Technical note: Comparison of automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA) and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) to assess bacterial diversity in the rumen of sheep

The aim of this study was to compare automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA) and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) techniques to assess bacterial diversity in the rumen of sheep. Sheep were fed 2 diets with 70% of either alfalfa hay or grass hay, and the solid (SOL) and liquid (LIQ) phases of the rumen were sampled immediately before feeding (0 h) and at 4 and 8 h postfeeding. Both techniques detected similar differences between forages, with alfalfa hay promoting greater (P 0.05) over the postfeeding period were detected by DGGE. The ARISA technique showed lower (P 0.05) in bacterial diversity between both rumen phases were detected by DGGE. Under the conditions of this study, the DGGE was not sensitive enough to detect some changes in ruminal bacterial communities, and therefore ARISA was considered more accurate for assessing bacterial diversity of ruminal samples. The results highlight the influence of the fingerprinting technique used to draw conclusions on factors affecting ruminal bacterial diversity

UK tourism arrivals and departures: seasonality, persistence and time trends

Issues such as seasonality, persistence and trends are examined in the series referring to the number of UK arrivals and departures using techniques based on fractional integration. This methodology is much more flexible than others based on integer degrees of differentiation and permits us to describe in a more general way the effects of shocks in the series. Our results indicate that the series display significant time trends; they show high persistence with orders of integration in the fractional range, thus showing long-lasting effects of shocks; seasonality is an important issue, and in removing the seasonality through seasonal differentiation, the time trends disappear though persistence remains as a relevant feature of the data. Policy implications of the results obtained are displayed at the end of the article

Valoración fisiológica del ejercicio físico en medicina del trabajo

Inclou referències bibliogràfique

Post-surgical complications in patients undergoing radical cystectomy according to the patient’s nutritional status

Introducción: La cistectomía radical es el tratamiento de elección para los tumores vesicales musculo-invasivos presentando una gran morbilidad y una considerable tasa de mortalidad. Un factor importante a tener en cuenta es el estado nutricional del paciente ya que puede impactar de forma negativa en la evolución clínica de los pacientes. Material y métodos: Realizamos un estudio retrospectivo de las cistectomías realizadas entre 2012 y 2015 en el servicio de Urología de HU Son Espases y se evalúa la aparición de complicaciones postoperatorias según el estado nutricional calórico calculado a través del IMC, el estado nutricional proteico calculado a través de la albúmina postoperatoria inmediata y el estado nutricional inmunológico a través de los linfocitos totales. Resultados: Presentaron alguna complicación el 42% de los pacientes. Un 21% presentaron únicamente una complicación Clavien II y un 21% presentaron una complicación mayor a Clavien III o más de una complicación. Se encontraron diferencias estadísticamente significativas según el estado nutricional proteico (Normal-leve vs moderado-grave) en la fuga de la anastomosis uretero-ileal. No se encontraron diferencias en el resto de variables. Conclusiones: La mayoría de pacientes sometidos a cistectomía radical con derivación urinaria tipo intestinal presentan algún estado de malnutrición proteica postoperatoria. En nuestra serie, el estado nutricional proteico del paciente presenta una relación con la aparición de fuga de la anastomosis uretero-ileal.Radical cystectomy is the election treatment for muscle-invasive bladder tumors presenting a high morbidity and significant mortality rate. An important factor to consider is the nutritional status of the patient because it can negatively impact the clinical course of patients. Methods: We perfomed a retrospective study of radical cystectomies with intestinal conduct between 2012 and 2015 in the department of Urology in HU Espases and we evaluated the postoperative complications according to the caloric nutritional status calculated by BMI, protein nutritional status calculated by the immediate postoperative albumin and the inmunological nutritional status by total account of lymphocites. Results: Developed complications the 42% of patients. 21% had only one complication Clavien II and 21% had one complication Clavien III or more than one complication. We found statistically significant differences with the protein nutritional status (mild Normal-vs moderate to severe) in the escape of the ureter-ileal anastomosis. No differences in the other variables were found. Conclusions: Most patients undergoing radical cystectomy with intestinal conduct type have a postoperative state of protein malnutrition. In our series, the protein nutritional status of the patient has a relationship with the occurrence of leakage from the ureter-ileal anastomosis

Perlecan-Induced Suppression of Smooth Muscle Cell Proliferation Is Mediated Through Increased Activity of the Tumor Suppressor PTEN

We were interested in the elucidation of the interaction between the heparan sulfate proteoglycan, perlecan, and PTEN in the regulation of vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) growth. We verified serum-stimulated DNA synthesis, and Akt and FAK phosphorylation were significantly reduced in SMCs overexpressing wild-type PTEN. Our previous studies showed perlecan is a potent inhibitor of serum-stimulated SMC growth. We report in the present study, compared with SMCs plated on fibronectin, serum-stimulated SMCs plated on perlecan exhibited increased PTEN activity, decreased FAK and Akt activities, and high levels of p27, consistent with SMC growth arrest. Adenoviral-mediated overexpression of constitutively active Akt reversed perlecan-induced SMC growth arrest while morpholino antisense-mediated loss of endogenous PTEN resulted in increased growth and phosphorylation of FAK and Akt of SMCs on perlecan. Immunohistochemical and Western analyses of balloon-injured rat carotid artery tissues showed a transient increase in phosphoPTEN (inactive) after injury, correlating to high rates of neointimal cell replication; phosphoPTEN was largely limited to actively replicating SMCs. Similarly, in the developing rat aorta, we found increased PTEN activity associated with increased perlecan deposition and decreased SMC replication rates. However, significantly decreased PTEN activity was detected in aortas of perlecan-deficient mouse embryos, consistent with SMC hyperplasia observed in these animals, compared with E17.5 heterozygous controls that produce abundant amounts of perlecan at this developmental time point. Our data show PTEN is a potent endogenously produced inhibitor of SMC growth and increased PTEN activity mediates perlecan-induced suppression of SMC proliferation.Costell Rossello, M.Mercedes, [email protected]

