Cis-regulation of IRF5 expression is unable to fully account for systemic lupus erythematosus association: analysis of multiple experiments with lymphoblastoid cell lines

INTRODUCTION: Interferon regulatory factor 5 gene (IRF5) polymorphisms are strongly associated with several diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The association includes risk and protective components. They could be due to combinations of functional polymorphisms and related to cis-regulation of IRF5 expression, but their mechanisms are still uncertain. We hypothesised that thorough testing of the relationships between IRF5 polymorphisms, expression data from multiple experiments and SLE-associated haplotypes might provide useful new information. METHODS: Expression data from four published microarray hybridisation experiments with lymphoblastoid cell lines (57 to 181 cell lines) were retrieved. Genotypes of 109 IRF5 polymorphisms, including four known functional polymorphisms, were considered. The best linear regression models accounting for the IRF5 expression data were selected by using a forward entry procedure. SLE-associated IRF5 haplotypes were correlated with the expression data and with the best cis-regulatory models. RESULTS: A large fraction of variability in IRF5 expression was accounted for by linear regression models with IRF5 polymorphisms, but at a different level in each expression data set. Also, the best models from each expression data set were different, although there was overlap between them. The SNP introducing an early polyadenylation signal, rs10954213, was included in the best models for two of the expression data sets and in good models for the other two data sets. The SLE risk haplotype was associated with high IRF5 expression in the four expression data sets. However, there was also a trend towards high IRF5 expression with some protective and neutral haplotypes, and the protective haplotypes were not associated with IRF5 expression. As a consequence, correlation between the cis-regulatory best models and SLE-associated haplotypes, regarding either the risk or protective component, was poor. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis indicates that although the SLE risk haplotype of IRF5 is associated with high expression of the gene, cis-regulation of IRF5 expression is not enough to fully account for IRF5 association with SLE susceptibility, which indicates the need to identify additional functional changes in this gene

Estudio de la accesibilidad de las interfaces gráficas en la televisión de alta definición

La televisión digital permite un incremento del número de servicios difundidos. Esto puede derivar en que la gestión de los mismos se dificulte de manera notable para el usuario con discapacidad. Así mismo, la televisión digital se caracteriza por la proliferación de interfaces gráficas, por ejemplo, menús de configuración, guías de programas y miniguías, aplicaciones interactivas... Las interfaces gráficas de usuario suponen una de las barreras más importantes que las personas ciegas y con discapacidad visual encuentran al interactuar con estos nuevos servicios. Por otra parte, teniendo en cuenta las necesidades de las personas con resto visual, también se habría de considerar la posibilidad de poder configurar por parte del usuario aquellos elementos gráficos y textuales que aparecen en su pantalla, fundamentalmente, el tamaño y color de letra, así como el adecuado contraste de ésta con el color de fondo sobre el que aparezc

Components of dental clinic patient loyalty as perceived by the dentist

The dental clinic market has been subject to different changes while have led to the development of a new business model for the sector. These changes have been the great increase in the number of dentists, new business models, the demand of new services, churn patients, among others. With the purpose of stopping patient churn, the main objective of this research is to investigate the perception that the dentist has of the behavior of Loyal Patient (LP) and Non-loyal Patient (NLP) in dental clinics. The study analyzes the data obtained from a survey collected among 220 Spanish dentists who were active during 2012. The main findings obtained from the Principal Components Analysis (PCA) are: (i) the dentist perceives that the behavior of the LP is driven by three components: "Same dental clinic and recommendation", "Patient willingness" and "Low sensitivity to prices"; (ii) the dentist perceives that the behavior of the NLP is driven by three components: "High sensitivity to prices", "High churn and few recommendation" and "Less visits". This study allow to understand patient loyalty in dental clinics by a holistic approach, evaluating the dentist's perception; at the same time, it helps in decreasing negative bias in the dentist in order not to condition their professional behavior when a new patient arrives at the clinic

Chemical Composition and In Vitro Gas Production from Different Varieties of Native and Hybrid Maize Silage with the Addition of Acetic Acid or Enzymes

The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the chemical composition and in vitro gas production of corn white local native (WLN) corn yellow local native (YLN) and the hybrids H-51EA and CL080001 as silage, preserved by three treatments, control (CTR), the addition of acetic acid (AAC) or enzymes (ENZ). Samples were prepared in microsilos and analysed in 4x3 factorial design with three replicates of each one. The dry matter content (g/kg) was higher (P0.05) for rate c and lag time between varieties. Dry matter disappeared (DMd) was higher (P<0.01) for CLO8001 and WLN than H51EA. ME (MJ/kg DM) was higher (P<0.01) for CLO80001 < H51EA < YLN < WLN. ME were higher (P<0.01) in ENZ and AAC than CTR. The WLN variety proves to be the best option for feeding cattle, as it turned out better than the rest of the varieties tested. Addition of corn silage with acetic acid or enzymes increased NDF digestibility and ME availability

