New single nucleotide polymorphisms in the mu-calpain gene in Spanish maternal beef breeds

Calpains play an important role in the postmortem tenderization process of meat and several SNP in the mu-calpain gene (CAPN1) have been reported to be associated with tenderness in beef cattle. Our objectives were to identify the previously reported CAPN1 331G>C SNP and to detect new polymorphisms in this gene in Spanish maternal beef breeds. A fragment (exon 8 to 10) of the bovine CAPN1 gene was sequenced and genotyped in a sample of the main Spanish maternal beef breeds including Retinta, Morucha, and Avilenã Negra-Ibérica. These breeds are characterized for their high meat quality, their adaptation to adverse environmental conditions, and their good maternal aptitude. This adaptation makes it possible to rear these breeds in the south and west of Spain, where drought and feed shortages occur frequently. Six SNP in the mu-calpain gene were found, five of which (CAPN1 80C>T, 302C>G, 310G>A, 445C>T, 524A>C) have not been reported previously. Sequences obtained for these five newly found SNP were submitted to GenBank (Accessions EU386166 to EU386183).

Control of the pattern-recognition receptor EFR by an ER protein complex in plant immunity

In plant innate immunity, the surface-exposed leucine-rich repeat receptor kinases EFR and FLS2 mediate recognition of the bacterial pathogen-associated molecular patterns EF-Tu and flagellin, respectively. We identified the Arabidopsis stromal-derived factor-2 (SDF2) as being required for EFR function, and to a lesser extent FLS2 function. SDF2 resides in an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) protein complex with the Hsp40 ERdj3B and the Hsp70 BiP, which are components of the ER-quality control (ER-QC). Loss of SDF2 results in ER retention and degradation of EFR. The differential requirement for ER-QC components by EFR and FLS2 could be linked to N-glycosylation mediated by STT3a, a catalytic subunit of the oligosaccharyltransferase complex involved in co-translational N-glycosylation. Our results show that the plasma membrane EFR requires the ER complex SDF2-ERdj3B-BiP for its proper accumulation, and provide a demonstration of a physiological requirement for ER-QC in transmembrane receptor function in plants. They also provide an unexpected differential requirement for ER-QC and N-glycosylation components by two closely related receptors.

The ERECTA Receptor-Like Kinase Regulates Cell Wall-Mediated Resistance to Pathogens in Arabidopsis thaliana

Some receptor-like kinases (RLK) control plant development while others regulate immunity. The Arabidopsis ERECTA (ER) RLK regulates both biological processes. To discover specific components of ER-mediated immunity, a genetic screen was conducted to identify suppressors of erecta (ser) susceptibility to Plectosphaerella cucumerina fungus. The ser1 and ser2 mutations restored disease resistance to this pathogen to wild-type levels in the er-1 background but failed to suppress er-associated developmental phenotypes. The deposition of callose upon P. cucumerina inoculation, which was impaired in the er-1 plants, was also restored to near wild-type levels in the ser er-1 mutants. Analyses of er cell walls revealed that total neutral sugars were reduced and uronic acids increased relative to those of wild-type walls. Interestingly, in the ser er-1 walls, neutral sugars were elevated and uronic acids were reduced relative to both er-1 and wild-type plants. The cell-wall changes found in er-1 and the ser er-1 mutants are unlikely to contribute to their developmental alterations. However, they may influence disease resistance, as a positive correlation was found between uronic acids content and resistance to P. cucumerina. We propose a specific function for ER in regulating cell wall-mediated disease resistance that is distinct from its role in development.

Home Telemedicine: Encryption is Not Enough

Implantable medical devices and home monitors make use of wireless radio communication for both therapeutic functions and remote monitoring of patients' vital signs. While our past work showed that lack of cryptographic protection results in disclosure of private medical data and manipulation of therapies (Halperin et al., IEEE S&P, 2008) our present work shows that even using encryption is insufficient to protect the confidentiality of patient telemetry. Our experiment analyzes the security of data traffic patterns of two sets of real medical telemetry: a corpus from PhysioNet (an online biomedical research database) and a network trace of a live disaster drill using Harvard's CodeBlue medical sensor network (Chen et al., DCOSS, 2008). Our work shows that even if a wireless medical device uses encryption, patient data can leak to unauthorized parties who need not be near the patient. Our measurements show that data packet timing information and headers distinguish the types of medical and monitoring devices even if traditional cryptographic mechanisms are used. Furthermore, the highly repetitive nature of medical data, such as ECG or respiration signals, leads to additional privacy vulnerabilities that cannot be easily mitigated by means of encryption without significant modification. Data compression technology further exposes encrypted telemetry to cryptanalysis. The information leakage of telemetry could facilitate unauthorized tracking of a patient because an ECG is known to uniquely identify a person in a predetermined group (Biel et al., IEEE I&M, 2002). Moreover, our study shows that data packet padding, encryption, authentication, and other common defenses against security threats require significant energy, storage, and computation that impose on the already scarce battery and space resources. Two of our experiments show how to automatically recover data from encrypted telemetry using Bayesian classifiers. In one experiment, we encrypted an ECG signal. By observing only the length of the digitally encrypted data, we were able to reconstruct sufficient information about the original ECG data that we determined the patient's heart rate. Using similar techniques, we recovered a leaked respiration signal that visually matches the original signal. Our findings show the weakness of using common cryptographic techniques on highly periodic and often compressed medical telemetry. Our work further discusses techniques to mitigate these security and privacy risks in wireless medical telemetry systems. However, all known techniques require extra energy, computation, and bandwidth from the medical device. The lesson learned is that encryption is not enough to protect the privacy of medical telemetry, and that reasonable assurance for security and privacy will require an energy budget. Future design of medical devices will have to make difficult tradeoffs between battery life versus security and privacy. This work was supported by NSF grants CNS-0627529, CNS-0716386, and CNS-0831244.

A multicenter phase II study of abiraterone acetate (AA) in docetaxel pretreated castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) patients (pts)

5047

Background: Despite castration, androgens remain critical to prostate cancer. Abiraterone acetate (AA) specifically and irreversibly inhibits CYP17, a key enzyme in androgen biosynthesis. Methods: 47 CRPC pts who had failed androgen deprivation therapy and had prior docetaxel chemotherapy received AA orally (1000mg QD) in 28 day cycles. Low dose glucocorticoids were allowed. Results: Patient demographics in table . Total maximal PSA declines with AA at any point on study of ≥30%, ≥50%, and ≥ 90% were observed in 32 (69%), 24 (51%) and 7 (15%) pts respectively. A similar trend in PSA response was seen at wk 12. 35 pts were evaluable by RECIST; 6 (17%) pts had a partial response and 23 (66%) pts had stable disease. 23% of pts showed ECOG improvement (PS 1 to 0 in 10 pts, PS 2 to 1 in 1 pt); 53% of pts maintained PS. Median duration on treatment was 167 days (95% CI 130–201). 17 pts received >6 cycles of AA; 8 pts received ≥ 12 cycles. Toxicities related to mineralocorticoid excess were mainly grade 1–2 (hypokalemia 51%; HTN 17%; edema 13%) and were treated with eplerenone or corticosteroids. Conclusions: AA has anti-tumor activity in these heavily pretreated pts, as evidenced by sustained PSA declines, improvement in PS and RECIST responses. A phase III trial assessing the efficacy and safety of AA and prednisone in CRPC pts who have failed docetaxel chemotherapy is underway.

[Table: see text]

[Table: see text]

Phase II multicenter study of abiraterone acetate (AA) plus prednisone therapy in docetaxel-treated castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) patients (pts): Impact of prior ketoconazole (keto)

5048

Background: AA is a potent blocker of CYP17, required for synthesis of testosterone in the testes, adrenals, and prostate tissue. Study objectives included confirming AA antitumor activity and safety in multicenter setting, describing changes in ECOG PS, and comparing keto-naïve pts to keto-exposed pts. Methods: The 58 pts had progressive, metastatic CRPC and had failed hormonal therapy and up to two cytotoxic regimens, including docetaxel. AA (1,000 mg QD) and prednisone (5mg BID) were administered daily, the registration trial regimen. 56/58 pts had available data. Results: Baseline demographics: median age - 69.0 (44–86) yrs; median PSA - 151.00 (10.0–3846.0) ng/mL; ECOG 0 (n = 23), 1 (n = 30), 2 (n = 2), missing (n = 1); median prior hormonal therapies were 4 and chemo 1; 24 pts had prior keto, 32 pts were keto-naïve and 2 pts had no data on keto exposure. 45% pts had total maximal PSA decline ≥50%. Total maximal PSA decline (≥30%, ≥50% and ≥90%) in prior keto vs. keto-naïve pts was observed respectively, in: 10 (42%) vs. 20 (63%) pts; 8 (33%) vs. 17 (53%); 1 (4%) vs. 10 (31%). From 32 pts with ECOG 1 or 2, 16 pts (50%, 95% CI 32–68) improved (PS 1 to 0 in 14 pts, PS 2 to 1 in 1 pt; PS 2 to 0 in 1 pt); 39 pts (64% of total 58 pts) maintained PS. Median time to PSA progression was 169 days (95% CI 82–200): keto-naïve-198 days, prior keto-99 days. The majority of AA-related adverse events (AEs) were grade 1–2. No AA-related grade 4 AE was noted. Conclusions: Abiraterone acetate was well-tolerated and produced anti-tumor activity in heavily pretreated pts, as evidenced by PSA declines and improved PS. Incidence of mineralocorticoid-related AEs (HTN or hypokalemia) was reduced with the addition of low-dose prednisone. The keto-naïve post-docetaxel CRPC population was selected for the ongoing phase III pivotal study to confirm these results.

