Role of cGMP and cAMP in the hemodynamic response to intrathecal sildenafil administration

INTRODUCTION: Results from our laboratory have demonstrated that intracerebroventricular administration of sildenafil to conscious rats promoted a noticeable increase in both lumbar sympathetic activity and heart rate, with no change in the mean arterial pressure. The intracerebroventricular administration of sildenafil may have produced the hemodynamic effects by activating sympathetic preganglionic neurons in the supraspinal regions and spinal cord. It is well documented that sildenafil increases intracellular cGMP levels by inhibiting phosphodiesterase type 5 and increases cAMP levels by inhibiting other phosphodiesterases. OBJECTIVE: To examine and compare, in conscious rats, the hemodynamic response following the intrathecal administration of sildenafil, 8-bromo-cGMP (an analog of cGMP), forskolin (an activator of adenylate cyclase), or dibutyryl-cAMP (an analog of cAMP) in order to elucidate the possible role of the sympathetic preganglionic neurons in the observed hemodynamic response. RESULTS: The hemodynamic responses observed following intrathecal administration of the studied drugs demonstrated the following: 1) sildenafil increased the mean arterial pressure and heart rate in a dose-dependent manner, 2) increasing doses of 8-bromo-cGMP did not alter the mean arterial pressure and heart rate, 3) forskolin did not affect the mean arterial pressure but did increase the heart rate and 4) dibutyryl-cAMP increased the mean arterial pressure and heart rate, similar to the effect observed following the intrathecal injection of the highest dose of sildenafil. CONCLUSION: Overall, the findings of the current study suggest that the cardiovascular response following the intrathecal administration of sildenafil to conscious rats involves the inhibition of phosphodiesterases other than phosphodiesterase type 5 that increase the cAMP level and the activation of sympathetic preganglionic neurons

Docencia en Derecho y Proceso: hacia un aprendizaje de calidad en la Universidad

Presentación / Esther Pillado González (pp. 11-13). -- La adaptación de la asignatura derecho procesal penal al grado en la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid: un proceso aún inconcluso / Juan Manuel Alcoceba Gil (pp. 17-26). -- Role playing, cooperación competitiva y method case en la docencia-aprendizaje del Derecho Procesal / Cristina Alonso Salgado (pp. 27-35). -- Esquemas y materiales básicos para explicar en el grado en derecho el sistema de impugnación de actos jurídicos de las administraciones públicas en España / Roberto O. Bustillo Bolado (pp. 37-40). -- Nuevas herramientas y técnicas para la docencia del derecho / Juan Cámara Ruiz (pp. 41-51). -- Novas técnicas na docência em direito / Marco Carvalho Gonçalves (pp. 53-60). -- Experiência de lecionação em Direito em cursos não jurídicos – a lecionação da UC de Direito das Crianças e Jovens ao Mestrado em Intervenção Psicossocial com Crianças, Jovens e Famílias do Instituto de Educação / Cristina M. A. Dias (pp. 61-67). -- Los programas universitarios para mayores: la docencia en Derecho en la Universidad de Vigo / Teresa Estévez Abeleira (pp. 69-79). -- El aprendizaje activo del Derecho Procesal / María Dolores Fernández Fustes (81-92). -- El aprendizaje como método de adquirir los conocimientos / Raquel López Jiménez (pp. 93-101). -- Alumnado con necesidades especiales en el grado en derecho: el reto de la normalización e inclusión / Ángel M. Mariño de Andrés y M. Teresa Martínez Táboas (pp. 103-110). -- Docencia y proceso penal: intentando experimentar el proceso / Sabela Oubiña Barbolla (pp. 111-127). -- La integración de las redes sociales en la enseñanza del Derecho Penal / Natalia Pérez Rivas (pp. 129-135). -- Análisis y prospectiva de una plataforma e-learning en ciencias jurídicas / Amparo Rodríguez Damián, Margarita Pino Juste, Arturo Casar Sarasola y Manuel Pérez Cota (pp. 137-149). -- La evaluación de competencias en las materias “prácticas externas” del Máster Universitario en Abogacía: problemas y retos / Mónica Siota Álvarez (pp. 151-164). -- La enseñanza del derecho procesal a través del método del caso / Helena Soleto Muñoz (pp. 165-178). -- A aprendizagem activa do Direito Processual – reflexão sobre velhos hábitos e novas práticas / Lurdes Varregoso Mesquita (pp. 179-189). -- Acão executiva e metodologia aplicada – demonstração de caso / Lurdes Varregoso Mesquita, Diana Leiras (pp. 191-201). -- Derecho Constitucional y género / Almudena Bergareche Gros (pp. 205-216). -- Aproximación al fenómeno de la violencia de género a través de las novelas como recurso didáctico / María Castro Corredoira (pp. 217-227). -- La formación en género en derecho penal: el cine como recurso didáctico / Natalia Pérez Rivas, Fernando Vázquez-Portomeñe Seijas (pp. 229-240). -- Cuestiones controvertidas de la docencia en el ámbito del derecho constitucional: la perspectiva de género y el principio de transversalidad / Pablo Riquelme Vázquez (pp. 241-253). -- Storytelling y cine extranjero en la explicación del sistema de justicia penal español / Cristina Alonso Salgado (pp. 257-263). -- Direito e Cinema. Breve reflexão a partir da experiência da docência ao 1.º ano do curso de Direito / Maria Clara Calheiros (pp. 265-273). -- El cine como opción pedagógica en la enseñanza del derecho penal / Fernando Vázquez-Portomeñe Seijas y María Castro Corredoira (pp. 275-286). -- El jurista del siglo XXI y la Universidad del siglo pasado: ¿realidades irreconciliables? / Amaya Arnáiz Serrano (pp. 289-307). -- La formación del abogado del siglo XXI / Emiliano Carretero Morales (pp. 309-321). -- El cambio del perfil del alumno y su influencia a la enseñanza superior / Anna Fiodorova (pp. 323-335). -- La enseñanza del derecho en el marco Bolonia: reflexiones en base a las distintas tradiciones jurídicas / Mercedes Llorente Sánchez-Arjona (pp. 337-355)

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

AI is a viable alternative to high throughput screening: a 318-target study

: High throughput screening (HTS) is routinely used to identify bioactive small molecules. This requires physical compounds, which limits coverage of accessible chemical space. Computational approaches combined with vast on-demand chemical libraries can access far greater chemical space, provided that the predictive accuracy is sufficient to identify useful molecules. Through the largest and most diverse virtual HTS campaign reported to date, comprising 318 individual projects, we demonstrate that our AtomNet® convolutional neural network successfully finds novel hits across every major therapeutic area and protein class. We address historical limitations of computational screening by demonstrating success for target proteins without known binders, high-quality X-ray crystal structures, or manual cherry-picking of compounds. We show that the molecules selected by the AtomNet® model are novel drug-like scaffolds rather than minor modifications to known bioactive compounds. Our empirical results suggest that computational methods can substantially replace HTS as the first step of small-molecule drug discovery

Familial hypercholesterolaemia in children and adolescents from 48 countries: a cross-sectional study

Background: Approximately 450 000 children are born with familial hypercholesterolaemia worldwide every year, yet only 2·1% of adults with familial hypercholesterolaemia were diagnosed before age 18 years via current diagnostic approaches, which are derived from observations in adults. We aimed to characterise children and adolescents with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia (HeFH) and understand current approaches to the identification and management of familial hypercholesterolaemia to inform future public health strategies. Methods: For this cross-sectional study, we assessed children and adolescents younger than 18 years with a clinical or genetic diagnosis of HeFH at the time of entry into the Familial Hypercholesterolaemia Studies Collaboration (FHSC) registry between Oct 1, 2015, and Jan 31, 2021. Data in the registry were collected from 55 regional or national registries in 48 countries. Diagnoses relying on self-reported history of familial hypercholesterolaemia and suspected secondary hypercholesterolaemia were excluded from the registry; people with untreated LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) of at least 13·0 mmol/L were excluded from this study. Data were assessed overall and by WHO region, World Bank country income status, age, diagnostic criteria, and index-case status. The main outcome of this study was to assess current identification and management of children and adolescents with familial hypercholesterolaemia. Findings: Of 63 093 individuals in the FHSC registry, 11 848 (18·8%) were children or adolescents younger than 18 years with HeFH and were included in this study; 5756 (50·2%) of 11 476 included individuals were female and 5720 (49·8%) were male. Sex data were missing for 372 (3·1%) of 11 848 individuals. Median age at registry entry was 9·6 years (IQR 5·8-13·2). 10 099 (89·9%) of 11 235 included individuals had a final genetically confirmed diagnosis of familial hypercholesterolaemia and 1136 (10·1%) had a clinical diagnosis. Genetically confirmed diagnosis data or clinical diagnosis data were missing for 613 (5·2%) of 11 848 individuals. Genetic diagnosis was more common in children and adolescents from high-income countries (9427 [92·4%] of 10 202) than in children and adolescents from non-high-income countries (199 [48·0%] of 415). 3414 (31·6%) of 10 804 children or adolescents were index cases. Familial-hypercholesterolaemia-related physical signs, cardiovascular risk factors, and cardiovascular disease were uncommon, but were more common in non-high-income countries. 7557 (72·4%) of 10 428 included children or adolescents were not taking lipid-lowering medication (LLM) and had a median LDL-C of 5·00 mmol/L (IQR 4·05-6·08). Compared with genetic diagnosis, the use of unadapted clinical criteria intended for use in adults and reliant on more extreme phenotypes could result in 50-75% of children and adolescents with familial hypercholesterolaemia not being identified. Interpretation: Clinical characteristics observed in adults with familial hypercholesterolaemia are uncommon in children and adolescents with familial hypercholesterolaemia, hence detection in this age group relies on measurement of LDL-C and genetic confirmation. Where genetic testing is unavailable, increased availability and use of LDL-C measurements in the first few years of life could help reduce the current gap between prevalence and detection, enabling increased use of combination LLM to reach recommended LDL-C targets early in life

TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits - the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants - determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits - almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives