Genome-Wide Association Study in Mexican Holstein Cattle Reveals Novel Quantitative Trait Loci Regions and Confirms Mapped Loci for Resistance to Bovine Tuberculosis.

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a disease of cattle that represents a risk to public health and causes severe economic losses to the livestock industry. Recently, genetic studies, like genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have greatly improved the investigation of complex diseases identifying thousands of disease-associated genomic variants. Here, we present evidence of genetic variants associated with resistance to TB in Mexican dairy cattle using a case-control approach with a selective DNA pooling experimental design. A total of 154 QTLRs (quantitative trait loci regions) at 10% PFP (proportion of false positives), 42 at 5% PFP and 5 at 1% PFP have been identified, which harbored 172 annotated genes. On BTA13, five new QTLRs were identified in the MACROD2 and KIF16B genes, supporting their involvement in resistance to bTB. Six QTLRs harbor seven annotated genes that have been previously reported as involved in immune response against Mycobacterium spp: BTA (Bos taurus autosome) 1 (CD80), BTA3 (CTSS), BTA 3 (FCGR1A), BTA 23 (HFE), BTA 25 (IL21R), and BTA 29 (ANO9 and SIGIRR). We identified novel QTLRs harboring genes involved in Mycobacterium spp. immune response. This is a first screening for resistance to TB infection on Mexican dairy cattle based on a dense SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) chip.

Association of moderate/severe vertebral fractures with reduced trabecular volumetric bone density in older women and reduced areal femoral neck bone density in older men from the community: A cross-sectional study (SPAH).

BACKGROUND: Many vertebral fractures (VF) occur in individuals classified by DXA as being at low risk of fragility fractures. The aim of this study was to verify the association between VF and peripheral bone microarchitecture and strength parameters (SP) using, in addition to DXA, high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT) and axial bone microarchitecture using the trabecular bone score (TBS). STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study of 276 community-dwelling subjects aged ≥65 years from the SPAH study cohort. METHODS: Lateral DXA scans of the spine were analyzed to assess VF. HR-pQCT was performed at the radius and tibia. TBS was determined using DXA. RESULTS: VF was observed in 42.6% of women and 28% of men. At the tibia, women with moderate/severe VF had lower volumetric bone density (vBMD), trabecular number (Tb.N), and SP, and higher trabecular separation (Tb.Sp); and men with VF had lower Tb.N and SP, and higher Tb.Sp. At the radius, women with moderate/severe VF had lower vBMD, trabecular and cortical thickness and SP; and men with VF had lower trabecular vBMD and SP. No associations between TBS and VF were observed in either gender. Logistic regression analysis revealed that trabecular vBMD at the tibia in women (OR:0.980, 95%CI:0.963-0.997, p = 0.022) and femoral neck aBMD in men (OR:0.445, 95%CI:0.212-0.935, p = 0.033) were independently associated with VF. CONCLUSION: HR-pQCT images detected differences in bone microstructure in older women with VF independent of aBMD and TBS by DXA, and HR-pQCT could be a useful tool to assess fracture risk. In men, femoral neck aBMD was associated with VF, and DXA continues to be an important tool for predicting VF.

Impact of Regional Anesthesia on Gastroesophageal Cancer Surgery Outcomes: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

Regional anesthesia may play a beneficial role in long-term oncological outcomes. Specifically, it has been suggested that it can prolong recurrence-free survival and overall survival after gastrointestinal cancer surgery, including gastric and esophageal cancer, by modulating the immune and inflammatory response. However, the results from human studies are conflicting. The goal of this systematic review was to summarize the evidence on the impact of regional anesthesia on immunomodulation and cancer recurrence after gastric and esophageal surgery. We conducted a literature search of 5 different databases. Two independent reviewers analyzed the quality of the selected manuscripts according to prespecified inclusion and exclusion criteria. Randomized controlled trials were assessed for potential sources of bias by using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. A total of 6 studies were included in the quality analysis and systematic review. A meta-analysis was not conducted for several reasons, including high heterogeneity among studies, low quality of the reports, and lack of standardized outcomes definitions. Although the literature suggests that regional anesthesia has some modulatory effects on the inflammatory and immunological response in the studied patient population, our systematic review indicates that there is no evidence to support or refute the use of epidural anesthesia or analgesia with the goal of reducing cancer recurrence after gastroesophageal cancer surgery.

