Checklist of Orchidaceae from Caquetá, Colombia.

A checklist of Orchidaceae from Caquetá, Colombia is presented here. We recorded 98 genera and 418 species, exceeding a previous inventory by 276 species. The checklist is conservative in the number of genera and species by including only taxa that were fully and reliably identified and that are either linked to a corresponding herbarium voucher, a living collection specimen or a photo taken in the field and published in iNaturalist by one of the authors or a collaborator. The documented species diversity in the region could dramatically increase in the next few years with additional collecting efforts in the eastern slopes of the Andes nested in Caquetá. About 9% (418/4600) of all Orchidaceae species recorded for Colombia are reported for this area, showing the important contribution to orchid diversity of Andean-Amazonian foothills of Caquetá.

Incomplete lineage sorting and reticulate evolution mask species relationships in Brunelliaceae, an Andean family with rapid, recent diversification.

PREMISE: To date, phylogenetic relationships within the monogeneric Brunelliaceae have been based on morphological evidence, which does not provide sufficient phylogenetic resolution. Here we use target-enriched nuclear data to improve our understanding of phylogenetic relationships in the family. METHODS: We used the Angiosperms353 toolkit for targeted recovery of exonic regions and supercontigs (exons + introns) from low copy nuclear genes from 53 of 70 species in Brunellia, and several outgroup taxa. We removed loci that indicated biased inference of relationships and applied concatenated and coalescent methods to infer Brunellia phylogeny. We identified conflicts among gene trees that may reflect hybridization or incomplete lineage sorting events and assessed their impact on phylogenetic inference. Finally, we performed ancestral-state reconstructions of morphological traits and assessed the homology of character states used to define sections and subsections in Brunellia. RESULTS: Brunellia comprises two major clades and several subclades. Most of these clades/subclades do not correspond to previous infrageneric taxa. There is high topological incongruence among the subclades across analyses. CONCLUSIONS: Phylogenetic reconstructions point to rapid species diversification in Brunelliaceae, reflected in very short branches between successive species splits. The removal of putatively biased loci slightly improves phylogenetic support for individual clades. Reticulate evolution due to hybridization and/or incomplete lineage sorting likely both contribute to gene-tree discordance. Morphological characters used to define taxa in current classification schemes are homoplastic in the ancestral character-state reconstructions. While target enrichment data allows us to broaden our understanding of diversification in Brunellia, the relationships among subclades remain incompletely understood.

Proteomic profile associated with cell death induced by androgens in Taenia crassiceps cysticerci: proposed interactome.

Androgens have been shown to exert a cysticidal effect upon Taenia crassiceps, an experimental model of cysticercosis. To further inquire into this matter, the Taenia crassiceps model was used to evaluate the expression of several proteins after testosterone (T4) and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in vitro treatment. Under 2-D proteomic maps, parasite extracts were resolved into approximately 130 proteins distributed in a molecular weight range of 10-250 kDa and isoelectrical point range of 3-10. The resultant proteomic pattern was analysed, and significant changes were observed in response to T4 and DHT. Based on our experience with electrophoretic patterns and proteomic maps of cytoskeletal proteins, alteration in the expression of isoforms of actin, tubulin and paramyosin and of other proteins was assessed. Considering that androgens may exert their biological activity in taeniids through the non-specific progesterone receptor membrane component (PGRMC), we harnessed bioinformatics to propose the identity of androgen-regulated proteins and establish their hypothetical physiological role in the parasites. These analyses yield a possible explanation of how androgens exert their cysticidal effects through changes in the expression of proteins involved in cytoskeletal rearrangement, dynamic vesicular traffic and transduction of intracellular signals.

Neutrophil CD64 expression, procalcitonin and presepsin are useful to differentiate infections from flares in SLE patients with SIRS.

Background/Objective Differentiating systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) activity from infections in febrile patients is difficult because of similar initial clinical presentation. The aim of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of a number of biomarkers for differentiating infections from activity in SLE patients admitted with systemic inflammatory response (SIRS). Methods Patients with SLE and SIRS admitted to the emergency room were included in this study. Measurements of different markers including procalcitonin, neutrophil CD64 expression and presepsin, were performed. Infection was considered present when positive cultures and/or polymerase chain reaction were obtained. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated for all biomarkers. Results Twenty-seven patients were admitted, 23 women (82.5%), mean age 33.2 years. An infectious disease was confirmed in 12 cases. Markers for SLE activity including anti-DNA titers by IIF ( p = 0.041) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ( p = 0.009) were used for differentiating SLE flares from infection. On the contrary, increased procalcitonin ( p = 0.047), neutrophil CD64 expression by flow cytometry ( p = 0.037) and presepsin ( p = 0.037) levels were observed in infected SLE patients. Conclusions High neutrophil CD64 expression, presepsin and procalcitonin levels are useful to differentiate infections from activity in SLE patients. In most cases, a positive bioscore that includes these three markers demonstrate the presence of an infectious disease.

Resultados de cirugía de epilepsia en la Fundación Cardiovascular de Colombia: serie de casos / Results in epilepsy surgery, Fundación Cardiovascular of Colombia: serie cases

Introducción: epilepsia resistente al tratamiento con fármacos antiepilépticos (refractaria), se presenta en el 30 al 35 % de los casos. La cirugía de epilepsia es una opción de manejo de este subgrupo, existen cirugías resectivas donde se extirpa el foco epileptogénico y paliativas a través de las cuales se pretende disminuir el número de crisis en los pacientes. Objetivo: presentar los resultados de efectividad y seguridad de la cirugía de epilepsia en Bucaramanga, Colombia. Material y métodos: estudio descriptivo, retrospectivo de una serie de casos, de pacientes operados en la Fundación Cardiovascular de Colombia, entre enero de 2010 y octubre de 2015 por epilepsia refractaria al tratamiento médico. Se obtiene información de la historia clínicia de los pacientes para evaluar las características demográficas y la eficacia y seguridad de los procedimientos realizados basados en la clasificación Engel para libertad de crisis a un año de seguimiento y complicaciones posquirúrgicas Resultados: en este periodo de tiempo, se intervinieron 26 pacientes; 16 hombres y 10 mujeres, con edad promedio de 22,5 años; la media de edad al inicio de la epilepsia fue de los siete años; el tiempo de evolución de la epilepsia al momento de la cirugía de 22 años para adultos y 5,7 años para niños (menores de 18 años de edad); se realizaron 16 cirugías resectivas (13 temporales y 3 extratemporales) y 10 cirugías paliativas (9 implantaciones de VNS y una callosotomía); evaluando el resultado posquirúrgico solo en los 21 pacientes que tienen más de 12 meses de seguimiento postoperatorio tenemos la siguiente información: cirugías resectivas temporales (9/10) 90% en Engel I, implantaciones de VNS (7/7) y callosotomia (1/1) en 100 % en Engel III y resectivas extratemporales (2/3) 66,6 % en Engel I; la hospitalización postoperatoria promedio fue 4,7 días; y las complicaciones más frecuentes fueron la fistula de LCR contenida y la depresión-ansiedad transitoria postoperatoria. Discusión: la efectividad y seguridad de la cirugía de epilepsia en nuestra serie es similar a la mostrada en la literatura mundial. Conclusión: consideramos que en nuestro centro los pacientes que hemos operado se han beneficiado favorablemente de esta opción de tratamiento para la epilepsia refractaria. Se requiere un seguimiento a 5 años de esta cohorte para validar estos resultados.

Introduction: Drug resistant epilepsy, is presented in the 30% or 35% of the cases. The epilepsy surgery is an option to drive in this subgroup, being resective surgeries when the epileptogenic focus is extirped, and palliative surgeries when the target is to dismisse the number of crisis. Objective: The goal in this reviewing is to present effectiveness and safety outcomes in epilepsy surgery in Bucaramanga. Materials and methods: Retrospective and descriptive study of series of cases, taken from the patients operated of refractary epilepsy surgery in the Fundación cardiovascular of Colombia, since january 2010 until october 2015; review recordsof patients, to assess the demographic characteristic and the efficacy and safety of the procedures performed, based on Engel classification for freedom of crisis 1 year follow-up and post-surgical complications Results: In this length of time, were operated 26 patients, 16 men and 10 women, with an average of age 22,5 years; media of age at the beginning of the epilepsy 7 years; with the time of evolution of the epilepsy at the momento of the surgery 22 years for adults, and 5,7 years for childen (less tan 18 years); were performed 16 resective surgeries (13 temporal lobe and 3 extratemporal) and 10 palliative surgeries (9 VNS implantations and 1 callosotomy); we evaluated the postoperative outcomes, just in 21 patients who have more than 12 months of following, we get the next results: temporal lobe resective surgeries (9/10) 90% in Engel I, VNS implantations (7/7) and callosotomy (1/1) 100% in Engel III, and extratemporal resective surgeries (2/3) 66% in Engel I; the media of postoperative hospitalization days were 4,7; and the more frequently complications were the contenied CSF leak and transitory depression and anxiety postoperative. Discussion: The effectiveness and safety of epilepsy surgery in our series is similar to that shown in the literature. Conclusion: We can say that in our center, patients who have operated have benefited from this treatment option for drug resistant epilepsy. 5-year follow up of this cohort to validate these results is required.

Gene expression profiling in hepatic tissue of newly weaned pigs fed pharmacological zinc and phytase supplemented diets.

