Differential involvement of synovial adipokines in pain and physical function in female patients with knee osteoarthritis. A cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: Adipokines have been reported to play a role in the development, progression and severity of knee osteoarthritis but the influence of the different adipokines are not well known. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between different synovial fluid adipokines with pain and disability knee osteoarthritis patients. METHODS: Cross-sectional study with systematic inclusion of 115 symptomatic primary knee osteoarthritis female patients with ultrasound-confirmed joint effusion. Age, physical exercise, symptoms duration and different anthropometric measurements were collected. Radiographic severity was evaluated according to Kellgren-Lawrence scale. Pain and disability were assessed by WOMAC-total, -pain, -function subscales and Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) pain and function scales. Seven adipokines and three inflammatory markers were measured by ELISA in synovial fluid. Partial Correlation Coefficient (PCC) and corresponding 95% confidence interval were used as a measure of association. RESULTS: Leptin, osteopontin and inflammatory factors, especially TNF-alpha, were associated to pain and function. After adjustment for potential confounders including inflammatory factors and all adipokines, an association was found for adiponectin with pain (PCC 0.240 [0.012, 0.444]) and for resistin and visfatin with function (PCC 0.336 [0.117, 0.524] and -0.262 [-0.463, -0.036]). No other adipokines or inflammatory markers were statistically and independently associated. An association between physical exercise and pain and disability remained after adjustment, whereas an attenuation of the influence of anthropometric measurements was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Different patterns of association between synovial fluid adipokines were observed regarding pain and disability in knee osteoarthritis patients. Specifically, adiponectin was associated to pain while resistin and visfatin were mainly related to function.

Ligand-dependent Hedgehog pathway activation in Rhabdomyosarcoma: the oncogenic role of the ligands.

BACKGROUND: Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common type of soft tissue sarcoma in children. The Hedgehog (HH) pathway is known to develop an oncogenic role in RMS. However, the molecular mechanism that drives activation of the pathway in RMS is not well understood. METHODS: The expression of HH ligands was studied by qPCR, western blot and immunohistochemistry. Functional and animal model studies were carried out with cells transduced with shRNAs against HH ligands or treated with HH-specific inhibitors (Vismodegib and MEDI-5304). Finally, the molecular characterisation of an off-target effect of Vismodegib was also made. RESULTS: The results showed a prominent expression of HH ligands supporting an autocrine ligand-dependent activation of the pathway. A comparison of pharmacologic Smoothened inhibition (Vismodegib) and HH ligand blocking (MEDI-5304) is also provided. Interestingly, a first description of pernicious off-target effect of Vismodegib is also reported. CONCLUSIONS: The clarification of the HH pathway activation mechanism in RMS opens a door for targeted therapies against HH ligands as a possible alternative in the future development of better treatment protocols. Moreover, the description of a pernicious off-target effect of Vismodegib, via unfolded protein response activation, may mechanistically explain its previously reported inefficiency in several ligand-dependent cancers.

Perturbation vectors to evaluate air quality using lichens and bromeliads: a Brazilian case study.

Samples of one lichen species, Parmotrema crinitum, and one bromeliad species, Tillandsia usneoides, were collected in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at four sites differently affected by anthropogenic pollution. The concentrations of aluminum, cadmium, copper, iron, lanthanum, lead, sulfur, titanium, zinc, and zirconium were determined by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy. The environmental diagnosis was established by examining compositional changes via perturbation vectors, an underused family of methods designed to circumvent the problem of closure in any compositional dataset. The perturbation vectors between the reference site and the other three sites were similar for both species, although body concentration levels were different. At each site, perturbation vectors between lichens and bromeliads were approximately the same, whatever the local pollution level. It should thus be possible to combine these organisms, though physiologically different, for air quality surveys, after making all results comparable with appropriate correction. The use of perturbation vectors seems particularly suitable for assessing pollution level by biomonitoring, and for many frequently met situations in environmental geochemistry, where elemental ratios are more relevant than absolute concentrations.

Reconsolidation-induced memory persistence: Participation of late phase hippocampal ERK activation.

Persistence is an attribute of long-term memories (LTM) that has recently caught researcher's attention in search for mechanisms triggered by experience that assure memory perdurability. Up-to-date, scarce evidence of relationship between reconsolidation and persistence has been described. Here, we characterized hippocampal ERK participation in LTM reconsolidation and persistence using an inhibitory avoidance task (IA) at different time points. Intra-dorsal-hippocampal (dHIP) administration of an ERK inhibitor (PD098059, PD, 1.0µg/hippocampus) 3h after retrieval did not affect reconsolidation of a strong IA, when tested 24h apart. However, the same manipulation impaired performance when animals were tested at 7d, regardless of the training's strength; and being specific to memory reactivation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report showing that persistence might be triggered after memory reactivation involving an ERK/MAPK-dependent process.

