Preliminary Data on the Bioturbation Activity of Hediste Diversicolor (Polychaeta, Nereididae) from the Loire Estuary, France

The ragworm Hediste diversicolor (O. F. Müller, 1776) plays a key role in the estuarine water-sediment interface. This scientific project comes under the framework of the International network Nereis Park Experiment gathering 27 laboratories from all over the world. The experiments were carried out concurrently in spring 2007 using a common protocol. In the Loire estuary, the samples were collected in the intertidal zone of the Saint-Nazaire Bridge. During the field experiment, we estimated the surface area of the burrow walls (Sb) value varied from Sb = 0.26 m2.m-2 to 2.18 m2.m-2 (mean Sb = 0.75 m2.m-2), and the pumping rate (Pr) value from Pr = 0.9 l.d-1m-2 to 7.7 l.d-1 m-2 (mean value Pr = 2.7 l.d-1m-2). The density and the biomass of H. diversicolor populations largely controlled the amount of reworked sediment. In the laboratory, we estimated the pseudo-diffusive mixing, Db value varied from Db = 1.2 to 1.6 (mean Db = 1.5). The non-local transport (r) from the upper layers to the bottom of the tubes varied from r = 1 to 7.2 (mean r = 4.3). A positive relationship could be established between Db and the temperature while on the contrary a negative relationship could be established between the Db and biomass. It seems that small individuals are more efficient reworkers than big ones

Prognostic and predictive factors in recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma : A review of the literature

The pattern of clinical behaviour and response to treatment of recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is heterogeneous. Treatment strategies that can be employed vary from potentially curative salvage surgery and re-irradiation to palliative systemic therapies and best supportive care. The advent of new therapeutic options, in terms of more sophisticated surgical approaches and techniques, highly conformal and precise radiation techniques and immunotherapy may offer improved control of disease and longer survival. Moreover, the epidemiological changes during the last decades, including the increase of human papilloma virus-related oropharyngeal primary tumors, are also reflected in the recurrent and metastatic setting. In this complex context the identification of predictive and prognostic factors is urgently needed to tailor treatment, to increase its efficacy, and to avoid unnecessary toxicities. A better knowledge of prognosis may also help the patients and caregivers in decision making on the optimal choice of care. The purpose of our review is to highlight the current evidence and shortcomings in this field.Peer reviewe

Adjuvant dabrafenib and trametinib for patients with resected BRAF-mutated melanoma: DESCRIBE-AD real-world retrospective observational study

BRAF and MEK inhibitor, dabrafenib plus trametinib, adjuvant therapy is effective for high-risk resected melanoma patients with BRAF-V600 mutations. However, real-world evidence is limited. We aimed to determine the feasibility of this therapy in routine clinical practice. DESCRIBE-AD, a retrospective observational study, collected real-world data from 25 hospitals in Spain. Histologically confirmed and resected BRAF-mutated melanoma patients aged & GE;18 years who were previously treated with dabrafenib plus trametinib adjuvant therapy, were included. The primary objectives were treatment discontinuation rate and time to discontinuation. The secondary objectives included safety and efficacy. From October 2020 to March 2021, 65 patients were included. Dabrafenib and trametinib discontinuation rate due to treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) of any grade was 9%. Other reasons for discontinuation included patients' decisions (6%), physician decisions (6%), unrelated adverse events (3%), disease progression (5%), and others (5%). The median time to treatment discontinuation was 9 months [95% confidence interval (CI), 5-11]. G3-4 TRAEs occurred in 21.5% of patients, the most common being pyrexia (3%), asthenia (3%), and diarrhoea (3%). Unscheduled hospitalisations and clinical tests occurred in 6 and 22% of patients, respectively. After 20-month median follow-up (95% CI, 18-22), 9% of patients had exitus due to disease progression, with a 12-month relapse-free survival and overall survival rates of 95.3% and 100%, respectively. Dabrafenib and trametinib adjuvant therapy proved effective for melanoma patients in a real-world setting, with a manageable toxicity profile. Toxicity frequencies were low leading to low incidence of unscheduled medical visits, tests, and treatment discontinuations

Cell free circulating tumor DNA in cerebrospinal fluid detects and monitors central nervous system involvement of B-cell lymphomas