[Table: see text]

Phase II multicenter study of chemotherapy (chemo)-naive castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) not exposed to ketoconazole (keto), treated with abiraterone acetate (AA) plus prednisone

5046

Background: AA is a potent inhibitor of the enzyme CYP17, a major contributor to androgen biosynthesis. Keto is also known to inhibit this enzyme but AA is many-fold stronger in its action. 33 pts with progressive metastatic disease, normal organ function, ECOG performance status (PS) 0–1, and no prior chemo were enrolled. Pts with prior keto treatment were excluded. AA (1000 mg qd) plus prednisone (5mg bid) were administered orally in 28 day cycles. Methods: Results: At baseline median age was 71.0 (range 52–85) yrs and median PSA was 24.7 (range 7.1–1110.0) ng/mL;19/26 pts (73%) had an ECOG PS of 0 and 7/26 (27%) had PS of 1; the median number of prior hormonal therapies was 2; all pts were on LHRHa and 73% of pts had received anti-androgen, all of whom had undergone prior anti-androgen withdrawal. Pts were evaluated at each cycle for PSA response according to PSAWG criteria. 27 pts have available data for PSA response. Total maximal PSA declines of ≥30%, ≥50%, ≥90% were observed in 89% (24/27), 85% (23/27) and 41% (11/27) pts, respectively. Week 12 PSA declines displayed a similar and sustained trend: ≥30%, ≥50% and ≥90% PSA decline in 82%, 78%, and 26% of pts. Post-treatment ECOG PS score was 0 in 24 (92%) pts: 19% experienced improvement in PS (PS 1 to 0 in 5 pts) and 19/19 pts maintained a PS of 0; Median time to PSA progression has not been reached. Majority of adverse events were grades 1–2. Incidence of hypokalemia - 12%; HTN - 6%; edema - 15%. One pt experienced a grade 3 drug-related HTN. Conclusions: Abiraterone acetate plus prednisone has significant anti-cancer activity in patients with metastatic CRPC not previously treated with ketoconazole or chemotherapy, as demonstrated by declines in PSA and improvement in performance status, and is well-tolerated.

[Table: see text]

[A guide to the clinical diagnosis and urgent treatment of neonatal hyperammonaemia]

Symptomatic hyperammonaemia in newborn is a medical emergency that should be recognised in its early stages, specifically diagnosed and aggressively treated to improve the immediate and long-term prognosis of these children. The paediatrician and the neonatal doctor should have a diagnosis-therapy scheme for its urgent management.

A glucosinolate metabolism pathway in living plant cells mediates broad-spectrum antifungal defense

Selection pressure exerted by insects and microorganisms shapes the diversity of plant secondary metabolites. We identified a metabolic pathway for glucosinolates, known insect deterrents, that differs from the pathway activated by chewing insects. This pathway is active in living plant cells, may contribute to glucosinolate turnover, and has been recruited for broad-spectrum antifungal defense responses. The Arabidopsis CYP81F2 gene encodes a P450 monooxygenase that is essential for the pathogen-induced accumulation of 4-methoxyindol-3-ylmethylglucosinolate, which in turn is activated by the atypical PEN2 myrosinase (a type of beta-thioglucoside glucohydrolase) for antifungal defense. We propose that reiterated enzymatic cycles, controlling the generation of toxic molecules and their detoxification, enable the recruitment of glucosinolates in defense responses.

