Uso de Polihidroxiaciltioalcanoatos como bactericidas

La presente invención se refiere al uso de polihidroxiaciltioalcanoatos, hidrolizados de estos, productos aislados del hidrolizado o composiciones que comprenden estos elementos como bactericidas. Además la presente invención se refiere al uso de estos elementos para la elaboración de medicamentos, preferiblemente bactericidas, la fabricación materiales bactericidas o recubrimiento de materiales.Peer reviewedConsejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasB1 Patente sin examen previ

Weight-based vs. BSA-based Fluid Resuscitation Predictions in Pediatric Burn Patients

Fluid resuscitation for pediatric burns uses formulas that estimate fluid requirements based on weight, and/or body surface area (BSA) along with percent total burn surface area (TBSA). Adult studies have shown that these formulas can cause fluid overload in obese patients and increase risk of complications. These findings have not been validated in pediatric patients. This study provides a retrospective review conducted with 110 children (≤ 18 years old) admitted to an ABA-verified urban pediatric burn center from October 2008 to May 2020. Patients were resuscitated with the weight-based Parkland formula, and had fluids titrated to urine output every two hours. BSA-based Galveston and BSA-incorporated Cincinnati formula resuscitation predictions were also calculated. Complications were collected throughout the hospital stay. Patients were classified into CDC-defined weight groups based on percentile ranges. We found that predicted resuscitation volumes increased as CDC percentile increased for all three formulas (p=0.033, 0.092, 0.038), however there were no significant differences between overweight and obese children. Total fluid administered was higher as CDC percentile increased (p=0.023). However, overweight children received more total fluid than obese children. The difference between total fluids given and Galveston predicted resuscitation volumes were significant across all groups (p=0.042); however, the difference using the Parkland and Cincinnati formulas were not statistically significant. There were more children in the normal weight group who developed complications compared to other groups, but these findings were not significant. Overall, the Parkland formula tended to underpredict fluid needs in the underweight, normal, and overweight children, and it overpredicted fluid needs for the obese. Further research is needed to determine the value of weight-based vs BSA-based or incorporated formulas in terms of their risk of complications

Poly-3-Hydroxybutyrate Functionalization with BioF-Tagged Recombinant Proteins

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biodegradable polyesters that accumulate in the cytoplasm of certain bacteria. One promising biotechnological application utilizes these biopolymers as supports for protein immobilization. Here, the PHA-binding domain of the Pseudomonas putida KT2440 PhaF phasin (BioF polypeptide) was investigated as an affinity tag for the in vitro functionalization of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) particles with recombinant proteins, namely, full-length PhaF and two fusion proteins tagged to BioF (BioF-C-LytA and BioF-beta-galactosidase, containing the choline-binding module C-LytA and the beta-galactosidase enzyme, respectively). The protein-biopolyester interaction was strong and stable at a wide range of pHs and temperatures, and the bound protein was highly protected from self-degradation, while the binding strength could be modulated by coating with amphiphilic compounds. Finally, BioF-beta-galactosidase displayed very stable enzymatic activity after several continuous activity-plus-washing cycles when immobilized in a minibioreactor. Our results demonstrate the potentialities of PHA and the BioF tag for the construction of novel bioactive materials. IMPORTANCE Our results confirm the biotechnological potential of the BioF affinity tag as a versatile tool for functionalizing PHA supports with recombinant proteins, leading to novel bioactive materials. The wide substrate range of the BioF tag presumably enables protein immobilization in vitro of virtually all natural PHAs as well as blends, copolymers, or artificial chemically modified derivatives with novel physicochemical properties. Moreover, the strength of protein adsorption may be easily modulated by varying the coating of the support, providing new perspectives for the engineering of bioactive materials that require a tight control of protein loading

Near-infrared fluorescence imaging as an alternative to bioluminescent bacteria to monitor biomaterial-associated infections

