From the Neolithic to the Anthropocene: Humans and depositional processes in Iberian Mountain watersheds

Large changes in the hydrological and biogeochemical cycles and surface processes dynamic have been documented in mountain watersheds during the last centuries, greatly affecting landscapes structure and surface processes. In Mediterranean regions, the summer drought and the variability in water availability are primary forcing controls for hydrological regimes, vegetation cover changes and depositional dynamics. Through changes in land uses, natural resources exploitation and an intense urbanization, humans have become significant agents shaping the mountain landscapes during the last millenni

Effects of parsley supplementation on the seminal quality, blood lipid profile and oxidant status of young and old male rabbits

[EN] The high unsaturation levels of spermatozoal membrane make it very susceptible to oxidative damage and this problem increases with advancing age. In this study, the aim is to investigate whether parsley seed (PS) has a protective effect on semen quality, serum lipid profile and antioxidative status of old and young bucks. Male rabbits (n= 36) (18 young 9-12 mo old and 18 old 36-42 mo old) were each assigned to 3 dietary treatments (a control and 2 levels of PS: 0.3 and 0.6 kg/100 kg diet) to evaluate the ability of parsley to enhance bucks’ reproductive status. Most of the studied traits were adversely affected by age of rabbit bucks. On the other hand, the inclusion of PS significantly boosted ejaculate volume and improved mass motility concentration and total sperm output. Seminal plasma and blood serum total antioxidant capacity increased, while serum lipid peroxidase decreased with parsley treatments. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of parsley seed alleviates most semen quality parameters and counteracts oxidative stress, especially with the advance of age (seminal plasma and blood serum of total antioxidant capacity and malondialdehyde.El-Gindy, Y.; Zeweil, H. (2017). Effects of parsley supplementation on the seminal quality, blood lipid profile and oxidant status of young and old male rabbits. World Rabbit Science. 25(3):215-223. doi:10.4995/wrs.2017.6532.SWORD215223253Abd El-Baky A.E. 2011. Quercetin protective action on oxidative stress, sorbitol, insulin resistance and ß-cells function in experimental diabetic rats. IJPSR., 2: 11-18.Ahsan S.K., Shah A.H., Tanira M.O.M., Ahmad M.S., Tariq M., Ageel A.M. 1990. Studies on some herbal drugs used against kidney stones in Saudi folk medicine. Fitoterapia, 61: 435-438.Aitken, R. J., & Baker, M. A. (2004). Oxidative stress and male reproductive biology. Reproduction, Fertility and Development, 16(5), 581. doi:10.1071/rd03089Al-Janabi M. 2014. The antibacterial and antioxidant characteristic of Parsley in seminal fluids of infertile men. Global J. Bio-sci. Biotech., 3: 388-390.Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC). 2006. Official methods of analysis, 18th edition. AOAC, Arlington, VA, USA.BACCETTI, B. (1985). Evolution of the Sperm Cell. Biology of Fertilization, 3-58. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-492602-8.50007-3Baker, M. A., & Aitken, R. J. (2004). The importance of redox regulated pathways in sperm cell biology. Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, 216(1-2), 47-54. doi:10.1016/j.mce.2003.10.068Bixi J., Shaolong Y., Dongquan C., Irshad C., Raghavan R. 2011. Influence of aging and haemorrhage injury on Sirt1 expression: Possible role of myc-Sirt1 regulation in mitochondrial function. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – Mol. Basis. Dis., 11: 1446-1451.De Blas J.C., Mateos G.G. 1998. Feed formulation. In: De Blas, J.C., Wiseman J., (Ed). The nutrition of rabbit. Ed CABI publishing, UK. pp.241-254.Duncan, D. B. (1955). Multiple Range and Multiple F Tests. Biometrics, 11(1), 1. doi:10.2307/3001478El-Damrawy S.Z., El-Kholy K.H., Eid Y.Z., Nematallh G.M.A. 2008. Age-induced oxidative stress in rabbit bucks: protective effect of melatonin. J. Agric. Sci. Mansoura Univ., 33: 3323-3330.Farah H., Elbadrawy E., Al-Atoom A. 2015. Evaluation of antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of ethanoic extracts of Parsley (Petroselinum erispum) and Coriander (Coriandrum sativum) plants grown in Saudi Arabia. Int. J. Adv. Res., 3: 1244-1255.Kery A., Blazovics A., Fejes S., Nagy E., Lugasi A. L., Kursinszki E., Czinner T., Kristo S., Apati P., Balazs A., Szoke E. 2001. Antioxidant activity of medicinal plants used in phototherapy. Intern. J. Hortic. Sci., 7: 28-35.Khatoon F., Abdullah F.E., Mushtaq M., Balouch S.Z. 2014. Correlation of Fructose with Spermatogenesis. Pinnacle Biochem. Res., 1: 188-193.Marin-Guzman, J., Mahan, D. C., & Pate, J. L. (2000). Effect of dietary selenium and vitamin E on spermatogenic development in boars. Journal of Animal Science, 78(6), 1537. doi:10.2527/2000.7861537xMarzouk M., Soliman A.M., Omar T.Y. 2013. Hypoglycemic and antioxidative effects of fenugreek and termis seeds powder in streptozotocin-diabetic rats. Eur. Rev. Med Pharmacol. Sci., 17: 559-565.Macdonald, A. H. (1989). Introduction. Perspectives in Condensed Matter Physics, 1-28. doi:10.1007/978-94-010-9709-3_1Molina R.I., Martini A.C., Tissera A., Olmedo J., Senestrari D., de Cuneo M.F., Ruiz R.D. 2010. Semen quality and aging: analysis of 9.168 samples in Cordoba. Argentina. Andrology. Arch. Esp. Urol., 63: 214-221.Moule G.R. 1965. Field investigations with sheep: a manual of techniques. G.R. Moule (Ed.) CSIRO, Division of Animal Physiology, Melbourne, Australia.Oldereid, N. B., Thomassen, Y., & Purvis, K. (1998). Selenium in human male reproductive organs. Human Reproduction, 13(8), 2172-2176. doi:10.1093/humrep/13.8.2172Ozturk Y., Baser C.H.K., Aydin S. 1991. Hepatoprotective antihepatotoxic plants in Turkey. In: Proceedings of the 9th Symposium on Plant Drugs, Eskisehir, Turkey, 40-50.Rajeshwari C.U., Abirami M., Andallu B. 2011a. In vitro and in vivo antioxidant potential of aniseeds (Pimpinella anisum) Asian J. Exp. Biol. Sci., 2: 80-89.SAS, 2004. Institute Inc. SAS On line Doc 9.1.3. Cary, NC: SAS Institute. Inc.Syntin P., Robaire B. 2001. Sperm structural and motility changes during aging in the Brown-Norway rat. J. Androl., 22: 235-244.Tarin J.J., Perez-Albala S., Cano A. 2000. Consequence on off spring of abnormal function in ageing gametes. Human reprod. Updata, 6: 532-549.Wilke, M. S., French, M. A., Goh, Y. K., Ryan, E. A., Jones, P. J., & Clandinin, M. T. (2009). Synthesis of specific fatty acids contributes to VLDL-triacylglycerol composition in humans with and without type 2 diabetes. Diabetologia, 52(8), 1628-1637. doi:10.1007/s00125-009-1405-9WONG, P., & KITTS, D. (2006). Studies on the dual antioxidant and antibacterial properties of parsley (Petroselinum crispum) and cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) extracts. Food Chemistry, 97(3), 505-515. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2005.05.03

