliqua (Mirb.) Oerst forests have strong fine-scale spatial genetic structures. The intensity of genetic structure patterns differed according to species, stand development stages, life stages, and spatial arrangement of regeneration groups. This data becomes useful for forest management as it provides an understanding of how populations evolve as well as of the consequences of disturbances and enables the establishment of sampling strategies. Context: The understanding of fine-scale spatial genetic structure in natural populations is useful for forest management. Although Nothofagus alpina (Poepp. et Endl.) Oerst. and N. obliqua (Mirb.) are important species of the Patagonian forest, little is known about the genetic structure of their populations. Aims: The main objectives were to investigate the differences in fine-scale spatial genetic structure among mature tree populations of both species considering two stands at different development stages. Genetic structure was also evaluated among life stages and spatial distribution groups of regeneration within the old-growth stand. Methods: Genetic structure was examined by microsatellite DNA analysis of regeneration and mature tree populations of both species (around 1300 individuals). Gene dispersal distance was additionally estimated. Results: In both stands and species, strong fine-scale spatial genetic structure and short dispersal distance were found. This pattern was stronger in the early successional forest, in N. obliqua populations, in earlier life stages, and in scattered regeneration. Conclusion: Stand development stages and recruitment patterns influence the fine-scale spatial genetic structure of both Nothofagus species. However, the genetic structure also differs between species.Estación Experimental Agropecuaria BarilocheFil: Sola, Georgina. Universidad Nacional del Comahue; ArgentinaFil: Sola, Georgina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas; ArgentinaFil: Marchelli, Paula. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria (INTA). Estacion Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Grupo de Ecologia Forestal; ArgentinaFil: Marchelli, Paula. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Gallo, Leonardo Ariel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria (INTA). Estacion Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Area Forestal; ArgentinaFil: Chauchard, Luis. Universidad Nacional del Comahue; ArgentinaFil: El Mujtar, Veronica Andrea. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: El Mujtar, Veronica Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; Argentin