Aptamers against live targets: Is in vivo SELEX finally coming to the edge?

Targeted therapeutics underwent a revolution with the entry of monoclonal antibodies in the medical toolkit. Oligonucleotide aptamers form another family of target agents that have been lagging behind in reaching the clinical arena in spite of their potential clinical translation. Some of the reasons for this might be related to the challenge in identifying aptamers with optimal in vivo specificity, and the nature of their pharmacokinetics. Aptamers usually show exquisite specificity, but they are also molecules that display dynamic structures subject to changing environments. Temperature, ion atmosphere, pH, and other variables are factors that could determine the affinity and specificity of aptamers. Thus, it is important to tune the aptamer selection process to the conditions in which you want your final aptamer to function; ideally, for in vivo applications, aptamers should be selected in an in vivo-like system or, ultimately, in a whole in vivo organism. In this review we recapitulate the implementations in systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) to obtain aptamers with the best in vivo activity

Estrategia marina demarcación marina levantino-balear parte IV. Descriptores del buen estado ambiental. Descriptor 1: biodiversidad evaluación inicial y buen estado ambiental

El descriptor 1 de la Ley 41/2010 de protección del medio marino, trasposición a la ley española de la Directiva Marco sobre la Estrategia Marina (DMEM: 2008/56/CE) dice textualmente "Se mantiene la biodiversidad. La calidad y la frecuencia de los hábitats y la distribución y abundancia de las especies están en consonancia con las condiciones fisiográficas, geográficas y climáticas". Según el Convenio sobre la Diversidad Biológica (UNCED, 1992), ésta se define como: "La variabilidad de organismos vivos de cualquier fuente, incluidos, entre otras cosas, los ecosistemas terrestres y marinos y otros ecosistemas acuáticos y los complejos ecológicos de los que forman parte; comprende la diversidad dentro de cada especie, entre especies y de los ecosistemas"

Four-month incidence of suicidal thoughts and behaviors among healthcare workers after the first wave of the Spain COVID-19 pandemic

[EN] Healthcare workers (HCW) are at high risk for suicide, yet little is known about the onset of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB) in this important segment of the population in conjunction with the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a multicenter, prospective cohort study of Spanish HCW active during the COVID-9 pandemic. A total of n = 4809 HCW participated at baseline (May–September 2020; i.e., just after the first wave of the pandemic) and at a four-month follow-up assessment (October–December 2020) using web-based surveys. Logistic regression assessed the individual- and population-level associations of separate proximal (pandemic) risk factors with four-month STB incidence (i.e., 30-day STB among HCW negative for 30-day STB at baseline), each time adjusting for distal (pre-pandemic) factors. STB incidence was estimated at 4.2% (SE = 0.5; n = 1 suicide attempt). Adjusted for distal factors, proximal risk factors most strongly associated with STB incidence were various sources of interpersonal stress (scaled 0–4; odds ratio [OR] range = 1.23–1.57) followed by personal health-related stress and stress related to the health of loved ones (scaled 0–4; OR range 1.30–1.32), and the perceived lack of healthcare center preparedness (scaled 0–4; OR = 1.34). Population-attributable risk proportions for these proximal risk factors were in the range 45.3–57.6%. Other significant risk factors were financial stressors (OR range 1.26–1.81), isolation/quarantine due to COVID-19 (OR = 1.53) and having changed to a specific COVID-19 related work location (OR = 1.72). Among other interventions, our findings call for healthcare systems to implement adequate conflict communication and resolution strategies and to improve family-work balance embedded in organizational justice strategies.S

Aptamers against live targets: Is in vivo SELEX finally coming to the edge?

Targeted therapeutics underwent a revolution with the entry of monoclonal antibodies in the medical toolkit. Oligonucleotide aptamers form another family of target agents that have been lagging behind in reaching the clinical arena in spite of their potential clinical translation. Some of the reasons for this might be related to the challenge in identifying aptamers with optimal in vivo specificity, and the nature of their pharmacokinetics. Aptamers usually show exquisite specificity, but they are also molecules that display dynamic structures subject to changing environments. Temperature, ion atmosphere, pH, and other variables are factors that could determine the affinity and specificity of aptamers. Thus, it is important to tune the aptamer selection process to the conditions in which you want your final aptamer to function; ideally, for in vivo applications, aptamers should be selected in an in vivo-like system or, ultimately, in a whole in vivo organism. In this review we recapitulate the implementations in systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) to obtain aptamers with the best in vivo activity