BACKGROUND: Zinc (Zn) is an essential trace element. However, Zn bioavailability from commonly consumed plants may be reduced due to phytic acid. Zn supplementation has been used to treat diarrheal disease in children, and in the U.S. swine industry at pharmacological levels to promote growth and fecal consistency, but underlying mechanisms explaining these beneficial effects remain unknown. Moreover, adding supplemental phytase improves Zn bioavailability. Thus, we hypothesized that benefits of pharmacological Zn supplementation result from changes in gene expression that could be further affected by supplemental phytase. The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of feeding newly weaned pigs dietary Zn (150, 1,000, or 2,000 mg Zn/kg) as Zn oxide with or without phytase [500 phytase units (FTU)/kg] for 14 d on hepatic gene expression. Liver RNA from pigs fed 150, 1,000, or 2,000 mg Zn/kg, or 1,000 mg Zn/kg with phytase (n = 4 per treatment) was reverse transcribed and examined using the differential display reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction technique. Liver RNA from pigs fed 150 or 2,000 mg Zn/kg (n = 4 per treatment) was also evaluated using a 70-mer oligonucleotide microarray. RESULTS: Expressed sequence tags for 61 putatively differentially expressed transcripts were cloned and sequenced. In addition, interrogation of a 13,297 element oligonucleotide microarray revealed 650 annotated transcripts (FDR

[Guidelines for the clinical management of neuropathic pain (II)]. / Guías de práctica clínica del dolor neuropático (II).

INTRODUCTION: Up to 5% of the population suffers from neuropathic pain (NP). A bibliographical search in several databases revealed that, to date, there are no protocols to guide physicians who are not specialists in pain that enable them to treat NP and thus improve patients' quality of life. AIMS: The aim of this study is to provide Spanish-speaking physicians who are not specialists in pain with a set of guidelines for the treatment of NP. A bibliographical search was performed in order to base the results and conclusions on the evidence-based medicine methodology. DEVELOPMENT: First, we review the most effective clinical and paraclinical methods for diagnosing NP, and the LANSS pain scale is reported as the most appropriate method of clinically evaluating NP. The anatomical paths and the physiology of pain are then described and we review the molecular variables involved. Finally, we point out the current therapeutic options and propose an algorithm for the treatment of NP. CONCLUSIONS: There is no specific set of guidelines for the treatment of NP. At the present time, the keystone of NP treatment consists in the use of antidepressant and anticonvulsive drugs. There is a need for further clinical trials to prove the effectiveness of using combined medication.

[Linkage analysis of the 15q25-15q22 region in an extended multigenerational family segregating for idiopathic epilepsy]. / Análisis de ligamiento a la región 15Q25-15Q22 de una familia multigeneracional extendida segregando epilepsia idiopática.

INTRODUCTION: Linkage analyses provide strong evidence of how genetic factors influence epilepsy, due to the fact that they involve the determination of the cosegregation of specific marker alleles with epilepsy within families. AIMS: Our aim was to determine whether there was some kind of propensity to develop generalised idiopathic epilepsy (GIE) in the 15q22.1-q25.1 region in an extended multigenerational family from the Paisa de Antioquia community, which is a genetic isolate located in Colombia that segregates for GIE and has a strong capacity to detect linkage. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We selected a family containing a number of individuals suffering from epilepsy who visited the Antioquia Neurological Institute. Each affected individual had to have been diagnosed by a neurologist as suffering from non-myoclonic idiopathic epilepsy or from partial idiopathic epilepsy. All patients suspected of suffering from idiopathic epilepsy were submitted to video monitoring in order to characterise seizures electroencephalographically. RESULTS: Of the 106 individuals in this family who were included in the family tree, 76 were genotyped; 15 of them suffered from generalised clonic tonic seizures and six were considered as being possibly affected. Lod score results were significantly negative for all the markers in relation to each of the models under consideration. CONCLUSIONS: The possibility of the genes that code for the a-3, a-5 and b-4 subunits of the neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (CHRNA3, CHRNA5 and CHRNB4) situated in the 15q region being responsible for the familial aggregation of GIE in this family, as has been suggested in previous studies in other families, was ruled out.

[Linkage analysis in an extended multigenerational family segregating for idiopathic epilepsy]. / Análisis de ligamiento en una familia multigeneracional extendida que segrega para epilepsia idiopática.

