Photosynthetic limitation of several representative subalpine species in the Catalan Pyrenees in summer.

Information on the photosynthetic process and its limitations is essential in order to predict both the capacity of species to adapt to conditions associated with climate change and the likely changes in plant communities. Considering that high-mountain species are especially sensitive, three species representative of subalpine forests of the Central Catalan Pyrenees: mountain pine (Pinus uncinata Mill.), birch (Betula pendula Roth) and rhododendron (Rhododendron ferrugineum L.) were studied under conditions associated with climate change, such as low precipitation, elevated atmospheric [CO2 ] and high solar irradiation incident at Earth's surface, in order to detect any photosynthetic limitations. Short-term high [CO2 ] increased photosynthesis rates (A) and water use efficiency (WUE), especially in birch and mountain pine, whereas stomatal conductance (gs ) was not altered in either species. Birch showed photosynthesis limitation through stomatal closure related to low rainfall, which induced photoinhibition and early foliar senescence. Rhododendron was especially affected by high irradiance, showing early photosynthetic saturation in low light, highest chlorophyll content, lowest gas exchange rates and least photoprotection. Mountain pine had the highest A, photosynthetic capacity (Amax ) and light-saturated rates of net CO2 assimilation (Asat ), which were maintained under reduced precipitation. Furthermore, maximum quantum yield (Fv /Fm ), thermal energy dissipation, PRI and SIPI radiometric index, and ascorbate content indicated improved photoprotection with respect to the other two species. However, maximum velocity of carboxylation of RuBisco (Vcmax ) indicated that N availability would be the main photosynthetic limitation in this species.

On the prediction of Hodgkin lymphoma treatment response.

PURPOSE: The cure rate in Hodgkin lymphoma is high, but the response along with treatment is still unpredictable and highly variable among patients. Detecting those patients who do not respond to treatment at early stages could bring improvements in their treatment. This research tries to identify the main biological prognostic variables currently gathered at diagnosis and design a simple machine learning methodology to help physicians improve the treatment response assessment. METHODS: We carried out a retrospective analysis of the response to treatment of a cohort of 263 Caucasians who were diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in Asturias (Spain). For that purpose, we used a list of 35 clinical and biological variables that are currently measured at diagnosis before any treatment begins. To establish the list of most discriminatory prognostic variables for treatment response, we designed a machine learning approach based on two different feature selection methods (Fisher's ratio and maximum percentile distance) and backwards recursive feature elimination using a nearest-neighbor classifier (k-NN). The weights of the k-NN classifier were optimized using different terms of the confusion matrix (true- and false-positive rates) to minimize risk in the decisions. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: We found that the optimum strategy to predict treatment response in Hodgkin lymphoma consists in solving two different binary classification problems, discriminating first if the patient is in progressive disease; if not, then discerning among complete and partial remission. Serum ferritin turned to be the most discriminatory variable in predicting treatment response, followed by alanine aminotransferase and alkaline phosphatase. The importance of these prognostic variables suggests a close relationship between inflammation, iron overload, liver damage and the extension of the disease.

Vertebral involvement in hyperphosphatemic tumoral calcinosis.

Hyperphosphatemic tumoral calcinosis (HTC) is an inherited metabolic disorder characterized by calcified soft tissue masses and hyperphosphatemia. Besides these typical features, a number of less common manifestations have been reported, all of them related to pathologic calcification of various tissues. We have investigated the case of a woman with hyperphosphatemia, recurrent episodes of lumbar pain, and a positive familial history of HTC. A bone scan showed markedly increased uptake in the lower lumbar spine. Magnetic resonance imaging showed pathological changes in L5 compatible with an inflammatory reaction and not suggestive of neoplastic process. There was no evidence of infection, trauma, malignancy, or other disease that could cause the lesion. We treated the patient with analgesics and NSAIDs and the pain remitted over a period of 1 week. In a follow-up magnetic resonance imaging 7 months later, the L5 lesion had disappeared completely. A computed tomography scan analysis with a bone window showed a sclerotic area at the L5 vertebral body. We believe that this patient was affected by the syndrome of HTC and that the inflammatory phenomena found in L5 are a manifestation of this disease.

Reduction in cardiac conduction velocity delay by angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition in hypertensive patients with left ventricular hypertrophy. Detection by signal averaged electrocardiography.

