Trypanocidal activity of four sesquiterpene lactones isolated from Asteraceae species

The sesquiterpene lactones eupatoriopicrin, estafietin, eupahakonenin B and minimolide have been isolated from Argentinean Astearaceae species and have been found to be active against Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes. The aim of this work was to evaluate the activity of these compounds by analyzing their effect against the stages of the parasites that are infective for the human. Even more interesting, we aimed to determine the effect of the most active and selective compound on an in vivo model of T. cruzi infection. Eupatoriopicrin was the most active against amastigotes and tripomastigotes (IC50 = 2.3 µg/mL, and 7.2 µg/mL, respectively) and displayed a high selectivity index. This compound was selected to study on an in vivo model of T. cruzi infection. The administration of 1 mg/kg/day of eupatoriopicrin for five consecutive days to infected mice produced a significant reduction in the parasitaemia levels in comparison with non-treated animals (area under parasitaemia curves 4.48 vs. 30.47, respectively). Skeletal muscular tissues from eupatopicrin-treated mice displayed only focal and interstitial lymphocyte inflammatory infiltrates and small areas of necrotic; by contrast, skeletal tissues from T. cruzi infected mice treated with the vehicle showed severe lymphocyte inflammatory infiltrates with necrosis of the adjacent myocytes. The results indicate that eupatoriopicrin could be considered a promising candidate for the development of new therapeutic agents for Chagas disease.Fil: Elso, Orlando German. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Química y Metabolismo del Fármaco. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Química y Metabolismo del Fármaco; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica; ArgentinaFil: Bivona, Augusto Ernesto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Estudios de la Inmunidad Humoral Prof. Ricardo A. Margni. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Estudios de la Inmunidad Humoral Prof. Ricardo A. Margni; ArgentinaFil: Sanchez Alberti, Andrés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Estudios de la Inmunidad Humoral Prof. Ricardo A. Margni. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Estudios de la Inmunidad Humoral Prof. Ricardo A. Margni; ArgentinaFil: Cerny, Natacha. Universidad Nacional de Luján. Instituto de Ecología y Desarrollo Sustentable. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Ecología y Desarrollo Sustentable; ArgentinaFil: Fabian, Lucas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Química y Metabolismo del Fármaco. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Química y Metabolismo del Fármaco; ArgentinaFil: Morales, Maria Celina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina; ArgentinaFil: Catalan, Cesar Atilio Nazareno. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Química del Noroeste. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Bioquímica, Química y Farmacia. Instituto de Química del Noroeste; ArgentinaFil: Malchiodi, Emilio Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Estudios de la Inmunidad Humoral Prof. Ricardo A. Margni. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Estudios de la Inmunidad Humoral Prof. Ricardo A. Margni; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica; ArgentinaFil: Cazorla, Silvia Ines. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Centro de Referencia para Lactobacilos; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica; ArgentinaFil: Sülsen, Valeria Patricia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Química y Metabolismo del Fármaco. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Química y Metabolismo del Fármaco; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica; Argentin

CHILES: HI morphology and galaxy environment at z=0.12 and z=0.17

We present a study of 16 HI-detected galaxies found in 178 hours of observations from Epoch 1 of the COSMOS HI Large Extragalactic Survey (CHILES). We focus on two redshift ranges between 0.108 <= z <= 0.127 and 0.162 <= z <= 0.183 which are among the worst affected by radio frequency interference (RFI). While this represents only 10% of the total frequency coverage and 18% of the total expected time on source compared to what will be the full CHILES survey, we demonstrate that our data reduction pipeline recovers high quality data even in regions severely impacted by RFI. We report on our in-depth testing of an automated spectral line source finder to produce HI total intensity maps which we present side-by-side with significance maps to evaluate the reliability of the morphology recovered by the source finder. We recommend that this become a common place manner of presenting data from upcoming HI surveys of resolved objects. We use the COSMOS 20k group catalogue, and we extract filamentary structure using the topological DisPerSE algorithm to evaluate the \hi\ morphology in the context of both local and large-scale environments and we discuss the shortcomings of both methods. Many of the detections show disturbed HI morphologies suggesting they have undergone a recent interaction which is not evident from deep optical imaging alone. Overall, the sample showcases the broad range of ways in which galaxies interact with their environment. This is a first look at the population of galaxies and their local and large-scale environments observed in HI by CHILES at redshifts beyond the z=0.1 Universe.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figures, 1 interactive 3D figure, accepted to MNRA

Silver nanoparticles-composing alginate/gelatine hydrogel improves wound healing in vivo

Polymer hydrogels have been suggested as dressing materials for the treatment of cutaneous wounds and tissue revitalization. In this work, we report the development of a hydrogel composed of natural polymers (sodium alginate and gelatin) and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with recognized antimicrobial activity for healing cutaneous lesions. For the development of the hydrogel, different ratios of sodium alginate and gelatin have been tested, while different concentrations of AgNO3 precursor (1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 mM) were assayed for the production of AgNPs. The obtained AgNPs exhibited a characteristic peak between 430450 nm in the ultraviolet-visible (UVVis) spectrum suggesting a spheroidal form, which was confirmed by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Fourier Transform Infra-red (FTIR) analysis suggested the formation of strong intermolecular interactions as hydrogen bonds and electrostatic attractions between polymers, showing bands at 2920, 2852, 1500, and 1640 cm1. Significant bactericidal activity was observed for the hydrogel, with a Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of 0.50 µg/mL against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and 53.0 µg/mL against Staphylococcus aureus. AgNPs were shown to be non-cytotoxic against fibroblast cells. The in vivo studies in female Wister rats confirmed the capacity of the AgNP-loaded hydrogels to reduce the wound size compared to uncoated injuries promoting histological changes in the healing tissue over the time course of wound healing, as in earlier development and maturation of granulation tissue. The developed hydrogel with AgNPs has healing potential for clinical applications.This research received funding from the Coordenação Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Sergipe (FAPITEC), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, #443238/2014-6, #470388/2014-5), and from the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT) projects M-ERA-NET/0004/2015 (PAIRED) and UIDB/04469/2020 (strategic fund).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Correction: Diniz et al. Silver Nanoparticles-Composing Alginate/Gelatine Hydrogel Improves Wound Healing In Vivo. Nanomaterials 2020, 10, 390

In the original publication, there was a mistake in Figure 6 as published [...]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Estudio para la mejora de la calidad del grado en Trabajo Social en atención a las necesidades de nuestros egresados y sus empleadores

Mediante este proyecto la Facultad de Trabajo Social de la UCM pretende conocer cuáles son las necesidades formativas de nuestros alumnos con el principal objetivo de hacer una modificación en la titulación que pueda dar respuesta a las necesidades de conocimiento de nuestros profesionales así como conocer las condiciones esenciales en las que nuestros egresado acceden al mercado laboral

Finding New Enzymes from Bacterial Physiology: A Successful Approach Illustrated by the Detection of Novel Oxidases in Marinomonas mediterranea

The identification and study of marine microorganisms with unique physiological traits can be a very powerful tool discovering novel enzymes of possible biotechnological interest. This approach can complement the enormous amount of data concerning gene diversity in marine environments offered by metagenomic analysis, and can help to place the activities associated with those sequences in the context of microbial cellular metabolism and physiology. Accordingly, the detection and isolation of microorganisms that may be a good source of enzymes is of great importance. Marinomonas mediterranea, for example, has proven to be one such useful microorganism. This Gram-negative marine bacterium was first selected because of the unusually high amounts of melanins synthesized in media containing the amino acid l-tyrosine. The study of its molecular biology has allowed the cloning of several genes encoding oxidases of biotechnological interest, particularly in white and red biotechnology. Characterization of the operon encoding the tyrosinase responsible for melanin synthesis revealed that a second gene in that operon encodes a protein, PpoB2, which is involved in copper transfer to tyrosinase. This finding made PpoB2 the first protein in the COG5486 group to which a physiological role has been assigned. Another enzyme of interest described in M. mediterranea is a multicopper oxidase encoding a membrane-associated enzyme that shows oxidative activity on a wide range of substrates typical of both laccases and tyrosinases. Finally, an enzyme very specific for l-lysine, which oxidises this amino acid in epsilon position and that has received a new EC number (1.4.3.20), has also been described for M. mediterranea. Overall, the studies carried out on this bacterium illustrate the power of exploring the physiology of selected microorganisms to discover novel enzymes of biotechnological relevance

Incidence, clinical characteristics, risk factors and outcomes of meningoencephalitis in patients with COVID-19

We investigated the incidence, clinical characteristics, risk factors, and outcome of meningoencephalitis (ME) in patients with COVID-19 attending emergency departments (ED), before hospitalization. We retrospectively reviewed all COVID patients diagnosed with ME in 61 Spanish EDs (20% of Spanish EDs, COVID-ME) during the COVID pandemic. We formed two control groups: non-COVID patients with ME (non-COVID-ME) and COVID patients without ME (COVID-non-ME). Unadjusted comparisons between cases and controls were performed regarding 57 baseline and clinical characteristics and 4 outcomes. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biochemical and serologic findings of COVID-ME and non-COVID-ME were also investigated. We identified 29 ME in 71,904 patients with COVID-19 attending EDs (0.40‰, 95%CI=0.27-0.58). This incidence was higher than that observed in non-COVID patients (150/1,358,134, 0.11‰, 95%CI=0.09-0.13; OR=3.65, 95%CI=2.45-5.44). With respect to non-COVID-ME, COVID-ME more frequently had dyspnea and chest X-ray abnormalities, and neck stiffness was less frequent (OR=0.3, 95%CI=0.1-0.9). In 69.0% of COVID-ME, CSF cells were predominantly lymphocytes, and SARS-CoV-2 antigen was detected by RT-PCR in 1 patient. The clinical characteristics associated with a higher risk of presenting ME in COVID patients were vomiting (OR=3.7, 95%CI=1.4-10.2), headache (OR=24.7, 95%CI=10.2-60.1), and altered mental status (OR=12.9, 95%CI=6.6-25.0). COVID-ME patients had a higher in-hospital mortality than non-COVID-ME patients (OR=2.26; 95%CI=1.04-4.48), and a higher need for hospitalization (OR=8.02; 95%CI=1.19-66.7) and intensive care admission (OR=5.89; 95%CI=3.12-11.14) than COVID-non-ME patients. ME is an unusual form of COVID presentation (<0.5‰ cases), but is more than 4-fold more frequent than in non-COVID patients attending the ED. As the majority of these MEs had lymphocytic predominance and in one patient SARS-CoV-2 antigen was detected in CSF, SARS-CoV-2 could be the cause of most of the cases observed. COVID-ME patients had a higher unadjusted in-hospital mortality than non-COVID-ME patients

Measurement of the cosmic ray spectrum above 4×10184{\times}10^{18} eV using inclined events detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory

A measurement of the cosmic-ray spectrum for energies exceeding $4{\times}10^{18}$ eV is presented, which is based on the analysis of showers with zenith angles greater than $60^{\circ}$ detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2013. The measured spectrum confirms a flux suppression at the highest energies. Above $5.3{\times}10^{18}$ eV, the "ankle", the flux can be described by a power law $E^{-\gamma}$ with index $\gamma=2.70 \pm 0.02 \,\text{(stat)} \pm 0.1\,\text{(sys)}$ followed by a smooth suppression region. For the energy ($E_\text{s}$) at which the spectral flux has fallen to one-half of its extrapolated value in the absence of suppression, we find $E_\text{s}=(5.12\pm0.25\,\text{(stat)}^{+1.0}_{-1.2}\,\text{(sys)}){\times}10^{19}$ eV.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Energy Estimation of Cosmic Rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is part of the Pierre Auger Observatory and is used to detect the radio emission of cosmic-ray air showers. These observations are compared to the data of the surface detector stations of the Observatory, which provide well-calibrated information on the cosmic-ray energies and arrival directions. The response of the radio stations in the 30 to 80 MHz regime has been thoroughly calibrated to enable the reconstruction of the incoming electric field. For the latter, the energy deposit per area is determined from the radio pulses at each observer position and is interpolated using a two-dimensional function that takes into account signal asymmetries due to interference between the geomagnetic and charge-excess emission components. The spatial integral over the signal distribution gives a direct measurement of the energy transferred from the primary cosmic ray into radio emission in the AERA frequency range. We measure 15.8 MeV of radiation energy for a 1 EeV air shower arriving perpendicularly to the geomagnetic field. This radiation energy -- corrected for geometrical effects -- is used as a cosmic-ray energy estimator. Performing an absolute energy calibration against the surface-detector information, we observe that this radio-energy estimator scales quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy as expected for coherent emission. We find an energy resolution of the radio reconstruction of 22% for the data set and 17% for a high-quality subset containing only events with at least five radio stations with signal.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO