Marcelleina parvispora (Ascomycota, Pezizales), a new Marcelleina species from Catalonia (Spain)

Marcelleina parvispora (Ascomycota, Pezizales), a new Marcelleina species from Catalonia (Spain). Marcelleina parvispora sp. nov. (Pezizales, Ascomycota) is described as a new ascomycete species from Catalonia (NE of continental Spain). This first Spanish collection belongs to a new, apparently saprotrophic species that grows in Eucalyptus sp. plantations. A comparison is made with related European species of MarcelleinaMarcelleina parvispora sp. nov. (Pezizales, Ascomycota), una nueva especie de ascomicete, aparentemente saprobia en plantaciones de Eucalyptus sp., procedente de Cataluña (NE de España continental). La descripción se acompaña de fotografías macro y microscópicas de sus singulares caracteres y de su comparación con algunas especies europeas próximas

The effect of cellular differentiation on HSV-1 infection of oligodendrocytic cells

Herpes simplex type 1 (HSV-1) is a neurotropic virus that infects many types of cells. Previous studies have demonstrated that oligodendrocytic cells are highly susceptible to HSV-1 infection. Here we analysed HSV-1 infection of a human oligodendrocytic cell line, HOG, and oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) cultured under growth or differentiation conditions. In addition to cell susceptibility, the role of the major cell receptors for viral entry was assessed. Our results revealed that OPCs and HOG cells cultured under differentiation conditions became more susceptible to HSV-1. On the other hand, viral infection induced morphological changes corresponding to differentiated cells, suggesting that HSV-1 might be inducing cell differentiation. We also observed colocalization of HVEM and nectin-1 with viral particles, suggesting that these two major HSV-1 receptors are functional in HOG cells. Finally, electron microscopy assays indicated that HSV-1 may be also entering OLs by macropinocytosis depending on their differentiation stage. In addition, vesicles containing intracellular enveloped virions observed in differentiated cells point to an endocytic mechanism of virus entry. All these data are indicative of diverse entry pathways dependent on the maturation stage of OLsThe work was partially supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad-MINECO (SAF2012-40023 and RD12-0032-12 -partially funded by FEDER- European Union/Una manera de hacer Europa). F de C is hired by Gobierno de Castilla-La Mancha-SESCAM. CK is supported by Public Health Service grant AI-097171 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease

Automatización del proceso de calibración de modelos térmicos de edificios y sus instalaciones empleando TRNSYS Y GENOPT

El proceso de calibración del modelo térmico de un edificio y sus instalaciones se compone de varios pasos que deben definirse correctamente para poder alcanzar con éxito un resultado coherente y óptimo. Los motores de cálculo como TRNSYS, Energyplus o DOE-2 (entre otros), permiten la definición del modelo del edificio y sus instalaciones a través de archivos de texto, los cuales pueden ser manipulados antes de la ejecución de las simulaciones. Por otro lado, dichos motores pueden ser lanzados mediante órdenes de línea de comandos, lo que constituye una ventaja a la hora de ejecutar procesos por lotes. Con todo esto, la herramienta GENOPT (GENericOPTimizationProgram) enlazada con el software TRNSYS (TRaNsientSYtemsSimulation), se muestra como una alternativa idónea a la hora de realizar el proceso de calibración. En este artículo, se expone una manera de realizar la calibración de edificios y sus instalaciones de forma automatizada, para que el usuario que efectúa el proceso, consiga realizarlo sin conocimientos de la sintaxis que emplea TRNSYS ni de los algoritmos de optimización que implementa GENOPT. El código desarrollado se empleó con éxito en diferentes casos, mostrando la posibilidad de reducir los errores de nuestros modelos utilizando herramientas gráficas accesibles a usuarios no expertosEstá investigación ha sido parcialmente financiada a través del proyecto ITC- 20133033 TERESE3 subvencionado por el CDTI y Fondo Tecnológico -FEDER 2007-2013 Innterconecta apoyado por el Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad y Consejería de Economía e Industria a través Axencia Galega de Innovación (GAIN ) de la Xunta de Galici

