Dietary Patterns and Their Association with Anxiety Symptoms among Older Adults: The ATTICA Study

Abstract: By 2050, the global population aged 60 years and over is expected to reach nearly 2.1 billion and affective disorders might be also expected to increase. Although nutrition has been related with affective disorders, there is a lack of studies assessing the relation between dietary habits and anxiety among European and Mediterranean older populations. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the association between dietary habits, energy intake, and anxiety symptoms using data from 1128 Greek older adults (>50 years) without pre-existing cardiovascular disease (CVD) or any other chronic disease who participated in the ATTICA study. Various socio demographic lifestyle, bio-clinical (e.g., blood pressure), and psychological (e.g., depression) characteristics were used, and dietary habits as well as energy intake were calculated using standard procedures. Older people with anxiety were more likely to be sedentary, to be smokers, and to show symptoms of depression. The saturated fat and added sugars (SFAS) dietary pattern was associated with higher anxiety levels (non-standardized b (95% CI): 5.82 (0.03 to 11.61)). No association between energy intake tertiles and anxiety levels pictured in the later regression model. Moreover, female gender, family status, and depression were positively related to anxiety. Therefore, promoting healthy dietary habits could reduce anxiety symptoms of the older adults

Dual lysosomal-mitochondrial targeting by antihistamines to eradicate leukaemic cells

Altres ajuts: This work was funded by the Fundación Mutua Madrileña (RMR), CaixaImpulse the Josep Carreras International Leukaemia Foundation (RMR), l'Obra Social "La Caixa"-Fundació Bancària "La Caixa" (RMR), and CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya (IJC). RMR had full access to all the data in the study and had final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication. Funding sources provided economical support to the experimental work presented here.Background: Despite great efforts to identify druggable molecular targets for AML, there remains an unmet need for more effective therapies. Methods: An in silico screening was performed using Connectivity Maps to identify FDA-approved drugs that may revert an early leukaemic transformation gene signature. Hit compounds were validated in AML cell lines. Cytotoxic effects were assessed both in primary AML patient samples and healthy donor blood cells. Xenotransplantation assays were undertaken to determine the effect on engraftment of hit compounds. The mechanism of action responsible for the antileukaemic effect was studied focussing on lysosomes and mitochondria. Findings: We identified a group of antihistamines (termed ANHAs) with distinct physicochemical properties associated with their cationic-amphiphilic nature, that selectively killed leukaemic cells. ANHAs behaved as antileukaemic agents against primary AML samples ex vivo, sparing healthy cells. Moreover, ANHAs severely impaired the in vivo leukaemia regeneration capacity. ANHAs' cytotoxicity relied on simultaneous mitochondrial and lysosomal disruption and induction of autophagy and apoptosis. The pharmacological effect was exerted based on their physicochemical properties that permitted the passive targeting of both organelles, without the involvement of active molecular recognition. Interpretation: Dual targeting of lysosomes and mitochondria constitutes a new promising therapeutic approach for leukaemia treatment, supporting the further clinical development. Fund: This work was funded by the Fundación Mutua Madrileña (RMR), CaixaImpulse (RMR), the Spanish Ministry of Economy (RMR), the Josep Carreras International Leukaemia Foundation (RMR), l'Obra Social "La Caixa" (RMR), and Generalitat de Catalunya (IJC)

Histamine receptor 1 is expressed in leukaemic cells and affects differentiation sensitivity

Altres ajuts: This work was funded by the Fundación Mutua Madrileña (RMR), CaixaImpulse CI16-00003 (RMR), the Josep Carreras International Leukaemia Foundation (RMR), l'Obra Social 'La Caixa'-Fundació Bancària 'La Caixa' (RMR), and CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya (IJC).Despite the success of immunotherapy in several haematological neoplasms, the effectiveness in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is still controversial, partially due to the lack of knowledge regarding immune-related processes in this disease and similar neoplasias. In this study, we analysed the role and expression of histamine receptor 1 (HRH1) in haematological malignancies. Although the histamine receptor type 1 was widely expressed in healthy and malignant haematopoiesis, especially along the myeloid lineage, HRH1 lacked a relevant role in survival/proliferation and chemoresistance of AML cells, as analysed by HRH1 knockdown (KD) and pharmacological modulation. However, HRH1-mediated signalling was critical for the activation of the differentiation process induced by several agents including all-trans retinoic acid, establishing a role for HRH1 in myeloid differentiation. Pharmacological activation of Erk was able to partially restore differentiation capacity in HRH1 KD AML cells, suggesting that HRH1 signalling acts upstream MAPK-Erk pathway. As an indirect consequence of our results, treatment-related histamine release is not expected to confer a proliferative advantage in leukaemic cells

Gaia Early Data Release 3: Structure and properties of the Magellanic Clouds

We compare the Gaia DR2 and Gaia EDR3 performances in the study of the Magellanic Clouds and show the clear improvements in precision and accuracy in the new release. We also show that the systematics still present in the data make the determination of the 3D geometry of the LMC a difficult endeavour; this is at the very limit of the usefulness of the Gaia EDR3 astrometry, but it may become feasible with the use of additional external data. We derive radial and tangential velocity maps and global profiles for the LMC for the several subsamples we defined. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the two planar components of the ordered and random motions are derived for multiple stellar evolutionary phases in a galactic disc outside the Milky Way, showing the differences between younger and older phases. We also analyse the spatial structure and motions in the central region, the bar, and the disc, providing new insights into features and kinematics. Finally, we show that the Gaia EDR3 data allows clearly resolving the Magellanic Bridge, and we trace the density and velocity flow of the stars from the SMC towards the LMC not only globally, but also separately for young and evolved populations. This allows us to confirm an evolved population in the Bridge that is slightly shift from the younger population. Additionally, we were able to study the outskirts of both Magellanic Clouds, in which we detected some well-known features and indications of new ones

The Gaia mission

Gaia is a cornerstone mission in the science programme of the EuropeanSpace Agency (ESA). The spacecraft construction was approved in 2006, following a study in which the original interferometric concept was changed to a direct-imaging approach. Both the spacecraft and the payload were built by European industry. The involvement of the scientific community focusses on data processing for which the international Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC) was selected in 2007. Gaia was launched on 19 December 2013 and arrived at its operating point, the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth-Moon system, a few weeks later. The commissioning of the spacecraft and payload was completed on 19 July 2014. The nominal five-year mission started with four weeks of special, ecliptic-pole scanning and subsequently transferred into full-sky scanning mode. We recall the scientific goals of Gaia and give a description of the as-built spacecraft that is currently (mid-2016) being operated to achieve these goals. We pay special attention to the payload module, the performance of which is closely related to the scientific performance of the mission. We provide a summary of the commissioning activities and findings, followed by a description of the routine operational mode. We summarise scientific performance estimates on the basis of in-orbit operations. Several intermediate Gaia data releases are planned and the data can be retrieved from the Gaia Archive, which is available through the Gaia home page. http://www.cosmos.esa.int/gai

Dietary Patterns and Their Association with Anxiety Symptoms among Older Adults: The ATTICA Study

By 2050, the global population aged 60 years and over is expected to reach nearly 2.1 billion and affective disorders might be also expected to increase. Although nutrition has been related with affective disorders, there is a lack of studies assessing the relation between dietary habits and anxiety among European and Mediterranean older populations. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the association between dietary habits, energy intake, and anxiety symptoms using data from 1128 Greek older adults (>50 years) without pre-existing cardiovascular disease (CVD) or any other chronic disease who participated in the ATTICA study. Various socio demographic lifestyle, bio-clinical (e.g., blood pressure), and psychological (e.g., depression) characteristics were used, and dietary habits as well as energy intake were calculated using standard procedures. Older people with anxiety were more likely to be sedentary, to be smokers, and to show symptoms of depression. The saturated fat and added sugars (SFAS) dietary pattern was associated with higher anxiety levels (non-standardized b (95% CI): 5.82 (0.03 to 11.61)). No association between energy intake tertiles and anxiety levels pictured in the later regression model. Moreover, female gender, family status, and depression were positively related to anxiety. Therefore, promoting healthy dietary habits could reduce anxiety symptoms of the older adults

Paleoseismology along the Cofradía fault, Managua, Nicaragua: preliminary results

La falla de Cofradía es una falla normal de orientación N-S que limita por el E el graben de Managua y tiene una longitud de 40 km. Esta falla es sísmicamente activa y, a partir de datos históricos, a ella se han asociado los terremotos de 1865 y 1866 que cambiaron la topografía del río Tipitapa. Se ha llevado a cabo un estudio paleosismológico en su sector meridional mediante la apertura de 5 trincheras en tres localidades. En la trinchera de El Cocal se han identificado 3 eventos sísmicos. Actualmente no se dispone todavía de las dataciones con radiocarbono, pero la presencia de cerámica de los períodos Bagaces y Sapoá permite afirmar que estos eventos han ocurrido durante los últimos 1700 años, con un periodo de recurrencia del orden de 500 años, y deja abierta la posibilidad de que el último evento detectado corresponda a los terremotos de 1865 y 1866

MCF-7 Drug Resistant Cell Lines Switch Their Lipid Metabolism to Triple Negative Breast Cancer Signature

Obesity and adipose tissue have been closely related to a poor cancer prognosis, especially in prostate and breast cancer patients. The ability of transferring lipids from the adipose tissue to the tumor cells is actively linked to tumor progression. However, different types of breast tumor seem to use these lipids in different ways and metabolize them in different pathways. In this study we have tracked by mass spectrometry how palmitic acid from the adipocytes is released to media being later incorporated in different breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231, SKBR3, BT474, MCF-7 and its resistant MCF-7 EPIR and MCF-7 TAXR). We have observed that different lines metabolize the palmitic acid in a different way and use their carbons in the synthesis of different new lipid families. Furthermore, we have observed that the lipid synthesis pattern varied according to the cell line. Surprisingly, the metabolic pattern of the resistant cells was more related to the TNBC cell line compared to their sensitive cell line MCF-7. These results allow us to determine a specific lipid pattern in different cell lines that later might be used in breast cancer diagnosis and to find a better treatment according to the cancer molecular type