Biomaterial-associated infection is one of the most common complications related with the implantation of any biomedical device. Several in vivo imaging platforms have emerged as powerful diagnostic tools to longitudinally monitor biomaterial-associated infections in small animal models. In this study, we directly compared two imaging approaches: bacteria engineered to produce luciferase to generate bioluminescence and reactive oxygen species (ROS) imaging of the inflammatory response associated with the infected implant. We performed longitudinal imaging of bioluminescence associated with bacteria strains expressing plasmid-integrated luciferase driven by different promoters or a strain with the luciferase gene integrated into the chromosome. These luminescent strains provided adequate signal for acute (0–4 days) monitoring of the infection, but the bioluminescence signal decreased over time and leveled off by 7 days post-implantation. This loss in bioluminescence signal was attributed to changes in the metabolic activity of the bacteria. In contrast, near-infrared fluorescence imaging of ROS associated with inflammation to the implant provided sensitive and dose-dependent signals of biomaterialassociated bacteria. ROS imaging exhibited higher sensitivity than the bioluminescence imaging and was independent of the bacteria strain. Near-infrared fluorescence imaging of inflammatory responses represents a powerful alternative to bioluminescence imaging for monitoring biomaterial-associated bacterial infections.This work was supported by the Ministerio of Economía y Competitividad (BIO2010-21049, 201120E092), the U.S.A. National Institutes of Health grant R21 AI094624 (A.J.G.), the Georgia Tech/Emory Center for the Engineering of Living Tissues, the Atlanta Clinical and Translational Science Institute under PHS Grant UL RR025008 from the Clinical and Translational Science Award Program

Concepto de alfabetización: ejes de tensión y formación de profesores

Para responder a las demandas de la sociedad, la comunidad pedagógica utiliza como piedra angular el concepto de alfabetización. Sin embargo, dicho concepto no es unívoco y ha sido permeado por diferentes tendencias y avances investigativos. El presente artículo busca comprender el concepto de alfabetización a través del análisis de algunas de las teorías que lo han configurado. Se consideran tres dimensiones de análisis: la disciplina que fundamenta la propuesta de alfabetización; el punto de vista sobre el fenómeno y el foco pedagógico. La discusión da cuenta de las convergencias y divergencias entre las teorías y propuestas revisadas reconociendo cuatro ejes importantes de tensión para la formación de profesores: el giro hacia el aprendizaje, la naturaleza situada, el marco sociológico y político de la alfabetización, y las divergencias entre la formación de profesores y las políticas públicas

Subtle visuomotor difficulties in preclinical Alzheimer's disease

Background: Individuals with preclinical Alzheimer's disease (Pre-AD) present nonimpaired cognition, as measured by standard neuropsychological tests. However, detecting subtle difficulties in cognitive functions may be necessary for an early diagnosis and intervention. Objectives: A new computer-based visuomotor coordination task (VMC) was developed to investigate the possible presence of early visuomotor difficulties in Pre-AD individuals. Associations between VMC task performance and AD biomarkers were studied. The influence of ApoE status on participants' performance was addressed, as well as the relationship between performance and subjective cognitive decline (SCD). Methods: Sixty-six cognitively normal (CN) elders (19 Pre-AD and 47 control participants [CTR]) and 15 patients with AD performed the VMC task, which consisted in executing visually guided goal-directed movements that required the coordination of the visual and motor systems. All participants underwent ApoE analysis and lumbar puncture. CN participants also completed an extensive standard neuropsychological battery. Results: Despite presenting normal cognition in standard tests, Pre-AD participants exhibited higher response times (RTs) to complete the VMC task than CTR (p < .01). Besides, patients with AD showed higher RTs than CTR (p < .001) and Pre-AD (p < .05), and more errors than CTR (p < .005). RTs in ApoE4 carriers were higher than that observed in ApoE4 noncarriers (p < .01). In CN individuals, RTs were related to amyloid β-protein 42 (AB42) biomarker (p < .01) and informant-rated SCD (p < .01). Conclusions: The VMC task is able to discriminate Pre-AD from CTR individuals. Moreover, VMC results are associated with AB42 levels in CN individuals, suggesting that visuomotor dysfunction may be a sensitive marker of Pre-AD

Optogenetic delivery of trophic signals in a genetic model of Parkinson's disease