Hypertensive patients with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) have increased prevalence of ventricular arrhythmias. Slow conduction velocity at the level of hypertrophic myocardial cells has been one of the postulated mechanisms for these arrhythmias. To assess the effects of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition on modification in ventricular conduction velocities, we studied 25 hypertensive patients with LVH using signal averaged electrocardiography (SAECG) in a randomized double-blind placebo controlled and cross-over trial. Data were acquired at baseline and 10 min after a double-blind intravenous infusion of saline placebo or 2.5 mg enalaprilat. Sequential cross-over was done the next day. Root mean square vector was 55 +/- 5 microV at baseline, 55 +/- 5 microV after placebo and 54 +/- 4 microV after enalaprilat (P = NS). Low amplitude signal < 40 msec was 45 +/- 4 msec at baseline, 45 +/- 4 msec after placebo, and 43 +/- 4 msec after enalaprilat (P = NS). There was no change in filtered QRS (fQRS) duration between baseline (113 +/- 10 msec) and placebo (113 +/- 11 msec) measurements. However, after enalaprilat infusion, there was a significant reduction in fQRS to 106 +/- 7 msec (P = .04), and five patients (20%) with late potentials had normalization of this feature (P = .001). The data suggest that angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition with enalaprilat reduces conduction velocity delay in hypertensive patients with LVH.

Prevalence of ectopic ventricular activity after left ventricular mass regression.

To assess the effects of left ventricular mass reduction on the prevalence of ventricular ectopic activity, we conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial measuring ambulatory 48 h premature ventricular depolarizations in 27 patients with mild-to-moderate hypertension and an increased left ventricular mass index. Data was obtained at baseline and 6 +/- 2 months after randomization to either 25 mg captopril or placebo twice a day. Patients on captopril attained reduction in blood pressure from 167 +/- 11/103 +/- 6 to 136 +/- 10/85 +/- 5 mm Hg (P = .001), left ventricular mass index regression from 149 +/- 17 to 96 +/- 23 g/m2 (P = .001), and ventricular ectopic activity reduction from 413 +/- 172 to 77 +/- 27 ventricular extrasystoles/day (P = .001). Patients on placebo had no significant change in blood pressure (from 162 +/- 11/101 +/- 6 at baseline to 160 +/- 8/100 +/- 8 mm Hg after 6 months; P = NS). In the placebo group left ventricular mass index increased from 155 +/- 40 to 182 +/- 51 g/m2 (P = .01), and ventricular ectopic activity decreased from 634 +/- 293 to 562 +/- 260 ventricular extrasystoles/day (P = NS). Eight out of 14 patients on captopril (57%) and 1 out of 13 patients on placebo (8%) achieved reduction > 85% in ventricular ectopic activity per day (P = .004). Using multivariate logistic regression analysis, left ventricular mass index regression and reduction in systolic blood pressure were the most important correlates for this effect.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Stearoyl-ACP and oleoyl-PC desaturase genes cosegregate with quantitative trait loci underlying high stearic and high oleic acid mutant phenotypes in sunflower.

The genetic control of the synthesis of stearic acid (C18:0) and oleic acid (C18:1) in the seed oil of sunflower was studied through candidate-gene and QTL analysis. Two F(2) mapping populations were developed using the high C18:0 mutant CAS-3 crossed to either HA-89 (standard, high linoleic fatty acid profile), or HAOL-9 (high C18:1 version of HA-89). A stearoyl-ACP desaturase locus (SAD17A), and an oleoyl-PC de-saturase locus (OLD7) were found to cosegregate with the previously described Es1 and Ol genes controlling the high C18:0 and the high C18:1 traits, respectively. Using linkage maps constructed from AFLP and RFLP markers, these loci mapped to LG1 (SAD17A) and to LG14 (OLD7) and were found to underlie the major QTLs affecting the concentrations of C18:0 and C18:1, explaining around 80% and 56% of the phenotypic variance of these fatty acids, respectively. These QTLs pleiotropically affected the levels of other primary fatty acids in the seed storage lipids. A minor QTL affecting both C18:0 and C18:1 levels was identified on LG8 in the HAOL-9xCAS-3 F(2). This QTL showed a significant epistatic interaction for C18:1 with the QTL at the OLD7 locus, and was hypothesized to be a modifier of Ol. Two additional minor C18:0 QTLs were also detected on LG7 and LG3 in the HA-89xCAS-3 and the HAOL-9xCAS-3 F(2) populations, respectively. No association between a mapped FatB thioesterase locus and fatty acid concentration was found. These results provide strong support about the role of fatty acid desaturase genes in determining fatty acid composition in the seed oil of sunflower.

Effects of enalapril on ventricular volumes and neurohumoral status after inferior wall myocardial infarction.

The activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and its beneficial modification with the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibin after inferior wall myocardial infarction (MI) was evaluated. Fifty patients with acute inferior MI were randomly assigned to receive 5 mg per day of either enalapril or placebo after admission. Blood tests for neurohormone levels and echocardiograms were performed at initial examination and 4 weeks later. Baseline characteristics were similar in the two groups. Four weeks after randomization, patients treated with enalapril had lower end-diastolic volume (146 +/- 29 vs 167 +/- 15 ml; p = 0.04), end-systolic volume (56 +/- 18 vs 107 +/- 17 ml; p = 0.03), serum norepinephrine levels (320 +/- 93 vs 465 +/- 77 pg/ml; p < 0.01), angiotensin II levels (18 +/- 6 vs 54 +/- 11 pg/ml; p < 0.01), and atrial natriuretic polypeptide levels (106 +/- 9 vs 122 +/- 17 pg/ml; p = 0.05) than patients given placebo. The incidence of heart failure after MI was also lower in this group (4% vs 16%; p = 0.009). Results show that there is early neurohumoral activation in the course of acute inferior wall MI. Enalapril reduces neurohumoral levels and preserves ventricular volumes. These effects were associated with a reduction in the incidence of heart failure 4 weeks after MI in these patients.

Temperature Effects on the Disease Reactions of Sunflower to Infection by Orobanche cumana.

Three virulent populations (CU194, SE193, and SE194) of the parasitic plant Orobanche cu-mana were inoculated onto four lines (KA-41, J-8281, HA-89, and RHA-273) of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.). Pots were transferred to growth chambers set at 15, 19, 23, and 27°C. Emergence of broomrape plants and infection incidence were determinants of disease reaction. All broomrape populations were pathogenic to the sunflower lines KA-41, HA-89, and RHA-273, although differences in virulence were found. At 15 to 23°C, the populations of broomrape infected these three sunflower lines, but a delay in emergence of broomrape was found at 15°C; whereas, at 27°C, the level of infection was restricted. Only population CU194 infected the resistant line J-8281, with infection occurring mainly at 23 and 27°C, but few broomrape plants emerged. Our results suggest that the effect of temperature on the host-parasite relationship is complex.

[The incidence and distribution of accidents with biological fluids among health personnel and the general population]. / Incidencia y distribución de accidentes con fluidos biológicos en personal sanitario y población general.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the informative usefulness of the Registry, to calculate the incidence rates of accident with biological fluids among health care workers and in the community, to know about the postaccident rate of seroconversion to HIV and to identify risk groups. METHODS: A descriptive study of the HIV records file of the Registry of Accidental Contacts to Biological Fluids in the Clinic Hospital of Zaragoza was conducted, between January 1987 and September 1993. The registry includes the reports of health care workers and the general population of Health Area III in Aragón (Spain), except for the Calatayud's Hospital. Incidence rates, rate ratios and their 95% confidence intervals were calculated. RESULTS: A total number of 595 accidents were reported, in none of them and HIV infection occurred subsequently. The incidence rate in health care workers was of 1.7 reports per 100 workers per year, while in the community it was of 8.1 per 100,000 people. The housekeeping staff was the group with a higher incidence (rate = 6.7; 95% IC: 3-14.8) and the type of accident more frequently described was needlestick injury. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of reported accidents has increased in the community and in health care workers, which may be due to the increase in the reporting. In health care workers, the incidence in 1993 was within the range reported from other countries. The perception of risk is universal after accidents with unknown biological fluids. The correct disposal of material with biological contamination should be the more important preventive action.

Readmission in unstable angina.

To determine the characteristics of patients re-admitted after unstable angina (UA) pectoris, 120 consecutive patients hospitalized due to primary UA pectoris were prospectively studied 22 +/- 3 months after discharge. The patients were grouped based on the readmission rate. Those in group A (50) had recurrent admissions (mean 2.6, range 2 to 5). Seventy patients (group B) did not have readmissions during the follow-up period. All patients underwent coronary angiogram and symptoms-limited exercise stress test before discharge. The univariate characteristics for readmission were: age over 70 years (p = 0.02), nondiagnostic exercise stress testing (p = 0.03), angiographically diffuse coronary artery disease (p = 0.004), and non-interventional management (P < 0.001). Patients readmitted had increased incidence of myocardial infarction (p = 0.004) but similar survival at 2 years. By regression analysis, important variables for readmission were non-interventional management (Chi-Square = 7.6, p = 0.01), non diagnostic treadmill test (Chi-Square = 6.9, p = 0.03) and diffuse coronary artery disease (Chi-Square = 6.2, p = 0.04). It is concluded that in the interventional era the most important factor for readmission after primary UA pectoris is non-interventional management. Coronary revascularization should not be denied solely on the basis of age.