Primary skin fibroblasts as a model of Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is the second most frequent neurodegenerative disorder. While most cases occur sporadic mutations in a growing number of genes including Parkin (PARK2) and PINK1 (PARK6) have been associated with the disease. Different animal models and cell models like patient skin fibroblasts and recombinant cell lines can be used as model systems for Parkinson's disease. Skin fibroblasts present a system with defined mutations and the cumulative cellular damage of the patients. PINK1 and Parkin genes show relevant expression levels in human fibroblasts and since both genes participate in stress response pathways, we believe fibroblasts advantageous in order to assess, e.g. the effect of stressors. Furthermore, since a bioenergetic deficit underlies early stage Parkinson's disease, while atrophy underlies later stages, the use of primary cells seems preferable over the use of tumor cell lines. The new option to use fibroblast-derived induced pluripotent stem cells redifferentiated into dopaminergic neurons is an additional benefit. However, the use of fibroblast has also some drawbacks. We have investigated PARK6 fibroblasts and they mirror closely the respiratory alterations, the expression profiles, the mitochondrial dynamics pathology and the vulnerability to proteasomal stress that has been documented in other model systems. Fibroblasts from patients with PARK2, PARK6, idiopathic Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 demonstrated a distinct and unique mRNA expression pattern of key genes in neurodegeneration. Thus, primary skin fibroblasts are a useful Parkinson's disease model, able to serve as a complement to animal mutants, transformed cell lines and patient tissues

Peaceful Mind

Peaceful Mind, el proyecto desarrollado en el presente documento, surgió a raíz de la coyuntura actual y la nueva realidad generada a nivel mundial por la pandemia del COVID-19. Cinco meses después de iniciado el estado de emergencia sanitaria en el Perú se pudo identificar que, debido a las medidas de contingencia tomadas, especialmente el aislamiento social obligatorio, muchos familiares y amigos tuvieron que dejar de lado sus tratamientos psicológicos, perjudicando su proceso de mejora de salud mental, un problema que aqueja a muchos países del mundo y no se otorga la importancia debida. Al respecto, la Cruz Roja indicó que “el coronavirus agravó enfermedades mentales ya existentes, mientras que surgieron otras nuevas, lo que limitó aún más el acceso a servicios médicos especializados ante las restricciones económicas por las medidas de cuarentena adoptadas para contener la pandemia”. Frente a ello, nace la idea de crear una plataforma virtual que permita a los usuarios continuar con su tratamiento psicológico, recibiendo orientación psicológica personalizada y terapias alternativas de forma rápida y segura. Con el objetivo de desarrollar el proyecto se llevaron a cabo diversos experimentos que permitieron identificar la aceptación de la idea de negocio. Además, se realizó el planeamiento de los siguientes procesos: operativo, marketing, recursos humanos, responsabilidad social y planeamiento financiero. Los análisis cuantitativos indican que se necesita una inversión de S/ 90,245.98 para dar inicio al proyecto, el cual recuperará su inversión inicial en un periodo de tres años y obtendrá un Valor Actual Neto de S/ 123,469.37.Peaceful Mind, the project developed in this document, came from the current juncture and new reality caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Five months into the declared global health emergency and mandatory social isolation, we found out many of our friends and relatives had to halt or put aside their psychological appointments and treatments, impairing the advancements or improvement of their mental health. This is a common issue in many countries that are often avoided or underestimated. In this regard, the Red Cross stated that the “Coronavirus worsen the existent mental health illnesses, while new ones emerged, which limited, even more, the access to specialized medical services before the quarantine economical restrictions enforced to containing the pandemic”. Thus was born the idea of creating a virtual platform that allows its users to continue with their psychological treatments, receive personalized psychological orientation, and practice alternative therapies in a fast and safe manner. In order to develop this project, many experiments were carried out to identify the feasibility and acceptance level of this business idea. Additionally, the planning of the following processes was carried out: operational, marketing, human resources, social responsibility, and financial planning. The quantitative analyzes show that an initial investment of S/. 90,245.98 is required to start this project with a VPN of S/123,469.37 and a payback period of three yearsTrabajo de investigació

Mutation p.R356Q in the Collybistin Phosphoinositide Binding Site Is Associated With Mild Intellectual Disability