Limfoma no Hodgkin agressiu; Limfoma del SNCLinfoma no Hodgkin agresivo; Linfoma del SNCAggressive Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma; CNS lymphomaThe levels of cell free circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in plasma correlated with treatment response and outcome in systemic lymphomas. Notably, in brain tumors, the levels of ctDNA in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are higher than in plasma. Nevertheless, their role in central nervous system (CNS) lymphomas remains elusive. We evaluated the CSF and plasma from 19 patients: 6 restricted CNS lymphomas, 1 systemic and CNS lymphoma, and 12 systemic lymphomas. We performed whole exome sequencing or targeted sequencing to identify somatic mutations of the primary tumor, then variant-specific droplet digital PCR was designed for each mutation. At time of enrolment, we found ctDNA in the CSF of all patients with restricted CNS lymphoma but not in patients with systemic lymphoma without CNS involvement. Conversely, plasma ctDNA was detected in only 2/6 patients with restricted CNS lymphoma with lower variant allele frequencies than CSF ctDNA. Moreover, we detected CSF ctDNA in 1 patient with CNS lymphoma in complete remission and in 1 patient with systemic lymphoma, 3 and 8 months before CNS relapse was confirmed; indicating CSF ctDNA might detect CNS relapse earlier than conventional methods. Finally, in 2 cases with CNS lymphoma, CSF ctDNA was still detected after treatment even though a complete decrease in CSF tumor cells was observed by flow cytometry (FC), indicating CSF ctDNA better detected residual disease than FC. In conclusion, CSF ctDNA can better detect CNS lesions than plasma ctDNA and FC. In addition, CSF ctDNA predicted CNS relapse in CNS and systemic lymphomas.This work was supported by research funding from Fundación Asociación Española contra el Cáncer (AECC) (to JS, MC and PA); FERO (to JS), laCaixa (to JS), BBVA (CAIMI) (to JS), the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (PI16/01278 to JS; PI17/00950 to MC; PI17/00943 to FB) cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Gilead Fellowships (GLD16/00144, GLD18/00047, to FB). MC holds a contract from Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (RYC-2012-12018). SB received funding from Fundación Alfonso Martin Escudero. LE received funding from the Juan de la Cierva fellowship. We thank CERCA Programme / Generalitat de Catalunya for institutional support

Canagliflozin and renal outcomes in type 2 diabetes and nephropathy

BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide, but few effective long-term treatments are available. In cardiovascular trials of inhibitors of sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2), exploratory results have suggested that such drugs may improve renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS In this double-blind, randomized trial, we assigned patients with type 2 diabetes and albuminuric chronic kidney disease to receive canagliflozin, an oral SGLT2 inhibitor, at a dose of 100 mg daily or placebo. All the patients had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of 30 to <90 ml per minute per 1.73 m2 of body-surface area and albuminuria (ratio of albumin [mg] to creatinine [g], >300 to 5000) and were treated with renin–angiotensin system blockade. The primary outcome was a composite of end-stage kidney disease (dialysis, transplantation, or a sustained estimated GFR of <15 ml per minute per 1.73 m2), a doubling of the serum creatinine level, or death from renal or cardiovascular causes. Prespecified secondary outcomes were tested hierarchically. RESULTS The trial was stopped early after a planned interim analysis on the recommendation of the data and safety monitoring committee. At that time, 4401 patients had undergone randomization, with a median follow-up of 2.62 years. The relative risk of the primary outcome was 30% lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group, with event rates of 43.2 and 61.2 per 1000 patient-years, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59 to 0.82; P=0.00001). The relative risk of the renal-specific composite of end-stage kidney disease, a doubling of the creatinine level, or death from renal causes was lower by 34% (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.81; P<0.001), and the relative risk of end-stage kidney disease was lower by 32% (hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54 to 0.86; P=0.002). The canagliflozin group also had a lower risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.95; P=0.01) and hospitalization for heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.47 to 0.80; P<0.001). There were no significant differences in rates of amputation or fracture. CONCLUSIONS In patients with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, the risk of kidney failure and cardiovascular events was lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group at a median follow-up of 2.62 years

