Microdensitómetro digital del OAC

Se ha finalizado la modernización de un microdensitómetro existente en el Observatorio, transformándolo en un instrumento bidimensional automático programable. Se describen las características técnicas, se muestran los primeros resultados obtenidos y se discute la posibilidad de emplearlo en aplicaciones astrométricas.Asociación Argentina de Astronomí

The association of parental and offspring educational attainment with systolic blood pressure, fasting blood glucose and waist circumference in Latino adults

Objective: The objective of the study is to evaluate the association of intergenerational educational attainment with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors among US Latinos. Methods: We used cross-sectional data from the Niños Lifestyle and Diabetes Study, an offspring cohort of middle-aged Mexican-Americans whose parents participated in the Sacramento Latino Study on Aging. We collected educational attainment, demographic and health behaviours and measured systolic blood pressure (SBP), fasting glucose and waist circumference. We evaluated the association of parental, offspring and a combined parent–offspring education variable with each CVD risk factor using multivariable regression. Results: Higher parental education was associated only with smaller offspring waist circumference. In contrast, higher offspring education was associated with lower SBP, fasting glucose and smaller waist circumference. Adjustment for parental health behaviours modestly attenuated these offspring associations, whereas adjustment for offspring health behaviours and income attenuated the associations of offspring education with offspring SBP and fasting glucose but not smaller waist circumference, even among offspring with low parental education. Conclusions: Higher offspring education is associated with lower levels of CVD risk factors in adulthood, despite intergenerational exposure to low parental education

Contenido de minerales en grano, harina y salvado de variedades de quinua.

Se comparan el contenido proteínico de la quinua con la cebada, maíz amarillo, maíz blanco y trigo. Para el efecto se determinan los elementos minerales: P, Ca, K, Mg, Na, Fe, Cu, Mn y Zn para 15 variedades de quinua cultivadas en los países andinos. La determinación se hizo en los 3 estratos: grano, harina y salvado. Los porcentajes de P en el grano, fluctuaron entre 0.62 a 0.33 por ciento con promedio de 0.47 por ciento para las 15 variedades. El Ca varió en el grano entre 0.39 a 0.14 por ciento con promedio 0.19 por ciento, siendo estos contenidos superiores a los reportados para los otros granos. Los contenidos promedios de K y Mg para el grano, fueron 0.87 y 0.26 oscilando entre 1.98 a 0.50 por ciento para el K y 0.46 a 0.13 para el Mg, siendo suficientes, en una dieta balanceada para humanos y llenando los requerimientos para ganado bovino. En cuanto a Na, Fe, Cu, Mn y Zn, a excepción del Na los valores se encuentran por encima de los reportados para cebada, maíz y trigo. En cuanto a los 3 estratos, los mayores niveles de minerales en todas las variedades lo presentó el salvado con relación a las cantidades encontradas para grano y harina. Comparando el contenido de minerales y saponina de estas mismas variedades, se observó una relación inversaQuinua-Amaranthus caudatu

Prevalencia, impacto clínico y tratamiento de la Sarcopenia en la EPOC : revisión sistemática

Introducción - La sarcopenia es un síndrome clínico caracterizado por pérdida generalizada de la masa muscular y disminución de su función, que aumenta el riesgo de incapacidad física, pobre estado de salud y de mortalidad. - La disfunción del músculo esquelético es una reconocida manifestación de la enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva crónica (EPOC). - No se ha establecido la prevalencia el impacto clínico y la respuesta al tratamiento de la sarcopenia en la EPOC

Magnetic Field Generation in Stars

Enormous progress has been made on observing stellar magnetism in stars from the main sequence through to compact objects. Recent data have thrown into sharper relief the vexed question of the origin of stellar magnetic fields, which remains one of the main unanswered questions in astrophysics. In this chapter we review recent work in this area of research. In particular, we look at the fossil field hypothesis which links magnetism in compact stars to magnetism in main sequence and pre-main sequence stars and we consider why its feasibility has now been questioned particularly in the context of highly magnetic white dwarfs. We also review the fossil versus dynamo debate in the context of neutron stars and the roles played by key physical processes such as buoyancy, helicity, and superfluid turbulence,in the generation and stability of neutron star fields. Independent information on the internal magnetic field of neutron stars will come from future gravitational wave detections. Thus we maybe at the dawn of a new era of exciting discoveries in compact star magnetism driven by the opening of a new, non-electromagnetic observational window. We also review recent advances in the theory and computation of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence as it applies to stellar magnetism and dynamo theory. These advances offer insight into the action of stellar dynamos as well as processes whichcontrol the diffusive magnetic flux transport in stars.Comment: 41 pages, 7 figures. Invited review chapter on on magnetic field generation in stars to appear in Space Science Reviews, Springe

Signaling via a CD27-TRAF2-SHP-1 axis during naive T cell activation promotes memory-associated gene regulatory networks.

