Is the bulbus arteriosus of fish homologous to the mamalian intrapericardial thoracic arteries?

El resumen aparece en el Program & Abstracts of the 10th International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology, Barcelona 2013.Anatomical Record, Volume 296, Special Feature — 1: P-089.Two major findings have significantly improved our understanding of the embryology and evolution of the arterial pole of the vertebrate heart (APVH): 1) a new embryonic presumptive cardiac tissue, named second heart field (SHF), forms the myocardium of the outflow tract, and the walls of the ascending aorta (AA) and the pulmonary trunk (PT) in mammals and birds; 2) the bulbus arteriosus (BA), previously thought to be an actinopterygian apomorphy, is present in all basal Vertebrates, and probably derives from the SHF. We hypothesized that the intrapericardial portions of the AA and the PT of mammals are homologous to the BA of basal vertebrates. To test this, we performed 1) a literature review of the anatomy and embryology of the APVH; 2) novel anatomical, histomorphological, and embryological analyses of the APVH, comparing basal (Galeus atlanticus), with apical (Mus musculus and Mesocricetus auratus) vertrebrates. Evidence obtained: 1) Anatomically, BA, AA, and PT are muscular tubes into the pericardial cavity, which connect the distal myocardial outflow tracts with the aortic arch system. Coronary arteries run through or originate at these anatomical structures; 2) Histologically, BA, AA, and PT show an inner layer of endothelium covered by circumferentially oriented smooth muscle cells, collagen fibers, and lamellar elastin. The histomorphological differences between the BA and the ventral aorta parallel those between intrapericardial and extrapericardial great arteries; 3) Embryologically, BA, AA, and PT are composed of smooth muscle cells derived from the SHF. They show a similar mechanism of development: incorporation of SHF‐derived cells into the pericardial cavity, and distal‐to‐proximal differentiation into an elastogenic cell linage. In conclusion, anatomical, histological and embryological evidence supports the hypothesis that SHF is a developmental unit responsible for the formation of the APVH. The BA and the intrapericardial portions of the great arteries must be considered homologous structures.Proyecto P10-CTS-6068 (Junta de Andalucía); proyecto CGL-16417 (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación); Fondos FEDER

Statins and protein prenylation in cancer cell biology and therapy

El pdf del artículo es la versión post-print.The use of statins has scaled up to become one of the most prescribed medicines in the world and have been very useful in the manegement of cardiovascular diseases and related mortality. The disclosure of their chemical structure similar to that of hydroxy methyl glutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) revealed their ability to compete with and inhibit the rate-limiting enzyme HMG-CoA reductase that catalyzes the synthesis of mevalonate, which then serves as the precursor for isoprenoids and cholesterol in the mevalonate pathway. While most of the effects of statins are associated with the lowering of cellular cholesterol levels, it is clear that they also blunt the non-sterol branch of the mevalonate pathway, decreasing formation of isoprenoids and altering protein-prenylation, a critical event in the posttranslational modulation of proteins involved in the regulation of cell cycle progression, proliferation and signaling pathways. Randomized controlled trials for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases indicated that statins elicited provocative and unexpected benefits for reducing a number of different types of cancers, including colorectal carcinoma, melanoma, prostate and hepatocellular carcinoma, although in other cancer types the preclinical expectations of statins were dissapointing. In this review, we will describe the evidence and mechanisms underlying the potential beneficial use of statins and the role of protein prenylation in cancer prevention. Of relevance, the combination of statins with other anti cancer drugs may be a significant asset in malignancies resistant to current therapy. © 2012 Bentham Science Publishers.The work was supported by CIBEREHD, Fundación Mutua Madrileña, Fundació la Marató de TV3, PI11/03025 (META) and grants PI09/0056 (Instituto de Salud Carlos III), SAF2009-11417, SAF2008-02199, SAF2011-23031 (Plan Nacional de I+D), Spain; and P50-AA-11999 (Research Center for Liver and Pancreatic Diseases, NIAAA/NIH).Peer Reviewe

Assessment of the Cod Stock in NAFO Division 3M

An assessment of the stauts of the cod stock in NAFO Division 3M is performed. The same model used last year, a Bayesian model, is used to perform the assessment. Results indicate another reasonable recruitment value in 2008 and a fairly substantial increase in SSB, reaching a median value above the Blim for the first time since 1995. The six-years retrospective plot shows that the recruitment is over estimated year by year, and that if we assume a prior distribution under the natural mortality the retrospective pattern seems no to converge, so the model running with M constant equal to 2 is presented too. It results are no significantly different as those assuming M with uncertainty. Three year projections indicate that fishing at the low Fbar level currently estimated for 2008 should allow SSB to increase to higher levels than estimated for the late 1980's, although in terms of abundance the stock will remain at lower levels. If the fishing mortality were return to the levels seen until 1995, stock recovery would become very improbable

Report of the NAFO Working Group on Improving Efficiency of NAFO Working Group Process (E-WG) Meeting

The Chair, Fred Kingston (NAFO Secretariat) opened the meeting on Thursday, 18 March 2021 at 10:00 hours. The Chairs and co-Chairs of the NAFO Working Groups were welcome to the virtual meeting (Annex 1)

Results on Northern hake Spanish discard sampling programme

Quarterly discards estimates for the Spanish bottom otter trawl fleet fishing in the Northeast Atlantic ICES Subareas VI and VII are presented for hake (Merluccius merluccius). Information was obtained by observers on board under different discard sampling programmes carried out by the Spanish research institute IEO. Raising based on effort (number of trips) was used to estimate total quarterly discards in weight and number for the fleet. Discards length distributions are also presented. Both in terms of weight and numbers discards present high variation in time, ranging from 0 to 1100 tonnes and from 0 to 12 million fish. Length distributions of discarded hake show that most of the individuals are juvenile fish, although some individuals above the minimum landing size (27 cm) are also discarded. Increases in the number of juveniles discarded are evident after year 2003