Molecular diagnosis and typing of Trypanosoma cruzi populations and lineages in cerebral Chagas disease in a patient with AIDS

Trypanosoma cruzi DNA was amplified from an intracranial biopsy and peripheral blood of an HIV patient with encephalitis; this episode was indicative of AIDS and congenital Chagas disease. The analysis of a microsatellite locus revealed a multiclonal parasite population at the brain lesion with a more complex minicircle signature than that profiled in blood using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP)-PCR and low stringency single primer (LSSP) PCR. Interestingly, different sublineages of T. cruzi II were detected in blood and brain by means of spliced-leader and 24s ribosomal-DNA amplifications. Quantitative-competitive PCR monitored the decrease of parasitic load during treatment and secondary prophylaxis with benznidazole. The synergy between parasiticidal plus antiretroviral treatments probably allowed the patient a longer survival than usually achieved in similar episodes. This is the first case report demonstrating a differential distribution of natural parasite populations and sublineages in Chagas disease reactivation, showing the proliferation of cerebral variants not detectable in peripheral blood.Fil: Burgos, Juan Miguel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; ArgentinaFil: Bergher, Sandra B.. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital "Ignacio Pirovano"; ArgentinaFil: Freitas, Jorge M.. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Bisio, Margarita María Catalina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; ArgentinaFil: Altcheh, Jaime Marcelo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Niños "Ricardo Gutiérrez"; ArgentinaFil: Teijeiro, Ricardo. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital "Ignacio Pirovano"; ArgentinaFil: Begher, Sandra B.. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital "Ignacio Pirovano"; ArgentinaFil: Freilij, Hector León. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Niños "Ricardo Gutiérrez"; ArgentinaFil: Deccarlini, Florencia. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital "Ignacio Pirovano"; ArgentinaFil: Levalle, Jorge. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital "Ignacio Pirovano"; ArgentinaFil: Lopez Alcoba, Horacio. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital "Ignacio Pirovano"; ArgentinaFil: Burgos, Juan Miguel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular; ArgentinaFil: Levin, Mariano Jorge. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; ArgentinaFil: Duffy, Tomás. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; ArgentinaFil: Macedo, Andrea M.. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Schijman, Alejandro Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; Argentin

The construct of psychopathy in a Chilean prison population

Objective: To test the four-factor model of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) empirical construct of psychopathy in a Chilean prison population by using instruments that supply different types of data. Methods: Two hundred and nine male inmates of the Prison of Los Andes, Chile, were evaluated. Confirmatory factor analysis was carried out with the PCL-R and the Self-Report of Psychopathy-III-Short Form (SRP-III-SF). Results: The distributions of total PCL-R and SRP-III-SF scores were normal (Kolmorogov-Smirnov [K-S] = 1.04, p = 0.230; K-S = 0.812, p = 0.525, respectively), with means of 20.9±6.8 for the former and 61.6±15.2 for the latter. Model fit was good for the PCL-R (Tucker Lewis index [TLI] = 0.96; root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = 0.04) and for the SRP-SF (TLI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.04). Conclusions: The results obtained with the PCL-R and the SRP-SF showed adequate fit to the empirical four-factor model of psychopathy and support this model. As foreseeable, fit was better for the PCL-R, which combines several sources of information.Facultad de Ciencias Médica

Primer caso de albinismo en Vampyrum spectrum (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) para Ecuador

Albinism is a condition caused by a genetic mutation and is characterized by the total absence of melanin, so that individuals with this condition have white skin and red eyes. Leucism is another existing form of lack of pigmentation and manifests itself by decolorizing certain parts of the body. Cases of complete albinism are very rare wild animals and especially in bats.El albinismo es una condición causada por una mutación genética y se caracteriza por la ausencia total de melanina, por lo que los individuos con ésta condición presentan piel de color blanco y los ojos de color rojo. El leucismo es otra forma existente de falta de pigmentación y se manifiesta decolorando ciertas partes del cuerpo. Los casos de albinismo completo son muy raros en animales silvestres y especialmente en murciélagos

HCT116 cells deficient in p21Waf1 are hypersensitive to tyrosine kinase inhibitors and adriamycin through a mechanism unrelated to p21 and dependent on p53