The interaction of the tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) family member CD27 on naive CD8 <sup>+</sup> T (Tn) cells with homotrimeric CD70 on antigen-presenting cells (APCs) is necessary for T cell memory fate determination. Here, we examined CD27 signaling during Tn cell activation and differentiation. In conjunction with T cell receptor (TCR) stimulation, ligation of CD27 by a synthetic trimeric CD70 ligand triggered CD27 internalization and degradation, suggesting active regulation of this signaling axis. Internalized CD27 recruited the signaling adaptor TRAF2 and the phosphatase SHP-1, thereby modulating TCR and CD28 signals. CD27-mediated modulation of TCR signals promoted transcription factor circuits that induced memory rather than effector associated gene programs, which are induced by CD28 costimulation. CD27-costimulated chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered T cells exhibited improved tumor control compared with CD28-costimulated CAR-T cells. Thus, CD27 signaling during Tn cell activation promotes memory properties with relevance to T cell immunotherapy

Current Smoking Raises Risk of Incident Hypertension: Hispanic Community Health Study-Study of Latinos

Background: Hypertension has been implicated as a smoking-related risk factor for cardiovascular disease but the dose-response relationship is incompletely described. Hispanics, who often have relatively light smoking exposures, have been understudied in this regard. Methods: We used data from a 6-year follow-up study of US Hispanic adults aged 18-76 to address the dose-response linking cigarette use with incident hypertension, which was defined by measured blood pressure above 140/90 mm Hg or initiation of antihypertensive medications. Adjustment was performed for potential confounders and mediators, including urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio which worsened over time among smokers. Results: Current smoking was associated with incident hypertension, with a threshold effect above 5 cumulative pack-years of smoking (vs. never smokers, hazard ratio for hypertension [95% confidence interval] of 0.95 [0.67, 1.35] for 0-5 pack-years, 1.47 [1.05, 2.06] for 5-10 pack-years, 1.40 [1.00, 1.96] for 10-20 pack-years, and 1.34 [1.09, 1.66] for ≥20 pack-years, P = 0.037). In contrast to current smokers, former smokers did not appear to have increased risk of hypertension, even at the highest cumulative pack-years of past exposure. Conclusions: The results confirm that smoking constitutes a hypertension risk factor in Hispanic adults. A relatively modest cumulative dose of smoking, above 5 pack-years of exposure, raises risk of hypertension by over 30%. The increased hypertension risk was confined to current smokers, and did not increase further with higher pack-year levels. The lack of a smoking-hypertension association in former smokers underscores the value of smoking cessation

Ancestral diversity improves discovery and fine-mapping of genetic loci for anthropometric traits — The Hispanic/Latino Anthropometry Consortium

Hispanic/Latinos have been underrepresented in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for anthropometric traits despite their notable anthropometric variability, ancestry proportions, and high burden of growth stunting and overweight/obesity. To address this knowledge gap, we analyzed densely imputed genetic data in a sample of Hispanic/Latino adults to identify and fine-map genetic variants associated with body mass index (BMI), height, and BMI-adjusted waist-to-hip ratio (WHRadjBMI). We conducted a GWAS of 18 studies/consortia as part of the Hispanic/Latino Anthropometry (HISLA) Consortium (stage 1, n = 59,771) and generalized our findings in 9 additional studies (stage 2, n = 10,538). We conducted a trans-ancestral GWAS with summary statistics from HISLA stage 1 and existing consortia of European and African ancestries. In our HISLA stage 1 + 2 analyses, we discovered one BMI locus, as well as two BMI signals and another height signal each within established anthropometric loci. In our trans-ancestral meta-analysis, we discovered three BMI loci, one height locus, and one WHRadjBMI locus. We also identified 3 secondary signals for BMI, 28 for height, and 2 for WHRadjBMI in established loci. We show that 336 known BMI, 1,177 known height, and 143 known WHRadjBMI (combined) SNPs demonstrated suggestive transferability (nominal significance and effect estimate directional consistency) in Hispanic/Latino adults. Of these, 36 BMI, 124 height, and 11 WHRadjBMI SNPs were significant after trait-specific Bonferroni correction. Trans-ancestral meta-analysis of the three ancestries showed a small-to-moderate impact of uncorrected population stratification on the resulting effect size estimates. Our findings demonstrate that future studies may also benefit from leveraging diverse ancestries and differences in linkage disequilibrium patterns to discover novel loci and additional signals with less residual population stratification