High prevalence of cardiovascular co-morbidities in patients with symptomatic knee or hand osteoarthritis.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the frequency of cardiovascular events (CVEs) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in patients with symptomatic knee or hand osteoarthritis (OA). METHOD: A cross-sectional study conducted by rheumatologists in a primary care setting. Consecutive symptomatic patients with primary knee or hand OA were included and patients with soft tissue conditions served as the control group. Hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity, dyslipidaemia, and CVEs consisting of myocardial infarction, angina, or cerebrovascular disease were recorded. RESULTS: A total of 254 OA patients (184 with knee OA and 70 with hand OA) and 254 control patients were included. The frequency of obesity was higher in all OA groups and hypertension was more frequent in knee OA. MetS was significantly more frequent in patients with OA as a whole group and in knee or hand OA groups separately (p < 0.001, p = 0.002, and p = 0.007, respectively, vs. control group), with odds ratio (OR) 2.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.26-4.55 in the OA group, OR 2.29, 95% CI 1.15-4.54 in the knee OA group, and OR 2.67, 95% CI 1.15-6.19 in the hand OA group. A higher prevalence of CVEs in the three OA groups was observed compared with the control group. CONCLUSIONS: A high frequency of MetS and CVEs was observed in OA patients in a primary care setting.

Conservatism and novelty in the genetic architecture of adaptation in Heliconius butterflies.

Understanding the genetic architecture of adaptive traits has been at the centre of modern evolutionary biology since Fisher; however, evaluating how the genetic architecture of ecologically important traits influences their diversification has been hampered by the scarcity of empirical data. Now, high-throughput genomics facilitates the detailed exploration of variation in the genome-to-phenotype map among closely related taxa. Here, we investigate the evolution of wing pattern diversity in Heliconius, a clade of neotropical butterflies that have undergone an adaptive radiation for wing-pattern mimicry and are influenced by distinct selection regimes. Using crosses between natural wing-pattern variants, we used genome-wide restriction site-associated DNA (RAD) genotyping, traditional linkage mapping and multivariate image analysis to study the evolution of the architecture of adaptive variation in two closely related species: Heliconius hecale and H. ismenius. We implemented a new morphometric procedure for the analysis of whole-wing pattern variation, which allows visualising spatial heatmaps of genotype-to-phenotype association for each quantitative trait locus separately. We used the H. melpomene reference genome to fine-map variation for each major wing-patterning region uncovered, evaluated the role of candidate genes and compared genetic architectures across the genus. Our results show that, although the loci responding to mimicry selection are highly conserved between species, their effect size and phenotypic action vary throughout the clade. Multilocus architecture is ancestral and maintained across species under directional selection, whereas the single-locus (supergene) inheritance controlling polymorphism in H. numata appears to have evolved only once. Nevertheless, the conservatism in the wing-patterning toolkit found throughout the genus does not appear to constrain phenotypic evolution towards local adaptive optima.

Morphology and genetics reveal an intriguing pattern of differentiation at a very small geographic scale in a bird species, the forest thrush Turdus lherminieri.

Mobile organisms are expected to show population differentiation only over fairly large geographical distances. However, there is growing evidence of discrepancy between dispersal potential and realized gene flow. Here we report an intriguing pattern of differentiation at a very small spatial scale in the forest thrush (Turdus lherminieri), a bird species endemic to the Lesser Antilles. Analysis of 331 individuals from 17 sampling sites distributed over three islands revealed a clear morphological and genetic differentiation between these islands isolated by 40-50 km. More surprisingly, we found that the phenotypic divergence between the two geographic zones of the island of Guadeloupe was associated with a very strong genetic differentiation (Fst from 0.073-0.153), making this pattern a remarkable case in birds given the very small spatial scale considered. Molecular data (mitochondrial control region sequences and microsatellite genotypes) suggest that this strong differentiation could have occurred in situ, although alternative hypotheses cannot be fully discarded. This study suggests that the ongoing habitat fragmentation, especially in tropical forests, may have a deeper impact than previously thought on avian populations.

Application of the CIEMAT/NIST method to 14C low-level measurements.

Radiocarbon dating of samples from benzene synthesis by low-level Liquid Scintillation Counting (LSC) method requires the availability of 14C standards in benzene, which are difficult to obtain, or the use of an absolute measurement which is out of reach for most analytical laboratories. This paper describes how the CIEMAT/NIST method can help to solve this issue and presents the measurements of low activity concentrations performed in the LRI-D using two different benzene base scintillator cocktails.

UNITY: A low-field magnetic resonance neuroimaging initiative to characterize neurodevelopment in low and middle-income settings.