El pdf del artículo es la versión de autor.-- et al.p21Waf1 (p21) was described as a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, but other p21 activities have subsequently been described, including its ability to inhibit apoptosis in some models. Comparative work on the human colon cancer isogenic cell lines HCT116 and HCT116p21-/- led to the proposal that p21 protects colon cancer cells against apoptosis by genotoxic drugs. We asked whether p21 also protected from cell death induced by non-genotoxic drugs, such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors. We found that p21-deficient cells were dramatically more sensitive towards imatinib and gefitinib than parental cells. Interestingly, HCT116p21-/- also showed higher basal activity of protein kinases as c-Abl, c-Src, and Akt. We generated HCT116p21-/- sublines with inducible p21 expression and found that p21 did not rescue the hypersensitivity to imatinib. Moreover, down-regulation of p21 by enforced c-Myc expression or by p21 siRNA did not sensitize parental HCT116 cells. We found that, in HCT116p21-/- cells, p53 showed higher stability, higher transcriptional activity and phosphorylation in serines associated with p53 activity. Furthermore, silencing of p53 with siRNA and inactivation of p53 with a dominant negative mutant rescued the hypersensitive response to kinases inhibitors, 5-fluorouracil and adriamycin in HCT116p21-/- cells. Consistently, HCT116p53-/- cells are more resistant to imatinib than parental cells, suggesting that imatinib activity is partly dependent on p53 in colon cancer cells. We conclude that high p53 activity, rather than p21 deficiency, is the mechanism responsible for hypersensitivity to drugs of HCT116p21-/- cells. Therefore the role of p21 on apoptosis of HCT116 colon cancer cells should be re-evaluated. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.N.F. is funded by a predoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (MEC) and from the University of Cantabria. Work at the laboratory of J.L. is funded by MEC grants SAF2005-00461 and Spanish Ministry of Health and Consume (MSC) grant ISCIII-RETIC-RD06/0020. M.D.D. is funded by MSC grant FIS04-1083, and J.M.P. is funded by grants from Fundación de Investigación Médica Mutua Madrileña and MEC grant SAF2006-00371.Peer Reviewe

Data-based melody generation through multi-objective evolutionary computation

Genetic-based composition algorithms are able to explore an immense space of possibilities, but the main difficulty has always been the implementation of the selection process. In this work, sets of melodies are utilized for training a machine learning approach to compute fitness, based on different metrics. The fitness of a candidate is provided by combining the metrics, but their values can range through different orders of magnitude and evolve in different ways, which makes it hard to combine these criteria. In order to solve this problem, a multi-objective fitness approach is proposed, in which the best individuals are those in the Pareto front of the multi-dimensional fitness space. Melodic trees are also proposed as a data structure for chromosomic representation of melodies and genetic operators are adapted to them. Some experiments have been carried out using a graphical interface prototype that allows one to explore the creative capabilities of the proposed system. An Online Supplement is provided and can be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17459737.2016.1188171, where the reader can find some technical details, information about the data used, generated melodies, and additional information about the developed prototype and its performance.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte [FPU fellowship AP2012-0939]; and the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad project TIMuL supported by UE FEDER funds [No. TIN2013–48152–C2–1–R]

La evaluación del riesgo de violencia y la relevancia de la psicopatía en la práctica forense

Los autores describen una breve historia del desarrollo de la evaluación del riesgo de violencia, los conceptos primordiales para la práctica profesional en la evaluación del riesgo de violencia y las principales estrategias disponibles. Asimismo, exponen sobre la relevancia de la psicopatía como factor de riesgo de violencia y sobre las evidencias provenientes de estudios empíricos latinoamericanos.El texto es material didáctico apto para la formación de postgrado en las carreras cuyos contenidos se vinculan con la interfaz del derecho y la salud mental.Facultad de Ciencias Médica

Confiabilidad y validez del diagnóstico de psicopatía

Objetivo: Evaluar aspectos de la confiabilidad y validez de la versión chilena del Test de Diagnóstico de Psicopatía Revisado de R. Hare (PCL-R) en población forense masculina chilena.Facultad de Ciencias Médica

Estados y trayectorias desadaptativas relevantes en la planificación asistencial en las cárceles

Las instituciones cerradas en las que cumplen sentencia quienes han infringido la ley tienen el mandato de contribuir a la reinserción social de los sujetos que alojan. Sin embargo, una gran cantidad de ellos vuelve a la prisión después de liberado mostrando ser refractarios a la intervención. Algunos factores que podría incidir en ese proceso son el deficiente proceso diagnóstico y la carencia de terapéuticas adecuadas que contemplen la diversidad evolutiva y fenoménica de los trastorno de los sujetos.Facultad de Ciencias Médica

Rethinking local cultural policies.

En mayo de 2019 se celebraba en Valladolid el Seminario “Repensar políticas culturales locales. Las políticas locales como creadoras de capital cultural”. En él se presentaron y debatieron asuntos de las agendas culturales locales del presente y el futuro, con motivo del cuarenta aniversario de las primeras elecciones municipales democráticas en España en la segunda mitad del siglo XX. Reforzar el capital cultural local, recuperar para la cultura liderazgo político, luchar contra la brecha cultural y de género en la cultura y hacer convivir los derechos culturales con las industrias culturales y creativas fueron algunos de los temas tratados en la sesión.In May 2019, the Seminar “Rethinking local cultural policies- Local policies as creators of cultural capital,” was held in Valladolid (Spain). Issues regarding actual and future local cultural agendas were presented and discussed, on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of the first democratic municipal elections in Spain in the second half of the twentieth century. Strengthening local cultural capital, recovering political leadership for culture, fighting the cultural and gender gap in culture and bringing cultural rights together with cultural and creative industries were some of the topics discussed in the session