Effect of live weight pre and post-lambing on milk production of East Friesian sheep

The study was conducted to analyse the effect of sheep body weight (BW) at mating, mid-preg- nancy, lambing, early lactation, mid-lactation and late lactation on milk yield and patterns of milk production. Also, the effects of environmental factors such as number of lambing (NL) and type of lambing (TL) on BW and milk production were analysed. A total of 52 multiparous East Friesian ewes from an experimental flock were used. Ewes were assigned to three different groups accord- ing to their BW at each productive stage: low (LBW), moderate (MBW) and high BW (HBW). Lactations were fitted using the mechanistic model described by Pollott. Total milk yield (TMY), peak yield (PY) and time at peak yield (TPY) were also calculated. HBW ewes had consistently higher TMY (p<.001) and PY (p<.05) values, than LBW and MBW in most of productive stage measured. There was a positive linear relationship (p < .05) between TMY and BW in all-productive stage, except at mid-gestation where the relationship was quadratic. HBW ewes weighted at mid- pregnancy showed the highest values of maximum secretion parameter (p 1⁄4 .04) of Pollott model, which could partially explain the better milk yield of HBW ewes. A significant effect of NL on BW (p1⁄4.007) and TMY (p1⁄4.007) was observed. The BW ewe’s in pregnancy and early lactation is a useful indicator at farm level to improve the milk yield performance in dairy sheep.Mr. Angeles Hernandez thank the National Council for Science and Technology (CONACyT, Mexico) for the scholar- ship for their studies in the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Dr. Gonzalez Ronquillo was granted with a Beca Alianza del Pacifico 2014 fellowship

Effects of Calcium Soaps from Palm, Canola and Safflower Oils on Dry Matter Intake, Nutrient Digestibility, Milk Production, and Milk Composition in Dairy Goats

Articulo estudio en cabras suplementadas con jabones de calcioThis study determined the e ect of protected dietary oils on dry matter intake (DMI), digestibility and milk production in dairy goats. Nine Saanen goats were used in a 3 3 Latin square design with three periods of 25 days. A basal diet based on barley hay and corn silage was supplemented with 2.7% DM of calcium soaps of either palm (PO), canola (CO) or sa ower (SO) oils. Data for dry matter intake, nutrient digestibility and milk production was analyzed using the general linear model (GLM) procedure of SAS. Gas production data was analyzed using the procedure of non-linear regression analysis (PROC NLIN) from SAS. Nutrient intakes were not a ected by treatments. However, compared with CO, the digestibility of dry matter (653 vs. 552 and 588 g/kg), organic matter (663 vs. 559 and 606 g/kg) and neutral detergent fiber (616 vs. 460 and 510 g/kg) were lowered (p < 0.001) by SO and PO. Compared with CO, in vitro gas production increased (p < 0.001) in PO and SO (174 vs. 201 and 206 mL gas/g incubated DM). Compared with PO and CO, milk production increased (p < 0.001) with SO (0.88 and 0.95 vs. 1.10 kg/d, respectively). With regard to PO and SO, CO decreased fat (34 and 35 vs. 32 g/d) and protein (35 and 38 vs. 30 g/d) in milk. In conclusion, compared to the traditional use of calcium soaps manufactured from PO, protected SO resulted in increased milk yield without negative e ects on digestibility and nutrient intake.This research was funded by Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México (Project ID UAEMex 3060-2011 and UAEMex4974/2020)

Cloud Computing en salud: Sistema para Administrar Imagenes Biomedicas

En el campo de la biomedicina se genera una inmensa cantidad de imágenes diariamente. Para administrarlas es necesaria la creación de sistemas informáticos robustos y ágiles, que necesitan gran cantidad de recursos computacionales. El presente artículo presenta un servicio de cloud computing capaz de manejar grandes colecciones de imágenes biomédicas. Gracias a este servicio organizaciones y usuarios podrían administrar sus imágenes biomédicas sin necesidad de poseer grandes recursos informáticos. El servicio usa un sistema distribuido multi agente donde las imágenes son procesadas y se extraen y almacenan en una estructura de datos las regiones que contiene junto con sus características. Una característica novedosa del sistema es que una misma imagen puede ser dividida, y las sub-imágenes resultantes pueden ser almacenadas por separado por distintos agentes. Esta característica ayuda a mejorar el rendimiento del sistema a la hora de buscar y recuperar las imágenes almacenadas

