Replacement of dietary fish oil by vegetable oils affects humoral immunity and expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines genes in gilthead sea bream Sparus aurata.

Commercial gilthead sea bream feeds are highly energetic, fish oil traditionally being the main lipid source. But the decreased fish oil production together with the increased prices of this oil encourages its substitution by vegetable oils, imposing new nutritional habits to aquaculture species. Partial replacement of fish oil by vegetable oils in diets for marine species allows good feed utilization and growth but may affect fish health, since imbalances in dietary fatty acids may alter fish immunological status. The effect of dietary oils on different aspects of fish immune system has been reported for some species, but very little is known about the effect of dietary oils on immune-related genes expression in fish. Thus, the objective of this study was to elucidate the role of dietary oils on the expression of two pro-inflammatory cytokines, Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α) and Interleukine 1ß (IL-1ß) on intestine and head kidney after exposure to the bacterial pathogen Photobacterium damselae sp. piscicida. For that purpose, 5 iso-nitrogenous and iso-lipidic diets (45% crude protein, 22% crude lipid content) were formulated. Anchovy oil was the only lipid source used in the control diet (FO), but in the other diets, fish oil was totally (100%) or partially (70%) substituted by linseed (rich in n-3 fatty acids) or soybean (rich in n-6 fatty acids) (100L, 100S, 70L, 70S). Fish were fed experimental diets during 80 days and after this period were exposed to an experimental intestinal infection with the pathogen. Serum and tissue samples were obtained at pre-infection and after 1, 3 and 7 days of infection. RNA was extracted and cDNA was synthesized by reverse transcription from intestine and head kidney and the level expression of TNF-α and IL-1ß were assayed by using quantitative real time PCR. The expression level of genes analysed was represented as relative value, using the comparative Ct method (2(-ΔΔCt)). Serum anti-bacterial activity was measured as serum bactericidal capacity and lysozyme activity. Reduction of FO tends to reduce basal (pre-infection) genetic expression of both cytokines. However, complete FO replacement caused an over expression of both pro-inflammatory cytokines, particularly after 3 days of induced infection in fish fed soybean oil based diets. On the other hand, fish fed diets with low content of n-6 fatty acids showed better serum bactericidal capacity after infection, suggesting that the substitution of fish oil by vegetable oils containing high levels of n-6 fatty acids may induce imbalances on fish immune response, leading to a lower potential response against infections.

Genes and hypertension: from gene mapping in experimental models to vascular gene transfer strategies.

Human essential hypertension is a complex, multifactorial, quantitative trait under a polygenic control. Several strategies have been developed over the last decade to dissect genetic determinants of hypertension. Of these, the most successful have been studies that identified rare mendelian syndromes in which a single gene mutation causes high blood pressure. The attempts to identify multiple genes, each with a small contribution to the common polygenic form of hypertension, have been less successful. Several laboratories focused their attention on rat models of genetic hypertension, which can be considered as a reductionist paradigm for human disease. Using numerous crosses between hypertensive and normotensive strains, investigators identified several quantitative trait loci (QTL) for blood pressure subphenotypes and for cardiovascular complications such as left ventricular hypertrophy, kidney failure, stroke, and insulin resistance. Furthermore, congenic strains have been produced to confirm the existence of some of these QTL and to narrow down the chromosomal regions of interest. A number of interesting strategies have been developed, including a "speed" congenic strategy perfected by our group in Glasgow. However, the limit of congenic strategy is estimated at 1 cM, which corresponds to 2x10(6) base pairs of DNA and approximately 50 candidate genes. It is envisaged that gene expression profiling with cDNA microarrays might allow a quick progression toward the gene identification within cardiovascular QTL. In parallel experimental effort, several laboratories have been developing gene transfer/therapy strategies with adenoviral or adeno-associated viral vectors used, for example, to overexpress protective vascular genes such as vascular endothelial growth factor or endothelial nitric oxide synthase. It is anticipated that further developments in positional cloning of susceptibility and severity genes in hypertension and its complications will lead to a direct transfer of these discoveries to essential hypertension in humans and will ultimately produce novel targets for local and systemic gene therapy in cardiovascular disease.

Empleo de Kinesiotaping como tratamiento de la sialorrea en pacientes con enfermedad cerebrovascular / Use of Kinesiotaping as a treatment of sialorrhea in patients who suffer from cerebrovascular disease

La sialorrea es la pérdida involuntaria de saliva de la cavidad oral; es un síntoma potencialmente incapacitante en muchos pacientes con enfermedad cerebrovascular. El vendaje neuromuscular puede ser una alternativa terapéutica. El mismo tiene: acción circulatoria-analgésica, muscular, biomecánica estructural. Se presenta una revisión actualizada sobre la sialorrea y el empleo del kinesiotape como tratamiento alternativo. Se realizaron búsquedas electrónicas y en bibliotecas de revistas médicas nacionales y extranjeras indexadas en SciELO, IMBIOMED y PubMed; en un horizonte de 10 años en idioma español e inglés, así como revisiones de tesis de terminación de estudios y libros de textos con información relacionada con utilidad de kinesiotape en el tratamiento alternativo de la sialorrea. La aplicación de Kinesiotaping es una alternativa útil al entrenamiento de la musculatura oral, en el tratamiento de la sialorrea (AU)

The sialorrhea is the involuntary loss of saliva in the oral cavity. It is a symptom that may cause incapacity in many patients who suffer from cerebrovascular diseases. The neuromuscular bandage can be an alternative therapeutics. It has a circulatory-analgesic, muscular and structural-biomechanical action. To present an extended library research about sialorrhea and the use of kinesiotape as alternative treatment. Electronic and in library searches were carried outin international and national magazines indexed in SciELO, IMBIOMED and PubMed with in the time of ten years in Spanish and English languages, as well as checking of theses and text books with information related to the use of kinesiotape in the alternative treatment of sialorrhea. Application of Kinesiotaping is a useful alternative to train the oral muscles in the treatment of sialorrhea (AU)

Extensive chromoblastomycosis caused by Fonsecaea pedrosoi successfully treated with a combination of amphotericin B and itraconazole.

Chromoblastomycosis is a chronic infection caused by dematiaceous (dark-colored) fungi which affect the skin and subcutaneous tissues, and is characterized by a wide variety of clinical and dermatological features including papillomatous, verrucous and vegetating lesions. Although it has been described world-wide, most cases originate in tropical and sub-tropical areas. In general, present treatments of the disease are unsatisfactory as one of the most common etiologic agents, Fonsecaea pedrosoi is difficult to manage from a therapeutic point of view. We report a case of extensive chromoblastomycosis of 22 years duration caused by F. pedrosoi and review the clinical course, diagnosis and management of this disease.