A Note on Encodings of Phylogenetic Networks of Bounded Level

Driven by the need for better models that allow one to shed light into the question how life's diversity has evolved, phylogenetic networks have now joined phylogenetic trees in the center of phylogenetics research. Like phylogenetic trees, such networks canonically induce collections of phylogenetic trees, clusters, and triplets, respectively. Thus it is not surprising that many network approaches aim to reconstruct a phylogenetic network from such collections. Related to the well-studied perfect phylogeny problem, the following question is of fundamental importance in this context: When does one of the above collections encode (i.e. uniquely describe) the network that induces it? In this note, we present a complete answer to this question for the special case of a level-1 (phylogenetic) network by characterizing those level-1 networks for which an encoding in terms of one (or equivalently all) of the above collections exists. Given that this type of network forms the first layer of the rich hierarchy of level-k networks, k a non-negative integer, it is natural to wonder whether our arguments could be extended to members of that hierarchy for higher values for k. By giving examples, we show that this is not the case

The Front End Electronics of the Scintillator Pad Detector of LHCb Calorimeter

In this paper the Front End electronics of the Scintillator Pad Detector (SPD) is outlined. The SPD is a sub-system of the Calorimeter of the LHCb experiment designed to discriminate between charged and neutral particles for the first level trigger. The system design is presented, describing its different functionalities implemented through three different cards and several ASICs. These functionalities are signal processing and digitization, data transmission, interface with control and timing systems of the experiment, low voltage power supply distribution and monitoring. Special emphasis is placed on installation and commissioning subjects such as cabling, grounding, shielding and power distribution

Characterization of Adherent-Invasive Escherichia coli (AIEC) Outer Membrane Proteins Provides Potential Molecular Markers to Screen Putative AIEC Strains

Adherent-invasive E. coli (AIEC) is a pathotype associated with the etiopathogenesis of Crohn's disease (CD), albeit with an as-yet unclear role. The main pathogenic mechanisms described for AIEC are adherence to epithelial cells, invasion of epithelial cells, and survival and replication within macrophages. A few virulence factors have been described as participating directly in these phenotypes, most of which have been evaluated only in AIEC reference strains. To date, no molecular markers have been identified that can differentiate AIEC from other E. coli pathotypes, so these strains are currently identified based on the phenotypic characterization of their pathogenic mechanisms. The identification of putative AIEC molecular markers could be beneficial not only from the diagnostic point of view but could also help in better understanding the determinants of AIEC pathogenicity. The objective of this study was to identify molecular markers that contribute to the screening of AIEC strains. For this, we characterized outer membrane protein (OMP) profiles in a group of AIEC strains and compared them with the commensal E. coli HS strain. Notably, we found a set of OMPs that were present in the AIEC strains but absent in the HS strain. Moreover, we developed a PCR assay and performed phylogenomic analyses to determine the frequency and distribution of the genes coding for these OMPs in a larger collection of AIEC and other E. coli strains. As result, it was found that three genes (chuA, eefC, and fitA) are widely distributed and significantly correlated with AIEC strains, whereas they are infrequent in commensal and diarrheagenic E. coli strains (DEC). Additional studies are needed to validate these markers in diverse strain collections from different geographical regions, as well as investigate their possible role in AIEC pathogenicity

Mapping Flood-Related Mortality in the Mediterranean Basin. Results from the MEFF v2.0 DB

Recent events in Western Attica in Greece (24 deaths in November 2017), in the Balearic Islands (13 deaths in October 2018), and in southern France (15 deaths in October 2018) show that flood-related mortality remains a major concern in Mediterranean countries facing flash floods. Over the past several years, many initiatives have arisen to create databases on flood-related mortality. An international initiative started in 2011 pooling regional and national databases on flood mortality from region and/or countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. The MEditerranean Flood Fatality Database (MEFF DB) brings together, in 2018, six Mediterranean regions/countries: Catalonia (Spain), Balearic Islands (Spain), Southern France, Calabria (Italy), Greece, and Turkey, and covers the period 1980-2018. MEFF DB is on progress and, every year, new data are included, but for this study, we kept only the preliminary data that were geolocated and validated on 31st of December 2018. This research introduces a new step in the analysis of flood-related mortality and follows the statistical description of the MEFF DB already published. The goals of this paper are to draw the spatial distribution of flood mortality through a geographical information system (GIS) at different spatial scales: country, NUTS 3 (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics. Level 3) regions, catchment areas, and grid. A fatality rate (F: number of deaths/year/million of inhabitants) is created to help this analysis. Then, we try to relate mortality to basic (human or physical) drivers such as population density, rainfall seasonality, or rainfall frequency across the Mediterranean Basin. The mapping of F shows a negative mortality gradient between the western and the eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea. The south of France appears to be the most affected region. The maps also highlight the seasonality of flood-related deaths with the same west-east gradient. It confirms that flood mortality follows the climatological seasonal patterns across the Mediterranean Basin. Flood-related fatalities mainly occur during the early fall season in the western part of the Mediterranean area, while the Easter Basin is affected later, in November or during the winter season. Eastern Turkey introduces another pattern, as mortality is more severe in summer. Mortality maps are then compared with factors that potentially contribute to the occurrence of flood fatalities, such as precipitation intensity (rainfall hazard), to explain geographical differences in the fatality rate. The density of a fatal event is correlated to the population density and the rainfall frequency. Conversely, the average number of deaths per event depends on other factors such as prevention or crisis managemen