High conductance values in p -folded molecular junctions

Folding processes play a crucial role in the development of function in biomacromolecules. Recreating this feature on synthetic systems would not only allow understanding and reproducing biological functions but also developing new functions. This has inspired the development of conformationally ordered synthetic oligomers known as foldamers. Herein, a new family of foldamers, consisting of an increasing number of anthracene units that adopt a folded sigmoidal conformation by a combination of intramolecular hydrogen bonds and aromatic interactions, is reported. Such folding process opens up an efficient through-space charge transport channel across the interacting anthracene moieties. In fact, single-molecule conductance measurements carried out on this series of foldamers, using the scanning tunnelling microscopy-based break-junction technique, reveal exceptionally high conductance values in the order of 10(-1) G(0) and a low length decay constant of 0.02 angstrom(-1) that exceed the values observed in molecular junctions that make use of through-space charge transport pathways.We thank Dr J.I. Miranda (University of the Basque Country) for assistance on NMR characterization. We are grateful to the Basque Science Foundation for Science (Ikerbasque), POLYMAT, the University of the Basque Country (SGIker and UFI11/23), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (AU 373/3-1 and MA 5215/4-1), Gobierno de Espana (Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad CTQ2016-77970-R, CTQ2015-71936-REDT, CTQ2015-71406-ERC, CTQ2015-64579-C3-3P, CTQ-2014-54464-R and CTQ-2015-68148), Gobierno Vasco (BERC programme, Consolidated Groups IT520-10 and PC2015-1-01(06-37)), Diputacion Foral de Guipuzcoa (OF215/2016(ES)), CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007679 (FCT ref. UID/CTM/50011/2013), ON2 (NORTE-07-0162-FEDER-000086) and the European Union (ERA Chemistry, Marie Curie Career Integration Grant No. 618247, and FET-Open (2D-INK) Grant No. 664878)

Simulation of High-Performance Memory Allocators

Current general-purpose memory allocators do not provide sufficient speed or flexibility for modern highperformance applications. To optimize metrics like performance, memory usage and energy consumption, software engineers often write custom allocators from scratch, which is a difficult and error-prone process. In this paper, we present a flexible and efficient simulator to study Dynamic Memory Managers (DMMs), a composition of one or more memory allocators. This novel approach allows programmers to simulate custom and general DMMs, which can be composed without incurring any additional runtime overhead or additional programming cost. We show that this infrastructure simplifies DMM construction, mainly because the target application does not need to be compiled every time a new DMM must be evaluated. Within a search procedure, the system designer can choose the "best" allocator by simulation for a particular target application. In our evaluation, we show that our scheme will deliver better performance, less memory usage and less energy consumption than single memory allocators

Effect of different growth stages of rapeseed (brassica rapa L.) on nutrient intake and digestibility, nitrogen balance, and rumen fermentation kinetics in sheep diets

The objective of the present study was to determine the dietary effect of different growth stages of rapeseed (Brassica rapa L.) on nutrient intake and digestibility, nitrogen balance, and rumen fermentation kinetics in sheep.The objective of the present study was to determine the dietary effect of different growth stages of rapeseed (Brassica rapa L.) on nutrient intake and digestibility, nitrogen balance, and rumen fermentation kinetics in sheep. Four dietary treatments were utilised. A basal control diet based on alfalfa hay, oat hay, soybean meal and corn grain. Then alfalfa hay was replaced with 300 g/kg DM of rapeseed forage harvested at three different growth stages: Vegetative, Flowering and Pod. In vitro gas production was determined using three rumen cannulated Suffolk sheep in a completely randomised design, and nutrients intake and digestibility of each diet were determined using four Suffolk sheep in a 4 4 Latin square design with 21 d periods consisting of 14 d for diet adaptation and 7 d for sample collection. Feed intake and excretion of faeces and urine were recorded. Dry matter intake was higher for control and Pod compared to Vegetative and Flowering. The digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, neutral detergent fibre and acid detergent fibre were similar among treatments. Nitrogen intake was higher for control and Pod and lower for Vegetative and Flowering. In vitro gas production was similar among treatments (P > .05). In vitro gas yield at 24 h was higher (P < .05) for control than the rest of the treatments. Overall, inclusion of 300 g/kg DM of rapeseed forage harvested at pod stage as a substitute for alfalfa hay is an alternative source of protein without affecting nutrient intake and digestibility.Amelia Zetina Sanchez thanked the National Council for Science and Technology (Conacyt, Mexico) for the scholarship for her studies at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. Lizbeth Esmeralda Robles Jimenez was awarded a Conacyt-Mexico scholarship during her PhD program at the Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at the Universidad Autonoma del Estado de México. During the study, Dr. Einar Vargas-Bello-Pérez was a visiting scholar also supported by project number 4974/2020CIB from Universidad Autonoma del Estado de México