Measures of physical growth, such as weight and height have long been the predominant outcomes for monitoring child health and evaluating interventional outcomes in public health studies, including those that may impact neurodevelopment. While physical growth generally reflects overall health and nutritional status, it lacks sensitivity and specificity to brain growth and developing cognitive skills and abilities. Psychometric tools, e.g., the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, may afford more direct assessment of cognitive development but they require language translation, cultural adaptation, and population norming. Further, they are not always reliable predictors of future outcomes when assessed within the first 12-18 months of a child's life. Neuroimaging may provide more objective, sensitive, and predictive measures of neurodevelopment but tools such as magnetic resonance (MR) imaging are not readily available in many low and middle-income countries (LMICs). MRI systems that operate at lower magnetic fields (< 100mT) may offer increased accessibility, but their use for global health studies remains nascent. The UNITY project is envisaged as a global partnership to advance neuroimaging in global health studies. Here we describe the UNITY project, its goals, methods, operating procedures, and expected outcomes in characterizing neurodevelopment in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Interstitial granulomatous dermatitis and arthritis revealing oesophageal carcinoma.

Interstitial granulomatous dermatitis and arthritis (IGDA) is an uncommon clinicopathological condition that may occur in association with a number of systemic disorders. We present a novel case of IGDA in association with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). A 67-year-old man with a 3-month history of arthritis presented with several erythematous indurated plaques on his lateral trunk and arms. An oesophagogastroduodenoscopy showed an irregular mass 20 mm in size in the proximal third of the oesophagus, and on histopathological examination of a biopsy, the mass was identified as a poorly differentiated SCC. Histopathological examination of a skin biopsy found features consistent with interstitial granulomatous dermatitis. The combination of clinicopathological correlation and laboratory findings led to the diagnosis of IGDA. This association has not been previously described, to our knowledge.

Spilocaea oleagina in Olive Groves of Southern Spain: Survival, Inoculum Production, and Dispersal.

Olive scab caused by the mitosporic fungus Spilocaea oleagina is the most important foliar disease of olive. Limited information is available on pathogen survival and disease epidemiology; however, this information is essential for development of new control strategies. Pathogen survival and inoculum production on infected olive leaves and conidial dispersal were evaluated during 4 years in an olive orchard of the susceptible 'Picual' in southern Spain. Infected leaves in the tree canopy were important for pathogen survival and conidia production. The number of conidia per square centimeter of scab lesion and their viability varied greatly throughout the seasons and between years; conidial density in lesions was highest (about 1 to 5 × 105 conidia cm-2) from November to February in favorable years. Conidial density declined sharply in other periods of the year (becoming zero in summer) or in less favorable years. The pathogen did not form new conidia in scab lesions, although some pseudothecia-like structures and chlamydospores were detected on fallen leaves. Under humid conditions, the pathogen could not be detected on fallen leaves after 3 months because the leaves were colonized by saprophytic fungi. The dispersal of conidia as a function of distance from infected leaves in the tree canopy was well described by an exponential model which, together with the lack of conidia in a Burkard spore trap, showed that conidia were mainly rain-splash dispersed. Some trapped conidia were attached to olive leaf trichomes, suggesting that detached trichomes might enhance wind dispersal of conidia.

When less means more: evolutionary and developmental hypotheses in rodent molars.

Tooth number in rodents is an example of reduction in evolution. All rodents have a toothless diastema lacking canine and most premolars present in most other mammals. Whereas some rodent lineages retained one premolar (p4), many others lost it during evolution. Recently, an 'inhibitory cascade' developmental model (IC) has been used to predict how the first molar (m1) influences the number and relative sizes of the following distal molars (m2 and m3). The model does not, however, consider the presence of premolars, and here we examine whether the premolar could influence and constrain molar proportions during development and evolution. By investigating a large data set of both extinct and extant rodent families over more than 40 million years, we show that the basal phenotype is characterized by the presence of premolars together with equally sized molars. More recent rodent families, with and without premolar, show more unequal molar sizes. Analysing molar areas, we demonstrated that (i) rodents harbour almost all the molar proportions known in mammals, and the IC model can explain about 80% of taxa in our data set; (ii) proportions of molars are influenced by the presence or absence of p4; and (iii) the most variable teeth in the dental row are m1 and m3, whether p4 is present or not. Moreover, m1 can represent up to half of the total molar area when p4 is absent. We hypothesize that p4 loss during evolution released the constraint on m1 development, resulting in a more variable size of m1 and thereby having an indirect effect on the evolution of the whole molar row.

[Pyoderma gangrenosum: a report of 15 cases and review of the literature]. / Pioderma gangrenoso: Presentación de 15 casos y revisión de la literatura.

