GeoloGuías-BioloGuías: an University Complutense of Madrid website for learning and dissemination of Natural Science through self-guided tours

El sitio GeoloGuías-BioloGuías (www.geologuias-biologuias.org) nace de un proyecto de innovación de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid y se estrena este verano. Es un espacio web dedicado a la divulgación y la formación en Ciencias Naturales a partir de actividades sobre el terreno y autoguiadas mediante dispositivos GPS; nos proponemos incluir actividades en campo, ciudad, yacimientos, espacios protegidos, etc. En la página GeoloGuías-BioloGuías usted puede encontrar o publicar guías de tres categorías: 1. Turismo Natural, para disfrutar de la Geología y la Biología para el aficionado a estas ciencias o para enriquecer los viajes. 2. Educación en Ciencias Naturales, para profesores de Ciencias Naturales de Educación Primaria y Secundaria. 3. Saber sobre la Naturaleza para profundizar: textos para profundizar en los avances recientes, guías para realizar experimentos, etc. Todas las publicaciones de las dos primeras categorías contienen un textoguía y uno o varios archivos de orientación y navegación (al menos uno en el. formato universal de intercambio *.gpx). Las publicaciones de la categoría 3 están abiertas a las ideas de los autores.The site GeoloGuías-BioloGuías (www.geologuias-biologuias.org) premieres this summer and derives from an innovation project of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. It is a website dedicated to dissemination and training in Natural Sciences based on field activities self-guided by GPS devices – country, city, sites, protected areas, etc. In GeoloGuías-BioloGuías you can find three categories of guides, or publish your own guides: 1. Natural tourism –to enjoy geology and biology for the science enthusiast or to enrich these trips. 2. Natural Science Education –Natural Science for Teachers of Primary and Secondary Education. 3. Knowledge About Nature –texts to deepen into recent advances, guides to preform experiments, etc. All publications of categories 1 and 2 have the same structure: A text guide and on or several navigation files. Guides in category 3 can adopt other structures

Towards microbiome-informed dietary recommendations for promoting metabolic and mental health: opinion papers of the MyNewGut project

The gut microbiota coexists in partnership with the human host through adaptations to environmental and physiological changes that help maintain dynamic homeostatic healthy states. Break-down of this delicate balance under sustained exposure to stressors (e.g. unhealthy diets) can, however, contribute to the onset of disease. Diet is a key modifiable environmental factor that modulates the gut microbiota and its metabolic capacities that, in turn, could impact human physiology. On this basis, the diet and the gut microbiota could act as synergistic forces that provide resilience against disease or that speed the progress from health to disease states. Associations between unhealthy dietary patterns, non-communicable diseases and intestinal dysbiosis can be explained by this hypothesis. Translational studies showing that dietary-induced alterations in microbial communities recapitulate some of the pathological features of the original host further support this notion. In this introductory paper by the European project MyNewGut, we briefly summarize the investigations conducted to better understand the role of dietary patterns and food components in metabolic and mental health and the specificities of the microbiome-mediating mechanisms. We also discuss how advances in the understanding of the microbiome's role in dietary health effects can help to provide acceptable scientific grounds on which to base dietary advice for promoting healthy living

Deep-sequencing reveals broad subtype-specific HCV resistance mutations associated with treatment failure

A percentage of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients fail direct acting antiviral (DAA)-based treatment regimens, often because of drug resistance-associated substitutions (RAS). The aim of this study was to characterize the resistance profile of a large cohort of patients failing DAA-based treatments, and investigate the relationship between HCV subtype and failure, as an aid to optimizing management of these patients. A new, standardized HCV-RAS testing protocol based on deep sequencing was designed and applied to 220 previously subtyped samples from patients failing DAA treatment, collected in 39 Spanish hospitals. The majority had received DAA-based interferon (IFN) a-free regimens; 79% had failed sofosbuvir-containing therapy. Genomic regions encoding the nonstructural protein (NS) 3, NS5A, and NS5B (DAA target regions) were analyzed using subtype-specific primers. Viral subtype distribution was as follows: genotype (G) 1, 62.7%; G3a, 21.4%; G4d, 12.3%; G2, 1.8%; and mixed infections 1.8%. Overall, 88.6% of patients carried at least 1 RAS, and 19% carried RAS at frequencies below 20% in the mutant spectrum. There were no differences in RAS selection between treatments with and without ribavirin. Regardless of the treatment received, each HCV subtype showed specific types of RAS. Of note, no RAS were detected in the target proteins of 18.6% of patients failing treatment, and 30.4% of patients had RAS in proteins that were not targets of the inhibitors they received. HCV patients failing DAA therapy showed a high diversity of RAS. Ribavirin use did not influence the type or number of RAS at failure. The subtype-specific pattern of RAS emergence underscores the importance of accurate HCV subtyping. The frequency of “extra-target” RAS suggests the need for RAS screening in all three DAA target regions