Genetic improvement of wool production in Spanish Merino sheep: genetic parameters and simulation of selection strategies

Wool production of the Spanish Merino breed was analysed after several decades of genetic selection to improve meat production. Genetic parameters (heritability and correlations) were estimated for greasy fleece weight, staple length, crimp frequency and fibre diameter of 1869 Spanish Merino purebred sheep. Heritabilities ranged from 0.08 ± 0.050 (fibre diameter) to 0.22 ± 0.060 (staple length), and the genetic correlations ranged from –0.63 ± 0.159 (crimp frequency – staple length) to 0.75 ± 0.222 (fibre diameter – staple length). Genetic simulations were developed to show the consequences of eight selection strategies, which included single trait selection on wool traits and liveweight (the current selection criteria) and index selection combining traits. The results show that it is possible to improve wool and growth traits at the same time. Also, our results show there is indirect genetic progress for wool characteristics using the current liveweight selection criterion.

A glucosinolate metabolism pathway in living plant cells mediates broad-spectrum antifungal defense

Selection pressure exerted by insects and microorganisms shapes the diversity of plant secondary metabolites. We identified a metabolic pathway for glucosinolates, known insect deterrents, that differs from the pathway activated by chewing insects. This pathway is active in living plant cells, may contribute to glucosinolate turnover, and has been recruited for broad-spectrum antifungal defense responses. The Arabidopsis CYP81F2 gene encodes a P450 monooxygenase that is essential for the pathogen-induced accumulation of 4-methoxyindol-3-ylmethylglucosinolate, which in turn is activated by the atypical PEN2 myrosinase (a type of beta-thioglucoside glucohydrolase) for antifungal defense. We propose that reiterated enzymatic cycles, controlling the generation of toxic molecules and their detoxification, enable the recruitment of glucosinolates in defense responses.

Genetic parameters of biokinematic variables of the trot in Spanish Purebred horses under experimental treadmill conditions

The purpose of this study was to estimate the genetic parameters of biokinematic variables in Spanish Purebred (SPB) horses in order to select those of sufficient interest to be measured in the pre-selection of the animals for possible inclusion in the breeding programme. Kinematic analysis of 130 SPB horses 4.6+/-1.5 years old were recorded at the trot (4m/s) on a treadmill. Genetic parameters were estimated using VCE software and a bivariate mixed animal model including age and stud as fixed effects and animal additive genetic effect and residual error as random effects. In general, heritabilities were high (0.33-0.88). The angular variables presented the lowest heritabilities, whereas the maximum height of the fore-hoof and the duration of swing phase in the hindlimb gave the highest scores. Genetic correlations were also very high, so it was possible to reduce the number of breeding programme characteristics to stride duration, hindlimb swing phase duration, range of stifle and elbow angles, minimal angle of carpus, and minimal retraction-protraction angle of the hindlimb.

Meat quality of tenderloin from Iberian pigs as affected by breed strain and crossbreeding

In 2007, a new National Quality Standard was published in Spain to regulate the products derived from the Iberian pig carcass, including for the first time fresh meat. In the same way, four different Iberian strains were recognized as official (Lampiño, Entrepelado, Retinto and Torbiscal). A batch (n=10) of each pig strain was selected using neutral DNA markers, and another batch of the most common crossbreeding pigs (Iberian×Duroc) was included into the study as a control. The main meat quality parameters of tenderloin, the most expensive meat cut for fresh consumption, from those five pig groups were analysed. Retinto and Lampiño strains showed the closest phenotypic distances, followed by Entrepelado strain. Meat from crossed and Torbiscal pigs had lower water holding capacity, L∗ and a∗, and higher SFA than meat from the other three strains. Crossbred pigs had the lowest protein, intramuscular fat and PUFA contents.

[Spontaneous intestinal hematoma as anticoagulant treatment complication]

The haemoperitoneum and bowel haematoma are complications of the oral anticoagulant treatment. The abdominal pain in patient under oral anticoagulant drugs represents a diagnostic problem; apart of the acute abdomen, we also have to consider unusual haemorrhagic lesion, rare in patients without coagulation problems. The early diagnosis of the complication in the patients permits a conservative treatment with excellent prognosis, instead of performing surgical operations in subjects with frequent comorbidities. We report a case of haemoperitoneum and intramural bowel haematoma in a patient with altered laboratory parameters and haemodynamic instability that required an urgent surgical procedure.