Clinical infections by herpesviruses in patients treated with valproic acid: A nested case-control study in the Spanish Primary Care Database, BIFAP

The objective of this study is to evaluate the risk of clinical infections by herpesviruses in patients exposed to valproic acid (VPA).We performed a case-control study nested in a primary cohort selected from the Spanish primary care population-based research database BIFAP (Base de datos para la Investigación Farmacoepidemiológica en Atención Primaria) over the period 2001–2015. The events of interest were those diseases caused by any herpesviruses known to infect humans. For each case, up to 10 controls per case matched by age, gender, and calendar date were randomly selected. A conditional logistic regression was used to compute adjusted odds ratios (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Current use of VPA was associated with a trend towards a reduced risk of clinical infections by herpesviruses as compared with non-users (OR 0.84; CI 95% 0.7–1.0; p = 0.057). Among current users, a trend to a decreased risk with treatment durations longer than 90 days was also observed. The results show a trend to a reduced risk of clinical infection by herpesviruses in patients exposed to VPA. These results are consistent with those in vitro studies showing that, in cultured cells, VPA can inhibit the production of the infectious progeny of herpesviruses. This study also shows the efficient use of electronic healthcare records for clinical exploratory research studie

Design and methodological characteristics of studies using observational routinely collected health data for investigating the link between cancer and neurodegenerative diseases: protocol for a meta-research study

Introduction: Health services generate large amounts of routine health data (eg, administrative databases, disease registries and electronic health records), which have important secondary uses for research. Increases in the availability and the ability to access and analyse large amounts of data represent a major opportunity for conducting studies on the possible relationships between complex diseases. The objective of this study will be to evaluate the design, methods and reporting of studies conducted using observational routinely collected health data for investigating the link between cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Methods and analysis: This is the protocol for a meta-research study. We registered the study protocol within the Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/h2qjg. We will evaluate observational studies (eg, cohort and case-control) conducted using routinely collected health data for investigating the associations between cancer and neurodegenerative diseases (such as Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neuron disease, Huntington's disease, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease). The following electronic databases will be searched (from their inception onwards): MEDLINE, Embase and Web of Science Core Collection. Screening and selection of articles will be conducted by at least two researchers. Potential discrepancies will be resolved via discussion. Design, methods and reporting characteristics in each article will be extracted using a standardised data extraction form. Information on general, methodological and transparency items will be reported. We will summarise our findings with tables and graphs (eg, bar charts, forest plots). Ethics and dissemination: Due to the nature of the proposed study, no ethical approval will be required. We plan to publish the full study in an open access peer-reviewed journal and disseminate the findings at scientific conferences and via social media. All data will be deposited in a cross-disciplinary public repository.FC-L and RT-S are supported by the Institute of Health Carlos III/CIBERSAM. MJP is supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DE200101618). MR and EB-D are partially funded by the Spanish Health Services Research on Chronic Patients Network (REDISSEC)/Institute of Health Carlos III.S

Telomerase and pluripotency factors jointly regulate stemness in pancreatic cancer stem cells

To assess the role of telomerase activity and telomere length in pancreatic CSCs we used different CSC enrichment methods (CD133, ALDH, sphere formation) in primary patient-derived pancreatic cancer cells. We show that CSCs have higher telomerase activity and longer telomeres than bulk tumor cells. Inhibition of telomerase activity, using genetic knockdown or pharmacological inhibitor (BIBR1532), resulted in CSC marker depletion, abrogation of sphere formation in vitro and reduced tumorigenicity in vivo. Furthermore, we identify a positive feedback loop between stemness factors (NANOG, OCT3/4, SOX2, KLF4) and telomerase, which is essential for the self-renewal of CSCs. Disruption of the balance between telomerase activity and stemness factors eliminates CSCs via induction of DNA damage and apoptosis in primary patient-derived pancreatic cancer samples, opening future perspectives to avoid CSC-driven tumor relapse. In the present study, we demonstrate that telomerase regulation is critical for the “stemness” maintenance in pancreatic CSCs and examine the effects of telomerase inhibition as a potential treatment option of pancreatic cancer. This may significantly promote our understanding of PDAC tumor biology and may result in improved treatment for pancreatic cancer patientsThis research was funded by a Max Eder Fellowship of the German Cancer Aid (111746), a German Cancer Aid Priority Program ‘Translational Oncology’ 70112505, by a Collaborative Research Centre grant (316249678—SFB 1279) of the German Research Foundation, and by a Hector Foundation Cancer Research grant (M65.1) to P.C.H., B.S.J. is supported by a Rámon y Cajal Merit Award (RYC- 2012-12104) from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain and a Coordinated grant (GC16173694BARB) from the Fundación Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (AECC). K.W. is supported by a Baustein 3.2 by Ulm University

