Reference Gene Validation for RT-qPCR in PBMCs from Asthmatic Patients with or without Obesity

Obesity is known to impair the efficacy of glucocorticoid medications for asthma control. Glucocorticoid-induced gene expression studies may be useful to discriminate those obese asthmatic patients who present a poor response to glucocorticoids. The expression of genes of interest is normalized with respect to reference genes (RGs). Ideally, RGs have a stable expression in different samples and are not affected by experimental conditions. The objective of this work was to analyze suitable RGs to study the role of glucocorticoid-induced genes in obese asthmatic patients in further research. The gene expression of eight potential RGs (GUSB, B2M, POLR2A, PPIA, ACTB, GAPDH, HPRT1, and TBP) was assessed with reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from asthmatic, obese asthmatic, and healthy individuals. Their stability was analyzed using four different algorithms-BestKeeper, ?Ct, geNorm, and NormFinder. geNorm analysis recommended the use of a minimum of three genes for normalization. Moreover, intergroup variation due to the treatment was calculated by NormFinder, which found that B2M was the gene that was least affected by different treatments. Comprehensive rankings indicated GUSB and HPRT1 as the best RGs for qPCR in PBMCs from healthy and asthmatic subjects, while B2M and PPIA were the best for obese asthmatic subjects. Finally, our results demonstrated that B2M and HPRT1 were the most stable RGs among all groups, whereas ACTB, TBP, and GAPDH were the worst shared ones

Diagnosis and Decision-Making in Telemedicine

This article provides an analysis of the skills that health professionals and patients employ in reaching diagnosis and decision-making in telemedicine consultations. As governmental priorities continue to emphasize patient involvement in the management of their disease, there is an increasing need to accurately capture the provider–patient interactions in clinical encounters. Drawing on conversation analysis of 10 video-mediated consultations in 3 National Health Service settings in England, this study examines the interaction between patients, General Practitioner (GPs), nurses, and consultants during diagnosis and decision-making, with the aim to identify the range of skills that participants use in the process and capture the interprofessional communication and patient involvement in the diagnosis and decision-making phases of telemedicine consultations. The analysis shows that teleconsultations enhance collaborative working among professionals and enable GPs and nurses to develop their skills and actively participate in diagnosis and decision-making by contributing primary care–specific knowledge to the consultation. However, interprofessional interaction may result in limited patient involvement in decisionmaking. The findings of this study can be used to inform training programs in telemedicine that focus on the development of effective skills for professionals and the provision of information to patients

The role of the Bay of Biscai Mesozoic extensional estructure in the configuration of the Pyrenean orogen: Constraints from the MARCONI deep seismic reflection survey

Seismic interpretation of the MARCONI deepseismic survey enables recognition of the upper crustalstructure of the eastern part of the Bay of Biscay andthe main features of its Alpine geodynamic evolution.The new data denotes that two domains with differentPyrenean and north foreland structures exist in the Bayof Biscay. In the eastern or Basque‐Parentis Domain,the North Pyrenean front is located close to the Spanishcoast, and the northern foreland of the Pyrenees is con-stituted by a continental crust thinned by a north dip-ping fault that induced the formation of the EarlyCretaceous Parentis Basin. In the western or Cantab-rian Domain, the North Pyrenean front is shifted tothe north and deforms a narrower and deeper forelandbasin which lies on the top of a transitional crustformed from the exhumation of lithospheric mantlealong a south dipping extensional low‐angle faultduring the Early Cretaceous. The transition betweenthese two domains corresponds to a soft transfer zonelinking the shifted North Pyrenean fronts and a north‐to WNW‐directed thrust that places the continentalcrust of the Landes Plateau over the transitional crustof the Bay of Biscay abyssal plain. Comparisonbetween this structure and regional data enables char-acterization of the extensional rift system developedbetween Iberia and Eurasia during the Late Jurassicand Cretaceous and recognizes that this rift systemcontrolled not only the location and features of thePyrenean thrust sheets but also the overall structureof this oroge

Geology of the Eastern Prebetic Zone at the Jumilla region (SE Iberia)

This article presents a geological map and cross-sections at 1:50,000 scale covering an area of 609 km2 of the Eastern Prebetic Zone (SE Iberia). The structure of the studied area is characterized by an NW-directed fold-and-thrust belt and inactive salt diapirs that are parallel to the ENE- to NE-regional trend of the eastern Betic Cordillera. This regional trend is locally disrupted by the NW-trending Matamoros Basin, which is flanked by the active Jumilla and La Rosa diapirs. The geological map, the cross-sections and the outcrop observations support the hypothesis that the major Mesozoic rifting phase affecting the Eastern Prebetic Zone occurred during the Upper Jurassic to Santonian times coeval to the development of extensional basins in the Western Tethyan area. The proximal part of this passive margin was subsequently incorporated into the external part of the Betic thin-skinned fold-and-thrust belt. The Upper Cretaceous to Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the study area encompassed the following stages: a Campanian to Aquitanian NW-directed contraction; a Burdigalian to upper Miocene extensional reactivation of the main subsalt faults; and a Serravallian NWdirected contractional reactivation. In this scenario, the combined effect of the previous contractional reactivation of pre-existing salt structures together with the Miocene subsalt extension triggered passive salt extrusion of the La Rosa and Jumilla diapirs

The Surviving Sepsis Campaign: Basic/Translational Science Research Priorities∗

© 2020 by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Objectives: Expound upon priorities for basic/translational science identified in a recent paper by a group of experts assigned by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine. Data Sources: Original paper, search of the literature. Study Selection: By several members of the original task force with specific expertise in basic/translational science. Data Extraction: None. Data Synthesis: None. Conclusions: In the first of a series of follow-up reports to the original paper, several members of the original task force with specific expertise provided a more in-depth analysis of the five identified priorities directly related to basic/translational science. This analysis expounds on what is known about the question and what was identified as priorities for ongoing research. It is hoped that this analysis will aid the development of future research initiatives

The MARCONI-3 deep seismic reflection profile: structure of the north Pyrenean foreland at the eastern part of the Bay of Biscay

The MARCONI-3 profile denotes that the structure of the North Pyrenean foreland at the western part of the Parentis Basin consists of a wedge of uppermost Cretaceous to Cenozoic synorogenic sediments lying on the top of a thinned continental crust with a major Mesozoic Basin to the north, the Parentis Basin, and a coeval structural high to the south, the Landes High. The Parentis Basin appears bounded southwards by a major normal fault. It is filled by a thick carbonate succession affected by a salt ridge and diapirs formed during the Albian-Late Cretaceous and squeezed during the late Eocene-middle Miocene. The Landes High includes a thin pre-Upper Cretaceous cover which, together with the synorogenic sediments, is deformed by a thrust wedge that constitutes the north-Pyrenean front. This overall structure evidences that the Mesozoic extension played an important role both in the location and features of the north-Pyrenean contractional deformation. Specially, the Alpine structure in the Parentis Basin denotes that the Landes High acted as a buffer for the north propagation of the Pyrenean deformation until early Miocene and vanished afterwards during the last stages of Pyrenean development when some basement faults reactivated in the Parentis Basin

The structure of the South-Central-Pyrenean fold and thrust belt as constrained by subsurface data

The interpretation of the available seismic lines of the South-Central-Pyrenean fold and thrust belt, conveniently tied with the exploration wells, define the main structural features of this realm of the Pyrenees. In particular, they define the geometry and areal extension of the autochthonous foreland underneath the sole thrust. The mapping ofseveral selected structural lines brings constraints for the structural interpretation of the South-Central Pyrenees, including the cut-off lines between selected stratigraphic horizons of the autochthonous foreland and the branch line between basement-involved thrust sheets and the sole thrust. The thrust salient which characterizes at surface the geometry of the South-Pyrenean fold and thrust belt contrasts with the linear trend of these structural lines at subsurface. This salient has been the result of a secondary progressive curvature developed since Middle Eocene times by thrust displacement gradients during verthrusting of the South-Pyrenean thrust sheets above a Paleogene autochthonous sequence. Displacement gradients resulted from the uneven distribution of weak salt layers, mostly the Triassic and the Upper Eocene ones. The minimum amount of South-directed displacement from early MiddleEocene times to Late Oligocene is 52km, which would be significantly higher if internal shortening by folding and cleavage/fracture development as well as hanging-wall erosion is added

Influencia de la longitud de la biela en la eficiencia y biomecánica del pedaleo submáximo