The recruitment of inhibitory GABAA receptors to neuronal synapses requires a complex interplay between receptors, neuroligins, the scaffolding protein gephyrin and the GDP-GTP exchange factor collybistin (CB). Collybistin is regulated by protein-protein interactions at the N-terminal SH3 domain, which can bind neuroligins 2/4 and the GABAAR α2 subunit. Collybistin also harbors a RhoGEF domain which mediates interactions with gephyrin and catalyzes GDP-GTP exchange on Cdc42. Lastly, collybistin has a pleckstrin homology (PH) domain, which binds phosphoinositides, such as phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate (PI3P/PtdIns3P) and phosphatidylinositol 4-monophosphate (PI4P/PtdIns4P). PI3P located in early/sorting endosomes has recently been shown to regulate the postsynaptic clustering of gephyrin and GABAA receptors and consequently the strength of inhibitory synapses in cultured hippocampal neurons. This process is disrupted by mutations in the collybistin gene (ARHGEF9), which cause X-linked intellectual disability (XLID) by a variety of mechanisms converging on disrupted gephyrin and GABAA receptor clustering at central synapses. Here we report a novel missense mutation (chrX:62875607C>T, p.R356Q) in ARHGEF9 that affects one of the two paired arginine residues in the PH domain that were predicted to be vital for binding phosphoinositides. Functional assays revealed that recombinant collybistin CB3SH3-R356Q was deficient in PI3P binding and was not able to translocate EGFP-gephyrin to submembrane microaggregates in an in vitro clustering assay. Expression of the PI3P-binding mutants CB3SH3-R356Q and CB3SH3-R356N/R357N in cultured hippocampal neurones revealed that the mutant proteins did not accumulate at inhibitory synapses, but instead resulted in a clear decrease in the overall number of synaptic gephyrin clusters compared to controls. Molecular dynamics simulations suggest that the p.R356Q substitution influences PI3P binding by altering the range of structural conformations adopted by collybistin. Taken together, these results suggest that the p.R356Q mutation in ARHGEF9 is the underlying cause of XLID in the probands, disrupting gephyrin clustering at inhibitory GABAergic synapses via loss of collybistin PH domain phosphoinositide binding

Cold atoms in space: community workshop summary and proposed road-map

We summarise the discussions at a virtual Community Workshop on Cold Atoms in Space concerning the status of cold atom technologies, the prospective scientific and societal opportunities offered by their deployment in space, and the developments needed before cold atoms could be operated in space. The cold atom technologies discussed include atomic clocks, quantum gravimeters and accelerometers, and atom interferometers. Prospective applications include metrology, geodesy and measurement of terrestrial mass change due to, e.g., climate change, and fundamental science experiments such as tests of the equivalence principle, searches for dark matter, measurements of gravitational waves and tests of quantum mechanics. We review the current status of cold atom technologies and outline the requirements for their space qualification, including the development paths and the corresponding technical milestones, and identifying possible pathfinder missions to pave the way for missions to exploit the full potential of cold atoms in space. Finally, we present a first draft of a possible road-map for achieving these goals, that we propose for discussion by the interested cold atom, Earth Observation, fundamental physics and other prospective scientific user communities, together with the European Space Agency (ESA) and national space and research funding agencies

Basal cell carcinoma of the vulva: a case report and systematic review of the literature

The vulva is an unusual site for basal cell carcinoma (BCC). Vulvar BCC accounts for <1% of all BCCs and <5% of all vulvar malignancies. We report the case of an 83 year‐old woman who presented with a 2‐month history of a tender labial growth, with histopathology confirming nodular BCC. We conducted a systematic literature review of the characteristics of reported cases of vulvar BCCs. A comprehensive systematic review of articles indexed for MEDLINE and Embase yielded 96 reports describing 437 patients with 446 BCCs of the vulva. The mean age at presentation was 70 (range 20–100). Most women had no underlying vulvar disease. Approximately 60% of cases were of the nodular subtype. Treatment approach varied widely with over half of cases treated with wide local or local excision. Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) for vulvar BCC was first reported in 1988 with seven total MMS cases reported. Twenty‐three cases of recurrence have been reported; 21 of these cases after local excision but none following MMS. Vulvar BCC is a rarely reported cancer that affects older women predominantly. MMS represents a promising treatment for BCC in this anatomic location.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150570/1/ijd14307.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150570/2/ijd14307_am.pd