INTRODUCTION: Linkage analyses enable us to identify the loci that bestow susceptibility to certain diseases which are assumed to have a genetic aetiology by determining the cosegregation of alleles of specific markers within families. AIMS: The aim of this study was to determine whether there is generalised idiopathic epilepsy (GIE) susceptibility in the 8q22.1 -q24.23, 16p13.3 and 21q22.3 regions within an extended multigenerational family belonging to the Paisa community in Antioquia, a genetic isolate located in Colombia segregating for GIE with a strong capacity for detecting linkage. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A family with a number of individuals affected by idiopathic epilepsy who visited the Instituto Neurológico de Antioquia was selected for study. An affected individual was required to have been diagnosed by a neurologist as suffering from non-myoclonic idiopathic epilepsy or partial idiopathic epilepsy. All patients suspected of suffering from idiopathic epilepsy were submitted to video monitoring in order to characterise the seizures electroencephalographically. RESULTS: Of the 106 individuals in this family that were included in the family tree, 76 were genotyped, 15 of whom were affected by generalised clonic tonic seizures and six were considered to be possibly affected. Results of the lod score were significantly negative for all the markers in relation to each model that was considered. CONCLUSIONS: The possibility of the genes located in the 8q22.1 -q24.23, 16p13.3 and 21q22.3 regions being responsible for the familial aggregation of GIE in this family was ruled out, which is in accordance with claims made in previous studies conducted on other families.

[Migraine: implications for work, disability and request for health services in Colombia]. / Migraña: implicaciones laborales, discapacidad y solicitud de servicios de salud en Colombia.

INTRODUCTION: Migraine causes problems of public health and work. OBJECTIVES: To describe the pharmaco economic impact of migraine in Colombia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The sample group was made up of patients aged between 18 and 65 years diagnosed as having migraine according to the criteria of the International Headache Society. We made a descriptive study of migraine in Colombian patients recruited from five international multicentric clinical trials who responded to a questionnaire on: 1. Frequency of migraine attacks. 2. Days or hours of work lost through migraine. 3. Requests for health services. 4. Occupation of participants. For the statistical analysis we used descriptive techniques of resumption of frequencies, and also non parametric statistics in order to describe how their work was affected. RESULTS: 82% of the patients complained of from one to four migraine attacks per month. 64% considered that migraine had adversely affected between one and twenty hours of work per month. No differences were seen between paid and unpaid work. 15% of the patients lost more than one day of paid work and 36% more than one day of unpaid work in the month prior to the questionnaire. 52% of the patients requested at least one medical consultation for migraine during the year of the questionnaire; 42% consulted the emergency services at least once and 43% did not consult the health services at all. CONCLUSIONS: These epidemiological and socio economic data are important for a rational approach to the implementation of health resources and to assure effective management of the disorder.

[Vascular hereditary dementia CADASIL type in Colombia. III. Linkage analysis to notch3 gene]. / Demencia vascular hereditaria tipo CADASIL en Colombia. III. Análisis de ligamiento a Notch3.

OBJECTIVE: To perform linkage analysis between the Short Tandem Repeats (STR) microsatellite markers D19S923, D19S929, D19S22, which are in strong genetic linkage to Notch3 gene in order to contrast the hypothesis that the vascular hereditary dementia phenotype described in a multigenerational extended pedigree from Colombia correspond to CADASIL (Cerebral Autosomal Dominant Arteriopathy with Subcortical Infarcts and Leukoencephalopathy). Even we know that using techniques as the Single Strand Conformational Polymorphisms (SSCP) could determine mutations in Notch3, the rationality of this approach is that intronic variations could not be defined and that we are interested in determine if some forms of the clinical presentation and its phenotypic variability make part of CADASIL. INTRODUCTION: The CADASIL phenotype is caused by mutations in the Notch3 gene. Clinical features of CADASIL are: 1. Recurrent cerebra-vascular episodes; 2. Migraine history; 3. History of transitory ischemic attack and, 4. Behavior changes and dementia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: By using SIMLINK we showed that the extended genealogy had the enough power to detect significant LOD (logarithm of oods) score values when Notch3 was considered the disorder cause. Linkage analysis was carried out by using parametric and non parametrical methods. The Elston-Stewart general method was used as the parametrical analysis and the sib pair method as the non-parametrical one. We perform simulations changing the affection status codification by including as affected or not including those individuals with migraine. Furthermore, in order to detect the stability of the results, we changed the penetrance values, the genetic frequencies on both, the marker loci and the affection locus. RESULTS: The maximum pair-wise LOD score was 2.04 which was detected at the marker D19S23 with q= 0.11cM. This distance correspond exactly with the Notch3 location. That is 100 times more probable that there is linkage that there is not. In other words this probability could be explained as if the phenotype correspond to CADASIL than to other vascular dementia. The non parametric results were compatibles with the parametric ones. When the migraine symptom was considered as a part of the affected status, the LOD score values showed not linkage. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the linkage analysis to these STR microsatellite markers suggest that the vascular hereditary dementia phenotype described in this family correspond to CADASIL caused by a polymorphism on the Notch3 gene. On the contrary, these same results suggest that the migraine phenotype is not a part of the progressive dementia.