BACKGROUND: Pyoderma gangrenosum is a condition that is included among the neutrophilic dermatoses. Given its low incidence, few studies have addressed its epidemiology or treatment. OBJECTIVE: To describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients with pyoderma gangrenosum along with our experience of treating the condition in a referral hospital in Malaga, Spain. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective, observational study was undertaken in the Department of Dermatology at Hospital Clínico Universitario Virgen de la Victoria in Malaga, Spain between January 2000 and December 2009 and included all patients diagnosed with pyoderma gangrenosum. RESULTS: The incidence of pyoderma gangrenosum in our reference population is 3.26 cases per million inhabitants per year. The most frequent concomitant systemic disease was ulcerative colitis (5 cases, 33%). In 4 patients with that disease, pyoderma gangrenosum appeared during a flare-up. In 80% of cases, patients were not referred to a dermatologist during the initial phase of pyoderma gangrenosum, and most referrals were from gastroenterology or general surgery (4 patients each, 52%). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with pyoderma gangrenosum are often referred to dermatologists by other specialists after a varying period of time has elapsed without achieving an accurate diagnosis. In these patients, especially those between 20 and 40 years of age, it is essential to rule out concomitant disease. Adalimumab is a good treatment option for pyoderma gangrenosum.

Building phenotype networks to improve QTL detection: a comparative analysis of fatty acid and fat traits in pigs.

Models in QTL mapping can be improved by considering all potential variables, i.e. we can use remaining traits other than the trait under study as potential predictors. QTL mapping is often conducted by correcting for a few fixed effects or covariates (e.g. sex, age), although many traits with potential causal relationships between them are recorded. In this work, we evaluate by simulation several procedures to identify optimum models in QTL scans: forward selection, undirected dependency graph and QTL-directed dependency graph (QDG). The latter, QDG, performed better in terms of power and false discovery rate and was applied to fatty acid (FA) composition and fat deposition traits in two pig F2 crosses from China and Spain. Compared with the typical QTL mapping, QDG approach revealed several new QTL. To the contrary, several FA QTL on chromosome 4 (e.g. Palmitic, C16:0; Stearic, C18:0) detected by typical mapping vanished after adjusting for phenotypic covariates in QDG mapping. This suggests that the QTL detected in typical mapping could be indirect. When a QTL is supported by both approaches, there is an increased confidence that the QTL have a primary effect on the corresponding trait. An example is a QTL for C16:1 on chromosome 8. In conclusion, mapping QTL based on causal phenotypic networks can increase power and help to make more biologically sound hypothesis on the genetic architecture of complex traits.

[The current challenge of imported leprosy in Spain: a study of 7 cases]. / Lepra importada y su dificultad en el medio actual: a propósito de 7 casos.

BACKGROUND: although the foci of leprosy once present in Spain are now under control and almost inactive, isolated cases are still occasionally diagnosed. Meanwhile, population migration has brought about an increase in the incidence of cases corresponding to individuals from countries where leprosy is endemic, leading to changes in the epidemiology of this disease. OBJECTIVES: the aim of this paper was to describe the clinical, epidemiologic, dermatologic, microbiologic, and therapeutic characteristics of cases of leprosy in our department in the last 5 years. MATERIAL AND METHODS: we report the cases of imported leprosy seen in our department between 2004 and 2009. RESULTS: seven patients with leprosy (3 men and 4 women; age range, 26-80 years) were diagnosed; 2 were cases of tuberculoid leprosy, 2 borderline tuberculoid leprosy, and 3 indeterminate. All patients acquired the disease in South American or South African countries, but were residing in Spain at the time of diagnosis. One patient was a Spaniard, from Malaga, who had worked as a missionary in Venezuela for 25 years. The presence of the bacterium by either Ziehl-Neelsen stain or bacilloscopy could not be demonstrated in any of the patients. CONCLUSIONS: we would like to draw attention to the changes we have observed in the characteristics of cases of leprosy seen in our department, the majority of which are imported. It is important to maintain a clinical suspicion of leprosy in cases of granulomatous dermatitis, particularly in patients from countries where the disease is endemic.

Standardization of 226Ra solutions with descendants by 4παß LSC counting.

In this work, a method to standardize 226Ra solutions with descendants by 4παß liquid scintillation counting (LSC) has been used. The standardization can be carried out provided that the equilibrium state of 226Ra solutions, the counting efficiency of short-lived 214Po and/or the counter dead time are known. Procedures to obtain these requirements have been set up.

Standardization of non-equilibrium 210Pb solutions by LSC and 2πα counting.

A procedure for the standardization of 210Pb solutions in radioactive disequilibrium, or incompletely purified from its descendants, has been set up and successfully validated. The method, based on joint measurements of 210Po by alpha-particle spectrometry (2πα counting) with grid ionization chamber and liquid scintillation counting for overall activity estimation, is presented as an alternative to 210Pb measurement by LSC with α/ß discrimination.