Evaluation of appendicitis risk prediction models in adults with suspected appendicitis

Background Appendicitis is the most common general surgical emergency worldwide, but its diagnosis remains challenging. The aim of this study was to determine whether existing risk prediction models can reliably identify patients presenting to hospital in the UK with acute right iliac fossa (RIF) pain who are at low risk of appendicitis. Methods A systematic search was completed to identify all existing appendicitis risk prediction models. Models were validated using UK data from an international prospective cohort study that captured consecutive patients aged 16–45 years presenting to hospital with acute RIF in March to June 2017. The main outcome was best achievable model specificity (proportion of patients who did not have appendicitis correctly classified as low risk) whilst maintaining a failure rate below 5 per cent (proportion of patients identified as low risk who actually had appendicitis). Results Some 5345 patients across 154 UK hospitals were identified, of which two‐thirds (3613 of 5345, 67·6 per cent) were women. Women were more than twice as likely to undergo surgery with removal of a histologically normal appendix (272 of 964, 28·2 per cent) than men (120 of 993, 12·1 per cent) (relative risk 2·33, 95 per cent c.i. 1·92 to 2·84; P < 0·001). Of 15 validated risk prediction models, the Adult Appendicitis Score performed best (cut‐off score 8 or less, specificity 63·1 per cent, failure rate 3·7 per cent). The Appendicitis Inflammatory Response Score performed best for men (cut‐off score 2 or less, specificity 24·7 per cent, failure rate 2·4 per cent). Conclusion Women in the UK had a disproportionate risk of admission without surgical intervention and had high rates of normal appendicectomy. Risk prediction models to support shared decision‐making by identifying adults in the UK at low risk of appendicitis were identified

Novel chromium carbonyl complexes of dihydropyridines and their application to the synthesis of dehydrosecodine

The work presented in this thesis is aimed at the total synthesis of 14,21-dehydrosecodine (1). This substance is an indole derivative with reactive substituents at position 2 (an acrylic ester segment) and 3 (a 1,6-dihydropyridine system). The stabilization of the latter involved the generation of chromium carbonyl complexes employing trisacetonitriletricarbonylchromium (0) as the reagent with appropriate synthetic indole derivatives. In order to develop the required methodology for the preparation of the above complexes, the initial experiments employed simple dihydropyridine systems. Thus, when N-methyl-3-ethyl pyridinium iodide (4_1) was treated with NaBH^ in a two-phase system (ether - water), N-methyl-3-ethyl-1,2-dihydropyridine (46_) was obtained. When this compound was treated with the above complexing agent a mixture (ratio 1:2) of (N-methyl-3-ethyl-l,2-dihydropyridine) tricarbonylchromium (0) (4_3) and (N-methyl-3-ethyl-l, 6-dihydropyridine) tricarbonylchromium (0) (4_4) was obtained. Thermal isomerization of this mixture in refluxing cyclo-hexane afforded a 1 : 1 ratio of (4_3) and (4_4) . Liberation of the organic ligand could be achieved by stirring (43) and/or (4_4) with pyridine. The above strategy was applied to the indole intermediate, N-(2-carbomethoxymethyltryptophyl)-3-ethylpyridinium per-chlorate (_36) but only a low yield (2%) of the desired chromium complexes was obtained. These results prompted a change in the original synthetic strategy and a new approach was initiated by other coworkers in this laboratory. Some studies with the novel system (4_6) were conducted as they relate to position of alkylation. It was shown that (46) undergoes reaction with benzyl bromide to afford the 5-substituted derivative.Science, Faculty ofChemistry, Department ofGraduat

Fascitis necrosante secundaria a onfalitis en un recién nacido con hipoplasia del bazo

Se presenta el caso de una recién nacida con hipoplasia del bazo que desarrolló fascitis necrosante de la pared abdominal secundaria a onfalitis

Las sesiones anatomoclínicas en México en los albores del siglo XXI

Los autores presentan una apología de las sesiones anatomoclínicas basadas en los estudios posmórtem de casos, que contribuyeron enormemente al desarrollo de la medicina clínica pero hoy son de poco interés en el ámbito de los estudios de medicina. Sin embargo, las sesiones todavía constituyen un ejercicio de diagnóstico inigualado en el pregrado y un método excelente de educación continuada para los profesionales. Las autopsias permiten ratificar o rectificar los diagnósticos clínicos, incluidos los que se obtienen mediante procedimientos tecnológicos muy complejos; contribuyen al descubrimiento de nuevas entida-des patológicas; estimulan los proyectos de investigación; proporcionan estadísticas confiables sobre morbilidad y mortalidad; revelan información útil en genética; favorecen la discusión y el intercambio interdisciplinarios de conocimientos y pueden servir como indicador de la calidad de la atención médica. Los autores recomiendan volver a cultivar el ambiente de alto nivel académico de las sesiones anatomoclínicas e instan a todo el personal de salud institucional a contribuir en la medida de lo posible a su supervivencia y mejoría