Impact of Regional Anesthesia on Recurrence, Metastasis, and Immune Response in Breast Cancer Surgery: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The perioperative period is critical in the long-term prognosis of breast cancer patients. The use of regional anesthesia, such as paravertebral block (PVB), could be associated with improvements in long-term survival after breast cancer surgery by modulating the inflammatory and immune response associated with the surgical trauma, reducing opioid and general anesthetic consumption, and promoting cancer cells death by a direct effect of local anesthetics. METHODS: A systematic literature search was conducted for studies of patients who received PVB for breast cancer surgery. The Jadad score and Ottawa-Newcastle scale were used to assess the methodological quality of randomized controlled trial and observational retrospective studies, respectively. Only high-quality studies were considered for meta-analysis. The selected studies were divided into 3 groups to determine the impact of PVB on (a) recurrence and survival, (b) humoral response, and (c) cellular immune response. RESULTS: We identified 467 relevant studies; 121 of them underwent title and abstract review, 107 were excluded, and 15 studies were selected for full text reading and quality assessment. A meta-analysis was not conducted because of low-quality studies and lack of uniform definition among primary outcomes. Thus, a systematic review of the current evidence was performed. CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicates that there are no data to support or refute the use of PVB for reduction of cancer recurrence or improvement in cancer-related survival. However, PVB use is associated with lower levels of inflammation and a better immune response in comparison with general anesthesia and opioid-based analgesia.

Genetic Structure and Selection of a Core Collection for Long Term Conservation of Avocado in Mexico.

Mexico, as the center of origin of avocado (Persea americama Mill.), harbors a wide genetic diversity of this species, whose identification may provide the grounds to not only understand its unique population structure and domestication history, but also inform the efforts aimed at its conservation. Although molecular characterization of cultivated avocado germplasm has been studied by several research groups, this had not been the case in Mexico. In order to elucidate the genetic structure of avocado in Mexico and the sustainable use of its genetic resources, 318 avocado accessions conserved in the germplasm collection in the National Avocado Genebank were analyzed using 28 markers [9 expressed sequence tag-Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) and 19 genomic SSRs]. Deviation from Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium and high inter-locus linkage disequilibrium were observed especially in drymifolia, and guatemalensis. Total averages of the observed and expected heterozygosity were 0.59 and 0.75, respectively. Although clear genetic differentiation was not observed among 3 botanical races: americana, drymifolia, and guatemalensis, the analyzed Mexican population can be classified into two groups that correspond to two different ecological regions. We developed a core-collection by K-means clustering method. The selected 36 individuals as core-collection successfully represented more than 80% of total alleles and showed heterozygosity values equal to or higher than those of the original collection, despite its constituting slightly more than 10% of the latter. Accessions selected as members of the core collection have now become candidates to be introduced in cryopreservation implying a minimum loss of genetic diversity and a back-up for existing field collections of such important genetic resources.

Characterization of the 5' and 3' breakpoints of the Spanish (뫧)0-thalassemia deletion in Mexican patients.

We studied five unrelated Mexican carriers of the Spanish (δß)(0)-thalassemia [(δß)(0)-thal] mutation to characterize the size of the deletion, the 5' and 3' breakpoints and the 5' ß-globin haplotype. Sequence analysis revealed the presence of an 89,548 bp deletion. The δ- and ß-globin genes, two olfactory receptor genes (OR51V1 and OR52A1) and two pseudogenes (OR52Z1P and OR51A1P) were deleted. The 5' breakpoint was located at the same position as previously reported, and the 3' breakpoint was situated 7.0 kb downstream of OR52A1 and 11.7 kb upstream of OR52A5. The Spanish (δß)(0)-thal allele was associated with the 5' haplotype 2 [- + + - +] in the studied patients. Because this mutation is relatively frequent in Spain, and the Mexican population contains a high level of Spanish genetic background, we propose that the mutation in both populations share a common ancestral origin.

Hb S [ß6(A3)Glu→Val, GAG>GTG] in Mexican Mestizos: frequency and analysis of the 5' ß-globin haplotype.

Between 1978 and 2009, we studied 1,863 Mexican Mestizo patients with clinical data compatible with a hemoglobinopathy. Of these patients, 382 had some hemoglobin (Hb) abnormality (20.5%), 128 had a sickle cell hemoglobinopathy, representing a general frequency of 6.9%, which is similar to the percentage observed in previous studies on Mexican Mestizos. We analyzed the 5' ß-globin haplotype (5'Hp) in 79 unrelated ß(S) chromosomes (26 ß(S)/ß(S), 14 ß(S)/ß(Thal), nine ß(S)/ß(A) and four ß(S)/ß(D)), and four haplotypes were observed: 72.2% CAR 24.1% Benin, 2.5% Senegal and 1.2% Cameroon; the last two are reported for first time in Mexico. In some Latin American populations such as Brazil, the Bantu haplotype predominates, while in others such as Jamaica, the Benin haplotype is the most frequent, showing heterogeneity of African genes as a consequence of different regions involved in the slave trade.