Role of the small GTPase Rab27a during Herpes simplex virus infection of oligodendrocytic cells

Abstract Background The morphogenesis of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) comprises several events, of which some are not completely understood. It has been shown that HSV-1 glycoproteins accumulate in the trans-Golgi network (TGN) and in TGN-derived vesicles. It is also accepted that HSV-1 acquires its final morphology through a secondary envelopment by budding into TGN-derived vesicles coated with viral glycoproteins and tegument proteins. Nevertheless, several aspects of this process remain elusive. The small GTPase Rab27a has been implicated in regulated exocytosis, and it seems to play a key role in certain membrane trafficking events. Rab27a also seems to be required for human cytomegalovirus assembly. However, despite the involvement of various Rab GTPases in HSV-1 envelopment, there is, to date, no data reported on the role of Rab27a in HSV-1 infection. Results Herein, we show that Rab27a colocalized with GHSV-UL46, a tegument-tagged green fluorescent protein-HSV-1, in the TGN. In fact, this small GTPase colocalized with viral glycoproteins gH and gD in that compartment. Functional analysis through Rab27a depletion showed a significant decrease in the number of infected cells and viral production in Rab27a-silenced cells. Conclusions Altogether, our results indicate that Rab27a plays an important role in HSV-1 infection of oligodendrocytic cells.Peer Reviewe

Project based learning: application to a research master subject of thermal engineering

The European Higher Education Area (EHEA) requires the student a more autonomous work. This autonomy is related to the outcome of the self-regulated learning process. The self-regulation involves a self-management skill set coping with any adverse contingency and entails the knowledge of the available abilities and the personal control to put in action those skills. The learning self-regulation serves as a critical process to develop learning to learn competences that enable to transform the mental aptitudes into academic competences. However, it is necessary to make modifications of the learning conditions to achieve it in an adequate way. Thus, the academic authorities should empower skills that facilitate autonomous learning as well as contribute with tools to the student proactivity. In this sense, the problem-based learning is an effective method to facilitate the acquisition of transversal competences. This didactic methodology may be performed in terms of individual or team-based-learning (TBL) that is necessary linked to a teaching-learning open system. An adaptation of the PBL to the thermal engineering studies, the project based learning model, was designed to the ‘Building Energetic Efficiency’ subject of the Research MasterPeer Reviewe

Project based learning: application to a research master subject of thermal engineering

The European Higher Education Area (EHEA) requires the student a more autonomous work. This autonomy is related to the outcome of the self-regulated learning process. The self-regulation involves a self-management skill set coping with any adverse contingency and entails the knowledge of the available abilities and the personal control to put in action those skills. The learning self-regulation serves as a critical process to develop learning to learn competences that enable to transform the mental aptitudes into academic competences. However, it is necessary to make modifications of the learning conditions to achieve it in an adequate way. Thus, the academic authorities should empower skills that facilitate autonomous learning as well as contribute with tools to the student proactivity. In this sense, the problem-based learning is an effective method to facilitate the acquisition of transversal competences. This didactic methodology may be performed in terms of individual or team-based-learning (TBL) that is necessary linked to a teaching-learning open system. An adaptation of the PBL to the thermal engineering studies, the project based learning model, was designed to the ‘Building Energetic Efficiency’ subject of the Research Maste