Optogenetics has been harnessed to shed new mechanistic light on current and future therapeutic strategies. This has been to date achieved by the regulation of ion flow and electrical signals in neuronal cells and neural circuits that are known to be affected by disease. In contrast, the optogenetic delivery of trophic biochemical signals, which support cell survival and are implicated in degenerative disorders, has never been demonstrated in an animal model of disease. Here, we reengineered the human and Drosophila melanogaster REarranged during Transfection (hRET and dRET) receptors to be activated by light, creating one-component optogenetic tools termed Opto-hRET and Opto-dRET. Upon blue light stimulation, these receptors robustly induced the MAPK/ERK proliferative signaling pathway in cultured cells. In PINK1B9 flies that exhibit loss of PTEN-induced putative kinase 1 (PINK1), a kinase associated with familial Parkinson’s disease (PD), light activation of Opto-dRET suppressed mitochondrial defects, tissue degeneration and behavioral deficits. In human cells with PINK1 loss-of-function, mitochondrial fragmentation was rescued using Opto-dRET via the PI3K/NF-кB pathway. Our results demonstrate that a light-activated receptor can ameliorate disease hallmarks in a genetic model of PD. The optogenetic delivery of trophic signals is cell type-specific and reversible and thus has the potential to inspire novel strategies towards a spatio-temporal regulation of tissue repair

Online calculator for individual affiliation to a major population group

Because of their sensitivity and high level of discrimination, short tandem repeat (STR) maker systems are currently the method of choice in routine forensic casework and data banking, usually in multiplexes up to 15–17 loci. Constraints related to sample amount and quality, frequently encountered in forensic casework, will not allow to change this picture in the near future, notwithstanding the technological developments. In this study, we present a free online calculator named PopAffiliator (http://cracs.fc.up.pt/popaffiliator) for individual population affiliation in the three main population groups, Eurasian, East Asian and sub-Saharan African, based on genotype profiles for the common set of STRs used in forensics. This calculator performs affiliation based on a model constructed using machine learning techniques. The model was constructed using a data set of approximately fifteen thousand individuals collected for this work. The accuracy of individual population affiliation is approximately 86%, showing that the common set of STRs routinely used in forensics provide a considerable amount of information for population assignment, in addition to being excellent for individual identification

Improved BEC SMOS Arctic Sea Surface Salinity product v3.1

17 pages, 13 figures, 1 table.-- Data availability: The product (Martínez et al., 2019) is freely distributed on the BEC (Barcelona Expert Center) web page (http://bec.icm.csic.es/, last access: 25 January 2022) with the DOI number https://doi.org/10.20350/digitalCSIC/12620 (Martínez et al., 2019) and on the Digital CSIC server: https://digital.csic.es/handle/10261/219679 (last access: 25 January 2022). Data can be downloaded from the FTP service: http://bec.icm.csic.es/bec-ftp-service/ (last access: 25 January 2022). The maps are distributed in the standard grid EASE-Grid 2.0, which has a spatial resolution of 25 km. In addition to the product validated in this work (L3 with temporal resolution of 9 d), L3 products having a temporal resolution of 3 and 18 d and the L2 product are available. These Arctic SSS products cover the period from 2011 to 2019.-- This work represents a contribution to the CSIC Thematic Interdisciplinary Platform PTI Teledetect and PolarCSIC. Argo data were collected and made freely available by the International Argo program and the national programs that contribute to it (https://argo.ucsd.edu, https://www.ocean-ops.org, last access: 25 January 2022). The Argo program is part of the Global Ocean Observing SystemMeasuring salinity from space is challenging since the sensitivity of the brightness temperature (TB) to sea surface salinity (SSS) is low (about 0.5 K psu−1), while the SSS range in the open ocean is narrow (about 5 psu, if river discharge areas are not considered). This translates into a high accuracy requirement of the radiometer (about 2–3 K). Moreover, the sensitivity of the TB to SSS at cold waters is even lower (0.3 K psu−1), making the retrieval of the SSS in the cold waters even more challenging. Due to this limitation, the ESA launched a specific initiative in 2019, the Arctic+Salinity project (AO/1-9158/18/I-BG), to produce an enhanced Arctic SSS product with better quality and resolution than the available products. This paper presents the methodologies used to produce the new enhanced Arctic SMOS SSS product (Martínez et al., 2019) . The product consists of 9 d averaged maps in an EASE 2.0 grid of 25 km. The product is freely distributed from the Barcelona Expert Center (BEC, http://bec.icm.csic.es/, last access: 25 January 2022) with the DOI number https://doi.org/10.20350/digitalCSIC/12620 (Martínez et al., 2019). The major change in this new product is its improvement of the effective spatial resolution that permits better monitoring of the mesoscale structures (larger than 50 km), which benefits the river discharge monitoringThis work has been carried out as part of the ESA Arctic+Salinity project (AO/1-9158/18/I-BG), which permitted the production of the database, and the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Spain, through the National R&D Plan under L-BAND project ESP2017-89463-C3-1-R. [...] With the funding support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S), of the Spanish Research Agency (AEI)Peer reviewe