El principal objetivo de este estudio es analizar el efecto de pequeños cambios en la longitud de la biela en el gasto energético y la técnica de pedaleo submáximo. Participaron 12 ciclistas de fondo en carretera bien entrenados, que realizaron pruebas de pedaleo a tres potencias con cadencia estable, utilizando tres longitudes de biela (en orden aleatorio). Sus bicicletas fueron exactamente reproducidas en un ergómetro que medía el torque ejercido sobre la biela izquierda y derecha de forma independiente. Simultáneamente se registró cinemática 2D de la pierna derecha y el gasto energético al pedalear (eficiencia gruesa). Los resultados muestran que los cambios en la longitud de la biela no tuvieron efecto en la eficiencia gruesa, pero sí en las variables biomecánicas. Una biela de mayor longitud provocó una pérdida de eficiencia mecánica y un aumento en la flexión y el rango de movimiento de la cadera y la rodilla, sin cambios en el tobillo. Aunque estos cambios no fueron lo suficientemente importantes para alterar la eficiencia gruesa, sí que podrían tener implicaciones negativas a largo plazo (peor técnica de pedaleo y riesgo de lesión). En conclusión, el efecto de pequeños cambios en la longitud de la biela, que serían asumibles por ciclistas de competición, producen alteraciones en la biomecánica de pedaleo, pero no en su eficiencia gruesa. Futuros estudios deben abordar los efectos a largo plazo de estos cambios.The main purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of small changes in crank length on gross efficiency and pedaling technique during submaximal cycling. Twelve well-trained road cyclists participated. They pedaled at three power outputs and steady cadence with three crank lengths (in a randomized order). Their bicycles were exactly reproduced on an ergometer where crank torque of the left and right legs were independently registered. 2D kinematic of the right leg and energy cost (gross efficiency) were recorded. The results showed that changes in crank length had no effect on the gross efficiency, but had effect on the biomechanical variables. A longer crank caused a decreased in mechanical efficiency and an increase in the flexion and range of movement of the hip and the knee, without changes in the ankle. These alterations were not significant enough to alter the gross efficiency, but they could have negative long-term implications (worse pedaling technique and possible injuries). In conclusion, the small changes in crank arm length which are feasible for competitive cyclists affected cycling biomechanics, but not gross efficiency. Future studies should study long-term effects of these changes.Peer Reviewe

Evolution of salt structures during extension and inversion of the Offshore Parentis Basin (Eastern Bay of Biscay)

The Late Jurassic-Cretaceous Parentis Basin (Eastern Bay of Biscay) illustrates a complex geological interplay between crustal tectonics and salt tectonics. Salt structures are mainly near the edges of the basin, where Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous overburden is thinner than in the basin centre and allowed salt anticlines and diapirs to form. Salt diapirs and walls began to rise reactively during the Late Jurassic as the North Atlantic Ocean and the Bay of Biscay opened. Some salt-cored drape folds formed above basement faults from the Upper Jurassic to Albian. During Albian-Late Cretaceous times, passive salt diapirs rose in chains of massive salt walls. Many salt diapirs stopped growing in the Mid-Cretaceous when their source layer depleted. During the Pyrenean orogeny (Late Cretaceous-Cenozoic), the basin was mildly shortened. Salt structures absorbed almost all the shortening and were rejuvenated to form squeezed diapirs, salt glaciers and probably subvertical welds, some of which were later reactivated as reverse faults. No new diapirs formed during the Pyrenean compression, and salt tectonics ended with the close of the Pyrenean orogeny in the Middle Miocene. Using reprocessed industrial seismic surveys, we document how salt tectonics affected the structural evolution of this offshore basin largely unknown to the international audience

Mesozoic structural inheritance in the Cenozoic evolution of the central Catalan Coastal Ranges (western Mediterranean): Structural and magnetotelluric analysis in the Gaià-Montmell High

The control exerted by the Mesozoic basin configuration on the Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Catalan Coastal Ranges has been frequently recognized as a key factor to explain its present-day structure. However, details of this structural inheritance and its evolution through geological time is still under discussion. In this work we present two structural cross-sections based on fieldwork, well and magnetotelluric data in order to illustrate the structural styles and tectonic evolution of the Gaià-Montmell High. Here, the Montmell Fault not only constitutes the SW segment of one of the major Neogene faults in the Catalan Coastal Ranges (the Montmell-Vallès Fault System), but also the NW limit of a Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous extensional basin(the Montmell-Garraf Basin), facts that denote a major role of this fault in the tectonic evolution of the area. The present-day structure of the Gaià-Montmell High resulted, therefore, from two successive episodes of inversion during the Cenozoic. The first one reactivated the Montmell Fault as compressional during the Paleogene. As a result, and among other inversion-related structures, the Gaià-El Camp Thrust developed sa major NW-directed basement footwall shortcut. Later on, the previously formed compressional structure during the Paleogene became reactivated as extensional during the Neogene. During this phase, the reactivation of the Montmell Fault looks limited and, hence, the extension is transmitted to the Baix Penedès Fault. The reactivation of the Gaià-El Camp Thrust is also manifest in the development of an array of extensional faults in the backlimb of the Carme-Cabra Anticline that corresponds to the NE-end of El Camp Fault. This episode of negative inversion developed accommodation zones between the four major faults present in the area ( Vallès-Penedès, Montmell, El Camp and Baix Penedès faults) that are characterized by the presence of relay ramps with breaching faults