Polyethylenimine-mediated expression of transgenes in the acinar cells of rats salivary glands in vivo

Non viral-mediated transfection of plasmid DNA provides a fast and reliable way to express various transgenes in selected cell populations in live animals. Here, we show an improvement of a previously published method that is based on injecting plasmid DNA into the ductal system of the salivary glands in live rats. Specifically, using complexes between plasmid DNA and polyethyleneimine (PEI) we show that the expression of the transgenes is directed selectively to the salivary acinar cells. PEI does not affect the ability of cells to undergo regulated exocytosis, which was one of the main drawbacks of the previous methods. Moreover PEI does not affect the proper localization and targeting of transfected proteins, as shown for the apical plasma membrane water channel aquaporin 5 (AQP5). Overall, this approach, coupled with the use of intravital microscopy, permits to conduct localization and functional studies under physiological conditions, in a rapid, reliable, and affordable fashion

Aspirin and cardiovascular primary prevention in non-endstage chronic kidney disease: A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Chronic kidney disease is a strong independent predictor of cardiovascular disease. No published meta-analyses on the use of aspirin for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in chronic kidney disease exist. We therefore performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of this subject. METHODS: We used a pre-defined and registered protocol (PROSPERO identification CRD42014008860). We searched Medline and Embase between 1996 and July 2015. Inclusion criteria were adult subjects with non-endstage chronic kidney disease (CKD) and no history of cardiovascular disease. The co-primary outcomes were major cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes included bleeding-related events. We used a random effects model to pool data. RESULTS: Three trials were identified and two of these provided previously unpublished data. The studies included 4468 participants and 16,740 person-years of follow-up. There were no statistically significant reductions in the risk of major cardiovascular events (RR 0.92, 95% CI 0.49 to 1.73, p = 0.79, I(2) 71%) or mortality (RR 0.74, 95% CI 0.55 to 1.00, p = 0.05, I(2) 0%) with aspirin compared to the control group. Major bleeding events were increased with aspirin though (RR 1.98, 95% CI 1.11 to 3.52, p = 0.02, I(2) 0%). CONCLUSIONS: There is no clear benefit of aspirin for the primary prevention of cardiovascular events in CKD and no statistically significant reduction in mortality. Aspirin is likely to increase the risk of major bleeding events. Currently, insufficient randomised control trial data exists to recommend universal use or avoidance of aspirin for primary prevention of cardiovascular events in CKD

Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe

Suzanne Lewis, The Rhetoric of Power in the Bayeux Tapestry. Cambridge et New York, Cambridge university Press, 1999. 169 p., 44 ill. n. et bl.

Weigert Laura. Suzanne Lewis, The Rhetoric of Power in the Bayeux Tapestry. Cambridge et New York, Cambridge university Press, 1999. 169 p., 44 ill. n. et bl.. In: Revue de l'Art, 1999, n°125. p. 78

Suzanne Lewis, The Rhetoric of Power in the Bayeux Tapestry. Cambridge et New York, Cambridge university Press, 1999. 169 p., 44 ill. n. et bl.

Weigert Laura. Suzanne Lewis, The Rhetoric of Power in the Bayeux Tapestry. Cambridge et New York, Cambridge university Press, 1999. 169 p., 44 ill. n. et bl.. In: Revue de l'Art, 1999, n°125. p. 78

The cyclooxygenase-2 pathway via the PGE 2 EP2 receptor contributes to oligodendrocytes apoptosis in cuprizone-induced demyelination

Cyclooxygenases (COX)-1 and -2 are key enzymes required for the conversion of arachidonic acid to eicosanoids, potent mediators of inflammation. In patients with multiple sclerosis, COX-2 derived prostaglandins (PGs) are elevated in the CSF and COX-2 is up-regulated in demyelinating plaques. However, it is not known whether COX-2 activity contributes to oligodendrocyte death. In cuprizone-induced demyelination, oligodendrocyte apoptosis and a concomitant increase in the gene expression of COX-2 and PGE₂-EP2 receptor precede histological demyelination. COX-2 and EP2 receptor were expressed by oligodendrocytes, suggesting a causative role for the COX-2/EP2 pathway in the initiation of oligodendrocyte death and demyelination. COX-2 gene deletion, chronic treatment with the COX-2 selective inhibitor celecoxib, or with the EP2 receptor antagonist AH6809 reduced cuprizone-induced oligodendrocyte apoptosis, the degree of demyelination and motor dysfunction. These data indicate that the PGE₂ EP2 receptor contributes to oligodendrocyte apoptosis and open possible new therapeutic approaches for multiple sclerosis

Expression of plasmid DNA in the salivary gland epithelium: novel approaches to study dynamic cellular processes in live animals

The ability to dynamically image cellular and subcellular structures in a live animal and to target genes to a specific cell population in a living tissue provides a unique tool to address many biological questions in the proper physiological context. Here, we describe a powerful approach that is based on the use of rat submandibular salivary glands, which offer the possibility to easily perform intravital imaging and deliver molecules from the oral cavity, and plasmid DNA, which offers the advantage of rapid manipulations. We show that, under different experimental conditions, a reporter molecule can be rapidly expressed in specific compartments of the glands: 1) in the intercalated ducts, when plasmid DNA is administered alone, and 2) in granular ducts, striated ducts, and, to a lesser extent, acini, when plasmid DNA is mixed with replication-deficient adenovirus subtype 5 particles. Remarkably, we also found that gene expression can be directed to acinar cells when plasmid DNA is administered during isoproterenol-stimulated exocytosis, suggesting a novel mechanism of plasmid internalization regulated by compensatory endocytosis. Finally, as a practical application of these strategies, we show how the expression of fluorescently tagged molecules enables the study of the dynamics of various organelles in live animals at a resolution comparable to that achieved in cell cultures

Vuelta a la presencialidad en estudiantes de Educación Física : recuperando voces para favorecer la permanencia

El presente escrito pretende mostrar los primeros avances de una investigación acerca de cómo vivieron los estudiantes de Educación Física de tres Universidades de Argentina estos dos primeros años de formación que por la pandemia han transitado en virtualidad y cuáles son sus opiniones en esta vuelta progresiva a la presencialidad, para configurar alternativas de acción para dicho regreso.Fil: De la Barrera, María Laura. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto.Fil: Domínguez, Pamela. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto.Fil: Benítez, Francisco. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto.Fil: Weigert, Gustav José Leandro. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto.Fil: Casadío, Viviana. Universidad Provincial de Córdoba.Fil: Ranzuglia, Gustavo. Universidad Provincial de Córdoba.Fil: Ruiz Díaz, Leonardo. Universidad Provincial de Córdoba.Fil: Ruffino, José David. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán

Vuelta a la presencialidad en estudiantes de Educación Física : recuperando voces para favorecer la permanencia

El presente escrito pretende mostrar los primeros avances de una investigación acerca de cómo vivieron los estudiantes de Educación Física de tres Universidades de Argentina estos dos primeros años de formación que por la pandemia han transitado en virtualidad y cuáles son sus opiniones en esta vuelta progresiva a la presencialidad, para configurar alternativas de acción para dicho regreso.Fil: De la Barrera, María Laura. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto.Fil: Domínguez, Pamela. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto.Fil: Benítez, Francisco. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto.Fil: Weigert, Gustav José Leandro. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto.Fil: Casadío, Viviana. Universidad Provincial de Córdoba.Fil: Ranzuglia, Gustavo. Universidad Provincial de Córdoba.Fil: Ruiz Díaz, Leonardo. Universidad Provincial de Córdoba.Fil: Ruffino, José David. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán