Search

Abstract: The endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia infects a wide array of insect hosts and has been implicated in a range of biological modifications as a consequence of its infection. Previously, it was shown that the transcription factor GATA4 was significantly induced in Wolbachia wMelPop‐CLA strain infected Aedes aegypti whole mosquitoes and cells. Here, we provide evidence that this induction also occurs in mosquito ovaries where the ovary‐specific genes blastoderm‐specific protein 25D (Bsg25D) and imaginal disc growth factor (Disc) are suppressed by Wolbachia. We further demonstrate that transcriptional depletion of GATA4 results in upregulation of both genes and conversely its overexpression leads to downregulation of the genes, suggesting that Wolbachia‐induced GATA4 plays a suppressive regulatory role with regards to Bsg25D and Disc expression in mosquito ovaries. When the Disc gene was silenced in mosquitoes, we did not observe any difference in the number of mature ovarian follicles developed between treatment groups. However, we did find a significant delay in the hatching of eggs that had been laid by Disc knockdown mosquitoes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ObjectivesGut dysbiosis is associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD), and serum free immunoglobulin light chains (FLCs) are biomarkers for CKD. This study aims to assess the CKD gut microbiome and to determine its impact on serum FLC levels.MethodsTo control for confounders, 100 patients and sex- and age-matched healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. The gut microbiome was assessed by sequencing 16S rRNA gene V3-V4 hypervariable regions. Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States was applied to infer functional metabolic pathways. When observing group differences in the microbiome and predicted metabolic pathways, demographic confounders were adjusted using binary logistic regression; when examining impacts of the gut microbiome and metabolic pathways on serum FLCs, factors influencing FLC levels were adjusted using multiple regression.ResultsPrincipal coordinate analysis revealed a significantly different bacterial community between the CKD and HC groups (P < 0.05). After adjusting for confounders, lower Chao 1, observed species and Shannon indices based on binary logistic regression predicted CKD prevalence. Actinobacteria, Alistipes, Bifidobacterium and Bifidobacterium longum enrichment, upregulation of metabolic pathways of bacterial toxin, chloroalkane and chloroalkene degradation, and Staphylococcus aureus infection also predicted CKD prevalence (P < 0.05). Furthermore, depletion of Actinobacteria and Bifidobacterium and reduced chloroalkane and chloroalkene degradation predicted high levels of FLC λ (P < 0.05).ConclusionsGut dysbiosis in CKD patients was confirmed by controlling for confounders in the present study. Additionally, the association between gut dysbiosis and FLC λ levels demonstrates the existence of crosstalk between the microbiome and immune response in CKD.

Plato’s dialogues, the Symposium, and Phaedrus, provide a reasonableexplanation of love. G. Vlastos and M. Nussbaum do not share such anopinion. The former contends that Plato’s view of love is about lovingonly a person’s beauty, but not the entire person; thus, it falls short of anappropriate explanation of love. The latter holds that a theory of love should be complete, and that Plato’s one is incomplete on the grounds that it does not account for personal love. These criticisms will be re-evaluated in light of the duality of love (the white and non-white horses—in Phaedrus) as well as participants’ views in the Symposium; a re-assessment will weaken the mentioned objections. This paper contends that from the Symposium and Phaedrus, one can have a fruitful understanding of being in love, being out of love, falling inlove, loving for its own sake and being erotically in love. In order to account for these related issues of love it is important to consider Plato’s works in terms of his “official” and “unofficial” views. The former is construed as the doctrine of the lover or loving for its own sake: this is associates with Diotima’s views which are repeated by Socrates. With reference to the latter, it is possible to explain what personal love or being in love, being out of love, falling in love, and being erotically in love involve. Erotic love will be interpreted as an extension of our philosophical conception of love, related to views of love that are mentioned in the Symposium other than Socrates’ report of Diotima’s conceptions. This paper is divided into two parts: the first one will show views of love in the Symposium. That is, being in love, being out of love, falling in love and loving for its own sake will be discussed. In addition, the forementioned criticisms will be re-evaluated. In the second section, we will show that Aristophanes’ speech expresses erotic love, and then Kant’s objections will be explained and discussed.

Las nuevas tecnologías están cambiando los hábitos de trabajo en cualquier profesión, y la enseñanza no puede ser una excepción. Sin duda, el invento más revolucionario de estas tecnologías ha sido el ordenador digital, ya que este instrumento, apoyado por el software adecuado, tiene la capacidad de adaptarse a las necesidades de cualquier situación. En los últimos años se han realizado grandes progresos, tanto en el desarrollo teórico de algoritmos simbólicos y algebraicos como en su implementación en sistemas de ordenador. Una gran parte de los problemas económicos se plantean en términos matemáticos. En este trabajo se presenta una revisión cronológica de los paquetes de cálculo simbólico, así como los programas más utilizados en la actualidad y que poseen una aritmética exacta. En cada uno de ellos se señalan sus principales utilidades.