[Stereotactic target identification for neurosurgery of Parkinson disease]. / Identificación de las dianas estereotáxicas en la cirugía de la enfermedad de Parkinson.

INTRODUCTION: The use of applied neurophysiological methods to improve the stereotactic localization of devices in the deep human brain is a high and systematic technology in Parkinson's neurosurgery today. The available standard equipment for clinical neurophysiology practice may constitute the basic set for high tech functional neurosurgery. Free run and event related multiunit recording, naturalistic and electrical evoked potentials, and deep brain microstimulation responses are the basic methodological set to neurophysiological target localization. DEVELOPMENT AND CONCLUSIONS: This article is concerned with the topic: set out a high technology using low cost equipment. So our 41 cases experienced in pallidal and thalamic nucleolisis and thalamus and subthalamus DBS results suggest that the proposed equipment and methods are the required to assure accuracy and safety for target location.

[Incidence of dural puncture headache after intradural anesthesia carried out by residents]. / Incidencia de cefalea pospunción dural tras anestesia intradural realizada por médicos residentes.

To evaluate dural puncture headache (DPH) after intradural anesthesia (IA) carried out by residents of anesthesiology and reanimation, and its relation with the degree of difficulty of the puncture, a sample of 81 patients with ages ranging between 48 and 88 years was evaluated. The incidence of DPH was 12.35%, and it was not statistically associated with age, sex, anesthetic approach, local anesthetic, or degree of difficulty of lumbar puncture.

[Abnormality of the lower cranial nerves as a symptom of Chiari's syndrome]. / Alteración en los pares craneales bajos como sospecha de un síndrome de Chiari.

Dysfunction of the last cranial pairs can occur in some neurological diseases, such as Chiari's malformation. This entity causes herniation of the cerebellar amygdalas through the foramen magnum, producing descent of the brainstem and traction on the lower cranial pairs. This dysfunction occurs in 57-70% of patients with this malformation, which is why the disease may be diagnosed in the ENT clinic. Clinical suspicion of this entity after exhaustive examination of the patient, early disease diagnosis and correct selection of surgical treatment can alleviate major symptoms and prevent neurological complications in some cases.

[Malignant melanoma of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses]. / Melanomas malignos de las fosas nasales y los senos paranasales.

Malignant melanomas represent about 3% of all nasosinusal neoplasms. They usually are located in the nasal septum and their maximum incidence is in the sixth and seventh decades. In the early stages they are asymptomatic, which delays diagnosis and reduces the possibilities of cure to 15-30%. Eight cases of nasosinusal melanoma are reported and their characteristics are reviewed with special attention to prognostic factors.

[Cerebellopontine angle and internal auditory canal lipomas: report of four cases and review of the literature]. / Lipomas de angulo pontocerebeloso y conducto auditivo interno: serie de 4 casos clínicos y revisión de la literatura.

AIM: Lipomas are exceptional tumors at the Cerebellopontine Angle (CPA) or the Internal Auditory Canal (IAC). We evaluate clinical, histological and radiological characteristics of the cases diagnosed in our Hospital and the results of conservative versus surgical treatment. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We report 4 cases of CPA and/or IAC and review 99 previously reported in the literature. RESULTS: Unilateral tinnitus was the most frequent symptom (100%). All lesions showed hyperintensity on T1 and hypo/isointensity on T2--weighted MNR images. Two patients underwent a retro-sigmoidal approach without complete tumoral resection and with additional neurological consequences. Another two cases were followed up by annual MNRs. During the follow-up period (4.2 years average), neither clinical nor radiological changes were detected. CONCLUSION: The surgical resection of CPA y/o IAC lipomas is associated to a significant morbidity due to the high vascularization and the dense adherence of these lesions to the surrounding tissues. The MNR is the suitable technique for differential diagnosis between lesions at this location.

[Bacteriology of surgical wound infections in oncological head and neck surgery]. / Bacteriología de las infecciones de la herida quirúrgica en cirugía oncológica de cabeza y cuello.

Surgical wound infections are a frequent complication of head and neck cancer surgery. In a group of 159 consecutive patients we analyzed bacteriological cultures from 21 with suppurative draining from the wound. In 3 cases cultures were monomicrobial, in 12 cultures were polymicrobial, and in 6 no bacterial isolate was obtained from the cultured material. Gram-positive aerobes were the most frequent bacteria (54%), followed by gram-negative aerobes (38%) and anaerobes (8%). No relation was found between bacteriological profile, antibiotic prophylaxis, tumor site, tumor stage, or surgical procedure.

Distributions of amino acids suggest that certain residue types more effectively determine protein secondary structure.