First SMOS Sea Surface Salinity dedicated products over the Baltic Sea

26 pages, 24 figures, 4 tables.-- Data availability: Access to the data is provided by the Barcelona Expert Center, through its FTP service. The DOI of the L3 product is https://doi.org/10.20350/digitalCSIC/13859 (González-Gambau et al., 2021a). The DOI of the L4 product is https://doi.org/10.20350/digitalCSIC/13860 (González-Gambau et al., 2021b). Seasonal averaged L4 SSS products are also available in the HELCOM catalogue (https://metadata.helcom.fi/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/9d979033-1136-4dd1-a09b-7ee9e512ad14, BEC team, 2021b), and they can be visualized in the HELCOM Map and Data service (https://maps.helcom.fi/website/mapservice/?datasetID=9d979033-1136-4dd1-a09b-7ee9e512ad14, last access: 9 November 2021).-- This work is a contribution to the CSIC Thematic Interdisciplinary Platform TeledetectThis paper presents the first Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) dedicated products over the Baltic Sea. The SSS retrieval from L-band brightness temperature (TB) measurements over this basin is really challenging due to important technical issues, such as the land–sea and ice–sea contamination, the high contamination by radio-frequency interference (RFI) sources, the low sensitivity of L-band TB at SSS changes in cold waters, and the poor characterization of dielectric constant models for the low SSS range in the basin. For these reasons, exploratory research in the algorithms used from the level 0 up to level 4 has been required to develop these dedicated products. This work has been performed in the framework of the European Space Agency regional initiative Baltic+ Salinity Dynamics. Two Baltic+ SSS products have been generated for the period 2011–2019 and are freely distributed: the Level 3 (L3) product (daily generated 9 d maps in a 0.25∘ grid; https://doi.org/10.20350/digitalCSIC/13859, González-Gambau et al., 2021a) and the Level 4 (L4) product (daily maps in a 0.05∘ grid; https://doi.org/10.20350/digitalCSIC/13860, González-Gambau et al., 2021b)​​​​​​​, which are computed by applying multifractal fusion to L3 SSS with SST maps. The accuracy of L3 SSS products is typically around 0.7–0.8 psu. The L4 product has an improved spatiotemporal resolution with respect to the L3 and the accuracy is typically around 0.4 psu. Regions with the highest errors and limited coverage are located in Arkona and Bornholm basins and Gulfs of Finland and Riga. The impact assessment of Baltic+ SSS products has shown that they can help in the understanding of salinity dynamics in the basin. They complement the temporally and spatially very sparse in situ measurements, covering data gaps in the region, and they can also be useful for the validation of numerical models, particularly in areas where in situ data are very sparseThis work has been carried out as part of the Baltic+ Salinity Dynamics project (4000126102/18/I-BG), funded by the European Space Agency. It has been also supported in part by the Spanish R&D project INTERACT (PID2020-114623RB-C31), which is funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. We also received funding from the Spanish government through the “Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence” accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S)Peer reviewe