Las relaciones intersectoriales presentes en el Modelo Input-Output han sido objeto de numerosos análisis matemáticos. En una primera etapa, y debido a su propio planteamiento como un sistema de ecuaciones lineales, W. Leontief y su escuela, haciendo uso del álgebra lineal y el cálculo matricial, consiguieron computar el vector de producciones totales a partir del vector de demandas finales. Posteriormente, autores como Kuhn (1956) ó R. Dorfman, P. Samuelson y R. Solow (1958) emplearon técnicas de programación lineal en la resolución del modelo. Más tarde, C. Ponsard (1969) y R. Lantner(1974), entre otros, profundizaron en el análisis estructural del modelo Input-Output, mediante técnicas de grafos, asignándole un grafo de transferencia. En las VIII Jornadas de ASEPUMA, nosotras mismas, siguiendo el planteamiento de M. Mougeot, G. Duru y J. P. Auray (1977), expusimos cómo ciertas relaciones de interdependencia definidas entre las ramas de producción inducían unas estructuras pretoplógicas que permitían determinar su propensión a comprar o vender al resto. Analizados en profundidad estos dos últimos métodos de análisis, descubrimos grandes analogías en ambos planteamientos en sus aportaciones al estudio de las relaciones de interdependencia en el modelo, y que ahora tratamos de exponer brevemente.

Acabamos de finalizar el año mundial de las matemáticas y su influencia todavía perdura. El pasado 17 de Enero, en el Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid, podíamos oír al crítico francés George Steiner (1929) en su conferencia sobre la crisis del lenguaje frases como “el habla ya no es la definición del ser humano, debido a que parece obligado a entregarse al lenguaje de las matemáticas”, y recordó que Galileo ya comentaba que “la naturaleza se expresa por las matemáticas, no a través de las lenguas”. Nadie duda de la importancia e utilidad de las matemáticas en el mundo en que vivimos y por consiguiente en los estudios en economía y en ADE. El problema surge a la hora de elegir qué conceptos matemáticos son realmente imprescindibles para cursar las mencionadas licenciaturas. En este trabajo se pretende justificar los contenidos de los créditos de matemáticas en el resto de las asignaturas de las licenciaturas en economía y en ADE según sus necesidades. El trabajo se presenta en tablas, una para cada asignatura (troncales y optativas), y para ambas licenciaturas. Por último se realiza el comentario de las aplicaciones concretas a diversas asignaturas del plan de estudios.

Background: To evaluate the glycemia risk index (GRI) as a new glucometry in pediatric and adult populations with type 1 diabetes (T1D) in clinical practice., Methods: A cross-sectional study of 202 patients with T1D receiving intensive treatment with insulin (25.2% continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion [CSII]) and intermittent scanning (flash) glucose monitoring (isCGM). Clinical and glucometric isCGM data were collected, as well as the component of hypoglycemia (CHypo) and component of hyperglycemia (CHyper) of the GRI., Results: A total of 202 patients (53% males and 67.8% adults) with a mean age of 28.6 ± 15.7 years and 12.5 ± 10.9 years of T1D evolution were evaluated.Adult patients (>19 years) presented higher glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) (7.4 ± 1.1 vs 6.7 ± 0.6%; P < .01) and lower time in range (TIR) (55.4 ± 17.5 vs 66.5 ± 13.1%; P < .01) values than the pediatric population, with lower coefficient of variation (CV) (38.6 ± 7.2 vs 42.4 ± 8.9%; P < .05). The GRI was significantly lower in pediatric patients (48.0 ± 22.2 vs 56.8 ± 23.4; P < .05) associated with higher CHypo (7.1 ± 5.1 vs 5.0 ± 4.5; P < .01) and lower CHyper (16.8 ± 9.8 vs 26.5 ± 15.1; P < .01) than in adults.When analyzing treatment with CSII compared with multiple doses of insulin (MDI), a nonsignificant trend to a lower GRI was observed in CSII (51.0 ± 15.3 vs 55.0 ± 25.4; P = .162), with higher levels of CHypo (6.5 ± 4.1 vs 5.4 ± 5.0; P < .01) and lower CHyper (19.6 ± 10.6 vs 24.6 ± 15.2; P < .05) compared with MDI., Conclusions: In pediatric patients and in those with CSII treatment, despite a better control by classical and GRI parameters, higher overall CHypo was observed than in adults and MDI, respectively. The present study supports the usefulness of the GRI as a new glucometric parameter to evaluate the global risk of hypoglycemia-hyperglycemia in both pediatric and adult patients with T1D., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Although previous work has shown the complexity of motives behind the VOX vote, its emergence is often associated mainly with the Catalan conflict. Our analysis shows that VOX's first electoral success was marked importantly by preferences related to territorial conflict, but also by opposition to immigration, authoritarianism or ideology. The main contribution of the paper lies in demonstrating something that until now had not been empirically verified: the relevance of anti-feminist attitudes amongst the VOX electorate. This shows how, since its onset, these voters have not been so different from voters of other European radical right-wing parties, and how VOX has channelled into elections the reaction against different expressions of a more diverse and egalitarian society., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Ramis-Moyano et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Web surveys have replaced Face-to-Face and computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) as the main mode of data collection in most countries. This trend was reinforced as a consequence of COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions. However, this mode still faces significant limitations in obtaining probability-based samples of the general population. For this reason, most web surveys rely on nonprobability survey designs. Whereas probability-based designs continue to be the gold standard in survey sampling, nonprobability web surveys may still prove useful in some situations. For instance, when small subpopulations are the group under study and probability sampling is unlikely to meet sample size requirements, complementing a small probability sample with a larger nonprobability one may improve the efficiency of the estimates. Nonprobability samples may also be designed as a mean for compensating for known biases in probability-based web survey samples by purposely targeting respondent profiles that tend to be underrepresented in these surveys. This is the case in the Survey on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain (ESPACOV) that motivates this paper. In this paper, we propose a methodology for combining probability and nonprobability web-based survey samples with the help of machine-learning techniques. We then assess the efficiency of the resulting estimates by comparing them with other strategies that have been used before. Our simulation study and the application of the proposed estimation method to the second wave of the ESPACOV Survey allow us to conclude that this is the best option for reducing the biases observed in our data., (© 2022 The Authors. Biometrical Journal published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Introduction: Many elderly patients with COVID-19 are at risk of malnutrition. The aim of our study was to evaluate the risk of malnutrition and sarcopenia in elderly COVID-19 patients with the R-MAPP (Remote-Malnutrition APP)., Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study of 337 consecutive outpatients ≥65 years who attended the Central Emergency COVID-19 Hospital of Castilla y Leon was conducted. In all patients, the protocol of R-MAPP (Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool [MUST] and Simple Questionnaire to Rapidly Diagnose Sarcopenia [SARC-F]) was realized., Results: The mean age was 86.1 ± 8.7 years, with a sex distribution of 167 males (49.5%) and 170 females (51.5%). According to the MUST test, patients with 0 points have a low nutritional risk (n = 50, 14.8%), 1 point a medium nutritional risk (n = 19, 5.6%), and 2 or more points a high nutritional risk (n = 268, 79.6%). The SARC-F questionnaire generates patients with 4 or more points as predictive of sarcopenia (n = 304, 80.2%) and <4 points without prediction of sarcopenia (n = 33, 9.8%). Global mortality was 24.03% (n = 81). The mortality rate was related to the pathological SARC-F score ≥4 (27.1% vs. 3.1%; p = 0.01) and MUST score ≥2 (26.7% vs. 16.4%; p = 0.04). In the logistic regression analysis, only the SARC-F score ≥4 remained as an independent variable related to mortality; odds ratio was 8.34 (95% CI: 1.1-63.8; p = 0.04), adjusted for age, sex, albumin levels, and MUST test., Conclusions: During COVID-19 infection, hospitalized patients at risk of sarcopenia have a high risk of mortality and have a poor nutritional status., (© 2021 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

The endosymbiont Wolbachia is known to block replication of several important arboviruses, including dengue virus (DENV), in the mosquito vector Aedes aegypti. So far, the exact mechanism of this viral inhibition is not fully understood. A recent study in Drosophila melanogaster has demonstrated an interaction between the pelo gene and Drosophila C virus. In this study, we explored the possible involvement of the pelo protein, that is involved in protein translation, in Wolbachia-mediated antiviral response and mosquito-DENV interaction. We found that pelo is upregulated during DENV replication and its silencing leads to reduced DENV virion production suggesting that it facilities DENV replication. However, in the presence of Wolbachia, specifically in female mosquitoes, the pelo protein is downregulated and its subcellular localization is altered, which could contribute to reduction in DENV replication in Ae. aegypti. In addition, we show that the microRNA aae-miR-2940-5p, whose abundance is highly enriched in Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes, might mediate regulation of pelo. Our data reveals identification of pelo as a host factor that is positively involved in DENV replication, and its suppression in the presence of Wolbachia may contribute to virus blocking exhibited by the endosymbiont.

Recent discoveries regarding the importance of isomiRs have increased our understanding of the regulatory complexities of the miRNAome. Observed changes in the miRNA profiles in mosquitoes infected with flaviviruses have implicated small RNAs in the interactions between viruses and their vectors. Here we analysed the isomiR profiles of both uninfected and infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes with the major human pathogen dengue virus (DENV). We found that several specific isomiRs were significantly altered in their abundance patterns in response to DENV infection potentially affecting their target repertoire. Notable among these were isomiR variants which displayed arm-switching. We also demonstrate that modifications to the 3p end of miRNAs are vastly more prevalent than those at the 5p ends. We also observed that in only 45% of Ae. aegypti miRNAs the most abundant read matches the exact sequence reported in miRBase. Further, we found positive correlations between the number of mature miRNA reads, pre-miRNA length, GC content and secondary structure minimum free energy with the number of isomiRs. The findings presented here provide some evidence that isomiR production is not a random phenomenon and may be important in DENV replication in its vector.

Background: Best recognized for its role in manipulating host reproduction, the parasitic gram-negative Wolbachia pipientis is known to colonize a wide range of invertebrates. The endosymbiotic bacterium has recently been shown to cause a life-shortening effect as well as inhibiting replication of arboviruses in Aedes aegypti; although the molecular mechanisms behind these effects are largely unknown. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been determined to have a wide range of roles in regulating gene expression in eukaryotes. A recent study showed that several A. aegypti mosquito miRNAs are differentially expressed when infected with Wolbachia., Methodology/principal Findings: Based on the prior knowledge that one of these miRNAs, aae-miR-12, is differentially expressed in mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia, we aimed to determine any significance of this mediation. We also set out to characterize the target genes of this miRNA in the A. aegpyti genome. Bioinformatic approaches predicted a list of potential target genes and subsequent functional analyses confirmed that two of these, DNA replication licensing (MCM6) and monocarboxylate transporter (MCT1), are under the regulative control of aae-miR-12. We also demonstrated that aae-miR-12 is critical in the persistence of Wolbachia in the host cell., Conclusions/significance: Our study has identified two target genes of aae-miR-12, a differentially expressed mosquito miRNA in Wolbachia-infected cells, and determined that the miRNA affects Wolbachia density in the host cells.

The alpha(4) integrin, alpha(4)beta(7), plays an important role in recruiting circulating lymphocytes to the gastrointestinal tract, where its ligand mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1 (MAdCAM-1) is preferentially expressed on high endothelial venules (HEVs). Dual antagonists of alpha(4)beta(1) and alpha(4)beta(7), N-(2,6-dichlorobenzoyl)-(L)-4-(2',6'-bis-methoxyphenyl)phenylalanine (TR14035) and N-(N-[(3,5-dichlorobenzene)sulfonyl]-2-(R)-methylpropyl)-(D)-phenylalanine (compound 1), were tested for their ability to block the binding of alpha(4)beta(7)-expressing cells to soluble ligand in suspension and under in vitro and in vivo shear flow. Compound 1 and TR14035 blocked the binding of human alpha(4)beta(7) to an (125)I-MAdCAM-Ig fusion protein with IC(50) values of 2.93 and 0.75 nM, respectively. Both compounds inhibited binding of soluble ligands to alpha(4)beta(1) or alpha(4)beta(7) on cells of human or rodent origin with similar potency. Under shear flow in vitro, TR14035 and compound 1 blocked binding of human alpha(4)beta(7)-expressing RPMI-8866 cells or murine mesenteric lymph node lymphocytes to MAdCAM-Ig with IC(50) values of 0.1 and 1 microM, respectively. Intravital microscopy was used to quantitate alpha(4)-dependent adhesion of fluorescent murine lymphocytes in Peyer's patch HEVs. When cells were prestimulated with 2 mM Mn(2+) to activate alpha(4)beta(7) binding to ligand, anti-alpha(4) monoclonal antibody (mAb) [10 mg/kg (mpk) i.v.] blocked adhesion by 95%, and anti-beta(1) mAb did not block adhesion, demonstrating that this interaction was dependent on alpha(4)beta(7). TR14035 blocked adhesion to HEVs [ED(50) of 0.01-0.1 mpk i.v.], and compound 1 blocked adhesion by 47% at 10 mpk i.v. Thus, alpha(4)beta(7)/alpha(4)beta(1) antagonists blocked alpha(4)beta(7)-dependent adhesion of lymphocytes to HEVs under both in vitro and in vivo shear flow.