Exponential growth in the number of available protein sequences is unmatched by the slower growth in the number of structures. As a result, the development of efficient and fast protein secondary structure prediction methods is essential for the broad comprehension of protein structures. Computational methods that can efficiently determine secondary structure can in turn facilitate protein tertiary structure prediction, since most methods rely initially on secondary structure predictions. Recently, we have developed a fast learning optimized prediction methodology (FLOPRED) for predicting protein secondary structure (Saraswathi et al. in JMM 18:4275, 2012). Data are generated by using knowledge-based potentials combined with structure information from the CATH database. A neural network-based extreme learning machine (ELM) and advanced particle swarm optimization (PSO) are used with this data to obtain better and faster convergence to more accurate secondary structure predicted results. A five-fold cross-validated testing accuracy of 83.8 % and a segment overlap (SOV) score of 78.3 % are obtained in this study. Secondary structure predictions and their accuracy are usually presented for three secondary structure elements: α-helix, ß-strand and coil but rarely have the results been analyzed with respect to their constituent amino acids. In this paper, we use the results obtained with FLOPRED to provide detailed behaviors for different amino acid types in the secondary structure prediction. We investigate the influence of the composition, physico-chemical properties and position specific occurrence preferences of amino acids within secondary structure elements. In addition, we identify the correlation between these properties and prediction accuracy. The present detailed results suggest several important ways that secondary structure predictions can be improved in the future that might lead to improved protein design and engineering.

[Randomised comparative study of early versus delayed surgery in hip-fracture patients on concomitant treatment with antiplatelet drugs. Determination of platelet aggregation, perioperative bleeding and a review of annual mortality]. / Estudio comparativo aleatorizado de la intervención quirúrgica temprana frente a la demorada en los pacientes con fractura de cadera tratados con antiagregantes plaquetarios. Determinación de la agregabilidad plaquetaria y el sangrado perioperatorio, y la revisión de la mortalidad al año.

OBJECTIVE: A review of the perioperative management of patients with hip fractures and concomitant therapy with antiplatelet agents, and to analyse the differences in mortality and perioperative bleeding in early surgery (<48 h) versus delayed surgery (>5 days). Platelet aggregation was measured on admission and immediately before surgery in all patients included in the study PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 175 patients over 65 years old, with low energy hip fracture were randomised into 3 groups: Patients on antiplatelet therapy undergoing early surgery, patients on antiplatelet therapy undergoing delayed surgery, and patients not on antiplatelet therapy undergoing early surgery. The same clinical and laboratory data were collected prospectively up to 12 months for all the patients. The platelet aggregation was determined by a semi-quantitative computerised system based on impedance aggregometry in whole blood. RESULTS: Bleeding, transfusion requirements and analytical results showed no significant differences between groups. More than half (59.8%) of the patients not taking antiplatelet therapy had normal platelet aggregation on admission, while 13.5% of those taking antiplatelet agents did not. Multivariate analysis showed increased mortality at 12 months for the variables, low Barthel index before hip fracture (OR: 0.9-0.9) and number of transfusions (OR: 1.1-1.5). The average lenth of stay was 4.1 days greater in the delayed surgery group. CONCLUSION: Early surgery for patients receiving antiplatelet therapy has similar clinical outcomes to the delayed, but improves hospital efficiency by reducing the average length of stay. The antiplatelet drug reported by the patient showed low concordance with the determination of the platelet aggregation.

Fast learning optimized prediction methodology (FLOPRED) for protein secondary structure prediction.

Computational methods are rapidly gaining importance in the field of structural biology, mostly due to the explosive progress in genome sequencing projects and the large disparity between the number of sequences and the number of structures. There has been an exponential growth in the number of available protein sequences and a slower growth in the number of structures. There is therefore an urgent need to develop computational methods to predict structures and identify their functions from the sequence. Developing methods that will satisfy these needs both efficiently and accurately is of paramount importance for advances in many biomedical fields, including drug development and discovery of biomarkers. A novel method called fast learning optimized prediction methodology (FLOPRED) is proposed for predicting protein secondary structure, using knowledge-based potentials combined with structure information from the CATH database. A neural network-based extreme learning machine (ELM) and advanced particle swarm optimization (PSO) are used with this data that yield better and faster convergence to produce more accurate results. Protein secondary structures are predicted reliably, more efficiently and more accurately using FLOPRED. These techniques yield superior classification of secondary structure elements, with a training accuracy ranging between 83 % and 87 % over a widerange of hidden neurons and a cross-validated testing accuracy ranging between 81 % and 84 % and a segment overlap (SOV) score of 78 % that are obtained with different sets of proteins. These results are comparable to other recently published studies, but are obtained with greater efficiencies, in terms of time and cost.