Consistent patterns of common species across tropical tree communities

Trees structure the Earth’s most biodiverse ecosystem, tropical forests. The vast number of tree species presents a formidable challenge to understanding these forests, including their response to environmental change, as very little is known about most tropical tree species. A focus on the common species may circumvent this challenge. Here we investigate abundance patterns of common tree species using inventory data on 1,003,805 trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm across 1,568 locations1,2,3,4,5,6 in closed-canopy, structurally intact old-growth tropical forests in Africa, Amazonia and Southeast Asia. We estimate that 2.2%, 2.2% and 2.3% of species comprise 50% of the tropical trees in these regions, respectively. Extrapolating across all closed-canopy tropical forests, we estimate that just 1,053 species comprise half of Earth’s 800 billion tropical trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm. Despite differing biogeographic, climatic and anthropogenic histories7, we find notably consistent patterns of common species and species abundance distributions across the continents. This suggests that fundamental mechanisms of tree community assembly may apply to all tropical forests. Resampling analyses show that the most common species are likely to belong to a manageable list of known species, enabling targeted efforts to understand their ecology. Although they do not detract from the importance of rare species, our results open new opportunities to understand the world’s most diverse forests, including modelling their response to environmental change, by focusing on the common species that constitute the majority of their trees.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Contribution au developpement de techniques pour l'hybridation somatique chez la pomme de terre (Solanum tuberosum) : culture et fusion de protoplastes de clones dihaploiedes, diploiedes hybrides interspecifiques et de l'espece diploiede S. brevidens

CNRS T Bordereau / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueSIGLEFRFranc

Growth hormone receptors in the atherinid Odontesthes bonariensis: Characterization and expression profile after fasting-refeeding and growth hormone administration

In order to improve the understanding of pejerrey Odontesthes bonariensis, growth hormone (Gh)-insulin-like growth factor-1(Igf1) axis, O. bonariensis growth hormone receptor type 1 (ghr1) and type 2 (ghr2) mRNA sequences were obtained. Both transcripts were ubiquitously expressed except in kidney, encephalon and anterior intestine. Alternative transcripts of both receptors were found in muscle. Interestingly, two different ghr2 transcripts with alternative polyadenylation (APA) sites located in the long 3′ untranslated region (UTR-APA) were also found in liver. Hepatic ghr1, ghr2 and insulin-like growth factor type 1 (igf1) transcript levels were examined under two different metabolic conditions. In the first experimental condition, fish were fasted for 2 weeks and then re-fed for another 2 weeks. Despite igf1 mRNA relative expression did not show significant differences under the experimental period of time examined, both ghr transcripts decreased their expression levels after the fasting period and returned to their control levels after re-feeding. In the second treatment, recombinant O. bonariensis growth hormone (r-pjGh) was orally administered once a week. After 4 weeks of treatment, liver igf1, ghr1 and ghr2 mRNA relative expression increased (13, 4·5 and 2·1 fold, P < 0·05) compared to control values. These results add novel information to the growth hormone-insulin-like growth factor system in teleosts.Fil: Botta, Pablo Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Simo, Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Sciara, Andres Angel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Arranz, Silvia Eda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario; Argentin

Computational Creativity Infrastructure for Online Software Composition : A Conceptual Blending Use Case

Computational creativity (CC) is a multidisciplinary research field, studying how to engineer software that exhibits behavior that would reasonably be deemed creative. This paper shows how composition of software solutions in this field can effectively be supported through a CC infrastructure that supports user-friendly development of CC software components and workflows, their sharing, execution, and reuse. The infrastructure allows CC researchers to build workflows that can be executed online and be easily reused by others through the workflow web address. Moreover, it enables the building of procedures composed of software developed by different researchers from different laboratories, leading to novel ways of software composition for computational purposes that were not expected in advance. This capability is illustrated on a workflow that implements a Concept Generator prototype based on the Conceptual Blending framework. The prototype consists of a composition of modules made available as web services, and is explored and tested through experiments involving blending of texts from different domains, blending of images, and poetry generation.Peer reviewe

Remote Sensing Retrieval of Isoprene Concentrations in the Southern Ocean

Isoprene produced by marine phytoplankton acts as a precursor of secondary organic aerosol and thereby affects cloud formation and brightness over the remote oceans. Yet the marine isoprene emission is poorly constrained, with discrepancies among estimates that reach 2 orders of magnitude. Here we present ISOREMS, the first satellite‐only based algorithm for the retrieval of isoprene concentration in the Southern Ocean. Sea surface concentrations from six cruises were matched with remotely sensed variables from MODIS Aqua, and isoprene was best predicted by multiple linear regression with chlorophyll a and sea surface temperature. Climatological (2002–2018) isoprene distributions computed with ISOREMS revealed high concentrations in coastal and near‐island waters, and within the 40–50°S latitudinal band. Isoprene seasonality paralleled phytoplankton productivity, with annual maxima in summer. The annual Southern Ocean emission of isoprene was estimated at 63 Gg C yr−1. The algorithm can provide spatially and temporally realistic inputs to atmospheric and climate models