Advances in greater amberjack (Seriola dumerili) research: the DIVERSIFY project

The greater amberjack (Seriola dumerili) is a species with high potential for the EU aquaculture due to its fast growth (6 kg in 2.5 years), excellent flesh quality and global market. Its farming in the Mediterranean region started in the 1990s with wild-caught juveniles, but the production is still negligible, as several bottlenecks exist for its industrial production. These include the absence of reliable reproduction, limited availability of juveniles, lack of knowledge on the nutrient requirements and pathology of the species. The EU FP7-funded DIVERSIFY project (www.diversifyfish.eu) examines the major aspects of greater amberjack aquaculture in order to overcome these bottlenecks and develop appropriate rearing methods for commercial production. This article provides some highlights from the first 2 years of the project.Postprin

In-Vivo Hyperspectral Human Brain Image Database for Brain Cancer Detection

The use of hyperspectral imaging for medical applications is becoming more common in recent years. One of the main obstacles that researchers find when developing hyperspectral algorithms for medical applications is the lack of specific, publicly available, and hyperspectral medical data. The work described in this paper was developed within the framework of the European project HELICoiD (HypErspectraL Imaging Cancer Detection), which had as a main goal the application of hyperspectral imaging to the delineation of brain tumors in real-time during neurosurgical operations. In this paper, the methodology followed to generate the first hyperspectral database of in-vivo human brain tissues is presented. Data was acquired employing a customized hyperspectral acquisition system capable of capturing information in the Visual and Near InfraRed (VNIR) range from 400 to 1000 nm. Repeatability was assessed for the cases where two images of the same scene were captured consecutively. The analysis reveals that the system works more efficiently in the spectral range between 450 and 900 nm. A total of 36 hyperspectral images from 22 different patients were obtained. From these data, more than 300 000 spectral signatures were labeled employing a semi-automatic methodology based on the spectral angle mapper algorithm. Four different classes were defined: normal tissue, tumor tissue, blood vessel, and background elements. All the hyperspectral data has been made available in a public repository.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figure

Dissimilar Impact of a Mediterranean Diet and Physical Activity on Anthropometric Indices: A Cross-Sectional Study from the ILERVAS Project

There is a close relationship between lifestyle behaviors and excess adiposity. Although body mass index (BMI) is the most used approach to estimate excess weight, other anthropometric indices have been developed to measure total body and abdominal adiposity. However, little is known about the impact of physical activity and adherence to a Mediterranean diet on these indices. Here we report the results of a cross-sectional study with 6672 middle-aged subjects with low to moderate cardiovascular risk from the Ilerda Vascular (ILERVAS) project. The participants' adherence to physical activity (International Physical Activity Questionnaire short form) and MedDiet (Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener) was evaluated. Measures of total adiposity (BMI, Clínica Universidad de Navarra-Body Adiposity Estimator (CUN-BAE), and Deurenberg's formula), central adiposity (waist and neck circumferences, conicity index, waist to height ratio, Bonora's equation, A body adiposity index, and body roundness index), and lean body mass (Hume formula) were assessed. Irrespective of sex, lower indices of physical activity were associated with higher values of total body fat and central adiposity. This result was constant regardless of the indices used to estimate adiposity. However, the association between MedDiet and obesity indices was much less marked and more dependent on sex than that observed for physical activity. Lean body mass was influenced by neither physical activity nor MedDiet adherence. No joint effect between physical activity and MedDiet to lower estimated total or central adiposity indices was shown. In conclusion, physical activity is related to lower obesity indices in a large cohort of middle-aged subjects. MedDiet showed a slight impact on estimated anthropometric indices, with no joint effect when considering both lifestyle variables

Leucemia mieloide crónica en paciente pediátrico. Experiencia en nuestro centro

PB-080 Introducción: La Leucemia Mieloide Crónica (LMC) constituye una patología rara en niños constituyendo el 2% de todas las leucemias diagnosticadas en niños menores de 15 años. La presentación clínica suele ser más agresiva que en adultos y la proporción de pacientes con LMC en fase acelerada o blástica es mayor que para pacientes de edad más avanzada. La cifra media de leucocitos al diagnóstico se encuentra en 250 x 109/L, mientras que en adultos es de 80x109/L - 150x109/L. El 90- 95% de los niños con características clínicas y morfológicas de LMC tienen cromosoma Philadelphia positivo. El manejo de la enfermedad se basa en la presentación, la fase en la que se encuentre y los niveles de respuesta al tratamiento. Material y métodos: Estudio descriptivo y retrospectivo en el que se han analizado las características clínicas, de laboratorio y la respuesta al tratamiento de los pacientes pediátricos diagnosticados de LMC en los últimos 10 años en nuestro hospital (hospital de tercer nivel y de referencia de la CCAA de Aragón). Resultados: Uno de ellos no realizó ningún tipo de respuesta al Imatinib con aumento de las copias de BCR/ABL por Biología Molecular a pesar de buenos niveles de Imatinib, por lo que se inició tratamiento con Dasatinib en marzo de 2018, alcanzando en la última reevaluación a los a los 12 meses respuesta citogenética pero sin alcanzar ningún tipo de respuesta molecular. Conclusiones: Como se describe en la literatura, ambos pacientes ..

Gene Expression and Functional Studies of the Optic Nerve Head Astrocyte Transcriptome from Normal African Americans and Caucasian Americans Donors

To determine whether optic nerve head (ONH) astrocytes, a key cellular component of glaucomatous neuropathy, exhibit differential gene expression in primary cultures of astrocytes from normal African American (AA) donors compared to astrocytes from normal Caucasian American (CA) donors.We used oligonucleotide Affymetrix microarray (HG U133A & HG U133A 2.0 chips) to compare gene expression levels in cultured ONH astrocytes from twelve CA and twelve AA normal age matched donor eyes. Chips were normalized with Robust Microarray Analysis (RMA) in R using Bioconductor. Significant differential gene expression levels were detected using mixed effects modeling and Statistical Analysis of Microarray (SAM). Functional analysis and Gene Ontology were used to classify differentially expressed genes. Differential gene expression was validated by quantitative real time RT-PCR. Protein levels were detected by Western blots and ELISA. Cell adhesion and migration assays tested physiological responses. Glutathione (GSH) assay detected levels of intracellular GSH.Multiple analyses selected 87 genes differentially expressed between normal AA and CA (P<0.01). The most relevant genes expressed in AA were categorized by function, including: signal transduction, response to stress, ECM genes, migration and cell adhesion.These data show that normal astrocytes from AA and CA normal donors display distinct expression profiles that impact astrocyte functions in the ONH. Our data suggests that differences in gene expression in ONH astrocytes may be specific to the development and/or progression of glaucoma in AA

In silico pathway reconstruction: Iron-sulfur cluster biogenesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

BACKGROUND: Current advances in genomics, proteomics and other areas of molecular biology make the identification and reconstruction of novel pathways an emerging area of great interest. One such class of pathways is involved in the biogenesis of Iron-Sulfur Clusters (ISC). RESULTS: Our goal is the development of a new approach based on the use and combination of mathematical, theoretical and computational methods to identify the topology of a target network. In this approach, mathematical models play a central role for the evaluation of the alternative network structures that arise from literature data-mining, phylogenetic profiling, structural methods, and human curation. As a test case, we reconstruct the topology of the reaction and regulatory network for the mitochondrial ISC biogenesis pathway in S. cerevisiae. Predictions regarding how proteins act in ISC biogenesis are validated by comparison with published experimental results. For example, the predicted role of Arh1 and Yah1 and some of the interactions we predict for Grx5 both matches experimental evidence. A putative role for frataxin in directly regulating mitochondrial iron import is discarded from our analysis, which agrees with also published experimental results. Additionally, we propose a number of experiments for testing other predictions and further improve the identification of the network structure. CONCLUSION: We propose and apply an iterative in silico procedure for predictive reconstruction of the network topology of metabolic pathways. The procedure combines structural bioinformatics tools and mathematical modeling techniques that allow the reconstruction of biochemical networks. Using the Iron Sulfur cluster biogenesis in S. cerevisiae as a test case we indicate how this procedure can be used to analyze and validate the network model against experimental results. Critical evaluation of the obtained results through this procedure allows devising new wet lab experiments to confirm its predictions or provide alternative explanations for further improving the models

Increased obesity-associated circulating levels of the extracellular matrix proteins Osteopontin, Chitinase-3 Like-1 and Tenascin C are associated with colon cancer

Excess adipose tissue represents a major risk factor for the development of colon cancer with inflammation and extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling being proposed as plausible mechanisms. The aim of this study was to investigate whether obesity can influence circulating levels of inflammation-related extracellular matrix proteins in patients with colon cancer (CC), promoting a microenvironment favorable for tumor growth. Methods Serum samples obtained from 79 subjects [26 lean (LN) and 53 obese (OB)] were used in the study. Enrolled subjects were further subclassified according to the established diagnostic protocol for CC (44 without CC and 35 with CC). Anthropometricmeasurements as well as circulating metabolites and hormoneswere determined. Circulating concentrations of the ECM proteins osteopontin (OPN), chitinase-3-like protein 1 (YKL-40), tenascin C (TNC) and lipocalin-2 (LCN-2) were determined by ELISA. Results Significant differences in circulating OPN, YKL-40 and TNC concentrations between the experimental groups were observed, being significantly increased due to obesity (P<0.01) and colon cancer (P<0.05). LCN-2 levels were affected by obesity (P<0.05), but no differences were detected regarding the presence or not of CC. A positive association (P<0.05) with different inflammatorymarkers was also detected.Conclusions To our knowledge, we herein show for the first time that obese patients with CC exhibit increased circulating levels of OPN, YKL-40 and TNC providing furtherevidence for the influence of obesity on CC development via ECM proteins, representing promising diagnostic biomarkers or target molecules for therapeutics

Escala MPN-SAF TSS o MPN-10 de calidad de vida en Policitemia Vera

Poster [PC-240] Introducción: Los síntomas clínicos en las neoplasias mieloproliferativas crónicas suponen un gran impacto en la calidad de vida de estos pacientes. Desde 2.013 la escala MPN-SAF TSS (“The Myeloproliferative Neoplasm Symptom Assessment Form Total Symptom Score”), compuesta por 10 ítems (astenia, saciedad temprana, malestar abdominal, inactividad, problemas al concentrarse, sudoración nocturna, prurito, dolor óseo, fiebre y pérdida de peso), permite una evaluación cuantificable y comparativa de los síntomas. Métodos: Estudio descriptivo y prospectivo de pacientes en seguimiento ambulatorio en el Servicio de Hematología (HUMS) diagnosticados de Policitemia Vera según criterios OMS 2016. Periodo de estudio: Enero 2018-Mayo 2018. Variables analizadas: demográficas, clínicas, hematimétricas y puntuación global e individual por ítems de escala MPNSAF TSS. Puntuación por ítem entre 0 (ausente) y 10 (lo peor posible). Puntuación total posible: 100 puntos. Paciente: alto riesgo: =60 años y episodio trombótico. Paciente: bajo riesgo: <60 años sin episodio previo trombótico. Resultados: Se han estudiado un total de 48 pacientes cuya media de edad fue de 71, 3 años (rango 46-94). La situación hematimétrica de los pacientes en el momento de la encuesta fue la siguiente: la media de Hemoglobina (Hb) y Hematocrito (Hto): 15, 10 g/dL y 46, 47% respectivamente (1 presentaba anemia (Hb =12 g/dL y Hto =38%) y 17 eritrocitosis (Hb =16 g/dL y Hto =48%). Media de leucocitosis: 8, 25.10³/µL (solo 1 presentaba neutropenia) y media de plaquetas: 287. 10³/µL (3 presentaban trombopenia (=130. 10³/µL y 6 trombocitosis (=400. 10³/µL). Del total de pacientes un 43% presentaban esplenomegalia. 34 pacientes pertenecían al grupo de alto riesgo (32 con tratamiento citorreductor) y 14 al de bajo riesgo (8 con flebotomías), todos ellos con tratamiento antiagregante asociado. La mediana global de la escala MPN-SAF TSS fue 17 (rango 2-58). Dentro del grupo de alto riesgo 26 pacientes (76, 47%) se encontraban dentro del primer cuartil (0-25 puntos), 4 pacientes (11, 76%) dentro del segundo cuartil (25-50 puntos), 4 (11, 76%) dentro del tercer cuartil (50-75 puntos) y ninguno superaba los 75 puntos. Dentro del grupo de bajo riesgo, 10 pacientes (71, 42%) dentro del primer cuartil y 4 (28, 57%) dentro del segundo. La puntuación media de cada uno de los síntomas y el porcentaje de pacientes que superaba los 5 puntos en cada ítem fue: “fatiga” 3, 96 (56, 25%), “dolor óseo” 3, 19 (29, 17%), “saciedad precoz” 2, 35 (33, 33%), “problemas de concentración” 2, 35 (27, 08%), “sudoración nocturna” 2, 40 (27, 08%), “malestar abdominal” 1, 50 (18, 75%), “prurito” 1, 65 (12, 05%), “pérdida de peso” 0, 50 (6, 25%) y “fiebre” 0, 10 (0%). La fatiga fue el síntoma más prevalente, tanto en pacientes de alto y bajo riesgo. Conclusiones: La escala MPN-SAF TSS permite una evaluación concisa, válida y precisa de la carga de síntomas, demostrando que gran parte de estos pacientes presentan una calidad de vida mejorable a pesar de presentar estabilidad hematimétrica. Esta herramienta permite detectar sintomatología no previsible analíticamente y dirigir la entrevista clínica y, así, poder llevar a cabo un plan de tratamiento personalizado y dirigido de los síntomas

In-Vivo Hyperspectral Human Brain Image Database for Brain Cancer Detection

The use of hyperspectral imaging for medical applications is becoming more common in recent years. One of the main obstacles that researchers find when developing hyperspectral algorithms for medical applications is the lack of specific, publicly available, and hyperspectral medical data. The work described in this paper was developed within the framework of the European project HELICoiD (HypErspectraL Imaging Cancer Detection), which had as a main goal the application of hyperspectral imaging to the delineation of brain tumors in real-time during neurosurgical operations. In this paper, the methodology followed to generate the first hyperspectral database of in-vivo human brain tissues is presented. Data was acquired employing a customized hyperspectral acquisition system capable of capturing information in the Visual and Near InfraRed (VNIR) range from 400 to 1000 nm. Repeatability was assessed for the cases where two images of the same scene were captured consecutively. The analysis reveals that the system works more efficiently in the spectral range between 450 and 900 nm. A total of 36 hyperspectral images from 22 different patients were obtained. From these data, more than 300 000 spectral signatures were labeled employing a semi-automatic methodology based on the spectral angle mapper algorithm. Four different classes were defined: normal tissue, tumor tissue, blood vessel, and background elements. All the hyperspectral data has been made available in a public repository